Romans 8: An Online Event

welcome it's so good to have you join us today as we begin our study of romans 8. it's been called one of the greatest passages in the bible and we are going to really soar to the heights of the biblical and theological himalayas being able to see the full landscape of god's redemptive mercy for us in christ and we know that god is building his church through the gospel of the lord jesus christ and that you've given your time to study the word of god with us today is something that truly honors us as we seek to honor god's word legendre ministries is dedicated to lifting up god's glory above all else and it is our desire to serve the church around the world and so today as we're joining with our teachers who are from around the world and trying to serve brothers and sisters in christ in other languages english is my native language and yet we are seeking to serve people throughout the world spanish speakers portuguese speakers many other languages and so today's event is something created for you and we hope that this would be edifying encouraging equipping for your family for your congregation and that you would take what you learned today and share it with others we're going to post this video online and you'll be able to share it with many others we recorded a lot of these messages just a few weeks ago and we've gathered them together in this focused study and we're releasing it today on reformation day october 31st is something that protestant christians remember for god's grace in providing a hero of the gospel like martin luther now martin luther would probably say i'm not a hero he was a beggar helping other people find bread and that's really how he would want to be remembered but we know that god raises up servants in every generation to be able to testify with boldness and with courage to the gospel of the lord jesus christ and so today you're going to hear from other pastors and teachers men that i have learned from over the years and i'm so grateful for this lineup today and it really is wonderful that we can begin with my dear friend and brother dr miguel nunez dr nunez is the senior pastor of the international baptist church and president and founder of wisdom and integrity ministries in santo domingo dominican republic he's the author of several books including the power of the word in the transformation of a nation and a church after god's own heart let's go to dr nunez now as an introduction i would like to thank the leadership of ligonier ministries for the opportunity to participate in this conference it is a real privilege for me to honor the legacy of one of the teachers theologians that most influenced my life and obviously i am referring to dr arceus pro some of you know this conference is seeking to plunge into the theology of chapter 8 of the book of romans 39 verses packed with theology and that is the reason why it is going to take several speakers to unpack this material my text is very short only three verses from one to three let me read them to you and then allow me to introduce the verses before we begin 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 son his own son in the likeness of sinful flesh and for sin he condemned sin in the flesh since i am the one beginning with the exposition of this chapter i feel obligated to connect chapter 8 with the previous chapter and in fact to connect it with the first half of the entire book of romans and that way you would be able to savor better the content of these incredible verses panned by the apostle paul if there is a declaration of freedom and the entire bible it is here as one of the commentators says let me let me quote him briefly this is what he says for in it paul declares the four spiritual freedoms we enjoy because because of our union with jesus christ freedom from judgment from verses one to four freedom from defeat from verses 5 to 17 freedom from discouragement 18 to 30 and freedom from fear verses 31 to 39 the chapter begins with a liberating phrase there is no condemnation and it ends with a reassuring declaration there is no separation from the love of god in christ jesus our lord no condemnation and no separation but in between there is a no defeat as c.a fox said in one occasion and all of it was made possible because of the life death and resurrection of our lord whom after his victory along with the father send the holy spirit to dwell in us christ's victory as you know is our victory but the empowering to live such a victory over sin it is the work of the spirit in those who believed and that explains the emphasis that we find here on the holy spirit which is mentioned 19 times in one single chapter that is staggering and this is a story that you know adam seen and immediately he fell under condemnation and as a consequence darkness invaded his mind his will became in bondage and then his uh his heart was hardened his descendants continued to sin and that only made the situation significantly worse to the point that by the time you get to genesis chapter 5 this is genesis chapter 6 verse 5 this is what you read the lord saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth and that every intention of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually you should underline three words here every every intention and then only only evil and the third one is continually and soon after that the flood came in as an expression of the condemnation under which mankind fell if you fast forward the biblical narrative all the way to chapter 1 in the book of romans verse 18 then we read this the wrath of god is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men who by their unrighteousness suppress the truth my goodness is one bad news after another until you get to romans chapter 8 verse 1 and there you read there is no condemnation for those who are in christ jesus our lord that is great news and that is the theme of my message today in fact my theme is the first declaration of freedom out of before that i mentioned the first one freedom from judgment for there is no condemnation for those who are in christ jesus that is an incredible declaration after you read after reading for seven chapters in a row how the human race was in bondage to sin we are either in adam condemned forever or we are in christ free for eternity there is no in between when adam sinned he condemned the entire creation to decay so long lasting are the consequences of the fall that in chapter 7 the apostle paul described from verse 7 to 25 the incredible struggle of the believer of the one who has been regenerated against sin he is still is fighting sin in his in his uh his flesh now with a new nature and even then there's still a struggle so so you so you may understand some of what i'm trying to say and some of what chapter eight will declare i think it is important that i summarize for you some of the truth in chapter seven so let me let me say a few things in seven seven we read that the law reveals sin in chapter 7 verses 8 and 9 paul tells us that the law arouses sin it provokes us to sin even more isn't that incredible and then in verses 10 and 11 we learn that the law kills and in verses 12 and 13 we read how sinful sin is paul couldn't find a worse word to describe sin that the the same word he how sinful sin is this is kind of redundant but that is what he does and now if that is not enough bad news uh let me let me tell you what else we learn in chapter 7 so that truly when you get to chapter 8 you could see how good the the news are in in 7 14 you read that you understand that the lord cannot change you and then the law cannot empower you to do good and that's from verses 15 or verse 15 to 21 and the lord cannot set you free and that's verse 21 to 25. now once you read that one could end with the impression that the problem is in the law because it appears it looks like like there is nothing that the law can do to set me free however the apostle paul anticipating that some may come to that conclusion he says in verse 12 of chapter 7 that the law is holy and righteous and good so therefore there is an explanation right there very short very brief telling us that the problem is not in the law and we'll we'll get to that just in a little bit if the law is holy then there is no impurity in it if the law is righteous whatever it judges is just if the law is good then i do need the laws somehow and again we can talk some more about that later and yet besides the fact that the lord has all of those incredible wonderful characteristics holy and righteous and good the law cannot save me that that is a conundrum at least initially as you continue to to chew on some of the truth that you find in in this book before you get to chapter 8 things get even worse because in romans 3 20 we read that by the works of the law no flesh will be justified in his sight and if i'm not justified in his sight i'm not going to get to heaven and then the verse ends with this for through the law comes in knowledge of sin it's it's almost like that's the only thing you could do you could find in the law that that i'm a sinful person and there is more to it but it seems that way when you read some passages by themself the apostle paul knows that reality and as one reads through chapter seven one can sense the frustration of the apostle the he's the one who had written uh how he uh he was fighting to do what was good and he had was ending doing what he did not want to do and sometimes he wanted to do he did not wanted to do evil and then he found himself doing exactly what he didn't want to do in the first place and what he says is that at the same time that he was able to delight in his mind in the in the law at the same time he was finding in his members another law waging war against the law of his mind making him captive to the law of sin that dwells in his members that 723 so that gives you another idea of what is the problem with us so if there was no other truth reveal then our destiny would be condemnation a time in eternity in hell forever now paul understood very well the initial curse of mankind but he then became to understand also very well the incredible blessing that was bestowed upon us in christ jesus and that's why after he is after he finished explaining the struggle against sin in chapter seven he expresses the the the curse and some to some degree and then at the same time he uh expresses the blessing and and look how he does it so masterfully he says this wretched man that i am who will deliver me from this body of death that is like the curse that is the expression of the curse of the law but immediately he's able to to recover his joy as he as he's able to contemplate uh sin now from the other side of the cross from the other side of the resurrection and then he is claims in the next and the next verse thanks be to god through jesus christ our lord so you could you could see how he could put together the curse of the law wretched man that i am and immediately after the blessing but thanks be to god through jesus christ our lord we can always we could also say thank be to god for jesus christ our lord and that is precisely the chapter and the text that brings us to romans 8 1. so when you get there there is an important word that is short that we need to keep in mind and that's the word now that is something that we need to remember and yet the verse begins or the the text begins with with a therefore so that is another important word there are few important words in this first verse of chapter eight therefore now and also in christ jesus so this is what what we need to understand that once we read in romans 3 23 that all have sinned and fall short of the glory of god once you read that and then later on you know and you find out that there is a way to get out of there then you could say now for for sure paul is is meaning this now that the son of god has fulfilled the demands of the law now that he who knew no sin became sin for us so that we may become the righteousness of god now that christ has paid the penalty for sin now that he has conquered sin and death now that he has resurrected and left the two ninty and now that god has made salvation possible by grace through faith we may found we may be found in him by believing in the atoning work of christ and having been found in him therefore i could say now there is no condemnation for those who are in christ that word condemnation is a forensic word according to leo morris it includes both the sentence and the execution of this sentence and the believer has been free from both from the sentence and the execution of it and that is not only new news that is not only great news that is a unique news found in no other name and in no other religion other than in christianity when christ said it is finished it was done it was completed it was accomplished all of it was accomplished once and for all not only for all eternity but also for all his chosen one and don is a unique word to our christianity in any other religion of the word of the world the uh the unique of the key word is to do is do you need to do but in christianity it is the only religion where the key word is done and that word comes out of the cross it is finished that that is why morris again says that in this entire chapter 39 verses there is no one single imperative for the believer that does not mean that we don't have obligations to do certain things but in this chapter where paul is describing uh the incredible blessings that we enjoy in christ jesus that there are no imperative he did it all at the cross and when he resurrected and through his life so we are not under the curse of the law not so much because christ abolished it because he didn't but rather we are not under the curse of the law because christ came and fulfilled the law that was precisely what was uh cursing the human race or was having uh the human race under condemnation so christ delivered us from the curse of the law he delivered us from the demands of the law he delivered us from the corruption of our own sinful nature and that's an incredible deliverance when you think of it and that's why paul is excited now in romans chapter 8 and so should you and i be and then my texts continue it's uh the time is is running and i need to to advance because we barely cover verse 1 to this point so verse 2 says this for the law of the spirit of life has set you free in christ jesus from the law of sin and death so in this verse you read about two laws the law of the spirit of life and the law of sin and death how are we supposed to understand these two terms well let me try to explain it to you paul sometimes uses the the terminology of the law as a principle so he speaks of the law of sin as the rule that governs his conduct and he made him a prisoner so the law of sin is that principle is that power that overtakes him paul is speaking overtakes him and makes him a prisoner and he mentions some of that in romans 7 23 in the same way then the law of the spirit of life it is another principle another power it is the new power that now indwells the believer and it is in that power or through that power that we can conquer sin in our life this is obviously the holy spirit that paul calls here the life-giving is spirit so the indwelling of the holy spirit is the mark of the believer there is no experience there is no christian experience that can do that prayer doesn't do it by itself if i pray that doesn't mean that i'm a believer necessarily or that i'm saved fasting doesn't do it worshipping doesn't do it reading the scriptures cannot do it meditation cannot do it a profession of faith cannot do it only the indwelling of the holy spirit can convert the soul it is the the it's what we call regeneration it's the new birth that is the understanding that i need to be born again how do i how how do how do i become born again well you need to be born from above or you need to be born from water and the spirit so it is through the power of the spirit of god that you and our and i are able to oppose the power of sin that is still in the flesh that is in us christ said that the son of god sets us free so and then christ when he came he says who the son sets free is free indeed but how do how does he do that well the that freedom is enjoyed is achieved by the coming of the spirit of god in me he's going to indwell in me and when he does that he regenerates his soul and then he remains with me giving me the power to continue to walk the christian life in victory this is a chapter chapter 8 of the book of romans this is a chapter a chapter of victory now before that indwelling of the spirit i was only able to sin or to sin but once the the spirit uh to which paul is referring to in verse two comes into me now i'm able to sin or not to sin and how do i do that through the power of the law of the spirit of life that is what he calls that power in this chapter so after the spiritual life came into my life unable not to sin and now i'm no longer a slave to sin i'm not longer a child of wrath i'm not a condemned prisoner i'm not someone bound to hell but rather this is what i am i am a free person i am a child of god i am a listen i am a coheir with christ because you imagine that you are going to inherit that which christ owns his his kingdom and not only i am a free person and a child of god and a coheir with christ but i am part of a chosen race a royal pursuit a holy nation a people for his own possession chosen elected free saved so that we may proclaim the excellencies of the one who called me from darkness to his marvelous light that is an incredible incredible privilege for those of us who are in christ jesus that's why paul sounds excited from the very beginning of this chapter when he says now therefore there is no condemnation in the original language that no is very emphatic because it's like no never it is impossible there is no condemnation for those who are in christ jesus now we have still one more verse to cover verse three and then dr sinclair ferguson will continue in verse four in the next segment but listen to this verse now 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 