WEBVTT 00:00:00.270 --> 00:00:03.529 Well, I read a funny story the other day, a funny 00:00:03.529 --> 00:00:06.650 and very relatable story the other day. First 00:00:06.650 --> 00:00:08.550 service, I think because I don't usually start 00:00:08.550 --> 00:00:10.910 with a funny story, they had no idea what I was 00:00:10.910 --> 00:00:12.689 doing. They didn't know whether to laugh or not. 00:00:12.769 --> 00:00:15.429 Either that or the story wasn't funny. So just 00:00:15.429 --> 00:00:18.410 imagine I'm launching my stand -up career, and 00:00:18.410 --> 00:00:20.910 you guys are the helpful audience to encourage 00:00:20.910 --> 00:00:23.309 me, okay? Let's get a little laughter in here 00:00:23.309 --> 00:00:26.739 before we get going, all right? No, no. Actually, 00:00:27.719 --> 00:00:29.600 it's a funny story. It's written in the first 00:00:29.600 --> 00:00:32.039 person, and I'm going to start with this. It's 00:00:32.039 --> 00:00:35.960 titled, The Night I Invented a New Form of Pasta. 00:00:36.539 --> 00:00:40.299 You with me? You guys are going to start throwing 00:00:40.299 --> 00:00:44.960 things and heckling me now, right? I told everyone 00:00:44.960 --> 00:00:49.399 I was really getting into cooking now. I said 00:00:49.399 --> 00:00:51.939 it while holding a wooden spoon, which felt official. 00:00:53.159 --> 00:00:56.600 I'd watched a few YouTube videos. I'd learned 00:00:56.600 --> 00:00:59.640 the word al dente and decided it was time to 00:00:59.640 --> 00:01:04.000 host a dinner party. The recipe looked simple 00:01:04.000 --> 00:01:09.299 enough. Step one, boil pasta. Step two, prepare 00:01:09.299 --> 00:01:13.540 sauce. Well, I decided to interpret that creatively. 00:01:14.640 --> 00:01:18.379 I added garlic with confidence and spices with 00:01:18.379 --> 00:01:21.239 flair and chili flakes with the reckless abandon 00:01:21.239 --> 00:01:25.930 of someone who had never met consequences. While 00:01:25.930 --> 00:01:29.769 the pasta boiled, I multitasked by not stirring 00:01:29.769 --> 00:01:34.250 it at all. I assured myself this was fine. Italians 00:01:34.250 --> 00:01:38.950 probably do it this way. Suddenly, smoke appeared 00:01:38.950 --> 00:01:42.329 in the kitchen. I just assumed it was aroma. 00:01:43.489 --> 00:01:47.170 The sauce seized into a thick, angry paste. The 00:01:47.170 --> 00:01:50.810 pasta fused together in a single heroic mass 00:01:50.810 --> 00:01:56.359 like a carbohydrate meteorite. I tasted it and 00:01:56.359 --> 00:01:59.019 immediately understood why professional chefs 00:01:59.019 --> 00:02:03.319 look tired. My guests arrived to a kitchen that 00:02:03.319 --> 00:02:07.239 smelled like ambition and regret. We ordered 00:02:07.239 --> 00:02:09.460 pizza and pretended that was always the plan. 00:02:10.639 --> 00:02:14.060 I learned an important lesson that night. It 00:02:14.060 --> 00:02:18.080 turns out confidence is not the same as competence. 00:02:20.270 --> 00:02:22.689 Anyone else ever learn the lesson that confidence 00:02:22.689 --> 00:02:27.069 is not the same as competence? Ambition does 00:02:27.069 --> 00:02:30.590 not equal ability. I think we've all had that 00:02:30.590 --> 00:02:32.889 project or that thing we set out to do and we 00:02:32.889 --> 00:02:35.449 thought, I watched a few YouTube videos, how 00:02:35.449 --> 00:02:38.889 hard can it be? And 20 trips to Home Depot later, 00:02:39.110 --> 00:02:42.509 right? Maybe we had some semblance of what we 00:02:42.509 --> 00:02:44.590 were trying to do, but nothing close to the quality. 00:02:44.710 --> 00:02:46.870 Well, I think we've all had that lesson. Today 00:02:46.870 --> 00:02:50.240 we're going to be in Romans chapter 8. verse 00:02:50.240 --> 00:02:53.080 one through four, Romans eight, one through four. 00:02:53.120 --> 00:02:54.280 If you have your Bibles, you can turn there. 00:02:54.319 --> 00:02:56.599 It's gonna be on the screen. I wanna read Romans 00:02:56.599 --> 00:03:00.719 eight, one through four for you. It says, therefore, 00:03:00.759 --> 00:03:04.379 there is now no condemnation for those who are 00:03:04.379 --> 00:03:08.039 in Christ Jesus, because the law of the spirit 00:03:08.039 --> 00:03:11.860 of life in Christ Jesus has set you free from 00:03:11.860 --> 00:03:15.219 the law of sin and death. For what the law could 00:03:15.219 --> 00:03:18.740 not do, since it was weakened by the flesh, God 00:03:18.740 --> 00:03:22.520 did. He condemned sin in the flesh by sending 00:03:22.520 --> 00:03:25.919 his own son in the likeness of sinful flesh as 00:03:25.919 --> 00:03:29.219 a sin offering in order that the law's requirement 00:03:29.219 --> 00:03:32.259 would be fulfilled in us who do not walk according 00:03:32.259 --> 00:03:36.280 to the flesh, but according to the spirit. This 00:03:36.280 --> 00:03:40.740 is God's word. Will you join me in praying? Father, 00:03:40.879 --> 00:03:42.900 we come and we ask you would honor your name 00:03:42.900 --> 00:03:45.580 as holy among us as we go to your word, as we 00:03:46.379 --> 00:03:49.259 revere you in the posture of our heart in the 00:03:49.259 --> 00:03:56.560 way that we come even now. Lord, may we be awestruck, 00:03:56.580 --> 00:04:00.060 God, at the truth of who you are and what you 00:04:00.060 --> 00:04:03.520 have done. And Lord, may it produce in us a gratitude 00:04:03.520 --> 00:04:07.819 like nothing else and a joy resounding, we ask 00:04:07.819 --> 00:04:13.060 in Jesus' name. Amen. Amen. Well, we live in 00:04:13.060 --> 00:04:18.639 a world that runs on effort. From the time we're 00:04:18.639 --> 00:04:21.459 young, we're taught implicitly and explicitly 00:04:21.459 --> 00:04:24.660 that progress only comes through performance. 00:04:25.839 --> 00:04:29.399 Work harder, be more disciplined, apply yourself, 00:04:29.720 --> 00:04:31.980 improve a little more next year than you did 00:04:31.980 --> 00:04:35.680 the last year. And that mindset shapes everything. 00:04:35.800 --> 00:04:38.220 It shapes how we think about our careers, how 00:04:38.220 --> 00:04:40.800 we think about our health and relationships and 00:04:40.800 --> 00:04:44.889 so much. and whether we realize it or not, it 00:04:44.889 --> 00:04:47.930 also shapes, for many of us, how we think about 00:04:47.930 --> 00:04:52.490 God. For many people inside the church and outside 00:04:52.490 --> 00:04:55.509 of the church, faith becomes another strategy 00:04:55.509 --> 00:05:00.709 for self -justification. Not so much how can 00:05:00.709 --> 00:05:05.449 I please God as much as how can I feel okay with 00:05:05.449 --> 00:05:11.000 myself. If I just try harder, if I just stay 00:05:11.000 --> 00:05:14.379 more consistent, if I avoid repeating the same 00:05:14.379 --> 00:05:16.959 failures over and over, then maybe I can manage 00:05:16.959 --> 00:05:20.220 my guilt, I can protect my self -image, and I 00:05:20.220 --> 00:05:23.019 can reassure myself that I'm still mostly a good 00:05:23.019 --> 00:05:28.860 person. It's kind of like a spiritual rat race. 00:05:30.040 --> 00:05:32.360 You're running hard, you're putting in the effort, 00:05:32.420 --> 00:05:36.079 trying to stay ahead, but the track never ends. 00:05:37.680 --> 00:05:44.360 for the wicked. There's another habit to fix, 00:05:44.420 --> 00:05:48.139 another failure to compensate for, another version 00:05:48.139 --> 00:05:52.500 of yourself that you're supposed to become. And 00:05:52.500 --> 00:05:55.259 the cruel part of this spiritual rat race is 00:05:55.259 --> 00:05:58.259 that the faster you run, the more convinced you 00:05:58.259 --> 00:06:02.459 become that stopping would mean failure. And 00:06:02.459 --> 00:06:07.660 so we continue on. And we bring this habit, this 00:06:07.660 --> 00:06:10.120 habit of performance into our relationship with 00:06:10.120 --> 00:06:12.740 God, and we begin to view him not in a personal 00:06:12.740 --> 00:06:15.819 sense, not in a personal relative sense, but 00:06:15.819 --> 00:06:18.459 primarily in terms of all the demands that he 00:06:18.459 --> 00:06:21.399 places on us in order for us to shape up and 00:06:21.399 --> 00:06:27.000 be acceptable. And so we assume the entire weight 00:06:27.000 --> 00:06:31.879 of the relationship rests on us, on our performance. 00:06:33.959 --> 00:06:37.180 There's a phrase that gets quoted all the time, 00:06:37.220 --> 00:06:41.459 often in religious settings. God helps those 00:06:41.459 --> 00:06:46.279 who help themselves. And that line gets quoted 00:06:46.279 --> 00:06:49.560 like it's scripture. It gets preached like it's 00:06:49.560 --> 00:06:53.439 wisdom. It gets trusted like gospel, but it is 00:06:53.439 --> 00:06:57.839 not Christianity. God helps those who help themselves 00:06:57.839 --> 00:07:01.199 is not Christianity. It's not what Christ did. 00:07:01.319 --> 00:07:04.800 In fact, it's pure, unadulterated, garbage theology. 00:07:06.860 --> 00:07:10.639 It's self -salvation dressed up in religious 00:07:10.639 --> 00:07:15.740 language. Because when you open the New Testament, 00:07:15.800 --> 00:07:18.639 you find something that is almost offensive to 00:07:18.639 --> 00:07:21.420 our instincts, and that is that God doesn't wait 00:07:21.420 --> 00:07:27.459 for people to help themselves. He steps in Precisely 00:07:27.459 --> 00:07:33.339 when they cannot. Merry Christmas. That's the 00:07:33.339 --> 00:07:37.480 Advent story. Merry, Merry Christmas. That's 00:07:37.480 --> 00:07:40.779 what it's all about. Advent is not about the 00:07:40.779 --> 00:07:45.139 celebration of humanity's moral potential or 00:07:45.139 --> 00:07:48.480 our achievements. But instead, it's the announcement 00:07:48.480 --> 00:07:53.959 of divine intervention. It's the confession that 00:07:53.959 --> 00:07:57.319 left