We're more than halfway through Romans 8, and let us take a timely recap of the big argument in Romans 8. This is important before we proceed on to these verses, which are often cited and could be familiar to many of us. Romans 8 flows from the question Paul poses in Rom 7:24 -- "Who will deliver me from this body of death?" Here, Paul is not talking of death in a mere physical sense, but the full state of things in this fallen world. Romans 8 helps us see the fullness of the Godhead is involved in our salvation from sin and death, and this chapter unpacks for us what the love of God applied to us means.
While reading Romans 8, it is not difficult to see the repeated mentions of the Trinity in the passage. This week, we'll take some time to pause and study in greater detail the work of the Trinity, and the many implications there is for the Christian life. We'll use Romans 8 and also Ephesians 1:3-14 for our study.
We've learnt that hope is inseparable from salvation, and talked about waiting with both eagerness (expectantly) and patience for the return of Christ. This particular section of Romans 8 started with Paul comparing the present sufferings with future glory in verse 18. Today's verses pick up and continue to develop this theme, this time focussing on the very present work of the Spirit. We will also look at the words of Jesus in John 16:4-15, where He taught the disciples about the Spirit.
In the previous session, we saw how all creation waits for the redemption of all things. In this study, we read about how we should wait.
We're halfway through Romans 8, as the layers are peeled away one by one, we begin to uncover more of the wonderful riches in these verses. Today we read these verses which talk about things at a cosmic scale. From Rom 8:1-18 thus far, Paul has been speaking to and about "those who are in Christ Jesus" (c.f. Rom 8:1). Paul was writing to the Christians in Rome to help them to see who they are. They have their past dealt with ("now no condemnation", Rom 8:1) and have been set free from sin and death. The law of sin and death no longer has any hold on them because of the work of Christ. Those who are in Christ now have the Spirt and now live lives not according to the flesh, but in the Spirit (Rom 8:5-15). The Spirit transforms all who believe (i.e. us), and they are also God's children by adoption (Rom 8:15). A promise awaits the children of God, the promise of resurrection.
In the last study, we looked at the idea of being called "sons of God" and the implications of this truth is further unpacked in this study.
In Romans 8, continually speaks of the contrast between the Spirit and flesh. The chapter begins with how we have all sinned and are unable to fulfill the righteous requirements of the law. Therefore, God has to provide a way (and He did so) through Jesus Christ. Christ is the propitiation for our faith -- He has fulfilled the law and its requirements on our behalf and we can now be counted righteous by the righteousness of another.
The law of the Spirit leads to life and peace, and as Christians, we have the Spirit dwelling in us to give us new desires. This leads to today's study, where we explore and understand our identity in Christ.
How would you describe living the Christian life with the Holy Spirit in you? In 2005, sociologist Christian Smith published results from surveying and researching the spiritual views of teens in America. He coined the term "Moralistic Therapeutic Deism" (MTD) to describe their views of God and Christianity. This is the view of many people even today. But our passage in Romans 8 gives a radically different picture. God, through the apostle Paul, displaying out the practical implications of the gospel for your life and mine.
Previously, we learnt about the prologue, people of and promise of Rom 8:1; and how in Rom 8:2-4, we see how only Jesus Christ can give us true life and freedom from sin, by fulfilling the requirements of the law. In this study, we'll look at two different lives that we can live.
Tonight's study focuses on freedom from sin and death. If you're a Christian but do not know what it means to be saved, or you think sin is something bad that we simply need to avoid, we need to reconsider these things in this study. We will study how sin affects the Christian life tonight. Sin neither controls you, nor we it.
Romans is an important book in the Bible, and Romans 8 is an important chapter in this important book. But this chapter does not stand in isolation and it is important for us to understand where it is located in the larger argument of the book and to trace the argument in the chapter. For this first session, we'll try to see this chapter in the context of the book, and we'll spend the rest of the 12 weeks tracing the argument as it unfolds.
We end off this series in Leviticus with a pretty heavy study. Most, if not all of us would find this a difficult text to read. What is so hard about this text? What would you do if you read this in your QT? Perhaps this passage has confusing practices and conversations. Perhaps it really feels like a different God is present in this text. Perhaps we want to find out why things happen and the reasons for the event, but Scripture is silent here. Whatever your questions may be, remember the words of Rom 15:4-6, that Scripture is given for our instruction and encouragement, so that through endurance, we may have hope. Scripture does not really tell us all that we want to know, and it is for us to work through and pray through. Scripture is not like our encyclopedia of ready answers. Most importantly in our Bible studies and personal devotion, the aim is not to come up with clever explanations of obscure parts of the Bible, but to meet the living God. We know that He speaks through His Word, and though we may not always understand, we know that we must.
Leviticus 9 begins with the words ‘on the eighth day’. This is a continuation of the previous chapter, which ended off with the command for Aaron and the priests to be confined for seven days (Lev 8:33).
Leviticus 1-7 consisted of detailed instructions for the various offerings. Leviticus was written to show the Israelites, and us, what it takes for a holy God to dwell amongst sinful people. In today's study, we'll look at the setting aside of the priests, who were so important to the system. We're moving a bit away from the intricacies of the system, to focus on the people that God has set aside to serve Him.
So far, we've been looking at the 5 offerings in some depth. But to be honest, Leviticus is a tough book for many of us. What does knowing what to do with animals, sprinkling blood all over the place mean for us modern people? It all seems foreign and outdated. Today's passage takes us back to these 5 offerings again, and in doing so, perhaps we learn something about our worship, God's providence, and fellowship with Him.
Today we will consider the 5th and final offering – the guilt offering or the ‘reparation’ offering.
Today, we'll consider the next offering -- the sin offering. But before we do so, and before we can fully understand the need for such an offering, it is important for us to understand the nature of sin, and why it is a problem for us all (and may actually be an even bigger problem than we initially thought).
After the burnt offering, and the grain offering, we move on to the third offering in Leviticus 3 -- the peace offering.
Last week we studied the burnt offering, the first of the 5 offerings. Today, we continue with the instructions for the grain offering, or the minhah.
Today we look at the first of the five offerings: the common burnt offering.
