[SPEAKER_00]: Well, imagine if I said to you that my car has broken down, that there's the batteries flat, there's no oil in the car, the tires are shot.
[SPEAKER_00]: And then in my very next breath, I said, therefore I am now going to drive to Queensland.
[SPEAKER_00]: Like, you'd be like, okay, hold on.
[SPEAKER_00]: For one, that's a really crazy idea for you to do, and like, how is that going to be possible?
[SPEAKER_00]: Now, before you interrupted me, I said, OK, my car is broken down.
[SPEAKER_00]: The battery's flat.
[SPEAKER_00]: There's no oil in it.
[SPEAKER_00]: The tires are shot.
[SPEAKER_00]: Therefore, I am now going to drive to Queensland, because here is the mechanic who has brought a new battery, who's got to fill the car with the oil, pump up the tires, and I'll be on the road.
[SPEAKER_00]: That makes a lot more sense, right?
[SPEAKER_00]: Well you see we are looking at Romans chapter 8 and we are looking at this chapter for the next couple of weeks and last week Tim started off with chapter 7 because it's always good to get a context of what you're leading into.
[SPEAKER_00]: And Paul the writer of Romans is saying in chapter 7, basically the car has broken down, right?
[SPEAKER_00]: There is so much sin in the world.
[SPEAKER_00]: We want to do all the good things in our lives.
[SPEAKER_00]: We want to do the good things and yet we keep doing what is wrong.
[SPEAKER_00]: Romans chapter 7 verse 21 says, So I find this law at work.
[SPEAKER_00]: Although I want to do good, evil is right there with me.
[SPEAKER_00]: And we can relate to what Paul is saying in Chapter 7.
[SPEAKER_00]: We know even in our moral code that we live in, we know that we should do good, we should do right, we should be kind, and yet time and time and again, we fail and we don't do what we think we should do.
[SPEAKER_00]: And yet, come to Romans chapter 8 verse 1, all of sudden he's saying, therefore there is no condemnation.
[SPEAKER_00]: It's a bit of the same kind of whiplash as me saying my car's broken down, therefore I am going to drive to Queensland.
[SPEAKER_00]: but Paul makes these big statements and it's helpful for us to hear the big statements, but to stay with him and continue reading throughout the chapter so that we can get the because so that we can hear about the mechanic so that we can hear about why it is that he can make such a big statement when we know how fallen and sinful we are and yet he says there is no
[SPEAKER_00]: Today, I am going to look at just the first four verses of Romans chapter 8, but Paul actually goes on to explain even more and more of why it is that we can make this big bold verse one statement of there is therefore now no condemnation and Darren's going to pick up on the rest of the verses in this kind of cluster of verses next week to keep unpacking it.
[SPEAKER_00]: Now, you might look at that and go, amazing.
[SPEAKER_00]: Four verses, like this is going to be the quickest sermon ever, right?
[SPEAKER_00]: I mean, look at that slide.
[SPEAKER_00]: That slide is the whole Bible passage.
[SPEAKER_00]: And let's be honest, it's shorter than about 90% of the quotes that Tim uses in his sermons, right?
[SPEAKER_00]: I mean, this is going to go so quickly.
[SPEAKER_00]: However, true to form for Paul, each of his verses hold such incredible content and incredible weight.
[SPEAKER_00]: What I would like to do is go verse by verse and unpack some of the words that Paul is using so that we can fully understand this verse one.
[SPEAKER_00]: which is such an incredible, seriously life-changing verse for every single person that hears it and believes it and desires to live by it.
[SPEAKER_00]: And then as I unpack, as so we get a great understanding of what these four verses are, I'm then going to ask a couple of questions at the end.
[SPEAKER_00]: If truly Paul is right and there is therefore no condemnation, why do we still sin?
[SPEAKER_00]: If there is no condemnation, why do we actually have to ask for forgiveness?
[SPEAKER_00]: And if there is no condemnation, what does that mean for us today in how we live and how we live out our faith?
