Paul's Epistles, Part 1

Thanks, everyone. Good afternoon once again, everyone. Thanks for having my wife, Kathy, and I here. We're really happy to be here. I'll try to keep it breezy this afternoon, because it's a little warm in here. I will try to keep the hot air outside and not coming from the podium.

How's that? Would that be better? Hopefully we'll keep all the hot air out and we'll let the air conditioning work. This afternoon, we were asked to do a little bit of a presentation of some of the things that we might do at ABC. I have a real honor that I'm able to teach Paul's epistles at ABC. So I do all of his New Testament writings. We go through those throughout the year, both first semester and second semester.

It is really a blessing to be able to do that. We had a wonderful opportunity just a couple of weeks ago, both Daris, myself, and Scott Ashley, to go to Rome. I thought, well, maybe it would be good to cover just a little bit of the letter to the Romans that Paul wrote, as tying in with that a little bit so we can use some of the wonderful experiences we had there, as well as just look at what Paul had to tell them.

It is an amazing letter. He wrote some phenomenal things. So if you want to turn over to the letter to the Romans, we're actually going to take a look at chapter 8. We'll kind of jump into the middle of the whole thing, but chapter 8 is an amazing chapter. I suppose overall, if you looked at the book of Romans, it is a very complete discussion of doctrine.

So if you wanted to talk about doctrine in the church, this might be one of the best books to turn to, because it's a systematic way that Paul goes through the teachings of the church. And in fact, not just, here's what we believe, but he also gets into how to put it into practice. So it is a practical explanation of what the truth is.

So it's not just doctrine to be believed, but it is a life to be lived. And I think that's something that's very unique about Paul's letter to the Romans and the Roman church. It really gets a lot into the sacrifice of Christ and the significance of all those things.

Now, Paul actually wrote the letter from Corinth. If you remember, he had lived in Corinth for a number of months. And it's from Corinth that he wrote to the Christians in Rome. It's interesting, he had never been there. He had never been to Rome when he wrote this letter. In fact, it seems during his lifetime, other than when he appeared before Nero, he had never been in Rome. He wanted to go to Rome, he says at the end of this letter, but he had never been there. Which is pretty amazing when you think about it.

What was the most important city of that era? It was Rome. Rome was everything. Rome was the empire. The Roman Empire, Rome itself, was the epitome of everything that it meant. And it wasn't some backward kind of a place. Rome was an amazing place 2,000 years ago. It may seem like, oh, that was ancient a long time ago, and it was ancient times that they didn't have much technology, and it was just a backward way of life. But it wasn't like that at all. Rome at the time was probably about a million people. So if you can imagine, this is a big metropolis.

A million people lived in Rome. They had running water. In fact, they had such an amazing water system that it still works today. Well, we were in Rome. They talked about the Roman aqueducts that were built not only at the time of Christ, but even 6, 8, 1,000 years before Christ. And they're still working! I asked one of the guides, I said, well, how do they fix this? Because some of it is all underground today.

He says, oh, it never breaks. So, well, come to America, we know how water mains break all the time. But they've got this water that is flowing everywhere, fountains all over the city. And this is all drinkable water, not just water that is flowing through these fountains, but any of the pipes that come into the fountains, you can put your water bottle right up to them and drink straight out of them.

And when they first told us that, I was like, oh, I don't know if I want to do that. They said, well, don't drink in the pond, the water that's in there, but the water that's coming directly into those fountains, you can drink right out of them. And we ended up giving it a shot, and none of us got sick. So it was like, well, it must be good. And all throughout the city, there's water that's flowing.

And oftentimes, I wonder if the Apostle Paul didn't use that analogy often when he talked about the water of the Word and how this water of life is such an amazing thing. And so water was one of the things that made the city work. And it is also amazing that it is until we get to the New Testament and the writings of Paul that we even hear about Rome. Rome was around hundreds and hundreds of years before that, but it's not until the New Testament that it's even mentioned in Scripture.

And so it definitely was an amazing place. By the time we get to this particular letter, we find there are Jews that lived in Rome. In fact, one of the interesting things that we learned about on this trip is when Paul came to Rome, he did like he did in so many cities, where he went to preach the gospel, and guess where he went to? He went to the synagogue, or he went to the Jewish people that had some kind of a connection with the true God, and he would preach to them.

And it was no different when he came to Rome, ultimately, for his trial. He went to the Jewish sections of Rome, probably the sections where they had the leather workers or the laundry workers, where they would work with textiles and fabrics, and they would sew tents and things like that. In fact, you could see in the marketplaces those various trades that were there.

And so Paul would probably have gone there to start with. So we know that throughout his journeys, going to those who were of a like trade, he would preach to them and teach them. Think of Aquila and Priscilla. They were ones that he met and he taught and were converted. In fact, they ended up in Rome. And so he talks about them at the end of the letter and talks about greeting Priscilla and Aquila. They had a church in their house in Rome.

In fact, at this time there may have been several congregations throughout the city of Rome. And at this time, the Jews were just coming back to Rome. They had been there before, but one of the emperors, Claudius, kicked them all out. He said it was 49 AD. Get out of Rome. They were, in a way, anti-Semites, get out of here. We're going to blame the Jews for all of our problems. So they kicked them all out, 49 AD.

