In Christ There Is Life Transformation

Introduction

How often have we hard this expression, “I’m doing good… I’m just busy”? Days might drag, but seasons fly by. It seems like we’re busier and busier. There’s always something to do. Someone to see. Some place to go. In a busy world, especially a world with so much noise, sometimes it’s hard to pause and take time to listen to the Lord and spend time in His Word. It can feel impossible to carve time out for that… until something forces you to finally slow down. This week was one of those times for my family as we’ve been camped out at Cox South ever since my dad’s open heart surgery on Wednesday. As a family that has been poked, prodded, and in the hospital more times than I can count, there’s not a lot that we haven’t seen. Because of this, one of my favorite things to do is people watch - I guess that makes me old? At a hospital you have the full spectrum of emotions. Some couples and families are celebrating the birth of a new baby. Others are mourning the loss of a loved one. Others are confused and concerned about a crisis they’re facing. Some are panicked. Some are stoic. Some are emotional.

The prospect of having a serious surgery or of potentially losing someone you love forces you to examine your foundation. In these moments, we recognize that we desperately need help! Not only from doctors and nurses but support and prayer from friends and family, and most of all help from the Lord. Can you imagine facing life and death without supportive doctors and nurses? Family and friends? How about without the Lord? I can’t imagine that, yet, many do exactly this in life. They try to get through the struggles, chaos, and brokenness that we all face without the strength that Jesus alone provides.

Friends, whatever you’re facing today, you don’t have to face it alone - and that reality changes everything! As we slow down this morning and continue in Romans 8, we’re going to be reminded of the work of our good God as He not only saves us from our sins, but He gives us His Spirit to guide us and comfort us each step of the way. Whether the season of life you’re in right now is one of celebration, one of confusion, or one where you’re just busy with no end in sight, there is rest and hope available for you today in this incredible passage, let’s read together

Romans 8:12–17 CSB

12 So then, brothers and sisters, we are not obligated to the flesh to live according to the flesh, 13 because if you live according to the flesh, you are going to die. But if by the Spirit you put to death the deeds of the body, you will live. 14 For all those led by God’s Spirit are God’s sons. 15 For you did not receive a spirit of slavery to fall back into fear. Instead, you received the Spirit of adoption, by whom we cry out, “Abba, Father!” 16 The Spirit himself testifies together with our spirit that we are God’s children, 17 and if children, also heirs—heirs of God and coheirs with Christ—if indeed we suffer with him so that we may also be glorified with him.

What a comfort this truth is for us! This series is entitled Crosses, Crowns, and Celebration because we see that the cross of Jesus provides us with a crown that we couldn’t deserve and our response must be that of celebration. Let’s thank the Lord for this good news of spiritual adoption today, let’s pray!

In Christ We Have New Priorities (12-13)

Think this morning about things that you prioritize. A surgeon will prioritize a clean operating room. A parent will prioritize the wellbeing of their child. On a subfreezing day, a farmer will prioritize caring for his cattle. We all have things that we prioritize, whether it’s a game, a hobby, an event, or a person. Taking that up a level to a community, we know that there are things that we prioritize as a people. In July, we will have a group going to Guatemala to do mission work and you quickly learn that the people of Guatemala have different priorities than we do here in the United States. They prioritize family time. So much so, in fact, that in many houses you have 3 generations of people that live under the same roof! Meanwhile, a lot of times we prioritize our individual space and like to have our own rooms. We prioritize different things as people, as communities, and as countries.

What about as Christians? Think of some of the things that we prioritize. On Sunday mornings, we prioritize gathering with one another to study Scripture, sing songs of praise, and fellowship in this Christ-Centered Community. Why would we sacrifice a morning to sleep in? Because this is a high priority! Christians prioritize things throughout the week as well like taking time to be in the Word. We prioritize taking time to meet with other believers. We prioritize giving our money to the work that God is doing in and through our local church. The world looks at these priorities and thinks that we have lost our marbles. Why give up your time? Why give up your treasure? Why give up your talents? Our answer is simple: They’re not ours to begin with. Everything we have belongs to God and He changes the way that we view those things. He gives us new priorities in this life. Look in our text - brothers and sisters, or Christians - we are not obligated to live according to the flesh. We don’t have to live a way that makes sense to our world. The things we say. The way we give sacrificially. The actions we make. These things don’t make sense to someone in the flesh, and that’s ok, because the flesh leads to death. This means that Jesus has something better in store for us.

