Romans 8

What’s your bottom line?

Find Spiritual Freedom Through Faith in Jesus, Instead of Worldly Freedom Through faith in Yourself.

What’s your opening line?

Setting personal goals are amazing! But they fall short of what Spiritual Freedom will do for you in 2026. Instead of thinking; “I should” start thinking, “this is who I am.”

Introductory Hook; Why does this matter?

I’m all about making changes and setting goals for the year and putting systems in place to make our life better and to be better. In fact making changes to improve anything is like what I’m made for, it’s what makes me come alive. I so badly just want to give us a list of things to do that will absolutely change our lives if we stick to them, but what I really want us to be reminded of this year is that really great goals need to be backed from a place of Spiritual Freedom or we will still miss the real reason why we are here.

What I really want to do this year is to start the year just remembering how good the Gospel Story is and let this be the place of transformation that comes in our lives in 2026.

I just want us to live free this year.

Free from:

Distraction (instead of saying, “I should be less distracted,” let’s say “because I’m a child of God, I have purpose and live on mission and focus on the mission God has given me for the day.”)

Fear/Worry (instead of saying, “I should worry less,” let’s say “because I’m a child of God, I know and trust that my Father will protect and provide for me.”)

Anxiety

Depression

Busyness

Selfishness

Confusion

Addiction

Continual Sin

Transition In

Wouldn’t this be amazing? To really live free of these things in 2026? Just think of your life if even just a few of these were removed from your year. Here is the yearly plan for you.

Main Point (Bottom Line)

Find Spiritual Freedom Through Faith in Jesus, Instead of Worldly Freedom Through Faith in Yourself.

Where’s the power in the text?

No Condemnation

Romans 8 might the absolute overall best chapter in the Bible! If you want to live truly free then you need to let Romans 8 really sink into your heart and transform your life.

Romans 8:1–2 “Therefore, there is now no condemnation for those in Christ Jesus, because the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus has set you free from the law of sin and death.”

What an amazing reminder that Paul the writer opens with. He sets the scene of a court and uses powerful ‘legal’ language throughout the chapter. Condemnation is when your declared guilty and there is a punishment attached to that guilt. And in a perfect court system the punishment would be equal to that of the crime.

God has a perfect standard of law and what is right and wrong. Unfortunately none of us meet these standards and we have all committed crime against our God we stand guilty and condemned before him in this court room.

Let me just tell you the story as if we were actually in the court room. You are on trial and the prosecutor (Satan) is the best one in the whole world. He stands up before the judge and begins to build his case against you. I mean he’s good, he is listing off everything you have ever done wrong. “This person has a habit of getting angry and losing his temper, he is a liar, he even has hatred in his heart which you have said is like murder in his heart, he has lusted more than we have time to account for which you say is like committing adultery in their heart. They continually worship other God’s before you… which I know you don’t like that one.” And they go on and on and on and you know you have absolutely no chance because it’s true… The judge asks for a defense but you really don’t have anything to say… it’s true. The judge condemns you into a life separated from Him for eternity.

Ah but for the believer it’s different. If I go through this same list, you absolutely know it’s true… but the Judge asks for a defense and your defense attorney stands up (Jesus) and says, “there is no condemnation for those who I represent, I have set him free from sin and death because I became sin for him and died on a cross as a sin offering for him in order that the law would be fulfilled.” Romans 8:3-4. And the Judge says, “this person is no longer guilty, his punishment has been paid, you may go free into eternity.”

Flesh and Spirit

Romans 8:5–8 “For those who live according to the flesh have their minds set on the things of the flesh, but those who live according to the Spirit have their minds set on the things of the Spirit. Now the mindset of the flesh is death, but the mindset of the Spirit is life and peace. The mindset of the flesh is hostile to God because it does not submit to God’s law. Indeed, it is unable to do so. Those who are in the flesh cannot please God.”

There are two kind of lives. Walking by the flesh and walking by the Spirit.

There is this battle within us that wants to improve our behavior and how we talk or think or act and we constantly fail at this, we always will.

What is your mind set on? Things of the flesh? Things of the Spirit? Our desires need to start changing. We need to pray that our fleshly desires would change. This world is not the goal. We need to start looking up to the horizon and seek God’s Kingdom daily in our lives. The mindset of the Spirit brings a life of peace.

A mind set on fleshly things is thinking about how I can sin but get away with it vs. bringing their sin to Jesus with a repentant heart.

Going into leading a business with selfish pride and motives only the heart can know vs. how can I build God’s kingdom through what I’m doing in business or how can I be as generous as possible with my business

Waking up and thinking about how comfortable you can make your life today or waking up and following the shepherd where he leads no matter the cost.

At its core, the fleshly mind asks what can I do for myself to make my life awesome but the Spiritual mind asks what can I do for God to make others live’s awesome.

