WEBVTT 00:00:00.239 --> 00:00:01.840 Thank you for the very warm welcome. 00:00:01.919 --> 00:00:06.320 I don't think I've ever been applauded at the start of a service. 00:00:06.400 --> 00:00:08.800 I've usually been applauded when I leave. 00:00:10.800 --> 00:00:12.800 But let me read the Bible. 00:00:13.199 --> 00:00:15.199 Greetings from Smithfield, by the way. 00:00:15.359 --> 00:00:18.559 We're reading from Romans chapter 7. 00:00:18.879 --> 00:00:20.399 We're just going back a little bit. 00:00:20.480 --> 00:00:26.160 We're going to be looking at Romans 8 and Romans 7, verse 18. 00:00:26.480 --> 00:00:30.000 And then we'll go to Romans 8 and verse 4. 00:00:30.879 --> 00:00:34.000 But as you're turning, once again, greetings from Smithfield. 00:00:34.159 --> 00:00:36.560 We really enjoy the fellowship with you. 00:00:36.719 --> 00:00:43.200 And we're very much blessed and thankful for the fact that you do so much for the churches at large. 00:00:44.479 --> 00:00:46.000 So thank you again. 00:00:46.159 --> 00:00:51.280 Let me read then from Romans chapter 7 and verse 18. 00:00:53.520 --> 00:00:58.479 For I know that in me, that is in my flesh, nothing good dwells. 00:00:58.719 --> 00:01:04.560 For to will is present with me, but how to perform what is good I do not find. 00:01:05.040 --> 00:01:12.879 For the good that I will to do, I do not do, but the evil I will not to do that I practice. 00:01:13.359 --> 00:01:21.040 Now if I do what I will not do, it is no longer I who do it, but sin that dwells in me. 00:01:21.359 --> 00:01:28.480 I find then a law, that evil is present with me, the one who wills to do good. 00:01:29.040 --> 00:01:43.280 For I delight in the law of God according to the inward man, but I see another law in my members warring against the law of my mind and bringing me into captivity to the law of sin which is in my members. 00:01:43.920 --> 00:01:51.040 O wretched man that I am, who will deliver me from this body of death? 00:01:51.359 --> 00:01:54.560 I thank God through Jesus Christ our Lord. 00:01:54.879 --> 00:02:02.159 So then with the mind I myself serve the law of God, but with the flesh the law of sin. 00:02:02.799 --> 00:02:11.919 There is therefore now no condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus, who do not walk according to the flesh, but according to the Spirit. 00:02:12.159 --> 00:02:18.639 For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus has made me free from the law of sin and death. 00:02:18.960 --> 00:02:43.520 For what the law could not do in that it was weak through the flesh, God did by sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh on account of sin, He condemns sin in the flesh, that the righteous requirement of the law might be fulfilled in us, who do not walk according to the flesh, but according to the Spirit. 00:02:44.080 --> 00:02:50.879 Well, let us hear the word of God and let us come to God in prayer before we open up these verses. 00:02:51.520 --> 00:03:06.240 Heavenly Father, we once again come and uh really want to say sorry, because uh too often we uh call you father, but we make ourselves idols, and then after that we worship ourselves and become idolaters. 00:03:06.479 --> 00:03:23.840 And Lord, we come uh this morning and ask that your spirit might move amongst us and cause us to turn and help us to repent, and help us to be a people who will be made more and more like the Lord Jesus, who humbled himself even to death. 00:03:24.000 --> 00:03:28.240 Uh death for us, and death to bring you our Father glory. 00:03:28.639 --> 00:03:29.680 Lord, we pray. 00:03:29.759 --> 00:03:35.039 Uh speak to us this morning and move in our hearts as well through your Holy Spirit. 00:03:35.280 --> 00:03:37.039 In Jesus' name we pray. 00:03:37.360 --> 00:03:38.000 Amen. 00:03:39.039 --> 00:03:43.919 So our church is in the book of Romans, and we're in chapter eight. 00:03:44.240 --> 00:03:53.280 Uh, the main theme of chapter eight, as you probably know if you've studied it here, is walking in the spirit and not walking in the flesh. 00:03:53.520 --> 00:03:58.000 Paul sees the Christian life as a life in the spirit. 00:03:58.319 --> 00:04:03.439 Uh, he sees the Christian life as a victorious life, a life of hope. 00:04:03.680 --> 00:04:10.240 By the end of the chapter, he'll even say to Christians that you are more than conquerors. 00:04:10.719 --> 00:04:13.680 You are free from slavery to sin. 00:04:14.560 --> 00:04:17.600 Uh, now our lives are different. 00:04:17.759 --> 00:04:23.120 We see it more as a struggle, this constant war with our own sin. 00:04:23.680 --> 00:04:33.839 Uh but Paul is convinced that God our Father, through the Lord Jesus Christ, has secured a final victory for believers. 00:04:34.240 --> 00:04:42.079 Chapter 8, therefore, then starts off with a comment about those who are in Christ, those who are Christians. 