Well, tonight I invite you to turn to Romans chapter 8. Romans chapter 8 we are continuing our study in Romans chapter 8, and we come to verses 9 through 13 tonight. 9 through 13. I'm going to back up and read it verse 8 1 through 13 so that we have a context, as this is very rich, very rich teaching on the work of the Spirit.
So beginning at Romans 8, verse 1, this is the word of the Lord: "There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus, for the law of the Spirit of life has set you free in Christ Jesus from the law of sin and death. For God has done what the law, weakened by the flesh, could not do by sending His own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh and for sin, He condemns sin in the flesh in order that the righteous requirement of the law might be fulfilled in us who walk not according to the flesh but according to the Spirit. For those who live according to the flesh set their minds on the things of the flesh, but those who live according to the Spirit set their minds on the things of the Spirit. For to set the mind on the flesh is death, but to set the mind on the Spirit is life and peace. For the mind that is set on the flesh is hostile to God, for it does not submit to God's law; indeed, it cannot. Those who are in the flesh cannot please God. You, however, are not in the flesh but in the Spirit, if in fact the Spirit of God dwells in you. Anyone who does not have the Spirit of Christ does not belong to Him. But if Christ is in you, although the body is dead because of sin, the Spirit is life because of righteousness. If the Spirit of Him who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, He who raised Christ Jesus from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through His Spirit who dwells in you. So then, brothers, we are debtors not to the flesh to live according to the flesh, for if you live according to the flesh you will die, but if by the Spirit you put to death the deeds of the body, you will live."
And there will in the reading of God's Word tonight.
Well, we have been studying for some time in the book of romans um a long section here through six and seven and and now into chapter eight the struggle of the Christian in this life as he wrestles against sin. We really have a thorough teaching, and helping us to understand that struggle and what is the confusion i know that's how often we feel about the struggle against sin in this life. Anyone who takes it seriously, as we're called to it, is something God gives a lot of help and a lot of space in the Scriptures to help us think through and to encourage us. And really, as as Romans 8 is is a wonderful chapter for assurance, it's a chapter meant to help with Christian assurance, which is what a lot of people struggle with. um
You know, I was talking to a chaplain who who goes around our local hospitals. He's a hospice chaplain, and he was saying that you know in in Roman Catholicism, there is no doctrine of assurance. Whenever he's on a deathbed with a Roman Catholic, they do not know. They do not know.
So think of tonight what's being said to us. Think of the strong doctrine of assurance that's being given to us. There is a doctrine of assurance, and that is the work of the Holy Spirit. That's what is being shown to us tonight in this great passage.
And the Lord knows that our struggle against sin is not an easy one. In fact, it's an impossible one for us, even in the life of sanctification it's an impossible one for us. He knows that it's confusing, and so He's devoted all this explanation to help us understand that now that we have been justified by faith, now that we have romans 5 been joined to Christ in the last Adam, now that we have been given salvation and have been justified freely by His grace, He has helped us to understand what that means for our status and our identity as Christians.
We climaxed at Romans 8 1 where it said, "There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus." The judgment is rendered; the verdict is rendered; the consequence everything has been dealt with in Christ. That's what the cross is all about. And if you have Christ, you have died with Him. Romans 6 And you've been raised with him and Paul has been laboring to show us the difference between the one who has Christ and is in Christ and the one who is not. And that's very helpful. You understand the intention of that? he's remember last time he gave four characteristics in the first verses those who are not in Christ, those who do not have the Spirit.
There are four characteristics of their lives, and he was offsetting this to say, "This is what you are not." So see the encouragement of this? That's the intention of this.
Four characteristics: Number one, he said they have a dark in mind they are spiritually dead Number two they are driven by sinful desire Number three nothing they do pleases god number four he wants to offset that as the a life dead in trespasses and sins, outside of Jesus Christ, apart from the Spirit.
And so he offsets the Christian in Romans chapter 8 by saying that we walk according to the Spirit, meaning it's the Holy Spirit who is directing our lives. The Holy Spirit is directing our lives. He has he dwells within us. that's a great mystery to us. he lives within us We are the temple of the Spirit. And even though we still have the presence of sin in our lives, the drive of our lives now is that he said the difference fundamental differences that we set we begin to set our minds on the things of the Spirit. You see? He's meant to help us understand crucial differences. This is what interests the Christian. This is what the Spirit's work is accomplishing.
So Romans 8, being this great chapter of assurance, he is helping us to know who you are and to know now who dwells within you.