to ourselves, no matter how sincere, how 00:07:57.319 --> 00:08:00.100 disciplined, or how well -intentioned, we could 00:08:00.100 --> 00:08:05.560 not rescue ourselves. Christmas happened because 00:08:05.560 --> 00:08:10.500 something was fundamentally broken. Not out there 00:08:10.500 --> 00:08:17.000 in the world, but in us. And when Paul communicates 00:08:17.000 --> 00:08:21.610 the advent in Romans chapter 8, He says it like 00:08:21.610 --> 00:08:25.170 this, not we figured it out finally. He doesn't 00:08:25.170 --> 00:08:28.509 say we finally tried hard enough or we met God 00:08:28.509 --> 00:08:31.509 halfway, but he uses these words that carry the 00:08:31.509 --> 00:08:34.730 weight of the gospel and that is God did it. 00:08:36.090 --> 00:08:39.230 God did it. Can you say that with me? God did 00:08:39.230 --> 00:08:44.450 it. That's the theme of our text. That's the 00:08:44.450 --> 00:08:47.370 heart of our hope. That's what we're gonna sit 00:08:47.370 --> 00:08:52.990 in today. therefore there is now no condemnation 00:08:52.990 --> 00:08:57.110 for those who are in Christ Jesus. And to give 00:08:57.110 --> 00:08:59.110 a little context before we get into the three 00:08:59.110 --> 00:09:02.090 points I have today, when Paul is writing Romans 00:09:02.090 --> 00:09:04.049 chapter eight, he's right in the middle of a 00:09:04.049 --> 00:09:06.090 conversation. He's already been going on for 00:09:06.090 --> 00:09:08.070 many chapters. In fact, he's actually bringing 00:09:08.070 --> 00:09:11.909 that conversation to a climax. For seven chapters, 00:09:12.049 --> 00:09:15.049 Paul has been walking through a brutally honest 00:09:15.049 --> 00:09:19.779 diagnosis of the human condition. In Romans 1, 00:09:19.940 --> 00:09:22.539 Paul looks at the nations of the world and he 00:09:22.539 --> 00:09:24.919 says that something has gone seriously wrong. 00:09:25.019 --> 00:09:27.940 Not just socially, not just politically, but 00:09:27.940 --> 00:09:32.700 spiritually. That God has made himself known 00:09:32.700 --> 00:09:37.519 to all of creation through creation. And that 00:09:37.519 --> 00:09:40.480 his power and his order and his divine nature 00:09:40.480 --> 00:09:45.629 are on display for everyone to see. And yet, 00:09:45.690 --> 00:09:48.909 instead of responding with gratitude and worship, 00:09:49.210 --> 00:09:55.909 humanity suppresses the truth. Human beings created 00:09:55.909 --> 00:10:00.230 to reflect God have exchanged him for the worship 00:10:00.230 --> 00:10:04.110 and the honor and the exaltation of created things 00:10:04.110 --> 00:10:08.629 in his place. We worship what we can control. 00:10:09.049 --> 00:10:12.289 We chase whatever promises life but can't deliver 00:10:12.289 --> 00:10:16.409 it. We bow to what flatters our strength instead 00:10:16.409 --> 00:10:21.710 of confessing our utter dependence. And so Paul 00:10:21.710 --> 00:10:26.350 says the world is without excuse. The light of 00:10:26.350 --> 00:10:29.970 revelation about God, about who he is, even if 00:10:29.970 --> 00:10:34.970 only in creation, painted in creation, is rejected 00:10:34.970 --> 00:10:40.350 by the people of the world. Then in Romans chapter 00:10:40.350 --> 00:10:45.710 two, Paul turns his attention to Israel, to the 00:10:45.710 --> 00:10:49.389 Jewish people, the ones God chose out from among 00:10:49.389 --> 00:10:51.889 the nations through the covenant with Abraham, 00:10:52.129 --> 00:10:54.389 the people who are entrusted with the oracles 00:10:54.389 --> 00:10:57.289 of God, the word of God, the law and commands 00:10:57.289 --> 00:10:59.710 of God, the teaching of God given to them by 00:10:59.710 --> 00:11:03.090 Moses and the prophets. The nation called to 00:11:03.090 --> 00:11:08.549 be a light to all other nations. They didn't 00:11:08.549 --> 00:11:11.960 just have creation to look at. And see God. They 00:11:11.960 --> 00:11:15.019 also had divine revelation in his word. And they 00:11:15.019 --> 00:11:17.740 also had. Didn't just have their conscience to 00:11:17.740 --> 00:11:20.700 rely upon. But they had the covenantal faithfulness 00:11:20.700 --> 00:11:23.299 of God himself. The presence of God dwelling 00:11:23.299 --> 00:11:30.120 among them. And Paul says. Israel failed. To 00:11:30.120 --> 00:11:33.639 respond in faithful love. To the light of revelation 00:11:33.639 --> 00:11:37.519 that they had been given. That knowing the law 00:11:37.519 --> 00:11:42.309 is not the same as keeping the law. Being chosen 00:11:42.309 --> 00:11:46.190 alone does not equal salvation. And so the nations 00:11:46.190 --> 00:11:49.149 stand guilty before creation and Israel stands 00:11:49.149 --> 00:11:52.570 guilty before the law and all stand guilty before 00:11:52.570 --> 00:11:58.289 God. And by the time he reaches Romans 3, Paul 00:11:58.289 --> 00:12:00.330 kind of levels the playing field completely. 