In Christ, True Life

Title: In Christ True Life

Text: Roman 7:14-25

Introduction: Describe mount Everest or something insurmountable to us.

-- 29,035 (8850m)

‒ Does Christianity ever seem that way to you? To young people.

‒ So many rules.

‒ So many boundaries.

‒ So IMPOSSIBLE to accomplish!

‒ We feel like Moses when God called him.

‒ We feel like Saul when God told him through Samuel he would be king. "My tribe is the smallest and my family the smallest in the tribe."

1. Feeling like there’s too much sin to be able to change.

A. Ever hear the statement, "I’ve got so much that I do wrong, I can’t be a Christian until I get rid of this stuff."

‒ Here is a person dealing with guilt and shame.

‒ Most of the time I think this a sincere statement.

‒ But, is it a statement that can be overcome?

‒ How do we talk to people who feel this way?

‒ What would your answer be to that person?

‒ Or is this a statement you have made?

2. There are two great facts that will help us in this.

A. The greatest fact of human past experience. The Incarnation of Jesus. Jesus becoming flesh.

‒ John 1:14 "...the word became flesh and dwelt among us."

‒ (Philippians 2:5-7 NCV) In your lives you must think and act like Christ Jesus. {6} Christ himself was like God in everything. But he did not think that being equal with God was something to be used for his own benefit. {7} But he gave up his place with God and made himself nothing. He was born to be a man and became like a servant.

‒ The God of heaven emptied himself of his diety and became like on of us.

1. Why is this significant?

i. Jesus knows what it feels like to stand against the insurmountable odds.

ii. He knew what peer pressure felt like.

iii. He knows what anger feels like.

iv. He knows what is like to hurt physically.

--God has not asked us to do something that he himself didn’t do.

B. The greatest single fact of Present human experience is that Jesus Lives in Christians.

‒ (Galatians 2:20 NCV) I was put to death on the cross with Christ, and I do not live anymore--it is Christ who lives in me. I still live in my body, but I live by faith in the Son of God who loved me and gave himself to save me.

‒ It is not us who lives, but Christ who lives in us.

C. Paul the Apostle struggled with sin.

‒ TURN AND READ ROMANS 7:14-25

‒ Sounds like the statements above. Frustrated.

‒ How did Paul overcome?

‒ Romans 8:1 "...there is no condemnation to those who ... walk according to the Spirit." (Romans 8:13 NCV) If you use your lives to do the wrong things your sinful selves want, you will die spiritually. But if you use the Spirit’s help to stop doing the wrong things you do with your body, you will have true life.

> The Key to the struggle with sin and overcoming it is to do so walking in Christ. Through Christ dwelling inside our being is the key to defeating sin.

> To try to do right before you are in Christ is futile. You can’t

Conclusion: The Beauty of Christianity.

--Christianity is a mystery, but one that is revealed. --Paul said that his job was:

(Colossians 1:24-27 NCV) “...become a servant of the church because God gave me a special work to do that helps you, and that work is to tell fully the message of God. {26} This message is the secret that was hidden from everyone since the beginning of time, but now it is made known to God’s holy people. {27} God decided to let his people know this rich and glorious secret which he has for all people. This secret is Christ himself, who is in you. He is our only hope for glory.

--The mystery of Christianity is Christ in you.

--How can you climb the insurmountable mountain of Christianity?

--Give your life wholeheartedly to Jesus.

--A loaf of bread to a hungry man does him no good until it is inside of him.

--Medicine to the sick must be inside the sick to do good.

Illustration: Tonight I have something in my pocket that was once alive and is now dead and tonight I will make it come to life again right before your eyes.

--The glove once was a cow walking around in the field.

--Now it has no life of its own.

--Insert the hand and it has the ability to move and be useful again. To function and "be alive."

--The glove had no life of itself.