It wasn't until later on that they began to be allowed to come back. So by the time we get to this letter, which is probably about six years later, about 56 AD or so, the Jews started coming back to Rome. And so we find a number of them there. And so it's an interesting history to see that. Now, a lot of times people will say, oh, a lot of that stuff, it's just rumor.

You can't verify any of these things. You know, there was, in fact, the Muslims today say there was never a temple in Jerusalem. There was the temple that they have there now with the big golden dome, right? It has always been there. And there was never a Jewish temple there.

Kind of an interesting switch of history. But when you're in Rome, you can see that that is just not the case. There's an amazing arch that was built in 71 AD. And it was built to honor the conquering general that defeated Jerusalem. And of course, if you go back to Matthew 24, Christ himself said, no stone here is going to be left unturned. He talked about, because remember the disciples were saying, hey, look how beautiful the temple is.

Look how beautiful all the buildings are. And he said, hey, this isn't going to last. In fact, he predicted its downfall. Well, 70 AD comes. Titus, the son of the dictator in Rome, conquers Jerusalem, destroys the temple. And you know what he does? They have a big parade back in Rome to honor him.

Well, a year later, they build this arch in honor of his great victory. And on that arch, you can see it today, you can see the depictions that are carved in the rock, right there in the marble. You can see the depictions of the candlestick straight out of the temple. You can see the silver trumpets right on that monument. You can see the table of showbread that would have been in the temple, all right there, plain to the eye to see, because he carried all that.

In fact, you can see disheartened Jews that they drug back to Rome as well, right there depicted on this arch. And that arch was built in 71 AD. It's been there all this time. So don't tell me there was never a temple in Jerusalem. There's proof that there was. In fact, if you start reading into history, I got to reading an interesting article about the conquering of Jerusalem and how Rome... Basically, they stole all the silver, the gold, everything from the temple and from Jerusalem. And you know one of the things they did with it?

They built the Colosseum with the gold and the silver and the financing from the destruction of Jerusalem. So we're all familiar with this gigantic Colosseum where we remember the gladiators fought and all. Well, how'd they build that thing? Well, with the finances from destroying the temple. So it is an amazing story when you see that it is true.

We don't just believe things by blind faith. There is evidence of the hope that lies within. It is not just a wishful thought. And so that was one of the amazing things on this trip, that we were able to really touch these things and be in these places that the Apostle Paul was. And so here he is writing to God's people in Rome for a number of reasons. He really wanted them to understand the gospel. He wanted to have them understand the truth. He says something interesting right at the very beginning of the letter where he says, I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ. This is verse 16, chapter 1.

It is the power of God to salvation for everyone who believes, for the Jew first and also for the Greek. And so he wants them to know the truth, the gospel, the good news of salvation, how we can be reconciled with God, how we can be saved from our sins. And he also points out, well, everybody sins, Jews and Greeks alike.

And so he is going to help them to solidify their faith. And how does this thing work anyway with Jews and then non-believers, Gentiles that were converted? How does that work? Well, he is going to talk about that throughout this very, very important letter. And so he will talk about how we deal with each other and personal relationships. And so it is an important letter in that way as well.

So as we consider this letter, I am going to just jump forward to chapter 8. And in many ways, it is probably a familiar letter. And as you think about this explanation of the gospel, he gets into that as he begins chapter 8. Of course, the letter itself didn't have chapters or verses or anything like that. It was just a letter that he wrote. But he really gets into some big concepts here in chapter 8. In fact, 5, 6, 7, 8 are all chapters you probably read as you were coming to baptism.

Because they have tremendous significance in this. And as we start out, my goal here in the next two hours or so is to get through chapter 8. That's my goal. So I've been known to spend an entire class period on one verse, but I'll try not to do that. Get carried away and just keep talking. But we're going to try to get through chapter 8.

That might not seem like much. But when we tear it apart, there is so much here. There is so much here. I mean, just starting out with the comment that he makes here in verse 1. He says, there's no condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus. What does he mean, in Christ Jesus? Well, we kind of use those terms today. We say, well, we're in the church. Are you in the church? Well, yes, I'm a part of the church. Well, it means that I identify with the teachings of the church.

I'm striving to live by the teachings. If you're in Christ, you are His. You belong to Him. You are following what He taught. And so he says, you don't walk according to the flesh. You don't look at this world and say, that's the way I want to be. No, we're going to walk according to the Spirit. And even that is an interesting comment.

Guess what they did everywhere at this time? You know that the disciples were in one accord at Pentecost? No, that wasn't a car, right? That wasn't a Honda Accord. They walked everywhere they went. They walked everywhere. So if you were going to come from Jerusalem, you were probably going to end up walking 600 miles, taking a boat another 400 or 500 miles. So it wasn't like this easy life where I get in the car and I just drive to Rome.

It wasn't like that at all. So when they talk about walking, they walked. They walked everywhere. And so he uses that analogy to say, this is the way we live our life. Walking, we live this way. We travel this way. We think this way. We're not going to walk according to the flesh. We're going to walk according to the Spirit. And of course, one of the things that made the Gospel even possible to be preached the way that Paul did was the fact that the Roman Empire was in charge. They made fantastic roads, roads that are still there today. We stood in many spots throughout the city and in other places on the Appian Way.

