Where Is Your Head?
Notes
Transcript
English Standard Version Chapter 8
Life in the Spirit
8 There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. 2 For the law of the Spirit of life has set you free in Christ Jesus from the law of sin and death. 3 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 condemned sin in the flesh, 4 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. 5 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. 6 For to set the mind on the flesh is death, but to set the mind on the Spirit is life and peace. 7 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. 8 Those who are in the flesh cannot please God.
9 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. 10 But if Christ is in you, although the body is dead because of sin, the Spirit is life because of righteousness. 11 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.
Intro.
The verdict was guilty, Case closed the end, No chance for me to ever leave, This prison of my sin. Now I know it might sound crazy, But one day a key unlocked that cell, I heard a small voice say"Your debts been paid by somebody else". These lyrics to the song entitled, “Walking Free”, dictate for each and everyone of us the story of our lives as Christians. Because, let’s be honest, here at the beginning of this sermon, brothers and sisters, we all are sin consumed, filthy, evil, condemned to death sinners. That is who we are. And if we are Christians, that is who we were. And no matter what we may be today, we should never forget where we came from.and most importantly who got us to where we are today. So, brothers and sisters, as we walk through this text, as we explore where we have come from, may our hearts be filled with a spirit of gratitude for the One who stood in our place. The only One who could take what was meant for us. And with that in mind, may God bless the preaching of this, His Most Holy Word.
Point 1: No Condemnation vv.1-2
Our first point for this morning is, “No Condemnation.” Verses 1-2 read, “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.” There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus! Wow! If you don’t hear anything else or get anything else out of this sermon today, let it be this. Praise the Lord for this most wonderful and blessed good news. Let’s hear it again. here is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus!
So what does this mean pastor and why are you so happy? Well let me see if I can explain. In the dictionary, we find the word “condemnation” to mean, “the expression of very strong criticism or disapproval.” In the Greek of our text for this morning we find the Greek word for “condemnation” is katakrima and it means a legal decision of guilty in a criminal case; often with the ensuing punishment understood. Let’s be honest church. We are sinners. Guilty of the sinful and unrighteous things we have done.Deserving of death. But the Word tells us, plain and simple, that we under no condemnation. Why? What happened? The Gospel! That’s what happened. We read in 2 Corinthians 5:21 “For our sake he made him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.” Jesus Christ, the only Son of God, came into this wretched, sinful world, took upon himself the sins of the entire world and bore them for you and for me. That is good news! That is the Gospel! and that is something to be excited about!
In Paul’s words, to answer this question of why we have no condemnation, he writes in verse 2, “For the law of the Spirit of life has set you free in Christ Jesus from the law of sin and death.” You see, brothers and sisters, until Christ came, all we had to live under was the law of sin and death. A law that we could not keep and a law that sentenced us to death. But God! But thanks be to God for the law of the Spirit of life, that as Paul says, “has set you free in Christ Jesus! Praise the LORD! This brothers and sisters gives us today reason to celebrate. This gives us reason to rejoice and reason to hope. Praise the Lord who has freed us from sin and death!
Point 2: Fulfillment. vv. 3-4
Our next point for this morning is fulfillment or as I like to call it, “I Can’t Do It!” How many of us have ever uttered this 4 word phrase before. Well, if you grew up in the South with parents and grandparents like I have, soon after uttering this phrase, you probably heard something like this, “Well can’t never could do nothing.” I hated hearing that as a child. But today I am grateful for the moments that I felt I was at wits end, yet my parents pushed me harder until I figured out whatever it was I was working on.
You may have things in your life that you feel you simply just cannot do. It may be a fear that has always taunted you. A skill, that you just have never seemed to master. Yet in our text for this morning, we encounter something that no matter how hard we try, we as human beings have never been able to accomplish and that is living a sin-free life. But, thanks be to God, there is someone who has. And His name is Jesus.
We read in our text for this morning, “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 condemned sin in the flesh, 4 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.”
Christ did for us what we could not do for ourselves. David Guzik writes, “In order to defeat sin, Jesus had to identify with those bound by it, by coming in the likeness of sinful flesh. Under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, Paul carefully chose his words here, indicating that Jesus was not sinful flesh, but He identified with it entirely.”
Notice the change here. In verse 1, it is noted that we are no longer condemned . Now, here in verse 3, it is sin that is condemned, but in the body of Jesus Christ. Then in verse 4, we read some very big words: righteous, requirement, fulfilled, according.” So let’s see if we can’t break this down.
