Point 1Prosperity can make a nation deaf to God
Everybody turn your Bibles to Amos. Oh, that was funny. No, seriously. Seriously, we are going to be looking in amos first this morning. Oh man, let's turn to Amos chapter 8 and I want to read one small verse this morning from, this is a prophetic book, we're going to look at verse 8.
Amos was one of the 12 Minor Prophets, probably, on Sunday morning, you may not hear very often, turn your Bibles to amos, but it should be something you should familiarize yourself with. Let me help you this morning, kind of give some context of this verse as we move into Romans chapter 8. We look at the first three verses today, that's our assignment today, Romans 8:1–3, so you can turn your Bible there as well, mark it, and we're going to jump from Amos to there. Here's what was going on in this book. Amos was a minor prophet, and he grew up in the southern region, the southern kingdom of God's people.
He was sent by God to go to the northern kingdom, to speak to Israel, the northern kingdom, because they had basically rejected God with their life, with their worship, and with every part of their society. And so Amos went from the southern kingdom to the northern kingdom, and he began to prophesy the word of the Lord to them, and he said this in verse 11: Behold, the days are coming, declares the Lord God, when I will send a famine on the land, not a famine of bread, nor a thirst for water, but of hearing, everybody say hearing, the words of the Lord. Notice here that it is not that there will be a lack of word, but rather there would be a lack of hearing the word.
When you do research about the northern kingdom of Israel, when you consider it, when you do research specifically in the timeline here, I think it's like 300, 600 and 57 BC, somewhere in there, when Amos goes from the southern kingdom to the northern kingdom, when he does this, what he does is he is speaking to a particular nation or a kingdom that had been very successful in warfare. This is important. And most often nations or kingdoms that did well in warfare also did well financially, because they would take over and have a ton of wealth. So here you have a particular area, a particular people that had been successful in battle and were wealthy beyond measure, and peace was in the land.
They didn't have a lot of the troubles that a lot of other surrounding kingdoms or nations had, because they were wealthy and they were powerful in war.
Why is that important this morning? Because this, in a lot of ways, becomes maybe a picture, in my opinion, of what America looks like.
When it speaks in Amos of the northern kingdom, of which Amos went and prophesied, that they had a problem because they no longer... They were so hardened in their heart by success in battle and through finances, through wealth, their heart had become so hardened that they couldn't even hear the word of the Lord anymore. I think of America.
I really do. I think of the struggle that we have because of our successes. When we think historically, the successes that we've had, a lot of success as America, we have become, in a lot of ways, we have become very powerful because of our successes, and we have become wealthy, and it speaks over and over again, you can see a trend throughout history, but not only just our history, but then history in the Word. We see when people are successful in battle and become wealthy and become powerful, that their hearts then become hardened to hear the word of the Lord. That's what we see. We also see a turning of our hearts to trust in men we elect rather than the God who's King of kings and Lord of lords. So we see, really, if you do any study of Amos and who he's speaking to and the kingdom in which he speaks, you see a lot of similarities in America. And I want to say this today: we have had our ears cut off from hearing what God is saying to the church. And although this prophecy, although this word, although this warning from Amos to the northern kingdom of Israel, although he does this and it is speaking to his specific people at a specific time for a specific purpose, I believe that we can learn from it today in America. As americans, because we look a lot like this nation, we have forgotten our first love. We've become hardened to what he says to us.
We have trusted in our own intellect to the degree that we no longer can hear what he has to say to us. We have contrived theological positions and ideologies that are more carnal in nature than spiritual and filled with truth, and it's problematic, and you need to understand that when you read God's Word, you're reading it with all of this kind of muddying the waters. You're reading it in wealth, you're reading it through success, and we begin to take the words of the Lord and we turn it and we say, because we are a blessed nation, he must be approving of us, must love us.
Then we begin to champion things like this: let us make sure that we incline our hearts to the Lord as a nation here in America, because if we turn our hearts from the Lord, he will no longer bless us. We champion causes, we champion elections based on, let us not turn our heart from the Lord.
