February 24, 2025 • 48 mins
In this inspiring episode, Pastor Karl takes listeners through the richness of Romans 8, a chapter he calls the "sparkle of the diamond" of God’s Word. While setting the stage to cover verses 1-20 in depth this week (with 29-39 to follow next week), he weaves in key insights from the entire chapter. Beginning with the freeing truth of "no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus," Pastor Karl explains how Jesus liberates us from the law of sin and death, replacing it with a new life empowered by the Spirit. Through relatable analogies—like starving the old self and riding a bike uphill—he highlights the transformative power of the Holy Spirit and God’s promise to work all things together for good, even our pain, for those who love Him. Touching on our adoption as God’s children and the synergy of His providence, Pastor Karl invites listeners into a life of trust and freedom. Join him as he unpacks these profound truths, encouraging you to read all 39 verses of Romans 8 and reflect on what it means to live as a co-heir with Christ!
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Episode Transcript
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(00:01):
You. Without question.
That is the gospel and without question.
That is good news.
And that's what we're studyingas we go through the book of Romans.
Romans is a is a profound
(00:22):
explanation
of what is the realityfor those who are in Christ,
who we were and who we are.
I don't know how one would say that.
One chapter of the Bibleis better than another.
They're all inspired,but it feels like Romans is better than
(00:44):
Romans, eightis better than all the others.
The Word of God
is the diamond to us from God.
Romanseight is the sparkle of that diamond.
I forgot who was, but someone said
that if you should ever drop your Bible,
it should naturally open to Romans eightbecause you've studied it so much.
(01:11):
Romans eight is a it's a profound chapter.
We're going to take two weeksto go through it.
The first 20 verses todayand the 29 through 39
next week.
Romans eight
has the answer to every,
evil that we goexperience past, present, and future.
Here's what I mean.
(01:33):
When you're haunted by your past,Romans eight,
there's no condemnation about your past.
When you're frustrated by your present.
Romans 828.
We know that God works things togetherfor good.
When you're anxious about your future.
Romans eight 3039.
(01:53):
Nothing can separate youfrom the love of God.
So whether there's this haunting thing.
Yeah, but my past is
as far asChrist is good. God is concerned.
There's no condemnation about that.
When you just frustratethe way things are right now,
you can know that even in the frustration,God's working it together.
(02:14):
Don't worry
when you're anxious about the future. Hey,
remember that God loves youand you can never be separated
from that love and nothing to worry about.
Do you understand? Yes.
So it's going to be funto unpack these things together.
(02:35):
There's a lot to get through
and so that we can get through it.
Verse one.
There is therefore now
no condemnationfor those who are in Christ Jesus.
When Paul says, there's thereforenow the therefore is for a reason.
It's therefore the reason of chapterseven.
(02:57):
Chapter seven is this long
treatise about what a failure he is.
As a religious person, you just can't keepall of the religious law.
He's a he's enslaved to his own sinnature.
You just can't be right all the time.
And at the end of it, he says,how do I get free from this?
He says, thanks be to God throughJesus Christ our Lord.
(03:20):
Therefore, because of what Jesus has done,
there is no condemnationfor those who are in Jesus.
That's what he's saying.
When Paul uses the words,there's no condemnation.
Think of it like this.
There's not even one ounceof condemnation against you.
(03:40):
If you're in Christ,there's not even one ounce
of condemnation that the father that Godthe Father holds against you.
There's not even a glimmer of a shadow.
There is no condemnation.
There's not even a hintof any condemnation against you
if you're in Christ Jesus.
Complete freedom
(04:01):
from the sin of our past,already freed from the sin of our future.
There's no condemnation.
Please don't ever erroneously think
because this line of thinkingis directly from the devil.
It's a lie from the devil.
When we start thinking,
okay, now I know why I lost my job.
(04:22):
I know why I'm sick.
Because God's punishing me
for what I've done.
That is the life of the devil. Why?
Because there's no condemnation.
God does not condemn you over what you've
done, and is not condemning youover what you will do,
because he took the condemnationthat we do deserve and put it on his son,
(04:45):
so that now when we're in His Son,he, Jesus, already absolved
the condemnation, though, so that for usthere is now therefore no condemnation.
God doesn't hold grudges.
God doesn't get payback.
Don't ever fall
prey to the devil that makes you think,well, yeah, it's because I screwed up.
So God's punishing menow. That's not how God works.
(05:10):
There may be
legitimate natural consequencesto our actions.
And sometimes God lets us feelthe full weight of those.
Sometimes he's merciful, and we don't.
When those times come, here's what we do.
We repent.
God, I agree with you.
And then we say, father,give me all that your grace allows.
(05:32):
And let God temper back thennatural consequence.
Does that make sense? You follow me.
But as far as God getting upsetand leveling something against you,
he doesn't work that way.There's no condemnation.
You follow me? Yes.
I hope you're understandingthe liberation of this.
No longer does anybody who is in Christ
walk around with oh my gosh, God is still
(05:56):
I gotta I got a lot to make up for it.
Like when
when am I going to be able to appease him?
Those are lies from the devil.
And as long as the devil can convince youthat that's who God is
and that's his character,
you will live under the shoutof condemnation that is not yours to own.
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That'salready been leveled against Christ.
And he has set you.
He set me completely free of it.
No, not even a shadow.
Not an ounce.
Don't ownsomething that belongs to another.
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Your condemnation belongs to Jesus.
That's pretty good news, Billy, right?
Yeah.
I don't watch this.
Verses two three, four
for, I'm going to
Paul is going to write a like he'she's he's very verbose.
There's a lot of words he usesand he writes like a lawyer.
(07:01):
I'm going to read it alland you might get lost in the words.
We're going to come backand talk through it all.
For the love. The spirit of life has set
you free in ChristJesus from the law of sin and death.
For God has done what the law, weakened bythe flesh,
could not do by sending his own sonin the likeness of sinful flesh
and for sin he condemns sin in the fleshin order
(07:24):
that the righteous requirement of the lawmight be fulfilled
in us who walk not according to the flesh,but according to the spirit.
You got it?
Let me, let me, let me slow downand explain some stuff.
Paul uses this word law,but he use it in two different ways.
And it's very important to understandthe ways he uses this word law.
(07:47):
One of the ways Paul uses
the word law is the driving forceand the impulse.
It just is what it is.
We don't establish it.
We haven't declared it.
It just is like the law of gravity.
There's no act of Congressor Municipality.
That said, from this dayforward, gravity exists, right?
It did.
(08:08):
The second waythe law is used as as a legal rule
and a boundary like the speed limit.
Municipalities decidewhat the speed limit is.
So if that's not a natural,that's just what the city has said.
And so if you bypass that, you've brokenthe law.
You follow.
Okay.
So in it, when Paul says in and verse two,
(08:29):
for the law of the spirit of life has setyou free.
In Jesus, in ChristJesus from the law of sin and death.
He's using the first idea,the driving force, the impulse
for the driving force of the spiritthat is now in you because you're in
Christ, has set you freebecause you used to live
according to the driving forcethan the impulse of sin.
(08:52):
You understand?
So the driving for the lawthat was at work in you
before you came toJesus was the driving force of sin.
But now that you're in Christ,there's a new driving force there, new law
inside you, a driving force, an impulse.
Okay.
And the
reason Jesus had to do thatis this verse three, For God has done
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what the law,the legal rules and boundaries
were not able to do by sending his son.
So when, when God's when the father sentthe son and the son died on the cross,
he fulfilled all the legal rules andboundaries of the written religious law.
He fulfilled it all.
So now when we're in Jesus, he's fulfilledall the legal rules and boundaries.
(09:38):
So now I'm free to put to deaththe old driving force of sin,
and live in new life of the new drivingforce of the spirit.
You follow?
Am I clear?
I gotta be clear on this.
Anybody any questions?
All right.
So now we follow this newlaw according to the spirit.
(10:04):
When we went through
chapter seven last week, I don't knowif any of you picked up on it.
There are 47 personal pronounsthat Paul uses in chapter 747.
I, me, my.
And it's all about his failure.
It's all about his sin.
He cannot make his life right,for it's all self-focused
because he's talking about how wretched hehow many we get that we get.
(10:28):
If you and I can't live up to our ownstandard,
how do we thinkwe're gonna live up to the God standard?
And so, Paul, 47 personal pronouns
in chapters one through seven of Romans.
The Spirit of God.
The spirit is only used two timesin this chapter alone.
Chapter eight. It use 19 times.
Here's why.
(10:49):
Because Paul is drawing a line in the sandbetween the self and the Spirit of God.
He's making the
distinction in thisin your self, in your flesh.
