Romans 8:12-25

Review

The Unrighteousness of All Humankind (1:18–3:20)

Justification by Faith (3:21–4:25)

Righteousness and Sanctification: The New Life in Christ (5:1–8:39) with Chapter 8 being the height of Paul’s teaching on sanctification

Definitions (Pocket Dictionary of Theological Terms)

Justification: the divine act whereby God makes humans, who are sinful and therefore worthy of condemnation, acceptable before a God who is holy and righteous by grace through faith in Jesus Christ

Sanctification: The nature of sanctification is twofold in that Christians have been made holy through Christ and are called to continue to grow into and strive for holiness by cooperating with the indwelling Holy Spirit until they enjoy complete conformity to Christ (glorification).

Romans 7:13-25 Paul had begun to introduce us to idea of our 2 natures and the battle between them

To the point that he utters this (like I do):

Romans 7:24 “24 O wretched man that I am! who shall deliver me from the body of this death?

Romans 7:25 “25 I thank God through Jesus Christ our Lord. So then with the mind I myself serve the law of God; but with the flesh the law of sin.”

Paul tells us we are in this war with the flesh but victory in the war is possible through Jesus death and the gift of life through the Holy Spirit

Romans 8:1–2 “1 There is therefore now no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit. 2 For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus hath made me free from the law of sin and death.”

Paul goes on to tell us that the mind controlled by the flesh is a sure sign of spiritual death that will lead to eternal death. A person living like this CANNOT please God because it is reprobate and unrepentant and in fact hates God, God’s Word, and God’s people!

Living a life controlled by the Spirit is a sign of resurrection and righteousness that has peace with God, a hunger for God and His Word, and peace with neighbor.

It’s this person, us that are saved that show we have the Holy Spirit by salvation:

Romans 8:11 “11 But if the Spirit of him that raised up Jesus from the dead dwell in you, he that raised up Christ from the dead shall also quicken your mortal bodies by his Spirit that dwelleth in you.”

The Present Situation

A Reminder of Our Debt

Romans 8:12–13 KJV

12 Therefore, brethren, we are debtors, not to the flesh, to live after the flesh. 13 For if ye live after the flesh, ye shall die: but if ye through the Spirit do mortify the deeds of the body, ye shall live.

Because Christ has justified us and the Holy Spirit lives in us, we out to live like it and be constantly nailing our sin to the cross:

The Spirit chastises us:

Hebrews 12:5–7 “5 And ye have forgotten the exhortation which speaketh unto you as unto children, My son, despise not thou the chastening of the Lord, nor faint when thou art rebuked of him: 6 For whom the Lord loveth he chasteneth, and scourgeth every son whom he receiveth. 7 If ye endure chastening, God dealeth with you as with sons; for what son is he whom the father chasteneth not?”

If you can follow the flesh with no regret or concern it’s a scary thing:

Hebrews 12:8 “8 But if ye be without chastisement, whereof all are partakers, then are ye bastards, and not sons.”

Being God’s Children

Romans 8:14–17 KJV

14 For as many as are led by the Spirit of God, they are the sons of God. 15 For ye have not received the spirit of bondage again to fear; but ye have received the Spirit of adoption, whereby we cry, Abba, Father. 16 The Spirit itself beareth witness with our spirit, that we are the children of God: 17 And if children, then heirs; heirs of God, and joint-heirs with Christ; if so be that we suffer with him, that we may be also glorified together.

whereby we cry, Abba, Father:

I’ve heard this preached as a grateful cry referring to how thankful and glorious it is to be considered a child of God. As long as the preaching is on Galatians 4:6 where the same Abba, Father is used that’s appropriate. But not here.

I’m a dad. Some of the toughest moments I’ve experienced as a dad are the times when I see my kids struggling and trying and failing and getting frustrated and me, knowing the solution and yet needing to teach them to ask for my help without pushing myself on them or fixing it for them too quickly and teaching them to not even try.

If you were listening to the book all the way through it takes 2 minutes to get from “wretched man that I am” to here. We all are supposed to be battling the sin in our lives and sometimes that’s 1 step forward and 23 steps back.

We are NO LONGER slaves to sin though! When that regret, that heartache, that feeling of failure comes because you know you got it wrong and disappointed the Father, THAT IS A BLESSING! That is the Holy Spirit reminding you you have been adopted as a child of the Father! Joint-heirs with Christ. NO CONDEMNATION! One day we will be eternally with Jesus and free from the battles with the flesh!

