Romans - Part 16

A Matter of the Heart - Romans 10:1-21

SERMON TRANSCRIPT

Well we are continuing our series in Romans. We are in chapter 10. And then last chapter was dense, it was complex. There were a lot of issues around God's sovereignty and mercy and justice. And today Paul is gonna remind us that salvation is a matter of the heart. This is still in support of this larger argument that Paul is making, that the nation of Israel failed to attain righteousness through faith and instead tried to earn their way to heaven. and try to earn their salvation. And Paul's gonna say, it's not about that, it's a matter of the heart. And today I hope that this chapter serves as an encouragement and a reminder of how our faith, what God cares about most is our hearts. I wanna walk through this chapter and just guide us through Paul's thoughts and the truths that he addresses. So I know we just did, but we're gonna pray one more time for you to bow your heads. God, we come before you eager to understand your truth, who you are and what you do. So I just pray that as we dive into your scriptures, that you would help us to understand, God, that your spirit would be working in us right now, that we would be, just something would stick out to us that would help us to feel closer to you, to feel like we know you in a deeper sense. And God, you use this time for your glory. We pray this in your name, amen.

So I wanna start by just reading and then kind of, again, just going through it. We're gonna start in verse one. If you have your Bible, you can turn there. It'll be up on the screen. Verse one says, "Brothers and sisters, my heart's desire and prayer to God for the Israelites is that they may be saved. For I can testify about them and they are zealous for God, but their zeal is not based on knowledge. Since they did not know the righteousness of God and sought to establish their own, they did not submit to God's righteousness. Christ is the culmination of the law so that there may be righteousness for everyone who believes. In this section, Paul is explaining that the Israelites thought that they were the culmination of the law, that their own righteousness was the goal. They thought, here's the law that God has given us, we are the missing piece. I'm what really matters in this equation. If when I follow the law, I become a better person, and that's the goal, that's what God wants. It's about me, it's about me being better. But really, the law was supposed to help the Israelites see what really matters, which was their inability to fulfill the law, their inability to follow the law perfectly. And it was actually there to show them that they have a need for Christ. They have a need for God. Christ is the culmination of the law. The law points to him and the law is fulfilled in Christ by him living his perfect life. The law draws us closer to God. as we strive to be like Jesus, we have to depend on Jesus to follow God. We so often think of the law as rules of do's and don'ts that restrict us. We don't like rules naturally. When in reality, the law that God has given us helps us live life to the fullest, as God intended and as God designed. And when we live in God's design, Whilst life will still be full ups and downs, we at least experience the goodness of God through it all. When we don't live according to God's law, we put distance between us and God. We move away from God. And whether life is hard or good, if we aren't living the way that God designed, we'll be living in that season of life, distant away from Him. And we never want to do that. We wanna be walking closely with him.

So I wanna ask this morning, the first set of questions is this, how often are we making the law about us? How often are we using the law to either think better of ourselves to think, look how good I am, look at all that I'm doing God. Or are we using the law to even, that we can think better, that God thinks better or that others will think better of us. I want others to see how good I am compared to God's law. Look at this. Sometimes we need to understand that it's not about us. We need to get out of the way. We gotta remove ourselves from being the primary focus and see that the law, while it helps us and it grows us and it draws us closer to God, it's still not about us. It points to Christ. And when we are walking in His perfect ways, as God designed, it's not us that's glorified, but it's God that is glorified. So in this first section, he's explaining, this is how the law works. To the Roman church, to the Israelites there, this is how the law works.

Let's continue reading in verse five. It says, "Moses writes this about the righteousness that is by the law. The person who does these things will live by them. But the righteousness that is by faith says, do not say in your heart, who will ascend into heaven? That is to bring Christ down. Or who will descend into the deep? that is to bring Christ up from the dead. In this section, Paul is explaining how the law can be misunderstood. Paul mentions that this was the case all the way back when Moses wrote the law. And I love how often Paul does this, brings in the Old Testament, because it stresses the continuity of scripture, that the Old Testament ties into the New Testament, that Jesus' words are supported by the Old Testament, the old laws and vice versa. Scripture supports scripture. When we seek to understand what the Bible says, we do so by looking at other parts of the Bible. Paul is doing that very thing here by bringing Old Testament references in to understand who God is and what God does. And that's an example for us. I think too often we try to solely understand God based on our own experiences, based on just what we know and what we've learned about God. And while those things have a part to play and our understanding of who he is, our primary way that we should be seeking to understand God is through his word. It's the biggest tool we have to understand his character.

So that's what Paul is doing right now. And he's doing that by quoting Deuteronomy. And he's bringing in these old words from Moses and he's saying, sorry, my notes, where'd they go? Technical difficulties. He's quoting Moses from Deuteronomy and kind of combining some of these old verses and kind of adding his own take on it to help explain to the Roman church, this is what it's about. And it's about, we'll find out. Okay, okay, hold on. We'll edit this out, everyone who's, don't worry about it. (laughs) We won't, that's the, yeah, we can't. (laughs) Okay, yeah, Paul's explaining it. Doing the law is still a good thing. That never changed. It's just not the thing that will get us into heaven. The doing of the law is not the thing that will get us into heaven. It's rather, it's an indicator of where our hearts are at, and therefore, where our relationship with God is. If we are following the law, that's probably an indicator that we are wanting to be close to God. If we are not following the law, then that's probably an indicator that we have no care or intention of following God. Now there's discrepancies in that, and we can follow the law, we'll get to that, and still not be close to God. But the law is an indicator, usually an indicator of where we are, where our hearts are at in relation to God. And so church, I wanna ask, where are our hearts today? As indicated by us following God's instruction. Are we abiding by His word? Do we have a desire within us to follow Him and His instructions and His wisdom that He has given us in scripture? Or are we trying to do our own thing? Saying, God, I know you've said this is how it should be, but I like to do it this way. And my heart's over here. And the law is also consequently just out of our radar. Paul is tying together scripture, the entirety of the Bible, helping the Roman church see that this isn't new, but this is how God intended the law to act and to be all along. So that's how the law can be misunderstood. Let's continue reading in verse eight. It says, "But what does it say? The word is near you. It is in your mouth and in your heart. That is the message concerning faith that we proclaim. If you declare with your mouth, Jesus is Lord, and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. For it is with your heart that you believe and are justified. It is with your mouth that you profess your faith and are saved. As scripture says, anyone who believes in him will never be put to shame. For there is no difference between Jew and Gentile. The same Lord is Lord of all, richly blesses all who call on him. For everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved. This section, Paul is explaining how faith works. If you declare with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and you believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. There it is, a matter of the heart. This is how faith works.

Notice what Paul isn't saying. He's not saying, he's not saying if you obey all the commandments and you hold them perfectly for the entirety of your life, then you will be saved. It's not it. He's not saying God, if you follow God as to the best of your ability and try with all the effort, and God sees that you're giving everything you can, then you will be saved. No. He says, "Declare with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart and you will be saved." God, salvation is a heart issue. It's not works, it's not abilities, it's not effort. It's about your heart. When I was up at Tahoe, I was with some other churches and met our, or re-met and spent some time with our new district superintendent, Mike Skor, great guy, Pastor Chris knows him really well. Maybe some of you do too. But he was speaking about Abraham from Genesis and how Abraham's faith worked. And he said this, he said, "We wanna equate obedience with God, or obedience with earning God's favor and attention. And if we do this, this and this, then we will receive this, this and this." And that's not what God intended. He also pointed out the difference between the disciples and Pharisees. And see the Pharisees thought they had to do something to get God's attention and approval. And if they didn't, they would feel guilty about it. The disciples were spurred on to grow and be deeply transformed from within by the love of God and the desire to be like Him. And even when they messed up, it wasn't necessarily guilt that they felt, but this desire to grow and be more like Jesus. And so I wanna ask, which one are you today? Are you like a Pharisee? And I don't mean that in a mean way, 'cause we often talk about the Pharisees as the bad guys of the New Testament, but are we trying to do things to earn God's attention and approval? And if we don't do certain things in our Christian walk, are we feeling guilty? For example, in however you do your morning time or your walk with God, if let's say you wake up and you wanna spend 30 minutes with God, are you doing that to try and please Him? Are you saying, "God, look what I'm doing. "Look how I spent my 30 minutes. "See how I was spending time with you." And if you miss that time, are you feeling guilty? Are you thinking that God is disappointed in you? Or are you spending time with Him in the morning because He is someone that you love? And like anyone else, like in any other relationship, time with them is important and it's how you grow closer to them. Do you see the difference there? One's this checklist and when we're doing something to see God's approval, the other one is out of love, motivated with a desire to have a deeper relationship with him.

There used to be this insurance commercial, I don't know which insurance provider. I'll do my best to describe this funny scene. It was some women who had a bunch, this one woman had a bunch of pictures, like printed out pictures on her wall in her living room. And she invited her friends over to like her pictures. And it was supposed to be this play on like Facebook. And she's like, look at my vacation photos right here. And the one friend's like, oh, I really like that one. And the other friend's like, that's not how this works. That's not how any of this works. And the one lady's like, I unfriend you. And she's like, no, that's not how this works. And I feel like that's Paul right now, just over and over again, trying to tell the Israelites, that's not how this works. Salvation and how you think of it happening, that's not how it works. You've got it wrong. You think it's if you try so hard and you earn, no. It's a matter of the heart, Israelites. And for us today, church, it's a matter of your heart. The problem with it being workspace is that you can do the right thing and be rotten on the inside. For example, let's say I mess up or I'm rude to my wife. I can do the right thing by apologizing. I can say the words, I'm sorry, blah, blah, blah. But on the inside, I can be bitter, I can be selfish and private thinking like, I was not wrong in the first place. I'm just doing this to make you happy. Like, you know, all those things that no one here relates to that. No, you guys are all amazing. But we can be rotten on the inside and still do the right things. And so God being infinitely wise knows this and never set up this earning system by saying, if you just do the right stuff, no. He's like, I know what really matters and it's people's hearts. And so I want your hearts. God cares about your hearts. Faith is a matter of the heart. Declare with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart. That's how faith works. Let's continue in verse 14. "How then can they call on the one they have not believed in? And how can they believe in the one whom they have not heard? And how can they hear without someone preaching to them? And how can anyone preach unless they are sent? As it is written, how beautiful are the feet of those who bring good news. but not all the Israelites accepted the good news for Isaiah says, Lord, who has believed our message? Consequently, faith comes from hearing the message and the message is heard through the word about Christ.

Paul's now sharing about how sharing the gospel works and people need to hear the gospel. Believing and knowing God, our creator, Jesus, our savior comes from hearing the message of Christ. Someone needs to preach and witness and testify 'cause how else will the gospel be proclaimed? And how can anyone preach unless they were called to do so by Jesus? Well, guess what? We all were in the great commission by Jesus as go and make disciples, which includes testifying to who God is. So think of it this way, if you're with a bunch of people and there's some who don't believe, that means that there's someone there that needs to hear the gospel. And if you're with those people, don't be looking around saying like, hell, I wonder who God called to reach these people. I wonder who that is. I wonder when they're gonna come into this picture and share good news. No, it's you. You are all sent, you are all called to share the gospel. There are only two parties, those who need to hear and those who can share. There's not the third party of like, I'm just the witness to like see it all happen and wonder how God works. That's the main, no. Either you need to hear it or you can be sharing it. We talk about this weekly, you have the responsibility and the ability to share God's word. As little or as much as that may be, right? You can share that they need God, that God loves them, that God sent His son to die for their sins and to save them. You can share just what God has done in your life. I'm still learning about God. I don't know everything, but I know that he's done this for me. Boom, gospel being shared right there. The gospel needs to be heard. And by the way, this shouldn't stop once you become a believer. Just because you've heard the gospel once and accepted Jesus doesn't mean that you don't need to keep hearing God's truth. On the contrary, you need to hear God's truth regularly, daily, routinely. You wanna grow closer to God? That happens by spending time hearing from Him. That comes most often through His word, Sundays like this, community groups, your own daily devotion, prayer time, silence. All those things are ways that we are growing closer to God, hearing from Him regularly.

Paul also writes this phrase, "How beautiful are the feet." We don't say that anymore. It's a great, it's a beautiful feat, sir. It's not something we often say anymore. And so I just wanna remind us that this reference is a reference to the messenger of victory, who would, after the, in the Roman Empire, after there was some war and victory, they would send out these messengers to go to all the villages and say, "Hey, the battle's been won." And the term used, I think we talked about this at the very beginning of our series, the term used there was the gospel. We think of the gospel as strictly about the Bible and God's word, but the term in the Roman empire was, the gospel message was a message of just victory. And so you had this gospel messenger who would go out and tell all the villages, Rome has won. And the phrase often used was like, how beautiful are the feet of the messenger who gets to share about the victory with people? And so Paul is using that term here. How beautiful are the feet of the one who gets to share about the ultimate gospel message. The victory that we share in is the ultimate victory. It's Christ's victory over sin and death. There is no better gospel message than Jesus's gospel message. And God delights and considers it beautiful when we share his gospel. That is a message that we ourselves, people need to hear for the first time and we need to hear over and over again. Paul tells the church in Rome that sharing God's truth is a must. Now you've probably heard, even from Pastor Chris and myself, preach the gospel and when necessary use words. Well, that's only partially true. We should live in a way that glorifies God and points people to Christ, but we do so through our actions or inactions so that opportunities can arise, so that moments can happen when the gospel can be shared. It's not necessarily realistic to just walk up to a person and start sharing the gospel. If you have that gift, that's amazing. But we emphasize the whole, your actions and the way you live pointing to Christ, because hopefully and prayerfully, by doing that, it'll lead to a conversation. It'll lead to the gospel being shared in words and getting to testify to the work that God has done in your life. So that's still true. Preach the gospel when necessary use words, but that part of when necessary, be waiting for that. Don't think of it as like, hey, I never get, I don't ever have to share. I'll just do the part where I live really well and hopefully somehow they meet God. No, do that, but also be ready. Be ready to share the gospel. Couple of questions for us to just reflect on. Do you realize and do you know, and do you live in this way that You are commissioned by Christ to share the gospel. You are sent. You don't need anything official from this church or from the pastors here. You are sent as a believer to go out in your world, in your community, in your family, your neighbor, wherever it is, and to share the gospel. And do you know that when you do that, God delights in it and he's saying, how beautiful are the feet that brought my message to someone else? And are you ready? Are you ready to share? Again, as little or as much as that may be. If you've got that 10 point, like gospel message ready, good on you. That's awesome. Amazing. If you're like, all I know is that God's been doing some stuff in my life and I can share that. Great. Share that. Point to how Christ is at work in you. So that's how sharing the gospel works.

Let's go ahead and finish our chapter now in verse 18. But I asked, this is Paul, did they not hear? Of course they did. Their voice has gone out into all the earth, their words to the ends of the world. Again, I asked, did Israel not understand? First, Moses says, I will make you envious by those who are not a nation. I will make you angry by a nation that has no understanding. And Isaiah boldly says, I was found by those who did not seek me. I revealed myself to those who did not ask for me. But concerning Israel, he says, all day long, I have held out my hands to a disobedient and obstinate people. In this last section here, Paul is explaining how sinful hearts tend to work. Paul anticipates and knows that Israelites have some negative feelings when it comes to other nations receiving salvation by God. They were God's chosen people, were the special ones. And when they start seeing someone else receive the blessing and grace and love and salvation of God, it's not always positive feelings. They're like, "Oh, that's great." No, it's... It's kind of like a kid, and maybe you guys can relate, we can relate certainly at this. There's lots of toys in a kid's life, right? And some, they all have phases. And so Kinsley's had some favorite toys, and for a season, it's like all she's played with. And then sooner or later, we'll just end up at the bottom of the toy bin. And it's down there and we're like, all right, that toy is gone. and we'll kind of go through these purgings, like, "Hey, let's get rid of some stuff. Let's give this to another kid." And she hasn't seen it in months, and we'll bring it out. She's like, "Whoa, whoa, whoa, where's that one going? Whoa, hold on. That's my toy." We're like, "Well, you haven't played. Let's let another kid enjoy this." "No, that's mine." "Well, you haven't played with it in a long time. No one else can have it. It's still mine." It's kind of what Israel, that's what they feel when God starts offering salvation to the whole world. He's like, "Hey, now the whole world can experience it." He's like, "Whoa, me, we're the people. God, what are you doing?" Sinful hearts tend to make it all about us. We become prideful, selfish, self-centered, and we can no longer have a godly perspective and joy in someone else coming to Christ, experiencing the love of God. Are you mindful of your heart when someone comes to Christ? Some people are saved and we rejoice and we welcome them in with open arms. Oh, so good that you're here. And yet sometimes, maybe this is just me, sometimes when I hear about someone coming to Christ, for whatever reason, I'm skeptical. I'm like, did they? Really? You sure? Something about that kid whose toy is now being given away. We can be possessive of our faith, of our faith community. We can be possessive of our priority in a church family. There's a whole other heart issue that we have to deal with here. That's pride, possessiveness, priorities that are in disarray when it comes to God's kingdom. Sometimes it's helpful just to think this. When we get to heaven, I'm sure we will all be shocked by some people that are there with us, that we are sharing eternity with. We're gonna turn and be like, really? You're here? (audience laughing) You? Like, yeah, I love God. Like really? Okay, well, let's do eternity together. Just recently, a pastor friend was telling me of someone in his life who wants to become a pastor. And this person does not look like a typical pastor or a typical Christian, because before their coming to faith, They were living a life that was not at all close to God. This person has full face tattoos of a clown, has face implants to make them look more like a clown. And so it's just, his life was full of partying with wild satanic people. And because of a broken relationship, he's come to know Jesus in this miraculous way. And when this friend was telling me about this, and there's an article about it, I was reading this article, I was like, really? Really? Are we sure? Are we sure about this? And I had a heart check after reading this passage. And I was like, okay, I'm sure that God's not up there being like, really? I'm sure God is overjoyed about this person who maybe was so far away from him, coming to him and saying, God, now I love you. And I had to have a heart check. Does my heart reflect God's? Shouldn't I be overjoyed when someone's eternity is changed for the better? So just as believing is a matter of the heart, our reactions towards people believing is also a matter of our hearts.

The end of Paul's words here also points to how God works in a variety of ways. Salvation only through Christ, but how people are reached is different. We're all different and God's reached us uniquely about how we operate and how we think, we all don't have the same exact story. So even in this room, we all didn't come to know Jesus and be saved in the same exact way. Maybe some of us grew up in Christian homes and we've known Jesus or Jesus has been around our lives for all of it and we eventually came to faith and believe in him. Or some of us didn't come to know and believe in Jesus until adulthood and having lived a life away from God, but then came to know Him and believed in Him. Or maybe some of us have had like off again, on again relationship with God. If I was walking with you, but then I stopped and now I'm all in, but it's been back and forth. Or maybe some of us are sitting here today and still hesitant about what a relationship with God looks like. Paul says here, verse 20, Jesus was found by those who weren't even looking. And maybe that's some of your stories, that you were just living life, You're doing your thing, walking your own way. But God made himself very apparent to you and you couldn't ignore him anymore. He also writes in verse 21, God held out his hand continually, waiting for a disobedient and stubborn people. And maybe that's some of your story, that you've known God your whole entire life, knew that he was there for you, knew that he wanted you, but kept refusing to take his hand, kept refusing to surrender. saying, God, I don't wanna do that right now. I don't want relationship with you. I know about you, but I don't want it. Isn't God good to work in a variety of ways to reach a variety of people? It speaks to his desire, his heart of wanting so many to believe, wanting so many to come into his kingdom and be a part of his church family, his eternal family. I just love it. And I love that we all have different stories that highlight different aspects of God. God did this for me. That's amazing. God's grace really reached you in that. God was faithful in this story. It all ties back into sharing the gospel too, that maybe your story will reach someone in a way that my story can't, or maybe my story will be helpful in a ways that this story isn't. And isn't God using all of it for His glory? So we've seen how the law works, how the law is misunderstood, how faith works, how sharing the gospel works and how our sinful hearts tend to work. And through it all, the common thread is that faith is a matter of the heart. I just wanna end by asking these questions as you reflect on these this morning and maybe throughout this week. Do you have a heart that wants to draw closer to God? Do you have a heart that believes that God raised Jesus from the grave and that he is Lord? Do you have a heart that wants to share the gospel with other people and is ready to share the gospel with other people? And do you have a heart that isn't prideful or selfish, but rejoices when others come to know and believe in Christ? I encourage you this week to bring your heart before God, be vulnerable and honest with Him and ask Him through His Spirit to do the work, to bring to light some things like, "God, what can I work on? Where is my heart off a little bit? How can my heart be more aligned with yours?" And trust that the Spirit will work and transform you to be more like Christ and trust that God will continue the work that He has begun in you. He won't stop until you're with Him in heaven.