condemns sin in the flesh now listen we already read in 7 12 of the book of romans that the law was oh is holy and righteous and good true now the law besides having those qualities uh and besides being perfect it was impossible to obey it now the law was right but cannot justify us the law was holy but not could not sanctify us the law can tell us that we are sinners but cannot save us so there is an inability not in the law but there was an inability in me to fulfill the law to obey the law perfectly therefore what god the father decided to do was to overcome that inability but he couldn't do it through me because i am a sinful fallen mortal human being he decided that he would do it through his son he knew that the flesh and the mind the fallen mind the the mind that is in the flesh does not submit to god and indeed he cannot it is incapable of submitting to the law of god so once again the problem was not in the law it was in us because we couldn't obey it fully god knew that and he had two options he could send everyone to hell for eternity or god can provide a could provide a solution and he did he sent the second person of the trinity the loggers and he sent it in now in the likeness of sinful flesh says romans 8 3 not in the likeness not as sinful flesh but in the likeness of sinful flesh uh and for sin and then he condemned sin in the flesh sir therefore we owe to the second person of the trinity we ought to design his incredibly uh his incredible favor toward us because he did not consider his his equality with god as something to be grasped but rather he empty himself and by taking the form of a servant and being born in the likeness of man he came he fulfilled the law and after he fulfilled the law then he was qualified to go to the cross and die in our behalf so that now i could become the righteousness of god in him that is exactly what paul says to the corinthians in the second letter in 5 21 that he who knew no sin became sin for us so that we may become the righteousness of god in him now that is an incredible staggering good news because now we could join paul as he tells the corinthians as he writes in his first letter in chapter 15 that because of christ we could say with him or death where is your your victory or death where is your sting the strength of death is sin and the power of sin is the law do you hear that the power of sin is the law but god fulfilled the lord in christ for us so now death has no power over us but thanks be to god who gives us the victory through our lord jesus christ that sounds very similar to romans 8 1 therefore there is now no condemnation for those who are in christ jesus and now to the corinthians paul says thanks be to god who gives us the victory through our lord jesus christ that is your status friend that is what you should celebrate every day and this is what should encourage you to live a holy life not to live a sinful life because you are ready in him but rather to live a holy life out of thankfulness and out of love for the son may you be blessed and may this word do an incredible work in you and your mind and your heart and your in your will so that you may proclaim the pure gospel and live the pure gospel to the honor of the son we are grateful for that message from dr nunes leader ministries strives to serve our brothers and sisters in christ throughout the world and one of the ways that we do that is through language specific social media channels so if you speak spanish or portuguese you can find us on various social media outlets including facebook keep up with what we're striving to do and the resources that we're providing to christians throughout the world our next speaker is dr sinclair ferguson and he recorded this message from his native homeland of scotland and uh he is a teaching fellow with us here at ligonier ministries a dear dear friend of dr sproles for many years and he's taught with us in many teaching series and certainly in our conferences not unlike this one what that we're doing today he also serves as chancellor's professor of systematic theology at reformed theological seminary he previously served and various pastorates including senior pastor at first presbyterian church in columbia south carolina he's written numerous works and continues to write quite voluminously today including the whole christ in christ alone devoted to god some pastors and teachers in the year of our lord and maturity i think i'd probably be here for another 15 minutes rattling off all that dr ferguson has written but let's turn to him now as he takes us back into romans 8. now we are coming to this second study in our conference together on this great chapter in romans chapter 8 and i want us on this occasion to read from romans 8 and verses 5 through 11 romans 8 and verses 5 through 11. and if you're turning there in your bible let me say to you what a joy and privilege it is to be able to be part of this conference and especially since we are studying together this magnificent chapter written by the apostle paul so let us hear the word that god has given to us in romans chapter 8. 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 on the spirit is life and peace for the mind that is set on the flesh is hostile to god for it does not submit to god's law indeed it cannot and those who are in the flesh cannot please god you however are not in the flesh but in the spirit if in fact the spirit of god dwells in you anyone who does not have the spirit of christ does not belong to him but if christ is in you although the body is dead because of sin the spirit is life because of righteousness if the spirit of him who raised jesus from the dead dwells in you he who raised christ jesus from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through the spirit who dwells in you well let's take a moment to ask the lord's help as we turn to study these verses our heavenly father we thank you that you have given us your word in scripture and that it is useful for teaching us and reproving us and correcting us and for training us in righteousness and we pray that by the help of your holy spirit we may be able to understand well what you have given to us here in this scripture and that by that same spirit who inspired the scriptures we pray that we may be helped to apply it not only in our thinking but also in our feeling and in our willing and in our living and we ask this in our savior jesus name amen well romans chapter 8 is often regarded i think by many christians as the greatest chapter in the bible certainly the greatest chapter in paul's letters and i imagine like many other christians many of us may have a verse somewhere in romans chapter 8 that is embedded in our thinking and perhaps even has been what some people call their life verse but these verses towards the beginning of the chapter in verses 5 through 11 are probably among the least studied verses but at the same time they are tremendously important for us in living the christian life one of the reasons for this of course is because here in romans chapter 8 as we sometimes say paul gives us his great chapter on the person and ministry of the holy spirit and it is actually one of the remarkable things about this letter to the romans that there is a sudden explosion of reference to the spirit right at the beginning of chapter eight indeed in the first 11 verses there are i think three times as many references to the holy spirit as there were in the first seven chapters but it's important for us to recognize that that fact does not disconnect romans chapter 8 from what paul has already been saying and i think it's very helpful for us to understand that what he is saying here fits into a larger pattern in his teaching the central section in the first eight chapters of romans is almost certainly in chapter 5 verses 12 to 21. that chapter explains what paul has said about man's sinfulness and his need of salvation and also lays the foundation for what follows in chapter six and seven and eight and you remember how in chapter 5 verses 12 to 21 the apostle is explaining that sin came into the world through adam and salvation came into a sinful world through our savior jesus christ and all men are either in adam as we are by nature or in christ as we are by us and he had ended that chapter by speaking about the way in which grace reigns through righteousness to eternal life through jesus christ our lord and in the chapters that follow he had been spelling out the significance of that in chapter six he says we have died to the dominion of sin and yet we are not yet free from the presence of sin in chapter seven he had assured us that as christians in christ we have died to the law but in the rest of the chapter he makes it clear that none of us is yet perfect according to the standards of the law and so while we have died to sin we still have to war against sin and while we have died to the law we need to continue to grow in grace in order that the demands of the law might be fulfilled in us as paul says at the beginning of chapter eight and now here in chapter eight he is expounding to us this wonderful truth that we have been set free for life by the presence of the holy spirit and yet we still need as he goes on to say later on beyond our passage just now we still need to fight against the sin of the flesh so the glory of the gospel is that salvation has already been accomplished in our lives in jesus christ but as paul says to the philippians salvation still needs to be worked out as it were into our our toes and into our fingertips and he is helping us to understand in these chapters how the gospel transforms us this particular way and what we'll see now is that because of the ministry of the spirit there is no longer a life of condemnation for the believer you probably noticed what he says in verses one and two here which at first sight may seem strange he says there's no condemnation for those who are in christ jesus because of what the spirit of god does now we're accustomed to thinking that there is no condemnation for us because of what christ has done for us on the cross so what is paul driving at here well of course as you know the the answer to that question lies in his use of the word condemnation the greek word catacrema that he uses here applies not only to the sentence that the judge passes on somebody who is guilty so that in christ there is no condemnation for us it also applies to the sentence that the guilty prisoner goes on to serve and this is the point that paul is making all the way through romans chapter 8 not only are we delivered from the guilt of sin in jesus christ but by the holy spirit we are delivered from a life in which we are prisoners to sin in which we are prisoners to the flesh and this is the point that he is taking up now in verses 5 through 11. we can think about it this way the old testament law could tell a leper that he had leprosy and therefore was excommunicated from the community or it could tell somebody who did not have leprosy that he did not have leprosy what the law could not do was to transform a leper into someone who was clean it did not have the power to make that transformation and you remember how in these beautiful stories in the gospel the lord jesus did what the law could not do and this is exactly what paul's been saying isn't it the law condemned us but christ has borne the guilt of our sin and now it is where he's reaching out his hand he's giving us his holy spirit to transform us so that we are no longer prisoners of the flesh but are set free to live in communion with god and his people by the holy spirit and of course the fact of the matter is that you only begin to understand these realities when you've experienced them yourself i actually remember as a as a young teenager arguing with friends i had who had become christians that the experiences they were talking about couldn't be real because i hadn't had these experiences and this is what is so often true for us isn't it when we come to faith in jesus christ and are given his holy spirit we enter into a new world of experience to which we were blind we couldn't see the kingdom of god we couldn't enter the kingdom of god and paul is helping us here to understand what this means it's helping us to understand what it is that christ has done for us and what it is that christ does in us and as a good teacher he puts it both negatively and positively you must have noticed as you've read through paul's letters how often he does this he says it is no longer this but now it is this and here the contrast is very obvious you're in christ and no longer in adam you're living in the spirit and no longer in the flesh so look he says at the contrasts between your former life and the flesh and your new life in the holy spirit and i want you to notice three particular elements three particular contrasts that he draws in verses five through eleven the first is in verse five where he draws a contrast in mindset that is the the cast of our minds the the way in which our minds tend to focus in certain ways the ways in which we see things he says the holy spirit transforms our mindset listen to his words he says those who live according to the flesh do so because they've set their minds on the flesh whereas those who live according to the spirit do so because their minds are set on the the mind says paul in a way is like a compass and the question is what is the due north to which it points is it downwards to the flesh as it were or is it upwards to the holy spirit often when in the church i served we were hiring someone for for a position and i was part of the interview process i would often ask this question so frequently that other members of the staff would tell candidates he is bound to ask you this question and the question was what do you tend to think about when you've got nothing else to think about and paul is saying that before we came to faith in jesus christ our minds gravitated to the flesh gravitated to this world gravitated to seeing things through this worldly eyes but now our minds gravitate to an entirely different perspective altogether i remember hearing a very striking illustration of this many years ago now listening to a program on bbc radio in scotland it was a program about famous people describing what they thought heaven would be like and the amazing things here were these people being asked what did they think heaven would be like and as i listened to this 30 minute program i began to notice a very clear pattern one after another after another of these famous persons described how they thought heaven would be and not one single one of them mentioned the presence of god because our minds were dominated by the flesh and not as paul says here dominated by the spirit and isn't this one of the glorious transformations that takes place in our lives it's not that we work this up it is that when the spirit comes to indwell us we see the kingdom of god we enter the kingdom of god we experience the powers of the age to come and paul is saying it produces an entirely different mindset i remember as a teenager reading a book by john r w start and i was very struck by a sentence in that book in which he said the secret of holy living lies in the mind and it struck me because i think i was surrounded by a kind of christianity that taught the secret of the christian life lies in what you feel or perhaps lies in what you do but you understand when you read the new testament that the secret of the transformed life lies in the mind remember how paul later on go on to explain this be transformed not by what you feel or by what you do but by the renewing of your mind and it's when our minds are renewed and they are recalibrated to the spirit that our affections are transformed and we love what we once hated and our wills are transformed and we want what we once despised and we experience what one of my countrymen said almost 200 years ago the expulsive power of a new affection because the holy spirit transforms our mindset now there's a second contrast paul draws now and this one is in verse 6 and what follows he goes on to explain this he says to set the mind on the flesh is death but to set the mind on the spirit is life and peace so there's a contrast in mindset but there is also a contrast in effect when your mind is set on the flesh it leads to death um you remember what james says in james chapter one writing almost certainly earlier than the apostle paul was doing he says here is what happens to us a person is tempted when he is lured and enticed by his own desire then desire when it has conceived gives birth and when it has given birth to sin and is fully grown it brings forth death i've often wondered if james and perhaps even paul in this passage here had the terrible story of david in 2nd samuel 11 and 12 in mind where you remember what david's sin how it developed and what it led to it led to the death of uriah the hittite the husband of bathsheba and it led to the death of the little child that was born of their adulterous union and it's such a dramatic picture of what happens as a result of sin sin not only produces in us the mindset that's according to the flesh but sin ultimately produces in his spiritual death and that spiritual death is seen says the apostle paul in this way he says that the flesh is hostile to god isn't that something the mind that is set on the flesh verse 7 is hostile to god it does not submit to god's law indeed it cannot we probably all have this kind experience there there are some things it's just that we we don't understand them it's that we do not even want to think about them we it might have been subject at school you were interested in some things and not in others and you just could not bring yourself you couldn't will yourself to be interested in these things and paul is saying this is the this is the the situation of the unbeliever and the unbeliever of course says well when when the time comes i'll will to trust god and follow him and i always say would you just reassure me you'll be able to do that by willing to do it now just show me you can will to do it now and of course they