[SPEAKER_00]: Now the person who delivered this letter that Paul had written written to the Romans, her name was actually Phoebe.
[SPEAKER_00]: and Phoebe was a trusted leader of the church.
[SPEAKER_00]: Phoebe is actually one of the many examples that Paula Gooda expands on to believe that Paul was actually not against women in ministry, because the person who would deliver the letter was the person who had been with the writer.
[SPEAKER_00]: They had the opportunity to read the letter later before it was delivered.
[SPEAKER_00]: They could ask the
[SPEAKER_00]: So that when they delivered the letter to the recipient, they would often be the one to read the letter to them, and then if the recipient had any questions about what was written in the letter, who would they ask?
[SPEAKER_00]: But the person whose closest to the letter who had been closest to the writer of the letter and they would help to understand what it is about.
[SPEAKER_00]: Now, I do not claim to be Phoebe.
[SPEAKER_00]: today.
[SPEAKER_00]: But I have spent a lot of time looking at this text and listening to other theologians smarter than myself like Tom Wright and John Piper and Tim Keller so that I can help to give all of us a greater understanding of these four verses.
[SPEAKER_00]: So let's strap in and go through Romans
[SPEAKER_00]: Therefore, there is now no condemnation for 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.
[SPEAKER_00]: For what the law was powerless to do because it was weakened by the flesh.
[SPEAKER_00]: God did by sending His own son in the likeness of sinful flesh to be a sin offering.
[SPEAKER_00]: So He condemned sin in the flesh in order that the righteous requirement of the law might be fully met in us who do not live according to the flesh, but according to the Spirit.
[SPEAKER_00]: So what I have been saying already from the very start, there is no condemnation.
[SPEAKER_00]: This word that Paul uses is actually a legal term.
[SPEAKER_00]: It's a legal term used that if you have done something wrong, you are convicted of the punishment that is given to you.
[SPEAKER_00]: So in a just legal court,
[SPEAKER_00]: You come, you've done something wrong, you set your case, and you are condemned.
[SPEAKER_00]: You are given your rightful punishment.
[SPEAKER_00]: But here in this verse, it is saying that there is no condemnation, that we deserve the punishment, that we have done what is deserved to be punished, and yet Paul is saying there's no condemnation.
[SPEAKER_00]: How can that be through Christ Jesus?
[SPEAKER_00]: Now, the more accurate translation for this is Messiah Jesus.
[SPEAKER_00]: Paul isn't just talking about Jesus the good man.
[SPEAKER_00]: Paul isn't just talking about Jesus the incredible rabbi with disciples.
[SPEAKER_00]: He's not talking about Jesus the prophet.
[SPEAKER_00]: He's not talking about Jesus who did incredible healings and miracles and teachings.
[SPEAKER_00]: He's talking about Jesus the Messiah.
[SPEAKER_00]: The one that the Israelites have been waiting for, the one that God promised that he would send to redeem the world.
[SPEAKER_00]: Jesus was the Messiah.
[SPEAKER_00]: He was the one that God sent, so that we could make such a bold statement as to say that there is no condemnation.
[SPEAKER_00]: And how is that?
[SPEAKER_00]: Well, the verse goes on to say, because through Christ Jesus, the law of the Spirit who gives life.
[SPEAKER_00]: has set you free from the law of sin and death.
[SPEAKER_00]: You can see there are two laws that Paul is talking about here.
[SPEAKER_00]: Let me explain the second law first.
[SPEAKER_00]: The law of sin and death doesn't sound like a great law, right?
[SPEAKER_00]: Who's signing up for the law of sin and death?
[SPEAKER_00]: However, the law that Paul is talking about here is actually the Torah.
[SPEAKER_00]: It's the first five books of the Bible.
[SPEAKER_00]: It is the law that the Israelites, God's chosen people, had been given so that they could show all the nations of what it is to truly follow and worship God.
[SPEAKER_00]: And how your life can be when you follow the one true God.
[SPEAKER_00]: But as we may know about the Israelites, God's chosen people, things didn't turn out so well for them.