You have no power
with the Spirit of God.
You have both power and capacity.
I have a new power in me.
(11:09):
I don't have to live that wayand not have a new capacity.
I'm able to, not because of who I am,because who I'm in.
You follow.
Sometimes I feel like
I get a lot more excited than you do.
(11:31):
For the mind set on the flesh.
This is what this is.
Verse seven.
Let me go back to five.
Let me go to verse five.
For those who live
according to the flesh, settheir minds on the things of the flesh.
But those who live according to the spiritset their minds on things of the spirit.
For to set your mind onthe flesh is death,
(11:52):
but to set your mind onthe spirit is life, and peace.
For the mind that is set on the flesh
is hostile to God, forit does not submit to God's law.
Indeed, it cannot submit to God's law.
Thosewho are in the flesh cannot please God.
Let me show you what this is saying.
When Paul uses this word flesh,the mind that set on the flesh,
(12:15):
what he's talking about is, is the mindthat still on just worldly stuff.
And Jesusaddressed this back in Matthew seven,
and in Matthew seven he says, the mindthat is set on the flesh,
the worldly stuff, is worriedabout what you're going to wear.
You're worriedabout what you're going to eat.
You're worriedabout what you're going to drive.
You're worried about your retirement,right?
(12:35):
It's all the things that we getwrapped up in in this world.
And he said, the mindthat set on the flesh is
it's justit's just preoccupied with all this stuff.
And he said that
mind is hostile to God,not contrary to God.
Actual hostility towards him, towards God,
because a mind that is set in the flesh,the things of this world
(12:58):
is so worriedabout the things that this rule
that they cannot live by faith.
And the Bible saysthe only way to please God.
Hebrews 11 six is by faith.
It's the mind that says.
But what about my pursuit of all the
(13:20):
all the important things in life?
And when that is our mindset,
when that's our drive,
it's an indicationwe are living according to the flesh.
And we cannot please God that a lifethat's driven by the pursuit
of the things that is hostile to God,
(13:41):
not just contrary. And
and so the
it's a mind that set bywhat can I acquire,
what can I enjoy.
What can be my acquisition?
What.
Here's how you know where your mind is.
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Just as a real simple question.
Ask yourself what dominates dominates
my mind and heart.
What dominates it?
The things of this world.
Eat. Sleep. Drink.
Live. Drive.
Retire. Future.
When? That's it.
(14:22):
We cease living by faith.
And the faith is the only wayto please God.
A lifethat's focused on that cannot please God.
You understand?
And it's just.
That's how we used to live.
And like this law in usthat drove us to all this earthly stuff.
(14:43):
But now
in Christ, there's a new law in us.
I don't have to live obsessedand consumed with the acquisition.
Of things.
Worry.
The verses nine and 11.
You, however,
(15:04):
are not in the flesh but in the spirit.
If in fact the Spirit of Goddwells in you.
Anyone who does not have the Spirit ofChrist does not belong to him.
Verse ten.
But if Christ is in you,although the body is dead
because of sin,the spirit of the spirit is life.
Because of righteousness.
If the Spirit of him who raisedJesus from the dead dwells in you,
(15:27):
he raised Jesus ChristJesus from the dead will also
give life to your mortal bodiesthrough His Spirit who dwells in you.
Here's what he's saying.
When someone accepts Jesusas the leader of their life, immediately
the Bible teaches that the father implantshis spirit in them.
A new law.
(15:47):
When that spirit is inside of us,
we're no longer slaves to the old law.
And because we're not slavesto the old law.
We have a new impulse,as you actually have the desire
to walk rightly before God.
Not because you have to,not because you're religious,
(16:08):
but because there's a new driving lawin your inside.
Right? Do you understand?
Some of you feel this,
that there's a new impulse in you.
You're not under compulsionbecause there's no condemnation,
but there's a desire.
There's a true want to.
That's the Holy Spirit in you.
(16:29):
The purpose of the Holy Spirit in usis to make us holy.
That's the purpose of the spirit.
Now, we think that if we allow God toour lives, we will be happy.
The purpose of the
Holy Spirit in us is not to make us happy,but to make us holy.
Here's the good thing.
The quickest way to happiness is holiness.
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Some of the most miserablepeople on the planet
are Christians who are not walking in linewith the spirit.
They're miserable.
And if that's one of you,
I have a lot of churchesI could recommend for you
rather than their.
I, like God, said I'm a putmy spirit in you because make you holy.
(17:13):
Because the quickest way toyour happiness is holiness.
And this is the new lifethat he's given us.
And so we don't have to obey
the impulses of the old life anymore.
Now look at verses 12 and 13.
Oh, let me say this.Let me say this is important.
Verse
one says, there's no condemnation, right?
(17:35):
This passage talks about the Holy Spirit'sinvigoration.
So gives us no condemnation.
Plus the Holy Spirit invigorationequals life transformation.
That's how this works.
Some of us have triedto transform our lives by good behavior
and new habits and self-discipline,and all of that falls
(17:56):
far short, right?
And what Scripture tells us is, listen,
in Christ there's no condemnation.
And when you take no condemnationand have the Holy Spirit's invigoration,
that's what creates the lifetransformation, not because you have to,
because you're under no obligation,because there's no condemnation.
(18:18):
Now there's a new law inside.
So I want to do you understand?
And so then what we have to do.
Because now there's a new one too.
So then, brothers and sisters,we are debtors, not to the flesh.
The old law to liveaccording to that old law of flesh.
For if you liveaccording to that flesh, you'll die.
Pause button.
(18:39):
When Adam was in the Garden of Eden
and God said, if you eat of this tree,you will surely die.
He ate of the tree.
Did he die immediately?
No, because God wasn'ttalking about immediate death.
He was talking about spiritual death.
And he says,if you live according to that law of sin,
you are deadspiritually and forever separated from me.
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So but if by the spirityou put to death the deeds of the body,
what you live.
You live.
So the old lawthat was in us before we came to Jesus,
if you've come to Jesus, this old law was,was, was, was raging inside.
Now you come to Jesus, the Holy Spirit.
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There's a new law. Here'swhat happens. The old law.
The old law screamsthat you everyday feed me.
Pay attention to me.
Don't let me die.
Because the new law in us,the Spirit of God in us,
is starting to starve out the old one.
And that old one doesn'twant to die too quick.
(19:43):
And so that old one screams,
don't ignore me.
Pay attention to me.
I still matter.
I still got you.
Feed me
right.
That's the war that goes on.
And we have to work
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with the Holy Spirit's work.
To allow that newnessto start to really go.
So it's like when you're rightis if you ride a bicycle uphill.
That wasn't electric.
You ride a bicycle uphilland you're working hard.
It's really easy.
And the moment you stop pedaling,what happens is,
(20:24):
yeah, you slow downand you fall over or go backwards.
So the Holy Spirit is working in us
to ridethat bike uphill to learn a new life.
So we work with the mechanism of it.
The moment we stop working in conjunctionwith the Holy Spirit.
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The old analogy is you got two dogs,you only feed one.
Which one is going to live?
The one you feed.
Other parts of Scripture says,put to death the deeds of the body.
Starve it out, starve it,
though you've been made to act like it
and take this old lifeand starve that to death.
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And as you do, it will scream at you,and it will yell at you,
and it will demand attention,and it will demand to be fed.
And you just keep starving it out.
Not because it makes you a good Christianbecause there's no condemnation anyway,
but because it allows the
new law, new spirit to thrive.
You understand?
(21:30):
This stuff is so good.
Verses 1417.
Look at this.
It's a long section. Let me read it.
We'll talk about it.
For all who are led bythe Spirit of God are sons and daughters.
Children of God.
Let me just.
I just had of the slide.
Though.
Every human is a creation of God.
(21:51):
Not everybody is a child of God.
Only those who have a relationshipwith Jesus
by because of, through faith,
because of grace, is a child of God.
So everyone is a creation.
Children of God
are those every relationshipthrough Jesus.
So we clear
(22:12):
for all who are led by the Spirit of God,our sons and daughters of God.
For you did not receive the spiritof slavery to fall back into fear,
but you have receivedthe spirit of adoption
as sons and daughters, as childrenby whom we cry, ABBA, father.
The Spirit Himself bears witness withour spirit that we are children of God.
And if children, then heirs heirs of Godand fellow heirs with Christ provided
(22:35):
here it is we suffer with him in orderthat we may also be glorified with him.
Let me unpack this.
When Paul talks about adoption,
adoption was notit was not known in the Jewish world.
Jews had no concept of adoption.
Okay, once born in the familyor the family, there was no adoption.
The Jewish and the Roman world,this was a huge thing.
