New Freedom, Power, and Life

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Today's scripture reading is from the Apostle Paul's letter to the Romans, chapter 8, verses

Romans 8:1–11

1 through 11, as printed in your liturgy.

Therefore, there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus, because through

Christ Jesus, the law of the Spirit, who gives life, has set you free from the law of sin

and death.

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, 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.

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 mind governed by the flesh is death.

The Spirit is life and peace.

The mind governed by the flesh is hostile to God.

It does not submit to God's law, nor can it do so.

Those who are in the realm of the flesh cannot please God.

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.

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.

And if the Spirit of him who raised Jesus from the dead is living in you, then he who raised

Christ from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies because of his Spirit who

lives in you.

This is the word of the Lord.

Thanks be to God.

Amen.

Good morning, Christ Church.

After summer vacation, I always feel the need to reintroduce myself.

So my name is Jonathan St. Clair, and I'm one of the pastors here.

If you're new over this past month, I look forward to meeting you hopefully soon, if not today.

We've been visiting extended family in Georgia, North Carolina, and Florida.

And I just want to say thank you to our church.

Thanks especially to our elders and staff and deacons and particularly Pastor Andrew for encouraging

me to rest.

And I praise God I've come back rested.

Really glad to be home and reconnecting with you all and just reestablishing our rhythms and

routines as we start into a new ministry year, a new school year.

I'm especially looking forward to our all-church retreat, which is happening in just over a

month, September 8 to 10.

I'm really excited about this unique time and togetherness to build up our church family.

And I'm excited also for you to be able to learn from one of my mentors, Bob Roglin, who's

led me on two different trips to Israel.

And I think you're going to love him.

And so if you haven't registered, it's not to be missed, and you should register today.

I've been praying, you know, all morning, Lord, help me not to have lost the ability

to preach over this past month.

And so since Easter, we've been exploring this incredible letter.

The Apostle Paul wrote this epistle to the church in Rome.

And this is really the crowning epistle of the New Testament.

It's ordered in our Bibles after the four Gospels, after the Acts of the Apostles as the first

in the head of all the letters of the Apostles because it's the most important.

It's the crowning epistle.

And one of the brightest and most radiant gems in this crown is Romans chapter 8.

Romans 8 · chapter mention

I've said before, you know, Romans 5 is the most important chapter in this letter, but Romans

8 is far and away the most moving chapter.

And this is probably the best known and best loved, one of the best known and best loved

chapters in all the Bible.

And if you're looking to learn some scripture by heart, I would definitely start here.

But the overarching theme of Romans 8 is that our salvation in Jesus Christ is absolutely secure

and unshakable and uncertain.

That's what Paul wants to drive home for us, that anyone who has been justified by faith

can be confident in their full deliverance, in their complete liberation, in their final

salvation.

And Romans 8 really was written to strengthen people like us, Christians and men and women

like us, people who are gathered like us today to strengthen us in our assurance of the gospel

and in our relationship with God.

And that's why he begins in Romans 8.1, there's no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus.

And he ends with there's no separation for those who are in Christ Jesus.

Absolutely nothing whatsoever can separate you from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus

our Lord.

Now this is a letter that's written by a Christian and to Christians.

It's written to instruct this church in Rome which is at the heart of the empire.

But I also recognize we have people here every week who are exploring Christianity and investigating

the claims of Jesus and his apostles.

And so if that's you, we're delighted that you're here and delighted to journey with you

as you discover who Jesus is and what he did and why that matters.

And I just want to say to you, Romans is actually a great place to begin.

And so what is Paul saying in this text we just read?

What's he saying here in Romans 8?

He's saying this, that in Jesus Christ you can have a new freedom and a new power and a new life.

And I want to start with that first statement, that in Jesus Christ you can have a new freedom.

Paul begins, he says,

Now you've been made free.

You've been set at liberty.

So when we gather together at various sporting events and we sing the Star Spangled Banner,

we come to that climactic phrase.

I'm not going to sing it for you.

But there's sort of that elongated high note where we talk about, we sing about the land of the free.

And sometimes we go, free, you know, like that.

And everybody starts cheering and yeah, woo!

Our culture not only sings it that way, but our culture highlights freedom as the main theme

and the main value of our society.

We measure progress according to increasing freedoms.

Freedom is the highest good.

Becoming free is the most heroic story we can think to tell ourselves, right?

Giving people freedom, we think that's kind of the main role of all of our institutions.

And one of the challenges is that in much of our society,

Christianity is increasingly seen as the arch enemy of freedom.

You guys realize that?