Instead of living for self, we die to self. Instead of getting all that we can, canning all that we get, and sitting on the can until we can’t, we store up for ourselves treasure in heaven. Instead of competing with the Jones’ and trying to be the envy of everyone on social media, we live for an audience of 1 and seek to glorify God. Everything changes whenever we are saved by Jesus.

One of those new priorities and changes is that we, verse 13, put the deeds of the body to death. The KJV uses an old English word we “mortify the deeds of the body.” We put them to death. This Greek word is a violent word. An intentional word. It means to declare war on sin. To kill sin. That’s strong language right there, but as believers we realize why it is there. Sin is serious and we can’t keep it boxed up under our bed to run back to whenever we get home from church. Imagine a waffle, you know the ones with the boxes on them? There is such a temptation for us to compartmentalize our lives in such a way that our lives look like a waffle. We give God this box, but we want to keep control of this other box. This is our church box where we act and think and talk this way… but this is our other box where our real self shows up. Or we think that Jesus only cares about this part and we can talk and act however we feel and think is right because, after all, grace!

NO. Jesus is either the Lord of the whole waffle, or He’s not Lord at all. We are to flee from sin. To go to war with our sin. To kill our sin. John Owen years ago put it like this, “Be Killing Sin, or Sin Will Be Killing You”

Think about Ephesians 6, the Armor of God passage. Whenever you are saved, it’s not the end… it’s the beginning of a battle that will last the rest of your life on planet Earth. There is this struggle between the flesh and the Spirit that will challenge you each day. So if this is a war, and there’s a winning side and a losing side, I don’t know about you, but I want to be on the winning side! How can we win this fight? First we have to realize that we can’t do this ourselves. We lack the power by ourselves to win… but because of Jesus, we have hope. We remember the Gospel, that while we were sinners Christ died for us! The solution to succeeding against sin is to remember that the Gospel kills sin at its root.

How do we kill sin?

Recognize Sin

In an attempt to make sin more palatable, our enemy for generations has tried to come up with different names for sin. “Difference of opinion” “Mistake” “One off” “Not a big deal.” No. Gossip might be what everyone does, but it’s sin. Slander might be common on social media, but it’s sin. Pride might be popular, but it’s sin. We must recognize that there are things that we are tempted to do that go against God’s Word and break God’s heart and we must realize that these things are not differences of opinion between ourselves and God… they are sins. We must admit that we have an enemy that is a problem.

Remember God’s Word

AW Tozer once said, “Satan’s greatest weapon is man’s ignorance of God’s Word.” How do we realize that there are things in our world that are sinful? By knowing God’s Word. Whenever we are faced with a temptation, the first instinct we should have is to remember what the Bible says. We fight sin by remembering and standing on God’s Word and this requires us to know Scripture and to spend time in Scripture.

Rejoice with God’s People

It’s easy to live in sin whenever we live like a long ranger. As we read Scripture, we see reminder after reminder of our need to live in community. Whenever we gather with one another at church, we encourage one another. We lift one another up. We worship Jesus together. We are stronger together than we are apart - to succeed, we need Christian fellowship.

Resolve to Pray

In the heat of battle, it would be foolish for a soldier to stop communicating with his fellow soldiers and to disobey the order of the general. Not only does this put other soldiers in harms way, but it could potentially put himself in danger. How foolish is it for us in the middle of spiritual warfare to forfeit our greatest weapon which is our access to our God through the finished work of Jesus Christ. Whenever we are struggling and being tempted by sin, our first response should be to resolve to pray and ask God for His help in our struggle.

Sin is a serious enemy and a foolish master. The solution to this problem is not chiefly to try harder to sin less… it is to first realize that God knows best and has something greater in store for us than anything than sin has to offer. Think of the Israelites getting out of Egypt by God’s power. You watched God perform miracle after miracle. He split the Red Sea and you walk across on dry ground. He leads you to the edge of the Promised Land! And instead of entering that land that God promised… you say that you’d rather stay in slavery in Egypt! That’s foolish and doesn’t make any sense! But this is what it’s like for a Christian to go back to our previous master - the flesh. Friend, don’t do it. Jesus gives you a new priority whenever you are saved and that is to walk in the Spirit. Genuine Christians don’t mess around with sin, they mortify their sin… because God hates sin and because we are saved, we begin to hate what God hates and love what God loves. When we’re tempted to sin we look at the Gospel - how we were dead and how God made us alive, we remember what Spurgeon said years ago, “I cannot trifle with the evil that killed my best Friend.” We have a new priority in life and that is to glorify our God and that means putting to death the things of the flesh through HIS power.

