Rom 11:1-36, God is not finished with his people

Rom 11:1-10 (NIV) I ask then: Did God reject his people? By no means! I am an Israelite myself, a descendant of Abraham, from the tribe of Benjamin. 2 God did not reject his people, whom he foreknew. Don't you know what the Scripture says in the passage about Elijah — how he appealed to God against Israel: 3 "Lord, they have killed your prophets and torn down your altars; I am the only one left, and they are trying to kill me"?  4 And what was God's answer to him? "I have reserved for myself seven thousand who have not bowed the knee to Baal."  5 So too, at the present time there is a remnant chosen by grace. 6 And if by grace, then it is no longer by works; if it were, grace would no longer be grace.


7 What then? What Israel sought so earnestly it did not obtain, but the elect did. The others were hardened, 8 as it is written:


"God gave them a spirit of stupor,
eyes so that they could not see
and ears so that they could not hear,
to this very day."  9 And David says:


"May their table become a snare and a trap,
a stumbling block and a retribution for them.
10 May their eyes be darkened so they cannot see,
and their backs be bent forever."


• What is Paul's argument about God's rejection of his people?
• God's rejection is not total.  God rejected the nation in Matt 12:22-24, 41-42, because Israel rejected the Messiah
• Matt 12:22-24 (NIV) Then they brought him a demon-possessed man who was blind and mute, and Jesus healed him, so that he could both talk and see. 23 All the people were astonished and said, "Could this be the Son of David?" // 24 But when the Pharisees heard this, they said, "It is only by Beelzebub, the prince of demons, that this fellow drives out demons."
• The people recognized the Messianic miracle, but the leaders reject it
• The Pharisees and Teachers ask for a sign, although they already had all three Messianic miracles  (healing of leper (investigated); healing of a blind man (Pharisees reject the individual involved) and healing and casting out a dumb demon (Pharisees reject claims of Christ)
• Matt 12:41-42 (NIV) 41 The men of Nineveh will stand up at the judgment with this generation and condemn it; for they repented at the preaching of Jonah, and now one greater than Jonah is here. 42 The Queen of the South will rise at the judgment with this generation and condemn it; for she came from the ends of the earth to listen to Solomon's wisdom, and now one greater than Solomon is here.
• From this point in Jesus' ministry, the term "this generation" is a very specific term to the nation and people who lived during his visit.  Note that individuals still come to the Lord, but the nation has been rejected because they rejected God first
• Paul is an example of a saved Jew
• Elijah also thought that the entire nation had deserted God, which God clues him in was not true
• So why is Israel hardened? They rejected God
• Can Jews still come to the Lord? Yes
• The next question to understand is: what does it mean to be called the "elect?"


Rom 11:11-16 (NIV) Again I ask: Did they stumble so as to fall beyond recovery? Not at all! Rather, because of their transgression, salvation has come to the Gentiles to make Israel envious. 12 But if their transgression means riches for the world, and their loss means riches for the Gentiles, how much greater riches will their fullness bring!


13 I am talking to you Gentiles. Inasmuch as I am the apostle to the Gentiles, I make much of my ministry 14 in the hope that I may somehow arouse my own people to envy and save some of them. 15 For if their rejection is the reconciliation of the world, what will their acceptance be but life from the dead? 16 If the part of the dough offered as firstfruits is holy, then the whole batch is holy; if the root is holy, so are the branches.


