Ben Brinkerhoff - Class 3: Set Thy Mind on the Things of the Spirit (Romans 8:1-4)

Automatically transcribed. Accuracy is good but not perfect, and words are sometimes wrong. Trust the audio over the text.

1. 0:00

   It’s my problem. And but you see, Paul takes us to this point in the end of Chapter 7 where he calls himself a Wretch. And that’s a really powerful word. It’s a really powerful word. And so I think that we have trouble getting to that point. Of appreciation of gratefulness. But Paul was at that point.

2. 0:20

   He was at that point because he he understood the sin. You understand. He he he saw that he was a Sinner. He saw that that trying not to sin and and following the law just made him more of a Sinner because he realized that that God’s ways were not his ways And he he saw that conflict inside and so he was prepared to appreciate Christ. And sometimes I think that can lose its. Power for us?

3. 0:45

   We’re we’re not prepared to appreciate him. Because we’re not prepared to really be convicted, because we’re not really trying. To follow God’s ways and declare his righteousness. But Paul, see, he was at that point and and and and that’s a really important point to get to, because now we get to appreciate how grateful he is.

4. 1:15

   And you know, see Paul. Paul appreciated that and Paul recognized that he was dying. And I think it’s difficult for us, at least for those who are young, to appreciate that you’re dying because every year you see you get a little bit older. And when you’re young, as you get older, it’s a kind of enthusiastic thing because you get a little bit stronger, you get a little bit more responsibility.

5. 1:36

   And maybe a little bit more coordination and ability with whatever activities and and athletics you might be interested in. So. So actually you don’t get this sense that you’re dying because every year that comes on you get a little bit stronger, but but those of us that have. I don’t know. Turned the corner. Every year that goes by, we’re not getting any stronger. Are we?

6. 1:57

   We’re getting a little bit weaker and we’re not getting any more ability. We’re losing some. And we’re losing people that are close to us, people that we love. I think that, you know, there could be, I’m not going to ask for participation for this, but many of us probably have lost. A parent or grandparent or friend, aunt or uncle this year and as we get older, we appreciate the fact that that we’re dying and and.

7. 2:26

   Probably all of. Us know someone who’s dealing with a life threatening illness or disease. And I remember as an impressionable college freshman and that would have been an 18 year old. I don’t know if college means the same thing here as it does in America, but. As 18 year old I went away to university, to a place. Called San Diego and grew up in Los Angeles. And in the San Diego meeting there was a young brother, around 25 years old and he was struggling with cancer. I’m 32 now, so he was been seven years younger than I am now. And I remember he was just, he was courageous in the way he fought, never complained.

8. 3:06

   You know, in fact cancer patients, one of the ways that you know the end is near is that they they stop eating. And and this particular brother, he never stopped eating to the very end even though he threw up every oz. He would just continue to eat and. He was before he got sick. He was really athletic.

9. 3:27

   In fact, he was a volleyball player and a champion volleyball player because he could just jump so high. They just smashed the ball and he was all county and you know, he he just had so much ability in athletics. He’s really nothing he would try to do athletically, would he not be? Successful at and but he loved the truth. That was his main passion and.

10. 3:50

    I remember do you know how you come to CYC and I don’t know if in your Cy C’s you sing after CYC but back in the San Diego CYC we would sing after CYC we have the CYC Songbook and and he would always request the same song every week And in in fact when he shot his hand up he just knew the song he’s going to request and that song was Pray for the piece of Jerusalem and he loved that song and. Every week he’d.

11. 4:15

    Request that that same song. Well, the end. The end kind of snuck up on us and went to the hospital and since I was just his friend and not family member, I didn’t really feel comfortable I guess requesting to go into his room and he was really sick anyways and wasn’t really able to talk and but I was in the waiting room and I remember he was refusing to take strong medication because he really wanted to to be aware. To the very end, you know, you take that strong medication, it can sort of dope you out.

12. 4:53

    And he didn’t want that. So even though he’s in a lot of pain, he wanted to be right there in his right sense. And I remember in the waiting room, his uncle, brother Max, went to see him when Max. Got back to the waiting. Room. Someone in the waiting room asked Max. What did you say?

13. 5:18

    And Max said, I said I love you and I’ll see you in the Kingdom and and the next morning Sunday morning I was I was getting ready for meeting the phone rang and it was it was Uncle Bob and he was telling me know that letting me know that Alan that’s Alan. Alan had fallen asleep in Christ. And it’s interesting because as I was preparing this particular class, I got, I got some sad news and you see the person on the right there, that’s Alan on the left fishing. Alan loved to fish off the coast of California. So on the right there that’s my old boss, how white and how I got this e-mail that how it passed away now how my boss here on the right.

14. 6:12

    He was a very accomplished economist, now in in economic circles. The way that you get famous is you write in peer reviewed journals, you know and the Journal of Economics, Econometrica or other types of journals like this and how had 150 journal publications, which which is a lot. And not only this, but it’s not just a matter of publishing journals, is it David?

15. 6:40

    It’s that other people reference your publication in their publications. So you kind of know how important you are is how many people cite your particular publication and their publications. Well, that’s that’s brainy talk for I’m important and how was really important? He had the most cited paper in economics since 1970 and every year how was considered for a Nobel Prize and he probably deserved a Nobel Prize for the work he had done and and not only was he accomplished economist, but he set up a consulting.