In Christ We Have A New Position (14-17)

Not only do we have new priorities as believers, but we also have a new position. In a world where sin is seen by many as not a big deal, or something that is completely rejected, many will struggle to see our position before Christ for what it truly is. Because of this, Paul uses a phrase that his audience was familiar with. Remember, the letter of Romans is written to Christians in ______? ROME! Because of this, he uses the Roman practice of adoption to talk about what God has done for us. The status and position that we now have because of what Jesus has done for us on the cross as we looked at last week. The Bible uses the word justify a lot and that’s a word that we hear in church life sometimes, we are justified, or justification. That is a legal word. Because of the cross, the sin that we committed was paid in full, legally, by Jesus on the cross. That’s good news! God is the judge, we stood guilty with plenty of evidence to prove that we deserved destruction. It is good to be justified! See, justification gets you out of God’s courtroom. But that’s it. Adoption is what gets you into God’s living room. Both are good news. Justification tells you that the charges against you are dropped by the Judge… but adoption tells you that the Judge becomes your Father. That’s incredible!

Paul uses this picture of adoption 5x in the New Testament and Romans 8 is the only chapter where it appears 2x. We know that adoption is a practice in our world today… but there are some key differences from what we think of regarding adoption and what was practiced 2000 years ago in the Roman world. Usually, in the Roman world a person would adopt a son whenever he didn’t have an heir to pass their estate on to whenever they died. They would adopt either a child, youth, or possibly an adult, and whenever a son was adopted, he received 4 key things

Freedom from any previous debts

A new name and the legal heir to the father’s estate

The father becomes liable for any action (crime, new debt, etc)

A new obligation to please his father

In the Roman world, an adopted son was in the exact same legal position as a biological son. But in a real sense, the adopted son was viewed as even more honored as the biological son because the adopted son was chosen by the Father. This newfound position completely changed his reality!

Paul uses this phrase, and it is glorious! But who does it apply to? What makes us sons of God as verse 14 says? Having the Spirit of God. Some recoil at this because they think that we are all God’s children. Yes, God created us all. Yes, God made us all in His image. But Scripture teaches us something different. We begin this life as children under wrath and as those separated from God because of our sin… it is only by God’s grace that we are adopted into this forever family and are led by God’s Spirit.

John 1:12 CSB

12 But to all who did receive him, he gave them the right to be children of God, to those who believe in his name,

Is this true of you? Have you believed in Christ? Have you turned from your sin and trusted in Christ for salvation? If you have trusted in Christ as Lord and Savior, friend, you are an adopted child of God. You have a newfound position and all of these privileges. Now, Romans 8 says that all led by God’s Spirit are God’s sons. For Christian women, what are you to make of this? Does this mean that you have no hope of being led by God’s Spirit? Absolutely not. Does Paul hate women as many progressive’s love to say? Absolutely not! What does this mean? In the Roman world, only men could be adopted and receive these rights. Only an adopted male could become an heir of the Father’s estate. So, what is Paul saying? All Christians, men and women, young and old, tall and short, are adopted as sons - meaning we all have the position that adopted sons had, the position of being an heir, of receiving an inheritance. Later on in Revelation 21 and in Ephesians 5, Christians, both men and women, are called the “Bride of Christ” - God uses these terms to demonstrate something powerful about our new position with God. We are adopted. We have this status as sons. So, what does it mean to be led by God’s Spirit? How does this practically impact our lives?

To hate what the Spirit hates (sin) and love what the Spirit loves (the things of God).

Whenever you are saved, there are things in your past that you used to find satisfaction and enjoyment in that suddenly stop providing that satisfaction and enjoyment, because you realize that they go against God’s Word. The one word definition of our world is “self” - our world loves self. People worship self. People idolize self. People platform and promote self. As a Christian, though, we begin to realize that the worship of self is wrong. That we don’t exist to make much of ourselves, we exist to make much of our Savior. People talk about wanting to leave a lasting impression or to live in such a way that everyone knows your name… that’s the last thing that is on a Christian’s mind. We point people to Jesus, not to ourselves.

