Romans 8 – The
Wonderful Gospel
There is now
No condemnation
For those who are
In
Christ Jesus
When the law was the rule of the land
God’s holiness condemned our sinfulness
The laws He laid down to help us approach His holiness
became condemnation for us
For we cannot possibly keep God’s laws in our flesh
But because He loved us
He sent His own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh
As the One and Only Perfect Sin Offering
We are no longer bound to keep God’s laws in our flesh
We are no longer bound to keep God’s laws on our own strength
As He has condemned sin in the flesh
So that the righteous requirement of the law
can be fully met in us
Himself through His Son
met the righteous requirement of God’s law
For us who do not live according to the flesh
But according to the Spirit
Our mindset determines how we live
It determines us living according to the flesh
or living according to the Spirit
We can choose to be governed by the flesh or by the Spirit
If we live according to the flesh by yielding to what our flesh
desires
We will have no relationship with God
Living according to the flesh is hostile to the Holy God
It does not submit to God’s will
Nor can it do so
As our mindset sets up our mind
It determines to whom it will yield
We either yield to the flesh or to the Holy Spirit
The reign of the flesh and the reign of the Holy Spirit cannot
co-exist
As the Holy God cannot dwell in our sinful flesh
We are then separated from the Holy God
Separation from God is death
Living according to the flesh is death
But if we live in accordance with the Spirit by yielding to the
Spirit’s will
We will have life and peace
Life with God and in Christ
Peace in the spiritual realm that we are right with God
Peace coming from the Indwelling Holy Spirit that
All is well within our soul
We are in the realm of the Spirit
If indeed the Spirit of God lives in us
The indwelling Holy Spirit is the confirmation that
We have the Spirit of Christ
While our physical body is subject to death because of sin
the Spirit gives life because Christ is our righteousness
He who raised Christ from the dead
Will also raise us from the dead
His Spirit has the resurrection power
to raise us up from the dead on the Last Day
If indeed His Spirit lives in us
Therefore
We have an obligation
But it is not to the flesh
to live according to it
Rather
To put to death the misdeeds of the body
By the Spirit
So we can live
Live our lives here on earth
In Christ
For Christ
Onto Christ
Through Christ
With the Indwelling Holy Spirit
Living in obedient relationship to God
For we who are led by the Spirit of God
Are the children of God
The Spirit we received
Brought about our adoption to sonship
We are now God’s children
And by Him we cry
Daddy
Father
We have been adopted as God’s children
Heirs of God and co-heirs with Christ
We will receive God’s inheritance which is being kept in heaven
for us
We are now sisters and brothers with Christ
Just as Christ suffered for us on earth
as He laid down His life for us
We also will join Him in His suffering
as we lay down our lives for the Gospel
While there’s suffering awaiting God’s children
there’s also glory awaiting us
The glory that awaits us
Is far more glorious
than the suffering we could possibly experience here on earth
The creation joins us in waiting
With eager expectation
For the children of God to be revealed
For the glory of God’s children to be revealed
On That Day
For God has subjected creation to frustration
For now
Until creation itself will be liberated
from its bondage to decay
On the Last Day
And brought into the freedom and glory of
The children of God
Where the children of God
Having been faithful in our stewardship
As caretakers of God’s creation
Show forth the glory of God’s creation
Here on earth
As God had intended
For His creation of this planet earth
From the very beginning
Creation groans as in the pains of childbirth
For this truth to be realized
We ourselves also groan inwardly as we wait eagerly
Our adoption to sonship
The redemption of our bodies
On that Last Day
When God’s creation reveals the fullness of His glory
The New Jerusalem
When our new bodies will also be revealed
New bodies in the New Jerusalem
God’s creation fully revealed
In God’s re-creation of
The earth
Our redeemed bodies
New bodies
in the new earth
But for now
We wait for the hope that is not yet realized
What is hope if it is already seen
We therefore wait with
expectation
For what we hope for
For what is to come
We wait with patience
For now
When we are faint with waiting
The Spirit helps us
In our weakness
When we have no words to pray
The Spirit intercedes for us
Through wordless groans
His Spirit groans within our spirit
Interceding for us
In accordance with the will of God
For the Spirit Who intercedes for us
He who searches our hearts
Knows the Will of God
And intercedes for us accordingly
In all things, God works for our good
We who love Him
Who have been called according to His purpose
For our good
Not necessarily in the physical realm
Nor in our financial sphere
Nor in our relationships
But for our good
In His molding and re-making of us
To reflect His glory
That He might show forth His own glory
In us
Through us
Whom God foreknew
He also predestined to be like His Son
Having the image of His Son
As a reflection of His Son
So that Christ might be the firstborn
Among many brothers and sisters
All of God’s children bearing likeness
His Son Jesus Christ
The First Born
Then us
Christ’s siblings
Along with Christ
God’s children
Those whom God predestined
to be His children
He also called
to become His children
Those He called
He also justified
through His First Born’s death
Those whom Christ died for
God also glorified
Though we might not see it fully realized right now
But we will
See God’s glory
Fully reflected
In His Daughters and Sons
On That Day
Therefore
If God is for us
Who can be against us
No one
God is so for us
that He did not spare His own Son
But gave Him up for us all
He will also
Graciously
Give us
All things
He will withhold nothing good from us
No not one thing
None
No one can bring any charge against us
Because God is the One Who justifies
God justified us through His Son’s blood
God’s holy judgement is met
With the perfect and holy punishment
In the form of His
One and Only
Holy
Spotless
Son
Having died for us on the cross
Therefore no one can condemn us
No not one
The resurrected Christ Himself intercedes for us at the right hand
of God
God’s Holy Son
Who died on the cross for our sins
Has resurrected from the dead
His resurrection is the proof that
Our punishment
Fully paid for by Him
Was fully accepted by the Holy God
Who then can separate us from the love of Christ
No circumstances
No trouble or hardship
No situations
No persecution or famine
No nakedness
No danger or sword
Nothing
Even as we experience hardships
Even when we experience as though
We are sheep to be slaughtered
Even as we face death in the face
For the sake of the Gospel
Nothing
For nothing can keep us from being conquerors
through Him Who loved us
No life’s situations
Not death nor life
No rulers nor powers
Not angels nor demons nor any powers
No time boundaries
Not the present nor the future
No spatial constraints
Not height nor depth
Nor anything else
in all creation
Will be able to separate us from the love of God
that is in Christ Jesus Our Lord
For God loves us too much
To allow a separation between Him and us
Between His love
For us
His
Beloved
Oh the love of God
For us
Through the sacrifice of His Son
Who can fathom
The depth
The height
The breadth
The width
Of His
Boundless
Limitless
Infinite
Love
Praise be to the
Father who made us
Praise be to the
The Son who died for us
Praise be to the
The Holy Spirit who lives in us
The Triune God
Who gives us
Life
New life
Holy life
Victorious life
Oh the wonderous love
His wonderous love
For
Us
Audio Accompaniments:
Meditative Song: "I Belong"
Spoken Word by David Bowden 1 of 4
Spoken Word by David Bowden 2 of 4
Spoken Word by David Bowden 3 of 4
Spoken Word by David Bowden 4 of 4
Spoken Affirmation
Spoken Word by David Bowden 1 of 4
Spoken Word by David Bowden 2 of 4
Spoken Word by David Bowden 3 of 4
Spoken Word by David Bowden 4 of 4
Spoken Affirmation
1 Therefore, there is now no
condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus, 2 because through Christ Jesus
the law of the Spirit who gives life has set you free from the law of sin and
death. 3 For what the law was powerless to do because it was weakened by the
flesh, God did by sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh to be a
sin offering. And so he condemned sin in the flesh, 4 in order that the
righteous requirement of the law might be fully met in us, who do not live
according to the flesh but according to the Spirit.
5 Those who live according to the
flesh have their minds set on what the flesh desires; but those who live in
accordance with the Spirit have their minds set on what the Spirit desires. 6
The mind governed by the flesh is death, but the mind governed by the Spirit is
life and peace. 7 The mind governed by the flesh is hostile to God; it does not
submit to God’s law, nor can it do so. 8 Those who are in the realm of the
flesh cannot please God.
9 You, however, are not in the realm
of the flesh but are in the realm of the Spirit, if indeed the Spirit of God
lives in you. And if anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ, they do not
belong to Christ. 10 But if Christ is in you, then even though your body is
subject to death because of sin, the Spirit gives life because of
righteousness. 11 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 because of his Spirit who lives in you.
12 Therefore, brothers and sisters,
we have an obligation—but it is not to the flesh, to live according to it. 13
For if you live according to the flesh, you will die; but if by the Spirit you
put to death the misdeeds of the body, you will live.
14 For those who are led by the
Spirit of God are the children of God. 15 The Spirit you received does not make
you slaves, so that you live in fear again; rather, the Spirit you received
brought about your adoption to sonship. And by him we cry, “Abba, Father.” 16
The Spirit himself testifies with our spirit that we are God’s children. 17 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.
18 I consider that our present
sufferings are not worth comparing with the glory that will be revealed in us.
19 For the creation waits in eager expectation for the children of God to be
revealed. 20 For the creation was subjected to frustration, not by its own
choice, but by the will of the one who subjected it, in hope 21 that the
creation itself will be liberated from its bondage to decay and brought into
the freedom and glory of the children of God.
22 We know that the whole creation has been groaning as in the pains of
childbirth right up to the present time. 23 Not only so, but we ourselves, who
have the firstfruits of the Spirit, groan inwardly as we wait eagerly for our
adoption to sonship, the redemption of our bodies. 24 For in this hope we were
saved. But hope that is seen is no hope at all. Who hopes for what they already
have? 25 But if we hope for what we do not yet have, we wait for it patiently.
26 In the same way, the Spirit helps us in our weakness. We do not know
what we ought to pray for, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us through
wordless groans. 27 And he who searches our hearts knows the mind of the
Spirit, because the Spirit intercedes for God’s people in accordance with the
will of God.
28 And we know that in all things God
works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his
purpose. 29 For those God foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the
image of his Son, that he might be the firstborn among many brothers and
sisters. 30 And those he predestined, he also called; those he called, he also
justified; those he justified, he also glorified.
31 What, then, shall we say in
response to these things? If God is for us, who can be against us? 32 He who
did not spare his own Son, but gave him up for us all—how will he not also,
along with him, graciously give us all things? 33 Who will bring any charge
against those whom God has chosen? It is God who justifies. 34 Who then is the
one who condemns? No one. Christ Jesus who died—more than that, who was raised
to life—is at the right hand of God and is also interceding for us. 35 Who
shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall trouble or hardship or
persecution or famine or nakedness or danger or sword? 36 As it is written:
“For your sake we face death all day long; we are considered as sheep to be
slaughtered.”
37 No, in all these things we are
more than conquerors through him who loved us. 38 For I am convinced that
neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the
future, nor any powers, 39 neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all
creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ
Jesus our Lord.