If you've ever heard of the Appian Way, these were the Roman roads. And as they used to say, all roads lead to Rome. And in a way they did. This Appian Way was like one of the very first roads that were built. And the fellow who was in charge of building it was blind. Well, how could that possibly be? But he oversaw the construction. And he told the workers, here's the goal. We are going to build this road so that when I walk on it, I'm not going to stub my toe. And so if you can imagine, with all the way they laid these things out, they dug down, put base foundation, the whole thing, and then put these amazing stones over the top, and then filled in all around.

It's still there today in so many places. In fact, there was one spot that we stood that Paul would have had to have walked right where we were at. I mean, there was no way around. The road is probably just about as wide as this stage. And he had to have walked right there because where he landed at the harbor in Petiola, he would have had to walk right up this road to Rome.

And it's there. It's still there. And so this Roman road and this entire system, not just throughout Italy, but throughout Turkey and Greece, and Jerusalem, as a matter of fact, Jerusalem was under the Roman Empire, the time of Christ, weren't they? Who were the ones that really crucified Christ? Well, the Romans were the ones that nailed him and crucified him in that sense. Yes, the Jews urged them on, but they were under Roman rule.

And so these Roman roads made it possible. So he says, if you're going to walk these roads of life, be sure you're walking according to the Spirit. And when we walk that way, this is a great thing. There's not condemnation. There's no condemnation. And that is literally talking about a judge and jury, that you will not be convicted. You don't have to worry about standing before the judge and getting the big penalty.

He says, that is not our worry. When we walk in Christ, when we walk by the Spirit, what is it? John 2 even says that, or 1 John 2, where he says we walk as Christ walked, or live as Christ lived. And so that's the way we're supposed to live our lives. Verse 2, he says, In Christ Jesus, may be free from the law of death and sin.

Well, does that mean there's some special law of the Spirit that I have to learn about? Or what exactly is that talking about? Well, since we're on the subject of a case, a jury verdict, there's no condemnation of that jury convicting us, or that judge that's going to penalize us when we walk in Christ. We have to live by the law of the Spirit.

Now, what would that be? Well, I've got to have God's Spirit in me. I've got to have His Spirit in me. And that power of the Holy Spirit governs my thinking, governs my life. It helps me to combat all the attacks that come at me, that I can see the life I should live by God's help. And it happens through His Spirit. So I'm not going to live by the laws of this land.

I'm going to live by God's law, the law of the Spirit, He says, that's in Christ Jesus. And so then I'm free from condemnation. I'm free from, like He says here, sin and death. And, oh, by the way, what does that do for me? You see, some people were under the misconception that, well, if I keep the law and I do it perfectly, then God has to save me.

Then I have to be in the kingdom. Right? If I do all A, B, C, D and F, I've got to do it all and I'm in. Well, can we earn our salvation? That's part of the question that Paul deals with here. He says, for what the law could not do, that it was weak through the flesh, God did, by sending His own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh, on account of sin, He condemned sin in the flesh. So is it possible to earn our way into the kingdom? We can't. No amount of Sabbath-keeping is going to get us there. Right? It doesn't make it. Now, we need our sins forgiven and that only happens through Jesus Christ.

We can only be justified. We can only be made right because of the sacrifice of Christ. It's through His sacrifice, through His blood, through His crucifixion, His death, His resurrection, that makes it possible for us to be forgiven. And so that's why being in the kingdom is a gift. It's a gift of God. It's not something I can earn. And so Christ showed the way. He lived it. He died for my sin. So this requirement that I might strive to do and try to earn my way in, Paul is telling the Jews, you're not going to earn your way into the kingdom.

It doesn't happen that way. So he says, life in Christ is walking differently. In fact, he shows us that, wow, if it's not all about that, how can I do it? Can I really overcome sin in my life? Because that's kind of a difficult thing. Well, how is it even possible to overcome sin? Well, he says, yes. He says, yes, because he gives us an example. And what is our example here? Well, he says, God did it, this is verse 3, by sending His own Son, and He condemned sin in the flesh. Christ condemned sin in the flesh.

So a couple of things. He says then, all right, number one, it is possible to obey. It's possible in the flesh to obey. Now, can I do it perfectly? Well, maybe I can't do it at all. Can we do it at all?

I know a while back that we were talking about this at ABC and some said, it's impossible. I can't do it. How can I be? How can I be perfect? Christ even said, become perfect like your Father in Heaven is perfect. But how can I do that? So we did a little experiment. Maybe we should do the same experiment today. All right. I am in the flesh. I know my flesh is not good. I know it will only be right when I'm spirit. But let's put that aside. Let's say just put the body aside for the minute.

Let's talk about our minds for a second. All right. Can we all, let's say for one second, can we all think godly, perfect thoughts for one second? So maybe that's about one thought. Can we do that? Let's give it a shot. All right. We're going to think godly thoughts. We're going to think of his way for one second. Ready, set, go. All right. I think we did pretty good. Should we go for two?

