davidbowerkingwood

When we think of “the good news” we usually think of the good news for the unbeliever; there is salvation in Jesus Christ by accepting Him as one’s Savior. God, in His abundant grace, has provided even more good news for the believer after salvation; good news that welcomes you afresh to every day of your life and that is what Romans 8 is all about.

Paul has laid a solid foundation for Chapter 8 in the preceding Chapters 5 – 7 wherein he describes the source of mankind’s problem with sin; God’s final solution to the sin problem in the finished work of the Lord Jesus Christ; and the believer’s challenge of living a life of faith in Satan’s world; at war with a foe within and a foe without.

Chapter 8 starts with that glorious paen of praise and rejoicing; “There is therefore, now no condemnation to them who are in Christ Jesus, for the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus hath made me free from the law of sin and death.”

I love classical music and always think of Romans 7:15-25 when I hear the last part of the third movement of Beethoven’s Fifth Symphony. As you may recall this section of Romans is where Paul describes the tension and frustrations caused by the struggle between the two natures within him.

Near the end of that movement the music starts building a palpable tension that keeps on increasing until the dramatic release of the opening chords of the fourth movement which then remind me of Romans 8:1-2; it becomes a musical setting for those powerful verses.

On more than one occasion I have joyfully shouted out the words to Romans 8:1 as those dramatic chords which open the fourth movement flooded my den with glorious music.

The 8th chapter of Romans has been described as the towering spire on the cathedral of Christian doctrine. A careful study of those verses will only confirm the experiences enjoyed by others as they have rejoiced in the majesty, the glory, the grace and love of God as displayed by the truths contained in this chapter.

If I were to try and summarize the message of Chapter 8 it would be the absolute certainty of the believer’s place in God’s family as His children based on God’s faithfulness to us, not our faithfulness to God.

We can have complete assurance we have the victory in the finished work of the Lord Jesus Christ even though we must face the challenges presented by sin as described in Romans 5 – 7.

It is not our eternal destiny but our effectiveness as a soldier in the spiritual warfare and our quality of life as a Christian which is in question. God has graciously provided us all of the resources we need to wage this battle successfully.

To use an analogy we have the biggest, fastest, and strongest player on the field on our team, the Holy Spirit, so if we want to win we had best not send him to the bench.

How do we send the Holy Spirit to the bench you may ask; we send Him to the bench by unconfessed sin in our lives which automatically sends our sin nature in to play the Holy Spirit’s position. I think we can all readily agree this is a bad decision.

We can restore the Holy Spirit to the game by utilizing I John 1:9 where God promises to forgive our sins and to cleanse us of all unrighteousness if we will confess our sins to Him. God has made it easy on us; we don’t have to crawl on our knees to church or whip ourselves on the back, just confess our sins before God.

 In Part 2 I will discuss the amazing gift of sonship, God’s plan for our lives, and the wondrous future in store for those who are in Christ Jesus.