We can turn in our Bibles to Romans 8 as we'll return back to our passage, because I was gone last week. But I actually was able to watch the session on webcast, so that was really good. And this week we want to go back. We kind of started some of the things in our handout today. We're going to finish them. Next week, Lord willing, we will finish what we want to say in Romans 8, and then begin to shift gears again, as the spring is upon us, to some truths about the Word of God and the useful life, as we've been thinking of our outline. In fact, this has been our outline. We want to talk about a new life. And then from there, there's the new life. We want to go to talk about a different life and a useful life, as this was found in Romans 12, the truth of a new life, justification truths, and then be not conformed in light of who we are in Christ so that the Lord can produce a different life through us, and as a result, even a useful life. So we're on this section in the middle, what we call sometimes sanctification section, the Christian life section on the different life. We've been talking about the foundation of power, meaning the ability to live out this different life. The ability for this life to become a reality. We've seen how, again, we were born. We are born again with a new identity. We're born again with new desires and a new position that's in Christ. We're all dressed up, but now what? How do we live out this life? And as you see in the past, in Romans 7, we saw how the ability to live right does not come from law-keeping. as that was Paul's discovery in Romans 7 and the frustration that he observed there. We saw two times ago the ability to live right does not come from self-effort and just because you have good intentions and because you have the desire, that does not translate. into the ability for these desires to be fulfilled. In fact, we ended in Romans 7. Let's just turn back to Romans 7, the last two verses. And this was where Paul was very frustrated after writing chapter 7. He says, O wretched man that I am, who will deliver me from this body of death? And so he cries out, O wretched man that I am, as he recognizes failure from trying to live right by means of your own ability leads to frustration, as we have that on your handout. Frustration. And so he's a very frustrated man, wanting to do what is right, but unable to do what is right. In spite of his intentions and in spite of his desires and his best efforts, this was a great failure. And so he gives out a desperate cry for deliverance. And he openly and he transparently admits, I am wretched, and I am powerless, and I am imprisoned. He recognizes the law of the sin nature as he described it. And how the law of the sin nature always leads to death, to separation. Fellowship death from God. And so the more he tries, the more he realizes he cannot accomplish the good that he desires. And so he asks the question, who will deliver me from this body of death? And now this could be understood in one of two ways. One, some understand it as being understood, being delivered from our physical body. Our physical body which is decaying and our physical body which is going to die one day. The physical body that harbors the sin nature within it. So it's like being locked up in a box or something like this. Who will let me out? Who will let me out of this body of death? This verse could be taken that way. Another way of understanding it is, who will deliver me from this body of death? In the sense of, who will deliver me from this power that's impending upon me? We understand he's looking for a deliverance from a controlling power fits the law of the sin nature he just described. And the fact that though he has good desires and intentions, he feels like a slave. He's in bondage to another power that usurps his will and enforces its own will in his life. So he's seeking deliverance here from a power that overwhelms him. And in light of the context, we would Let's take this as a better understanding here in Romans 7. But Paul closes out Romans 7 as we saw in verse 25 on a positive note. As soon as he cries out in desperation, he says in verse 25, I thank God through Jesus Christ. I thank God. He starts to put his eyes back on the Lord. He starts to remember the very spiritual truths and things that he had been explaining before he was detoured. There's Christ. I thank God through Jesus Christ, our Lord. He then repeats what he is summarizing in Romans 7. These two laws. There is the law of God and there is the law of the flesh, the sin nature. And so, we ended with this principle last time. Where the Spirit of God is, there is always hope. And that's what Paul is now realizing. That's what hopefully all of us are realizing. Where the Spirit of God is, there is always hope. It doesn't matter what you've done, how you've fallen, how long you've been frustrated, what the extent of that is, if it's been moral legalism or immoral sin, there is always hope. Where is the Spirit of God, by the way? He's going to emphasize this in the next chapter, in chapter 8. If you're saved, the Spirit of God is in you. And is always in you. and is never not in you, which means there is always hope. There is never not hope for anyone who is a believer in Jesus Christ. And so where the Spirit of God is, there is always hope. And so in Romans chapter 8, we're now going to see this different life can indeed be fulfilled. The ability to live right comes from God alone. The goal, of course, is living right before God. This is what theologically is known as sanctification, as we'll just quickly briefly ask. What is sanctification? It's this idea of living right before God. It's this idea, theologically, it is the idea of being set apart to God. And being set apart then from sin. Set apart for service. And so we would identify sanctification as the process of change in