We just finished a three-week series on how to get ourselves recalibrated. In it, I referenced the first two verses of Romans 12. And over the past week or two, I kept seeing and hearing and coming across The Book of Romans, but lately, chapter 8. Today, we are going to start another three-week series on Romans chapter 8. Yes, three weeks on just one chapter of the Bible. If you’re familiar with this chapter, you’ll know why. It is a very deep and rich chapter of the Bible. So if you have your Bibles, you can turn with me there, and we’re going to read Romans 8:1-13. And you may remember me referencing this before, on how Peter, in his writings, referenced how Paul wrote.
He said, “And count the patience of our Lord as salvation, just as our beloved brother Paul also wrote to you according to the wisdom given him, as he does in all his letters when he speaks in them of these matters. There are some things in them that are hard to understand, which the ignorant and unstable twist to their own destruction, as they do the other Scriptures. (2 Peter 3:15-16 ESV)”
Now, Peter wasn’t criticizing Paul, but he was admitting that Paul wrote in ways that are kind of hard to understand. But Peter’s main point was about wisdom and being careful not to twist the meaning of what Paul was saying. And I’ve preached way too much on that subject, so I won’t go into that today.
But what I want to point out to you today is that we are going to look at a set of scriptures that is worded rather––well, wordy. And because of that, we can sort of gloss over it and not really get anything out of it. So today, I’m going to read over it, slow down and talk about it.
Before we do, since I’m beginning a new series on Romans 8, I’d like to start with an overview of the whole chapter.
This is what BibleRef.com had to say:
In Romans 7, Paul revealed his frustration of trying to do good only to be thwarted by his sin. He begins Romans 8, though, with the triumphant statement that there is no condemnation for those in Christ Jesus. We live in the Spirit, and we relate to God as a child does to a father. The Spirit helps us in this season of suffering along with all of creation while we wait for our adoption to be complete with the redemption of our bodies. We are confident, though, that God is for us and nothing can separate us from His love.
Scripture: So let’s take a look at those first verses. Romans 8:1-13
1 Therefore, there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus, 2 because through Christ Jesus the law of the Spirit who gives life has set you free from the law of sin and death. 3 For what the law was powerless to do because it was weakened by the flesh, God did by sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh to be a sin offering. And so he condemned sin in the flesh, 4 in order that the righteous requirement of the law might be fully met in us, who do not live according to the flesh but according to the Spirit.
5 Those who live according to the flesh have their minds set on what the flesh desires; but those who live in accordance with the Spirit have their minds set on what the Spirit desires. 6 The mind governed by the flesh is death, but the mind governed by the Spirit is life and peace. 7 The mind governed by the flesh is hostile to God; it does not submit to God’s law, nor can it do so. 8 Those who are in the realm of the flesh cannot please God.
9 You, however, are not in the realm of the flesh but are in the realm of the Spirit, if indeed the Spirit of God lives in you. And if anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ, they do not belong to Christ. 10 But if Christ is in you, then even though your body is subject to death because of sin, the Spirit gives life because of righteousness. 11 And if the Spirit of him who raised Jesus from the dead is living in you, he who raised Christ from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies because of his Spirit who lives in you.
12 Therefore, brothers and sisters, we have an obligation—but it is not to the flesh, to live according to it. 13 For if you live according to the flesh, you will die; but if by the Spirit you put to death the misdeeds of the body, you will live.
So what in the world was that? What was all that mumbo jumbo? I mean, it kind of made sense, but like I said, it is wordy and weighty. What point was Paul trying to make?
In short, what he was saying is that if we live by our natural physical bodies, we live in sin. But we, who are Christians, should live by our new spirit. We talked about this not too long ago. If we lean into a spiritual life, we will find true life in Christ and we will be able to put away, as Paul puts it in Romans 6, The Old Man. If we lean into the natural, worldly, physical desires, we will go right back to being that Old Man or that old person we used to be.
The reason why I repeat myself so often is because this sort of thing is a constant struggle. This is a perfect segue from our recalibration series because our Old Man, or our natural tendency to get off calibration, is always right in front of us.
