Romans # 13 Rom 8-1 thru 8-14
Well, we’re still on the Book of Romans and thank God, we’re out of chapter 7 and in to chapter 8.
I. The (last 12 Vs of ROM 7) (starting in V 14 through the end of the chapter) are probable some of the hardest Vs in the Bible to understand.
A. To put it in a nut shell of what Paul is talking about here is that there is a war going on in our members.
1. It’s a war of the flesh against the spirit of man and the battle ground takes place in the mind.
a. The flesh wants to do the things that are not godly, sinful things.
b. The spirit of the believer wants to do the things of God.
i. So the battle takes place in your mind. Am I going to obey the things of God or the lower nature, the flesh?
2. That’s 1 of the main reasons that the Word of God tells us to renew our minds to the Word of God.
a. As our minds are renewed to God’s Word, we’ll choose to do the things of God.
i. Joshua said, “Choose you this day whom ye will serve, but as for me and my house, we will serve the LORD.” (JOSH 24:15)
B. ROM 7:24
1. Paul asks the question, “Who shall deliver me from the body of this death?” (Referring to the sin nature that is in his flesh)
a. Paul is asking the question, “Isn’t there any power that can help me overcome the sin nature?”
b. He answers his own question in the very next V.
2. ROM 7:25a
a. The power that we have to overcome the sin nature is found in the Lord Jesus Christ, and in the indwelling presence of the HS.
b. Through Him we can live a victorious life.
II. ROM 8:1
A. Really the word “Condemnation” in this V means “sentence, verdict," and it comes from the word “condemn and damn.”
1. I think that it’s important to understand that if you're in Christ and walking in Him, there is no “damnation” or even “condemnation," no matter what you’ve done in the past.
2. Sin has no power over you, no authority over you because the greater one lives in you.
a. (1JOHN 4:4) says, “Greater is he that is in you, than he that is in the world.”
i. The HS in you is greater than Satan and He his greater than you flesh which is also in the world.
B. V 2
1. When Paul says, “The law of the Spirit of life,” It’s referring to the HS. in our lives.
a. It’s only through the Lord Jesus Christ and the HS that we are free from the law of sin and death. (Which is the flesh nature)
2. Now Christ is our life, and because we are in Christ we are free from sin and death.
a. The life that we now have in Christ Jesus is free from sin and death, but it is also full of God’s promises.
b. Jesus said in (JOHN 10:10) “I am come that they might have life and that they might have it more abundantly.”
i. It’s the Christ life that is the abundant life.
ii. If your walking in the Lord, you’re on the right path to having truly a fulfilled life.
iii. There’s no other way apart from Christ to have life in the fullest measure.
iv. Without Jesus in your life there will always be a void in your life. Jesus is the only way to have a live that is full of peace, joy, love, and all the blessings of God.
C. V 3-4
1. In (V 3) Paul says that the law was weak through the flesh, meaning that the law could have produced righteousness, but it had no power or strength to keep us from sin.
a. But in that same V he tells us that Jesus came to do something about sin.
b. Through His death burial and resurrection He set us free from sin and death who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit.
2. The Law could not be fulfilled by any one, except by the Lord Jesus Christ.
a. The law would have produced righteousness if we would have kept it, but we couldn’t.
i. But through the Lord Jesus, we have the righteousness that the law would have produced.
ii. If we walk after the Spirit and not after the flesh.
3. Now, Just because we are not under the Law does not mean we don’t keep God’s commandments.
a. MATT 22:35-40
i. If you walk in these 2 commandments of the Lord, Love God, and Love everyone else, you won't be breaking the Law.
b. If you’re walking in, what I call the “Royal law of love," you’re fulfilling the Law and the prophets.
i. You wont break God’s commandments if you’re walking in love.
D. ROM 8:5
1. I like the William’s translation of this V. It says, “For people who live by the standard set by their lower nature are usually thinking the things suggested by that nature, and people who live by the standard set by the Spirit are usually thinking the things suggested by that nature.”
a. Those that are “Following after the flesh” have their minds set on the things that their lower nature desires.
b. Those that are “following after the Spirit” have their minds set on the things of God.