And so Paul is concerned that, as we've been looking at, Christians would not think as they often do that God justifies somebody and then it's a 50-50 deal. Here, in other words, Paul has been seeking to comfort us and explain it's a work of the triune God all the way through. He he roots the work of salvation in the work of the triune God. Ephesians does this in chapter 1; Paul is doing it here now in Romans 8, where we see he mentions here the Father, the Son, and the Spirit heavy emphasis here on the spirit tonight so now paul in the section that's in front of us begins to give us conclusion statement, to then move us to obligation, he's slowly transitioning to obligation which he will return back to in chapter 12. But notice here the conclusion statement to what he's been saying in verse 9, where he says, "You, however, are not in the flesh but in the Spirit, if in fact the Spirit of God dwells in you. Anyone who does not have the Spirit of Christ does not belong to Him."
He is not saying that to scare well maybe you don't. It's not his purpose. His purpose is to offset and explain to you the difference. This is really important. You hear what it's as if he says there is no possible way for one to be a Christian without the Holy Spirit. It's not even possible. That's what he's saying. It can't happen. No one can be a Christian without the Holy Spirit. They can claim to be a Christian until they're blue in the face; without the Holy Spirit, nobody is a Christian.
Very important for understanding what he's about to develop. And that's why he says, "If you don't have the Spirit of Christ, it's impossible to be in Christ without the Spirit. Union in Jesus Christ is impossible without the work of the Holy Spirit. You can't be brought into Him without the work of the Holy Spirit. If you belong to Christ," he says, "guess what? That means really good news: you have the Holy Spirit. You believe in Christ? You've trusted in Christ? Good news that means the Spirit dwells in you." This is what he's saying.
There can be no Christian without the Spirit. So that that sort of answers the heart of the concern that he raised all the way back in chapter six. I think he still has this in his mind. He's still helping us to understand this as he's been working in the book and saying the truth of justification by grace through faith alone is wonderful. God declares you righteous based on the merits and righteousness of Christ. He imputes that righteousness to you as if you never sin Heidelberg or been a sinner. He freely acquits you. You didn't do anything to deserve it.
And he knew people would come along and say, "Oh, well, you know what? That means of course that people can, if they believe that, say they can go on sinning, that grace may abound." And Paul says, "That's impossible." And here's his answer. It's almost like he took this long to get here to say it, but this is the answer: No, that's impossible. If you have the Spirit, you are no longer controlled, mastered, a slave to the sinful nature. He's answering Romans 6 1
That means the principle of darkness does not reign in you anymore. You have been conveyed out of the kingdom of darkness into the kingdom of light and the kingdom of His Son and love. And that is because, verse 9, because the gift Jesus promised you is the Holy Spirit. This is how wonderful the gift is. The gift that He promised when He would leave is the Holy Spirit.
So Paul is explaining the dilemma for us that he knows still troubles us and is confusing for us: "Yeah, but we still deal with the sinful nature. We're not perfect yet. We're not Wesleyan holiness people." Wesleyan holiness people are the one contingent in the Christian sort of arena that say we can be perfect in this life, and First John is very clear: if anyone says they have no sin, they're a liar. So you can't run around saying you have no sin. All of us struggle against sin.
And that's the confusion. The difference is here's What the Spirit has done? And that's what he wants to help us with. The Spirit has, number one first and foremost regenerated the heart. This is what he was saying to Nicodemus: "Nicodemus, doing all the religious acts? You must be born again. The wind blows where it wishes. The Spirit must give life," he said. And so the Spirit has to give life into the human heart. It has to make the heart alive. "You who were dead, he made alive." That's the Spirit's work. he It's the language of circumcising the heart. It's a language of regeneration all of this to show that the principle of life now reigns within us. Life has been given to the human heart. We are given life. We are made alive. We are no longer under the domain and slavery and mastery of darkness as the drive of our life. Now, that's that's crucial. He sees that as crucial the bent
And drive of the christian life now and this you can all testify to this: anyone who's a true Christian knows This is what you desire This is why you're here this is what you're interested in this is what you want to learn more about this is the good soil the hunger and thirsting for the word of god in the kingdom even because we're weak. So what's happened is, now in verse 10, he wants to make sure we understand what's going on in the Christian life, what's happening.
He explains it. He says, "If Christ is in you, although the body is dead because of sin, the Spirit is life because of righteousness." Notice that Christ is in you yes the body of sin is still present. I know that. And because of that, your physical bodies have to die. It's essentially what he's saying here. The physical body has to die, but the difference is the Spirit is life in you now.
That's encouraging. That's why we have verses that say things like this: "Even though the outward man is perishing, the inward man is being renewed day by day," because the Spirit is dwelling in the inward man. The regenerate parts we've looked at this. The body of sin still remains. That's his great distinction here. And Paul encourages us in that point: "Okay, yes, there's sin still in the mortal body. The body of sin still remains."