Let's pray. God, thank you for your gospel message. Thank you for the work that your spirit is doing in our lives. And God, I pray that through your word, we'd be encouraged and empowered and equipped to be gospel messengers, to bring your message of victory through Christ to people in our lives. You would give us words, God, in those moments, I pray that you would bring opportunities this week, moments to share with someone, the love of Christ. Again, maybe it's just a personal testimony or maybe it is scripture that we're sharing with someone. But I pray that when those moments arise, that through your spirit, we would have the courage and the boldness to share, to not ignore it, to not let and think that someone else will take care of it, but that we will feel the need to say, I'm ready. I'm gonna share right now. It takes faith, it takes trust. And so God, we trust and know that you will give us what we need in those moments. And God, I pray that you continue to work in us. Make us more like you. This whole church, our desire is to be representatives of Christ in our community, in our families, in our friends. So God use us for your glory. We're thankful for all that you're doing and know that you will continue to use us for your goodness and for your kingdom. We pray all this in your son's name, Amen.

Romans - Part 15

Mercy & Justice - Romans 9:1-33

SERMON TRANSCRIPT

We reentered our series in Romans and I am personally excited to know that by the end end of 2023, we'll have covered the entirety of the letter of Romans. That is a lot. It has been, at times, like drinking from a fire hose, or trying to. Yeah, there's so much to dive into, many more conversations to be had, there's so much more study that we all need to do on our own. We've just kind of, hopefully, loosened the soil, so to speak. And now, we'll have covered, by the end of the series, all of Romans, but there's still so much more to dive into and dig and just wrestle with. But I wanted to remind us again, 'cause some of you are newer here and didn't know that we started in Romans at the beginning of this year. And so, kinda put some things before us again that we've covered long ago.

And that is that this letter of Romans was written by the apostle Paul to the early church in Rome to believers. And they are dealing with all sorts of questions and issues and trying to figure out what does faith look like, what does being a church look like. And there's some reoccurring issues that Paul is trying to address and sort out, and one of them is that, is an issue that revolves around who gets to be saved, and this issue of Israel, and Israel's relationship to Jesus and their eternal destination. Last week, Pastor Chris talked about it being all good. You guys don't have to say it this week. No, there we go, it's all good. And it's all good because of Jesus and God's love for us, the salvation that only comes through Christ. And because of that salvation, the eternal perspective that we get to have, knowing that we'll be with God in heaven one day, is really a good message. If you haven't listened, you should go listen to it. A good message from a very encouraging passage in Romans. And now following that, Paul is anticipating questions from the readers. I don't know if you remember this, but this is kind of what he does. He'll say something and because he's not there in person, because they didn't have a phone call or Zoom to set up, like, "Hey, I'm going to tell you a bunch of stuff, and then if you have questions come," he's like, "I've got to do it all at once. So I'm just going to assume that you're going to ask these questions." And so he's set a bunch of things in chapter 8, and now he's just anticipating certain questions, and he's going to answer those questions. So he's saying, "Well, if it's all good, then what about Israel? Is Israel all good too, since they are God's people? if they are God's people, then why do they have to face judgment? And if this sounds vaguely familiar, it's because Paul has addressed this before in this letter, and therefore we have addressed this in our series before, but each time it's from a slightly different angle.

And today, in chapter 9, the tone of these questions is, "Is God good if Israel gets punished?" Is God a good God if Israel also faces the wrath of God? Just a heads up, scholars say that chapter eight, the one we just finished last week, if that's the most important chapter in Romans, chapter nine is the most difficult chapter because it deals with God's sovereignty and goodness and his mercy and justice. I just want to remind us that Paul didn't write any of this to be divisive, but to encourage believers about who God is and what he does. Often people pit God's mercy and justice against each other, or don't feel like they can coexist at the same time. But let's remember that all of who God is, and all of his character is good. He is a good God, all of him. We are finite creatures trying to understand our infinite creator. So that can be hard for us to comprehend sometimes. How does mercy and justice work? But let's assume, let's start at the place that God is a good God. So we're going to dive into our chapter this morning. Like I said, he's asking some questions. And the first question that he's going to ask is, "Did God fail?" Did God fail Israel? I want to read our first couple of verses here.

We're going to be in Romans 9, starting in verse 1. "I speak the truth in Christ. I'm not lying. My conscience confirms it through the Holy Spirit. I have great sorrow and unceasing anguish in my heart. For I could wish that I myself were cursed and cut off from Christ for the sake of my people, those of my own race, the people of Israel. Theirs is the adoption of the sonship. Theirs is the divine glory, the covenants, the receiving of the law, the temple worship and the promises. theirs are the patriarchs, and from them is traced the human ancestry of the Messiah, who is God overall, forever praised. Amen. It is not as though God's word had failed, for not all who are descended from Israel are Israel. Lord, because they are his descendants, are they all Abraham's children? On the contrary, it is through Isaac that your offspring will be reckoned. In other words, it is not the children by physical descent who are God's children, but it is the children of the promise who are regarded as Abraham's offspring. For this was how the promise was stated, at the appointed time I will return, and Sarah will have a son. Not only that, but Rebekah's children were conceived at the same time by her father Isaac. Yet before the twins were born, or had done anything good or bad, in order that God's purpose and election might stand, not by works, but by him who calls, she was told the older will serve the younger, just as it is written, Jacob I love, but Esau I hated. All right, there's a lot, chapter nine, difficult chapter. In the first five verses, Paul is in anguish over why more Jewish people do not believe in Jesus. He's anticipating the church in Rome asking the question, "If it's all good, if we are more than conquerors," going back to the last chapter, "then why aren't more Jews saved? If the Jews were God's chosen people, the Israelites, why did so many of them fail to believe in Jesus?”

And to probe even deeper in that question, he's really getting at the thought that we we humans love to ask, which is, whose fault is it? Whose fault is it that more Israelites don't believe? Is it the Jews' fault, or is it God's fault? Did God fail the Israelites? In those first five verses, he's explaining that God is not at fault. He's reminding the church that the Jews had everything on their side. They had the adoption into the family of God available to them by heritage, which means They grew up in the culture hearing about God, God as their God. They had all the stories of how God had worked and all those Old Testament stories. They had all those available to them. They had the covenants between them and God. They received the law of God. They had the temple, they had the promises of God, and they are the family from which Jesus came. So they had every opportunity to know Jesus, to receive Jesus, but they did not. And this deeply pains Paul. He shows this Christ-like mindset by saying, "If I could, if I could be cut off, "if I could be the sacrifice, and if I was cut off, "but it meant that every other Israelite, every other Jew, "be a part of God's family, I'd do it." But it sadly doesn't work like that. And he knows that, he's in anguish over it. But he's saying that Israel had so much opportunity, and that makes the reality of their situation, some of them being separated from the family of God that much more painful. So again, who's at fault? Is it the Jews or is it God? And he says in verse six, "It is not as though God's word had failed, "for not all who are descended from Israel are Israel." Paul's making it clear, it's not God's fault. Let's answer the question right now. It's not God's fault. He did not fail Israel. He's reminding the people that, this goes all the way back to the Old Testament. There's a distinguishing factor being made between those part of the lineage of Abraham, of those who embraced faith and those who didn't. It says in verse eight, in other words, it's not the children by physical descent who are God's children, but it is the children of the promise who are regarded as Abraham's offspring.

And Paul points to Abraham's promised son Isaac as an example and the two sons that Isaac had. Both Jacob and Esau were natural descendants of Isaac, promised to Abraham. but only Jacob bore the promise of nationhood. See, Jacob was one who embraced faith in God, and Esau sold his inheritance and embraced sinful impulse rather than faith. So Paul's making the distinction that not all of Israel has their faith in God. Some have embraced sin, and that's sinful impulse. To say that God is at fault for more Israelites not believing is to question the power and sovereignty and goodness of God. And Paul wants to be clear that God did not lose Israel, that somehow God was not powerful enough to keep them, but instead Paul is saying that they chose sin and rejection of Christ. Paul's relaying the truth that God has never had a peaceful relationship with the Esau's of this world, those who routinely choose sin over God. But God has a peaceful relationship with the Jacobs, those who are embracing their faith in God. So first question, did God fail and who's at fault? God did not fail, but Israel, the Jewish people, are at fault. Second question that Paul anticipates the church asking is, is God unjust? Let's continue reading in verse 14 when it says, "What then shall I say? Is God unjust? Not at all. For He says to Moses, "I will have mercy on whom I have mercy, I will have compassion on whom I have compassion." It does not, therefore, depend on human desire or effort, but on God's mercy. For Scripture says to Pharaoh, "I raised you up for this very purpose, that I might display my power in you, and that my name might be proclaimed in all the earth." Therefore God has mercy on whom He wants to have mercy, and He hardens whom He wants to harden. Alrighty. Remember, God is good.

Paul's asking the question, "Is God unfair in how He dispenses His mercy?" Is God unjust? Let's just pick apart that question and what's at stake here. By definition, mercy is something that is undeserved. You don't deserve mercy, it's a gift from people, or in this case, from God. So God is completely fair in whom He gives mercy to. He is all wise, He is good, and He is completely fair in who receives His mercy. Paul then quotes Exodus in this quote of Moses, and the scene here really quickly is when God is introducing Himself to Moses for the first time. In fact, it's the first time He's introducing Himself to anyone. Before this moment in Exodus, people just refer to God as the God of Abraham, the God of Jacob. He doesn't yet have a name. They just know that Abraham and all of his of his descendants worship this God. Well, when Moses has taken the Israelites out into the desert, and then Moses is up on the mountain, and he says, "God, I wanna know you. "Can we meet face to face?" And God says, "No, we can't do the face to face thing. "You can't handle that. "But I will tell you my name, and I'll tell you who I am." It's a very powerful, it's a whole 'nother sermon. I can't get into it all, but this is the moment that Paul is quoting. And God says to Moses, "My name is Yahweh, first time." And he says right after that, so that's my name, and this is who I am. I will be gracious to whom I will be gracious. I will have compassion on whom I have compassion. It's the first time that we hear who God is and what he does. And so we know in this conversation that Paul is referencing now about Israel and who receives salvation, this is exactly in God's character. This is who he's been always. He doesn't say it's only gonna be Israel that receives salvation. He implies that some will not experience His mercy. Paul then follows that question with, is God unjust in holding Israel or anyone accountable in rejecting His offer of salvation? And he answers this with the example of Pharaoh from Egypt, in this time that Moses had appealing to Pharaoh to let God's people go. Do you remember that scene? It's going back to Exodus in the Old Testament. Israelites are enslaved, and God sends Moses an heir and says, "Hey, I want you to go ask Pharaoh "to let my people go." And there's an interesting play here throughout Exodus of what happens to Pharaoh. The scene is about who is rejecting who. Who rejected who first? Did Pharaoh reject God first, or did God reject Pharaoh first, hardening Pharaoh's heart. So to answer this question, it's kind of like a case study that Paul brings into the middle of his argument here. He says, if we wanna talk about a little bit about how God works, we gotta go back to Pharaoh 'cause this is gonna make it clear. Who rejects who? Does God reject people or do people reject God? And so let's really investigate, and I just wanna, we don't have to turn there. But in Exodus, this is what happens. Moses goes to Pharaoh, and this is kind of the order. Yeah, this is so good. There's so much to cover. This is what happens. Moses has this conversation multiple times about on behalf of God, going to Pharaoh and saying, God wants you to let his people go. In the first five times, Pharaoh hardens his own heart. It says in chapter seven of Exodus when Moses and Aaron go, and they show that they are messengers of God. There's this whole scene with a staff and it turns into a snake and then Pharaoh's like, he experiences this and it says after that, "Pharaoh hardened his heart." And then the first plague comes, or the plague of frogs comes, and after that plague comes, it says that "Pharaoh hardened his heart." His own heart. Then the plague of gnats, chapter 8, "Pharaoh hardened his heart." Then the plague of flies comes, "And hardened his own heart. Now, the next plague happens. It's the plague of dead livestock, but all of Israel's livestock lives. All of the Egyptian livestock dies. This is, again, just God reaching out to Pharaoh saying, "Hey, I'm being serious. You better let my people go." And this time, Pharaoh did not harden his own heart, but it says that his heart was unyielding, which means he wasn't going to stop. He wasn't going to let go of his position of being against God. And then we see what God does.

The next time is the plague of boils, nasty things all over the bodies, and God hardened Pharaoh's heart. Then right after that, Pharaoh hardened his own heart. It says in Exodus 9, 34, "When Pharaoh saw that the rain and hail and thunder had stopped, he sinned again, and he and his officials hardened their hearts. Then we go back, I'm just gonna lay it out, the whole case study. The next part is that God hardened his own heart, or yeah, hardened Pharaoh's heart. And by this time, Pharaoh has developed a pattern of ignoring God, hardening his heart, facing another plague, and still not yielding to God, not changing his mind. And he even says that he has sinned. He knows that he is against God, and yet he is entrenched in his ways. And then, after the plague of locusts, he is crying out for Aaron and Moses to ask God for forgiveness. He says, "I can't handle this anymore. Please ask your God to stop these plagues." He recognizes that he has sinned. And so God takes the plague away. But God hardens Pharaoh's heart. And then there's the plague of darkness and the plague of the firstborn, and after all those, God hardens Pharaoh's heart. Let me fast forward a little bit, and Israel is let go. Pharaoh says, "Yes, go. I can't handle any more of this." And so the Israelites have left the Exodus. They have left Egypt. And in chapter 14 of Exodus verses 5 through 6, we hear this. When the king of Egypt was told that the people had fled, Pharaoh and his officials changed their minds. pattern of sin comes back. They changed their minds. They had been in line with God's will. Yes, let the people go. But then Pharaoh changed his mind, and he gathered up his army and his chariots. And then a couple of verses later it says that the Lord hardened his heart so that Pharaoh, the king of Egypt, would pursue the Israelites. So I say all that. Here's the tally. Five times Pharaoh hardened his own heart. Four times before God even did anything. and then five times that God hardened Pharaoh's heart.

Why do I share all this? Why is this important? Why does Paul bring it up? It's to help us see that Pharaoh's own choices and God's justice are in line. God's hardening of Pharaoh's heart comes only after Pharaoh has done it first. So God doesn't reject anybody who doesn't reject him first. Their own choices of rejecting God are in line with God's punishment, justice, and wrath. Hopefully we understand this helps us see a picture of God's mercy and justice at work, and how God operates, and when He does harden someone's heart, or spare someone, like it says in this chapter in Romans that God spared Pharaoh for this very purpose that his glory might be seen, when he does that, God is still good. Even if he doesn't save or redeem that person, God is still just and he is still merciful. God has mercy on whom he wants to have mercy. So is God just and holding people accountable to their decision. Yes, yes He is. This also shows that salvation is grace from beginning to end. It's Jesus who first reaches out to us and it's only by His grace that we are saved. Jesus reaches out and then we have a choice to respond to the reaching out of of God in a positive way, moving towards Jesus, or in a negative way, moving farther away from Jesus, like Pharaoh did. God first came to him through Moses saying, "Hey, I want you to do this." And Pharaoh took the step away saying, "No, I don't wanna do that. "I'm going farther away from you, God." All right, let's come up for some air for a second. How we doing? That was a lot. Even me right now, I'm like, did that make sense? I hope it made sense. I hope that that provided some clarity as to the conversation that Paul is having in Romans and clarity to how God operates. We know that God is perfectly just and we know that people harden their hearts towards him first, and then God can harden their hearts after that. We also know that God didn't fail.

So, our last question, is God good? And this comes from verses 19 through 24, which read, "One of you will say to me, "then why does God still blame us? "For who is able to resist his will?" And Paul says, "But who are you, a human being, "to talk back to God? "Shall what his form say to the one who formed it? "Why did you make me like this? "Does not the potter have the right to make out "of the same lump of clay some pottery for special purposes and some for common use. What if God, although choosing to show his wrath and make his power known, bore with great patience the objects of his wrath, prepared for destruction? What if he did this to make the riches of his glory known to the objects of his mercy, whom he prepared in advance for glory? Even us, whom he also called, not only from the Jews but also from the Gentiles." So this last question is, you know, again, a bunch of questions that Paul's gonna answer. says, "Is God's decision to only save some inconsistent with His goodness? Is God still good even though some will face His wrath?" And again, I want to pause just as Paul does here and remind ourselves, do we think we are wiser and smarter than God? Paul says in verse 20, "Who are you to talk back to God?" We have to approach the situation trying to understand God rather than already assuming that who He is and what He does is faulty. We also have to remember that God's ultimate end is His glory. God's glory is the most important thing in the universe, and it's what He cares about most. Yes, He loves us, He cares about us a lot, but in a way that only God can, He is all about His own glory. I'm giving all these reminders because the truth is, this is such a tough conversation.

Paul knows it and acknowledges it. And the answer to this question is this, and if you only hear one thing today, let it be this. God is glorified when his mercy is at work, and God is also glorified when his justice is at work. There's usually two reactions to that. Some of us are comforted knowing that God is glorified in both. We appreciate his mercy and we appreciate his justice. We like his justice both equally. Yes, God is glorified in both. For others, it's uncomfortable to hear about God being glorified in His justice and when He exercises His wrath. But it's necessary for us to wrestle with this, these truths of who God is and what He does, and to recognize that He is still glorified even when He is being just and exercising judgment. In verses 23 through 24, Paul is getting at the point that God is God, He is perfect. And even if He did, kind of this hypothetical, if He did, in choosing to show His wrath upon someone like Pharaoh, did all that just to make His glory known, wouldn't He still be good? Is God still allowed to do that? Yeah, He is. Now, the early church wasn't necessarily questioning what happened in Exodus, but are wondering again about Israel and why more of them are not believers. They are wondering, did God predestine Israel to fail? Did God raise up his people just so that they could not accept him? And if so, if that's the case, then is God good in that? Why would God do that? Why would God purposely just raise up a bunch of Israelites to have them not accept Jesus?

And so Paul wraps up this chapter by countering that thought, by reminding the people that Israel rejected Jesus because they refused to humble themselves before God. They refused to receive salvation by faith. They thought they could do it themselves. They thought they could earn it. They thought they didn't need God, which is the age-old, going back to the garden, the original sin, when Adam and Eve took the fruit. "I don't need God. I can be a God. I don't need Him." That's what Israel struggled with, too. Think of all the rejection and sin that Israel did since leaving Egypt, in the desert, having to wander for 40 years because they were not submitting themselves to God, all the problems with the judges and kings and being captured by foreign nations and being in exile. Israel had developed a pattern, just like Pharaoh, of saying one thing but sooner or later sinning against God and rejecting God, hardening their hearts. Their mindset was we can do it on our own. And if we think of the time of Jesus, think of the Pharisees with all their rules and regulations trying to earn their way to heaven, when the whole time all they needed to do was entrust their lives to God. God did not predestine Israel to fail. Rather, chose to reject God and then Jesus over and over and over again. Paul presents this evidence from Scripture that this is always how God has operated, and there's even evidence that God knew this was going to happen, and He foretells about it. So he, in verses 24 through 26, he's referencing Hosea. He says, "I will call My people who are not My people, and I will call her My loved one who is not My loved one." And in the very place where it was said to them, "You are not my people," they will be called children of the living God. So he's saying that God will have compassion on whoever he wants to have compassion on, and that person doesn't have to be an Israelite. That can be a Gentile. That can be someone not of the chosen people.

And then Paul quotes Isaiah referencing that even back then, God was letting people know that only some of Israel will It says in Isaiah, or in our chapter, "Though the number of Israelites will be like the sand of the sea, only the remnant will be saved, for the Lord will carry out His sentence on earth with speed and finality. It is just as Isaiah said previously, unless the Lord Almighty had left us descendants, we would have become like Sodom, we would have been like Gomorrah." So Paul is relaying to the church in Rome, this is nothing new. The salvation that Jesus brings, it's been talked about for hundreds of years, and the The reactions of the Israelites and the Gentiles was already known by God. And God told us through the prophets that this is how it was going to be. Only some of Israel would believe, and God would then start to welcome Gentiles and other people into his family. He's again emphasizing that becoming a part of God's family has nothing to do with heritage. Just being an Israelite does not mean that you are a part of God's family, but it's all about to do with if you're embracing faith in God. The truth is that while some may be questioning if God predestined Israel to fail, in reality, even though it was Israel who failed and hardened their own hearts, and yet God continued to intervene in his people's lives, continued to have mercy. And if he hadn't, if God had just left Israel alone, it would have been like Sodom and Gomorrah. And any reference in the Bible to Sodom and Gomorrah is a reference to the most evil town and cities ever, towns and cities so evil that they needed immediate destruction. God wiped them off the face of the earth. So he's saying God knew that Israel, not all of Israel was going to believe, but that didn't stop God from still having mercy and continuing to reach out. And if God had just let Israel go, if He had just taken His hands off and said, "You know what? I'm done completely," they would have ended up like Sodom and Gomorrah. That was the route that Israel was headed. They were headed to such evil. But God is so good to continue to reach out to Israel again and again and again. Salvation is only obtained through Jesus, not what Israel thought in trying to earn their way. Israel pursued the law instead of pursuing Jesus. And Paul explains all this to say that God is good, God did not fail and God is just.