(22:56):
Adoption was hugeand they understood what it meant.
Let me tell you what adoptionmeant in Rome with Romans.
When they would adopt someone,a benevolent person or family of means
would find somebody worthy of adoption.
Not just children, but grown adults.
And they would, offerto adopt them into their family.
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And when that transaction happened,all of the debt, all of the shame,
all of the familybaggage was erased from every account.
And the one who was adopted in the family.
Now was credited with every right,
every financial blessing,every authority, as if a blood child.
(23:45):
That's the power of adoption.
That everything that was is no more. Why?
Because we know. Verse one.No condemnation.
And then the family I'm adopted into.
I now have all the rights,all the privilege,
all the authority of that family.
And Paul will say,if we are children of God,
(24:08):
adopted by him, we are heirs of God.
And what co-heirs with Christ
get this as adopted children.
We have every blessing
that Jesus has is ours.
The relationship.
Y'all believe you're getting it.
(24:28):
The relationship that the son has withthe father
is our relationship with the father.
Heirs of God.
Co-heirs with Christ.
Every spiritual blessing,
every ounce of beauty of relationshipand authority that Jesus has
with the father I have with the father,and you have with the father in Christ.
(24:52):
Amazing.
So why do we walk aroundlike the dirty step kids?
I don't want to buy anybody.
I lost my place here.
I want to understand what this is.
(25:15):
We've been adopted.
And so now we cry out, ABBA, father!
The Jewish
mind held God in such high esteemthey wouldn't even say his name
like it was so holyor didn't belong on dirty mouths.
Keep your name out of my mouth. No.
(25:38):
They would just write the name.
They wouldn't even say it.
So for the Jew, this is like.
What are you saying?
What Paul is saying here.
Now we call the father ABBA.
It means daddy.
It's a it's a very intimate termof affection as a child.
As his beloved father. Daddy, Papa.
(25:59):
Now, because I've been adopted.
I'm not an outsider.
I am a co-chair with Christ himself.
So that now my relationship to the father
is as my papa.
Yeah, man.
I still remember when my boys were little,and I would come through the door
(26:21):
and they would run on daddy.
That's who
the father is for those in Christ.
His daddy.
Man, I know that some of you
carryaround a pretty profound daddy wound.
(26:46):
And you know what it's like.
Unfortunately,
to have a fatherwho's disappointed in you.
And you know whatit's like to have a daddy who at one time
had high hopes for you.
But you feel like all you've done.
(27:09):
Is confirmed.
Every negative thing he thought and said.
And I'm sorry.
That is not the father.
It is a father who loves you so much.
He placed all of your condemnation
(27:31):
on his beloved son.
Who adopts you now
into his familyand says all that stuff is gone.
You have all the rights,
all the relationship, all my love.
How proud I am of youthat I had for my son.
I have for you.
(27:54):
So yeah, I am your papa.
I'm such a good papa.
Isn't that good news?
Oh, I forgot this part.
All this is ours, providingwe suffer with him.
(28:16):
I got it.
What?
Like, go back to the no condemnationand go back to the papa on the daddy.
And that gets all the adoption.I like that.
Suffer with you? Yeah.
You know why?Because suffering is part of belonging.
And the Bible
says if Jesus suffered, we shouldn't thinkwe're going to get out of it.
(28:37):
First Peter two. First Peter four.
So same thing.
Let's go on.
Verse 18.
For I consider thatthe sufferings of this present time
are not worth comparing with the glorythat is to be revealed in us.
He says, look, here's the deal.
Our suffering is on one side,and this scale
and all this glorythat's waiting for us is on this side.
(29:00):
And he says,the suffering is not the need.
Done. Compare.
Paul said the same thingin Second Corinthians.
This light and momentary suffering palesin comparison to the weight of glory
that's ours.There's going to be those times.
But in comparison to eternity,
light and momentary,
we're going to talk about thatin a minute.
(29:21):
I want to come back to it,but I just need you to say that.
Look at verses 19 through 22.
Let me just read this
verse.
For the creation waits with eagerlonging for the revealing
of the sons of God, for the creationwas subjected to futility.
Not willingly, but because of himwho suggested it in hope
(29:42):
that the creation itself will be setfree from its bondage to corruption,
and obtain a freedom of the gloryof the children of God.
I'm going to explain thisjust saying with me.
For we know that the whole creationhas been groaning together
with the pains of childbirthuntil now. Here's what he's saying.
There's a progression in place hereand the progression.
Verse 18, verse 20, in verse 21 sayssuffering, futility, corruption.
(30:04):
There's a downward slideof this whole thing.
Now when God created everything, hepronounced it good, which meant beautiful.
It was perfect.
But then sin entered the world.
And ever since sin enter the world, it'sbeen this slide of suffering,
futility and corruption.
So much so that creation is groaning outbecause of this right now.
Like the creation was like,oh, and here it's the law.
(30:25):
The second law of thermodynamicsis at play.
Does it at smart people?
Nobody smart.
I love my church.
But the second law of thermodynamics.
Anybody know what is it?
Okay, well, I love my church.
I'll tell you.
It's the law of chaosor the law of entropy.
What's the second law of thermodynamicssays it's left unto itself.
(30:46):
If things deteriorate,they don't get better.
That's why evolution has such a hard timewith science.
Left unto itself, things deteriorate.
They don't get better.
It's the second law of thermodynamics,and it is the law.
And what the Scripture is sayingis because sin entered the world,
we experienced this not just creation,
but you and I.
(31:07):
If you're old enough,
you knowyou're experiencing the law of entropy
and the law of deterioration,
right?
He said. Sin enter the world.
This is a result.
And what we see is this groaningand it's going from
it's going from sufferingto telling you to create to corruption.
(31:27):
Verse 23,
and not only the creation,but we ourselves,
who have the first fruits of the spirit,groan inwardly as we wait
eagerly for the adoption of sonsor the redemption of our bodies.
Like we experience thisand we're groaning for this.
Like God,you got to do something at some point.
You got to make stuff betterbecause this is just this is horrible.
(31:49):
As Paul writes, there's three groanings
he mentions and he mentions the thirdgroaning here, watch this verse 26.
Likewise,the spirit helps us in our weaknesses,
for we don't know how to prayfor what we ought,
but the Spirit himself intercedesfor us with groanings too deep for words.
So there's three groanings that are takingplace the creation's groaning.
We're groaning,and the Holy Spirit's groaning.
(32:10):
The creation is groaningbecause it's going through entropy,
and it's waiting for this new childbirthof a new creation.
We groan because we're experiencingthe same entropy, and because of sin,
we're just deterioratingand we're groaning for this new life
in heaven, this this new reality.
But the Holy Spirit groans.
Let me tell you how the Holy Spiritgroans.
(32:31):
There's two ways. One
new leader live off with verse 27,
and he who searches hearts knowswhat is the mind of the spirit,
because the spirit intercedesfor the saints
according to the will of God, the HolyOne of the ways the Holy Spirit grows.
And this is happening right now,the one of the ways the Holy Spirit grows
is he enters the Holy Spirit, intercedes
(32:54):
in our prayers,and translates our prayers to the father.
Because sometimes, you know,I don't know what we should pray,
and sometimes we pray thingsthat are not the father's will.
And so the Holy Spirit sits therein intercession and says, no, no, no.
We we all know Carldidn't always talk about
let me interpret his prayers.
The God did this for Paul in the Bible.
(33:16):
The Bible says that Paulhad this thorn in his flesh.
He prayed three seasons of his lifethat God would take it away.
And he finally says, Godnever took it away, but he gave me grace.
Here's what was happening as he's
praying in the sea these drought seasonsthat God would take this thorn away.
The Holy Spirit's going, he is you
know, God.
Father. We know that's notthat's not what you want for Paul.
(33:38):
That's what he thinks.That's what you want.
He thinks that you want to heal him.
But we both know that's not what's.
So let me tell you what. He's reallypraying. He's really praying for Grace.
He doesn't know.He doesn't know he's praying for grace.
So, father, let me interpret this prayer.
Give him grace.
And I was like, yeah,that's what I want to do all the time.
If we would just agree with meand the Holy Spirit, intercede and groan.
So our prayers are in linewith the father's wills that make sense.
(34:01):
That's why sometimes when you are praying,nothing happens
because the Holy Spirit'sinterceding for us
and turning our words into the father'swill and groaning on our behalf.
Now verse
28 is going to be the kickerthat's going to make that okay
the other way. The Holy Spirit groans.
And I'm not going to get into thisright now.
(34:22):
I just need to address it is throughwhat the Bible calls the gift of tongues.
And the gift of tongues.