And so he says, "If the Spirit of Him," verse 11, "who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, He who raised Christ Jesus from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through His Spirit who dwells in you."
That's wonderful. That's everything. See what I said? It's a summary statement. Verses 9 through 11 are a summary statement of what he's been developing. Take it all in for just a minute: God has already raised your spirits. He has already regenerated your hearts. Yes, the body of sin that you carry around it brings forth a body that's going to die. But your future is secure. The Spirit is in you. And the commitment of the Spirit then is even to raise your mortal bodies.
So it's a complete picture. We've already begun from the beginning of the Christian life to the very end to the to to the to the very resurrection that's here anticipated. Life has come. Life will even come, especially when even the body of sin is finally put away and the new resurrected body is given in the the resurrection.
And our Heidelberg comforts us with this great truth: that our death is not a payment for sins but it puts an end to sin and is an entrance into eternal life as we await for the final resurrection.
But his point here is to demonstrate what God has done for you in grace, what God has done the whole work. for you, anticipating the whole work.
So notice where we've crossed here. We've gone all the way now, even to the dealing with our bodies. The Spirit's work is what he just said. That's important. He has think about it, declared as righteous, justification. He has done everything necessary to acquit us from all sin. He has given His Son to die for us and live for us. And He rose victorious. We've been united to Him so that there is now no condemnation. We have peace with God. And now we've been given new life by the Spirit. We're into Romans 8 now. Who has set us free. He's raised us. He's given the principle of life into our hearts. And now He just said He's assured us of dealing with our very body of sin the Spirit. He will give life to your mortal bodies through His Spirit who dwells in you. That's His work.
So after summarizing this it's it's it's overwhelming he gives a conclusion to what our response should be. Paul has been describing what has happened, and now he begins to motivate us to a response.
Notice this has all been so much descriptive: "This is what you're not. This is what you are. This is what God has done. This is the whole picture. It's all His work. Father, Son, and Holy Spirit." He wants the response at this point, hear me carefully, to be celebrated. He wants the response at this point to be celebrated.
Paul takes it right to what he calls a solemn obligation, verse 12: "So then."
Okay, I've said a lot to you, says Paul. I've described the work of the Son, the power of the Spirit in your life. God gave His Son as a propitiation. The Father loves you. You're sealed with the Spirit. He's dealing with your bodies. He's given you everything. There's no condemnation. You're not under judgment. Having been justified by faith, you have peace with God. What else could He say? What else could He say? It's your problem if you don't want to believe it, but He has said everything necessary to us.
"So then, so then, brothers, we are debtors not to the flesh to live according to the flesh."
That's an interesting way to say it, isn't it? He could have said we're debtors to God, but that's not the way he said it. The word here for debtor means obligation. it means duty. So if you. put it together, God has done all This for you. "I have really good news for you. this, is how it comes off. I have really good news for you. If we have a God like this, then we are no longer debtors."
That's not saying we're paying God back for anything. Notice what it says. We're no longer debtors. Notice the encouragement to this: "You're no longer debtors to the former life." That's out. You don't have any debt to the former life. Did you see that?
"We are debtors not to the flesh to live according to the flesh not according to the sinful nature. We have no debt to that anymore. We are not obligated in any way.
So he wants to it's a careful way of saying here paul rehearses and speaks of the language of obligation to live what we now have become by grace. But he's describing what happens, and he wants to motivate the responses the response. But it's almost as if he's careful. He's very careful in how he do does this. He wants the response to be welcomed. He doesn't want anyone to think, "Now you're going to go pay God back, right?"
He wants us all to why would we want to live that stinky, filthy life that He's delivered us from anymore? You see? Why would I want to do that? Why would I want to play with that stuff? I don't have any obligation to that. I've been set free. And so he's really speaking of the kind of response. He's starting to have us think of the kind of response that is right for us, that is welcomed, to a God who's loved us this way.
I think of Zacchaeus. um Zacchaeus is in the sycamore tree, and Jesus, you know, comes and he looks up and he sees this man. And this man is a terrible sinner. This man is a tax collector. This man has been an extorter in the king in the kingdom. He has robbed people of money for years. Everyone hates him. Jesus comes to his house says, "I'm going to dine with you today, Zacchaeus." And the immediate response, after he knew that the Messiah would consider him and forgive him and love him, was, "I am no longer going to do that. Praise God, I'm i'm delivering back fourfold." see? It wasn't this forced, obligatory, miserable thing. "If the Messiah could love me like this, how could I go on like this?" See, that's the sense here. That's the beautiful thing being said.