00:04:42.319 --> 00:04:47.920 He says, of Christians, he says, you no longer need to remain in jail. 00:04:48.240 --> 00:04:51.759 Get out of the cell of sin's jail. 00:04:52.079 --> 00:04:53.199 We're free. 00:04:53.439 --> 00:04:55.279 We're free to serve God. 00:04:55.519 --> 00:05:00.079 We are free to serve others, we are free to serve the Lord. 00:05:00.240 --> 00:05:05.519 That's exactly what it means when you read those words, no condemnation. 00:05:06.000 --> 00:05:09.839 The words condemnation speaks of two things, really. 00:05:10.000 --> 00:05:18.240 It speaks of the judge's verdict in a court, but it also speaks of the time spent in jail. 00:05:18.800 --> 00:05:25.600 The focus in chapter eight more is the time spent in jail than the verdict of the court. 00:05:25.920 --> 00:05:32.639 Uh we are freed from time in Satan's and sins old over us. 00:05:33.600 --> 00:05:36.800 And how or what freed us from that? 00:05:37.199 --> 00:05:40.480 Uh, well, he's made it clear really in chapter eight. 00:05:40.560 --> 00:05:42.399 He says it's God's Holy Spirit. 00:05:42.560 --> 00:05:44.639 Look at verse 2, for instance. 00:05:44.879 --> 00:05:54.800 He says there, he says, the law of the spirit of life has made me free in Christ Jesus from the law of sin and death. 00:05:55.040 --> 00:05:57.360 And let me paraphrase that for you. 00:05:57.519 --> 00:06:12.480 Uh he's saying something like this: he's saying the power of the Holy Spirit overcomes that addictive power of sin in the life of a believer. 00:06:13.279 --> 00:06:17.519 Now, we normally like messages on how to become a Christian. 00:06:17.759 --> 00:06:21.759 That is something we like to hear, and there's nothing wrong with that. 00:06:22.319 --> 00:06:29.920 Uh, we want to know how we can be right with God, uh, and that totally makes sense. 00:06:30.160 --> 00:06:35.279 But in chapter 8, Paul is focusing on growing as a Christian. 00:06:35.519 --> 00:06:43.439 He's already dispelled and explained and proved and established that a Christian is right with God. 00:06:44.000 --> 00:07:05.120 Now he's talking about how you will grow as a Christian, how you will live as a Christian, uh, how God frees you from sin's jail, uh, how God stops ongoing and repetitive sin in the life of a believer. 00:07:05.439 --> 00:07:10.720 We'll read verses three and four together again before we start to look at them. 00:07:11.040 --> 00:07:22.800 For what the law could not do, in that it was weak through the flesh, God did by sending his own son in the likeness of sinful flesh on account of sin. 00:07:23.199 --> 00:07:35.040 He condemns sin in the flesh, that the righteous requirement of the law might be fulfilled in us who do not walk according to the flesh, but according to the Spirit. 00:07:35.360 --> 00:07:42.560 Well, the first point we pick up from this is we cannot break the power of sin with the law. 00:07:43.279 --> 00:07:56.319 Uh before Paul actually tells us how God breaks the power of sin in our lives, he explains why we cannot do it ourselves, why we cannot do it ourselves with the law. 00:07:56.639 --> 00:08:00.720 Uh breaking sin's power is a massive task. 00:08:00.959 --> 00:08:02.879 It needs tremendous power. 00:08:03.120 --> 00:08:09.040 We could say it needs divine resurrection power to break the habit of sin. 00:08:09.199 --> 00:08:12.480 Anything less than that uh will fail. 00:08:13.120 --> 00:08:23.600 If sin's dominating power and enslaving power were in fact to be broken in my life or in your life, we would actually be pleasing to God. 00:08:24.000 --> 00:08:30.879 We would be godly, we would love God's law, we would be law keepers. 00:08:31.519 --> 00:08:40.240 Um Christians often think I've come to Christ, and now that I've come to Christ, uh I can get on with pleasing God. 00:08:40.399 --> 00:08:42.320 It certainly was my experience. 00:08:42.480 --> 00:08:49.120 Uh when I became a Christian, one of the comments I made to myself is from now on, I'm never going to sin. 00:08:50.000 --> 00:08:53.360 Um I'll give you a guess how long that took. 00:08:53.679 --> 00:08:59.279 Um you see, pleasing God in our own strength just is catastrophe. 00:08:59.759 --> 00:09:06.399 Uh this idea that I think I'll have a go because it can't be too hard, is craziness. 00:09:06.559 --> 00:09:10.720 Uh look at what Paul says about such an approach in verse 3 again. 00:09:11.039 --> 00:09:16.559 For what the law could not do in that it was weak through the flesh. 00:09:16.799 --> 00:09:22.080 Now, Paul is using um that word law in two ways, isn't he, in Romans? 00:09:22.240 --> 00:09:25.440 Particularly in this Romans 7 and Romans 8 section. 00:09:25.840 --> 00:09:36.639 Uh in verse 2, for instance, when he speaks about the law of the spirit of life, he's speaking about a force or a power, a little bit like that law of gravity. 