A Brand New Life

Jacob Jackson

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Introduction

Hooptie, banger, jalopy, clunker, rust bucket—these were all names for the kind of car that I grew up riding in. My Dad raised 3 boys by himself while he worked a full-time job and went to school full-time. Money was tight and so we had lots of cars that never lasted very long.

My favorite was an Oldsmobile with different colored doors and if you lifted the passenger side floor mat—there was a rust hole and you could see the road speeding by underneath your feet. It was the perfect size to accommodate an action figure with a string tied to it.

When I was younger I didn’t care—but as I got older peer pressure became something I cared about—I was always embarrassed by the squeaky, broken, rusty cars that I rode around in.

I also grew up watching the Price is Right—when it was Bob Barker. If you’re not familiar contestants would guess the prices of consumer goods for a chance to win “showcase prizes”.

And the most exciting showcase prize to me was “A BRAAANDD NEW CARRR”

I would see that new, shiny car and day dream about how much of a difference that new car would make in my family’s life. And how cool I would look riding in it. And how unembarassed I would be getting dropped off in it.

A new car really wouldn’t have changed our lives very much.

This morning our text promises us something so much better than a brand new car.

Our text tells us that In Jesus We Have a Brand New Life.

And that is our main point today. In Jesus I have a Brand New Life.

A brand new car won’t change very much—but a brand new life changes everything.

Jesus is not just an addition to your old life, Jesus is a brand new life. The old has passed away and the new has come.

And as we begin Romans 8 today, in verses 1-13 we will see that Paul calls us to live in the new life that comes to us through faith in Jesus’ righteousness.

In Jesus we have I. A New Freedom (1-4, II. A New Mindset (5-8), III. A New Indwelling (9-11), and IV. A New Obligation (12-13)

Read Romans 8:1-13 in your Bible.

Let’s explore this now together as first discover that in Jesus we have a new freedom.

I. A New Freedom (1-4)

As we begin unpacking our passage this morning we must give appropriate attention to the massive good news that Paul delivers in verse 1.

Romans 8:1 “There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus.”

In Jesus—because of all that he has done. Because he lived a perfect life. And because he suffered God’s perfect justice.

When we turn away from our sin and turn toward Christ. There is no condemnation for those who are in Jesus.

And this is massive.

Our new life starts with mountains upon mountains of debt being paid for and wiped away. (Mountain picture in PowerPoint)

If you’ve ever been hiking—you know that the payoff of climbing a mountain is the view you get at the top. I want you to imagine that you have climbed a mountain and at the top you can see as far as your eyes capability mountain after mountain reaching high into the heavens. Each one is just as massive and steep as the one you climbed.

Now I want you to think about how that mountain is made. It’s not just one big chunk of rock. It’s many boulders, rocks, pebbles all piled on top of one another and held together by gravity and trees. With that in your mind.

Now imagine that this mountain you are standing on is made of your sin. Each rock, pebble, boulder is your sin—your rebellion—stacked one on another lifting you before the face of God.

And as you look out at each vista, reaching into the heavens—know that those are your sins as well. And it keeps going—you can’t even see all that you are guilty before the Lord for.

Can you see it?

Friends, we are far more sinful than we want to believe.

And in Jesus all of this has been forgiven. All of this has been wiped away. It has been redeemed.

Our past is a monument to the grace of God—how merciful is God? He has forgiven a sinner like me. And like you.

And don’t be tempted to think that you did not stand—or do not stand if you don’t follow Jesus—upon a mountain of your own sin.

Maybe you think, “I don’t think I have mountains—maybe a couple of hills—one or two.”

That is self-deception and misunderstanding of how lost and broken you are. The Bible is clear.

Romans 3:23 “for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God,”

Isaiah 64:6 “We have all become like one who is unclean, and all our righteous deeds are like a polluted garment. We all fade like a leaf, and our iniquities, like the wind, take us away.”

Our situation is so dire—we are in such desperate need of a savior. And God has given us one.

Isaiah 53:6 “All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned—every one—to his own way; and the Lord has laid on him the iniquity of us all.”

