No Condemnation | Aaron & James Podcast

There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus, for the law of the Spirit of Life has set you free in Christ Jesus from the law of sin and death.

For God has done what the law, weakened by the flesh, could not do, by sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh, and for sin he condemns sin in the flesh, in order that the righteous requirement of the law might be fulfilled in us, who walk not according to the flesh, but according to the spirit.

For those who live according to the flesh set their minds on the things of the flesh, but those who live according to the spirit set their minds on the things of the spirit.

For to set the mind on the flesh is death, but to set the mind on the spirit is life and peace.

For the mind that is set on the flesh is hostile to God, for it does not submit to God's law.

Indeed it cannot.

Those who are in the flesh cannot please God.

And this is the Aaron and James Podcast.

We are diving in today to offer some support and uh further, uh hopefully greater understanding of the Bible study that we are doing this year or this time of year as a church, which is returning back into Romans, and we get to return back to probably my favorite chapter in all of scripture, which is Romans 8.

The Pax Romana.

The Pax Romana, yeah.

The Roman peace.

Yes.

This is that's not a bad, not a bad name for this chapter.

So uh before we jump into Romans 8, we've got a couple of words from our sponsors.

We are brought to you by the Theology and AI discussion night.

Yes.

Tell me more.

So that will be on September 26th at 7 p.m.

at the Kunish Household, and we will be discussing the theological implications of artificial intelligence.

Okay, so this is humans talking to humans, not my AI bot talking to your AI bot kind of night.

For this first one, we're gonna do humans talking to humans.

We're gonna take an analog approach to this first conversation.

We'll see how they progress later on in a couple of years when we continue hosting these things.

We'll just be able to have AIs go have this theological conversation for us.

Great.

We'll be able to sit back and be artists or whatever the billionaires that uh promise that this will bring some age of prosperity, say that we will be.

Yeah.

Also, this episode of the podcast is brought to you by the Redemption Church Denver Book Club.

This month, uh, they'll be meeting on October 13th, so I guess that's next month, but meeting on October 13th from 7 to 8.

Uh that's a Monday.

And the book that we're reading, which you should buy now and start reading, is Christianity and Liberalism by J.

Gresham Machin.

And this is a uh deeply important work for the church in the United States, for our particular Christian tradition as the Presbyterian Church in America.

And it is like a uh uh a wall that was built that stopped the terrifying encroachment of liberalism uh into the church.

And if this book hadn't been written, uh I think it would be uh just we uh we we barely would have seen a remnant left after the mainline denomination started denying the authority of scripture.

Yeah.

And how that came in through uh the encroachment of liberalism into Christian ways of thinking.

He makes a airtight, I think, case that liberalism is an alternative religion.

And it is not uh one optional, merely one optional lens by which we might look at the gospel, but it is inhabiting a completely alternative religion.

Okay.

And it is the air we breathe.

It's just like my intuitions are uh liberal intuitions.

And this means it, you know, he's using that term broadly.

Um uh you might think classical, classically liberal, um, but of course they manifest as well culturally in um politically liberal as well.

Sure.

It's where they are brought to their fullest form.

Okay.

So it is a it is such an important book, such an important book to know and understand.

I don't I think you can barely understand um uh it this is a huge opportunity to understand uh what the church in America is like and what it's been through over the past century and the work that's been put in to preserve the uh authority of scripture.

Yeah.

So read it, yeah.

Sounds important.

Yeah, yeah, it's super important.

I would love to see a ton of people read this book.

Sounds important that we shouldn't just read it, but we should show up to talk with each other about it.

Yeah, for sure.

For sure.

So read it, come and talk with it.

I think it'll be uh super important uh for our church.

Romans eight.

Romans eight.

Thanks to our kind sponsors.

Yeah, I I like the kickbacks that we're getting from.

Oh man, it's insane.

Yes, it's awesome.

Yeah, I got all the Nespresso I want.

I had some water this morning.

Perfect.

Um, so in in that light of talking about Christianity and liberals liberalism, yes, in some of our podcasts, we like to address a cultural lie.

Great.

It seems like we could do that here with Romans chapter 8.

Romans 8 · chapter mention

Yeah.

To get us started and to say maybe what are those liberal tendencies um that we're seeing in culture that we are just breathing as fish in water and maybe aren't able to recognize.

Uh, what does Romans 8 help us see and address?

Yeah, so liberalism, I think one of the one of the key cultural lies about freedom and what it means to not receive condemnation.

It uh the way that our culture would tell that story is if you are free of condemnation, then that means you can finally live however you'd like in any way that you would like your desires to be satisfied.

And that's the cultural definition of freedom.

Yeah.

So the uh way that freedom is often interpreted or understood in our culture, from a Christian lens, we'd say, like, well, that's just the ability to sin.

You know, that's that's uh a type of freedom.

Uh, but that type of that's the type of freedom that leads to slavery.

Right.

Because you're free to indulge the desires of your flesh without receiving any condemnation from the world or from God.

And that's the way that freedom is described in our culture.

So you the the sexual revolution is the obvious um clearest example of that.

But I think that there's also uh freedom from any social constraints.

There's freedom uh from your responsibilities to your family, there's freedom from the roles that God has given you as a husband or as a wife, uh, or as a child who ought to honor their parents.

There's we our culture thinks of freedom as casting off those constraints.

But what's going to be described here in Romans 8 is the most absolute picture of freedom that you can imagine, which is that there's no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus.

So that means that there's no condemnation from the eyes of God to the Christian.

Could you you you can't imagine a more free place where you know that you are utterly liberated from receiving any condemnation at all from God?

Yeah.

You cannot be condemned by God.

And so you'd think, okay, well, then a life that would flow out of that, that that it's such an absolute freedom.

Does that mean that we can, you know, just indulge whatever desires that we have as they happen to come up?

But it's it's a freedom to live a life that is empowered by the spirit, so that we might put to death the fleshly things which would enslave us, the sins which would destroy us and would lead to death.

And it's a freedom that actually pursues the path of life.

And so while the the liberal conception of freedom is the ability to do otherwise, yeah, you always have the ability to do otherwise.

That's the way that we conceive of freedom.

Yeah.

The and so it's so the dichotomy is uh you're constrained or would be condemned for doing a certain action, or you're liberated to do whatever you want.

That's the liberal perspective of freedom.

Yeah.

The Christian perspective of freedom is life or death.

