Basic Training 04 Series

8 Now if we died with Christ, we believe that we will also live with him. 9 For we know that since Christ was raised from the dead, he cannot die again; death no longer has mastery over him. 10 The death he died, he died to sin once for all; but the life he lives, he lives to God.

11 In the same way, count yourselves dead to sin but alive to God in Christ Jesus. 12 Therefore do not let sin reign in your mortal body so that you obey its evil desires. 13 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. 14 For sin shall no longer be your master, because you are not under the law, but under grace. Romans 6:1-14

Paul, who was a Pharisee understood God’s desire for us to be holy but he also knew that it wasn’t going to be easy.

In order to be holy, we must at some point in our lives die to sin. We need to get the sin out.

Paul struggled in this area, he admits this to us in a very personal way in Romans 7:7-25.

Holiness is our goal and yet there are times that we fail. Therefore Paul points out our hope, “Thanks be to God, who delivers me through Jesus Christ our Lord!” Romans 7:25

Our hope come through one and only one source, Jesus Christ. His life, death, and resurrection back to life provide the only hope that mankind can rely on to bring them into a right relationship with God.

Jesus has given us the justification and sanctification we need which brings us to the third item that is provided for us through the righteousness of God.

To understand the third one we will look at Romans 8.

3. Assurance.

Assurance is a guarantee. It is a pledge that gives us freedom from doubt. There are four things we can be assured of.

First it is the assurance of His righteousness in our lives.

1 Therefore, there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus, 2 because through Christ Jesus the law of the Spirit who gives life has set you free from the law of sin and death. 3 For what the law was powerless to do because it was weakened by the flesh, God did by sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh to be a sin offering. And so he condemned sin in the flesh, 4 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.

Romans 8:1-4 NIV

The word condemnation is the opposite of justification. Paul says there is now NO condemnation for those who turn their faith to Christ.

No condemnation means that we are not bound to the penalty of sin, that has been removed by Jesus at the cross.

Those who accept Jesus as their Savior do not live under the constant threat of judicial punishment by God. They do not live under the fear of God’s wrath but rather we live under the promise of God’s blessing.

Second is the assurance of the Holy Spirit in our lives.

5 Those who live according to the flesh have their minds set on what the flesh desires; but those who live in accordance with the Spirit have their minds set on what the Spirit desires. 6 The mind governed by the flesh is death, but the mind governed by the Spirit is life and peace. 7 The mind governed by the flesh is hostile to God; it does not submit to God’s law, nor can it do so. 8 Those who are in the realm of the flesh cannot please God. 9 You, however, are not in the realm of the flesh but are in the realm of the Spirit, if indeed the Spirit of God lives in you. And if anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ, they do not belong to Christ. 10 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. 11 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 life to your mortal bodies because of his Spirit who lives in you. Romans 8:5-11 NIV