In the previous chapter, Paul talks about that struggle. It was a real struggle for him, and he wanted his readers to know that even he wrestles with it. He said, in Chapter 7, starting with verse 21:
“21 So I find this law at work: Although I want to do good, evil is right there with me. 22 For in my inner being I delight in God’s law; 23 but I see another law at work in me, waging war against the law of my mind and making me a prisoner of the law of sin at work within me. 24 What a wretched man I am! Who will rescue me from this body that is subject to death? 25 Thanks be to God, who delivers me through Jesus Christ our Lord!
So then, I myself in my mind am a slave to God’s law, but in my sinful nature a slave to the law of sin.”
But then, his very next words are this: “Therefore, there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus, 2 because through Christ Jesus the law of the Spirit who gives life has set you free from the law of sin and death.”
Enduring Word Commentary said: “Since God the Father does not condemn Jesus, neither can the Father condemn those who are in Jesus. They are not condemned, they will not be condemned, and they cannot be condemned.”
It goes on to say that: “The verdict is not “less condemnation.” That’s where many believe they are – thinking our standing has improved in Jesus. It has not been improved, it’s been completely transformed, changed to a status of no condemnation.”
Charles Spurgeon, I quote him all the time. He’s certainly in the ‘preaching hall of fame’ if there is one, said that God’s condemnation isn’t something that we preachers like to talk about.
I don’t want to be politically incorrect. I don’t want to be hated. But, as Spurgeon pointed out, not only are those who are in Christ not condemned, but “If you are not in Christ Jesus, and are walking after the flesh, you have not escaped from condemnation.” It’s that simple.
Here, Christians, as much as we struggle with sin, are to be reminded that we are under the grace of God. We are new creatures in Christ. Romans 8:1 tells us we are free from the guilt of sin. And Romans 8:2 tells us we are free from the power of sin.
We are free from the guilt of sin, and if that wasn’t enough of a miracle, God grants us the grace to be free from the power of sin, too.
In Chapter 7, Paul talks about God’s standards of right and wrong and that the law could do nothing but tell us how high God’s standards were and how we were truly unable to obtain those standards. All the law accomplished was to show us just how much we fall short of the glory of God. God’s standard is absolute perfection. We don’t even know what absolute perfection is, even with God’s standard of absolute perfection presented to us in The Bible. It’s still foreign to us. Our human standard of moral perfection is still not true perfection, according to God.
I think that’s why a lot of people just give up on religion. Religion has been too religious. It focuses too much on trying to obtain God’s standard of holiness without understanding or preaching God’s grace.
Another quote from Enduring Word: “The law can do many things. It can guide us, teach us, and tell us about God’s character. But the law cannot give energy to our flesh; it can give us the standard, but it can’t give us the power to please God.”
And in verses 3 and 4, Paul goes on to explain what does give us the power to please God. I’m going to read these verses and interject the meaning of what Paul is saying.
“3 For what the law was powerless to do because it was weakened by the flesh, [that means The Old Testament law could not accomplish anything because sin was too powerful for us to obey God’s law] God did by sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh [which means, God’s son came in the image of a man, born of a woman, was fully flesh and bone] to be a sin offering. And so he [God the Father] condemned sin in the flesh, [that is, he made Christ sin in our place] 4 in order that the righteous requirement of the law might be fully met in us [in other words our flesh is punished], who do not live according to the flesh but according to the Spirit [or for those of us who are in Christ Jesus, who live by the power and mercy of The Holy Spirit have had our sins punished or atoned for on the cross].”
This is God’s love and God’s mercy demonstrated to the fullest.
Paul goes on to explain that a little bit more in the next few verses. And then, when we get to verse 10, Paul says, “10 But if Christ is in you, then even though your body is subject to death because of sin, the Spirit gives life because of righteousness. 11 And if the Spirit of him who raised Jesus from the dead is living in you, he who raised Christ from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies because of his Spirit who lives in you.”
So who is this “him?” Who is this spirit that raised Christ from the dead and is living in us? It is The Holy Spirit. That should make you rejoice. God himself. And God’s power is living in me—the same God and the same power that raised Jesus from the dead.