are impotent they cannot do it and this is the tragedy of their situation says the apostle paul it is because they are inwardly whatever the outward appearance may be by nature they are inwardly hostile to god they cannot submit to god's law and therefore they cannot please god so there is a contrast in mindset and there is a contrast in effect the flesh leads to death but the spirit says the apostle paul and the mind that is set on the spirit it leads to peace instead of hostility and to life instead of death and friends wasn't this your experience when you became a christian peace with god through our lord jesus christ but also that tremendous sense that the promise of jesus had come true i have come that they might have life and that they might have it in all their fullness and it's only when we're when we're on the other side we're no longer in adam but now in christ that we begin to understand what the apostle paul is talking about here and he's helping us to see it lucidly by drawing these contrasts a contrast in mindset a contrast in effect and then play a contrasting explanations what's the explanation for this well he begins to tell us now in verse 9 and 10 and 11. he says the explanation is that you are no longer in the flesh but in the spirit if the spirit of god dwells in you think of these two terms flesh and spirit as two countries the country of the flesh in which you once lived and the country of the spirit into which you have now come this is what has happened to you you've been taken out of the country in which adam was king and sin reigned to death through the flesh and you've been brought into the country of king jesus where grace reigns through the spirit and produces righteousness and paul wants us to understand we were once citizens of the of the the nation of the flesh but now we are citizens of the nation we've been given a new identity in jesus christ and that new identity involves this glorious ministry of holy spirit and you'll notice how he emphasizes this he says you're not in the flesh but if in the spirit verse 9 if in fact the spirit of god dwells in you and then he rephrases it and he puts it like this anyone who does not have the spirit of christ does not belong to him and then he rephrases it again he says but if christ is in you although the body is dead because of sin the spirit is life because of righteousness do you you need to pause and think about these words paul is saying all three persons of the trinity are engaged in transforming you god the father who sends his spirit christ the son whose spirit comes to indwell you and christ himself dwells in you he says if the spirit of christ dwells in you i don't know that the apostle paul would even have known the words of jesus that john records in chapter 14 in his gospel but you remember how jesus promises that when the spirit comes fur this will come and in well the believer will make the believer their home and this is the explanation that the spirit of the father and the son has come to indwell me as a humble christian believer who has trusted jesus christ and been brought out of the kingdom of adam and into the kingdom of our lord and savior jesus christ so what's important for us to grasp about this explanation it is that although we are now citizens of the kingdom of christ where the spirit reigns the truth of the matter is that although we are citizens of the kingdom of christ we are the spirit reigns we're people who once were citizens of the country of the flesh and so in the power of the spirit we need to be able to put to death to put off the characteristics that belong to us when we were citizens of that old country how are we going to be able to do this it is because although we are no longer in the flesh but in the spirit the spirit empowers us to live for the glory of the lord jesus christ so as we draw our brief study of these verses to a close let me let me end by by emphasizing two important lessons that flow from this passage as a whole the first is this that these contrasts help us to see the wonder of the transformation that our lord jesus christ has worked into our lives and the contrast is helpful isn't it often we see things clearly only when we see them by way of contrast with their opposite and paul is teaching us the sheer wonder of this transformation that god has wrought in us that no longer being condemned for our sins because we are justified in jesus christ the life of the christian is not like serving a prison sentence but like being let out of prison and enabled more and more to live for the glory of our lord jesus christ what the law could not do because it was weak through the flesh he had earlier said god has done sending his son in the likeness of sinful flesh and force in connection with flesh in order that the requirements of the law might begin to be fulfilled in us according to the promise of jeremiah 31 as who walk not according to the flesh but according to the spirit speaking for myself that was one of the most memorable transformation experience coming action i was brought up in a home where we didn't go to church but we kept the sabbath day and it was miserable for me because i wasn't allowed to do anything i had the law without the gospel and i didn't enjoy it i felt a prisoner and then i came to faith in jesus christ and that day was transformed for me into the day of fellowship with my wrists and savior the lord jesus christ and it overnight changed from the worst day of the week to becoming the best day of the week and that's how the spirit works so paul is helping us to see the wonder of the transformation that the spirit works but he's also helping us to see the wonder of a new identity that is given to us by spirit's presence as a hymn we used to sing in scotland that has this line in it think what spirit dwells within you what a father's smile is thine and i wonder if we think this way we often think about the gifts of the spirit and people want the power of the spirit but what paul actually emphasizes here is not the gifts of the spirit nor primarily the power of the spirit but the presence of the spirit coming to indwell me as the spirit of jesus christ and helping me to understand that i've been brought out of that old country of adam and into the new country of jesus christ and i have been given a new identity altogether as someone in whom the spirit of the lord jesus dwells he puts it very briefly in colossians 1 27 doesn't he he says oh christian understand that christ dwells in you by his spirit as the hope of glory i never forgotten the first time i heard a salmon on that verse i think i was 15 maybe coming on 16 i came out of church i looked up and down the street to make sure nobody was watching me and then i danced home for the sheer joy of thinking i am somebody who's been given a new identity altogether because through the indwelling of the holy spirit my lord jesus has come to take up his reign in my life i believe that's enormously important for us all but perhaps especially important for those who may be younger our governments are spending billions of pounds and dollars in helping young people to choose their identity as though they could and here is something that makes a young person man or woman stand out in this ungodly world that they know who they are they know what their identity is they're someone who undertakes the jesus christ and in their lives the spirit of the lord jesus dwells and that's the most fundamental truth about them so my friends has this dawned on you this contrast of mindsets this radical contrast of effects this marvelous contrast and explanations and the sheer wonder of being someone in whom the spirit of the lord jesus dwells who who not think the christian life was the most glorious thing in all the world who knew who he or she had become because of the indwelling of the holy spirit may god help us to enjoy what it means that there is no longer any condemnation for those of us who are in christ jesus our lord heavenly father teach us we pray who we are fillers with joy because of your spirit help us to live according to the spirit and no longer according to the flesh for the sake of our savior jesus christ we pray amen thank you again for joining us we'll be back in about 10 minutes or so for our next main session however during some of these smaller breaks we've asked our guest pastors and teachers some questions about christian ministry and so you'll be able to hear from them during these times quiet [Music] grace of god [Music] sweet grace [Music] let god grace [Music] us [Music] when we think about growing we tend to think about knowledge however when you read the word it is obvious that uh the bible is trying to tell us that we need to grow into the image of christ and that is going to require more than just reading the bible i need to study the bible i need to meditate on it but also i need to i need to depend upon the spirit of the lord because at the end of the road uh paul tells us in ii corinthians 3 18 that we are being changed from one degree of glory to the next and that happens as the holy spirit works in us as we contemplate the glory of christ as we do that as we do it in in the mirror as if i was contemplating that image in the mirror uh at the same time i need to be i need to be part of a local church because i need to be in contact with other believers someone who could disciple me who someone who could be appalled to me but at the same time i also need to to be in contact with other people so that i i need to to learn to forgive to ask for forgiveness to tolerate to develop patience and and you could see then that the character of christ is formed not just by reading but also by applying what i'm reading in addition to that i can forget that we have a legacy of 2 000 years of people who have gone ahead of me and people who were gifted i were given the gift of teaching and insight and illumination to understand some truth in the bible that perhaps i i did not i do not have and therefore it is not humble to say i don't need that legacy i think it is uh it is a fact of life that i do need what other people have written because the depth of the knowledge of god of the wisdom of god is so vast that we have not exhausted all that there is to learn about uh his revelation and people who have gone ahead of me uh will contribute significantly to uh to that knowledge and therefore to the formation of the image of christ is me at the end of the road is never as simple as it seems theological education is extremely important for the pastor because it is through the study of theology the scriptures and the history of the church that the pastor will be better prepared to meet the demands of his flock and the demands are many today there are many sophisticated questions mixed with ideologies and philosophies that in a sense are just the reappearance of these heresies and ancient errors and that the pastor needs to know in order to give a conscious answer based on history theology reason and especially from the scriptures good theology helps you to preach better visit better advise better correct better defend the faith in a better way will make you much more effective and efficient in your pastoral work i'm not saying that brothers who have not had the opportunity to attend seminary or have a formal education in theology but they cannot be a pastor we have in the history of the church many examples of dear brothers who were self-taught who studied with many books and had people who helped them out particularly and who were great men of god but i believe that they were usually the exceptions the normal way is to have a formal education in the area of theology apply yourself to the fullest this definitely will help you do your pastoral work in a more efficient way and a more useful way for the kingdom of god [Music] is [Music] oh [Music] well we do hope that you have been enjoying this study of romans eight and before we get to reverend suhil michelin who is our next speaker i wanted to just express our gratitude for being able to partner with poema publications in the launch of the spanish edition of the reformation study bible this is a project that dr r.c sproul cared about deeply he longed to see the reformation study bible released to people around the world in their native heart language and the spanish edition is something that really kick-started all of our different translation efforts for the reformation study bible this project began 15 years ago as an idea when dr burke parsons came back from speaking to pastors in colombia and it was there that he saw the lack of theological resources that these church leaders needed and so ligonier ministries began the work of revising and expanding the english edition of the reformation study bible so that we had the best scholarship possible before we committed it to the spanish language and we give thanks to god that in 2020 we have now seen the release of the reformation study bible in spanish and this has far exceeded our expectations in terms of its popularity it's already in to multiple printings it's being distributed by the thousands throughout south america and even in these united states so give thanks to god with us for this resource if you've not seen it or been able to receive it yet you can find more information online and then we will make sure that you get the ways that you can help your church by using a resource like this it truly is unparalleled and we give thanks to god for this moment and this stewardship of the reformation study bible well reverend suhel michelan is well known to many of you i'm sure and he is a dear brother who's come alongside of us today he also is a pastor there in the dominican republic where he pastors the bible church of the lord jesus christ in santo domingo he's the author of several books including from and before god a practical introduction to expository preaching let's go to reverend michelin now is it is a great privilege for me to participate in this conference celebrating god's work in the reformation of the 16th century and i invite you to turn with me to romans chapter 8 where we will read verses 12 to 17 which will be the basis of our exposition today thus says the word of the lord so then brothers we are debtors not to the flesh to live according to the flesh for if you live according to the flesh you will die but if by the spirit you put the death the deeds of the body you will live for all who are led by the spirit of god are sons of god for you did not receive the spirit of slavery to fall back into fear but you have received the spirit of adoptions as sons by whom we cry abba father the spirit himself bears witness of our spirit that we are children of god and if children then heirs heirs of god and fellow heirs with christ provided we suffer with him in order that we may also be glorified with him if there is one thing that all of us need these days it is security and confidence suddenly the world seems to be falling apart around us what we used to take for granted has completely disappeared from our lives the freedom to gather in many places being able to greet our brothers and sisters with the hug we are learning to live in the context of a new normality so we need firm ground where we can anchor our souls in the midst of so much turmoil in the midst of so much instability and we can hardly find a more solid rock in all of scripture then chapter 8 of paul's letter to the romans this is the longest chapter of the letter and one of the riches in content luther called it the masterpiece of the new testament and another author said that if the holy scripture was a ring and the epistle to the romans a precious stone chapter a would be the sparkling point of that jewel this chapter begins in chapter 8 verse 1 with the statement that there is no condemnation for those of us who have been justified because of our union with christ and the chapter concludes by saying that there is no separation either there is no condemnation there is no separation now how can we be sure that we really are in christ how how can you know that we have truly been justified by faith well paul's answer in this chapter is that all who have been justified by faith alone are now gradually being sanctified by the spirit's work in us all who have been justified are now in the present in a progressive way being sanctified that is the evidence that we are god's adopted children as we see in verses 12 to 17 that we will consider on this occasion now it is interesting to note that up to this point in the letter paul had not called the believers or made reference to them as children of god but from verse 14 and in the rest of chapter 8 paul refers to this sonship over and over again in verse 14 paul tells us that all who are led by the spirit of god are sons of god in verse 15 he says that all believers have received the spirit of adoption by whom we cry abba father in verse 16 he says that the spirit himself bears witness with our spirit that we are children of god in verse 17 he says that because we are children we are also heirs of god and fellow heirs with christ in verse 19 he says that creation waits with eager longing for the revealing of the sons of god and in verse 21 that this creation longs to be set free from its bondage of corruption and obtain the glorious liberty of the children of god in verse 23 he says that we christians eagerly await the coming of that moment when our adoption as sons will be made evident in a full measure through the redemption of our bodies and finally in verse 29 paul tells us that we are predestined to be conformed to the image of his son so that he might be the firstborn among many brothers do you see the language of family here we are one family in christ we are the family of the children of god it is obvious brothers and sisters that paul wants this christian in rome and all christians of all ages to understand the implications of this new sonship that we enjoy with god because of our union with christ and that's basically what we find in this portion of the letter the evidences and privileges of our sonship with god and that's basically what we're