Alright, if you can turn your Bibles with me to Romans 8, verses 1, and I'm going to read just to verse 4 because that's what we're dealing with today. Romans 8, verses 1-4. Reading out of the ESV, "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 requirements of the law might be fulfilled in us, who walk not according to the flesh but according to the Spirit." Let's pray.

Heavenly Father, we entrust this time to you, asking Lord God that your Holy Spirit would empower the words that are preached, words that we listen to, that we would have the effect that you desire for it. We ask Lord God that you would anoint this time, that you would cause these weak vessels of ours to be enlightened and strengthened as we gaze upon the glory of Christ.

We thank you in Jesus' name we pray. Amen. You know last week we talked about, you know whether Chapter 7 the passage that we are looking at was Paul talking about a pre-Christian or post-Christian and I gave you my argument why I think it is pre-Christian. Chapter 7 really needs to be understood in the context of the argument he was making in Chapter 6 and also the argument he is making in Chapter 8.

So it is in a sense a continuation of the previous passage even though it may seem like a different theme, Chapter 8 I think will help us understand what Paul is trying to say in Chapter 7. Now I know some of you may have been confused and say, "Well he didn't answer all the questions." And I told you from the beginning I am not able to answer all the questions in this setting.

There is about 7 or 8 different issues but the 3 that I mentioned were the most crucial. They are the ones that really people get hung up on. And so I was able to give you some of that and then the rest of it if you had any questions I said I would try to do my best to answer it.

But whether you were convinced or not, the exercise last week was trying to get you to approach the Scripture responsibly. That it is a danger for us to come to the Scripture and say, "Well you know that is my experience so therefore that is what Paul must be saying." And if you approach the Scripture in that manner you are going to end up understanding the Scripture all based upon your personal experience and prejudice instead of really seeing what the Word of God has to say.

The Scripture says later on Paul is going to say in Romans chapter 12, "Do not be conformed to this world but be transformed by the renewing of your mind." So we don't transform the Scripture based upon our experience. We transform how we think and what we believe based upon what we see in Scripture.

And so we have to be careful that if we are going to take a stance on an issue on how we interpret something that it needs to be a biblical stance and not because of personal prejudice or experience. It doesn't mean that our personal experience doesn't matter. We're human beings so we can't possibly think that we can completely negate our personal prejudice.

But at the same time we need to be able to understand what the Scripture says. So if somebody says, "Why do you believe that?" You can clearly point to what the Word of God says and this is why we believe it. This is one of those passages that you can easily bend toward one way or the other based upon what you feel toward that passage instead of really seeing what it says.

So the danger of approaching the whole Scripture that way is you may have a Christianity that you've created. Instead of Christianity that the Bible teaches, instead of the God of the Bible, you can easily create a God in your image or the image of our culture or our prejudice or experience and then be worshiping that all our life and be completely wrong.

We can see countless number of times in church history where that has happened. How can a church who has the same Bible that we have be going around teaching people that if you pay money to the church that you can buy people's souls from hell? As strange as that may be, that's exactly what the church for a period of time was practicing.

And the reason why they practiced that is because they weren't going to Scripture to find answers. So the whole point of the Reformation, I know that Reformation night is coming up, but the whole point of the Reformation was founded upon the five solas. Right? Sola gratias. Sola only by grace, only by Christ, only by Scripture, only for His glory, only by faith.

Right? So basically those five solas. And all of these five solas for the Reformation hinges upon one, sola Scriptura. The reason why they strayed from all the other four solas is because they strayed from the Word of God. They were teaching that the only people that could handle the Word of God accurately were the priests.

And so the priests, once corruption came in and they didn't do a good job or they deliberately strayed away from it, the church opened their door to all kinds of false doctrines. You can preach a gospel, basically you can buy salvation, and this is what the church was teaching.

So the whole point of why we're called Protestants is because we protested to establish the priesthood of believers. Meaning that there is no mediator between us and God other than Christ Himself. That the Word of God was given to us. The whole point of the Reformation is get this Word to you.

Right? There's parts of the world where they don't have the Bible. There was a period in China when we were coming in and out, people were getting arrested for bringing more than a few Bibles and they would get detained just trying to get the Bible into the country. You and I live in a generation where we have multiple translations.

We have Bible software. You have pastors, sermons, I mean the best sermons that even from previous generation. I can listen to Martin Lloyd Jones today, you know, if I wanted to go online and listen to him. So we have access like no other period ever in church history. And yet, we live in a period where people are more ignorant about what the Word of God says than ever.

