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Why Is Romans 8 the Most Powerful Chapter in the Bible_ – You Need to See This · truthunedited

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  Speaker 1: There's an ancient manuscript that holds the answer to a
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  Speaker 1: question you've been asking your entire life, and the powers
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  Speaker 1: of darkness have worked over time to keep it hidden
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  Speaker 1: from you. Varied within Roman's eight are thirty nine verses
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  Speaker 1: that function like a supernatural key, unlocking dimensions of God's
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  Speaker 1: heart that most believers never access. Listen carefully. Every word
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  Speaker 1: Paul wrote in this chapter was strategic, intentional, coded with
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  Speaker 1: revelations that build upon each other like a divine conspiracy.
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  Speaker 1: Why does this chapter start with freedom from condemnation and
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  Speaker 1: end with an unbreakable love? What's hidden between those bookends
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  Speaker 1: that makes demons flee and angels worship? There's a progression here,
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  Speaker 1: a mystery unfolding in three movements, and those who discern
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  Speaker 1: it step into a realm of authority. The enemy fears.
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  Speaker 1: Here's what they don't tell you. Romans eight isn't just
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  Speaker 1: describing theology, it's activating destiny. Each verse is a portal,
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  Speaker 1: each phrase a prophecy over your bloodline. The spirit who
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  Speaker 1: inspired these words knew you would be reading this today,
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  Speaker 1: right now, in this moment, and he embedded something inside
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  Speaker 1: this chapter specifically for you. What if I told you
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  Speaker 1: there's a hidden architecture in Romans ete a blueprint that
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  Speaker 1: reveals your origin, your identity, and your unstoppable future. Mysteries
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  Speaker 1: are about to be unveiled. Ancient secrets are about to
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  Speaker 1: become present power. The question is do you have eyes
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  Speaker 1: to see what's been there all along? Stay with me,
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  Speaker 1: The revelation starts now. Paul opened Romans chapter eight with
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  Speaker 1: words that would echo through eternity. He wrote in verse one, therefore,
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  Speaker 1: there is now no condemnation for those who are in
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  Speaker 1: Christ Jesus. Read that again. No condemnation, not less condemnation,
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  Speaker 1: not reduced condemnation, not conditional condement, none. Zero. The Greek
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  Speaker 1: word Paul used was katakrima, a legal term that meant
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  Speaker 1: the sentence passed by a judge. In the Roman world,
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  Speaker 1: this word carried the weight of a final verdict, the
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  Speaker 1: kind that couldn't be appealed or overturned. When a Roman
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  Speaker 1: judge declared katacrima, your fate was sealed. But Paul was
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  Speaker 1: flipping the script entirely. He was saying that for everyone
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  Speaker 1: who is in Christ, Jesus, the judge of all the universe,
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  Speaker 1: has declared the opposite. The court room has reached its decision,
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  Speaker 1: and the verdict is freedom. You stand before the bench
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  Speaker 1: and instead of hearing guilty, you hear free. Instead of condemnation,
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  Speaker 1: you receive acceptance. Instead of punishment, you receive embrace. Notice
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  Speaker 1: the word now. Paul didn't say there will be no
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  Speaker 1: condemnation some day, or there might be no condemnation if
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  Speaker 1: you try hard enough. He said, now, right now, at
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  Speaker 1: this very time moment, the verdict has already been pronounced.
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  Speaker 1: It's not pending. It's not waiting for you to clean
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  Speaker 1: up your act. It's already done, and it's for those
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  Speaker 1: who are in Christ Jesus. This is positional language. Paul
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  Speaker 1: was talking about location, about being united with Christ in
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  Speaker 1: such a way that his identity becomes your identity. When
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  Speaker 1: God looks at you, he sees you through the lens
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  Speaker 1: of his son. The condemnation that should have fallen on
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  Speaker 1: you fell on Jesus instead. The punishment you deserved was
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  Speaker 1: absorbed by him. And now, because you're in Him, the
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  Speaker 1: verdict over his life becomes the verdict over yours. This
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  Speaker 1: wasn't just good theology to Paul. This was personal. He
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  Speaker 1: knew what condemnation felt like. He had spent years of
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  Speaker 1: his life trying to earn God's approval through perfect obedience
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  Speaker 1: to the law. He had been a Pharisee, blameless according
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  Speaker 1: to the law law, yet inwardly tormented by the knowledge
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  Speaker 1: that he still fell short. He knew the weight of guilt,
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  Speaker 1: the crushing pressure of trying to be good enough. And
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  Speaker 1: then he met Jesus. Everything changed. The condemnation lifted, the
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  Speaker 1: weight disappeared, freedom flooded in. Paul continued in verse two,
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  Speaker 1: explaining how this freedom works because through Christ Jesus, the
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  Speaker 1: Law of the Spirit who gives life, has set you
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  Speaker 1: free from the law of sin and death. There are
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  Speaker 1: two laws operating in the spiritual realm. Paul called them
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  Speaker 1: the law of the Spirit of life and the law
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  Speaker 1: of sin and death. Think of them as two gravitational
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  Speaker 1: forces pulling in opposite directions. One pulls you down into destruction,
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  Speaker 1: the other lifts you up into life. The law of
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  Speaker 1: sin and death is what every human being is born under.
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  Speaker 1: It's a spiritual principle that operation. It's like a chain reaction.
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  Speaker 1: Sin leads to death, do wrong, experience death, rebel against God,
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  Speaker 1: suffer separation. This law has been in effect since the
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  Speaker 1: Garden of Eden, when God told Adam that eating from
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  Speaker 1: the forbidden tree would result in death, and Adam ate
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  Speaker 1: and death entered. From that moment forward, every human being
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  Speaker 1: has been subject to this law. Sin brings death, not
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  Speaker 1: just physical death, but spiritual death, emotional death, relational death.
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  Speaker 1: It's a law as reliable as gravity. But then came Jesus,
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  Speaker 1: and through him a new law was introduced, the law
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  Speaker 1: of the Spirit who gives life. This law doesn't just
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  Speaker 1: slow down the law of sin and death. It doesn't
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  Speaker 1: just delay it. It sets you free from it. The
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  Speaker 1: Greek word paul used for set free is elutherou, which
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  Speaker 1: means to liberate, to release from bundy, to make free
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  Speaker 1: in the fullest sense. It's the same word used to
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  Speaker 1: describe a slave being granted complete freedom, with all legal
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  Speaker 1: chains broken and all ownership relinquished. This is how powerful
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  Speaker 1: the spirit's law is. It doesn't just forgive sin, it
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  Speaker 1: breaks sin's power. It doesn't just postpone death. It introduces
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  Speaker 1: a life that death cannot touch. When the Spirit of
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  Speaker 1: God takes residence in a person, he brings with him
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  Speaker 1: a law that operates at a higher level than the
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  Speaker 1: law of sin and death. It's like a plain defying gravity.
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  Speaker 1: Gravity is still there, still pulling downward, but the plaine
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  Speaker 1: rises anyway because a stronger law, the law of aerodynamics,
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  Speaker 1: is in effect. You don't defeat the law of sin
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  Speaker 1: and death by trying harder. You don't overcome it through
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  Speaker 1: discipline or will power. You overcome it by stepping into
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  Speaker 1: the law of the Spirit. And that happens through Christ Jesus.
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  Speaker 1: He is the doorway, He is the access point. Through him,
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  Speaker 1: the Spirit's law becomes operative in your life. In verse three,
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  Speaker 1: Paul addressed something crucial for what the law was powerless
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  Speaker 1: to do because it was weakened by the flesh. God
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  Speaker 1: did by sending his own son, in the likeness of
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  Speaker 1: sinful flesh, to be a sin offering. The law of Moses,
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  Speaker 1: the commandments given at Mount Sinai, the rules that governed
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  Speaker 1: Israel for centuries, was good. Paul made that clear in
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  Speaker 1: his other writings. The Law was holy, righteous, and good.
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  Speaker 1: It revealed God's character. It showed people what righteousness looked like.
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  Speaker 1: It drew boundaries between right and wrong. But the law
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  Speaker 1: had a fatal weakness. It couldn't make people righteous, It
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  Speaker 1: could only show them they weren't. The law was like
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  Speaker 1: a mirror. If you look in a mirror and see
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  Speaker 1: dirt on your face, the mirror has done its job.
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  Speaker 1: It showed you the problem. But the mirror can't clear
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  Speaker 1: your face. It can reveal the dirt, but it can't
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  Speaker 1: remove it. That's what the law did. It revealed sin,
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  Speaker 1: but it couldn't remove sin. Paul said, the law was
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  Speaker 1: weakened by the flesh. The problem wasn't with the law itself.
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  Speaker 1: It was with us. The flesh, our human nature, corrupted
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  Speaker 1: by sin, couldn't obey the law. We tried, We failed,
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  Speaker 1: We tried again, We failed again. The law demanded perfection,
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  Speaker 1: but the flesh could only produce imperfection. And so the law,
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  Speaker 1: despite its goodness, became powerless to save anyone. But God
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  Speaker 1: didn't leave us there. He did what the law couldn't do.
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  Speaker 1: He sent his own son, not an angel, not a prophet,
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  Speaker 1: not a created being, his own son, the second person
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  Speaker 1: of the Trinity, equal with God, possessing all the fullness
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  Speaker 1: of deity. And he sent him in the likeness of
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  Speaker 1: sinful flesh. This phrase is important. Jesus didn't come in
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  Speaker 1: sinful flesh. He never sinned, but he came in the
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  Speaker 1: likeness of it. He took on full humanity, with all
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  Speaker 1: its limitations and vulnerabilities except for sin. He experienced hunger, thirst, exhaustion, temptation.
