INTRO:

(This is the 2nd of two parter: ruined the rules, instead of living a spiritual life.)

ILLUSTRATION (video clip)

· Gollum goes from serving self, to serving Frodo out of fear.

· Gollum arguing w/self over following right or following passions. The promise to be good wasn’t sufficient, he needed a new Master.

· He ultimately fails in this as well, as Frodo seemed to prove false. This may happen in our relationship to God as well, but He gives us something, as we will see, that Frodo could not.

B. READ ROMANS 8:1-17

I. Freed by the spirit, vs.1-4

· Therefore, GIANT like ch.12, RECAP:

o All guilty

o Saved by faith alone

o Doesn’t lead to lawless sin as at surrender we die to sin to live for Jesus.

· The pattern of our behavior afterwards will show that we are his servants/slaves

· But we serve by faith, not rules

· We are no longer condemned because God condemned sin in us through J’s sacrifice.

· J’s sacrifice removed the wrath wall that separated us from God and His power to triumph over sin

· This now gives us access to the Spirit in a new way, a following of the Spirit, instead of rules.

· The law/rules addressed the sin issue, and clarified it, but it could not resolve it.

· Our new nature is Christ living in us by His Spirit. He produces.

· A. J. Gordon, Gordon Conwell, looking across a field at a house. Saw what looked like a man pumping furiously at a hand pump. Man continued to pump, tireless, pumping on and on, never slowing. He got closer, it was not a man at the pump, but a wooden figure painted to look like a man. The pumping arm was hinged at the elbow and wired to the pump handle. The water was pouring forth because it was an artesian well, and the water was pumping the man! All we have to do is keep our hand on the handle.

II. Mind on the spirit, vs.5-9

· The mind set on sin is death.

· It’s not a law minding mindset; just a “trying harder”

· The weight of dominance now passes to the Spirit over the flesh for those in Christ, which we must support, not resist. Thus:

o We can set our mind on Spiritual things, letting the Spirit control us

o Quit setting our hearts on sinful things,

o Can maintain our minds on the Spirit.

· How are we led by the Spirit?

o We renew our minds in the Word.

o We walk in community.

o We humble ourselves and worship

o Old & Young preachers, unfolding the rosebud of God’s plan for my life.

o We learn to listen and distinguish the voice of the Great Shepherd in prayer

III. Aside: flesh not irrelevant, vs.10-11

· This growing redemption will ultimately reach even to our flesh, as it did with Jesus’ bodily resurrection, so even what we do with our bodies is important to God. There is not a complete moral separation between body and spirit, with the former totally evil and irrelevant to our spiritual life.

· Don’t allow flesh desires to lead you to rationalize that way and fall back into a pattern of giving in to the flesh as if it were irrelevant, but give yourselves over to God in every sphere of life, and really live.

IV.obligation to live by the spirit, vs.11-17

· So our obligation is not to the flesh, but to kill the fleshly passion and live by the Spirit.

· We can live this way because those living in the Spirit are serving God not out of fear of hell any longer, but as sons of serving a loving Father God.

· In this service we have access to all the privilege and power of Jesus

· A do-it-yourselfer went into a hardware store early one morning and asked for a saw. The salesman took a chain saw from the shelf and commented that it was their “newest model, with the latest in technology, guaranteed to cut ten cords of firewood a day.” The customer thought that sounded pretty good, so he bought it on the spot.

The next day the customer returned, looking somewhat exhausted. “Something must be wrong with this saw,” he moaned. “I worked as hard as I could and only managed to cut three cords of wood. I used to do four with my old-fashioned saw.” Looking confused, the salesman said, “Here, let me try it out back on some wood we keep there.”

They went to the wood pile, the salesman pulled the cord, and as the motor went vvvrooommmm. The customer leaped back and exclaimed, “What’s that noise??”

· This life and power come, of course, with walking in Him; in His path of the cross, dieing to self, surrendering control and rising to new life, ultimately to also share in his ultimate glory.

Living a Spiritual Life