Maybe we should. But what that begins to show us, I think, is what Paul is writing about here. Is Christ condemned sin in the flesh? It is possible. Now I've got to extend that out. I've got to continue to do that in my life. In every situation, I can't just do it for one second. But Christ condemned sin in the flesh.

He lived it. He showed the way. It is possible. And by the way, who's in us? Who's living in us? Christ is in us. If Christ is in me, it doesn't have to be just a second. If he already lived that life, he makes it possible. If he's living in me today, and if Christ is the same yesterday, today, and forever, it is possible. It is possible for me to live his way.

And so because Christ lived that perfect sin-free life, even though he's as tempted as we are, he's in us today, so we then can condemn sin in the flesh through the power of God's Spirit. So that's pretty exciting. I think it's pretty amazing that Paul writes it that way, that we have that same potential.

We can do this as well. Because the opposite side is a train wreck. It's going to be a train wreck if we don't. Because he said, those who live, this is verse 5, those who live according to the flesh set their minds on the things of the flesh.

We look around the world today, is that pretty obvious? All we think about, what about the American dream? What's the American dream? Well, get a bigger house, a bigger car, have all the money. Yeah, that's the American dream. But wait a second, is that really what it's like? Those are fleshly things. Those are temporary things. Those are things that aren't going to last.

We all know how happy everyone is in Hollywood. Because they have all of those things. Big houses and big cars. And the perfect husband that I have for five minutes or so. No. We know how powerful people are so happy. Yeah, those are temporary things that don't bring happiness. They don't set it right. And so he says, don't put your mind there. He says, we've got to be different. Don't live according to the flesh because where's their thinking? That's where their thinking is. So he says, us, we've got to change the way we think. We've got to have a repentant mind. And he says that in the middle of verse five, those who live according to the Spirit set their minds on the things of the Spirit. That's what it's all about. And so no wonder he says, that's where we have to be focused. Because if we're honest with ourselves, where do people in the world, let's say? We're not in the world at all. Okay, we are a little bit. And we're overcoming that. But where do people put their mind? What do they think about most?

And one of the interesting things in Rome is that it wasn't a happy place for a lot of people. For most people, it wasn't a happy place. If you were the richy-rich, the top 10%, you had everything. It was unbelievable. We saw some of these ruins that had beautiful mosaics. They had running water. They had their servants, the slaves that would serve. It was just opulence, just amazing luxury. And we would be happy to live there, even. I mean, they had ice cream, because they would cart ice from the mountains, and they had it stored in these great big places. So they'd have their slushies and all kinds of things there to cool off on a hot day. Air conditioning. They had heat. It was amazing. The problem is, everybody else didn't have those things. In fact, one of the things that I learned on this trip is it took five people to support the life of four people. Imagine that in farming today. If our farmers or our big corporations didn't mass produce these gigantic fields of corn, beans, and things that we drive by every day around here, we'd all be out there hoeing our gardens, wouldn't we? Well, that's the way it really was in Rome. And those four people that were doing all the work, they weren't the patricians, they weren't the upper class, they were the low class. And there wasn't much of a middle class, hardly any at all. So the lower classes were doing all the work, and the slaves. They did all the work. They did all the work. And so people's minds were set on that. Just surviving, the people that weren't, they were living in luxury. They had everything they could ever want. Well, how in the world, then, did they maintain control? You know, you've got a few people at the top in charge, and you've got these masses of people that are doing all the work. How would you keep them in control? You know what they did? It wasn't just by the army. It wasn't by that. You might think, well, it was control, strong hand of the army. But it wasn't. Yeah, Rome had a fantastic army, and it was an honor to be in. It was a big deal if you were in the army, if you were in the legion, if you were a centurion. Those were big, big jobs. But the way they maintained control is they took the people's mind off of their problems. So how did they do that? Well, they'd have parades. They would have big events, big galas. They would have the gladiators, where people could come and watch. Not just like going to see a movie that would last an hour or two, but would last all day. They had the Hippodrome, the Circus Maximus. How many of you have ever seen Ben Hur? The great chariot races, where they're going around and the little dolphins get put down for each time they go around the track. Well, that's still there today. Now, it's all in ruins, but it's still there.

That entertainment kept the people's minds occupied, so they didn't revolt against the leaders. They didn't revolt against Caesar, because it was the entertainment and the distraction. They basically built a little world of their own to keep their minds busy. So they didn't have time to put together any kind of revolt or any kind of disagreement with the authority.

So they'd kill Christians in the Hippodrome, and people would applaud and cheer and all of those kinds of things in the first century. I mean, just amazing things! They would have 300,000 people that would come and watch the chariot races and be entertained in that way. Now, think about that today. Is there really much difference? We can lock ourselves in our own little private world. We don't have to think about all the problems in the world. I don't have to worry about ISIS. I don't have to worry about the Greek economy. I don't have to worry about what the Supreme Court says, because I can turn on my Netflix and play my video games. I don't have to think about anything. I can watch movies all day, all night, anytime I want. I don't have to think about any of that. Not too much different than we are, are they? Now, can you imagine? It wasn't all that long ago. If you wanted to watch a movie, you had to actually go to a theater.