Ladies and gentlemen, our heart has already turned from the Lord,
Pastor Shawn Gray · 7:30
and that blessing that you think comes from him and you call good in a lot of ways, much like the northern kingdom which Amos speaks into, the same blessing which you think comes from the Lord is cutting your ears off from hearing his word. And so it is not really an issue of whether it comes from the Lord, because all things come from the Lord, but it is more of a sense of condemnation on a nation than blessing to a nation, because he uses blessing and riches and those things, he uses those things to create a famine where you can't hear him because you've hardened your heart against him. Are you with me? So be very careful when you judge the nation, you judge your family, you judge your life, you look at the things in your life you call a blessing, you call good, because not everything you call good God calls good. Understand that you are more shaped by culture and the money in your bank and the attitude of your heart and the experiences of your life than you realize, and then you open up the book of Romans, it shapes how you interpret what he's saying. It's important. This is why he gives the Beatitudes. This is why he says those who are poor shall... Are you with me?
There is a requirement to, or an emptying of, our self of all that we value that we may then be strengthened by him and him alone. There is a quietening of ourself where we sit around tables and we stop trying to impart wisdom in the flesh and we shut our mouth and we begin to incline our ears to hear true wisdom, which only comes from God. Some of us need to be quiet and stop talking so much. Some of us need to stop busying ourselves trying to impart wisdom to the world and stop and try to incline wisdom from the Word. What do people do? They do this. What does that mean?
Loser. The only difference between what the world has to say and what the Word has to say is this.
I didn't even write that in my notes, but it's true, right? We need to remove this so we can hear the word of the Lord. Honestly, we're the are you with me? That's us. Some of us wield the Word and we're cutting the ears off of people that they can't hear him anymore because we wield it improperly. It's important. Don't worry about the lights, I was setting the mood.
So why are you sharing all this, Shawn? I'm sharing this because every single time you open the Word you need to understand how much of the culture, how much of your life battles and rages war against your understanding, how much of your prejudices and presuppositions shape your interpretation. Now know this: in chapter 8, I'm going to very quickly this morning, I'm going to talk about a few different words. They are words that are theological in nature, but they explain some of the ways we interpret chapter 8. You need to know them, because whether or not you know the words or you understand what the words are theologically, the idea behind these words, these theological words, shape how you interpret the Bible. I'm not necessarily interested today in telling you which one you should stand on or what your theological disposition should be. Quite honestly, mine is a mixture of all of them. I'm a hodgepodge, I'm a mutt when it comes to these theological approaches. But we're going to talk about them. Let's start by reading the Scripture and then we'll jump in here. Romans 8:1 through whatever. I feel like this is what the Lord... No, that's not it, that's amos. Let me switch there. There is, therefore, now. Everybody's saying now. There is, therefore, now. When is now?
It's now. No condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. Pause. He wants us to know what we said, that the promises, the things he speaks about in Romans, I have been telling you, is either eschatological in nature or it is current. So which is this? Is current, but it is also eschatological. What do we know? How many of you... What is salvation? It is current for all who believe, but it is also ongoing and eschatological, right? Because we're saved, we're going to continue to be saved, which is sanctification, and we will one day be saved, which is glorification. We're saved, all right, we're being saved because sin still dwells in our flesh, as Paul says, we will one day be saved because we get a new body and the flesh which sin still dwells in will be removed. Saved, being saved, will be saved. So it is now, it is ongoing, and it is eschatological. That's important.
So apply that here. All right, it's important. Number two: For the law of the Spirit of life has set you free.
The law of the capital S Spirit of life has set you free. Has set, this is for believers, those who have faith in Christ, they have been set free. Notice here he changes tense: free, has been set free, set you free in Christ Jesus from the law of sin and death. He sets you free from another law. All right, the law of the Spirit sets you free from the law of sin and death. For God has done what the law, weakened by the flesh, could not do. By sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh and for sin, he condemned sin in the flesh. Why is it important that we believe God is fully man and fully God, is because for sin to be dealt with and condemned in the flesh, he had to actually be in the flesh. This was not some hologram. Jesus was not a hologram. It is not that he merely looked like a man, he was a man. And if you don't understand this, if you're Gnostic in your perspective and you think he was all spiritual but he looked like a man, then the condemnation that is removed, okay, because of his death on the cross and sin being punished in his flesh, right, all of that is necessary. How we understand that matters, right? Verse 4: in order that the righteous requirement of the law might be fulfilled in us, who walk not according to the flesh but according to the Spirit. For those who live according to the flesh set their minds on the things of the flesh, for those who live according to the flesh set their minds on the things of the flesh, but those who live according to the Spirit set their minds on the things of the Spirit. For to set the mind on the flesh is death, but to set the mind on the Spirit is life and peace.
