No Condemnation

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Read Rom 8.1-4.

1 Consequently, there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. 2 For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus has set you free from the law of sin and death. 3 For what was impossible for the law, in that it was weak through the flesh, God did. By* sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh and concerning sin, he condemned sin in the flesh, 4 in order that the requirement of the law would be fulfilled in us, who do not live according to the flesh but according to the Spirit.

Bread - (3) in the likeness of sinful flesh, JC condemned sin in the flesh - sin stands condemned

Cup - (4) the requirement of the law was fulfilled by JC’s blood - God’s requirements have been fulfilled for you

Kids: ask your parents, “What do the bread and cup mean?”

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Title Slide

Romans is one of the most, if not the most focused book on explaining core theology. It’s rich and deep and brilliantly structured.

But it’s amazing to me that in the first 7 chapters of Romans that we’ve covered so far, the HS has barely been mentioned.

The HS is so crucial to not only our theology, but our daily living, and He’s barely gotten a nod so far.

Xit: Let’s review …

Chart: ABNYC

KoG: complete, perfect, and full

Ch 1-3: Everyone in KoM is without excuse, we all deserve condemnation for our sin. Left with nothing but THISJ.

Ch 4: Left w/nothing but THISJ, except … if you have the faith in Christ like the faith of Abraham, you can be credited with righteousness instead of your sin.

Ch 5: We were born “in Adam” and in the sin of Adam; but by faith we can instead be “in Christ” because of his death, burial, and resurrection. “God demonstrates His own love for us that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.”

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Ch 6: Already - (transferred) you’ve died to sin and are alive in Christ (if by faith you are no longer “in Adam,” by faith you are “in Christ”).

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Ch 7: Not yet

But we still do the very sins we turned to Jesus to forgive.

We’re already in perfect standing before God, but we’re not yet standing perfectly.

“Who will rescue me from this body of death?”

PV:

We have a “calling” to be made complete, but we’re ABNY. We need completion (which is something more perfect and more full than maturity).

How is completion going to occur?

By an avalanche of the HS in Chap 8.

In 1-7, just 4x (and not much detail).

In ch 8 = 19x. This is how we will be made complete in Christ (not by trying-harder to make-ourselves-complete).

Rest of Romans (8 more chaps) = only 6x.

Rom 8 is an avalanche of the HS - two weeks to cover

Xit: Let the avalanche begin …

(It’s Done!)

(No condemnation for us) (1)

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8:1 There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus.

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RS: None, zero, zip: If you are in Christ, there is absolutely zero condemnation for you.

Despite that in ch 1-3, we are all without excuse and deserve condemnation.

Despite that in ch 7 even as Christians we still end up doing some things we don’t want to be doing.

Xit: It’s done! No condemnation for us who are in Christ Jesus. Do you believe that there is absolutely no condemnation for you?

(We have been set free by the law of the Spirit) (2)

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8:2 For the law of the life-giving Spirit in Christ Jesus has set you free from the law of sin and death.

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RS: We used to be slaves to the law of sin and death, but now RS.

There’s a different law - the law of the Spirit, and it has set you free from the other law - the law of sin and death.

Xit: It’s done! We’re free! Do you believe that you are completely free from the law of THISJ?

What is condemned is our sin (3)

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8:3 For God achieved what the law could not do because it was weakened through the flesh. By sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh and concerning sin, he condemned sin in the flesh,

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RS: God did in Christ what the law of THISJ could not.

Sin is condemned, not you: if you’re in Christ.

Xit: It’s done! Our sin is judged, not us! Do you believe that your sin is completely condemned?

(The Law has been fulfilled in we who walk according to the Spirit) (4)

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8:4 so that the righteous requirement of the law may be fulfilled in us, who do not walk according to the flesh but according to the Spirit.

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RS: What that old law required has been fulfilled. Completed.

Paul also introduces this idea of “walking according to the Spirit” without explaining it, yet. We’ll come back to this.

Xit: It’s done!

The law is completely satisfied, and therefore the law demands nothing more from us. Do you believe that the Law has been completely fulfilled?

But there’s one part in verse 4 verses that really captures my attention …

CR: Righteousness fulfilled in us, of all places (4)

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This feels significant: something significant has happened in us.

Not all scholars agree as to what actually happened in us:

Christ fulfilled the Law, but since we’re in Christ and He is in us, therefore the Law is fulfilled in us.

The end purpose of the Law was fulfilled in us - the Law finally achieved its purpose of leading people to faith in Jesus the Messiah.

Divine enabling > human ability to live out the intent of the law, and therefore the HS is fulfilling the goal of the Law in us.

Perhaps all have some truth.

Not sure which it means:

But I know it says something big happened in us.

Paul could have left out the phrase “in us”, and it would still be a true sentence - but he added it for a reason.