So Paul has answered his questions. And what about us today? What should our response be to Paul's words in the letter of Romans? Well, very quickly, there's three things that I think we should have because of this truth right here. And the first is a spirit of humility, a humble heart. Let's not make the same mistake that Israel made, thinking that they could do it on their own, and in so doing, rejecting Jesus. Let's admit our need for God every single day, and live dependent on His Spirit. Let's not harden our own hearts, but remain open and desiring of God's influence and guidance in our lives. We need to have a humble heart. Recognize who is God and who isn't, all of us. Remember our place. Remember that even in seeking to understand God and his ways, we start from a place of knowing that God is good. Be a Jacob, like from this passage right here. Someone who embraces faith in God. Don't be an Esau, someone who gives into sin routinely over and over again. So church, do you have a humble heart? Do you recognize God's goodness and his justice and mercy? Even if you don't fully understand how that works, do you still worship Him and worship the God who is perfectly just and is perfectly merciful? Secondly, be comforted. Know that the work that God has begun in you is one that He will finish. He won't give up on you. Even when you have moments of hardening your heart, we all do it. We have moments where we turn away from God and say, "Oh, I want to do it my way. I'm hardening my heart. I'm entrenched in this moment of sin. Know that He still extends grace and mercy and love to you. God desires and strives to have relationship with you. He wants to bring you closer to Him. So if you're sitting here wanting to know God more, continue to step towards Him, move towards God. When He's reaching out to you, have a positive reaction. Don't turn away. And be comforted in knowing that when we serve and worship God, we are bringing such joy to Him. We worship the One who has defeated sin through His Son, Jesus Christ. So are you comforted in knowing that Jesus is at work in your life? Are you comforted in knowing that He won't give up on you?

Even when you have moments of hardening your heart, he still wants you and he's still pursuing you. And then lastly, our response should be of sharing our faith with other people. When you are a part of God's family, you begin to take on the heart of God. And the heart of God is one who wants people to know him. So we should want other people to know God. That means that you need to share with others what God is doing in your life. It doesn't mean that you're sharing as a perfected work. None of us are perfect. We still are struggling. Life is still messy. We're all works in progress. But we know that God will never give up on us, and we can share that with others. Say, "Hey, God's not giving up on me. "He's still working on me." And I think God wants to work in you too. You just share that God has reached you, and He wants to reach others. You share what you know of God. You don't have to worry about having all the answers. You just share what you know. You testify to what God has done in your life, as little or a lot as that may be. Today's passage is a heavy one, and it's dense, and maybe you're walking away with more questions than answers. But share what you know. Share what you've learned. And be okay with saying, "I don't know." Someone has a question like, "I'm not sure. I'm figuring that out myself." the very beginning of this chapter, Paul says he was in anguish for more people not knowing Jesus. I'll be honest, I struggle with this. I want to have the heart that Paul has, being in such pain and anguish and despair over people not knowing Jesus. Sometimes I feel like my attitude is a little too, I'm just too, it seems like I'm okay with it. I'm like, "Okay, well, if they come to know Jesus, if Jesus is at work, I want to be like Paul. I want to say, "No, I'm upset. I want people to know Jesus. I want to be motivated to reach them, to act out in love and have a desire that they would come to know Him, and I want to be a part of that. I want God to use me and other people coming to know Him." So our prayer as the leadership and pastors of this church is that you are transformed. You continue your transformation in being more like Christ. That God would use all of us for this church and for this surrounding community, that His glory would be known, that God would be glorified and His glory would be saturated here. We are those instruments to reach this community, to reach people in our lives. Don't think it's not you. It's you. God wants to use you.

So let's do that. Let's do this together. Let's do this in faith. But to reach the people in our lives and our community for Jesus with confidence and humility, those things can be done together, recognizing that it is so important that people know who God is. Let's pray. God, thank you for your word and for tough passages like Romans chapter 9 that make us think, that make us pause, and make us try to figure out who you are, God, and how you work. And I pray that in our hearts, in everyone's hearts here who's wondering that, I pray that would still give us peace. That would not be unsettling or upsetting, that we can't really figure out how you're perfectly merciful and perfectly just at the same time, but that you would give us peace in that. Knowing that you are infinite, we're finite. We're not going to fully understand all of who you are, but that doesn't keep us from wanting to pursue you more, to know you more, knowing that it won't be until heaven that we fully, fully understand you. God give comfort to those who are unsettled right now, who need your peace. I pray that your spirit would come to them and comfort them, Lord, that they would know that you are at work in their lives. God, we also pray that you would give us humble hearts, that we would continue to live our lives knowing that You are God, we are not. Help us to keep that perspective. And God, we also pray that You would give us confidence and motivation to share our faith. So often we can just be content with our faith being just, "It's just about me and You, God. I'm just going to go about my day to day, just worried about me." But God, You've put people in our lives. put people in our lives that need to be reached and we can't keep thinking that someone else will do it. So God, stir in us a desire to be a part of the work of your kingdom. We love you God. We come before you humbly and with joy and expectation that you are going to be working in us and through us. We pray this in your son's name. Amen. Thanks for listening. And if you would please take a moment to subscribe and leave an encouraging review to help others find our podcasts on whatever platform you are listening on. We hope you have a wonderful day. We'll catch you next week.

Romans - Part 14

Blessed Assurance: It's All Good! - Romans 8:31-39

SERMON TRANSCRIPT

Well, I'm excited this morning to jump back into our Roman series. We, I think we kicked off the first year with this and we went all the way until I think it was the end of May. And then we took a break in our impossible moments series for the summer. And now we're gonna jump back in and we're gonna finish out the rest of the book of Romans and finish just before Thanksgiving. So I'm excited about this. It's gonna be a great time. Maybe some of us have been around this. You're familiar with Romans. Maybe this is first time you're hearing of our series in this, but I just wanna say welcome. So glad that you are here. And so we left off just before the end of chapter eight. And Paul up to this point had been writing to the church in Rome, this letter. So this is a standalone letter that would have been written in its entirety to the church in Rome. And we kind of have a disservice in that and that we only see bits and pieces of it week in and week out. And so we, as a whole, the book of Romans is all about the power of the gospel. And Paul here in his very much lawyer analytical mind has broken down each and every piece of the power of the gospel. Some to a point where you think he's arguing with someone where he just keeps coming back. And then what about this? And then what about this? And what about that? We're gonna have a little bit of that today in our chapter, the end of chapter eight. but Paul here is making the most solid concrete with absolutely lock down power of the argument, of the power of gospel, where it comes from, what it's about and how it changes our lives. And so this has been our heart in this series to really dive into this letter and try to take it chunk by chunk and try to piece together what Paul here is saying. 'Cause sometimes you just, you get lost. you're just feel like you're either lost because he's saying all this stuff, or you feel like you've just been handed, you just been a dump truck of information on you that you're just in information overload. And you try to be, where do we even begin with this? And so we are here coming to a point, some scholars would say that is like the pinnacle of the book of Romans.

Paul here has been since verse one in chapter one, building this entire argument about the power of the gospel, and Paul's gonna cap it here, and then we're gonna hit this downward slide on the other side, and basically what this means to our lives. And so this is kind of a turning point in this series, a perfect time to jump back in in this book, but we're gonna be in Romans chapter eight, starting in verse 31. And so just a quick recap on chapter eight itself, so you can get some context and background. Paul here has been talking about this idea of how amazing this Christ is. He says in verse one in chapter eight, "Therefore, there is no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus." This is this beautiful picture in this passage of all about the gospel of Jesus. And then in verse 15, he says, "The Spirit that you received," the Holy Spirit that comes on us when we accept Christ, "The Spirit that you received does not make you slaves so that you live in fear again." because we were slaves to our sin before we came under Jesus. He doesn't make us slaves again, rather the spirit you see brought you to a place of adoption to sonship in Christ Jesus. And by him that we can cry out to God, Abba Father. When we come into this relationship with Jesus and we accept his salvation, his love and his grace and his mercy, it changes us. It changes our last name. It changes our inheritance. It changes who we are, and we are given a completely new identity, which is under the umbrella of Jesus Christ. And this is amazing here that Paul Key continues on in verse 18, "I consider that our present sufferings are not worth comparing with the glory that will be revealed in us." Paul here is saying that when we are adopted, we were brought into this new family, that our present sufferings aren't important. Our present sufferings don't matter. We're gonna dig in a little bit more on this this morning, but compared to the glory, our inheritors that we receive, what is that glory? That's salvation, that's eternal life in heaven with Jesus for then and forevermore. And then Paul, just before this, in verses 28 to 30, it says, "And we know that all things God works for the good of those who love Him and who have been called according to His purpose. For those God foreknew, he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his son, that he might be the firstborn among many brothers and sisters. And those he predestined, he called. And those he called, he also justified. And those he justified, he also glorified." Paul takes us through the steps of when we accept this salvation piece from Jesus, this happens, and then this happens, and this happens, and this happens. And today we're gonna dig into Paul talking about this incredible assurance that we have been given in our gift of Jesus that he gave to us. And so before we dive in, I'd like to pray real quick. And then we're gonna take this little section by section and learn about God's assurance today.

Heavenly Father Jesus, thank you for this morning, God. Thank you for our worship through singing, God, as we worship through your word now, Jesus, I pray that you would use this moment to transform us. Maybe in this moment, we could be given a little more of a boldness, maybe God, that we can live out our life knowing that it's all taken care of. And then we don't have to worry about what might be around this corner or that corner, or think of the stressors that may try to derail us off of the focus that you want for our lives. And so Jesus, I pray that your servant Paul and his words would transform our hearts this morning through the power of the Holy Spirit. We thank you, Jesus. Amen.

Well, Paul here is gonna jump right in and basically just throw out this argument. He starts here, verse 31. He says, "So what then shall we say in response to these things?" What shall we say to all this argument that Paul has started from verse one, all the way to this point, eight chapters later. So what do we say then? If God is for us, who can be against us? If God is for us, who can be against us? Did he not spare his own son, but gave him up for all of us? How will we heed not also along with Him graciously give us all things? Who will bring any charge against those whom God has chosen? It is God who justifies. Who then is the one who condemns? No one, Jesus Christ who died. Not more than that, who was raised to life is at the right hand of God and is also interceding for us. These verses here, Paul says, so now that we have this basis understanding of this power of the gospel in Jesus Christ, but from God the father through Jesus Christ into the Holy spirit, into our lives, what do we say then? So Paul's basically saying, so what now? Where do we go from here? What do we do with all this information that we have now? And Paul here in these is gonna out lie this idea of these promises and these good and wonderful blessings that when we belong to Jesus, we are given ourselves. In these blessings, I'm not talking about the perfect paycheck. I'm not talking about the perfect house, the car, the shoes, the phone, the health. I'm not talking about any of that stuff. I'm not talking about the newest gadget, the newest gizmo, whatever that you have been lately chasing or focused on or thinking about. I'm not talking about those blessings. Paul here is talking about this new life, this new affections, this new home in the heaven that we have been given that has prepared for us by Jesus. God himself, and Paul wrote this, God himself gave the gift of his son so that each of us might be able to experience this great depth of love for us. This is a good blessing. But let's just think about that. He gave Jesus, God gave Jesus And Paul here is making an argument of, if he is gonna give us Jesus, which is the greatest thing that we need, won't he also give us the things that he has promised? Wouldn't he also give that to, if he was able to figure out and solve our biggest problem of death, don't you think he can take care of all the little things too? Don't you think he has a power to be able to take care of that? Don't you think that he is faithful, that he is loving, that he is full of good blessings for us? Paul here is saying, what's more about this is that we don't have to worry about what others might say about us or do to us because we know that God is for us. That God is doing everything that he possibly can, more than what enough that we need to be able to solve all the problems, all the things that we're struggling with, we're walking through, we're dealing with, we're facing every single day, every single moment. And he says right there, "And if God is for us, who can be against us?”

Church, I wanna tell you today that it's all good. I want you to say that with me. We're gonna, I'm gonna start this and we're throughout this sermon, I'm gonna kind of point out and I'm gonna say, church, what does this mean? And you're gonna respond back to me and you say, it's all good. All right? So I wanna practice saying that together. Ready, ready? On the count of three, one, two, three. Oh yes, I love it. That's it, okay? I'm not doing like quiet church today, okay? We're gonna have a little talk back here with this, all right? So it's all good. And then what is in this is the idea of God's justification in Christ, that we are justified. A simple way to break this word down is just if I had never sinned. That is how Christ or God views us because of Christ's gift for us. Is that we not only, it's not like just like Jesus did a repair job on us. Like, you know, you got the phone and you like break the screen and you gotta take it somewhere to get it fixed And you don't go to Apple because, or any name brand, 'cause it's like $500. You find some guy on Yelp or a friend of a friend, you order a screen off eBay and have it shipped from China, and then you follow the YouTube video and try to fix yourself, right? Anybody else? No, that's just me, I'm the weirdo, okay. But when you get that screen back on, your phone just never the same, right? The button never clicks just right, the camera, the front facing camera just has a weird color to it. Like your phone is never the same as it was when you opened that box that first day and pulled it out and set it up. I love tech, I'm a nerd, okay? So this is, just stick with me on this one, all right? Jesus doesn't just fix our broken screen. Jesus takes us and gives us a brand new life. Just if I, it's like getting that phone repaired and just if you had never cracked the screen, just if you had never used it, just if it was a brand new life. That's what Paul here is talking about. And because of that church. Yeah, okay, I know some of you are slow with that, but we'll get there, okay? By the end of this room, be on it. But Paul here is saying, so if that is truly the case, who can condemn us? Who can put us down? Who can push us to the side? Who can say you're not good enough? Who can say you don't have it all together? Anybody? Nobody.

Nobody can say that God has already justified us and he is now moving on to the next piece, which is a sanctification piece and ultimately glorification with the face of Jesus in heaven is where we're headed. And so when we have this thing, Jesus, God has made us holy. He is making us holy and he will one day make us fully holy. So when life hits you, remind yourself that God is for you. When people say that you're not good enough, remind you that Jesus says you're good enough. When someone decides that you're no longer worth loving, you can remind yourself that God loves you. When you're hurt by someone who's supposed to be your friend you remind yourself that God is for you. And when Satan tries to tempt you or throw you off your tracks or remind you that you can't do this, you're not good enough, you're not worthy, you're not even worth an ounce of anything that God is for you. And so again, who can be against you? There is no commendation for those who are in Christ Jesus. Jesus took all of that, took it to the grave on the cross, and then now is taking care of that for you. And because of that, we can live a celebrated life, right? It's all good, I love it. That you know what I'm saying here, church, right? Yes, there we go. That Jesus, when he died, he was raised again, and he's sitting at the right hand of God, interceding for us saying, "Hey, that's my kid right there. That's my son, that's my daughter. They're mine. That adoption piece, they're mine. They have my last name. They're part of my family. That's who they are. And now we can see these great blessings, good blessings. And we can remind ourselves. Yes, I'm gonna keep doing this. So either you can be a part of it or you can just be there and not be a part of it.

Paul continues on. He says in verse 35, Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall trouble or hardship or persecution or famine or nakedness, or danger or sword? For it is written for your sake, we face death all day long. We are considered as sheep to be slaughtered." Paul reminds us, who can separate us from the love of God? Nothing. Paul here, he's talking about these amazing blessings and time and time again, He's saying why life matters now. 'Cause before, if we think about life before, it didn't always matter, right? Life didn't always matter before Christ, but life because of Christ matters to each and every one of us. But what if somehow we could lose these blessings? I don't know about you, I might be a little skeptical. And I might think, how can we know for sure? We might lose it. 'Cause the reality is there's other blessings that we can lose, right? There's other things in life that we can lose. One day you can have great health and the next day you wake up and you can get news that you got your terminal illness, you got cancer, you got something that is going to change your life forever. Life's fragile. You can have the nice retirement plan set up, the 401k, the investments, the Roth IRA, You can have everything set. And one day you wake up and the market does that. Just like that. And it's gone. I'll pay you later, dad, for that. That was perfect timing. But that's true, right? You can wake up one day and the person who's supposed to be the lover of your life will tell you, I don't love you anymore. You can have your church betray you. It happens. You can have your pastor betray you. That new car you got that still got that new shiny car smell on the inside could get hit on the way home this afternoon, it'd be over, it's gone. Blessings in life disappear. And so I think for us, it's hard to wrestle with this, to go like, God, how do you say that this is for sure, for sure? How can we know that we know that we know? And Paul here, he's breaking this down and reminding us that nothing can separate us from the love of Jesus. The greatest thing that nobody could ever overcome death, Jesus overcame it and he gave that to us. And so we may die here on earth, real possibility, everybody faces it, but our biggest problem of eternal death has been flipped upside down because the power of Christ that we can live in eternity with Jesus in heaven. And nothing can separate us from the love that is in Christ Jesus, our Lord. Why? (congregation murmurs) Yes, Joseph was early, I love it. He's locked in. Notice though that Paul doesn't say here that we won't encounter things that will try to hurt us, will try to destroy us or try to separate us from the love of God. See the most of them time we have, we can't go a single day without the enemy trying to come at us, right? We can't go sometimes in even an hour without something trying to come at us to knock us off our groove and to try to pull us into despair and darkness.

Paul here, he's actually quoting Psalm 44:22 and says, "Yet for your sake, we face death all day long. "We are considered as sheep to be slaughtered." It's kind of a bit aggressive language here, right? But this verse was written all the way back in the early days of Israel. And Paul here, I think is doing two things. One, he's reminding us that even ever since that verse was written, every single day something has happened. The enemy knows they're gonna lose. And so they will do every single thing that they can to knock us off our game, to mess up our focus, to pull our thoughts away from where they need to be on the cross. Paul is reminding us that long time ago has always been a point of struggle. But not only that, that there's this promise to point us to Jesus, even in the midst of that, that nothing can separate us from God, nothing. Because that verse, year after year after year had been worshiped, prayed over, repeated, And yet God still brought victory. God still took and held the promises that he had given us of life eternal in heaven. That even though that verse, it may be true, that Jesus still wins. The other promise in this is our focus on a good future. That if all of this is true, even a tiny bit, that in the good blessing, the good security and the good future that we have in eternity, Paul finishes out this section in a few verses, he says, no, in all of these things, We are more than conquerors. I love that. We are more than conquerors through him who loved us. For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future nor any powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord. We are conquerors. It's all good. Where we're not only just barely surviving, we're not just barely scraping by. We're not just a little bit of life left in us. We are conquerors. We are victorious in Christ Jesus. We come through on top by the power of the cross.

And those who are in God, the final outcome will always be good. Whether good on this side of eternity or on there. Last week, we wrapped up our impossible moments series and we had talked through a lot of this stuff. And we spent the summer going story after story after story after story of how God showed up in so many people's lives. And we gave out the bubble gum, you guys remember? Chew. And the idea of the E there is an eternal perspective. Paul here is saying that because of the gift of Jesus that we have in His grace, we're able to have an eternal perspective. Because before that we couldn't, right? Before that we didn't have the ability to fix it ourselves. Every greatest attempt that from any greatest person ever still fell short. But it's in Jesus that we were given the power for Him to transform us, to justify us just if I had never sinned. That gives us the eternal perspective. We know how the story ends, right? We've been singing a song this summer that we know how the story ends. we will be with you again. That's our eternal perspective. We know that these sufferings of this world do not compare with the glory that will be revealed to us. We know that we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. We know that there is no condemnation for us. We know that all things work together for us. We know that the final outcome for the children of God will always be good. and that no affliction, no distress, no persecution, no famine, no nakedness, no danger, no sword, no death, no life, no angels, no rulers, not things present, not things to come, not powers, not height, not death, not COVID-19, not politics, not racism, not school violence, not high fuel prices, not inflation, not hypocrisy by other Christians, not negativity in the church, not nothing ever created will be able to separate us from the love of Christ Jesus that is our Lord. There's nothing. Rest in that promise today. If you're to take away anything today, take away this. I want you to be encouraged. Be encouraged today. Why? It's all good. It's all good.

Paul here is reminding us in the church and in Rome of this very same truth, that no matter what we face, God still has the final word. Even when we think all hope is lost, even when we think everything is falling apart around us, even when we think I don't even know how I'm gonna wake up tomorrow, Jesus is right there. He's still got something to say about it. Even if you and I are done talking about it, Jesus still has a word. It's because of this power, the resurrection of Christ Jesus, we too share in the same blessed assurance that many of us have experienced. Each of you has a story. And I know a lot of some of your stories that you guys have been at the end of your rope. You guys have been there and you thought, I don't know what tomorrow's gonna hold. I don't know what tomorrow's gonna bring. I know some of you and others that have gotten to such the dark place that you thought about taking your lives. And if I was to ever try to tell something to you in those places, in those moments, it's all good. It's all good because we have a blessed assurance in Christ Jesus. So I got a couple of questions for us to take away this morning when we close out. The first question is to think about how God has been good to you. Maybe it was a green light this morning. I took my daughter to some testing this week, just some placement testing for school. And we got a green light and I just in the car, I was like, thank you Jesus. And Addie turned to me, she's like, for what? I was like, that green light, baby. We don't always get those anymore. How has God been good to you? I hope it's something bigger than a green light. Maybe it's just a green light and that's okay. Let's start there. How has God been good to you? Do you remember when maybe you were still a sinner before Jesus? You remember how Jesus reached out to you? Remember when you were walking in death and slavery and God's love still shine through the darkness. How has God given you new life and new freedom? Has God promised you this new home in heaven? How has God given you victory in this life? And then the second one, which I think is even more important, is who needs to know of this goodness of God in your life? Who needs to hear about this blessed assurance because, (congregation murmurs) It's all good.

