Grace Community Church - Nashville

Thanks be to God through Jesus Christ our Lord! He has given us the Holy Spirit to bear witness with our spirits that we are the children of God, so we cry, “Abba, Father.” The Holy Spirit also produces the early signs of the revelation of our adoption as God’s children and the redemption of our bodies, so we eagerly anticipate the glory to come. This internal assurance and growing anticipation is just what we need to live in hope, patient and faithful to Christ.

Romans 8 begins with the great declaration that there is no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. It ends with another declaration that nothing will separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus. And in the middle, this chapter guides us in the life of the Spirit. We are saved from sin’s condemnation and secure in God’s love. Now, we live according to the Spirit. The Spirit lives in every Christian as the presence of Christ in us. The Spirit makes us spiritually alive to God. The Spirit gives us the power to put to death sin in our bodies and live in positive obedience to God. The Spirit, who is life, brings us into the enjoyment of the life of God now as we move toward the life to come. Today, let’s talk about how to live according to the Spirit.

What is so important about the phrase “in Christ” for Christians? How does our understanding of being in Christ affect our daily living? Justin and Scott discuss these questions and more on this week’s podcast.

We have already heard the devastating news that through sin death spread to all people because all have sinned. We know from experience the power of sin in our lives. Now we cry with the Apostle Paul, “Who will deliver us from this body of death?” The gospel tells us that God himself has done the work to deliver us from the power of sin. He sent his Son to break sin’s condemnation by the power of his cross. He gave us the Holy Spirit to break sin’s dominance by his power now at work in us. Let us live in freedom from sin by the daily reminder of the cross of Christ, and the daily surrender to the leadership of the Spirit.

Scott and Justin look back at Hebrews 10 and ask one question: How can we be praying during the unique season we find ourselves in?

Christ has made the way to God. He has brought us with him into God’s presence by his death on our behalf. Now Christ stands with us before God and over us as the people of God. We have come to Christ by faith as the Spirit of God has drawn us to him. There is great reward and the promise of life that awaits us. So, let us endure! Let us remain in Christ, with Christ’s people, and in the things of Christ which will matter in eternity. The Christian and the congregation that endures will be of great benefit to people in times of turmoil. When God turns their hearts to Christ, we will be standing with Christ to welcome them as we ourselves have been welcomed by him.

Rob Tims preaches on Romans 7:7-24. When the law of God outside our hearts and the sin inside our hearts collide, an epic battle rages that we simply cannot win. God’s law exposes our sin, and sin exploits the law and stirs us up to sin all the more (7:7-13). Yet when the law of God is written on our sinful hearts by the Spirit, an epic battle rages that we simply cannot lose, and the ongoing battle is a sign of the Spirit at work in our life (7:14-24).