Life and Living

The Greatest Miracle - Rom 8:1-4

God has accomplished it! - Rom 8:3

Dry Bones -

Ezekiel 37:1–2 ESV

The hand of the Lord was upon me, and he brought me out in the Spirit of the Lord and set me down in the middle of the valley; it was full of bones. And he led me around among them, and behold, there were very many on the surface of the valley, and behold, they were very dry.

Lazarus -

Natural Inability; Dead Men Walking -

Body / Flesh

NOT gnosticism

NT Flesh - σαρκὸς

Leviticus 13:38 ESV

“When a man or a woman has spots on the skin of the body, white spots,

σαρκὸς

NT Body

The human body is not shameful or evil in itself; it is tainted with sin, thus sickness, injury, and death, but the body is not wicked

Appetites are not in themselves bad

v3 does not mean that there is no spiritual or heart sin or that it wasn’t solved at Calvary

v8 CANNOT mean that humans can never please God

v3 does not mean that there is no spiritual or heart sin or that it wasn’t solved at Calvary

Orientation & Natures

Martin Luther - Lectures on Romans

Our nature, by the corruption of the first sin, [beig] so deeply curved in on itself that it not only bends the best gifts of God towards itself and enjoys them (as is plain in the works-righteous and hypocrites), or rather even uses God himself in order to attain these gifts, but it also fails to realize that it so wickedly, curvedly, and viciously seeks all things, even God, for its own sake.

Which voices are we listening to?

v5 according to / minds on things

Galatians 5:22–23 ESV

But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control; against such things there is no law.

Galatians 5:19–23 ESV

Now the works of the flesh are evident: sexual immorality, impurity, sensuality, idolatry, sorcery, enmity, strife, jealousy, fits of anger, rivalries, dissensions, divisions, envy, drunkenness, orgies, and things like these. I warn you, as I warned you before, that those who do such things will not inherit the kingdom of God. But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control; against such things there is no law.

We are all both body and spirit, the question is for those who have been born again, which nature is in play or control?

Which voices are we listening to?

Powerless - v7 & 8

Cannot not hate God

We need to stop reading the words love and hate in the scriptures about how we feel; it is about what we do and choices we make.

Even so, when we peel back layers of superficiality we often find some self-imposed line in the sand; I will never do ‘X’ or I can’t believe in a God who ‘Y’

Cannot obey God

Matthew 7:23 ESV

And then will I declare to them, ‘I never knew you; depart from me, you workers of lawlessness.’

Mark 12:30–31 ESV

And you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength.’ The second is this: ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’ There is no other commandment greater than these.”

Cannot please God

Romans 14:23 ESV

But whoever has doubts is condemned if he eats, because the eating is not from faith. For whatever does not proceed from faith is sin.

Rom

So friend, be you man, woman, or child, if you are apart from Christ; if you are not trusting in the death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus for your standing with God and eternity, if you have never been born again; saved, the wrath of God is upon you, and you are powerless to change your fate. But, that is neither the end of our text, nor the end of the message today!

Life and Miraculous Ability - Rom 8:9-11

echoing the opening of the sermon, we are now expounding what v3 plainly states GOD has accomplished:

Job 19:26 ESV

And after my skin has been thus destroyed, yet in my flesh I shall see God,

Body is dead / Spirit is life

Job 19:25–26 ESV

For I know that my Redeemer lives, and at the last he will stand upon the earth. And after my skin has been thus destroyed, yet in my flesh I shall see God,

John 11:25–26 ESV

Jesus said to her, “I am the resurrection and the life. Whoever believes in me, though he die, yet shall he live, and everyone who lives and believes in me shall never die. Do you believe this?”

Because of righteousness

Romans 1:16–17 ESV

For I am not ashamed of the gospel, for it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes, to the Jew first and also to the Greek. For in it the righteousness of God is revealed from faith for faith, as it is written, “The righteous shall live by faith.”

This can NOT be undone by anything in this world.

In our bleakest moments of despair, look to Christ; crucified and risen, and guaranteeing you not only eternity, but present help and strength

If, Then in v11

Job 19:25–26 ESV

For I know that my Redeemer lives, and at the last he will stand upon the earth. And after my skin has been thus destroyed, yet in my flesh I shall see God,

This is true perspective:

This is talking about life and living

This is what it means to be Christian; to look every day again and afresh to Christ

To be reminded that we are under no threat of condemnation; we are free

To be reminded that we ARE able to obey God in HIS supplied strength

To be reminded that in Christ and through our faith is pleased with us.

To be reminded that GOD has accomplished this for us in Christ Jesus