Primarily in the Bible
is the ability, the supernatural bethat God gives someone who doesn't know
a known language to speak that languagefor the proclamation of the gospel.
That's primarily how it's used.
There are a few other instanceswhere there is a supernatural gift
(34:42):
given to a person that utters a languagethat's known to God, and no human,
so that they can communicate to Godin a very direct way
without the interpretationnecessarily, of our normal prayer life.
The interesting thing about thatis when someone genuinely, you know
and don't think what you see on television
is the way it goes,because that's ridiculous. But,
(35:06):
generally when someone expresses that,
they don't even know what they're saying,it's just this language to God.
And, and it's it's not very often.
And it is.
Please understand the that gift of tongues
is not by any stretch,any sign of any special anything.
Paul said, I wish that's the least giftyou would want.
I wish you would really havethe gift of prophecy,
which is to interpretGod's Word and tell the truth of it. So.
(35:30):
But that is so all of that,okay, all of that
gets us to the cruxof of this section in verse 28.
And we know
we don't hope, we don't think
we know that for those who love God,all things work
together for good, for thosewho are called according to his purpose.
(35:53):
This is the firstyou need to have underlined.
You need to have memorized.
You need to have highlighted.
This is a verse you got to come back to.
There are someone who said that this verse
is the soft pillow for a tired heart.
There are some things we will never know
(36:13):
and we got to be okaywithout knowing them.
When we get to heaven,you and I will not know all things.
There's only one who knows all things,and that is God.
There are some things we don't knowand we will never know
when we got to be okay with that.
There are some things we should knowas Christians.
We should know Ephesians for spiritualwarfare first Corinthians 12.
(36:34):
Spiritual gifts.There are some things we should know,
and though there are some thingswe don't know
and we'll never know,there are some things we should know.
There are some things we do know.
And one of the things we do knowis Romans 828.
We know that God works all things togetherfor the good of those
who love him,and are called according to his purpose.
(36:56):
When the Bible says, when Paul users worktogether, this is the you.
We have to understand this.
All things work together.
That word worktogether is a Greek word called synergy.
Oh, synergy.
And it means literally to combineaccording to the activity of two or more
agents to produce a joint effect greaterthan the sum of their separate effects.
(37:21):
Okay, in simple terms,
it means the sum of a whole bunch of stuff
is greater than the
pain of the individual parts.
God works all of the pain points
of the individual partstogether and synergize.
(37:41):
Is it for something good
that's working together?
That's synergy.
You and I live in the world
of our reality,of the individual pain points,
and all we seeis the individual pain point.
And because we live in this worldof individual pain points,
(38:01):
when we experience those pain points,we cry out, God, why,
oh God, how could you let God?
Why are you allowing God step in?
God, do something. God, this isn't right.
This isn't good at all
because all we're doing is resistingin the individual pain points.
But what the truth of the Bible saysis God works all those individual pain
points and sinner Jesus, all of them.He doesn't.
(38:24):
He doesn't erase them.
He doesn't remove them.
He works within all those of individualpain points and synergize
all of it together for good.
Do you understand?
When we cry out, God, change the pain,pain point,
change the pain point,change the pain point.
God says, no, that's not what I have eversaid.
(38:45):
I will do what I will do.
When you go through loss,
when you're in, feel likeyou're not wanted, when you experience
pain, when you're sick,when you're all these things.
I am energizing it all.
You're not goingthrough it because I'm condemning you.
Because there's
no condemnation
(39:05):
and because I love you so much.
You are my son and my daughter,
and you have all the rightsof relations with you that Jesus has.
And I synergizeeverything in Jesus's life.
Then Jesus go through pain.
You think the garden,the crucifixion wasn't pain.
And he said, father, take it from me.
And the foe said, no,I am using it for good.
(39:31):
And so because he suffered so well, we.
Are you understanding?
Romans 828.
Can I trust God's synergy?
That's the question.
And when you know that fact.
(39:51):
I'm not frustrated in my present.
Because God,
in this present momentright now is synergize ING it
for those who love him.
If you don't
love Christ and are the fathersthrough the son,
your pain point will be all you know
and it will get too much for you.
(40:14):
For me, I know.
Now let me say this.
Synergizewith all things together for good.
Here's the thing.
God is the one who defines what is good,
not you. And I.
Because our defaultof the definition of good
(40:36):
is ease, comfort, pleasure.
Right.
And so God says, no,I'm standardizing it for good.
But I'm going to be the definer of good,not you.
And that's why the Bible says, Jesus,for the joy
set before him endured the cross,because that cross was not good pleasure.
(40:56):
More fun.
God defined it as good.
And that gave
Christ joy to go through that pain point
because he knewfather was synergize ING it for good.
That's the promise of God
for those who are in Christ.
(41:17):
When we go through those pain
points, we want a miracle.
A miracle is when God intervenes
in the normal stream of human historyand changes he.
He changes the natural laws.
He steps in and changes the natural laws.
That's not oftentimes how God works.
It's a miracle.
(41:38):
The way God energizes things is throughhis providence, not his miracle.
Providence says this Providence saysI will.
I won't circumvent natural lawand do a miracle.
I will work within natural lawsto synergize all things together.
So when we go through those pain points,we want them here.
God, God, step in right now.
(41:59):
God changeyou right now. God move right now.
God act right now.
And God says, I'm not goingto, providentially all synergize
all things together.
Trust me in this I love you.
You're mine. I got you.
Let me work my providence.
Be patient and trust.
(42:20):
I am providentially
synergize all things.
And the question we have to ask
ourselves, is that enough?
Is it enough for you to trust himthat way?
There's a lot we could still talk through.
(42:44):
But I just want to leave you this.
If you are in Christ,there's no condemnation.
You got nothing to make up for.
If you're in Christ,
you have been adopted as his child.
And all the rights
and blessings of Christ himself are yours.
(43:06):
As an co-heirs with Christ.
And right now he is synergism.
Even your pain points for good.
You can trust him
and I invite you to
when you get this it.
(43:27):
I don't know how to explain it.
It changes your entire perspective aboutlife, about your life and about the world.
There
is somuch stability and there's so much comfort
and there's so much easeand there's so much liberation.
When you know this.
When you start to embody this truth,
(43:50):
it's just beautiful.
Some of you are or are way too
miserableand too stressed and too worried.
Because you have not internalizedthe truth of these passages,
it's yours for the taking.
Why don't you pray with me?
(44:11):
Father, I thank you
that you've loved uswith an everlasting love.
I thank you that you are for usand not against us.
I think that we can standbefore you with no condemnation,
and that we don't have to make upfor anything of our past,
and that we don't have to ensureanything of our future.
(44:33):
I think that you've chosen us
and adopted us as your children, your kid,
your son, your daughter.
That you are rightnow, in this moment, synergize
all things, even the pain points for good.
Father, we want to believethat we have to believe it.
(44:53):
And we want to trust you.
So would you.
Here in this moment,these hearts that are turning
entrust to you.
Friends, I don't invite you in this moment
to step into this new life.
It begins with this
(45:15):
just saying to the Father God, I agree.
I have lived outside of the boundariesof your law and I'm a sinner.
And I accept what Jesus did on the cross
for my forgiveness.
Thank you that I stand before you
with no condemnation, completely free.
(45:37):
Then tell him
thank you that you have adopted meinto your family,
and I receive all the spiritual blessings
that you would give me.
Not because I'm good,
but because I'm adopted.
And I will trust.
And I will rest the best I can
(46:00):
in the confidence and convictionthat you are.
Synergize
all things together for good.
And I allow you to define what is good.
(46:22):
Help me love you more
and trust you more fully.
Father, I thank you for this day.
I thank you for these moments.
I thank you for your wordthat continues to speak to us.
I pray, father, that as we take steps
into living out and flesh outthis new life,
that you would constantly remind usthrough the spirit within us,
(46:46):
that there is no condemnation, that we areyour kids, that your synergize.
All things are working things together.
We can trust you.
You are a good fatherand you do that which is good.
Have us,
have us.
We give ourselves to you.
In your name I pray.
Amen.
(47:06):
Listen, I love you and I lovegoing through scripture with you.
It's so good. Yeah.
Is Romans eight not just wonderful?
It's incredible.
I know some of you do.
I want you all to love it.
Like this is just good stuff.
So here's this week.
Read Romans eight, the wholethe whole 39 verses.
(47:26):
Okay?
Let the Holy Spirit bringto your remembrance what we talked about
and then read ahead for whatwe're going to talk about next week.
It just gets better from here.
If you know it,it just gets better from here.
And live that live.
As though there's no condemnation
and live as a full fledged
(47:48):
child of the father.