The only freedom that man ever has is when he becomes a slave to Jesus Christ.

R. C. Sproul

The irony of New Testament lordship is that only in slavery to Christ can a man discover authentic freedom.

R. C. Sproul

Romans 6:18–22 “and having been set free from sin, you became enslaved to righteousness. I am using a human analogy because of the weakness of your flesh. For just as you offered the parts of yourselves as slaves to impurity, and to greater and greater lawlessness, so now offer them as slaves to righteousness, which results in sanctification. For when you were slaves of sin, you were free with regard to righteousness. So what fruit was produced then from the things you are now ashamed of? The outcome of those things is death. But now, since you have been set free from sin and have become enslaved to God, you have your fruit, which results in sanctification—and the outcome is eternal life!”

Romans 8:12–13 “So then, brothers and sisters, we are not obligated to the flesh to live according to the flesh, because if you live according to the flesh, you are going to die. But if by the Spirit you put to death the deeds of the body, you will live.”

In life, we often set goals, viewing our future as a series of checkpoints to achieve. Consider the story of Paul. He was a zealous goal setter—committed to persecuting Christians, believing he was on the right path. Yet, it was in the moment he encountered Christ on the road to Damascus that he experienced true freedom. He learned that our goals may pale in comparison to God’s purpose for us, which often defies our own plans. This scripture echoes in Galatians 5:1, reminding us that Christ sets us free, not our own ambitions.

Galatians 5:1 “For freedom, Christ set us free. Stand firm, then, and don’t submit again to a yoke of slavery.”

In 2026 let’s pray that we take bold steps of faith toward walking in the Spirit even when it’s uncomfortable and let’s not fall back into old habits and lifestyles. Our God is a God that can absolutely change your life and break past sins and generational curses and failures in your family. Just because your parents marriage was terrible, doesn’t mean yours is going to be. Just because your family has always had a drinking problem, doesn’t mean you have to.

Why? You’ve been given a new life in christ, you’ve been given a new family and a new name in Christ. There is no condemnation for you.

Promises of God

Romans 8:28 “We know that all things work together for the good of those who love God, who are called according to his purpose.”

What is good? You see sometimes our good looks different than God’s good. The greatest good is to know God and enjoy his presence forever. This we can have at all times no matter the circumstances.

Romans 8:31 “What, then, are we to say about these things? If God is for us, who is against us?”

Romans 8:35–39 “Who can separate us from the love of Christ? Can affliction or distress or persecution or famine or nakedness or danger or sword? As it is written: Because of you we are being put to death all day long; we are counted as sheep to be slaughtered. No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. For I am persuaded that neither death nor life, nor angels nor rulers, nor things present nor things to come, nor powers, nor height nor depth, nor any other created thing will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.”

God loves you more than you know, and nothing in this world or outside of this world can change that. He is pursuing your heart every day. He loves you unconditionally as like his own child!

Transition out

So what does this actually mean for you and I moving into a new year?

What’s the Main To-Do?

We need to DO LESS and BE WITH JESUS MORE

Read and study scripture at least 4 times a week

Spend 30min-1hr less time on a screen a day

-Put to death the flesh

Why Does it Matter?

When we worry less about performance and spend time with Jesus he transforms our performance. Here’s what’s at stake, you can become really good at just achieving and reaching goals and building a strategy and having such a strong will that you conquer this world… until you don’t… and you are still stuck in prison because you aren’t really living Spiritually Free.

Statistics skyrocket on overall spiritual growth when you hit that 4 times a week reading scripture.

Gen Z- 9hrs a day, Millennials 6hr 40min, Gen-X- 2hr 40min, Boomers 3hr 30min

Transformation happens from within and we are being influenced by what we take in. We need to walk by the Spirit and not the flesh.

How are you closing?

Romans III. Conclusion: The True Meaning of Freedom

John Chrysostom (A.D. 347?–407), eventually patriarch of Constantinople, earned the moniker “golden-mouth” because of his eloquent sermons against the lavish excesses of his day. This earned him no favor with Roman authorities, and when he was brought before the Roman emperor he was threatened with banishment if he remained a Christian. Chrysostom’s reply to the emperor reflects the insight of one who understands that true freedom in life comes with freedom in the Spirit and security in the love of God:

“Thou canst not banish me for this world is my father’s house.”

“But I will slay thee,” said the emperor.

“Nay, thou canst not,” said the noble champion of the faith, “for my life is hid with Christ in God.”

“I will take away thy treasures.”

“Nay, but thou canst not for my treasure is in heaven and my heart is there.”

“But I will drive thee away from man and thou shalt have no friend left.”

“Nay, thou canst not, for I have a friend in heaven from whom thou canst not separate me. I defy thee; for there is nothing that thou canst do to hurt me.” (cited by Hughes, p. 171)

Communion