Which is kind of ironic. That we have the greatest access to Scripture and the greatest ignorance of the Scripture at the same time. So we need to be careful that when just coming to a Bible teaching church doesn't automatically make us Bible-centered people. So I want to make sure that at least in our church that you're not just relying upon my exposition.

I want you to test me. I want you to challenge me. If I say something that is unbiblical and you clearly see a contradiction in the Bible, come test me. Because I don't want your position to be based upon I trust him or don't trust him. It needs to be based upon the Word of God.

So whether you agree or disagree with what I said in chapter 7, make sure that it's coming from a careful analysis of the Bible. Okay? Now having said that, I'm going to move on and hopefully chapter 8 will help us to see even greater light in what's going on in chapter 7.

Chapter 8 is the central chapter in the Book of Romans. Not only because of its position, it's right in the middle of the 16 chapters. Not only because of its position, but because of its theme. For 7 chapters, Apostle Paul has been laying the foundation for what he's going to say in chapter 8.

So Apostle Paul is very systematic in the way he writes. And this is true of almost every letter he writes. But in particular the Book of Romans. The way he writes the Book of Romans is, even though there's chapters, you really need to read it in one sitting. If you ever got a letter from somebody or a love letter, you don't go to page 2.

You don't jump to page 2 because page 2, you're going to easily misunderstand if you don't know what he said in page 1. So you have to read it systematically. This is one of those books that if you jump in in the middle, not that you can't get meaning out of it, but you really aren't going to understand the argument that he's been making up to this point.

So the summary of the first 7 chapters is contained in the statement when Paul says, "Oh what a wretched man that I am! Who will rescue me from this body of sin?" That was his whole point. That all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God. One, with the law, without the law.

Whether you are a moral person or an immoral person, all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God. So as I mentioned last week, chapter 7 was an explanation. He said in chapter 7 that the law came to reveal sin, it came to stir up sin, it also came to make sin utterly sinful.

Which I believe that Paul was given an example of in chapter 7. And so after this revelation, he reveals, "Oh what a wretched man that I am! Who will deliver me from this body of sin?" And the whole point of getting us to that point is not just to leave us in despair.

This is who we are and then we just move on. It's to get us to chapter 8. So if you look at chapter 24, "What a wretched man that I am! Who will deliver me from this body of death?" Verse 25, "Thanks be to God that through Jesus Christ our Lord, so then I myself serve the law of God with my mind, but with my flesh I serve the law of sin." Which I believe is a summary of what he's been saying in chapter 7.

And then chapter 8 is where he gives a solution. "There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus." Let me stop right there. When he says in chapter 8 verse 1, "There is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus." Is he saying, if we believe that that's a Christian view, he's saying that even though you sin, even though you have no power to overcome your sin in your flesh, you don't need to worry because there's no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus.

Is that what he is saying? If you read chapter 8 carefully, you'll find out that he's saying that not only have you been set free from the penalty of sin, but the power of sin. If you believe that's a Christian view, you have to say that what he's saying in chapter 8 verse 1, that despite your sins, despite your constant living in sin, that as long as you have the desire to do what's good and have no ability to carry it out, there is no condemnation because Christ Jesus died for us, so no worries.

That is not what he is saying in chapter 7, chapter 8. Chapter 8 he says, "There is 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." Could not do what?

To carry out the desire to obey the law. What I was weakened by the flesh, what you could not do, what did God do? God did by sending his Son, right, in the likeness of sinful flesh for sin, he condemned sin in the flesh in order that the righteous requirements of the law might be fulfilled in us who walk according, not according to the flesh, but according to the Spirit.

Okay? So he's going to be expositing that all throughout chapter 8. What does it mean to be walking in the Spirit? The difference between a Christian and a non-Christian is the Holy Spirit. The difference between the apostles before Jesus' resurrection and the Pentecost and the powerful life that they lived, even willing to be martyred for the name of Jesus Christ, wasn't a greater determination.

If you look at Luke chapter 24, 49, you don't need to turn your Bibles there, but there has always been an argument that Luke and Acts really should have been put together because it was written by the same author. So it's kind of like Luke chapter 1 and the book of Acts chapter 2.

And it was one long letter that Luke wrote that they divided in two. And the reason why they did that was because the three Gospels, Matthew, Mark and Luke are called synoptic Gospels. And the reason why they call it synoptic Gospels is because they are similar in content. There's a lot of overlapping of stories and teachings that are contained in these three Gospels.

The book of John, the Gospel of John, 80% of the Gospel is unique to the Gospel of John. So they put the three Gospels together and then they put John afterwards and then they put the book of Acts in order to bring the three synoptic Gospels together. But you really ought to read the book of Luke and Acts together because Luke actually meant it to be together.