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  Speaker 1: He felt what we feel. He faced what we face.
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  Speaker 1: He entered into our world, our condition, our struggle, and
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  Speaker 1: he came to be a sin offering. In the Old
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  Speaker 1: Testament sacrificial system, a sin offering was an animal sacrificed
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  Speaker 1: to a tone for sin. The animal died in place
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  Speaker 1: of the sinner. Its blood was shed so the sinner's
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  Speaker 1: blood wouldn't have to be. Jesus became that offering. He
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  Speaker 1: became the lamb. He took on himself the penalty for sin,
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  Speaker 1: not his own sin, because he had none, but ours.
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  Speaker 1: Paul completed his thought in the second part of verse three,
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  Speaker 1: and so he condemned sin in the flesh. This is
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  Speaker 1: where the beauty of the Gospel comes into sharpest focus.
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  Speaker 1: God didn't condemn us. He condemned sin, but he didn't
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  Speaker 1: condemn sin in the abstract, as if issuing a cosmic
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  Speaker 1: decree from a distance. He condemned sin in the flesh,
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  Speaker 1: in the actual physical body of Jesus Christ hanging on
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  Speaker 1: a Roman cross. When Jesus died, something profound happened in
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  Speaker 1: the spiritual realm. Sin was judged, the penalty was paid,
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  Speaker 1: Justice was satisfied. God's wrath against sin was poured out,
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  Speaker 1: not on you, but on Jesus. He absorbed it. He
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  Speaker 1: took the hit. He drank the cup of God's judgment
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  Speaker 1: down to the last drop, so you wouldn't have to
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  Speaker 1: taste a single sip. This is substitution. Jesus stood in
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  Speaker 1: your place. He took what you deserved. He died the
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  Speaker 1: death you should have died. He experienced the separation from
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  Speaker 1: God that should have been yours. On the cross, he
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  Speaker 1: cried out, My God, My God, why have you forsaken me?
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  Speaker 1: In that moment, he was experiencing what we should experience
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  Speaker 1: for eternity, abandonment by God, separation from the Father, the
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  Speaker 1: crushing weight of divine judgment against sin. But three days
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  Speaker 1: later he rose. Death couldn't hold him, the grave couldn't
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  Speaker 1: keep him. He walked out of the tomb, victorious over
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  Speaker 1: sin and death, proving that the sacrifice was accepted, the
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  Speaker 1: payment was sufficient, The work was finished, and now everyone
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  Speaker 1: who is in Christ Jesus benefits from that finished work.
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  Speaker 1: The condemnation that fell on Jesus doesn't fall on you.
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  Speaker 1: The judgment he endured is judgment you'll never face. The
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  Speaker 1: death he died means you don't have to die. Spiritually,
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  Speaker 1: his substitution becomes your salvation. Paul shifted focus in verse
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  Speaker 1: five to explain how this new reality works itself out
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  Speaker 1: in daily life. Those who live according to the flesh
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  Speaker 1: have their minds set on what the flesh does, but
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  Speaker 1: those who live in accordance with the Spirit have their
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  Speaker 1: minds set on what the Spirit desires. Here, Paul was
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  Speaker 1: drawing a line between two types of people, not two
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  Speaker 1: types of Christians, two types of people. There are those
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  Speaker 1: who live according to the flesh, and there are those
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  Speaker 1: who live according to the spirit. The difference between them
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  Speaker 1: isn't primarily their behavior, it's their focus. It's what their
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  Speaker 1: minds are set on. The Greek word for set on
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  Speaker 1: is phronio, which means to think, to have a mindset,
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  Speaker 1: to be mentally disposed towards something. It's not just occasional thoughts.
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  Speaker 1: It's a habitual focus, a dominant orientation, the default setting
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  Speaker 1: of your mind. Those who live according to the flesh
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  Speaker 1: have their minds focused on fleshly things they think about
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  Speaker 1: self gratification, self preservation, self promotion. Their thoughts circle around
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  Speaker 1: what benefits them, what pleases them, what advances their agenda.
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  Speaker 1: Their mental energy is concers doomed with temporal, earthly, self
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  Speaker 1: centered concerns. But those who live according to the Spirit
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  Speaker 1: have their mind set on what the Spirit desires. They
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  Speaker 1: think about God, about truth, about eternity, about righteousness. Their
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  Speaker 1: thoughts are drawn upward, Their focus is outward. Their priorities
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  Speaker 1: align with Heaven's priorities. They care about what God cares about.
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  Speaker 1: This isn't about perfection, It's about direction. It's not that
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  Speaker 1: Spirit let people never have a selfish thought. It's that
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  Speaker 1: selfishness isn't their dominant pattern. Their mind isn't locked into
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  Speaker 1: a fleshly frequency. The Spirit has tuned their thinking to
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  Speaker 1: a different station. And this matters more than you might think,
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  Speaker 1: because where your mind goes, your life follows. If your
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  Speaker 1: mind is constantly dwelling on fleshly things, your actions will
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  Speaker 1: be fleshly. If your mind is focused on spiritual realities,
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  Speaker 1: your actions will reflect that you move in the direction
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  Speaker 1: of your most frequent thoughts. Paul made the state clear
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  Speaker 1: in verse six. The mind governed by the flesh is death,
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  Speaker 1: but the mind governed by the spirit is life and peace.
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  Speaker 1: Notice Paul didn't say the mind governed by the flesh
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  Speaker 1: leads to death. He said it is death, present, tense,
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  Speaker 1: current reality. If your mind is under the control of
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  Speaker 1: the flesh, you're not heading toward death, You're already in it.
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  Speaker 1: You're experiencing death right now, even if your heart is
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  Speaker 1: still beating. This is spiritual death. Paul was talking about
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  Speaker 1: its separation from God, its existence without divine life flowing
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  Speaker 1: through you. It's being cut off from the source of
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  Speaker 1: all life, like a branch severed from a vine. You
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  Speaker 1: might have biological life, breathing, eating, working, laughing, but spiritually
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  Speaker 1: you're dead. There's no connection to God, no communion with him,
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  Speaker 1: no awareness of his presence, no sensitivity to his voice.
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  Speaker 1: And with that death comes a specific kind of misery.
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  Speaker 1: Paul wasn't just describing eternal consequences. He was describing present experience.
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  Speaker 1: A mind controlled by the flesh produces anxiety, restlessness, emptiness, dissatisfaction.
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  Speaker 1: You can have everything the world offers and still feel
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  Speaker 1: dead inside because your mind is focused on things that
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  Speaker 1: can never satisfy. But the mind governed by the spirit
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  Speaker 1: is life and peace again present tense, not some day,
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  Speaker 1: not in heaven. Now. When the spirit controls your thinking,
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  Speaker 1: you experience life, real life, abundant life, the kind of
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  Speaker 1: life that flows from connection with God. You feel alive
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  Speaker 1: in your spirit. You sense his presence, You know his peace,
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  Speaker 1: and that peace isn't dependent on circumstances. It's not the
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  Speaker 1: peace of having no problems. It's the peace of having
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  Speaker 1: God in the middle of your problems. It's shalam, wholeness, completeness,
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  Speaker 1: everything in right relationship. Your mind isn't tormented, your heart
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  Speaker 1: isn't anxious. You rest in God's sovereignty, trust in his goodness,
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  Speaker 1: and find stability in his unchanging character. This is simple
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  Speaker 1: math in God's kingdom. Flesh controlled mind equals death. Spirit
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  Speaker 1: controlled mind equals life and peace. The equation is fixed,
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  Speaker 1: the outcome is predictable. You get to choose which side
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  Speaker 1: of the equation you live on. Paul went deeper in
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  Speaker 1: verses seven and eight, explaining why the flesh leads to death.
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  Speaker 1: The mind governed by the flesh is hostile to God.
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  Speaker 1: It does not submit to God's law, nor can it
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  Speaker 1: do so. Those who are in the realm of the
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  Speaker 1: flesh cannot please God. The fleshly mind isn't just neutral
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  Speaker 1: toward God, it's hostile. It's at war with him. It
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  Speaker 1: actively opposes his ways, resists his will, rebels against his authority.
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  Speaker 1: This isn't a matter of ignorance or confusion, its enmity.
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  Speaker 1: The flesh hates God's law because God's law restricts the
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  Speaker 1: flesh is freedom to do whatever it wants. And the
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  Speaker 1: flesh doesn't submit to God's law, not won't, can't. Paul
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  Speaker 1: was emphatic about this. The fleshly mind is incapable of
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  Speaker 1: submitting to God. It's not a question of effort or sincerity.
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  Speaker 1: It's a question of ability. A fish can't fly, a
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  Speaker 1: rock can't think, and a mind controlled by flesh can't
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  Speaker 1: submit to God. The hardware isn't compatible with the software.
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  Speaker 1: This means that, no matter how hard you try in
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  Speaker 1: your own strength, you cannot please God. If you're operating
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  Speaker 1: from the flesh, from self effort, self reliance, self righteousness,
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  Speaker 1: your best attempts at godliness are still fleshly. They might
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  Speaker 1: look good on the outside, they might impress other people,
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  Speaker 1: but they don't please God because they're not flowing from
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  Speaker 1: the spirit They're just flesh trying to act spiritual. This
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  Speaker 1: is why religion without the spirit is futile. You can
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  Speaker 1: attend every service, follow every rule, perform every ritual, and
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  Speaker 1: still be in the realm of the flesh. If the
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  Speaker 1: spirit isn't controlling your mind. External compliance doesn't equal internal transformation.