the life of a believer, where God takes us as a newborn babe, begins to mold us and fashion us and shape us into more like Christ and to be less like the world and ourselves. This sanctification is the Christian life. a term for the Christian life. It involves growth. It's becoming again conformed. And so, we could just say it this way, sanctification is the progressive outworking of your newness of life. We talk about newness of life, Paul does, in Romans 6 and 7. We have newness of life. And this newness of life wants to be expressed outwardly through us. And we call that expression, that progressive outworking of newness of life, sanctification. as we hopefully grow and we find ourselves yielding to the Lord more and more consistently, and more and more the Lord is able to do this. The larger context of Romans 5, verse 12 through 8-17 is the great sanctification passage of the Bible, where he lays down at length for two and a half chapters, Paul does, truths about the Christian life. victory and power in the Christian life coming by way of the Spirit. Even obedience here, as we'll see in Romans 8, the fulfillment of the requirements, the righteousness of the law being actualized in our life. So we go to Romans 8, where Paul begins to explain now. sanctification, the power, the answer, the solution, where we have been heading. In chapter 8, verse 1, he says, there is therefore now no condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus, who do not walk according to the flesh, but according to the Spirit. And we just first wanted to take a note, the second half of that verse, who do not walk according to the flesh, but according to the Spirit, has been brought up from verse 4, as you see the last part of verse 4. And this would be what we call a textual variant. This is not consistently found in all of the Greek manuscripts. In fact, the earliest ones, this is absent. The sentence is better understood to end as, there is therefore now no condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus. This was brought up, transcribed from verse 4, very possibly by a scribe who read that and said, boy, that just seems It's too simple. That just seems too good to be true and must put a condition upon it and therefore bring something up from verse 4. Paul doesn't base his assertion, however, here of no condemnation to the saint upon our conduct, does he? He says there is no condemnation based upon our position. It is for those who are aware in Christ. If you are in Christ, then as a fact, there is no condemnation, just as there is none on Christ. He starts with the phrase, therefore, and this is pointing back to Romans 7, 24 and 25. Oh, wretched man that I am! Who's going to deliver me? And therefore, it's connecting these two thoughts. This is the same flow of thought. And it's as if he's saying, because of Jesus Christ, as he said, I thank God through Jesus Christ. And because of Jesus Christ, there is no condemnation. He uses the adverb now, which is a timing word, a reference of time, in the present time, right now policy, at the point of time simultaneous with his discourse. And of course, this word then offers tremendous hope because this word is in the present for anyone who reads it, no matter when they read it. They're reading it as a present reality. There is therefore right now. And again, this is a term of great hope. because it applies right now. Remember what we said, where the Spirit of God is, there is always hope. And at any point in time, a believer can take inventory and recognize their position in Christ, the salvation they have, the presence of the Spirit of God in them, and at any time any of us can say, there is hope. There is hope right now. There is no condemnation. This is an intention-grabbing word now that stretches across all generations, reaching every individual in their moment of time. So that means this truth applies to you. It applies to me right now. And what is the truth? There is now no condemnation. No condemnation. Paul does not say there are no failures to those who are in Christ. He doesn't say there are no inconsistencies. He doesn't say there is no corruption. But what he does say is there is no condemnation. There is hope rising well above ourselves. Now, there's two occurrences in the English Bible of this phrase condemned or condemnation. Two words that we will see. The first is katakrino. We actually see this in verse 3, if we jump ahead for a minute, where we read what the law could not do in that it was weak through the flesh. God did by sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh, and on account of sin, he condemned sin in the flesh. That word condemned in chapter 8, verse 3, is the Greek word katakrino, which means pronouncing judgment. And the focus is on the gavel coming down of the sins and the act of judgment. That's not the word used though here. This word is found 19 times in the New Testament, normally the normal word used. But instead it's the Greek word katakryma here in verse 1. And this word means, it's very closely related you can see, it's about pronouncing judgment, but it has an additional nuance of also looking at the burden ensuing from the judicial pronouncement. In other words, at the consequence, or here we would say a servitude that must be carried out. And so the word condemnation is an unusual word. It's not just talking about being condemned. It's looking at the result of that condemnation. And Paul is basically saying, I'm condemned in Romans 7.24. I feel defeated and frustrated and I cannot live the Christian life. And now he's saying, there is no condemnation. There is no continuing result of this frustration for the believer. The consequence of sin in your life. So what is this condemnation referring to? It could be referring to justification, truth, that there is no more condemnation for sin or the guilt of