Once again, to quote David Guzik, he writes, “Because Jesus fulfilled the righteous requirement of the law, and because we are in Christ, we fulfill the law. The law is fulfilled in us in regard to obedience, because Jesus’ righteousness stands for ours. The law is fulfilled in us in regard to punishment, because any punishment demanded by the law was poured out upon Jesus.” Jesus paid it all. All to Him I owe. Sin has left a crimson stain, He washed it white as snow. May we give our lives daily to the One who have His all for you and me. Let us commit our lives to Him and seek to live for Him each day for He has given us a gift that we can never repay.
Point 3: Action. vv. 5-8
Our next point for this morning is Action, taking into account verses 5-8 of our text. Now we change who the central focus of the text is about. In our last point we looked at God the Father and His Son, Jesus Christ, who was the fulfillment of the covenant. Now we transition to looking at us, the people. We read, “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.” This portion of the text is where I got the title of the sermon for today, “Where Is Your Head?” So many times, we as Christians can become so consumed with the things and ways of this world that at times, it can be difficult to tell us apart from the people of this world. As many of you have probably heard before, this quote by Mahatma Ghandi rings so true. He said, “I like your Christ. I do not like your Christians. Your Christians are so unlike your Christ." Yet our text for this morning reminds us that whatever we set our minds on, that is what we will be. It’s like the old saying, “You are what you eat.” Well it is also true if not more that you are what you think.
I have a plaque in my living room at home that my mom made for me and on it is one of my favorite scriptures. It is Philippians 4:8, which reads, “Finally, brothers, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is commendable, if there is any excellence, if there is anything worthy of praise, think about these things.” Whatever we set our minds on, that we will become. So may we seek to set our minds on Christ, His goodness, and His love.
In verse 7, Paul writes, “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. 8 Those who are in the flesh cannot please God.” Here we get a little deeper. Paul writes that the mind that is set on the flesh not only lives according to the flesh but is hostile to God. Now this word “hostile” is an interesting word. In the Greek, this word is “echthra” and it means enmity or a state of deep-seated ill will.
The heart that is set upon this world is at the same time set against God. As Jesus says in Matthew 6:24 in regards to money, “No one can serve two masters. Either you will hate the one and love the other, or you will be devoted to the one and despise the other.” In all honesty, I don’t think we take the matters of the heart as seriously as we should. So church, may we guard our hearts against the evil and wickedness of this world. May we set our minds and hearts on those things that are good, on Christ, and His Word. Then, in the end, may we not be found amongst the flesh, but may we be found within the Spirit. Amen!
Point 4: Who Are You? vv. 9-11
Our final point for this morning is Who Are You and we will be looking at verses 9-11. Once again, it reads, “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. 10 But if Christ is in you, although the body is dead because of sin, the Spirit is life because of righteousness. 11 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.”
Once again, we see this ever ongoing battle between the flesh and its desire and the Spirit and its life giving properties. So I ask this morning church, Who Are You? Which group are you found amongst. Are you of those who live life to the fullest, absorbing every sin and seeking to experience every thing that this life has to offer? Or are you found in the Spirit, the Spirit of righteousness that leads to everlasting life?
Remember my dear children, that if we have truly given our lives to Christ Jesus we have the best news of all here at the end. If we have truly submitted our lives to the authority of Jesus Christ then the same Spirit who raised Christ Jesus from the dead gives life to our mortal bodies through his Spirit who dwells in you. We are alive in Christ! Wow! So the same Spirit that rose Christ Jesus from the dead lives in us! How amazing is that! Therefore nothing is impossible! As Luke 1:37 tells us, “For nothing will be impossible with God.”
Conclusion
So, today, my dearly beloved children, may we find hope in this text today. But may we also find a calling. A calling to live like children of the Most High King Jesus and not to live as children of this world. As the old hymn reminds us, “This world is not my home, I'm just a passing through, My treasures are laid up somewhere beyond the blue;The angels beckon me from heaven's open door, And I can't feel at home in this world anymore.” We should feel uncomfortable in this world. Therefore, may the discomforts, trials, and tribulations of this life seek to remind us all the more that this world is not our home. So this week, may we seek to apply this scripture to our lives by seeking to live more like Christ and less like the world around us. In the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. Amen!