[SPEAKER_00]: I mean, they were in slavery in Egypt, God through Moses, redeemed them, set them free.
[SPEAKER_00]: They walked through the Red Sea, they were redeemed, they were saved from slavery.
[SPEAKER_00]: And so God gives them this law.
[SPEAKER_00]: He gives them the 10 commandments, where we can read about that in Exodus 20, but not only that, there are actually 613 different laws that we can read about in numbers and laviticus to help the people know, truly how to live, how God really wants them to live, and the best way that they can live.
[SPEAKER_00]: So they've been redeemed, they've been set free from slavery, they receive this law and the whole understanding of how to live, and yet time and time and time again.
[SPEAKER_00]: They worship other gods.
[SPEAKER_00]: They don't rely on God.
[SPEAKER_00]: They don't rely on everything that he has given them all their provisions.
[SPEAKER_00]: They turn from him.
[SPEAKER_00]: They decide that the other gods, the other nations are more interesting.
[SPEAKER_00]: God leads them to the promise land and even when they get to the promise land, they don't trust God is actually going to give it to them.
[SPEAKER_00]: And so time and time again.
[SPEAKER_00]: They were bell.
[SPEAKER_00]: They turn away from him.
[SPEAKER_00]: which shows us that even when you have a law, a good and holy and just law that God has given to His chosen people, it still leads to sin and death.
[SPEAKER_00]: And that is what Paul is referring to when he talks about the law of sin and death.
[SPEAKER_00]: not that the law is bad, but because of even the Israelites, God's chosen people who have seen and witnessed and know of his power and his might and his glory to redeem people, even though they strive to fulfill the law, it still leads to rebellion and destruction.
[SPEAKER_00]: It leads to sin and death.
[SPEAKER_00]: but there is a different law at work now through Christ Jesus and that is the law of the Spirit because the Holy Spirit, the Spirit of God cannot exist where there is sin and death and destruction.
[SPEAKER_00]: But when we are redeemed and made whole through Jesus Christ, the Spirit is able to live with in us so that we can live by the law of the Spirit.
[SPEAKER_00]: That is the law that God always had in mine for us.
[SPEAKER_00]: And we unpack it a little bit more as the verses go along.
[SPEAKER_00]: So, for what?
[SPEAKER_00]: The law was powerless to do because it was weakened by the flesh.
[SPEAKER_00]: As I said, the law that was given to the Israelites was not evil.
[SPEAKER_00]: It came from God.
[SPEAKER_00]: God's not going to give anything bad.
[SPEAKER_00]: Have you ever heard someone say, if you find the perfect church, don't go there, because as soon as you enter into it, it's not going to be perfect anymore.
[SPEAKER_00]: Right?
[SPEAKER_00]: And that's for all of us, right?
[SPEAKER_00]: Because we're not perfect.
[SPEAKER_00]: The law was perfect.
[SPEAKER_00]: God gave it to them.
[SPEAKER_00]: It was there for them to know how to live, for them to connect to God and know how to connect and be a community that followed God.
[SPEAKER_00]: It was just, it was good, it was holy.
[SPEAKER_00]: But why would Paul call it the law of sin and death?
[SPEAKER_00]: Because it was weakened by the flesh.
[SPEAKER_00]: because it was people like you and me trying to fulfill it.
[SPEAKER_00]: And as descendants of Adam, we are weakened by our flesh.
[SPEAKER_00]: We are aware as chapter seven reminds us in Romans that we fall short of the glory of God.
[SPEAKER_00]: We see what we should do, but we so often don't do, don't do what we should do, even though we try.
[SPEAKER_00]: And so God did.
[SPEAKER_00]: God did what the law couldn't do by sending his own son.
[SPEAKER_00]: the Messiah Jesus.
[SPEAKER_00]: Because as the Bible project helped me understand, the solution for this was Jesus and the Spirit.
