romans 7 was a very important chapter especially the last part because it clearly shows us that we can make no contribution towards the salvation even after conversion that even living the Christian life we have to depend on Christ through the Holy Spirit he ends up chapter 7 with those words all wretched man that I am who will deliver me from this body of death I want to show you say with you something that you need to know that word wretched in verse 24 it appears only twice in all of the New Testament only twice in the original the first time is in verse 24 of Romans 7 all wretched man that I am the second time is found in Revelation 3 where one person who claims to be the true witness who happens to be Christ says to a group of Christians Kaleo decisions that you do not know that you are wretched miserable poor blind and naked see their problem is a subconscious problem that is why Romans 7 is very important that we know that we are wretched miserable poor blind and naked only then we will buy the rich who merchandise from Christ I sell gold tried by fire and white raiment which is his righteousness now after reading Romans 7 specially verse 14 to 21 you could be discouraged because this is your experience I'm struggling I want you to know what Paul says in chapter 8 verse 1 in fact chapter 8 verse 1 to 4 is really an extension in the original it is the continuation of Romans 7 but somehow they have separated remember chapter division was not put there by Paul or any Bible writer they put in the 15th century to make the bible-reading easy but listen to what chapter 8 verse 1 says there is therefore now no condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus fantastic good news now I have the New King James which adds who do not walk according to the flesh but according to the spirit now I have to explain this only one manuscript before the 6th has the second half all the other men especially the older ones only have the first part there is no condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus so I believe like what the scholars are saying that the second half who do not walk according to the flesh but according to the spirit was an added was added thereby subscribe it is there by Paul in chapter 4 but not in chapter 8 all that Paul wrote in chapter 8 verse 1 is there is no condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus why is that so we are sinners why is there no condemnation here it is verse 2 for the law of the spirit of life in Christ Jesus has made me free past ends from the law of sin and death notice there are two laws two forces mentioned in verse two the law of the Spirit is the power of the Holy Spirit that was controlling Jesus Christ he was controlled by the Holy Spirit right from the very very conception but his birth that is why in Luke 4 after the three temptations in the wilderness we are told in verse 14 that Jesus returned to gallery by the power of the Spirit the law of the spirit of life in Christ Jesus has made me free from the law of sin and that the law of sin and death is what you and I possess now in order to be a complete Savior Jesus had to unite his divinity to our cooperative matiee that is bugged by the law of sin and death so in Christ two constant forces met the law of the Spirit and the law of sin and since they are both constant the one that is stronger will always win every time and exactly what took place in the history of Christ the devil and the flesh that Christ assumed that human nature was not his he assumed it he'd belong to us so we must never teach that Christ had a sinful nature we would make him a sinner he assumed it that is why whenever the New Testament talks about the humanity of Christ it always uses a qualifying word he was made flesh John 1 verse 14 he was made under sin second Korean to five 21 he was made in all points like unto his brother or he became that is Hebrews 2:17 and 18 the two forces the forces that you and I battle with and the force of the holy spirit met in Christ and every time the spirit was victorious so I read in verse three of Romans 8 for what the law could not do the law of God is incapable of producing righteousness because it is weak to the flesh God holy law cannot produce righteousness in sinful flesh but what the law could not do God did by sending his own son in the likeness of sinful flesh an account of sin he condemned he did he overcame and executed sin in the flesh now please notice the word sin in these verses I in the singular it is not a verb it is the noun which is the problem that we face sinful behavior is only the fruit of our sinful nature the law of sin in our members now there are some Christians who have difficulty with this verse 3 because of the word likeness they say oh yeah he looked like sinful men but he was not oh yes he was like us in terms of innocent infirmities for to fatigue and aging and hunger and so on but that's not our problem especially living in America I do not know what hunger is the plenty of food here and when I'm tired I go to sleep what is up my problem is the law of sin in our members this constant force is pulling us down these two forces the law of the spirit and the love death of the sin met in Christ and Jesus one every time to the power of the spirit now why this Paul used the word likeness the International critical commentary has a wonderful explanation it says that Paul uses the word likeness because the humanity of Christ was not all of him he was also divine Christ was unique he was both God and men he was divine and human he was divine by native right his divine nature was his he didn't borrow it he didn't it was not lent to him but the flesh is what he assumed it did not belong to him but he assumed it in order to be the savior of the world you know one day I was preaching in Chicago and a couple came up to me who had a daughter in Salem Oregon where I live and they said to me you know my daughter is not only struggling financially we want to send her some money we have a thousand dollars in this envelope can you please deliver this money to her and I said sure so I took the