For the mind that is set on the flesh... Listen to this, for all you people who are like, yeah, sometimes I set my mind on the flesh as a Christian, sometimes I set my mind on the Spirit as a Christian, and I go back and forth, and it depends on who cuts me off in a car, and it depends on... That's not what he's saying. You don't get to set the definition for set your mind on the flesh and set your mind on the Spirit. Paul does.
You see how wrongly and quickly you can misinterpret what's being said here because you want to make it about you in a culture where everything's about you. Your wealth is about you, your success is about you, your victories are about you win wars because of you. See how you can take this when it's really about God and you can make it about you and what you do and how good you are and how many good attitudes you have in a book that is saying the Spirit sanctifies, not you.
You don't choose better, he changes you to be better.
Pastor Shawn Gray · 17:19
So then he defines setting your mind on the flesh and setting your mind on the Spirit. This is two different people. This is not the same person. This is not a schizophrenic person. He has shifted to describing two people. Verse 7: For the mind that is set on the flesh, he's going to define it, the mind that is set on the flesh is hostile to God. It does not submit to God's law; indeed, it cannot. So for all of you who might have, in small group, said, yeah, sometimes I set my mind on the flesh and sometimes I set my mind on the Spirit, what do you do with that verse?
Because if you can sometimes not be hostile to God, submit to his law, then guess what, you're not somebody who sets his mind on the flesh. Those who are in the flesh cannot please God.
You, however. Who's he talking to? He's talking to believers in Rome. You, however, are what? What does it say? You're not in the flesh but you're in the what? You're not in the what, but you're in the what? It doesn't say sometimes you're in the flesh and sometimes you're in the Spirit.
Isn't it amazing, and all of you know, all of us have been guilty of this in our small groups, isn't it amazing how you can read it, he tells you exactly what he's saying, and you have some silly conversation in your small group about halves of your life as a believer?
I mean, it's clear as day, it's clear as day. What's causing us to not even hear the Word? I'll tell you what it is. We've been successful in life, successful in military, successful in battles, we've been successful at work, and we think that what we've accomplished is about us to the degree that we can no longer hear what God is saying to the church.
It's not about you. It's never been about you. The gospel is not about you, it's about him.
Pastor Shawn Gray · 19:49
It's all about him.
How is it that in our pursuit of knowing him more, we forget him in our conversation?
Pastor Shawn Gray · 20:02
It's bizarre, don't you agree? How we would want to know him more but talk about us the entire time. It's like inviting someone over to dinner so you can get to know them and only talking about somebody that isn't there, or inviting someone over to dinner so you get to know them, but you can't shut up long enough, and you keep on talking about you. What's the point? What's the point of having someone over to dinner to sit around your table to only talk about you? You'd be surprised how often this happens, because when we say we want to get to know somebody, what we really mean is we want somebody to get to know us, and so we miss it, we don't hear it. Notice what is warring against your understanding. You know the, what is roaring against you are warring against understanding. Now with that, I want to read two more verses. Those who are in the flesh cannot please God. You, however, are not in the flesh but you're in the Spirit, if in fact the Spirit of God dwells in you. Anyone who does not have the Spirit of Christ does not belong to him. So here's how he defines somebody who's not in the flesh but is in the Spirit: somebody who has the Spirit. This is good, this is good news. All right, let me try to do this, I don't...
Let me try to do this. It seems like I'm all over the map, but I promise I'm going somewhere, so just hold on. There in Romans chapter 8
Point 2Our theology shapes how we read Romans 8
There are many theological underpinnings, and it's important for us to understand what they are if we're going to grasp or try to understand or interpret the truths of chapter 8. We need to understand what's at war in our culture against it, because sometimes we don't even see it, like what I just read there. We'll have conversations, we'll talk about something, because we misinterpret it, and it affects our conversation, and it's not that we're against God or the things of God, it's that we don't even see it. It's amazing how, when somebody points it out, how easy it is to see it. Amen? So the goal here is not that you have to have an understanding of theological terms or any of those things. I encourage you to go do research and study it, because I can only talk about it to a certain degree here, but it is important for me to point it out, because pointing it out is how you see what's affecting your interpretation.