00:12:00.490 --> 00:12:04.269 No hierarchy of standing between anyone. He says, 00:12:04.389 --> 00:12:09.990 there is no one righteous. No, not even one. 00:12:13.679 --> 00:12:17.600 In Romans 4 and 5, Paul begins to introduce hope. 00:12:20.059 --> 00:12:22.860 He says, righteousness does not come from trying 00:12:22.860 --> 00:12:27.220 harder. It comes as a gift received by faith. 00:12:28.500 --> 00:12:33.899 Peace with God is not achieved. It is received. 00:12:36.779 --> 00:12:39.059 And then Paul anticipates the next question. 00:12:39.299 --> 00:12:42.419 Well, if grace is real, if forgiveness is free, 00:12:42.539 --> 00:12:50.080 why does sin still feel so powerful? And that's 00:12:50.080 --> 00:12:54.059 where Romans 6 and 7 come in. Paul says the law 00:12:54.059 --> 00:12:57.080 of God is good. The commands of God are good. 00:12:57.200 --> 00:12:59.500 They show us what life was meant to look like, 00:12:59.559 --> 00:13:02.980 but they cannot give the power to live that life. 00:13:06.759 --> 00:13:10.120 So Paul describes this inner conflict that I 00:13:10.120 --> 00:13:14.019 think is probably familiar to all of us. Wanting 00:13:14.019 --> 00:13:19.379 to do good, but not doing it. Knowing what's 00:13:19.379 --> 00:13:23.279 right, but failing to carry it out. Hating the 00:13:23.279 --> 00:13:26.340 very thing we keep returning to. Anyone been 00:13:26.340 --> 00:13:36.159 there? Romans 7 ends not with... Confidence but 00:13:36.159 --> 00:13:43.019 with a cry. What a wretched man I am. Who will 00:13:43.019 --> 00:13:48.320 rescue me from this body of death? Praise be 00:13:48.320 --> 00:13:55.179 to Jesus. That's someone who knows what's right 00:13:55.179 --> 00:13:59.450 but can't do it on his own. That's... Someone 00:13:59.450 --> 00:14:01.590 who has tried and failed and tried and failed 00:14:01.590 --> 00:14:03.889 and tried and failed and has finally decided 00:14:03.889 --> 00:14:11.690 enough. And maybe, maybe that's you today. Is 00:14:11.690 --> 00:14:16.009 that you today? Have you tried and tried and 00:14:16.009 --> 00:14:20.070 tried and tried and failed? Well, stick with 00:14:20.070 --> 00:14:25.269 me. We're going somewhere. Paul then turns the 00:14:25.269 --> 00:14:28.129 corner in Romans 8 and he doesn't begin with 00:14:28.129 --> 00:14:30.549 instruction. He begins Romans 8 with a declaration. 00:14:31.149 --> 00:14:34.230 Therefore, there is now no condemnation for those 00:14:34.230 --> 00:14:37.750 who are in Christ Jesus. There is no condemnation. 00:14:37.750 --> 00:14:40.370 It's not reduced, not delayed, not conditional, 00:14:40.389 --> 00:14:46.610 but gone. And the question is, how can Paul possibly 00:14:46.610 --> 00:14:51.779 say that? How can there be no condemnation when 00:14:51.779 --> 00:14:57.679 the problem of sin runs so deep? And Paul's answer 00:14:57.679 --> 00:15:06.440 is simple. God did it. God did it. He did it. 00:15:06.440 --> 00:15:08.340 And the first thing Paul wants us to understand 00:15:08.340 --> 00:15:12.940 is what we could never do ourselves. So if you're 00:15:12.940 --> 00:15:15.700 taking notes, number one, what we could not do. 00:15:19.149 --> 00:15:23.490 Romans 3, Romans 8, 3 says, what the law could 00:15:23.490 --> 00:15:28.669 not do since it was weakened by the flesh. Paul 00:15:28.669 --> 00:15:31.090 says there was something that the law could not 00:15:31.090 --> 00:15:34.590 do. The problem was not that God had given bad 00:15:34.590 --> 00:15:36.610 instruction. The problem was not that people 00:15:36.610 --> 00:15:40.029 misunderstood what God wanted. The problem was 00:15:40.029 --> 00:15:45.440 us, humanity. And Paul says the law was weakened 00:15:45.440 --> 00:15:48.620 by flesh. That doesn't mean our bodies are bad. 00:15:48.799 --> 00:15:52.159 It means human nature, bent and fractured, is 00:15:52.159 --> 00:15:55.059 disordered by sin. And it lacks the power to 00:15:55.059 --> 00:15:59.419 do what God's law requires. The law can tell 00:15:59.419 --> 00:16:02.639 us what's right. It can expose what's wrong. 00:16:02.879 --> 00:16:05.919 It can even awaken a desire for godliness. But 00:16:05.919 --> 00:16:10.320 the law cannot change the human heart. It can 00:16:10.320 --> 00:16:13.559 diagnose the disease, but it cannot cure it. 00:16:15.480 --> 00:16:18.759 And just a quick sidebar, because if you're reading 00:16:18.759 --> 00:16:20.240 that scripture there and you're thinking, okay, 00:16:20.299 --> 00:16:22.559 I read one, two, and three, and four, and I'm 00:16:22.559 --> 00:16:24.440 a little confused because Paul uses the word 00:16:24.440 --> 00:16:27.940 law a couple times in this passage, and he's 00:16:27.940 --> 00:16:30.299 actually using it in two different ways, and 00:16:30.299 --> 00:16:34.000 they're right next to each other. In verse two, 00:16:34.080 --> 00:16:37.509 Paul says, the law of the spirit of life has 00:16:37.509 --> 00:16:42.350 set you free from the law of sin and death. And 00:16:42.350 --> 00:16:47.350 there, law doesn't mean commandments. It means 00:16:47.350 --> 00:16:51.570 a power or a ruling force or a governing reality. 