For all of God’s people—their sin has been laid on Jesus—and he took the punishment that was due to us.

There is no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus!!

Will someone say, “Amen?!”

And let me draw your attention now to the wording of God’s Word. What does it say?

There is therefore now some condemnation?

There is therefore now less condemnation?

There is therefore now NO condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus!

And it’s stated even stronger in the Greek—the Greek means there is no—none—no possibility of—case closed—condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus.

Let me encourage you to remember that.

Because, believer, you need to be reminded and live in the truth of this massive statement.

When Satan accuses you of your mistakes—when he accuses you of your past—and he lies to you that your mistakes, your sins, your failures are going to condemn you before God who is a righteous judge.

You quote and remember and believe Romans 8:1. God said, there is no condemnation. My king Jesus took it all. There was none left for me. My sin is as far away from me as the east is from the west. I am a new creation with a new heart and a new life. And while my sanctification hasn’t caught up yet to my justification my God—who never lies—has assured me that it will! He will finish the work He started in me!

When Satan tries to remind you of your past—your 10 years ago past, your last year past, your 10 minutes ago past—you remind him of Jesus’ past.

Jesus lived for me. Jesus died for me. Jesus was raised for me. He did this. It’s done. It’s finished. And Because of Jesus’ past—my past brings me no condemnation!

And some of you may be thinking, “My past too?”

Yes your past too. There is not a sin that Jesus can’t atone for on your behalf.

As we continue in our passage we see how Jesus acccomplished this for all those God is saving.

Romans 8:2-3 “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,”

If man could follow the perfect law of God then we would have a right relationship with God. But Paul tells us the perfect law of God was weakened by flesh—we cannot follow God—because we are all born with a sinful nature we are unable to keep the law perfectly.

But where we failed—God prevailed.

God himself—God the Son—came down. The second person of the Trinity took on human flesh and became one of us. He was born as one of us. So that he could live perfectly in our place and so that he could take our place in judgment.

In Jesus God condemned and judged the sin of all of God’s people throughout all the ages.

Every saint of God from every age will find themselves in heaven because their sin was placed on Christ.

Our OT brothers and sisters trusted that God would save them by forgiving their sin—and they looked forward to the coming messiah as he was revealed in types and shadows—time and time again God gave glimpses of how he would accomplish the forgiveness of his peoples sin.

And now in the Chruch age we no longer glimpse types and shadows, but we know that our messiah is Jesus of Nazareth.

John is right to cry in John 1:29 “Behold, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world!”

God did not let any of my sin slip—he didn’t let any of your sin slip—those of you who are contemplating turning to Christ—who are being drawn to Christ—know that God will not simply forget your sin—EVERY BIT OF IT WAS PAID FOR BY THE SINLESS LAMB OF GOD—EVERY BIT OF IT WAS PAID FOR WITH HIS BODY AND HIS BLOOD.

There is no condemnation because Jesus was condemned in our place.

And what is the result of this? Verse 4 tells us.

Romans 8:4 “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.”

In Jesus we have a new freedom. We once were enslaved to sin. But now we can walk not according to the flesh, but according to the Spirit.

We are free to pursue God. You can now—in this new life—walk in a manner that is pleasing to God. You are free.

In this new life in Christ we are given a new freedom, but we are also given...

II. A New Mindset (5-8)

Romans 8:5 “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 set their minds on the things of the Spirit.”

Paul wants it to be clear here. There is a distinction between the people of God and the people of the world. And in an age where church folk are trying so hard to be like the world—we need to hear this.

There are two types of people in this world. There are those who set their minds on the flesh because they are people ruled by their flesh and they live their lives according to the flesh.

And there are people who set their minds on the things of the Spirit because they have been idwelled by the Spirit and they live their lives according to the Spirit.

In short—there are lost people and found people. There dead people and living people. There flesh-led people and Spirit-led people.

Paul wants us to know that there is a difference between God’s people and the world.

And friends we better understand this and have confidence in it.

As ambassadors of Jesus we are called to live in this world—but we cannot be of this world. And we should not desire to be of this world.