16. 7:12

    Company and I worked for the consulting company. And we had 150 employees. And you know, I know for how much they charged my time out for hour, which I didn’t deserve. He must have made a lot of money in the consulting company. And so I’m sure that he was very successful. And you know, and really not only that, but but how was a really nice guy, really kind And you know, some people, when they’re not so smart, they’re arrogant about their intelligence, but when they’re.

17. 7:41

    Really. Really. Really. Smart. They’re not arrogant at all. Because I don’t have anything to prove to anyone. They’re just kind. And how was really kind. But you know now he’s dead. And you know what I mean. The the densest person on earth is smarter than how? As as smart as how it was.

18. 7:59

    Because how doesn’t have any more thoughts left. You know? Unfortunately, how is perished. And I wonder, I wonder, why does it take losing someone? For us to realize that we’re mortal, that we’re dying. And you see we have that problem because in the Garden of Eden a sentence was passed on mankind that we’re mortal.

19. 8:23

    And from Adam Ford we all die. And some die after many years hopefully and and some of us will die in our youth. But we all seem, it all seems to us like that’s very far away. It’s not it’s not something I have to think about. It’s not something that’s in my immediate immediate horizon.

20. 8:42

    And I hope that’s true, but our death is just actually, and that’s one of the things I wanted to get across in our last session, is that that death is really just that we’ve sinned. And the sentence for sin as pronouncing as our Father and so pronounced against us is death. Now what if I had said to Alan in the? Hospital just days before his death. And I didn’t say this, be clear about that. But what if I had?

21. 9:13

    What if I had said? To him, you know, take comfort, my friend. I look up to you. And there’s no condemnation in Christ Jesus. I’ll see you in the Kingdom. You know those words have more meaning at that point, because now we’re prepared to realize we’re mortal and we’re sitting across the way from a 20.

22. 9:40

    Five year old. Good good guy who’s about to die. But what makes us so different from Alan? See Alan’s hidden in Christ. That’s I’m going to see him again. I’m going to talk to him and say that I mentioned to him in this talk and he’s going to hate me for it, you know?

23. 10:14

    What does this word? Mean condemnation. Condemnation. What does that word mean? You know, it’s one of those Bible words. You know, we have these Bible words and and and the thing about Bible words is we we use words like condemnation and atonement because we don’t know what we’re meaning and you don’t know what we’re meaning. But at least as long as all of us are using the same word, we all can be equally confused together and and and and that’s how it.

24. 10:37

    Because that way, if if if you’re applying the wrong definition of my words, at least you’re applying the same one that King James used, you know? But that’s not. But that’s the problem with condemnation, is it? What’s really these Bible words? So what does it really mean? And I understand what it means. I think we all need to imagine a courtroom. Try to imagine a courtroom and try to imagine that you’re an accused person and you’re walking into this courtroom and you get to the front of the judge and the court reads out the the the accusation, the accusation. Is that your Sinner?

25. 11:12

    Probably something hopefully we all can recognize and and feel like it’s is applicable to us. So the charge is that you’re a Sinner and and the evidence is unfolded before the judge. And as the evidence is unfolded you actually start to see your life from God’s perspective. How did God see your life?

26. 11:31

    Because what you see is all the times God’s actually trying to use you to accomplish His will, whether to bring someone into the truth or to encourage someone who’s down. You see all the times that you said things that really hurt people more than you knew and which caused them to err a little bit from the way. And I think that as we start to see our wife from God’s perspective, that what happens is that we start to understand, maybe for the first time, that sin is really, really horrible. It’s not just an inconvenience.

27. 12:07

    It’s not just, oh, you know, it’s no big deal. It’s actually sin hurts people. It’s it’s a horrible thing. And not only does it hurt people, but it dishonors God. And we see all the all the ways God was trying to help us and that and that we sort of refused, maybe because of our pride or because we resented someone.

28. 12:24

    We weren’t ready to let that go of that or because we were afraid of something. And the evidence is read. And actually, as the evidence is read, something becomes totally clear in your mind. And thing that becomes totally clear in your mind is that actually you are guilty. There’s like, no question when you hear all this evidence and all the ways that you had done that was not the right way, it becomes really clear in your mind that you know what?

29. 12:53

    I I am guilty. Whatever sort of. Righteousness or justification, whatever you’ve kind of felt inside that that that sort of feeling inside that says, well, maybe I am okay, it sort of melts away and you sort of feel exposed because you are exposed and and you know that all the evidence is true. So it doesn’t.

30. 13:15

    What good does it do to defend yourself? You know it’s, it’s, it’s. Very true and accurately presented. And what also is clean your mind is that God is righteous, that what he was trying to do with you was for your good, and what he was trying to do through you for others, was for their good. And he never had anything but good in mind. And you come to to fully understand what punishment you deserve, and you almost begin to get yourself ready for it. Because you know, it’s righteous. Why don’t we understand mercy, young people, brothers and sisters?

31. 14:12

    Why don’t we understand mercy? We read about it in Scripture. The Word is all over the place. We read about we. Sang about it in our opening hymn. Did we not sing about mercy? But do you understand it? Do we understand mercy? Do you know in California? We still have the death. Penalty You have the death penalty in Australia? No.

32. 14:30

    OK. So we have the death penalty still in California and it’s lethal injection. And there’s this phone on the wall now before the injection happens, they wait for about 5 minutes. And that 5 minutes is the chance for the governor to ring and to stay the execution. And the governor is the only one at that point in time that has any power to stay that execution. And.

