Romans 8 “Living by the Spirit” For NSCCCS 2006-02-26
Preamble
Romans 7:4-6
died to law (under law our sin bore fruit for death)
belonging to God in life of the Spirit (in the Spirit we fruit for God)
7:12-25
Sin used the law to produce sin
Law condemned sin as sinful leading to death
Man in sin under law cannot do what is right, even though he agrees with the Law’s teaching (7:22-24)
But Jesus rescues man in this situation
Main Talk
Romans 8:1-17
1-4 Free from Condemnation
(The Spirit in) Jesus frees man from sin and death
Therefore there is no condemnation for those in Jesus
Because the Law’s requirements were all met in Jesus:
Law condemned sin in man, Jesus became man to be condemned for that sin
This was God’s work
We now live by the Spirit
So that we might fulfil the righteous standards of God’s Laws, see Jeremiah (31:33) and Ezekiel (36:26) prophecies of the coming of the Spirit.
5-8 Free from the Old Life
flesh/sin/old life vs. Spirit/new life, v.5
“flesh”, vv.6-8:
Death, v.6a
Hostile to God
Rebellious against God
Displeases God
Continue in the “flesh”, leading to death, 8:13a
9-13 Free for a New Life
Living (led) by the Spirit, vv.6, 9-13:
Mind
Life & Peace, v.6b
Pleasing and Submisive to God
Indwelling
Spirit of God/Christ in us, v.9
Belonging to Christ, v.9
Resurrection Life to mortal bodies, v.11
Not debtors (?slaves) to “flesh”
Discontinue with the “flesh” (put to death), leading to life, 8:13b
14-17 Free Status as Children of God
We who live by the Spirit = Sons of God
Adoption as Sons
Freed from Slavery
Heirs with Christ
Suffer with Christ on the way to Glory
Question
8:10, “body is dead because of sin” & “life because of righteousness”, what does it mean?
Compare 5:15-18, 21. We live because of Jesus’ righteousness.
NIV puts it: “your body is dead because of sin, but your spirit is alive because of righteousness.
Outline for “Living by the Spirit”
Freedom in the Spirit
Free from Condemnation
Free from the Old Life
Free for a New Life
Sons & Daughters
Actual Talk on Romans 8:1-17
Before I start the talk, I need to ask all of you here, how do you receive the Spirit of God? What does the Spirit do? Hopefully you can answer these 2 questions at the end of the talk.
1. We’re reading about a very special person of the Trinity today, the Spirit. We don’t hear about Him often, but if you are a Christian, or if you ever intend on becoming one, you will encounter Spirit. If you look at the outline, there are four points. The first 3 points go together, because in Jesus the Christian is freed from condemnation, and the Spirit then frees the christian from their old life and frees them into a new life. “Through Christ Jesus the law of Spirit of life sets us free from the law of sin & death.” (verse 2)
Firstly, we can revisit our previous understanding of condemnation. Verse 1: “Therefore, there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus, because through Christ Jesus the law of the Spirit of life set me free from the law of sin and death.” From the earlier books in Romans, we know that everyone, from the best to the worst, are under sin. And the result of sin is always death. We’re stuck, it’s like being born into a family. No matter how hard you try, you can make yourself into something you’re not, if you’ve got short parents, guess what, you’ll be short. If your parents have glasses, well, you’re gonna be a four-eye. Same with sin, if anyone is a human, a descendant of Adam & Eve, they are under sin, and they will suffer death. This is the condemnation, this is the “law of sin and death.” Those of you who remember Ben’s talk will remember that God’s laws, though they were good, could not free us from sinning or dying. Because we couldn’t follow them. Instead, they showed us how badly we do sin and so brought us condemnation. But look at verse one, how Paul is so confident that everyone in Jesus will not suffer condemnation? Because the condemnation they face, which you and me face, has already being borne by Jesus himself, when He became just like us in order to be condemned instead of us. This is the great news of the gospel, and it’s what you’ve been hearing in Romans. “There is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus.” just like “we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ,”1
2. But Paul is also talking about another sort of condemnation, that is the dead end of our old way of life2, the dead end of our old way of life. Now we’re onto point 2. Paul calls it “living according to the sinful nature” or “the law of sin & death”. At this point, let me use a diagram which simplifies (but doesn’t get all the details 100% correct) the situation.
Old Life: Everyone is ruled by a Sinful nature,
We Sin Death Condemnation.
Problem 1: Sin Death Condemnation.
Answer: Christ pays for our sin by His death, therefore now Condemnation.
Problem 2: We Sin Death [Condemnation]
Answer: The Spirit frees us from Sin & Death, therefore in the future SIN & DEATH.
Let’s now look at why living according to the sinful nature is such a problem.