The reason why I say all of that is because Luke ends his Gospel in Luke chapter 24 with Jesus speaking to His disciples and says, "And behold, I am sending the promise of my Father upon you, but stay in the city until you are clothed with power from on high." Jesus is telling His disciples that He's ascending after the resurrection, stay in the city.

Right? The whole reason why Jesus brought them together, and He already gave the Great Commission to go to the remotest parts of the world to make disciples, but He says, "Don't go yet, stay." That's how the book of Luke ends. And then the book of Acts begins by reiterating that coming of the Holy Spirit in Acts chapter 1, 8.

It says, "But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes upon you and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem and Judea, Samaria, and to the ends of the earth." So Luke ends with the promise of the Holy Spirit, and then the book of Acts begins with the promise of the Holy Spirit in chapter 2, coming of the Holy Spirit.

And then they're baptized by the Holy Spirit at Pentecost, and then from that point on, after Acts chapter 2, it is a history of the Holy Spirit's movement in the early church. You know, people will say, "Well, you know, the book of Acts is first about Peter, and then Paul comes on the scene in Acts chapter 9.

And so first 8 chapters is about Peter's the main guy, and then chapter 9 and on is about Paul." That's not the case at all. The main character in the book of Acts is the Holy Spirit, because it begins with the promise of the Holy Spirit, and then it starts with the coming of the Holy Spirit, and then it is a record of how that Holy Spirit is moving the early church.

So the difference for the disciples, before Jesus went to the cross, they were cowarding in fear. Peter, the leader among the apostles, denies his Master to his face three times, at the most critical point of their ministry. All the other disciples are cowarding, and they're hiding in fear. So after the resurrection, he takes these 11 men who utterly failed, and then he gives them an even greater assignment to take this Gospel to the remotest part of the world.

Right? I mean, how many of you are given an assignment, and you utterly fail, and then your boss comes and says, "You know what? I have something even greater. I want you to run this company." Right? How many of you pass, you know, you studied hard, and you kind of flaked, or whatever, and you didn't pass the test, and then they make you the head of whatever.

Right? It just doesn't work like that. Why does Jesus take these miserable failures, right? At least that's what we see in the Gospel. That's how they end. And then we bring them to the Book of Acts, and give them this monumental task, who've already had a track record of failure, and this most important message in human history.

God's been waiting all of human history to reveal Jesus Christ, and His suffering, and His resurrection. And then now He's going to hand it over to these men, and then just disappear? See humanly speaking, that doesn't make any sense. See the distinction between the disciples before and after is the Holy Spirit.

So what you are not able to do without the Holy Spirit, you will do when the Holy Spirit comes. So what does He say? You will receive what? Power. Every time the Scripture talks about the Holy Spirit, it's always equated with power. Power. See, someone who does not have the Holy Spirit, may have the desire, may want it, but has no power to carry it out.

That's the distinction between chapter 7 and chapter 8. So chapter 7 is a description how the law revealed sin, stirred up sin, made sin utterly sinful, and had no power to do anything about it. We get to chapter 8, He says, "No, now we've been set free by the power of the Holy Spirit." So in Acts chapter 4, 33, after the Holy Spirit comes upon them, the disciples are preaching the Word of God with boldness, and the leaders of Israel are recognizing these are uneducated men.

Why are they able to be this bold? And they recognize that they were with Jesus. Acts 4, 33, "And with great power the apostles were giving their testimony to the resurrection of the Lord Jesus, and with great grace was upon them all." Again, it is a movement of the Holy Spirit.

First Corinthians 2, 4, "And my speech and my message were not in plausible words of wisdom, but in demonstration of the Spirit and of power, that your faith might not rest in the wisdom of men, but in the power of God." If anybody can come into town and argue people and destroy whatever arguments that they bring, it would have been Apostle Paul.

He was probably the most educated person in every city that he probably went to. He was a scholar among scholars. So if anybody could have used their talent and their giftedness and to be articulate and just fight people into the kingdom of God, it would have been Apostle Paul.

But he says, "I did not come with persuasive words of wisdom, because my words may tickle your ears. It may even cause you to think something different. But it doesn't have the power to regenerate anybody. It doesn't have any power to move people, transform. That somebody who was once a child of the devil become a child of God." So he says, "I came not in persuasive words of wisdom, but in demonstration of the Spirit and of power, so that your faith would not rest on man's wisdom, but on the power of God." Again, he says in 2 Corinthians 10, 4, describing our spiritual life, he says, "The weapons of our warfare are not of the flesh, but have divine power to destroy strongholds." In other words, it is not our ability, it is not our education, it is not our finance, organization.