[SPEAKER_00]: And the law was like a God had put a magnifying glass on Israel as the chosen people to show everyone that if you truly follow the law and you follow what God wants you to do and be,
[SPEAKER_00]: Then it is a great place to be, but because they were weakened by flesh, they failed time and time again.
[SPEAKER_00]: So instead, God focused all of that on His own Son.
[SPEAKER_00]: Jesus, the Messiah, was willing to come to earth as a human in flesh.
[SPEAKER_00]: to take on this law of sin and death upon himself and do what no other person had been able to do.
[SPEAKER_00]: Now, God did by sending His own son in the likeness of sinful flesh pulses.
[SPEAKER_00]: We need to remind ourselves, he was not sinful flesh like you and I.
[SPEAKER_00]: He came in flesh, but he was perfect.
[SPEAKER_00]: He was sinless.
[SPEAKER_00]: He didn't, wasn't sinful, or then was the example for us.
[SPEAKER_00]: No, that is the incredible power of the Messiah.
[SPEAKER_00]: He was in the likeness of sinful flesh, even though he was sinless.
[SPEAKER_00]: He was willing to be the sin offering for us.
[SPEAKER_00]: And so God condemned sin in the flesh.
[SPEAKER_00]: God did not condemn Jesus.
[SPEAKER_00]: He condemned sin in the flesh that Jesus was willing to put on.
[SPEAKER_00]: Now, we talk about sin, wrong things that we do.
[SPEAKER_00]: The word that Paul uses here is more like vassin, like we will might say vassatin.
[SPEAKER_00]: When we're talking about the powers in our world of evil and destruction.
[SPEAKER_00]: And that is vassin that Jesus was willing to carry with him to the cross.
[SPEAKER_00]: He was willing to be that sin offering.
[SPEAKER_00]: And Philippians chapter two, one of my favorite verses in the whole Bible, helps us understand exactly what it was that Jesus was willing to do.
[SPEAKER_00]: Who being in very nature God did not consider a quality with God something to be used to his own advantage.
[SPEAKER_00]: rather he made himself nothing by taking the very nature of a servant being made in human likeness and being found in appearance as a man he humbled himself by becoming obedient to death, even death on a cross.
[SPEAKER_00]: Jesus did what God's chosen people that Israelites were not able to do
[SPEAKER_00]: and as the perfect sacrifice he was willing to take on, the sin of the world upon himself and take it to the cross to suffer a death, even the death on a cross for the sake of you and for me.
[SPEAKER_00]: In order that, Paul goes on in verse four.
[SPEAKER_00]: that the righteous requirement of the law might be fully met in us.
[SPEAKER_00]: The righteous requirement of the law.
[SPEAKER_00]: This means like what the law was meant to fulfill.
[SPEAKER_00]: What God had given the Israelites the law to complete with the in it.
[SPEAKER_00]: Jesus was actually asked by a learned scholar, well, what is the righteous requirement of the law?
[SPEAKER_00]: What is the greatest law?
[SPEAKER_00]: How can you sum up all of the Torah in just a few words?
[SPEAKER_00]: And Jesus replied in Matthew 22, saying, love the Lord your God, with all your heart, with all your mind, with all your soul.
[SPEAKER_00]: This is the first and greatest commandment and the second is like it.
[SPEAKER_00]: Love your neighbor as yourself.
[SPEAKER_00]: All the law and the prophets hang on these two commandments.
[SPEAKER_00]: Jesus was willing to sacrifice everything
[SPEAKER_00]: In order that you and I could love God and love each other, John Piper actually condenses the requirements of the Lord down to one word, love.
[SPEAKER_00]: Now, I want you to think of the most annoying person in your family.
[SPEAKER_00]: If you can't think of them, maybe it's you.
[SPEAKER_00]: Think of maybe the most frustrating colleague that you've had to work with.
[SPEAKER_00]: Think of someone who has really genuinely hurt you or hurt someone that you'd love.
[SPEAKER_00]: When you actually put that person in mind and yet we hear that the righteous requirement of the law is for us to love.
[SPEAKER_00]: I don't know about you, but I go, that is actually too hard for me to do.