See, the reality is the world around us is hurting. Our world is hurting and Jesus brings healing. The world is confused, but Jesus brings clarity. The world is dying and Jesus brings life. The world is in darkness and Jesus brings his light. So who in this world needs to know about Jesus? I love Cheryl even starting this thought this morning of us of different people in our lives that need this assurance, that are struggling through so many things. The exact same thing I'm talking about here. So you already have names on your mind. I'm just here to remind you that it's all good. And people in this world need to know why it's all good and how it's all good. I had three names that came to my mind. My friend, Mike, my barber, Ian, and another buddy of mine, Daniel. And they're all going through stuff right now. Who in your life needs to know the goodness of God? The world needs to know that God offers them love from which nothing in creation can separate them from. 100% guarantee. You don't get those in life anymore. A 100% guarantee. The question for us is, will we tell them? Will we tell them? Or will we just continue to live our lives with God's goodness in us? Show up on Sunday and praise Jesus and get in our car, go have lunch, spend the rest of our Sunday and start our work week over again. Will we tell them, will you share God's goodness with others this week, even now? It doesn't mean you gotta bash them over the head with Jesus immediately. For me right now, God has asked me just to tell these three dudes in my life that I'm praying for them and that the life that they're walking through right now, some hard stuff, is that somebody is in their corner, thinking about them and praying for them. It's where it starts. Somebody did that for your life, right? Somebody did that for your life at some point, and it changed you. Challenge yourself to do that this week, seriously. We got these Oikos cards in the back of the seats, and those cards are there just for you to write names down and to carry with you to be intentional about praying for them, intentional about remembering them, intentional about showing up in their life. That's what those cards are about. So maybe you need to take one, maybe you need a fresh one. We haven't talked about it in a while, but challenge yourself this week to put names before you to start praying over them for you to have an opportunity maybe to invite them to an event, to church, to coffee. It doesn't have to be a church thing you always bring them to. He could just be hanging out and praying the whole time, Jesus, open up a door, Jesus, open up a door, Jesus, open up a door. And it might not happen, but you're there. You're showing up, it's half the battle. So why do we do this? We have blessed assurance. We have great blessings. We have a wonderful, great future. - It's all good.

Pray with me. Jesus, we thank you for this morning. God, we're so grateful for your son, Paul, who took time to write this letter for this church in Rome, that even thousands of years later, we would dig into, we would be reminded of your goodness. So Jesus, I pray that today, as we go from this place, that you would peep those names of those people on our hearts and on our minds, that we would continue to pray for them, we would continue to lift them up to you, we would continue to show up with the presence of Jesus on who we are in their lives, not for us, not for our glory, not for the say, "Hey, look how many more people I saved," but to go, "There are so many hurting people in this world that need you, and this is where I start." So Jesus, I pray that you would put those names heavy on our hearts today and this week and the next week and the next week and the next week to continue to share your goodness with those in our lives. Jesus, we thank you, we love you, we praise you today. Amen. - Thanks for listening. And if you would, please take a moment to subscribe and leave an encouraging review to help others find our podcasts on whatever platform you are listening on. We hope you have a wonderful day. We'll catch you next week.

Romans - Part 13

God’s Present and Future Work In Us - Romans 8:18-30

SERMON TRANSCRIPT

Last week Pastor Chris had a wonderful message from the beginning of this chapter and he He spoke about our life in the Spirit and how we have a new identity, we have a new name and a new family. And it was a beautiful reminder of how transformative and powerful the gospel is. And the work that is done within us and for us by the Spirit of God. And this week, Paul is offering some perspective. If this entire series is like swimming in the ocean, today we come up for air a little bit and it's an encouraging time. It's gonna be a joyful passage about what's happening. And so Paul, we come up for air and he's gonna make sure that we're all on the same page, we know where we're going, and we know that we're all together, which is good. We left off last week talking about being co-heirs with Christ, and Paul said that we indeed share in Christ's suffering in order that we may also share in his glory. And now Paul turns his full attention to the future of the church. Knowing the tumultuous situation of the believers in Rome, He gives them an encouraging and yet measured response to what being a believer means now and what it means in the future.

So if you have your Bibles, turn with me to Romans 8, or you can follow along on the screen as I read our passage this morning, starting in verse 18. Paul says, "I consider that our present sufferings "are not worth comparing with the glory "that will be revealed in us. "For the creation waits an eager expectation "for the children of God to be revealed. "For the creation was subjected to frustration, "not by its own choice, "but by the will of the one who subjected it, "in hope that the creation itself will be liberated "from its bondage to decay, "and brought into the freedom and glory "of the children of God. "We know that the whole creation has been groaning, "as in the pains of childbirth, "right up to the present time. "Not only so, but we ourselves, "who are the first fruits of the Spirit, "grown inwardly as we wait eagerly "for our adoption to sonship. "the redemption of our bodies. "For in this hope we were saved, "but hope that is seen is no hope at all. "Who hopes for what they already have? "But if we hope for what we do not yet have, "we wait for it patiently. "In the same way, the Spirit helps us in our weakness. "We do not know what we ought to pray for, "but the Spirit himself intercedes for us "through wordless groans. "And he who searches our hearts "knows the mind of the Spirit, "because the Spirit intercedes for God's people "in accordance with the will of God. "And we know that in all things, "God works for the good of those who love him, "who have been called according to his purpose. "For those God foreknew, "he also predestined to be conformed "to the image of his son, "that he might be the firstborn "among many brothers and sisters. "And those he predestined, he also called. "Those he called, he also justified. "Those he justified, he also glorified." Pray with me once more. God, we come before you eager to understand more of you. And as we come to your scripture this morning, we pray that you would reveal the truth to us in our hearts. Draw us closer to you, God. We seek understanding. We seek to be made more into your image. We're excited for what you're doing in this church through this series. And I pray that you continue the work that you started. We pray this in your name. Amen.

Paul addresses this tension that can exist between our present suffering and the hope of future glory, explaining why the redemption of the children of God and creation itself is only partially fulfilled right now. He even says that the world itself, the earth that we see around us, is affected by sin too, and it too will one day be redeemed. As Paul is connecting the reader to Christ, he wants to make sure that the Romans are not misunderstanding what they are inheriting and when they will inherit it. We know from scripture how difficult and challenging Christ's life was, ultimately leading to his death on the cross. Now, presently, Christ is glorified and sitting on the right hand of God in victory over sin and death. And Paul is making sure that the believers don't think that that's their inheritance immediately. That's not what they inherit here on earth fully. That is indeed in their future, but the present still looks different. Suffering and glory, they have a unique bond and connection. Our current understanding of glory that we will one day experience is often deepened when contrasted to the hardship of this world. While heaven will be a full experience of God's glory for everyone, our understanding of it right now is heightened when we have undergone pain and suffering. It's kind of like the situations that maybe you can relate to where you have something that you use every day, something common to you, and when you're without it, you don't realize how much you needed it and your appreciation grows. And when you get it back, you just are so thankful for that thing. So for, as an example, years ago, my wife and I were down to one car. I had gotten-- we had to get rid of one of our cars. And so I was working Granite Bay at the time, and I started riding my bike from Rocklin to Granite Bay every morning and afternoon. And at first, very excited, because I was like, what a better way to get in shape. And then by day two, I was like, this is no fun. This is no fun at all. This is very long, and I am sweating heavily at work, and it's no good. So I just didn't realize-- at first, I was like, yeah, no car, no worries. And then I was like, we need a new car. So a couple of months later, a couple of months went by, and then we're finally able to get a new vehicle. And I was very, very appreciative for that, yeah, for that reality. Now that example doesn't come close to what Paul is talking about because I was not suffering. I was just merely inconvenienced. And having a car isn't any sort of glory. But you get the idea that when contrasted to the pain and suffering, heaven seems even greater. Every hardship we face when held up to the future glory of being with God makes that picture of heaven even sweeter.

So Paul's first point in our passage this morning is that this present reality means struggle. This life in this world is full of hardship. We see this throughout these verses. 18, Paul says, consider that our present sufferings are not worth comparing with the glory that will be revealed. Verse 21, creation itself will be liberated from its bondage. And 22 and 23 say, "We know that the whole creation has been groaning, "as in the pains of childbirth, "right up to the present time. "Not only so, but we ourselves groan inwardly "as we wait eagerly for our adoption to sonship, "the redemption of our bodies." Paul is making it clear that suffering is a reality and it's to be expected. From the world around us that is also marked by the fall, we see this in evidence of like earthquakes and tsunamis and forest fires and other natural disasters, this world was affected by the fall, to our own physical bodies, the emotional and physical and mental hurdles that we face in life, be it anxiety or cancer, depression, back pain, migraines, abuse, and everything else that comes from being in this fallen world, suffering is a present reality. Life is a struggle. Now, what do we do on this earth? In the midst of the suffering, in the waiting, in the misery, what do we do? Well, Paul tells us three things that believers can do. And the first is, well, I'll tell you all three upfront. We can hope, we can wait, and we can pray. First is that we can hope. We hope because of what Jesus did. After his death on the cross, he ascended into heaven. He went to be with God. And because God has promised us to be co-heirs, as Pastor Chris preached last week, we look forward to that reality for us. We hope in the person of Christ and what he's accomplished. And we hope in his present reality, he being next to God in heaven. We want that for us and we can hope because we know that that will become our reality as well. Second is we wait. In our suffering, we can't assume that God will just end all hardships because we have faith in him. We must endure. We must persevere. We must wait. And waiting is really hard. I don't think anyone likes waiting. Some of us are better at it than others. Doesn't mean we like it. Waiting is really hard. Waiting means sacrificing our own desires and submitting to God's plan. It means embracing the struggle for a time.

Right now, we're trying to teach our daughter how to wait. and it's going, I don't know if it's going well, but we're trying. And so sometimes, the waiting, she doesn't have to wait very long, you know, for unwrapping a treat for her in that moment, but she still has these like gimme hands, where like, hey, yes, I can give this to you. She's like, yeah, yeah, yeah, right now, I want it right now. Like, just hold on, I gotta get it open. And other times, we'll tell her to wait, like, hey, after dinner, you can have that thing, and then she doesn't wanna wait patiently. She understands that she won't get it, but she's not patient about it. And I think we can be the same. We're praying to God, we're talking to God. God, I know that I think you're gonna get me through this, but I don't wanna wait for it. I don't wanna be patient about it. I'll wait, but I don't like this right now. Waiting and patience is hard. And Paul says that we can wait and we do so patiently because we have a certain peace and trust in who we're waiting in, and that's God. God is looking out for us and He loves us, and we know that we can trust Him, And we can be at peace because he gives us peace and we know his character. We know that he will eventually work all things out for our good, but it can be hard, but we just need to rely on him in those moments to wait and to wait patiently. The third thing is that we can pray. In the midst of sin and suffering, of pain and problems, in the middle of all the misery and muck of life, we pray. Sometimes we understand the challenges that we're in and the hardships that we face. We understand how our sin may have brought about issues or just understand the chaos of the world and we know exactly what to pray. So we may pray, we know, God, please help me with my recovery. God, please heal that person of cancer. God, please be with the victims of the wildfires. God, please heal me, give me patience. Sometimes those words are right there and we know exactly what to pray. Other times, we don't understand the challenges that we're facing, the hardships that we're in, or why it's happening at this time, and we don't know what to pray. We're not always, or whenever, we're not omniscient like God. We don't know all the reasons why things are happening. We don't have that infinite perspective that God does. And so sometimes we just don't have words to pray. And that is okay. Because that's when the Holy Spirit acts as our priest and stands before God on our behalf and prays the words that we can't seem to find, that we don't know that we even needed to pray.

Paul tells us that the Holy Spirit prays for us while we are suffering. Verse 26 says, "The Spirit himself intercedes for us "through wordless groans, because the Spirit intercedes "for God's people in accordance with the will of God." In our recent community group, we went through the spiritual practice of prayer, and we learned the difference between prayers of petition and prayers of intercession. Prayers of petition are when we pray for something going on in our own lives, and we petition before God to help us with it, or to change something about our current circumstances. We are petitioning for ourselves. Prayers of intercession are when someone else prays for us, or when we pray that God will what intercede in someone else's life, or when the Holy Spirit prays for us. John Mark Comer says this, he says, "We come as sons and daughters, "not as beggars off the street, "but as princes and princesses "who have been adopted into the family "through Christ our brother. "We come in the name and authority of King Jesus "with access to the full resources of his kingdom." That last phrase right there, "The full resources of his kingdom," I mean, that just struck me when I heard that and read that. That's amazing. God isn't withholding anything from us. If it is His will, He will go the full extent to make it a reality. At our lowest point, Jesus knows what we need. And through Jesus, we have the most intimate connection with God. And we have the full resources of His kingdom available to us in our lives. Theologian Walter Wink says, Intercessory prayer is a spiritual defiance of what is in the way of what God has promised. Intercession visualizes an alternative future to the one apparently faded by the momentum of current forces. Prayer infuses the air of a time yet to be into the suffocating atmosphere of the present. In the midst of our deepest struggle, the Spirit is praying this on our our behalf, praying that God the Father would intercede in our lives. The Spirit is visualizing an alternate future to the one that we are currently in, praying that God would make that a reality. That alternative future may not mean a change in circumstances, I wanna be clear on that. It's not necessarily, it may, it may mean that God changes our circumstances, it may not, but what the Spirit is visualizing is us being made more into the image of Christ. Through whatever we are going through, God wants us to be formed more like Jesus. We'll come back to that in a bit. But the other part of the Spirit praying on our behalf is that He does so in wordless groans. J.D. Greer says, "In that groan, that groan from the Holy Spirit, we see not only emotion, we see wisdom." Paul says the Spirit prays for us according to the will of God, and that groan is something that you and I don't even know how to articulate. It's what God wants from this situation. He's praying God's will into our lives. Guys, do you realize this? In your moments of suffering, in your hardest, most challenging times that you've ever gone through, that the Spirit was interceding on your behalf, He was praying to God for you. He is in your corner, fighting and advocating for you. How incredible is that? I don't know if you've ever been in a time where you didn't know what to say. There's times, most of the time, it's when prepping for preaching, when it is late into the week and I do not have a sermon yet and I will sometimes be on the floor, just laying there being like, "God, I don't know what to preach." Like just groans. I'm not even really saying words, but I'm sure that God understands what I'm feeling in that moment. Maybe you have been somewhere, a similar position, where you didn't even have words, but you are directing your groans towards God for him to understand your emotion and where you're at. And in that moment, you don't have words, but the Holy Spirit has words that he is praying to God for you. The God of the universe is behind you, is for you, is praying for you, praying for needs that you are not even aware of. This is truly how the Spirit sustains us every day. So in the present, suffering and all, we wait, we hope, and we pray. And when we can't pray, the Spirit will pray on our behalf. Now the other part of this passage is about the future. And Paul says that the future means hope.

For the believer, the future is bright. The glory of God is ahead of us, at its fullest. And it's something to be excited about. It's something to anticipate and to desire. Paul writes, "I consider that our present sufferings "are not worth comparing with the glory "that will be revealed in us." Now to be clear, Paul is not minimizing our pain. but magnifying future glory. He's not trying to say that whatever you're going through right now is so small. Right now, whatever pain or struggle or suffering that you are going through, it is a lot. It's probably more than you can handle alone. You need Jesus through whatever you are going through. What Paul is saying is that he's trying to point to how great and infinite that future glory is. It is eternal, the magnitude of God's glory, of being made like Christ is so great that in that future, when we look back, the pain and suffering will appear small. It's a matter of perspective. As Paul brings the reader to think about glory, he mentions freedom in verse 21, the redemption of the body in verse 23, and the most important, sonship, being heirs with Christ in verses 19 and 23 and 29. Again, making sure that we connect our reality with what Christ endured. Paul is saying that we as believers should not be surprised that this life entails suffering. And while he's already covered some of this in chapter five, right now, Paul is trying to convey the sequence that we as believers follow.

For Jesus, glory only followed suffering. and it's for the Christians as well. That future glory only comes after we endure our time on earth. The future glory that we will experience comes after our time on this earth that is marred with sin and pain and suffering. Paul writes in 1 Corinthians 15:50, flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God. And here in Romans 8, Paul is talking about our mortal body being transformed and our bodies being redeemed. Theologian Douglas Mu writes, "It is the transformation of the body "that brings to fruition our sonship. "Only then will our sonship be revealed, "and will we be fully conformed to the image of God's Son." The life and future glory that is to come is not a distant dream, but it's partially present now. And the future will be complete, but some of it we can experience now. How? Well, Christians have some evidence of future glory in our lives already. It's the first fruits. And that first fruit is the Spirit, the Holy Spirit that dwells within us. Theologian F.F. Bruce writes, "The indwelling of the Spirit here and now is the first fruits." In other words, the first installment or initial down payment of the eternal heritage of glory that awaits believers. I think sometimes we forget or severely underestimate the weight and power of the gift of the Holy Spirit within us. The fact that the Spirit dwells within us is evidence of what is to come, the future glory that God has in store for us. You can hope and anticipate and get excited about the future now because the Holy Spirit is in you now. The work that the Holy Spirit is doing is to make you more like Jesus. That will be perfected in heaven, but it is occurring right now. Right now as you sit here, the Holy Spirit is at work inside of you. That is the goal. That in the midst of all the suffering and pain that we endure, God's goal is not necessarily to alleviate you of that pain, but his ultimate goal is that through whatever comes your way, you would be made into the image of Christ. On another note, did you know that the future is bright for earth as well? This earth, like I said, is also marred by the fall. I was having a conversation with some of you last week about how some of the things on earth are clear evidence of the fall. Things like black widows, mosquitoes, cockroaches. I do not see any redeeming qualities of any of those. If there are, I'm sure we'll find out in heaven, but I think they're all evil, and I think that we will not see them in the new heavens and new earth. No biblical evidence, just my personal belief, you don't have to believe that. Evidence of the fallen world. On a more serious note, things like earthquakes and tsunamis, famine, drought, evidence of this world being fallen, the earth groans for wholeness too. Not just we as believers, but the earth itself wants to be made whole.

Throughout our passage, Paul explains how the earth is groaning in anticipation for deliverance to the glory to be revealed. So not only will our individual lives experience the glory of God, not only will the church as a whole experience the glory of God, but this entire world will experience the fullness of God's glory in the future. Our Christian faith enables us to hope and wait for the culmination of God's plan of redemption. Dr. Gary Brashear says, "This whole passage focuses "on a work in progress, the cosmic redemption "he is working in and through the church." God's plan is a big one, and it's amazing because every part of it, he cares about to the fullest extent. He cares about what he's doing in our lives, he cares about what he's doing in the church, and he cares about what he's doing on the biggest, grandest level of this entire universe. Now that glorious reality that is in the future of being in heaven with God does not just happen randomly. It happens with purpose and with our sovereign Lord making it come to be. Paul reminds us of this when he writes in verse 28, and we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him and who have been called according to his purpose. That theologian Mu writes again, it is important to insist that all things do not tend toward good in and of themselves, as if Paul held to a naively optimistic interpretation of history, rather it is the sovereign guidance of God that is presumed as the undergirding and directing force behind all the events of life. Good things don't just randomly happen in this world. The world just doesn't hope that good things happen to us or make good things, that is all God working behind the scenes. And we know this to be true through his word, through scripture, through our own experience, through other people's testimony. We know the character of God and we know Him to be good. And we know that God is working all things for His kingdom, for His purposes. Because it is God who is doing it, we automatically know that those things are good things. Paul describes a present struggle and a future glory. And then he describes in further detail the work that God is doing. And He does this to give us reassurance. Because He knows that the struggle is real, it's hard to have perspective when in the midst of pain and suffering. He talks so much about pain and suffering because often he's writing in a place of pain and suffering. He's writing from prisons, he's writing from affliction, and he knows that we too will face a similar reality. Paul's third point, God's work in us.

The end of verse 28 reveals who this all pertains to, who have been called according to his purposes. Verse 29, "For those God foreknew, "He also predestined to be conformed "to the image of His Son." Now, let me say this. Paul is not trying to start a theological debate when writing these words. He's not sitting there thinking, "Man, this is really gonna trip up the church "for the next couple thousand years. "Let me just write this and drop the pen." No. (laughs) Paul, in the context of this chapter, and this is what I wanna stress, in the present reality of suffering, Paul is trying to offer assurance. He is trying to assure the people that what God started, the work inside of us, making us into the image of Christ, He is going to finish. This idea of God foreknowing is to emphasize that what is happening is not surprising to God. God knew everything that would happen to you, the good and the bad, the struggles, the hardships, the impossible moments that you would face in life are not surprising to him. He began a work inside of you, and knowing all of that, he's still gonna finish that work. It says in verse 30, and those he predestined, he also called, those he called, he also justified, those he justified, he also glorified. Paul wants the church in Rome and the Christian today to understand that when you feel Like all hope is lost. When you are barely hanging on, when you are at the end of yourself, you feel empty. For those who believe, for those who believe in the gospel, you can know that God is not done working in you. God is not finished with you. You can be assured that this work, the calling, the justification, the glorification that believers will experience all that he does in someone, he will do in you. Jesus called you and he is gonna see you through all the way to glorification in heaven. He started to work and he's gonna finish it. He started before you were born. He knew what he was gonna do in and through you before the world began. And he wanted to make you into the image of Jesus. It is easy to get caught up in the theological debate, and we can have that another time outside of this sermon. But I wanna stress this morning, in the full context of this passage, why Paul wrote these verses. It's in light of all the suffering. And maybe for the believer at the time, the future is just too distant. It is too difficult to wrap your head around. Paul is saying, then rest assured in what you know of God, and who He is, and what He does. Notice who is doing all the actions in this passage. God called according to his purpose, God for a new and he predestined. He is conforming us into the image of his son. He justifies us. He will also glorify us in heaven. Look at all that God is doing. Look at the work that he is working in you. This is what God will continue to do and promises to do using all that happens, the good, the bad that you experience in life, He will use all of it to make you into the image of Christ. That is his work and that is his promise. That's why you can have hope. That through the most painful situations that you experienced, you can know that God is not finished with you.