envelope and put it in my pocket now that money was in my possession but did it make me a thief no if I kept it yes but I assumed that money in order to deliver it to that daughter likewise Christ assumed what you and I are the corporate humanity of the human race that needs redeeming so that like that he could save deliver humanity both from us sins and from sin the law of sin and death so he condemned by the father's he condemned it means he conquered the loves in and finally on the cross executed it that is the good news of Romans 8 verse 3 you know for the first five years of the history of the Christian Church many church fathers made this statement what Christ did not assume he could not redeem and then a few years later evangelicals call the name of Harry Johnson did his doctoral dissertation his ph.d doctoral dissertation at the London University on the humanity of our Savior and he proved historically and biblically that Christ had to assume the same kind of nature that you and I were born with but in his case he assumed it and he stood up the pure minds of many evangelical scholars so that some of the tough New Testament scholars like Henderson E green Thomas Torrance new vegan and others you know have all changed from free fall to the post of all human nature of Christ but they've presented in the light of the gospel and that's how we should present it ok so Paul is saying that Christ has set us free from the law of sin and death free from his condemnation free from his father through the power of the Holy Spirit and now in verse 4 rumor is that the righteous requirement of the law might be fulfilled might be fulfilled in us who do not walk according to the flesh but according to the spirit so now Paul is saying that same victory that Christ had over the law of sin and death in order to save us is now available the same power is available to you and to me through the indwelling of the Holy Spirit so we have a power now as Christian born-again Christians a power that is greater than the power of the law of sin and this spirit can give us total victory over the flesh why doesn't he do so well there are many reasons let me give you two of them if you are depending on the victory of the flesh by the Holy Spirit for your acceptance before God the Holy Spirit will not do that he will not give you victory because he is not a code Redeemer he will not go against the gospel of Jesus Christ number two remember the church is the body of Christ if part of the body is sick it affects the whole body you know I had malaria 12 times in Africa Kito bit my hand or my finger and gave me malaria but the whole body suffered Paul will equate the church with a human body and he says in Corinthians if one suffers the whole body suffers he one rejoices the whole body rejoices now let me give an example using the human body let us say I'm hungry my stomach is crying for food it sends a message to the head I'm starving and the head sends a message to the legs please take this body to the kitchen what would happen if my head said look I'm not hungry if the stomach is hungry he can go himself if he imagined what would happen the head the legs do not question the head it obeys because it is a slave to the head when we get to the kitchen my head sends a message to the head open the fridge and bring out that sandwich that is in the fridge and my hands don't question the head it obeys then my head says to the hand put that sandwich in my mouth and then says to the stomach chew that food and push it down to feed the stomach there is perfect coordination in a human body you know why because there is only one boss one head this number one number two there is connections with every part of my body to the head by the nerves if the nerves are cut off from my hand my hand becomes useless if the nerve from my legs are cut off from the head I become a I cannot walk now Paul uses that about the church he says to us that the head of the church is Christ the pastor is not the head the leaders of the church is not the head the head of the church is Jesus Christ we are the body you are the hand I'm the leg every one of us has a part to play that is why the Holy Spirit gives gifts to every member of the church the trouble is the the church in most cases is paralyzed why because we have very poor connection with the head so that is why Paul says to the Thessalonians pray without ceasing keep a living connection all the time with the head so Paul is saying when we learn to walk in the spirit as Christ did all his life we will be able to live above the clamors of the flesh verse 5 for those who are living according to the flesh set their minds on the things of the flesh in other words what is your mind preoccupied with in your daily life are you preoccupied with fleshy desires making money cheating others and so on if you're doing that Paul says that eventually the the devil will pull you out of Christ and you will be lost but the second half of us I have 5 but those who live according to the spirit the things of the Spirit their minds are preoccupied with spiritual thing for to be carnally minded fleshly minded is death but to be spiritually minded spiritually minded is life and peace so we have two different ways of walking as Christian we can continue to walk in the flesh and if you keep on doing that you are a carnal Christian and the devil will pull you out of Christ we need to learn to walk in the spirit especially in these last days let me give an example from the Bible keep your finger Romans they attend to first Corinthians chapter 3 listen to what Paul wrote to this Christians chapter 3 of 1st Corinthians the first one and I brethren could not speak to you as to spiritual people but as to carnal as to babe's in Christ so when you first accept Christ you became babes in Christ I fed you with milk have you ever tried feeding a newborn baby with solid food no past not possible so polishing and you were first became a Christian I came I fed you with milk and not with solid food for until now you were not able to receive it and even now you are still not able Paul wrote this letter