• First, what does God called Israel's rejection? They stumbled
• Who stumbled? Israel
• If God caused them to stumble then they could not recover.  Can they recover? Yes
• If God sovereignly prevents them from understanding the gospel, why try to make them jealous?  What is the purpose?  What is Paul's purpose?
• Paul is using envy to save some of them (that remnant)
• So then, it still depends upon man's choice even though they have been rejected and God has given them a spirit of stupor (at least as a nation)
• Constable suggests that the "part of the dough" or "firstfruits" are the believing remnant in Israel now.  The lump or batch is the whole of Israel.  The roots are the Abrahamic covenant.  The branches are believing and unbelieving Jews and Gentiles
• It is important to note that he has been talking about groups of people and not individuals up to this point
• That will be important as we move into the next section


Rom 11:17-24 (NIV) If some of the branches have been broken off, and you, though a wild olive shoot, have been grafted in among the others and now share in the nourishing sap from the olive root, 18 do not boast over those branches. If you do, consider this: You do not support the root, but the root supports you. 19 You will say then, "Branches were broken off so that I could be grafted in." 20 Granted. But they were broken off because of unbelief, and you stand by faith. Do not be arrogant, but be afraid. 21 For if God did not spare the natural branches, he will not spare you either.


22 Consider therefore the kindness and sternness of God: sternness to those who fell, but kindness to you, provided that you continue in his kindness. Otherwise, you also will be cut off. 23 And if they do not persist in unbelief, they will be grafted in, for God is able to graft them in again. 24 After all, if you were cut out of an olive tree that is wild by nature, and contrary to nature were grafted into a cultivated olive tree, how much more readily will these, the natural branches, be grafted into their own olive tree!


• Constable argues that the natural olive tree is a symbol for Israel used in the scriptures. The wild branches are Gentiles.  They benefit by now being part of the olive tree and from the blessings that come through Israel (Messiah, scriptures, …)
• Key point is that Israel is not replaced as reformed theology would argue
• Also, Gentile believers should not feel superior to Jewish unbelievers (broken branches)
• As Gentiles, we have done nothing to deserve our status except believe
• What could God do?
• He could reverse it
• He could break off the wild branches (Gentiles)
• He could restore the natural branches (Jews)
• And they will naturally graft back in, much more so than the Gentiles did before
• Technically, this is exactly what will happen in the millennial kingdom, especially the last half
• It is the Gentiles who rise up against the Jews.  It the Jews who come to the Lord and defeat the Gentile armies at Armegeddon
• There will be a remnant of Gentiles and a remnant of Jews that arise after the rapture
• Finally, note that the status of the branches is not dependent on God's whim but on a group's unbelief, thereby nullifying some aspects of Calvinism


Rom 11:25-36 (NIV) I do not want you to be ignorant of this mystery, brothers, so that you may not be conceited: Israel has experienced a hardening in part until the full number of the Gentiles has come in. 26 And so all Israel will be saved, as it is written:


"The deliverer will come from Zion;
he will turn godlessness away from Jacob.
27 And this is my covenant with them
when I take away their sins."


28 As far as the gospel is concerned, they are enemies on your account; but as far as election is concerned, they are loved on account of the patriarchs, 29 for God's gifts and his call are irrevocable. 30 Just as you who were at one time disobedient to God have now received mercy as a result of their disobedience, 31 so they too have now become disobedient in order that they too may now receive mercy as a result of God's mercy to you. 32 For God has bound all men over to disobedience so that he may have mercy on them all.
33 Oh, the depth of the riches of the wisdom and knowledge of God!
How unsearchable his judgments,
and his paths beyond tracing out!
34 "Who has known the mind of the Lord?
Or who has been his counselor?"
35 "Who has ever given to God,
that God should repay him?"
36 For from him and through him and to him are all things.
To him be the glory forever! Amen.


• We are now at the climax of chapters 9-11
• What is a mystery in biblical terms?
• It is a truth not previously revealed in the scriptures, although it could be hinted at
• What is this mystery? (note that there are seven mysteries mentioned in the NT)
• The mystery is that there is a partial hardening of Israel until the program for the Gentiles is complete
• So, God knows how many Gentiles will be saved.  That is different from saying that God has already chosen who will be saved
• Interestingly, who has God shown mercy to?
• God has shown mercy to all men
• Does God have to show mercy to all meant?
• No, the previous argument stated that God will have mercy on who he wills
• So, the previous statement which included the theoretical "if then" does not necessarily imply that God has limited the gospel
• So, how do we understand all this? How do we fit it together?
• We can't
• Our finite minds cannot comprehend the mind of God
• APPLICATION:
• We need to have a right attitude toward Jews (and to Israel)
• I think it is wise to support Israel
• I think we need to be thankful for our salvation, because we did not deserve anything but Hell
• Finally, we need to realize that God has not forgotten Israel.  He still has a plan for Israel, and in the end, all Israel will be saved