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  Speaker 1: God isn't looking for behavior modification. He's looking for regeneration,
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  Speaker 1: a complete change from the inside out, where the spirit
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  Speaker 1: takes control and produces life. Paul brought this section to
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  Speaker 1: a conclusion in verse nine. You, however, are not in
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  Speaker 1: the realm of the flesh, but are in the realm
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  Speaker 1: of the spirit. If indeed, the Spirit of God lives
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  Speaker 1: in you, and if anyone does not have the spirit
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  Speaker 1: of Christ, they do not belong to Christ. After explaining
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  Speaker 1: how the flesh operates and what it produces, Paul made
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  Speaker 1: it personal. He said, you, speaking directly to his readers,
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  Speaker 1: speaking directly to you, you are not in the realm
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  Speaker 1: of the flesh. You're in the realm of the spirit.
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  Speaker 1: This is your reality, this is your location, this is
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  Speaker 1: where you live. But notice the condition. If indeed the
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  Speaker 1: spirit of God lives in you. The word if isn't
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  Speaker 1: expressing doubt. It's stating a condition. In Greek, this is
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  Speaker 1: a first class conditional, which assumes the condition is true.
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  Speaker 1: Paul was saying, since the Spirit lives in you, you
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  Speaker 1: are in the realm of the Spirit. He was stating
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  Speaker 1: a fact about believers not questioning whether they truly believe.
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  Speaker 1: The Christian life is not primarily about what you do
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  Speaker 1: for God. It's about who lives in you. It's not
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  Speaker 1: about your effort to reach God. It's about God's Spirit
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  Speaker 1: taking up residence in your spirit. The Spirit of God,
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  Speaker 1: the third person of the Trinity, the very presence and
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  Speaker 1: power of God himself, lives inside everyone who belongs to Christ.
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  Speaker 1: This is staggering when you think about it. The same
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  Speaker 1: spirit who hovered over the waters at creation, who empowered
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  Speaker 1: the prophets, who raised Jesus from the dead, lives in you,
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  Speaker 1: not near you, not around you. In you, your body
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  Speaker 1: has become His temple, Your heart has become His home.
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  Speaker 1: You carry the presence of God wherever you go. And
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  Speaker 1: then Paul made it even clearer in verse ten. But
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  Speaker 1: if Christ is in you, then even though your body
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  Speaker 1: is subject to death because of sin, the Spirit gives
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  Speaker 1: life because of righteousness. Your body is still mortal. It's
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  Speaker 1: still aging, still declining, still heading toward physical death. Sin
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  Speaker 1: left its mark on creation, and that includes your physical body.
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  Speaker 1: You get sick, you get tired, you get old. Death
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  Speaker 1: is coming for your body. That's the reality of living
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  Speaker 1: in a fallen world. But your spirit is alive. The
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  Speaker 1: spirit gives life to your inner person. Righteousness has been
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  Speaker 1: established in you, not your own righteousness, but Christ's righteousness
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  Speaker 1: credited to your account. And because of that righteousness, the
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  Speaker 1: spirit brings life where there was death, vitality where there
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  Speaker 1: was decay, hope where there was despair. Paul concluded in
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  Speaker 1: verse eleven, and if the spirit of Him who raised
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  Speaker 1: Jesus from the dead is living in you, he who
• 21:04
  Speaker 1: raised Christ from the dead will also give life to
• 21:07
  Speaker 1: your mortal bodies because of his spirit who lives in you.
• 21:11
  Speaker 1: The spirit living in you is the same spirit who
• 21:14
  Speaker 1: raised Jesus from the dead. That's resurrection power. That's tomb opening,
• 21:19
  Speaker 1: grave defeating, death conquering power. And it's in you right now.
• 21:23
  Speaker 1: The same power that bursts through the stone and brought
• 21:26
  Speaker 1: Jesus back to life dwells in your mortal body at
• 21:29
  Speaker 1: this very moment. And here's the promise one day that
• 21:34
  Speaker 1: spirit will give life to your mortal body too. Physical
• 21:38
  Speaker 1: death isn't the end for you. The same resurrection that
• 21:41
  Speaker 1: happened to Jesus will happen to you. Your body will
• 21:44
  Speaker 1: be raised, transformed, made new, glorified. The spirit who lives
• 21:49
  Speaker 1: in you now guarantees your future resurrection. His presence is
• 21:53
  Speaker 1: the down payment, the deposit, the guarantee that what God
• 21:57
  Speaker 1: started he will finish. Paul Moo from Liberation to Identity
• 22:01
  Speaker 1: in verse fifteen, writing, the spirit you received does not
• 22:06
  Speaker 1: make you slaves so that you live in fear again. Rather,
• 22:11
  Speaker 1: the spirit you received brought about your adoption to sonship.
• 22:15
  Speaker 1: There are two kinds of spirits a person can receive.
• 22:18
  Speaker 1: One makes you a slave, the other makes you a
• 22:21
  Speaker 1: son or daughter. Paul was making a clear distinction between
• 22:24
  Speaker 1: these two realities. The spirit of slavery produces fear. It
• 22:30
  Speaker 1: keeps you trapped in a cycle of performance, always wondering
• 22:33
  Speaker 1: if you've done enough, always anxious about whether you measure up.
• 22:37
  Speaker 1: You live under constant pressure, trying to earn approval, terrified
• 22:41
  Speaker 1: of making mistakes, never quite sure where you stand. This
• 22:45
  Speaker 1: is what life under the law felt like for many
• 22:48
  Speaker 1: Jewish people. They had rules to follow, sacrifices to make,
• 22:52
  Speaker 1: rituals to perform, and if they failed, there were consequences.
• 22:56
  Speaker 1: Fear was the motivator, punishment was the threat. But the
• 23:00
  Speaker 1: spirit you received as a believer isn't a spirit of slavery.
• 23:05
  Speaker 1: It's the spirit of adoption. The Greek word paul used
• 23:08
  Speaker 1: here is hewothesia, which literally means placing as a son.
• 23:13
  Speaker 1: In the Roman world, adoption was a powerful legal procedure.
• 23:16
  Speaker 1: When a wealthy Roman man adopted someone, that person received
• 23:21
  Speaker 1: full rites as a legitimate child, or previous debts were
• 23:24
  Speaker 1: canceled or former family ties were severed. The adopted child
• 23:29
  Speaker 1: became a complete heir, with the same legal standing as
• 23:32
  Speaker 1: a biological child. This wasn't a second class status. It
• 23:37
  Speaker 1: wasn't conditional, it wasn't temporary. Once adopted, you were in
• 23:40
  Speaker 1: the family permanently. Your name changed, your inheritance changed, your
• 23:45
  Speaker 1: identity changed. You belonged. That's what God did for you.
• 23:49
  Speaker 1: He didn't just forgive your sins and leave you as
• 23:52
  Speaker 1: a servant. He adopted you. He brought you into his
• 23:55
  Speaker 1: family as a full son or daughter. You're not a
• 23:58
  Speaker 1: slave working for wages. You're not a servant hoping for approval.
• 24:02
  Speaker 1: You're a child who belongs, who is wanted, who has
• 24:06
  Speaker 1: a permanent place at the table, and this adoption removes fear.
• 24:10
  Speaker 1: You don't have to be afraid of making mistakes because
• 24:14
  Speaker 1: your position in the family isn't based on your performance.
• 24:18
  Speaker 1: You don't have to worry about being kicked out because
• 24:20
  Speaker 1: adoption is permanent. You don't have to earn your father's
• 24:24
  Speaker 1: love because it was freely given the moment you were adopted.
• 24:28
  Speaker 1: Paul continued in the same verse, explaining what this adoption produces,
• 24:33
  Speaker 1: and by him, we cry Abbah Father. The word abba
• 24:37
  Speaker 1: is Aramaic, the language Jesus spoke. It's an intimate, affectionate
• 24:42
  Speaker 1: term that Jewish children used for their fathers. Think of
• 24:45
  Speaker 1: it like Papa or daddy. It wasn't the formal way
• 24:49
  Speaker 1: you'd address a distant authority figure. It was the familiar
• 24:52
  Speaker 1: word a child would use when running to their father
• 24:55
  Speaker 1: for comfort, protection, or just to be close. In Jewish culture,
• 25:01
  Speaker 1: this word carried warmth and trust. When a child said Abbah,
• 25:05
  Speaker 1: they were expressing dependence and affection. At the same time,
• 25:08
  Speaker 1: they knew their father would provide for them, protect them.
• 25:12
  Speaker 1: Listen to them. There was no fear in the word,
• 25:15
  Speaker 1: only confidence and love. Jesus used this word when he
• 25:18
  Speaker 1: prayed in the garden of Gethsemone, facing the cross. He
• 25:22
  Speaker 1: cried out, Abba, Father, everything is possible for you. Take
• 25:27
  Speaker 1: this cup from me. Yet not what I will, but
• 25:30
  Speaker 1: what you will. Even in his darkest moment, Jesus addressed
• 25:34
  Speaker 1: God with this intimate term. He wasn't distant, he wasn't formal,
• 25:38
  Speaker 1: He was close. And now, through the spirit of adoption,
• 25:42
  Speaker 1: you have access to that same intimacy. You can call
• 25:46
  Speaker 1: God Abba. You can approach him the way a child
• 25:49
  Speaker 1: approaches a loving father, freely, confidently, without pretense or fear.
• 25:54
  Speaker 1: You don't have to use religious language or formal prayers.