ten years after their conversion can you imagine they were still babes in Christ 10 years after their conversion tell me mothers how would you like to change diapers 10 years after your child is born you'd be horrified so these Christians had not grown up spiritually so they still have to be fed with milk and this is the problem with many Christians many come to me and says what you're giving us is heavy stuff no it is not heavy stuff it is heavy because you're still babes in Christ you have not grown four you are still carnal verse three for where there are Envy strife and division among you are you not corn kernel and behaving like mere men so what is the evidence of carnality when you have problems in the church when you have people who are striving against you when you have envy when you have division tell me does your church have division are they struggling are they fighting among themselves then you are still carnal when a church is spiritual there will be no disagreement yes we may not see eye to eye in everything in my churches I had a policy in fundamentals they must be unity in non fundamentals they must be Liberty and non essential also there must be Liberty so please remember we may not see eye to eye especially in a multicultural Church we may think differently our culture's are we are victims to our cultures but we must be united in love in spite of our division in non fundamental areas so my dear people here is the question I am asking I don't know what church you belong to but if there is division if there is strife if there is enemy there is this disagreement then you are still carnal because the church in Corinth was come look at verse 4 for when one says I am for Paul and others say I am for Apollo's are you not carnal some of the Christians in Corinth said oh we like what Paul bridges as I said no no we prefer Apollo's and Paul is responsive who then was five who then is Paul and who is Apollo's but ministers through whom you believe as the Lord gave to each one I planted Apollo's watered but God gave the increase so that neither he who plants anything no he who waters but God who gives the increase so my dear people our greatest need is to learn to walk in the spirit and how do we do that remember what Paul says those who are spiritually minded have their minds preoccupied with spiritual things those who have fleshly minded are always concerned about making money about fleshly things enjoying life and so on now verse 9 onward fall we are God's fellow workers do you see Christ today is in heaven nobody can see him the only way people can see Christ is through his body the church but if we are walking in the flesh all that the world sees is not Christ but human beings who are behaving just like them and so they come to us and says why should I become a Christian you are no different than we are that is the problem that is why my dear people when the church in Eastern Europe failed to practice true Christianity they prefer to accept Karl Marx idea of communism that's the problem but Karl Marx did not have a solution look at communist countries they have not solved the problem so my dear people the world is desperately looking for Christ in you the hope of glory now I read verse 9 and 10 for we are God's fellow workers you are God's field you are God's building according to the grace of God which has been given to me as a wise masterbuilder I have laid Foundation and another built on it but let each one take heed how he built on it for no other foundation can anyone lay than that which is laid Jesus Christ you know in the days of Paul they did not build house of wood in the Middle East to build a house of wood is dangerous termites are will destroy it within a year you build houses with stones and they put a cornerstone and they put a string on both sides and all the other stones must be lined up with that string Jesus Paul tells us is the cornerstone our Christian living our Christian beliefs must be based on the foundation Jesus Christ and that our practice will be tested as fall says in Romans you know Romans in dramatically in the 3 12 to 13 now going back to Romans 8 let me end up with this in verse 11 of Romans 8 Paul makes a tremendous statement but if the spirit of him that his name is Christ who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you he who raised Christ from the dead will also give life spiritual life to your mortal or dead bodies through the Spirit who dwells in you now I want to explain to you that it according to the Roman historian self says Cicero it takes between three to seven days to die on a cross Jesus died within six hours my question to you is what killed him it wasn't the cross that is why when Joseph of Arimathea went to Pilate for the body of Christ he was shocked that Jesus was already dead unheard of that's why he had to confirm the death of Christ through the Centurion so what killed Christ on the cross it was not the cross it was the sins of the world it was the god abundant man sin was so offensive to the Father that Jesus felt that he could never rise again he was tasting the second death our sins killed Christ now when sin kills it does not kill for three days the wages of sin is death not for three days but forever our sins was supposed to put Christ in the grave not for three days but forever that's the wages of sin how come he rose from the dead because the power of the Holy Spirit is greater than the power of sin the ultimate power of sin is to put you in the game but our sins could not keep Christ in the grave the resurrection of Christ proved once and for all that the power and Holy Spirit is greater than all the accumulated sins of the world and that spirit that raised up Christ is now dwelling in you believers in me and that spirit is able to conquer the flesh so verse 12 of Romans 8 says therefore brethren we are debtors we have an obligation not to the flesh yes the flesh will always be pulling us down but we don't have an obligation to live according to the flesh for if you are living according to the flesh verse 13 you will die in other words the holy the devil