And then there were those cool tapes that seemed to be so awesome. Well, now you don't need anything. You don't even need a CD. You don't need a DVD. Now you can just wirelessly stream it into your house and watch. You can binge on movies for as long as you want. And that's Roman society. That was Roman society as well.

So no wonder Paul talks about having a spiritual mind. What do we think most about? What is most on our mind? The people that aren't a part of God's way, it's temporary things. Temporary things. Things that pertain, like Paul says here, to the flesh. So he says, what do you set your mind on? What is most important to you? What have you set your mind on? Your thinking, your mental processes are going to move in that direction. We talked about earlier, we should have the mind of Christ. A little bit later in Philippians 3, he tells us that we set our mind on the things that are above. We set our mind on what God's purposes are all about. His plan is all about. And so that's the goal. Spiritual mind in this, and he tells us in verse 6, that kind of thinking is real life and peace. But boy, it seems like the chariot races are real life! The gladiator fights, that's real! Where is it today? It's gone. It's gone. They've come and pillaged the Colosseum, they took all the statues, they took all the marble. We've just got the basic structure there now. All the good stuff's gone. All the gold and the silver and the decorations, gone. Other people came and took it apart. It doesn't last. It doesn't let. What about the glorious temple? Back at the time of Christ, the Jews felt, well, we have the temple. Obviously, God loves us. Look how great we are! There it is! Well, it's gone. It's gone. And so he says, that's real life. Real life is thinking, acting, and living according to a way that isn't going to end. And that's our calling. That's the great calling that we have. And look at this big contrast here. Verse 7, he says, We can't serve two masters. Right? Verse 7, I think if we were to write it, I won't write it on the board. I'll forget and walk away from the mic. But it's really a key verse in the Bible. It's verse 7, chapter 8, verse 7. It tells us what the world is like.

What is human? And when we think about human beings, what is most on their mind? He's telling us things that are opposed to God. Things that are in direct opposition to God. Unbelievers don't think about God. They don't think in the terms that we need. It's not just talking about disobeying. That's not just what it's talking about. But just the whole inclination that people have. It's all about the big three, I call them. It's all about the big three. You know what the big three are? Me, myself, and I. The big three. That's what it's about, isn't it?

Mostly that's... or it's about me and my family, or me and mine. Right? That's usually what it's about. And so as he talks about this, he says, yeah, they might look religious. There's a lot of good people out there, we could say, that seem religious.

I don't care how religious you are, this is your thinking. And if you're thinking like this, that doesn't account for any... How in the world can you be a homosexual minister? Does that rise to the level of the standard of Christ? Well, if you're in some congregations, that's acceptable. Not in the Church of God, of course. But that's acceptable. You can be a homosexual minister.

You can perform homosexual marriages. You know, well, great! What a wonderful thing! Now, that is enmity against God. It doesn't matter how nice you are, how good a person you try to be, how good a humanist you are. That doesn't account for anything. And so as we see here, that doesn't cut it. The average, normal, everyday mind. And this is where we were before conversion. So we can't claim any great fame because of what we are. But we were like that. Before conversion, before receiving God's Spirit, our minds were hostile against it. We actively oppose God. And this world, it's easier to see that all the time now.

Actively, are we opposing God? Well, of course! Now, people are rewriting history. You know, the forefathers were never religious. No, they didn't have any connections with God. Well, we can say whatever we want. But there is this animosity that opposes God. And it sure is an amazing condemnation of our society today. It's just gotten worse and worse. And so, what's next? We're going to keep heading down that slippery slope. And I mean, it's interesting when you read Revelation, where Christ says, behold, I come quickly.

It doesn't necessarily mean like right now, this instant. But it does have the connotation that when it starts, there is no stopping us. There is no stopping it. It's going to happen. And boy, how close are we to that edge? Whether it be in morality. I mean, we've already crossed the line in morality. You know, you've got the whole LGBT, XYPQ agenda, and all the rest, you know. And the interesting thing about that, it's not just that we accept it.

That's the interesting thing, I think, that comes out of this whole thing with the Supreme Court decision. It's not that, well, if they want to do that, fine. You see, that's not acceptable anymore. If you don't embrace it, you're going to be under attack. If you don't say, this is a good thing, you know, hashtag love wins. Yippee! Now, that was all over the Internet after the big decision. Love wins. What? What are you talking about? Godly love wins. That's the only thing that's going to serve love, not this kind of love. This kind of love is enmity against... that is the carnal mind.

And so we're going to be pushed more and more this way. Just watch. There's no doubt. It's not just that, oh, fine, you do what you want to do and leave me alone. And probably right now, most of America is kind of in that position. I don't know that they boldly support gay marriage. I don't think that's the case yet. I think most people will say, yeah, fine, whatever they want to do, let them do it. Just leave me alone. That's probably where most people... But we're getting to the point that that's not good enough. We're going to have to say, yes, that's a good thing. In fact, whatever the next perversion is down the line, we're going to have to support that.

