Not Again!

Notes: Not Again!
Pastor Steve Wilburn
Romans 8
April 12, 2015

Have you ever done something that you said that you would never do again, yet you do it again?

We have all had our share of missed steps.

It happens to all of us. It’s like a self inflicted curse that has happened to all of us.

Like going to the DMV without an appointment. We like to be our own worse enemies. That seems to lead to condemnation.

At times we cause ourselves multitudes of misery. We cause ourselves misery in the little things. We fail and we fall. These things can lead us to feel shame.

For the Christian there is hope! It’s found in the pages of God’s word.

In the midst of failures in life there is hope we can grasp.

Ps 103:13-Ps 103:14 NKJV As a father pities his children, So the Lord pities those who fear Him. For He knows our frame; He remembers that we are dust.

For those who fear the Lord he has compassion on them.

"If you fear God you can fear nothing else. If you don’t fear God then you fear everything else."

Psalm 27:1 NKJV The Lord is my light and my salvation; Whom shall I fear? The Lord is the strength of my life; Of whom shall I be afraid?

Heb 4:14-Heb 4:16 NKJV Seeing then that we have a great High Priest who has passed through the heavens, Jesus the Son of God, let us hold fast our confession. For we do not have a High Priest who cannot sympathize with our weaknesses, but was in all points tempted as we are, yet without sin. Let us therefore come boldly to the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy and find grace to help in time of need.

God says to come boldly into His presence when we have failed. Oops is not in Gods vocabulary.

God requires us to have victory in our lives. We can find true peace and a place of quietness and true rest through the victory we celebrate in Jesus Christ.

Today we will consider where we can find victory over sorrow, fear, depression, hopelessness, despair.

Romans 8 is like a cure all for all of us.

1. Victory from our past
Rom 8:1 KJV There is therefore now no condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus.

2. Victory from our present
Rom 8:28 NKJV And we know that all things work together for good to those who love God, to those who are the called according to His purpose.

3. Victory for our future
Rom 8:39 NKJV nor height nor depth, nor any other created thing, shall be able to separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.

Romans 8 starts with no condemnation, ends with no separation and in the middle with no defeat.

1 Corinthians 6:9-11 NKJV Do you not know that the unrighteous will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived. Neither fornicators, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor homosexuals, nor sodomites, nor thieves, nor covetous, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor extortioners will inherit the kingdom of God. And such were some of you. But you were washed, but you were sanctified, but you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus and by the Spirit of our God.

No one can say they don't sin.

Ecclesiastes 7:20 NKJV For there is not a just man on earth who does good And does not sin.

Victory from our past:
Rom 8:1-5 NKJV There is therefore now no condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus, who do not walk according to the flesh, but according to the Spirit. 2 For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus has made me free from the law of sin and death. 3 For what the law could not do in 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, 4 that the righteous requirement of the law might be fulfilled in us who do not walk according to the flesh but according to the Spirit. 5 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, the things of the Spirit.

Titus 3:3-Titus 3:6 NKJV For we ourselves were also once foolish, disobedient, deceived, serving various lusts and pleasures, living in malice and envy, hateful and hating one another. But when the kindness and the love of God our Savior toward man appeared, not by works of righteousness which we have done, but according to His mercy He saved us, through the washing of regeneration and renewing of the Holy Spirit, whom He poured out on us abundantly through Jesus Christ our Savior,

Jesus paid the full penalty of our sins on the cross. No one can reverse that fact on a Christian.

Jesus Christ's righteousness has been imputed for us who believe.r

When we sin before God we sin against God, and we should feel guilty. But when we return to God then we are free from it.

God convicts us of sin but the devil condemns us for our sin.

We have three voices in our head. Our voice, the devils voice and the Lords voice. 

The devil tells us to run from God, but the Holy Spirit will ask us to return. The devil will call us hypocrites and that we need to stay away, but God will accept us and have us return.

99% of the time when you feel guilty it is because you are guilty. So return to God.

1 John 1:9 NKJV
[9] If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.

The apostle Paul had to forget his horrible past of killing Christians and look forward to what God says he was to do.

Colossians 2:14 NKJV having wiped out the handwriting of requirements that was against us, which was contrary to us. And He has taken it out of the way, having nailed it to the cross.

God has erased the sins that you have committed.

Luke 12:3 NKJV Therefore whatever you have spoken in the dark will be heard in the light, and what you have spoken in the ear in inner rooms will be proclaimed on the housetops.