00:09:37.039 --> 00:09:44.000 Um for the law of the spirit of life has set you free in Christ Jesus from the law. 00:09:44.159 --> 00:09:47.840 We would say from the power of sin and death. 00:09:48.080 --> 00:09:52.399 But when he gets to verse 3, he reverts to the common use of the law. 00:09:52.639 --> 00:09:59.279 He's actually speaking here about God's law, quite specifically the Ten Commandments. 00:09:59.600 --> 00:10:01.919 He seems a little bit critical of the law. 00:10:02.080 --> 00:10:04.080 He uses that word weak. 00:10:04.639 --> 00:10:14.000 Um, the ESV doesn't help us much here with the Greek because it says something like this: it says the law weakened by the flesh. 00:10:14.240 --> 00:10:24.559 And somehow that could be read uh as somehow our flesh can weaken the law, somehow we can change the powers of the law. 00:10:25.039 --> 00:10:29.360 And surely this must contradict what Paul has already said in chapter 7. 00:10:29.679 --> 00:10:37.519 In chapter 7, and for instance, verses 11 and 12, he's already established that the law is holy, it's righteous, it's good. 00:10:37.840 --> 00:10:39.279 He said it's spiritual. 00:10:39.440 --> 00:10:42.159 He's given it god-like characteristics. 00:10:42.559 --> 00:10:49.919 Uh, folks, uh the law comes from God, and we cannot change it or weaken it. 00:10:50.080 --> 00:10:56.799 And so the King James Version or the New American Standard Version, the more literal versions, that they seem to do a better job. 00:10:56.879 --> 00:11:05.440 They say this for what the law could not do, weak as it was through the flesh, God did. 00:11:06.080 --> 00:11:09.679 So, what does Paul mean when he says this weakness? 00:11:09.919 --> 00:11:13.200 This weakness of the law in the flesh. 00:11:13.440 --> 00:11:16.159 And maybe an illustration might help. 00:11:16.320 --> 00:11:22.799 Uh imagine a solid steel chain with this bulky lock around a gate. 00:11:23.039 --> 00:11:28.399 And imagine you have to break it open or cut it open to get through the gate. 00:11:28.639 --> 00:11:32.320 I try with my hands and I just cannot budget. 00:11:32.799 --> 00:11:41.440 Uh so I go to Bunnings, and Bunnings tell me that if I buy bolt cutters, they'll just cut straight through steel and any kind of metal possible. 00:11:41.759 --> 00:11:46.000 Bunnings guarantee it to me, and so I say, okay, I'll buy the bolt cutters. 00:11:46.159 --> 00:11:51.600 I take the bolt cutters and try to cut the chain, and they just don't cut. 00:11:52.080 --> 00:12:02.320 Um I give the bolt cutters to someone else, and they do the same thing with the same bolt cutters, and it just cuts through the steel easily. 00:12:02.639 --> 00:12:05.279 The problem was I wasn't pressing hard enough. 00:12:05.360 --> 00:12:08.480 I didn't have enough strength in my hands. 00:12:09.120 --> 00:12:12.000 Uh I could say I was weak. 00:12:12.720 --> 00:12:21.919 Um and so something good, something good like the bowl cutters, uh, can become quite ineffective in the wrong hands. 00:12:22.480 --> 00:12:32.559 Uh something good like the law that is holy, righteous, and good can be weak in the hands of a weak Christian. 00:12:33.200 --> 00:12:44.480 Um remaining sin in every believer weakens our ability to keep the law, to even use the law properly. 00:12:44.960 --> 00:12:50.960 Christians don't have reigning sin like a non-Christian, they have remaining sin. 00:12:51.200 --> 00:12:55.919 But even remaining sin has the same nature as reigning sin. 00:12:56.159 --> 00:13:01.840 It acts against our desires to submit to God's law. 00:13:02.080 --> 00:13:06.559 It impedes us when we want to keep God's law. 00:13:06.799 --> 00:13:12.720 Even Christians, I put it to you, can actually use the law badly. 00:13:13.679 --> 00:13:18.480 Even Christians can do the wrong thing with the law. 00:13:19.039 --> 00:13:24.240 Something good doesn't help us because we are weak. 00:13:25.039 --> 00:13:33.200 Um good bolt cutters cannot cut steel in the wrong hands. 00:13:33.600 --> 00:13:36.159 Let me be clear firstly about the law. 00:13:36.480 --> 00:13:41.519 The law has power to define what is right and what is wrong. 00:13:41.840 --> 00:13:45.840 The law has power to condemn the sinner. 00:13:46.559 --> 00:13:52.399 It never makes a mistake, it's absolutely perfect in the jobs it's been given to do. 00:13:53.120 --> 00:14:07.440 Uh but when the law comes in contact with remaining sin, when that remaining sin in our lives it produces a perverse response. 00:14:08.639 --> 00:14:10.159 Let me give you an example. 00:14:10.399 --> 00:14:21.039 If you want to be selfish, and the law comes to you and says, do not covet, it won't necessarily stop you from coveting. 00:14:22.159 --> 00:14:25.279 In some cases, it will only fire you up. 00:14:26.080 --> 00:14:34.159 And it will fire you up to be even more selfish and to covet and become envious and even jealous. 