Father, I am so grateful for your love for us, and I thank you that as we look at the snow outside, Father, you have promised that you will wash us whiter than snow from our sin, and I thank you for that promise. Thank you for the truths of your Word. I pray that it would penetrate our hearts and our minds today. I pray that it would challenge us, and I just pray that you would be honored and glorified. In Jesus' name I pray. Amen. Well, the year was 1999. That daughter right there, she was living in England at the time, and no, she did not know Andy yet. She went over there for two years to work in the missions organization that my sister Bev and her husband Paul worked in. So this summer in 1999, Cecil and I, our son Jeremy, and my sister Barb decided to go over and pay them a visit. Which we did, and we had a blast. We saw so many sights. We were on the run all the time, and we just had such a good time. And then coming back, you know, after vacation, you're just exhausted from all the running around you're doing. The time change is just tiring, and I was not looking forward. Our last flight was from St. Louis to Omaha. And I was not looking forward to that because we were supposed to get into Omaha at 10 o'clock at night, and then we were going to drive home. So when you're tired, it just isn't something to look forward to. And the worst part was, when we got on the plane, we taxied out and then we sat there for 45 minutes on the tarmac. You know, and it was hot, those little air conditioning things did not help. You know, and you're just hot and tired and you're getting cranky. But eventually, 45 minutes after our supposed take-off time, we take off. We take off and we're up in the air and all of a sudden the plane descends a little bit, levels off, and I didn't think anything about it. After a few minutes the plane descended a little bit again, leveled off, and I said to Cecil, why are we descending? I've never had that happen before when we're flying. And then the pilot's voice comes over the intercom and says to the stewardess to stay in their seat and buckle up. He apologizes for the inconvenience, but there would be no beverage cart for this flight. And you're thinking, something must be going on. And then all of a sudden, we hear this big whoosh in the back of the plane. I mean, it was loud. Every passenger's head turned and looked at the back of the plane. You're thinking, is our tail falling off or what is going on? That wind sound was so loud coming through there. This was a plane that had two seats on each side and Miguel and a couple rows ahead of us. She was sitting in those two seats by herself. And all of a sudden she started hollering, we're going to die! We're all going to die! And I'm thinking, you're not helping. And this pilot's voice comes across the intercom. said, ladies and gentlemen, just stay calm. We just blew a seal in the back of the plane. We're on our way to Omaha. We'll be there soon. Don't worry. Easy for him to say. So we go. We finally see the lights of the Omaha airport. I look down and there are ambulances and fire trucks and And police cars, you know, all with their lights on, and I said to Cecil, is that for us? Knowing full well that it was. And I looked at my watch, and the crazy thing was, after having taken off 45 minutes late, we got into Omaha at 10 o'clock. So I knew the pilot was on the airwaves to the Omaha airport saying, clear the airwaves, we're making a beeline for Omaha, no going around, you know, we need to get this thing down. So, I was in that plane, but I didn't feel very secure in that plane. In fact, there were moments when I really thought that we were going to go down. It got so loud in there. But if it had gone down, I know one thing for sure, that my final destination is secure because Romans 8 won. Therefore, there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. What an amazing truth. That's the title of my talk today. Our one, our only security is in Christ Jesus. Now, you can tell going through Romans that Paul loved to talk about the gospel. I mean, we've been talking about it all through Romans, and I hope you're not sitting there thinking, man, another talk about the gospel. And it will be a little bit about that, but we're going to get into practical living too today. But gals, we should never, ever get tired of hearing about the gospel. Over Thanksgiving, the kids, all but Sherry from North Carolina, they weren't able to make it, but the other three kids were home with their families. And we had a good time. It's usually chaotic and a lot of fun, a lot of craziness going on. But every once in a while, us adults get to have a serious conversation in the midst of it. And we were sharing one day, and Kayla was telling us that she had a good friend in their church, a very good friend. And she and her husband were having some marital problems, so Kayla and her husband Jeremy were trying to help them through these things. And Kayla was saying how many hours she spent praying with her, crying with her, encouraging her in the Word, and stuff like that. And Kayla said one time this lady went to a women's conference and it wasn't a biblical-based one. So I just tell you that, ladies, because beware of where you get your advice from. You will hear a lot of voices out there that will tell you what you want to hear, but it's not godly-based. And Kayla said she came back from that conference and she was different. She was just ready to trash her husband, to throw the whole thing out. She just wanted nothing more to do with trying to heal that marriage. And at this time, her husband really was coming around and willing to do the things that needed to be worked on. And Kayla said in this process, I won't go into all the details, but there was something biblically that Kayla said