going to be looking at in this message evidences and privileges and the first evidence that paul points out in verses 12 to 14 is that the spirit prompts and empowers the believer to put sin to death the believer is being prompted and empowered by the spirit of god to put sin to death let us look once more at verse 12 so then brothers we are debtors not to the flesh to live according to the flesh although this text does not contain any explicit exhortation we can say that there is an implicit exhortation to be consistent with the work that god has done on our behalf in christ notice that the text begins with so then paul is connecting what he has been saying throughout chapter 8 with what he is now going to say beginning with verse 12 since there is no condemnation for us because of our union with christ since we have been delivered from the bondage of sin to live no longer according to the flesh but according to the spirit since we have the certainty that at the end of time the triune god will resurrect our mortal bodies to live eternally in the body and soul in his presence now paul says for all those blessings for all those reasons we must now show in our conduct that we have no obligation to the flesh says paul to live according to the flesh and this is a theological term that refers to the sinful principle that dominates unbelievers and that still resides in the christian not as our king not as our master we have already been freed from that bondage but as a permanent enemy that places resistance upon our obedience to god sin no longer dominates us as when we were its slaves but it has not yet been eradicated from our bodies sin continues to work stealthily in our desires in our ambitions to bring us back to the ground of disobedience and not to make our life happier but to make it more miserable as someone once said sin has been trying to destroy you since the day you were born and now paul is saying here why are you going to join the forces of the enemy and pay him for your own destruction by yielding to the sinful impulses of the flesh paul had used a similar argument at the end of chapter 6 of romans of the letter to the romans paul says in verse 21 in chapter 6 what fruit were you getting at that time from the things of which you are now ashamed for the end of those things is death but now that you have been set free from sin and have become slaves of god the fruit you get leads to sanctification and its end eternal life for the wages of sin is death but the free gift of god yes the gift of god is eternal life in christ jesus our lord instead of giving us the miserable wage that we deserve for our sins paul says the lord graciously gave us the gift of eternal life through the death of his son he freed us from the bondage of sin so that we now have sanctification as our fruit and eternal life as our end if the fruit is not there neither is the tree listen to what paul goes on to say in verse 13. for if you live according to the flesh you will die but if by the spirit you put to death the deeds of the body you will live paul is not teaching here that it is possible for a believer to lose his salvation if he suddenly begins to live according to the flesh what paul is teaching in verse 13 of romans 8 is that the evidence that we have new life in christ is that in dependence on the holy spirit we are waging a war against the sin that dwells in us and there is a balance here that we must emphasize on the on the one hand paul tells us that we as believers are responsible for putting sin to death we are the executioners must carry out the execution of sin if we can put it that way it's the same thing that paul says in colossians chapter 3 verse 5 put to death therefore what is earthly and new that is our responsibility we have a personal involvement in this struggle an active involvement but at the same time paul recognizes that it is impossible for the believer to put to death the works of the flesh if he's not dependent on the spirit of god for if you live according to the flesh you will die but if by the spirit by means of the spirit by the work of the spirit you put to death the deeds of the body you will live as john stott rightly points out only the holy spirit can give us the desire determination and the discipline to reject evil it is the spirit who by means of his word guides us and empowers us in that struggle so that struggle is an evidence of our sonship with god you see the verse 14 and this is the whole thing it's the unity paul says for all who are led by the spirit of god are sons of god and that plural verb are here is emphatic emphatic they and they alone who are led by the spirit of god are counted as sons of god now brethren paul has not suddenly changed the subject there is an evident connection between putting to death the deeds of the body in verse 13 and being led by the spirit in verse 14. the guidance that paul is talking about here has nothing to do with showing the believer what career to study or what place to live or whom to marry the spirit of god leads god's children to put sin to death allow me to put it this way all those who are led by the holy spirit to the battlefield to wage war on sin and to be more and more like jesus those and only those are the children of god later in verse 29 paul is going to tell us that the purpose of salvation is to conform us to the image of jesus how can we know that we are children of god and that the spirit dwells in us because we are being led by him to put sin to death and to cultivate in our lives the character of jesus he is leading all those in whom he dwells to fight against everything that makes us different from jesus and now i ask you is that a reality in your life do you hate that same sin that attracts you so much that is precisely what causes the struggle in the believer sin remains attractive but at the same time we hate it do you feel good about yourself when you get your way or rather do you feel ashamed for having sin against god and are then moved to confess your sin with a genuine desire to divorce yourself from it that is the first evidence that paul shows us in this passage of our sonship with god but paul teaches us secondly that the holy spirit has replaced in us the fear of a slave with the freedom and trust of a son see verse 15 for you did not receive the spirit of slavery to fall back into fear to fear again but you have received the spirit of adoption as sons by whom we cry abba father and paul has introduced here one of the most beautiful doctrines of the bible the doctrine of adoption because of our union with christ we no longer relate to god merely or solely as creatures before their creator and much less as guilty offenders before a judge but as sons with a father we relate to god as sons relate to a father chapter 12 of our confession of faith says the following about adoption all those who are justified god vouchsaved in and for the sake of his only son jesus christ to make partakers of the grace of adoption by which they are taken into the number and enjoy the liberties and privileges of the children of god and what are those privileges the confession of faith goes on to say they have his name put upon them receive the spirit of adoption have access to the throne of grace with boldness are enabled to cry abba father are pitied protected provided for and chastened by him as by a father yet never cast off but sealed to the day of redemption and inherit the promises as heirs of everlasting salvation now we have every confidence to come before our lord before our god and cry abba father that term abba was an aramaic term that was not as formal as our word father but a turn that denotes much tenderness and trust it is the expression that the lord jesus christ uses when he's praying in the garden of gethsemane abba father for you all things are possible remove this cup from me but not what i will but what you will and it is with that same confidence that you and i can now come before our heavenly father a few verses earlier in romans 8 paul had had referred to the holy spirit as the spirit of christ see the second half of verse 9 anyone who does not have the spirit of christ does not belong to him well what paul is saying here is that when the spirit of christ comes to dwell in us he moves us to cry out to the father with the same confidence as jesus times of distress and need paul says in galatians chapter 4 verse 6 that because of our adoption as sons god has sent the spirit of his son into our hearts crying abba father this is not a ritualistic prayer or a mechanical prayer it is the spontaneous and sincere cry that comes from the heart by the spirit's work in us confirming our adoption and that brings us to the third evidence of our text in verse 16 and that it is the holy spirit bears witness to our spirit that we are children of god verse 16 the spirit himself bears witness with our spirit that we are children of god and it is very likely that paul is referring to this subjective but real experience that god loves us and that he is our father paul had already said in romans chapter 5 verse 5 that the love of god has been poured out in our hearts through the holy spirit who was given to us and that paul is not speaking here out of our love for him but rather of the experience of his love for us that is the work of the holy spirit in believers so that we may know that we were adopted by god and that we are the most privileged beings on the planet the spirit bears witness to our spirit and this is not a mysterious voice coming from heaven it is something that comes through the word and at the same time it is the application of the promises of that word of the realities of the redemption revealed in the word which is placed in our hearts it is that experience that testimony that we are children of god and that brings us to our second heading we have already seen the evidences of our sonship with god let us now look at the privileges of that sonship now i must first say that we cannot make a very sharp distinction between the evidences and the privileges in this passage because those evidences are themselves privileges there is no longer any condemnation for us because we are in christ jesus we have the holy spirit dwelling within us leading us into holiness to confirm our adoption to give us full confidence so that we can draw near to god and cry out to him his father that alone is enough to fill our hearts with wonder and gratitude for all that god has graciously bestowed upon us in jesus christ but now paul tells us in verse 17 that because we have been adopted by god we are now his heirs verse 17 and of children then heirs heirs of god and fellow heirs with christ provided we suffer with him in order that we may also be glorified with him at first glance this may seem redundant because if we are heirs of god we obviously have to be fellow heirs with christ but paul wants to emphasize here the fact that it is because of him it is because of our union with him that believers inherit all the blessings of god this is the same idea as in chapter one of paul's letter to the ephesians blessed be the god and father of our lord jesus christ that has blessed us in christ with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places we are heirs of god solely because of jesus what this means in practice is that everything that belongs to christ by right belongs to us believers by adoption we are heirs of god and coheirs with christ even though in this body of death we cannot yet fully experience all those privileges sin still dwells in us we have a fallen body in a fallen world that is why paul concludes this passage on a note of realism and if children then heirs heirs of god and fellow heirs with christ provided we suffer with him in order that we may also be glorified with him we can know with certainty that we are on our way to god's presence because we are walking the same path that christ walked and that path first passes through the cross before reaching glory there can be no glory without the cross that was not possible for christ and it will not be possible for all those who were bought by him now this observation is extremely important because many believers tend to question their adoption the reality of their adoption when they are in the midst of afflictions but it's quite the opposite afflictions for christ's sake confirm to us that we are in him listen to what peter tells us in chapter four of his first letter and note the similarity between one text and the other beloved do not be surprised at the fiery trial when it comes upon you to test you as though something strange were happening to you but rejoice in so far as you share christ's sufferings that you may also rejoice and be glad when his glory is revealed if you are insulted for the name of christ you are blessed because the spirit of glory and of god rest upon you do you see that there's a connection between christ's sufferings and the revelation of his glory this is what paul tells us in romans 8 18 for i consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worth comparing with the glory that is to be revealed to us the way to glory is first through the path of the cross remember it was so for christ and it will certainly be so for all who are in him if we have died with him says paul in second timothy chapter 2 verse 11 we will also live with him if we suffer literally if we endure to the end in the midst of suffering we shall also reign with him there is a connection between suffering and glory sinclair ferguson says that suffering is the umbilical cord that joins us to the glorified christ but as paul says in romans 8 18 there is a quantitative and qualitative difference between present suffering and future glory paul says they cannot be compared dear brethren many may have more comforts than you but no unbeliever however rich he may be will ever have a greater privilege than you see what kind of love the father has given to us states first john chapter 3 verse 1 that we should be called the children of god rejoice my brethren in your sonship rejoice my brethren in the glory of being now of having been adopted by god and having the holy spirit dwelling in you but upon seeing these evidences we have mentioned you realize that you are not yet in christ that these evidences are completely foreign to you my friend repent of your sins and put all your trust in jesus while you still have time to settle your accounts with god the reason god has to adopt us as children is because we are all born orphans of god we are all born orphans of him but that legal status is changed the very moment we place our faith in the person and work of our blessed lord and savior jesus christ john chapter 1 verse 12 says that all those who receive him through faith are granted the power the right to become children of god who are born not of blood nor of the will of the flesh nor of the will of man but of god my friend do not continue searching outside of christ for what is only found in him come to christ and come now repent of your sins and cry out for mercy because the offer of the gospel remains available to everyone by grace alone through christ alone and by faith alone let us pray father we want to thank you so much for giving us once again the opportunity to preach your holy and blessed word and we plead oh lord that you will apply this word with power reviving some and raising others from the dead we beseech you o lord bless your word and thank you thank you thank you o lord for the enormous privileges we have in christ to him be all glory praise honor and glory forever and ever amen it's amazing that we can gather together today in this online event mediated through technology and the internet is a marvel of our age and we give thanks to god for technology like this now here's what you can do as you're watching you can like this message wherever you happen to be watching it and that helps more people to discover it or even share it with others you can copy the url or you can send a link to friends or just share it online and that helps more people to study god's word god brings reformation as his word is lifted up and that is all we are seeking to do today to be able to put a resource like this into your hands because truth be told you know far more people than we do you are able to extend your own ministry reach by taking a resource like this in sharing it with your brothers and sisters in christ and may god bring a new reformation throughout the world as his word is lifted up i'm grateful to be able to introduce to you today my dear colleague here at ligonier ministries dr stephen nichols now he's the chief academic officer at legendary ministries but what we like to say his day job is is leading this school called reformation bible college where he serves as the second president you can imagine who the first president was dr rc sprole of course well he is also a teaching fellow with us at ligonier ministries he is the host of the podcast five minutes in church history the author of numerous books including for us and for our salvation peace a time for confidence five minutes in church history and volumes in the guided tour series on jonathan edwards martin luther and jay gresham machin he's the co-editor of the legacy of luther as well as crossway's theologians on the christian life series and i'll let you in on another little book that he has been working on over the past several years and not little at all but it's the significant in its reach this is going to be the authorized biography of dr c sprole and that's coming out from our friends from crossway this coming spring so be looking for that in the next few months dr nichols it's truly my joy and a real privilege for me to be with you for this conference for one i just love reformation day so i'd much prefer to spend reformation day with you in person but to spend it with you virtually is great for me so just really looking forward to this and especially this time that we are spending in this mount everest of paul's texts romans chapter 8 and especially the text that has been assigned to me and the topic that has been assigned to me we will