00:16:51.970 --> 00:16:57.250 Think the law of gravity, right? I'm out in the 00:16:57.250 --> 00:17:00.850 middle of nowhere, out front of my house and 00:17:00.850 --> 00:17:03.029 I look up and I see the beautiful moon and I 00:17:03.029 --> 00:17:05.349 decide I'm gonna go there right now and I just 00:17:05.349 --> 00:17:08.559 jump and I go to the moon, right? No, I jump 00:17:08.559 --> 00:17:10.740 and then I remember or I realize there's a law 00:17:10.740 --> 00:17:14.920 at work against me. No matter how high I jump 00:17:14.920 --> 00:17:20.279 and it's not high. That law forces me right back 00:17:20.279 --> 00:17:25.460 down. There's a law, a power, a force, a governing 00:17:25.460 --> 00:17:30.380 reality, the law of the spirit of life. has set 00:17:30.380 --> 00:17:33.619 you free from the law of sin and death. The power, 00:17:33.740 --> 00:17:36.440 the ruling force, the governing reality of the 00:17:36.440 --> 00:17:39.019 spirit of life has set you free from the governing 00:17:39.019 --> 00:17:42.599 reality, the power, the force of the sin and 00:17:42.599 --> 00:17:46.500 death. How many of you guys have ever felt that 00:17:46.500 --> 00:17:48.460 you know that there's something at work? You 00:17:48.460 --> 00:17:51.859 know that your will at times, you want to do 00:17:51.859 --> 00:17:54.019 good, but you know that something is opposing. 00:17:55.879 --> 00:17:58.900 Something, you jump, but you only can get an 00:17:58.900 --> 00:18:00.619 inch off the ground and then you come smacking 00:18:00.619 --> 00:18:02.799 down. What is that thing? That's the law of sin 00:18:02.799 --> 00:18:08.279 and death. But the law of the spirit of life 00:18:08.279 --> 00:18:11.160 has set you free from the law of sin and death. 00:18:16.519 --> 00:18:19.589 In verse three. Paul then says, for what the 00:18:19.589 --> 00:18:21.769 law could not do since it was weakened in the 00:18:21.769 --> 00:18:25.170 flesh. And here Paul is talking about the law 00:18:25.170 --> 00:18:28.410 of Moses, the commandments, God's good, holy, 00:18:28.569 --> 00:18:33.769 revealed word. And so Paul's point is not that 00:18:33.769 --> 00:18:36.890 the law of God, the commandments were evil or 00:18:36.890 --> 00:18:40.029 outdated or replaced. His point is commands can 00:18:40.029 --> 00:18:43.630 reveal righteousness, but they cannot produce 00:18:43.630 --> 00:18:47.420 it. If you're a parent and you have kids, you 00:18:47.420 --> 00:18:51.740 already know this. You've told your kids countless 00:18:51.740 --> 00:18:53.779 times to do something or to not do something 00:18:53.779 --> 00:18:57.720 and no matter how right you are, it cannot produce 00:18:57.720 --> 00:19:00.359 in them all the time the proper response, can 00:19:00.359 --> 00:19:05.980 it? Because they do what they want to do. Commands 00:19:05.980 --> 00:19:09.000 can reveal righteousness, but they cannot produce 00:19:09.000 --> 00:19:15.150 it. Why? Because only a righteous God can produce 00:19:15.150 --> 00:19:19.430 righteousness. And that's why Paul spends so 00:19:19.430 --> 00:19:22.690 much time in Romans saying, seven, describing 00:19:22.690 --> 00:19:25.329 the inner conflict that so many of us recognize, 00:19:25.410 --> 00:19:27.750 wanting to do good but not doing it, knowing 00:19:27.750 --> 00:19:30.329 what's right but failing to carry it out, hating 00:19:30.329 --> 00:19:33.869 the very thing that we keep returning to. And 00:19:33.869 --> 00:19:37.990 that's where many people quietly live. They know 00:19:37.990 --> 00:19:42.990 enough to feel guilty. They care enough to feel 00:19:42.990 --> 00:19:47.480 frustrated. And they try enough to feel exhausted. 00:19:49.359 --> 00:19:53.920 And they assume the verdict is that they just 00:19:53.920 --> 00:19:58.160 didn't try hard enough. Because they also assume 00:19:58.160 --> 00:20:03.799 that the answer is simply more effort. But Paul 00:20:03.799 --> 00:20:11.200 says the issue isn't effort. It's capacity. And 00:20:11.200 --> 00:20:12.920 you think about someone who's recovering from 00:20:12.920 --> 00:20:18.809 a serious injury. A torn ACL or double knee surgery. 00:20:19.890 --> 00:20:22.549 Early in physical therapy, the therapist will 00:20:22.549 --> 00:20:25.150 oftentimes show the patient exactly what needs 00:20:25.150 --> 00:20:27.829 to happen. They'll say something like, your leg 00:20:27.829 --> 00:20:31.029 can only move this far and we need to get it 00:20:31.029 --> 00:20:34.420 so that it can move this far, right? They're 00:20:34.420 --> 00:20:36.779 showing it. They're demonstrating the movements. 