• 25:58
  Speaker 1: You can just talk to him. You can cry out
• 26:00
  Speaker 1: to him, you can run to him. The spirit enables this,
• 26:04
  Speaker 1: Paul said, by him we cry. You couldn't do this
• 26:06
  Speaker 1: on your own. Your natural mind wouldn't dare approach God
• 26:10
  Speaker 1: with such familiarity. But the spirit living in you gives
• 26:14
  Speaker 1: you the confidence to call God your father, to speak
• 26:17
  Speaker 1: to him as a child speaks to a dad. The
• 26:20
  Speaker 1: barrier is gone, the distance is closed. You have access.
• 26:25
  Speaker 1: In verse sixteen, Paul explained how you can be sure
• 26:28
  Speaker 1: of this relationship. The Spirit himself testifies with our spirit
• 26:33
  Speaker 1: that we are God's children. This is internal confirmation. It's
• 26:38
  Speaker 1: not something you figure out through logic or convince yourself
• 26:41
  Speaker 1: of through positive thinking. It's something the Spirit does inside you.
• 26:46
  Speaker 1: He testifies, He bears witness. He confirms the reality of
• 26:50
  Speaker 1: your adoption. The Greek word for testifies is sumatureo, which
• 26:55
  Speaker 1: means to bear witness together to confirm jointly. The spirit
• 27:00
  Speaker 1: and your spirit work together in this testimony. It's not
• 27:03
  Speaker 1: just the spirit telling you something while you remain uncertain.
• 27:07
  Speaker 1: It's the Spirit communicating with your spirit in a way
• 27:10
  Speaker 1: that produces deep inner conviction. You know your God's child,
• 27:15
  Speaker 1: not because someone told you, not because you read it
• 27:17
  Speaker 1: in a book, but because something inside you confirms it.
• 27:21
  Speaker 1: The Spirit whispers to your heart you belong to him,
• 27:24
  Speaker 1: you're his child, He's your father, and your spirit responds, yes,
• 27:29
  Speaker 1: that's true. I know it, I feel it. It's real.
• 27:33
  Speaker 1: This testimony isn't loud or dramatic for everyone. For some,
• 27:37
  Speaker 1: it's a quiet assurance, a settled peace, a deep knowing
• 27:40
  Speaker 1: that doesn't need constant validation. For others, it's a strong
• 27:45
  Speaker 1: sense of God's presence moments when his love feels tangible
• 27:49
  Speaker 1: and close. The form varies, but the function is the same.
• 27:53
  Speaker 1: The Spirit confirms your identity as God's child. This matters
• 27:57
  Speaker 1: because doubt will come, will whisper, accusations, circumstances will make
• 28:03
  Speaker 1: you question your own failures, will cause you to wonder
• 28:06
  Speaker 1: if you really belong. But when those moments come, the
• 28:10
  Speaker 1: Spirit's testimony stands firm. He keeps reminding you who you are.
• 28:15
  Speaker 1: He keeps confirming what God has done. He keeps bearing
• 28:18
  Speaker 1: witness to the truth that you are God's child. Paul
• 28:22
  Speaker 1: expanded on what it means to be God's children in
• 28:25
  Speaker 1: verse seventeen. Now, if we are children, then we are heirs,
• 28:30
  Speaker 1: heirs of God and co heirs with Christ. Being a
• 28:33
  Speaker 1: child comes with inheritance. In the ancient world, this was automatic.
• 28:38
  Speaker 1: If you were a legitimate son or daughter, you had
• 28:41
  Speaker 1: rights to the family estate. The wealth, property, and status
• 28:45
  Speaker 1: of your father would one day become yours. You didn't
• 28:48
  Speaker 1: earn it, you didn't qualify for it through achievement. You
• 28:52
  Speaker 1: inherited it simply because you were a child. Paul applied
• 28:56
  Speaker 1: this principle spiritually. If your God's child. Then you're his heir.
• 29:00
  Speaker 1: Everything that belongs to the Father belongs to you as well,
• 29:04
  Speaker 1: not because you worked for it, not because you deserved it,
• 29:07
  Speaker 1: but because your family. But Paul went further. He said,
• 29:11
  Speaker 1: were not just heirs of God, were co heirs with Christ.
• 29:15
  Speaker 1: The prefix co means together, jointly equally. You share the
• 29:20
  Speaker 1: inheritance with Jesus. What he inherits, you inherit. The portion
• 29:24
  Speaker 1: that belongs to him also belongs to you. Think about
• 29:27
  Speaker 1: what Jesus inherits. He inherits the kingdom, he inherits glory,
• 29:32
  Speaker 1: he inherits authority over all creation, He inherits eternal life,
• 29:36
  Speaker 1: in perfect fellowship with the Father, and you, as his
• 29:40
  Speaker 1: co heir, share in all of that. You're not getting leftovers,
• 29:44
  Speaker 1: You're not receiving a smaller portion. You inherit alongside him
• 29:48
  Speaker 1: as an equal heir. This is staggering grace. Jesus is
• 29:52
  Speaker 1: the natural son of God. He's been with the Father
• 29:55
  Speaker 1: from eternity. He created all things. He deserves the inheritance.
• 30:00
  Speaker 1: I write You, on the other hand, were adopted. You
• 30:03
  Speaker 1: were brought in from the outside. You were once an enemy,
• 30:06
  Speaker 1: a rebel, a stranger to God's family, yet through adoption,
• 30:10
  Speaker 1: you've been given the same inheritance rights as the Sun himself.
• 30:14
  Speaker 1: This isn't about what you'll get some day. Yes, there's
• 30:17
  Speaker 1: a future aspect. One day you'll experience the fullness of
• 30:21
  Speaker 1: this inheritance. But it's also about who you are right now.
• 30:25
  Speaker 1: Right now, you're an heir. Right now you have access
• 30:27
  Speaker 1: to the riches of God's grace. Right now you possess
• 30:30
  Speaker 1: spiritual blessings in Christ. The inheritance is yours, even if
• 30:34
  Speaker 1: you haven't experienced all of it yet. Paul didn't stop there.
• 30:38
  Speaker 1: He added a condition in the second part of verse seventeen,
• 30:42
  Speaker 1: if indeed we share in his sufferings in order that
• 30:46
  Speaker 1: we may also share in his glory. The word if
• 30:50
  Speaker 1: appears again. But this isn't expressing doubt about whether you're
• 30:54
  Speaker 1: truly saved. Paul was laying out a principle. Sharing in
• 30:58
  Speaker 1: Christ's glory requires sharing in his sufferings. The path to
• 31:02
  Speaker 1: glory runs through suffering. Jesus suffered. He was rejected by
• 31:07
  Speaker 1: his own people, he was misunderstood by his family. He
• 31:11
  Speaker 1: was betrayed by a friend, He was mocked, beaten, and crucified.
• 31:15
  Speaker 1: His life on earth was marked by pain, opposition, and sacrifice.
• 31:20
  Speaker 1: And before he entered his glory, before the resurrection, before
• 31:24
  Speaker 1: the ascension, before sitting at the Father's right hand, he
• 31:28
  Speaker 1: had to pass through suffering. As his followers, we walk
• 31:33
  Speaker 1: the same road. Paul wasn't saying you have to suffer
• 31:36
  Speaker 1: to earn your salvation that's already secured through Christ's work,
• 31:41
  Speaker 1: but he was saying that if you're truly united with Christ,
• 31:45
  Speaker 1: suffering will be part of your experience. You'll face rejection
• 31:49
  Speaker 1: because he was rejected. You'll encounter opposition because he encountered opposition.
• 31:54
  Speaker 1: You'll experience hardship because following him often puts you at
• 31:58
  Speaker 1: odds with the world. This suffering takes many forms. For some,
• 32:03
  Speaker 1: it's persecution, losing a job because of your faith, being
• 32:07
  Speaker 1: ostracized by family, facing physical danger in countries hostile to Christianity.
• 32:13
  Speaker 1: For others, it's the daily grind of dying to self,
• 32:17
  Speaker 1: saying no to selfish desires, choosing obedience when it's costly,
• 32:21
  Speaker 1: sacrificing comfort for the sake of serving others. For everyone,
• 32:25
  Speaker 1: it includes the struggles of living in a broken world
• 32:29
  Speaker 1: while carrying the life of Heaven inside you. But notice
• 32:33
  Speaker 1: the purpose in order that we may also share in
• 32:36
  Speaker 1: his glory. The suffering isn't random, it's not meaningless, it's
• 32:41
  Speaker 1: not punishment. It's the pathway to sharing in Christ's glory.
• 32:45
  Speaker 1: Just as a seed must be buried in the ground
• 32:48
  Speaker 1: before it can grow into a plant, and just as
• 32:50
  Speaker 1: a woman must labor before she can hold her baby,
• 32:54
  Speaker 1: suffering precedes glory. It's the necessary passage from this age
• 32:58
  Speaker 1: into the age to come. Paul made a bold statement
• 33:02
  Speaker 1: in verse eighteen about the relationship between present suffering and
• 33:06
  Speaker 1: future glory. I consider that our present sufferings are not
• 33:10
  Speaker 1: worth comparing with the glory that will be revealed in us,
• 33:14
  Speaker 1: Paul said, I consider this was a deliberate calculation on
• 33:19
  Speaker 1: his part. He wasn't speaking from ignorance about suffering. Paul
• 33:23
  Speaker 1: had been beaten, imprisoned, stoned, shipwrecked, and hunted. He knew
• 33:28
  Speaker 1: what it meant to suffer for Christ. He wasn't minimizing
• 33:31
  Speaker 1: pain or pretending hardship doesn't hurt. He was making a
• 33:35
  Speaker 1: comparison based on his own experience and revelation. He called
• 33:39
  Speaker 1: suffering present. It's temporary, It has an expiration date. What
• 33:45
  Speaker 1: you're experiencing now, no matter how intense won't last forever.