Likeness with the world is not a missions strategy!

If you want to be accepted by the world your affections are in the wrong place.

And I don’t want anyone to be offensive—the gospel is offensive enough—the gospel tells us that we are dirty, ugly, rebellious sinners that are not acceptable to our God—that’s the bad news of the good news of Jesus Christ—the gospel is offensive enough. Let the gospel offend and let the Spirit cut.

You be all things to all people—as Paul was.

But don’t think for a second that this means you are should be acceptable to the culture that we live in.

Friends, if the world can look into your walk with Jesus and affirm everything you say, do, and believe-- you aren’t saved.

Jesus is clear in John 15:19 “If you were of the world, the world would love you as its own; but because you are not of the world, but I chose you out of the world, therefore the world hates you.”

Paul says there are two kinds of people. God’s people and the worlds people. God’s people want to see the world saved and so we live in our new freedom in Jesus and we point the world to Him—the only one that can save.

And the world wants to wipe out the people of God.

What kind of person are you?

And this is not something you want to get wrong. As we continue Paul tells us what is at stake here...

Romans 8:6 “For to set the mind on the flesh is death, but to set the mind on the Spirit is life and peace.”

The flesh brings death and the Spirit is where we get life and peace.

Would you rather have peace and abundant life for one year and then afterward suffer for all your years? Or

Would you rather suffer for one year and then afterward have abundant life and peace for all your years?

Any sane person is going to take the year of suffering for the years of life and peace.

Let me encourage you here to have an eternal mindset.

If you want peace in this life—for the hour—then pursue the world—if you love the world it will love you back—if you affirm the world it will affirm you back—if you seek peace in this life and you seek in this life to avoid suffering for Christ you may have a comfortable life—but you’ll trade it for an eternity apart from God—those mountains we envisioned earlier will condemn you and crush you before God for all eternity.

People of Jesus do not seek your comfort here. Do not seek your reward here. Do not seek your heaven here.

Philippians 1:29 “For it has been granted to you that for the sake of Christ you should not only believe in him but also suffer for his sake,”

Do not set your mind on the flesh to seek peace—you will only get a false peace—you’ll get death, dressed as peace.

Know that to follow Christ will be to suffer for Christ—and the time is fast approaching in our country where the “acceptable Christian” will no longer exist.

The time is here—where the world will no longer accept a real follower of Jesus who stands on the Word of God and calls people to repent from their sins.

You cannot follow Jesus and have peace with the world. And you cannot follow the world and have peace with God. Our passage tells us so as we continue...

Romans 8:7-8 “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.”

If you’ll remember from last week—every believer is a person who is justified—your position before God is one of a redeemed, sinless person—but we still struggle against our flesh.

Follower of Jesus—child of God—ambassador to the King of Kings and the Lord of Lords—you cannot please God in the flesh.

Where in your life are you leaning toward your flesh? Where in your walk with Christ are you trying to wear the worlds clothes?

Are you fully surrendered to the Word of God?

Is the Word of God your compass? Is it your standard? If standing in the Word will earn you the animosity of the world will you do it?

The mission of every believer is to build the kingdom of Christ—to be ambassadors with the good news of Jesus—that while we were still sinners Christ has died for us.

And if you are going to fulfill that mission—if you are going to love your Lord—then you are going to have to stand for Him—you are going to have to realize that you cannot build the kingdom of Christ by being like the world—people are not drawn to the gate of Jesus’ kingdom because someone like them led them there.

Lost and dying sinners are led to the gates of God’s kingdom because God’s people are no longer living in the power of their flesh—but they are living in the power of the Spirit—they are holy and set apart—and as they live their lives shining as bright as the stars of heaven— they cut a blazing swath through the death and darkness of the world—and those that God is drawing to Himself follow the light and they come to be saved by Jesus who is the source of the light and who is life.

You want to draw the world to Jesus? Then be nothing like the world.

Paul has made it clear that there are two kinds of people in the world and has been addressing both—but now he turns his attention to those who are followers of Jesus specifically. When we are saved in Christ we get a new freedom, a new mind, and also...

