Season 5: More to Identity, Episode 5 - Romans 8:1-16 (2)

George Lim Jr / General Adult

Big Idea:

God’s children have new life by the Holy Spirit.

Intro:

Psalm 26:8 says, “I love your sanctuary, Lord, the place where your glorious presence dwells.”

My friends, God is in this place. That’s what’s special about corporate worship - what we’re doing right now. It’s a special time when God’s children gather to worship in Jesus’s name, and His very real presence fills the space.

It’s good to be in the house of the Lord this morning, amen?

Hey, before we get into the sermon, we have another testimony…

Testimony: Allison

Back in the day, I loved the movie An American Tail. It’s about a young mouse named Fievel, who immigrates to America with his family. They believe it’ll be like heaven because there are “no cats in America.” But they quickly discover the streets aren’t paved with cheese—there’s danger, fear, and overwhelming challenges at every turn. At one point, the mice are being hunted and cornered by cats, and it seems like all hope is lost. That’s when someone shouts the phrase: “Release the secret weapon!”

Out comes a huge, mouse-shaped mechanical “monster” that scares the cats away and saves the day.

In many ways, we’re like those mice. Even after the gospel saves us and Heaven is our future home, life still feels like we’re surrounded and outmatched. But as followers of Jesus, we have a “secret weapon.” That’s what (or Who) we’re gonna read about today…

A couple of weeks ago, we left off in Romans 7 talking about how sin left us broken, defeated, and condemned to eternal death. We ended the chapter reading…

Romans 7:24–25 CSB

What a wretched man I am! Who will rescue me from this body of death? Thanks be to God through Jesus Christ our Lord! So then, with my mind I myself am serving the law of God, but with my flesh, the law of sin.

But as I said then, don’t stay in chapter 7. Paul’s purpose is that we’d move onto chapter 8…

Romans 8:1–2 CSB

Therefore, there is now no condemnation for those in Christ Jesus, because the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus has set you free from the law of sin and death.

Exegesis:

Did you hear that good news - that gospel? Condemnation doesn’t and can’t exist to those who belong to Jesus. Why? Because He paid our debt on the cross. There remains no charges to be condemned for!

But maybe you’re asking, “What is condemnation?”

In this context, condemnation is this rightful fear that before a holy God, our sins sentence us to eternal punishment under God’s wrath. That’s scary stuff. It’s difficult stuff. It’s bad news. But it’s also Bible news - it’s in God’s word which means it’s truth. It’s the law of sin and death…

It’s the fact that even though God’s good law - which defines what’s right and wrong - is designed to keep us alive, our in-dwelling sin twists that law and causes us to sin instead. And that sin condemns us and sentences us to death. It’s a universal law that hangs over all humanity.

Don’t believe me? Let’s test it. Think about the 10 commandments (God’s Law)…

The 5th commandment says, “You must not murder.” (Ex 20:13). Think you’re safe? Honestly, I hope you are… for my personal safety… But even if you’ve never murdered, Jesus said, “If you hate someone, that’s the same as murder to God because hate is murder in your heart.” Guilty.

The 9th commandment says, “You shall not lie.” ( v.19). Have you ever done that? If you say you haven’t, you’re lying! Guilty.

The 4th commandment is “honor your father and mother.” ( v. 12). All you kids in service who didn’t listen to your parents when they told you to go into River Kids. Guilty.

That’s only 3 of the 10. And all of us are already 3 for 3! And if we go thru the other 7, we’d be 10 for 10. The law of sin and death is that all people are sentenced to death because of our sin. We are not good people. We are condemned people.

But the gospel (the good news is) we can escape this sentence by Jesus’s sacrificial death on the cross. If we put our faith in Him, He saves us and we’re given a new life, where we no longer fear condemnation. Instead, we live joyfully under God’s grace (His undeserved favor)…

That’s what the law of the Spirit of life is. It’s the Holy Spirit’s authority over our lives declaring, “You are no longer judged based on your actions, but on your position/identity. And you are in Christ.”

Point number 1 is…

Jesus died so we could live by the Holy Spirit (vv. 1-5).

So, what law is the authority over your life dictating how you respond to life?