And so the Christian perspective of freedom is you are free to live a life which pursues and celebrates life and leads to life.

Or uh in in the the antithesis of that would would be you're you uh are constrained or enslaved to only serve those things which lead to death.

Yeah.

And this is what Paul is saying in in chapter seven, verses twenty, or in chapter six, verses twenty, where he says, For when you were slaves of sin you were free in regard to righteousness, but the fruit that you were getting at that time from the things of which you are now ashamed, for the end of those things is death.

But now that you have been set free from sin and have become slaves of God, the fruit that you get leads to sanctification and its end eternal life.

Yeah, exactly.

So what do you what do you get from the things that you do, from the from the things that you're serving?

Are you serving the spirit, or are you serving the flesh?

Yeah.

One leads to death, one leads to life.

That's a um uh that conception of freedom, which is living a life that leads to life, is only possible in a gospel nar narrative where someone has come and conquered death for us.

Yeah.

In a constrained, imminent humanist liberal framework, we can't have a conception of freedom in terms of life and death because nobody can conquer death.

Yeah.

So we can only have a conception of freedom, which is um the maximization of fleshly desires within this life.

Yeah.

Do you think that um the fact that we want to have free will so bla bad kind of blinds us to kind of this reality of we're either slaves to sin or slaves to righteousness?

Yes.

We just want it.

We just want we don't want anyone to tell us what to do.

I want to be able to make my own decisions, it's free will.

If it's not free will, that's not love, kind of thing, is the arguments that we hear.

Well, the the way to think about the the will is an interesting thing.

We put a lot of primacy on the will.

Uh the as Christians, we understand that you do have free will.

You have a free will.

You really do.

Calvinists believe in free will.

Sure.

Uh but we don't believe in a autonomous will.

Because we believe that they that the the way that your will is choosing this over that is guided and directed by the uh by your heart.

Yeah, your highest desires.

By your highest desires, the deepest recesses of your heart.

And so those things are dead and hostile to God before we receive Christ.

But they are but then our nature is changed.

Yeah.

Such so then our will is changed.

You so what this means is you you always have accountability, and you even have you have accountability for your thoughts, for your mind.

Those are yours.

They belong to you.

And you can direct them.

Uh but you're not reducible to just like a picking machine or something.

You're you're guided by desires.

Yeah.

Um Sebastian told me this great analogy that I've used ever since I heard it, which is you if you put a uh uh two meals in front of a tiger and one's like a bunch of steaks and another's a salad.

Or beyond burger.

Or beyond burger, exactly.

Then you'll the tiger will the tiger could choose either.

Yeah.

And 100% of the time the tiger will choose the steaks.

Right.

Because that's its nature.

In order for that decision to be changed, its nature would have to be changed.

Yeah.

And that's the way humans are.

We we have a nature.

That makes sense.

So when we're slaves to sin, we have free will, but our free will will only choose according to our desire, and our desire is to sin.

Exactly.

Um, and when we're when we're saved, when Jesus saves us, he gives us that free will, but there's sin that's left in the body.

Yep.

Which kind of causes the war that we see outlined in chapter seven a little bit, and and also here in chapter eight.

Yep.

Where we we kind of now have this new nature that desires righteousness, but there's indwelling sin that causes this conflict between the two of those things.

Exactly.

So now we're in this war uh within ourselves, and the war is sin dwells in your members, it dwells in your flesh, but your nature is renewed and is enlivened by the spirit.

And so the question of Romans 8: how do you live out that war?

How do you, by the Spirit, put to death the deeds of the flesh?

And our ordinary way of thinking of that pattern would be you would be prodded away from the things of the flesh, and God would continually prod you away of the things of the flesh.

And you might, you might even think that like the way that God would treat you is he would be constantly dangling you over hell and saying, Now decide.

Remember, keep deciding, keep choosing, keep keep following me because you're dangling over hell, you're dangling over hell.

Yeah.

And the the mystery and wonder and just like like depth charge of Romans 8 is that the way God calls you to life is not by dangling you over hell, but saying you in Christ will never face hell.

You in Christ will never face condemnation because of what Christ has done on your behalf.

Now that you know that, and that you've been transformed by this mystery of the atonement that Christ has accomplished on your behalf, that He bore the wrath of God in your place.

Now that you know that, you are equipped to set your mind on the spirit, so now you might put to death the things of the flesh.

Yeah.

He shows us the He He secures us with Him so that we might fight the things in ourselves which stand against Hm.

He doesn't dangle us over the pit and uh by the by the fear of the pit threaten us so that we might climb harder.

Instead, he draws us to himself and says, You are uh mine and you what is what you will receive is life, therefore put to death the things that lead to death.

And when we grasp that that principle, which I hope uh if we convey anything in this, if people get anything from this, they get this because this is like I think it's the difference between people that remain Christian or people that walk away, is if they get this.

That you will it is your security in Christ, your the absoluteness of your security in Christ, which becomes the fuel of your sanctification.

That's the uh that's what the mystery of the of the gospel, or one of the wonders of the gospel that is just laid out here in Romans 8.

So you're like, okay, I know I'm at war, how do I fight?

And I think a lot of Christians are fighting wrong, and they're fighting from a place of uh condemnation in the Lord and then self-condemnation, and they think that that will drive them towards growth in the Lord.

Yeah, and but and by that you mean like we're fighting in a way that we feel like God is hangling us uh hanging us over the pit, or we've walked ourselves to the edge of the pit as the threat for how we're living our lives.

Exactly.

And if I just look down enough, then I'll be compelled to climb.

Yeah.

If I just feel bad enough, then I'll be compelled to climb out.

Yeah.

And the the twist of Romans 8 is look up at the glories that you're headed towards.

They're yours.

You'll receive them.

Yeah.

That's why we would seek to pursue the Lord.

That's cool.

Oh, it's the best.

Let's look at it.

Let's um uh let's read these first couple of verses.

There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus.

For the law of the Spirit of life has set you free in Christ Jesus from the law of sin and death.

For God has done what the law, weakened by the flesh, could not do.

By sending his own son in the likeness of sinful flesh, and for sin he condemned sin in the flesh, in order that the righteous requirement of the law might be fulfilled in us, who walk not according to the flesh, but according to the spirit.

Look, if you've ever wondered, like there's a lot of stories in scripture, there's a lot of like I see a lot of stuff, it's can be a so much to pull together.

