The Conqueror's EP10 Description: Exploring Romans 8, this sermon contrasts fleshly struggle with spiritual victory, emphasizing freedom and life through Christ's fulfillment of the law and surrender to the Spirit. Chapters: 00:00:01 All God's People 00:00:40 Romans 7: Who Will Rescue Me From Sin? 00:08:36 Paul reveals the Path to New Life 00:15:28 Jesus Bothers All Our Bodies 00:24:33 Mind set on the flesh and spirit 00:30:39 surrender your will and submit to God's Recorded on March 9, 2025 at Skycrest Community Church.
Well, good morning.
That was worth getting up early for, wasn't it?
Romans 7: Who Will Rescue Me From Sin?
Spring ahead, and here we are.
The last time we met, we dispelled a myth that is widely held among followers of Jesus Christ.
Those of us who are more than conquerors in Christ.
And that myth says that those who are more than conquerors are actually hopelessly doomed to defeat in sin.
Okay, where does that idea come from?
Traditionally, we interpret the closing verses of Romans 7 as giving us an out, a soft landing if we fail in our quest toward holiness, that quest to which we have all been called.
And in that famous passage, it's where Paul confesses that the things he wants to do, he doesn't do.
And the very things he really he doesn't want to do, those are the things that he finds himself doing.
And so, as that passage comes to a close, he calls himself a wretched man and testifies that he is hopelessly trapped in this swirl of sin and death.
But we concluded last week, and this is really important to understand, we concluded that that's not Paul's testimony.
As Paul, the swashbuckling church planter who changed the world by preaching the good news of Jesus and planting churches among the Gentile cities.
This was not, obviously, the man who boldly said, follow me as I follow Jesus.
That kind of encouragement could only come from someone who was confident in that Jesus was going to enable him to overcome the temptation of the flesh.
Rather, what we learned is that as chapter seven closes, Paul is telling the story of his life as Saul, the murderous persecutor and prosecutor of Christians, who, prior to meeting Jesus on the road to Damascus, was bound to the law and by the law.
Romans 7 culminated in the acceptance of his own disheartening reality, which, if we have the courage, we will own it as our own.
But it was his disheartening reality that because of his sin nature, the law which God gave through Moses and was good.
But because of Paul's sinful nature, the law was too weak to give him victory in his pursuit of holiness without help.
He recognized that he could not and would not ever get it Right.
His noble quest for holiness would fall woefully short.
So he cried out in desperation, what a wretched man I am.
Who.
Who will rescue me from.
From this body that is subject to death.
Now we feel that, or we should.
It's a terrible place to be, but it's a necessary place to go.
We all need to realize that without Jesus we are trapped in hopelessness and we are needing to be rescued.
No amount of self reliance, determination or grit will enable us to free ourselves.
Even with the perfect plan, which by the way, Saul had, and it came in the form of the law.
Even with the perfect plan to extricate ourselves from the trap, we will fail.
We will not, we cannot ever do enough to rescue ourselves.
Becoming holy and forging a soul, satisfying life, edifying relationship with our Heavenly Father.
It cannot happen.
Can't happen.
But there's some really good news.
This is why we love the Scripture and God's revelation of the truth to us.
The truth is that God wants that for us as much as we need it.
He wants a relationship with us.
He loves us, wants to be connected with us.
So God came along and offered a rescue.
Remember Paul's question, who will rescue me from this body of death?
Well, God offers a rescue, a way of escape from the realm of sin and death and therefore a pathway to the realm of life for which we were created.
It is a path whereby we are justified and not condemned.
We're granted life and saved from death.
We're made conquerors, not captives.
And in that space we enjoy peace and not chaos.
The way God made is both path and possibility.
Let me say that again.
The way God made for us is both path and possibility.
And it is by faith in Jesus that we gain the path.
And it is by following Jesus that we seize the possibilities.
Now, having revealed that without Jesus we are more than conquered.
That's what was going on in chapter seven.
Paul steps back into the present.
Now in Romans 8.
So if you have your Bibles, want to turn there, Romans 8, he steps back into the present to say, that was then and this is now.
But now everything is different.
But now there is new life.
But now I am more than a conqueror.
But now I'm a victor.
Because now I am in Christ Jesus who has set me free.
That's where victory lies.
We are in Christ Jesus who has set us free.
Look at Romans 8 beginning in verse 1.
Remember, he's in a terrible spot without Jesus.
Then he says in verse one, therefore there is now no condemnation for those Who.
Who are in Christ Jesus.
Because through Christ Jesus, the law of the Spirit who gives life, has set you free from the law of sin and death.
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 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.
Now, 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.
The mind governed by the flesh is death, but the mind governed by the Spirit is life and peace.
The mind governed by the flesh is hostile to God.