sin. Thinking of heaven and hell and salvation, first tense, that once you're in Christ and saved, there's no condemnation. You can never end up going to hell. Now, would that be true? That's exactly what the Bible teaches. We know that that is true. But is that the best idea here? Is that really what this verse is referring to? And it's better understood, no. It's better understood fitting the context here of the frustration that Paul felt. No condemnation would mean the one in Christ has been delivered from the power of the sin nature over them. And therefore, the believer in Christ is not condemned to live a life of servitude to the power of the sin nature. So we would say, you are not condemned to a life of servitude to the indwelling sin nature. Oh, wretched man that I am! And now the good news. No believer is has to continue in that state. No believer is condemned to this cycle of failure and servitude. Now, you might practically be experiencing this, but positionally, this does not have to be. This is the message of Paul in Romans 8.1. Believers in Christ do not have to experience the effects of sin slavery described by Paul in Romans 7. Now, I think we shared this last time, the illustration here of a little puppy. And this little puppy is so cute, right? And everyone said, ooh. And this puppy loves the master. And this puppy wants to please the master, as puppies do, right? And so you have this little puppy, and everything's wonderful, and he's cute, and he's cuddly, and you love him, and he loves you. But there is one problem. As a puppy, he will still make a mess in your house. He needs to be house trained. And so daily, there are periods of correction and the stern word coming from you or whatever it is you do. You put him outside or hit him with newspaper, rub his nose, I don't know, whatever you're supposed to do. But there's this period of some correction and it doesn't go well. The master's not happy and the puppy's not happy. But then you can go on and everything's fine. But then he piddles again. Now, what if for some reason this puppy never, Gains the ability to be healthy. And now we're going to live for 14 years or whatever in this relationship and daily, constantly, as a cycle and repetitively be piddling, causing consternation and sadness and a barrier and correction every day. Every single day. Over and over and over. That's the condemnation that Paul was saying, as a believer, you don't have to live that way. As a believer, there is the ability to be house-trained and to be in God's home. You see, we've been dragged around, Paul felt, by the sin nature. Even though he had right desires, even though he had good intentions here, he felt a prisoner, an enslaved, condemned to fulfill the desires and the whims of the sin nature. And what we're seeing here is there is no such condemnation. Why? As we end with chapter 8, the phrase, to those who are in Christ Jesus. And this is what we want to focus on. If you are in Christ, this points you back to the positional truth of Romans 6. This points you back to your living union with Christ as you were co-crucified with Him, co-buried, and you're now risen again, a new life, a new creation, a new identity, and as one who is in Christ, You are now unified with Him. And now, what is true of Christ by way of identity is true of you. By being in Christ, this is a reference then to your new position, your new identity. And what is positionally true of Jesus is true of all of those who are in Him. Is Jesus Christ ever going to be condemned by God? No. And those in Christ will also never be condemned. Does Jesus Christ have to live positionally? Is He in a position of the righteousness of the law being true of Him? Yes. And so positionally we have the righteousness of the law. Positionally we're forgiven. Positionally, we are a child of God. We are a joint heir like Christ is an heir. Positionally, we possess these things. And this is true of every believer. It doesn't matter what you did last night or what you might do tomorrow. This is positional truth. This is what comes with salvation. This is why it's so amazing, our position and our status in Christ. And so, Paul starts in verse 1 stating right away, a promise and a fact. There is no condemnation. We think of sanctification and the change in life. This would be the first of three pillars. This is the pillar of position, as we said. And it means there's no condemnation. When you are in Christ, this is a state of no condemnation. You do not need to live in a cycle of frustration. That is good news. Now, why is that going on in verse 2? What's the reason for this? He says, verse 2, for the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus has made me free from the law of sin and death. The law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus. Now, the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus, Reynolds Fowler said, law, no matter what kind it may be, is established for the purpose of governing or controlling. In light of this, the law of the Spirit of life is the controlling power of the Holy Spirit, which controlling power produces newness of life. And so when he talks about the law of the Spirit of life, this is the Holy Spirit animating the new life within you so that you live and move in the realm of Jesus Christ. The Spirit of God is the one who does this. And when we're talking about law, again, it's talking about a controlling factor. And the Spirit of God is wanting to control our life and fill it with the life of Christ, this new life outworking through us. Which means the Spirit of God is able to energize and enable this new life that we have in Christ, these new desires that we have. So this law then that we're talking about, this is the controlling power of the Holy Spirit overriding the law of the sin nature. This law then is the Spirit successfully animating your