The weapons that we fight for spiritual warfare in our walk with God is not organization, is not having the right people around us. He said it's divine power that comes from above. And what divine power is he referring to? Holy Spirit. 2 Timothy 1, 5. Paul's talking to Timothy because all these men are beginning to backslide and go back home and so Timothy may have been timid.

And so he says to Timothy, "For God gave us the Spirit not of fear, but of what? Of power and love and self-control." Again, 2 Peter 1, 3. "His divine power has granted to us all things that pertain to life and godliness." All things. Right? Now let me stop right here because as I am reading this thing, I mean clearly the scripture teaches that the power to be able to conquer our sins is in the Holy Spirit.

And the difference between a Christian and a non-Christian, the ability to be able to carry out the commands of God is the power of the Holy Spirit. And I know some of you guys are already sitting here thinking, "Well that sounds good on paper, it makes a good sermon," but that has not been my experience.

You know? And that's why we embrace chapter 7. "Oh, that sounds a lot like me." Because sometimes that's exactly how I feel. The thing I want to do, I don't do. Things I shouldn't do, I keep on doing. Oh, what a wretched man that I am. Right? Now I'm going to get to that because Paul deals with that in chapter 8.

Right? And we'll probably get more into it in the coming weeks. I'm going to spend probably about a month to two months just in chapter 8 because I want to do a thorough exposition of what he means because the central point of our Christian life is the Holy Spirit.

So if you're not walking in the Spirit, if you're not filled with the Spirit, if you're not praying in the Spirit, you're probably experiencing frustration. You're probably experiencing failure. And so your Christian life may feel no different than a non-Christian, which in turn causes us to see this as maybe a Christian view.

A normal Christian view because that's all you see. But that's not what's described in Scripture. He said the reason why we may be experiencing impotency in our walk with God is because we're not walking in the Spirit. We're not living in the Spirit. We're not praying in the Spirit.

So again, we're going to get to that. But first and foremost, we need to recognize that the Gospel did not bring us to despair and then deliver us from despair by saying, "You're not going to be punished." But if we think that that's what the Gospel is, that is exactly what Paul was trying to argue in chapter 6.

If you say that we're saved by justification by faith alone and that's it, and the work's not required, isn't that going to lead to licentiousness? That's what he was arguing in chapter 6. You remember that? That's what he was arguing against that. No, it does not lead to that.

But if Paul's point is just to bring us to despair, so say, "We need Jesus," and then his deliverance is, "Now there's no penalty for those who are in Christ Jesus. The end. Now let's just live. So if I live righteously, great. If I don't, doesn't matter because there's no condemnation." That is not what Paul says.

The correct doctrine of sanctification is really contained in this simple statement that Paul says in Philippians 4.13, where he says, "I can do all things through Him who strengthens me." I can do all things through Him who strengthens me. The two false understandings and two false applications of justification by faith, I mentioned, I think, a couple weeks ago, is one is stated in a false doctrine of what we call perfectionism.

And perfectionism is the false doctrine that teaches that if you try hard enough, that if you apply the right discipleship method, that if you have enough accountability, if you're at the right church, if you did the right things, that you'll be able to achieve this righteousness and get higher and higher and achieve perfection.

Obey the Word of God perfectly. And that is not what the Word of God teaches us. Because if that's what we think, it will only lead to despair. Because at some point, you're going to get to the same point that Paul—what Paul is saying here in Chapter 7. "I desired to do it, and I attempted to do it, but at the end of the day, what happened?

You just kept failing and failing and failing and failing." And then, when you fail, you get to the other extreme. And that other extreme is, "Because all I see is failure, maybe that's normal. Maybe that's normal." So that leads to the other false doctrine of antinomianism. No law. That God doesn't really expect us to obey the law, because all I see is failure.

So the false application of this can lead to either self-righteousness, which ultimately leads to despair, or antinomianism, which basically you've given up on pursuing righteousness, other than, "Well, it's not about what I do, but it's about what He did, so let's not even talk about righteousness. You know, just talk about what He has done." And then you have a church filled with people just kind of living completely worldly, and there's no difference between the world and us.

That is not the case, you know. In fact, I think, in our generation, there is a false sense of humility and righteousness in admitting our failures. What I mean by that is, like, if you really understand the Gospel, you talk about your failures, and then you talk about any kind of righteousness that you've done.

"Oh, you're a hypocrite. You're a Pharisee." There's almost a competing, you know, it's like, "Oh, I'm the worst of sinners." Like, "No, no, no, I'm the worst of sinners." You know, "I fail so much." "No, you should see the way I fail. I'm a failure." "No, I'm the biggest failure." Right?