The Coming Glory

Romans 8:18–21 KJV

18 For I reckon that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory which shall be revealed in us. 19 For the earnest expectation of the creature waiteth for the manifestation of the sons of God. 20 For the creature was made subject to vanity, not willingly, but by reason of him who hath subjected the same in hope, 21 Because the creature itself also shall be delivered from the bondage of corruption into the glorious liberty of the children of God.

That battle is hard! Jesus won the war, however, we are in the battle waiting on cease fire that will come at the final consummation or when God completes His story.

Vanity means ‘emptiness, futility, purposelessness, transitoriness’. And it wasn’t the devil or Adam that made the creature subject to it. Only God, being both judge and savior had hope for the world he cursed!

We will have setbacks but we are not defeated because if we are saved, we are in Christ and Christ is in us! The war on sin in our body leads to moments that will leave scars on our heart and maybe even cost us blessings and treasures. There is coming, though, when Jesus returns and His story is complete, we will be free!

What We Await

Romans 8:22–25 KJV

22 For we know that the whole creation groaneth and travaileth in pain together until now. 23 And not only they, but ourselves also, which have the firstfruits of the Spirit, even we ourselves groan within ourselves, waiting for the adoption, to wit, the redemption of our body. 24 For we are saved by hope: but hope that is seen is not hope: for what a man seeth, why doth he yet hope for? 25 But if we hope for that we see not, then do we with patience wait for it.

Creation ‘was subjected to frustration’ in the past (20) and ‘will be liberated’ in the future (21). Now he adds that meanwhile, in the present, even while it is eagerly awaiting the final revelation (19), the creation is groaning in pain.

But not hopeless pains of sorrow. Travaileth is the pain at childbirth. The pain a mother feels as she’s giving birth is greater than I can imagine or bear. The effort and toil being pregnant takes on the body is enormous but that same pain, by the grace of God, tells the mother of the joy and love and blessing that’s almost here.

“This is our Christian dilemma. Caught in the tension between what God has inaugurated (by giving us his Spirit) and what he will consummate (in our final adoption and redemption), we groan with discomfort and longing. The indwelling Spirit gives us joy, and the coming glory gives us hope (e.g. 5:2), but the interim suspense gives us pain.” -John Stott

23c not just creation but we who are redeemed wait eagerly for the redemption of our body the way our spirit has been. The body is dying until resurrection, but the spirit has been resurrected and waits for the consummation

24b We know by the Spirit we have been saved, yet not totally. We know there is a final victory for us in Jesus

25b “For we are confident in God’s promises that the firstfruits will be followed by the harvest, bondage by freedom, decay by incorruption, and labour pains by the birth of the new world.” -John Stott

Conclusion

Romans 8:13 “13 For if ye live after the flesh, ye shall die: but if ye through the Spirit do mortify the deeds of the body, ye shall live.”

Works of John Owen: Volume 6 Chapter 1: Mortification of Sin in Believers, Etc

To mortify. Εἰ θανατοῦτε,—“If ye put to death;” a metaphorical expression, taken from the putting of any living thing to death. To kill a man, or any other living thing, is to take away the principle of all his strength, vigour, and power, so that he cannot act or exert, or put forth any proper actings of his own; so it is in this case. Indwelling sin is compared to a person, a living person, called “the old man,” with his faculties, and properties, his wisdom, craft, subtlety, strength; this, says the apostle, must be killed, put to death, mortified, that is, have its power, life, vigour, and strength, to produce its effects, taken away by the Spirit. It is, indeed, meritoriously, and by way of example, utterly mortified and slain by the cross of Christ; and the “old man” is thence said to be “crucified with Christ,” Rom. 6:6, and ourselves to be “dead” with him, verse 8, and really initially in regeneration, Rom. 6:3–5, when a principle contrary to it, and destructive of it, Gal. 5:17, is planted in our hearts; but the whole work is by degrees to be carried on towards perfection all our days. Of this more in the process of our discourse. The intendment of the apostle in this prescription of the duty mentioned is,—that the mortification of indwelling sin remaining in our mortal bodies, that it may not have life and power to bring forth the works or deeds of the flesh is the constant duty of believers.

Romans 8:25 “25 But if we hope for that we see not, then do we with patience wait for it.”

The Message of Romans b. The Sufferings and Glory of God’s Children (23–27)

This whole section is a notable example of what it means to be living ‘in between times’, between present difficulty and future destiny, between the already and the not yet, between sufferings and glory.