July 13, 2025

ROMANS 8: WE ALL NEED HOPE

July 13, 2025

 Pastor Jonathan Falwell

Do you ever think about your book in Heaven? God references it many times in His Word, and—as we sang this morning—if we’re saved, ‘we know the author of our story.’ This is true. Hebrews 12:2 says ‘He is the author and finisher of our faith.’ Sometimes, we might think it would seem comforting to know what the next chapter says, wondering, ‘will I make it?’ Yet in Romans 8, as we heard this morning, Paul explains all the ways we are going to make it! If we are truly in Christ, being led by His Spirit indwelling us, we will find we are finally free from the bondage of sin, able to live in the Spirit. We are truly part of the family of God—not a visitor, mind you, but actually sons and daughters of the Living God—because we have hope, and God is going to be with us every step of the way. What amazing truth this is, and we can rest assured this is what is written in our books. He will never lose us out of His hand, and no-one will be able to snatch us away. What comfort, what assurance, and what peace that brings.

Focal Passages: Romans 8.

We are finally free:

  • Read Romans 8:1-4. Paul begins this chapter of Romans with one of the most wonderful phrases of comfort possible to a believer in Christ: what is it? What happened to the condemnation? Can you quote the lyrics to the old hymn, ‘Jesus Paid It All’?
  • Read Rev. 12:10. What is Satan doing while we are trying to live to please Christ? Does this mean we will never fail God (Prov. 24:16)? What do we do each time (1 Jn. 1:9)?
  • Why are we victorious (8:1b)? Do we have to sin (vs. 2)? If we are free from the law of sin and death, do we choose to sin in the moment we give in to the flesh?

To live in the Spirit:

  • Read vv. 5-6. What do people who are not saved focus on? What fruit do the unsaved bear? What does sin lead to, in the end? What does it mean to be an enemy of God? Can an unsaved person ever please God, even if they do ‘civil’ good?
  • If one has their mind set on the Spirit of God, what does that lead to? Read verse 11. If you are walking in the Spirit, what happens in your body?
  • Read vv. 14-17. Do you desire to be led by the Spirit of God (vs. 14)? How can you listen to Him? This statement has a huge promise: should every Christian know how to be led by the Spirit of God if they desire to be a child of God?
  • We are given a new relationship, after sonship; what is it (vs. 17)? How are we related to Christ then? What does it mean, ‘if we suffer with Him’?

Because we have hope:

  • Read verses 18-23. What are some of the sufferings we go through because we are saved? What glory will be revealed in us? Read Matt. 5:10-12. Do we look at persecution like God looks at it? What are some things that happen when we are persecuted for following Christ?
  • How does creation itself suffer? In vs. 21, how is the futility described?
  • When we know something good is going to happen, how do we wait for it? Do we agree this world is bad and broken? What, then, are we hoping for? Do you know Jesus is going to return? What are some ways which show we are anxiously waiting?

And God is with us every step:

  • Read Rom. 8:28-39. What are some examples of times you have experienced the truth of verse 28?
  • As you fall into sin—or willfully let yourself be overcome by temptation—do you realize what Christ is doing (vs. 34)?
  • In verse 38, does anyone remember what the Pastor said about being ‘more than conquerors’ through Him who loved us?
  • What will separate us from the love of Jesus Christ? No matter how bad life gets for us, what do we know about Jesus Christ?

Close:

Do you agree this is a marvelous chapter for encouragement for the person who is living to please God? Over the past weeks we have read that we are doomed in our sinful state, and if it is not changed by the blood of Jesus Christ, we will spend eternity in hell. Can you be saved if you do not believe in Christ? Not at all. James tells us that whether you believe or not, Christ is who He says He is. In fact, James tells us that even the demons believe in God—and they tremble! But they are not saved.

Next, Paul wrote how we can be saved by grace, a free gift from God through Jesus Christ, when He had paid the ultimate price on Calvary for our sin debt. We are ‘justified,’ just-as-if-we’d-never-sinned. Afterwards, we start being sanctified—a process that will go on as long as we live. A believer will continue to grow more like Christ as we traverse this life. Sometimes we fall but we get up and keep going. Today, in Chapter 8, we see the fruits of listening to the Spirit of God as He indwells us and gives us wisdom to live righteously. As we are led by the Spirit, we become children of God, then His heirs, and also, we become joint heirs with Jesus Christ. How amazing! How wonderful. Only God could come up with a plan like this.

By Sandy Day
July 13, 2025                                                            

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