It does not submit to God's law, nor can it do so.
Those who are in the realm of the flesh cannot, cannot, cannot please God.
Paul reveals the Path to New Life
Now listen right here.
Paul reveals two foundations of the new life that we have in Christ.
First, he says there is a path, foundation of new life.
There is a path.
What God did in Christ, you know what he did, he dealt with sin effectively by loading it on Jesus, setting us free from the burdensome weight that we carry, trying to be holy, trying to be good.
He loaded that burden on Christ.
And second, he says there are possibilities, the guiding action of the Holy Spirit, whose great power and guidance keep us free.
It's the Holy Spirit that enables us to live free and with victory.
Now he begins by saying that the path that we find ourselves on by faith in Jesus is the path to new life.
Okay?
It's the path to the life we were born to live.
And so he says, here and now, right now, with faith in Jesus, there is no condemnation for the sin that we could neither escape nor conquer.
In the old realm before Christ, we can't get out from under the sin.
We can't get it right.
We can't conquer it.
But in Christ, we are free from condemnation because Jesus came along to do for us what we could not do for ourselves, to fulfill the law.
Okay?
That was the objective, right here.
Here are the laws.
These are the top 10 things you're supposed to do.
None of us are ever going to get all of that right.
And so Jesus came along and said, hey, you know what?
I'll just do it for him.
And he did.
Now we have to remember that in the old realm of death, the good law of God, which was the perfect plan if we could but enact It.
It's the perfect path to life.
It pointed to the way of life.
But that plan was weakened by our sinful nature.
We weren't strong enough to get the job done.
The job was keeping the law, and we couldn't get it done.
We could not make it to the finish line of the righteous life that God called us to.
The burden was too much to bear.
We couldn't get there.
And as he actually points out in verse three, the law was powerless.
It was too weak to break us free.
Why?
Because we were too weak in the flesh, okay?
Our struggle with sin sapped us of strength.
So when we got the plan, when God said, hey, Here are the 10 things, the laws that you need to follow to get it done, we were too tired, too burdened, too weary to step into that moment.
We weren't strong enough to follow the plan.
We couldn't carry the load.
Now, the good news that Paul is announcing is that, hey, guess what?
You don't have to hold up, okay?
We don't have to carry the burden.
God in Christ Jesus will take those burdens, freeing us to walk boldly into the realm of life.
Now, that's a lot of heady theological talk.
I want to try to illustrate it, something that I can understand.
I hope you can, too.
But let's say a few years back, my family's younger.
We had a long, hard, bitter winter like the one we've just experienced.
We endured it, got through it.
I decided that what my family needed was a day at the beach.
We're all going to go to the beach.
So I load up the car.
Actually, probably Nikki does most of the work.
She loads up the car, beach towels, beach chairs, toys for the kids.
I put the fishing pole, tackle box in the car.
She's got a cooler packed for lunch that we're just hoping the kids won't feed the seagulls.
We make our way out to Honeymoon island, okay?
We find a parking spot and begin to make that laborious trip from the.
Across the parking lot, across the sand to the water's edge.
And when we get there, everybody grabs something, right?
The kids get their toys.
Nikki gets the bag with the sunscreen and the towels.
But as the dad, like, what's my job?
My responsibility is to carry the heavy stuff, right?
As a matter of fact, in Foolish Pride, I determined that I And this really would have happened.
I determined that I'm going to carry it all in one trip.
So I take the cooler, stack the tackle box on top of the cooler, put the straps of the beach chairs over my shoulders.
Grab the fishing rod and hold it close to my edge, right to my ribs, under my arm.
Then I pick up the tackle box in the cooler and begin the walk as Nikki and the boys disappear onto the beach.
It's a sight to see me.
It's pathetic.
I recognize that.
But I'm going to do it.
I'm determined, so I start walking right away.
And what happens?
Those straps from the chairs begin to slide off the shoulders.
So it all goes down.
Make some small adjustments that are probably not going to work.
Pick the stuff up again, try again.
Shuffling across the parking lot, I finally make it to the sand.
And when I hit the sand, I discover that Jesus was right.
The sand is where all the bad things happen, right?
So sure enough, traction changes.
The fishing rod slips out from under my arm, falls to the ground.
I put all the stuff down to start over again.
Frustration turns to madness when the guy comes prancing along with one of these.
Do you know what this the beach cart.
Like, I hate the beach cart.
I really do hate the beach cart.
Not because I don't need a beach cart.
Obviously I need a beach cart.
But I hate the beach cart because I don't have one.
And this dude comes whistling by, not a care in the world.
All of his burdens stacked neatly in the cart.
Jesus Bothers All Our Bodies
He's happy, self satisfied.
He loves the beach.
He can't wait to get to the beach.
And I'm not sure I ever will get to the beach.