So my question this morning as we end our time is where is your hope? Are you hoping in anything from this world, a person, relationship, that just the randomness of this world to help you out in life? Or are you hoping in Christ? Are you hoping in the future of being with God? Hoping in the work that He is doing? Or is your hope founded in the gospel? Do you hope because you believe that Jesus lived the perfect life, became the perfect sacrifice, taking all of our sins, taking the death that we deserved, and defeating death and rising again to be with God? Do you have hope that you are heirs with Christ? You share in that sonship. You are a prince and princess in God's kingdom. Now again, this may or may not end your current suffering, but it doesn't mean that we can't pray for that. We can certainly pray for healing. We can certainly pray for whatever hardship to end. By all means, bring your desires before God, but also pray in the midst of all that that you would be made more into Jesus, into the likeness of Him. Have hope, church, have hope. Be encouraged that Jesus is at work and He won't stop working in you. Amen?

Let's pray. God, again, thank you for your word. Thank you for who you are. And thank you for the hope that you give us. I pray that we would all be encouraged have hope this morning in you, in the fact that you have started a work, you have called us, and you know that you will see us through to the very end. And so we are with you in heaven, you will never leave us. Thank you for the work that your spirit is doing in our hearts to transform us, to make us more into the image of Jesus. That is our prayer, that is our desire. I pray that you would make that a focal point for all of us, that as we go throughout our day, as we go through life, despite whatever hardships we face, we would keep our eyes on you and that our deepest desire would be to be made more like Jesus. God be with us, give us hope, encourage us, and I pray that you would use us for your kingdom. We pray this in your name, Amen.

Romans - Part 12

Adopted in the Spirit - Romans 8:1-17

SERMON TRANSCRIPT

We are continuing in Romans. We got two more weeks and then we're taking a summer break. And so thank you for everybody who has been jumped in, who has engaged, who's been with us through, this is week 12, we're gonna be one more week next week. Pastor Rhonda's gonna wrap us up before break, so week 13. And so we are moving and grooving. And from everybody I've talked to, everybody's enjoyed this Roman series. And if you haven't, you haven't said anything to me. So we're just gonna say you enjoy it. So we're just gonna take that as your answer. So sweet. So yeah, so if you want, open up your Bibles, click, tap, flip over to Romans chapter eight. And this is where we're gonna be. We're gonna hit about halfway through chapter eight and then Pastor Andres is gonna wrap up chapter eight next week. And this chapter, chapter eight, some scholars would say is the pinnacle of this book of Romans. Paul, since the beginning, amen. Paul, since the beginning of his letter, literally opening verse, hi, my name is Paul. Boom, here's some theology. Paul has dropped some wisdom on us and he has been building this argument and has come to the point that I think if you're sitting in a courtroom, the attorney is putting this whole defensive case up to this point.

And after this chapter eight, he's gonna sit and say the defense rests. And he has been building to this massive point because after we get through chapter eight, Paul rolls into, so if all of this is true, all of this stuff that I've been talking about, saying this argument and this one and building and building, if all of this is true, this is how our life is different. And Paul's gonna roll the next set of chapters through practical application of what it means to live our lives out in the power of the gospel.

But before we get to that, Paul has one final big thing that he wants to say to us in this chapter. And so today we're gonna be walking through some incredible truths about our lives and how we physically, personally, intimately are changed by this power of the gospel. And what do I mean by the gospel? I mean the gospel is that Jesus came, he lived a perfect life, he went to the cross on our behalf, died, God raised him three days later and he conquered death. The one thing that was never defeated up to that point, he rose again and we live in his new life. That is the gospel in a nutshell. Is there more to it? Absolutely, there's so much more. If you just read Romans with us, there's so much more to it. But that is the nutshell. And so I wanna jump in this morning. We're gonna go to the first four verses and then we're gonna go kind of section by section and explain some of these things that Paul, this truth that Paul is laying out before us. And so here we go, Romans chapter eight, We're gonna start in verse one. I talk for a living, it's okay. Therefore, all right, you remember this? Therefore, what's it there for? Well, Paul again has been building this argument up to this point.

He says, "Therefore, there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus." Remember the gospel, those who are in Christ Jesus. Because through Christ Jesus, the law of the Spirit who gives life has set you free from the law of sin and death. For what the law was powerless to do because it was weakened by the flesh, God did. I could just stop right there, amen, we go home, right? God did, God did by sending his own son in the likeness of sinful flesh, 'cause Jesus came human, lived this life, but yet was blameless, right? Sinful flesh to be the sin offering. And so he condemned sin in the flesh in order that the righteous requirement of the law might be fully met in us, who did not live according to the flesh, but according to the spirit.

So it's right there, Jesus, he lived in the flesh, Jesus here, fully God, fully human, divine and earthly, and lived this perfect life in his resurrection, in his sacrificing, his death, His atonement, we might say, that we have new life in His blameless life, okay? Paul is gonna go really deep here, but he starts with this piece of the law. And what does he mean by that? Well, he means this word law, meaning the 10 commandments or the law of Moses that in itself, Paul, we talked about this last week. Remember this battle we have between wanting to be like God and yet we got this tension in us and that Paul is saying, I do not do what I want to do, but I do it and I do it and I don't wanna do it, but I still do it even though I don't wanna do it. Guys remember that? Paul here is saying that this idea of he didn't even know what was wrong until the law. And it was in the law that he understood, oh man, I'm sinning. I'm not living the life that God has called me to live and I'm not living in his truth. I'm living this life that's apart from that. And so in a sense, we see here this argument that in the law calling out sin, the law brought death. This is the law that called out those actions, brought death. But then Paul here is saying, no, no, no, no, there's something new here that I'm calling you into. There's something new that I have for you. And this is the law of the Spirit in Christ. And it takes what was this limited law of the 10 commandments and those laws that we read about in the Old Testament. It takes those and it fulfills those. And it actually in the fulfillment actually brings us to a new life, an eternal life, an everlasting life. This is the power of the Spirit in our life. This is what Paul is talking about. But how what was once a limited, hard hitting, calling us out. I don't know if you've ever read the 10 commandments. calling us out for what we had done, takes us into this place of life. Takes us into this new calling that we have for us. And it goes from this limited focus to this mobile ever present with us. What do I mean by that?

Well, there's two perspectives you can have on law. And it depends on your understanding of what is going on around you. I think of it this way. No offense. I recently, our kids got to take horseback riding lessons this last year and the year before. That's been awesome, they love it. But I went to them to see them ride for the first time a couple of weeks ago. And we went and there were these, at the farm you have the fences, you have the pens, right? And that keeps the horses where they're supposed to be. So we have this idea of say the law is offense. And if you had the perspective of the horse, The horse going, "I don't wanna stay in here." And they get creative. They get crafty. They start figuring out how to knock the latch on the fence. They figure out how to weasel their way through a little tiny opening. They get absolutely creative. Why? Because they don't wanna be confined. A lot of us look at the Bible and go, "Ah, just a bunch of laws, just a bunch of rules. God doesn't wanna let me live my life. He's trying to hold me down. He's trying to pull me back. He's controlling, he's just pushing into me, trying to keep me in my place because God, he just wants to control us. But there's another perspective. The second perspective of the law would be one of protection, of life, of security. What if we saw this fence or the law in our life of a place of keeping us safe from the outside? We went from seeing law as a way of holding us in to a law of there's protection. And this isn't just a fence, we're talking about a fortress. We're talking about secure, tall, thick, robust, strong walls. And when we understand that perspective, when we live inside of that, we don't worry about what's out there, right? We actually forget what's out there because we find ourselves comfortable. We feel safe. We're in a space where we know that God has got our back, a place without fear, a place where we can sleep in peace. How about you? I'm notorious at night for going around and checking all the doors. I have my routine at night. I go check, check, check, go all the way around. Why? So I can sleep in peace, not going, Oh, did I unlock that? Did that get locked? Is that? Oh man, you know what? Oh, I got, you know, that's, that door's gotta be unlocked. It's good. I can't sleep in peace. I'll get up, drives my wife nuts. I'll get up sometimes multiplying 'cause I'll get into bed, I'll lie down, I go, did I? Oh, dang it. All right, back up. Do my routine, hit the perimeter again. But I know where it takes me, right?

And that's what Paul here is saying. maybe another perspective would be stoplights, okay? We're trying to get where we wanna get, right? We're trying to go down the road, and especially if we're running late, notorious, we're hitting every stoplight, right? I think we've all been there. I think we can all agree with that, especially over here at Costco. Oh, Lord Jesus. That's Stanford Ranch intersection. The Lord is not present there, I tell you that much. All right? That's horrible. I'm kidding, the Lord is there, okay, so refreshing. But we have our singular perspective. We're trying to get from point A to point B, and the only way to do that, the fastest way to do that, is every single green light. But what about perspective from elsewhere? What about the perspective of the kid trying to cross the street, wanting that stoplight to safely cross? What about the family wanting to be able to turn and to make the left in their car. And without the stoplight, they would kind of be chancing it, right? And we see that when people don't obey what's going on, what happens? Accidents, mess, crunch, ouch, insurance. And this is the law. That if we see this as ways that God is trying to protect us to lead us into a place of living in a new life in the spirit, there's not only protection for us in our own car at a stoplight, but there's protections for others and there's cars at the stoplight as well. See this word, law, is a Greek word called nomos. And really what this Greek law word means, not just law, but law that brings life. A law in a sense that leads us to a place of where we are better than we were before without it. And Paul here is using these words to explain that it's not necessarily a law to hold us back, but it's a law that would rather lead us to a place of life within the Spirit of God.

Paul says this in chapter 8 verse 5, "Those who live according to the flesh have their mindset on what the flesh desires but those who live in accordance with the spirit have their mindset on what the spirit desires the mind governed by the flesh is death but the mind governed by the spirit is life and peace the mind governed by the flesh is hostile to God it does not submit to God's own law nor nor can it do so. Those who are in the realm of the flesh cannot please God.

This law, this life rather, leads us to a place where we live in accordance with the Spirit. It leads us to a place where we're now in parallel with what God desires for our mind, but we have to change our mindset. We have to change the way that we think and bringing us into alignment with the heart and the leading with the Spirit. I love this quote by Hwee Hwee Tan, a Christian author and coach. She says, "You are what your mind looks at. You are what you contemplate." Hmm. Little quick self-assessment. What does your mind dwell on? What do you often find yourself thinking about? It's a perspective, it's an opening into our hearts. Is it the Spirit of God? Is it the Spirit of ourselves? And if that is true, then what Paul says there, that that Spirit is opposed to God. You've got to be careful what we're thinking about because the reality is when you and and I accept Jesus into our lives, and to say, I believe in this gospel, I want to receive this, I want you to change who I am. Jesus does that.

And he does that by giving us a new mind through the indwelling of God's spirit. Did you know that? If you believe in Jesus Christ, you call him Lord and leader of your life, you have the indwelling of God's spirit in you. You do. That God's in you, with you, forever continuing to be with you. And that in this, it takes us away from the flesh spirit and gives us God's spirit.

Romans eight, verse nine says, "You, however, are not in the realm of the flesh, but you are in the realm of the spirit. If indeed the spirit of God lives you, and if anyone does not have the spirit of Christ, they do not belong to Christ. But if Christ is in you, then even though your body is subject to death because of sin, the spirit gives life because of righteousness. And if the spirit of him who raised Jesus from the dead is living in you, he who raised Christ from the dead will also give to your mortal bodies because of His Spirit who lives in you.

Last week we had Paul's do, do, do, do, do. This week we have Paul's quadruple if, if, if. And it goes like this. It says if, so this is conditional logic here. If you guys know what that is, maybe computer programmers in the room, you know, the if, then, little JavaScript action here. If, Paul, the original writer of JavaScript, If the Spirit of God lives in you, then if Christ is in you, then even though you have this battle, remember this battle in life, back and forth of the sin nature pull, this pendulum, you still have life in the Spirit, why? Because of God's righteousness in you. And if the Spirit of God, whose side note here, raised Christ from the dead, the gospel, remember we talked about that, is living in you, then he, being Almighty God, who raised Christ from the dead will also give you life because of the Spirit that lives in you. You guys follow that? Paul here is setting up this understanding of, If all of this is true, all the way back, beginning Romans 1, 1, up to this point. Now remember, there's the letter read at one moment, one time, one sitting, not 12 weeks sittings. One sitting. So all of this stuff that Paul is just saying is so fresh in their minds, they're getting to this point and they're gonna like, okay, so that's true, that, okay, that means you're there, leads me there, therefore, therefore, therefore, Therefore, therefore, the Spirit of God indwells you. And we have new life because of that truth.

Paul continues on, verse 12, "Therefore, brothers and sisters, we have an obligation, but it is not to the flesh to live according to it. For if we live according to the flesh, you will die. But if by the Spirit you put to death the misty to the body, you will live.

Here is Paul's final giant, therefore. I could see Paul writing it, taking up like half the letter across the scroll. Therefore, therefore, there is victory in the Spirit. There is victory. Paul says this idea, this word consequences, it's hard for us in our mind to wrap around consequences being good, right? We always think about all consequences are bad. Paul, you're saying there is a consequence of when we accept Christ in our lives, take on the title of Christian or disciple, there is a consequence in a good way that we have this new relationship and it affects our day to day as a believer. Paul isn't saying at this moment, maybe someday you'll have victory. Maybe future down the road, if you live your life perfect, you'll have victory. Or if you go to church every single week, you read your Bible, you tithe, you pray, you serve in the church, you love your neighbors, you serve in the community, maybe you'll find victory. Paul says, no, you have victory right here, right now, in this moment and forevermore. Come on. That was your moment to give an amen if you wanted to. All right? Paul here is saying that we have no obligation anymore. No obligation to live in the flesh, to live in the sin nature, to be, I'm caught up in this, oh, oh, I'm so, no. Stop it. Paul here is saying, stop it. You don't have to follow the way that your sin dictates. You no longer have to obey its will. This is huge, guys. This is huge. This is true freedom. And in this mindset change, remember the fence? We find ourselves now inside of a gated community full of protection and safety, and we get to live our life in victory in Jesus. Exactly. Thought of it this way. I don't know where I thought of it. I think I heard another pastor say this 'cause this is too smart for me. But I heard this. They said, "We've been given a new boss." That's Jesus. And it would be foolish to still show up to our old job, to return old emails, to put in office hours for an old boss, to punch the clock for them, to get their lunch, to get them their dry cleaning, to do your stuff for an old boss, is ridiculous. You no longer are employed by that boss anymore. You have a new boss. And yet what do we do? We find ourselves still working for the old boss. We still get caught following sin. I'm guilty of it, guys, I am. It's a struggle, it's a battle. Ask anybody in this room who's been a Christian for 500 years, they're gonna say, "I'm still fighting it." Because Paul here says it would be foolish, right? We would find ourselves for if you live according to the flesh, you will die. Think about that. You have a new boss and you're still working for the old boss. Now you got two jobs you got to figure out. You're trying to balance the stuff. You're over here, you're over there, you're doing this. You're a late night, early mornings, you're running all over the place. What's it gonna do? It's gonna kill you. It's gonna kill you physically. It's gonna kill you emotionally, mentally, spiritually. And Paul gives us this warning here that you cannot live like this. You have a new boss, so act like it. Right?

Paul says in the second half of 13, "But if you live by the Spirit and you put to death the misdeeds of the body, you will live." This is the good news, guys. This is the great news. This is the power of the gospel and Paul here is stressing our personal responsibility to conquer this domain of sin in our lives but Paul wants us not to forget that this is only possible by the power of God in Christ through the Spirit. A big word we might use here would be holiness in life. We come from a tradition here at Spring Valley Church of a holiness movement we call it and we focus on this that every single day is an opportunity to say more yes to Jesus in your life. That every single day is this moment for God to show up in our lives and for us to say yes to him. A big term here would be sanctification. That in this constant living out of the life that is placed before us and is led by the spirit, we have taken up residence in him.

A.W. Tozer has this wonderful quote. It says, "Faith is not a once done act, but the continuous gaze of the heart at the triune God. Believing then is directing the heart's attention to Jesus. It is lifting the mind, remember, the mind or thoughts, to behold the Lamb of God and never ceasing that beholding for the rest of our lives. At first this may be difficult, but it becomes easier as we look steadily at His wondrous person, quietly and without strain.”

This saying no to ourselves, every single step of the way, saying yes to God's Spirit will take us on a journey to a place that is absolutely incredible. It'll take us to a place where we are so focused and in tune with God's Spirit, we're not even really there anymore. that we just fade into the background and we live in lockstep with this continual saying, yes, I love that part, the continuing yes to the activity that does not even originate in ourselves, guys. It's just a spirit of God, which takes us to a place that God desires to change us at our core. So how is this even possible? Paul finishes up this section with three crucial, crucial verses that is as part of our core and our doctrine of who we are as Christians.

And he says this, he said, "For those who are led by the Spirit of God are the children of God. The Spirit you receive does not make you slaves "so that you live in fear again. "Rather, the Spirit you receive brought about your adoption to sonship, and by him we cry, Abba, Father. And the Spirit himself testifies with our spirit that we are God's children.”

This is our new spirit we are given. It's a spirit of adoption. And it's this new spirit you and I are brought in and welcomed into our new family. Did you guys know that? You have a new family. Some of you, that's better news than others. All right? But you have this new family and we are not only are given a family, but we are actually given an heir. We are brought in at the level of inheritance, sharing in God's full glory. But how do we get there? We are led by the Spirit. And when we are adopted into the family of God, our life is different, right? Our life is different in the way that our choices and how we conduct ourselves change, right? If we're brought into this new family, there's an expectation of how we conduct our lives. Are we living up to the family name? Or are we out just being led by our own spirit still? This whole new life in this new direction is determined by the spirit of God. I see this as an image in the Old Testament, okay? You guys, God saves the Israelite people out of slavery in Egypt, okay? Leads them across the Red Sea, and then they find themselves in this place in the desert, the wilderness, but they are continually led by God. The Bible tells us that at day it was a cloud and at night it was a pillar of fire. My goodness to see that today. But this idea of being led by the Spirit of God where? To the promised land, their inheritance. And so Paul here is making this connection with those who have been listening to this letter that may have been from a Jewish background ago and said, I remember my great, great, great, great, great, great, great, great grandpa told me through the generations of stories about that pillar of fire and that cloud. And that Paul here is saying, "We are led by the Spirit into our inheritance, "which is eternal life with Christ Jesus in heaven "for eternity." That is our inheritance. And a part of this journey, just like the Israelites went through, was God leading us and teaching us and growing us and changing us and strengthening us and persevering us and protecting us and to this place that God says, "This is what I have for you. This is what I desire for your life." And it takes us to this place with, and somehow, I don't know how God does it, it's amazing.

God takes these twists and turns, ups and downs, surprises and blessings in life. and he is slowly taking us and morphing us and changing us and molding us into who he desires for us in our lives. But this isn't something that can be taken lightly, guys. This is some serious thing that I want you to talk about because it's not just in name only. So it's not just Chris the Christian. It's not just Andre the Christian. It's just Eric the Christian, Gloria the Christian, Donna the Christian. This is, there's something deeper here, and it's in that word that said Abba Father. Paul here is using this word that is so personal for God. No other religion or belief system out there has anything close to this, 'Cause I think there is truth in this that says, you know God at a deeper level, at the same personal level that would be similar to a child crying out for their father to help them in a time of need. If you're a parent, you know that cry from a child. But you also know this other part of I love you, Daddy. You're the best dad ever. I love you, dad. This is the level of adoption, inheritance, personal relationship that you and I have through the spirit in Jesus Christ to say, "Hey, dad, thanks." Abba, Father. There's this closeness of personal, intimate, knowing and a connection. Does this line up with your view of God in your life? Maybe we need to change some things. I was reminded of this on Wednesdays. We've been just finished four weeks focusing on prayer and the practice of learning how to pray and to go deeper in our prayer life. And one of the sessions specifically was talking about learning the voice of God and listening to God.

And it was this beautiful image of understanding and how God knows us personally and desires to sit with us. How do we know this? Well, it says this. It says in John 10, 27, Jesus says, "My sheep listen to my voice and I know them "and they follow me." Did you guys know that sheep understand and know the voice of their shepherd? Sheep specifically know the voice of their shepherd. So in a moment when a fraud shows up to try to say, "Oh, come on sheep, come here sheep, sheepy, sheep, sheep, sheep, sheep." They know to run away because it's not their shepherd. God here and Jesus is reminding us of He knows who we are and we know His voice to the intimate level level of dad. And for some of us it's hard. We didn't have the father figure that was supposed to be the father figure in our life. And we struggle with this. But God shows up here and says, "That was that, that's not me. "This is me. "This is who I am." And this talking about Pastor John Mark Comer reminds us that in this prayer, we begin to learn the voice of our Father and the Father knows our voice. And there are so many ways that we believers in Christ and disciples of Jesus hear the voice of God. You've probably heard the voice of God and you didn't even know it. 'Cause the voice of God shows up in our lives through Jesus, through scripture, through circumstances, through desire, through the prophetic and through listening prayer. And it's when we take time to focus and listen to God that we are learning more and more, getting to know our new family, our new father, our Abba Father deeper.