Amen. All right, so let's do that. Many of these theological underpinnings are assumptions, they might be foreign to many of us. The reason for this would be that they are not commonly adopted theological perspectives of our day. Notice this, there are whether you're a theologian or not, the culture has adopted general theological positions, specifically the evangelical culture, and you need to understand what has shaped much of your interpretation over the years. All right, the common theological grid of our day is what is referred to, and you can write this down, dispensationalism. Please don't check out on me here, this is very important. Dispensationalism. Here's a short definition, and it is short, and there is a lot of studying that can be done here, and I cannot, even in the remaining time I have left, if I just focus on dispensationalism, fully give you a picture of what it is that's shaping your interpretation of the Bible. It's a lot, and it's the evangelical church, particularly in America, while widely and wildly have adopted this perspective. It's important, and this perspective affects how you interpret Romans 8. It really does. Here's a definition: dispensationalism is a theological system of interpreting the Bible that was first espoused by John Nelson Darby. Dispensationalism maintains that history is divided into multiple ages, or more specifically, dispensations of time in which God acts with humanity differently from one age to another age. Let me just speak into that right there, and let me just say, before you think I'm killing and dismantling all of dispensationalism, that is not what I'm saying right now. But I will say this: God is the same yesterday, today, and now. How he deals with people, we know he deals with them differently, but he doesn't change his mind based on the success or a failure of an age that came before. So it isn't like God says, here's my promise, oh, you didn't, for those who obey and do this, they didn't do it, so I'm going to rise up a new age and I'm gonna rise up a new people and I'm gonna see if we can do it again. It isn't like I have a plan A and I have a plan B, and if plan A falls apart then I have plan B and I can do that as a backup. God doesn't, he's not a, he doesn't move through time and make decisions based on what we do. Sovereign. This is important. If we were to summarize further, dispensationalism is the idea that God has, in other words, in a very generic, general term, has two types of people and he has two plans.
The two people are Israel and the church. All right, plan A was an earthly kingdom for Israel.
Israel rejected plan A, therefore you insert a parenthesis here, and the parenthesis is then the church age. It is the New Testament church age, or the church, or the people of God, or the Gentiles who believe in him, or the Gentiles and the Jews who put Christ first, whereby God moves to plan B and replaces Israel now with the church. But God must eventually then come back and finish up his work with plan number one and people number one.
Therefore we must have the rapture of the church and tribulation, so that God might establish an earthly kingdom with Israel and fulfill all the earthly promises that have been made by Israel, to Israel, for Israel, by then joining the two peoples, the church and Israel, together in the heavenly kingdom.
That is the dispensationalist perspective. Now, for all of you who are going, it'll make sense in a minute, just hold on.
This is the most predominantly held ideology or understanding or perspective held by people in the church today.
That then is a hermeneutic, and it has a giant impact on how you view all of Scripture. Giant impact, even though you don't know the word, even though you don't have an understanding. It has shaped much of your perspective. You need to know this. It's important that you know this, and much less how you view and interpret Romans, much less how you view and interpret Romans chapter 8. I would encourage you from here to go do some study on dispensationalism. I personally tend to lean more heavily, not entirely, but more towards a covenantal perspective, what is referred to as covenantal theology. How many of you know that if you talk about a Baptist and you begin to make statements about their theological presupposition or their theological position, that you cannot, by saying what a Baptist believes theologically, hit it for everybody that's a Baptist? How many of you know you can make general statements, but even inside the Baptist church there are those who believe one thing and those who believe in another? We can generalize it, but there are many branches of those who call themselves Baptists, as well as there are many branches who call themselves Pentecostal, as well as there are many branches who call themselves Wesleyan, as well as there are many branches that call themselves Calvinist and many branches that call themselves Arminian. Are you with me? It's very important you understand this.