I'm literally crumbling under the weight of my burdens.
A beach cart would change everything, but I don't have one.
What a wretched man I am.
Who will rescue me now in our quest for God's presence?
The answer to that question is Jesus will.
God loaded on him all the burdens, all the burdens.
All the burdens that we are too weak to carry.750
something years before he did it, Isaiah told us he would listen to Isaiah, chapter 53.
Surely, surely, he took up our pain and bore our suffering.
Yet we considered him punished by God, stricken by him and afflicted.
But actually he was pierced for our transgressions.
He was crushed for our iniquities.
The punishment that brought us peace was on him.
And by his wounds we are healed.
We all, like sheep, have gone astray.
Each of us turned to our own way, trying to do it ourselves.
And the Lord said, no, I'm going to lay on him the iniquity.
God laid the burden on him.
The cross was the cart.
Jesus bore all of our burdens.
When he died on the cross, or at least he offered to, he offered to carry our burdens.
We just have to lay down our pride and let him take them.
That's exactly what he invited us to do.
Listen what he said to those who are following him.
Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I'll give you rest.
Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, because I'm gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls.
For my yoke is easy.
My burden is light.
In contrast to the burden that we think we have to bear when we give it to him.
His burden is light.
Jesus says, come on, I'll take it.
You don't have to worry about sin.
You don't have to worry about the law.
I took care of it all.
I lived a sinless life, kept all the laws, fulfilled the law.
And then I took your burden, took it to the cross.
I died for you that you could be free.
See, sin had to be neutralized.
The law had to be fulfilled.
And Jesus did both.
The power of sin erased, the law fulfilled.
The burden had to be lifted for us to connect with our Creator.
And it was.
And now burden free.
Progress toward holiness is possible for those who are in Christ Jesus.
The goal of victory, establishing ourselves living as more than conquerors, is within reach in Jesus.
It is the possibility.
It's a possibility.
If.
Ah.
Hey, if.
If what?
How is that possible?
Because the reason we believe the myth that we are hopelessly trapped in sin is because it seems to play out.
We live the myth.
But the good news that God is delivering here is no, no.
It's a possibility to live free.
If you remember how Paul wrapped up verse four, what he said was the righteous requirement of the law is met in us if we live not by the flesh, but by the Spirit.
Look back at verses three and four.
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.
He was just like us.
He was a human, but he wasn't stained by sin.
He was in the likeness of human flesh to be a sin offering.
And so condemned sin is in the flesh in order that the righteous requirement of the law might be fully met in us.
God gives us credit for living up to the high standards of the law.
When we place our faith in Jesus 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, the Victory is ours, the burden is lifted.
Our demons are conquered.
If in Jesus Christ we live not by the flesh but by the Spirit.
So I guess we have to pause and say, do we live by the flesh or by the Spirit?
The question is, how in the world do we live by the flesh?
You know what I'm going to say.
It's easier said than done, right?
And that's true.
Usually when we talk about something being easier said than done, we find that it's easy to describe.
It's a very complex process for pulling off something that seems relatively simple, like folding a fitted sheet.
Have you ever tried that?
Get that right.
Nicky's saying.
Has he ever tried that?
I don't think he has.
I have.
It didn't work.
I don't know how to do that, but I know it's not simple, like folding a towel.
I've done that a time or two.
There's nothing simple about it.
But in this case, living by the Spirit is very simple.
It's not very easy.
One thing's required.
So it's really, really simple.
No complexity.
It's just not easy.
Mind set on the flesh and spirit
Look at verse five.
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 mind set on what the spirit desires.
So it's just a mindset.
Yet those who live by the spirit simply have their minds set on the Spirit.
And those who don't have their minds set on the flesh.
Here's what you need to understand about your mind.
This is true.
The fixed object of our minds determines where we go and what we do.
You want to know what you think about?
You can actually play the tape back and review what you did.
It's an issue of the mindset, okay?
Our souls, understand, have a one direction orientation.
In other words, we are always moving one way.
It can be one way or the other, but it is one way.
It is impossible for us to do what Canadian philosopher and humorist Stephen Lecoq suggested, which is to jump on our horse and ride off in all different directions.
Okay?
We can't do that.
That's not the way it works.
We go one way or another.
We don't go both.
Now, Paul, in this passage of Scripture, has defined clearly the two ways we can go, two roads to travel.
We can go in the direction of the flesh, or we can go in the direction of the spirit.
And we will go where we make our minds up to go.
Because whatever we have our minds set on, whatever we are devoted to is Going to determine the way we go.
So if our minds are set on the flesh, what I want, what I need.
If our minds are set on the flesh, we'll be governed by fleshly desires.
And we are likely to take shortcuts to get what we want or need.
But on the other hand, if our minds are set on the spirit, then we will be governed by the Spirit's desires one way or another.