Rom 10:1-21, Salvation requires a choice to believe

Wiersbe Outline
1. Introduction (1:1-17)
1. Salutation (1:1-7)
2. Explanation (1:8-17)
2. Sin (1:18-3:20 - Righteousness Needed)
1. The Gentiles under sin (1:18-32)
2. The Jews under sin (2:1-3:8)
3. The whole world under sin (3:9-20)
3. Salvation (3:21-5:21 - Righteousness Imputed)
1. Justification explained (3:21-31)
2. Justification expressed: the example of Abraham (4)
3. Justification experienced (5)
4. Sanctification (6-8 - Righteousness Imparted)
1. Our new position in Christ (6)
2. Our new problem in the flesh (7)
3. Our new power in the Spirit (8)
5. Sovereignty (9-11 - Righteousness Rejected)
1. Israel's past election (9)
2. Israel's present rejection (10)
3. Israel's future redemption (11)
6. Service (12:1-15:13 - Righteousness Practiced)
1. Consecration to God (12)
2. Subjection to authority (13)


Rom 10:1-4 (NIV) Brothers, my heart's desire and prayer to God for the Israelites is that they may be saved. 2 For I can testify about them that they are zealous for God, but their zeal is not based on knowledge.   3 Since they did not know the righteousness that comes from God and sought to establish their own, they did not submit to God's righteousness. 4 Christ is the end of the law so that there may be righteousness for everyone who believes.


• This passage starts out in a similar manner to chapter 9, how so and why?
• Paul reaffirms his love and care for the Jewish nation
• The negative mention of the law and the emphasis on God's mercy to the Gentiles is not meant as an exclusion of God's people (reformed theology does take the view that the church replaces Israel)
• What does Paul say was Israel's failure, and how might he know that personally?
• It was their zealousness
• It was their lack of knowledge
• Fascinating, because they had the truth
• The memorized the first five books of the law
• But, somehow, head knowledge never translated to heart knowledge
• Zeal was based on incorrect knowledge (becomes stubbornness and pride)
• It was their desire to establish righteousness on their own, and consequently an unwillingness to submit to God
• Verse 4 is a key verse in understanding the relationship of the law to the believer
• The key is to understand the Greek word, telos, which means, a definite point or goal, the conclusion of an act or state, the result
• The law does not pass away, rather it is fulfilled, brought to a conclusion by Christ.  In this way it still exists still, but fulfilled and without the demands any longer. 
• Jesus says in Matt 5:17 "Do not think that I have come to abolish the Law or the Prophets; I have not come to abolish them but to fulfill them."  In this case the Greek word for "fulfill," pleeroosai, can be translated as, to finish, complete, end, fill up
• He is not saying that the law remains valid, rather that Jesus completes the law and its requirements on our life
• The law was against us, but our new life of grace is for us.  We are under a new law completely, it is called the law of Christ, and the law of grace, and the law of righteousness.  It measures the heart and not obedience to a set of rules
• APPLICATION: Why do some Christians insist on laying a burden upon themselves that Jesus and Paul said, even their fore-fathers found overwhelming?  Why can we not choose peace and grace?


Rom 10:5-13 (NIV) Moses describes in this way the righteousness that is by the law: "The man who does these things will live by them."  6 But the righteousness that is by faith says: "Do not say in your heart, 'Who will ascend into heaven?'" (that is, to bring Christ down) 7 "or 'Who will descend into the deep?'" (that is, to bring Christ up from the dead). 8 But what does it say? "The word is near you; it is in your mouth and in your heart," that is, the word of faith we are proclaiming: 9 That if you confess with your mouth, "Jesus is Lord," and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. 10 For it is with your heart that you believe and are justified, and it is with your mouth that you confess and are saved. 11 As the Scripture says, "Anyone who trusts in him will never be put to shame."  12 For there is no difference between Jew and Gentile — the same Lord is Lord of all and richly blesses all who call on him, 13 for, "Everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved."