[SPEAKER_00]: Like when someone so personally has hurt me or frustrated me or I can see what they're doing but they don't see the ramifications it's having on others, it is so hard for us to love.
[SPEAKER_00]: And we can have the best, most well-written law that says, but you should love them, and yet it's still so hard for me to truly love.
[SPEAKER_00]: And that's why Jesus was willing to do this, in order that the righteous requirement of the law, in order that we can love God and love others, might be fully met.
[SPEAKER_00]: In us, who do not live according to the flesh and according to a law, but we live according to the Spirit.
[SPEAKER_00]: because this is a reminder for us that we don't have to do it on our own.
[SPEAKER_00]: That we don't have to do it in our own power.
[SPEAKER_00]: That we don't have to do it with everything that we can do.
[SPEAKER_00]: We can be the best that we can possibly be like on the best day when the weather's awesome and everything's going well, we can be at our best.
[SPEAKER_00]: But even at that point, we still cannot fulfill all the requirements of the law because you and I are weakened by flesh just like the Israelites were.
[SPEAKER_00]: But this is a reminder that we do not have to do it on our own.
[SPEAKER_00]: Through the sacrifice of Jesus Christ on the crops.
[SPEAKER_00]: that we are now open to the law of the Spirit who is willing to fill us to guide us and assure us.
[SPEAKER_00]: that we are not alone and he wants to help us to fill out the law, fill out all that we could do to follow God.
[SPEAKER_00]: Two Corinthians five, 17 says, therefore, if anyone is in Christ, the new creation has come, the old has gone, the new is here.
[SPEAKER_00]: Hallelujah.
[SPEAKER_00]: how fabulous that this is the new creation that we live in, that we don't have to do it on our own, that the Holy Spirit is there constantly with us.
[SPEAKER_00]: That's why we sing songs like we did this morning, Holy Spirit come because we can't do it on our own.
[SPEAKER_00]: We need God through the Holy Spirit with us.
[SPEAKER_00]: And so, I come to my questions.
[SPEAKER_00]: If there is no condemnation, why do we still see
[SPEAKER_00]: And we in new creation is in everything easy now and perfect.
[SPEAKER_00]: Aren't we perfect now because Christ has paid the ultimate price and there's no condemnation?
[SPEAKER_00]: Well, unfortunately, we are still descendants of Adam.
[SPEAKER_00]: Unfortunately, we still live in weakened flesh.
[SPEAKER_00]: And even if you have worshiped God for decades,
[SPEAKER_00]: I know that you will still resonate with that chapter seven of, you know, knowing what you should do and yet failing and not always doing what you should do.
[SPEAKER_00]: We acknowledge there is still sin.
[SPEAKER_00]: The difference is that we now have Jesus as our high priest, who is our advocate, who is standing before God and reminding Him that whenever we do something wrong, whenever we fail, when we are weakened by our flesh, Jesus is there to say, but I paid the price.
[SPEAKER_00]: Therefore, there is no condemnation because I've already paid that price.
[SPEAKER_00]: Think of it in this way, after church today, you take your friends or your family off to a cafe.
[SPEAKER_00]: You have a lovely meal and you really enjoy it.
[SPEAKER_00]: The food's awesome.
[SPEAKER_00]: You get up and as you leave, you go to the cashier to pay for your meal.
[SPEAKER_00]: And the cashier says to you, oh, actually, someone's already paid for your meal.
[SPEAKER_00]: You're free to go.
[SPEAKER_00]: And you're like, I really, we were sitting on that table.
[SPEAKER_00]: We ate all these food and they're like, yep, someone's paid for you, you can go.
[SPEAKER_00]: Now, imagine if the cashier was dodgy and actually said, saw that the bill had been paid, saw that there was someone else willing to still pay the price and so was like, yeah, that's $63.50, thanks.
[SPEAKER_00]: Can you imagine if the person who had paid the check originally heard that?
[SPEAKER_00]: What were they doing?
[SPEAKER_00]: Jumping straight in.