What does it re and then I and then I hear people say, Christ died for my sins, and because of him, I'm totally free, and I'm totally set free when I put my faith in him.

You wonder, like, is that true?

Is that in there?

Am I really am I really saved?

Real like for real?

Did it work?

Yeah.

When those doubts creep in, come to Romans 8.

Come to Romans 8 and start at verse 1.

Yeah.

Because it is the present tense for your life as a Christian, that there is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus.

This is when uh when I'm in sin and I'm trying to coax myself towards repentance, I come to Romans 8.

And I remember my station before the Lord.

And I remember the and I and I seek to receive the grace that the Lord has freely given to me.

Because it's in receiving that grace that I'm setting my mind on the spirit and empowered to repent, to put to death the deeds of the flesh.

Yeah.

That is it, it is so counterintuitive.

Nothing else in the world works like this.

Yeah, it's it I think that's probably why we I don't know, we struggle with it so much.

And I think we have we especially as since we're living in the body and we still have all the indwelling sin in our body, yeah, we have all the data points, we probably have more data points to point toward simple human being than we do um sanctified human being.

Yeah.

Um, especially since we're not glorified.

Yeah, totally.

And so it can be easy to just be like, okay, now I I have all these data points that I'm sinful and maybe five data points.

That I've been justified or I'm sanctified.

Um, if I'm looking at it just from that lens, uh, we can reason ourselves into thinking that we're we're in the flesh.

Oh, yeah, for sure.

And that's I think that's the accuser, Satan, that's one of his main mechanisms, is to come in and make you look at your sin and say, that's who you are.

That's who you are.

And one one of the things that we're empowered by the Spirit to do is in those moments say to Satan, look at Jesus.

Look at Jesus, that's who I am.

I'm with the Lord.

He took on the likeness of sinful flesh, and God condemned sin in the flesh, in his body.

There's nothing left over for me.

There's no condemnation left over for me.

Yeah.

So when when he's heaping that condemnation, when Satan is heaping that condemnation on you in your heart, because that's what he comes to do, he comes to steal, kill, and destroy.

Comes to steal the freedom that you have in Christ.

When he is doing that, you can look at him and say, You're lying.

You're you're lying in your condemnation.

It's not true.

Yeah.

There's no condemnation for me.

It's done, it's settled, I'm in the Lord, nothing can pull me from his hands.

And we there's that great Grey Haven song, the storehouse.

Have you heard that song?

I don't know.

It's like, I go to the storehouse, I go to the storehouse of mercy, I go.

And that's a great, that's great advice.

Okay.

Like, where do you go when the spirit feels weak and the flesh feels strong?

You go to the storehouse of mercy.

Yeah.

Which is in Christ Jesus on the cross, and you return to him, and he says, There's no condemnation for you.

There's none.

You're mine.

I'm yours.

Come dwell with me in eternal glory.

Sure.

Why?

Because Jesus did it.

Because he did it.

There's no condemnation for you.

Yeah.

So I guess practically speaking, how how would I discern in myself if my mind is set on the spirit or if it's set on the flesh?

And if it's if I'm finding it set on the flesh, how what what would be the way in which I'd start setting it on the spirit?

The way the way that you begin setting it on the spirit is you look at what the the purpose of the spirit is to call to mind Jesus.

That's what the spirit, like if the, you know, if the spirit were in this room right now, which he is, then it would be like, hey, spirit, how's your day today?

And he'd be like, Jesus is awesome.

Another day where Jesus is awesome.

We'd be like, Yeah, yeah, we're talking about you.

And he's like, I don't want to talk about me.

Yeah.

I I want you to be thinking about Jesus.

That's what the Spirit's work is.

Sure.

That's how he works in our in our hearts.

Yeah.

And of course, because the Trinity's always glorifying each other.

It's one of the best things about God.

And so when we're returning to the Spirit, we're the Spirit is saying, look at Jesus.

Look at Jesus.

Who's why like this is about me, God.

Like I'm I'm the one who, by the sin, sin that's in my flesh, am plummeting towards death.

And the spirit would say something like, Well, what do you think?

You're going to get yourself out of it then?

Yeah.

Because here's the deal, the spirit would say.

The spirit would say something like this.

God has done what the law, weakened by the flesh, could not do.

So what are you going to try by the strength of your own flesh, the thing that got you in this mess, to accomplish your climb out of it?

You can't.

Instead, what you need to see is that God sent his own son in the likeness of sinful flesh, and for sin he condemned sin in the flesh, in order that the righteous requirement of the law might be fulfilled in us, who walk not according to the flesh, but according to the spirit.

So the righteous requirement of the law is fulfilled in you because of what Jesus did.

Yeah.

It's fulfilled in you.

So when God looks down at you, he sees someone by his son who has perfectly fulfilled the righteous requirement of the law.

And then he treats you like it.

That's the way God treats you.

Yeah.

In Christ, that's the way God is always treating you.

He's always treating you as though you perfectly fulfilled the righteous requirement of the law.

The I know I've shared about it a lot, but there's a sermon that like changed my life, and it was a Tim Keller's sermon on the crucifixion that I listened to in my dorm room and cried into my turkey bacon sandwich from the fair and grab and go.

Yeah, fair and grab and go was sick.

And let's go buffs.

And was it was it turkey bacon though, or was it turkey and bacon?

Good clarifier.

It was turkey and bacon.

Okay.

And he it's just a sermon on the crucifixion.

Yeah.

And the uh absurdity of Christ who is perfect going to be treated as though he were condemned.

And how all other calls of righteousness for all other people at all times were, come to me and you will live.

And that was the call of obedience.

And you'd think we'd do that.

But the call of obedience, and we didn't.

But the call of obedience for Christ was come to me and you will die.

What an unthinkable obedience.

What an unimaginable level of obedience.

What a glory Christ Jesus is.

And then he says, and God treats you like that.

God treats you like your obedience was to the same depth that Christ's obedience is to.

Then you hear that, and what happens is it's like this, it's the it's like a magic trick, or it's like a spell lift, or it's like, and you, and you just think, how wonderful is God?

How glorious is he?

How kind is he to me?

What has he accomplished on my behalf at what great cost to himself?

And then you in that that's your nature changing as you're revitalized at seeing this wonder of the righteousness that God has given to you freely.

And then you and then what happens is I I want to live for him.

I I don't want to just indulge my flesh.

That's not that leads to death.

Yeah.

Your categories of what freedom means change.

You want life.