You cannot classify a general group of people and say this is what they believe. That's not necessarily accurate. Same would apply to me regarding covenant theology. There are some kooky things out there regarding covenant theology, which we're going to talk a little bit in a moment about, replacement theology, which I would not align with, although I am more of a covenantal, a hold of more of a covenantal theological position. I'm not a replacement, in other words, that the church replaces Israel in every way, because there are some promises given to Israel that are not given to the church in general. However, there are some places where, salvifically speaking, the church and Israel have been brought and are one.
Are you with me? Okay, so we talked about dispensationalism. I know you may be lost, hold on, we're going to move on to covenant theology. That's the position I'm most sold on, but there are some things in it that I would not agree with. This perspective moved the starting mark to the gospel being read with the idea that God does not have two people, he has one people. All right. I do not believe there is a parenthetical pause before God finishes what he's doing with Israel. I believe, don't have a heart attack here, and I'm going to clarify, I believe the church is Israel. I'm not a replacement theologian. Just pause for a second there, pause, don't have a heart attack, don't email me. Some of you are already thinking about an email and already writing an email. Just pause, don't write your email, I'm going to fix this. We are one in Christ. In Christ there is no Jew or Gentile. Are you with me? We are grafted in salvifically. I'm speaking salvifically. I'm not speaking of the nation of Israel, I'm speaking of the people of God, not the people who are a nation, but the people who are saved by Christ. We are his church.
When I say we there, I mean we the Gentiles, and I also mean we the true Israelites. Notice I said true, the true Israel, the true Israelite. Who's the true? Those, like in the book of Acts, who were Jews who believed in Christ and are in Christ. Those are we are the church, the Gentile believer and the Jewish believer. We are one. Okay, I believe the church is for Israel, that is, the church is the true Israel. I do not hold a replacement theological position that now the church has replaced Israel in every way. I don't believe that. We must properly delineate the difference between the nation of Israel and the true Israel. Here's what I read. I like this best explained it for me, and let me tell you, I did like probably eight hours of work to get you one paragraph. So if you fall asleep on this, shame on you, and I'm irritated because it took forever to get to this.
We must properly, it says here, delineate the difference between the nation of Israel and the true Israel. On the day of Pentecost the true Israel, Jewish believers in Jesus, was taken by the Holy Spirit and formed into the nucleus of the New Testament church. The Holy Spirit was poured out on the true Israel, and the same men and women who were part of the true Israel were now the true New Covenant church. Israel was the church, the true Israel, that is, the church is distinct from, and one theologian and commentary writer said this, the church is distinct from the nation of Israel just as the true Israel in the Old Testament was distinct from the nation of Israel. There's a distinction that must be drawn here, even while being part of the nation of Israel. In other words, when we look at the Old Testament, there was the true Israel who were separated from the nation of Israel. The remnant group was part of the whole but could also be distinguished from the whole by its faith, and often was in Old Testament writings. However, if we're talking about true Israel, then there is no distinction between the true Israel, not the nation, and the church. Are you with me today? If you're not, be like, and then look at your neighbor who's not in her head, yes, and then ask them to help you, and we'll really see if they really did understand or if they're just not in their head, yes. Yeah, so that kind of lays a landscape, and you might be lost a little bit, so understand that affects how we interpret Romans 8.
Now, so let's read the first two verses. Therefore, there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. Who are we talking about here? The true Israel and the Gentiles who believe in Christ. So the Jews who believe in Christ and the Gentiles who believe in Christ, the church. Okay, the true Israel and Gentiles who believe in Christ, that's who he's talking about. There is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. It's all of them. This promise is not for the nation of Israel, and it's not for the Gentile nation. This is for the individuals who have faith in Christ. Are you with me? Okay, that's important. For the law of the Spirit of life has set you free in Christ Jesus from the law of sin and death.
Notice Christ Jesus is key. Notice, I love this, if you go all the way down to verse 7: For the mind that is set on the flesh is hostile to God, for it does not submit to God's law; indeed, it cannot. In other words, man in the flesh cannot please God. Honestly, when we looked at chapter 1 we saw the depravity of man in its greatest form. Not everybody holds true to the depravity of man. There are some. Listen, this shapes your theology. It's another shaping indicator of your theology. If you think that you're 99.9 percent dead but there's that point zero point one percent chance, right, that, or there's enough, there's a 0.1 percent of you that can choose God, and this is about you, then you're not dead yet. Partly dead.
He's merely partly dead. You give him a, what is it, a chocolate Popsicle, or whatever, you know, it's like he's only partly dead, you know? So I love that, I love that whole scene. That's the way many of us think about salvation. I'm only partly dead and the rest of it is me choosing God.
There is a widely held view that God cast a vote, Satan cast a vote, and you get to cast the deciding vote.
Pastor Shawn Gray · 38:31
Right? Wrong. Wrong.
Dead men don't vote. A dead man can't help you help him.
Pastor Shawn Gray · 38:46
Theological positions of the age have shaped and muddied Romans. That's why we have people sitting around going, man, Romans is so difficult. No, Romans is not difficult, your thinking's muddied, and honestly, much of our thinking in the church and our interpretation is a human secularist perspective, and it's important for us to understand it. Theological positions of the age have shaped and muddied this book, especially when discussing the topic of sanctification, which is where we're at in chapter 8. Finally, I got to
Point 3Sanctification is God's work, not our own
Where we're talking about, right? There are two possibilities of how we might interpret sanctification. Here they are the most common, and one of these will shape your perspective, and in case you thought that you could keep it private, I'm going to help everyone else do in the small group, to identify the people around the table or which position they hold, because we should just all know where we stand, right? There's two perspectives regarding the conversation of sanctification. One, the believer is not condemned because of something the believer accomplishes. Number two, the believer is not condemned because of something the believer receives. And one of those two shapes your interpretation of chapter 8. Is this a work of God? Here's an easier way to summarize: is this a work of you, or is this a work of God? Because there is no in between.
Let me give you a hint as to which one it is. The right one is number two. I think I can defend that pretty well with Scripture. I have been for the last amount of weeks, almost a year: sanctification is not something the believer is or becomes because of something the believer does on his own. It is the work of the Holy Spirit. Paul has been clear on this, it is not in question.
He's clear. Notice the verse, notice the first verse of Romans, notice the direction from whence the blessing of God comes. Romans 8:1 says this: There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ. Where are you in there?
Sanctification is also not a believer becoming more acceptable to God as he is sanctified more and more. It's not a process of becoming more acceptable, otherwise that spits in the face of Christ's death, resurrection, redemption, and atonement, and ultimately propitiation for all men who believe. If sanctification makes you more acceptable to God, then we weren't fully acceptable through Christ's sacrifice. Are you with me? Some of you are like, Shawn, why are you talking about this? Because they're going to be multiple points like that moment right there where you go, oh, yikes. You see how important it is we get this right?
Well, now that I'm five years sanctified, I'm the man. No, you were only acceptable to God because of Christ.
Pastor Shawn Gray · 42:48
That's why you're in him. All right, you don't become more acceptable to God when you're more sanctified or been in the church more amount of time.
You are fully approved and fully delivered and fully accepted because of Christ and Christ alone.
Pastor Shawn Gray · 43:14
All right, that's I want to stay there for five days because that's so important. I don't even know if you know how important that is. That's important. We're being conformed into the image of Christ, amen, and this is a work of God that no man can boast. You're like, no, Shawn, that's salvation, we get salvation that no man can boast. What do you think sanctification is? Sanctification is salvation. We were saved, we're being saved, and we will be saved.
It's all salvation, it's just working out in a certain time table.
Pastor Shawn Gray · 43:59
This is why God says, when my word goes out, it accomplishes everything that it intended to accomplish. In other words, there is an accomplished thing that continues to happen because he sent his word into the world to die. But if you don't see it yet in your flesh, don't worry, because if you believe in the one true Word who was with me from the beginning, who came as Jesus Christ, who died on the cross, and you put your faith in him, if you don't see it yet in your flesh, you will, because it accomplishes everything he sent it to accomplish. Are you with me today? That's good news. What do you say about the phrase "once saved, always saved"? Some of you just went... Because that's trigger-inducing for some of us.
Why is it trigger-inducing for some of us? Why is it trigger-inducing for some? Well, it has to do with whether or not you lean more towards covenantal theology or more towards... It shows how you interpret it. It matters.
It also gives me perspective on how you interpret salvation, if you get triggered by that. We are being conformed in the image of Christ, whether it is you... Actually, how you respond to once saved, always saved, right, it helps me know if you view salvation as you dependent or God dependent. It triggers some of us because we begin to, we have a problem with, well, you asked Jesus into your heart, you decided to commit, you prayed a prayer, you did this, you did that, you did this, you did that.