You understand I'm saying not a
all the rights, all the earth are all
of Christ himself.
It's amazing.
And then be convinced that this weekwhen stuff happens,
(48:10):
your mind is going to go immediatelyto war.
I can't wait to seehow you're going to synergize this one.
But I know you are.
You understand that he is.
We're celebratingand he is worthy to to trust him.
All right, let's let's sing.
You. Without question.
That is the gospel and without question.
That is good news.
And that's what we're studyingas we go through the book of Romans.
Romans is a is a profound
(00:22):
explanation
of what is the realityfor those who are in Christ,
who we were and who we are.
I don't know how one would say that.
One chapter of the Bibleis better than another.
They're all inspired,but it feels like Romans is better than
(00:44):
Romans, eightis better than all the others.
The Word of God
is the diamond to us from God.
Romanseight is the sparkle of that diamond.
I forgot who was, but someone said
that if you should ever drop your Bible,
it should naturally open to Romans eightbecause you've studied it so much.
(01:11):
Romans eight is a it's a profound chapter.
We're going to take two weeksto go through it.
The first 20 verses todayand the 29 through 39
next week.
Romans eight
has the answer to every,
evil that we goexperience past, present, and future.
Here's what I mean.
(01:33):
When you're haunted by your past,Romans eight,
there's no condemnation about your past.
When you're frustrated by your present.
Romans 828.
We know that God works things togetherfor good.
When you're anxious about your future.
Romans eight 3039.
(01:53):
Nothing can separate youfrom the love of God.
So whether there's this haunting thing.
Yeah, but my past is
as far asChrist is good. God is concerned.
There's no condemnation about that.
When you just frustratethe way things are right now,
you can know that even in the frustration,God's working it together.
(02:14):
Don't worry
when you're anxious about the future. Hey,
remember that God loves youand you can never be separated
from that love and nothing to worry about.
Do you understand? Yes.
So it's going to be funto unpack these things together.
(02:35):
There's a lot to get through
and so that we can get through it.
Verse one.
There is therefore now
no condemnationfor those who are in Christ Jesus.
When Paul says, there's thereforenow the therefore is for a reason.
It's therefore the reason of chapterseven.
(02:57):
Chapter seven is this long
treatise about what a failure he is.
As a religious person, you just can't keepall of the religious law.
He's a he's enslaved to his own sinnature.
You just can't be right all the time.
And at the end of it, he says,how do I get free from this?
He says, thanks be to God throughJesus Christ our Lord.
(03:20):
Therefore, because of what Jesus has done,
there is no condemnationfor those who are in Jesus.
That's what he's saying.
When Paul uses the words,there's no condemnation.
Think of it like this.
There's not even one ounceof condemnation against you.
(03:40):
If you're in Christ,there's not even one ounce
of condemnation that the father that Godthe Father holds against you.
There's not even a glimmer of a shadow.
There is no condemnation.
There's not even a hintof any condemnation against you
if you're in Christ Jesus.
Complete freedom
(04:01):
from the sin of our past,already freed from the sin of our future.
There's no condemnation.
Please don't ever erroneously think
because this line of thinkingis directly from the devil.
It's a lie from the devil.
When we start thinking,
okay, now I know why I lost my job.
(04:22):
I know why I'm sick.
Because God's punishing me
for what I've done.
That is the life of the devil. Why?
Because there's no condemnation.
God does not condemn you over what you've
done, and is not condemning youover what you will do,
because he took the condemnationthat we do deserve and put it on his son,
(04:45):
so that now when we're in His Son,he, Jesus, already absolved
the condemnation, though, so that for usthere is now therefore no condemnation.
God doesn't hold grudges.
God doesn't get payback.
Don't ever fall
prey to the devil that makes you think,well, yeah, it's because I screwed up.
So God's punishing menow. That's not how God works.
(05:10):
There may be
legitimate natural consequencesto our actions.
And sometimes God lets us feelthe full weight of those.
Sometimes he's merciful, and we don't.
When those times come, here's what we do.
We repent.
God, I agree with you.
And then we say, father,give me all that your grace allows.
(05:32):
And let God temper back thennatural consequence.
Does that make sense? You follow me.
But as far as God getting upsetand leveling something against you,
he doesn't work that way.There's no condemnation.
You follow me? Yes.
I hope you're understandingthe liberation of this.
No longer does anybody who is in Christ
walk around with oh my gosh, God is still
(05:56):
I gotta I got a lot to make up for it.
Like when
when am I going to be able to appease him?
Those are lies from the devil.
And as long as the devil can convince youthat that's who God is
and that's his character,
you will live under the shoutof condemnation that is not yours to own.
(06:19):
That'salready been leveled against Christ.
And he has set you.
He set me completely free of it.
No, not even a shadow.
Not an ounce.
Don't ownsomething that belongs to another.
(06:39):
Your condemnation belongs to Jesus.
That's pretty good news, Billy, right?
Yeah.
I don't watch this.
Verses two three, four
for, I'm going to
Paul is going to write a like he'she's he's very verbose.
There's a lot of words he usesand he writes like a lawyer.
(07:01):
I'm going to read it alland you might get lost in the words.
We're going to come backand talk through it all.
For the love. The spirit of life has set
you free in ChristJesus from the law of sin and death.
For God has done what the law, weakened bythe flesh,
could not do by sending his own sonin the likeness of sinful flesh
and for sin he condemns sin in the fleshin order
(07:24):
that the righteous requirement of the lawmight be fulfilled
in us who walk not according to the flesh,but according to the spirit.
You got it?
Let me, let me, let me slow downand explain some stuff.
Paul uses this word law,but he use it in two different ways.
And it's very important to understandthe ways he uses this word law.
(07:47):
One of the ways Paul uses
the word law is the driving forceand the impulse.
It just is what it is.
We don't establish it.
We haven't declared it.
It just is like the law of gravity.
There's no act of Congressor Municipality.
That said, from this dayforward, gravity exists, right?
It did.
(08:08):
The second waythe law is used as as a legal rule
and a boundary like the speed limit.
Municipalities decidewhat the speed limit is.
So if that's not a natural,that's just what the city has said.
And so if you bypass that, you've brokenthe law.
You follow.
Okay.
So in it, when Paul says in and verse two,
(08:29):
for the law of the spirit of life has setyou free.
In Jesus, in ChristJesus from the law of sin and death.
He's using the first idea,the driving force, the impulse
for the driving force of the spiritthat is now in you because you're in
Christ, has set you freebecause you used to live
according to the driving forcethan the impulse of sin.
(08:52):
You understand?
So the driving for the lawthat was at work in you
before you came toJesus was the driving force of sin.
But now that you're in Christ,there's a new driving force there, new law
inside you, a driving force, an impulse.
Okay.
And the
reason Jesus had to do thatis this verse three, For God has done
(09:14):
what the law,the legal rules and boundaries
were not able to do by sending his son.
So when, when God's when the father sentthe son and the son died on the cross,
he fulfilled all the legal rules andboundaries of the written religious law.
He fulfilled it all.
So now when we're in Jesus, he's fulfilledall the legal rules and boundaries.
(09:38):
So now I'm free to put to deaththe old driving force of sin,
and live in new life of the new drivingforce of the spirit.
You follow?
Am I clear?
I gotta be clear on this.
Anybody any questions?
All right.
So now we follow this newlaw according to the spirit.
(10:04):
When we went through
chapter seven last week, I don't knowif any of you picked up on it.
There are 47 personal pronounsthat Paul uses in chapter 747.
I, me, my.
And it's all about his failure.
It's all about his sin.
He cannot make his life right,for it's all self-focused
because he's talking about how wretched hehow many we get that we get.
(10:28):
If you and I can't live up to our ownstandard,
how do we thinkwe're gonna live up to the God standard?
And so, Paul, 47 personal pronouns
in chapters one through seven of Romans.
The Spirit of God.
The spirit is only used two timesin this chapter alone.
Chapter eight. It use 19 times.
Here's why.
(10:49):
Because Paul is drawing a line in the sandbetween the self and the Spirit of God.
He's making the
distinction in thisin your self, in your flesh.
You have no power
with the Spirit of God.
You have both power and capacity.
I have a new power in me.
(11:09):
I don't have to live that wayand not have a new capacity.
I'm able to, not because of who I am,because who I'm in.
You follow.
Sometimes I feel like
I get a lot more excited than you do.
(11:31):
For the mind set on the flesh.
This is what this is.
Verse seven.
Let me go back to five.
Let me go to verse five.
For those who live
according to the flesh, settheir minds on the things of the flesh.