And you see the life that he has freely given to you and the depth of love that he's shown to you, and you think, I want to be with God.

I want him.

He's the loveliest thing I can imagine.

He's the greatest desire of my heart.

There is um, I want to glorify him and enjoy him forever.

That's my highest calling that I could possibly imagine.

And it and then you you're motivated to uh seek the things of the spirit, to set your mind on the things of the spirit.

And one of the things that you set your mind on when you set your mind on the things of the spirit is what Christ has accomplished for you on your behalf.

Yeah.

Well, and it seems like, you know, it that's gonna that's gonna have ramifications for how we live.

Because he's saying that you know, those who live according to the flesh set their mind on these things, and those who live according to spirit set their mind on the spirit.

So if you're setting your mind on Christ constantly, it seems like that would change uh the way that we act and live.

Uh especially in in Galatians, when you where you see the the comparison between the works of the flesh and the works of the spirit.

If you're setting your mind on Christ, like you know, these are the works of the flesh.

It says the works of the flesh are evident, sexual immorality, impurity, sensuality, idolatry, sorcery, enmity, strife, jealousy, fits of anger, rivalries, dissensions, divisions, envy, drunkenness, orgies, and things like these.

Yeah.

If you're setting your mind on Christ, those would be almost impossible.

Yeah, it's like those things that leads to death.

Yeah.

I don't want that.

Yeah.

And how could I uh break the heart of the one who rescued me and who holds me close to him and will and will never let me go.

He he's the one I want to be with.

So I want fruit of the spirit.

When and I think it's in it's interesting too where he's talking about hey, this this leads to life in chapter six of um righteousness leads to life.

It's interesting that the fruit of the spirit is actually fruit.

Yes.

Because fruit is a byproduct of life.

Yes, it is.

Um, you know, it's it's the essence of of an apple tree, is is the apple.

Yeah, yeah.

And it it's it's how we tell what tree it is, and it's how we tell what's what its source of life is.

And uh it manifests, it often manifests slowly, but it it will manifest.

Yeah.

That fruit will manifest.

I think one interesting thing about the section is the emphasis on the mind.

It says that for those who live according to the flesh, set their minds on the things of the flesh.

But those who live according to the spirit, which are Christians, we are those who live according to the spirit, set their minds on the things of the spirit.

For to set the mind on the flesh is death, but to set the mind on the spirit is life and peace.

So though the thing that you have to do this with, and this is I I think this is um I don't want to lose this, is the the importance of your mind.

That these things come from your mind, what you're thinking about.

This is why doctrine is so important.

It's why Christianity is no mere lifestyle.

It will manifest there, but it must begin with the the truths that you hold, and your mind being set on those truths and thinking in terms of those truths.

So that's when uh thoughts of condemnation come up.

So for me, those will often come up with envy.

I'll look out and I'll see, like, man, look at the way that other church does stuff.

That's uh this, you know, I don't have those skills or those talents, or um I wish I had done things differently back here so that maybe I'd be living in a thing like that, and that's probably just gonna repeat and what you know this um uh and the it just becomes like this death spiral of uh self-condemnation.

Yeah.

And though the way out of that is setting my mind on the spirit, yeah.

Which is, well, one thing I know for sure about me is Jesus Christ's righteousness has been imputed to me, and there is no condemnation from the Father towards me.

And then you start to look at things and you even you celebrate the good works of the Spirit around you in others, and you are inspired in hope towards a uh level of sanctification that you you hope to enjoy one day as you look around at others.

And that but that's only possible by setting your mind on the spirit.

Yeah.

If you set your mind on the flesh, like don't don't try and use the thing that got you in this mess in the first place.

Instead, set your mind on the things of the spirit, which are things that are come down from above and are given to you.

Yeah.

And you learn to receive those from the Lord.

Like there's a uh that's kind of like the the the twist of our faith is uh when you you aren't able to offer yourself as a living sacrifice until you see the one who offered himself as the sacrifice for you.

And that that was perfectly effective and totally sufficient, and it accomplished all that you'll need in order to stand in glory before the Lord.

And and so the before you're before you're offering uh before you make it the offering of your life, it you must recognize you must first be able to receive, to receive the goodness from the Lord.

Yeah and to receive it in such a way that that says, I couldn't have done this, this could only have come from the Lord.

And then you recognize that, oh, that's always true of all offerings.

That's always true of any offering I could make to the Lord because who has given a gift to him that he might be repaid?

Yeah.

How do you give him something that you have not first received from him?

And so you you must first become a receiver of the goodness of the Lord.

And then once you've become a receiver of the goodness of the Lord, now you're offering your body as a living sacrifice.

Yeah.

It's holy and acceptable to him.

What are your thoughts around the importance of the mind as it relates to, say, the pass passions and desires?

So when I when I was thinking about when I read through this was especially in connection with the fruit of the spirit, in Galatians it says, and those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh uh with its passions and desires.

Um but then also in Romans 5 it says, or sorry, Romans 7, verse 5, it says, For while we were living in the flesh, our sinful passions aroused by the law were at work in our members to bear fruit to death.

Romans 7:5

Um but now we were released from the law and so forth, and um and we serve in the new way of the spirit.

So my my one of my thoughts was um the reason maybe why the mind is important is because just I mean, thinking about it in my own life, um, maybe even just like as it relates to my marriage, um if I if Sarah and I get in an argument argument about something and I let my mind dwell on the argument or on my self-justification or on her condemnation, um in essence, like I'm doing that is setting my mind on the flesh because um, as we saw, the works of the flesh are divisions and dissensions, and like if I'm continuing that thought process in my head, um it's those it's that working out, and it will bear bear that type of fruit.

But if I can cut that off in my mind, um set my mind on Christ, um see his sacrifice, maybe maybe even if I uh you know I feel like I'm justified, but I'm hurt wrongly, like I can see Christ as that example and and follow his example, um, and then I can begin to set my mind on um the fruit of the spirit, which would be like love and peace, yep, um, self-control and my thoughts, or whatever it might be.

It seems like maybe one of the reasons the mind is important is because it it drives the resulting passion that kind of ensues from it.

Yes, it is.

It's the way that we get to um participate in the truths of the spirit is by setting your mind on them.

And we are trained to think of ourselves as passive recipients of the mind that we have.

That's one of the mechanisms that Satan has used in order to remove the the nerve from his people.

And it's uh it manifests in our culture because we're all Freudian.