• 33:50
  Speaker 1: It's confined to this age, to this moment in history,
• 33:54
  Speaker 1: to your brief lifetime on Earth. Present suffering is real,
• 33:58
  Speaker 1: but it's also temporary. Then he compared it to the
• 34:01
  Speaker 1: glory that will be revealed in us. This glory isn't
• 34:06
  Speaker 1: just something you'll see or experience externally. It will be
• 34:10
  Speaker 1: revealed in you. You will be glorified, Your body will
• 34:13
  Speaker 1: be transformed, your nature will be perfected. Every trace of sin, sickness,
• 34:18
  Speaker 1: and sorrow will be removed. You will shine with the
• 34:21
  Speaker 1: glory of God, reflecting his image perfectly. And Paul's calculation
• 34:26
  Speaker 1: was this, present sufferings aren't worth comparing to future glory.
• 34:31
  Speaker 1: The Greek word for worth comparing is axios, which means
• 34:35
  Speaker 1: worthy of equal value, deserving to be placed on the
• 34:39
  Speaker 1: same scale. Paul was saying, you can't even put these
• 34:42
  Speaker 1: two things on the same scale. They're not in the
• 34:44
  Speaker 1: same category. It's like comparing a drop of water to
• 34:47
  Speaker 1: the ocean, a candle to the sun, a minute to eternity.
• 34:52
  Speaker 1: This wasn't denial of pain. Paul felt suffering deeply, but
• 34:56
  Speaker 1: he had perspective. He could see beyond the immediate hardship
• 35:00
  Speaker 1: to the eternal weight of glory waiting on the other side,
• 35:04
  Speaker 1: And when he placed them side by side, in his mind,
• 35:07
  Speaker 1: the worst suffering this life could throw at him versus
• 35:10
  Speaker 1: the best glory eternity could offer, there was no contest.
• 35:14
  Speaker 1: Glory outweighs suffering by an infinite margin. Paul shifted his
• 35:19
  Speaker 1: focus outward in verses nineteen through twenty one, revealing that
• 35:23
  Speaker 1: the entire created order is waiting for something. For the
• 35:27
  Speaker 1: creation waits in eager expectation for the children of God
• 35:31
  Speaker 1: to be revealed. For the creation was subjected to frustration,
• 35:35
  Speaker 1: not by its own choice, but by the will of
• 35:38
  Speaker 1: the one who subjected it in hope that the creation
• 35:42
  Speaker 1: itself will be liberated from its bondage to decay and
• 35:46
  Speaker 1: brought into the freedom and glory of the children of God.
• 35:50
  Speaker 1: The natural world, mountains, rivers, animals, plants, the earth itself
• 35:55
  Speaker 1: is waiting. The Greek word for eager expectation is apoccre
• 35:59
  Speaker 1: ado nokia, which literally means stretching the head forward, like
• 36:03
  Speaker 1: someone standing on their toes trying to see over a crowd.
• 36:07
  Speaker 1: Creation is straining forward, looking ahead, anticipating something. What is
• 36:12
  Speaker 1: it waiting for? The revelation of the children of God.
• 36:16
  Speaker 1: Right now, your identity as God's child is real, but
• 36:20
  Speaker 1: it's not fully visible. You still live in a mortal body.
• 36:24
  Speaker 1: You still struggle with weakness, you still face limitations. But
• 36:27
  Speaker 1: one day, when Christ returns, your true identity will be revealed.
• 36:32
  Speaker 1: You'll be glorified, you'll be transformed, and the whole universe
• 36:37
  Speaker 1: will see what you really are, a son or daughter
• 36:40
  Speaker 1: of the Living God. But why does creation care? Because
• 36:44
  Speaker 1: Creation's fate is tied to yours. When Adam and Eve
• 36:47
  Speaker 1: sinned in the garden, their rebellion didn't just affect humanity,
• 36:51
  Speaker 1: It affected the entire created order. God cursed the ground,
• 36:55
  Speaker 1: thorns and thistles began to grow, animals became violent, Death
• 37:00
  Speaker 1: entered the ecosystem. The earth itself was subjected to frustration.
• 37:05
  Speaker 1: Paul said. This happened not by its own choice. The
• 37:08
  Speaker 1: mountains didn't choose to erode, the animals didn't choose to
• 37:12
  Speaker 1: kill each other. The earth didn't choose to produce weeds
• 37:15
  Speaker 1: and decay. Creation was subjected to this frustration by God's
• 37:20
  Speaker 1: will as a consequence of human sin. The whole world
• 37:24
  Speaker 1: fell when humanity fell, but it was subjected In hope,
• 37:28
  Speaker 1: God didn't curse creation permanently. He subjected it temporarily with
• 37:32
  Speaker 1: the promise that one day it would be restored. That
• 37:36
  Speaker 1: hope is the return of Christ and the glorification of
• 37:39
  Speaker 1: his children. When you are fully revealed as God's child,
• 37:43
  Speaker 1: creation will be liberated too, Paul continued in verse twenty two,
• 37:49
  Speaker 1: we know that the whole creation has been groaning, as
• 37:52
  Speaker 1: in the pains of childbirth, right up to the present time.
• 37:56
  Speaker 1: Creation groans. It's not silent suffering. It's audible. You can
• 38:01
  Speaker 1: hear it in the roar of hurricanes, the rumble of earthquakes,
• 38:05
  Speaker 1: the cries of animals. The whole earth is in pain,
• 38:08
  Speaker 1: longing for release. But Paul compared this groaning to labor pains.
• 38:13
  Speaker 1: Labor hurts, but its productive pain. It means something is
• 38:17
  Speaker 1: about to be born. The pain isn't the end, it's
• 38:20
  Speaker 1: the beginning of something new. Creation's groaning signals that new
• 38:25
  Speaker 1: birth is coming. The current world order is pregnant with
• 38:29
  Speaker 1: the world to come. And just like a woman in
• 38:32
  Speaker 1: labor knows that the baby is almost here, Creation's intensifying
• 38:37
  Speaker 1: groans mean that liberation is near. Paul completed his thought
• 38:41
  Speaker 1: in verse twenty three. Not only so, but we ourselves,
• 38:46
  Speaker 1: who have the first fruits of the spirit, grown inwardly
• 38:49
  Speaker 1: as we wait eagerly for our adoption to sonship the
• 38:52
  Speaker 1: redemption of our bodies. Creation groans. And you've grown too.
• 38:57
  Speaker 1: Even though you've received the Spirit, even though you've been adopted,
• 39:01
  Speaker 1: even though you're already God's child, you still groan inwardly.
• 39:06
  Speaker 1: You feel the weight of living in a fallen world,
• 39:09
  Speaker 1: in an unredeemed body. You experience sickness, weakness, aging, fatigue.
• 39:14
  Speaker 1: You battle temptation. You wrestle with sinful desires that you
• 39:18
  Speaker 1: wish were gone. You long for the day when your
• 39:21
  Speaker 1: physical body matches your spiritual identity. Paul called the spirit
• 39:26
  Speaker 1: the first fruits in the Old Testament. First fruits were
• 39:31
  Speaker 1: the initial portion of the harvest offered to God as
• 39:33
  Speaker 1: a sign that the full harvest was coming. The Spirit
• 39:37
  Speaker 1: you've received is the first fruits of your full inheritance.
• 39:41
  Speaker 1: He's the down payment, the guarantee, the preview of everything
• 39:44
  Speaker 1: God has planned for you. You have him now, and
• 39:47
  Speaker 1: his presence in you is proof that the rest is
• 39:50
  Speaker 1: on the way. You're waiting for the redemption of your bodies.
• 39:54
  Speaker 1: Your spirit has already been redeemed. Your sins have been forgiven.
• 39:58
  Speaker 1: You've been adopted into God's face. But your body hasn't
• 40:01
  Speaker 1: been redeemed yet. It's still subject to death, it still
• 40:05
  Speaker 1: breaks down, it still carries the marks of the curse.
• 40:08
  Speaker 1: But one day your body will be redeemed. It will
• 40:11
  Speaker 1: be raised from the dead, transformed into a glorified body
• 40:16
  Speaker 1: like Christ's resurrection body. It will be immortal, incorruptible, perfect.
• 40:20
  Speaker 1: Every disease will be gone, every weakness will be removed,
• 40:24
  Speaker 1: every limitation will be lifted. You'll have a body suited
• 40:28
  Speaker 1: for eternity, capable of experiencing the fullness of God's presence
• 40:34
  Speaker 1: without hindrance. Paul explained this hope in verses twenty four
• 40:38
  Speaker 1: and twenty five, for in this hope we were saved.
• 40:41
  Speaker 1: But hope that is seen is no hope at all.
• 40:44
  Speaker 1: Who hopes for what they already have. But if we
• 40:47
  Speaker 1: hope for what we do not yet have, we wait
• 40:50
  Speaker 1: for it patiently. You were saved in hope. Your salvation
• 40:53
  Speaker 1: has already happened. You've been justified, adopted, made alive in Christ.
• 40:59
  Speaker 1: But the full experience of that salvation is still future.
• 41:02
  Speaker 1: You don't have your glorified body. Yet you haven't seen
• 41:06
  Speaker 1: the new Heaven and new Earth. Yet, you're living between
• 41:09
  Speaker 1: the already and the nut Yet. That's where hope comes in.
