Romans Chapter 8 is such an exciting chapter in the Word of God! I found myself deeply immersed in the text as I studied this chapter in preparation for our teaching, and to be honest, it was hard to put it down. With the richness of this chapter we could literally study it for months. However, one of the key things I’d like you to focus on today is that through the writings of Paul—two thousand years ago—God was working to prepare us for what He’s going to release in the Church in the days ahead.

As I prepared for this teaching, I said to the Lord, “Lord, there is so much here! What do You want us to discuss?” As I prayed I began to get so excited that it was hard for me to pin down a focus point. It became harder for me to hear from Him, because His Word was becoming so alive to me—I felt it coursing through my veins. (Over the course of the next few weeks, you will see the significance of this) Finally, I said, “Lord, I am just going to lay this at Your feet and let You release the message.”

There is so much to glean from the scriptures and as believers, we should strive to allow His Word to become the foundation of who we are, however, the only way we can get those precious nuggets out is if we study and dig deep into the scriptures.

I’d like to lay a foundation here and then we will progress:

We know Paul wrote the book of Romans in 57-58 A.D. There is a tremendous richness to Paul. He teaches us what it is to walk with Christ—to walk with God with an intimacy and fellowship in all realms of who and what we are today. It’s not only the intimate relationship Paul had with his Lord. But, because he knew God, he knew Him on an intimate level many never experience with God. Paul knew and understood the intimacy in the fellowship of His sufferings, and he embraced all of it because He knew that embracing all that is God was the only way for him to obtain true intimacy with Him.

Christ came that we might have eternal life—we all know that. We have studied it, quoted scriptures that pertain to that, but Christ came to restore us to God. We learned in our Covenant study that Christ came to tear the veil that stood between the Holy Place and the Holy of Holies. That veil was torn from top to bottom—and impossible feat. According to Exodus 26:31-34, the veil was made in such a way that it could not, would not tear. It was thick and woven into a single piece of fabric without seams that would grow weak and possibly tear, but when Christ died on that cross, the veil was rent from top to bottom. This was God saying to the people: Come into my presence, come in and have fellowship with me. I sent a piece of Me to walk where you walk and live a life of righteousness so that I can bring you back into fellowship—back into a place of intimacy with Me!

So, our Creator’s cry is for us to enter into His presence; enter into the place of intimacy with Him. This is what God is calling the Church to today, yet, the Church is so far from being where He desires us to be, it’s surprising. But, I believe the move of God that is coming is going to take the Church the next level in fellowship and relationship Christ—a place we’ve yet to experience since Christ walked this earth! In fact, I believe the book of Romans reveals to us the next move of God in the Church. What Paul wrote in these scriptures is the next move of God coming into the earth. We are going to feel, experience, and know what it means to be in intimate relationship with God. To literally, tangibly feel His presence and I do not mean feeling all goose bumpy when a good worship song is playing, but to tangibly feel His presence when we enter our prayer closet, read the Scriptures, or minister unto others.

Romans chapter eight. Our chapter theme was “The Righteousness of the Law Fulfilled in Us”. Now we have studied the law and we have studied it in great depths. A couple weeks ago we went through and figured out what the law is in CHAPTERS 6, 7, 8 and we learned that the law is not sin. In fact, the law serves as a guide, giving us precepts and instructing us on how to treat one another. However, it also serves as a guide to the Cross, as it brings awareness of our sin and our understanding of our need for a Savior

.
The law leads us to Jesus. The commandments lead us to Him and to our need for Him. When we accept Him into our heart, it enters us into a whole new phase in our lives, a phase where we are not governed by our flesh. We are to begin to be transformed into Christ’s image. Christ was governed by the Spirit, governed by God—governed; everything He did was to bring glory to God. He walked this earth and knew no sin because everything He did was to bring glory to God.

Romans 8:1 says: [There is] therefore now no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit.

There is no condemnation…Now that word: condemnation is found only 3 times—and all of them are in Romans. ROMANS 5:16, 18 and then 8:1. This word condemnation means “there is no punishment following condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit.” The word walk means to walk comprehensively around in a complete circle; to regulate one’s life; to conduct oneself; to live a life conformed to the union entered into with Christ. There is no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus who walk and live their life conformed to the union entered into with Christ, not after the flesh, but after the Spirit. That word flesh refers to making decisions—actions according to yourself and refers to the untouched, unchanged part of who we are.

So, there is no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus who live their lives conformed to the union entered into with Christ, not after the flesh—making decisions according to ourselves, but after the Spirit.

To be continued next week…

Blessings & love,

Ricci Wilson