Like we we all think that we spend the early parts of our lives collecting a bunch of causes, and we spend the later parts of our lives being mere effects.

Yeah.

That's the way that we've been trained to interpret.

Yeah.

And so we're just like these passive vehicles throughout the whole of our lives, these machines that collect causes in the beginning, and then those causes manifest in particular effects.

Yeah.

Whereas the truth is, and this is why the importance of what the spirit does, is it's a restoration of our will so that we might train our minds to focus on particular things.

Like our minds are not diffuse things.

Our minds are not um uh like a uh uh they're not like football stadium lights which which light up everything that you look around them.

That's not that's not what our minds are like.

Our minds are like spotlights, you know, and they look at like one thing at a time.

Yeah.

I don't even know what's happening behind me right now.

Not much, but okay, yeah, same with you.

Um and uh so it's a question like, what are you looking at?

What is your attention given to?

And from that, what and is that guided by the Spirit, empowered by the Spirit to light up what your attention should be focused on?

Yeah.

And we that you have the power to do that.

And the Christian has the power to the the non-Christian does not have the power to look at the truth.

Uh the Christian now has the power to look at the truth of who they are in Christ.

And then live from that truth.

Yeah.

Yeah.

Uh it it makes sense.

Um the mind, yeah.

The mind is just it's an interesting thing too.

Uh there was another verse that I was thinking about when you were talking, just in terms of in 1 Corinthians, it says, But we have the mind of Christ.

Yeah.

Um, and then you know, we've often heard that acronym WWJD.

What would Jesus do?

That's a good one.

Um, it's a good one.

But it almost seems like it's like, what would Jesus be thinking?

Yeah.

Is kind of what we should try to cultivate.

Because our we're gonna have a lot more thoughts than we are actions.

Yeah.

And our actions are gonna drive out of those.

Um so it's in in some sense, it's like if we want the mind of Christ and we've been given the mind of Christ, we should try to be cultivating maybe the the ways and things in which he thought about and the ways in which he thought.

Yes, we should be able to discern what's good, what's bad, what does he like, what does he dislike.

Yeah.

And think in those terms.

He should be driving our tastes.

There should be aesthetic decisions that we make because it's like Jesus likes this type of thing.

He doesn't like that type of thing.

He likes things that celebrate life, he doesn't like things that celebrate death.

And you don't have to be a um like this doesn't take like a like a you know a monk's life to be able to figure that stuff out.

Like you can just look and be like, oh, that leads to death.

That's bad.

Jesus doesn't like that stuff.

So I'm gonna I'm gonna not like that stuff and think it's bad, and I'm gonna talk about it like it's bad.

Yeah.

And then look at other things, it's like, wow, life comes from that.

That's good.

I want to I wanna be like that.

Like I want to have the capacity for to forgive.

Like, goodness gracious, how does any um group of people stay together over any amount of time while they have the capacity to forgive?

Where do you get something like that?

Well, what if I had received it first?

Yeah.

What if I had been forgiven a great amount?

And what if one of the ways that I enjoyed and celebrated the forgiveness that I I received was by passing that forgiveness on to others.

How much patience is required for people to just hang together?

I was reading to JT this morning the story of Jamestown, where in 1607 the Virginia company sends out folks to settle the New World.

And it's like, man, you know what would be hard about settling Jamestown?

It's like there's no house there.

And we only have the tools that we brought on these ships.

Yeah.

And there we don't know what the native peoples are going to be like or how to interact with them.

And we, you know, aren't that great at reading their body language.

And there's uh winter.

Winter is hard.

And and then you know what's hard about settling Jamestown is getting along with the people you came with.

Yeah.

That's what was hard.

It was the hardest part.

Uh, was like being long-suffering and being patient and uh seeking for unity together.

Yeah.

Um and those are fruit of the spirit stuff.

Right.

You know, that you can do by looking to Christ.

Right.

So you think there's therefore now no condemnation for me.

And if we've heard the first half of this book, then we hear that and we think, unreal.

How can that be true for me?

How can that be true for me?

I think um I think like a narrative in our culture is like it would be received as like, hey, there's no condemnation for you.

Don't nobody should judge anybody, nothing's bad, whatever, you know, that sort of thing.

Yeah, you're like, there's no condemnation for you, and they would think, like, obviously, like if anybody did condemn me, like they'd be the one who's wrong, and that's the only wrong thing you can do.

Yeah.

So there's no transformation, no, no wonder at it.

But one of the things that the Spirit works in us is this like, do you know who you are?

Then you see it plainly, and then as you discover more and more plainly the depth of your sin as you seek to make war against it, then you're discovering more and more uh abundantly the wonder of the grace that's been shown to you.

Yeah.

And so those both grow together.

And then as you see the grace more, then you're you're more empowered to uh set your mind on the spirit so that you're more transformed.

Yeah.

I just think this is something that Christians miss.

And so they're try they're trying to by the spirit over excuse me, they're trying to by the flesh overcome the works of the flesh by more and more looking to themselves and it's not working, and they feel just as stuck and just as condemned.

And it what they need to be doing is looking to Christ.

Yeah.

The other the other struggle I think uh I mean I have sometimes, I think a lot of people have, is I think we want we want to be glorified now.

Um and that's not possible because we're still in our bodies.

Right.

Which is what you know what he kind of gets into in in verses nine to to eleven.

And I think you know, one is like we're just I think we're impatient.

Yeah.

Um, you know, I just want to be over this.

I don't want I don't want to fight this anymore.

Yeah.

I don't have to be consistent about about fighting it, whatever it may be.

Um, but I think the we take something that should be a hope of ours that one day we'll be delivered from this body, and we turn it into I can't believe I'm still dealing with this thing.

Yep.

Um we we take a hope and we make a hope of condemnation.

Yeah, that's true.

In a sense.

Um where yeah, part of setting our mind on Christ is is also setting our mind on that that hope that we have.

Yep.

That one day I'm gonna be I'll be completely delivered from this.

Yes.

Yes.

And yeah, I can know that that's true because what Jesus did on my behalf.

That's where I look to know that that that hope is real.

Yeah, 9 through 11, it says, You, however, are not in the flesh, but in the spirit, if in fact the spirit of God dwells in you.

Anyone who does not have the spirit of Christ does not belong to him.

But if Christ is in you, although the body is dead because of sin, the spirit is life because of righteousness.

If the spirit of him who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, he who raised Christ Jesus from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through his spirit who dwells in you.