Now the law has no power. But The Spirit of God does! This is what Paul is getting at.
Even though we may die a physical death because it is part of the curse of sin, but God turns that into a blessing––later on, we’ll get to Romans 8:28, which says, “And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to his purpose.” That includes the curse of death. God turns the curse of death into the ultimate blessing for the believer.
But in the meantime, The Holy Spirit isn’t dormant within us. This spirit is there to give life to our spirits in the here and now as well. Jesus said in John 10:10, one of my favorite verses, 10 “The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy; I have come that they may have life, and have it to the full.”
Paul wrote this same concept to the church in Corinth.
He said this in 1 Corinthians: “Now God has not only raised the Lord, but will also raise us up through His power. (1Cor 6:14)
And he said this in 2 Corinthians: “Knowing that He (God the Father) Who raised the Lord Jesus will raise us also with Jesus and will present us with you.” (2Cor 4:14)
And if we go back to Romans Chapter 1, at the very beginning, we read in verse 4 in the New Living Translation, “And Jesus Christ our Lord was shown to be the Son of God when God powerfully raised him from the dead by means of the Holy Spirit.”
And we also go into this concept a few verses down in Chapter 8, beginning with verse 14, where Paul talks about how those of us who are led by the Spirit are children of God. If God demonstrated that Jesus was the son of God through the power of his spirit raising him from the dead; and if we have the same spirit in us that raised Jesus from the dead; then that means we, too, are also children of God. Only we are adopted, and Jesus is the only begotten son of God. I have a whole other sermon on this, probably my favorite sermon that I’ve ever preached because it’s such an amazing concept.
But because of Christ’s sacrifice on the cross, because he became the punishment of sins in our place, then those of us who have this same spirit within us now have the right to become sons and daughters of God. And in Romans 3, Paul says that all it takes is faith. And our faith in Christ will be credited to us as God’s righteousness.
So what are we to do about this? Paul says that we have an obligation. What is that obligation? Verses 12 and 13 say, “12 Therefore, brothers and sisters, we have an obligation—but it is not to the flesh, to live according to it. 13 For if you live according to the flesh, you will die; but if by the Spirit you put to death the misdeeds of the body, you will live.”
In other words, we might be saved through grace, and we might receive the power of The Holy Spirit. But as we talked about last week, we cannot go on sinning and living the life we did before. Grace is not a license to sin, and the free gift of salvation is not an excuse to be lazy Christians and take God’s love for granted.
We are now obligated to do something with this gift and this new life that we’ve been given. And the whole rest of The New Testament talks about that in more specific detail, but here Paul says we are to “put to death” the earthly, worldly, physical, sinful way we used to live; and now live a new life by the Spirit, which gives us life.
John MacArthur explains that “The apostle is not warning genuine believers that they may lose their salvation and be condemned to death…He has already given the absolute assurance that “there is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus” (Ro 8:1). He is rather saying that a person whose life is characterized by the things of the flesh is not a true Christian and is spiritually dead, no matter what his religious affiliations or activities may be. If he does not come to Christ in true faith, he must die the second death under God’s final judgment.
So, our actions speak louder than words. There are many people out there who say they are Christians, but they make you wonder, don’t they? How can they be Christians and live contrary to The Holy Spirit? I don’t think The Holy Spirit contradicts himself.
The answer is this, they may believe in God, they may say they “follow the teachings of Christ,” then cherry-pick which teachings they follow. When we live by the Spirit, we put to death the deeds of the body, and we are forcing the sinful flesh to submit to the Spirit. When we are forced to do something we don’t want to do, it’s a struggle, and like I said earlier, it’s unfortunately a lifelong struggle.
Which is why our spiritual calibrations get off, and we need to get recalibrated again.
But, as I mentioned last week, we can’t do this by our power; we must do it by the power of The Holy Spirit within us. Otherwise, we will become like the Pharisees and we will become hypocrites bound by a law that is too high of a standard for us to obey.