You can't go off riding in all directions.
Now be warned.
Verse 6 says, the mind governed by the flesh is death, but the mind governed by the Spirit is life and peace.
Again, this could not be more simple.
Okay.
Mind on the flesh equals death.
The desires of the flesh misdirect us.
The habits of the flesh entomb us.
The heart of the thyroid, flesh fails us under the burden of the flesh.
Flesh is death.
But the mind of the Spirit, which is ours in Jesus, is not, might be, is life and peace.
Now why is it that the mind of the Spirit is life and peace?
The mind on the Spirit leads to life and peace because the Spirit, his job, his role, the gift to us from on high.
He takes us back to Jesus, the one who exchanged our heavy burden for his easier burden.
That's the role of the Spirit.
Do you guys remember when Jesus was talking to his disciples?
He knew they didn't get it, but he was trying to prepare them for the fact that he was on his way out.
He was headed toward the cross.
They were meeting in the upper room.
It was going to happen the next day.
And he had a meeting with his guys.
And he was telling them, look, you can be at peace.
You're going to have peace.
Because in a strange sort of way, he was promising them that God was going to actually make things better for them after he was gone.
And do you know how he said he would do it?
John, chapter 14, verse 26.
This is exactly what he said.
But the advocate, the one who's going to cheer you on, the advocate, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, will teach you all things and remind you, remind you of everything I have said to you.
So what does that mean?
That means when our mind is on the Spirit, he reminds us of Jesus words, His unfailing love, his implacable wisdom and his mighty power.
He reminds us that he is our peace and that Jesus prayed that we would have his, the full measure of his joy.
So with the Spirit's reminders, we are guided to victory and peace.
We live in a victorious life.
We are more than conquerors.
I'LL sign up for that.
You.
surrender your will and submit to God's
So what do we need to do to keep our mindset?
What do we need to do to have the right mindset?
Look at verses 7 and 8 of Romans 8.
The mind governed by the flesh.
Now do you see that the mind is on the flesh and therefore it yields to the governance of the flesh.
That's what that means.
The mind governed by the flesh is hostile to God.
It does not submit to God's law, nor can it do so those who are in the realm of the flesh.
Flesh cannot please God.
Now this is the hardest and simplest part of all.
What he's saying is to walk in victory, to live the life, the sustained life of the burden free conqueror, which is God's vision for your life.
Now, I told you this the hard part.
We have to surrender our will and submit to His.
If we cling to our will, we are at war with God.
That's the exercise of the flesh.
And we will be more than conquered.
But if we submit to his will, then we're free.
We enjoy life and the good pleasures of God's delight.
We please God.
So the step is to surrender our will and submit to his.
Thomas Keating said, the chief act of the will is not effort, but consent.
That's submission.
I consent to his will governing mine.
The mind governed by the Spirit is life and pleases God.
When our mind is set on the Spirit, then we yield our will back to God in loving trust, consenting to his plan, to his path, which is better than our own.
It's exactly what Jesus did.
Do you remember in the garden?
Everything was pointing to this moment.
And he got there and his flesh was saying, let's get out of this deal in the flesh.
He didn't want to die on the cross and he surrendered his will and submitted to God's.
Nevertheless, not my will, but thy will be done.
It's not what I want.
It's what you want.
I surrender.
Someone has said that it's more difficult to yield the will than yield the will.
Wield it.
It's more difficult to yield it than wield it.
That's consent.
It's the path to greatness in his kingdom.
It's the path to burden free victory.
Paul, writing to the Philippians, said this.
Let this mind be in you.
That is also in Christ Jesus.
That's the mindset.
God help us surrender our will so we can submit to yours.
Let's bow our heads and pray.
Lord, we appreciate the simplicity of all of it.
That we're burdened by sin.
It's a burden we can't carry.
We want to go where you're calling us to go, but we can't get there without help.
We're grateful, Father, that you sent Jesus in love to make the path, to clear the way, take up the burdens for us, set us free to walk into life and peace and victory.
Lord, I pray if there's anyone here who hasn't taken that step to place their faith in Jesus.
Just pray, Lord, that they'll remember that the cross is the cartoon.
The burdens all go neatly on the cross.
Christ takes them away.
And the beautiful part is we gain that path.
It's by faith we choose to believe that Jesus lived a perfect life life that he submitted to your will and died.
On the cross.
You demonstrated your victory, the power of the spirit.
You raised him from the dead.
You are our living hope.
So Father, I pray if anyone needs to believe today, that by your spirit you would draw them to belief and grace them with life.
And Father, for those of us who have embraced the path, I pray that we'll meet the if we'll do what we need to do to set our minds on life in the spirit.
Lord, right now, by your spirit, bring.