• Verse 5 is confusing to me.  There are two ways of taking it
• One. It is true that if you obey the law in every respect you will live (in essence be justified), but that is impossible
• Two. You cannot be justified by the law, but the quality of the OT believer's life was directly tied to their obedience to the law
• But he contrasts faith to the law starting in verse 6.  You do not have to be good enough to go to Heaven to bring the Messiah back to earth or to raise the Messiah up from the grave.  In fact God has done all these things for us
• Instead of either obeying the whole law or rescuing the Messiah by effort, what does Paul say is the correct path?
• Confess with your mouth -- meaning to say the same thing about Jesus as other believers do
• Believe in your heart -- both phrases interpret each other, so this is not an intellectual assent, but a decision of the heart
• Acknowledging that Jesus is Lord submits a person to his authority and recognizes that Jesus is God in every sense of the word
• Belief in the resurrection does not save a person, but a disbelief in the resurrection would essentially mean two things
• Jesus is not really God
• Jesus death accomplish no purpose
• (Verse 10) Belief in Jesus Christ positionally justifies us
• Confession saves us in this sense
• First of all, the use of the term salvation is not always eternal salvation from hell
• Second, what is the most common form of confesson? Baptism.  A person who is unwilling to obey a direct command of God or to publicly identify with Christ risks loss of reward.  So confession would save you that loss when you stand before Christ
• There is a rich blessing (spiritual) to all who publicly identify with Christ as opposed to being ashamed of him


Rom 10:14-15 (NIV) How, then, can they call on the one they have not believed in? And how can they believe in the one of whom they have not heard? And how can they hear without someone preaching to them? 15 And how can they preach unless they are sent? As it is written, "How beautiful are the feet of those who bring good news!"


• If in fact chapter 9 was saying that God elects who he chooses independent of their response, chapter 10 clearly refutes that claim.  Why?
• Because the responsibility for salvation is for the person to hear
• There is a responsibility for a person to preach
• There is a responsibility for the body to send (support)
• God chooses to exercise mercy, but God does not choose who is saved.  We must respond to his mercy
• The example of Pharaoh actually makes this point.  God's statement to Pharaoh was after six plagues.  Pharaoh had a choice.  He was the one who initially hardened his heart in rebellion to God's command.  God's hardening only occurred after his initial hardening (although God did know Pharaoh would act that way)


Rom 10:16-21 (NIV) But not all the Israelites accepted the good news. For Isaiah says, "Lord, who has believed our message?"  17 Consequently, faith comes from hearing the message, and the message is heard through the word of Christ. 18 But I ask: Did they not hear? Of course they did:


"Their voice has gone out into all the earth,
their words to the ends of the world."


19 Again I ask: Did Israel not understand? First, Moses says,


"I will make you envious by those who are not a nation;
I will make you angry by a nation that has no understanding."


20 And Isaiah boldly says,


"I was found by those who did not seek me;
I revealed myself to those who did not ask for me."


21 But concerning Israel he says,


"All day long I have held out my hands
to a disobedient and obstinate people."