So what's interesting to me is that the Apostle Paul says that if your identity is in Jesus Christ,

if you've been united to him in his life, death, and resurrection,

you can experience a radical freedom.

You've been made free, he says.

You've been set at liberty.

And the question is, well, freedom from what?

Freedom from what?

Again, he says, there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus.

And really, Paul's been talking about that since Romans 1, verse 18,

Romans 1:18

where he says the wrath of God, the condemnation of God,

is being revealed from heaven against all of our ungodliness and our unrighteousness.

The people like us who suppress the truth about God.

The condemnation of God is upon us.

And he goes to chapter 1, chapter 2, chapter 3,

and he says all of us are under the power of sin and death,

the law of sin and death.

And that all of us have within us this dark, cancerous, malignant, metastasizing mass

that's our fallen human nature,

what Paul here calls the flesh that we inherited in Adam.

And because of that, we're all Republican, Democrat, Jew, Gentile, Eastern, Western.

We're all under the judgment and condemnation of God.

And Paul has already said this back in Romans 5.

I'll just repeat it.

He says in Romans 5, 16,

The judgment followed one sin of Adam and brought what?

Condemnation.

But the gift of God's grace in Christ followed many trespasses

and brought what?

Justification.

He goes on.

He says,

Just as one trespass of Adam resulted in condemnation for all people,

so also one righteous act of Christ resulted in justification and life for all people.

Paul's contrasting.

He's juxtaposing condemnation in Adam and justification in Christ.

And his point is that all of us who are in Adam are spiritually and morally not free.

We're not free.

We're slaves of sin.

We're in bondage to death.

We are owned.

We're dominated.

We're tyrannized by this condemnation that we brought upon ourselves.

But here's the thing.

Here's the gospel.

Here's the good news.

Is that God himself has done something about that.

God himself has come in the person of Jesus Christ, it says here,

to make us free and to set us at liberty.

Therefore, there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus,

because through Christ Jesus, the law of the Spirit who gives life has set you free from the law of sin and death.

I want you to look at that little word, N-O.

No.

It's just a little tiny word.

It's just two letters.

And it's not, you know, really imposing.

But do you realize what it means?

Do you realize the power of that little word?

Christians are people who've been taken entirely outside of the realm of condemnation in Adam.

And we have nothing more to do with condemnation.

Y'all forgot to say amen while I was gone.

Okay.

Woo.

All right.

There is no condemnation now, and there never can be for you anymore.

Now, I did not begin my Christian life knowing that.

When I was, you know, elementary school, middle school, high school,

I didn't know the truth of Romans 8, 1.

And that was a problem for me because I would be afraid that when I would sin,

when I would fail to love God with all my heart,

when I would fail to love, you know, my family and my neighbors as myself,

which was happening all the time,

when that was happening, I was afraid that I would come back again under condemnation.

And I felt like I was constantly passing from one state to the other, back and forth,

condemned, not condemned, condemned, not condemned.

And I felt like, man, I need to become a Christian all over again,

just like I became a Christian yesterday.

I need to become a Christian again today so that I cannot be under condemnation.

And the problem was, if any of you experienced that, I did not understand my position.

I didn't understand my status and my standing in Jesus Christ.

That little word, N-O, means never.

It doesn't say for this moment and temporarily and for the time being,

you're under no condemnation.

It means that you're never going to experience condemnation.

Condemnation for you, if you're in Christ, is finished.

It's not going to happen.

No condemnation is the same thing as saying justification.

Justification equals no condemnation.

And Paul's already said this in Romans 5.1.

He says, therefore, since we have been justified by faith,

we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ.

We have peace.

We've been justified.

There's no condemnation.

So if you're a Christian, that means that your past, present, and future sins

have already been dealt with once and forever.

Do you know that?

It's not just that your past sins have been dealt with,

but that your future and your present sins might disqualify you.

It's that any sin you've ever committed or will ever commit has already been dealt with.

So that you can never come under condemnation again.

You've been set free.

You've been set at liberty once and for all.

Now, if that's true, and I believe it's true, but if it's true, how is it true?

How are we not condemned?

How are we set free?

Well, the answer to that question is not because of what we are or what is in us or what we have done.

It's all about what God did for us.

It's all about God's acts of grace toward us and on our behalf.

If it depended on us, if it depended on my character and my efforts and my actions,

I could have no confidence.

I could have no assurance about my salvation whatsoever.

But here's what he says.

There's now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus,

because through Christ Jesus, the law of the Spirit who gives life has set you free

from the law of sin and death for what the law was powerless to do

because it was weakened by our sinful flesh.

God did.

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.

What we could not do for ourselves in our flesh, God did for us through Jesus Christ.

