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Hope of Holiness Part 2
We’re spending three weeks on the Romans 1-8 Text
Therefore, there is now no condemnation for those who are inChrist Jesus,2because through Christ Jesus the law of theSpirit who gives lifehas setyoufree from thelaw ofsin and death.3Forwhat the law was powerless to do because it wasweakened by the flesh, Goddid by sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh to be a sinoffering. And so he condemned sin in the flesh,4in orderthat the righteousrequirement of the law might be fully met in us, who donot live according to the flesh but according to the Spirit.5Thosewho live according to the flesh have their minds set onwhat the fleshdesires; but those who live in accordance with the Spirit have their mindsset on what the Spirit desires.6The mind governed by theflesh is death, but the mindgoverned by the Spirit is life andpeace.7The mind governed by the flesh is hostile toGod;it does not submit to God’s law, nor can it do so.8Thosewho are in the realm of theflesh cannot please God.
Today, we focus on verses 2 through 4
2becausethrough Christ Jesus the law of theSpirit who gives lifehas setyoufree from thelaw ofsin and death.3Forwhat the law was powerless to do because it wasweakened by the flesh, Goddid by sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh to be a sinoffering. And so he condemned sin in the flesh,4in orderthat the righteousrequirement of the law might be fully met in us, who donot live according to the flesh but according to the Spirit.
We are introduced to a couplet – two “laws”
> “The law of sin and death.” TheLaw of Moses. The Jewish Law. The Ten Commandments. The 613 rules, regulationsand practices in theOld Testament -The Rule Book.
> “The law of the Spirit who gives life.” A gift of freedom THROUGH CHRIS JESUS
But,why does Paul make this distinction? Isn’t it obvious?
Do you know this “gospel of the rulefollowers” is alive and well today.
> Doingis what leads to SAVING
> Youdon’t need Jesus, you just need morals
> Dowhat’s right and Heaven is yours.
As you listen, think about the times when you judge yourself, and believe God determines your merit by your works.
What does it look like when you think you can or should earn your way into God’s acceptance?
Reading Romans 7 and 8 together paints a picture of the two “laws” at work.
In Romans 7 “the law” and its synonyms are mentioned 31times and the Spirit only once. But in Romans 8 TheSpirit is referred to 19times by name.
(verse 3 & 4)3For what the law was powerless to do because it was weakenedby the flesh, God did by sending his own Son in the likeness of sinfulflesh to be a sin offering. And so hecondemned sin (katakrinōHe sentenced sin to death)in the flesh,4in order thatthe righteous requirement of the law might be fully met in us, who do notlive according to the fleshbut according to the Spirit.
> The state of sin and death is notbecause of the law. It is because of US.
> People wouldn’t obey. From what felt like our very first momentson earth in that garden. And once that was evident, the Law couldn’t save us.
“The law is the lightthat reveals how dirty the room is, not the broom that sweeps itclean. “
But: What we couldn’t do. JESUS DID.
That is the HOPE OF HOLINESS
But why? Everthought about why it was like this?
> Why Adam and Eveonly had to obey one rule and they were offered paradise? Yet they couldn’t even obey that simple command?
> Why through hundredsand hundreds of pages of the Old Testament we read about people promisinggreat things. And then turning their backs on God?
> Why our lives have proven over and over again thatwe don’t have it in us?
Perhaps one reason is so that we will never forget Him.
That we will always remember, moment by moment, the breadth and depth of what Jesus did for us.
So we would ALWAYS remember Him.
Do you remember?
Supplemental Texts
Read Romans 7 and 8 back to back in one sitting, thinking about “the law of sin and death” as over against “the law of the Spirit who gives life.”
Romans 7:7
7What shall we say,then? Is the law sinful? Certainly not! Nevertheless, I would nothave known what sin was had it not been for the law.
Matthew 5:17
17“Do not think that I have cometo abolish the Law or the Prophets; I have not come to abolish them but tofulfill them.
Philippians 2:8
And being found in appearance as a man,he humbled himselfby becoming obedient to death—even death on a cross!
Romans 1-8 The Message Paraphrase
The Solution Is Life on God’s Terms
81-2With the arrival of Jesus, the Messiah, that fateful dilemma is resolved. Those who enter into Christ’s being-here-for-us no longer have to live under a continuous, low-lying black cloud. A new power is in operation.The Spirit of life in Christ, like a strong wind, has magnificently cleared the air, freeing you from a fated lifetime of brutal tyranny at the hands of sin and death.3-4God went for the jugular when he sent his own Son. He didn’t deal with the problem as something remote and unimportant. In his Son, Jesus, he personally took on the human condition, entered the disordered mess ofstruggling humanity in order to set it right once and for all. The law code, weakened as it always was by fractured human nature, could never have done that.The law always ended up being used as a Band-Aid on sin instead of a deep healing of it. And now what the law code asked for but we couldn’t deliver is accomplished as we, instead of redoubling our own efforts, simplyembrace what the Spirit is doing in us.5-8Those who think they can do it on their own end up obsessed with measuring their own moral muscle but never get around to exercising it in real life. Those who trust God’s action in them find that God’s Spirit is in them—living and breathing God! Obsession with self in these matters is a dead end; attention to God leads us out into the open, into a spacious, free life. Focusing on the self is the opposite of focusing on God. Anyone completelyabsorbed in self ignores God, ends up thinking more about self than God. That person ignores who God is and what he is doing. And God isn’t pleased at being ignored.