[SPEAKER_00]: Do you remember?
[SPEAKER_00]: Like, I paid that bill.
[SPEAKER_00]: That's already been covered.
[SPEAKER_00]: They would be jumping in straight away.
[SPEAKER_00]: Well, not only do we have Jesus there saying, remember, I have paid the price.
[SPEAKER_00]: But not only that, if God's the cashier, he's not dodgy, right?
[SPEAKER_00]: He's not going to make you pay twice.
[SPEAKER_00]: Because, as Psalm 89 says, righteousness and justice are the foundation of your throne.
[SPEAKER_00]: Love and faithfulness go before you.
[SPEAKER_00]: This is describing who our God is.
[SPEAKER_00]: The foundation of his throne is righteousness
[SPEAKER_00]: He's not gonna make you pay twice.
[SPEAKER_00]: The price has already been paid.
[SPEAKER_00]: Jesus is a, an everyday reminder that he has paid the price for the wrong that we have done.
[SPEAKER_00]: And our God, who is righteous and just and loving and faithful, is not gonna put over your head, the price that Jesus has already paid for you.
[SPEAKER_00]: If that doesn't get a hell of a loo, you're, I don't know what does, right?
[SPEAKER_00]: That is what Jesus is for us.
[SPEAKER_00]: The High Priest.
[SPEAKER_00]: He is our advocate.
[SPEAKER_00]: He is our and God's daily reminder that He has paid the price.
[SPEAKER_00]: Therefore, there is now no condemnation for you or for me because of what Jesus Christ has done.
[SPEAKER_00]: We don't pay for it twice.
[SPEAKER_00]: So if there is no condemnation, why do we ask for forgiveness?
[SPEAKER_00]: Now, can I just say that this has been even lightning for me who has followed Jesus all my life?
[SPEAKER_00]: Sometimes we can get into a bit of a cycle that is an incorrect and a bad theology cycle.
[SPEAKER_00]: Where we go, we are condemned because of the sin that we did.
[SPEAKER_00]: We know that Jesus then died on the cross for us.
[SPEAKER_00]: Therefore, we believe in Him, we ask for forgiveness.
[SPEAKER_00]: We then go out in that forgiveness, and we live the best lives that we can live.
[SPEAKER_00]: We fail because we're weakened by flesh.
[SPEAKER_00]: Therefore, we come under condemnation again.
[SPEAKER_00]: And then we realize, and we are reminded that Jesus died for us, that we ask Him for forgiveness, that we live in that forgiveness, but again, we're weakened by flesh, and so then we come under condemnation again.
[SPEAKER_00]: No.
[SPEAKER_00]: It is important for us still to ask for forgiveness, but not because we are condemned.
[SPEAKER_00]: Remember, that price has been paid.
[SPEAKER_00]: We don't have to pay that price again.
[SPEAKER_00]: God is just and righteous.
[SPEAKER_00]: He has received the payment for our condemnation again.
[SPEAKER_00]: So the best way to explain why it is we still ask for forgiveness.
[SPEAKER_00]: Tim Keller explained in the setting of a family.
[SPEAKER_00]: So let me explain in accordance to our family.
[SPEAKER_00]: In our family, we have two boys.
[SPEAKER_00]: And Cameron and I are married and we parent these boys.
[SPEAKER_00]: And as far as our family goes, I am the pushover.
[SPEAKER_00]: All right?
[SPEAKER_00]: Can we often say to my son, can I have a look at your little finger to see if your mother is wrapped around it?
[SPEAKER_00]: I err on the side of yes, rather on the side of no.
[SPEAKER_00]: Sometimes, however, because I am a parent, I have to say no.
[SPEAKER_00]: And there are times where our boys don't like that I say no and so they will push and push and if I hold my ground sometimes words or actions are done that are hurtful and mean.
[SPEAKER_00]: And my husband cam is actually really good at talking to our boys and then asking them to come to me and to ask for forgiveness.