It also shows me another side: God sent his Son, Christ died for you, God sent Christ to die for you, God called you, God redeemed you, God saved you. And if God does it, what God does is accomplished, period. It lets me know which way you interpret salvation. Do you believe this is a work by God, and when he does something he's true to what he does, or do you believe this is you dependent? What really people get triggered about is, hey, don't say once saved, always saved, Shawn, because if you say that, then what it does is it gives permission for people to declare that they love God, make a profession that they love God, that they prayed a prayer, that they did this, that they did that they went to camp, that they believed in Christ, that they, all of this, they put their faith in Christ, but then it's live however they want. Where is that in the Bible? Where's that salvation defined in the Bible? Where's that? You know what Romans is saying? That salvation is not true salvation, because a person who does not go on to sanctification, does not then begin to walk and bear the image of Christ, does not look like Christ, is not then reigned by the sin that still remains in their flesh, someone who doesn't move on to holiness is not a true believer. That's what it's saying. Hey, so we don't need to get triggered at once saved, always saved. We should celebrate, because whatever God does, he completes.
Whatever God does, he finishes.
Pastor Shawn Gray · 47:58
You either believe what Jesus said on the cross, or you don't: it is finished. You either believe when you have faith in him, it is finished, or you don't.
Listen, this salvation thing is not you dependent. If it was you dependent, you wouldn't be saved. It's God dependent.
Pastor Shawn Gray · 48:07
Some people have a problem with once saved, always saved, because they see people who profess Christ but don't look like him. But in this chapter, you will see in chapter 8, you will see that those who are saved will look like him.
There will be holiness. There will be, write this down, I want you to think about this week, because I don't have time to talk about it: not a holiness measured against the culture at large, but a holiness measured against the standard of God. That's what he said you will become. Are you with me? We're going to know when you're living a holiness measured against the culture, or when you're walking out and living a holy type of holy life that's measured against the standard of God. It will be so extreme that no one will be able to miss it. That's what he's talking
Point 4In Christ there is now no condemnation
About in Romans. It's good news. The good news right off the beginning is believers are not condemned. Amen.
Can I give you a definition for condemnation, for condemn? This is important. One: express complete disapproval of, typically in public.
In public, censure. All right, number two, here's another way that condemn is used: sentence someone to a particular punishment, especially death. It says at the very beginning, there is now no condemnation from God.
There is now no condemnation from God.
Pastor Shawn Gray · 50:26
Notice here, it does not say there is now no condemnation for people in the church who think they're better than you. Notice here, it does not say there is no condemnation from people in the world who think they're better than you.
Notice here, it does not say there is now no condemnation from your parents who've been in the church their whole life. Notice that it does not promise that. Who does it promise it by? There is now no condemnation from God. This does not mean you can continue on in sin and your conscience, the Spirit, God, or your church family will not condemn you for it. The Spirit rebukes consistently. The sin still dwells in our flesh, and when you sin you feel guilty, your conscience doesn't allow it anymore. Your conscience used to be dead because you were dead in sin and trespasses, but it's been ignited and brought to life in the spiritual realm, and your flesh, even. Listen, you feel bad. Why do you feel that? Why do you wrestle? Why do you not do what you want to do and do what you don't want to do? What about that, Shawn? If I'm not condemned, what about that? I think there's an element of condemnation that still exists in regard to the disapproval of God for the sin that remains in our members, but ultimate condemnation, punishment and death, has been removed. Are you with me?
Believe what you want about that. Moving on. It does not mean you are not under any form of condemnation from God whatsoever. This is important, why? Because of what we just read in chapter 7 at the end, 7:24–25, leaves us with a question that we have to answer, which in Romans 8:1 he answers. Here's the question, here's the statement that brings the question: Wretched man that I am! Who will deliver me from this body of flesh, the body of death? Thanks be to God through Jesus Christ our Lord. So then I myself serve the law of God with my mind, but with my flesh I serve the law of sin. What is he setting us up for? Sanctification in the flesh, because we have been fully made holy in our spirit man. Are you with me today?