And I love what verse 16 here says. It says, "The Spirit himself testifies with our spirit that we are God's children." There is this deep, spiritual, heartfelt, inner soul, truth level that we are constantly reminded of our status with God. We're God's children. You're gonna hear one thing today to walk away. You are a son. You are a daughter of God. Do not forget that. And this is a beautiful truth. That's something that can never be taken away from us. And that's something that is ours here both on earth and in heaven for eternity. Because why? Because we are heirs. Verse 17. Now if we are children, then we are heirs. Heirs of God and co-heirs with Christ. Guys, you've been given a name change, you've been given a status change, you've been given an inheritance change, You've been given a mindset change. You are set free from slavery to sin, and you share in the glory of Jesus Christ. Live in your newfound adoption. That's what Paul is saying here. Live in this newfound adoption. So what does this mean for us?

Well, I have a couple questions I want to close here, and the worship team is going to come up. What might need to change in your life to live with this newfound understanding of being an heir with Christ? What might need to change? You ask yourself, are my actions each day one that is in lockstep with being in God's family? And then two, what might need to increase in your life knowing that you are a child of God? How can I live more freely in this truth as one who is inheriting the glory of Jesus? Because if we are led by the Spirit, our our actions are gonna be different than when we were led by ourselves, right? Should be different. So live in your newfound adoption into the family of God.

Let's pray. Jesus, we thank you for your word. Jesus, we thank you for our new family. God, we thank you for the spirit that leads us every single moment of every single day, God. And that Jesus, I pray that this week we might live differently in this newly found understanding of you who is our Abba Father. who is our loving, caring, ever-present dad. And Jesus, that might come with some behavior changes. That might come with some different ways that we set up our calendar. That might come with different ways that we start our day or end our day. That might come with different choices that we need to make to live in this newfound family in you God so Jesus I pray even right now that your Holy Spirit would guide us in the areas that you want us to change that we no longer have no obligation to sin but we have victory through Jesus Christ God I may be led by the spirit each and every day of our lives to live in lockstep with what you have for us, God, which is the power of gospel to transform our lives. We love you, Jesus. Amen.

Romans - Part 11

A Battle for Life - Romans 7:1-25

SERMON TRANSCRIPT

Yeah, happy Mother's Day to all the mamas here. Welcome, welcome, welcome. We are continuing in our Roman series today, and I'm excited to share with you and maybe take a little bit of a different path through scripture than most of the time. I don't tell my seminary professors, but I'm gonna go backwards through the chapter today. I mean, most people, you start verse one, you work your way through, I'm actually gonna go backwards today. And so I feel like Paul here in this chapter of chapter seven of Romans is setting up a really cool picture and image for us. And I love honestly how he finishes up the chapter. And so I kind of wanna start there and then we're gonna kind of work our way back up through and then end with actually the beginning of chapter seven. And so if you would, before we jump in, I'd love to pray for us and over us and we'll dive into God's word.

Heavenly Father, Jesus, thank you for today. God, thank you for being present here. Jesus, as I bring your word forward this morning, God, that you would ultimately be glorified, that you, Jesus, would be lifted and raised up from these scriptures, and God, that you would use me to communicate, God, what you desire for each and every one of us. God, you have a word for each of us this morning in this space. There's a reason that we're here today for this moment and for this time. So Jesus, I pray that through your Holy Spirit, you would reveal that to each and every one of us. Jesus, we love you, we thank you, amen.

So Paul here in chapter seven is talking about this two odds that are fighting one another. These two sides, this good versus evil side here that are fighting and constantly pulling back and forth. If you guys are familiar maybe with Paul's letter to Rome, you've kind of heard Paul write this before. He talks about how I want to do good, and yet I find myself not doing good. And because of that, I don't like myself. And it's interesting to find, because Paul here, I would say is one of the spiritual superheroes of the Bible. If we were to put up there some of those people that would be like, if I was to pattern my life after summoning the Bible, Paul would be pretty high up on that list. And Paul here yet admits, I don't always do what is right. And I have these two tensions inside of me that are pulling back and forth. Paul says this starting in verse 21. So I find this law at work. Although I want to do good, evil is right there with me. For in my inner being, I delight in God's law. But I see another law at work in me, waging war against the law of my mind and making me a prisoner of the law of sin at work within me. What a wretched man I am. Who will rescue me from this body that is subject to death? Thanks be to God who delivers me through Jesus Christ our Lord. I want that to be our focus here this morning. That even in the midst of turmoil, whatever we're fighting, whatever we're going through, whatever we find ourselves in the face of this, that is only through Jesus Christ who delivers us. So if you wanna hear one thing this morning, Jesus Christ wants to deliver you. That's what I want you to hear this morning. That's what I want you to remember today.

But I see this illustration of Paul saying here, I got these two sides that are pulling on me. Someone say, Dr. Jekyll, Mr. Hyde, but I myself would say the Hulk. This is where we find ourselves. That Paul here on the good side, Bruce Banner, a mild mannered brilliant scientist, finds himself at odds with himself and the fact of inside of him is this creature, the Hulk. This giant monster of a human that is just unbelievably strong at times comes out And to say the least is feisty, we'll say that. That in this moment, Bruce Banner and Hulk are fighting with each other. And if you guys have seen any of the movies or know anything about the Avengers series, that there are times when this Hulk character comes out at the worst moment possible. And then there's other times where they need this Hulk person to come out and it's just Bruce sitting there, this tiny little lanky guy that's like, "Hey, Mr. Hulk, guy inside, we need your muscles. Like where are you at buddy?" But this tension that Paul here says, there's two sides that are at odd with one another. And Paul here is saying, "At times I'm Hulk and I don't wanna be Hulk. At times I want to be Bruce Banner, but there's just something inside of me that pulls me and turns me into Hulk and I smash stuff. Paul here is saying that there is this battle that is going on in each and every one of us. And Paul is here to raise his hand saying, I am fighting this battle. Paul here isn't saying, well, you guys need to do this and you need to do that. I've already figured this thing out myself. No, Paul here is saying, I struggle with this immensely. And there's two battles that are going on right here. The first of which is the battle lost. This is the battle of the opposition that is coming out. That's at times, no matter how hard we fight, no matter how hard we try our best, we do everything that we can to set ourselves up for success, we lose. Paul says this in verse 14, "We know the law is spiritual, but I am unspiritual, sold as a slave to sin. I do not understand what I do for what I want to do. I do not do, but what I hate, I do. For if I do what I do not want to do, I agree that the law is good. As it is, it is no longer I myself who do it, but the sin living in me. For I know that good itself does not dwell in me, that is my sin nature. For I have the desire to do what is good, but I cannot carry it out. For I do not do the good I want to do, but the evil I do not want to do, this I keep on doing. Now, if I do what I do not want to do, it is no longer I who do it, but it is sin living in me that does it. That's a lot of dos in there. (laughs) I would get lost here as Paul's scribe. I'd be like, bro, bro, bro, slow, slow it down, man. I do not do, do, do, not what, do, do what do? But Paul here is saying that I have this inside of me. I really want to do good. I really, really want to do good. I wanna do what God wants me to do. I want to live his life that he's called me to live. I want to live these things out. And yet I find myself this battle inside that I keep losing time and time and time again. And Paul says, I hate myself for this. Don't raise your hand, but I can relate with this. I can relate with this. Even this week, Lord Jesus, come on. I can relate that there are so many times I find myself with the absolute best intentions, the desires to do exactly what God wants to do. And I find myself in the midst of after my actions going, What did I just do? And this is what Paul is trying to communicate in the letter here going, we're all battling through this, but don't lose heart, okay? We gotta kind of get through some of this hard stuff here to try to get, we're gonna make a turn here. And I wanna talk about here specifically the battle that we cannot lose.

And what do I mean by that? I mean the battle that we are guaranteed to win. I'm talking about the victory in Christ Jesus. Guys, remember that verse, verse 25? "But thanks be to God who delivers me through Christ Jesus our Lord." Newsflash, credits have scrolled, everything is done, life's over, everything you've done. At the end, the post credit in the theme of Avengers, like they always have those post credit things, you're victorious. If you call Jesus your Lord and leader of your life, you will find yourself at the end being victorious in battle. And here's what Paul, this is exactly what Paul is trying to tell us in this letter. That even in the midst of this fight that we feel like we keep losing time and time and time again, Paul says, "Uh-uh, it doesn't end like that." You may feel beat up, you may feel frustrated, you may just be so overwhelmed with your own self in these moments that Paul says, don't lose hope. Because in the end, you're victorious. You are covered under the grace and the mercy of Jesus Christ in your life. So matter whatever you're facing, when you run into that next battle, know that you're victorious. - Amen. - We'd fight different, wouldn't we? We'd fight a little bit different. if we remember that ourselves, but we forget it, right? I'm right there, I'll admit it, I forget it. It's so easy to forget 'cause we get so beat up and we're like, how, what, I don't know. But we are victorious and Paul wants to remind us that we are victorious, not in ourselves, but in Jesus. Well, how does this victory come about? How does all this come about? Well, there's this incredible thing that Paul here that talks about, it's the law. It's this, the gift of the law that gives us understanding. Verse seven in Romans, "What shall we say then? Is the law sinful? Certainly not. Nevertheless, I would have known what sin was, excuse me, I would have not known what sin was had it not been for the law. For I would have not known what coveting really was if the law had not said, you shall not covet. Paul here is taking this and summarizing down. I never caught this before, but Paul here, if you were to take, say, go simple, law, 10 commandments, right? Think Moses coming down, tablets. I can't remember the guy's actor in the name. I'm just thinking of Moses. Charleston Heston, all right. You got Charleston Heston in your head. He's got the tablets, thou shalt not, right? We all, thou shalt, thou shalt, thou shalt. written in old English. I don't think Moses wrote it in old English, just saying, but they had the thou shalt nots, right? And Paul here in a sentence, whittles it all down to coveting. And I'd never taken time to think through that before, but that makes sense, right? Adultery is found in coveting. Stealing is found in coveting. Murder is sourced in coveting. You walk through these 10 commandments, I'm not saying all, I'm saying the majority of them dwindled down to this idea of covenant. And Paul says, "If it wasn't for the law, I wouldn't even know what sin was. I would just gone on about my business." 'Cause deep down inside, there's this fight, this selfishness that we counteract and we battle through every single day. And most of the time, right?

We just choose what we wanna do. Well, I want lunch. I'm gonna go get lunch what I wanna get. I wanna go on vacation. I'm gonna go on a vacation that I wanna go on, right? And we just choose what we wanna choose. And Paul here is saying that it's really the law that it breaks us down and shows us what is actually wrong. And it's because of that, that the law is great. Paul here is making an argument for some that might come at it. Well, if you're saying the law says this and the law says that, then really the law is the one that's bad. Paul here is saying, no, no, no, no, no, that's not right. Paul here is saying the law is actually what guides us. The law is like those guard rails on the freeway that we go down, flying down way over the speed limit, right, amen? And those guard rails are there not to stop us, but to bunk us back onto the road so we don't go flying off the road into somebody's backyard. That's what the law is. The law is here to guide us and lead us in the direction that we are supposed to go. And Paul here is saying that without the law, without the guard rails, I'd be way worse off. 'Cause I would know, have idea where the end of the road is at. Paul here is saying that the law is good. In fact, it is the law is how we know what wrong actually is. But not only that, the law actually brings us loss. God has this image of an idea of what our lives, he wants our lives to look like. And that is shaped, that is guided, that is put together, is guardrailed by the law. Sometimes in our selfishness, we wanna go off the road, right? We'll love some off-roading, okay? This is a bad analogy here, so we're not gonna talk about it. But there are times when off-roading is good, not in your spiritual life, but in real life up in the mountains, amen? All right. God wants to keep us on this path to life that he desires for us. And that is the structure of the law. And at times we go, well, if the law is calling what sin is, therefore the law is bad because the law, it's just, it's trying to control us. Law is just trying to pull me down. The law, it just rules that are made to be broken. You get some laughs from rebellious ones in the room. But that's not what Paul here is saying. Paul is here saying is that the law actually leads us to a place of life. And that's the law that shows us what is wrong. It's not the law that brings forth the sin 'cause it calls out transition, but it's my actions that are sin. I love this quote from Ignatius of Loyola that says, "Sin is unwillingness to trust that what God wants for me "is only my deepest happiness." God's not this God that's controlling from on high. God isn't this God that's just a mean brute of a person that wants to just smash us down. God isn't this one that throws lightning bolts from the heavens. We read Old Testament, sometimes it has to get to that point to get some people's attentions, but God is a God that ultimately desires nothing but the best for our lives. And it's really us that gets in the way of that, right? It's really us and what we want that gets in the way of that because God ultimately wants to bring about life to our lives, true life.

I think of it this way. One of the aspects of God, I think, and I see, and I read in the scripture is coach God. Coach God. That is that God that deeply wants the best for us. I'm a big sports guy, and so I get into coaches and teams and coaching philosophies and leadership examples and all these different things. And the reality is that God just wants the best for us. And that's the same for a coach. Coach just wants the best for us. I don't know if you grew up playing sports, but a coach there who cares for us calls us out, right? Calls us out on our laziness, calls us out on our lack of preparedness, calls us out on our lack of effort, calls us out when we mess up not doing what we're supposed to do, or when we try to cheat, or when we try to cut corners, the coach there is saying, "Knock it off." That's not right. And they're really dangerous places to be when the coach stops calling us out. 'Cause that's when the coach goes, "All seems lost. They're just gonna do whatever they wanna do anyway. They're not receiving my coaching." What I love about God, He doesn't do that. God doesn't do that. God comes to us and shows us what it's like to be successful, to have this ultimate joy, this peace, this everlasting hope in our lives. And the law is like the playbook. The NFL just had their draft, and I think it was last weekend, they had what they call rookie mini camp. This is where all the rookies come in to the training facilities of all the teams across the nation, and they're handed a playbook. It's not really a book anymore, it's more of an iPad or a tablet, no rule of digital, but they're handed this and they're told memorize it. Every single document on that tablet is there to bring you success on this team in the National Football League. It breaks down all of their offense, all their different plays that they run. It breaks down all of the defense, all the schemes, all the trick plays, everything that they try to do, all the special team stuff from punts and kickoffs to returns to all of this stuff. It breaks it down into the simplest terms that says, run this far and turn. Run this far and stop. Go over here and stand. It breaks it down in the simplest terms, but it's up to the players to decide, am I gonna pay attention to what that has been given to me? I think this is what God communicates to us when he hands us this thing. He goes, here's your playbook, memorize it. Here's the offense, here's the defense. And even to the point, unlike the New England Patriots with Spygate, it actually has the opposition's schemes. It has the enemy's playbook in here as well, so that you not only can know how you are supposed to act, but you can also know how the enemy or the other person that you're facing, remember this inner battle, this fight of two sides, how they're gonna come at you so you can be even that much more prepared. And Paul says what? He says, practice it. Practice it, get together, run through your plays, get into the weight room, get stronger spiritually, study this, learn from your coaches, learn from those specialty trainers, learn from everybody in your life that is set up in this moment to bring you success. That's the biggest obstacle to most NFL players in the league, is whether they decide to go all in or not. They might have the greatest talent. They might be the strongest on the team. They might have the fastest time running a 40 yard dash. They might be able to jump the highest, run the longest, have the greatest stamina in the world. But unless they memorize that playbook and understand their piece in the greater picture of the role on that team, they will fail. And Paul here is telling us that I've given you a playbook. I've put you on a team and I've set you up for success with coaches and leaders and spiritual mentors and mamas in your life to help you succeed, to get to a place that is about complete understanding and purpose full of joy and hope.

But it's for us to decide. It's for us to decide ultimately, will we engage with worship? Will we take prayer seriously? Are we in the Bible every single day? Are we living life in a community? Have we faithfully committed ourselves to a church family? 'Cause the law gives us guidelines and the law gives us understanding, but ultimately it comes down to that victory is found in Jesus Christ, not ourselves. 'Cause that's the biggest factor here. Some of these most talented players will come into the NFL and they'll look at the play and go, I don't need that. I know exactly what to do. I was all team top pro, first draft, blah, blah, blah, blah. but this is the big leagues. And Paul is saying here in this idea, this phrasing he's using, this analogy of a battle is that this is serious stuff. This isn't a game like the NFL. This is our lives that are at stake. And that in this, we can find victory in Jesus Christ. Paul says this, starting in verse four through six. So my brothers and sisters, You also died to the law through the body of Christ, that you might belong to one another, in him who was raised from the dead, in order that we might bear fruit for God. For when we were in the realm of the flesh, the sinful passions aroused by the law were at work in us, so that we bore fruit of death. But now, by dying to what once bound us, we have been released from the law, so that we serve in the new way of the Spirit, not in the old way of the written code. Paul here is saying that this victory in Christ is actually a rescuing from ourselves. Paul here is saying that we are the ones that actually pull ourselves down. We are the ones that limit our own potential by having the thoughts that we have. We are at times can be the limit of the amount of Jesus that we let him live in our lives. That we are the source of the biggest struggles in our old life. This battle lost. And we have to change our understanding, we have to change our minds. That's what Paul says. He had to change our minds to understand this battle that we face is a battle that we cannot lose because of the victory in Jesus.

You know the greatest part about this? We've done nothing to earn it and we do nothing to receive it. We let Christ come in and he takes care of it all. That's it. He takes care of it all and we find victory. I love this verse, verse six, "serve in the new way of the Spirit." That's what Paul is saying here, is that no matter when we face ourselves in this battle, no matter what side, whether we're Bruce Banner or we're the Hulk, that we have this victory in Jesus Christ. And not only that, not only victory, but to the victor goes the spoils.

And this is how Paul starts the chapter. He says, "Do you not know brothers? "For I am speaking to those who know the law, "that the law is binding on a person "only as long as he lives. "For a married woman is bound by law "to her husband while he lives, "but if her husband dies, "she is released from the law of marriage. "Accordingly, she will be called an adulteress "if she lives with another man while her husband is alive. "But if her husband dies, she is free from that law, "and if she marries another man, She is not an adulteress. Paul's main point at the beginning of all this, okay, we get all the way to the beginning of this chapter, Paul says this, he says, "I want you to point out that death separates someone from a legal obligation." That's what Paul is saying here. That in this moment, if you had traffic court next week, and you died tomorrow, you don't have to show up for traffic court. (congregation laughing) Don't know if you guys know that, but if you find yourself in a big, nevermind, just kidding. But Paul, you're saying, because we are no longer bound to the law, because we have died to its power over us, we now belong to another. Paul talks about marriage and a whole other part in all of his letters, so don't get lost in that point right there, okay? get focused in on this, is that we belong to Jesus, the one who was raised from the dead. And that's why they said, Paul is talking about this idea of dying to ourselves. 'Cause if we die to ourselves, like Paul is talking about this, then that obligation, that legal binding that we had to our sin nature is no longer binding, therefore we are then united with Christ. And not just united, but I'm talking about a united in a marriage that is loving, that is a committed relationship with our rescue or our deliver, our savior. That's what Paul is talking about here. Some of us need to have a little DTR with our sin. DTR stands for define the relationship. We need to have a serious talk with our sin because this relationship we have with sin is dysfunctional and this ex just won't go away. I love, Pastor Andre had this quote last week. It says, "Sin promises life, but gives death." Sin is stepping out on us. It's using us. It's telling you lies. It's manipulating us. and we need to break up with sin. Because we have the opportunity to be united in this beautiful marriage with Christ that leads us through the law to give us victory over our struggles and ultimately life, eternal life. Paul just uses this illustration of marriage just because it's very well understood in the early church.

Paul here is saying, I want you to have this kind of relationship with Jesus that is like a marriage that is healthy, that is life-giving, that is caring, that is truly loving. This is the kind of relationship that Jesus wants to have with us. And when we step into that relationship with him, we've died to our old self, we've died to our sin, we've died to our selfishness, and we find guaranteed victory in an abundant life that is even more than we ever could have imagined. I've talked to some of you here and in the different worlds that I've had of people who have been married for like 50, 60 plus years. And I sit there and I go, how? Usually the husband cracks some joke, the wife pokes him, it's usually how it goes. But ultimately deep down inside, there is this loving commitment of care for one another. That is what makes a marriage last. And Paul here is saying, Jesus wants to have this relationship with you that will last your entire lifetime. And it's even greater than what you could even think or come up with in your own mind. A kind of love that you can't even put into words. A kind of peace that the Bible says that passes understanding. The kind of joy that doesn't let anything knock it off. That keeps on going and going. and going and going, that gives us guaranteed victory, no matter where we find ourselves in the battle of life. That's the kind of relationship Jesus wants to have with us. So the question for us, when we close and the worship team can come up, are we committed to Christ as much as Christ is committed to us? That's the question. 'Cause a relationship is 100% and 100%. You probably heard 50/50, that doesn't even get you close, you're short still. Relationship is 100%, 100%, and Jesus here is 100% in. Always has been, always will be. The question for us, is that us? Are we committed as a lifelong, forever kind of relationship? That's what we have to answer for ourselves. 'Cause Jesus has this life that he wants for us. We have to figure out, are we 100% committed to Jesus? Paul here is saying there's a life out there greater than you ever could imagine, full of victory and love. We gotta say yes to Jesus every single day.

