The Lavish Love of Jesus

Romans Chapter 5

Since we have been justified by faith,

We have peace with God through Jesus Christ our Lord

We have obtained access to grace through Him

We are able to rejoice in sufferings

Paul makes the point that Jesus wouldn’t have had to die. We were unrighteous and no one wants to take the punishment for an ungodly person. Yet Jesus did it anyway.

And because He died willingling for us when we were still unrighteous, His gift is available for all.

Romans Chapter 6

Paul asks the obvious question: “Since justification simply comes through believing, that means someone can go right on sinning and not change, right?”

Paul says, “By no means! Don’t even suggest such a thing!!”

Paul makes a strong case that in when we exercise faith that results in our justification, we also DIE to sin

At one time we were slaves to sin. We actually had to obey the desires of the flesh because we were slaves.

Now our justification means that we have died to the power of sin and now we have a new power to say, “Sin is not my master. That temptation that I used to fall to every time, I don’t HAVE to obey that any more”.

Romans Chapter 7

Here is the great dilemma.

Paul addresses the problem that every Believer has faced. Why, then is there that battle within me? Why, if i have the power to say, “sin is not my master”, do I continually find myself being drawn toward evil and sin?

Paul makes the case that the reason for this battle is often because we are still trying to live like we are under the law.

We wake up in the morning and think:

“The Law says don’t commit adultery. So I’m going to try my hardest not to lust today.

The Law says, don’t covet my neighbors things. So I’m going to try my hardest to be satisfied with what I have

“The Law says, don’t lie. So I’m going to try my hardest to only speak truth today.”

But there’s a problem with having this focus.

He says that the Law, even though it was good, awakened the sin nature within us.

By telling us, don’t covet, it alerted us to the fact that covetousness is wrong and our sin nature was drawn to covet.

By telling us, don’t lust, it alerted us to the fact that lust is wrong and our sin nature wanted to lust in the worse way.

It’s like when you were a kid and your parents started to buy Christmas gifts and one day mom would say, “Kids, whatever you do, don’t look in our bedroom closet. Stay out of there.”

Oh MAN! Talk about temptation! But before that I didn’t want to go in the bedroom closet. Why do I want to now? Because I was told not to.

The Law proved to us without a shadow of a doubt that we do have a sinful nature and it alerted us to the fact that we needed a change in nature.

We needed a change of heart.

As humans, we know this battle better than any other battle. This battle wages within us daily

And Paul says at the end, “Oh the torment! O wretched man that I am, who will deliver me from this body of death?!”

And for many of us, that’s where we stop. BEcause we have never been delivered. “Oh wretched man, Oh wretched woman that I am, who will deliver me?”

And we fail to read on.

Paul releases his breath with relief. “Thanks be to God, through our Lord Jesus Christ!”

There is deliverance through our Lord Jesus Christ.

But chances are some of us have never fully experienced this deliverance. We have never moved out of . We have never gotten past verse 24.

And we feel condemned, guilty. Every day we fall, feel guilty, terrible, condemned. We think, “Oh well, tomorrow is a another day. Maybe I’ll do better then.”

And this feeling becomes such a part of our lives, almost our identity.

IT’s almost like we are thinking that if we don’t feel guilty about something then we aren’t taking life seriously enough.

Chances are that most of us either ARE there are HAVE BEEN there at one time or another. I say this because because people have abandoned the faith because of this feeling.

For example, the guy that I talked about last Sunday.

And I need to say that I get it! I understand this feeling better than I’d like to admit.

Today, I want to read on. I want to encourage all of us who find ourselves there to read on with hearts of hope. Hearts that are pressing in to Jesus.

(ESV)

Life in the Spirit

8 There is therefore now no condemnation

I would like to pause right here. Because to me, this must be one of the most astounding statements that we could read in the Bible.

In fact, I wish we could stop there and just go home.

What other statement could encapsulate the heart of the Gospel?

What other statement could so demonstrate the lavish love of Jesus?

What other statement could bring hope to a people who knew well the Jewish history of constantly living with their inability to live righteously and were constantly falling away and feeling condemnation and being punished and restored, the cycle happening again and again.

Paul says that now, there is NO CONDEMNATION

None? That’s right, none!

Well, but when I let that cuss word fly....NO CONDEMNATION!

But of course, when I know I should have talked to that guy about the Lord, and I chickened out…NO CONDEMNATION!

None? That’s right, none!

The Greek word katakrima suggests strongly a sentence of “guilty” pronounced on someone with punishment to follow.

In chapter 5, we read this same word and it said that the sentence of guilty came on everyone because of one man’s action. And there was a punishment to follow.

But now there is NONE of that.

Today I want us to consider to the LAVISHNESS of the Love of Christ. Paul says in Ephesians that He LAVISHED his grace upon us.

And maybe to do that, I should have chosen a different passage. Maybe my title and this passage don’t exactly line up in your mind

But I’ve been drawn to time and again when I think about what the lavish love of Jesus means for us.

Let’s read on:

(ESV)

Life in the Spirit

8 There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. 2 For the law of the Spirit of life has set you free in Christ Jesus from the law of sin and death. 3 For God has done what the law, weakened by the flesh, could not do. By sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh and for sin, he condemned sin in the flesh, 4 in order that the righteous requirement of the law might be fulfilled in us, who walk not according to the flesh but according to the Spirit. 5 For those who live according to the flesh set their minds on the things of the flesh, but those who live according to the Spirit set their minds on the things of the Spirit. 6 For to set the mind on the flesh is death, but to set the mind on the Spirit is life and peace. 7 For the mind that is set on the flesh is hostile to God, for it does not submit to God’s law; indeed, it cannot. 8 Those who are in the flesh cannot please God.