• 41:13
  Speaker 1: Hope isn't wishful thinking. It's confident expectation based on God's promise.
• 41:17
  Speaker 1: You hope for what you don't yet see because God
• 41:20
  Speaker 1: has guaranteed it will happen. The spirit in you is proof.
• 41:24
  Speaker 1: The resurrection of Jesus is proof. God's word is proof.
• 41:28
  Speaker 1: So you wait not with anxiety or doubt, but with
• 41:31
  Speaker 1: patient confidence that what God promised he will deliver. Paul
• 41:36
  Speaker 1: addressed human weakness in verse twenty six, revealing how the
• 41:40
  Speaker 1: spirit helps in prayer in the same way the Spirit
• 41:43
  Speaker 1: helps us in our weakness. We do not know what
• 41:46
  Speaker 1: we ought to pray for, but the Spirit himself intercedes
• 41:50
  Speaker 1: for us through wordless groans. You have weaknesses. One of
• 41:55
  Speaker 1: those weaknesses is that you don't always know what to
• 41:58
  Speaker 1: pray for. You face situation where you're confused about what
• 42:01
  Speaker 1: to ask God. You have desires that might not align
• 42:05
  Speaker 1: with his will. You carry burdens that are too heavy
• 42:08
  Speaker 1: to put into words. Sometimes you want to pray, but
• 42:12
  Speaker 1: you can't find the language. Your mind goes blank, your
• 42:15
  Speaker 1: heart feels too full or too empty to articulate what
• 42:18
  Speaker 1: you're feeling, the Spirit steps in right there. He helps
• 42:22
  Speaker 1: you in your weakness. The Greek word for helps is
• 42:26
  Speaker 1: su nanti lambanomai, which means to take hold together with,
• 42:30
  Speaker 1: to lend a hand in carrying a load. Picture two
• 42:33
  Speaker 1: people carrying a heavy beam, one on each end, sharing
• 42:36
  Speaker 1: the weight. That's what the Spirit does in your prayer life.
• 42:39
  Speaker 1: He carries the load with you, and he intercedes for you.
• 42:42
  Speaker 1: He prays on your behalf when you can't find words.
• 42:46
  Speaker 1: He communicates with the Father in ways that go beyond
• 42:49
  Speaker 1: human language. Paul called them wordless groans, deep expressions of longing, pain, hope,
• 42:55
  Speaker 1: or need that can't be captured in sentences. The Spirit
• 42:59
  Speaker 1: translates your heart's cry into a prayer that reaches the
• 43:03
  Speaker 1: Father perfectly, Paul continued in verse twenty seven. And he
• 43:07
  Speaker 1: who searches our hearts knows the mind of the spirit,
• 43:11
  Speaker 1: because the Spirit intercedes for God's people in accordance with
• 43:15
  Speaker 1: the will of God. God searches hearts, he sees what's
• 43:19
  Speaker 1: happening inside you, the confusion, the pain, the unspoken desires,
• 43:24
  Speaker 1: and he knows the mind of the spirit. There's perfect
• 43:26
  Speaker 1: communication between the Father and the Spirit. When the Spirit
• 43:30
  Speaker 1: intercedes for you, the Father understands exactly what's being said,
• 43:35
  Speaker 1: even when you don't understand it yourself. The Spirit always
• 43:39
  Speaker 1: prays according to God's will. He never asks for something
• 43:43
  Speaker 1: that contradicts the Father's plan. He never intercedes in a
• 43:47
  Speaker 1: way that would harm you or lead you astray. His
• 43:50
  Speaker 1: prayers are perfectly aligned with what God wants to do
• 43:52
  Speaker 1: in your life. So even when you don't know what
• 43:55
  Speaker 1: to pray, you can trust that the Spirit is praying
• 43:58
  Speaker 1: the right thing. But the Trinity's intercession doesn't stop with
• 44:02
  Speaker 1: the Spirit. Pall pointed to Jesus in verse thirty four,
• 44:06
  Speaker 1: who then is the one who condemns no one Christ. Jesus,
• 44:09
  Speaker 1: who died more than that, who was raised to life,
• 44:13
  Speaker 1: is at the right hand of God and is also
• 44:16
  Speaker 1: interceding for us. Jesus is at the right hand of God.
• 44:21
  Speaker 1: That's the position of highest honor, the place of authority
• 44:24
  Speaker 1: and power, and from that position he intercedes for you.
• 44:28
  Speaker 1: The word intercedes means to plead on behalf of someone,
• 44:32
  Speaker 1: to advocate for them, to represent their case. Jesus died
• 44:37
  Speaker 1: for you. That secured your salvation. But he didn't stop
• 44:40
  Speaker 1: working on your behalf after the cross. He rose from
• 44:43
  Speaker 1: the dead, he ascended to heaven, and now he's actively
• 44:47
  Speaker 1: interceding for you. When accusations come against you, he speaks
• 44:51
  Speaker 1: in your defense. When you stumble, he pleads your case.
• 44:55
  Speaker 1: When you're weak, he represents you before the Father. You
• 44:59
  Speaker 1: have two advocates, the Spirit within you and Jesus beside
• 45:02
  Speaker 1: the Father. Both are praying for you, Both are working
• 45:05
  Speaker 1: on your behalf. Both are interceding according to God's will.
• 45:09
  Speaker 1: You're surrounded by the Trinity's love, covered by their care,
• 45:13
  Speaker 1: upheld by their prayers. Paul revealed God's overarching plan in
• 45:17
  Speaker 1: verse twenty eight. And we know that in all things
• 45:21
  Speaker 1: God works for the good of those who love Him,
• 45:23
  Speaker 1: who have been called according to his purpose. This is
• 45:26
  Speaker 1: one of the most quoted verses in Romans, and for
• 45:29
  Speaker 1: good reason. Paul said, we know this isn't speculation or
• 45:34
  Speaker 1: wishful thinking. It's certain knowledge, established truth that believers can
• 45:38
  Speaker 1: stand on. God works in all things, not some things,
• 45:42
  Speaker 1: not just the good things. All things, every circumstance, every hardship,
• 45:47
  Speaker 1: every joy, every trial, God is working in it. He's
• 45:51
  Speaker 1: not passive, he's not absent. He's actively involved, moving events
• 45:56
  Speaker 1: and situations toward a specific end, and he works for good.
• 46:01
  Speaker 1: This doesn't mean everything that happens is good. Evil is
• 46:04
  Speaker 1: real since causes real damage. Suffering hurts. But God has
• 46:09
  Speaker 1: the power to take even evil circumstances and weave them
• 46:13
  Speaker 1: into something good. He redeems what was meant for harm
• 46:17
  Speaker 1: and transforms it into something that serves his purposes. This
• 46:21
  Speaker 1: promise has conditions. It's for those who love Him who
• 46:25
  Speaker 1: have been called according to his purpose. It's not a
• 46:28
  Speaker 1: blanket statement for everyone. It's specifically for believers, those who
• 46:33
  Speaker 1: love God and have responded to his call. If you're
• 46:36
  Speaker 1: in Christ, this promise belongs to you. God is working
• 46:40
  Speaker 1: everything in your life for good. But what is that good.
• 46:43
  Speaker 1: It's not always comfort or ease, it's not always what
• 46:46
  Speaker 1: you would choose. The good God is working toward is
• 46:50
  Speaker 1: defined by his purpose, not your preferences. And his purpose
• 46:54
  Speaker 1: is bigger than your temporary happiness. He's shaping you, growing you,
• 46:59
  Speaker 1: conforming you to the image of his son. That's the
• 47:02
  Speaker 1: ultimate good he's working toward. Paul wasn't suggesting you should
• 47:06
  Speaker 1: be happy about suffering or pretend that bad things are
• 47:09
  Speaker 1: actually good. He was saying that God is sovereign over
• 47:12
  Speaker 1: all things, and he has the power to bring purpose
• 47:15
  Speaker 1: out of pain, to create beauty from ashes, to turn
• 47:19
  Speaker 1: mourning into dancing. Nothing is wasted in God's hands. He
• 47:23
  Speaker 1: uses everything. In verses twenty nine and thirty, Paul laid
• 47:27
  Speaker 1: out the unbreakable sequence of God's saving work for those
• 47:31
  Speaker 1: God fore knew he also predestined to be conformed to
• 47:34
  Speaker 1: the image of his son, that he might be the
• 47:37
  Speaker 1: first born among many brothers and sisters. And those he
• 47:41
  Speaker 1: predestined he also called. Those he called, he also justified.
• 47:45
  Speaker 1: Those he justified he also glorified. This is often called
• 47:49
  Speaker 1: the golden chain of salvation because each link is connected
• 47:53
  Speaker 1: to the next, forming an unbreakable sequence. Paul started with
• 47:58
  Speaker 1: foreknowledge and ended with gloryfication, showing that God's plan for
• 48:02
  Speaker 1: his people moves from eternity past to eternity future without
• 48:07
  Speaker 1: a single break. First, God foreknew. The word fornew doesn't
• 48:13
  Speaker 1: just mean he knew about you ahead of time. It
• 48:16
  Speaker 1: means he set his love on you, He chose you,
• 48:20
  Speaker 1: He entered into a relationship with you before time began.
• 48:23
  Speaker 1: This is relational knowledge, not just factual awareness. God knew
• 48:27
  Speaker 1: you intimately before you were born. Second, he predestined every one.
• 48:33
  Speaker 1: God foreknew He predestined. This means He decided ahead of
• 48:37
  Speaker 1: time what would happen to you. He marked out your destiny,
• 48:41
  Speaker 1: and that destiny is specific to be conformed to the
• 48:45
  Speaker 1: image of his son. God's plan for you is transformation.
