You may have heard the saying that God would not give you more than you can handle. I disagree with this statement. As we come to the end of Romans 8, we actually see it is the other way around – God will not give us more than He can handle. Paul says that there is now no one and no thing in heaven or on Earth that can condemn us because the blood of Jesus and His glorious resurrection has set us free. Jesus also stands by the right hand of His father at this moment, interceding on behalf of His people, so wherever we do not measure up, when we let God down, Jesus still, to this day and this very moment, is by the Father’s side as a witness and a testimony that we belong to God, and that we are forgiven day after day, no matter the circumstance.

In addition to that, no matter what happens in our lives and how bad things get, Jesus’ love never changes for us. The Father also loves us, and Pauls says that this love is inseparable. So, we give glory to God and know that we are truly His children in a divine relationship that is unbreakable. Paul also shares with us that when we do suffer, this is a part of what makes us more like Jesus. Moreover, it is for the sake of other Christians that when we suffer, and we continually keep our eyes upon Christ’s love and His father’s power to bring us through, those Christians who witness us will also be encouraged and urged on their faith. Thus, for us, whether we have much or we have little, whether we are rich or living in poverty, it does not matter – it is win-win because we are more than conquerors through Christ, through God the Father and by the power of the Holy Spirit who loves us.

We live in a world full of suffering. Whether it’s as a result of following Jesus or suffering in general. It might be sickness, loss of loved ones, financial pressure or relationship troubles or many other troubles. Life is hard living in this cursed world.

In Romans 8:18-30 Paul compares our present suffering and our future glory. Weighing up the two.

He is saying he reckons, or more so he is absolutely convinced that our present sufferings are not even comparable to the future glory we have to look forward to on Christ’s return!

And as we wait for His return when all things will be restored the Holy spirit helps us in our weakness, he knows our heart and what we need day to day throughout this life.

“So we fix our eyes not on what is seen, but on what is unseen, since what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal.” 2 Corinthians 4:18

Paul will give us a fourth reason why we should never cheapen grace and that coming into relationship with Jesus means true heart reform. In this sermon, Paul will use the example of the flesh which is the part of ourselves that is set on the things of this world, living for ourselves and caring about our own way, and doing our own thing, whereas for those who have been renewed by Jesus through the Spirit, they live in a different way – they have a life that is lived for God, they are filled with the love of God and desire to serve and honour Him day to day. This is a very compelling case against those who think that Jesus and His forgiveness is just a license to sin and do as they please. Instead, for the true Christian, we are people who long to love, who care about those around us and also care about what God thinks of us and we show it by our actions. We pray that this will be a blessing to you.

These are some of the clearest verses of how God saves His people through His son, Jesus Christ. We could arguably say that for the last seven chapters of Romans, Paul has been leading up to these next four verses in Romans 8:1-4 where we see there is now no condemnation for those who are in Jesus. And Paul goes on to explain why this is the case that we have been saved and changed by the power of the Holy Spirit, even from in chapter seven where the Spirit had changed Paul’s relationship to the Law and made him run to Christ. Now Paul lives by the Spirit and through his faith in Jesus Christ there is now no judgment, no separation from sin between he and God. And as he goes on, he shares with us that this happens because God had punished and placed the consequences of sin on His own son, condemning sin in the flesh by the broken body and blood of Jesus, in order that we can be set free and released from those things that we have done in our body which are not of God. Jesus being punished in our place as we see very clearly with Barabbas at the sentencing of Jesus by Pilate. We give God glory and praise for what He has done – this great love and maintaining His justice that sin was not just forgotten or swept under the rug, but it was wholly and completely dealt with in Jesus. Now we live in the reality of no condemnation, no separation, no consequence for sin because Jesus paid it all. And we receive this by faith and live a life empowered by the Spirit.

We have gone through three examples that Paul gives of why we should not live lives of sin any longer now that we are in Christ Jesus. A challenging question for Christians is: What is their relationship to God's Law and commands? How are we supposed to live in light of them? We understand, as Paul has said, that the righteous will live by faith. And that was said at the time of Abraham before any religious ritual, any particular good deeds he has done or the Mosaic Law had been given. We also explore in this session if the Law is sinful or wrong, in some way bad for us, because it does produce quite a lot of guilt for so many people, even some who are in Christ and do not understand the use of the Law.

Paul is right that it is faith from first to last that saves. After all, the righteous will live by faith. And the Law is not something to be brushed under the carpet and never needed. It is instead used by God powerfully to identify our need for Jesus. The Law is like a checklist for those who are going to heaven. And sadly in our case, none of us have lived up to the standard of the Law. This should cause anyone outside of Christ a great amount of turmoil, even fear, not for fear’s sake, nor that the Law or the commands are bad, but that it would be used by God that they would run to Jesus instead of remaining in sin and ready to face the consequences of God’s justice. It is wonderful once we understand this, and to know that the Law is not there to condemn or judge a Christian, as we are free from all accusations, but instead, the Law is used to bring people to Jesus. In addition, it is a daily reminder for Christians of the love of God and the great cost to Jesus in order to save us. As Paul said, we should not live a life of sin but live according to the Spirit, no longer by the flesh. Our relationship to the Law is one by which we are not bound to it. We are free from it but we should use it in a way to draw people to their need for Christ as much as it holds us to Christ, knowing that without Him, we would be under the penalty and judgment that the Law brings because of our sin. We pray that this message will be a blessing to you and your family.

Paul uses an illustration of a married woman and her husband to show our release from the law through our faith in Jesus.

Are we trying to gain salvation through following the law, just relying on our own strength for salvation? Or are we faithfully following Jesus and producing fruit for him through the work of the Holy Spirit in our lives? Let's be active on the field for God not sitting idle on the sidelines!

Paul will again explore the question of whether we are able to go on sinning or live an obedient and righteous life for Christ. This is a good question because many will take the forgiveness of Jesus and abuse it, thinking that it is a license to sin, and ensuring that they have Jesus only as a means to do whatever they want to do, rather than an actual relationship with God that faith in Jesus should bring. Paul uses examples that were very common to the people of his day - an indentured servant was someone who gave themselves over to a family or a business, so that they could earn money and have a life in the house that they gave their service to. Paul picks up on this and uses it as an analogy in order to say that now we belong to God, we belong to Him as though a servant and so we should act accordingly. We are no longer slaves to sin but slaves of righteousness because of our faith in Jesus and the power of the Holy Spirit working in us. May you be blessed as you listen to this sermon today.

Last week we saw the abundant grace of God that Paul has described - the righteousness that comes from above, that righteousness comes from Jesus is free and available to us through faith. This leads us to Paul's next point: grace is free but should not be abused. Many charge Christians as saying that we are forgiven for all of our sins that nothing can separate us from the love of God in Christ. And this is true but then they may accuse us and say, “So you think you can sin and do whatever you want because God’s love is irrevocable as His forgiveness.” In one sense this is true, but in another, we are not people who desire to live the old way, the old life. And so, Paul, being concerned that people would take it that way, speaks to us about us being dead to sin, dead to the things of this world and our old life. And now a life in Christ. He uses baptism as a wonderful example to teach us that the old has gone and the new has come. After all, we are a new creation in Christ Jesus. This is only understood by the indwelling of the Holy Spirit that we could be completely forgiven yet not abuse that forgiveness. Hence, we give thanks to God that the victory is in Jesus, and that we are saved by faith, not by works, so that no one can boast. But in the very same breath, we will not use nor abuse the love that God has shown us in Christ Jesus.

From Romans 5 following on from verse 12, the apostle Paul talks about the concept known as original sin. In it, he describes all people being affected by the sin of Adam that is when he broke God's law, it had an impact on all of humanity. We have not been born in holiness, righteousness and uprightness but instead have the same fault as Adam which is being born in sin and iniquity. In this session, Paul is now showing that there is no excuse and no other way to come to God outside of Jesus. But he also shows us that it is not on us to save ourselves but the righteousness that God gives through His son's perfect life. When we put our faith in Jesus, we are given all the benefits afforded to Christ which is His holiness, righteousness and uprightness, because on that cross, Jesus paid for all of our disconnection and sin that had separated us from our loving relationship with God. Not only that, Christ after paying for our sin, gives us eternal life in Him, which is an overwhelming grace, one that covers every barrier that has ever existed between us and God. I pray that this sermon will be a blessing and an encouragement to you as you regard the great love the Father has for us in sending His Son.

Having thoroughly addressed justification through faith in Jesus and giving us a good grasp on the place and purpose of the law, Paul now points out some fruit that we will bear once we have put our hope in Jesus. This access to God that Jesus has paved, is through no doing of our own. We can now enjoy freedom and confidence in him, as we rejoice in the hope of the glory of God. Paul tells us we rejoice in our sufferings. Why does he say this? How is rejoicing in suffering even possible? God has poured out his love on us so freely and generously, not because of anything we did or deserved, and furthermore he did it while we were still sinners. We will enjoy peace with God when we put our faith in Christ Jesus our Lord.