Supernatural Freedom
Romans 8:1-8/Week 1
Bruce Miller
Supernatural Freedom
Open your Bible to Romans chapter eight. This is a simply stunning chapter in an amazing book. A year ago we worked through the first five chapters of Romans. This book is the most systematic explanation of the Gospel in the Bible.
If Romans is a spectacular mountain range of truth, then chapter eight is its highest peak. The theme is assurance. In Romans eight God pours out blessings and privileges for every believer in Jesus Christ. This is the inspirational highlight of Romans. The human writer, the Apostle Paul, seems to have been caught up in a profound experience of worship as he concludes the chapter with praise for the unfathomable love of God from which we can never be separated.
The chapter is about our identity in Christ and the power of the Spirit, freedom-giving truths that give us a supernatural life. I was surprised to learn that there are no imperatives, no commands in the chapter. Rather God is giving us truth about what he has done for us which certainly has implications for how we live. In these next five weeks I want you to know that victory and freedom are yours in the supernatural power of the Spirit. Romans is the book God used to convert Saint Augustine in the 400s and Martin Luther in the 1500s, sparking the Reformation. I wonder how God wants to use this book in our lives. In Romans chapter 8 Paul takes us to the ultimate climax of the Gospel of Jesus Christ. We will learn how to live today in the Spirit’s power, assured that the glory to come far outshines the sufferings of this time. For five weeks we will dive deeply into the rich truth of how God works everything for good, how the Spirit gives us life and how nothing can separate us from Christ’s love. We are more than conquerors. Here’s the big point of the chapter: You can live a supernatural life by the Spirit because of God’s amazing gifts in Christ. This series could be a pivotal moment in your life and in the life of our church. Let’s pause to pray for God’s Spirit to transform us by His powerful Word.
Today we are looking into the first eight verses where we learn about supernatural freedom. You can experience supernatural freedom by grasping two important truths: you are free from condemnation, in Christ, and you are free to live in the Spirit. You can begin to live a supernatural life when you know the freedom that is yours in the Spirit, through the Son.
The translation we will be using for this series is the New International Version, the NIV, updated for 2010. This version has just come out online and for e-readers. It will be in print in a couple of months. From what I’ve read so far, I’m impressed with this translation. I encourage you to check out NIV 2010.
As we prepare to read the biblical text, note that the first eight verses fall into two sections: verses one to four and verses five to eight, which is how we have organized your sermon outline. Let’s stand for the reading of God’s word:
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.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.
The Supernatural Study Guide helpfully points out that connecting words are important. In your Bible study, notice words such as the first one in Romans eight. To what is “therefore” referring? Paul is drawing a conclusion from all that he has said so far in the book. This is the grand climax of his teaching on the Gospel. If you want a great worship experience read straight through the first eight chapters of Romans, about eight pages in my Bible. You will see how chapter eight is the dramatic climax of all God has done for us in Christ. The word “now” signifies that a new age has dawned on planet earth. Jesus rose from the dead and that has changed everything. Therefore, we are now free from condemnation in Christ!
Free from condemnation in Christ
This is huge! You are free from condemnation. I am free from condemnation. This is often hard for us to grasp. I love the way our Study Guide helps us connect with this radical truth in the opening paragraph of Day one:
“What do the movies The Count of Monte Cristo, Shawshank Redemption, The Fugitive, and the television show Prison Break have in common? They are all about innocent men who escape imprisonment much to the audience’s satisfaction. But how many stories can you think of where innocent viewers clap and cheer when truly guilty people are set free?”
What does “condemnation” mean? In Greek the context is a law court. It is does not have in view inter-personal relationships where someone condemns another person for their weird facial hair. This is a judicial, forensic term. A judge condemns a person who is found guilty of a crime. The word condemnation includes the sentence and the punishment. Someone with a DWI might be condemned to surrender his or her driver’s license, serve 30 days in jail and pay a $3000 fine. We deserve God’s condemnation because we are all sinners. We are guilty. We know that. And yet in Christ Jesus we are free from condemnation. This point is emphatic in the Greek text. One commentator said, “No condemnation” is the banner triumphantly flying over all those who are “in Christ”. (Moo, Douglas J. The Epistle to the Romans. Grand Rapids. William B. Eerdmans, 1996 (477).) So there is no place for us to condemn ourselves; there is no place for beating ourselves up over sin. Yes, it is appropriate to experience godly sorrow over our sin; to repent in a genuine way, but to insist on feeling guilty is to deny the truth that we are free from condemnation in Christ. Do you know this? If you are in Christ, you are free from condemnation. Let’s affirm this truth together. I want you to say with me: I am free from condemnation! Let’s shout it out: “I am free from condemnation!”