And what exactly did God do?

Well, he says, God the Father sent his son in the likeness of sinful flesh.

The eternal son of God became like us as a real human being,

and yet he was unlike us because he only had the likeness of sinful flesh.

He was yet utterly sinless and without a sinful nature.

He didn't come into the world in Adam.

He's the new Adam.

He's a new human being who's come to start a whole new race of human beings.

And why did God the Father send his perfect and undefiled and sinless son?

He says, to be a sin offering.

To take our sins upon himself.

The cross of Jesus Christ, the death of Jesus Christ,

that is the definitive time and place

when and where God condemned our sins.

The judgment of God, the wrath of God,

the condemnation of God for our sins was poured out,

not upon us, but upon Christ crucified in our place

and as our substitute.

And that is the heart.

That's the center.

It's the glory of the gospel.

Because God did this.

And because God has placed you in Jesus Christ,

that is why, therefore, there is now no condemnation

and there never will be.

It's impossible.

You are utterly, completely, eternally free.

Now, if you're exploring Christianity,

I want to say that this is a radical freedom

that you're not going to find anywhere else.

No other religion, no other philosophy,

no other system of life offers you this kind of freedom and liberation.

And what Romans is telling us is that it can be yours

simply by trusting in Christ as a sin offering in your place.

Romans 10, 9 says this,

If you declare with your mouth that Jesus is Lord

and you believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead,

you too will be saved.

Now, if you're a Christian,

I want to say to you that we must never allow the dark powers

that are arrayed against us,

we must never allow those dark powers to condemn us

because our condemnation has already happened in the past,

it's already been dealt with.

So when you're feeling tempted by this voice

that often can come and condemn you,

you need to quote Romans 8, 1 back and just say,

Well, hey, you know, there's no condemnation

for those who are in Christ Jesus,

and that includes me.

And what's more than that,

if you're a Christian,

we need not be looking somewhere else

or to someone else or to something else

to find our freedom.

We don't need to be looking to the modern

and the postmodern philosophers,

and we don't need to be looking to the gurus

who are popularizing their ideas

and their books and broadcasts

to teach me new concepts

and new constructs of freedom and liberation

to tell me who I am and what I am

because I'm not looking for that

because I already know that.

I already have that.

I know who I am and what I am.

Those systems of thought

that are permeating the air that we breathe,

they come nowhere close to giving you

what we're given here.

I already have freedom in Christ.

I've been set at liberty

by the Spirit of God.

And it doesn't get any better than that.

You can't improve upon that.

We, as the church,

simply need to meditate upon that

and believe that

and apply that to our lives.

So, in Jesus Christ,

you can have a new freedom.

Alright?

But not only can you have a new freedom,

but in Jesus Christ,

you can also have a new power.

You can have a new power.

Now, in order to say a word on power,

I've got to say one more thing about freedom.

Modern freedom

is the freedom of self-assertion.

I am free

if I have the ability to do

whatever I want.

And so, we define freedom

as the absence of constraints.

And the irony of freedom

as the absence of constraints

is that it often,

very often leads to the loss

of our freedoms, right?

So, if I eat ice cream

all day, every day

for the next several weeks,

eventually I'm going to lose

my freedom to be healthy.

So, real freedom...

Do you guys believe that?

Okay.

That seems self-evident,

but just need to...

Okay.

So, real freedom

comes with the strategic loss

of some of my freedoms

in order to gain other freedoms.

Freedom is all about

finding the right constraints

and the right freedoms

that I need to lose

in order to have greater freedoms.

So, philosophers talk about

negative liberty

as freedom from.

That's where we refuse

constraints on our choices.

But they also talk about

positive liberty

as freedom for.

Where we use our freedom

to live in a certain way.

Now, why am I getting

all philosophical?

Because the gospel

is not just about

freedom from.

It's about freedom for.

The gospel says,

yes, you have freedom

from condemnation,

but you also have

freedom for something else.

And why did God condemn

sin in Jesus Christ?

Why did he set us free?

He says in verse 4,

in order that the righteous

requirements of the law

might be fully met in us

who do not live

according to the flesh,

but according to the spirit.

God does not only want

to deliver us

from condemnation

and forgive us

and set us free

from guilt and judgment.

Salvation is about

those things,

but salvation

doesn't stop there.

It goes way beyond that.

God gives us something

further than that.

The thing is,

I cannot stand

in the presence of God

without righteousness.

And so,

God imputes

the righteousness

of Jesus Christ

to me.

He clothes me

in the righteousness

of Christ.

So that all

the righteous deeds,

all the righteous actions

of Jesus

are applied to me

as if I did them.

