“What could be more comforting to Christians than to know that the outcome of their lives is not in the hands of fate, or nature, but in the hands of a benevolent God? … ‘The Good news is found in the words: If God is for us ... This is the message of predestination: God does not leave me to impersonal, fortuitous circumstances. God determines, in a very real way, my destiny which is glorification. Whatever else happens to me in this world, I know that God is for me. That knowledge is humbling, as well as comforting.’ (R.C. Sproul)”

“This completes the logic of Romans 8: those who have the Spirit (v.4) will walk according to the Spirit.  They will (v.5) set their minds on the things of the Spirit.  They will (v.13) put to death the deeds of the body [and] live...If the Spirit of God himself prays that we will be conformed to the image of Christ, and the Father, (v.27) who knows what is the mind of the Spirit, has determined (v.28) to work together with the Spirit to work all things towards this good, we know (v.29) that we will be conformed to the image of his Son, because God has predestined it, and (v.30) “those whom he predestined he also called, and those whom he called he also justified, and those whom he justified he also glorified.” What an incredible hope we have then, in the midst of requisite suffering, that we know that if we suffer for the sake of Christ, we can be confident that the calling, election, and the both present and eternal inheritance of glory is also ours in Christ Jesus.”

“To address God as Father involves a relationship of intimacy. To be a member in good standing in the family of God is a privilege never to be passively assumed or taken for granted. In fact it is the greatest privilege of all, to be able to come to God and address him as Father…There is a peculiar notion permeating our culture that all people are children of God. This misguided presumption is one of the reasons why so many in churches today have such a struggle believing some of the foundational Christian doctrines…Adoption in Paul’s world carried many implications which would be foreign to our thinking today.  To start with, adopting a child was almost unheard of, because adoption was generally a method of taking on a legal heir for the purpose of assuming management of the father’s estate.”

“God, through Paul, is wanting us to see that there are two types of people in this world: those who have sin living and reigning within them and those who have the Holy Spirit living and reigning within them…The dominant chord of NT instruction is to live in victory over sin by the power of the Spirit, with the expectation that every believer will experience substantial, significant, and observable victory over sin, even while we continue to struggle and knowing that perfection is not attained in this life…”

“The law offers both a carrot and a stick, two options: obey it completely and you will receive life and blessing; fail to adhere and you will receive the curse due to all those who rebel against the living God…It is so vital, church, that we not consider ourselves under the law, even for our sanctification…The Law revealed God’s righteous standard, but it provided none of the desire and power necessary to carry it out.  To be under the law, then, is to be under a curse…Those who are united with Christ have died to the dominion of the law, and are now enabled to do what Israel was called to do: bear fruit for God.  The promised Spirit has become a reality for those united with Christ in his death and resurrection, so that God is causing them to bear the fruit of obedience from the new heart of flesh.”

“Genuinely putting our hope and trust in Jesus for salvation will result in a transformed life. So Paul argues that if one claims to be under grace, and yet lives as a slave to sin, the claim is nullified by their conduct. Those who live under grace show that they are under grace because they have a new master and are liberated from under their own master, sin.”

“One of the reasons that so many Christians seem to be losing the struggle with sin is due to their faulty view of sin, and what actually takes place at conversion. You see how we think about what happens to us when we are born again impacts how we live today. Our passage this morning is wonderful because we should see in it how God, through Paul, is commanding us to embrace a critical and foundational truth: the power of sin’s dominion has been broken for those who have been born again…(T)he grace that believers receive is so powerful that it breaks the dominion of sin. This grace delivers not merely from punishment, but from sins power and rule…it doesn’t simply involve forgiveness of sins, but it also involves a transfer of Lordship, so that believers are no longer under that tyranny of sin.”

Tune in to hear Pastor Josh take us through Romans 5:12-21. It’s here that we see Christ is the ‘new and better Adam’, powerful enough to overcome both sin and death.