• 48:49
  Speaker 1: He's making you like Jesus in character, in nature, in glory. Third,
• 48:54
  Speaker 1: he called every one God predestined. He called this is
• 48:58
  Speaker 1: the moment when God's eternal plan enters time. He calls
• 49:02
  Speaker 1: you through the Gospel. He draws you to himself. He
• 49:05
  Speaker 1: opens your heart to respond to Jesus. The call goes
• 49:08
  Speaker 1: out to many, but it's effective in those whom God
• 49:11
  Speaker 1: has predestined. Fourth, he justified everyone God called, He justified.
• 49:18
  Speaker 1: Justification is the legal declaration that you're righteous in God's sight.
• 49:22
  Speaker 1: Your sins are forgiven. Christ's righteousness is credited to your account.
• 49:26
  Speaker 1: You're declared not guilty in the court room of heaven.
• 49:30
  Speaker 1: This isn't something you achieve, It's something God does for
• 49:33
  Speaker 1: you the moment you believe. Fifth, he glorified everyone. God justified.
• 49:38
  Speaker 1: He glorified. Notice the past tense. Paul didn't say, will glorify.
• 49:43
  Speaker 1: He said, glorified. Even though your glorification is still future
• 49:48
  Speaker 1: from your perspective, God speaks of it as already accomplished.
• 49:52
  Speaker 1: In his eternal view, It's a done deal. Your glorification
• 49:55
  Speaker 1: is so certain that he talks about it as if
• 49:58
  Speaker 1: it already happened. This chain has no breaks. No one
• 50:02
  Speaker 1: who is foreknown fails to be predestined. No one who
• 50:05
  Speaker 1: is predestined fails to be called. No one who is
• 50:08
  Speaker 1: called fails to be justified. No one who is justified
• 50:12
  Speaker 1: fails to be glorified. If God started the work in you,
• 50:16
  Speaker 1: he will finish it. The chain is unbreakable. Paul specified
• 50:20
  Speaker 1: the purpose of predestination in verse twenty nine that believers
• 50:24
  Speaker 1: might be conformed to the image of his son, that
• 50:27
  Speaker 1: he might be the firstborn among many brothers and sisters.
• 50:31
  Speaker 1: God's goal isn't just to get you to Heaven. It's
• 50:33
  Speaker 1: to make you like Jesus. The word conformed means to
• 50:37
  Speaker 1: be shaped according to a pattern, to match a form.
• 50:40
  Speaker 1: Your being molded, shaped, transformed into the likeness of Christ.
• 50:44
  Speaker 1: This is a process that begins the moment you believe
• 50:48
  Speaker 1: and won't be complete until you see him face to face.
• 50:53
  Speaker 1: What does it mean to be conformed to his image?
• 50:56
  Speaker 1: It means developing his character, his love, his patience, his kindness,
• 51:02
  Speaker 1: his righteousness, his compassion. It means thinking the way he thinks,
• 51:06
  Speaker 1: valuing what he values, responding to situations the way he
• 51:10
  Speaker 1: would respond. It means reflecting his nature to the world
• 51:14
  Speaker 1: around you. This conforming happens in stages. It starts with
• 51:19
  Speaker 1: your spirit being made alive in Christ. It continues as
• 51:23
  Speaker 1: the spirit works in your mind and heart, renewing your
• 51:26
  Speaker 1: thinking and transforming your desires. And it will be completed
• 51:31
  Speaker 1: when your body is resurrected and glorified, made perfect like
• 51:34
  Speaker 1: his resurrection body. The purpose behind this conforming is relational
• 51:40
  Speaker 1: that he might be the first born among many brothers
• 51:43
  Speaker 1: and sisters. Jesus isn't meant to be God's only child.
• 51:48
  Speaker 1: He is meant to be the first born, the first
• 51:50
  Speaker 1: of many. God is creating a family. He's adopting sons
• 51:54
  Speaker 1: and daughters who bear the family resemblance, who reflect the
• 51:58
  Speaker 1: image of the first born son. Jesus isn't jealous of
• 52:02
  Speaker 1: sharing his glory. He delights in having brothers and sisters.
• 52:05
  Speaker 1: He's not diminished when you are conformed to his image.
• 52:08
  Speaker 1: He's honored. The more you become like him, the more
• 52:12
  Speaker 1: you bring glory to Him as the pattern, the prototype,
• 52:16
  Speaker 1: the perfect image of God that your being conformed to.
• 52:19
  Speaker 1: Paul began a series of powerful rhetorical questions in verse
• 52:23
  Speaker 1: thirty one, what then, shall we say in response to
• 52:27
  Speaker 1: these things? If God is for us, who can be
• 52:30
  Speaker 1: against us? Paul asked, what shall we say after laying
• 52:34
  Speaker 1: out the full scope of God's saving plan when you
• 52:37
  Speaker 1: understand that God foreknew you, predestined you, called you, justified you,
• 52:42
  Speaker 1: and will glorify you when you grasp that nothing can
• 52:46
  Speaker 1: stop his plan, what's the appropriate response? He answered with
• 52:50
  Speaker 1: another question. If God is for us, who can be
• 52:54
  Speaker 1: against us? This isn't denying that you have enemies. You do.
• 52:58
  Speaker 1: Satan opposes you, the world, old system opposes you. Your
• 53:01
  Speaker 1: own flesh opposes you. Paul wasn't saying opposition doesn't exist.
• 53:05
  Speaker 1: He was saying opposition is ultimately futile. If the creator
• 53:10
  Speaker 1: of the universe is on your side, what does it
• 53:12
  Speaker 1: matter who stands against you? If the all powerful, all knowing,
• 53:17
  Speaker 1: eternal God has declared himself to be for you, no
• 53:21
  Speaker 1: enemy can overcome you. They might harass you. They might
• 53:25
  Speaker 1: cause temporary trouble, but they cannot defeat God's purposes for
• 53:29
  Speaker 1: your life. The word if here isn't expressing doubt in Greek.
• 53:34
  Speaker 1: This is a first class conditional. Assuming the condition is true.
• 53:38
  Speaker 1: Paul was saying, since God is for us, and he
• 53:41
  Speaker 1: is who can successfully oppose us, the answer is no one,
• 53:45
  Speaker 1: absolutely no one. This is where assurance comes from, not
• 53:49
  Speaker 1: from your own strength, not from the absence of problems,
• 53:52
  Speaker 1: but from the certainty that God is for you. He's
• 53:55
  Speaker 1: not neutral, he's not watching from a distance. He's actively
• 53:59
  Speaker 1: working on your behalf, fighting for you, protecting you, guiding
• 54:04
  Speaker 1: you toward his good purposes. Paul continued his argument in
• 54:07
  Speaker 1: verse thirty two. He who did not spare his own son,
• 54:12
  Speaker 1: but gave him up for us all, how will he not, also,
• 54:15
  Speaker 1: along with him, graciously give us all things. God didn't
• 54:19
  Speaker 1: spare his own son. The word spare means to withhold,
• 54:23
  Speaker 1: to refrain from giving. Abraham was told to sacrifice his
• 54:26
  Speaker 1: son Isaac, but at the last moment God spared Isaac
• 54:31
  Speaker 1: and provided a Ram instead. But when it came to Jesus,
• 54:34
  Speaker 1: there was no last minute substitute. God didn't spare him,
• 54:38
  Speaker 1: he gave him up. This wasn't forced. God willingly gave
• 54:41
  Speaker 1: his son, and he gave him for us all, every
• 54:44
  Speaker 1: person who would believe, every member of his adopted family.
• 54:48
  Speaker 1: The cross was God's choice. He could have found another way,
• 54:52
  Speaker 1: but he chose to give his own son as the
• 54:55
  Speaker 1: payment for sin. Think about what it cost God to
• 54:58
  Speaker 1: do this. Jesus is his beloved son, the one in
• 55:02
  Speaker 1: whom he is well pleased. The father and son have
• 55:05
  Speaker 1: shared perfect love and fellowship from eternity. Yet God was
• 55:09
  Speaker 1: willing to send Jesus to earth, to let him suffer,
• 55:12
  Speaker 1: to allow him to be crucified. He watched his son die.
• 55:16
  Speaker 1: He turned his face away when Jesus bore the sin
• 55:19
  Speaker 1: of the world. The cross cost God something precious beyond measure.
• 55:24
  Speaker 1: Paul's logic is simple. If God was willing to pay
• 55:27
  Speaker 1: the highest price imaginable his own son, then he won't
• 55:31
  Speaker 1: withhold any lesser gift. If he gave up what was
• 55:34
  Speaker 1: most precious to him, he'll certainly give you everything else
• 55:38
  Speaker 1: you need. The cross is proof that God holds nothing
• 55:41
  Speaker 1: back from his children. Notice Paul said God will graciously
• 55:45
  Speaker 1: give us all things. This isn't about earning or deserving.
• 55:49
  Speaker 1: It's about grace, God's undeserved favor. He gives freely, generously, joyfully,
• 55:55
  Speaker 1: and he gives all things, not just spiritual blessings, but
• 55:59
  Speaker 1: everything you needed for life and godliness, everything required to
• 56:03
  Speaker 1: fulfill His purpose in you. The Cross is God's blank check.
• 56:08
  Speaker 1: It guarantees that he'll provide what you need, protect what
• 56:12
  Speaker 1: concerns you, and complete what he started in you. If
• 56:15
  Speaker 1: he didn't spare his son, he certainly won't spare any
• 56:19
  Speaker 1: good thing from you. Paul issued a court room challenge
• 56:22
  Speaker 1: in verse thirty three. Who will bring any charge against
• 56:26
  Speaker 1: those whom God has chosen? It is God who justifies.
