From Prison to Promise

Continuing with our series on Romans 8, what a powerful

chapter this is in the Bible. One of my favourite books.

One of my favourite chapters. If you ever stranded on an

island and you were only allowed to take 1 chapter of the Bible,

I would recommend taking Romans 8.

OK, don't take anything from Leviticus.

Don't take anything from Ecclesiastes.

You know how that went. Take Romans 8, because it has

everything got justification, sanctification, glorification,

predestination, suffering, hope, prayer, power, and the kind of

love that grabs you by the soul and it doesn't let go.

It's a chapter of freedom like Stephen mentioned, it begins

with therefore there is now no condemnation in verse one and it

finishes with verse 39. That says nothing can separate

us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.

So it begins with no condemnation.

In the end, there's no separation and in between

there's no defeat. This is Paul's mountaintop.

He's been climbing for seven chapters.

He's showing us our sin, He showed us God's justice,

Christ's righteousness, and now he plants the flag and he says

you are free, you are His and you are secure.

He shows that we have everything going for us.

If we look at Romans 8 verse 31, it says if God is for us, who

Romans 8:31

can be against us? So if you ever feel lost, you

feel unworthy or unsure where you stand with God, Romans 8 is

your anchor. You are not condemned, you are

not alone, and you are not defeated.

You are unbreakable in Christ. So let's turn our Bibles to

Romans 8 verse 2. Through Christ Jesus, the law of

Romans 8:2

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

and death. Through Christ Jesus, the law of

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

and death. I want to explain what that

verse means just to make sure everybody here today understands

it. So I'm going to start with a

simple explanation and then kind of build on that and get a

little bit more and more deep deeper into it.

So we're going to start with like a 10 year old explanation,

grade 3, and then we'll build it up to matric level and undergrad

and maybe work our way up to PhD, right?

So here's the 10 year old version, third grade Romans 8.

It says, imagine you were stuck in a deep hole you couldn't

climb out of. That hole is like sin and death,

bad stuff we all do and the fact that one day we're all going to

die. But then Jesus comes and throws

down a strong rope and says grab on, I'll pull you out.

That rope is like the Holy Spirit and he gives you life and

freedom. He helps you to live the way God

wants and you are no longer stuck in that hole anymore.

So it means that Jesus sets us free from the bad things that

used to trap us and now we can live with hope and real life

because of the Holy Spirit. 10 year old version.

Now let's bump it up to my trick.

Grade 12 says this verse is saying that there are two laws

or powers at work. We have the law of sin and

death. This is the spiritual principle

that says sin leads to death, not just physical death, but

separation from God. It's the system we're all stuck

in because of our human nature. Then we have the law of the

Spirit of life, and this is the new power or principle that

comes from the Holy Spirit through Jesus, and it leads to

life, freedom, and connection with God.

So what Paul is saying is because of Jesus, we are no

longer stuck in the cycle of sin and death.

The Holy Spirit gives us a new way to live, a new law that

frees us from the old one, bumping it up to undergrad

university. If you're still stuck at the 10

year old explanation, that's fine.

I'm there with you. OK, university explanation.

We have the law of the Spirit of life.

This refers to a governing principle of power of the Holy

Spirit who gives life and sanctifies the believer.

Then we have the law of sin and death.

That's the opposing principle, the dominion of sin that leads

to spiritual death, and it enslaves those who are under the

flesh, unable to fulfill the righteous requirements of God's

law. So Paul is contrasting to

spiritual laws or systems of influence.

We have the law of sin and death, which comes from the

Mosaic law and exposes sin but offers no power to overcome it,

and the result is condemnation and death.

Beautiful chair. Then we have the law of spirit

of life that's activated through faith, faith in Jesus Christ

that delivers from the power of sin and its consequences, and it

empowers obedience and sanctification by the indwelling

Holy Spirit in us. So through union with Christ, we

have been liberated from this controlling influence of sin and

its consequence, which is death. This liberation isn't merely a

legal pardon, but it's a transformational power.

The Holy Spirit changes the inner nature of us, enabling a

new kind of life. So Romans 8, verse 2 teaches us

Romans 8:2

that the Holy Spirit frees us from the hopeless cycle of sin

and death, not just by forgiving us, by empowering us to actually

live righteously, something the law alone could never do.

