Sermon Tone Analysis

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.