But those who live according to the spiritset their minds on things of the spirit.
For to set your mind onthe flesh is death,
(11:52):
but to set your mind onthe spirit is life, and peace.
For the mind that is set on the flesh
is hostile to God, forit does not submit to God's law.
Indeed, it cannot submit to God's law.
Thosewho are in the flesh cannot please God.
Let me show you what this is saying.
When Paul uses this word flesh,the mind that set on the flesh,
(12:15):
what he's talking about is, is the mindthat still on just worldly stuff.
And Jesusaddressed this back in Matthew seven,
and in Matthew seven he says, the mindthat is set on the flesh,
the worldly stuff, is worriedabout what you're going to wear.
You're worriedabout what you're going to eat.
You're worriedabout what you're going to drive.
You're worried about your retirement,right?
(12:35):
It's all the things that we getwrapped up in in this world.
And he said, the mindthat set on the flesh is
it's justit's just preoccupied with all this stuff.
And he said that
mind is hostile to God,not contrary to God.
Actual hostility towards him, towards God,
because a mind that is set in the flesh,the things of this world
(12:58):
is so worriedabout the things that this rule
that they cannot live by faith.
And the Bible saysthe only way to please God.
Hebrews 11 six is by faith.
It's the mind that says.
But what about my pursuit of all the
(13:20):
all the important things in life?
And when that is our mindset,
when that's our drive,
it's an indicationwe are living according to the flesh.
And we cannot please God that a lifethat's driven by the pursuit
of the things that is hostile to God,
(13:41):
not just contrary. And
and so the
it's a mind that set bywhat can I acquire,
what can I enjoy.
What can be my acquisition?
What.
Here's how you know where your mind is.
(14:02):
Just as a real simple question.
Ask yourself what dominates dominates
my mind and heart.
What dominates it?
The things of this world.
Eat. Sleep. Drink.
Live. Drive.
Retire. Future.
When? That's it.
(14:22):
We cease living by faith.
And the faith is the only wayto please God.
A lifethat's focused on that cannot please God.
You understand?
And it's just.
That's how we used to live.
And like this law in usthat drove us to all this earthly stuff.
(14:43):
But now
in Christ, there's a new law in us.
I don't have to live obsessedand consumed with the acquisition.
Of things.
Worry.
The verses nine and 11.
You, however,
(15:04):
are not in the flesh but in the spirit.
If in fact the Spirit of Goddwells in you.
Anyone who does not have the Spirit ofChrist does not belong to him.
Verse ten.
But if Christ is in you,although the body is dead
because of sin,the spirit of the spirit is life.
Because of righteousness.
If the Spirit of him who raisedJesus from the dead dwells in you,
(15:27):
he raised Jesus ChristJesus from the dead will also
give life to your mortal bodiesthrough His Spirit who dwells in you.
Here's what he's saying.
When someone accepts Jesusas the leader of their life, immediately
the Bible teaches that the father implantshis spirit in them.
A new law.
(15:47):
When that spirit is inside of us,
we're no longer slaves to the old law.
And because we're not slavesto the old law.
We have a new impulse,as you actually have the desire
to walk rightly before God.
Not because you have to,not because you're religious,
(16:08):
but because there's a new driving lawin your inside.
Right? Do you understand?
Some of you feel this,
that there's a new impulse in you.
You're not under compulsionbecause there's no condemnation,
but there's a desire.
There's a true want to.
That's the Holy Spirit in you.
(16:29):
The purpose of the Holy Spirit in usis to make us holy.
That's the purpose of the spirit.
Now, we think that if we allow God toour lives, we will be happy.
The purpose of the
Holy Spirit in us is not to make us happy,but to make us holy.
Here's the good thing.
The quickest way to happiness is holiness.
(16:50):
Some of the most miserablepeople on the planet
are Christians who are not walking in linewith the spirit.
They're miserable.
And if that's one of you,
I have a lot of churchesI could recommend for you
rather than their.
I, like God, said I'm a putmy spirit in you because make you holy.
(17:13):
Because the quickest way toyour happiness is holiness.
And this is the new lifethat he's given us.
And so we don't have to obey
the impulses of the old life anymore.
Now look at verses 12 and 13.
Oh, let me say this.Let me say this is important.
Verse
one says, there's no condemnation, right?
(17:35):
This passage talks about the Holy Spirit'sinvigoration.
So gives us no condemnation.
Plus the Holy Spirit invigorationequals life transformation.
That's how this works.
Some of us have triedto transform our lives by good behavior
and new habits and self-discipline,and all of that falls
(17:56):
far short, right?
And what Scripture tells us is, listen,
in Christ there's no condemnation.
And when you take no condemnationand have the Holy Spirit's invigoration,
that's what creates the lifetransformation, not because you have to,
because you're under no obligation,because there's no condemnation.
(18:18):
Now there's a new law inside.
So I want to do you understand?
And so then what we have to do.
Because now there's a new one too.
So then, brothers and sisters,we are debtors, not to the flesh.
The old law to liveaccording to that old law of flesh.
For if you liveaccording to that flesh, you'll die.
Pause button.
(18:39):
When Adam was in the Garden of Eden
and God said, if you eat of this tree,you will surely die.
He ate of the tree.
Did he die immediately?
No, because God wasn'ttalking about immediate death.
He was talking about spiritual death.
And he says,if you live according to that law of sin,
you are deadspiritually and forever separated from me.
(19:01):
So but if by the spirityou put to death the deeds of the body,
what you live.
You live.
So the old lawthat was in us before we came to Jesus,
if you've come to Jesus, this old law was,was, was, was raging inside.
Now you come to Jesus, the Holy Spirit.
(19:22):
There's a new law. Here'swhat happens. The old law.
The old law screamsthat you everyday feed me.
Pay attention to me.
Don't let me die.
Because the new law in us,the Spirit of God in us,
is starting to starve out the old one.
And that old one doesn'twant to die too quick.
(19:43):
And so that old one screams,
don't ignore me.
Pay attention to me.
I still matter.
I still got you.
Feed me
right.
That's the war that goes on.
And we have to work
(20:04):
with the Holy Spirit's work.
To allow that newnessto start to really go.
So it's like when you're rightis if you ride a bicycle uphill.
That wasn't electric.
You ride a bicycle uphilland you're working hard.
It's really easy.
And the moment you stop pedaling,what happens is,
(20:24):
yeah, you slow downand you fall over or go backwards.
So the Holy Spirit is working in us
to ridethat bike uphill to learn a new life.
So we work with the mechanism of it.
The moment we stop working in conjunctionwith the Holy Spirit.
(20:45):
The old analogy is you got two dogs,you only feed one.
Which one is going to live?
The one you feed.
Other parts of Scripture says,put to death the deeds of the body.
Starve it out, starve it,
though you've been made to act like it
and take this old lifeand starve that to death.
(21:06):
And as you do, it will scream at you,and it will yell at you,
and it will demand attention,and it will demand to be fed.
And you just keep starving it out.
Not because it makes you a good Christianbecause there's no condemnation anyway,
but because it allows the
new law, new spirit to thrive.
You understand?
(21:30):
This stuff is so good.
Verses 1417.
Look at this.
It's a long section. Let me read it.
We'll talk about it.
For all who are led bythe Spirit of God are sons and daughters.
Children of God.
Let me just.
I just had of the slide.
Though.
Every human is a creation of God.
(21:51):
Not everybody is a child of God.
Only those who have a relationshipwith Jesus
by because of, through faith,
because of grace, is a child of God.
So everyone is a creation.
Children of God
are those every relationshipthrough Jesus.
So we clear
(22:12):
for all who are led by the Spirit of God,our sons and daughters of God.
For you did not receive the spiritof slavery to fall back into fear,
but you have receivedthe spirit of adoption
as sons and daughters, as childrenby whom we cry, ABBA, father.
The Spirit Himself bears witness withour spirit that we are children of God.
And if children, then heirs heirs of Godand fellow heirs with Christ provided
(22:35):
here it is we suffer with him in orderthat we may also be glorified with him.
Let me unpack this.
When Paul talks about adoption,
adoption was notit was not known in the Jewish world.
Jews had no concept of adoption.
Okay, once born in the familyor the family, there was no adoption.
The Jewish and the Roman world,this was a huge thing.
(22:56):
Adoption was hugeand they understood what it meant.
Let me tell you what adoptionmeant in Rome with Romans.
When they would adopt someone,a benevolent person or family of means
would find somebody worthy of adoption.
Not just children, but grown adults.
And they would, offerto adopt them into their family.
(23:20):
And when that transaction happened,all of the debt, all of the shame,
all of the familybaggage was erased from every account.