[SPEAKER_00]: Now, when they come to me and say, Mommy, I'm really sorry, and they say it beautifully, and genuinely, when they come to me and say, Mommy, I'm sorry, they don't then say, can you please adopt me back into your family?
[SPEAKER_00]: Right?
[SPEAKER_00]: They don't then say to me, Mommy, I'm really sorry, can you please write me back into the world?
[SPEAKER_00]: Because there's still my child, right?
[SPEAKER_00]: There's still my boys.
[SPEAKER_00]: I still love them.
[SPEAKER_00]: But the importance of them asking for forgiveness is to restore our relationship.
[SPEAKER_00]: They are still my child, they are still a part of the family.
[SPEAKER_00]: I am their parent, I will love them, no matter what they do.
[SPEAKER_00]: However, the importance of them coming and asking for forgiveness is to teach them the importance of always asking for forgiveness because it restores the relationship.
[SPEAKER_00]: The hurt and the words that have been spoken, it helps for us to then be back on the right page so that we can move forward in a really positive way.
[SPEAKER_00]: God has paid the price so that you are now part of his family.
[SPEAKER_00]: And there is nothing that you can do that removes you from his family.
[SPEAKER_00]: There is nothing that you could do and say, and we are going to pick this up at the end of Romans.
[SPEAKER_00]: Stay tuned.
[SPEAKER_00]: This is a eight week bananza.
[SPEAKER_00]: There is nothing that we could do or say that will stop God from loving us, that will take that condemnation, that being no condemnation away from us.
[SPEAKER_00]: There's nothing that we can do.
[SPEAKER_00]: But we ask for forgiveness for us to restore that relationship so that we can be in positive terms and we can move forward and learn and be close to God in what we want to do.
[SPEAKER_00]: If there is no condemnation, then what does that mean for us today?
[SPEAKER_00]: Because when we truly understand this, and when we truly live in a life that has no condemnation hanging over us,
[SPEAKER_00]: then it will be the most life-giving life you could ever live in and you will not receive this in any other way, in any other popularity, in any other career, in any other relationship that you will have.
[SPEAKER_00]: This is the ultimate for all people, because as Paul says, for us to live according to the spirit.
[SPEAKER_00]: That is how we truly live under no condemnation.
[SPEAKER_00]: Because when we are free of the burden of sin and death in our lives,
[SPEAKER_00]: The Spirit comes into our lives.
[SPEAKER_00]: The Spirit assures us of who we are in Christ and continually points us back to God so that we can live out as life of love to God and to all people.
[SPEAKER_00]: Tim Keller says, the Spirit is in the business of assuring you that you can't lose him
[SPEAKER_00]: When we live with that assurance, not with guilt, not with angst, not feeling like we shorts all the time,
[SPEAKER_00]: But when we live in the assurance that truly Jesus the Messiah has paid the price that we would do to pay.
[SPEAKER_00]: He has taken on everything of all humanity and taken it to the cross, sacrificed himself
[SPEAKER_00]: taking on the sin of the world, being willing to die on the cross, so that we can stand in the assurance.
[SPEAKER_00]: To say we now have no punishment, there is no therefore no condemnation for you and for me, we can live in the freedom and the assurance that God has done this for us.
[SPEAKER_00]: So Holy Spirit come so that we can fully understand what that is, so that we can live in a way where we can love God and love others, exactly how God has always intended us to do.
[SPEAKER_00]: Galatians 5 says the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, forbearance, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control.
[SPEAKER_00]: Those who live under the assurance that there is no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus should be showing these characteristics more than anyone else in our neighborhoods.
[SPEAKER_00]: Not because of our power, not because of our might, not because of how good we are.
[SPEAKER_00]: But because the Spirit of God lives in us and helps us and assures us that we are in God.
[SPEAKER_00]: He has paid the price and we can now live in freedom.
[SPEAKER_00]: To love God and to love others, just as God has loved us, therefore.
[SPEAKER_00]: There is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus.
[SPEAKER_00]: These big words that Paul has given us to a life-giving, a life-changing, and if we truly embrace them, they can change our lives and the lives of others around us.