Or they're going to come after us. But there's no choice. We have to stand up for the truth. And we have to just tell it like it is. And that's all there is to it. And so Paul wasn't afraid to do that. We can't be afraid to do that either. And it may mean that we'll be under attack. I mean, we know what it says. We know it says that they're going to pursue us.

That we won't always have a free society where we can worship in peace. It wasn't the case at times during Paul's day. And it's not going to be the case now. So we know it's going to come. But that can't change our message. It can't change the truth of the Gospel. We have to stand for the truth no matter what. And so we don't want to be sucked into their way of thinking. We don't want to be overly entertained so that we miss what God has in mind.

So that our mind then is just set on the temporary fleshly things. Rather than having our focus first and foremost on God in His way and have our mind directed in that way. Christ has to be in us. He has to be living His life through us. That's a beautiful section of Galatians 2 that Paul wrote as well.

You know, I'm crucified with Christ, but nevertheless I live. I kill that old man, and now Christ is living His life in me and through me. So that's a fantastic section of Scripture as well. So he talks about this carnal mind being totally opposed, enmity against God. In fact, look at this, verse 8, Those who are in the flesh cannot please God.

Oh, I'm a goner then, right? I'm still alive. I took the hat pin test, and it still hurts. Well, what about me? Does that mean I'm in trouble? Well, he says, well, no. Verse 9, You are not in the flesh, but in the Spirit. If indeed the Spirit of God dwells in you. Now, if anyone doesn't have the Spirit of Christ, he is not his. So we have life because we have Christ in us.

So if we partake of Christ, which is what we do, we recognize that at baptism, we make our spiritual commitment, and we strive to live by His way of life. And then he says that we have eternal life, and Christ showed the way by His resurrection. So yeah, we have that. In fact, verse 11, he says, If the Spirit of Him who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, He who raised Christ from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies, through His Spirit who dwells in you.

Wow, that's fantastic. We look to the example of Christ. He was resurrected. We can be resurrected, too. He led the way. He was resurrected. Some people say, well, how do you know that? I don't know that Christ was resurrected. Five hundred people see Him. They did. They did. There were eyewitnesses to the fact. Were there dead human beings that came back to life? Absolutely! You don't have to just read the Bible to find that out. There are historical accounts of these things that it actually happened. We know the whole story with Thomas as well. I've got to see it. I've got to feel it.

I've got to touch it. Well, blessed are those who don't have to see. Those that will believe on your Word. That's fantastic. So we live according to the Spirit. We put to death the flesh. We put that way of thinking totally out of our minds. We're in the process of overcoming. So Christ led the way. He was our forerunner, is what Hebrews calls Him. Our forerunner, the one that led the way.

Because it happened to Him, we can count on it for us as well. So He says, therefore, don't be a debtor to the flesh. Live according to the flesh. If you do, verse 13, you're going to die. You're going to die.

We have to be in the process of overcoming. So put to death the deeds of the body and you will live. An interesting question the other day, I was talking to someone about baptism. He said, well, why should I be baptized? He said, well, you know, you could have your sins forgiven, receive God's Spirit, begin to overcome. He said, well, am I still going to sin after baptism?

He said, well, yeah, we're human beings. We're still in the flesh. We're overcoming. We're striving to put on Christ and become perfect as our Father in Heaven. Well, why should I get baptized? If I sin now, okay, and if I'm going to sin later, what's the use? Well, that was a pretty good question, wasn't it? Why should I be baptized? If I'm still a sinner, either way. Well, a couple of things. And I think Paul deals with this as he gets into this next section. Because he says, verse 14, As many as are led by the Spirit of God, these are the sons of God.

You didn't receive the Spirit of bondage again to fear, but you received the Spirit of adoption by whom we cry out, Abba, Father. Here's the point. Instead of being a slave to sin, which is what you are now, you are enslaved to sin without God's Spirit. It's through the process of conversion, you're free.

You can have your sins forgiven. You can be sin free. You can overcome. Yes, you do sin, but guess what? We're not locked into that. I don't have to live that way. That is not my lifestyle. Where before, this is my lifestyle. This is what I do. I am enmity against God. I am fully opposed to Him. I live this way. I think this way. I breathe this way.

It's all temporary. It's all fleshly. But with God's Spirit, I don't have a ball and chain around my leg where I am locked into this lifestyle. I can be freed. I can be forgiven. I have a way to be justified. I can look forward to being a part of the Kingdom of God because of the sacrifice of Christ. So I'm not enslaved to sin.

I'm a slave to Christ. And it changes everything. And boy, when you look at that scenario in the Roman Empire, that would have... Boy, the bells would have been going off in people's minds as Paul talked about being a bond slave of Christ. Because slaves did all the work it seemed. They were not only those that did the menial tasks. It seems like there was probably throughout the Roman Empire hundreds of thousands of slaves. And they also did the nicer jobs.

They were doctors and lawyers and scribes and did other duties that weren't so bad. And so they did all the work. And so as we begin to see here, we see we're not to be a slave to a patrician or some big ruler. We're to be slaves of Christ. We're to be led by Him. And of course, that would have been pretty meaningful with what Paul was talking...as he's talking to the Romans.

That would have made a whole lot of sense to them. To be led by God's Spirit is the difference. Being led by the Spirit is what accentuates the fact that we are His people. That we are His people. And then He uses an interesting analogy to try to drive this point home.