33. 14:59

    They just wait. In silence for 5 minutes and that phone hardly ever rings. Now if it rang, you’d understand mercy, because you’re prepared to understand. What it means if that mercy is withheld. The implications of withholding that mercy are really clear and because we understand the implications of mercy being withheld. We’re now at a position where we’re ready to understand and appreciate what it means that mercy is not withheld, and I don’t know that we can understand it. I don’t know that I can even understand what it really means to have mercy until mercy is we.

34. 15:50

    All that is left between us and perishing, it’s all that’s left between us and never, ever, ever, ever, ever having another conscious thought again. Ever. Until that’s all there is. And I kind of tell you this, and I think, you know it’s true, that no one’s going to enter the Kingdom of God thinking they deserve to be there thinking, hey, I work the system. See, I got in all my sinning and still got into the Kingdom. I got in all the things I wanted to do. I was actually able to live.

35. 16:23

    Really selfish. But then, hey, confess at the last minute, you know, and I was able to get in like there’s going to be no one that thinks. I I I work the system this. Is going to be knowing the things I deserve to be in the Kingdom. They’re all going to understand that Christ is merciful and everyone who enters the Kingdom will. Without a without a shadow of any doubt or any question in mind, you’ll be absolutely clear that God is righteous and that they’re not.

36. 16:57

    And that Christ is righteous and that they’re not. And everyone will be absolutely clear on that point and that sin is evil and sin should be destroyed. And God was right when he said sin deserve death that God was. And you’re going to praise God that he said sin deserves death, because that is right. And it’s going to be very clear in our minds. But even if we don’t understand mercy now, I really think Paul did.

37. 17:25

    Because Paul says, to quote his very words, who will save me from this body of death? You see, he was ready to understand that his body was just sort of, it’s like a it’s just like a tomb, like a walking, living tomb, and it’s going to die. And Paul understood what mercy was all about. And he says, thanks me to God, and that thanks is a real thanks.

38. 17:52

    There’s some real gratitude in that. Thanks. And so, thinking back to the courtroom again, see the evidence is read and you know that you’re guilty and you await the sentence of punishment. Because at least in American courtrooms, what happens is that the evidence is presented and the verdict is then read, and that verdict is guilty or innocence.

39. 18:15

    And then afterwards the judge says, well, here’s the punishment. It’s a sentence of punishment if in fact guilty is the. Is the verdict. And so it’s that idea. It’s the idea of the sentence of punishment that is almost the perfect translation for the word condemnation. Condemnation is the sentence of punishment. And I want you to know that that idea is different. The sentence is different than the verdict is also different than the evidence.

40. 18:47

    These are all three different things. Now we can call the evidence the offense. What do you do? And we can call the sentence the judgment, but after the sentence, after the offense and the judgment, comes the sentence. And look at if you look at Romans 518, he’s in the new Kim James. You see it kind of clearly laid out this way. You see these three different parts laid out as three different parts.

41. 19:15

    I’ll read for you from the new King James, which says therefore as through one man’s offense. Judgment came to all men, resulting in condemnation. So it’s three different parts, Offense, judgment and condemnation.

42. 19:37

    So it’s no. Condemnation in Christ Jesus. But it’s certainly offense, and it’s certainly judgment. So you’re back in the courtroom and the sentence. Is about to be read, and I think at that moment you sort of feel the horror. And the dread of that moment and you look up at the judge. And your sentence is declared

43. 20:02

    and your mortality is destroyed and your sinfulness is condemned and you’re free. Why? Because you’re in Christ Jesus. And there’s no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. We appreciate it more at that moment and this courtroom drama deal. It’s not overplayed because the only other place we see the word condemn in, Romans say. In the context of this guy ID of this, of this courtroom or this judgment in Romans 8, verse 33, reading the RSV, who shall bring any charge against God’s elect?

44. 21:07

    Well, that’s like a courtroom. Who’s going to bring a charge? Who’s going to charge you of anything? Who’s going to accuse you of sinning? Who’s going to accuse you of being a Sinner? Who’s going to bring a charge against God’s elect? And Paul goes on to say it’s God who justifies, Who’s to condemn?

45. 21:22

    Well, that’s what. That’s what the judge does. He passes a sentence. Who’s the condemn? It’s Christ Jesus who died. Yes, it was raised from the dead. Who’s at the right hand of God and and who intercedes for us. And so who’s going to lay charges? God. Well, he’s justifies you. Who’s going to condemn Jesus?

46. 21:45

    He intercedes for you. And So what you find is when you walk into this courtroom, you have a defense attorney who’s next to you and he’s the one who’s who’s interceding. With the court on your behalf, right, this defense attorney. And then you look up when the judgment is about to be read out and you find your defense attorney walks around and climbs up the stairs and sits down in the place of the judge.

47. 22:10

    And you look up. You see the one who’s interceding for you the whole time is the one about to pass the judgment and that your accuser.

48. 22:25

    God in this case, has actually created the conditions for your release. It’s not a fair trial. It’s not meant to be a fair trial for those who are in Christ Jesus, Thanks be to God through Jesus Christ our Lord. And so Roman St. begins. There is therefore now, now. No condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus and all recent translations drop the next sentence, which is who walk not after the flesh but after the spirit.

49. 23:08

    What’s interesting about dropping that is it really just emphasizes what does it mean to be in Christ Jesus and and it’s not really adding this condition. It’s as if to say if you’re in Christ Jesus, I don’t need to tell you what that means, that it’s enough to say. That we’re in Christ Jesus. And one of the things we’re going to try establish in this class, well, especially in the next class too, is what it really wasn’t mean to be in Christ Jesus. What does that mean?

50. 23:36

    Because it’s got to be more than simply baptism, you know. We all know that baptism is part of being in Christ Jesus. Of course it is. How could I be in Christ Jesus about declaring God to be just and righteous the same way that Christ did? He showed me how and I meant to do it as well. I meant to go into that waters and and and to put my nature to death in symbol the way Christ did. I meant to participate in that death. I meant to participate in that resurrection. Of course I have to be baptized, but it can’t merely be baptism because it’s merely baptism we find ourselves and let’s sin the grace me abound territory.

51. 24:08

    So there must be something about being in Christ Jesus that’s more than merely just being baptized. But before we go into more detail in chapter eight, really what I’d like to do for you, if you would be as patient as this, is to let me outline for you the argument of chapter 8.

52. 24:22

    Because as much as it seems silly in three classes, I don’t actually have time to cover all the material. In chapter 8, I don’t. And So what I want to do now is just I want to outline for you what the argument is so that it’s clear and as I’m saying things, you can maybe slot some things into place. Now this might be a section where you want to take some notes, if that would be what you want to do. And you follow the advice of our brother Luke, who who suggested that you have a pencil ready.

53. 24:50

    This might be a good time to pull such pencil out and put such pencil on such paper to make such scribbles, but I’m going to go fast enough where I’m not going to think you’re going to be able to to catch up. So if you’d like to see the notes afterwards, I’m going to give all my slides to this ecclesia and they can distribute however they like, Okay so versus one through 4. What Paul is doing here is he’s saying that in Christ, what’s the condition of those being in Christ? What’s the what’s the what does it, what does it mean to be in Christ?

54. 25:22

    And what being Christ really means is that in the courtroom the sinfulness is condemned, but the Sinner is not. That that that what what God is doing is he condemns sin, but he doesn’t condemn the Sinner. But that’s really. He’s a really big open wide question. That question paused to fill the void in which wasn’t mean to be in Christ. What does it mean to be in Christ? And Paul will go on to say that being in Christ really means that we’re influenced by Christ, that we’re actually trying to walk after the Spirit.

55. 25:56

    And walking after spirit means we kind of walk like Christ does and we have his spirit in us and influences us, and that and that not only do we are influenced by the Spirit, but we actually choose. And this is an important word, getting on to it tomorrow. Monday, we choose to set our mind on the things of the Spirit.

56. 26:15

    That’s what means being Christ. But then the question comes up, well, great, I I choose to set my mind on things of Christ. But Paul says no, no, no, that’s not enough. There’s something else of this being on Christ. It’s not just about choosing and setting your mind on him and being influenced by the Spirit. There’s another big aspect to being in Christ, and the other big aspect is that we suffer.

57. 26:38

    But we don’t suffer slaves like we suffered on the wall. We suffer sons. Now Paul will explain what that means. So we have these obligations. There’s no combination. Great, But that means we’re in Christ, which means we’re influenced by Christ. We choose to set our mind on him, and we choose to suffer.

58. 26:55

    That’s what it means to be in Christ. And then, but Paul goes suffering. I’m I’m sure that people weren’t really happy about hearing that. They need to suffer. But Paul says, although you suffer because you have hope and because you have the spirit, you can persevere in that suffering. That hope is actually the thing that allows you to persevere through suffering.

59. 27:20

    But Paul goes on to say that hope, that hope you have is really, really sure. It’s a really confident, really confident hope. And so because that hope is so confident. And because we know that God has really purposed us to be in Christ, that we can feel very sure about our hope even in suffering.

60. 27:43

    But then he goes on to say that there’s no suffering, no pain, nothing outside of us can ever take that hope away from you.

61. 27:52

    And that hope is expressed then as the. Enduring love of Christ. That can never be taken away from you, right? So that’s Chapter 8. That’s the argument of Chapter 8. As, as Paul flows through, it’s really beautiful argument. We can we can sometimes get ourselves lost in little words and little phrases and and and and sort of maybe lose the whole thrust of what he’s saying and really is it really intends to be a very encouraging chapter. So the rest of this class we’re going to focus on why there’s no condemnation for those in Christ Jesus. Pretty fair question, I think.

62. 28:24

    Why? Why is there no condemnation for those in Christ Jesus? The next class, which will be in extra tation tomorrow morning, we’re going to talk about what it means to be in Christ. What does it really mean to be in Christ? What does it mean to have the spirit? That word spirit is kind of mysterious. We’re going to demystify that word in our extra tation tomorrow.

63. 28:43

    And then on Monday morning, if any of you are not so bored and frustrated that you don’t want to attend, I understand. We’ll talk about our obligation in Christ.

64. 28:57

    We’re going to talk about our hope in Christ, and then also for the young people tomorrow after the song and praise, we’re going to talk about how you feel about yourself. Because I’ve really sort of hit hard, haven’t I, on this issue of understanding that we’re a Wretch. And for the young people in particular, I don’t want to leave you there and I don’t intend to leave you there.

65. 29:19

    So we’ll talk tomorrow about the song and praise, about how we feel about ourselves and how the Bible and God want us to feel about ourselves. OK. So that’s for a young people only class after the song and praise okay. So then the question then for this class for the remaining of our time, why is there no condemnation for those in Christ Jesus?

66. 29:40

    So to get started to answer this question, we really have to go to verse 2 for the law of the spirit of life in Christ Jesus. Made me free from the law of sin and death. Well, that sounds confusing, but let’s just make it not confusing. How is Paul made free now? Clearly he’s not made free from death because he still died, although you can maybe say that’s not a real death, it’s asleep. But nevertheless, he still had mortality, and he’s also not free from his desire to sin.

67. 30:13

    So the freedom is not a freedom from mortality, at least currently, nor is it a freedom from. A desire to sin. Chapter 7 makes that very clear. So what is Paul exactly free from?

68. 30:26

    So if you turn into Genesis 3 and verse 19, there’s a death sentence there passing as mankind. And this is, this is a verse you know from the earliest of science school days and you know for your baptismal studies. And you know, because it gets brought up all the time on the podium here, and it’s a very important verse, and it really talks about what our death sentence is and we want to know that what we’re what we’re free from and for free from condemnation. We have to go back to the place that God condemned us, to find out what freedom from this condemnation really means. And God condemned us in Genesis chapter 3 and verse 19, where he says then to Adam and the sweat of your face you should eat bread till you return to the ground, for out of it you were taken, for dust you are and to dust you shall return. Now if you think about this, tell me exactly how following the law was supposed to change that punishment. I mean, how does doing good works change that punishment, You know, that’s a kind of a big problem in Judaism. You see, like Judaism, I mean, there’s stacks and stacks and stacks of books in Jewish philosophy, not just the Torah and the Talmud and the Mishna, but books about the Talmud and about the Mishna and books about the books that are about the Talmud and the Mishna.

69. 31:37

    I spent a year in Israel, you know, and I was just amazed by the libraries. You know, I guess Christy elephants have quite a few books as well. And there’s just why stacks of books on Judaism. You know, for all their study and all for the academic rigor that they applied to their study, they really just couldn’t get past the third page of the Bible.

70. 31:56

    There’s nothing in all those books that says anything about page three, right? It’s page three. Yeah, Let me just see 123. Sorry, Page four.

71. 32:09

    And, you know, the interesting part is, is for Christianity’s part, they don’t care about this. They don’t care about this punishment because their hope is a bodyless hope. So what does it really matter if you’re if your if your body returns the dust because the body could do whatever. It’s long as the soul is free and happy and good. So for Christianity this is not really condemnation at all, because there is no really death and their salvation is bodyless and the Jews can’t do anything about it because the law doesn’t change any of this.

72. 32:36

    But see, as much as the Jews don’t have an answer for this as much as Christians don’t care about it, to Paul this is totally essential. This is, this is, this is the thing he couldn’t get around. And what? This is what Paul wants to be free from, from the law of sin and death, the finality of dust. And it’s here that man was condemned for dust. You are into dust.

73. 33:01

    You shall return. This is the death sentence. This is condemnation. And it was forced sin, and it was just. And so Paul goes in Romans 8. 1st, 2:00 and 3:00 For the law, For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus has made me free from the law of sin and death. For what the law could not do in that it was weak through the flesh, God did by sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh.

74. 33:28

    On the count of sin. He condemned sin. He condemned sin in the flesh. Now God condemned sin. I thought sin condemned us. I mean we’re the ones with the death sentence. I mean, how was sin condemned? How was sin condemned? Well, the answer is really simple. The sins condemned and the resurrection of Jesus Christ. Now put that to a side for a moment. The first thing to get here is that God sent his Son the likeness of sinful flesh.

75. 33:53

    Now, Christadelphians from age long past have gotten all weirded out by this word likeness, but we ought not to, because what Paul is alluding to here is that God created Adam and his likeness, and you know that, and you understand that. And that was not just in a moral sense, but that was also in the fact that he wasn’t corrupting. He was prone to corruption.

76. 34:11

    Of course he was, but he wasn’t corrupting. But you see, when Adam had children, Adam passed along, Not God’s likeness to those kids. He passed along his own likeness. There’s something, there’s like one step removed here. If you look at Genesis, chapter 5 and verse one and verse three, and I’ll read it out of the RSV.

77. 34:30

    This is the book of the generations of Adam. When God created man, he made him in the likeness of God. Sounds good, but verse three goes on to say. And when Adam had lived 130 years, he became the father of his son in his own likeness. After his image, he needed him Seth. So there’s a problem there.

78. 34:53

    See, God created Adam in his own image and his likeness. But Adam actually created his sons in his own image and in Adam’s own likeness. And we’re actually created in that same image and same likeness as Seth. We actually have that image and likeness that Adam had. And that image and likeness was one that is prone to death and prone to sin and will die, and is mortal.

79. 35:13

    And from Adam forward, we’re all born in that likeness and image. We’re not in God’s likeness, at least not naturally. We have the ability to be spiritually, but not naturally. And our flesh is kind of a symbol of that likeness insofar as it desires sin. So it’s called sinful flesh. And that’s not because if I look at my arm, which is a very fine arm, the. It’s not because the the the carbon and the hydrogen and the oxygen and the nitrogen atoms in my hand or in my chest or wherever it is.

80. 35:45

    It’s not because they themselves are sinful. Of course not. It’s because the combination of them all together that make me desires to sin. And naturally we want to sin. So we call that sin. Sin in the flesh and for those. In Christ, this desire to sin, this sinful flesh, whatever it is, whatever you want to call it, it’s it’s been condemned. How?

81. 36:12

    Well that how part is actually quite simple in Jesus resurrection. Now son, you tell me Jesus rose from the dead. Did he have sinful flesh when he rise rose from the dead? Did he desire to rebel against his Father when he rose from the dead? Did he desire to oppose his Father’s will when he rose from the dead? They struggle with his nature any longer. After he rose from the dead.

82. 36:38

    He didn’t correct. You can go back to UK and be proud. Yet at the same time he was alive, wasn’t he? He’s followed that. He didn’t rebel against his father’s will anymore. But he was alive and he was in a body. Now you tell me. You tell me, was Jesus condemned or was sin condemned? Was Jesus destroyed or sin destroyed in Jesus resurrected body?

83. 37:18

    It’s very simple. It’s not. It’s not hard to figure out at all, is it? Sin was condemned in Jesus. Jesus, although he’s born in the image and whiteness of Adam and thus into sinful flesh, was resurrected into. The image and whiteness of God in not only a moral sense which he had during his his life before his death, but also now in a physical sense.

84. 37:43

    Sin died. Now the Bible causes several different things in Romans 6. For six we’re told that the body of sin was destroyed. That which has the power of death, the devil was destroyed. That tells us in Hebrews chapter 2 and verse 14 the old man was put off that the new man might live. We’re told that in Co Washington chapter 3 and verse 910. But all these verses, the old man being put off, the body of sin being destroyed.

85. 38:06

    That which has the power of death, the devil being destroyed. These are all really verses described to us the same thing. OK, but why was Jesus resurrected now? The cheese resurrected? For two reasons first. It’s not there. First, the grave couldn’t hold him. We’re told that in Acts 2 verse 24, the grave couldn’t hold him.

86. 38:30

    It wasn’t just the grave couldn’t hold him because he didn’t sin. The other reason was that he declared that God alone was righteous because he put to death his body that asserted its will over. Gods, it’s. Got to be a difficult point to get to understand. I want you to think for a moment about the first temptation, the first sin, Right.

87. 38:57

    We read about that first sin in Genesis chapter 3, and we read about this yesterday. But we’ll go back to it again today. Genesis chapter 3, verses four and five. And the serpent sent to the woman. You shall not, You shall not surely die, for God doth know that in the day you eat thereof you’re in, your eyes shall be open, and you shall be as gods, knowing good and evil. You see, sin isn’t simply just acting against the will of God. That’s too simple.

88. 39:30

    Sin is also the desire to be your own God. And that desire to be your own God is really desire to know good and evil, and not just to know God’s version of good and evil. But actually have our own version of good and evil, and my version of good and evil is right for me and your version for good.

89. 39:52

    Evil is right for you and and suits you. And by the way, according to the serpent, there’s no real consequence for sin because sin doesn’t really bring death. So no matter what your version of good and evil is, you’ll still live. And no matter what my version of good and evil is, I’ll still live and we all become our own God. And the judge of our own version of righteousness. And we think humanism was a new thing. It’s a new thing, this idea of humanism. And this goes back as long as there’s been humans, goes back to the beginning.

90. 40:32

    And So what is God supposed to do with this exactly? So God says I have this righteousness, this right versus wrong, according to my word and according to my will, I established this righteousness. And then we have humans. Who said God? I’m actually throwing off your version of righteousness for my own. I actually want to decide good and evil on my own terms.

91. 40:53

    I want to decide good and evil for me. I want to decide what’s good, and I want to decide what’s evil. And I want to act according to what I think is good and what I think is evil, not according to what you think is good and evil. And so now we have this problem, the guard. This is exactly what happened.

92. 41:09

    So the question is, what’s gossips to do with this? And and you think about this God’s characteristics. You know, we’re told that God is 1 and and and this, this, this version of righteousness, which is opposed to him, is actually an affront, an affront to his, to his oneness. He can’t be one with this anymore because actually there’s now these two versions of righteousness, There’s two versions of right and wrong. And God can’t coexist as one with this any longer. So what’s probably God was to do with this, this. Version of good and evil, Well, he destroys it. He says, well, that’s that’s going to cause death. That has to be destroyed.

93. 41:52

    And you actually know that inside of us we actually have our knowledge of good and evil because we think we know right and wrong and we rebel against God’s will as a result of it.

94. 42:08

    And I want just to think about that because it’s in that rebellion. And it’s in that willfulness to do what we want, what we think is right, and what’s right is often very selfish. It’s in that desire to do what we think is right that Jesus had to take the cross and he had to destroy. That’s what he had to destroy.

95. 42:34

    He. Had a will, and that will was not to do his father’s will, but was his own. And he. Destroyed it. He took it to the cross and he destroyed it.

96. 42:56

    And by destroying that will, that rebellion inside what he did is he showed that God alone is righteous. Do you follow this? This is really, really important by going to the cross and destroying his body. A body which, like yours and mine, no different, desired its own will against the will of the Father, and had its own version of right and wrong, which was not the Father’s version of right and wrong, which is so plainly declared behind us, that he took that to the cross, and he destroyed it, so that God alone would be righteous, that God would have no rival.

97. 43:41

    Not only did he not sin, but he destroyed that which was in him that desired to sin, and he declared the righteousness of God by doing this, that God would be one, that God would have no rival, not in the body or in the actions. Of Jesus Christ. Now consider. That. As I read from you Romans chapter 3 verses 25 and 26 out of the New English translation, God publicly displayed Jesus at his death as the mercy seat accessible through faith. Why this was to demonstrate God’s righteousness. Because God in his forbearance had passed over sins previously committed.

98. 44:33

    This was also to demonstrate his righteousness in the present time. So that God would be just and the justifier of the one who lives because of Jesus. Faithfulness, brothers and sisters, This is how we’re saved. This is how we’re saved.

99. 44:58

    It’s really, really quite important. God is first. Just then. He’s a justifier. You get that. That order cannot be switched. It cannot be as a justifier that he’s just. It will not work that way. God is first, just then based on his righteousness being declared, He’s then willing to justify. But we withhold God from God, his justice.

100. 45:34

     How do we do that? Well, you say, well, God, please forgive me, but I really think I was right. Or, God, you know, I think that you’re right about this bit over here. That’s good. But you know what? This bit over here, I read a really good book and I don’t, I don’t think actually that bit’s all that bad at all. I don’t think I need to do that bit. Tell me.

101. 46:06

     How exactly is God supposed to forgive you? Can Can God forgive you based on your righteousness? Can God forgive you if you’re holding back from him the ability to be right? If you’ve withheld from God the ability to be right, he actually can’t forgive you for that which you withhold from him, and isn’t until you declare his righteousness. That he’s willing to forgive you, and that’s what baptism is. Baptism is the decoration of God’s righteousness. It’s a symbolic death.

102. 46:46

     You say You know God. What you said in Janis is 3 verse 19 that sin was really horrible and deserved to die. That God you were right, it is horrible.

103. 46:58

     It does deserve to die, and I’m going to symbolically put it to death. So this is how we’re saved, brothers and sisters, young people. This is how we’re saved by declaring the righteousness of God. This is what Jesus did in the cross. You see, he he’d only didn’t not sin. He put to death that which desired sin within him, that God alone would be righteous, so he was resurrected. As a result.

104. 47:36

     According to Paul, in Romans 8, verse 3, Jesus fulfilled the righteous requirement of the law. Now what’s the righteous requirement of the law? Well, we get a hint from from Roman chapter 5 and verse 19 where it says through one man’s obedience many will be made righteous. So the righteous requirement of the law really was obedience. Now I want you to think about this carefully. Seeing that obedience is the righteous requirement of the law, how Paul pulls all these things together, How he pulls together the record of Genesis, He pulls together the righteous of God.

105. 48:05

     He pulls together what Jesus was really doing and his obedience. And all in one in one really small compact little verse. And that’s found in Flippians chapter 2, verses 6 through 8 we read there at the RSV. Who though he, Who’s he? He is Jesus. Who, though Jesus was in the form of God, did not, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped. Now I asked you a question.

106. 48:33

     Who thought equality with God was a thing to be grasped? Any ideas? Yes. So the garden, the first humans did think that equality with God was a thing. You think I’ve been bringing up this? We want to make ourselves God thing for no reason. See the garden, they thought a quality with God is a thing to be grasped was to be taken the fruit. But instead Jesus emptied himself, taking the form of a servant.

107. 49:11

     Being born in the whiteness of men, and being found in human form, he humbled himself. And became obedient unto death, even death on a cross. You know, Jesus summarizes what the righteous requirement of the law really was because in March chapter 12, what he does, he says what are the most important commandments of the law? What does the law really require of us? And you know, what the most important commandment of the law is, I’m sure you do, is that God is one, that there’s no other. And what’s so important about that? What’s so important about God being one? That means you do not challenge God’s oneness. You don’t try to do what they did in the garden. You don’t try to make yourself God. That God is 1 and we want to manifest his name. We want his name to be on our foreheads. We want to reflect his glory.

108. 50:09

     Well, God’s not going to be many gods. And if you think equality with God is a thing to be grasped, if you want to have your own righteousness, then God actually cannot manifest himself in you, because he cannot. Forgive that which you do not allow him to be, Justin, because God is 1. I’m not.

109. 50:29

     That’s not the only requirement of the law to be obedient, but that we love him more than anything else, with our hearts, with our souls, with our minds, with our strength more than anything else, and that we love each other as ourselves and only Christ at all three of these in perfect obedience.

110. 50:46

     So Christ alone fulfilled What is the righteous requirement? Of the law. Okay and okay, you say. This is technical speak. How does this affect us? Well, it really affects you. If you, if you make the decision you want to be joined with Christ, now it’s really your choice. You can be in Christ or you could perish. Because really those are our two options. I don’t know of any third option. Is there a third option?

111. 51:08

     I think those are the only two options I’m aware. Of. You can be in Christ or you could perish. Those are really. That’s it. You got to pick one. And this being in Christ, while it almost sounds easy, well, hey, you know, sure, given that the opposite, the opposite choice is perishing. You know, I’ll.

112. 51:22

     I’ll choose to be in Christ. Yeah. Sign me up. Great. Where do I sign? I want to be in Christ. Great. Christ died for me. Great. Once Once saved. Always saved. Right. Great. Hallelujah. Wonderful. Let’s do it.

113. 51:35

     And here’s the principle and the principles then and the principles now. You see, Christ did put us into. Death in his death. But that act, as courageous as it was, it kind of didn’t mean anything unless Jesus rose from the dead. You get it. It’s really a courageous. Thing to put sin to death, it’s.

114. 51:53

     Really a craziest thing, to die, to be crucified. But see that death had no meaning unless he rose from the dead. And I put forward to you that your baptism also only has meaning insofar as you live a resurrected life, That you go and you enter those waters of patches. And that’s great and.

115. 52:12

     And so far as you’re sitting here amongst us, that means the baptismal brother didn’t drowned you in the waters of baptism. You know, he pulled you out. And as he pulled you out, you were resurrected and you’re resurrected to this new life. That doesn’t mean you don’t sin. Of course you sin. I mean that’s that. It goes without saying, but maybe it needs to be said, of course you sin, but that means that you actually now live and embrace this new life.

