Empowered to Live Released from Our Performance...

This week, we are looking at a section of a letter recorded for us in the Bible that reveals for us a timeless truth about the timeless power source that is necessary for followers of Jesus to access if we are to experience a life that responds to our rescue by becoming more like Christ in Character and conduct. And that timeless truth is this: Our rescue releases us to live in the power of the Holy Spirit. As followers of Jesus, we are no longer under the domination of selfishness and rebellion; we have been rescued and released by the power of the Holy Spirit to live a life that is empowered by the Holy Spirit.

And in Romans 8:1-17, we see the Apostle Paul reveal three different ways that the power of the Holy Spirit empowers us live a life that is released from the domination of selfishness and rebellion and is instead becoming like Christ in character and conduct. We see the first way revealed for us in Romans 8:3. Let’s look at it together:

For what the Law could not do, weak as it was through the flesh, God did: sending His own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh and as an offering for sin, He condemned sin in the flesh, so that the requirement of the Law might be fulfilled in us, who do not walk according to the flesh but according to the Spirit.

Paul begins by explaining that what the Law could not do, weak as it was through the flesh, God did:. Paul here is reminding the readers of this letter that the Law, which are the first five books in our Bibles today, which were referred to as the Law or Torah, were unable to declare us not guilty of having a problem with God. Instead, the Law resulted in our condemnation of being guilty of having a problem. The reason the Law could not declare us not guilty was because of the weakness of our flesh. As we saw last week, our flesh is our old nature that is dominated by the evil and destructive power of sin. Our performance could never enable us to be declared not guilty of having a problem with God, because our performance was dominated by selfishness and rebellion.

So what our performance in keeping the Law could not do, God did, by sending His own Son Jesus Christ, who entered into humanity as “God in a bod” in order to live the life we refused to live and die the death we deserved to die as an offering for sin. Jesus entered into humanity in order to represent us on the cross to satisfy God’s right and just response to selfishness and rebellion. And it was Jesus willingness to allow Himself to be treated as though He lived our selfish and sinful life that condemned sin. It was Jesus willingness to live the life that we refused to live that resulted in sin being revealed for what it truly was and condemned sin as being guilty.

In verse 4, Paul provides us the reason why Jesus entered into humanity and died on the cross as our representative. And that reason was so that the requirement of the Law might be fulfilled in us, who do not walk according to the flesh but according to the Spirit. And it is here that we see Paul reveal for us the reality that the Holy Spirit empowers us to live released from the requirements of the Law. When Paul uses the phrase “might be fulfilled” this phrase literally means to bring to a designated end.

In other words, the person who has placed their confident trust in the claims of Christ and the message of the gospel by believing, trusting, and following Jesus, has been released from attempting to fulfill the requirements of the Law through our own performance. As followers of Jesus, we are no longer to be relying on our own performance and our own efforts to meet the requirements of the Law. Because, as we have already discovered, our performance will never be able to rescue us from the problem of selfishness and sin we face. Instead, as followers of Jesus, we are to rely on the Holy Spirit to empower us to follow the message and teachings of Jesus.

Notice what Paul states in verse 4: so that the requirements of the Law might be fulfilled in us. Notice Paul does not say that the requirements of the Law might be fulfilled through us. You see, the Holy Spirit is the one who fulfills the requirements of the Law in us through Jesus Christ’s death. Jesus allowed Himself to be treated as though He lived our selfish and sinful lives so that God the Father could treat us as though we lived Jesus perfect life. The perfect life that fulfilled the requirements of the Law.

You see, God not only gave us His Son; God also gave us His Holy Spirit to empower us to live a life that reflects Christ’s character and conduct. It is the Holy Spirit’s empowerment in us, not our performance, that releases us from the requirements that the Law places upon us when it comes to our performance. Paul then reveals the second way that the power of the Holy Spirit empowers us live a life that is released from the domination of selfishness and rebellion and is instead becoming like Christ in character and conduct, beginning in verse 5. Will will look at that tomorrow.

In the meantime, are you still attempting to perform for God in order to be right with God?