newness of life. That's what verse 2 is talking about. So why is there no condemnation? Because not only are you in Christ positionally, but you also now have the Holy Spirit and the Holy Spirit is in you and is a sufficient enabling power to override the law of the sin nature that was defeating Paul in Romans 7. And will always successfully produce newness of life, the outworking of that newness of life. This is a wonderful triumph of the Spirit over the flesh, meaning the law of the Spirit is a higher law, a superior law to the law of the sin nature. Stronger in power. Just what we long to hear after this desperation cry. Who will deliver me? As this is the picture of Romans 7, we used this last time. You're like this little boy in a boxing ring and you're up against the heavyweight champion of the world. What's going to happen if we have a hundred fights? What's going to happen a hundred times? There's going to be defeat. It's not like, oh, once or twice he'll win. No. It'll be constant defeat. This boy is you trying to live the Christian life in your own strength and your own ability. And the heavyweight champion of the world is that sin nature that dominates. But now we see a change. Now you have a higher power. Now you have a superior power. And if this heavyweight champion of the world went up against King Kong a hundred times, what's going to happen? There's going to be victory by way of King Kong. The power is superior. And so it's a matter of getting out of the ring and letting God get in the ring. this Christian life. And that is what we're seeing. And Paul is saying. I could use another illustration. We have an airplane here. This airplane is huge, massive metal, tons of weight. It weighs, you know, a lot. And it's being held to the ground by the force of gravity, as everything is. There's a law in our world, and it's a fixed law called gravity. And it's not like if we can get this plane out to certain sections of the runway or certain geographical parts of Earth, it'll suddenly go up. No, that law is constant everywhere. That law of gravity holds that plane down. And it never gets nicer, and it never gets lighter. That's a reality. But all of a sudden we see this plane is in the air. Completely defying the law of gravity. What gives? How come? Because there's a higher law. What is the higher law? The law of aerodynamics. And with speed and the aerodynamic laws and things, it takes over and that plane now has a higher law upon it and it is not subject to gravity in the same way. It overrides the law of gravity, this higher law does. And that's what the law of the Spirit of Life is in you and I. In verse 2, that's what the Spirit of Life is. The Spirit of Life will override the law of the sin nature and allow us to fly in the spiritual sense. And this is where living really is. I mean, this is a lot better than that. And it can happen. As the law of the Holy Spirit defeats the law of the sin nature, this is good news. That gravity is always there though. I mean, if for some reason you're up in there, and you're soaring, and you're enjoying this flight, and being in the air, and flying, and you decide to turn the engines off, because you have a better idea, what's going to kick in immediately? Law of gravity. And you might be able to soar for a little while, a few minutes, still kind of soar. Look, we're doing it. But it's not going to take long at all. And what? It's going to crash. Because the law of gravity is relentless. And you are never any match for it. But the law of the spirit of life, it's even more relentless. And it always will produce the victory. What has this law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus? What has it done? It has made me free from the law of sin. It has made us free. And this word free means to cause someone to be freed from domination. That's what the Greek lexicon is. Which is why we understand the issue here is being under the controlling power of something. I'm free from the controlling power of the sin nature. As this word is, the sin in verse 2 in the Greek. It's the sin nature. Now, we've also did this before, we compare freedoms in Romans 6 and 7. In Romans 6, 7 it says, for he who has died has been freed from the sin. As Paul talked about our co-crucifixion, our co-burial and our resurrection, and he says, now the conclusion of that is, he who has died, and by the way, have you died? Answer, if you're saved, what's the answer? Yes. Okay, so you have died with Christ, therefore you have been freed from sin. This is a legal declaration, this is a legal freedom. And that's why this is a legal term. In Romans 6, verse 7, it's a different term than Romans 8. It's a freedom obtained through a legal death, and it's freedom from position. You were in Adam, under the power of the sin nature in Adam, and you no longer are in Adam. And now in Romans 8, verse 2, we read, the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus has made me free from the law of the sin and death. And this is not a legal term in Romans 8. What we see now is a freedom that is obtained through the controlling power of the Holy Spirit. This is a superior power, an issue then of freedom from a controlling power, the sin nature. And so, both freedoms are true. Paul has one in view in chapter 6, establishing that position, and now he's showing us the practical benefits of that in chapter 8. There is a practical freedom from domination. And what are we free from? We're free from the law of the sin. Nature is the idea. The law of the sin and death. And what does that point you back to? Romans 6 and the truth of your position in Christ, your co-crucifixion, your burial, your new relationships. That's why we have this position. And now he's talking about the power of the Holy Spirit now to enable that. And by the way, where is the spirit of this life? Once again, what do we see