be looking at romans chapter 8 verses 18 to 25 and we will be considering the topic this great topic of the glory of god and the glory to be revealed uh please turn with me in your bibles to paul's epistle to the romans we will start at chapter 8 verse 18 and read down through verse 25. paul writes for i consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worth comparing with the glory that is to be revealed to us for the creation waits with eager longing for the revealing of the sons of god for the creation was subjected to futility not willingly but because of him who subjected it in hope that the creation itself will be set free from its bondage to corruption and obtain the freedom of the glory of the children of god for we know that the whole creation has been groaning together in the pains of childbirth until now and not only the creation but we ourselves who have the first fruits of the spirit grown inwardly as we wait eagerly for adoption as sons the redemption of our bodies for in this we were saved now hope that is seen is not hope for who hopes for what he sees but if we hope for what we do not see we wait for it with patience now this text has two words that can sometimes be challenging words for us a word that occurs right at the very beginning and the very final word of this text i hope you notice these words the first word is suffering now that's a challenging word for all of us while we have to endure suffering it's probably not anything any of us want to sign up for or particularly enjoy and then there's this word patience now i don't know if you're like me but patience is a difficult thing for me i like things quickly and and i like to be in a hurry and i like to get things done and sometimes to be patient and to wait is hard and so we have these two words suffering and patience and in the middle paul draws our attention to that grand theme probably one of the grandest themes of all of scripture and that is the glory of god he wants to help us understand both suffering and patience he wants us to truly understand how we are to live in this present time by having an eternal perspective by focusing on and putting our hope in the eternal weight of glory that is to be revealed wow before we go any further with this passage and dig in i just want to say from the outset that paul is telling us here of a fundamental reality of the christian life and that fundamental reality of the christian life is that in this life and in this world we will have suffering now i mention that because i think this is very crucial for us to emphasize and to notice there is a grip upon central america and south america and that grip is the prosperity gospel it is satan's lie it is an enemy of the gospel and it holds so many captive this empty promise of prosperity in this life as being told this is what the gospel is it's a lie it's a lie that is just holding so many people captive and we need to realize that nowhere in scripture can you find support for the prosperity gospel in fact it's the exact opposite look at what paul says he doesn't leave it open for debate he doesn't leave it open for discussion he just declares it and this very first line of verse 18 for i consider that the sufferings of this present time in this life we have toil and we have trouble and we have pain and we have suffering and the gospel promises forgiveness of sins that's prosperity the gospel promises freedom in christ that's prosperity the gospel promises that the righteousness of christ's is ours that is ultimate prosperity but nowhere does the gospel promise freedom from suffering pain toil trouble and persecution in fact the pages of the new testament are pretty clear in letting us know that these things are going to be a part of life well paul makes that statement but then he is very quick to say that those sufferings of the present time they are not even worth comparing with the glory that is to be revealed if you were to set up an equation put on the one side of the equation the present sufferings and you could enumerate those sufferings and i think we have to acknowledge this those sufferings are real we don't believe that somehow the body is an illusion that the material world is an illusion we don't believe that we believe those sufferings are real paul himself talks about the physical suffering that he endured he even talks about that thorn in the flesh that he begged god to remove we see suffering in the pages of scripture so you can write the balance sheet and on that one side of the equation put the sufferings and the trials and the troubles and the persecutions and no matter how long that list is or no matter how heavy that list is it is no comparison there's no comparison at all for the glory that is to be revealed you know this word glory the old testament word the hebrew word for it is the idea of weight it's the idea of heaviness of gravitas of something that you can feel and it weighs upon you and what we are talking about is an eternal weight of the eternal being and that is glory you know i remember back when i was first learning math you'd have to learn number relations and you had the lion's mouth as the teacher would say and so you would put the lion's mouth to face the side of the equation that was greater and so let's keep this very simple right so we'll go back to 1517 so the number 15 and the number 17 to celebrate reformation day and so the lion's mouth goes to 17. 17 is greater than 15. when we are talking about the eternal weight of glory on this side compared to our present sufferings it's not a lion's mouth it's like the the hugest whale in the ocean's mouth facing the glory of god paul wants us to realize that because again these sufferings are real in fact as he walks through this passage what he what he does is he unfolds four reasons for us why the glory of god to be revealed is more than enough for you to endure to wait with patience to persevere through the present sufferings in this life the first four the first reason comes in verse 19 and that's simply that creation itself waits paul writes in verse 19 for the creation waits with eager longing for the revealing of the sons of god creation is the is the stage creation is the theater in which god is playing this drama of redemption and creation is watching with baited breath to see god's plan of redemption come to fruition and throughout this passage paul does what some of the old testament writers do and that is actually personify or bring to sort of life as a person creation itself and so we can wait because creation itself is waiting that's the first reason in verse 19. the second reason is in verses 20 and 21 and what we see here in verses 20 and 21 is what paul will tell us is an apparent futility of creation let's take a look at it in verse 20 paul writes for the creation was subjected to futility not willingly but because of him who subjected it in hope do you feel that way sometimes i do i feel the futility of my efforts i feel sometimes that i start out a day and i end the day further behind than when i started it and i think this whole day was in vain our futile efforts and sometimes we truly feel that and paul's talking about how creation even feels the weight of that the futility of that but the counter is what comes then in verse 21 that the creation itself the creation itself will be free from this bondage to corruption and obtain the freedom of the glory of the children of god and so just as the creation will achieve that so will we and here's the encouraging word your labor is not in vain we think so many times that what we do is simply vanity and futile and it's easy sometimes if we are just locked in to a present perspective to really wonder what is god doing in my life what is god doing as i try to impact others what is god doing in the ministry that i'm involved in or in my local church or around the world and it just seems like we just put our shoulder to the plow and try all these efforts and what is to gain we must be reminded that our labor is not in vain we are now we are now laying the groundwork for what we will be as eternal beings we are now laying the groundwork for what we will experience in eternity and sometimes the appearances are to the contrary we can feel like it's futile but we have to remember that it's not that god is blessing our efforts god is taking everything that we do nothing nothing in our lives gets wasted god is using all of that to slowly but surely bring about his perfect plan of redemption his perfect plan of redemption in your life and his perfect plan of redemption for all of creation that is an encouragement that is motivation to endure these present sufferings i find it very fascinating that paul's talking about here creation in a way that personifies it in a way that brings it to life in one sense he's following suit back to the prophet isaiah just one text back in isaiah chapter 55 verse 12 for you shall go out enjoy and be led forth in peace now this is a message to people who were suffering they were actually captives in babylon and then medo-persia they were removed from the holy land their temple was destroyed they saw it all these are a captive people in exile who had very hard sufferings in their present time and what is the prophet telling them there's coming a day when you will be restored to the land and better than that there's coming eternity and you will go forth with joy but notice what he says he says the mountains and the hills before you shall break forth into singing and all the trees of the field shall clap their hands can you imagine that can you picture that of all of creation joining in a grand chorus of joy for what god is bringing about and bringing about those purposes of his creation so paul here is drawing back on many old testament texts that speak of creation when i hear paul in romans chapter 8 i also think of the english hymn writer isaac watts and that wonderful hymn that we sing at christmas time joy to the world there's a line in one of the verses of that hymn that simply says as far as the curse is found that christ came to make god's glories known as far as the curse is found how far does the curse go when we go back into genesis 3 we realize that the curse goes right to adam and right to eve that that curse will ricochet through all human relationships it will ricochet through adam and eve's relationship to god to adam and eve's relationship to each other but it also ricochets from adam and eve's relationship to the very creation itself and that curse will go all the way into the ground and right into the very thorns that will spring from the ground the curse goes all the way to creation itself and so what does creation do creation moans and groans to have that heavy burden of the curse lifted off of it and so that it too can enter into redemption and renovation and recreation paul is saying this is true of creation and this is true of us we come now to our third reason so the first reason is creation waits that's verse 19. we come to our second reason that eternal glory far outweighs our present sufferings by seeing that there is an apparent futility in creation but it's only apparent remember your labor is not in vain the third reason is in verses 22 and 23 and it simply says for we know i love that i love that paul says you need to remember this you need to wrap your head around this you need to make this part of your mental furniture that you know that you are of the first fruits that you know that you are redeemed now forgiven from your sins and that you have christ's righteousness you are redeemed now but you will fully be redeemed and the life to come and what you have now is just a down payment so is your body wasting away do you feel it do you feel your finitude do you feel that weakness that we have as human beings well isn't this what paul tells us is the reality it doesn't he say the end of verse 23 that we await the redemption of our bodies that we eagerly await this restoration you know i serve as president of college here the reformation bible college here at ligonier and i'm surrounded by 18 to 22 year olds and they think they're invincible i see them i watch them run and jump and i remember when i used to be able to run and jump like those students did but there's coming a time when even they at the height of their strength and power will begin to feel the weakness i don't know if you know the answer to this but do you know who holds the world record for the high jump it's a man from cuba and his name is javier sotomayor and in 1993 he pulled off what i think is an amazing feat he jumped 2.45 meters in the long jump setup in the high jump set a world record hasn't been touched since 1993. now 2.45 meters that's difficult for me to understand i have to translate that back into feet so that's eight feet in a quarter inch that's past here i can't even get my head around that do you know how how high javier sotomayor can jump now in 2020 well i have no idea actually but i can guarantee you one thing it's nowhere near eight feet no matter how strong we are we will decay we will age the other day i was out running with my daughter she's 12 i was just enjoying this wonderful time we're running along i think oh this is great i'm keeping up with my 12 year old you know and what a great moment and all of a sudden she just says we might as well be walking right so apparently i was going just a little too slow for the 12 year old no matter how strong we were we will feel the decay the deterioration of our bodies and for some people that suffering can be very difficult to endure and for some people in life they have to endure chronic pain or significant illnesses and for many people that's just such a challenging life to live and what paul is saying here is there is hope there is hope because these bodies of ours are someday going to be fully redeemed and what's far more let's grasp this what's far more crucial than our physical deterioration or our ability to top eight feet and a quarter inch at the high jump what's far more crucial is to have bodies that are free from sin one of my favorite figures from church history is jonathan edwards the american colonial puritan minister up in new england upon the coast of the united states and jonathan edwards had this great sermon about heaven as a world of love and one of the things that jonathan edwards loved to think about about heaven is that when we get to heaven we will be and this is his word and i don't know how this translates into spanish but i love it in english his word is we will be unclogged of sin that sin is like a clog in the drain it just keeps everything from flowing down it disrupts the productivity and the functionality of that drain and in heaven we will be unclogged because in this life we are clogged in this life we have bodies of sin and in this life we groan for redemption and here's the good news here's the hope of the gospel we are redeemed now and we will be fully redeemed in heaven we will receive our glorified bodies and far more important than some ultimate physical condition is that these bodies will be free from sin we will be able to love god in purity in holiness and entirely as jonathan edwards said unclogged so we wait for that and what paul says is we know this for we know that this will happen now why do we know this will happen well as we come into verse 24 and 25 paul's bringing us to this word that he wants us to understand it's a crucial word it is the word hope paul says for in this hope we were saved i always found this interesting over in first peter 3 15 which we sometimes call the classical text for apologetics it's the text where peter commands he gives the imperative he commands every christian to be ready to give an answer to make a defense for the faith and the greek word he uses there is apologia from which we get the word apologetics but this is what peter says in first peter 3 15 he says give a reason for the hope that is in you when he was looking for a word to to sum up and encapsulate the gospel the word peter used was hope and this is the word paul uses here for notice what he says for in this hope we were saved hope is a stand-in for the gospel hope is this life's way of expressing the gospel when we get to heaven we will no longer need hope because all of the realities of heaven will no longer be far off they will be right in front of us they will be our our every i was going to say every day but we're at eternity they will be our experience in heaven so we won't need to hope because they will be realized when we talk about hope sometimes when we use that word it's almost like wishful thinking like we could say and and i would say i hope the steelers make it back to the super bowl again someday that's maybe wishful thinking when the bible talks about hope here's what you can see just substitute in the word certainty because when we're talking about hope we're talking about god and when we're talking about god we're talking about certainty god is immutable we sing that one of these beautiful hymns when we say there is no shadow of turning with thee now if something's turning it's sort of it's sort of moving it's drifting right in god there is not even a hint of turning not even a shadow of turning because god is immutable when you see hope see certainty because god is a promise keeping god so we have all of these reasons to recognize that our present suffering can be endured we see that creation waits we see that while it appears to have futility in creation the reality is that our labor is not in vain we see that at redemption we were given the first fruits of our redemption and we long for that redemption of our bodies and we see that god has given us a great gift a gift of hope and so all of these lead us to the end of this passage all of this leads us to how verse 25 ends and that is this we wait for it with patience now one way to understand this word patience is the idea of endurance or the idea of perseverance let me illustrate this in the lives of two people one you know one you don't the first is a man that we called around our kids mr jim before we moved down here to orlando and