Because if you admit your biggest failure, you know Jesus better than other people. And that's a false application of what we see in Scripture. Paul says, "I can do all things through Him who gives me strength." In Colossians, Paul says, "I work with all His might, which so powerfully works within me." So, Paul never embraced one extreme where he says, "You know, I'm doing all this.

Look how good I'm doing." He says, "When I am weak, He is strong." But on the other end, he says, "I endure all things for the sake of the elect, that they also may be saved." So, Paul works and labors fully understanding that the power for him to do so is coming from the Holy Spirit.

That's the point that Paul is trying to make in chapter 7 and chapter 8. Why is this so important? It's important because if you've accepted the fact that a Christian cannot live righteously, that's exactly how you're going to live. I remember when I was young, my dad said something to me as a kid.

And he just said it in passing and made an impact for the next 20, 30 years. He said something to the effect that my dad always had bad breathing. He had lung issues. And he said that I had asthma when I was young. So I remember when I was younger, my dad said something.

And he wasn't even talking to me. He was talking to my mom. And I heard him say it. And he said, "Peter can never do active sports because he has asthma. So he's not like other kids. So if he really competes, his asthma is going to act up. So he's not ever really going to compete, be able to do that." I heard that in passing.

And I remember thinking to myself, "Wow, that's so unfair." But that was always in the back of my mind. Even though I heard that in passing, that was always in the back of my mind. I can never really compete. I can't ever take that. So you know, like, of course, I was never going to be a professional anything.

You know what I mean? So that was never a dream. But the fact is that in my mind, I never even thought of it. I never even dreamt of it. Because that already projected in my mind. Again, it wasn't anything that was done deliberately. But I was already told what you can't do.

Just in passing, I heard it. But that affected me for years and years and years. If you're a Christian who had the state of mind and the thought that it's not possible for you to live a righteous life, then that's exactly probably what you're doing. You can't conquer your lust.

Why attempt it? You can't share the gospel and live righteously and pick up your cross. You're probably not going to do it. So the danger of this false idea of thinking that the gospel brought us to, "Oh, what a wretched man that I am." And then it ends there.

And then your sins are forgiven. And the end. And the rest of our life, we just enjoy God and just worship Him. And that's it. How that cripples us to pursue the life that He has meant for us to pursue. He did not just deliver us from the penalty of sin, but the power of sin.

Now again, I understand whenever I say that, some of you are thinking there, "Okay, that sounds great. But is that the reality?" And I'm going to show you that it is. And again, as we continue to go through the Book of Romans in Chapter 8. He delivers us. In Romans Chapter 7, verse 23, it says, "But I see in my members another law waging war against the law of my mind, and making me captive to the law of sin that dwells in my members." So Paul describes himself in Chapter 7 as being captive to the law of sin.

But in Romans Chapter 8, verse 2, it says, "The law of the Spirit of life has set you free in Christ Jesus from," what? "The law of sin." See he says he's captivated by the law of sin. In verse 2 of Chapter 8, he says, "He has been delivered from the law of sin." That's why to me it doesn't make sense that Paul's talking about a Christian in Chapter 7 and Chapter 8, because he used the exact same term.

I'm bound to the law of sin, and then I'm freed from the law of sin in verse 2. In fact, there's something else interesting happening in this verse. So if you have the patience to come along with me. If you read Chapter 8, verse 2, how many of you have NIV?

You can admit it. All right? NIV. All right. Somebody with a loud voice. Raise your hand again. I'm going to pick somebody who I think is going to be, raise your hand. Now you're not going to raise your hand. Admit it. Be strong. Anybody? Nobody? No, don't point at people.

I'm going to point at you. All right? Who has NIV? Could you read it? Yes. Extra portion of the Bible. Could you read it? Yes. Extra portion for lunch for you. All right? All right. Verse 2, NIV. Okay? So everybody who has ESV and NASB, if you have King James, you're going to hear something similar.

But if you have the NIV, read along. If you have ESV and NASB, you're going to hear something different. Okay? So pay attention. Because through Christ Jesus, the law of the Spirit who gives life has set you free from the law of sin and death. That's NASB? What version is that?

That's NIV? Yes, A2. Who else has NIV? It is NIV. That's strange. Who else has NIV? Can you read NIV? Because through Christ Jesus the law of the Spirit of life has set me free from the law of sin and death. Set who free? Set what? Set who? Set me free.

Did you catch that? Yours says you? It says me on the bottom. Okay. So that must be an updated or previous version. Okay. Anyway. So you caught that. All right? It took us a little bit longer, but you got it. All right? So if you noticed that it is a little bit different, you didn't catch that.

You didn't catch that. You caught that. It's a little bit different, but you got it. All right? So if you notice in the NIV and in the King James Version, it says you have set me free. Right? And then the ESV and the NASV says has set you free.