• 56:29
  Speaker 1: Imagine a courtroom. You're the defendant, and someone steps forward
• 56:33
  Speaker 1: to bring charges against you. They have evidence, your sins,
• 56:37
  Speaker 1: your failures, your rebellion against God. The accusations are true,
• 56:42
  Speaker 1: you did those things. You are guilty. But then Paul
• 56:45
  Speaker 1: asked who will bring these charges? And his implied answer
• 56:49
  Speaker 1: is no one can successfully bring charges against you. Why
• 56:53
  Speaker 1: Because God himself has justified you. The judge has already
• 56:57
  Speaker 1: declared you righteous. The highest authority in the U universe
• 57:00
  Speaker 1: has rendered his verdict, and the verdict is not guilty.
• 57:04
  Speaker 1: When God justifies you. He doesn't overlook your sin. He
• 57:08
  Speaker 1: doesn't pretend you're innocent when you're not. He applies Christ's
• 57:12
  Speaker 1: righteousness to your account. Your sin was dealt with at
• 57:15
  Speaker 1: the cross, justice was satisfied, the penalty was paid, and
• 57:19
  Speaker 1: now legally and righteously God declares you justified. This means
• 57:25
  Speaker 1: no accusation can stick. Satan is called the accuser of
• 57:29
  Speaker 1: the Brothers in Revelation. He loves to bring up your
• 57:32
  Speaker 1: past to remind you of your failures, to make you
• 57:35
  Speaker 1: feel condemned, but his accusations are powerless. The judge has spoken,
• 57:40
  Speaker 1: the case is closed. Paul pressed further in verse thirty four.
• 57:44
  Speaker 1: Who then, is the one who condemns? No one. Condemnation
• 57:48
  Speaker 1: is a legal term. It's the sentence that follows a
• 57:51
  Speaker 1: guilty verdict. But Paul asked who condemns and the answer
• 57:55
  Speaker 1: is no one. No one has the authority or the
• 57:58
  Speaker 1: right to condemn you. If God has justified you. Then
• 58:01
  Speaker 1: Paul listed four reasons why no condemnation can stand. Christ Jesus,
• 58:06
  Speaker 1: who died more than that, who was raised to life,
• 58:10
  Speaker 1: is at the right hand of God and is also
• 58:13
  Speaker 1: interceding for us. First, Christ died his death paid for
• 58:18
  Speaker 1: your sin. The penalty is satisfied. Second, he was raised
• 58:22
  Speaker 1: to life. His resurrection proves the payment was accepted. If
• 58:26
  Speaker 1: God wasn't satisfied with jesus sacrifice, he wouldn't have raised
• 58:30
  Speaker 1: him from the dead. Third, he's at the right hand
• 58:33
  Speaker 1: of God. He's in the position of highest authority and honor.
• 58:38
  Speaker 1: He sits beside the Father as your representative. Fourth, he's
• 58:42
  Speaker 1: interceding for you. He's constantly pleading your case, advocating on
• 58:47
  Speaker 1: your behalf, ensuring that no charge against you succeeds. With
• 58:52
  Speaker 1: Jesus as your defender, no accusation can stand, no condemnation
• 58:56
  Speaker 1: can touch you. You're secure in the Father's love, protected
• 59:00
  Speaker 1: by the Son's intercession, sealed by the spirit's presence. Paul
• 59:05
  Speaker 1: reached the climax of Romans eight with the question in
• 59:08
  Speaker 1: verse thirty five, who shall separate us from the love
• 59:13
  Speaker 1: of Christ? Shall trouble or hardship or persecution or famine
• 59:16
  Speaker 1: or nakedness or danger or sword notice? Paul asked who,
• 59:20
  Speaker 1: not what he was personifying the forces that might attempt
• 59:24
  Speaker 1: to separate you from Christ's love. He listed seven potential threats. Trouble, hardship, persecution, famine, nakedness, danger,
• 59:33
  Speaker 1: and sword. These aren't hypothetical. These are real experiences that
• 59:37
  Speaker 1: believers face. Trouble is pressure, distress, affliction. Hardship is narrowness
• 59:43
  Speaker 1: being in a tight place with no way out. Persecution
• 59:46
  Speaker 1: is being hunted or harassed for your faith. Famine is
• 59:49
  Speaker 1: going without food facing starvation. Nakedness is lacking basic necessities,
• 59:54
  Speaker 1: having nothing. Danger is being in life threatening situations. The
• 59:59
  Speaker 1: sword represents it violent death martyrdom. Paul quoted Psalm forty
• 1:00:03
  Speaker 1: four in verse thirty six, as it is written, for
• 1:00:06
  Speaker 1: your sake, we face death all day long. We are
• 1:00:09
  Speaker 1: considered as sheep to be slaughtered. Following Jesus sometimes leads
• 1:00:14
  Speaker 1: to suffering. You're not guaranteed an easy life. You might
• 1:00:18
  Speaker 1: face persecution, you might experience loss, You might go through
• 1:00:22
  Speaker 1: hardship that feels unbearable. And in those moments, you might wonder,
• 1:00:26
  Speaker 1: does God still love me? Has He abandoned me? Did
• 1:00:30
  Speaker 1: these circumstances separate me from His love? Paul answered emphatically
• 1:00:35
  Speaker 1: in verses thirty seven through thirty nine. No, in all
• 1:00:38
  Speaker 1: these things, we are more than conquerors through Him who
• 1:00:41
  Speaker 1: loved us. For I am convinced that neither death nor life,
• 1:00:45
  Speaker 1: neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future,
• 1:00:50
  Speaker 1: nor any powers, neither height nor depth nor anything else
• 1:00:53
  Speaker 1: in all creation will be able to separate us from
• 1:00:57
  Speaker 1: the love of God, that is in Christ, Jesus, our Lord.
• 1:01:01
  Speaker 1: You're more than a conqueror. You don't just survive. You
• 1:01:05
  Speaker 1: overcome with overwhelming victory, not through your own strength, but
• 1:01:09
  Speaker 1: through Christ, who loved you. His love is the power
• 1:01:12
  Speaker 1: source that enables you to triumph over every threat. Then
• 1:01:18
  Speaker 1: Paul gave a comprehensive list of things that cannot separate
• 1:01:21
  Speaker 1: you from God's love. He covered every possibility, every angle,
• 1:01:25
  Speaker 1: every dimension of existence. Death can't separate you. Physical death
• 1:01:30
  Speaker 1: doesn't end your relationship with God. It ushers you into
• 1:01:34
  Speaker 1: His presence. Life can't separate you. The struggles and challenges
• 1:01:38
  Speaker 1: of living in this world don't sever God's love. Angels
• 1:01:43
  Speaker 1: can't separate you, not even powerful spiritual beings have that ability.
• 1:01:47
  Speaker 1: Demons can't separate you. The forces of darkness are defeated enemies.
• 1:01:53
  Speaker 1: They have no power to break God's hold on you.
• 1:01:55
  Speaker 1: The present can't separate you. Whatever you're facing right now, today,
• 1:02:00
  Speaker 1: this moment, it cannot remove you. From God's love. The
• 1:02:03
  Speaker 1: future can't separate you. Whatever is coming, trials, temptations, hardships,
• 1:02:08
  Speaker 1: they cannot break your connection to God. Powers can't separate you.
• 1:02:12
  Speaker 1: No spiritual force, no authority, no ruler has the strength
• 1:02:16
  Speaker 1: to tear you away from God's love. Height can't separate you.
• 1:02:20
  Speaker 1: Nothing in the highest heavens, in any dimension of existence
• 1:02:24
  Speaker 1: can do it. Depth can't separate you. Nothing in the
• 1:02:28
  Speaker 1: deepest pit in the lowest place can accomplish it. And finally,
• 1:02:32
  Speaker 1: Paul added the catsule, nor anything else in all creation.
• 1:02:36
  Speaker 1: If there's something he didn't list, anything at all that exists,
• 1:02:40
  Speaker 1: it cannot separate you from God's love either. Every possible
• 1:02:44
  Speaker 1: threat has been eliminated, Every door has been closed. There
• 1:02:48
  Speaker 1: is no circumstance, no being, no force, no power anywhere
• 1:02:52
  Speaker 1: in the universe that can remove you from the love
• 1:02:55
  Speaker 1: of God that is in Christ, Jesus, your Lord. This
• 1:02:58
  Speaker 1: love isn't based on your performance. It's based on Christ's work.
• 1:03:03
  Speaker 1: It's secured by his death and resurrection. It's guaranteed by
• 1:03:07
  Speaker 1: his intercession, it's protected by the Father's sovereign purpose, and
• 1:03:11
  Speaker 1: it will never ever let you go. If this message
• 1:03:14
  Speaker 1: spoke to your heart, to day. Don't keep it to yourself.
• 1:03:17
  Speaker 1: Hit that subscribe button so you never miss another powerful
• 1:03:21
  Speaker 1: biblical truth that can transform your life. Share this video
• 1:03:25
  Speaker 1: with someone who needs to hear that they are not condemned,
• 1:03:29
  Speaker 1: that they belong to God, that they are deeply loved,
• 1:03:33
  Speaker 1: and drop a comment below telling us which part of
• 1:03:36
  Speaker 1: Roman's ate hit you the hardest. Let's build a community
• 1:03:39
  Speaker 1: of believers who know their identity and walk in the
• 1:03:42
  Speaker 1: freedom Christ died to give us. God bless you