• For the Israelites, did they get a chance to hear? Yes
• Did Israel understand? No
• Was it because Israel did not seek God and the Gentiles did seek him? No
• Then why did Israel fail?
• They were disobedient
• They were obstinate.  They thought they knew it all.  They saw themselves as better than the nations around them.  Their pride became their blindness
• APPLICATION: We have the fully revealed truth.  We know who the promised Messiah is.  We have the HS living within us.  But we also can allow pride to cause us to stumble in our walk with God and emphasize things that are not important over the things which really are important
• Not important: works, activities, busyness for God
• Important: meeting with God,  humility, repentance, love for others

Rom 9:1-30, God has been exceedingly merciful toward his creation

Constable's Outline on Romans
1. Introduction 1:1-17 (includes purpose, 8-15; and theme, 16-17)
2. The Need for God's Righteousness 1:18-3:20
3. The Imputation of God's Righteousness 3:21-5:21
4. The impartation of God's righteousness 6:1-8:39
1. The believer's relationship to sin 6:1-23
2. The believer's relationship to the law 7:1-25
3. The believer's relationship to God 8:1-39
5. The vindication of God's righteousness 9:1-11:36
1. Israel's past election 9:1-33
1. God's blessings on Israel 9:1-5
2. God's election of Israel 9:6-13
3. God's freedom to elect 9:14-18
4. God's mercy toward Israel 9:19-29
5. God's mercy toward the Gentiles 9:30-33


Romans 8 ends telling us that nothing can separate us from God's love.  But if that is so, how has Israel fallen from God's love?


Rom 9:1-9 (NIV) I speak the truth in Christ — I am not lying, my conscience confirms it in the Holy Spirit— 2 I have great sorrow and unceasing anguish in my heart. 3 For I could wish that I myself were cursed and cut off from Christ for the sake of my brothers, those of my own race, 4 the people of Israel. Theirs is the adoption as sons; theirs the divine glory, the covenants, the receiving of the law, the temple worship and the promises. 5 Theirs are the patriarchs, and from them is traced the human ancestry of Christ, who is God over all, forever praised! Amen.


6 It is not as though God's word had failed. For not all who are descended from Israel are Israel. 7 Nor because they are his descendants are they all Abraham's children. On the contrary, "It is through Isaac that your offspring will be reckoned."  8 In other words, it is not the natural children who are God's children, but it is the children of the promise who are regarded as Abraham's offspring. 9 For this was how the promise was stated: "At the appointed time I will return, and Sarah will have a son."


• How does Paul start this section?
• Paul shares his heartfelt love for his people
• Paul starts out by looking at Israel historically
• They are blessed
• There were the recipients of God's manifold grace
• What is the first main point of Paul's?
• First point is that God's election of Israel did not depend on natural descent
• Not all Israel are Israel has two views
• Replacement theology frequently use this verse for support that the church replaces Israel.  But that would fail to make sense in terms of the timeframe of the paragraph (past history)
• Dispensationalists would see the verse as describing the difference between an outward Jew and an inward Jew (Rom 2:28-29), or saved and unsaved Jews


Rom 9:10-18 (NIV) Not only that, but Rebekah's children had one and the same father, our father Isaac. 11 Yet, before the twins were born or had done anything good or bad — in order that God's purpose in election might stand: 12 not by works but by him who calls — she was told, "The older will serve the younger."  13 Just as it is written: "Jacob I loved, but Esau I hated."


14 What then shall we say? Is God unjust? Not at all! 15 For he says to Moses,


"I will have mercy on whom I have mercy,
and I will have compassion on whom I have compassion."


16 It does not, therefore, depend on man's desire or effort, but on God's mercy. 17 For the Scripture says to Pharaoh: "I raised you up for this very purpose, that I might display my power in you and that my name might be proclaimed in all the earth."  18 Therefore God has mercy on whom he wants to have mercy, and he hardens whom he wants to harden.