she knew she had to do. And she said her friend looked her in the eye and pointed her finger in her face and she said, Kayla, if you do this, I will never forgive you. And Kayla, with tears streaming down her face, said, I could not believe how much that hurt. After all we've been through together, a good friend of mine saying that to me, But then Taylor said, but you know what it really has made me appreciate my salvation so much for more Because in reality God is the only one who has the right to say to us I will never forgive you and yet he does it over and over and over again What an amazing God we have what an awesome truth in him We are starting on Romans chapter 8 today. This chapter is absolutely one of my favorites in the Bible. I don't know if it is the favorite, but if somebody asked me to list my favorites, I know this would be included in it. It has so many wonderful truths in it. In fact, there's so much to unpack in this chapter that we've divided it into three different talks. So I'm doing verses 1 through 17 today. But in studying just these first 17 verses, I'm kind of jealous of the two that get to do the other two, because there's so much awesome truth in there. And sometimes when I'm done studying, it just leads me to worship, and I just pray that that will be the result of us all today. J. Vernon McGee said about this chapter, and I quote, we enter this chapter with no condemnation. We close with no separation. And in between, all things work together for good to those who love God." So how does it get any better than that? Warren Wiersbe has four points to this chapter. The first in verses 1 through 4, it's freedom from judgment. And I see some of you writing, so I'll give you time. Verses 1 through 4 are freedom from judgment. Verses 5 through 17, are freedom from defeat. Verses 18 through 30 is freedom from discouragement. And verses 31 to 39 are freedom from fear. So I get to talk about those first two, freedom from judgment and freedom from defeat. So let's read these first four verses in Romans 8, freedom from judgment. Therefore there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus, because through Christ Jesus the law of the spirit of life set me free from the law of sin and death. For what the law was powerless to do in that it was weakened by the sinful nature, God did by sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful man to be a sin offering. And so he condemned sin and sinful man in order that the righteous requirements of the law might be fully met in us, who do not live according to the sinful nature, but according to the spirit. You know, you could do weeks of study. You could do an amazing study on those three words alone, in Christ Jesus. Do you know what is available to us who are in Christ Jesus? Let me just fill you in on some. In Christ Jesus, we are alive to God, Romans 6, 11. We are possessors of eternal life, Romans 6, 23. We have no condemnation, Romans 8, 1. We are members of one spiritual body, Romans 12, 5. We are sharers in Christ's work, Romans 16, 3 through 9. We are sanctified, 1 Corinthians 1, 2. We are recipients of grace, 1 Corinthians 1, 4. We are secure in death. First Corinthians 15, 20 to 22. We are bold to speak the truth. Second Corinthians 2, 17. We are a new creation. Second Corinthians 5, 17. We have freedom. Galatians 2, 4. We are justified. Galatians 2, 17. We are sons of God. Galatians... I don't know what that noise was. We are sons of God, Galatians 3, 26 and 27. We are one with others, regardless of race, gender, or social condition. That's Galatians 3, 28. We are recipients of every spiritual blessing, Ephesians 1, 3. We are seated in the heavens, Ephesians 2, 6. We are created for good works, Ephesians 2, 10. We are brought near to God, Ephesians 2.13, we are partakers with Jews of the promise. Ephesians 3.6, we are forgiven by God. Ephesians 4.32, we are at peace with God. Philippians 4.7, we are provided for. Philippians 4.19, we are assured of the resurrection of our bodies. 1 Thessalonians 4.16, we have the promise of life. 2 Timothy 1.1, we have salvation. 2 Timothy 2.10, and that's just some of them. All the truths that are in, because we are in Christ. Did you get all that? Now don't worry, I printed them off so I'll give them to you if you want them. So many awesome truths of just being in Christ Jesus. And all of those things are true of us who have put our faith in Jesus Christ. To those of us who are in Christ. And notice it says here that the law was powerless because it was weakened by our sinful nature. That doesn't mean that there was anything wrong with the law. Moses told the people of Israel in Deuteronomy 32, verses 46 and 47, after he gave them the law, Moses said, take to heart all the words I have solemnly declared to you this day, so that you may command your children to obey carefully all the words of this law. They are not just idle words to you, they are your life. So it wasn't that the law was bad. The problem isn't the law, the problem is us. We just cannot keep it. So it was weakened by our sinful nature. The law was powerless, but notice what God did. says he sent his own son in the likeness of sinful man. And those are important words, in the likeness of. He was not a sinful man, but he took on the form of man, the form of sinful man. Why did he do that? He did that to become our sin offering. And so God condemned, because of Jesus Christ, sin in sinful man. Now when you think about that, God condemned sin in sinful man, Sounds kind of like an oxymoron, doesn't it? I mean, I am sinful. I battle with it every day. So how can sin be condemned in me? Only because I am in Christ. That is how it is condemned. Do you realize that he says that, he did it in order that the law might be, notice that, fully met in us. Just take that