in verse 2? The phrase, in Christ. In Christ. Is this true then of you? Yes. Could you ever say, oh, it wasn't true of me on Monday? No. You're never condemned on Monday and the spirit of this power is in you on Monday and every day that ends in wine. It's there. It's a reality. So, this is the second of our three pillars then. This is the law of the spirit of life in Christ. This is about our power. Power. And then we go to our third pillar, the pillar of freedom. And this is found in v. 3 as Paul is just reviewing and setting the stage for the big verse we're getting to in v. 4. But in v. 3, one more pillar, he says, For what the law could not do in that it was weak through the flesh, God did. And he did it by sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh on account of sin. And he condemned the sin in the flesh. the source of your deliverance and your freedom here? Well, negatively, he tells us. Why is there no condemnation? Why is it that you do not have to live a life of cyclical defeat? Well, the reason why, verse 2, is because the law of the Spirit of life in Christ is a higher power. Well, how did this law of the Spirit of life set me free? as he mentions in verse 2. How did that happen? Well, it happened not by law or law-keeping, verse 3, not by what the law could not do and that it was weak. This accomplishment didn't come through the law, as the beginning of verse 3 says. It didn't come through the principle of law-keeping. Do good, get goodies, and so forth. The law could not fulfill the inward good desires of the new nature. And why is it? Because what's the reason there in verse 3? Because it was weak. What does weak mean? It's without power. No power. That's the whole point. And so the law was powerless, could not fulfill its righteous demands or requirements, as by the way, he's referring to verse 3 now, the Mosaic law and or law keeping. And here's the way we've illustrated that. We understand that as a believer you have a new nature down here, or over here. Maybe, maybe you don't. I think you do. Yeah, there you go. You have a new nature, and this has desires to please the Lord, but unfortunately you still have, though you're a new creation, you still are in your old body, physical body, and part of that package is the sin nature that is in you, this disposition here that says, me first, and wants to do its own wills and its own desires. And the sin nature has a practical bondage here. We see this chain and it's holding yourself and your body and yourself in bondage. And so here we see we have desires, we have wanting to do what is right, but there's no power. This old power. And so that's what Paul is referring to now. He just explained how there was going to be a discontinuation or a stripping of power here, and that this is what the spirit of life then is able to do is to set you free from the domination of this power and to fulfill these new desires. He's going to explain that even a little bit more in verse 4 in the rest of the chapter. But in this pillar of freedom then, what we want to see is the law could not do this. And so the source of your deliverance and your freedom is not you or the law. You didn't do it. You can't do it. We need to understand that. And the sooner we stop trying, the more successful we'll be. And this is, again, the average teaching in the average church around the world is keep trying and try harder. It's so unfortunate, isn't it? It is God alone who's going to do it. That's what the next phrase says. The law could not do it. It was weak. God did it. God accomplished it. God is the source. And what did God do? He freed you from the tyranny of your sin nature. And how did He do that? How He did it was again at the cross as we go there in v. 3. God did this, how? Middle of v. 3, by sending His own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh on account of sin. He condemned sin in the flesh. So how your freedom was accomplished is what we sometimes refer to as the other work of Christ on the cross. Now what do we mean by that? The other work? We recognize often and normally, we recognize His finished work on the cross where He paid for the penalty of our sins. Right? And we see that our justification was secured there, first tense salvation. But we often sometimes forget or miss the significance that that death on the cross also condemned the sin nature. And through that work on the cross, and because of that death, and mainly our death with Him, We are no longer subject and have to be under the power of the sin nature because the sin nature was condemned. And this is the Christian life aspect of the cross. You see, in order to go to heaven, you have to center on the cross, don't you? How can you preach the Gospel and not preach the cross? It's an oxymoron. And then when it comes to the Christian life, it all starts and centers where? On the cross. As you recognize, it was there also that Christ dealt with the factory of sin, the sin nature within us, as you no longer have to yield to it. He condemns sin in the flesh. How? He sent His own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh. That means Jesus became a man. But He didn't become fully human in the sense that He had a sin nature. I mean, He was fully human, but what I'm trying to say is He didn't have a sin nature, verse 3 says. He was in the likeness of sinful flesh. So Jesus Christ was the only one who was born ever who did not have a sin nature. And we know that's true because He's fully God. And He's fully God and fully man at the same time as He was born supernaturally and miraculously. And so He comes in the likeness of sinful flesh, meaning He doesn't have a sin nature, and He comes on account of sin, in a general sense, the problem of sin, and therefore He dies for the penalty of sin, and He dies so that there is no more power of sin. in your practical life. He