• What is Paul's second point?
• Secondly, election is not based on desire or works or efforts
• While Isaac is Abrahams's natural son through Sarah (Ishmael was not), Esau would be the firstborn ahead of Jacob
• By choosing Jacob ahead of Esau, the only argument is that God chose
• Translated love and hate is not meant to be an emotional attachment but a strong contrast stated in absolute terms.  It might be better to say that God rejected Esau
• Also, the quote of Jacob and Esau is technically referring to nations and not to individuals (Mal 1:2)
• Even though the statement is not an emotional statement about individuals, the following quote bye Newell is well said: "As to 'Jacob I loved, but Esau I hated,' a woman once said to Mr. Spurgeon, 'I cannot understand why God should say that He hated Esau.' 'That,' Spurgeon replied, 'is not my difficulty, madam. My trouble is to understand how God could love Jacob!"
• Even if the discussion is on nations, the question of fairness remains.  Paul replies clearly using his question-and-answer format
• First (vs. 14). God is not unjust -- God is just
• Second (vs. 15). The quote from Moses is right after the Golden Calf incident.  In that case the entire nation rebelled against God, but only 3000 died
• Third (vs. 16). We really can't insist on God mercy.  Technically our only argument is to insist on God's condemnation (wages of sin is death)
• Fourth (vs. 17).  God says he raised Pharaoh up.  This verse is given in the middle of the plagues.  This is after Pharaoh has defied God through six plagues.  Also, Pharaoh is the one who hardens his heart first (Ex 7:13,14).  Technically, God showed mercy on Pharaoh for six plagues longer than he should have showed mercy.
• Summary:
• (Constable, 2010) In chapter 1 the apostle had spoken about the way God gives people over to their own evil desires as a form of punishment for their sins. This is how God hardens people's hearts. In Pharaoh's case we see this working out clearly. God was not unjust because He allowed the hardening process to continue. His justice demanded punishment. Similarly, a person may chose to drink poison or
• (Leon Morris) "Neither here nor anywhere else is God said to harden anyone who had not first hardened himself."
• (Moo) "God's hardening, then, is an action that renders a person insensitive to God and his word and that, if not reversed, culminates in eternal damnation."
• (Moo) "God's hardening does not, then, cause spiritual insensitivity to the things of God; it maintains people in the state of sin that already characterizes them."


Rom 9:19-29 (NIV) One of you will say to me: "Then why does God still blame us? For who resists his will?" 20 But who are you, O man, to talk back to God? "Shall what is formed say to him who formed it, 'Why did you make me like this?'"  21 Does not the potter have the right to make out of the same lump of clay some pottery for noble purposes and some for common use?


22 What if God, choosing to show his wrath and make his power known, bore with great patience the objects of his wrath — prepared for destruction? 23 What if he did this to make the riches of his glory known to the objects of his mercy, whom he prepared in advance for glory— 24 even us, whom he also called, not only from the Jews but also from the Gentiles? 25 As he says in Hosea:


"I will call them 'my people' who are not my people;
and I will call her 'my loved one' who is not my loved one,"


26 and,


"It will happen that in the very place where it was said to them,
'You are not my people,'
they will be called 'sons of the living God.'"


27 Isaiah cries out concerning Israel:


"Though the number of the Israelites be like the sand by the sea,
only the remnant will be saved.
28 For the Lord will carry out
his sentence on earth with speed and finality."


29 It is just as Isaiah said previously:


"Unless the Lord Almighty
had left us descendants,
we would have become like Sodom,
we would have been like Gomorrah."


• Paul responds to the question: If God is sovereign, why are we blamed, for who can resist his will?
• First.  As created beings we have no right to sit in judgment upon our Judge
• Men are not lost because they are hardened; they are hardened because they are lost; they are lost because they are sinners (Newell)
• Actually, Israel is an example of a pot made for noble purposes and use.  Israel is the one who has failed to follow through on its design
• Second. Why would God bear with patent the objects of his wrath? He bears with them because they are the ones who choose to oppose.  One could argue that God's patience with those who oppose him is so that they might repent
• Note that this section is theoretical, i.e., "what if" and not necessarily descriptive
• Third.  The riches of God are show to the objects of his mercy
• One is prepared for destruction (but shown patience)
• One is prepared for glory (but shown great mercy)
• The question becomes, does "prepared" really mean predestined or foreknown
• Note the use of the "what if."  It makes an argument but does not necessarily make a theological truth
• What is the result of all this?
• God's specially elected people, those who did not believe, were judged
• The mass of humanity, not specially elected but believing, are called the sons of the living God
• God could have (and should have) judge Israel for her sin (like Sodom and Gomorrah), but he has and continues to show mercy