We are led by God’s Spirit. We are a new person. And this means that our identity as a Christian is not in our performance, popularity, or pedigree. We do not earn this identity, we receive it. It is given by the Father. Purchased by the Son. Applied by the Spirit. The work is done. The bill is paid. We simply receive a new title. This is grace! In the Roman world, the adoptive Father paid a substantial price to adopt his son. The son doesn’t earn the adoption. He doesn’t purchase it. He doesn’t win it. There is no negotiation. The Father simply pays for the adoption. He pays whatever debts there previously were. He provides for the needs of the new son. He changes his name. He gives him hope and the promise of an inheritance. Do you see how this is what God does for us?

We see these benefits of our adoption in our passage!

A New Name (14 - God’s Sons)

Your adoption is permanent. Once you’re a Son of God, you’re God’s Son. Nothing can change that because this is a legal change of status that God performs. The accuser will bring to mind our flaws and faults and we ourselves will struggle to understand how God could do what He did. Enter a beloved hymn “I need no other argument, I need no other plea. It is enough that Jesus died and that He died for me.” Because God is the ultimate authority, His decision cannot be changed by the power of hell or a scheme of man. We have a new name that is written in God’s book of life. Our past is exactly that: the past. We are a new person.

A New Family (16 - God’s Children)

As God’s children, with the status of sons, we don’t have a spirit of slavery. We cry out “Abba” or the Aramaic word for the English word “Daddy.” That’s the word you yell whenever you’re afraid of the dark as a little kid at night. That’s the word you yell whenever you’re in danger. The Creator of the Universe is your Abba. Tim Keller explains it like this, “The only one who dares wake up a King at 3am for a glass of water is his son.” We have this kind of access to the God of the Universe because we are in this new family as God’s children.

A New Inheritance (17 - Heirs of God)

Whenever you become adopted, you are a legal part of the family which means that you have an inheritance coming your way. As Christians, we receive part of this inheritance right away as God gives us the Holy Spirit. But, we know that there is coming our way the full inheritance and that is eternity with Him in glory in a world freed from the pain and stain of sin.

How does this inheritance impact us? The road to glory takes us down the street of suffering. We “must” suffer with Him if we are to share in His glory one day. Jesus promises this in John 16. Just because we have this good news, it doesn’t mean that everything goes our way in this life. Just because you have the Holy Spirit in your life doesn’t mean that everything makes sense or is easy. But it does mean that you know where you’re headed.

So many people are told this: Hey! God has a great plan for your life. Trust in Jesus and everything will make sense. Life will be easy if you just trust in Jesus. Your problems will go away. Life will be great! That’s a false message. Yes, God does have a plan for each of us. But the Christian life isn’t a linear line upward. There are days of celebration and there are days of deep pain and sorrow. Like a roller coaster, there are highs and there are lows and there are even loops in between. But we know where we’re headed. We are heirs of God and we know our destination is glory. This changes how we act between today and that day. Once we understand our new position, we understand our new purpose as Matthew 5:16 explains

Matthew 5:16 CSB

16 In the same way, let your light shine before others, so that they may see your good works and give glory to your Father in heaven.

We let the Gospel light shine so that God receives glory and others respond to this good news. As adopted children, we obey our father… but we don’t obey out of fear - although fear can be a powerful motivator. One pastor was talking to a member of his congregation and this individual was from Vietnam and explained that his ancestors don’t like communism, but the communists held all the guns! In other words, his family members feared the fact that the communists in neighboring countries had military power and could defeat them, and because of this, they obeyed what they told them to do. Get this - God doesn’t want you to obey Him so that you avoid hell. God wants you to desire Him. Salvation isn’t a get out of hell pass like from Monopoly. Salvation is a present reality and a future promise that we belong to God today and will be with Him forever!

Do you get this? The treasure of heaven isn’t streets of gold, or no more goodbyes, or seeing family members, or even singing songs… the treasure of heaven is God! Believer, this is your inheritance as an heir of God. This is your hope. This is your assurance. This is coming! But not today… Today we live in an imperfect, broken world. A world where we suffer.