There are 613 laws in the first 5 books of Bible. Those laws are not friendly toward us, they work against us. Those laws are like a finger of guilt pointed right at our face. God nailed those laws to the cross!

Are you in Christ Jesus?

Victory in our present:
Rom 8:7-Rom 8:8 NKJV Because the carnal mind is enmity against God; for it is not subject to the law of God, nor indeed can be. So then, those who are in the flesh cannot please God.

In our own strength we are utterly destitute. God doesn’t leave us to our own.

Rom 8:11 NKJV But 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.

The very same Spirit that raised Jesus from the dead, is living inside of you.

1 Corinthians 3:16 NKJV - [16] Do you not know that you are the temple of God and that the Spirit of God dwells in you?

That was reserved for only a few in the Old Testament, but in the new covenant the Spirit is in all of us that our followers of Jesus. 

We have all struggled with the flesh and our faith. At what point will we come to the end of ourselves?

Rom 8:13 NKJV For if you live according to the flesh you will die; but if by the Spirit you put to death the deeds of the body, you will live.

He is not talking about dying physically but spiritually.

We can die to our own sinful passions, by allowing the Spirit of God to fill us.

John 12:24 NKJV Most assuredly, I say to you, unless a grain of wheat falls into the ground and dies, it remains alone; but if it dies, it produces much grain.

Every seed in an orange has the ability to grow an orange tree.

Die to yourself, live unto Christ!

Have you truly died to yourself?

At what point will we throw up the white flag of surrender, trading our will for God's will?

Rom 8:14-Rom 8:16 NKJV For as many as are led by the Spirit of God, these are sons of God. For you did not receive the spirit of bondage again to fear, but you received the Spirit of adoption by whom we cry out, “Abba, Father.” The Spirit Himself bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God,

Jesus Christ called the Spirit of God a comforter.

God doesn’t put us in a choke hold, we don’t have to be scared or afraid of Him.

God has made us His sons and daughters. He has allowed us to call him Papa! 

The Old Testament mind couldn't even comprehend this thought. But now in the New Covenant the Spirit of God lives in us.

Romans 8:17 NKJV
[17] and if children, then heirs-heirs of God and joint heirs with Christ, if indeed we suffer with Him, that we may also be glorified together.

We learn lessons in the valleys of life.

Psalm 23:4 NKJV
[4] Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil; For You are with me; Your rod and Your staff, they comfort me.

John 14:1-3 NKJV
[1] "Let not your heart be troubled; you believe in God, believe also in Me. [2] In My Father's house are many mansions; if it were not so, I would have told you. I go to prepare a place for you. [3] And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and receive you to Myself; that where I am, there you may be also.

We need a tough hide and a tender heart to follow Jesus Christ.

Romans 8:28 NKJV
[28] And we know that all things work together for good to those who love God, to those who are the called according to His purpose.

How can He work all things for the good when there is so much bad in the world? It is a promise of God.

God works through the hardships of our lives to make us who we never could of made ourselves.

Victory for our future.

Romans 8:31-34 NKJV
[31] What then shall we say to these things? If God is for us, who can be against us? [32] He who did not spare His own Son, but delivered Him up for us all, how shall He not with Him also freely give us all things? [33] Who shall bring a charge against God's elect? It is God who justifies. [34] Who is he who condemns? It is Christ who died, and furthermore is also risen, who is even at the right hand of God, who also makes intercession for us.

Revelation 12:10 NKJV
[10] Then I heard a loud voice saying in heaven, "Now salvation, and strength, and the kingdom of our God, and the power of His Christ have come, for the accuser of our brethren, who accused them before our God day and night, has been cast down.

Hebrews 7:25 NKJV
[25] Therefore He is also able to save to the uttermost those who come to God through Him, since He always lives to make intercession for them.

Romans 8:35-37 NKJV
[35] Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword? [36] As it is written: "For Your sake we are killed all day long; We are accounted as sheep for the slaughter." [37] Yet in all these things we are more than conquerors through Him who loved us.

Romans 8:38-39 NKJV
[38] For I am persuaded that neither death nor life, nor angels nor principalities nor powers, nor things present nor things to come, [39] nor height nor depth, nor any other created thing, shall be able to separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.

Have you made Christ Jesus Your Lord?

Acts 3:19 NKJV
[19] Repent therefore and be converted, that your sins may be blotted out, so that times of refreshing may come from the presence of the Lord,

You need to come home in order to have refreshing from the Lord.