Rom 9:30-33 (NIV) What then shall we say? That the Gentiles, who did not pursue righteousness, have obtained it, a righteousness that is by faith; 31 but Israel, who pursued a law of righteousness, has not attained it. 32 Why not? Because they pursued it not by faith but as if it were by works. They stumbled over the "stumbling stone." 33 As it is written:


"See, I lay in Zion a stone that causes men to stumble
and a rock that makes them fall,
and the one who trusts in him will never be put to shame."


• Note the individual words that indicate responsibility or action:
• … did not pursue … obtained … pursued … not attained … stumbled …
• Key: … the one who trusts in him will never be put to shame
• So both sovereignty and free will exist side by side
• This passage clearly shows the futility of obtaining justification by the law
• Justification is obtained by faith (the natural response to God's mercy)

Rom 8:1-39, Despite our frail sinful nature, God's Spirit gives us life, peace, and hope

1. Introduction 1:1-17 (includes purpose, 8-15; and theme, 16-17)

2. The Need for God's Righteousness 1:18-3:20

3. The Imputation of God's Righteousness 3:21-5:21 (description, defense, proof, benefits, and restorative effects)

4. The impartation of God's righteousness 6:1-8:39
1. The believer's relationship to sin 6:1-23
2. The believer's relationship to the law 7:1-25
3. The believer's relationship to God 8:1-39
1. Our deliverance from the flesh by the power of the Spirit 8:1-11
2. Our new relationship to God 8:12-17
3. Our present sufferings and future glory 8:18-25
4. Our place in God's sovereign plan 8:26-30
5. Our eternal security 8:31-39

Our deliverance from the flesh by the power of the Spirit 8:1-11

Rom 8:1-11 (NIV) Therefore, there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus,  2 because through Christ Jesus the law of the Spirit of life set me free from the law of sin and death. 3 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 in sinful man,  4 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.

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. 6 The mind of sinful man is death, but the mind controlled by the Spirit is life and peace; 7 the sinful mind is hostile to God. It does not submit to God's law, nor can it do so. 8 Those controlled by the sinful nature cannot please God.

9 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. 10 But if Christ is in you, your body is dead because of sin, yet your spirit is alive 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 through his Spirit, who lives in you.

• We just finished up this struggle with sin caused by the new nature.  My mind is being renewed and now I am a slave to God's law while I still retain my sinful nature.  The law was good in revealing sin to me, but bad in that my sinful nature for more reasons to rebel against God.  So what does conclude from this mess?
• We might be failures, but we are not condemned
• The righteous requirements of the law have been met

• The big change is in our mind.  What does Paul say that implies?
• We need to set our mind on what the Spirit desires (we need to submit our mind)
• A mind controlled by the Spirit offers life and peace
• A mind submitted to God is what will please God

• A life controlled by the Spirit is evidence of  that God's Spirit lives within us

• And what does the promise mean, to give life to your mortal bodies?
• It is a quality of life evidence by peace, no condemnation
• The struggle still exists, but also a peace that only maturity in Christ can bring about

Our new relationship to God 8:12-17

Rom 8:12-17 (NIV) Therefore, brothers, we have an obligation — but it is not to the sinful nature, to live according to it. 13 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, 14 because those who are led by the Spirit of God are sons of God. 15 For you did not receive a spirit that makes you a slave again to fear, but you received the Spirit of 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.