florida we lived in lancaster pennsylvania and jim was an old farmer and he was an old man when we were up there and every sunday never fail we talked to him after church and jim was just the kindest sweetest man and he would always take an interest in my kids lives and he would remember what they would tell him from week to week and he would ask about their lives and he would just speak encouragement to them you know i didn't find out just a little bit ago that jim was in chronic pain that he suffered significantly in his life but he never let on he would stand there go to church every week which at times was difficult for him and he would go to church every week he would stand there he'd put a smile on his face and he would encourage as many people as he could as he walked by he saw that as his calling from god even while he was in chronic pain because his joy was in christ got word a few weeks ago that jim was fading very quickly and went into hospice and i was able to talk to jim and turned out the next day that he would be home with his savior but as i spoke with jim he didn't want to talk about anything he wanted to know how i was doing he wanted to know how my kids were doing and he just wanted to say a word of encouragement to me while he was on hospice i want you to recognize this i want you to realize this never underestimate never underestimate the impact of the quiet faithfulness of a life that the encouragement that you can have in your circle and i see mr jim as an inspiration for that the other person is someone that god gave a huge platform to and that was martin luther you know we celebrate martin luther it's reformation day we celebrate in 1517 when he goes and nails the 95 theses to the church door there at wittenberg starts this whole protestant reformation we celebrate at verms when he takes that courageous stand in fact next year 2021 is the 500th anniversary of verms where luther stood against pope and emperor and said i take my stand on the word of god my conscience is captive to the word of god here i stand what boldness what courage we love to talk about the example of martin luther but do you know that martin luther got old that he lived another 25 years past worms that he suffered terribly in fact at the end of his life he said i'm a tired worn-out old one-eyed man but you know what he did he stepped into the pulpit week in week out and he persevered if god's calling you to be a mr jim that in your circle to just simply be faithful and to endure and to persevere then use this text as a motivation for you to do that remember that we have no comparison with the glory that is to be revealed and if god is calling you to be a martin luther and to have that kind of impact then remember this text to that there will be sufferings in this present life but brothers and sisters in christ they are of absolutely no comparison for the glory that is to be revealed amen and amen we hope that you have been enjoying today's study of romans 8. we'll begin our next session in around 10 minutes or so however like we did earlier we've asked our pastors and teachers to answer a few different questions about christian life and ministry so you'll be able to hear some of those during these breaks [Music] is [Music] is [Music] is [Music] is [Music] yes [Music] is i'm convinced that many of the problems that we see in christians in general in latin america stem from a poor understanding of the gospel this not only affects our evangelism but also has a transcendental impact in our relationship with god and our practical christian life in general both legalism and worldliness continue to be two great evils that we must combat in the contemporary church and that will not be possible unless we provide the brethren with a good understanding of the gospel while helping them to connect the dots so to speak between the gospel and their emotional life the gospel and their personal relationships the gospel and work among many other things now i believe that just as it is important for believers to gain a better understanding of the gospel it is also extremely important for them to gain a better understanding of the importance of the local church in fact in recent years we have seen many young people especially embrace the great doctrines of the reformation perhaps influenced by what they read and what they hear on the internet and that is good very good but personally i am concerned when i see a lot of interest in the doctrines of grace but i do not see that this interest is growing along with an appreciation love and involvement with the local church the church is the body of christ the bride of the lamb and no reform movement can be sustained in time without a solid ecclesiology so it is our prayer that god will continue to use ministries such as the ligonier espanol among others so that believers in latin america will continue to grow in our understanding of the gospel and in our appreciation and love for the church until we all attain to the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the son of god to mature manhood to the measure of the stature of the fullness of christ so that we may no longer be children tossed to and fro by the waves and carried about by every wind of doctrines by human cunning by craftiness and deceitful schemes rather speaking the truth in love we are to grow up in every way into him who is the head into christ from whom the whole body join and held together by every joint with which it is equipped when each part is working properly makes the body grow so that it builds itself up in love [Music] is [Music] is [Music] since 1971 ligonier ministries has been engaged in helping people to know who god is it is our mission our passion and our purpose to proclaim teach and defend the holiness of god in all of its fullness we're striving to do that to as many people as possible that manifests itself through an event like today's romans 8 live conference but it's also through all of our other published materials as well as our broadcasts some of you may be familiar with our spanish language broadcast renavando tumenti and you can find out more information about that at renovandotomenti.org and that really is just a window into the manifold outreach of ligonier dr r.c sproul was committed to helping christians know what they believe why they believe it how to live it as well as how to share it with others and we're striving to do that really for millions of christians around the world now and god has blessed this outreach we're moving into our 50th anniversary year if you can believe that and so we're thankful to have you along on this journey as we seek to really put a resource into your hands that you would be able to share with others so thank you again for joining us today we're looking forward now to hearing from dr augustus nicodemus lopez he is the assistant pastor at first presbyterian church in jesuphae brazil and he's the vice president of the presbyterian church in brazil he is the former chancellor of mckinsey presbyterian university also in brazil in sao paulo area and he is the author of several books including the supremacy and sufficiency of christ let's go to dr lopez now hello dear brothers and friends i greet you all with the peace of the lord jesus and speak of my joy in participating in this congress this online conference at ligonier ministries associated with the dear late r c sprul my mission in this lecture is to talk about romans chapter 8 from verse 26 to verse 30. i ask that you have your bible close by where we will read and unpack the text as we proceed the title of my message is those whom he called the aim of the apostle paul in chapter 8 of the epistle is to assure the believers in rome that in christ jesus there was no longer any condemnation for them that's what he says there in the first verse of chapter eight then he goes on to show how the holy spirit of god transmits to us the justification obtained by christ on the cross and the certainty of it and this through various actions that the holy spirit does in us which paul describes from verse 2 onwards in the passage before us we will see yet another of these actions that the holy spirit exercises in christians in order to assure them of their redemption which is the work of intercession for them before god for those whom god has called what a high privilege for us to have the spirit of god interceding for us first let us see what this work of intercession consists of which is narrated in chapter 8 verse 26 when the apostle paul says that the spirit of god helps us in our weakness for we do not know how to pray as ought but the spirit himself intercedes for us this intercession of the spirit therefore is the help that he brings us in the midst of our weakness the word weakness here refers to the state in which we live after the fall and which paul already described here in chapter 8 from verses 23 to 25 as life in the world that groans under captivity under the slavery of the sin the domain of corruption and ourselves living here limited and marked by sin and the remnants of corruption that are in our hearts the holy spirit helps us by interceding for us before god this intercession is necessary because the apostle paul says here in verse 26 that we do not know how to pray as we ought this means that we don't know what arguments to use with god when we pray or what feelings we should have when we approach god and sometimes we find ourselves in faith other times we find ourselves doubtful questioning whether in fact god has an interest in us or whether he will do what we ask we often don't know what to pray for either do we or what to say before god when paul says here that we do not know how to pray as we ought it does not mean that the general and revealed will of god is not really available to us in fact for example in the lord's prayer the lord jesus taught us to pray for a number of things that are revealed by god and that express his will i pray that his name will be hallowed i pray that his kingdom will come i pray that his will be done i pray for the forgiveness of my sins i pray for daily bread i pray that i won't fall into temptation so we do know some things that we all should pray for for example what is taught to us in the lord's prayer but we often do not know what actually is god's secret will in his providence for us and the people that are around us because we are not aware of all the facts also when friends ask us to pray we also don't know all the facts surrounding that prayer request we are not sure of the situation in which they find themselves or even when we are going through crises and problems we don't know what would be best for us and that's what paul means we do not know how to pray properly we do not know what is best in certain situations whether it is what is best for us or what is best for friends for example with a terminal illness which is better pray that god will take him that he will go quickly to be in the presence of god and be free from suffering or pray that god will prolong his life here in this world or a missionary being persecuted in the field how should we pray for him for god to take away the persecution for god to persevere in the midst of persecution so that god opens a door for him to flee the mission field and return home paul's expression we do not know what to pray for as we ought expresses very well our limitations our little knowledge of reality and the fact that we are limited vulnerable subjective creatures and certainly need god's guidance calvin commenting on this passage said the following we are as the blind when we pray to god because when we feel our troubles we are confused not knowing how to distinguish the good from the profitable for example the apostle paul at first prayed that god would remove the thorn in his flesh when he felt the pain that the messenger of satan brought three times he asked god to remove the thorn it seemed to paul that it was the best thing but then he understood that the best answer would be to have grace to endure that thorn because that in the end kept him humble he also tells us there in philippines chapter 1 from 21 to 24 that he did not know what was best that he was divided he had the desire to leave and be with christ but he also felt he should stay and be with his brothers and in a situation like this it is difficult to pray isn't it the thing is so complex that even pagan philosophers for example like pythagoras said the following giving a reason not to pray do not pray for yourself because you do not know what to ask for even pagans understand this difficulty so since we don't know how to pray properly how does the holy spirit help us and the answer is he does not give us supernatural knowledge of things it is not that kind of help the holy spirit sharing with us that knowledge that belongs only to the father but he helps us by presenting our real needs to the father he knows how to do this expediently paul said that we don't know how to pray as we should but the spirit knows how to ask for us as it should be he knows the form he knows the content and here we are facing a mystery of course another of the mysteries that surround the blessed person of the triune god one person from the trinity interceding to another giving us the idea of difference in hierarchy and power there is only one god who exists in three distinct persons but these three persons are organized and related and fulfilling different roles in the eternal plan of man's redemption the father planned it the father engineered the story of redemption the sun came in the flesh the sun died rose and intercedes for us the holy spirit came applied and intercedes within us how does he do this how does he intercede for us paul tells us in verse 26 he intercedes for us with groanings too deep for words this means that he works in our hearts to awaken our desire yearning for holiness and to do god's will and the holy spirit so stimulates and strengthens us that we reach the point of expressing ourselves before god in groans too deep for words here are the expressions of our hearts before god in prayer the fruit of the deepest anguish uncertainty and suffering it is not the gift of tongues as some people want but it is that moment of intense perplexity for those who want to do god's will and do not know exactly how to do it this reflects the intensity of the holy spirit's longing for a man's final redemption and for the consummation of all things and this is what the new testament calls praying in the spirit back in ephesians chapter 6 verse 18 the apostle paul instructs the ephesians to pray at all times in the spirit and jude in verse 20 of his letter also instructs his readers that they should pray in the holy spirit this is what the holy spirit does and this is the way in which he convinces us and gives us assurances that we are truly of god because he was sent from the father to dwell in us and make our prayers and supplications come to the presence of god in the right way in the right way for the right subjects and of course all this is based on the mediation of the lord jesus who is the mediator between us and god the spirit paul says here in verse 27 was sent by the father it is by the father's will that he does this it is by the father's will that he came to intercede for us let us understand the picture in which the apostle paul is placing before us here there are five points i would like to highlight for you here in verse 27. first we seek the father in prayer afflicted our hearts groaning anguished because we do not know how to pray in the way as we ought the holy spirit who dwells in us knows what is best for us he knows what the father wants for us so thirdly he intercedes for it intensely or in paul's words with groanings too deep for words and encourages us to pray to lift our hearts to the father and our groans are the groans of the holy spirit and fourth the father searches the hearts of believers when they pray penetrates their motivations observe sincerity and faith and fifth he knows the mind of the holy spirit that is what the holy spirit has in mind what the holy spirit is asking for us and through us here we see a a synergy a combination of the holy spirit and our own spirit to the point that the groans of the spirit are ours the yearnings of the spirit are ours what comes to mind who as god is is the mind of the holy spirit although paul does not say tear but god answers his children's prayers mediated by the intercession of his spirit sometimes it doesn't seem so right sometimes it doesn't seem so it seems that god did not hear us it seems that he denied it or that he did not want to answer but it is because we don't really know what the holy spirit has asked for therefore we must fully trust in the sovereignty the love and the justice of our god and that while we pray even if we do not know how to pray as we ought even if we do not have the right words or know the right subjects but the spirit of god acts in us in such a way speaking to our heart that our prayers become pleasing to god acceptable before god all of this of course in the mediation of our lord and savior jesus christ but let me move on now to the second part of my message in the first part we saw the holy spirit's intercession for us in prayer as a part of his work in comforting us and confirming our redemption and our justification by faith the second part tells us that his intercession of the spirit for us is part of god's plan to save for himself a holy people a people who love him for all eternity this is what paul is talking about here in chapter 8 from verse 20 to verse 30 when he says and we know that for those who love god all things work together for good and that god knew them beforehand god predestined them god called them god justified them and god glorified them this is what paul is talking about here and of course three points are important here to be discussed the first obviously is what is this good to which paul refers here when he says and we know that for those who love god all things work together for good this good here is not always a happy ending a life full of good things it's not the comforts