Whatever happened in us, it took nothing less than the work of the Trinity to do:

The Father sends the Son to condemn sin, which fulfills the purpose of the Law by leading us to Christ, which is what the Law was intended to do from the beginning.

The Son was sent to condemn sin in his flesh to give us life → he fulfilled the letter of the law for us.

The Spirit brings us a new law of life in X & we can walk kata Him → he fulfills the nature of the law in us.

Not sure what exactly happened in us, but it’s an amazing statement and it took the Trinity to do! So complete is the work of Christ that with the Spirit within us, the Father’s righteous requirement of the law is fulfilled in us! Not only outside of us, but also in us.

Xit: It’s Done! The righteous requirement of the law is fulfilled in us! Do you believe God has done this work in you?

Xit: JC had to condemn sin

Jesus had to condemn sin in His flesh so that we could then walk according to the Spirit.

Then, Paul strongly desires us to …

Get a Life!

(Now we can Think like the Spirit) (5-8)

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8:5 For those who live according to the flesh have their outlook shaped by the things of the flesh, but those who live according to the Spirit have their outlook shaped by the things of the Spirit. 8:6 For the outlook of the flesh is death, but the outlook of the Spirit is life and peace, 8:7 because the outlook of the flesh is hostile to God, for it does not submit to the law of God, nor is it able to do so. 8:8 Those who are in the flesh cannot please God.

Word: “outlook shaped by” / “mind set on” / “be intent on” = “hold a particular view” / “to think like.”

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Now we can think like the HS, AOT: outlook shaped by the flesh / mind set on the flesh / being intent on the flesh / to think like the flesh.

Thinking like the Spirit is ___ vs. thinking like the flesh is ____:

Peace vs. enmity with God, displeasing God.

Life vs. death.

Thinking like the Spirit allows us: to live the life God has for us, to experience peace with God, and to be able to please God (even after ch 7!).

Xit: Now we can think like the Spirit. So now we can get a life …

(Now we can Belong and have a Life) (9-11)

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8:9 You, however, are not in the flesh but in the Spirit, if indeed the Spirit of God lives in you. Now if anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ, this person does not belong to him. 8:10 But if Christ is in you, your body is dead because of sin, but the Spirit is your life because of righteousness. 8:11 Moreover if the Spirit of the one who raised Jesus from the dead lives in you, the one who raised Christ from the dead will also make your mortal bodies alive through his Spirit who lives in you.

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Now we can Belong (and have a Life) (9):

We can belong if: 3 if’s in v. 9, all RE HS: that say basically the same thing

If you are in the Spirit: you in the Spirit

If the Spirit of God lives in you: the Spirit in you

If you have the Spirit: the Spirit is something you personally have

Implication, if we have the Spirit, then we belong to Christ.

And if we belong to Christ, then we can have the life of Christ.

Now we can Belong and have a Life

We can have Spiritual Life (10): “the Spirit is your life” (you have no life other than that of the Spirit), even as we occupy these bodies of death.

We can even have Mortal Life (11): “will also make your mortal bodies alive through “His Spirit who lives in you”

When Jesus returns, we will received resurrection bodies: new, glorified bodies for eternal life.

But also now, in the ABNY: life of the KoG alive in you right now, even in your mortal body that’s going to die before the resurrection.

Amazing reality of what life in the resurrected Christ offers now as well as in the resurrection to come.

Xit: (Memes)

RV: Now we can think like the Spirit and have the life of the Spirit.

Ever see those memes with that guy sitting outside at a folding table, holding a cup of coffee, and there’s this sign on the table that makes some sort of wild claim plus the phrase, “Change my mind”? He’s just waiting for someone to come, sit down, and try to change his mind about something.

Eg. “Hot dogs are sandwiches. Change my mind.”

So far in Rom 8, it says that we can set our minds on the things of the Spirit, to think like the Spirit. But we know that our minds aren’t always on the things of the Spirit. We need someone to change our mind.

Xit: Have you ever prayed this prayer … ?

CR: Dear God … Change my mind

Ever pray that?

I want to think like the Spirit, but I don’t always; sometimes I think like the flesh, and that’s just enmity with God. Rom 8 just called that kind of thinking a form of death.

RS, rather than praying for God to just affirm what I already think about things.

We need to pray this: In order to think like the Spirit, we need God to change our minds - there’s no other way to think like the Spirit. But I don’t always feel like changing my mind. I think the way I do for a reason, so why should I change?

What is the danger of this prayer? God might actually answer it.

“Dear God, change my mind so that I can think like the Spirit, which then allows me to live this resurrection life of the Spirit fully to your pleasure, as you intend.” What if we prayed that way every day?

Xit: What if we prayed that way every day? We could …

Really Live!

(Live according to the Spirit) (12-13)

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8:12 So then, brothers and sisters, we are under obligation, not to the flesh, to live according to the flesh 8:13 (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.