Bring to mind those things that we are focused on that we need to hand over to you.
Help us, Lord, to surrender our will so we can submit to yours.
Thank you for the path, thank you for the possibilities and thank you for the promise of victory and the peace that comes.
Because we are more than conquerors through Christ who gives us strength.
It's in his mighty name that we pray.
Amen.
Well, good morning.
That was worth getting up early for, wasn't it?
Romans 7: Who Will Rescue Me From Sin?
Spring ahead, and here we are.
The last time we met, we dispelled a myth that is widely held among followers of Jesus Christ.
Those of us who are more than conquerors in Christ.
And that myth says that those who are more than conquerors are actually hopelessly doomed to defeat in sin.
Okay, where does that idea come from?
Traditionally, we interpret the closing verses of Romans 7 as giving us an out, a soft landing if we fail in our quest toward holiness, that quest to which we have all been called.
And in that famous passage, it's where Paul confesses that the things he wants to do, he doesn't do.
And the very things he really he doesn't want to do, those are the things that he finds himself doing.
And so, as that passage comes to a close, he calls himself a wretched man and testifies that he is hopelessly trapped in this swirl of sin and death.
But we concluded last week, and this is really important to understand, we concluded that that's not Paul's testimony.
As Paul, the swashbuckling church planter who changed the world by preaching the good news of Jesus and planting churches among the Gentile cities.
This was not, obviously, the man who boldly said, follow me as I follow Jesus.
That kind of encouragement could only come from someone who was confident in that Jesus was going to enable him to overcome the temptation of the flesh.
Rather, what we learned is that as chapter seven closes, Paul is telling the story of his life as Saul, the murderous persecutor and prosecutor of Christians, who, prior to meeting Jesus on the road to Damascus, was bound to the law and by the law.
Romans 7 culminated in the acceptance of his own disheartening reality, which, if we have the courage, we will own it as our own.
But it was his disheartening reality that because of his sin nature, the law which God gave through Moses and was good.
But because of Paul's sinful nature, the law was too weak to give him victory in his pursuit of holiness without help.
He recognized that he could not and would not ever get it Right.
His noble quest for holiness would fall woefully short.
So he cried out in desperation, what a wretched man I am.
Who.
Who will rescue me from.
From this body that is subject to death.
Now we feel that, or we should.
It's a terrible place to be, but it's a necessary place to go.
We all need to realize that without Jesus we are trapped in hopelessness and we are needing to be rescued.
No amount of self reliance, determination or grit will enable us to free ourselves.
Even with the perfect plan, which by the way, Saul had, and it came in the form of the law.
Even with the perfect plan to extricate ourselves from the trap, we will fail.
We will not, we cannot ever do enough to rescue ourselves.
Becoming holy and forging a soul, satisfying life, edifying relationship with our Heavenly Father.
It cannot happen.
Can't happen.
But there's some really good news.
This is why we love the Scripture and God's revelation of the truth to us.
The truth is that God wants that for us as much as we need it.
He wants a relationship with us.
He loves us, wants to be connected with us.
So God came along and offered a rescue.
Remember Paul's question, who will rescue me from this body of death?
Well, God offers a rescue, a way of escape from the realm of sin and death and therefore a pathway to the realm of life for which we were created.
It is a path whereby we are justified and not condemned.
We're granted life and saved from death.
We're made conquerors, not captives.
And in that space we enjoy peace and not chaos.
The way God made is both path and possibility.
Let me say that again.
The way God made for us is both path and possibility.
And it is by faith in Jesus that we gain the path.
And it is by following Jesus that we seize the possibilities.
Now, having revealed that without Jesus we are more than conquered.
That's what was going on in chapter seven.
Paul steps back into the present.
Now in Romans 8.
So if you have your Bibles, want to turn there, Romans 8, he steps back into the present to say, that was then and this is now.
But now everything is different.
But now there is new life.
But now I am more than a conqueror.
But now I'm a victor.
Because now I am in Christ Jesus who has set me free.
That's where victory lies.
We are in Christ Jesus who has set us free.
Look at Romans 8 beginning in verse 1.
Remember, he's in a terrible spot without Jesus.
Then he says in verse one, therefore there is now no condemnation for those Who.
Who are in Christ Jesus.
Because through Christ Jesus, the law of the Spirit who gives life, has set you free from the law of sin and death.
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 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.
Now, 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.
The mind governed by the flesh is death, but the mind governed by the Spirit is life and peace.
The mind governed by the flesh is hostile to God.
It does not submit to God's law, nor can it do so.
Those who are in the realm of the flesh cannot, cannot, cannot please God.
Paul reveals the Path to New Life
Now listen right here.
Paul reveals two foundations of the new life that we have in Christ.
First, he says there is a path, foundation of new life.
There is a path.