into consideration. Is it me? I'm trying not to hit it. No, you're not doing anything. Talk amongst yourselves. Just make sure that's connected now. Maybe I'll hook it on the outside of your pocket. Okay. When it started making that, I tried to stay away. Don't touch the pocket. Anyway, just try to comprehend that. The law is fully met in us. You look at the law in that Old Testament and you think, that's fully met in me? That is amazing. It's only because we are in Christ, what God did for us. You know, I can't wrap my mind around that truth. God is so gracious to us. But I need to move on. You know the problem with talking about such a great chapter of scripture is that there's so much material out there that you could get into, which is great, but we can't sit on anything too long. So now we'll move on to verses 5 through 17, which is the freedom from defeat. The first four verses of this chapter talked about our position or our justification that we have in Christ. Now it moves on to our practice or our sanctification, our Christian walk. And as I read this, notice how often the Holy Spirit is mentioned, starting in verse 5. Those who live according to the sinful nature have their minds set on what that nature desires. But those who live in accordance with the Spirit have their minds set on what the Spirit desires. The mind of sinful man is death, but the mind controlled by the Spirit is life and peace. The sinful mind is hostile to God. It does not submit to God's law, nor can it do so. Those controlled by the sinful nature cannot please God. You, however, are controlled not by the sinful nature, but by the Spirit, if the Spirit of God lives in you. And if anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ, he does not belong to Christ. But if Christ is in you, your body is dead because of sin, yet your spirit is alive because of righteousness. And if the Spirit of Him who raised Jesus from the dead is living in you, He who raised Christ from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through His Spirit who lives in you. Therefore, brothers, we have an obligation, but it is not to the sinful nature to live according to it. For if you live according to the sinful nature, you will die. But if by the Spirit you put to death the misdeeds of the body, you will live, because those who are led by the Spirit of God are sons of God. For you did not receive a spirit that makes you a slave again to fear. But you receive the spirit of sonship, and by him we cry, Abba, Father. The Spirit himself testifies with our spirit that we are God's children. Now, if we are children, then we are heirs, heirs of God and co-heirs with Christ, if indeed we share in his sufferings in order that we may also share in his glory. What tremendous verses. Why do you think in a section that is talking about our sanctification or our practice in this life, why do you think that the Holy Spirit is mentioned so much? Well, it's because we can't live victoriously in Christ without Him. And the good news is, if you have received Christ by faith, you have the Holy Spirit within you. Now there are those who teach that the coming of the Spirit into our lives is a separate issue from our salvation. There are those who teach that you can get saved and then at some time later you may receive the Holy Spirit. But look at the end of verse 9. It says, if anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ, he does not belong to Christ. If you are Christian, you have the Holy Spirit. If you don't have the Holy Spirit, you are not a Christian. And some verses that I absolutely love are Ephesians 1 verses 13 and 14. Let me read those to you. And you also were included in Christ when you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation. Having believed, you were marked in him with a seal, the promised Holy Spirit. who is a deposit guaranteeing our inheritance until the redemption of those who are God's possession to the praise of His glory. So these verses assure us that the moment we believed, the Spirit of God took up residence in our lives. He is in you if you are a Christian. He's your guarantee. He's your deposit. He's the one who places you in Christ. So if you have accepted Christ by faith, Don't worry about whether you have the Spirit of God. Yes, we can grieve him. Scripture says that we can quench him, but he will not leave us. Praise the Lord for that. So if you are a Christian, you have the Holy Spirit. The question is, does he have you? Here's another quote from J. Vernon McGee, and I quote, the Holy Spirit produces a life of obedience which the law commanded but could not produce. He furnishes the power. The decision is ours." Notice what verse 13 says. It says, in the middle of that verse, it says, but if by the Spirit you put to death. So it's a two-way street. We have to allow Him to do His work in us. We have to cooperate with Him. I remember the last time when Christi talked about the struggle that we have, that battle that we have of we want to do good, but we don't do it all the time. And that struggle, we just have a struggle with sin. That will be our struggle until we get to heaven, until we're taken away from the presence of sin. But it is a real struggle for us while we're on this earth to walk in obedience to the Holy Spirit. You know, some of you know my sister Bev and her husband Paul from England were here over Christmas. We had a great time. And there was one day when Bev and Paul were at my house. We were just talking and reminiscing and stuff. And my sister Bev brought up a story that I hadn't thought of in years. I mean, years. The problem with the story, it was a lie. It was a lie that I had told. I had told to my husband and to my father to save face about something. You don't need to know the details. So, after Bev and Paul