00:20:36.819 --> 00:20:39.420 They're explaining the exercises. But there's 00:20:39.420 --> 00:20:41.440 usually a moment where that therapist will say 00:20:41.440 --> 00:20:44.119 something like, but right now your body just 00:20:44.119 --> 00:20:48.640 can't do it. We'll get there. The instructions 00:20:48.640 --> 00:20:53.079 are good. The pathway is right. But the muscles 00:20:53.079 --> 00:20:56.299 just don't have the strength. And no amount of 00:20:56.299 --> 00:21:00.869 trying harder will fix it. Feeling more motivated 00:21:00.869 --> 00:21:05.289 today than you did yesterday won't fix it. The 00:21:05.289 --> 00:21:11.390 limitation isn't information, it's ability. And 00:21:11.390 --> 00:21:14.009 that's what Paul is saying about the law. God 00:21:14.009 --> 00:21:16.289 didn't fail to tell us what life should look 00:21:16.289 --> 00:21:18.670 like. We simply lack the power to live it out 00:21:18.670 --> 00:21:23.690 on our own. See, the problem isn't just out there 00:21:23.690 --> 00:21:27.000 again. It's not just... It's not just, man, if 00:21:27.000 --> 00:21:29.900 I could get away from bad influences or difficult 00:21:29.900 --> 00:21:33.319 circumstances, then I would be able to try to 00:21:33.319 --> 00:21:36.799 exert the effort that's necessary to overcome 00:21:36.799 --> 00:21:39.200 the things and live the life that I want. It's 00:21:39.200 --> 00:21:41.559 not out there because it's something much deeper. 00:21:44.119 --> 00:21:47.559 And until we come to terms with that, grace will 00:21:47.559 --> 00:21:53.819 never make sense. Grace only sounds good when 00:21:53.819 --> 00:21:56.980 you finally stop pretending you could fix yourself. 00:22:01.160 --> 00:22:03.799 And if Paul stopped there, we would be without 00:22:03.799 --> 00:22:08.619 hope. But he doesn't. The next words out of his 00:22:08.619 --> 00:22:15.960 mouth are not try harder, but they are, God did 00:22:15.960 --> 00:22:19.119 it. So if you're taking notes, number two, write 00:22:19.119 --> 00:22:25.250 down what God did. Paul continues, what the law 00:22:25.250 --> 00:22:29.089 could not do since it was weakened by the flesh, 00:22:29.349 --> 00:22:34.809 God did. What the law could not do since it was 00:22:34.809 --> 00:22:38.369 weakened by the flesh, God did. Paul does not 00:22:38.369 --> 00:22:41.369 say God helped us to do it or met us halfway 00:22:41.369 --> 00:22:44.890 or finished what we started. It says God did 00:22:44.890 --> 00:22:49.099 it. In other words, when human effort reaches 00:22:49.099 --> 00:22:52.039 its limits, God did not issue new instructions. 00:22:53.880 --> 00:22:56.559 He didn't lower the standard. He didn't wait 00:22:56.559 --> 00:23:01.859 for us to improve. He acted. And Paul tells us 00:23:01.859 --> 00:23:05.980 how he acted. God did it by sending his own son 00:23:05.980 --> 00:23:10.160 in the likeness of sinful flesh and as a sin 00:23:10.160 --> 00:23:15.869 offering. And this is Paul's way. of telling 00:23:15.869 --> 00:23:22.309 the Christmas story. God sent his own son. Not 00:23:22.309 --> 00:23:28.109 an idea, not a principle, not a new rule, but 00:23:28.109 --> 00:23:32.710 a person. And Paul is careful with his language. 00:23:32.750 --> 00:23:36.029 He says Jesus came in the likeness of sinful 00:23:36.029 --> 00:23:39.890 flesh. Jesus didn't come pretending to be human, 00:23:40.029 --> 00:23:44.400 but he entered it. He took on hunger and fatigue 00:23:44.400 --> 00:23:47.559 and temptation and suffering, but he did it all 00:23:47.559 --> 00:23:53.420 without sin. He conquered the law of sin and 00:23:53.420 --> 00:23:57.660 death. And Paul tells us why. Because he came 00:23:57.660 --> 00:24:01.559 as a sin offering. And that phrase would have 00:24:01.559 --> 00:24:05.460 landed heavy with Paul's original readers. A 00:24:05.460 --> 00:24:07.980 sin offering was not merely symbolic, it was 00:24:07.980 --> 00:24:12.599 substitutionary. Something innocent stood in 00:24:12.599 --> 00:24:17.420 the place of something guilty. And in Jesus, 00:24:17.420 --> 00:24:22.220 God does not overlook sin, but he dealt with 00:24:22.220 --> 00:24:28.019 it fully and finally and personally. And then 00:24:28.019 --> 00:24:33.799 Paul says this, he condemned sin in the flesh. 00:24:35.630 --> 00:24:38.130 And notice what Paul does not say. Paul does 00:24:38.130 --> 00:24:41.450 not say he condemned sinners. He says he condemned 00:24:41.450 --> 00:24:46.109 sin. Sin is judged. Sin is exposed. Sin is defeated. 