What God did in Christ, you know what he did, he dealt with sin effectively by loading it on Jesus, setting us free from the burdensome weight that we carry, trying to be holy, trying to be good.
He loaded that burden on Christ.
And second, he says there are possibilities, the guiding action of the Holy Spirit, whose great power and guidance keep us free.
It's the Holy Spirit that enables us to live free and with victory.
Now he begins by saying that the path that we find ourselves on by faith in Jesus is the path to new life.
Okay?
It's the path to the life we were born to live.
And so he says, here and now, right now, with faith in Jesus, there is no condemnation for the sin that we could neither escape nor conquer.
In the old realm before Christ, we can't get out from under the sin.
We can't get it right.
We can't conquer it.
But in Christ, we are free from condemnation because Jesus came along to do for us what we could not do for ourselves, to fulfill the law.
Okay?
That was the objective, right here.
Here are the laws.
These are the top 10 things you're supposed to do.
None of us are ever going to get all of that right.
And so Jesus came along and said, hey, you know what?
I'll just do it for him.
And he did.
Now we have to remember that in the old realm of death, the good law of God, which was the perfect plan if we could but enact It.
It's the perfect path to life.
It pointed to the way of life.
But that plan was weakened by our sinful nature.
We weren't strong enough to get the job done.
The job was keeping the law, and we couldn't get it done.
We could not make it to the finish line of the righteous life that God called us to.
The burden was too much to bear.
We couldn't get there.
And as he actually points out in verse three, the law was powerless.
It was too weak to break us free.
Why?
Because we were too weak in the flesh, okay?
Our struggle with sin sapped us of strength.
So when we got the plan, when God said, hey, Here are the 10 things, the laws that you need to follow to get it done, we were too tired, too burdened, too weary to step into that moment.
We weren't strong enough to follow the plan.
We couldn't carry the load.
Now, the good news that Paul is announcing is that, hey, guess what?
You don't have to hold up, okay?
We don't have to carry the burden.
God in Christ Jesus will take those burdens, freeing us to walk boldly into the realm of life.
Now, that's a lot of heady theological talk.
I want to try to illustrate it, something that I can understand.
I hope you can, too.
But let's say a few years back, my family's younger.
We had a long, hard, bitter winter like the one we've just experienced.
We endured it, got through it.
I decided that what my family needed was a day at the beach.
We're all going to go to the beach.
So I load up the car.
Actually, probably Nikki does most of the work.
She loads up the car, beach towels, beach chairs, toys for the kids.
I put the fishing pole, tackle box in the car.
She's got a cooler packed for lunch that we're just hoping the kids won't feed the seagulls.
We make our way out to Honeymoon island, okay?
We find a parking spot and begin to make that laborious trip from the.
Across the parking lot, across the sand to the water's edge.
And when we get there, everybody grabs something, right?
The kids get their toys.
Nikki gets the bag with the sunscreen and the towels.
But as the dad, like, what's my job?
My responsibility is to carry the heavy stuff, right?
As a matter of fact, in Foolish Pride, I determined that I And this really would have happened.
I determined that I'm going to carry it all in one trip.
So I take the cooler, stack the tackle box on top of the cooler, put the straps of the beach chairs over my shoulders.
Grab the fishing rod and hold it close to my edge, right to my ribs, under my arm.
Then I pick up the tackle box in the cooler and begin the walk as Nikki and the boys disappear onto the beach.
It's a sight to see me.
It's pathetic.
I recognize that.
But I'm going to do it.
I'm determined, so I start walking right away.
And what happens?
Those straps from the chairs begin to slide off the shoulders.
So it all goes down.
Make some small adjustments that are probably not going to work.
Pick the stuff up again, try again.
Shuffling across the parking lot, I finally make it to the sand.
And when I hit the sand, I discover that Jesus was right.
The sand is where all the bad things happen, right?
So sure enough, traction changes.
The fishing rod slips out from under my arm, falls to the ground.
I put all the stuff down to start over again.
Frustration turns to madness when the guy comes prancing along with one of these.
Do you know what this the beach cart.
Like, I hate the beach cart.
I really do hate the beach cart.
Not because I don't need a beach cart.
Obviously I need a beach cart.
But I hate the beach cart because I don't have one.
And this dude comes whistling by, not a care in the world.
All of his burdens stacked neatly in the cart.
Jesus Bothers All Our Bodies
He's happy, self satisfied.
He loves the beach.
He can't wait to get to the beach.
And I'm not sure I ever will get to the beach.
I'm literally crumbling under the weight of my burdens.
A beach cart would change everything, but I don't have one.
What a wretched man I am.
Who will rescue me now in our quest for God's presence?
The answer to that question is Jesus will.
God loaded on him all the burdens, all the burdens.