An irony in our culture is that churches are known as places of condemnation. Christians are roundly criticized for being judgmental and condemning. If we understand Romans eight, verse one, we of all people should be the most non-condemning. At Christ Fellowship we are people of grace. Everyone is welcome here. Rather than condemning, we announce the amazing news that in Jesus Christ there is no more condemnation. Of course we recognize sin as sin. In fact the truth that we are free is amazing because we are keenly aware that we all deserve God’s condemnation. But we don’t all escape condemnation. Only in Christ can you be free from condemnation. The most important question is whether or not you are in Christ. We will talk more about that at the end of the message. How are we free from condemnation? By escaping sin and death. We are free from sin and death by the life-giving Spirit.
Free from sin and death by the life-giving Spirit
Verse two says,
2 because through Christ Jesus the law of the Spirit who gives life has set you free from the law of sin and death.
What law are we talking about? As your Study Guide explains, Paul is not referring to the Mosaic Law in the Old Testament but to law as a principle. The huge contrast is not law and Spirit, but rather life and death. The power of the Spirit overcomes the power of sin and death. You are free from sin and death by the life-giving power of the Spirit. I am free from sin and death. You have been liberated to a true life now and eternally. We are free from slavery to sin. We are free from the power of death because we share in Jesus’ resurrection.
Who is the one who sets us free? The Spirit. Paul introduces the leading character in Romans chapter eight. Until this point, there have only been two mentions of the Spirit in Romans. Now the Spirit takes center stage. It is the Spirit who applies the power of the Gospel to our lives. He gives us the benefits won by Christ on the cross. It is the Spirit who gives life. Some translations appropriately read: “The Spirit of life.” By the Spirit of Life you are free from sin and death. It’s hard to get this truth into our conscious minds, but it is true. Let’s affirm this truth out loud. Say it with me: “I am free from sin and death.” Once more, “I am free from sin and death!” On what basis are you free from sin and death? The next two verses tell us. We are free because God sent his Son to condemn sin.
Free because God sent his Son to condemn sin
Paul says in verses three and four,
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.
Why was the law powerless? There is nothing wrong with the law. It is powerless because it is weakened by the flesh. What does that mean? The key word you need to understand is “flesh.” Your Study Guide as a word study on this word “flesh” that appears many times in chapter eight. What is “flesh” as it is used in this context? It is not our bodies, nor a part of our selves. Rather it is our “this-worldly” orientation. It is humanity in its sinfulness apart from Christ. None of us can keep God’s law perfectly. No one can be saved by keeping the law, because no one can do it. No one is righteous. God can’t bend his law or change his character as if he were not utterly holy. He can’t overlook sin and we can’t quit sinning, so how can anyone ever be saved? How can anyone get right with God?
Only God could solve the problem and he did. God did what the law was powerless to do. The solution is astounding. God sent his own Son to enter our world; more than that His Son became human. We call it the incarnation. Paul says God sent his Son “in the likeness of human flesh.” Ironically it is in flesh that the problem of flesh is fixed. Christ fully entered the human condition. He became in-fleshed, which is what incarnate means. He exposed himself to the power of sin. His body got sick. He got fevers, sniffled and coughed. He aged. And yet he did not sin. Jesus Christ was affected by the power of sin, yet he never sinned. Jesus became one of us; to save us. He did not sin, but instead he bore our sins on the cross.
The text says God sent his Son to be a sin offering. Jesus came to deal with sin. This phrase is used in the Greek translation of the Old Testament as technical phrase for a “sin offering,” an offering made to take care of sin. Jesus is the ultimate sin offering that ended the need for any more sin offerings.
The next phrase takes even deeper into the amazing truth of what God did in Christ: And so he condemned sin in the flesh. We are not condemned because God condemned sin itself. In the sacrificial death of Jesus he removed the power of sin for those who join Christ. How did this happen? Jesus took on himself our sin without himself sinning. He took our judgment, our penalty, on himself. On the cross he said, “My God, My God, why have you forsaken me.” At that moment he was paying for our sins. He died so we could live. He was condemned so we could be free from condemnation.
One step deeper: how could a holy God free guilty people? We cheer when innocent people are set free in movies such as the Fugitive, but how can the holy God set guilty people free from the just condemnation they rightly deserve. It seems wrong to free guilty people. Verse four tells us the amazing way it is possible. We are free because we’ve fully met all the law’s requirements in Christ.
Free because we’ve fully met all the law’s requirements
Verse four says, 4 in order that the righteous requirement of the law might be fully met in us.
Notice that the verb is passive: “might be fully met.” This points not to something we do, but to something done in us. Who meets the righteous requirement of the law? I know I sure don’t.