You notice that? The reason why there's a discrepancy in that is because those translations, they use different manuscripts. In the NIV, the manuscript that they use is known to be the older manuscript. Again, this is all part of the argument over this issue. But the reason why the me makes more sense, one, because it's an older manuscript.

And if you read the commentaries, they'll bring that up. Right? And so right now, the predominant force is they believe that this is a Christian view or in the past, in the early church, the church fathers who lived in the nearest to the writings of the apostles all believed that this was a pre-Christian view.

And so they didn't have an issue. Okay? So this is just like a side note. But I believe that Paul is referring to himself. So if this is the me he's referring to, he just says that he is bound by the power of sin and death in chapter 7, 23.

And then in verse 2, he says he has set me free in Christ Jesus, the law of sin and death. Did you catch that? Okay? I just said it because it supports my view. All right? But the whole point of what I'm trying to say is he didn't just, whether you believe one way or the other, he didn't just say you're forgiven and that's it.

To live the rest of our life in frustration, kind of like a piece of cake dangling in front of you or boba, whatever it is that you're tempted by, right? It's dangling in front of you saying like, you should get this and then you can't get it. Live righteously, but can't get it.

Don't live lustfully and then you just can't apply it. Live in unity, love your neighbors, but you can't do it. That is not what the scripture teaches about our salvation. He sets us free from the power of sin so that we can live. And everything about the Holy Spirit is to empower us.

Well, how did he do it in Romans 8, 3 to 5? 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 met fully in us.

Who walk not according to the flesh, but according to the Spirit. So the people, what is he saying? He's saying exactly what he said in chapter 6. That the evidence that you are truly freed is the walk in the Holy Spirit. Jesus Christ being in very nature God, didn't consider God something to be grasped.

He emptied himself and became nothing. In fact another passage that I want you to turn to is Revelation 5, 1-6. I think that passage is one of my favorite passages in the Bible. But that passage captures Christ and His humility and what He has done to save us. Revelation 5, 1-6, they are about to open up the seventh seal, but they cannot because there is no one worthy.

And the scene is that they are in despair and weeping because they can't find anybody to open it up. And it says, verse 1, "Then I saw the right hand of Him who was seated on the throne, a scroll written within and on the back, sealed with seven seals.

And I saw a strong angel proclaiming with a loud voice, 'Who is worthy to open the scroll and break its seal?' And no one in heaven or on earth or under the earth was able to open the scroll or to look into it. And I began to weep loudly because no one was found worthy to open the scroll or to look into it." That's where we stop, right?

That's end of chapter 7, "Oh what a wretched man I am. Who will deliver me?" And that's the state that heaven is in. They can't open it up and so they are weeping. But in verse 5, "And one of the elders said to me, 'Weep no more. Behold the Lion of the tribe of Judah, the Root of David, has conquered so that he can open the scroll and its seven seals.'" He said, "Weep no more.

What you could not do, the Lion of Judah, the Son of David, Son of God has come and He has conquered." But here is the part that catches me all the time every time I read it because after he presents, "The Lion of Judah, He's going to come and conquer.

What you could not do, the Lion is coming." And then they search to look for this Lion and what they see in verse 6, "And between the throne and the four living creatures and among the elders, I saw a lamb standing as though it has been slain." That's a picture of the Lion of Judah who has conquered by becoming a lamb, a meek lamb slain.

That's what Paul is describing in verse 3 and verse 4. "What we could not do, He did by sending His only begotten Son, who condemned sin in the flesh, that the righteous requirement of the law may be met in us, who no longer walk in the flesh but walk in His Spirit." Turn with me to another passage in Matthew 9, 14-17 and why this ministry of the Holy Spirit is so important to us.

Matthew 9, 14-17. Let me just set it up before I read it. This is a passage where the disciples of John come to Jesus and ask questions. Why do the disciples of Pharisees and other disciples and us, disciples of John, why do we fast but how come you don't fast?

So let me just read it for you. "Then the disciples of John came to Him saying, 'Why do we and the Pharisees fast but your disciples do not?' And Jesus said to them, 'Can the wedding guests mourn as the bridegroom is with them? The days will come when the bridegroom is taken away from them, and then they will fast.'" So what does Jesus compare fasting with in this passage?

Ok, look at that passage. What does Jesus compare fasting with in that passage? Mourning, right? Mourning. He says fasting with mourning. He says they don't fast, meaning they don't mourn because the bridegroom is already here. So in other words, Jesus describes this fasting, at least in this context, as mourning and desiring for the bridegroom.

