Life in the Spirit (pt 1)
Notes
Transcript
REVIEW QUESTIONS
QUESTION: What is the “Law” referring to in Rom ch 7?
The OT Law is the things Moses commanded Israel to obey. The OT legal system.
Ex: the 10 commandments
QUESTION: How do we use the OT LAW today?
Extract principles that apply today
2 Timothy 3:16 “All Scripture is inspired by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, for training in righteousness”
QUESTION: How are we set free from the penalty of the Law?
Romans 7:4 “Therefore, my brethren, you also were made to die to the Law through the body of Christ, so that you might be joined to another, to Him who was raised from the dead, in order that we might bear fruit for God.”
QUESTION: Paul uses an illustration of a married woman’s husband dying and being set free from that obligation. How does that apply to us and the OT LAW?
The only way a person can be united to Christ is stop trying to be right with God by obeying God’s commands. We must die to the Law, live by faith in Christ, to be right with God. Righteousness comes by faith alone
QUESTION: At the end of Romans chapter 7, Paul explains a conflict between wanting to obey God but cannot. Is this an internal conflict Paul had in his life as a Christian, or a conflict Paul had before he was a Christian, or a conflict a person has when they try to be right with the Lord by obeying all the rules?
ANSWER: It is the description of what life would be like trying to follow the Lord by obeying the rules without dying to sin. It would be a life of misery and internal conflict
INTRODUCTION
The Christian life is a supernatural life. It cannot be lived apart from the power of God. Tenacity, perseverance, knowledge, none of that give one what he needs to live the Christian life. It can only be lived by the power of the Spirit of God. That is what chapter 8 is all about.
There is no condemnation for those in Christ
There is no condemnation for those in Christ
Therefore there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus.
“Therefore there is NOW no condemnation”.
Condemnation: punishment, penalty, death sentence…which is what is implied here
It could be translated (a little loosely) “there is no death sentence for those who are in Christ Jesus”
Why? Romans 6:23 “For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.”
So what Paul is saying is this death sentence has been removed from all those who are in Christ Jesus
There is no penalty, there will be no judgement made upon us.
That means that at the end of this age when the angels gather together everyone who has ever lived to judge them, those who are in Christ will not be there.
That means that if a Christian sins tomorrow, he does not need to fear that he will receive a penalty for his sin. God does not deal with us according to our sin. Now He May chastise us because of our sin, but it is not punitive.
QUESTION: How should this truth affect the way we live?
The fear of death has been taken away in Christ
Hebrews 2:14–15 “Therefore, since the children share in flesh and blood, He Himself likewise also partook of the same, that through death He might render powerless him who had the power of death, that is, the devil, and might free those who through fear of death were subject to slavery all their lives.”
The guilt the world likes to pile upon us is meaningless in Christ.
Past failures, past reputations, lack of success in the world’s eyes. We should keep these words in mind. Because I am in Christ, there is no condemnation
John 8:10–11 “Straightening up, Jesus said to her, “Woman, where are they? Did no one condemn you?” She said, “No one, Lord.” And Jesus said, “I do not condemn you, either. Go. From now on sin no more.”]”
We should be very careful about condemning others. What if someone does something treacherous? What if someone has a moral failure in their marriage, lashes out in anger, does some kind of scandal? If they are in Christ, there is no condemnation from God and there should be no condemnation from us. We must be very careful in condemning others because of something they did.
Matthew 7:1 ““Do not judge so that you will not be judged.”
The Holy Spirit empowers the Christian to overcome the temptation to sin
The Holy Spirit empowers the Christian to overcome the temptation to sin
For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus has set you free from the law of sin and of death. For what the Law could not do, weak as it was through the flesh, God did: sending His own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh and as an offering for sin, He condemned sin in the flesh, so that the requirement of the Law might be fulfilled in us, who do not walk according to the flesh but according to the Spirit.
Everyone begins life under the law of sin and death.
That is because we all begin life in Adam as a sinner and living for ourselves. The law of sin and death is the moral requirements of God. The Law of the OT.
We could make it really general and simply say it is the 10 commandments. Who has not broken them? And if they have been broken then what is the sentence? death
James 2:10 “For whoever keeps the whole law and yet stumbles in one point, he has become guilty of all.”
The Law is incapable of setting us free from sin and death because the Law is dependent upon human ability.
For one to obey the Law, he must do so in his own will and power and ability.
No mater how much someone tries to obey the Law, or to be righteous on his own apart from the power of God he will fail.
That is the struggle Paul described at the end of chapter 7.
(v 2) But…“the Law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus has set you free”
What is the Law is the Spirit”?
It is the substitutionary atonement. It is the Law of God that one man could take the punishment of another person’s sin as long as he was a man and his life was spotless or sinless.
That’s what Paul says in the next verse
(v 3) “For what the Law could not do, weak as it was through the flesh, God did: sending His own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh and as an offering for sin, He condemned sin in the flesh
The Law could not take our sin away. It could not make sinners into saints. In fact if you remember it did the opposite. It was like an antagonizer. It makes people want to sin worse!
So God did what the Law could not do and dealt with sin in the person of Jesus…by sending His Son as an offering for sin, to condemn sin in the flesh.
THE POINT: The only way to overcome sin and live life supernaturally is by uniting to Christ permanently in the same way He did.
Believe God like Abraham did (Rom ch 4)
Death, burial, resurrection just like Christ did (Rom 6)
Romans 6:6–7 “knowing this, that our old self was crucified with Him, in order that our body of sin might be done away with, so that we would no longer be slaves to sin; for he who has died is freed from sin.”
(v 4) “so that the requirement of the Law might be fulfilled in us, who do not walk according to the flesh but according to the Spirit.”
QUESTION: What is the requirement of the Law?
ANSWER: It is to be perfect
QUESTION: Who are those who have filled the requirements of the Law?
ANSWER: Those who walk according to the Spirit
QUESTION: what does it mean to walk according to the Spirit?
“Walk” means to live a way of life. It means one follows the leading of the Holy Spirit rather than following the desires of the flesh.
QUESTION: What is the flesh referring to? The sinful nature of mankind. Our natural desires, habits, sinfulness.
QUESTION: What does it look like in your life to walk according to the Spirit?
Self denial.
Pursuit of holiness
Faithfulness to Jesus at all times
Putting Jesus first over myself and others
There are ONLY two ways to live
There are ONLY two ways to live
For those who are according to the flesh set their minds on the things of the flesh, but those who are according to the Spirit, the things of the Spirit. For the mind set on the flesh is death, but the mind set on the Spirit is life and peace, because the mind set on the flesh is hostile toward God; for it does not subject itself to the law of God, for it is not even able to do so, and those who are in the flesh cannot please God.
With a mind set on the flesh or the mind set on the Spirit
Mind set on the flesh
QUESTION: What are some characteristics of a mind set on the flesh?
hostility toward God
does not subject itself to God’s Law
QUESTION: What is the outcome of a mind set on the flesh?
death
Incapable of doing God’s will
Cannot please God
Mindset on the Spirit:
Characteristics:
Focuses on the “things of the Spirit” – those things that God please God
Outcome:
Peace with God
True Life: the life of God lived in a person, which is the highest quality of life.
Real life does not begin in this life until one begins to live it fully in Christ!
No half in and half out
No lukewarm commitment!
No holding back!
It’s all and have it all or anything less is to lose it all!