Jesus does. He is the only human being ever to keep every requirement of the law. The law was powerless because no sinful human can keep it, but God’s Son became human to perfectly obey the law so he could be an acceptable sacrifice for our sin. When we trust in Christ, Christ’s righteousness is put to our account. We are united to Christ. In Christ we have fully met all the righteous requirements of the law. Christ became what we are, so we could become what Christ is. (Moo, Douglas J. The Epistle to the Romans. Grand Rapids. William B. Eerdmans, 1996 (483)) This has been called the great exchange. In Christ all the law is fulfilled on our behalf. And so as Christ followers we should live out who we already are. We live according to the Spirit not to earn our salvation, but because we are saved. We want to obey God today, not to earn his forgiveness, but in response to the truth that in Christ we are righteous. We are free from condemnation in Christ so we are free to live in the Spirit.
Free to live in the Spirit
The first section, verses one to four, gives the basis for the second section, verses five to eight. Because we are free from condemnation in Christ, so we are free to live in the Spirit. Paul says in verse four that those who are not condemned live according to the Spirit, not according to the flesh. If you have the 1984 NIV translation, then your English text says “sinful nature” as a translation of “flesh.” In Greek the term is sarx. For those of you who enjoy advanced study, it is worth doing a word study on this rich word. The phrase “sinful nature” can be misleading. Flesh and Spirit are not parts of a person, but powers, or dominating features. “To live according to the flesh,” is to have your life directed by the values of “this world,” the world in rebellion against God. It is the sin-dominated person. It is a lifestyle that is purely earthly in its orientation. To “live according to the Sprit” on the other hand, is to live according to the values of God’s Spirit. (Moo, Douglas J. The Epistle to the Romans. Grand Rapids. William B. Eerdmans, 1996 (485) ) Christians are in the Spirit and those who are not yet Christians are in the flesh. They are still dominated by sin and death. Those who are in Christ live in the Spirit, so we are free to think spiritually.
Free to think Spiritually
Paul says in verse five,
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.
The idea of setting your mind is more than mental. Those who live in accordance with the Spirit are oriented to the things of God. Your outlook is spiritual. The direction of your thinking, desiring and willing is toward the things of the Spirit. When you trust in Christ, the Holy Spirit gives you a new mind-set. You are free to think spiritually. You increasingly understand spiritual realities that were confusing before. You can be free from sinful preoccupations, addictions and ambitions. The Spirit of God frees you to be oriented to the things of Christ in a way you could not before. This does not mean you don’t sin and struggle with temptation, but you have a power you did not have before. You begin to develop the mind of Christ, to see the world as he sees it. What’s more you are free to experience life and peace.
Free to experience life and peace
In verse six Paul continues his contrast,
6 The mind governed by the flesh is death, but the mind governed by the Spirit is life and peace.
Death characterizes those who are not yet in Christ. Picture death in the largest sense. Those whose minds are governed by the flesh find themselves caught up in the affairs of life on this earth, death. They live under a just sentence of eternal death. A state of death rules their minds. This goes all the way to the temptation to suicide.
In contrast the Spirit frees us to experience life and peace in Christ. Picture life and peace in the fullest sense. The Spirit gives us life because we are connected to the life giver. We share in Christ’s resurrection. We live under the sure promise that we will be resurrected to eternal life with Jesus Christ. We have peace with God objectively. We are at peace with God through Christ. So we can live in peace by living what is true already. The truth is that we have been freed to experience life and peace. The Spirit gives us the power to govern our minds into life and peace. Reject the devil’s attempts to pull you back into death. He is a murderer from the beginning. Instead respond to the Spirit who can govern your mind with peace and life. Finally Paul says in verses seven and eight that we are free to please God.
Free to please God
His point is actually focused on the limitations of those in the flesh who cannot please God. Paul says,
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. If you are not in Christ, then you do not have the Spirit of God in you.
You are still captive to the flesh. Your mind is governed by the flesh, so you are hostile to God. You do not want to submit to God’s law. And even if you wanted to do so, you cannot. Those in the Spirit obey God not as a burden imposed from without, but as a delight embraced from within as the Spirit transforms our desires. (Schreiner, Thomas R. Romans. Grand Rapids. Baker Books, 1998. (409)) We are free to please God, as we never were before.
So what’s the situation of the person who has not yet trusted in Christ? Maybe that is you. Maybe you are feeling uncomfortable, convicted. Maybe you are not identifying with freedom from condemnation. You are living in guilt. You are not sure about Jesus. This does not mean you are incapable of doing anything good. You have probably done many good things in your life, but have you submitted to God? Are you delighted to obey him as your King?
