John K. Jenkins Sr - A Walk Through Romans, Chapter 8

Thank you for joining us tonight, wherever you are in the world. As a matter of fact, I have just seen some people checking in from about 13 states and four international locations: Jamaica, England, St. Martin, Angola, or whatever the correct pronunciation is. I’m not really sure how to pronounce that, but there are 13 different states represented: Tennessee, Mississippi, Louisiana, Georgia, Arkansas, Pennsylvania, Kentucky, South Carolina, Texas, Indiana, North Carolina, Florida, Ohio. We didn’t even mention Maryland, Virginia, and D.C., so add those to the list. I’m grateful for all of you joining us tonight. I am so very grateful for the faithful people who join us every Tuesday night. If you’re joining us for the first time, I welcome you to our Tuesday night Bible study.

Now, let me make a quick announcement and try to remember to say this at the end-sometimes I forget, but I’m going to try. This is our last Bible study for the year; we will pick back up next February, so we take a couple of months off, December and January. However, next Tuesday, December 12th, we will have a night of prayer. We will start at 7:00 and pray for an hour until 8:00, in person at the worship center. I hope you will put it on your calendar and be present as we cry out to the God we serve, believe in, and whom we embrace. So that will be next Tuesday night, December 12th, at 7:00 p.m. Eastern Standard Time. I hope that you will join us for a night of prayer.

Tonight, we will be in Romans chapter 8, and we will pick up in February with Romans chapter 9. So we are at the halfway point today, and we will continue with the remaining eight chapters in 2024. I hope you are being encouraged and blessed as much as I am by the Book of Romans. Let me begin by praying, and then we will dive right into our study. We have 39 verses, so I need to probably spend about a minute on each verse. I can’t spend a lot of time, so hopefully, we will be able to get through this before tonight is over.

Father, thank you for your loving kindness to us, and for your mercy that you extend to us every day. I am so very grateful for all that you have done. We pray that you order our steps and guide our path. Speak to us tonight, Lord. Let your word be plain, pure, and clear in how we can apply it to our lives. We thank you again for all that you have done. I am praying for every home represented, and for every place that someone is watching this Bible study. Give them revelatory insight and understanding, God. Make it a rhema word for someone 's life through what we shall discuss tonight. In Jesus' name we pray, amen and amen.

Just as a quick review, this book was written by the Apostle Paul to the church in Rome. He was in Corinth when he sent it to the church in Rome, which consisted of both Gentiles and Jews. We have already spent multiple chapters discussing how the Apostle wants the Jews to understand a very important element: we are not expecting Gentiles to have to subscribe to or abide by the Jewish law in order to be saved. That 's an important point he argues and pleads over and over again, and I want to reiterate that. He is bringing clarity that Gentiles don’t have to abide by the Jewish law to be saved. He has spent many verses articulating and arguing this point, and it is not only true for Gentiles, but also for Jews — they need to understand that salvation is not based on their ability to keep the law. We are not saved by virtue of what part of the law we obey or how we keep it. We are incapable of keeping the law, and he wants us to have a clear understanding of that.

Now, we are in chapter 8 of Romans. Let 's begin by looking at the first 11 verses that talk about being free from sin; we are no longer under the control or power of sin. That is what these first 11 verses address. Let 's read verse 1: «There is therefore now no condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus, who do not walk according to the flesh but according to the Spirit.» I want to declare to you very clearly today this first point: in Christ, we are not condemned. There is no condemnation. We need to recognize that while we may have failed and done wrong in the past, we are no longer condemned. We are called, empowered, and able to walk according to the Spirit of God. This is an important truth: once you are in Christ, there is no more condemnation. The first verse makes that abundantly clear-it says there is therefore now no condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus.