Let's open our Bibles to Romans 8:1-4.

Outline of Romans 8

Justification and sanctification (8:1-13)

Adoption (8:14-17)

Glorification (8:18-30)

Assurance (8:31-39)

God has graciously set free from sin’s penalty and power all who are in Christ Jesus

Justification: God has graciously set free from sin’s penalty all who are in Christ Jesus (vs.1-4a)

Those who are in Christ Jesus can be assured that they will not be condemned at the judgment (v.1)

Therefore: the argument of justification by faith

No Condemnation: in Christ we stand before God justified and acquitted

Now: both in salvation history when Jesus died on the cross and the time since you put your trust in Christ as your sin-bearer

In Christ Jesus: Those who are in Christ have been clothed with His righteousness

Liberation from the law of sin and death comes through the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus (v.2)

V.2 refers primarily to the new life that the Holy Spirit gives to us in regeneration

This new life in the Spirit gives us the power to overcome sin in our daily lives

God did what the law could not do: through the substitutionary death of His own Son, the penalty that the law demanded was paid (v.3-4a)

The body of Jesus was a real body so that He could die for humans

But He was also sinless so that he could die as a substitute for sinners

By His sacrificial death, Jesus paid the penalty for our sin

Sanctification: God has graciously set free from sin’s power all who are in Christ Jesus, who walk in the Spirit (v.4a)

Justification frees us from the penalty of sin while sanctification frees us from the power of sin

“Walk” implies a gradual process that lasts a lifetime

Our lives should increasingly be distinguished by the fruit of the Spirit