And the one who was adopted in the family.
Now was credited with every right,
every financial blessing,every authority, as if a blood child.
(23:45):
That's the power of adoption.
That everything that was is no more. Why?
Because we know. Verse one.No condemnation.
And then the family I'm adopted into.
I now have all the rights,all the privilege,
all the authority of that family.
And Paul will say,if we are children of God,
(24:08):
adopted by him, we are heirs of God.
And what co-heirs with Christ
get this as adopted children.
We have every blessing
that Jesus has is ours.
The relationship.
Y'all believe you're getting it.
(24:28):
The relationship that the son has withthe father
is our relationship with the father.
Heirs of God.
Co-heirs with Christ.
Every spiritual blessing,
every ounce of beauty of relationshipand authority that Jesus has
with the father I have with the father,and you have with the father in Christ.
(24:52):
Amazing.
So why do we walk aroundlike the dirty step kids?
I don't want to buy anybody.
I lost my place here.
I want to understand what this is.
(25:15):
We've been adopted.
And so now we cry out, ABBA, father!
The Jewish
mind held God in such high esteemthey wouldn't even say his name
like it was so holyor didn't belong on dirty mouths.
Keep your name out of my mouth. No.
(25:38):
They would just write the name.
They wouldn't even say it.
So for the Jew, this is like.
What are you saying?
What Paul is saying here.
Now we call the father ABBA.
It means daddy.
It's a it's a very intimate termof affection as a child.
As his beloved father. Daddy, Papa.
(25:59):
Now, because I've been adopted.
I'm not an outsider.
I am a co-chair with Christ himself.
So that now my relationship to the father
is as my papa.
Yeah, man.
I still remember when my boys were little,and I would come through the door
(26:21):
and they would run on daddy.
That's who
the father is for those in Christ.
His daddy.
Man, I know that some of you
carryaround a pretty profound daddy wound.
(26:46):
And you know what it's like.
Unfortunately,
to have a fatherwho's disappointed in you.
And you know whatit's like to have a daddy who at one time
had high hopes for you.
But you feel like all you've done.
(27:09):
Is confirmed.
Every negative thing he thought and said.
And I'm sorry.
That is not the father.
It is a father who loves you so much.
He placed all of your condemnation
(27:31):
on his beloved son.
Who adopts you now
into his familyand says all that stuff is gone.
You have all the rights,
all the relationship, all my love.
How proud I am of youthat I had for my son.
I have for you.
(27:54):
So yeah, I am your papa.
I'm such a good papa.
Isn't that good news?
Oh, I forgot this part.
All this is ours, providingwe suffer with him.
(28:16):
I got it.
What?
Like, go back to the no condemnationand go back to the papa on the daddy.
And that gets all the adoption.I like that.
Suffer with you? Yeah.
You know why?Because suffering is part of belonging.
And the Bible
says if Jesus suffered, we shouldn't thinkwe're going to get out of it.
(28:37):
First Peter two. First Peter four.
So same thing.
Let's go on.
Verse 18.
For I consider thatthe sufferings of this present time
are not worth comparing with the glorythat is to be revealed in us.
He says, look, here's the deal.
Our suffering is on one side,and this scale
and all this glorythat's waiting for us is on this side.
(29:00):
And he says,the suffering is not the need.
Done. Compare.
Paul said the same thingin Second Corinthians.
This light and momentary suffering palesin comparison to the weight of glory
that's ours.There's going to be those times.
But in comparison to eternity,
light and momentary,
we're going to talk about thatin a minute.
(29:21):
I want to come back to it,but I just need you to say that.
Look at verses 19 through 22.
Let me just read this
verse.
For the creation waits with eagerlonging for the revealing
of the sons of God, for the creationwas subjected to futility.
Not willingly, but because of himwho suggested it in hope
(29:42):
that the creation itself will be setfree from its bondage to corruption,
and obtain a freedom of the gloryof the children of God.
I'm going to explain thisjust saying with me.
For we know that the whole creationhas been groaning together
with the pains of childbirthuntil now. Here's what he's saying.
There's a progression in place hereand the progression.
Verse 18, verse 20, in verse 21 sayssuffering, futility, corruption.
(30:04):
There's a downward slideof this whole thing.
Now when God created everything, hepronounced it good, which meant beautiful.
It was perfect.
But then sin entered the world.
And ever since sin enter the world, it'sbeen this slide of suffering,
futility and corruption.
So much so that creation is groaning outbecause of this right now.
Like the creation was like,oh, and here it's the law.
(30:25):
The second law of thermodynamicsis at play.
Does it at smart people?
Nobody smart.
I love my church.
But the second law of thermodynamics.
Anybody know what is it?
Okay, well, I love my church.
I'll tell you.
It's the law of chaosor the law of entropy.
What's the second law of thermodynamicssays it's left unto itself.
(30:46):
If things deteriorate,they don't get better.
That's why evolution has such a hard timewith science.
Left unto itself, things deteriorate.
They don't get better.
It's the second law of thermodynamics,and it is the law.
And what the Scripture is sayingis because sin entered the world,
we experienced this not just creation,
but you and I.
(31:07):
If you're old enough,
you knowyou're experiencing the law of entropy
and the law of deterioration,
right?
He said. Sin enter the world.
This is a result.
And what we see is this groaningand it's going from
it's going from sufferingto telling you to create to corruption.
(31:27):
Verse 23,
and not only the creation,but we ourselves,
who have the first fruits of the spirit,groan inwardly as we wait
eagerly for the adoption of sonsor the redemption of our bodies.
Like we experience thisand we're groaning for this.
Like God,you got to do something at some point.
You got to make stuff betterbecause this is just this is horrible.
(31:49):
As Paul writes, there's three groanings
he mentions and he mentions the thirdgroaning here, watch this verse 26.
Likewise,the spirit helps us in our weaknesses,
for we don't know how to prayfor what we ought,
but the Spirit himself intercedesfor us with groanings too deep for words.
So there's three groanings that are takingplace the creation's groaning.
We're groaning,and the Holy Spirit's groaning.
(32:10):
The creation is groaningbecause it's going through entropy,
and it's waiting for this new childbirthof a new creation.
We groan because we're experiencingthe same entropy, and because of sin,
we're just deterioratingand we're groaning for this new life
in heaven, this this new reality.
But the Holy Spirit groans.
Let me tell you how the Holy Spiritgroans.
(32:31):
There's two ways. One
new leader live off with verse 27,
and he who searches hearts knowswhat is the mind of the spirit,
because the spirit intercedesfor the saints
according to the will of God, the HolyOne of the ways the Holy Spirit grows.
And this is happening right now,the one of the ways the Holy Spirit grows
is he enters the Holy Spirit, intercedes
(32:54):
in our prayers,and translates our prayers to the father.
Because sometimes, you know,I don't know what we should pray,
and sometimes we pray thingsthat are not the father's will.
And so the Holy Spirit sits therein intercession and says, no, no, no.
We we all know Carldidn't always talk about
let me interpret his prayers.
The God did this for Paul in the Bible.
(33:16):
The Bible says that Paulhad this thorn in his flesh.
He prayed three seasons of his lifethat God would take it away.
And he finally says, Godnever took it away, but he gave me grace.
Here's what was happening as he's
praying in the sea these drought seasonsthat God would take this thorn away.
The Holy Spirit's going, he is you
know, God.
Father. We know that's notthat's not what you want for Paul.
(33:38):
That's what he thinks.That's what you want.
He thinks that you want to heal him.
But we both know that's not what's.
So let me tell you what. He's reallypraying. He's really praying for Grace.
He doesn't know.He doesn't know he's praying for grace.
So, father, let me interpret this prayer.
Give him grace.
And I was like, yeah,that's what I want to do all the time.
If we would just agree with meand the Holy Spirit, intercede and groan.
So our prayers are in linewith the father's wills that make sense.
(34:01):
That's why sometimes when you are praying,nothing happens
because the Holy Spirit'sinterceding for us
and turning our words into the father'swill and groaning on our behalf.
Now verse
28 is going to be the kickerthat's going to make that okay
the other way. The Holy Spirit groans.
And I'm not going to get into thisright now.
(34:22):
I just need to address it is throughwhat the Bible calls the gift of tongues.
And the gift of tongues.
Primarily in the Bible
is the ability, the supernatural bethat God gives someone who doesn't know
a known language to speak that languagefor the proclamation of the gospel.
That's primarily how it's used.
There are a few other instanceswhere there is a supernatural gift
(34:42):
given to a person that utters a languagethat's known to God, and no human,
so that they can communicate to Godin a very direct way
without the interpretationnecessarily, of our normal prayer life.