00:14:34.799 --> 00:14:38.879 Uh you see, we don't like being told what to do. 00:14:40.399 --> 00:14:43.279 We don't like being told what not to do. 00:14:45.039 --> 00:14:48.799 We prefer to even avoid the things we dislike. 00:14:49.039 --> 00:14:50.879 We will run away from them. 00:14:51.440 --> 00:14:55.200 And if God's law says it, well, it really doesn't matter. 00:14:55.759 --> 00:14:58.879 I just don't like it, and that's enough. 00:14:59.200 --> 00:15:07.200 So even Christians can respond badly when the law comes to them, if it interacts with their remaining sin. 00:15:07.519 --> 00:15:09.919 So the law is not bad, it's good. 00:15:10.799 --> 00:15:19.120 The conditions under which it operates in us, well, that's where the weakness comes in. 00:15:19.679 --> 00:15:24.559 And that's where the law becomes ineffective to break the power of sin. 00:15:24.720 --> 00:15:26.320 Let me give you another example. 00:15:26.559 --> 00:15:30.320 Some weeks ago, and this is controversial to fire you up as well. 00:15:30.720 --> 00:15:35.440 Um, I taught on the command relating to the Lord's day. 00:15:35.919 --> 00:15:38.960 Uh, for some, it was the first time they heard it. 00:15:39.360 --> 00:15:42.240 Uh and they said, I want to think this one through. 00:15:42.480 --> 00:15:43.759 I I get that. 00:15:44.159 --> 00:15:52.399 Others knew the command, but were just unsure about a law about a day. 00:15:53.039 --> 00:15:55.120 And so they said, We'd like to study it. 00:15:55.200 --> 00:16:01.440 And I think the genuine ones will study it in their Bible and they'll come back with questions and discussions. 00:16:02.080 --> 00:16:15.759 But I can guarantee you, I can be so sure that there are some who would have heard it and decided, I am not going to give God a day. 00:16:16.639 --> 00:16:20.320 And the bottom line is, God is not boss over my time. 00:16:21.759 --> 00:16:34.000 Rather than admit the fact that they want to be boss over their own time, uh, they would rather say the teaching is fanatical or legalistic or onerous. 00:16:34.799 --> 00:16:42.399 Even today, they would say something like this I am not going to give up the football tonight to go to church. 00:16:43.279 --> 00:16:48.159 This command, this idea of a Lord's day, it's well and good for Chris. 00:16:48.320 --> 00:16:49.120 He's the pastor. 00:16:49.360 --> 00:16:54.480 It's good for the pastors here, like Ryan or Matt, but not for me. 00:16:55.039 --> 00:17:00.879 Folks, if this is you, then I can say to you, the law is not the problem. 00:17:02.240 --> 00:17:08.480 I can say to you, the problem of weakness is in your remaining sin. 00:17:09.680 --> 00:17:12.160 You do not want to obey. 00:17:12.400 --> 00:17:17.119 You do not want to learn the law of God to obey it. 00:17:17.519 --> 00:17:27.200 And so I read again to you from verse 3 for what the law could not do, in that it was weak through the flesh, God did. 00:17:28.480 --> 00:17:32.720 We cannot break the power of sin with the law. 00:17:32.960 --> 00:17:39.279 The second thing we pick up is we really should thank God for the law of the spirit of life. 00:17:39.519 --> 00:17:47.680 Now, studies show that 77% of prisoners will re-offend and they will get re-arrested. 00:17:48.400 --> 00:17:58.000 Approximately 50% of prisoners who are out there freed, um, well, they will return to jail in three years. 00:17:58.559 --> 00:18:02.799 Uh, and the obvious question is how can we break such a cycle? 00:18:03.039 --> 00:18:09.839 How can we stop criminals from re-offending when sin really is so addictive? 00:18:10.880 --> 00:18:15.839 Uh in Victoria they came up with the solution of machete bins. 00:18:16.880 --> 00:18:20.319 But clearly, Paul is very serious here, isn't he? 00:18:20.559 --> 00:18:28.799 In Romans 8, he's really wanting to address with the Christian how to stop re-offending. 00:18:29.039 --> 00:18:32.480 And he says God's law is not the solution. 00:18:33.440 --> 00:18:40.960 It denies defines sin, it mandates punishment for sin, but it doesn't wipe away sin. 00:18:41.359 --> 00:18:47.519 More importantly, it does not stop future sin, it doesn't stop recurrent sin. 00:18:48.240 --> 00:18:54.160 There's no point in washing Johnny's t-shirt if Johnny loves playing in mud. 00:18:55.119 --> 00:19:00.240 Uh let me paraphrase God's solution then from uh Romans chapter 8. 00:19:00.400 --> 00:19:15.359 He says something like this What the law cannot do in the hands of believers, of sinners, God did in the hands of his Son, the Lord Jesus. 00:19:15.839 --> 00:19:17.920 Read verse 3 again. 00:19:18.480 --> 00:19:27.920 For what the law could not do in that it was weak through the flesh, God did by sending his own son in the likeness of sinful flesh. 