And our Heidelberg captures that so wonderfully, doesn't it? The very spirit of what I just tried to capture in Romans 8. But does not this doctrine of justification make people careless and wicked? It's really a sad thing that someone would ever ask such a thing, that we'd have to. Throughout history, we have.
So the answer is no. It's impossible that those grafted into Christ by true faith should not bring forth fruits of thankfulness. Maybe we haven't always communicated this well.
I had a prisoner, years ago in my first charge, who would tell me when his father told him to do something and he wanted to understand Why? he'd ask his father why the father was a hard man and the father would always say, "You don't question me, son," and he'd quote the verse, "When you've done those things which you are commanded, say you are an unprofitable servant." Son, we have done what is our duty to do. Is that what you get from Romans 8? That kind of spirit?
Romans speaks to us in a way that is the whole Scripture. And I think Jesus was not speaking with that kind of tone unless he was dealing with certain kind of people. God has not come to us in this kind of way and said, "Do this or else because I've done all this."
Your heavenly Father has said in Romans, "I sent My Son for you. I loved you so much. I poured out My wrath on Him. I freely accepted His righteous substitute in your place. And I didn't stop there for you. I didn't stop there for you. I've reached down of all the sad to all the sad people in this world and I looked upon you. Notice the Heidelberg says, the Holy Spirit was given to me personally I've looked upon you now the pleasure of My good will. You know what I've done for you? i have I've given you My Holy Spirit as a gift so that you would no longer be controlled by the sinful nature, master a slave. I know you can't pay Me back."
He knows that. But here's where we come to the heart of If somebody asks, "Well, what does God want from us? Do we have to ask that? Do we know Him?" God is saying this: "You're no longer obligated to that former way of life the flesh. To Me you belong to Me, and I have a wonderful gift for you in saving you."
And here's where the pastoral concern comes in tonight. Maybe I could put it this way: imagine sitting down your son or your daughter before they go to school, off to college, leaving the house. I think about these things. What would you say to him as a good parent? What would you say to him as a good parent?
Well, you might say something like this: "Son, daughter, think of all you've learned. Think of all that has been taught to you. And now I'm concerned that as you go out, go away, that I want you to think about who you are. I want to remember all that the Lord has done for you in your life. It would be bad to go on and continue to live in the sinful lust, to live in sinful lust, to go a different path in life. Wouldn't a good parent be concerned about this? It would be bad for you to go a different path in life, to walk away from the faith, to fall into sexual immorality, to deny these kind of things. Having all sorts of temptations, you're going to go out. If you make bad choices, these can be ruinous in your life, son. These can be ruinous in your life."
Notice what Paul says here: "If you live according to the flesh, you die." Yeah, I'm concerned about that. Anyone who walks in the ways of darkness is perishing. "Son or daughter, I want you to remember. It's like Proverbs wisdom. I want you to remember who you are. I want you to remember what can pull you away. I want you to remember the temptations and the lusts that can take you in a different way. And I want you to remember your God who's loved you. Your covenant God who gave you the sign. Your covenant God who's done so many wonderful things for you, trained you so diligently, been good to you, provided for you. All these things."
"But I've got really good news for you, son or daughter. You're going off. I know you can't do this. I know you can't do this on your own. You're going to face things. You're going to stumble. What does the Father say? Is the son or daughter on their own? I've got good news for you. This is the sense of Romans 8: Someone's with you. Someone dwells in you. Someone has made a home in you. Someone is helping and comforting you. You're never alone."
And I believe the second half of verse 13 has this kind of intention. It's one of the most meaningful passages. Memorize it: "If by the Spirit you put to death the deeds of the flesh, you'll live."
He didn't say, "If you put to death the deeds of the flesh, you'll live." He says it's the Spirit who's working life in you. It's the Spirit who does the work of vivication and morticate mortification mortification is the big word of putting to death sin in life, keeping you from running into it. There's this connection here he makes in the life that we now live, as those who've heard all this good news, that it's the Spirit's work within us to mortify the deeds of the body so that we live, that that life principle continues to flourish within us.
I want you to take seriously the responsibility to put sin to death in your life, Son. By the Spirit's power, you will have sins in your lives and in your life you're going to have certain sins that you struggle with. You could fall into captivity into sin, couldn't you? We're all prone to certain sins in our makeup and design.
Augustine said, that where's the help?" And you're right. Let me say it very clearly tonight: you can't put it to death yourself. way too strong. sin is way too strong If you go to the doctor and say, "Hey, Doc, this part of my body is not working right," and he says, "Take this, and it will work right," and you say, "I don't want the medicine," you're just a fool. Take the medicine! Take the medicine!