But,

verse 4 is saying

something even beyond that.

Verse 4 says,

not only does God

impute the righteousness

of Jesus on me

and put it on me

from the top down

as it were,

but also,

God imparts

the righteousness

of Jesus to me

and grows it up

within me

from the bottom up.

In order that

the righteous requirements

of God's law

might be fully met

in us

who do not live

according to the flesh

but according to

the spirit.

God wants us

to increasingly,

progressively

exercise

our new

freedom

from condemnation

as a freedom

for righteousness.

What in the world

does that mean?

What are the righteous

requirements

of God's law?

Well,

in the Gospel

of Matthew

somebody comes

to Jesus

and they say,

teacher,

which is the greatest

commandment

in the law of God

and what does Jesus say?

How does he respond?

He says,

love the Lord your God

with all your heart

and all your soul

and all your mind.

That is the first

and the greatest

requirement

of the law of God.

And he says

the second one

is pretty close to it

which is

love your neighbor

as yourself.

And then in the Gospel

of John

as Jesus has just finished

washing his disciples' feet

and he's going

the next day

to die on the cross.

He says to them,

a new command

I give you,

love one another.

In this disciple community,

in this family of God

with these brothers

and sisters in the faith,

I want you to love

one another

as I have loved you

so you must love

one another.

Jesus did not

purchase

our freedom

at the cost,

the infinite cost

of his precious blood

so that you and I

can do whatever we want.

No,

it's in order

that the righteous

requirements of the law

might be fully met in us.

Or as he says

later on in

Romans 8, 29,

God chose us

in order that he might

conform us

into the likeness

of his son

and we might say,

well that's impossible.

How is that going to happen?

Where are we going to get

the power to become

righteous like Jesus Christ?

And the answer is

the Spirit of God,

the power

of the Holy Spirit.

The Holy Spirit

is mentioned 21 times

in Romans 8

which tells us something.

It tells us that

the Christian life

is essentially

life in the Spirit.

Life animated,

empowered,

sustained,

directed,

and enriched

by the Holy Spirit.

Without the Holy Spirit,

true Christian discipleship

would be inconceivable

and would be impossible.

But what Paul is telling us

is that now

that we're in Christ,

we've been filled

and we are now

indwelt with

the power

of the Holy Spirit.

You should read

verse 4 like this.

In order that the

righteous requirement

of the law

might be fully met

in us who do not live

according to the weakness

of the flesh

like we had in Adam

but now according

to the power

of the Spirit

that we have

in Jesus Christ.

It's a power

that comes not

from us.

It's not a power

that kind of bubbles up

from within us.

It's a power

that's outside of us

and above us.

It's a power from God.

A power that comes

to dwell inside of us

and make possible

what before

was impossible.

The Holy Spirit

here is described

as a person

with tremendous power.

Look at verse 11.

It says

that the spirit

of him

who raised Jesus

from the dead

is living in you.

That is an immense

and an awesome power.

Do you know

any other power

that can raise

a dead person

to life?

Right?

This new Oppenheimer film

people are talking

about the

you know

atomic power

and nuclear power.

Some of you

have tried

to describe to me

the potential

of fusion power

and I'm still

trying to understand

what you're talking

about.

But the Holy Spirit

has a power

way beyond any of that.

It's the power

to raise Jesus Christ

from the dead.

And Paul is saying

that if the Holy Spirit

can do that great thing

then surely

he can do the lesser

and the easier thing

which is to give you

and I

power to fulfill

the righteous requirement

of God's law

and be conformed

to the image

of Christ.

Christ.

In Jesus Christ

you have a new freedom

but you also have

a new power.

It's a freedom

for

and a new power

to exercise

your freedom for

but beyond that

you not only have

a new freedom

and a new power

but you have

a new life.

And I'll end

with this.

When you become

a Christian

a radical

complete change

happens to you.

God moves you

from one realm

one order

one kingdom

into another.

Paul is saying

that in Adam

we were under

the reign

of this death

dealing flesh

but in

Jesus Christ

God has moved us

into Jesus Christ

and now we're under

the reign

of this life giving

spirit.

We heard that

in verse 2

the spirit

is the one

who gives life

and in verse 6

the Holy Spirit

is the one

who gives life

and peace.

Verse 10

the spirit

gives life.

Verse 11

the Holy Spirit

will give life

to your mortal bodies.

The Holy Spirit

is the giver

of life

and the life

giving spirit

and to be a Christian

is to be removed

from the realm

of the flesh

and of death

and to be quickened

to be regenerated

to be animated

by the life

of the spirit

of God.