00:19:28.160 --> 00:19:32.160 On account of sin, he condemned sin in the flesh. 00:19:32.480 --> 00:19:36.640 Now let me just go back again and give you a quick big picture of Romans. 00:19:36.880 --> 00:19:41.039 As you come through, chapter one and two is telling you we're all doomed because we're sinners. 00:19:41.200 --> 00:19:45.440 Chapters three to five are telling us how we can be right with God. 00:19:46.319 --> 00:19:50.400 Um, what God does for a believer. 00:19:51.039 --> 00:19:53.839 The believer's not involved, God does it all. 00:19:54.880 --> 00:20:00.640 Um when you get to chapter six and seven, we get to sanctification. 00:20:01.119 --> 00:20:10.240 At this point, he's not saying what God has done for you as a believer, he's speaking about what God does in you as a believer. 00:20:10.960 --> 00:20:16.640 He's talking about what the Holy Spirit does when he comes to dwell in you. 00:20:17.039 --> 00:20:27.119 And the main idea, if you haven't picked up from Romans 7, Romans 6, and Romans 8, is really that he starts a war in every believer. 00:20:27.920 --> 00:20:32.480 It's an agonizing war against our sin. 00:20:33.599 --> 00:20:43.440 In Romans 8, he's coming to the end of this discussion about this war, and he's really focusing on the fact that God will win this war. 00:20:44.400 --> 00:20:47.119 And God wins this war for us. 00:20:48.480 --> 00:21:02.319 We never become sinless in this life, but the power of God's Holy Spirit in the life of a believer daily will prove itself to be greater than the power of sin. 00:21:03.359 --> 00:21:06.640 The law cannot help you overcome sin. 00:21:08.160 --> 00:21:09.119 But God will. 00:21:09.920 --> 00:21:22.480 And more importantly, he's already done a decisive act and a decisive work that will guarantee success for every believer, not the super Christians. 00:21:22.960 --> 00:21:24.799 And what work did God do? 00:21:25.359 --> 00:21:27.759 Well, we're told in verse 3, aren't we? 00:21:28.079 --> 00:21:35.200 He sent his own son in the likeness of sinful flesh on account of sin. 00:21:36.000 --> 00:21:38.640 He condemned sin in the flesh. 00:21:39.200 --> 00:21:41.519 And we need to break this down a bit, don't we? 00:21:42.480 --> 00:21:44.240 God sent his son. 00:21:45.759 --> 00:21:49.680 God sent his own unique, eternal son. 00:21:51.279 --> 00:21:55.359 God sent his own beloved son. 00:21:57.039 --> 00:21:59.680 God sent his only begotten son. 00:22:00.640 --> 00:22:04.480 Clearly, the father is in view in this verse. 00:22:06.240 --> 00:22:13.920 The father takes the initiative and he gives up his own son for rebels like you and I. 00:22:14.160 --> 00:22:19.759 I don't know in this church whether you sing this song, but we sing how deep the father's love for us. 00:22:20.559 --> 00:22:26.799 And too often we sing the song and love the tune and really don't appreciate the words. 00:22:27.200 --> 00:22:36.559 Here in Romans 8, the next few words Paul gives us to help you appreciate how deep the Father's love is for us. 00:22:36.799 --> 00:22:42.799 He says this, he says, He sent the Son in the likeness of sinful flesh. 00:22:43.920 --> 00:22:45.279 It's a unique phrase. 00:22:45.359 --> 00:22:47.519 You don't find it anywhere else in the Bible. 00:22:47.680 --> 00:22:49.599 It's only in Romans 8. 00:22:49.759 --> 00:22:53.519 And it's a unique phrase for the obviously unique Son. 00:22:54.480 --> 00:22:57.440 He was not made sinful flesh. 00:22:58.480 --> 00:23:00.480 He was made in its likeness. 00:23:00.799 --> 00:23:02.160 He was flesh. 00:23:02.480 --> 00:23:05.680 He was not a spirit, not a ghost. 00:23:06.640 --> 00:23:12.880 He was made as close to sinful humanity as he possibly could be made. 00:23:13.119 --> 00:23:16.799 His cells grew, his cells decayed. 00:23:17.599 --> 00:23:20.480 He was only in one place at one time. 00:23:22.000 --> 00:23:26.000 He got tired, he got thirsty, he wept. 00:23:26.559 --> 00:23:31.680 He knew what pain was when the whips were lashed against him. 00:23:31.759 --> 00:23:37.039 He knew what nails felt like when they were pierced through his hands and feet. 00:23:37.359 --> 00:23:42.400 He participated fully in flesh, without sin. 00:23:42.960 --> 00:23:46.079 He became man to represent man. 00:23:48.000 --> 00:23:57.039 In Philippians, he says something like this He emptied himself by taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men. 00:23:57.440 --> 00:23:59.920 He was found in human form. 00:24:01.599 --> 00:24:03.920 The incarnation is a mystery, isn't it? 00:24:04.160 --> 00:24:10.240 Charles Wesley, when he writes his song, he sings this at the end, he says, Tis mercy all. 00:24:11.599 --> 00:24:14.000 Immense and free. 00:24:15.920 --> 00:24:20.880 But in Romans 8, Paul isn't zooming in on the incarnation. 00:24:21.119 --> 00:24:23.839 He's actually zooming in on the cross. 