The interesting thing about thatis when someone genuinely, you know
and don't think what you see on television
is the way it goes,because that's ridiculous. But,
(35:06):
generally when someone expresses that,
they don't even know what they're saying,it's just this language to God.
And, and it's it's not very often.
And it is.
Please understand the that gift of tongues
is not by any stretch,any sign of any special anything.
Paul said, I wish that's the least giftyou would want.
I wish you would really havethe gift of prophecy,
which is to interpretGod's Word and tell the truth of it. So.
(35:30):
But that is so all of that,okay, all of that
gets us to the cruxof of this section in verse 28.
And we know
we don't hope, we don't think
we know that for those who love God,all things work
together for good, for thosewho are called according to his purpose.
(35:53):
This is the firstyou need to have underlined.
You need to have memorized.
You need to have highlighted.
This is a verse you got to come back to.
There are someone who said that this verse
is the soft pillow for a tired heart.
There are some things we will never know
(36:13):
and we got to be okaywithout knowing them.
When we get to heaven,you and I will not know all things.
There's only one who knows all things,and that is God.
There are some things we don't knowand we will never know
when we got to be okay with that.
There are some things we should knowas Christians.
We should know Ephesians for spiritualwarfare first Corinthians 12.
(36:34):
Spiritual gifts.There are some things we should know,
and though there are some thingswe don't know
and we'll never know,there are some things we should know.
There are some things we do know.
And one of the things we do knowis Romans 828.
We know that God works all things togetherfor the good of those
who love him,and are called according to his purpose.
(36:56):
When the Bible says, when Paul users worktogether, this is the you.
We have to understand this.
All things work together.
That word worktogether is a Greek word called synergy.
Oh, synergy.
And it means literally to combineaccording to the activity of two or more
agents to produce a joint effect greaterthan the sum of their separate effects.
(37:21):
Okay, in simple terms,
it means the sum of a whole bunch of stuff
is greater than the
pain of the individual parts.
God works all of the pain points
of the individual partstogether and synergize.
(37:41):
Is it for something good
that's working together?
That's synergy.
You and I live in the world
of our reality,of the individual pain points,
and all we seeis the individual pain point.
And because we live in this worldof individual pain points,
(38:01):
when we experience those pain points,we cry out, God, why,
oh God, how could you let God?
Why are you allowing God step in?
God, do something. God, this isn't right.
This isn't good at all
because all we're doing is resistingin the individual pain points.
But what the truth of the Bible saysis God works all those individual pain
points and sinner Jesus, all of them.He doesn't.
(38:24):
He doesn't erase them.
He doesn't remove them.
He works within all those of individualpain points and synergize
all of it together for good.
Do you understand?
When we cry out, God, change the pain,pain point,
change the pain point,change the pain point.
God says, no, that's not what I have eversaid.
(38:45):
I will do what I will do.
When you go through loss,
when you're in, feel likeyou're not wanted, when you experience
pain, when you're sick,when you're all these things.
I am energizing it all.
You're not goingthrough it because I'm condemning you.
Because there's
no condemnation
(39:05):
and because I love you so much.
You are my son and my daughter,
and you have all the rightsof relations with you that Jesus has.
And I synergizeeverything in Jesus's life.
Then Jesus go through pain.
You think the garden,the crucifixion wasn't pain.
And he said, father, take it from me.
And the foe said, no,I am using it for good.
(39:31):
And so because he suffered so well, we.
Are you understanding?
Romans 828.
Can I trust God's synergy?
That's the question.
And when you know that fact.
(39:51):
I'm not frustrated in my present.
Because God,
in this present momentright now is synergize ING it
for those who love him.
If you don't
love Christ and are the fathersthrough the son,
your pain point will be all you know
and it will get too much for you.
(40:14):
For me, I know.
Now let me say this.
Synergizewith all things together for good.
Here's the thing.
God is the one who defines what is good,
not you. And I.
Because our defaultof the definition of good
(40:36):
is ease, comfort, pleasure.
Right.
And so God says, no,I'm standardizing it for good.
But I'm going to be the definer of good,not you.
And that's why the Bible says, Jesus,for the joy
set before him endured the cross,because that cross was not good pleasure.
(40:56):
More fun.
God defined it as good.
And that gave
Christ joy to go through that pain point
because he knewfather was synergize ING it for good.
That's the promise of God
for those who are in Christ.
(41:17):
When we go through those pain
points, we want a miracle.
A miracle is when God intervenes
in the normal stream of human historyand changes he.
He changes the natural laws.
He steps in and changes the natural laws.
That's not oftentimes how God works.
It's a miracle.
(41:38):
The way God energizes things is throughhis providence, not his miracle.
Providence says this Providence saysI will.
I won't circumvent natural lawand do a miracle.
I will work within natural lawsto synergize all things together.
So when we go through those pain points,we want them here.
God, God, step in right now.
(41:59):
God changeyou right now. God move right now.
God act right now.
And God says, I'm not goingto, providentially all synergize
all things together.
Trust me in this I love you.
You're mine. I got you.
Let me work my providence.
Be patient and trust.
(42:20):
I am providentially
synergize all things.
And the question we have to ask
ourselves, is that enough?
Is it enough for you to trust himthat way?
There's a lot we could still talk through.
(42:44):
But I just want to leave you this.
If you are in Christ,there's no condemnation.
You got nothing to make up for.
If you're in Christ,
you have been adopted as his child.
And all the rights
and blessings of Christ himself are yours.
(43:06):
As an co-heirs with Christ.
And right now he is synergism.
Even your pain points for good.
You can trust him
and I invite you to
when you get this it.
(43:27):
I don't know how to explain it.
It changes your entire perspective aboutlife, about your life and about the world.
There
is somuch stability and there's so much comfort
and there's so much easeand there's so much liberation.
When you know this.
When you start to embody this truth,
(43:50):
it's just beautiful.
Some of you are or are way too
miserableand too stressed and too worried.
Because you have not internalizedthe truth of these passages,
it's yours for the taking.
Why don't you pray with me?
(44:11):
Father, I thank you
that you've loved uswith an everlasting love.
I thank you that you are for usand not against us.
I think that we can standbefore you with no condemnation,
and that we don't have to make upfor anything of our past,
and that we don't have to ensureanything of our future.
(44:33):
I think that you've chosen us
and adopted us as your children, your kid,
your son, your daughter.
That you are rightnow, in this moment, synergize
all things, even the pain points for good.
Father, we want to believethat we have to believe it.
(44:53):
And we want to trust you.
So would you.
Here in this moment,these hearts that are turning
entrust to you.
Friends, I don't invite you in this moment
to step into this new life.
It begins with this
(45:15):
just saying to the Father God, I agree.
I have lived outside of the boundariesof your law and I'm a sinner.
And I accept what Jesus did on the cross
for my forgiveness.
Thank you that I stand before you
with no condemnation, completely free.
(45:37):
Then tell him
thank you that you have adopted meinto your family,
and I receive all the spiritual blessings
that you would give me.
Not because I'm good,
but because I'm adopted.
And I will trust.
And I will rest the best I can
(46:00):
in the confidence and convictionthat you are.
Synergize
all things together for good.
And I allow you to define what is good.
(46:22):
Help me love you more
and trust you more fully.
Father, I thank you for this day.
I thank you for these moments.
I thank you for your wordthat continues to speak to us.
I pray, father, that as we take steps
into living out and flesh outthis new life,
that you would constantly remind usthrough the spirit within us,
(46:46):
that there is no condemnation, that we areyour kids, that your synergize.
All things are working things together.
We can trust you.
You are a good fatherand you do that which is good.
Have us,
have us.
We give ourselves to you.
In your name I pray.
Amen.
(47:06):
Listen, I love you and I lovegoing through scripture with you.
It's so good. Yeah.
Is Romans eight not just wonderful?
It's incredible.
I know some of you do.
I want you all to love it.
Like this is just good stuff.
So here's this week.
Read Romans eight, the wholethe whole 39 verses.
(47:26):
Okay?
Let the Holy Spirit bringto your remembrance what we talked about
and then read ahead for whatwe're going to talk about next week.
It just gets better from here.
If you know it,it just gets better from here.
And live that live.
As though there's no condemnation
and live as a full fledged
(47:48):
child of the father.
You understand I'm saying not a
all the rights, all the earth are all
of Christ himself.
It's amazing.
And then be convinced that this weekwhen stuff happens,
(48:10):
your mind is going to go immediatelyto war.
I can't wait to seehow you're going to synergize this one.
But I know you are.
You understand that he is.
We're celebratingand he is worthy to to trust him.
All right, let's let's sing.
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