PREACHED:OL,
INTRODUCTION:
1Ü I
John 3:1. “Behold what manner…”
A. Brothers and Sisters! We are blessed!
1.
John 10:9,10
Ephesians 1:3
I Peter 1:3,4
2Ü There are so many people in our world that
long for the joy of starting over!
A. So many have been broken and discouraged
by what life has dealt them.
1. Homeless living in a pasteboard box
Runaway bedded
down in the basement of an abandoned church building
Alcoholic whose
wife and kids have given up and left him
The skid
row bum with his brown paper bag covering a bottle of “Thunderbird”
or “Wild Irish Rose”
The
playboy lying in a lonely room, who has a book filled with women’s
names, but has no genuine companionship.
B. Many could cry out with the Paul,
recounting his unsaved inadequacy, “O wretched…?” Rom
3Ü But, Thank God, I can start over in Jesus!
A. Rom
8:1-4. “There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in
Christ Jesus. For the law of the Spirit of life has set you free in Christ
Jesus from the law of sin and death. For God has done what the law, weakened by
the flesh, could not do. By sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh
and for sin, he condemned sin in the flesh, in order that the righteous
requirement of the law might be fulfilled in us who walk not according to the
flesh but according to the Spirit.”
DISCUSSION: (Let’s
examine these verses from the pen of the apostle and note what he tells us
about our new direction of life in Christ.)
Ś A NEW CONFIDENCE, V 1
“There is
therefore, now, no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus.”
A. First
of all, who are those “in” Christ Jesus?
1. Romans 6:3,4. “Do you
not know…?”
B. What
does “condemnation” mean?
1. It means a judgment against someone—GUILTY,
DEATH SENTENCE!
2. “No” very strong word: Not one!
3. WUEST: “There is not even one bit of
condemnation!”
C. Rom
D. I know that Paul has in mind the eternal
destiny of the soul, but we can see the principle of condemnation in the world.
1. Our prisons are full of condemned men and
women.
2. But there are a lot of condemned folk who
are walking the streets, even if they may not have been pronounced guilty in a
court of law!
a. Society often pronounces judgment and
declares, “There is no hope for you! You don’t fit in, you don’t have the
right looks, or the right financial standing, or the right pedigree, or the
right education.”
b. Others are social outcasts because of
mistakes they have made or sins they have committed.
E. But
I remember Paul!
1. I Timothy 1:12-17.
Ť A NEW FREEDOM, V 2.
A. “For the law of the Spirit of life has
set me free in Christ Jesus from the law of sin and death.”
B. Have you ever thought about the beauty of
the word, “Pardon?”
1. I didn’t say “parole”—pardon!
2. All of us have received pardon, not
parole!
3. That’s the freedom we enjoy!
a. John
8:36
1) It is not a pardon that has been granted
because we have earned it or because we were innocent, but because Jesus took
our place and by his death made it possible for us to be pardoned and set free!
a) Vs
3,4. “For God has done what the law, weakened by the flesh, (our
inability to keep it perfectly) could not do. By sending his own Son in the
likeness of sinful flesh and for sin (our sin), he condemned sin in the flesh,
in order that the righteous requirement of law (condemnation for
violation—justice) might be fulfilled in us…”
2) But it is a pardon that has to be
accepted!
Ž A NEW WALK, V 4.
“…in order
that the righteous requirements of the law might be fulfilled in us who walk
not according to the flesh but according to the Spirit.”
A. We’re not pardoned to live for the flesh,
but we are pardoned to walk by the direction of the Lord through the Holy
Spirit!
1. V
5,6. “For those who live according to the flesh set their minds
on the things of the flesh, but those who live according to the Spirit set
their minds on the things of the Spirit. To set the mind on the flesh is death,
but to set the mind of the Spirit is life and peace.”
a. That’s what Paul meant in Romans 6:1,2.
“What shall we say then? Are we to continue to sin that grace may abound? By no means! How can we who died to sin still live in it?”
1) We have been set free to do as the Spirit
directs, not what the flesh wants! We died to the old life of sin when we
became a Christian and now live for the will of the Lord, revealed by the
Spirit!
B. Our new walk is not free from direction—we
have a map! THE BIBLE, the revealed will of Christ delivered by the Holy
Spirit!
1. II Timothy 3:16,17
CONCLUSION:
1Ř Yes, we have a new outlook, a new relationship, a
new best friend, a new future and a new purpose!
A. Longfellow could take a worthless
sheet of paper, write a poem on it and make it worth thousands of dollars—that
genius. Rockefeller could sign his name to a check and it would become
worth millions—that’s capital. Robert Wood could take an inexpensive
piece of canvas, paint a beautiful landscape on it and it became a priceless
treasure—that’s talent. But Almighty God can take a worthless, sinful
life, wash it in the blood of Jesus, put His Spirit in it, and make it a
blessing to the world now and for eternity—that’s salvation!