dies on account of sin. He's doing something about sin. So, what did he do? He condemned sin in the flesh. The last phrase of verse 3. He condemned the sin nature in the flesh. This is an act of judgment. Remember the earlier words we used for condemned? This time, verse 3, is this word referring to an act of decisive judgment. So Jesus Christ judges sin in the flesh. The sin nature. The sin nature. Everyone in Jesus Christ died with Christ. Right? You understand that? When you died, you were in Adam and you were guilty and you were under the power of the sin nature practically because you were in Adam. And so the sin nature in a sense has this grip on you. Better not use that. I'll get yelled at. We'll use this. It has this grip on you. When you believed in Christ and you trusted in Christ, suddenly, supernaturally, you were taken out of there. You're no longer in Adam. You're in Christ. So here the sin nature's got a grip on you and suddenly it's holding nothing. Because you're not in Adam anymore and it doesn't have that authority over you. And you're now a new identity in Christ. And it's in that way the sin nature was condemned. The sin nature has no more power and authority. And that's what it craves and what it wants, but it's been condemned. It doesn't have it anymore. He nullified the power of the sin nature in flesh. So everyone in Christ died with Christ and are, through death, set free from the power of the indwelling sin nature. When you died on the cross, you are now free. The sin nature then is condemned. Think of a building that's condemned. It's still there, isn't it? It's still there, but it has official markings of condemnation. It is made to be off limits. It's destined for destruction in the future. It has been shut down. That's the sin nature inside of the believer of Jesus Christ. And when the body is finally done, the physical body which is destined for destruction, the physical body will die. The sin nature is done. And you get a new resurrected body to last for eternity. with no sin nature. Can't wait, huh? But in the meantime, that sin nature is condemned. But just like any time, don't we see kids and other people often that wander into these condemned buildings and still try to do things in the condemned buildings? That's like us when we are failing to walk by faith. And we fail to recognize these excellent truths. This is true of every believer then in Christ. And this brings about then this newness of life. Because there's a condemnation of the sin nature in the flesh, the Spirit of God we'll see is able to bring about a newness of life. And so, the sin nature was condemned, and so what we're seeing then is now this is what happened on the cross. See, we often understand how Christ died for all of our sins and our sins are forgiven, first tense justification, but we sometimes forget or don't emphasize that this is what also happened. This is the other work of Christ on the cross. That it was there your sin nature was condemned and positionally you're set free. And this is our third pillar then. The pillar of freedom. As God officially condemned and shut down the sin nature, therefore, allowing you to freely enjoy the power. So first you get this position, you get now the Spirit of God and this higher law, and you get the sin nature and the old law shut down. God provides the means for your sanctification. He puts you in Christ, a place of no condemnation, puts you under the higher law, the Spirit of life in Christ, and puts your sin nature out of business, condemned and powerless. And now we can turn to the process of our sanctification, Romans 8, verse 4. What is the process? The process is this, that the righteous requirement of the law might be fulfilled in us who do not walk according to the flesh, but according to the Spirit. Let's first recognize the purpose for what God has done in chapter 8, verse 4. The word that is a hena clause. It's the Greek word hena, which means it's setting forth a purpose. You could put the word soul in front of it. All of this is true so that the righteous requirement of the law might be fulfilled. Why this freedom? Why this deliverance? Why this position? So that what? You just wouldn't sin. Is that what it says? That's implied, but is that really what we focus on? We're just trying not to sin. We're good Christians. We don't sin. We're not going to get rewarded with a judgment seat for not sinning. You realize that, right? That's what we're supposed to do. That's the will of God. hearing, well done thou good and faithful servant, for what? For service that's rendered at the proper power source, the Spirit of God. We'll be rewarded for the fruit of the Spirit that was produced through us by God. We bring glory to God, not merely by not sinning, John 15 will say, but by bearing fruit. And the fruit is love and joy and peace and it's the positive things, the positive aspects of the Christian life. That's the purpose of our position of verses 1, 2, and 3. It's all for the purpose that verse 4, the righteous requirement of the law, will be fulfilled. The positive side. It's just understood, the negative side, not sinning. Well, the purpose is the righteous requirement of the law might be fulfilled. Now, reminding us of 2 Timothy 2 verse 21, Paul says, Therefore, if anyone cleanses himself from the latter, he will be a vessel of honor, sanctified, that's what we're talking about, and useful for the master, prepared for every good work. Flee youthful lusts, but pursue righteousness and faith and love and peace and those who call on the Lord of a pure heart." Notice what's the emphasis is the positive. Yes, there is a notion of cleansing here and of fleeing, but there's even much more being said about being prepared for good works, being a vessel of honor, and the fruit of the Spirit. So we just want to remember the right focus. The focus is on