And who is the bridegroom? Jesus. So because Jesus is with them, it's time to celebrate. But it's not time for you to mourn. But He says there is going to come a time when the bridegroom is going to be taken away and then they will mourn again. Right? So up to that point, we get it.

And then He illustrates that point about why they don't need to fast now, but they will fast later. And then He gives two illustrations. What's the two illustrations? Verse 16, "No one puts a piece of unstrung cloth in an old garment, for the patch tears away from the garment and worse tear is made." Right?

What? What does that have to do with anything? You ever have a conversation with somebody in the middle of a deep talk and they just say something random? Right? You're talking about deep conversation about Jesus and they'll bring up, "Oh yeah, are you going to watch Lakers today?" And you're like, "What?" Right?

It almost seems like Jesus just switches gear. You know what I mean? He makes a quick turn. And you weren't expecting it. And so we just accept, "Oh, that's an illustration." But when you put that together with the fasting, what is the meaning behind that? And then He gives another illustration.

"Neither is new wine put into old wineskin. If it is, the skins burst and the wine is spilled and the skins are destroyed, but new wine is put into the fresh wineskin and so both are preserved." Huh? What is the meaning of that? So if you separate these two things, it's like, "Oh, okay, you know, new wineskin." Right?

But when you put it together, what does that have to do with fasting? So, He said, He equates fasting with mourning and longing for Jesus. Right? He said, "But when I leave, there's going to be a longing for Jesus." And so, when He says, "Unless there is new, you know, like new cloth, or there's new wineskin, you can't put new wine, or you can't put the new cloth into the old thing." Or you get messed up, or it gets ripped, it gets destroyed.

Right? What is He in reference to? The reference that He's making, and this, again, He's not just talking about the disciples of Pharisees. If we were talking about disciples of Pharisees, we could just say, "Well, they're all sinners." Right? "God rejects their fasting." But He's also talking about John the Baptist's disciples.

Right? He's talking about the old covenant versus the new covenant. That in their longing in the old covenant, what is going to come that's going to destroy them? If you remain the old. What needs to change in order for either the new wine or the new cloth coming, that it has to come to a new thing so it won't be destroyed.

What is this thing that's coming that's going to destroy you if it is old? What is it? It's the Holy Spirit. He's talking about the Holy Spirit. He says, "I am going to come." He says, "I will never leave you as an orphan." But how is He going to come?

"I will be with you." And how will He be with us? In the Holy Spirit. Just like He promised. But if that Holy Spirit comes, without the washing and regeneration, if you don't become new, what will the presence of the Holy Spirit in you, what will happen to you, what will happen to me?

We will be destroyed. Just like the high priest couldn't enter into the temple, and he had to hurry up and do his business and come out, because in His Holy Presence, what would happen? He said, "He would die." If he touched the holy things without authorization, he would die.

Over and over again, He said, "If you touch these holy things, you will die." So what is Jesus referring to? The whole purpose of washing, of regeneration, was to make us new. For what purpose? So that the Holy Spirit can come and make an indwelling in us. So salvation, if all salvation is, is to cleanse us and make us new, then what is the point of a new wineskin?

The reason why you get new wineskin is to prepare for the new wine. But if all you did was get the new wineskin and celebrate the new wineskin, we're forgiven, but there is no inviting of the Holy Spirit, there is no power, then why do you need wineskin? See the whole purpose of salvation is to make us new.

If anyone is in Christ, He is a new creation, the old has gone, behold the new has come. For what purpose? So that the Holy Spirit can make an indwelling in you, to empower you, so that you may be my witnesses in Jerusalem, Judea, Samaria, to the remotest part of the age.

So that you may be empowered. What you could not do, weakened by the flesh, that God did, by sending His Son, making you renewed and giving you the power of the Holy Spirit. You see why that is so important for us to understand? Because if you don't understand that, you can live the rest of your life celebrating, celebrating what Jesus did from a distance, but never having a testimony.

See the work of the Father is to initiate salvation. He sent His only begotten Son. The work of the Son is to mediate for sinners. He gave Himself and He became the mediator for eternity. The work of the Holy Spirit is to perpetuate what happened, meaning to make it real.

That the things that we're confessing, He's the one who makes this real. The scripture says, in John 16, verse 8, "The Spirit, the Holy Spirit, convicts the world of sin, righteousness, and judgment." It's the Holy Spirit that does it. Not the manipulation of the church, not by making it more attractive to more people.

It says the Holy Spirit does it. In John 3, 5-8, Titus 3, 5, it is the Holy Spirit that regenerates sinners. That causes them to repent. John 15, 26 and 16, 14, it is the Holy Spirit that glorifies and testifies about Christ. It is the Holy Spirit that sanctifies.