III. A New Indwelling (9-11)

My hope and my prayer is that every follower of Jesus here is being stirred to further repentance—is being stirred to take their holiness seriously—is being stirred to live boldly for Jesus.

But friends let us not make the mistake that we are to live out this calling in our own strength.

Romans 8:9-11 “You, however, are not in the flesh but in the Spirit, if in fact the Spirit of God dwells in you. Anyone who does not have the Spirit of Christ does not belong to him. But if Christ is in you, although the body is dead because of sin, the Spirit is life because of righteousness. If the Spirit of him who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, he who raised Christ Jesus from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through his Spirit who dwells in you.”

Ephesians 2 tells us that we were once dead in our sins—we once followed Satan—we were in dwelt by death and the passions of our flesh.

In Jesus we have a new indwelling. In Christ the prophet Ezekiel’s words are true.

Ezekiel 11:19 “And I will give them one heart, and a new spirit I will put within them. I will remove the heart of stone from their flesh and give them a heart of flesh,”

We no longer have a dead heart of stone—but we have a heart that is alive—a heart that is in dwelled by God the Holy Spirit, himself.

The that called Jesus forth from the grave—who raised his body up in life—is the same Spirit that will give life to you in this body.

How can we hear that we are to pursue Christ—how are we to hear that we must sufffer as our Lord did—how are we to face the disdain of the world?

Philippians 4:13 “I can do all things through him who strengthens me.”

We are not doing this alone. We are not being sanctified based on our strength—but we are being carried along by the Holy Spirit—God himself empowers us as we seek to live our lives for the glory of God.

We try to do it on our own—and the battle is hardest when we try to fight these spiritual battles with fleshly strength.

The going is toughest when we try to live out this spiritual life in the flesh.

Friends God has not saved you and then asked you to be self-sufficient.

Find him to be sufficient for these things. We are in dwelled by God the Holy Spirit. Every believer gets a new indwelling. The old has gone and the new has come so that we can put the old person of the flesh to death and live in the new person of the Spirit.

We are given a new freedom in Jesus, we are given a new mindset in Jesus, we are given a new indwelling in Jesus. And as a result of all this blessing we are also given...

IV. A New Obligation (12-13)

Romans 8:12-13 “So then, brothers, we are debtors, not to the flesh, to live according to the flesh. 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.”

If you are a follower of Jesus you used to be in debt to your flesh—and you paid off your debt by feeding the desires of the flesh—and the result was that you died more and more.

Now we have a new obligation. We are to “put off the deeds of the body”. In doing this we live.

And Paul isn’t introducing works based righteousness.

He’s making statements of fact here. Those who are saved by Jesus are alive in Him. Their sin is forgiven. They are justified, being sanctified, and one day they WILL be glorified.

But as we live in this life—a marker of a person who belongs to Jesus—is that they are pursing the death of their sin.

The Spirit of God always empowers the believer to kill their sin—to be uncomfortable with their sin—to desire escape from their sin.

The follower of Jesus with a new freedom, a new mindset, and a new indwelling—also has a new obligation. To live according to the Spirit.

The Bottom Line

This morning God offers you a a brand new life in Jesus.

A brand new car would be pretty nice. I don’t know many people that would turn that down.

But eventually the car will break—the paint will fade—the tires will bald—the engine will fail.

Jesus offers you this morning a life that will never fade. A sureness of hope that will never break. And though you may go bald—he offers you a love that will never fail.

This morning will you do one of two things while Dave and Laura come up?

Will you decide this morning to trust Jesus for your salvation—will you trust Jesus to forigve you of your sins—will you leave the world behind and walk with the one who loves you?

And if you have done that—if you are a follower of Jesus—if you have been given this new freedom, this new mindset, this new indwelling—will you decide this morning to commit, whole heartedly to this new obligation that God has given you?

Will you be the light shining on the hill? Will you split the darkness with the holiness of God lived out in your life—that the kingdom of Jesus would be built and the glory of God would be seen?

What will you do with this offer of a brand new life this morning?

Pray.

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