116. 52:39

     And this is exactly Paul’s point in Roman 6. Is that you actually can’t go into these waters of baptism and die symbolically unless you’re prepared to now live symbolically and as living. He calls wrecking ourselves, reckoning ourselves dead to sin but alive to God. In fact, the whole reference is in Romans 6 versus 10th and 11/10/11 where we read for the death that he died, he died to sin once for all, but the life that he lives, he lives to God.

117. 53:07

     You get that he died to sin once for all. The life that he lives, he lives to God. Likewise you also, you see, we got to follow the same path. He doesn’t do it for us. Jesus shows us how he clears the way, but he says we have to fall behind him. And so Paul says likewise. You also reckon yourselves to be dead indeed to sin, but alive to God in Christ Jesus our Lord.

118. 53:39

     So if we take on his death, we also have to be prepared in brother sisters to take on his life. Because the Old Testament is full of examples of taking on death out taking on life. I’ll give you an example. You simply bring sacrifices to to to God and you have no meaning. You just sacrifice and sacrifice and sacrifice. But not once are you prepared to change who you are as a person to reflect the glory of your creator. Now what does God think about such sacrifices? Do they bring him glory?

119. 54:13

     They bring him joy? Does it do us any good to just take on death if we’re not prepared to take on life? Now what? Reflect on on David’s comments and Psalm chapter 14, verse 6 and 8. Burnt offering is sin offering you did not require. Then I said, behold I come and the scroll of the book it’s written of me. Well, what’s written of me?

120. 54:38

     I’d like to do your will, Oh my God. And your law is within my heart. So death by animal sacrifice, even a perfect, perfect, unblemished animal, it just doesn’t have meaning without the life of delighting in God’s will. And so that’s actually what I’m talking about here with you. It takes 1 to get the other.

121. 55:04

     You can’t take on the death symbolically of Christ. But unless you’re also prepared to take on the wife of Christ, you can’t simply destroy death unless you embrace the life. Or else what’s the point of destroying death just to stay dead? If you destroy death just to stay dead, what’s the point? There’s no point.

122. 55:28

     You actually must embrace life. But how do you embrace life? How do you live a I call it a resurrected life. How do I live a resurrected life? It’d be great to have freedom but not responsibility, but that’s just not a life in Christ. And see, that’s the confusion of many that they want to see.

123. 55:45

     The grace cures all, and grace is a wonderful thing, and grace is available to each one here who’s been baptized and confessed Christ. We all we have access to this grace, but it’s not freedom without responsibility, because God does not just want a horde of unrepentant sinners because he can’t be one with them. He can’t be one with them.

124. 56:09

     They can’t manifest his name because they haven’t declared his justice, his righteousness. So Paul says this in Romans 8, verse four. And I want Who’s got a pencil? Take out your pencils. Show me your pencils. Raise them in the air. Wave them. Yes, we all have our pencils. Great. Well, I want you to underline something again in Romans 8, verse 4, because it’s a really important word.

125. 56:31

     And it’s this. That the righteous requirement of the law might be filled fulfilled in us Who? I want you to underline that word Who because it’s a big word that the righteous requirement of the law might be fulfilled in us who do not walk according to the flesh, but according to the Spirit. So actually this is a big deal, because what it means is that. You and I and my friend Alan, Brother Alan are saved by being in Christ, of course.

126. 57:10

     But there’s also an element in which we’re saved being like Christ, that we walk according to the Spirit, not according to the flesh. And actually, it’s in the combination of these two things. It’s in that confidence that we can say there’s no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus, because now, hopefully, we understand and believe.

127. 57:29

     And what it means to be in Christ Jesus and to walk according to the Spirit. And we understand why it is that Jesus can save us, That why it is there’s no condemnation in Christ Jesus. That’s clear now, because Jesus has been resurrected. And my challenge to you is simply this. Live now, as if you’re resurrected. Live now as if you already are embracing. Life.

128. 57:58

     And what that means is that we crucify our flesh and our desires, and like Christ, we declare the righteous of God. And we never try to take away from God’s righteousness. We don’t. What we do is we we take our pride, right? We take the bits in us that are being resentful, the bits of us that are scared, the bits in us that are holding back something from God.

129. 58:26

     And we we put it at the feet of God. We say God. I know that I’m scared and I’m resentful and I can’t get rid of these things. These things are in me. But God, I put them all in front of you. But your will be done in me. That’s what it is. That’s that prayer.

130. 58:43

     It’s the prayer that God’s will is done in you and not holding back from something, from God, something that’s that’s rightfully his, so that actually emptying then of yourself, God can fill you and fill all of you. And he can be one with you, because you haven’t asked him to be one with this other definition of right and wrong, this other definition, definition of of good and evil, which rivals him, which he cannot be one with which Jesus destroyed on the cross. And I know that we all have weaknesses and failings and strugglings, but I’m telling you right now. That if you declare that gods will be done in you, despite your weaknesses and your failings and your struggles, and we all have them, each one of us has them. I’m a Sinner.

131. 59:34

     I know you are too. That it God. God can forgive those things and is willing and abundantly to forgive those things. He’s so willing to forgive those things if we declare his righteousness, because sin has been destroyed in Christ’s flesh, and it will actually be destroyed in you. And death will be no more.

132. 1:00:00

     But how do we do that? How do we walk according to the Spirit? Well, that is. Exactly the question that Paul picks up in the next section of Romans Now that I’m in Christ, how do I live like him? How do I walk according to the Spirit?

133. 1:00:18

     Come back tomorrow?