Children of God, Romans 8: 12-17

The point that I think Paul is making here is who is in control of your life.  He has made the case very clearly, starting in chapter 7, that there are two natures at war in your body; that which is flesh, and sinful, and that which is Spirit.  Paul uses the phrase or something like it again and again in this passage, a phrase like “of the Spirit,” “or by the Spirit,” or “led by the Spirit.”   Now the question arises what is meant by “in the Spirit?”  A lot of people get off track on this whole

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No Condemnation, Romans 8:1-11

In our study of Romans 7 over the last couple of weeks, we learned that Paul describes an inner  struggle that is going on in our life as a Christian.  He summarized that struggle in chapter 7 vs 25, “So then, on the one hand I myself with my mind am serving the law of God, but on the other, with my flesh the law of sin.”  This is the summary of the struggle that Paul describes in chapter 7. He said there are two laws or principles at work in him.  And this is the personal experience of Paul. 

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The struggle in sanctification, Romans 7:7-25

By the use of three different analogies in the previous passages, Paul has shown that to be a Christian there must be a change by death of the old man, and a new life in the new man.  He first showed that in chapter 5 starting in vs 15 as the old man, represented by Adam, needed to die, so that he might be resurrected to new life in Christ. The next analogy Paul used is found in chapter 6 starting in vs 16 which likens the old man in slavery to sin, and the death of that man which

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Sanctification by relationship, Romans 7:1-6

I would like to begin with a brief summary so far of what Paul has written to the Romans. The book of Romans is the Magna Carta of salvation. It’s kind of ironic, that most Christians think that salvation can be explained in a few sentences. Whereas, Paul writes 16 chapters in an epistle on the academic level of a dissertation for a Phd. All on the subject of salvation. We are entering our fifth month of studying this epistle, and we aren’t even half way through it yet. Now concerning this subject of salvation, you should remember as I’ve

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Slave or Free, Romans 6:15-23

As we continue in chapter 6 of Romans, we are considering the question hypothetically proposed by Paul in vs 1, “What shall we say then? Are we to continue in sin so that grace may increase?”  The emphasis in that question is shall we continue in sin.  From this question which Paul answered with a resounding “NO” he establishes the principle that as a Christian, saved by grace, we cannot continue in sin.  We cannot live a lifestyle of sin.  We will not live in sin, even though it is true that as sin increases grace abounds all the more. 

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Dead to sin, alive in Christ, Romans 6:1-14

Have you ever let your imagination run wild and thought what it would be like to rob a bank and get away with it? No? I guess I am the only one with a criminal bent among us. But let’s just say I could guarantee that you would never get caught, could you imagine robbing a bank of millions of dollars? Well, such a prospect might be more tempting for some of us more so than for others, but I would hope that most of you would never do such a thing, even if you knew you could get away

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Much More, Romans 5: 12-21

First of all, let me begin this morning by making a few remarks about Easter. After all, today is the holiday we know as Easter and it’s important that we know why we observe it. Easter is a celebration of the resurrection of Jesus Christ. which many believe was on this date, or close to this date. But what some may not realize is that we celebrate the resurrection of Christ every Sunday morning.  The Sabbath was discontinued as a Christian observance on the first day that Jesus rose from the dead.  Contrary to some misinformation out there, Sunday service

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Substitutionary Atonement, Romans 5:6-11

When John the Baptist saw Jesus walking towards him, he cried out, “Behold, the Lamb of God that takes away the sin of the world.”  That was a statement of tremendous significance. On the one hand, he was saluting Jesus as the Savior, as the One who came from God, the Messiah.  And in that, he was indicating the true mission of the Messiah.  Not a military mission, not a political mission, not a mission of social activism, but a mission to save sinners.  And additionally, John was referencing a prophecy that was typified by a Jewish holiday which was

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The benefits of justification, Romans 5:1-5

The apostle Paul has shown us so far in this epistle that all men are sinners before God.  To use legal jargon, all have been brought up on charges before God.  And all of mankind stand condemned because of our sin against God.  There is none righteous, not even one.  And according to God’s law, we are all given the penalty of death.   Paul says the only people that escape this penalty are those who are made righteous by faith in God’s word, of which Abraham is given as a prime example. AS evidence that the righteous shall live

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Faith in the promises of God, Romans 4:13-25

Some of you may be aware that many years ago I used to be an antique dealer and appraiser who specialized in Native American antiques. I looked for things like clothing or weaponry that was from the late 19th century and baskets and textiles. One of the things I learned about from that period was a very rare artifact called a Ghost Dance shirt. It was made in the 1890’s, and rather than being made from the usual buckskin, it was made from muslin and usually painted with symbols of stars and birds. The significance of this shirt is that

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