2. Again it comes down to your mind. Whatever you’re meditating on that is what you will become.
i. We can see that example in NUM 13:33 (turn there).
3. Let’s go back to ROM 8:6
a. In (V 6) Paul tells us why it is so important to have your mind set on the things of the Spirit.
b. To follow after the mind of the flesh means death, but to follow after the mind of the spirit means life (the abundant, God kind of life), and peace (the peace of God which passeth all understanding).
III. ROM 8:7-9
A. Paul, after talking about the 2 kinds of people, now begins to address his readers, the believers at Rome.
1. If he’s talking to the believers at Rome then he’s talking to us.
a. He saying believers are not in the flesh, if they truly have the Spirit of God dwelling in them.
b. If they don’t have the Spirit of God dwelling in them they are not a true believer.
i. Now that doesn’t mean that if you blow it and mess up somewhere you’re not saved. Not at all.
ii. He’s talking about someone that is living in the flesh, continuously practicing the lust of the flesh.
B. ROM 8:10
1. Because Christ is in you, because you belong to Him, you are now made righteousness.
a. (2 Corinthians 5:17) Says, “Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new.”
b. (2 Corinthians 5:21) Says, “For he hath made him to be sin for us, who knew no sin; that we might be made the righteousness of God in him.”
i. The righteousness that we received did not come by anything we did. It came by what Jesus did for us.
ii. All we did was to receive it.
2. ROM 8:11
a. In this V we have 2 great promises.
i. 1st the most obvious, We have a promise of the resurrection in which we will receive a glorified body.
ii. 2nd we can walk in a spiritual resurrected life now.
iii. We can walk in the newness of life, a victorious life, having favor with God and man. God’s blessing us now.
3. ROM 8:12-14
a. Paul is bringing his thoughts to a conclusion on this subject.
b. The word “Therefore” reveals that.
i. He’s saying, “Therefore we as Christians have an obligation.”
ii. That obligation is to live each day in the control and power of the Holy Spirit.
iii. That is the only way that we’re going to be able to put down the lust of the flesh.
c. Even with the power of the Spirit in your life, you still must say no to the lust of the flesh.
i. Titus 2:11-12 “For the grace of God that bringeth salvation hath appeared to all men, 12 Teaching us that, denying ungodliness and worldly lusts, we should live soberly, righteously, and godly, in this present world.”
C. In Romans 8:14 Paul says, “For as many as are led by the Spirit of God, they are the sons of God.”
1. This V Paul makes a few interesting statements.
a. 1st let’s look at the word “Sons” in the phrase “They are the sons of God,”
i. In the Greek there are several different words which we translate “Children or Sons” each of them having a different meaning.
b. The word “Sons” used in this V is a mature son that is able to receive the adult family privileges and responsibilities.
2. Those that are truly led by the Spirit of God are the mature sons of God.
3. What does it mean to be led by the Spirit of God?
a. 1st of all it means that we will follow after the Word of God.
i. All of God’s Word is inspired by the Holy Spirit.
ii. (2 Timothy 3:16) “All scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness.”
iii. Those that follow God’s Word are being led by the Spirit of God.
b. But there is another meaning of being led by the Spirit of God.
i. The Holy Spirit is always speaking to us, most of the time it’s in that still small voice.
ii. The Bible says that the HS will lead us and guide us.
iii. Paul uses the words “I perceive” when referring to a leading that he got only by the Spirit of God.
c. In ROM 8:16 (Just look at it for a moment.)
i. This is how the Spirit of God is going to reveal things to us.
ii. Not to our head, not from outward situations, but by His spirit to our spirit, an inner voice.
iii. (John 16:13) Says, “Howbeit when he, the Spirit of truth, is come, he will guide you into all truth: for he shall not speak of himself; but whatsoever he shall hear, that shall he speak: and he will shew you things to come.”
d. The Hs Spirit will speak to you, either through His Word, or by that still small voice in your spirit.
i. Listen to that voice, He’s always leading us in the right way.
WED 2/13/91 PM TFC and WOLCC Thurs. 9/14/95