Do you live like you’re condemned?

Or, are you living free under the Holy Spirit?

Romans 8:3–4 CSB

For what the law could not do since it was weakened by the flesh, God did. He condemned sin in the flesh by sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh as a sin offering, in order that the law’s requirement would be fulfilled in us who do not walk according to the flesh but according to the Spirit.

Remember, it is Jesus who saved you. Not you who saved you. That is why we can take such confidence in “no condemnation.” This is not about will power, but the Spirit’s power at work in our lives. We win because He always wins.

But here’s the flip-side to this beautiful freedom, at least to the Christian… to not live in this freedom is to make Jesus a liar. When we continue to serve sin, we declare…

Jesus, you did not free me.

We tell the Father, “God, You Son wasn’t enough.”

We declare, “Holy Spirit, you don’t have enough power.”

Is that the message we want our lives to shout? Of course not. Therefore, we must think differently about our identity - it’s the proper response of those who have been saved!

That’s why Paul continues…

Romans 8:5 CSB

For those who live according to the flesh have their minds set on the things of the flesh, but those who live according to the Spirit have their minds set on the things of the Spirit.

This is an identity statement… Something we’ve been talking about all year in the book of Romans.

Those who belong to Jesus, think differently about who they are.

They think what the Holy Spirit thinks.

And the Holy Spirit says you are free from sin.

But this also brings up an important and relevant struggle to this new way of living. And it’s this… Freedom didn’t eliminate our very real, internal battle against sin…

Now, what I say next has great potential to get us lost in the weeds. So, I’m gonna try and be clear as possible because some of this is going to sound contradictory to what I’ve previously said about our new life.

The Bible can be difficult to understand. But here’s a tip that’s helped me when I run into confusing spiritual concepts: If the Bible says it, I believe it.

Now, I don’t say that blindly. I’m still responsible for prayerfully putting in the work to properly understand it.

2 Timothy 2:15 CSB

Be diligent to present yourself to God as one approved, a worker who doesn’t need to be ashamed, correctly teaching the word of truth.

But when I do that and there’s still tension, then I might need to resort to simply believing both concepts even when they appear contradictory… because both are presented in the Bible.

For example, sometimes people ask, “Did I choose God or did God choose me?” This question is often sourced from people working hard to understand Scripture - that’s good! And they learn about the biblical concepts of…

Predestination and free will.

Eternal security versus losing or walking away from your salvation.

Or, for some, Calvinism versus Arminianism.

The best answer I’ve heard to “Did I choose God or did God choose me?” Is “Yes.”

What do you mean, yes?

I mean, yes.

The Bible teaches that God chose me. The Bible also teaches I have a free will (meaning I can freely choose and my choice matters), and that I must choose God to be saved.

And while it’s difficult for our finite human minds to reconcile the two seemingly contradictory biblical concepts - they are both presented in the Bible as God’s eternal truth. And if we can’t reconcile them, the best response is to humble yourself, trust God, and believe both.

And this tip is helpful for Romans 8 when Paul compares the “flesh” and the “Spirit”. Because the overall message of Romans is sin is defeated and has no power over us. In fact, the primary theme of Romans 8 (as we’ll see next week) is we have overwhelming victory over sin. And yet, sin seems to still win. It seems to influence us. As Christians, we don’t always feel victorious. How do we reconcile that?

Here’s how I see it:

When we were saved, we became a new creation - just as God’s word says.

We are now free from the bondage of sin - just as God’s word says.

The Holy Spirit now lives inside of us giving us the power to live for God - just as God’s word says.

But presently, we still have this old body. A body once enslaved to sin - just as God’s word says.

And Paul reminds us that this flesh (or body or even sin nature) still leans towards sin, even though we’re a new creation. There’s an element of our transformation that is still incomplete.

In the future, God will complete this process by giving us a glorified body ( a new physical body) - just like God’s word says. That body will have no desire to sin. It’ll be perfectly synced with our new identity.

But until then, there’s a battle raging inside of us. The flesh versus Spirit.

Again, the good news is we’re not enslaved to this sin nature anymore. We don’t have to listen to it. Before, it was our master. Then, Jesus set us free. Now, it’s more like an annoying sibling that won’t leave us alone.