"If by the Spirit you put to death the deeds of the body, you'll live."
So the Spirit is given in the Christian life to ensure that mortification is happening. It may not always feel like it. may not always be the progress we want. Remember, the mustard seed things kind of move slowly at times, don't they? Mortification is the Spirit's work in us.
John Owen said it so clearly: "Any man may easier see without eyes, speak without a tongue, than mortify one sin without the Spirit. You can't mortify one sin without the Holy Spirit. The Spirit is the long-awaited promise through the death and exaltation of Christ that is given to produce this life, to begin this new life in us. It's a small beginning, but it's a beginning."
That's why the Heidelberg says, "We begin to walk not according to some but all of God's commandments." That's the Spirit.
When Owen wrote the great work on mortification, just so I encourage those who struggle with this if the great Puritan John Owen, who wrote the greatest, probably, treatise on putting to death sin that we know of, there's a lot of people here who will recognize just what he describes here:
"Suppose a man be a true believer and yet find it finds in himself a powerful indwelling sin leading him captive to the law of it, consuming his heart with trouble, perplexing his thoughts, weakening his soul as to the duties of communion with God, disquieting him as to peace and perhaps defiling his conscience and exposing him to hardening through the deceitfulness of sin What shall he do what course shall he take?"
And Owen takes Romans 8 13 and expounds a whole treatise on "If by the Spirit you put to death the deeds of the body, you live." The Spirit's work.
If I might give a few practical suggestions before we close tonight is to convict the world of sin. And here's a few important things to lean on the Spirit for this, his help in this life that we need to think about.
When we send the conviction and sense of sorrow and the sense of guilt and the conviction that arises in our heart, that's a good thing. Do you know that's the very work of the Spirit? We misread it when we fight against that. When you are troubled by your sin and you feel awful about your sin and you see your sin, praise God. The Spirit's working. That's a wonderful thing. Pray for the convicting work of the Spirit, number one, in our lives. Seems to be the great start to mortifying sin. Pray for it. Pray for the convicting work of the Spirit.
Number two: receive that. In other words, what do we do at typically at this point when we feel the convicting work of the Spirit? Either we push it away, or we feel hopeless, and we sort of grovel in the sin and feel like nothing can be done about it, and we tend to want to give up. Receive it. It's a good thing.
Number three: pray for the Spirit to create a hatred in you of that sin, that you would find it gross and disgusting and offensive, and that our concern is that since God hates sin that He's loved me this way, I may run away from it like Joseph did. Ask the Spirit.
Number four: to renew your mind in the Gospel. These are things I've written up. Bring it to the Gospel. Remember, Christ went to die for that sin. He went through the pain and the sorrow to atone for that sin. He suffered and died for that sin. Your sin is not too great that it can't be dealt with. The Son of God atoned for it. Believe that. Pray for to the spirit number six for forgiveness and true repentance, that you would turn away from it.
Number six: ask that by the Spirit's power you would be awake and know the situations that lead you to give into those sins, that you'd be aware of the temptations.
Number seven: look to Christ by the Spirit's power to trust and believe the promise god loves you and has forgiven you and has turned your sorrow into joy. In the forgiveness you confess your sins, He's faithful and—
Number eight: pray to walk in the Spirit.
All that has a lot to do with prayer, doesn't it? And Paul will talk about that in Romans 8 with groanings that even when you don't pray as you should, the Spirit does for you. That's how wonderful this is.
But what a privilege and what a provision the Lord's given us! You're not alone. He is helping us in the struggle. He has been given to us to set us free. So don't lose heart in the struggle. And remember the words of Hebrews that come to mind: "Consider Him who endured such hostility from sinners against Himself, lest you become weary and discouraged in your souls. You've not yet resisted to bloodshed, striving against sin."
The Lord has done everything for us. He's been a good God to us. He's favored us with everything. So we're no longer debtors to walk that way. So now walk by the power and the Spirit in the newness of life and gratitude for this kind of grace that He has given us in our lives.
Let's pray.
Heavenly Father, thank You for the great work of Your Holy Spirit. And may, O Lord, we be more of people who rest on that work and trust You for that work and pray to You for help in this regard, that we might have strength by the Spirit to put these things to death in us, to recognize, O Lord, that all this work has been done and the big picture is even the Spirit's going to deal with in the resurrection these mortal bodies, giving us a new one. We thank You, Lord, for all this blessing. We thank You for Your steadfast love and favor for the gift of righteousness through Jesus Christ. Help us by the Spirit to put to death the deeds of the body, that we might live live for righteousness, live as a people set apart to You. In Jesus' name we pray. Amen.