went down to the basement, boy, the battle started in me. You know, it really did. You know, that happened in my 20s. It was so long ago. It really doesn't matter now. God, I'm confessing to you. Bev wasn't even there. I need to apologize to Cecil and Dad, and they're with you, so just tell them I'm sorry, Lord. Or, you know, I even used scriptures, ladies. What popped into my head? Against you and you only have I sinned. You know, never mind the verse that says confess your sins one to another. You know, the battle was on. But I know it was the Holy Spirit in me kept coming back to me and saying, but she believes a lie, a lie that you told. Never mind it was a number of years ago, that's what she believes. Well, I went downstairs and I said to Bevan Paul, I need to talk to you and I need to confess to you something. That story I told that long ago was a lie. Now was I worried that Bev and Paul were going to forgive me? No, I wasn't worried about that at all. So what was the issue with me? Was that other big sin in our life pride? And it struck me, and it's even humbling for me to tell you guys this story, but it's the one that kept popping back into my mind, the illustration of the battle, because believe me, I had a battle. Boy, when Christy talked the next day, I leaned over to Bev and said, I am so glad I confessed to you yesterday. I would be one miserable lady today if I hadn't. Confession brings peace with God. But what's interesting to me is I thought through this as I was teaching it. You know, we easily confess our sin to God who is holy and has no sin in Him. Yet we have such a hard time confessing to another and the Bible says we're all sinners. We can all relate. to having sin in our lives. So why do we find it so hard to tell each other that I sinned there? It wasn't a mistake, it was sin. Thanks God for his cleansing and thank you for the forgiveness of believers with one another. The Bible says to forgive one another and that's what we should be about. Verses 5 through 8 contrast two ways of living. It contrasts in the flesh versus in the spirit. It contrasts death versus life. It contrasts war with God versus peace with God. It contrasts pleasing self versus pleasing God. And these verses also talk about the mind. And ladies, our minds are so important to where we go in our Christian life. Look back at how this book started in Romans chapter 1, verse 21. It says in Romans 121, For although they knew God, they neither glorified him as God nor gave thanks to him, but their thinking became futile. It was their thinking that got all messed up. What does Isaiah 26.3 say about God? Talking about God, it says, You will keep him in perfect peace, whose mind is stayed on you. You know, we could do so much study on what the Bible says about our minds. It's such an important study. And I knew I couldn't spend too much time on this, but then I remembered that later on I get to teach on Romans 12. That's the renewing of our minds, so you're going to get some more again. As I was studying this, I was reminded of a book that I got years ago that has meant a lot to me, and it was good for me to review it. It's called The Mind of Christ by T.W. Hunt. I'm sure you'll be getting more from this book as I go through, when I teach Romans 12, Lord willing. But as I was looking through his book, I wanted to give you the three things, three things I want to share with you today that come from him about our minds. He talks about three principles that we need to have our minds right. The first one is the will principle. And that's Colossians 3 verse 2, which says, set your mind on things above. In other words, it's a conscious effort of our minds to be where they need to be. We need to set our minds as our will. The second is the river principle. And this is what we'll be talking about in Romans 12, 2, where it says, be transformed by the renewing of your minds. Renewing takes place over and over again, moving like a river. So we have to have a constant renewal. And then the third one is the readiness principle. And that's in 1 Peter 1, 13. It says, to gird your minds for action. So have your minds ready to combat those things that you know you struggle with. Know your weaknesses. Have a scripture verse memorized that you can draw to mind and combat it right away. Gird your minds for action. So, until Romans 12, that will hold us for now. But let me just ask you this, gal. Where does your mind go? Does it go to the what-ifs that could happen in our lives, leading us to worry? Does it go to negative thoughts about yourself or about your family or about your situation that lead to depression? Does it go to criticizing others, leading to being judgmental about those people? Does it go to, I wish we had this, leading you to discontentment? So many places that our minds go that they should not go. And now please don't understand me, like for the example with depression, I know some of us go through sad, hard things that are going to leave us depressed for a little while, or sometimes it's a chemical imbalance, but I'm just talking about When our lives are going on as normal, where do you find your mind going to? Is it to all those things? So, be conscious of where your mind leads you and what your thoughts are. Then I want to talk about verse 12 when Paul says that we have an obligation. An obligation not to the sinful nature, but to the Spirit. An obligation means that you feel a sense of duty to something. So let me ask you, do you feel a sense of duty to live according to the Spirit? You know, there are two sides to a coin. Jesus said that if you love Him, you will obey Him. So, hopefully we do obey Him because we love Him so much. But, here in Romans, it also tells us that we should feel an obligation to it. And feeling a sense of duty sometimes goes a long