00:24:24.319 --> 00:24:31.599 And he's saying, God sent his own son in the likeness of sinful flesh on account of sin. 00:24:33.680 --> 00:24:36.480 Other translations put it this way. 00:24:36.720 --> 00:24:40.559 They don't say on account of sin, they say as an offering for sin. 00:24:40.880 --> 00:24:44.000 And the words as an offering is not there in the Greek. 00:24:44.400 --> 00:24:51.519 They purposely put it in because they want to convey to you that there was a purpose for why Jesus was sent. 00:24:51.920 --> 00:24:56.480 He was deliberately sent to come in the flesh to go to the cross. 00:24:56.799 --> 00:25:07.039 And the purpose is so clear in the same verse, because if you just read the next few words, it tells us, it says, He condemned sin in the flesh. 00:25:07.359 --> 00:25:15.279 And instantly, for those of you who are students of the Bible, you should be sitting down and saying something like this, that word condemned. 00:25:15.599 --> 00:25:17.519 I think I've heard it before. 00:25:17.759 --> 00:25:21.519 In fact, if I go back to verse 1, I can remember. 00:25:21.759 --> 00:25:28.000 We were told that there's no condemnation, no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. 00:25:28.079 --> 00:25:37.440 And that word condemnation, it means both the judge's verdict in a court, it also means time spent in jail. 00:25:38.079 --> 00:25:43.920 And here in Romans 8, it more likely speaks of time in jail. 00:25:44.400 --> 00:25:52.079 And it's saying basically, sin received its prison sentence at the cross. 00:25:52.480 --> 00:25:55.680 The only problem is it didn't get time in jail. 00:25:56.000 --> 00:26:01.599 Sin got the death penalty, sin was judicially executed. 00:26:02.240 --> 00:26:10.400 Satan and death were condemned in Jesus' flesh at the cross. 00:26:10.880 --> 00:26:16.000 Satan's hold on all the nations was broken. 00:26:16.480 --> 00:26:19.200 And this is exactly what Jesus promised. 00:26:19.680 --> 00:26:26.480 In John 12, I don't know if you remember John 12, where he speaks about Moses lifting up the serpent on the cross. 00:26:26.720 --> 00:26:30.480 He says this, he says, Now is the judgment of this world. 00:26:30.720 --> 00:26:34.079 Now the ruler of this world will be cast out. 00:26:34.640 --> 00:26:41.759 And if I am lifted up from the earth, will draw all peoples to myself. 00:26:42.880 --> 00:26:45.359 At the cross, sins were wiped. 00:26:45.519 --> 00:26:47.039 That's what we normally speak about. 00:26:47.359 --> 00:26:49.680 Forgiveness was received. 00:26:49.920 --> 00:26:51.039 And that's very true. 00:26:51.200 --> 00:26:52.960 We're brought near to God. 00:26:54.240 --> 00:27:02.799 But at the cross, Satan's power, sin's power over mankind was also conquered. 00:27:03.200 --> 00:27:04.799 Death is defeated. 00:27:05.200 --> 00:27:07.039 Hence the resurrection. 00:27:07.759 --> 00:27:11.599 And you've got to sit back and say, what an amazing salvation. 00:27:12.240 --> 00:27:29.920 Not only are our sins wiped, not only is our record clear, but God also releases the Holy Spirit to come and dwell in every believer so that the power of sin can be broken. 00:27:30.559 --> 00:27:33.759 The cycle is put to an end. 00:27:34.240 --> 00:27:37.680 You no longer need to be a slave to sin. 00:27:38.960 --> 00:27:41.839 You do not need to be a re-offender. 00:27:42.559 --> 00:27:47.519 This is the life of every Christian, the normal Christian. 00:27:48.079 --> 00:27:53.119 We must thank God for the law of the Spirit of life. 00:27:53.279 --> 00:28:00.160 And then thirdly, through the cross, God also fulfills the law in us. 00:28:00.400 --> 00:28:02.240 Read from verse 4 now. 00:28:02.400 --> 00:28:15.519 And it says that the righteous requirement, we could say it this way, in order that the righteous requirement of the law might be fulfilled in us, who do not walk according to the flesh, but according to the spirit. 00:28:15.759 --> 00:28:21.519 And I just want us to sit back again and observe God in these two verses. 00:28:22.240 --> 00:28:24.720 The Father sends the Son. 00:28:25.359 --> 00:28:34.880 The Son goes and executes the plan of the Father to destroy sin's power at the cross. 00:28:35.200 --> 00:28:49.119 His condemning work of sin releases the Holy Spirit to empower God's people, you and I, that we might be able to walk in God's ways. 00:28:49.359 --> 00:28:51.759 The whole Trinity is involved here, isn't it? 00:28:51.920 --> 00:28:59.279 It's not a proof text for the Trinity, but it's a reference to the Trinity to give you comfort. 00:28:59.519 --> 00:29:02.160 It's to comfort you if you are a believer. 00:29:02.319 --> 00:29:08.240 You see, if I said to you as a believer, the whole Trinity was involved in your salvation, you would agree. 