Verse 5: our minds desire sin and as a result, in verse 6: our minds lead us to death. The Bible is not soft on criticising our natures. It says that our dreams, goals, desires are hooked to sin. And when our desires are acted out, we commit acts that lead us to death. It is very hard to agree with this criticism. It says that everyone in general, when we are without the Spirit, want and desire things which are evil, and we can’t help it. We can’t even pretend we do. I can only comment on my own experience before becoming a Christian. Though I would often desire things which are good in themselves, excellent marks, success in sports, approval of friends, often the reason why I truly wanted them were self-centred. Even the good and noble desires of me helping the poor, making peace in this world, they had self-righteous elements in them, in that I wanted to feel good about myself.
Furthermore, in verse 7: our minds are hostile to God. We actually want and actively go against God’s desires. Not only do we desire what’s evil, we hate what’s godly. I think Australians, myself included, are particularly at fault. We hate those “do-gooders”, the “goody-twoshoes”, “wowsers”, those who are the “teacher’s pet”, you get what I mean. Generally we have this negative response to people who are actually better than ourselves, when people actually appreciate and enjoy good things that we don’t.
The criticism of our old life continues in verse 8: we cannot please God. We don’t have a choice, we just can’t do what’s good. We can’t help it, even if it’s modelled to us. It’s like asking someone who’s 5-foot tall to jump over a 2m bar. He just can’t do it. Similarly, we in our old way of life, just have no ability, no strength, no imagination and no desire to please God.
So that’s why we desperately need freedom from our old life, our life of sin & death, our life in the sinful nature.
3. That’s why we’ve got to thank God for His Spirit. Because the “through Christ Jesus, the law of the Spirit of life sets us free from the law of sin & death.” God has given us His Spirit to deal with the very root of the problem, the beginning of the chain of reaction of us sinning death condemnation. His Spirit, helps us, by freeing us from the old and giving us a new way of life, His Spirit gives us a new nature, His Spirit leads our new lives. “The law of the Spirit of life sets us free from the law of sin & death.”
Before I show you from the Bible why the Spirit is so wonderful, we must all know how & when we receive the Spirit. Let me give you three choices. We know we have received the Spirit
A) when we have supernatural experiences after our conversion, like the Christians in Acts who spoke in tongues or performed miracles.
B) when we start to experience change in our lives, like lying less and being kinder to parents,
C) when we are baptised in the name of Jesus after we believe in Him
D) None of the above.
[…]
In verse 9, anyone who belongs to Jesus, has the Spirit. And from the book of Romans, those who place their trust in the good news of Jesus’ death and resurrection are those who belong to Christ, They’re the ones who are credited with Jesus’ righteousness by trusting in Him (chapter 3 & 4), who are rescued from judgement through Jesus (chapter 5), who have peace through Jesus (chapter 5), who receive grace that brings life through Jesus (chapter 5), who are united to Jesus by their reliance on Him (chapter 6). When Jesus saves you, when you trust that He saves you, you belong to Him, and all the things we have heard in Romans, including now the Spirit of God, come to you. Anyone who belongs to Jesus, has the Spirit.
And the Spirit frees us for a new life. In verses 5-13, we see so many great works of the Spirit in our new lives. Firstly He gives us a new mind (verse 5). We are now able to set our minds on the things the Spirit desires, what God desires. This new mind no longer hates what’s good and godly, but enjoys it. It can now even obey God’s laws (verse 7). Remember how God’s laws used to be such burdens on us, how instead of doing what it says, we would do the exact opposite? Think of the time you were an infant (some of you may still be very childish, but one day you’ll grow up), and your parents would tell you things like “don’t touch that iron or you’ll burn yourself”, but you’d go ahead and do it? They would say “don’t pull the TV power plug”, and you’d rush over and disconnect every electrical item? Our curiosity caused every sort of disobedience imaginable. Well, in the same way, our sinful nature would use all of God’s good commands as opportunities for sins. But with the new life led by the Spirit, we can now obey God’s laws. Ben also spoke last week about being a slave to righteousness, how to the Christian God’s righteousness laws are helpful guides. Now we know why, because it’s the Spirit who makes this possible. God never planned for His good moral laws to come to pass, Jesus Himself fulfilled them, now to us believers, we have been given a new mind which can delight in God’s ways. God never meant His laws to disappear, He meant to write them on our hearts by His Spirit3, so that the “righteous requirements of the law might be fully met in us” who live according to the Spirit. (verse 4)
Illustration: Perhaps those like myself who became a Christian later in life would have felt such a change. I used to be one of those who hated those “dogooders”, I enjoyed those bits of rebellion and thought them to be good, old Aussie fun. I think if I had grown up without Christ to be just Australian, life would be filled with the normal drunkenness, the laxity of sexual relationships and disrespect for anyone who told me what to do. But thank God for His Spirit, who gave me a new heart & mind. I have now become un-Australian in the sense that I respect what is good authority, I love being committed to my wife and I enjoy having a sober body and mind.
