New Life in Christ

Main Point: When sin is present in our lives it’s not because we lack the desire to do what’s right, it’s because we lack the power needed to live in freedom.

I do not understand what I do. For what I want to do I do not do, but what I hate I do. And if I do what I do not want to do, I agree that the law is good. As it is, it is no longer I myself who do it, but it is sin living in me. For I know that good itself does not dwell in me, that is, in my sinful nature. For I have the desire to do what is good, but I cannot carry it out. —Romans 7-15-18

Desiring to do what is good is the starting point, but that alone will only lead to frustration.

So I find this law at work: Although I want to do good, evil is right there with me. For in my inner being I delight in God’s law; but I see another law at work in me, waging war against the law of my mind and making me a prisoner of the law of sin at work within me.
—Romans 7:21-23

There is a battle going on inside of each person who desires to follow God.

“No man knows how bad he is until he has tried to be good.” —C.S. Lewis

What a wretched man I am! Who will rescue me from this body that is subject to death? Thanks be to God, who delivers me through Jesus Christ our Lord! —Romans 7:24-25

Only when we realize that we can never win this battle on our own are finally on the path to victory.

“When we come to the end of self we come to the beginning of Christ.” —Charles Spurgeon

Therefore, there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus, because through Christ Jesus the law of the Spirit who gives life has set you free from the law of sin and death. For what the law was powerless to do because it was weakened by the flesh, God did by sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh to be a sin offering. And so he condemned sin in the flesh, in order that the righteous requirement of the law might be fully met in us, who do not live according to the flesh but according to the Spirit. —Romans 8:1-4

God didn’t send Jesus to condemn us, but to set us free!

For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him. —John 3:17

What, then, shall we say in response to these things? If God is for us, who can be against us? He who did not spare his own Son, but gave him up for us all—how will he not also, along with him, graciously give us all things? Who will bring any charge against those whom God has chosen? It is God who justifies. Who then is the one who condemns? No one. Christ Jesus who died—more than that, who was raised to life—is at the right hand of God and is also interceding for us. Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall trouble or hardship or persecution or famine or nakedness or danger or sword? —Romans 8:31-35

Now matter how many trials we face, we have to remember that God is on our side.

No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord. —Romans 8:37-39

Because of all of this, not only are we given the power to conquer sin, we are more than conquerers through him!

Takeaway: God’s greatest desire for your life is to see you living in the freedom given by his son’s death.

Discussion Questions:
1. Have you ever found yourself deeply desiring to do something, but lacking the power that you needed to actually do it?
2.If there is a battle going on inside each person who desires to follow God, how do we equip ourselves for that fight?
3.What does it look like to come to the end of yourself? What are the positives and negatives of being in that position?
4.Have you ever felt like something or someone was trying to separate from the love of Christ? What made you feel that way? What would Paul say about that?

Table Discussion Question — Have you experienced the freedom of living a new life in Christ? How would you describe that life to someone who has not experienced it?