00:24:46.829 --> 00:24:56.049 But the judgment falls on Christ. That's the 00:24:56.049 --> 00:25:01.670 cross. Not God overlooking sin. Not God pretending 00:25:01.670 --> 00:25:04.569 everything is fine. But God dealing with sin. 00:25:04.960 --> 00:25:07.559 fully and finally, without utterly destroying 00:25:07.559 --> 00:25:12.660 us. You know, there's a clear difference between 00:25:12.660 --> 00:25:16.059 lifestyle advice and kind of emergency intervention, 00:25:16.279 --> 00:25:19.279 isn't there? You go to a doctor and he says, 00:25:19.319 --> 00:25:21.599 wow, your blood pressure's a little high. You 00:25:21.599 --> 00:25:24.819 might get a little brochure that tells you how 00:25:24.819 --> 00:25:27.759 to eat better, exercise more, or reduce a little 00:25:27.759 --> 00:25:31.160 stress in your life, right? But when someone's 00:25:31.160 --> 00:25:34.700 arteries are dangerously blocked, When their 00:25:34.700 --> 00:25:36.900 life is at risk, the doctor doesn't just hand 00:25:36.900 --> 00:25:40.940 them a pamphlet, does he? No, at some point he 00:25:40.940 --> 00:25:44.579 says, we have to go now. We have to intervene 00:25:44.579 --> 00:25:47.500 now. Intervention is required. Surgery, medication, 00:25:47.799 --> 00:25:50.940 a procedure that the patient could not perform 00:25:50.940 --> 00:25:56.000 on themselves. The patient may participate in 00:25:56.000 --> 00:25:59.019 recovery, but they do not perform the rescue. 00:26:00.819 --> 00:26:04.730 And that's what God did in Christ. He entered 00:26:04.730 --> 00:26:08.630 the condition. He took decisive action. He did 00:26:08.630 --> 00:26:11.670 what we could not do from the inside. And this 00:26:11.670 --> 00:26:14.930 is why Christianity is not, first and foremost, 00:26:15.130 --> 00:26:20.789 a moral system telling you how to live a good 00:26:20.789 --> 00:26:24.910 life. It's not that, first and foremost. Christianity, 00:26:24.910 --> 00:26:29.049 first and foremost, is a good news gospel announcement. 00:26:30.950 --> 00:26:34.069 It's an announcement. Something has been done. 00:26:34.150 --> 00:26:39.210 Someone has done it. Jesus has changed everything. 00:26:41.670 --> 00:26:52.410 Amen? Number three, what he accomplished. Paul 00:26:52.410 --> 00:26:56.150 continues, in order that the law's requirement 00:26:56.150 --> 00:26:59.390 would be fulfilled in us, who do not walk according 00:26:59.390 --> 00:27:04.640 to the flesh, but according to the Spirit. And 00:27:04.640 --> 00:27:06.900 Paul doesn't say, again, that the law's requirements 00:27:06.900 --> 00:27:10.220 needed to be ignored, the bar had to be lowered 00:27:10.220 --> 00:27:13.500 so that we could meet it, or that it no longer 00:27:13.500 --> 00:27:19.099 mattered. He says it was fulfilled. But notice 00:27:19.099 --> 00:27:23.720 how, not by us. It wasn't fulfilled by us. It 00:27:23.720 --> 00:27:26.359 wasn't fulfilled through more effort. It was 00:27:26.359 --> 00:27:33.920 fulfilled in us. And this is the crazy good news 00:27:33.920 --> 00:27:38.339 gospel logic of the Bible. The very righteousness 00:27:38.339 --> 00:27:42.539 that God requires is the righteousness God provides. 00:27:43.839 --> 00:27:46.819 I'll say that again. The righteousness that God 00:27:46.819 --> 00:27:52.579 requires is the righteousness God provides. Through 00:27:52.579 --> 00:27:55.339 Christ, God does not merely forgive us and then 00:27:55.339 --> 00:27:57.900 send us back out there to go get them, champ. 00:27:58.039 --> 00:28:02.970 Try again. You got this. But instead he gives 00:28:02.970 --> 00:28:06.269 us new standing, a new identity and a power, 00:28:06.329 --> 00:28:11.029 a new power that is at work within us. The Christian 00:28:11.029 --> 00:28:14.329 life absolutely involves obedience. It involves 00:28:14.329 --> 00:28:17.190 growth. It involves learning to walk according 00:28:17.190 --> 00:28:20.650 to the spirit. But obedience is no longer the 00:28:20.650 --> 00:28:28.009 way into acceptance. Obedience is something that 00:28:28.009 --> 00:28:33.480 we do from acceptance. We live our life in Christ 00:28:33.480 --> 00:28:39.720 from acceptance. And that distinction changes 00:28:39.720 --> 00:28:45.579 everything. Because when we obey, in order to 00:28:45.579 --> 00:28:50.099 earn God's favor, it will always lead to fear 00:28:50.099 --> 00:28:55.559 and failure. When we obey, we try to obey. We 00:28:55.559 --> 00:28:59.440 exert as maximum effort to obey in order to earn 00:28:59.440 --> 00:29:02.539 God's favor, to earn standing, to earn a place 00:29:02.539 --> 00:29:06.160 before God. It will always produce in us fear 00:29:06.160 --> 00:29:14.660 and failure. But when obedience flows from God's 00:29:14.660 --> 00:29:21.059 favor, the Bible says it produces freedom. An 00:29:21.059 --> 00:29:23.759 illustration that might help is you think about 00:29:23.759 --> 00:29:30.210 adoption. A child does not earn their place in 00:29:30.210 --> 00:29:32.809 a family, right? It's not like, oh, you want 00:29:32.809 --> 00:29:34.789 to be in my family? I'm going to send you off 00:29:34.789 --> 00:29:38.009 to orphan hunger games, right? And whoever comes 00:29:38.009 --> 00:29:41.049 out afterward at the end will be the one that 00:29:41.049 --> 00:29:48.549 we adopt, right? They don't meet qualifications. 