He's setting it up, he's setting it up. The end of 7 leaves us with a looming question. Here's the question, write it down: does that mean that when I sin somehow I have now stepped under condemnation? Brook read a commentator that said this. I would start with this: it depends on who you think you are now that you're in Christ.
Do you think you're the flesh, or do you think you're the new man?
Pastor Shawn Gray · 53:26
Which do you most identify with? Brook read one commentator said, how did he word it, babe, help me. There's the real Paul, there's the true Paul, the living Paul. There's the real Israel, there's the true Israel. Are you with me today?
And then there's the other one. Does that mean when I sin somehow I've stepped into condemnation? There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ. I'm not condemned, but wait, when I sin, God zaps me, right? There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. But what about all those bad things that happened to me when I went astray and didn't make good choices? Listen, if you have bad things happen to you and you think it's because you're living wrong, then the reverse has to be true as well. That must mean that good things happen to you because you're living right. Are you with me today? Do you understand the importance of what I just said there?
It is amazing how we can become a believer in Christ, and this is a gift that no man can boast, but then we begin to go, well, if my life if good things happen, it's because, you know, it's because I'm living right. If bad things happen, we look at people and say, well, it must be because they're not living right. Is this... Is salvation a you issue or a God issue?
Bad things is the only thing you ever deserve.
Almost done. Listen to this. Look at this screen. Number one, by John Wesley, in his journal entry. John Wesley, see if we can find it. Did you find it? This is extrapolated out of his journal. Sunday a.m., May 5th: preached in Saint anne's, was asked to not come back anymore. Next journal entry, Sunday p.m., May 5th: preached at St. John's, deacon said, get out and stay out.
Nice to be wanted. Sunday a.m., May 12th: preached at Saint Jude's, can't go back there either. Sunday p.m., May 12th: preached at Saint george's, kicked out again. He's on a roll. Sunday a.m., May 19th: preached at Saint somebody else's, deacons called a special meeting and said I couldn't return.
Sunday p.m., May 19th: preached on the street. He's just stopped going to say, something or another's, say, I'm just going to go to the street and preach on the street. Kicked off the street. Sunday a.m., May 26th: preached at the meadow to the cows. I guess, I don't know, till the cows come home, I don't know. Chased out of the meadow when a bull was turned loose during the service and ran them out of the meadow. Sunday a.m., June 2nd: preached at the edge of town, kicked off the highway. And then finally, Sunday p.m., June 2nd: preached in a pasture, ten thousand people came to hear me. Next journal entry... Next journal entry: wasn't me after all, this was all about God.
The way that impacts you, if you're here this morning and you're saying to yourself, that's it, man, all you need to do is you just need to stay in the game, just keep in the fight, just don't quit too soon, just be determined, let's just persevere, because you see, you can have eight bad things happen, but if you persevere, if you persevere, good things will happen because of you.
That's one way to interpret it, and people who interpret it that way interpret the Bible that way. Or you can interpret it this way: I am so in love with Christ, I have been so consumed by Christ that I no longer live.
I will preach him on the street, I will preach him in the church, I will tell people about him in the highways and byways of life, I will preach to the cows because I love him, and the results are God's.
I don't do this because of results, I do this because I'm in love with God.
Pastor Shawn Gray · 59:22
Which are you? This book, this chapter,
Point 5It is all about God's glory, not us
It's not about you. This book, this chapter, is not that you can have more glory because you're better now than you used to be ten years ago. This is not about you, this is about God doing what only God can do in the hearts and the lives of men. Listen, you are not... You are not a new time period that now, because of you, God's going to be pleased. You're not plan B.
You're not plan B, where now God can get it right with you when everyone else was a loser. This is not about you.
Let me tell you what
Plan A is. Can I tell you what plan A is? Plan A is God's glory.
Pastor Shawn Gray · 1:00:39
Let me tell you what plan B is: God's glory. Let me tell you what plan C is: that God may receive the glory. Let me tell you what plan D is: that God would be glorified.
That's the purpose of the gospel. So as we talk about sanctification and we see the change that's going to happen in our flesh, we see that we become holy to the measure of God, not to the measure of the culture. When we see all of these things, it's not to stand back and go, hey, stand back and go, wow, God is good. Well, who else is good? That's the point of sanctification for God's glory.
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