Another Enduring Word quote: Paul tells us that not only are we saved by the work of the Spirit, but we also must walk by the Spirit if we want to grow and pursue holiness in the Lord. We cannot be like some among the Galatians who thought they could begin in the Spirit but then find spiritual perfection through the flesh (Galatians 3:3).
As we conclude today, I know that it seems like I’m repeating myself a lot. “You just mentioned that last week. You talk about this and that all the time.” Well, that’s because these topics are all over the Bible.
We are, by nature, sinners, and only the grace of God can save us. That grace might be free to us, but it was bought by God at a high price. That purchase of us bought us from Satan. Now that we are God’s, our new master requires us to live differently and to work differently. We are to fully do away with our old self, our old life, our old master, even to the point of considering our old self as dead–think of Star Wars, if you have to.
When you switch from a Jedi to a Sith; or a Sith to a Jedi, your old life and identity are dead. However, we don’t go quite to that extreme.
John MacArthur cautions us – “As one Christian to another, let me warn you that you will be frustrated by your inability to experience the holiness you crave. That is the inevitable experience of every true child of God. In your flesh you will never achieve the level of holiness you want. But press on! Persevere in your faith, and your perseverance will set you apart as a member of the family of God and you will experience what it is to really live in Christ.”
I’d have to say that’s a hallmark of the Christian life––getting to a point where you realize you’re not satisfied and never feel fully satisfied living the standard that you want to live. The closer we are to Christ, the more we begin to see our sinful ways and want to become more like Christ.
I’ve quoted this before, but might as well quote it again.
C.S. Lewis said, “It is when we notice the dirt that God is most present in us; it is the very sign of His presence.”
I wouldn’t say that you should be afraid when you see sin in your life; you should be afraid when you don’t. You shouldn’t be afraid when you feel uncomfortable in your holiness; you should be afraid when you’re comfortable. I think one of Satan’s tricks is to get us thinking the opposite because he knows that it’s natural for us to think that we should be comfortable in our holiness and our walk with God.
But we should never be completely satisfied. We should be grateful we are not the “Old Man” that we once were, and we should look back and see some milestones, but we should always want more holiness. We should always want to draw closer to God.
And as John MacArthur said, we should be able to look back and see that there has been progress.
Communion
The Bread: As we take communion today, we pause for just a moment. I just gave a sermon based on what God has done for us by sacrificing his own son to make us His sons and daughters as well. It’s one thing to listen to a sermon; it’s another to take communion.
Normally, at this point, we get up and get on with our day. But first, let’s take a moment and not just go through our obligatory monthly tradition, but let’s actually take a moment and worship God through communion, reflecting on that sacrifice. Let it be something that resonates.
As we take this bread, let us take a moment to thank God for making a way for our faith to be credited as righteousness.
Let me read to you something I said earlier: But because of Christ’s sacrifice on the cross, because he became the punishment of sins in our place, then those of us who have this same spirit within us now have the right to become sons and daughters of God. And in Romans 3, Paul says that all it takes is faith. And our faith in Christ will be credited to us as God’s righteousness.
The Juice: When Jesus told his disciples that this is the way in which he would like to be remembered, they must have wondered what in the world he was talking about. My body, broken for you? My blood spilled for you? Take and eat?
In his request or his command, however, you would like to put it, Jesus wanted us to not only reflect on his body through the bread, but also his blood through the wine or the juice. Why? Why both?
Let’s take a look at what his blood represents:
- Hebrews 10:19 “We have confidence to enter the holy places by the blood of Jesus”
- Ephesians 1:7 says, “In Him we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of sins, according to the riches of His grace.”
- Hebrews 9:14 The blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered himself without blemish to God, [will] purify our conscience from dead works to serve the living God”
- Revelation 12:11 says, “And they have conquered him [Satan] by the blood of the Lamb and by the word of their testimony, for they loved not their lives even unto death.” In other words, no matter what accusations that liar, Satan, throws at us, Jesus’ blood covers us.
Let us take and drink and reflect on these things that God bought for us with the price of the blood of his only son.
This is an updated edition of a post originally published on First Baptist Church of Watkins Glen
Featured Image by Mitchell Koot on Unsplash
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