00:29:48.670 --> 00:29:51.369 They don't prove themselves first. They don't 00:29:51.369 --> 00:29:55.829 clean up their past. Before they're brought in 00:29:55.829 --> 00:30:00.329 because they are brought in simply by decision 00:30:00.329 --> 00:30:06.829 alone. Only after adoption does formation begin. 00:30:07.809 --> 00:30:13.430 Only after belonging does growth happen. The 00:30:13.430 --> 00:30:16.230 parents don't say behave well and then we'll 00:30:16.230 --> 00:30:22.410 make you ours. They say you are ours and now 00:30:22.410 --> 00:30:26.950 let's grow together. And that's what Paul is 00:30:26.950 --> 00:30:29.589 describing here. God does not say fulfill the 00:30:29.589 --> 00:30:32.529 law and then I will accept you. He says, I have 00:30:32.529 --> 00:30:35.990 accepted you in Christ because Christ has fulfilled 00:30:35.990 --> 00:30:38.750 the law. And if you are in Christ, I will credit 00:30:38.750 --> 00:30:44.029 that to you. And not only that, I will send my 00:30:44.029 --> 00:30:48.049 spirit so that my spirit will form my life in 00:30:48.049 --> 00:30:52.509 you. Not through more maximal effort and earning. 00:30:54.539 --> 00:30:59.339 but by my spirit. And the law's requirement is 00:30:59.339 --> 00:31:03.099 fulfilled in us because we now belong to the 00:31:03.099 --> 00:31:10.660 one who has fulfilled it for us. And so in conclusion, 00:31:10.880 --> 00:31:16.980 Paul has taken us on a journey. We could not 00:31:16.980 --> 00:31:21.130 fix ourselves. We could not defeat and overcome 00:31:21.130 --> 00:31:24.450 sin. We could not fulfill the law. We could not 00:31:24.450 --> 00:31:28.150 rescue our own souls. And the problem wasn't 00:31:28.150 --> 00:31:31.910 a lack of information. It was literally written 00:31:31.910 --> 00:31:35.589 in creation and written in the law. But it was 00:31:35.589 --> 00:31:41.970 a lack of power. And so God did what we could 00:31:41.970 --> 00:31:47.519 never do. sent his son. He entered our weakness. 00:31:47.660 --> 00:31:51.200 He condemned sin in the flesh. He removed condemnation 00:31:51.200 --> 00:31:54.720 from us. He fulfilled righteousness on our behalf 00:31:54.720 --> 00:31:58.420 and he secured our future. Did he come with better 00:31:58.420 --> 00:32:05.779 advice? No. This is a good news announcement. 00:32:07.160 --> 00:32:13.700 The gospel is not try harder. The gospel is God. 00:32:15.299 --> 00:32:21.460 Say it one more time with me. God did it. And 00:32:21.460 --> 00:32:24.039 because God did the hardest thing, because he 00:32:24.039 --> 00:32:29.200 did not spare his own son, Paul can later write 00:32:29.200 --> 00:32:32.819 in chapter eight with unshakable confidence this. 00:32:32.859 --> 00:32:36.119 Listen to what he says later. He says, if God 00:32:36.119 --> 00:32:43.630 is for us, who can be against us? He did not 00:32:43.630 --> 00:32:47.869 even spare his own son, but gave him up for us 00:32:47.869 --> 00:32:52.109 all. How will he not also with him grant us everything? 00:32:54.309 --> 00:32:58.329 Who can bring an accusation against God's elect? 00:32:58.650 --> 00:33:01.890 God is the one who justifies. Who is the one 00:33:01.890 --> 00:33:04.950 who condemns? Jesus Christ is the one who died 00:33:04.950 --> 00:33:08.470 and even more has been raised. He also is at 00:33:08.470 --> 00:33:11.980 the right hand of God. And intercedes for us. 00:33:14.119 --> 00:33:19.400 Who can separate us. From the love. Of Christ. 00:33:21.180 --> 00:33:24.880 Can affliction. Or distress. Or persecution. 00:33:25.000 --> 00:33:28.319 Or famine. Or nakedness. Or danger. Or sword. 00:33:28.740 --> 00:33:32.140 No. In all these things. We are more than conquerors. 00:33:32.160 --> 00:33:38.480 Through him. Who loved us. For I am persuaded. 00:33:39.849 --> 00:33:43.990 That neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor 00:33:43.990 --> 00:33:47.009 rulers, nor things present, nor things to come, 00:33:47.150 --> 00:33:50.750 nor powers, nor height, nor depth, nor any other 00:33:50.750 --> 00:33:54.930 created thing will be able to separate us from 00:33:54.930 --> 00:34:03.869 the love that is in Christ Jesus, our Lord. Not 00:34:03.869 --> 00:34:09.440 failure, not weakness, not suffering. not even 00:34:09.440 --> 00:34:14.579 death. And that's the advent, according to Paul. 00:34:16.460 --> 00:34:21.280 Not humanity reaching up to God, but God coming 00:34:21.280 --> 00:34:30.519 down to us. Are you tired today? Are you discouraged? 00:34:32.460 --> 00:34:37.460 Are you carrying shame or fear? Or just quiet 00:34:37.460 --> 00:34:46.199 exhaustion? Hear the good news. Your hope does 00:34:46.199 --> 00:34:51.880 not rest in what you can do for God. It rests 00:34:51.880 --> 00:34:58.039 in what God has already done for you. Will you 00:34:58.039 --> 00:35:06.940 trust that God did it? And that is enough