9 You, however, are not in the flesh but in the Spirit, if in fact the Spirit of God dwells in you. Anyone who does not have the Spirit of Christ does not belong to him. 10 But if Christ is in you, although the body is dead because of sin, the Spirit is life because of righteousness. 11 If the Spirit of him who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, he who raised Christ Jesus from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through his Spirit who dwells in you.

Heirs with Christ

12 So then, brothers, we are debtors, not to the flesh, to live according to the flesh. 13 For if you live according to the flesh you will die, but if by the Spirit you put to death the deeds of the body, you will live. 14 For all who are led by the Spirit of God are sons of God. 15 For you did not receive the spirit of slavery to fall back into fear, but you have received the Spirit of adoption as sons, by whom we cry, “Abba! Father!” 16 The Spirit himself bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God, 17 and if children, then heirs—heirs of God and fellow heirs with Christ, provided we suffer with him in order that we may also be glorified with him.

No condemnation for whom?

for those who are in Christ Jesus. (some translations “who walk not after the flesh but after the Spirit)

If your’s doesn’t have that statement there, don’t worry about it. The fact is, you can’t be in Christ Jesus and not walk after the Spirit.

There is NO CONDEMNATION for those who are in Christ Jesus

That’s you! That’s me!

We talked about this at length when we talked about the power of the blood covenant. When you stop being lord of yourself and instead, by faith, you step into the work that Jesus finished for you, you are now IN Christ Jesus.

2. Why is there no condemnation?

2 For the law of the Spirit of life has set you free in Christ Jesus from the law of sin and death.

See, the condemnation that we once felt and many time still feel comes from being under the law of sin and death. That is the law that condemns us.

It is the law that says, “You will never be good enough. You will never measure up. Stop trying. You failed back here, you failed here, and now there must be a punishment.”

But Paul says, “Hold on! The law of the Spirit has set you free from that law.

When we lived in Mozambique, we were under the law of Mozambique. We had immigration requirements that were burdensome and dreaded. But now we live in the USA and we are free from that law. We don’t have to endure those requirements any longer.

In a spiritual sense, we are no longer under that Law that says, “Don’t look, don’t taste, don’t touch, don’t say, don’t go, don’t don’t don’t”

we have been SET FREE from that law.

It would be crazy for me to act like I am under the law of Mozambique and go stand in lines at the immigration office and try to prove that I am legal to be here.

But in a sense that is what many of us do. That is how many of us live our lives. By constantly measuring ourselves against the Law.

Oh, I failed because I did look, I did taste, I did touch, I did say this, I did go there. I did I did I did.

I am a failure. I am condemned.

But you are not under that law any more.

3. How is there no condemnation? How did this happen?

Because God saw our inability to fulfill the righteous requirements of the law.

And He said, “I’m going to do for them what it is impossible for them to do for themselves. I’m going to send my own Son and fulfill the righteous requirements of the law.

“In fact, I’m going to condemn sin in the flesh. Instead of them being condemned, I’m going to condemn sin! I’m going to declare sin as guilty and I’m going to give my people a new heart”

I’m going to set them free from the verdict of “guilty” that was upon them. I’m going to set them free from the sentence of “death” that was placed upon them.

It was all God! It is not us. We can’t get ourselves out from under condemnation. It’s God that has done it already!

4. What do I do now?

a.

a. Live by the Spirit. It’s a life of joyful faith

b. Put to death the deeds of the flesh. Not by willpower but by the Spirit

The very Spirit of him who formed the worlds and the universe now lives in you! And you live in Him!

c. Live as children of God and heirs with Christ

live in the immense love that He has for you as Father.

d. Be prepared to suffer with Him.

Count the cost.

Realize that He is calling you to a life of sacrifice, just as he sacrificed. vs. 17

But realize that in your suffering, the Spirit will intercede for you in words that you can’t even utter. He knows what you need before you even think them

But realize also that nothing can separate you from the love of Christ.

Church, I hope that you come today with hearts of immense grattitude at the lavish love of Jesus.

That when we were helpless, he lavished His love on us and took care of everything on our behalf.

9 You, however, are not in the flesh but in the Spirit, if in fact the Spirit of God dwells in you. Anyone who does not have the Spirit of Christ does not belong to him. 10 But if Christ is in you, although the body is dead because of sin, the Spirit is life because of righteousness. 11 If the Spirit of him who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, he who raised Christ Jesus from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through his Spirit who dwells in you.

And that in our life of walking in the Spirit, His love continues to be lavish and rich.

Heirs with Christ

Often when we take communion together, you get a few crumbs of bread and a little sip of juice.

12 So then, brothers, we are debtors, not to the flesh, to live according to the flesh. 13 For if you live according to the flesh you will die, but if by the Spirit you put to death the deeds of the body, you will live. 14 For all who are led by the Spirit of God are sons of God. 15 For you did not receive the spirit of slavery to fall back into fear, but you have received the Spirit of adoption as sons, by whom we cry, “Abba! Father!” 16 The Spirit himself bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God, 17 and if children, then heirs—heirs of God and fellow heirs with Christ, provided we suffer with him in order that we may also be glorified with him.

today, to represent the immensity of what Jesus has done, you see in front of you many loaves of bread and lots of juice.