00:29:08.400 --> 00:29:20.160 You'd say, yes, the Father planned it all in eternity, the Son executed it at the cross, and the Holy Spirit grants faith to the believer that they might come to God. 00:29:21.680 --> 00:29:24.720 But you're thinking more about conversion, aren't you? 00:29:24.960 --> 00:29:30.400 You're thinking more about how you become a Christian, how you are right with God. 00:29:31.119 --> 00:29:37.680 We limit the gospel, don't we, to justification by faith or regeneration, the new birth. 00:29:38.000 --> 00:29:41.680 And Luther says it's the most important article of faith. 00:29:42.880 --> 00:29:52.880 But here, Paul is not saying God awakens you, God makes you right, and then gives you a get out of jail card for heaven. 00:29:53.119 --> 00:29:54.319 He doesn't say that. 00:29:54.640 --> 00:30:02.079 What he's saying is God regenerates you, God justifies you, and then he comes and stays with you. 00:30:02.880 --> 00:30:07.599 The Holy Spirit comes and works in you from within. 00:30:08.480 --> 00:30:18.640 And he starts to change you and violently cause you to reject your sin and to really love him. 00:30:19.599 --> 00:30:24.960 He stays with you by his Holy Spirit, preparing you for heaven. 00:30:25.200 --> 00:30:28.240 He makes you more and more like Jesus. 00:30:28.720 --> 00:30:34.559 And be rest assured, if you are a believer, he will get you to heaven. 00:30:35.519 --> 00:30:38.960 All of salvation is all of God. 00:30:39.839 --> 00:30:45.839 We will never get any credit for our salvation when we get to heaven. 00:30:46.079 --> 00:30:52.480 We do not just get the entry pass to heaven and then we do the rest ourselves. 00:30:53.200 --> 00:30:57.200 In Romans 8, Paul is describing this middle bit, isn't he? 00:30:57.440 --> 00:31:00.640 Between conversion and getting to heaven. 00:31:00.960 --> 00:31:10.720 And he's saying in this middle bit, the Christian life can be described as a war, but a war where the believer progresses in holiness. 00:31:10.880 --> 00:31:12.000 They grow. 00:31:12.480 --> 00:31:15.039 This is Christian experience. 00:31:16.559 --> 00:31:23.759 Holiness becomes a believer's possession because of the work of the Holy Spirit. 00:31:23.920 --> 00:31:26.480 It's a fruit of saving grace. 00:31:27.599 --> 00:31:32.559 Did you just notice how Paul describes holiness in verse 4? 00:31:32.880 --> 00:31:38.799 He says it's the righteous requirement of the law being fulfilled in us. 00:31:40.000 --> 00:31:49.759 Now I'm sure you've heard from this pulpit that the law is fulfilled in Jesus through a perfect life and a death which takes the penalty for the law. 00:31:49.839 --> 00:31:50.880 That's true. 00:31:51.200 --> 00:31:53.680 But here Paul is speaking not of that. 00:31:53.920 --> 00:31:59.359 He's saying the law is fulfilled in your life and my life. 00:32:00.079 --> 00:32:06.079 He's saying God's purpose to save you was to align you with his law. 00:32:06.400 --> 00:32:08.319 He wants you to be holy. 00:32:08.799 --> 00:32:10.640 He wants you to be like him. 00:32:11.519 --> 00:32:17.920 In Jeremiah 31, uh, God promises a new covenant to his people. 00:32:18.400 --> 00:32:24.559 He says at the end of it, he says, I will be their God, and they will be my people. 00:32:25.200 --> 00:32:28.880 He commits himself to his people in a binding contract. 00:32:29.279 --> 00:32:32.799 It's a close relationship that will never be severed. 00:32:33.119 --> 00:32:38.480 But before he signs the contract, I just want to read to you what he says. 00:32:38.799 --> 00:32:45.839 He says, I will put my law within them, and I will write it on their hearts. 00:32:47.359 --> 00:32:51.119 And I will be their God and they shall be my people. 00:32:52.079 --> 00:32:58.960 If you are a Christian this morning, I can say to you quite clearly, this is the purpose for which you have been saved. 00:32:59.200 --> 00:33:01.359 You're not saved to be safe. 00:33:01.680 --> 00:33:03.680 You're not saved to be happy. 00:33:03.920 --> 00:33:06.319 You're not saved to be prosperous. 00:33:06.960 --> 00:33:15.680 You're saved to be brought near to God and then to be like God, to be godly, to be holy. 00:33:16.000 --> 00:33:24.240 Augustine puts it this way: He says, Grace was given to me so that the law might be fulfilled in me. 00:33:25.920 --> 00:33:28.799 Now, does this mean sinless perfection? 00:33:29.200 --> 00:33:32.480 Does this mean you will be perfect in your law-keeping? 00:33:32.720 --> 00:33:37.039 And if you read on in chapter 8 from verse 5, you'll see that's not the case. 00:33:37.279 --> 00:33:40.000 Paul never teaches sinless perfection. 00:33:40.240 --> 00:33:46.079 But he never sees a Christian as someone who keeps the law in their own strength. 00:33:46.640 --> 00:33:53.119 He always sees a Christian keeping the law as a fruit of God's saving work. 00:33:54.000 --> 00:34:02.000 Believers walk not according to their own flesh, but according to the Spirit, the Holy Spirit. 