And sometimes we give up and give in to sin because that’s what we always did in the old life. We watch things we shouldn’t. We say or think things we shouldn’t. We do things we shouldn’t. And it feels like God’s word isn’t true or God’s salvation didn’t work. But that’s not true. It’s not one or the other… It’s both.

That’s why identity is so important. God’s word tells us both that we are new AND there’s still this old part of us that desires to sin. And when we don’t embrace our new identity, we will continue to act according to our old identity.

We are victorious in Christ, but must still fight against the flesh. Not by will power, but by the power of the Holy Spirit.

Romans 8:6 CSB

Now the mindset of the flesh is death, but the mindset of the Spirit is life and peace.

That word “mindset” carries the idea of identity.

What do you believe about yourself? What’s your mindset?

Jesus freed you. You have a choice now. So, which do you want?

You want to continue sinning and experience death.

Or, do you want life and peace as you walk in the Spirit, meaning as you live your life guided by God’s Spirit?

And I don’t believe it’s necessary for us to interpret Paul’s use of death here as spiritual death. This isn’t talking about losing your salvation and ended up in hell because we kept choosing poorly.

There is no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus, but there are still consequences for sinful choices. And those consequences can lead to death of finances, relationships, and even physical death.

Now, if you are genuinely saved, you’d still end up in heaven, but you’d miss out on the abundant life God had for you here on earth.

Now, maybe you selfishly think, “Well, so what? At least I’d be in heaven.” May I remind you that John 17:3 teaches us that, ultimately, heaven is a relationship with God, not a place to escape trials and temptation. The goal isn’t to escape this world, but to restore this world by being in relationship with God.

Additionally, as Pastor Josh said last week, when you become a Christian, God gives you a gift. And your gifted is needed in the church. That’s why God gave it to you. To build up His family. If you’re missing, the church (Gods family) suffers.

Therefore, the correct response is to grow in spiritual maturity - in this deep commitment to follow the Holy Spirit - experiencing and practicing sin less and less. Why? Because this is the new way - our new identity. And because…

Romans 8:7–8 CSB

The mindset of the flesh is hostile to God because it does not submit to God’s law. Indeed, it is unable to do so. Those who are in the flesh cannot please God.

This is not who we are anymore. We don’t live this way anymore. How do I know that?

Romans 8:9–13 CSB

You, however, are not in the flesh, but in the Spirit, if indeed the Spirit of God lives in you. If anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ, he does not belong to him. Now if Christ is in you, the body is dead because of sin, but the Spirit gives life because of righteousness. And if the Spirit of him who raised Jesus from the dead lives in you, then he who raised Christ from the dead will also bring your mortal bodies to life through his Spirit who lives in you. So then, brothers and sisters, we are not obligated to the flesh to live according to the flesh, 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.

Point number 2 is this…

The Holy Spirit does things differently (vv. 6-13).

Because you are a new creation, and the Holy Spirit lives inside of you, and He does things different that the flesh (the old sinful you), you do things differently now too. And part of this different or new way is to let the old ways die.

How?

What does verse 13 says?

Romans 8:13 CSB

…put to death the deeds of the body...

How do we do this? Obviously not literally. This is less about dying and more about denial. Actually, let me put it this way…

In 2024, I decided I wanted to get physically stronger by strength training. I was already consistently watching my diet and running. So, I figured I’d simply add lifting weights.

I can be a simple person. Like I can survive a long time on Belvitas, black coffee, and Diet Dr. Pepper. Previously, that was the core of my diet.

Here’s the thing… 6 months into strength training and I wasn’t getting stronger. I was staying within my calorie count, running, and lifting weights… but no muscle growth. Then, I realized I was missing a very important ingredient: Protein.

I was “starving” myself (in a good way - being calorie deficient) so I was killing fat cells, but I wasn’t giving my body what it needed to build muscle. I needed protein. And once I added that, I started noticing a big difference!