If you are not in Christ, then you do not have the Spirit. Your mind may be confused about spiritual matters. You tend to fight with God; you do not want to submit to God’s law. By the way there is no third option here. There is no spectrum or continuum. You have either trusted in Jesus Christ as your King or you have not. You are either free from condemnation or you are still condemned. There is no middle ground. Today, if you have never done so, I invite you to trust in Jesus Christ for the first time. You will see a place on the Care Card to indicate your decision. Last week a lady did just that. She checked the box, “I am starting my relationship with Jesus today. I prayed to trust Him as my Savior.” I want everyone here to experience what God is offering you: to be free from condemnation in Christ, to be free to live in the Spirit. Why would you not do it? Why not become free from sin and death? God sent his own Son to be a sin offering for you so you could meet all the law’s requirements in Christ. I invite you right now to trust in Jesus Christ to free you from condemnation. Let’s all bow our heads in prayer. I will pray a prayer saying this very thing to God. If you want to trust in Christ, then I invite you to silently pray this prayer to God from your heart.
“Dear God, I know I am a sinner. I deserve your condemnation. I trust in Jesus Christ alone to save me. I believe he died on the cross for my sin and rose again to set me free. Thank you for freeing me from condemnation. Thank you for the Holy Spirit. In Jesus’ name amen.” If you prayed that prayer from your heart then you are free from condemnation in Jesus!
If you made this decision, let me know because I want to pray for you as you take your first steps as a new believer.
The next step, according to the Bible, is to be baptized. We are baptizing today! Some people have already chosen to be baptized today and that is great, but I am opening the door now for those who want to make the decision to be baptized right now. If you are a believer in Jesus Christ, and you have not been baptized, I hope today is your day. If you just trusted in Christ, you can be baptized right now. We have dark clothes for you and towels; everything you need. When I finish the sermon, we will all stand and I am going to invite you to be baptized today. You will walk forward and talk briefly with one of our leaders; change clothes in a side room and get in the water today.
Baptism does not save us but it pictures our salvation. Baptism symbolizes your spiritual union with Jesus Christ in his death, burial and resurrection. When we go under the water it is like we are dying and being buried with Christ and then when we come up out of the water it is like we are being raised with Christ from death to a new life.
So, why not now? There is no biblical reason to wait. In the book of Acts we see that people were baptized the day they believed. In Acts chapter twenty-two, God sent Ananias to tell Paul about the Gospel. When he finished, he said to Paul: 16, “And now what are you waiting for? Get up, be baptized.” That’s exactly what I am saying to you: what are you waiting for? After I pray, get up and be baptized! Let’s pray.
Let’s all stand to honor those who coming to be baptized. Here’s your chance. While we are all standing, come forward to be baptized. The Bible says, what are you waiting for? Get up, be baptized. Now is the moment. We are not baptizing children without their parents. But if you are a teenager or an adult and you want to be baptized come down right here to talk with one of our leaders. You can trust in Jesus right now. We will show you to a private room to change clothes. Come through the door to my right to go change clothes. Ladies we have everything you need including dark clothes. Do not let concern about your appearance hold you back from being baptized. We are family. Come forward right now. What’s holding you back? If you are not coming forward, pray for those who are coming. Let’s applaud those who are making this awesome decision. What are you waiting for, get up and be baptized!
In just a moment we will give our offerings to God. Place your Care Card in the offering bag when it comes. As we prepare for the offering, let me ask you, what have we learned from the first eight verses of Romans chapter eight? You can experience supernatural freedom by grasping two important truths: you are free from condemnation in Christ and you are free to live in the Spirit. Let’s shout these three affirmations
I am free from condemnation. I am free from sin and death. I am free to live in the Spirit. I am free from condemnation. I am free from sin and death. I am free to live in the Spirit.
In light of these truths, let’s live who we are. Live free from condemnation. Live in the Spirit: free to think spiritually, free to experience life and peace and free to please God. Let’s give to honor to God who gives us supernatural freedom.
Show X – come every Sunday for the Supernatural series! How are you going to grow to follow Christ?
Worship in a Gathering every week – don’t miss any of the next four weeks of the Supernatural series as we discover how You can live a supernatural life by the Spirit because of God’s amazing gifts in Christ.
Connect in a group! It’s not too late to join a Life Group studying Romans 8 right along with the sermons. Get a Connection Guide. Go to the Kiosk and folks can help you get in a group.
Engage God individually. Get a Supernatural Study Guide and prepare for next week.
Benediction: May you live a supernatural life of supernatural freedom because you know you are free from condemnation in Christ and thus you are free to live in the Spirit.
To view the sermon video, visit: http://www.christfellowshipeldorado.com/sermon/supernatural-freedom/