In 2 Thessalonians 2, 13, 1 Peter 1, 2. It is the Holy Spirit that empowers us to obey. Luke chapter 4, 14, Romans 15, 19, Acts 1, 8. It is the Holy Spirit that teaches us how to pray. Romans 8, 26 and 27, Jude 1, 20. It is the Holy Spirit that bears witness in us that we are the children of God.

In Romans 8, 16. It is the Holy Spirit that comforts us, Acts 9, 31. It is the Holy Spirit that produces in us the fruit of the evidence of our salvation, Galatians 5, 22-23. It is the Holy Spirit that distributes our spiritual gifts and manifestation to bring the church together, 1 Corinthians 12, 4.

Hebrews 2, 4. It is the Holy Spirit that brings unity and oneness in the body of Christ, Ephesians 4, 3. It is the Holy Spirit that reveals the deep things of God to us, 1 Corinthians 2, 10. It is the Holy Spirit that transforms us into the image of Christ, 2 Corinthians 3, 18.

It is the Holy Spirit that cries out in our hearts, Abba Father, Galatians 4, 6. It is the Holy Spirit that gives us joy, 1 Thessalonians 1, 6. It is the Holy Spirit that causes us to remember the things that we have been taught, John 14, 26. If the Holy Spirit, if the whole point of our salvation is just to have the new wine skin and then not have the wine, it's no different than hearing and then saying, "Oh, I acknowledge that.

I acknowledge it's good. I heard it and oh yeah, I believe that Jesus died on the cross. I believe that." But all we are is observers. You're not participants. Because what the Holy Spirit was sent to do was to make all that we have learned and heard and convicted about, to make it effectual with the power of the Holy Spirit.

What you could not do, God did by sending His Son and giving us the Holy Spirit. So how important is the Holy Spirit? Is it just important? It's essential. That's why Romans chapter 7 feels like it is a normal Christian life. When you don't have the Holy Spirit, your experience will be the same as when you weren't a Christian.

If you're not walking in the Spirit, if you're not filled with the Spirit, if you don't have the mind of the Spirit, it will feel no different than a non-Christian. That's why in Galatians 5, 16 and 19 it says, "But I say walk by the Spirit and you will not gratify the desires of the flesh.

For the desires of the flesh are against the Spirit and the desires of the Spirit are against the flesh. For these are opposed to each other to keep you from doing the things you want to do. But if you are led by the Spirit, you are not under the law." Now I know, having said all of this, you're going to think like, "Maybe I'm not a Christian." And I'm not going to answer that question for you.

I'm not going to answer that question. That's a question that you need to answer for yourself as you see the Word of God. But, there's a reason why Paul and the other Apostles keep telling the Church, "Walk in the Spirit. Pray in the Spirit. Bear fruit in the Spirit.

To live in the Spirit." Over and over again. Because the only power that we have to live the life that He gave us to live, to live it abundantly, is in the Spirit of God. We're going to get into that. So I'm not going to get into that today.

We're going to get into that next week and hopefully the weeks to come as he reveals more of this work of the Holy Spirit in Chapter 8. Hopefully that will give us more insight into what is this looking practically in the life of a Christian. But I want to end today's message with a quote from Augustine.

And I'm going to read it twice so that hopefully you can remember and meditate on this. Augustine says of this very issue of the Law and Salvation and Grace, he says, "Law was given that grace might be sought, but grace was given that the Law might be fulfilled." Let me say it again.

"Law was given that grace might be sought, but grace was given that the Law might be fulfilled." Meaning, he didn't leave us and simply said, "You're now under no condemnation, those who are in Christ Jesus." Even though you're going to live the same way. No. You're now, therefore there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus because He saved us from the penalty and the power of sin.

Let's take some time to pray as we invite our praise team to come up. And I know some of you are sitting here with that tension in your heart because what you see in the Bible, you feel like, "Hmm, what does that mean then?" Because I keep struggling over the same sins and I keep feeling defeated.

First, that is not what God wants. Let's make that clear. Read the Scriptures carefully. That is not what God wants. That is not what God commands. Then how do we do that? How do we apply? What does it mean to walk by the Spirit? We're going to get into that next week.

And I want you to spend this week with that tension. I want you to wrestle with that and live with that tension this week and really meditate and think upon. If God's normal Christian life isn't to live and be wrestling with sin like in chapter 7 and He's delivering us, what does that mean?

So that's kind of an invitation for you to go and read chapter 8 a little bit further. And go look at the sermon and go look at the passages and wrestle with that so when we jump into next week it will make a little bit more sense to you.

So let's take some time to pray as our worship team leads us.