Living victoriously in the new way is a two-step process:

As Paul writes in verse 13, it requires killing, starving, or denying the flesh. Just as I denied myself certain amounts of food to kill fat cells, we must deny those sinful desires which kills the flesh. But denial isn’t enough…

We must also feed what we want to grow. We need that spiritual protein to get stronger. We need to activate the Holy Spirit by investing in things that help build our spiritual muscles like reading our Bible, praying, worshiping, and spending time with others in God’s family.

Here’s the simple truth: What you feed will grow…

Don’t feed the flesh. Deny it. Kill it.

Feed the Spirit.

When you do, Paul says you will…

Galatians 5:16 CSB

…walk by the Spirit and… will certainly not carry out the desire of the flesh.

Let’s begin to finish up…

Romans 8:14–16 CSB

For all those led by God’s Spirit are God’s sons. 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!” The Spirit himself testifies together with our spirit that we are God’s children,

And here’s point number 3…

The Holy Spirit’s way is better (vv. 14-16).

If you’re here today and sick of losing to sin, I’m here to tell you there’s a better way. There’s a secret weapon.

When you repent and give your life to Jesus, you are made brand-new. Forgiven. You are now God’s child! And the Holy Spirit (3rd Person of the Trinity - God the Spirit) comes to live inside of you. The Bible says you are now the temple of the Holy Spirit. God has made His home in/with you!

And He promises to both guide and empower your life. You don’t need to be afraid. You don’t need to worry about your weakened will power. You didn’t receive that kind of spirit - that’s not who you are anymore.

You received the Holy Spirit who declares, “You are God’s child!” Therefore, even when the impossible stands before us, we can remind ourselves, “I have a secret weapon… I have resurrection power living inside of me!”

Response:

And so, as we close (and the worship team comes up), let me suggest 3 ways to respond to God’s word:

Repent, give your life to Jesus, and receive His Holy Spirit. If you have not done that yet, today is the day of salvation! Call out to Him to save you. He promises He will do it. And when you do, you will find power to live a different life!

Kill the flesh. (Mute my mic). Last week, I was in Kosovo on a mission trip. One thing that’s interesting is that Kosovo has it’s own flag - it’s blue and yellow. And yet, you see another flag flying everywhere. It’s red and black. It’s the Albanian flag. Because Kosovo is ethnically Albanian.

And I asked the missionary, “Why is the Albanian flag everywhere?” Long story short… it goes back to the war and the missionary said, “We didn’t die for that flag (Kosovo), we died for that flag (Albanian).

Man, that was a powerful moment. But it made me think of this passage. Don’t die for sin. If you’re going to die, die for the One who died for you - Jesus. Fly the flag of Jesus. Kill the flesh! (mic back on)

Activate the Holy Spirit. In my One-Year Bible, I was reading the story of King Hezekiah. He was one of the rare good kings who reformed the Jews to once again follow the Lord. And as they were preparing for the Passover, it says…

2 Chronicles 30:15 NLT

On the fourteenth day of the second month, one month later than usual, the people slaughtered the Passover lamb. This shamed the priests and Levites, so they purified themselves and brought burnt offerings to the Temple of the Lord.

The priests were people assigned by God to help people worship the Lord. And they weren’t ready, which delayed everything. And they were ashamed.

You know, the Bible says that we (Christians) are priests. And how many of us aren’t ready because we aren’t living in the power of the Holy Spirit? I think it’s a shame when we waste resurrection power.

Now, there is no condemnation for those who in Christ Jesus… so this isn’t about guilt-tripping you into doing more for God. But God’s prepared good works for us to walk in. He’s freed us from sin and given us gifts. He has a purpose for our lives.

More than that, He’s given us the Secret Weapon - the Holy Spirit. The resurrection power of God lives in us. And He’s calling us to partner with Him, go out into the world, and make a radical difference. So, let’s do it!

What do you need to do to get ready?

Jesus died so we could have a new life. It’s a life that’s different than our old one. It’s a better life - filled with the Holy Spirit’s power. It’s time to release the Secret Weapon.

Let’s pray…

Father, helps us to live in this new way. Release the Secret Weapon in our lives - Holy Spirit comes have Your way. Fill us afresh this morning. Give us victory over sin. And may we live purpose driven lives for the glory of Your name. Amen.