What he's showing is the empowering of the spirit is an empowerment towards resurrection.

And if you're in Christ, you have the spirit.

If you don't have the spirit, you're not in Christ.

And the spirit that is in you, yes, it's like, yeah, but my body's still dying.

Yeah, your body will die.

But the spirit that is in you, which raised Christ Jesus from the dead, will raise you.

It will give life to your mortal bodies.

It's a hope of resurrection.

We have this certain hope of resurrection in Jesus.

So continue on, and he's describing our station.

He's like, he's like giving us this mechanism of the Spirit.

He's establishing the reality of what the Spirit draws our attention to.

And he's wanting to say, like, you know, how it's like Rafiki grabbing you and being like, remember who you are.

And he says, so then, brothers, in verse 12, continuing, so then, brothers, we are debtors, not to the flesh, to live according to the flesh, obviously, got you in this mess.

Yeah.

For if you live according to the flesh, you will die.

But if by the spirit you put to death the deeds of the body, you will live.

If by the spirit you put to death the deeds of the body, you will live.

There's a a war that you're in, and here's the mechanism of your victory: the spirit putting to death your flesh.

You have to be mortifying, killing your sin.

Actively, you're in an active pursuit of taking new ground.

You think of your flesh as the land of Canaan, and you enter the land of Canaan, and uh it's inhabited by enemies, and you have to kill those enemies and take that ground for the name of the spirit.

Yeah.

That happens in your desires, it happens in your habits, happens in your patterns of thinking, it happens in where you've resigned yourself to certain patterns of thinking and not taking responsibility for them as though they belong to somebody else.

Yeah.

And those are those all are those are all enemy territory.

And then we come in by the power of the spirit, which what type of power is that?

Well, it's the type that can bring life from death.

It's pretty good power.

And you conquer that sin.

So because you're you are no longer enslaved to it.

Like the promised land was theirs.

Yeah.

It was theirs.

Because, like, how do you know that like land belongs to you?

Well, you check the name on the deed.

Okay, who what's the highest deed imaginable?

It's what God says.

And he says to his people, This land is your land.

This land is my land from California.

So New York Island.

Yeah.

And it's like, okay, well, then this is mine.

And then they show up and it's like, yeah, but it's full of giants.

This land is full of giants.

And he's like, yeah, but it's yours.

It's yours.

Yeah.

And I will equip you to take it.

Yeah.

And so the hope that you have is the power of the spirit that's in you.

Yeah.

And so you want your spirit to be like Joshua and Caleb's.

Where when they go and they see the giants, they say, Well, God's with us.

So I'm not worried about their height.

Yeah.

This isn't like a height issue.

God's with us.

I can deal with the sin.

Yeah.

Yeah.

And Joshua and Caleb weren't like, like, why aren't you afraid of the giants?

And Joshua wasn't like, because check out this new move I've been practicing.

You see my triceps?

Yeah, exactly.

They jumped on each other's shoulders and it's like, see, we can do this.

Um they they looked by the Spirit, they looked to God.

Yeah.

The one who would save them, who would give to them the land of promise.

They looked to his promises and they said, What is God a liar?

And that's what we do.

Yeah.

When we fight these battles with the flesh.

I think I think viewing us as Israel there is helpful for a lot of other reasons as well, because uh especially you know, God tells them to devote everything to destruction.

Yep.

In a lot of these cities.

Yes.

Like do not leave anything alive.

Right.

And so when we're you're trying to attack your sin, you kind of have to do it in the same way.

Yep.

Um, but then also knowing that, hey, there's these other people or this other sin over here that that's heard about the destruction that you did over over here.

Yep.

And so now they're gonna change their clothes, kind of come to you and try to like get you to believe that it's not really they're not one of these things that needs to be devoted to destruction.

And I think your sin's gonna do that to you as well.

Oh yeah.

Um and we just you kind of have to be ruthless about it.

And I I mean, I'm not uh like as ruthless as I need to be.

Yeah.

Um seems like maybe most of us aren't.

Right.

But that I think that's helpful in uh framing, hey, this is this is what you gotta go do.

So here's some ruthlessness fuel.

The mindset on the flesh is death.

Yeah.

And the mindset on the spirit is life and peace.

It's a good ruthlessness fuel.

Yeah.

I want life and peace.

That's kind of I like that stuff.

Yeah.

And like what uh what other battles have you gone into with the promise that you will live if you do this?

It's just an insane promise.

Oh man.

Yeah.

It's just an insane promise.

You know, like I I think um this has been brought so front of mind into so many conversations because of Charlie Kirk's murder.

Of and what I've heard from so many people is man, I'm I want to start saying just simple truths out loud.

Like I'll I'll I'll I want to put some skin in the game.

Yeah.

And you know, we're talking about like uh personal holiness, like that's a lot of the lens in which I've been interpreting this through, but it's also relational.

It's um in encountering uh relational controversies that your quest for personal holiness will make arise.

And that that's an that's that must be encountered too.

And so it's like, well, what what can pull me through this?

Like I can't what can I reach into somebody else's mind?

Yeah.

No, you can't.

So what what am I gonna do?

Well, I know the one who can.

And they've uh, you know, so uh this is going to put me in a stance where it's like I have an an enemy with where I have an en this person is an enemy.

I've been an enemy before of God.

And he's sought to love and care for me.

Yeah.

And I've I've gone to the limits of a relationship where it seems like they've been it's been broken, but by the grace of the Lord, he's pulled through.

Yeah.

And so there's just like a hope because it's still returning to what can Christ do?

Well, I can know it because he's done it for me.

Right.

It's been fully accomplished for me.

Yeah.

Well, and even thinking about Israel as it relates to um these other relationships, or I think people we can think, well, I can't be so ruthless because I want them to st to still love Jesus.

Yeah.

Um, but when you when you read the story of the Exodus, um, you know, you you read and they they get the Jericho.

Yep.

And um Rahab was like, we've heard.

Yeah.

They believed more than uh the Israelites.

Yeah.

Like Rahab, this prostitute living in the wall.

Right.

You know, because you don't live in the city's center.

And that's your job.

You know, it's you're like a wall person.

You're a border creature.

Yeah.

And she is like, oh, you guys are the ones where your god parted the Red Sea and drew you out by a strong arm out of Egypt.

We we kind of figured you'd probably win.

Right.

So I'm gonna go with you guys.

Yeah.

Yeah.