what God wants to accomplish through us. Let's go to number two and recognize what then God will accomplish. What will He accomplish? It says right here in the passage, the righteous requirement of the law. God will do this. Now turn with me to Romans chapter 13 for a minute and let's just see, because this isn't that hard. I think we could do this maybe without help. Maybe we just call on God a few times during the week when we think we need Him. Let's see. Chapter 13, verse 8. As this is the same author, Paul, a little bit later in his passage says in the book of Romans, he says, O no one anything except to love one another. Well, that's no problem. For he who loves another has fulfilled the law. For the commandments, you shall not commit adultery, you shall not murder, you shall not steal, you shall not bear false witness, you shall not covet. And if there is any other commandment, they're all summed up in this saying, namely, you shall love your neighbor as yourself. Love does no harm to a neighbor. Therefore, love is the fulfillment of the law. Love your neighbor as yourself. Are you kidding me? 24-7 all the time? Yeah, that's the righteous requirement of the law. Similarly, Jesus said in Mark 12, Jesus answered them, the first of all the commandments is, Hear, O Israel, the Lord our God is one. And you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your mind, with all your strength. This is the first commandment. And the second one is if that one wasn't enough, you shall love your neighbor as yourself. There's no other commandment greater than these. Now, how are you doing? Do you think you can fulfill those? That's why Paul said in Romans 7, O wretched man that I am! Who can deliver me? And until you get to that point where you realize you cannot produce this, you cannot perform this, you are incapable, finally at that point of weakness, God says, my strength is made perfect and weakness. This is a supernatural standard. This is a holy requirement, one that could never be accomplished. Now, the word fulfilled, the Romans, if we go back to chapter 8, because God wants to fulfill the righteous requirement of the law, that word means to bring to a designed end. It's the Greek word pleiru, which has several shades of meaning. In this case, it's to bring to a designed end. which means God has a purpose and a design for these righteous requirements of the law to love one another, to love the Lord your God with all your heart as His will for you. And God alone will perform it. God does this. He fulfills it. That means it's completed. It's accomplished. Praise the Lord. And where does He do it? This righteousness will be fulfilled in us. In us. Notice very significantly it's not by us. It's not accomplished by our effort, but it is accomplished in us. The location is in. God is doing this in. And who is God in? God is only in the believer by way of the indwelling power of the Holy Spirit. No wonder Philippians 2.12 we read, Therefore, my beloved, as you have always obeyed, Notice the issue is the righteousness of the requirement of the law being fulfilled, obedience. This is not as in my presence only, but much more in my absence. Work out your own salvation with fear and trembling. And then he tells you how. As this is not salvation from hell, this is salvation from the power of sin. And he says, it is God who works in you. Where is God? He's in you. Who is God in? Only believers. And God is working in you. And He's doing this both to will and to do His good pleasure. See, Paul was here in Romans 7. He had the desires. He said, I want to do what is right, but I can't. I have the will. I have the desires. I want to do what's right, but he wasn't able to do it. God doesn't just give you the desires. He gives you the what? But that's only as God is doing it. See, this isn't you. He's not saying now you crank that out. He's saying you learn to walk according to the Spirit and God will crank that out. So, this is supernatural. No wonder Jesus reminds us in John 15, he says, I am the true vine and the Father is the vinedresser. Every branch of me that doesn't bear fruit, he takes away. And then later he says, abide in me and I in you as the branch cannot bear fruit of itself. unless it abides in the vine. Neither can you unless you abide in Me. And sometimes we're going over these truths. I know some believers, some of you are frustrated and you're saying, oh, I can't do it, I can't do it. We've been reciting these verses and saying this for 20 years. Right? I can't do anything. Apart from Christ, I can't do anything. And then when you really start to think about it and see it, we despair. That's walked by faith. This is what God says. The power source and the ability never comes from us. It always comes from Christ. It always comes from abiding in Him. As we're going to see, that's just another phrase and way of saying walk according to the Spirit. So, recognize then as we go to number three, the one condition to fulfill in this process. We finally get to verse four. He says, the righteous requirement of the law might be fulfilled in us who do not walk according to the flesh, but according to the Spirit. What is the condition? To not walk according to the flesh, but instead walk according to the Spirit. Now, we've said that, we say this all the time, but what does it actually mean? Walk is referring to your everyday life. It's a present tense verb, in this case carrying the idea of how you conduct or behave your life. And according to is very interesting. According to is the preposition that gives the idea of to be in agreement with something or someone. You're in agreement with it. Sympathetic to, affectionate. In this case, walking according to the flesh, affectionate in agreement with the flesh, or walking according to the spirit, affectionate in your thinking, agreement with the spirit. It implies