Let's pray. God, thank you for your word. Thank you for your servant, Paul. God, sometimes we get so caught up in his words and get lost sometimes in this train of thought, but I think it speaks to a level of excitement that he knows what's at stake. He understand what is on that other side when we finally say no to ourselves and yes to you, this kind of abundant love that isn't found anywhere else in the universe, but only found in you. And so thank you for your word today. God, I pray that this week we would think through this, that we might find ourselves in different battles and struggles and remember that we already have victory in you, not because it's something that we've done, not because it's something that we've earned, Not because it's something that we're so talented and gifted and we're so amazing, but it's because of our united love to you, Jesus, that we find victory. So Jesus, help us to be encouraged today. Help us to remember what you did for us on the cross. We thank you, Jesus. Amen. - Thanks for listening. And if you would, please take a moment to subscribe and leave an encouraging review to help others find our podcasts on whatever platform you are listening on. We hope you have a wonderful day. We'll catch you next week.

Romans - Part 10

Captives for Life - Romans 6:15-23

SERMON TRANSCRIPT

We are continuing our Roman series. And I wanna start today with a little history lesson. I don't know how many of you are history buffs or appreciate a good story, but you're about to get one. So, long time ago, I'm not a history person, so this is fun, but it's not my thing, but it's helpful. In the year 207 BC, long time ago, there was a war. There was multiple wars. So in the end of the Second Punic War, we're in Italy. just give yourself some geography, we're over in Italy, and the Roman army was pinned down into southern Italy by the ruthless general Hannibal of Carthage. And so by the way, if you are a history buff, I'm repeating someone else's account of this story, so if you have a problem with it, I am copying JD Greer, who's a pastor, who's the one who's doing this Roman series that we talked about every Sunday morning before the service. He gets the benefit of he's in Rome when he films it, so he's got like the historical background behind him. I have this wonderful stage so you can't see where the battle actually happened. So he's got to envision it. So we're in 207 and there's people that are pinned, the the Roman army is pinned down by general Hannibal of Carthage. But Hannibal's troops are exhausted, they've been fighting this war, they're depleted of supplies and so he's sent for his brother, has Drupal, who entered his armies from the north. So we have Rome pinned down in the south and we have an army entering from the north and so they do something unexpected and kind of risky. They rush all their forces to the north to meet Hasdrubal and they defeat him. They defeat Hasdrubal and just outside of Rome in 207 and historians will agree that pretty much at this point the war was over. Rome had won. It didn't officially end but pretty much this was the turning point, right? Rome defeating has Drupal in the north did not mean good things for Hannibal in the south. So everyone knew it, Rome had won, but for years small groups of Hannibal's forces would terrorize the Roman countryside in the south, still being present there. And so even though Rome had won, their victory had not yet been applied or recognized across every town and hamlet in the south south of Italy. And so, like I said, Pastor JD Greer shares this story to point out that this is exactly what sin does in the lives of believers.

Even though Jesus has defeated sin and death, sin still fights back in our lives and attacks the towns and hamlets of our lives. You didn't know that you had hamlets in your life, but you do. In Romans six, Paul is talking about this ongoing battle with sin for the believer. And Paul is really bringing the people of the church of Rome to this pressure point, helping them make a true and honest self-assessment of their spiritual status, making them look at what is in their hearts. This is such an important concept that Paul is gonna take as much time as he needs in this letter. So he's talked about the beginning of chapter six, we're continuing the same thought because it is so important. We also have to remember that Paul is writing to a certain Roman culture, and there are two rules when it comes to religion. The first is that everyone under the Roman Empire can worship any god that they want. Whatever religion, whatever god you have, you can continue to worship that god. The second rule is you just can't say that another god isn't a god. You can't say that there is only one god. You must accept the plurality of gods that is under the Roman Empire. Now, when I was prepping this sermon, I just thought, that's maybe similar to what we're going through today, right? Many religions are accepted or must be allowed to be present at the same time, but as soon as Christianity says that there's one God, then all of a one looks at us angry, and says, what are you talking about? No, no, no, and we're like, well, it's what we believe. It's the truth. And so we can maybe share in this reality with the early Roman church that Paul is talking to. He needs to make sure that the believers in the church of Rome, truly acknowledge, believe, and worship one true God. So if you guys would read with me, it's gonna be up on the screen, but Romans 6:15-23, you can follow along as I read out loud.

Paul says, "What then? Shall we sin, "because we are not under the law but under grace? "By no means. "Don't you know that when you offer yourself "to someone as obedient slaves, "you are slaves of the one you obey? whether you are slaves to sin, which leads to death, or to obedience, which leads to righteousness. But thanks be to God that though you used to be slaves to sin, you have come to obey from your heart the pattern of teaching that has now claimed your allegiance. You have been set free from sin and have become slaves to righteousness. I am using an example from everyday life because of your human limitations. Just as you used to offer yourselves as slaves to impurity and to ever-increasing wickedness, "So now, offer yourselves as slaves to righteousness, "leading to holiness. "When you were slaves to sin, "you were free from the control of righteousness. "What benefit did you reap at that time "from these things that you are now ashamed of? "Those things result in death. "But now that you have been set free from sin "and have become slaves of God, "the benefit you reap leads to holiness, "and the result is eternal life. "For the wages of sin is death, But the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.

Would you pray with me? God, thank you again for your holy word given to us that we may know you, know your truth, know the pattern of truth. And God, I pray that you would open it up to us, open our hearts to receive your truth and your word. God, that it would form us to be more like Jesus and that we would leave this morning empowered and encouraged to live a life fully for you. Be with us this morning. and we pray this in your name, amen. Last week, we talked about a throne in our hearts. I don't know if you remember that. I mentioned this little throne that metaphorically sits in our hearts, and whoever sits on that throne controls our lives, right? They control our thoughts, our actions, our desires. And Paul starts off with a similar thought process as he, in verse 15. He says, "Shall we sin because we are not under the law, but under grace by no means?" Do you remember what we said about "by no means"? This is the strongest way to say "no" in the Greek. This is an emphatic "no, definitely not." Verse 16, Paul is setting up the rest of this passage here. He says that no matter what, we are slaves. Now we might be naturally repulsed by that statement. On top of the negative feelings around slavery, We innately also have a natural response of, I am the captain of my own ship. I don't like, don't tell me that someone else is in control. It's not what I like. We don't like being controlled. We don't like when someone else is calling the shots for us. We want to be at the helm. We want to be making the decisions. We like a certain independence. The Bible, however, is pretty clear that that mindset, that desire, comes from sin. It comes from a place of rebelling against God, who we were made to be in partnership with, not independent from. So this is the question that Paul presents. Don't you know that when you offer yourselves to someone as obedient slaves, you are slaves of the one you obey? Whether you are slaves to sin, which leads to death, or to obedience, which leads to righteousness. Paul is starting at the assumption that all are slaves to sin. There is no neutral starting point. I think this is often how we think about it. Well, I was free, and then I became a slave to sin, or I can become a slave to righteousness. Paul is saying no.

The starting point is we are all slaves. From the very beginning, we are slaves to sin. Theologian Leon Morris writes this. He says, "For Paul, the basic assumption is that "all are slaves before they become believers in Christ. "They are not free to do as they will, "for they are subject to the bondage of sin." Notice that he, Paul, is not saying that slaves are required to obey their master, he is looking at it the other way around. The master we obey shows who's slaves we are. Unbelievers are slaves to sin, and this leads inevitably to death. But believers are slaves to obedience. So he is saying our actions, our choices, the decisions we make reveal who we serve. Paul is very clear that there are two options here. There's just two. We talked a little bit about this last week too. It's either being slaves to sin, which leads to death, or being slaves to obedience, or to God, which leads to life. So I just wanna ask us this morning, whom are you serving? What do your actions, your choices, the decisions you make, who do they reveal that you are serving? We'll continue in verse 17. It says, "But thanks be to God, though you used to be slaves to sin, you have come to obey." This is a high moment in the letter to the Romans. This is a moment of encouragement. This is great. Paul is encouraging them in what has happened in their lives. And there's a couple of things I want us to process in this verse, specifically about the transformation that has happened within the believers. The transforming work that yields obedience to God comes in two parts. First, it is the work of the Spirit, and it also comes from knowing the truth. So the first part is the work of transforming hearts is the work that only the Spirit can do. As believers, we cannot work on our own hearts and make it into something good. That's the work of God, to come in within us, form us, to sanctify us. Ezekiel 36:26 says, "I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit in you. I will remove from you your heart of stone and give you a heart of flesh. So the first part is the work of the spirit.

The second part is the pattern of teaching. The accepted Christian teaching, the truth of God. This is the knowledge that is transforming our minds, renewing our minds, rewiring how we process and understand the world around us, how to process life as it happens. So first we have the work of God in our hearts, and then through the teaching, through his scripture, our minds are also transformed. These are two essential ingredients for believers, a heart that has been touched by God, and a mind that is learning God's truth. They are present here in the Church of Rome, and Paul is expressing encouragement and gratitude, saying, "Hey, your church has experienced God. "I see it in your lives. "This is good, be encouraged." And a question for us this morning, is that present here at Spring Valley Church? I believe it is. Have you experienced the transforming work of the Spirit in your heart? Are you also learning the truth, the knowledge that renews your mind? Again, I hope the answer is yes. And now in the rest of the passage, Paul explains their reality to them with a bold new imagery He puts before them the situation that they have gone through. In verse 18, it says, "You have been set free from sin "and have become slaves to righteousness." Now I know, we read that and think, they went from slavery to slavery. That doesn't sound that great. That doesn't sound like a great situation. Slavery is bad, yes, slavery is bad. But again, Paul is using the situation they are familiar with to express their spiritual reality. So this is what he says at the beginning of 19, and he's building upon some assumptions here that make the situation more palpable and make it make sense to us.

In Paul's scenario, again, he's emphasizing, we didn't start from freedom and fall into slavery to sin. We were always slaves to sin. And I said that before, you're gonna hear it again. Paul's gonna say it again. It's so important for us to think that because we will always have this natural tension of control in our lives. It's part of the biggest issue with sin that we have. We want to be in control. It's the original sin of Adam and Eve, of Satan falling from, we want control. We want to be like God. And so we were always slaves to sin. That was our starting point. And Paul's also saying, we will always be slaves to something, either sin or obedience to God. So in verse 18, he is rejoicing that they are now slaves to God, meaning they will have eternal life. Their decision from their heart, from their mind, all those, their life now bends towards God. Verse 19, he says, "Just as you used to offer yourselves "as slaves to impurity and to ever-increasing wickedness, "now offer yourselves as slaves to righteousness, leading to holiness. Paul needed to exhort them, instruct them to obey God, because just like that story at the very beginning of the enemy attacking, even when the war was, you know, pretty much over, that is our reality. Sin is still attacking. Sin is still looking for ways to get at us. And that thing, that person that you might have served before you were saved, that you might have worshipped, that might have dictated your life, isn't completely gone. So let's say you worshipped success in life, you valued success. You would make, even though maybe you are no longer a complete slave to success, you're now a slave to obedience, you can still struggle with that sin. And you can make every decision to experience success, even if that meant breaking God's law. If you worshiped money, that sin, that hold of money over your life might mean that in a moment you would do whatever it takes to maybe make more money, even if it meant breaking God's law. Or let's say there was a person that you wanted to please in life, you would do whatever it takes to make that person happy, even if it meant breaking God's law. So even though the believers in Rome are experiencing the transforming work of God in their hearts and knowing God's truth, they are still struggling to choose to obey God. They are still going back to old masters. That's a reality that we experience today too. If you are saved, if you believe in Christ, you are still dealing with sin in your life. The old masters still calling. And there are moments in our life where we choose to go and listen and obey that instead of God. I don't know if you've ever had a pet. Maybe some of you have pets, or specifically a dog. But you've probably had to train that dog. And training dogs, I only have one experience. I have one dog, only for six months. It's not about the dog, that was more about me. Dog was great. It was a season. But I started training that dog, and that was very hard. There was a lot of bad habits or natural habits for the dog to break. So like peeing inside or outside for the dog. You know, obviously outside. And it would get rewarded every time it did the right thing. You get a little treat, good job. Or something like chewing on furniture. It was puppy, so puppy phase of chewing on everything. My dog, I didn't necessarily give it a treat for not chewing, but it experienced my transforming love every time it did not chew on furniture. But still-- that's a joke. I don't know if I have transforming love for a dog. Obviously not, I don't have a dog anymore. But the dog still, even though if it knew the right thing, it still would tend to do the old thing. And I think that's what Paul is, it's going through Paul's head right here. It's like you still, you know, you've experienced the goodness of obedience in God, but we still, everyone smiles, still go back to sin.

Paul is coaxing them along in this letter saying, "You guys can do it, I know you can. "I see you slip every once in a while "and listen to that old master, "but keep doing the right thing. "Now that you know your minds are being transformed, "your heart has been touched by God, "keep choosing obedience to God." In verse 20 and 21 it says, "When you were slaves to sin, "you were free from the control of righteousness. "What benefit did you reap at that time "from the things you are now ashamed of? Those things result in death. Paul makes it very clear that you are enslaved to sin from the beginning, and that being enslaved to sin only leads to death. Even if those things, those sins, where some brought you pleasure, felt good in the moment, it still leads to death. Wouldn't avoiding sin be a lot easier if there wasn't any pleasure involved? if it wasn't like, usually sin starts from a good thing, or something that we enjoy, and then there's too much of it, usually, most sins. It would be so much easier if sin was just like bad all around. It's like, no, of course I'm not going to do that. It's terrible. But experiencing success, wealth, pleasing a person, eating good food, all these things bring a certain level of pleasure to our senses. At some point God created those things for us to enjoy, but when we chase and serve and pursue Pleasure, we are no longer chasing and serving and pursuing God. God has become secondary to our desire for pleasure. Paul explains, again, their situation. He says that the believers in Rome used to be slaves of sin, and where did they get that? Or where did that get them? On the fast track to death. And this didn't mean a physical death necessarily, maybe, but more importantly, it meant the death of their soul. You see, sin corrupts, eats away at, and destroys our soul. What's that saying when you eat sweets? It's like a moment on the lips and forever on the hips. That's like sin, but like a million times worse. Like a moment of goodness, and then like your soul is destroyed. It's terrible. That will make you think twice next time you have that sweet. You're like, "Oh my goodness." Paul then again expresses this other option. So a moment of pleasure or sin, but at the cost of your soul.

The other option, verse 22, "But now that you've been set free from sin and become slaves of God, the benefit you reap leads to holiness, and the result is eternal life." So what does being slaves to righteousness get you? Being made holy. Being made more and more into the image of Christ. Living a life that is closer and closer to what God intended. being the men and women that God created us to be. Whereas sin rots our soul and destroys and kills our soul, being slaves to God is life-bringing, renews our hearts and our souls. So obeying God, following God, brings life. Psalm 16:11 says, "You make known to me the path of life. "You will fill me with joy in your presence, "with eternal pleasures at your right hand." And then 1 John 5:12 says, is whoever has the Son has life. Whoever does not have the Son of God does not have life. Scripture is very clear that pursuing God brings life. From the Old Testament to the New Testament, there are stories upon stories of God bringing life. Sometimes it's a physical life. In the Old Testament, from Noah to Abraham to Moses to the Israelites to David, the only hope of a future, of a life even on earth was through Yahweh. He provided the only way for more life. And now in the New Testament, we talk about our eternal life and the only way is through Christ. For us today, entrusting our everything, our entire life to Jesus, is what brings life into our souls. On our own, without Jesus, our souls naturally just rot away and wither and die. And there was only one remedy. The only thing that can bring life to our souls is Christ. There's nothing else, nothing in this world, nothing that we can do on our own. The only remedy to sin is Christ. He is the source of life. Paul ends chapter six with this verse, For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.

Paul is wrapping up this thought and trying to make it abundantly clear. German theologian H. W. Heidlin wrote, "Sin promises life but gives death." I love that summary, that what sin is actually doing. It looks good, right? Just like Adam and Eve in the garden. There's something appealing about something else. Again, we wouldn't want to sin. We wouldn't make that decision to sin. So sin promises life, but only gives death. Death isn't an arbitrary sentence, but the inevitable consequence of sin. It's a literal ending point for our lives. The other option is a gift, a free gift from God. And Paul uses the term gift here to emphasize the freeness found in this option. It's not a reward for the life that you have lived. You didn't earn it, but it's a complete gift from God. Paul is emphasizing the reality that slavery is not just a status, but a living experience. There's not just like in the book of life, your name, not the book of life, whatever book that, forget that analogy, it's not gonna work. (audience laughing) Whatever status is next to your name, it's not just slave to sin or slave to obedience. It is what you live, it is your experience. Dr. Gary Brashears, a professor and theologian, writes, "We have the first taste "of a number of eschatological blessings, "but the consummation and final fulfillment "is yet in the future." This is the idea that as believers, Heaven is already, but not fully yet. We have a glimpse, but not the full thing. And I think that's true of both eternal destinations, heaven and hell. For those living in sin, they are currently getting a taste of hell, a life void of God without His love and truth. Part of that reality is present. And for those who are enslaved to righteousness, they are getting a taste of heaven, a life full of God's presence, full of love, full of truth. I don't think we today often live in that reality, even as believers. The reality that our eternal destination is not so far in the future, that it doesn't affect us now. We tend to put it off and say, well, that's at the end. That's not right now. It's, I don't even think about it. Some of us are really future thinkers, future oriented, and we're great planners. You might have like a 5 to 10 year plan. You're like, I know general direction, where I'm going, and what should be happening. Others of us are not that way. Like, hey, what are you excited about this year? And you're like, I'm just trying to figure out dinner for tonight. I have no idea. I'm like somewhere in the middle, but lean towards what's for dinner tonight.

What would it look like for you to live your life with your eternal destiny, your presence with or without God at the forefront of your mind? How would your day be different if you were more present and aware of the life that Jesus is giving your soul each day? Or if you were choosing sin in that moment, or that day, or that season of life, what if you were more aware of the destruction and the corruption and the ruin that that sin was bringing to your life? Might we be more conscious of the decisions we make? And might we strive to take better care of our hearts and our minds, and be more intentional in what we allow in our hearts and what is coming out of our hearts. Maybe we'd be more thoughtful and careful about who is sitting on the throne within us. We might be more aware of the possible attacks of the enemy and how sin might be creeping back into our lives. So as I close, I just wanna ask these questions again. From verse 16, whom are you serving? What are your actions, your choices, the decisions you make, who do they reveal you are serving? And then from verse 17, have you experienced the transforming work of the Spirit in your heart? And are you learning the truth, the knowledge that renews your mind? And then from this last verse, 23, what would it look like for you to live your life with your eternal destiny at the forefront of your mind? Church, as you answer these questions right now, throughout this week, you ponder them, I wanna remind you that in your pursuit of God, you are not alone. The people in this room are also with you. This is your community, these are your people. And we are all looking to pursue God. We're all looking to chase after God. And I love this image of all of us, wherever we're at, some of us, 30 years of following God, some of us, six months of following God. All of us are heading towards him. And what an encouragement to see when someone slips to be like, "Hey, I got you. "Let me help you up. "Let's keep going." As we live to be more like Jesus, as we pursue him together, what a glimpse of heaven here on earth, where his kingdom is at the forefront of our minds. These are people in this room who you can be vulnerable with, you can open up with, who can encourage you and who you might need to encourage. So that's our prayer today, that God would use this church, this community for His kingdom. As it says on our wall, that He would saturate this community with His glory. Amen?

Let's pray. God, again, thank you for your Word. Man, we are so thankful for the work that you are doing in our lives. When you transform our hearts, God, in the continuing sanctification that we are going through, making us more and more like Jesus, we're so thankful for that. There's nothing we can do but allow you to work in us. And then, God, we just pray that you continue to put forth your patterns of truth, your word, God, through teaching, through reading, through singing, all these ways that we soak in your truth. I pray that it would truly transform our minds. The way we look at the world process would all be more like how you see the world. God, fill us with your love, with your grace, your compassion, and I pray that you would reveal to us who is sitting on the throne of our hearts. You would make that clear, and if it demands a change, God, help us to make that change. God, we wanna offer our lives as a sacrifice to you, that you would use us as instruments of righteousness, instruments for your kingdom. God, thank you for this church right here, Spring Valley. I pray that we would be emboldened and strengthened to come together to pursue you and chase after you. This is not a journey that is meant to be done alone, but to be done together as a body of believers. So help us to love our friends, our family, sitting next to us and across the room. God help us to have a mind and a heart that reaches out to them and wants to encourage them and help us to be open to receiving encouragement from others. God continue to transform this entire church that we may be a light into this community here at Rocklin. We know that you are working and we're thankful for it and we take joy and get excited about the work that you will continue to do as we look forward into the future. God, we give you all this. We sing your praises. Amen.