Suffering stinks. Anyone else agree? It stinks to watch your parent struggle to breathe. It stinks to watch your child be sick and know that there’s nothing you can do to take away the pain. It stinks to be poked and prodded and to have an illness that will never go away. Y’all, it would be incredible if all that suffering just stopped whenever we became Christians. But that’s not what Scripture tells us. Instead, the God of the Bible promises to work in the midst of our suffering and hardship.

2 Corinthians 4:17 CSB

17 For our momentary light affliction is producing for us an absolutely incomparable eternal weight of glory.

Romans 8:18 CSB

18 For I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worth comparing with the glory that is going to be revealed to us.

1 Peter 4:12–13 CSB

12 Dear friends, don’t be surprised when the fiery ordeal comes among you to test you, as if something unusual were happening to you. 13 Instead, rejoice as you share in the sufferings of Christ, so that you may also rejoice with great joy when his glory is revealed.

Just because you’re adopted, doesn’t mean your freed from the afflictions of this broken world… but because you’re adopted you have this assurance: Your Pain is Not Purposeless!

Friends, God uses all things, including suffering, for something good - we’ll dive more into that next week as we get to Romans 8:28. To those who say that it’s always God’s will to heal or if you have enough faith that you’ll avoid suffering, in love I say this: Read your Bible. Look at the examples of people like Paul who had a thorn in the flesh and prayed 3x for it to be removed only to be told that God has a purpose for the thorn and that purpose was to magnify His power in Paul’s life. Paul was a person of great faith, and God told him “No, I will not remove this suffering.” Consider Jesus. The Son of God. Did Jesus know what it was like to suffer? Think of the greatest evil. The greatest suffering in the world. The cross. Did God remove the cross because of Jesus’ faith? No. God’s plan for His Son was the cross. God’s plan for Paul’s life was to be beaten, stoned, shipwrecked, betrayed, and imprisoned. Does God have a good plan for our lives as Christians? You’d better believe He does! It’s so good, in fact, that He uses all things, including suffering, to bring about something greater. To increase our trust in Him. To decrease our trust in ourselves.

James 1:2–4 CSB

2 Consider it a great joy, my brothers and sisters, whenever you experience various trials, 3 because you know that the testing of your faith produces endurance. 4 And let endurance have its full effect, so that you may be mature and complete, lacking nothing.

If you were to look at the seasons of life when your faith grew the most, the seasons when you grew in holiness, the seasons when you saw the power and presence of God the most, are rarely the seasons marked by success and smooth sailing… but instead its the seasons marked by pain, disappointment, suffering, and heartbreak.

How can that be? Because when you hit rock bottom, you have no hope in anything else but the power and presence of your good God. And when you trust fully in Him, you grow like crazy. Which season are you in today? Are you in the valley of the shadow of death or are you in the green pasture beside quiet waters? The mountain top or the valley low? Regardless of your season, there is hope available to you today in Jesus. Does that sound too good to be true? It might. You might wonder how this is possible or you might be wondering how can I know that I’m in for sure? How can I know that I’m a child of God? How can I have that security?

Our text tells us:

The testimony of the Spirit in your life

Imagine a trial going on and the judge is examining evidence to see if you are guilty or innocent. There is some evidence on this side and other evidence on the other side. But nothing is extremely concrete or overwhelming… and then, suddenly, the door bursts open and in comes running a witness who says that you are innocent because they were at the crime scene and you were not there. These charges aren’t applicable. The judge sets you free.

This is what Romans 8:16 is saying. The Holy Spirit is our advocate. He is testifying on our behalf that we are in fact God’s children. How do you have the Holy Spirit? By turning from sin and trusting in Christ, the Bible says that we are saved and saved people are a changed people and this change is the work of the Holy Spirit! Whenever you look at our life and see transformation, that’s evidence of your salvation.

Not always immediate or dramatic like the Apostle Paul… but it is present. We experience God’s love. We do the things that God tells us to do. We desire to glorify Him. Whenever we stumble and fall, we go to Abba and remember that He welcomes us with open arms as our Father.

Do you see the transforming power of Jesus in your life today?

Eternity Is Coming - Repent

Your Father Defines You - Rest

Your Father Redeemed You - Rejoice

Genuine transformation takes place whenever you realize this fundamental truth in Christianity: We don’t obey in order to be saved… we obey because we are saved. Is this your story? If not, Jesus is still in the business of saving and His invitation to you today is this: Come to me all who are weary and heavy laden, and I will give you rest.