All the burdens that we are too weak to carry.750
something years before he did it, Isaiah told us he would listen to Isaiah, chapter 53.
Surely, surely, he took up our pain and bore our suffering.
Yet we considered him punished by God, stricken by him and afflicted.
But actually he was pierced for our transgressions.
He was crushed for our iniquities.
The punishment that brought us peace was on him.
And by his wounds we are healed.
We all, like sheep, have gone astray.
Each of us turned to our own way, trying to do it ourselves.
And the Lord said, no, I'm going to lay on him the iniquity.
God laid the burden on him.
The cross was the cart.
Jesus bore all of our burdens.
When he died on the cross, or at least he offered to, he offered to carry our burdens.
We just have to lay down our pride and let him take them.
That's exactly what he invited us to do.
Listen what he said to those who are following him.
Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I'll give you rest.
Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, because I'm gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls.
For my yoke is easy.
My burden is light.
In contrast to the burden that we think we have to bear when we give it to him.
His burden is light.
Jesus says, come on, I'll take it.
You don't have to worry about sin.
You don't have to worry about the law.
I took care of it all.
I lived a sinless life, kept all the laws, fulfilled the law.
And then I took your burden, took it to the cross.
I died for you that you could be free.
See, sin had to be neutralized.
The law had to be fulfilled.
And Jesus did both.
The power of sin erased, the law fulfilled.
The burden had to be lifted for us to connect with our Creator.
And it was.
And now burden free.
Progress toward holiness is possible for those who are in Christ Jesus.
The goal of victory, establishing ourselves living as more than conquerors, is within reach in Jesus.
It is the possibility.
It's a possibility.
If.
Ah.
Hey, if.
If what?
How is that possible?
Because the reason we believe the myth that we are hopelessly trapped in sin is because it seems to play out.
We live the myth.
But the good news that God is delivering here is no, no.
It's a possibility to live free.
If you remember how Paul wrapped up verse four, what he said was the righteous requirement of the law is met in us if we live not by the flesh, but by the Spirit.
Look back at verses three and four.
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.
He was just like us.
He was a human, but he wasn't stained by sin.
He was in the likeness of human flesh to be a sin offering.
And so condemned sin is in the flesh in order that the righteous requirement of the law might be fully met in us.
God gives us credit for living up to the high standards of the law.
When we place our faith in Jesus 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, the Victory is ours, the burden is lifted.
Our demons are conquered.
If in Jesus Christ we live not by the flesh but by the Spirit.
So I guess we have to pause and say, do we live by the flesh or by the Spirit?
The question is, how in the world do we live by the flesh?
You know what I'm going to say.
It's easier said than done, right?
And that's true.
Usually when we talk about something being easier said than done, we find that it's easy to describe.
It's a very complex process for pulling off something that seems relatively simple, like folding a fitted sheet.
Have you ever tried that?
Get that right.
Nicky's saying.
Has he ever tried that?
I don't think he has.
I have.
It didn't work.
I don't know how to do that, but I know it's not simple, like folding a towel.
I've done that a time or two.
There's nothing simple about it.
But in this case, living by the Spirit is very simple.
It's not very easy.
One thing's required.
So it's really, really simple.
No complexity.
It's just not easy.
Mind set on the flesh and spirit
Look at verse five.
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 mind set on what the spirit desires.
So it's just a mindset.
Yet those who live by the spirit simply have their minds set on the Spirit.
And those who don't have their minds set on the flesh.
Here's what you need to understand about your mind.
This is true.
The fixed object of our minds determines where we go and what we do.
You want to know what you think about?
You can actually play the tape back and review what you did.
It's an issue of the mindset, okay?
Our souls, understand, have a one direction orientation.
In other words, we are always moving one way.
It can be one way or the other, but it is one way.
It is impossible for us to do what Canadian philosopher and humorist Stephen Lecoq suggested, which is to jump on our horse and ride off in all different directions.
Okay?
We can't do that.
That's not the way it works.
We go one way or another.
We don't go both.
Now, Paul, in this passage of Scripture, has defined clearly the two ways we can go, two roads to travel.
We can go in the direction of the flesh, or we can go in the direction of the spirit.
And we will go where we make our minds up to go.
Because whatever we have our minds set on, whatever we are devoted to is Going to determine the way we go.
So if our minds are set on the flesh, what I want, what I need.
If our minds are set on the flesh, we'll be governed by fleshly desires.
And we are likely to take shortcuts to get what we want or need.
But on the other hand, if our minds are set on the spirit, then we will be governed by the Spirit's desires one way or another.
You can't go off riding in all directions.
Now be warned.
Verse 6 says, the mind governed by the flesh is death, but the mind governed by the Spirit is life and peace.
Again, this could not be more simple.
Okay.
Mind on the flesh equals death.
The desires of the flesh misdirect us.