You're with me, OK masters level masters.

Romans 8, That's the climatic shift.

What the law could not do due to human weakness, God has

accomplished through Christ and the Spirit.

Romans 7 describes bondage of the law of sin, a dynamic force

working death through sin. And Roman 8, verse 2 declares

that this bondage is decisively broken by the law of the Spirit,

a new operative principle that governs those in Christ.

So Romans 8, verse 2 functions as both a theological pivot and

Romans 8:2

a pastoral assurance, the declaration that the believer,

through participation in Christ via union, now lives under the

dominion of the Spirit and not sin.

This means that when we put our faith in Jesus, we are

justified, declared righteous by God, and we are regenerated,

made spiritually alive by the Holy Spirit.

Sin is no longer a governing power or control in our life.

We are not slaves to sin anymore.

The Spirit is not simply the seal of salvation, as we read in

Ephesians, but it's the force of transformation in Galatians.

So Romans 2 is not merely a contrast between legal systems,

but it's a profound shift, a shift within us from enslavement

under the tyrannical power of sin and wages which is death, to

the life governed and empowered by the Holy Spirit.

It reveals that justification, sanctification, and

glorification are all bound in the spirit empowered life of the

believer. This verse sets the tone for the

rest of Romans 8. It's a chapter that ascends into

the heights of Christian assurance and the Trinitarian

cooperation of salvation. PhD level.

OK, this is what I got when I researched the PhD explanation

of this verse. OK, when right over my head.

Too many Greek terms. I'll leave that to Stephen to

decipher the bottom line. In Romans 8 verse 2, it declares

Romans 8:2

that through Jesus Christ, the Holy Spirit sets us free from

the power of sin and death, not just by forgiving us, but by

transforming us from the inside out, enabling us to truly live

the way that God intended us to. If I jump a little ahead, Romans

Romans 8:5

8 verse 5, it says those who live in accordance with the

Spirit have their minds set on what the Spirit desires.

If this is the case, why are so many of us living like we are

condemned even after the verdict has been overturned?

Some of us live like we're still sitting in court waiting for

that verdict to come. We're trying to prove to God

that we are worthy of being loved.

So we think to ourselves, We walk around as like, if I can

just behave long enough, if I can just clean myself up, maybe

God will finally approve of me. We walk around like we're on

spiritual parole. You do your best to behave.

You check in with God every now and again just to make sure he

hasn't changed his mind about you.

Why are so many of us still living as if we are not free?

John 8 verse 36 says whom the sun sets free is free indeed.

John 8:36

And Galatians 5 verse one said it is for freedom that Christ

has set us free. Many of us, we stop at

salvation, forgiveness, and we don't walk into and accept

liberation, which is freedom, which is a promise that God's

given us. We don't live by what's true,

but we live by what we believe is true.

And we've mentioned this before. Our perception becomes our

reality, what we perceive something to be.

We believe that that is reality and then our behaviour follows

that. I don't want to talk about

perception today. I don't want to talk about what

you believe or what I believe reality to be.

I want to talk about the truth, The undeniable truth that you

are not on spiritual probation. You are not a barely tolerated

Sinner trying to make your way back.

You are a justified, adopted, deeply loved child of God, and

no one can reverse that verdict, not even you.

So Romans 8 verse one to two tells us there's no

condemnation. There's a new governance, the

law of the Spirit replacing the law of sin and death.

We believe that we were saved from something, but the truth is

that we were saved into something.

That's where we move from power, worldly prison to God's promise.

You were saved from the penalty of sin, but also saved into the

power of the Spirit. 2 Corinthians 3 verse 17 says

2 Corinthians 3:17

where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom.

So don't just believe in Jesus, but start believing like Jesus,

filled with a spirit full of power, walking in freedom.

Have you ever pulled on a door to open it and 1st pull it

doesn't want to open so you tug a little bit harder and then you

lose your temper and then you look down and it says push and

then you look around like nobody saw you, right?

That's a that's a great image of us as Christians when we don't

believe the truth because the door is open, but we keep

tugging on chains that Christ has already broken for us by a

show of hands. Who have you have heard that we

have been set free and that we are free?

Awesome. Keep your hand raised.