A dead person

cannot give

themselves life.

God must come

and put his life

into us

so that we can be

alive in Jesus Christ

by the Holy Spirit.

But the question

is how do we

continue?

How does the Holy Spirit

continue to work

in us

after he

gives us life?

Well that's where

verse 5 comes in.

Those who live

according to the sinful

nature

have their minds

set

on what that nature

desires

but those who live

in accordance

with the spirit

have their minds

set on what

the spirit

desires.

Now I know

it's hot.

I'm hotter

than all of you.

But stay with me

for a second.

To set your mind

is to make

a thing

the absorbing

object of your

thought and interest

and affection

and purpose.

The question here

about setting

our minds

is what is it

that preoccupies us?

What ambitions

drive us?

What concerns

engross us?

How do we

spend our time

and our energies?

What do we

concentrate on?

What do we

give ourselves

up to?

What are we

seeking most

of all?

What do we

want to please?

What gives us

satisfaction?

All those

questions are

bound up

in this idea

of setting

our mind

on something.

And Paul

tells us

that the Christian

is the person

who sets

their mind

on what the

life-giving

spirit

desires.

And what is that?

What does the

spirit desire?

Well the spirit

desires

for every

single one

of us

to know

and to

love God.

Look at

verse 7.

He says

the sinful

mind,

the mind

governed by

the flesh

is hostile

to God.

It does not

submit to

God's law

nor can it

do so.

Those controlled

by the flesh

cannot please

God.

You however

are not

controlled by

the flesh

but by the

spirit

if indeed

the spirit

of God

lives in

you.

Paul is

saying that

if I'm

alive with

the life

of God

then the

life-giving

spirit of

God is

causing in

me the

opposite

and the

inverse

of those

fleshly

attitudes

and actions

that I

had before.

And that

means that

no longer

am I

hostile to

God

but now

by the

spirit

I'm

hungry

for God.

No longer

am I

suppressing

the truth

about God

but now

I'm

surrendering

myself

to God

by the

spirit.

no longer

am I

resisting

God's

reality

and God's

law

like I

did when

I was

in the

flesh

but now

I'm

submitting

myself

to by

the power

of the

spirit

and the

life

of the

spirit

I'm

submitting

myself

to the

law

of God.

Before

I could

not

please

God

but now

the thing

that drives

me the

most is

that I

want to

bring

pleasure

and I

want to

bring

glory

to God

in all

that I'm

thinking

and saying

and doing.

That's

what the

life-giving

spirit of

God

does in

a

Christian.

And so

what does

that mean

practically?

How does

that change

how you're

going to

live this

week and

what does

that matter

on Monday

morning?

Well when

you wake

up tomorrow

morning and

when you

wake up

every morning

this week

the life-giving

spirit of

God is

going to

be there

to meet

you with

his desire

that you

would set

your mind

on what

he desires.

the spirit

is going

to be

right there

right when

you wake

up the

spirit is

going to

be going

I want

you to

set

your mind

on what

I desire.

And I

you know I've

never met a

healthy Christian

or a mature

Christian who

did not give

the very first

thing that they

did in their

day to this

setting of

their mind

upon what

the spirit

desires.

And what

does the

Holy Spirit

desire?

The Holy Spirit

desires that I

would give my

first time and

my best time of

the day to be

with God.

That's what

Jesus did.

It says that he

very early in the

morning while it

was still dark

he got up and

he went off to a

solitary place where

he prayed and he

set his mind on

what the spirit

desires.

And if nobody's

ever shown you how

to do that we

would love to

teach you that

here.

But the Holy

Spirit is going

to be right there

when you get out

of bed and your

feet hit the

floor and his

desire is going

to be there for

you to care more

about God.

His desire is for

you to care more

about the name of

God and the

kingdom of God and

the will of God.

His desire is for

you to care about

the word of God and

the worship of God and

the son of God and

the people of God and

the eternity of God and

the life of the world

to come with God.

That's what the

spirit desires and

that's what he wants

to give you the very

first thing when you

start your day to

immerse you in the

life of God himself

so that we can

experience the life

of God in our

souls.

And we can say

God teach me more

about who you are

and what you've

done.

God give me a power

that's outside of

myself to exercise a

freedom for

righteousness today.

God help me to see

how free I really am

in Christ.

that's what the

Holy Spirit is

wanting to do to

give you life is to

usher you in to the

life-giving presence of

the living God.

And I pray that he do

that for every single

one of us starting

tomorrow morning and

until we see one

another again next

week.

In the name of the

Father, Son, and Holy

Spirit we pray.

Amen.

Amen.