• How can a Christian "die" by living according to the sinful nature?
• Could die physically as was the case in Hebrews with the upcoming destruction of Jerusalem
• Can shows signs of spiritual dying exhibited by a lack of joy and peace
• A life lived in contradiction will always seem defeating

• Our new position is as God's children.  What are the implications?
• We are heirs
• We may have to suffer prior to fully comprehending God's glory.  Why?
• Because this was never the life God promised when Adam rebelled in the garden
• We also have rebelled, in our sinful nature, in every possible way.  Adam rebelled against one law.  We have rebelled against many more
• Consequently, this world is not as God intended it to be

Our present sufferings and future glory 8:18-25

Rom 8:18-25 (NIV) I consider that our present sufferings are not worth comparing with the glory that will be revealed in us. 19 The creation waits in eager expectation for the sons 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 glorious freedom 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 as sons, 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 he already has? 25 But if we hope for what we do not yet have, we wait for it patiently.

• What does our rebellion reveal to us about its effect on creation?
• The creation is frustrated
• The creation is subjugated
• The creation is in bondage (a reference previously to sin)
• The creation is decaying
• The creation is groaning for liberation from decay

• How do we see this?
• Plagues, diseases, virus, famine, earthquakes, tsunamis, floods, birth defects, chemical imbalances, etc

• This is not the world God intended.  But it does not show God as evil, but rather us as in rebellion
• God offered us a wonderful creation, we can see the hints of its beauty
• Adam rebelled, but we are just as guilty, because while Adam rebelled against on rule, the law has shown us that we rebel against many laws of God
• APPLICATION: One of the arguments of Atheists is that the existence of so much evil in the world is proof that God does not exist.  Paul's argument is the opposite.  The existence of evil is the proof of our rebellion.  Jesus is the proof of God's love and existence

• And so what do the adopted children do?
• We live in hope
• We wait patiently
• Someday, there will be a new heaven and a new earth, just as God had originally intended

Our place in God's sovereign plan 8:26-30

Rom 8:26-27 (NIV) 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 with groans that words cannot express. 27 And he who searches our hearts knows the mind of the Spirit, because the Spirit intercedes for the saints in accordance with God's will.

• Actually, our weakness, Greek word astheneia, means feebleness (of mind or body)
• So it could be referring back to our struggle with the flesh
• NT:769, the state of being ill and thus incapacitated in some manner - 'illness, disability, weakness. (from Greek-English Lexicon Based on Semantic Domain. Copyright © 1988 United Bible Societies, New York. Used by permission.)
• In other words, our weak flesh probably fights against us praying, and may even tempt us to pray for things that are not according to the Spirit

• The Spirit helps us in other ways as well
• The NASB suggests we don't know how to pray, the NIV suggests we don't what we should pray for
• Probably both are true.  The Greek is ambiguous as well, although Constable believes it favors the NIV
• Jesus teaching on prayer suggests both how and what as well
• Part of the problem is that the best prayers are those aligned with the will of God.  The Spirit knows God's will, and the Spirit reveals the will of God to us--at least to the extent we listen

• It would be wrong to assume that verse 26 is speaking in tongues, since the scriptures never connect tongues with intercessory prayer
• "Groans that words cannot express" literally would be interpreted as an emotion and not as a special prayer language

• In this case, taking into account all the information, the Spirit prays through us not for us

Our eternal security 8:31-39

Rom 8:31-39 (NIV) What, then, shall we say in response to this? 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 is he that condemns? 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.

• So, we are left with a weak flesh.  We are not condemned, but we do struggle.  We are children of God, heirs, but we need to live according to the Spirit while on earth, because the rebellion ruins everything around us.  We don't even do a good job praying, but the Spirit helps us in that as well.  It expresses through us God's desire.  It works to renew our thinking.  It fights against the sinful nature.  So what she we say?
• God is on our side
• Look at the evidence
• No one can charge us
• God has already positionally justified us
• No one can condemn us
• Jesus died for us
• Who can separate us from the love of God now?
• Trouble? No.  Hardship? No. Persecution? No. Famine? No.  Nakedness? No. Danger? No.  The Sword? No.
• We are more than conquerors (we already won)
• There is nothing in creation that separate us from the love of God

• This is one of the great arguments for eternal security.  Because if there is something that can separate us, then Paul's words are not true