Christianity for Dummies

For the Love of God

By Dean Fulks, March 10, 2024

Romans 7:15;19 – For I do not understand my own actions. For I do not do what I want, but I do the very thing I hate…For I do not do the good I want, but the evil I do not want is what I keep on doing.



We want alignment between our identity and our activity



Romans 7:24 – Wretched man that I am! Who will deliver me from this body of death?



Romans 8:1-2 – There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus.



Romans 8:3 – 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,



Jesus condemned condemnation



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.



Romans 8:5-8 – 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. For to set the mind on the flesh is death, but to set the mind on the Spirit is life and peace. 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.



We can have a clear mind



Romans 8:9 – 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.



“Brother, if any man thinks ill of you, do not be angry with him; for you are worse than he thinks you to be…" - Spurgeon



1 John 3:20 – Even when our hearts condemn us, God is greater than our hearts.



You can be wrong, but you are still not condemned



Romans 8:8-10 – 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.



What we think shapes what we do



Romans 8:12 – Therefore, dear brothers and sisters, you have no obligation to do what your sinful nature urges you to do. (NLT)



We are not obligated to the sin, because we have been liberated by the Spirit



The amazing grace of God grows the amazing love of God that brings the amazing change of God in our lives