Series: GOD is for You Week 1: Living the Spirit-Controlled Life
Have you ever been upset in the present about what you’ve done in the past? Do you wish you could stop doing those things you know are wrong and start doing those things you know are right? Do you worry God is somehow disappointed and is punishing you?
Paul struggled with these kinds of questions. Romans 7:18-19. In 7:24, he described his despair.
’re beginning a series today called, “God is For You” from Romans 8.
In Romans 8 you find:
- Assurance is emphasized. This chapter opens with no condemnation and closes with no separation, and in between you find no defeat.
- The Holy Spirit is prominent. Romans 8 is not so much focused on the doctrine of the Holy Spirit, as it is on what the Spirit does for the believer. God never intended for us to live the Christian life on our own, but through the power of the Spirit.
- Our practice as a Christian must come out of our position in Christ. It’s all about what we receive, not what we achieve by our own efforts. The Christian life is not focused on what we need to do, but on what has already been done for us. We must always come back to our position in Christ before we can effectively put the Christian life into practice.
Your position in Christ deals with the penalty of sin. Romans 8:1. Those in Christ will not be condemned because Jesus was condemned in their stead; there is no impending punishment because Christ bore the penalty for our sins.
Truth: when God says, “no condemnation” it’s not based upon our performance but on our position.
This promise of no condemnation is available for all but applied only to those who are “in Christ Jesus.”
Your practice with the Spirit deals with the power of sin. Beginning in Romans 8:2, we see how to live all this out—3 ways to put our position into practice.
- Focus on what the Holy Spirit has done.
- Freedom (8:2). – we are set free from the domination of sin & delivered from death through Christ Jesus.
- Forgiveness. We can never be condemned for our sins because the price has already been paid for them. God condemned the sin, not the sinner because He sent the Savior to die in our place.
- Fulfillment. Because Jesus is our sin offering, all of God’s righteous requirements have been fully fulfilled in us.
The key to victory is to focus on who we are in Christ. The Holy Spirit enables us to live out who we are in Christ by focusing on what God the Father has done for us.
If you’re “in Christ” through the new birth, you now have a new identity. You can confidently say…
- I Am Accepted
- I Am Secure
- I Am Significant
- Think about your thoughts. We need to get hold of our thoughts before they get hold of us. “Mind”is used 5 times in verses 5-8 & refers to our attitudes: (8:5-8).
We must set our minds on the Spirit. We can do that in 2 ways:
- Recognize you’re in an intense battle. Galatians 5:17.
- Capture each thought and analyze it. 2 Corinthians 10:5.
- Submit to the Spirit’s control. (8:9-11) Galatians 5:16 tells us how to put our position into practice.
TRUTH: Your position in Christ deals with the penalty of sin and your practice with the Spirit deals with the power of sin.