way. Because sometimes, frankly, we just don't, quote-unquote, feel the love. You know, think about your housework. Do you love it? I know there's some weird people out there that really do. But chances are there are a few in here that really don't love it. But you love your family. So you feel a sense of obligation to take care of those things that affect your family. Think about your marriage vows. I'm guessing sometimes you don't feel the love toward your husband. But you took vows before God and that should give you a sense of obligation to your marriage. And this could lead to a big discussion and we're not going to go here very long, but sometimes I hear Christians say about various things. For example, maybe they've stopped going to church. I don't feel like it. So God is okay with that because he wants my heart. Well, he does want your heart. But I beg to differ with that statement. We are commanded by Scripture to not forsake the assembling of ourselves together. So, we should feel a sense of obligation to obey the Spirit in those things that we just give up on because we don't feel like it. You know, I'm really glad that Jesus didn't go by what he felt like doing. because he didn't feel like going to the cross. He said to his father, I would prefer you take this cup from me. But nevertheless, not my will, but your will. He had a sense of obligation to do the will of the Father, and he loved his father so much. So ladies, we need to examine ourselves. Are we just going through what we feel like we need to do, or want to do? Where is our obligation? I was interested in, you know, Christy and Jane were talking Sunday morning about Prince Harry and his wife leaving the royal family, so to speak, and Christy said, you know, Andy being British, she said, you know, he just feels like it's their obligation to do what members of the royal family need to do. We're members of God's family. Our obligation should just drive us. And when we don't have the feelings, ask God to give it to us. Lord, I love you. Help me to do this because I just want to obey you. You know, the sad thing is that polls show that professing believers live more like the world than they do like Jesus Christ. That is a fact. If the Spirit of God is in us, and He is if you are a believer, we should be different. Our speech should be different. Our motives should be different. Our outlook on the world should be different. Our parenting should be different. Our marriages should be different. The way we dress should be different. What we watch should be different. You know, I was talking to a friend, she lives in Blair, Nebraska, and we were talking about this section that I was going to teach on, and she said, you know, we need to just learn to hate our sin, because until we hate it, we're not going to deal with it. And that is true. We need to see certain things as sin. And out of love for the Father, out of obligation for what He has done for us, we need to obey. We are to be salt and light in this world, and how can we be that if we're just like it? I came across a quote the other day that I had to put in my quote notebook. Didn't tell me who said it, so I can't give them credit, but it said this, and I quote, Spiritual maturity isn't measured by how high you jump in praise, but how straight you walk in obedience, unquote. I thought, wow, that's a good one. That's a good one. I know, ladies, I said these things and I struggle with those. I'm not telling you I do it perfectly. I have a long way to grow. But I just am so... As I studied this, I kept praying, Lord, make me feel that obligation to live for You. So how do we feel more of that obligation? Well, verses 15 through 17, would be a good start by focusing on all that we have in Christ, all those things that I told you about. How do we, sinful people that we are, have the right to come to God and say, Abba Father? That's a phrase of close, intimate relationship with God, a holy God, and we have that right because we are in Christ. Or how can we as sinful people have standing of being co-heirs with Christ? Everything that Christ has, we have. It's only by the grace of God that we can experience those things. So focus on what God and Jesus Christ has done for you. That should help us grow in our love for Him and also in our obligation to live for Him. So does all this mean that everything will be just peachy keen if we live according to the Spirit? No. This section ends by telling us that we get to share in His glory, hallelujah. But it also says that we get to share in His sufferings. But that part I'm going to leave for Hannah for next time. So that's what she'll be talking about. But my questions to you ladies are, are you in Christ? Do you know for sure that that is your position, that you have received Him by faith and that the Holy Spirit is in you? If you sense that battle in you when sin comes about, you know that the Holy Spirit is working in you. That's one test. But please come to know for sure that you are in Christ. If you don't know that, you can talk to me or one of the other leaders. And then the second question is, if you do have the Holy Spirit in you, are you paying attention to Him? Are you walking in the power of your Spirit? Are you listening to Him when He convicts you of those sins that come in your life? We need to do that. We need to feel an obligation. So let's pray. Father again, I just think and awe of your word. You have done so much for us, and you have given us your spirit, Lord, and so oftentimes we don't even think about his power in us. I just pray that you would help us to walk in obedience to you. I just thank you for all that we have in Christ Jesus, our only security. May you be honored and glorified in our lives. Help us to be different from the world. In Jesus' name I pray, Amen.