[SPEAKER_00]: Now, there might be some people here today who have never truly embraced that, who don't actually haven't decided whether Jesus truly is the Messiah, and maybe today with some understanding of what Paul was writing in Romans 8 that you would actually like to live under no condemnation, but we're going to pray for you today.
[SPEAKER_00]: But then maybe there's also some of us, like I feel like I did as I've journeyed through these four verses, that I've kind of felt, well, maybe I was still living thinking that there was condemnation.
[SPEAKER_00]: I just had to be a better person.
[SPEAKER_00]: I just had to ask for more forgiveness to stop that cycle from happening.
[SPEAKER_00]: My prayer for you as well is that we will live in this freedom
[SPEAKER_00]: that God paid the ultimate price for through Jesus Christ.
[SPEAKER_00]: And we can live and invite the Spirit into our lives so that we can love as God has loved us.
[SPEAKER_00]: Let's pray.
[SPEAKER_00]: Messiah Jesus.
[SPEAKER_00]: as we have come to understand just these four verses in a whole book that is filled with messages that tell us of your love and your grace and your acceptance and your sacrifice.
[SPEAKER_00]: We are humbled that you would be willing to endure death on a cross for the sake of us.
[SPEAKER_00]: Knowing how we fall short, knowing that we continually do the things that we know that we shouldn't do.
[SPEAKER_00]: But God, you made away so that we can live under this banner of no condemnation, and that we can live under the law of the spirit rather than the law of sin and death.
[SPEAKER_00]: If you've never accepted that gift before, Jesus has already paid the price.
[SPEAKER_00]: And all you have to do is say a simple prayer where we say, Messiah, Jesus, we believe that you are the one who God sent to redeem the world.
[SPEAKER_00]: We believe that you took on this sacrifice on the cross.
[SPEAKER_00]: Knowing full well what you were taking on, even though you were perfect and sinless.
[SPEAKER_00]: But you took it on so that I could be set free.
[SPEAKER_00]: That I wouldn't have to pay the punishment.
[SPEAKER_00]: That our just and loving God never asks us to pay the price twice.
[SPEAKER_00]: And so we accept that you have paid the price.
[SPEAKER_00]: And we love you, and we want to follow you for the rest of our lives.
[SPEAKER_00]: Holy Spirit, we pray that you will move in the hearts of anyone who wants to be in that close relationship with you.
[SPEAKER_00]: Open the way so that we may be able to love others just as God loved us.
[SPEAKER_00]: And if there is someone here today who has worshipped God forever, but still lives under the guilt of the wrong things, knowing how we are weakened by our flesh.
[SPEAKER_00]: Holy Spirit, I pray that you will move in their hearts too.
[SPEAKER_00]: That you will give them the assurance that you are there for them and they can never be lost by you.
[SPEAKER_00]: We never fall out of being in the family of God, that you love us, that you paid the price for us.
[SPEAKER_00]: And Messiah Jesus, we wanna live in the freedom and the confidence of what your sacrifice has done for us.
[SPEAKER_00]: So that as we receive your love,
[SPEAKER_00]: not through our strength, but through the Spirit in us.
[SPEAKER_00]: We can love you and love others as you would so desire.
[SPEAKER_00]: Change your hearts, God.
[SPEAKER_00]: In.
[SPEAKER_00]: Help us to keep turning our eyes back to Jesus.
[SPEAKER_00]: Our advocate and our high priests, the one who has paid the price.
[SPEAKER_00]: Help us to continually worship you for all that you have done in setting us free.
[SPEAKER_00]: So that we don't live under guilt and shame, but we live in life and love and assurance.
[SPEAKER_00]: The through your spirit we can love others as you have loved us.
[SPEAKER_00]: You pray this in your gracious merciful mighty name, Jesus.
[SPEAKER_00]: Amen.
[SPEAKER_00]: We stand with us as we sing.
[SPEAKER_00]: This verse almost in song, this great affirmation that it is in Christ alone, that we have life and love you today.