then, Paul is saying, you're to live You can live according to the flesh, like unbelievers, as the word like is really the idea of according to. It carries that idea. Live according to the flesh, like unbelievers, or live according to the Spirit, like believers. That's kind of the notion of what he's saying. You can choose to walk, but you want to conduct your life and live your life according to, in agreement with, sympathetic to the Spirit, like believers are to do. So that's what we're to do, we're to walk according to the Spirit. That means there's two very real possibilities here. Walk according to the Spirit, walk according to the flesh. Over and over we see in Romans 6, 7 and 8 this very one or the other language. What is the flesh? Flesh is referring to your sin nature. It's another term for the sin nature and it's a reference again to the controlling power. Walk according to the controlling power of the flesh as you're in agreement with its demands and its whims and its values. When you walk according to the flesh, you're sympathetic to it. Or you can walk according to the Spirit, which is referring to the controlling power of the Holy Spirit. The Spirit's objective is to glorify Christ. The Spirit's objective is for Christ to be honored, for the fruit of the Spirit, which is glorifying Christ, for Christ to be the preeminence. And you know, it's even here where we can be deceived. The sin nature is so subtle and so clever, and it can shift our focus just a little bit. So that we're focusing on walking in wanting victory and not sinning, and we focus on that instead of really Christ being glorified and genuine obedience, namely the righteous requirement of the law being fulfilled. W.S. Plumer said we never see sin all right until we see it as against God. All sin is against God and his sins. It's his law that is broken, his authority that's despised, his government that has said it not. Let's go down here. It says, God wants us to walk in obedience, not victory. Obedience is orientated toward God. Victory is orientated toward self. This may seem to be merely splitting hairs over semantics, but there's a subtle self-centered attitude at the foot of many of our difficulties with sin. Until we face this attitude and deal with it, we are not consistent in walking holiness. And so sometimes it is a little bit just semantics and things, but you can see if you're not focusing on the positive output of the Christian life, which is the fruit of the Spirit and the righteous requirement of the law produced in us, we'll instead focus on just not sinning and we'll be thinking about victory or even just our own objective. It's just a subtle distinction that can happen and that's because the flesh is very deceitful. So how do we fulfill this? We have to understand that right here, this has already happened. And now, as a believer, God has given us the Holy Spirit. And the Holy Spirit takes these desires right here and makes them reality. And produces through us the righteous requirement of Allah. The things that the new nature desires produces through us the fruit of the Spirit. Now, how does this happen? The last point I want to make, and we're running a little behind, sorry, 8.4 says, the righteous requirement of the law might be fulfilled in us who do not walk according to the flesh but according to the Spirit. All those terms in there that are referring to us are participles. So this is descriptive Romans 8.4. This is describing someone who's walking either this way or this way. This is not a command. There's no command here about what we should do specifically. It's just describing the one who's doing one or the other, how they're walking. So, what specific commands would govern this passage then? The only commands in the entire sanctification passage here are what? Do you remember? Go back to Romans 6. We'll finish there. Romans 6, verses 11-13. The commands that are still governing this passage, the commands that are still in play, the ones that are to be center in our thinking are Romans 6-11, likewise you also reckon yourself. Reckon yourself. Add it up and understand you are dead indeed to the sin nature, but alive to God. Second command, therefore do not let the sin nature reign. Do not let In light of who you are, in light of your position in Christ, in light of walking by faith and resting in your position, do not let the sin nature have that undeserved or illegitimate authority. And the third and fourth commands, don't present yourselves then, verse 13, don't give your body over to the sin nature. Instead, present yourself to God. But why? As being alive from the dead. recognizing again your position and who you are. You see, God doesn't say, you're doing this X, X, and X too much in your life. Whatever it is. Stop sinning. You're doing this. So stop it. That's not how God approaches it. He says, learn who you are. You're a child of God. You're in Christ. You have the status. This is your position. Now in light of that, will you step out and walk a certain way according to the Spirit? So how do you fulfill this? You reckon and you yield. You don't let the sin nature reign. Those are the commands that are still in place. And the description of one who's doing that is one Romans 8-4 who is what? Walking according to the Spirit. Well, we ran out of time. Let's just finish with two visuals here. So the pillars of grace sanctification, Romans 8-4, now we have sanctification coming down. What is it? It's the righteousness of the law That's what it is. Practically outworked. And that cannot happen and does not happen without these pillars. And we must remember those as we see them. The sanctification is practically produced in us. Well, I hope we kind of rushed there at the end, but we trust the Lord will encourage our hearts with that. Let's pray and we'll dismiss. Father, we thank you for these truths.