If you know that we've been set free but you feel still feel

stuck in the same cycles, guilt, shame, addiction, fear, anger,

you know you are free but you still feel trapped.

Awesome, thank you for being honest.

Those of you that put your hands down, you stuck in a cycle of

lies. See, people aren't just trapped

because we don't love God. We are trapped because we

haven't learned how to live in this new law, the law of the

Spirit. We are stuck in the old law,

bound by fear, shame, and condemnation.

We are stuck in the belief that Jesus died to improve our lives.

Lord, take me for who I am, where I am, and what I am right

now and just make it better. But that's not the case.

Jesus didn't die to improve our lives.

He died to exchange our lives. He didn't die to give you a

second chance. He died to give you a new

identity. Out with the old, in with the

new. 2 Corinthians 5 verse 17 it says, therefore if anyone is in

2 Corinthians 5:17

Christ, the new creation has come, the old has gone, and the

new is here. So in Christ you are not an

improved version of your old self, you are completely new.

And if we look at Isaiah 4318, it says, forget the former

things, do not dwell on the past.

See I am doing a new thing and now it springs up.

Do you not perceive it? Even God knows that our

perception becomes our reality because he said doesn't say

don't you believe it? It says do you not perceive it?

Because in order to believe it we have to change our thinking

about it. One of my favourite verses,

Romans 12 verse 2, it says do not conform to the pattern of

Romans 12:2

this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind.

Then you will be able to test and approve what God's will is.

He's good, pleasing, and perfect will.

So renewal begins in the mind. Transformation happens when we

start thinking differently. We have to stop thinking that

it's all about what I've done and what I'm doing.

And we have to start believing it's about what God has done and

what He is doing. So when we look at these two

opposing laws, the law of sin and death is justice.

And God's justice demands that sin has a consequence, death and

separation from Him. And justice demands

accountability for sin, meaning that no wrongdoing can just be

overlooked. It has to be accounted for.

The unavoidable penalty for all of us is that we are either

going to take the penalty that we deserve, or we are going to

be covered in the righteousness of Christ.

If we look at the new law, the law of the Spirit, so in the old

law we see justice, but then in the new law, mercy steps in, and

mercy is God's compassionate response.

He steps in to rescue those who deserve punishment, which is all

of us. Christ takes the penalty we

deserve, and mercy covers us with His righteousness.

This is the law of the Spirit who gives life, the law that

frees us from condemnation. Mercy isn't dismissive of sin,

but instead it offers a new identity in loving

transformation. It's not based on your

performance, but what Christ has done.

So justice ensures that sin is acknowledged and punished, and

mercy offers Christ's righteousness in place of our

penalty. By trusting in Christ, we

receive mercy because Jesus endured divine justice on our

behalf. See, there's this universal

tension between justice and mercy.

They're at odds with each other, but God has a great way to

balance that tension. And it's called grace because

when it comes to sin, you are worse than you think, but you

are more loved that you can ever imagine.

You are worse than you think, but more loved than you can ever

imagine. God's fitting answer to that

equation is the cross, because when Jesus was crucified, it was

justice executed and mercy extended.

The result? Freedom.

Not freedom to sin, but freedom from the enslaving power of sin.

So Romans 8 verse 2 is the turning point.

Romans 8:2

We are no longer condemned, verse one, because a new law

governs US. Grace grounded injustice

expressed through mercy. So how do we get away from this

thought process? Our perception that becomes our

reality? How do we move away from

thinking it's all about what we do and how do we start believing

that it's actually about what God has done and what He is

doing? How do we move from prison to

promise? How do we escape this if we can

put that picture up? So many of us live like this on

a day-to-day basis without even realizing it.

We're inside a cell and instead of reaching for that key, which

leads to freedom, we just reach for that piece of bread and to

feed ourselves in that cell. And we have to ask ourselves

why? Why?

Why do we do that? The one reaching for the bread,

that's a survival mindset. The other one, taking the key

and walking out of that cell, that's a freedom mindset.

And we have to learn how to move from the survival mindset into a

freedom mindset. So if we look at that survival

mindset, reaching for that bread, we can keep it up there.

This is the bread that people take just to cope.

So when I thought about this, I was like, hey, there's a

difference between Our Daily Bread and bread of the day.

