Blog 8 part 1 - Love Freeing us From Sin


Love Freeing us From Sin

Read:

  • Romans 8 verse 1-17

This blog will be longer than usual, so long in fact I have decided to split it up into 3 parts, because there’s a lot of truth we can take from this one chapter alone. This chapter is a personal favourite chapter in the bible. It is known by many theologians like, John Piper, John Macarthur, Derek Thomas, etc. as the greatest chapter in the Bible. In this chapter Paul discusses God’s love, despite our sin or our struggles. God’s love is everlasting and inseparable.

Last blog we took a self-evaluation almost at our own lives and at our sin. That we let God down like Paul has. That could leave us feeling guilt and shame, but we saved by the grace of God.

Now we all love good news, like getting the results you want or getting your dream job. But what’s better than good news, is receiving good news after a bad day. Maybe it’s a bad hair day, you embarrassed yourself Infront of your peers or it was just an incredibly busy day at work. Whatever it is, the best thing you can receive is good news to lift you from that bad day. Maybe after looking at the previous chapter or when we reflect on our old sin you are full of guilt. I know when I fall into sin sometimes the guilt gets so bad that it can ruin my day. But Paul says that we don’t need to feel guilt, that our faith in Christ frees us from the sin and death we receive because of what He did on the cross. (v1-3) In verse
3 we see God’s love so much for us that he took on our sin but condemns all sin and flesh. From this truth, we will be punished for our sin when we set our minds on flesh. Meaning the things of this world and our sinful desires. But we should live according to the Spirit. This reminds me of Paul writing in Galatians 6v8 when he says, “For he who sows to his flesh will of the flesh reap corruption, but he who sows to the Spirit will of the Spirit reap everlasting life.” Yes we are free from sin, but we should look to desire things that are of God, like praying and reading our bibles. Avoid doing things that make idols in our lives that take us away from doing things that bring us closer to God.

But there’s more good news because in verse 11 we see the transforming power of the Holy Spirit. Paul says, “the spirit of Him who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you,” showing that the holy Spirit can transform our lives. In chapter 6 we saw that we are dead to sin, well here be see that by the works of the Holy Spirit that lives in us we are raised back to live through Him. (v15) Through the spirit we are then adopted by Christ so that we are children of God. So, the way we act as representatives of God by not living by the flesh and doing earthly things but live our lives for God. This is through trying to be more like Christ, through reading our bibles and praying. John Calvin says, “The mark of a Christian is not perfection but single-minded progress toward it.” We will never be perfect, only Jesus is perfect, but we should aim to be perfect everyday of our lives.

Dear heavenly Father, thank you Lord that you have freed us from the bondage of sin. So, that we can now be called Children of God. Sorry for the times we have let you down. Free us from our sinful desires and help us to live more of the Spirit each day. Grant us the wisdom to be more and more Christlike. Amen

 

Going Deeper Questions

  1. What is living according to the flesh? What is the difference between living according to the flesh and living according to the Spirit?
  2. What is condemnation mentioned in verse 1? How are we free from it?
  3. What does Paul mean in verse 11 when he says, “the Spirit of Him who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you”? How does that bring us encouragement?
  4. What does it mean to be adopted by Christ? How does that affect our relationship with Him?
  5. How does it feel knowing we are representatives of God? How does knowing this create change in our lives?

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