Sorry.

Well, no, it's I just was saying it's like you like we want to be able to predict other people's responses to these types of things.

Oh, yeah.

And all all we really can do is is be obedient um and do what this is saying.

And then those other people, like, even if you are being ruthless, they might have the response of faith that Rahab did.

Yes.

Um, and there was there were several accounts of that as the people were coming into the land.

They they had heard and they wanted to be a part of it.

Yes.

That's why they'll leave Egypt a mixed multitude.

Yeah.

And all of the explanation that Moses gives to the elders of Israel regarding the Passover and circumcision, that he'll have to repeat himself.

He'll have to say the whole thing again.

Because, oh, there's a bunch of new folks here that weren't here when I first explained this.

Yeah.

Because they saw the Lord and they they saw what they saw his power and what he can do, his power to deliver his people.

Yeah.

When there's this thing that I have to work out for myself, which is sales training, which is a big part of my catechesis growing up, when you grow up in the car business.

Sure.

And so we would train on this 12-step process, which was called the control process.

And the premise is that when the customer comes in, you're in control.

And you are here to control this relationship such that they buy a car and we sell cars for fun and profit.

And it sounds like a movie.

And they uh and so there's this, there's this sort of like, it's very Machiavellian, you know, but there's this sense of like like you're you're in absolute control and absolutely responsible for what's happening in this other person's mind.

And if you craft things in such a way, then you can lead them towards your ends.

Yeah.

And um part of the Christian faith is recognizing that's not true.

That's not true.

Uh, it can be, yeah, but when it is, it's a wicked compromise.

Yeah.

And so that means like what you're responsible for is your mind.

And seeking to honor with truth the person that you're speaking with as though they're responsible for their mind.

Yeah.

Which is an act of love.

It's like uh treating others how you would like to be treated.

You know, it's like you'll talk to them like an adult and you'll seek to just like share what you think is true because you think it's true.

Yeah.

And then what is the what but the reason that you can do that, so so what's trying to be manufactured in the control process is a sense of confidence that you'll be able to receive the outcome that you're desiring.

And you can't move forward on anything if you don't have a sense of confidence that you'll receive the outcome that you're desiring.

It's um, it's impossible.

That's that's like a that's absolute futility.

You know, it's like suicide to say move forward on something, and you have no confidence that you'll receive the outcome that you're desiring in it.

So, where do we get that sense of confidence that we'll receive the outcome that we're desiring?

Christ says, I've attained the victory, I've overcome the world.

The worst thing they can do to you is send you to me.

And I know in the very same power that rose me from the dead, will raise you from the dead.

And I've purchased my sheep, they'll know the sound of my voice.

I've given you my spirit, you'll speak with the sound of my voice.

My sheep will hear it.

So it's very different from a tactic of manipulation.

Uh it's an entrusting yourself to the Holy Spirit in order to bear witness to what he's done for you.

Yeah.

Well, so it seems then like, you know, he's we've talked about the battle between the flesh and spirit.

Um, we've talked about now we have this confidence because of who we are, we're we're heirs with Christ.

Um and it so it seems like he's giving us this confidence here right before he then says, But even though I've promised that you will live, even though I'm saying that you have confidence, it's almost like he things aren't going to be easy, because provided you suffer with him.

Well, let's get let's go through, let's read these verses and then we'll we'll go into that.

So if we because yeah, so it says in verse 14, for all who are led by the Spirit of God are sons of God.

For you did not receive the spirit of slavery to fall back into fear.

That's the dangling over the precipice.

Yeah.

Like, don't act like you're dangling over the precipice.

You're not.

Yeah.

You're a son of God.

Well, and you're like, Well, I didn't do anything to yeah, who cares about you?

God did it in Jesus Christ.

Yours, but you have received the spirit of adoption.

You've not received the spirit of slavery to fall back into fear, but you have received the spirit of adoption as sons, by whom we cry, Abba, Father.

You cry that, you get hurt.

The Spirit Himself bears witness with our Spirit that we are children of God.

And if children, then heirs, heirs of God and fellow heirs with Christ, provided we suffer with him, in order that we also may be glorified with him.

So, yeah, you're emphasizing this provided that we suffer with him, in order that we may also be glorified with him.

So there is a um certain reality of suffering because we are brought into what Christ did, and we are by we have the same spirit as him.

So our lives will look the same as him.

So putting to death the flesh is is a painful act.

It means doing what you don't want to do, yeah, and not doing what you want to do.

That that hurts.

It's a painful act of suffering.

It means talking, having conversations you don't want to have.

Yeah.

Saying things you don't want to say.

Uh and it means it means saying those things by the power of the Holy Spirit because you know that you're a son of God.

Yeah.

And and not everybody had the reaction that Rahab did.

Right.

You know, and and Paul says just a few verses earlier that the flesh is hostile to God.

Um so like though So like we're gonna encounter people that what we're gonna have that experience with.

They're gonna be hostile to us putting our our uh flesh to death and because it's like a judgment in in a lot of ways.

Yes, this is like we like forgot this.

And I think because we started to think uh evangelistically, we started to think sales tactically for our evangelism.

And rather than entrusting ourselves to the Lord.

And it Jesus is just so clear about this.

He's like, look how they treat me.

Yeah.

That's how they'll treat you.

And you know, you remember the story.

And so that it was it was lies and slanders, and he's bad and evil, and he's coming here to tear things down, and and all the while he was Jesus.

So uh what are they gonna say to you?

Like he did this perfectly.

What's it gonna be like when you do this imperfectly?

It's gonna get at least that response.

Yeah.

And

That's just really helpful to know.

Because you see when you get that response, oh, I'm uh being treated like Jesus.

Yeah.

And so I'll I'll gird my gird my loins to suffer along with him.

Yeah.

And you you can know this because it happens at every level, you know, like it happens within yourself.

It's like, well, yeah, I'm getting this pushback from my flesh that wants this.

Um, and it's painful, and I want to lash out when I don't get it, or I want to punish my family by my own self-pity.

Uh of course they're doing that same thing.

Yeah.

It's just like me.

So the so what do what do I have to offer?

We got things to offer like no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus.

We have to offer what we what we freely received.

Yeah.

Um, yeah, it's so important to know that suffering is a guaranteed aspect of the Christian life.

Inside your own heart and relationally.

It's guaranteed.

Guaranteed.

And and we see that too with the the apostles in Acts.

It's like people get saved, then there's a riot.