So that I call the bread of the day.

This is the bread that we take to cope.

God, just give me enough strength to not fall apart

today. Let me just get through one more

meeting, one more argument, one more burden, one more day of

sin. That sounds spiritual, but it's

prison talk because you are asking for bread to stay alive

in a cell and not to walk out of that open door.

You are saying feed me where I am instead of saying lead me to

where you are. This kind of bread maintains the

cycle, but it doesn't break the chains.

Then if we shift to a freedom mindset, taking that key to open

the door, Jesus didn't just offer bread of the day in John 6

John 6:35

verse 35, He said I am the bread of life.

So that's eternal bread. And it doesn't just help you to

survive. It changes your appetite from

comfort to calling. It changes your source from

daily panic to eternal provision, and it changes your

location from prison to promise. This bread doesn't help you

survive the prison, but it calls you to walk out of it.

So bread of the day keeps you locked in sin cycle because it's

built on self. And daily bread trains you to

live by the Spirit, which leads to freedom, life, and peace.

The world offers us bread of the day.

It tastes good, but it enslaves us.

And God offers daily bread that sometimes breaks us, but it

always frees us. So now if we look at that and we

realize we're always stuck on reaching for the bread of the

day instead of walking out in freedom, how do we move our

minds from the survival mindset into a freedom mindset, stepping

into the life that God intended for us?

When we look at people's behavioural change in the world

of psychology, whether it's anything that we want to make a

change with, there is a process that happens in our mind.

And I want to have a look at that really quick because the

first thing before we take any step into something new starts

with self efficacy. And self efficacy is our belief

that we are able to make a change and succeed in it.

It influences how we think, feel and act.

And the higher our self efficacy the more likely we are to make a

change and stick with it. So if we look at stages of

behavioural change in terms of what psychology in the world

tells us, we have the first stage which is pre

contemplation. And this is where we are not

ready. We say I won't or I can't and

our self efficacy is low and we just feel stuck and unaware of

the need for change. Then second stage is the

contemplation stage. This is where we are getting

ready, where we say to ourselves, I might self efficacy

begins to grow and we consider the change, but we are still a

little bit apprehensive. The third step is preparation.

This is where we get ready, I will our self efficacy improves

and we start to make plans to step into this change.

The 4th step action, this is where we are doing.

We say to ourselves, I am high self efficacy.

Self belief is extremely important to take this step and

then we have the maintenance stage where when we step into

this action stage, we then have to sustain it, right.

Again, high self efficacy is important.

That's the worldly view of behavioural change.

If we look at what we are talking about through the lens

of Romans 8 verse 2, we have these stages of behavioural

Romans 8:2

changes when it comes to how do I go from living in the old law

to the new law and stepping into what God promised us.

So if we look at the stages of behavioural change according to

Romans 8 verse 2, that pre contemplation stage, this is

Romans 8:2

where we say I won't change or I can't change.

We are unaware or indifferent to the slavery of sin and we are

still living under the old law of sin and death, unaware that

we need to be set free. Our spiritual self efficacy is

very low and we feel powerless. What we have to understand when

it comes to this, our self efficacy is not based on only

internal, it's Christ based and we have to teach ourselves how

we go from I can't to He can through me.

So second step, the contemplation stage, this is

where we start to think, hey, maybe I should change.

We have this conviction, we feel shame or maybe this inner pool

and we start to recognize the difference between the old law

and the new law. Our spiritual self efficacy

starts growing and we are awakening to the possibility of

freedom through Christ. Could Jesus actually set me

free? Then the third step,

preparation. This is where we say, I want to

change. We begin seeking Jesus.

We start considering repentance and we start asking meaningful,

meaningful questions. We see that Christ offers a new

law, the law of the Spirit who gives life.

We don't yet feel able, but there's a this thing that we

start to believe that he is able.

Luke 5 verse 12 says Lord, if you are willing, you can make me

Luke 5:12

clean step #4 the action stage. This is the big one, I choose

Christ. This is where we receive the

gospel and we surrender. We are set free.

Justification becomes real and the Spirit enters and the new

law is now alive in us. Our self belief is now rooted in

Christ's power. That's not in us anymore.

It's a new identity. Galatians 2 verse 20 says it is

Galatians 2:20

no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me.