And this particular analogy is one that really zeros in on the Roman Empire. He says here in verse 15, You didn't receive the spirit of bondage again to fear, but, He says, You received the spirit of adoption by which we cry out, Abba, Father.

And in fact, a little bit later, He also talks about this adoption. Now, why would He compare this concept of being a part of God's way to adoption? I mean, oftentimes if we think of adoption, maybe sort of being a part of the family comes to mind. You're not quite like everybody else in the family. They kind of say, Okay, you can come and live with us and be a part of the family.

Maybe in some ways we're kind of like a glorified pet. We get to live in the house, but we're not quite as good as the other kids. You know, if you think of adoption, you ever think of it like that? Okay, maybe I'm the only one that has thought about it like that. But in this particular situation, remember who Paul's writing to. He's writing to Romans. He's not writing to Greeks. Greeks had a whole different practice of adoption. Jews really didn't have much of an adoption type of thing unless maybe the husband died and you took the family, the brother took the family or something like that.

But Paul addresses this whole concept of adoption in the Roman way, a Roman adoption. And that's an important thing. When we think about this, I'll try to write on the board. I don't know if this microphone's working, is it? A little bit. Okay. Think about adoption. Adoption is pretty cool in the Roman world. You know what the word adoption meant or what it means to a Roman? It means to choose. It means to choose. And so when a Roman would adopt someone, they chose that individual. If you look in the Latin specifically, the English word adoption comes from the Latin, and it means to choose.

And that's an important thing. There's a difference between being a chosen son and being a son by birth. You know, you've always heard the saying, you can't pick your family, right? You're stuck with whoever you got, right? Whoever is ever a good old weird uncle, you know, Hubert, you know, he says, yeah, he's part of the family, we'd like to get rid of him, but you know, he's still here. That kind of thing. You can't choose.

Well, wait a second. An adoptive son is chosen. He was picked out and called into the family. And that is an important aspect when we think of what a Roman would have thought when Paul wrote this, that we are, it doesn't mean we're a second class son or daughter or something like that, or we're just kind of a glorified pet or anything like that. We were chosen. And so here Paul is basing this little discussion that he gets into on this concept of Roman adoption.

And a couple of authors, philosophers, Cicero, one of them wrote quite extensively. You can look up some historical writings about this specific thing. There were interesting requirements that had to be met in order for someone to be adopted. Join a Roman adoption. A Roman priest. All right, pagan. Yes, I get that. But what they would do is they would go to the person who wanted to adopt someone and find out why they wanted to be adopted. Why did they want to adopt this person? What is your motivation? They would check out the fact that are they secure? Do they have the means to support these people?

And basically the dignity of this act of adoption was part of a sacred rights in the Roman world. In fact, when you got right down to it, it took a bill to be passed by the Senate for an adoption to be ratified, to be completed.

And so you think, well, why would they want to adopt anybody? What would be the point? Well, sometimes it was just a matter of maintaining the family, maintaining the family name. Perhaps they had all girls and here was a boy that they could adopt. That would maintain the family name. That was a very important aspect. Even just some of their religious rights and things like that also became a part of the reason for adoption. And of course, even like some people today, they love kids. They love people. The more, the merrier. And so there were needs of affection and feelings and family in that sense.

And so that was an important reason why they adopted. And yet, as they went through this whole process, there were different events that had to take place.

One very important aspect is the person being adopted had to be in total submission to the father, to the father of the new family. That was an important aspect. Important requirement is they had to submit. And not just a little bit, but everything. Total submission to the father, to the new family. That had to be. It had to be absolute. This is what is going to happen as you become a part of this new family. And as we begin to think about that, it was all-encompassing. They had to also say, I have no other family. So that was an important aspect as well. No other family. If they had a great uncle over here, or sometimes they even had parents. Even had parents. They would have to deny the rest of their family. Any other family, the new family, the new father would be ultimate overall. Any other family connections, they would have to publicly renounce. Publicly say, this is my new family, I have no other family. The same thing would go for political affiliations, religious allegiances, whether you were an allegiance to Minerva or to Jupiter. All that had to go out the window and had to come under the terms of your new family. And so, when you begin to think about that, it's a couple of interesting things. Any ownership. Anything you had, anything that you owned became under the new family. It became their property.

Now, it's also interesting, though, on the other hand, anything you owed, any debts became the new family's debt. It became your new father's debt. And so, any property that you owned would go to the new family, but any debts that you owed would become an obligation to the new family.

And so, those were some of the aspects. So, think of yourself as a Roman going through this. Paul is describing what our Christian calling is like. Did we go through these things as we came to baptism? Absolutely. In fact, there's also another interesting aspect to what the new family, generally the new father, would have to do. We'll use the biblical word to redeem. To redeem. The new father would have to redeem the new son, let's say. He would have to basically buy him. He would have to make a payment in order to adopt that new son. If the natural parents were alive, which oftentimes they were, they would have to pay them.

Pay them some type of a fee that the magistrates would decide. And then they would assign this individual to their new family. So, there was a certain amount of redemption that had to take place. So, they were paid. Well, were we bought with a price? See, that would certainly come to mind, this parallel for the Romans. That that's us. That's what it's like.