00:34:02.240 --> 00:34:09.599 When the Holy Spirit comes into a Christian's life, that's when they start to love the law. 00:34:09.760 --> 00:34:12.320 That's when they start to want to keep it. 00:34:12.480 --> 00:34:17.519 Without the Holy Spirit, the Christian life is totally impossible. 00:34:18.000 --> 00:34:27.599 Now, Paul has argued that Jesus' work of the cross produced a victory, a victory over sin and Satan and death. 00:34:28.320 --> 00:34:35.119 But this victory doesn't just produce something, if you like, in the cosmic realm. 00:34:35.360 --> 00:34:38.320 It actually has results in our lives. 00:34:38.719 --> 00:34:44.400 Even Christians enjoy a victory in their life over their sin. 00:34:44.880 --> 00:34:55.039 The controlling power of the Holy Spirit gradually overcomes the power of sin and produces obedience. 00:34:55.360 --> 00:34:57.840 It produces obedience to God. 00:34:58.480 --> 00:35:09.039 After the death and resurrection of the Lord Jesus, after the defeat of the power of sin, a new creation became a reality. 00:35:09.679 --> 00:35:15.599 The Holy Spirit came to dwell in believers, every single believer. 00:35:16.000 --> 00:35:22.079 And the Holy Spirit produced initiative, initiative to want to read your Bible. 00:35:23.280 --> 00:35:26.559 And I say that again, to read your Bible. 00:35:26.800 --> 00:35:37.119 I don't know how many Christians read their Bibles, to even study it, to pray over the law. 00:35:38.239 --> 00:35:41.280 And as they do that, God does a work. 00:35:47.920 --> 00:35:51.519 There's inertia within us to want to obey it. 00:35:52.719 --> 00:35:54.239 He encourages us. 00:35:54.480 --> 00:35:56.480 The Holy Spirit motivates us. 00:35:59.440 --> 00:36:02.000 And he directs us to holiness. 00:36:03.280 --> 00:36:07.360 Not to self-indulgent happiness. 00:36:08.400 --> 00:36:13.599 Now some assume this sanctification, this holiness, is something passive. 00:36:13.920 --> 00:36:17.199 If God is doing it all, well, I need to do nothing. 00:36:17.920 --> 00:36:22.880 If God is going to produce holiness in me, well, all well and good. 00:36:23.039 --> 00:36:24.480 Let him have a go. 00:36:25.679 --> 00:36:28.320 But if he doesn't, well, it's not my problem. 00:36:28.800 --> 00:36:30.559 It's really God's problem. 00:36:31.199 --> 00:36:34.880 Folks, this is a horrible twisting of scripture. 00:36:35.360 --> 00:36:52.639 If the Father, if the Son, and the Holy Spirit are totally committed and totally engaged in getting you to be holy, then shouldn't you cooperate and want the same thing? 00:36:53.039 --> 00:37:06.800 If the whole Trinity, at great cost, redeemed you, then isn't it your priority to make every single effort to please God? 00:37:08.880 --> 00:37:14.079 The word walk, walk in the spirit, surely that assumes effort. 00:37:14.480 --> 00:37:16.159 It assumes activity. 00:37:16.880 --> 00:37:20.880 Which explains really why Hebrews can say something so simple like this. 00:37:21.119 --> 00:37:24.320 Hebrews says, pursue peace with all people. 00:37:25.360 --> 00:37:26.480 Then it says this. 00:37:26.719 --> 00:37:30.719 Technically, we could say it this way: pursue holiness. 00:37:32.320 --> 00:37:34.639 Without which no one will see the Lord. 00:37:34.800 --> 00:37:36.719 Literally, chase down holiness. 00:37:36.880 --> 00:37:39.039 Chase down holiness like a hunter. 00:37:39.280 --> 00:37:41.679 Chase down holiness till you catch your prey. 00:37:41.920 --> 00:37:45.119 Chase down holiness till you grab it and eat it. 00:37:48.480 --> 00:37:54.480 He's saying basically that without it no one will see the Lord. 00:37:54.960 --> 00:38:01.760 The goal of your salvation is that the righteous requirement of the law will be fulfilled in you. 00:38:02.239 --> 00:38:05.199 God wants a holy people to himself. 00:38:05.840 --> 00:38:14.000 The new creation begins on this earth, and they walk according to the Spirit, that's very true. 00:38:14.559 --> 00:38:21.920 Not in the flesh, but not perfectly, but in the new heavens and in the new earth. 00:38:22.239 --> 00:38:28.000 This work that is started will be brought to completion and it will be perfected. 00:38:28.480 --> 00:38:34.880 Through the cross, God does fulfill the law in his people. 00:38:35.440 --> 00:38:36.320 Let me pray. 00:38:36.480 --> 00:38:37.599 Let me close. 00:38:38.320 --> 00:38:43.440 Heavenly Father, thank you again for the fact that you've not left us to ourselves. 00:38:43.599 --> 00:38:53.760 You've brought us to you, and you continue to be so gracious to give us your Holy Spirit that we might walk in your ways, that we might walk according to the Holy Spirit. 00:38:56.239 --> 00:39:00.719 Please work in us that this might be true of us, we ask in Jesus' name. 00:39:01.039 --> 00:39:01.679 Amen.