People get saved.

Yeah.

So crazy.

Then there's a riot.

Think of these these situations, and Paul's just got to be like, look, man, I wasn't preaching the gospel to disrupt your silver business.

Like I don't, I don't, that's not not my interest, yeah.

Is disrupting your silver business.

But I am, I am going to disrupt your silver business.

Yeah.

Uh because it's godless and it's taking people away from the heart of God.

And so you're gonna stand against me as my enemy.

And I'll pray that the Spirit works in your heart so that you could see uh that you're enemies because you're outside of Christ.

And he's the one who laid himself down for his enemies.

That's how like he could someone like Paul could experience this constant attack throughout his whole ministry.

It's just like attack after attack after attack.

And it's like, where's the spirit calling you?

Jerusalem.

Oh, cool, what's gonna happen there?

Uh the spirit has told me that I'll be arrested and tortured and beaten.

And you know.

Um well, where did he get that?

You know, like uh, I don't know.

Hutzpah.

Because he knew the one who did it for him.

He he knew the one who did it for him.

And he wants to be like him.

And he's got nothing to lose because he's not dangling over anything.

Yeah.

He's totally secure in the Lord.

Okay, so yeah, let's keep going.

This is So then he says So, like what are the sufferings like then?

They're different.

For I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worth comparing with the glory that is to be revealed to us.

What I want us to see is that Paul does not address the problem of suffering qualitatively, but quantitatively.

What I mean by that is, we'll often try and approach the Christian faith so that we'll say, yeah, but if you really understand suffering, it's not really suffering.

Like if you really see, like, yeah, but God's providential hand is in this, so it's not really a bad thing that happened.

It's not really a painful thing that happened.

And this is where like Eastern religion has snuck its way into Christianity.

Because they'll they you'll get like um uh uh you know, like if you're if you're here's the here's the language that it takes place in.

Um if you're really sad about losing that thing, or if you're really sad about that relationship falling apart, then it probably just means you are idolizing that relationship.

Or if you're really happy about getting this promotion, or you're really excited about you know some particular aim or goal, it probably means that you're idolizing that aim or goal.

And so we're trying to um find this sort of like qualitative solution by uh distancing ourselves from the reality of suffering in the world.

Or doing some trick where it's like, well, if it's in God's hands, then is it really suffering?

And that's not the way Paul talks about it.

Yeah, it's like, no, it's really suffering.

Uh it hurts.

It makes it I feel pain in myself.

But I know that this pain that I'm feeling, when I look to the hope that's to come, I can't even compare it.

Yeah.

I just like can't even it's not worth comparing.

It will make this suffering look like I can't even see it from here.

Uh it's nothing compared to that goodness.

Yeah.

It kind of reminds me of like when people who don't have kids say that they don't they don't want to have kids because they don't want to have to give up all their Netflix.

Yeah.

Let's be honest.

Yeah.

Not doing anything else.

Um, but it's like once you have a kid, you look back and be like, I would have been stupid if I stayed in that state.

This is awesome.

Um, I got so much more than I'm having to give up.

Yeah, for sure.

Yeah.

For sure.

It's like this is more than I thought there could be.

Right.

You get to look at them when they did and they do silly things.

And that's super fun to do.

Yeah.

For the creation waits with eager longing for the rev for the revealing of the sons of God.

That's a verse.

The whole create we're the kings of creation.

We're meant to be.

And when we're in sin, then the whole creation is like, this, I don't like this.

It's a groan.

It's always winter.

Exactly, yeah.

Exactly.

Never Christmas.

And there's this groan in us, or in the creation.

It's like when you have a terrible manager, and the your whole team that you're working with is like, woof.

For the creation was subjected to futility, not willingly, but because of him who subjected it.

Why was it subjected?

In hope that the creation itself will be set free from its bondage to corruption and obtain the freedom of the glory of the children of God.

For we know that the whole creation has been groaning together in the pains of childbirth until now.

And not only the creation, but we ourselves, who have the first fruits of the spirit, groan inwardly, as we wait eagerly for adoption as sons, the redemption of our bodies.

That's what the Christian life is like now.

You have the first fruits of the Spirit, but it's not fully realized.

And so you groan inwardly.

Why?

It's in hope.

Because you're eagerly awaiting our adoption as sons, the redemption of our bodies.

Where your body doesn't hurt anymore, you're no longer plagued by the flesh, you enjoy good things as good things.

It doesn't take this effort of the will to do that.

You just appreciate them.

For in this hope we were saved.

Now hope that is seen is not hope.

For who hopes for what he sees?

But if we hope for what we do not see, we wait for it with patience.

So one of the fruit of the Spirit comes out here, patience.

And the patience is enduring the present state where we're at war with our flesh, and where the whole creation is groaning.

But we look at it and we see we don't see it groaning towards death and decay.

We see it groaning towards resurrection, which we'll experience.

It's groaning like a birth pain, where at the end of the birth, the child is handed to the mother, and it's the pain of the birth is forgotten.

Yeah.

And people have multiple kids, which is insane for how difficult childbirth is.

And the fact that we call it labor.

Yeah, it's labor.

It's labor.

So required now is patience.

Patience.

Be patient with yourself in sanctification.

Not that you're taking your foot off the gas or you're not seeking to mortify the sin that's in your life.

But there's an impatience that leads to despondence and despair.

That's Satan's purpose.

The condition that he desires us to live in is despair.

He loves that.

That's why he tries to get you to sin.

He doesn't care that you like he doesn't like care that you had an outburst of anger.

He doesn't care that you're wallowing in self-pity.

He doesn't care that you're cowardly not saying what you ought to be saying.

He doesn't, that's not he doesn't care about that.

What he likes is when you despair before the Lord.

And you don't receive the patience that the Lord has given to you as truth.

Something that you could live in.

Because you use that despair, despair is the opposite of hope.

Yeah.

Hope is, I don't see it now, but I will.

I know I will.

Man, I just love Romans 8 so much.

I love the shape of Christian sanctification being grounded in the certainty of what Christ has accomplished on our behalf and the wonder of the grace that we see in him.

And I just pray that our church will learn to live with the boldness required of us because of the security that we have as sons of God.

I want to be part of that.

Yeah.

So that's the first half of Romans eight.

Great.

Everybody go read it and memorize it.

And we'll talk to you next week.

Quiz on Sunday.

Quiz on Sunday.

Talk to you then.

Goodbye.