The habits of the flesh entomb us.
The heart of the thyroid, flesh fails us under the burden of the flesh.
Flesh is death.
But the mind of the Spirit, which is ours in Jesus, is not, might be, is life and peace.
Now why is it that the mind of the Spirit is life and peace?
The mind on the Spirit leads to life and peace because the Spirit, his job, his role, the gift to us from on high.
He takes us back to Jesus, the one who exchanged our heavy burden for his easier burden.
That's the role of the Spirit.
Do you guys remember when Jesus was talking to his disciples?
He knew they didn't get it, but he was trying to prepare them for the fact that he was on his way out.
He was headed toward the cross.
They were meeting in the upper room.
It was going to happen the next day.
And he had a meeting with his guys.
And he was telling them, look, you can be at peace.
You're going to have peace.
Because in a strange sort of way, he was promising them that God was going to actually make things better for them after he was gone.
And do you know how he said he would do it?
John, chapter 14, verse 26.
This is exactly what he said.
But the advocate, the one who's going to cheer you on, the advocate, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, will teach you all things and remind you, remind you of everything I have said to you.
So what does that mean?
That means when our mind is on the Spirit, he reminds us of Jesus words, His unfailing love, his implacable wisdom and his mighty power.
He reminds us that he is our peace and that Jesus prayed that we would have his, the full measure of his joy.
So with the Spirit's reminders, we are guided to victory and peace.
We live in a victorious life.
We are more than conquerors.
I'LL sign up for that.
You.
surrender your will and submit to God's
So what do we need to do to keep our mindset?
What do we need to do to have the right mindset?
Look at verses 7 and 8 of Romans 8.
The mind governed by the flesh.
Now do you see that the mind is on the flesh and therefore it yields to the governance of the flesh.
That's what that means.
The mind governed by the flesh is hostile to God.
It does not submit to God's law, nor can it do so those who are in the realm of the flesh.
Flesh cannot please God.
Now this is the hardest and simplest part of all.
What he's saying is to walk in victory, to live the life, the sustained life of the burden free conqueror, which is God's vision for your life.
Now, I told you this the hard part.
We have to surrender our will and submit to His.
If we cling to our will, we are at war with God.
That's the exercise of the flesh.
And we will be more than conquered.
But if we submit to his will, then we're free.
We enjoy life and the good pleasures of God's delight.
We please God.
So the step is to surrender our will and submit to his.
Thomas Keating said, the chief act of the will is not effort, but consent.
That's submission.
I consent to his will governing mine.
The mind governed by the Spirit is life and pleases God.
When our mind is set on the Spirit, then we yield our will back to God in loving trust, consenting to his plan, to his path, which is better than our own.
It's exactly what Jesus did.
Do you remember in the garden?
Everything was pointing to this moment.
And he got there and his flesh was saying, let's get out of this deal in the flesh.
He didn't want to die on the cross and he surrendered his will and submitted to God's.
Nevertheless, not my will, but thy will be done.
It's not what I want.
It's what you want.
I surrender.
Someone has said that it's more difficult to yield the will than yield the will.
Wield it.
It's more difficult to yield it than wield it.
That's consent.
It's the path to greatness in his kingdom.
It's the path to burden free victory.
Paul, writing to the Philippians, said this.
Let this mind be in you.
That is also in Christ Jesus.
That's the mindset.
God help us surrender our will so we can submit to yours.
Let's bow our heads and pray.
Lord, we appreciate the simplicity of all of it.
That we're burdened by sin.
It's a burden we can't carry.
We want to go where you're calling us to go, but we can't get there without help.
We're grateful, Father, that you sent Jesus in love to make the path, to clear the way, take up the burdens for us, set us free to walk into life and peace and victory.
Lord, I pray if there's anyone here who hasn't taken that step to place their faith in Jesus.
Just pray, Lord, that they'll remember that the cross is the cartoon.
The burdens all go neatly on the cross.
Christ takes them away.
And the beautiful part is we gain that path.
It's by faith we choose to believe that Jesus lived a perfect life life that he submitted to your will and died.
On the cross.
You demonstrated your victory, the power of the spirit.
You raised him from the dead.
You are our living hope.
So Father, I pray if anyone needs to believe today, that by your spirit you would draw them to belief and grace them with life.
And Father, for those of us who have embraced the path, I pray that we'll meet the if we'll do what we need to do to set our minds on life in the spirit.
Lord, right now, by your spirit, bring.
Bring to mind those things that we are focused on that we need to hand over to you.
Help us, Lord, to surrender our will so we can submit to yours.
Thank you for the path, thank you for the possibilities and thank you for the promise of victory and the peace that comes.
Because we are more than conquerors through Christ who gives us strength.
It's in his mighty name that we pray.
Amen.