December 12, 2021
Pastor Alan Smith

Sermon Notes

I. The Law of Sin

Romans 7:7-12
What then shall we say? That the law is sin? By no means! Yet if it had not been for the law, I would not have known sin. For I would not have known what it is to covet if the law had not said, “You shall not covet.” But sin, seizing an opportunity through the commandment, produced in me all kinds of covetousness. For apart from the law, sin lies dead. I was once alive apart from the law, but when the commandment came, sin came alive and I died. The very commandment that promised life proved to be death to me. For sin, seizing an opportunity through the commandment, deceived me and through it killed me. So the law is holy, and the commandment is holy and righteous and good.

– We are fatally flawed!

Romans 7:14-20
For we know that the law is spiritual, but I am of the flesh, sold under sin. For I do not understand my own actions. For I do not do what I want, but I do the very thing I hate. Now if I do what I do not want, I agree with the law, that it is good. So now it is no longer I who do it, but sin that dwells within me. For I know that nothing good dwells in me, that is, in my flesh. For I have the desire to do what is right, but not the ability to carry it out. For I do not do the good I want, but the evil I do not want is what I keep on doing. Now if I do what I do not want, it is no longer I who do it, but sin that dwells within me.

II. Emmanuel Has Come

Romans 8:1-8
There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. For the law of the Spirit of life has set you free in Christ Jesus 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, 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, 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 is hostile to God, for it does not submit to God’s law; indeed, it cannot. Those who are in the flesh cannot please God.

A. Flesh
– Human nature in all its weakness

Galatians 5:19-21
Now the works of the flesh are evident: sexual immorality, impurity, sensuality, idolatry, sorcery, enmity, strife, jealousy, fits of anger, rivalries, dissensions, divisions, envy, drunkenness, [carousing], and things like these.

B. Spirit
– The power of the divine

Genesis 1:1-2
In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth. The earth was without form and void, and darkness was over the face of the deep. And the Spirit of God was hovering over the face of the waters.

Galatians 5:22-25
But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control; against such things there is no law. And those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires. If we live by the Spirit, let us also keep in step with the Spirit.

C. Mind
– A way of thinking, aspiration, our aim

Emmanuel has removed the penalty of the past and provides divine strength for the future.

Next Steps

• I commit to making Jesus my LORD and Savior
• I am struggling with sins of the flesh and need help and prayer
• I rejoice today in the life and peace I have in Christ through the Spirit.

Deep Dive

1. Read Romans 8:11, what does Paul mean that we are raised from the dead? What death?
2. What are practical ways we can live according to the spirit?
3. What would it look like for you and your family if you delighted in the Law of God?

Springboard

1. Describe your perfect world. What are things you will include and what are things you would leave out?
2. When you look at a tree stump, what do you think? What usually happens to stumps of trees that have been cut down?
3. How does worshiping Jesus for who He is differ from simply worshiping Him for what He provides?