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RS:

Live “according to” - in complete accord with the Spirit (not in accord with the flesh), to line up perfectly with the Spirit (not in line with the flesh).

No obligation to live in accord with the flesh. There is no “must” any longer - there’s nothing we must do in accord with the flesh. You have no debt to the flesh.

Gal 6:8:

You’re a beloved child of God via the Spirit (14-17)

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8:14 For all who are led by the Spirit of God are the sons of God. 8:15 For you did not receive the spirit of slavery leading again to fear, but you received the Spirit of adoption, by whom we cry, “Abba, Father.” 8:16 The Spirit himself bears witness to our spirit that we are God’s children. 8:17 And if children, then heirs (namely, heirs of God and also fellow heirs with Christ)—if indeed we suffer with him so we may also be glorified with him.

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RS: Adopted children! Confirmed by the Spirit that we are heirs - we have an eternal inheritance, that we do share in some of Christ’s sufferings for now, but we will one day also share fully in his glory.

Xit: Do you believe you are a beloved child of God?

CR: Kids live the spiritual life unobligated

But they still live it: Lack of obligation doesn't mean they don't live it out.

Not like someone in slavery: a slave is obligated to continue justifying being employed, his worth, and even his existence, and so he lives in constant fear.

But we’re fully adopted! We can call God our Father, we have the full inheritance, we will share in His glory.

And so we think like the Spirit and live in accord with the Spirit freely, unobligated, because we’re fully children of God.

Imagine a child who's already been adopted, but continues trying hard to justify being adopted - every day having to prove to his adoptive parents that he should be allowed to stay in the family, obeying them out of fear. We have some adoptive parents in our congregation, we know their kids and love them, and we can’t imagine obligating them to continually justify their adoption.

RS:

Xit: Rather than obligated, we live led by the Spirit (v. 14)

Chart: Led, not obligated

How do we think like the Spirit? How do we live in complete accord with the Spirit?

In simplest terms, we are led, not obligated.

Arrow = our calling to be made complete.

The THISJ Law pushes us, using terms of obligation to the flesh. And it doesn’t work. It can’t push hard enough.

The Spirit of God leads us, draws us like a magnet, attracts us toward Christ and completion in the KoG.

Only in following the Spirit can we live the life of the KoG!

Are you willing to risk following the Spirit in order for Him to be making you complete in Christ, both in how you think and how you live?

RV:

It’s Done. No condemnation, set free, our sin is condemned, righteousness has been fulfilled in us.

Get a Life. We can think like the Spirit, we can belong to Christ and have a life.

Really Live. According to the Spirit as a beloved child of God, led by the Spirit, not obligated.

Xit: Nathan to lead us, then discussion: Stay for vote

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Discussion

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Jeremy: Assign groups and group leaders (5 groups)

Paul Foxworthy

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Jacory Marshall

Chet Toole

Jon Rasmussen

David Jones

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Discovery Questions

Read Rom 8:1-17 (or read in sections, asking the following questions for each: 1-5, 6-11, 12-17). Consider reading it in two different translations.

Summarize in your own words what this section is about.

What do you gravitate to in this passage? Why?

What does this tell you about God?

What does this tell you about people?

On the premise that this is God’s Word, what changes would you have to make in your thinking or actions?

Who in your life needs to hear this?

Directed Questions

Read Rom 8:1-17. Consider reading it in two different translations.

How do you respond to this passage emotionally? Why?

What do you gravitate to in this passage? Why? (spend as much time in your group on this question as you like)

Why is the finished work of Christ (1-4) so important for us to understand when reading about Paul’s dilemma in Rom 7:14-24?

Thinking like the Spirit (5-11) does take a work of the Spirit in us. However, are there things we can do to make ourselves more receptive? If so, what? How would that help?

What feelings do you have about praying to God, “Change my mind”? Why?

How is living by the Spirit different from truly moral behavior? (12-17)

What is true of you if you have been adopted by God? (15)

How does our ability to call God “Abba” (15) enable us to live by the Spirit?

Do you feel like perhaps these things are not yet true of you? If so, please message your facilitator, an elder, or Pastor Colby so that we can talk about it.

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One key idea from each group facilitator

Gal 5:13-18

5:13 For you were called to freedom, brothers and sisters; only do not use your freedom as an opportunity to indulge your flesh, but through love serve one another. 5:14 For the whole law can be summed up in a single commandment, namely, “You must love your neighbor as yourself.” 5:15 However, if you continually bite and devour one another, beware that you are not consumed by one another. 5:16 But I say, live by the Spirit and you will not carry out the desires of the flesh. 5:17 For the flesh has desires that are opposed to the Spirit, and the Spirit has desires that are opposed to the flesh, for these are in opposition to each other, so that you cannot do what you want. 5:18 But if you are led by the Spirit, you are not under the law.

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Do you feel like perhaps these things are not yet true of you? If so, please message your facilitator, an elder, or me so that we can talk about it.

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