Empowered

Introduction

Q: Using the chart (see attachment) where would you mark mankind on the spectrum? Why?

Q: Where do you think those outside of the Christian faith would put the mark? Why?

READ: “The Tyranny of F=ma.”

Q: Which of the moral laws listed do you find most difficult to keep?

Question moving toward the FCF: If you could be exempt from anyone of these moral laws, which would you choose? Why?

FCF: As fallen people in a fallen world, we, on our own, are as powerless against sin as we are against gravity.

Q: How is this evidenced in the world you see? (comment briefly on the ravages of sin: abortion, sexual slave trade, genocide, starvation, disease, etc.... now move to heart of these things self-worship, hate, apathy, etc.)

Q: How is this evidenced in your world (your life) both as the perpetrator as well as the victim?
(All of us are both perpetrators—we sin and it affects others, as well as the victims—others sin and it affects us.)

Text

READ: Section under “The Tyranny of F=ma” begins...” A plane flies due to...” as an introduction to the text... Then read Romans 7:7-25

Q: What do you observe from the text that is most striking to you? Why?

Q: Notice the phrase “sin seizing an opportunity through the commandment” (v. 8, 11), what does this begin to teach us about the nature of sin? (Sin is not simply the acts of disobedience that we commit, but it is an active power within us and without us, in the core of who we are and in the world in which we live, whose strength is only incapacitated by God himself in Christ through the Spirit.)

Q: Paul seems to indicate that they (Old Testament commandments) actually increased the desire to sin, how does this help to clarify what Paul means when he says, “I do not understand what I do. For what I want to do I do not do. But what I hate I do.” (Romans 7:15)?

Q: In what ways have you experienced something similar to Paul in this verse?

Q: What then was the point of God giving us the commandments (law)? (In short, the law was given to reveal our need for a Savior and point us to him as the one to succeed where we fail, the one to fulfill the righteous requirements of the Law (Romans 8:4) that we are unable to fulfill.)

Christ Solution

“Christ has rescued us from the penalty of sin and freed us from the power of sin and will one day eradicate the presence of sin.”

READ: Section under “The Principle of Flight” begins...“Though the Spirit indwells...” as an introduction to the text... Then read Romans 7:24-8:18.

Q: What is condemnation and why are we free from it if “what [we] want to do [we] do not do. But what [we] hate [we] do”? (We are under grace not measured by obedience to the law for we have been Set free through the Spirit by being in Christ...v.2-4.)

Q: v.2—What are we set free from? (law of sin and death)

Q: v.3a—Who has set us free from and conquered the power of sin? (God)

Q: v.3a-4—How did he do it? (Christ takes our sin upon himself, and we receive his righteousness as the only One who fulfilled the righteous requirements of the law 2 Corinthians 5:21, and receive the Spirit that raised Christ from the dead to battle the power of sin that seeks to draw us back to slavery.)

Q: What difference does this make, or should this make, to us?

Q: Yet notice, in this passage we find living by the law and living by the Spirit contrasted. What are those contrasts?

Q: We exist in the ‘already but not yet’ contrast—already justified, but not yet glorified, already empowered, but not yet freed from sin’s presence (in us and around us)...currently we are indwelt by both the Spirit and sin nature and therein lies our struggle. In what area of your life are you most experiencing this struggle?

REVIEW & SUMMARIZE: 1st full paragraph under “Roman Law” begins...” When referring to our sin nature...” through the next paragraph...

Q: When prompted to write a note to God voicing any questions or frustrations, would you be willing to share some of them?

Q: How do these questions or frustrations affect the way you view yourself and your God?

Q: How would you summarize who you are from verses 1-4 and 15-18?

Q: How might reviewing and meditating on the truths of verses 1-4 and 15-18 help you in your frustrations to trust and believe in the power of the Spirit over the power of sin?

READ: 3rd full paragraph under “Roman Law” begins...” God often allows us...”

Let’s all pray to the Father now asking that we would walk in the freedom from sin as His Sons/Daughters...