here of this world although of course god can do that occasionally the good here cannot be this because often many servants of god faithful people suffered in this world lost their lives in a cruel and violent way others went through illness persecution financial deprivation and it was not because they did not love god therefore the good here cannot be confused with material goods it is the end result of the complete salvation process and the words of the apostle paul right here further ahead in verse 29 it is to be conformed to the image of his son or simply to be like christ as he said here so that we may be in the image or in the likeness of his son and how is the son of god now what is jesus like now he has a resurrected body he is he is glorious immortal perfect full of joy satisfaction complete whole god's plan is for us to be like this for us to be like christ so that he may be the first born among many brothers which is what paul states there in chapter 8 verse 29 therefore it is a radical process of transforming sinners enemies of god to brothers of christ and like him and this process it began from eternity god knew and predestined us this is how paul begins here this chain of actions of god that he places in the past because it has already happened even when he speaks of future glory in the past tense because it is as certain as if it had already happened god knew and predestined us in eternity here in this world he called and justified us and at the end of time god will glorify us this is the supreme good that god has planned for us which is superior to all the treasures of this world is it not it is what paul had said before before in other words he had spoken of the glory that is to be revealed to us see there in chapter 8 verse 18. he spoke of the freedom of the glory of the children of god see chapter 8 verse 21 and paul referred to the redemption of our body chapter 8 verse 23 second point so first i'm trying to define what is the good that is mentioned here and we know that for those who love god all things work together for good we have already seen that the good here is the end result of the plan of redemption it is called justification redemption and glorification now my second point is the way in which god works for this good to be achieved the way is this he makes all of these things work together for that goal for that good for the good of those who love him in other words god functions through all of these things to promote that good in the lives of those who love him and what are all these things that work together that cooperate together for that in the context here of romans 8 we can identify at least three things in fact in the context of romans the justification through the work of christ chapters 3 to 5 the sufferings of that life chapter 5 3 to 5 and the intercession of the holy spirit which we have seen from verse 26 to verse 27 here in chapter eight it is in this way acting through these things the justification the suffering and the sanctification and the intercession of the holy spirit it is in this way that god makes everything work together to promote our resemblance to his son who is the greatest good third god acts in this way only for those who love him as paul says there at the end of verse 28 those who love god to love god is to believe in god to desire him to seek him to enjoy his presence to consider him your greatest and most precious treasure in this world who then are those who truly love god paul says from verse 29 they are those whom god knew beforehand new beforehand here does not mean god's foreknowledge of choosing people for salvation as if god had looked into the future seen who would believe in christ jesus and predestined that person for salvation knowing here has a much deeper meaning knowing here is used in an old testament sense for example genesis 18 19 when uh knowing there has the same meaning as choosing or amos chapter 3 verse 2 a similar passage when the prophet says speaking from god of all the families of the earth i have only known you and to know there means to choose in the new testament the word to know means intimate involvement matthew 1 25. joseph knew mary his beloved wife in the sense of sexual intercourse romans 11 2 knowing is the opposite of rejecting you can check it out there in acts 2 23 god's foreknowledge is the same as his design and also in the first book of peter chapter 1 verse 2 god's foreknowledge is his loving will then we could translate the expression to those who know beforehand as those who were chosen beforehand by god loved by god known intimately by god there are those whom god has predestined that is to whom god has given an anticipated destiny and the destiny is this to be like jesus christ who is the greatest good so that jesus may be the firstborn among many brothers therefore here we have the grounds to say that the doctrine of predestination and election is not a blank check to live a life of sin since god predestined us to be in the image of his son jesus and those paul says whom he predestined he also called chapter 8 verse 30. and the call here is the effectual call when god irresistibly draws us by the preaching of the gospel and by the power of the holy spirit in determined time and place and those whom he predestined he also called and those whom he called he also justified said the apostle paul and only to them he imputed to them the righteousness of christ considered them righteous and forgave all of their sins and those whom he justified he also glorified here paul refers to the final stage of salvation which will still take place at the glorious coming of the lord jesus and at the resurrection of the dead as paul had already said there in chapter 8 from verse 21 to verse 25. paul speaks in the past tense uh that god has already glorified because being persuaded confident paul can refer to it as already an accomplished act because the will of god is immutable the predestined called justified will never fall from grace or lose their salvation and so these are the ones who love god mentioned in chapter 8 verse 28 and it is in favor of these and only these that god causes everything to cooperate for their good that is for them to achieve glorification as for the rest those who have been passed over all things work together for their eternal condemnation sufferings provoke rebellion revolt disbelief good things provoke autonomy forgetfulness of god idolatry of good things arrogance and blindness the gospel itself ends up being the smell of death for death god makes everything cooperate for the good of his elect at the same time everything cooperates in condemning the reprobate the wicked and the unbelievers what a mercy from god to elect and predestin us to be part of his people i want to end here with some practical applications first paul says in verse 28 that we know these things we know that all things work together for good for those who love god this means that the one who loves god is aware that salvation is from god and that god will finish what he started and there is no greater source of comfort and solace than this knowing that there is a god who makes all things work together for my good in the midst of a world that groans in the midst of our own groaning in the midst of pain suffering financial uncertainty uncertainty about the future the spirit of god groans in us groans with us but to those who don't know these things here's a word from me you who may be listening to this conference and who still do not have this conviction that you're part of those who have been called to whom he has called those whom god chose because he loved you before the foundation of the world justified in christ and has already glorified you know the following look at christ this is where our security is this is where our certainty lies trust fully in the lord jesus and in the work he has done on that cross and trust in the intercession of the spirit of god for you you are not alone what a great redemption what a great gospel praise god for the work of his spirit praise be to god that he loved us he called us and predestined us praise his name because we are his may god bless your life keep watching this blessed conference for the glory of god a big hug dr rc sprole observed that the light of the reformation was the light of the bible and that's really what happened during that time period in the 1500s when god used pastors and teachers ordinary men to lift up his majestic word and god caused that word to expand throughout the continent of europe and really to reach many places on this continent really recovering something that was lost it was the theme of the reformers to go ad fontes to the source and so martin luther john calvin and many others really were embarking on a recovery effort they weren't seeking to do anything new or innovative instead they were trying to get people to go back to the text of the word of god to the original languages and then to bring that forward to their generation and that is really what all of us who are seeking to advance the cause of the reformation are trying to do even through an event like today looking at romans 8 this majestic sweeping expanse of god's sovereign grace and the work of jesus christ and the power of the holy spirit as god continues to build his church and so it's not by accident that we are hosting this event on what we call reformation day remembering that event 503 years ago when martin luther nailed 95 theses 95 statements of disputation onto the castle church door there in wittenberg germany we admired luther for his courage and his confidence in god and that is really what we are striving to do even today to give you courage and confidence in the word of god so that you would be able to share the riches of god's grace with those around you and so today let's go ahead and look at dr burke parsons next message now dr parsons works alongside of us here in the headquarters at ligander ministries where he serves as our chief publishing officer many of you if you're familiar with table talk magazine would know him as really the lead editor for that magazine where he's stewarded and been part of that team for 20 years now but his day job that he loves is being a pastor of god's people loving and serving the people at saint andrews chapel here in sanford florida where he is the senior pastor he's a ligner ministries teaching fellow and the author of why do we have creeds editor of assured by god as well as a collected works volume on john calvin a heart for devotion doctrine and doxology and co-translator and co-editor of a little book on the christian life also by john calvin let's go to dr parsons now it is a great honor to be with you today i have a great heart and passion for the church throughout the world and in particular the church in latin america and i am honored to serve you today as i strive to bring to you the word of god from paul's epistle to the romans in chapter 8 and verses 31 and following i'm also grateful to have this audience here before me today who is sitting under the ministry of the word of god and so let us turn our attention to paul's epistle to romans chapter 8 and verse 31 this is the word of god what then shall we say to these things if god is for us who can be against us he who did not spare his own son but gave him up for us all how will he not also with him graciously give us all things who shall bring any charge against god's elect it is god who justifies who is to condemn christ jesus is the one who died more than that who was raised who is at the right hand of god who indeed is interceding for us who shall separate us from the love of christ shall tribulation or distress or persecution or famine or nakedness or danger or sword as it is written for your sake we are being killed all the day long we are regarded as sheep to be slaughtered no in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us for i am sure that neither death nor life nor angels nor rulers nor things present or things to come nor powers nor height nor depth nor anything else in all creation will be able to separate us from the love of god in christ jesus our lord let's pray together father we thank you for your word and we thank you lord for your holy spirit who indwells us and who helps us who comes to our aid daily and we need the help of your spirit o lord every day and we ask now lord that by your spirit you would help us to understand your word that we might know your word that we might know you our god our savior that we might love you more with all our being and that we might love our neighbor as ourselves to the end o lord that you might receive all glory in our lives for it's in christ's name we pray amen having preached through paul's epistle to the romans several years ago at saint andrews chapel i preached through this passage over the course of four different sermons and so it is my attempt in our brief time together today to address this passage in a very short time not in four sermons but in one sermon this passage is one of the most significant passages not only in paul's epistle to the romans but it's also one of the most significant and most loved passages in all the bible one of the things that christians often fail to understand in coming to the book of romans is that paul in writing to the romans was writing to christians who were suffering it's often overlooked the roman christians were suffering they were not only being persecuted from without they were experiencing suffering and persecution from within the jews who became christians who entered the churches at rome were there at rome among the churches for many years until the emperor claudius expelled them from rome and with the edict of claudius jews fled from rome under the persecution of claudius and rome now claudius died in 54 and soon after he died paul's epistle to the romans arrived at rome these jews had begun to trickle back in to rome and into the roman churches and these gentile christians the christians among the nations roman christians and jewish christians were facing significant persecution they were suffering finding jobs finding community finding friendships finding places where they could worship many of you are of course aware of the catacombs beneath the streets of rome where christians had to hide away in order to worship god the roman christians were suffering and all throughout this epistle we see paul talking about suffering and how christians can deal with suffering we see this from the very beginning but one of the things that we see paul doing in this epistle in addressing suffering in teaching christians is that he teaches them theology now in our day people in talking about theology say you know theology is for pastors it's for scholars it's for seminary professors theology is not really for average people we don't really need to study theology we don't really need to delve deeply into the doctrine of scripture we simply need to know the basics of the faith what we really need to know is how to apply these things to our lives well it is true that we need to know the basics of the faith and it is true that we need to know how to apply all things in scripture to our lives but fundamentally what is it that we're applying we are applying scripture and scripture contains the theology of god of ourselves and of all things and we as christians need theology and we need it desperately so paul did not only speak about their suffering rather he taught them theology the theology of god from all of scripture so that they might rightly understand god themselves and how to endure suffering dear friends what we need in our lives when we suffer when we struggle when we are persecuted from without and from within because it's not just the persecutions that we receive from the world it's sometimes the persecutions and the suffering that we receive from people that we know and love but i would suggest that for most of us the greatest suffering that we experience in our lives comes from our great accuser satan and the way in which he accuses us and the way in which he causes us to doubt to doubt our salvation to doubt god to doubt his goodness to doubt his sovereignty to doubt his grace and the way in which our own deceitful hearts even persecute us from within they cause us to doubt they cause us to worry they cause us to fear and when persecution and suffering and trials come into our lives we wonder where is god why isn't he listening to us is he there can he hear us paul teaches us in this magnum opus of systematic theology the basic tenets of the theology of the christian faith and he shows us how that theology applies to all of life even in our suffering even when the world comes against us even when our family hates us even when our hearts deceive us and even when satan accuses us paul has written a beautiful passage in romans chapter 8 following upon the heels of course of romans chapter 7 wherein paul talks about the struggle between the flesh and the spirit and it's a real struggle that exists for every christian it is the struggle of every believer that struggle that suffering that we experience of that daily and hourly wrestling between the spirit and the flesh is real it is a war that exists only for christians because there's only christians who have the spirit within them who have that old man the flesh that we're constantly warring with and right upon the heels of romans chapter 7 paul asserts boldly and clearly at the outset of chapter 8 there is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in christ jesus you see we are prone to believe the devil's lies we are prone to believe the lies of our own flesh and the lies of our own hearts and sometimes we wallow in the mire of those doubts of those fears of those anxieties and we in fact sometimes err in believing that we are condemned and we lack assurance we lack hope and we doubt paul reminds us that there is no condemnation not now not ever that the salvation that we have from our god is certain and secure because here's the truth of the matter if we could lose our salvation we would but god is the one who secures us god is the one who holds us in the palm of his hand god is the one who won't let us go even on days when we feel like running away he won't let us go he secures us and preserves us from the beginning to the end we can't preserve ourselves we would fall away in our own strength but we are saved and secured by the strength of god you see if we have faith real faith not just faith of a mental ascent believing things about god or believing things about jesus even believing that jesus died on the cross we are called not to have a mere intellectual assent we are called to have a faith that is deep that is a fiduciary faith a trusting faith a resting faith in christ and if we have that faith no matter how strong it is or no matter how weak it is if it is real faith it is a faith in christ and so whether our faith is strong or whether our faith is weak we all believe in the same one strong and mighty christ it's like a fire a fire is a fire if it is setting an entire forest a flame or if it is just giving light from a candle it's still fire and whether our faith is small or great if it is real it is the worth of our savior that saves us ultimately paul says in verse 31 what shall we say to these things everything that he has considered from romans 8 1 and throughout but not just there but really everything he's considered throughout all of romans thus far what shall we say to all these things what shall be our response we need to ask that question of ourselves when we hear the gospel preached when we hear how great our salvation is when we hear what god has done for us when we hear the hope that we have in christ do we just say that's nice do we just sit back and say well tell me more because that's not good enough that's not exciting enough and in many places and in many churches people are looking for more than that they want something beyond the gospel they want something that's that's new and fresh and exciting that they haven't heard before but the gospel and our salvation is what's to get us really excited truly and too often we grow bored with it and that is to our shame because the gospel in this life is the greatest thing that should give us hope deep hope and deep and abiding joy so what is our response what is your response what shall we say to these things if god is for us deus pro-nobis in the latin if god is for us then who what can be against us and the answer of course is nothing now paul could have just stopped right there he in one sense didn't really need to say anything more if god is for you then who or what satan your accuser the world the roman emperor your own heart who can really ultimately truly be against you the answer is no one nothing but he goes on to explain to help us understand the significance of this verse 32 he who did not spare his own son but gave him up for us all both jews and gentiles all christians all peoples nations tribes tongues and peoples he gave him up for us all you think about that that the god of the universe created everything for his own glory created a people for himself we rebelled against him we became in opposition to him at enmity with him we hid from him we ran from him and when he came we killed him in the person in jesus christ we put the perfect god-man on the cross but in doing so by the counsel of god and the sovereign ordaining perfect will of god god gave him up for us god poured out his wrath upon his son so that he could spare us from his eternal wrath and that wrath still abides on those who do not belong to him that wrath is being poured out that wrath is still upon those who are outside of christ who are not united to christ and who do not belong to christ that is why dearly beloved we must be a people with a heart and a passion for the gospel and for the souls of unbelievers because if we do not care about unbelievers then we ourselves as spurgeon said are not saved at all paul had a burden for the lost as we see at the beginning of romans 9 and the beginning of romans 10 paul had a burden not only for his own countrymen but for the nations and so how should we respond what shall we say to this that god who did not spare his own son but gave him up for us all how will he also not with him graciously give us all things now when we read that most of us don't believe it we struggle to believe that god has given us all things you say what does that exactly mean peter writes in his epistle in second peter in chapter 1 and verse 3 his divine power has granted to us all things that pertain to life and godliness through the knowledge of him who called us to his own glory and excellence he has granted to us all things that pertain not only to godliness but to life and godliness do you believe that they're all yours if you're a christian if you know the lord jesus christ all the things that god has all the things that christ has been given if you're united to him by faith are yours in christ it takes us all our lives by god's preserving mercy and grace sometimes through taking things from us sometimes through taking those that we love from us to teach us and to train us and to show us that we really do have all things in him through suffering and through trials and through loss that we recognize all that we really do have in christ now paul goes on to explain though not comprehensively but to give to us parameters to give to us how it is that we have all these things the extent to which we have all these things giving to us here an argument from the greater to the lesser if he has not spared his own son how will he not also with him freely give us all things and then he asks another question in verse 33 a rhetorical one but still a question that we need to ponder who shall bring any charge against god's elect now notice that paul introduces a term here elect for a particular reason now it's not altogether new paul has explained this already in romans eight he goes on to explain it even further in romans 9 where he helps us to understand how god is sovereign over salvation both of the election of those who belonged him from before the foundation of the earth and the passing over and the reprobation of all those who do not belong to him from the foundation of the earth paul is saying that this persevering grace of god belongs solely to the elect if god has chosen us if god has foreknown us if it is in fact the case as paul has already made clear that it's as if we're already glorified that we're already seated with christ in the heavenly places as he writes in ephesians who can bring any charge against us let me ask you a question do you fret and worry about judgment day do you fret and worry do you fear what might happen at judgment day i think there are christians who worry that their all their sins are somehow going to be exposed to all the world now nowhere in the bible does it say that it talks about god dealing with sin how we will all be present before god that we will all be present before the judgment seat but for those who are in christ there is no one who will bring a charge against us not even our own deceitful hearts you know when someone comes up to you and compliments you tells you that they think you're a good person or a humble person or a godly person typically if we are humble at all we might say something like thank you but you don't really know me that well because if you really knew me you would know that i'm not that humble you know that in my heart i'm not as godly as i want to be i'm not as holy as i want to be i'm not as good as maybe you think i am there are some times when people compliment me i almost start laughing because i say you don't know me at all but on the judgment day there'll be no one to accuse us who can bring a charge against god's elect now what's beautiful about this passage paul uses a lot of judicial and forensic terminology now that's very significant especially when we consider some of the claims of some academics academics such as nt wright who want to suggest that the salvation language of scripture that the language of god's forensic justification of the sinner of declaring us righteous in christ as a judge would declare someone righteous a defendant righteous before him as right and others want to suggest that language is really not biblical language or not helpful theological language well if it's not helpful why does paul use it why is he using courtroom language as scholars say why is he using judicial forensic language of bringing any charge who is to condemn he says in verse 34. this is language of clearing those who are sinners who have trusted in christ this is language of god not condemning and of justifying of declaring righteous and of pardoning those who are once his enemies it is god who justifies once and for all we do not have to await another sort of justification in the future we do not have to fear that there is going to be a time where we may not be finally justified we are justified once and for all the justification of god is a one-time act wherein god pardons all our sins at judgment day when we appear before christ we will either be found in christ or outside of christ that's the question where are we are we in him because if we are then no one will bring a charge it is god who justifies it is god who justified you we didn't justify ourselves did we we didn't make ourselves christians have you ever had someone come up to you and ask you to simple question like well why are you a christian i've had numerous people over the years ask me things like that some have asked why do you believe in god fed so-called atheists self-proclaimed agnostics people from all different walks of life say why do you believe in god and sometimes my simple answer at the outset is i can't help but not believe in him i can't not believe it it's impossible not to believe in god why are you a christian god made me one it's not because i figured it all out it's not because i'm extra good or extra strong or because i i've i've more educated it's because god did it it's because god made me believe it's because god made me a christian as i've spent time overseas in muslim dominated countries and talking with converted people to christ from a muslim background when they tell their families that they have been converted to christ that they are now christians their families disown them this happens often even in latin american countries and even sometimes in the united states wherein people who are a part of the roman church when they leave the roman church or leave the roman communion and are converted to gospel-centered christianity sometimes their families disown them in the muslim world what many people do many young and older people do in explaining this to their families is they say god did this in me god brought me to himself god god converted my heart almost as if saying don't blame me blame god god is the one who made me a christian he was the one who regenerated me and made me alive he was the one who made his spirit work in my heart and of course unbelievers can't understand that they can't get that god is the one who justifies we did not justify ourselves we are not the ones who chose christ he chose us and enabled us to believe in him to receive him to choose him christ jesus is the one who died more than that was raised who is at the right hand of god who indeed is interceding for us paul has just explained to us not only the death of christ but the resurrection of christ and also what we speak of in theological terms as the session of christ now when we speak of christ's exalted state we speak in systematic theology of his four-fold exalted state in fact i just had the opportunity to preach on this at st andrews chapel last sunday evening in our study of acts chapter 1 on the ascension and session of christ this coming lord's day it is my plan to preach on the second coming of christ well when we speak of the exaltation of christ in its four-fold stage we first speak of the resurrection of christ then the ascension of christ the session of christ wherein christ is interceding for us at the right hand of the father which is taken in part from psalm 110 one of the most off-quoted verses and passages in the new testament and then fourthly the second coming of christ now paul has included something here that most of the time when we read this passage we kind of just go past paul has mentioned here that christ who indeed with emphasis paul wants to emphasize because we are prone to say really can it really be the case that jesus christ is praying for us now do we believe that when you suffer when you struggle when you go through trials i know how it feels especially when that trial lasts a long time especially when we keep praying for months and years and even sometimes decades our child has a disease when our spouse is suffering when we are struggling with a particular sin we sometimes question not only if god is listening we sometimes question if he's there at all and we question that christ is praying for us believers we must recapture the foundation of our faith remembering what jesus is doing right now he is interceding for us he cares about us more than we could possibly care about ourselves he cares about our trials and our suffering and our persecution far more than we could even care about ourselves because he cares about it for his own name's sake because he has put his name on the line for us he's praying for us he's interceding for us now at the right hand of the father and he's coming back for us we pray and long for the second coming of christ not just on bad days but as christians we are to pray and to long for and earnestly desire christ's return even on the good days even on the days when we are filled with joy and happiness and a wonderful experience even on those days let us pray and long for and say lord jesus as john prayed come quickly but right now at the right hand of the father on high in power ruling and reigning with dominion and authority jesus is praying for you he is interceding for us and so paul asks again in a different way who shall separate us from the love of god in christ jesus who shall separate us from this love of christ shall tribulation distress that's an interesting word isn't it that paul would include distress with persecution and famine and nakedness and danger and sword i mean when paul says sword what does he mean he means being killed being executed by the sword soon after paul wrote to the romans don't forget they then suffered under the neuronic persecutions under the emperor nero christians were burned they were dipped in vats of oil and set upon spikes in the gardens of nero so that they could light his garden parties but distress it's interesting that word distress because it it it actually speaks of a narrowness of an area where we are squeezed in and pressed in and what paul is telling us here is that even in life when we feel squeezed in and pressed in by the narrowness of the walls as they're closing in around us by the walls of our own hearts but even then we're to remember the love of christ notice paul doesn't say it's at those times when you need to rely on your own strength because whatever doesn't kill you makes you stronger rather what paul would teach us so whatever doesn't kill us actually makes us weaker it makes us more dependent on christ it makes us trust him more it makes us rely upon him more and that's what trials do that's what suffering does not to rely on our own strength but to rely on the love of christ for as it is written for your sake we are being killed all the day long we are regarded as sheep to be slaughtered quotation from psalm 44 where the psalmist is wrestling with the feeling that they have been rejected by god and asked the question we we're being persecuted we're being slaughtered all the day long as sheep to be slaughtered but it finishes it concludes by reminding us by reminding israel of the steadfast love of god and so paul can conclude this glorious section and all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us through christ we have conquered beyond what is necessary beyond what we needed to because christ has gone before us conquering and to conquer and so paul can assert boldly for i am sure i am certain that neither death nor life nor angels nor rulers nor things present nor things to come nor powers nor height nor depth nor anything else and all creation will be able to separate us from the love of god in christ jesus our lord dear believer suffering struggling doubting wallowing in the mire of our own despair at times let us remember always that we have a confidence not in ourselves not in how great we are how great our faith is our confidence our assurance can only be now and forever in christ alone and when the devil comes accusing and wants us to look at our circumstances and our situations and our sufferings what we have to do is not look at them but look at the cross for what god has done for us in christ our savior let's pray father thank you and we give you all praise and glory for what you have done for us in giving your son pouring out your wrath upon him saving us justifying us conforming us to his image glorifying us because of your amazing grace for it's in christ's name and by your spirit we pray amen well i hope that you have enjoyed today's study of romans 8. take a moment to share this video with those around you share it online we're going to have this available for you so you can turn back to it and reference it we do hope that this would only be the first of many events like this that we can have to serve our brothers and sisters in christ around the world may god richly bless you as you study his word you

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Keywords: Ligonier, Ligonier Ministries, Reformed Theology, Reformation Theology, Theology, Educational, romans 8, romans, romans chapter 8, explaining romans 8, understanding romans 8, romans 8 explained, spanish, portuguese, Sinclair Ferguson, Sugel Michelén, Stephen Nichols, Augustus Nicodemus, Miguel Núñez, burk parsons, theology, reformed, educational, christian, christianity, god, the bible, bible study

Id: FaRPtCvAibw

Length: 212min 7sec (12727 seconds)

Published: Sat Oct 31 2020