Then we have the maintenance stage.

I walk in the Spirit. This is an ongoing discipleship

and sanctification because we live under the new law daily and

it's a daily choice to live according to it resisting sin

and staying free. Our self belief is not in the

flesh but in the spirit who empowers us.

Galatians 516 says walk by the Spirit and you will not gratify

the desires of the flesh. Now in both of those stages,

psychology and according to Romans 8 verse 2, I left out one

Romans 8:2

step, step 6, which is relapse. And it's it's optional, but it's

common. We'd be naive to think we go

from step one to Step 5 and we never fall back into our old

ways or we sin again. But here's the thing, Romans 8

Romans 8:2

verse 2 is our reminder. We are still free.

Condemnation is not our portion. So we may falter, we may mess

up, but with the Spirit we rise again.

Proverbs 2416 says a righteous man falls 7 times and rises

again. And Romans 8 verse 39, nothing

Romans 8:39

can separate us from the love of Christ.

So Romans 8 verse 2 is not just the theological truth, it's a

Romans 8:2

transformational shift for us. It's a shift in identity and

behaviour and it invites us into a new way of living.

We have to live by what is true and not live by what we perceive

to be true. We can't live by God's truth

unless we don't first believe it.

And you won't believe it unless you know it and you wrestle with

it and you anchor your identity in it.

So first thing we have to do is look at those five stages and be

honest with ourselves and ask ourselves, where do we sit?

Because the first step is to identify where we're at.

And then we need to strive to move to the next step to get to

that action stage where we choose Christ and then where we

sustain that and maintain that on a daily basis.

So once you've identified where you are, this is how we move

from one step to the next. First you have to recognize the

power of belief. You behave based on what you

believe, not necessarily what is true.

So we tell ourselves that we are unworthy and we live like it,

even if God tells us the opposite.

Satan's first tactic in Genesis, Genesis 3 verse one, the serpent

walks up to Adam and Eve and he doesn't just fire off with a

bunch of lies. He starts by saying, did God

really say because he knows he can't change God's truth, so he

aims to distort our belief in it.

He makes us question it. So recognize the power of

belief. Then expose the lie.

Ask what do I currently believe about myself or God or the world

that is keeping me trapped that might not be true.

An example we tell ourselves I'll never be free from sin.

That's a belief, not truth. Compare it to God's word, Romans

6/18. It says you have been set free

from sin. That is truth.

Recognize the power of belief. Expose the lie, then replace the

lie with God's truth. Begin actively replacing the lie

with the truth of scripture, not just reading it, but spending

time in it and absorbing it on a daily basis.

You will know the truth and the truth will set you free.

John 8 verse 32. Make truth personal and

John 8:32

specific. Lay it down in front of God

because the lie we tell ourselves is I am not enough but

two Corinthians God says his power is made perfect in my

weakness. Then pray for belief.

Even the disciples asked Jesus in mark verse 9.

They said help my unbelief. Don't fake it be real.

Bring your doubts to God and ask for his spirit to shape your

beliefs. Practice daily renewal.

This is a daily war of our mind. We don't just get to action and

maintenance once and that's it. It's an ongoing thing.

We have to train ourselves to believe what God says over what

the world says. Colossians 3 says set your mind

on things above and Two Corinthians says take every

thought captive. Finally, surround yourself with

truth. Community matters and isolation

breeds distortion. Surround yourself with people

and teaching that reflects God's truth, not just the world's

narratives. So Hebrews 313 says, encourage

one another daily. Some of you walked in here today

carrying quiet condemnation. You've been measuring your worth

by your performance. You've been wondering where you

stand with God. You've been misled by the lie

instead of being guided by the truth.

You come to church maybe week after week just looking to learn

that new thing that I can go and apply for the next week just to

make my life a little bit more better or make myself a little

bit more favourable in God's eyes.

Maybe today is not about learning something new.

It's about finally believing something that is true,

believing that you are in Christ.

You are not condemned, you are not alone, you are not

forgotten, you are not disqualified, and you are not at

danger of being unloved. Today is about believing Romans

Romans 8:2

8, verse 2. Through Christ Jesus, the law of

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

and death. You are free.

I'll live like it. Thank you.