Guys, thank you for being here this morning. And we look forward to continuing our series. Look forward to seeing you midweek, but we hope you have a great weekend. All right. Be blessed. - Thanks for listening. And if you would, please take a moment to subscribe and leave an encouraging review to help others find our podcasts on whatever platform you are listening on. We hope you have a wonderful day. We'll catch you next week.

Romans - Part 9

United with Christ - Romans 6:1-14

SERMON TRANSCRIPT

We are continuing in Romans, Pastor Chris, & I hope that you are enjoying this series. Even though each week we can only speak so far, we have 30 minutes each morning to talk about the passage, and there is so much. We hope that you are continuing your own study, that you're joining us for the Sunday mornings, where we can dive deeper and deeper in. There is just so much, but we pray and hope that it has been rich for all of you.

Just a little bit about myself. You may know this, I keep mentioning it. I do love movies, I love shows, I love movies. There's a theme of movies that has been common in the last decade, I would say, it's these origin stories. I love a good origin story. I think most often we see that in the superhero genre. You know, you're familiar maybe growing up with like Batman or Superman or Spiderman, whoever they are, and then the movie will come out called the origin story. And you get to tell, you get to learn in their story how they became who they are. This start, you know, where it all began. This transition of when did they go from ordinary person to superhero? You know, what happened in that moment? I think it's interesting to know, it's really fun. I'm also a sports fan, so I get intrigued with sports documentaries, like the 30 for 30s that come out. And you get to learn, you know, how did Jerry Rice become Jerry Rice? Or how did Michael Jordan become Michael Jordan? And again, there's just something intriguing about a good origin story, because I think that there's a part that we want to relate to. You know, if it could happen to them, could any part of that also happen to us? Not that I could have gone pro in any sport, but just, it's fun imagining, like, yeah, man, if I had worked hard, just like Michael Jordan did 24/7, yeah, maybe me too. There's just something relatable there. Like, could that happen to me? It's entertaining to think about an origin story. And again, it's that part of, they were just like a normal person at one point. And then we know them as the superstar or the superhero, And there's a period of time where they're learning and they're discovering that they're different. And there's something changing about them.

And that's kind of what we're covering here in our section this morning of Romans. That's where Paul is talking about in chapter 6. In chapter 5, Pastor Chris last week talked about how, again, sin infected humanity. And Pastor Chris was sharing Paul's words that the problem was dealt with. Sin was addressed through Jesus, Jesus' death, sacrifice, and resurrection, and now humanity can experience freedom. There's new life found in Jesus, one that is no longer bound by sin. And where last week was all about understanding the role of sin and humanity and its effects, and what we are to do to be freed from sin, today we're going to shift a little bit to cover the Christian's origin story, the new life that we have in Christ. We want to talk about the transition from ordinary sinner to blessed believer. For people who follow Jesus, hopefully this morning is a reminder of their new life, the new status, the transforming work that God is doing within you. And for those who may not yet believe in Jesus, this will hopefully shed some light on what it means to be united with Christ, to be a follower of Him. So if you could turn in your Bibles to Romans 6, I believe even though we're in new seats, there are still Bibles underneath some seats, if you want to pull that out, it'll be on the screen. But we're in Romans chapter 6, and you can follow along as I read aloud 1 through 14. Paul says, "What shall I say then? Shall we go on sinning so that grace may increase? By no means. We are those who have died to sin. How can we live in it any longer? Or don't you know that all of us who were baptized into Christ Jesus, were baptized into his death. We were therefore buried with him through baptism into death, in order that just as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, we too may live a new life. For if we have been united with him in a death like his, we will certainly also be united with him in a resurrection like his. For we know that our old self was crucified with him, so that the body ruled by sin might be done away with, that we should no longer be slaves to sin, because anyone who has died has been set free from sin. Now, if we died with Christ, we believe that we will also live with Him, for we know that since Christ was raised from the dead, He cannot die again. Death no longer has mastery over Him. The death He died, He died to sin once for all. But the life He lives, He lives to God. "In the same way, count yourselves dead to sin, "but alive to God in Christ Jesus. "Therefore, do not let sin reign in your mortal body, "so that you may obey its evil desires. "Do not offer any part of yourself to sin "as an instrument of wickedness, "but rather offer yourselves to God "as those who have been brought from death to life, "and offer every part of yourself to him "as an instrument of righteousness. "For sin shall no longer be your master, because you are not under the law, but under grace.

Would you guys pray with me really quick? God, we are again thankful for our time of gathering this morning, and we are thankful for your word, your truth. And God, I pray that you would open that up to us, that our hearts and minds may be ready to receive your encouraging word and your instruction. I pray that we'd be drawn closer to you, formed more like you, and that we would walk away from this morning encouraged and empowered to live a life that is living in your freedom by your grace. We pray this in your name, amen. Paul has just finished his thought of sin abounding in life at the end of chapter five, and we can't fully get rid of sin. But he says, "But where sin increased, "grace increased all the more." So there's a lot of sin, but there's always more grace. And Paul, as he's done all throughout these chapters, does that thing. when he's writing this letter, he's going to anticipate the thoughts of the readers. They're gonna be like, hey, sometimes they anticipate this and that's good, I want them to go in that direction. And other times, he's anticipating their thoughts and they're like, they're gonna think that and I do not want them to think that. That's one of these times. So Paul's reading, anticipating their thoughts and he's saying, he's thinking that they're gonna say, okay, Paul, so no matter how many times I sin, no matter how much sin there is, God's grace is more. Oh, that's great, that's really nice. So glad that God's grace is more. And then he's anticipating that some of them who are drawn towards sin, that the wheels are going to start turning. And they're going to say, "Oh, so that means though, that however much I sin, God's grace is more. That's kind of convenient. That's kind of nice. That's great. I don't have to worry about anything. No matter what, I sin. God's grace is more." And Paul wants to combat that thought, because that really becomes a heart issue over sin and grace. And that's the first focus, place I want to focus this morning, is the sin and grace in verses one through three. So one says, "What shall we say then? Shall we go on sinning so that grace may increase?" And Paul says in verse 2, "By no means." Now, we read that in English, and it's "by no means." Okay, that's great. But J.D. Greer, a pastor, and we watch his videos on Sunday morning, he brings up the point that this is the strongest way to say "no" in the Greek. This is as if Paul had added some expletives. Like, heck no! This is not what you were supposed to be doing. Heck no, just not very strong. But you get the point. Just because we know that God's grace is there to always cover our sin does not mean that we keep sinning. We just don't assume that God's grace is going to cover and forgive us. This would be an abuse of God's grace. It's not a free, get out of jail free card that we can just flash over and over again. It'd be like, "Oh hey God, it's me, your boy. Hey, I'm sorry, here. Yeah, I'd mess, I said some things, I did some things. You know me though, and we're good, right? Yeah, you're covering me again, here's my card. Sweet, I'll see you next time. No, that wouldn't be good, that wouldn't be right. That would be an abuse of God's grace. And we don't wanna be abusers of anything in this world. To abuse something is to misuse something, to treat with cruelty or violence, or to, it's the improper use of something.

God made us, humanity, to be representatives, to be as partners and coworkers in this world. And when we treat anything with cruelty or violence or misuse something that God intended for one purpose and we use it for another purpose, we are acting in direct opposition to God. We do not want to abuse God's grace. We don't wanna selfishly take advantage of God's grace because that would reflect a heart that is not united with God at all, but still serving self. own desires. So Paul says in verse 2, "No, how can we live in it any longer?" That's sin. He's just saying, "How can we live in sin anymore now that we have this other option?" We must understand the goodness of God and the evil of sin. He wants the readers to have this, how far away these two are, how good God is, and how evil sin is. If we don't have a proper view of God and a proper view of sin, we're never going to want to be in God's presence and we're never going to feel the need to stop sinning. I want us to pause and really think about that. If we don't have a proper view of God and a proper view of sin, we're never going to want to be in God's presence and we're never going to want to, we're never going to feel the need to stop sinning. We don't understand how evil sin is. We don't feel the priority or the need to get rid of it in our lives. if we don't understand how good God is, how necessary his presence is in our lives, we're never gonna make any effort to go towards him. Often people think of the transformative work of God, the process of being sanctified, being made more and more like Jesus. They think of it like dieting. And I'll explain in a second, there may be some truth to it, there's also ways to think of that that's not helpful at all. If you've ever been on a diet, I have, so I'm speaking from experience, not right now. It can be easy to justify certain cheats in foods and really bend the definition of your diet to benefit you in a certain moment, right? Yeah? I was on a diet and there was no sugars. I wasn't supposed to have any sugar. But I remember having this conversation often, especially the longer the diet went on, where I was like, the whole point of it is just to have less sugar than I was before. So some sugar right now is still overall better than where I was. And we can do something similar with sin, right? We can't view sin like dieting. So in this conversation, if you're having some processed sugar, isn't gonna kill me, I'm still being healthier, just not as healthy, I'm getting there. That works out fine in the dieting conversation.

If we apply that to our sin context, it might sound like, well, just some sin won't be bad, right? Jesus isn't expecting me to be perfect, but I'm getting better. I'm getting more and more holy. He's working in me. And there's some truth to that, but now we're on a slippery slope, right? And the next thought that can come later on could be it's just some sin. I'll be okay because of God's grace. And now we're not in a good place at all because we're starting to justify the sin in our lives. The diet mindset of sin in our lives is doing us a disservice. It doesn't take into account how we were enslaved to sin. Slavery is a loaded word and comes with a lot of its own history. But the point being that you had no control over your heart and your life because sin did. Paul reminds the believers in Rome that they are ones who have died to sin. Death being the only thing that would free a slave from their captivity, from their bondage. The only way out of slavery was death. And Paul is pointing back to Jesus' work on the cross, that His death and His defeat over sin signals the same for us. Paul is using baptism as the way to convey what is happening. The Bible Project, if you've seen any of their videos or listened to their podcast, has a great video on baptism. And I want to share this quote. It says, "Just as Jesus died, so going into the water becomes this personal connection that you now have with his death. And in coming out of the water, you, so to speak, come back to life with Jesus. So baptism is this sacred ritual that joins us to Jesus' death and resurrection. I just love that connection that it's making, that we are, it's a symbol, yes, but what it symbolizes is so real for us. So if you've been baptized or if you're planning on being baptized, or if you just wondered about baptism, Hopefully this will clarify some things for you. We are joined with Jesus in his death and resurrection, and baptism is the way in which we symbolize that new reality. And from here, moving forward in our passage this morning, Paul puts the reader together with Jesus in these significant moments in the believer's life, where Jesus and believers share in transformational moments full of rich spiritual implications.

So in verses four through nine, Paul lays out for the believers how we are connected to Jesus. Not just that we acknowledge and worship Him and He is our God, but how the actions of Jesus are also our own. So in the following, we are with Jesus. And the first is that we are with Jesus on the cross. This is another way of saying for the believer that the power of sin is broken over them. Paul says this in multiple letters. We have it here in Romans, also in Ephesians and Colossians. Ephesians 22 says, "You were taught with regard "to your former way of life to put off your old self," which is being corrupted by its deceitful desires. In Colossians, he says again, "Do not lie to each other "since you have taken off your old self with its practices. "The old man," as Paul says, or the old self, "was a slave to sin." And now that is no longer the case. Christ has delivered us by his actions on the cross. So our old sinful enslaved self was crucified on that cross. We are also with Christ and that we died with him. You get that from verses 8 and 4 in our passage and buried with him. He also says this in 2 Timothy, he says, speaking to a significant moment in the process of becoming a believer, he says, "If we died with him, we will also live with him." So the death of Christ is a part of the basis for a whole experience of salvation. There's such an emphasis on Jesus's death and how it's connected to us, because that's the moment that Jesus turns away from sin. Not his own sin, but his relationship to sin, right? He bore all the sins of the world. And in his death, he has a final turning away from that. And for us, we also, in dying to sin, are turning away from sin. We would call that repentance, right? We repent every day of the sins we commit, but in a moment of salvation, there was a bigger repentance of saying, God, I'm no longer gonna live this life that is following sin. I'm gonna turn from that and I'm gonna head towards you. So we too die to sin. It is no longer having a hold over us. And our connection in our death with Christ is not the end because we are also with Jesus in his resurrection. It's found in verse five, Paul says that we are made alive in Him. Our spiritual lives are resurrected. He writes about this, again, in some of the other letters. Colossians 2:13 says, "When you were dead in your sins and in the uncircumcision of your flesh, God made you alive with Christ. He forgave us all of our sins, having canceled the charge of our legal indebtedness, which stood against us and condemned us. He has taken it away, nailing it to the cross." In Ephesians, Paul writes, "God who is rich in mercy made us alive with Christ, even when we were dead in our transgressions." Paul is saying we are united with Jesus in His death and resurrection. And that brings us into being with Jesus in new life. We were raised with Him and made to sit with Him in the heavens. I'm going to keep reading Scripture to you because it's just so good and so essential.

Ephesians 2 says, "And God raised us up with Christ and seated us with him in the heavenly realms with Christ Jesus." Paul also says later, we'll get to it in chapter 8 of Romans, "We are co-heirs with him." We share in his glory. He writes, "If we are children, then we are heirs, heirs of God and co-heirs with Christ. If indeed we share in his suffering, we will also share in his glory." This is one of the most beautiful pictures in the gospel, one of the most exciting and glory-filled situations for the believer to think about. Remember, we've been saying this throughout our series that it's like Paul is teaching a course. And the first four chapters were Christianity 101, and now we're in Christianity 201. And so before, he would say that we have a life in Christ, but now he's expanding on that. And he's letting us into the reality those new layers of our new life. They are intricate ways in which, when we believe our lives, everything about us, our hearts, our souls, our minds, undergo a transformation. And we are then woven together in a special way with Jesus. To where what Jesus did on the cross, He did for us. To what Jesus experienced in His death and resurrection, we too experience that in our spiritual life. What Jesus experienced in his resurrection, we know that we will ascend to be with God in heaven. And to the ministry that Jesus accomplished after his resurrection, we know that we too have a new life and a new purpose once we have found him. I mentioned at the beginning that this is kind of the believer's origin story. And so if our spiritual journey was playing out as a movie, there'd be a scene where someone were to ask you, "How did you get to who you are today as a believer, as a Christian?" And you'd have to tell that story. There'd be flashback scenes of like, "Well, when I was this age, it'd be all hazy around the edges. It'd be really cool." We all have unique stories and experiences that bring us to God, but the work that God does is all the same. And so this part of every one of our movies would play out the same way. And we could share with this in this movie scene with whoever's asking well it started when Jesus reached me and I responded and my sin was on that cross with Jesus my old self died with Jesus on that cross and I was buried in the same tomb with him and I have new life just as Jesus has new life and I know that in my future I will ascend to be with God just as Jesus ascended. I get to be co-heirs with Christ. I get to be with God, my Father, reigning over just as God intended. That's the part that is true of every one of our stories. If you are a believer here today, that's the scene that you get to, that is part of your history. And every believer needs to understand the reality of their story, that they are dead to sin and alive to Christ. That's where Paul goes in the last four verses. Paul tells us once again that we should be dead to sin and alive in Christ. Now while Christ's death to sin speaks to the end of Christ being in the realm of sin and the death to his whole relationship with sin, for believers that's not necessarily our reality.

We still have a contest every day. We are still tempted by sin every day. We can still choose to sin. But before we didn't have a choice, right? We were enslaved. We only knew sin. Now we have a choice to follow God. And every day, multiple times a day, we're faced with this decision. Are we going to let sin rule our lives again or are we going to be alive in Christ? You may be asking like, Like what does alive in Christ even mean? It is a life that is singly devoted to God. It means seeing things the way that God sees them. It means living like Jesus. Well, how do we be like Jesus? Paul says in verse 12, "Do not let sin reign in your mortal body." I really like this imagery of something reigning in our lives. It speaks to this part of humanity that we don't often think about anymore. And that is that we were made to worship and to serve. Paul knows that we as humans are meant to serve something or someone. And as sinners, we might have served a multitude of things, right? Might have served money, ourselves, success, power, whatever it is. And really, Satan's okay with any of those as long as it's not God. He's like, "You just worship anything but God, that's fine, I encourage it." But for the believers, this is a part of our humanity that is in process of being fully redeemed as we are now able to worship and serve God. We were made to be in relationship with God and sin ruined that, right? We were meant to be in close, loving relationship with God. And that imagery of that relationship brings us back to the garden, right? He created Adam and Eve in the garden, and that was the ideal. God partnered with Adam and Eve ruling over this earth. Sin breaks that relationship and that reality, and now humanity is enslaved to sin. And Paul is saying, for the believer, that reality has changed. Now the believer can choose to serve God. That relationship with God has been partially restored. It will be fully restored in heaven, where it'll once again be like the garden relationship. But there is a throne in our hearts. Just imagine, like a little kingly throne, whatever kind of throne you like. It's a big chair with like the big arms. You can sit and rule. There's one of those inside of you. And whatever's sitting on there dictates everything that you do. So if it is money on there, if it is success, if it is power, if it's yourself, it's a little you sitting on the throne of your heart, it will serve whoever's sitting on that throne. All of your actions, your thoughts will evolve around that thing in your heart. And if it's anything other than God, it will lead us astray, it will lead us into sin, and it'll lead us into ruin. But God, now for the believer, gets to sit on the throne of our hearts. And then we are alive in Christ. So it's at that moment when God is reigning in your life that you are alive in Christ.

Paul is exhorting believers to serve God because he is the best thing in their life. And someone who doesn't think that God is the best thing in their life, they probably don't have a proper view of who God is. There's a misunderstanding of who God is. Because if we do have a proper view of God, an understanding of who God is and what He does for us, we would choose to stop sinning. We would choose to follow Him. And we want other people to say, "Hey, I want you to be a part of this life. This life is amazing. God is the best thing in this life. You need to know about this." Verse 13, Paul says, "To offer everything of yourself to Him as an instrument of righteousness." This is about laying everything you have down before God for His glory. And again, this speaks to the partnership that God desires. This should be a part of our daily prayers, that God would use us for His kingdom, that we might be instruments of righteousness. So in whatever situation you're in, whether at work, at home, with friends, family, in whatever situation, ask yourself, how can you be a vessel for God's righteousness and blessing and grace and love into that situation? How can you be the source of Jesus for the people around you? And then Paul says in 14, we can even think, we can start to think like this and ask these questions all because sin is no longer our master. Paul is doing his layering thing here where he's building from earlier chapters and he's reminding, he just wants to keep putting it in front of the Romans, in front of us today, that we are no longer under the law, but under God's grace. So these 14 verses at the beginning of chapter six of Romans are meant to be filled with hope and to bring us joy and help us see how our spiritual origin story is really tied to the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus. And I want us to right now lean into the work that God is doing, the transformational work that is happening in our hearts and souls. So I just want you to reflect right now and think, if it helps to close your eyes, feel free to close your eyes. But I wanna ask you a few questions. Is your heart enslaved to sin? Who is on the throne of your heart right now? What master are you serving? Is it God or is it anything other than God? Just take a few seconds and answer honestly. Be vulnerable with yourself. Are you living each day alive in Christ, devoted wholly to his purposes? And then ask yourself, what needs to change today in order for me to experience being united fully with Jesus? What needs to change? What is the Spirit prompting in your mind and in your heart that needs to have work done on it? I want to end by reading Jesus' prayer for all believers. This is a prayer that Jesus prayed. He prayed for His disciples, the 12, and then He prayed for every believer. And I want Jesus here connecting the dots for us that a spiritual connection we have and unity that we have as believers with Him and with God. So this is found in John 17. It's not gonna be up there. So I just want you, this is a prayer.

Close your eyes. This is Jesus praying for you. And He says, "My prayer is not for the disciples alone. "I, Jesus, pray also for those who believe in Me "through their message, that all of them may be one, Father, "just as You are in Me and I am in You, "May they also be in us, so that the world may believe that You have sent me. I have given them glory that You gave me, that they may be one as we are one, I in them and You in me, so that they may be brought to complete unity. Then the world will know that You sent me and have loved me, even as You have loved me. Father, I want those You have given me to be with me where I am, and to see my glory, the glory you have given me, because you have loved me before the creation of the world. Righteous Father, though the world does not know you, I know you, and they know that you have sent me. I have made you known to them, and will continue to make you known in order that the love you have for me may be in them, and that I myself may be in them." So God, that is our prayer this morning, that we would be one with you. We are so thankful for the ways in which we are united with Christ Jesus. We want to be instruments of You, for You, in Your kingdom. Use us to show others who You are, that they may come to love You and know You. And God, I pray that as we reflect on those questions, that there would have been something that came to the surface, that we would lay before You and say, "God, I need You to work this part of my life. I need your Spirit to refine me, to grow me. I want to keep putting that old self, those sins that I was once enslaved to, I want to keep putting them on the cross, that I don't serve them anymore, but I serve you, Jesus. For that you would do that work in all of us today, the next day, and the next. God, we want to give you our everything that we have. And we trust and know that you will use us for your kingdom, God. And we want to take such joy in that. However hard it may be, we're just thankful to be a part of you, God, and your church and your family. So it's with joy that we pray all these things in your son's name. Amen. Thanks for listening. And if you would, please take a moment to subscribe and leave an encouraging review to help others find our podcasts on whatever platform you are listening on. We hope you have a wonderful day. We'll catch you next week.