Application point: But we must be as realistic as the Bible about this new life. Look at verse 13 “For if you live acccording to the sinful nature, you will die; but if by the Spirit you put to death the misdeeds of the body, you will live.” The new life is a battle against the old. This is the first big response we make after receiving the Spirit. The old life is not, I repeat, not fully dead. You have to smash it on the head, you have to say no to it, and you have to do this over, and over and over, until the Lord Jesus returns. But remember who is there with you, who is at work in you, the Spirit. So work at every strand of our sinful nature, cut them all out! Look at our private lives, think hard on what displeases God, is it our illegal downloading and copying? Is it an addiction to pornography? Is it a ruthless tongue? Is it our selfishness, that always puts my good before everyone else’s, that refuses to help others improve on their assignments and essays, that has to get the best seat on the bus, best bed in the cabin? Is it a tendency to skimp over the truth when it’s embarrasing to us or makes us look dumb? But “through Christ Jesus the law of the Spirit of life has set us free the law of sin & death” So let’s keep putting away the old life and living the new. We won’t get there tomorrow, we’ll have slips and falls and slide backwards like climbing up a snowy mountain on skis; but by the Spirit, we will and can get to the top.
[I can’t talk in detail about how the Spirit also lives in us who believe in Jesus (yes every moment of the rest of our lives until eternity the Spirit is stuck in us!) … and how He will give our dying bodies a new life at the resssurection because of righteousness in verses 9-11. I’ll let you study them at home.]
New Life: Everyone is led by the Spirit
We (by the Spirit) Righteousness Life Glory
4. But I will finish on the most encouraging work of the Spirit. Point 4, those who have the Spirit are Sons and Daughters of God. The Spirit proves to us that we are God’s children. Verse 15 tells us that we can have no fear in calling God as our Father. No nationality, no other religion dares to claim that God is their father. Our Muslim friends cannot, because God is unreachable, He is far. Our Jewish friends do not call God their Father, because that closeness of relationship is not there and the fear of God’s holiness and wrath is still there. But for us who have God’s Spirit living in us (verse 9), we can call God our Father. The Spirit reassures us that we aren’t in God’s bad books because Jesus has died for us and shown us and given us access to the Father4, He says we should talk directly to God as our Father, that’s how He taught us to pray5. It is actually the amazing work of the Spirit in a christian that enables them to call God by such an intimate term, Father or Daddy in Hebrew. To be able to do that, you’ve got to want God as your Father, be not afraid of His holiness and glory that can melt us away like the Sun does our eyes. And given what we know of our old lives, we wouldn’t even want to have God in our backyard let alone have Him as Dad and we wouldn’t be able to face Him without fear. But the christian calls God Daddy, everytime he or she prays. And it’s the Spirit of adoption or sonship (verse 16) at work.
Application: This leaves us with the second big response after receiving the Spirit of adoption. Imagine if we were an orphans on the street, imagine that we were orphans in this world. Unloved, unrelated, helpless to help ourselves and refusing help. But then comes along God, through His Son Jesus, gives us the Spirit of Adoption. We are taken into His family, His heavenly home, given a scrub-up because our old life was filthy and dying, He takes off our old scrags of sinful nature and gives us new clothes of righteouness. He writes down in a contract signed in blood that He will never be angry at our previous, present or future sins, but will always be our Father. And He adds, you will receive my inheritance, my riches, you will have all that I have and all that I am. Wow? Wouldn’t that be nice? Well, it’s real. You don’t have to imagine it. If you have trusted in Jesus, you’ve got this all, because you have His Spirit of Adoption. You are today, from now until eternity, a child of God. We’ve got to thank God with joy for this great gift, because we have so much to look forward to.
So as christians we have an answer to depression, anxiety and low self-esteem. We feel down about our looks? Our achievements? Our relationships? We feel down because of who we really are? We feel down because of what others think of us? We don’t need to, we have the love of the Father guaranteed for us by His very Spirit, His Breath and His Life. He’s willing to call us his own children, who else in the world has this privilege? Does every tall, rich, athletic, beautiful, intelligent or successful Joe Bloe have this? But we do!
We also have an answer to the sinful natures of everyone who mistreats us. Just think to yourself when you are mistreated by someone else’s selfishness, the cutting remark, that hurtful sneer and jeer. Think to yourself this: your Daddy is bigger than theirs. This is childish, but true, our Father is the best, He will take care of all our woes. And next week, you’ll hear that we have an answer to suffering.
We’ve heard a lot today, let’s pray in response to our Father.
1 Romans 5:1
2 C.c. 7:6 But now, by dying to what once bound us, we have been released from the law so that we serve in the new way of the Spirit, and not in the old way of the written code [i.e. Law].
3 Jeremiah 31:33 and Ezekiel 36:26.
4 John 14:6
5 Matthew 6:9
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