will pull you out of Christ and then he will say goodbye to Christ and the gospel will no longer become meaningful but if by the spirit you put to death to the deeds of the body you will live for as many as are led by the Spirit of God these are sons of God for you did not receive the spirit of bondage again to fear but you received the spirit of adoption by which or by whom you cry out Abba Father very interesting Abba is the Aramaic word for father dear father Abba is the Greek word for dear father but of course he don't speak Aramaic or click today so we can call father dear father amazing because we had become the adopted children of God and do you know in the Bible an adopted child has all the rights of the natural child that is why we will reign with Christ we will rule with him he and we are one so he's not ashamed to call us brethren and that's in Hebrews 2 verse 11 now let's conclude with verse 16 onwards of Romans 8 the Spirit Himself bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God is the Holy Spirit convinced us that we are children of God and if children then heirs heirs of God and joint-heirs with Christ if indeed we suffer with him that we may be glorified together when you become a Christian you become a citizen of heaven you say goodbye to the citizenship at least spiritually of the world that is under Satan but you are still living in the world Satan will make your life hell he'll make it so terrible so that you may give up Christ so I want you to notice something when you are living as a Christian you are living in a world you are living in enemy territory you're living in a world that is dominated by Satan he will make life hard for you miserable for you he will persecute you he would make you make you lose jobs he will cause all kinds of problems but remember this is only temporary when Christ comes he will take you to heaven so hold on to your faith as I mentioned before the most valuable thing you possess in this world is your faith in Jesus Christ it is not your bank account it's not your assets it's not your houses all that will go so how does Paul say what does Paul say in verse 18 of Romans 8 for I consider that the sufferings of this present time have you got it the suffering of this present are not worthy to be compared with the glory which shall be revealed to us in Christ so please remember that what Paul is saying in Romans 8 life may be hard for you in this world but that is only temporary your hope is in Jesus Christ and him crucified now because of the trouble in verse 22 onward he makes this problem this statement for we know that the whole creation groans and labels with birth pangs together until now not only that that's not only creation but we also who have the first fruit to the split we are born-again Christians even we ourselves groan within ourselves eagerly waiting for the adoption the redemption of our body what is Paul saying here he's repeating the struggle of Romans 7 in this world we are groaning because we are struggling with the flesh and it's knocking us down many times but we are not groaning publicly we are groaning within us how long Jesus will you come to it before you take a spell how long do we have to wait that's what Paul is saying here we are waiting for the redemption of the body we have been redeemed in Christ but our sinful nature our bodies have not been redeemed that will take place at the second coming of Christ when this corruption puts on incorruption this mortal puts on immortality and you'll find this especially in 1st Corinthians chapter 5 verse of chapter 15 verse 50 onward so we read in verse 25 but we if we hope for that we do not see we do we do not see that is empty the body as yet we eagerly wait for it with perseverance and that's what God wants you to do please eagerly wait for the redemption the body which will take part in the second coming of Christ like likewise verse 26 the spirit also helped us in our weakness but we do not know what we should pray for our sinful nature their excess in the wrong hood and very often when this public prayer our minds wander that's a problem we are human this is our weakness the Holy Spirit knows what is the inner most of a desire so when we pray even though we pray what we not want what we do not should be thing about the Spirit Himself makes intercession for us with groanings which cannot be uttered and so now he who searches the hearts knows what the mind of the Spirit is because he makes intercession for the Saints according to the will of God if you have a converted mind you hate evil you want to do good even though in practice you are fairly God knows what is in your heart he'd like he looks at you as you are in your heart now having explained the Gospel he says in verse 29 of Romans 8 for whom he foreknew please notice not Feraud in the world of different to know beforehand that's what foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the image of this word predestined does not mean he predestined your salvation what he's saying here those whom he foreknew would accept Jesus as their Savior he predestined to conformed to the image of his son that he might be the firstborn among many brethren one day what Christ is you will be at the second coming moreover whom he predestined to confirm to his son those he also called whom he called those he also justified and those whom he justified he also glorified all of it is from God apart from beginning to end his faith now the last closing verses verse 31 to 35 are important and it is my plea with you to memorize this it begins with a question verse 31 what then shall we say to this thing all the struggles and problems of the Christian life what shall we say to this thing what shall we say concerning the gospel the good news of salvation if God is for us who can be against us now the word if is not the best translation it should really be since God is for us who can be against us now we know the devil is against us he accuses us day and night there are others that against us they may be fellow Christian that against us they may be some leaders that are against us it doesn't matter why because God is on our side so verse 32 says he that is God who did not spare his own son but delivered him up for us all how shall he not with him also freely give us all things do you not Paul is saying here when Jesus pleaded with the Father had kept cemani three times with drops of blood coming down his brow please father is there no other way to save the world that I go through this and the father said no and Jesus said not my will but thy will be done the father did not spare his own son but delivered him up for you for me for the entire human race in view of that how shall he not he the Lord his son for us while we were sinners while we were enemies how shall he not give us all things that Christ has prepared for us so now comes verse 33 who shall bring a charge against God's elect who will accuse the believers that's for the elect means it is God who justifies and God never speaks from the both sides of his mouth he feels justifies you he will never bring a charge against you that is part of the good news of the gospel then we go to verse 34 who is he who condemns yes the devil condemns us our conscience condemns us but there is one person who will never condemn you it is Christ who died and furthermore he is also risen who is even at the right hand of God who also makes intercession for us Christ died to remove that condemnation Romans 8 verse 1 there is no condemnation for those who are in Christ now he's at the right hand of God why why is he interesting for us because in ourselves we are still sinners number one and number two the devil is accusing a deer a night before God so we have a brother a savior at the right hand of God to intercede for us and now comes the question of when 35 onwards who shall separate us from the love of Christ shall tribulation or distress or persecution or famine or nakedness or peril or sword these are the things that destroy our faith because our feelings are negative when you go through these things but Paul right coats the Old Testament in verse 36 for your sake for the sake of Christ we are killed all day long so please remember as Christians we are citizens of living in enemy territory and they will make life hell for us we are counted as sheep for the slaughter but I like verse 37 38 and 39 yet in all these things what I mean by all these things tribulation distress persecution famine nakedness peril assault in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us that is what gave me the ability to go through the persecution in Uganda on the idiom in it gave me the power to live to stand up against the Communists in Ethiopia because the truth had set me free and I wanted to set you free and this is what he says in all these things we are more than conquerors who loved us now well-studied for I am persuaded I'm convinced beyond a shadow of a doubt and that's what I want you to have that neither death nor life nor Angels nor principalities the devil and his angels no powers nor things present nor things to come terrorism no height nor depth earthquakes and all other terrible things natural disaster no any other created thing shall be able to separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord what shall you say to that hallelujah folks we should be the happiest people of the world no matter what happened you know one of my churches was in Walla Walla in Russian state I had a nurse looking for the hospital General Hospital who was my member she was working with another nurse they were working together but the second nurse was an agnostic she came from a very rich family in New York her father was a stockbroker they lived a life of wine women and song but she there was a vacuum in her life she tried everything to fill that vacuum she tried the New Age movement she went to some churches she tried other religion and she had no peace but while she was working as a nurse she was a nurse with this young lady who was a of my church this lady from New York said to - my manners member she said you're always happy don't you have problems and - said the nurse said yes I'm any problem that I can live above them because I have a savior who has given me peace and you know what this Gnostic nurse said that is what I'm looking for so they began having Bible studies but this agnostic nurse was very intellectual he has very difficult question so dismissed the my member came up to me says can you take over and I said sure so when this this came to my office for the first time I thought she was Jezebel full fully decked all kind of curls all kind of hearings and all long big ones necklaces and I ignored all that I began to give her the good news she asked many questions I answered them and you know what slowly the jury went off the heavy makeup left and I said you look different now she said you know pastor I did these things to draw attention to myself now I don't need that I'm resting in Christ thank you for opening my eyes to the gospel and I baptized her then one day she came because she was now going with a young man was taking theology at Walla Walla College she was going to be now a pastor's wife and she said to me would you perform the marriage and I said sure and she said to me this is the only time that my parents will step into a church for my wedding please don't give me away don't give us a wedding sermon you can do that afterwards please present the gospel so that my parents will hear this good news I know they have plenty of money they have all the material blessing of this world but I know I am their daughter they are not happy they have no peace and the peace that I got from the gospel I want them to have folks that is what the world is waiting for our world is living in difficulty many people are what is coming upon us the future does not look bright give them that peace but you can't give them unless you have it first and it is my prayer that the gospel has set you free that you are no longer worried about making it to heaven you're already sitting in heavenly places in Christ Ephesians 2 verse 6 so may this truth set you free may you become a witness is my prayer in Jesus