Adoption was not something you went into just really lightly because everything was final. You could not change it. Once it was done, after it was a law of the Senate, it was finished. It was complete. The adopted person then not only became a part of the family, but then also received the rank of the father.

So, in a Roman family, once you were a part of that family, you would get not only the rank, we can put that down, we'll put the rank, but you'd also receive, probably most importantly, a new name. And it would be that family's name. You would receive their name. And nothing could take that away from you. Nothing. As an adoptive son, of course, you would be subject to your father in everything. And one of the interesting things about this is, one, it was all said and done. Most of this was done in private. But once it was finally done, they also had a public ceremony.

And guess what would happen in public? Once they went through this ceremony, and the new son acknowledged their submission to the father, the new family acknowledged their new adoptive son, the father, the new father, would give a speech welcoming the new son into the family, recognizing the fact that now he is also a Roman citizen, which was a very big deal. So he has new citizenship, and then they would complete the ceremony by putting a white toga on that new son.

So think about how that imagery would just bounce all over a Roman's mind. My calling as a child of God, I have received the spirit of adoption. That's better than a son, because anybody born in the family you're stuck with. But somebody chose me. They picked me out from the whole group here, and they wanted me. Do we have a father like that? We sure do. He chose us. He chose us.

Like a Roman adoption, we are submissive to him like an adoptive son or daughter would be. He has authority over us. He's given us a new name. We are Christians. We are co-heirs with Christ. Have we received a new name and a rank? The blessings that come along with that. In fact, in Revelation, doesn't it say he's going to give us white robes?

Yeah, robes of righteousness. And so we have a new citizenship. Our citizenship isn't Rome, but it's in heaven. And so all of the imagery that Paul talks about here is just so amazing when it comes to what would have come to a Roman's mind and the context of what he's writing about. In fact, Roman adoption was absolute final done. It was a done deal. And I think that's so encouraging for us.

When we follow God's way, is our eternal life in jeopardy? No. We're part of the family. And what does Christ tell us? He says, if I started a good work in you, I'm going to see it to completion.

I can be that little bratty child and yank my hand away from him and go somewhere else. I know kids can do that sometimes. But we stay close to Christ. We have a father who wants us in his family, who's chosen us. And he says, I can't wait to have you in my eternal kingdom.

And so what an amazing example that he gives us here in this concept of Roman adoption. And so that's why he says, verse 16, we are children of God. We're children of God. Has he given us a name and a rank? Yes. We're joint heirs, verse 17, with Christ. Right? Joint heirs with Christ. Not just any old heirs, but we're joint. We're co-heirs with Christ. He says, if we suffer with him, we may also be glorified together. So exciting information that he passes on to us. That's what we have. What's he going to give us? He says he's going to give us the universe. He says we're going to share that.

We're going to be glorified together. We'll have God's glory. We'll have a glorified body. Doesn't Philippians or Corinthians say the same thing? Christ, we read it in a passover every year, John 17, where Christ talks about that he was going to receive glory. And we, too, can have the glory that he has. So that's our wonderful blessings. We can be kings and priests, or a kingdom of priests, Revelation 5 talks about.

So what amazing blessings that we can have because we are adopted, like the Romans adopted, into the family of God. Fantastic calling that we have. Of course, no wonder then, with that, he says in verse 18, I consider the sufferings of this present time aren't worthy to be compared with the glory that will be revealed in us. That means I'm focused on God's way. I'm not focused on the flesh. I'm focused on the Spirit.

He says the earnest expectation of the creation eagerly waits for the revealing of the... Even the world can't wait for this whole thing to wrap up and let's get to the kingdom. Even the physical creation... That's what he's saying here. The physical creation is eagerly waiting for the revealing of the sons of God. Isn't that cool? We're a part of this. We're a part of it for us to be made Spirit.

The whole creation is groaning, waiting for that. Verse 21, because the creation itself will also be delivered from the bondage of corruption into the glorious liberty of the children of God. And so this creation, this physical world will come to an end at one point and ultimately we will be in the family. This earnest expectation is more than just wanting it to happen. It's like I'm reaching out for it. I am striving for it. I have this outreach handed. I'm earnestly expecting this. So he says the whole creation groans and labors with birth pangs until now.

Not only that, we also have the firstfruits. Even we ourselves groan within ourselves eagerly waiting for the adoption, the redemption of our bodies. That's the ultimate adoption. We're already adopted now, but the ultimate finished final act is when we are spirit beings and we receive those robes of righteousness that Revelation 7 talked about.

So that's the earnest thing. We've set our minds on that. That is such an amazing, wonderful, fantastic plan that God has in store for each and every one of us. And so as we look at that, we see how powerful that is, how powerful that example is. And so he tells us that that's what we should be thinking about. He says we were saved in this hope. But hope that's not seen. Why does one still hope for what he sees? But we hope for what we don't see.

We eagerly wait for it with perseverance. That's our perspective because where are our minds set? Not on the physical world, but they're set on the spirit, our new citizens, our new way of thinking, our new way of living.