New Life in the Spirit
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Introduction:
Introduction:
This morning we are going to look at the subject of holy living. In chapter 6 Paul had answered the question, “Does the teaching of the gospel (Salvation by faith alone) permit or even encourage sinful living?
In Chapter 7 Paul faced up to the question, “Does the gospel tell Christians to keep the law in order to lead a holy life?”
But now the question is: How is the Christian enabled to live a holy life?
Recap:
Recap:
Last week we saw Paul use himself as an important example that we cannot overcome indwelling sin ourselves.
It wasn’t because he lacked desire or knowledge. He genuinely wanted to do what was right, and he had the education to back that up. What Paul lacked was power.
The law simply states the rules but is unable to provide the necessary power to overcome.
Trying to search for victory in self is futile. With all the self-help books out there, it would do people better if they picked up the book that pertains to the God outside themselves.
As Christians we have two natures at war within ourselves. The Spirit and the flesh.
Wretched man that I am! Who will deliver me from this body of death?
Paul is desperate for deliverance. For someone of his caliber and knowledge, he found that it was useless to look to the law for salvation.
The solution to the problem is Jesus Christ the God/Man.
We need to acknowledge the struggle, and yet, Praise God for the victory we have in Jesus.
V 1) No condemnation.
V 1) No condemnation.
Right away we notice that the personal pronouns that were so prominent in chapter 7 largely disappear, and that the Holy Spirit becomes the dominant Person.
Victory is not in ourselves but in the Persons of Jesus and in the Holy Spirit, who indwells us.
Take note as we go through this passage of how the Holy Spirit helps us.
Freedom in service (v.2)
Strength for service (v.11)
Victory over sin (v.13)
Guidance in service (v.14)
The witness of adoption (v.16)
Assistance in service (v.26)
Assistance in prayer (v.26)
Remember from the valley of despair and defeat, the apostle now climbs the heights with the triumphant shout, “There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus!”
Since God the Father does not condemn Jesus, neither can the Father condemn those who are in Jesus.
They are not condemned, they will not be condemned, and they cannot be condemned.
What Paul states with the word “Therefore” comes from a logical argument. It’s as if Paul is saying, “I can prove what i say here.”
His logic is sound. If we are one with Jesus and He is our head, we cannot be condemned.
You cannot acquit the head and condemn the hand. You can’t drown the foot as long as the head is out of water.
When we are joined with Him, we hear the verdict, “NO CONDEMNATION.”
This verdict is not, “less condemnation.” That’s where many believe they are- thinking our standing has improved in Jesus. It has not been improved, it has been completely transformed.
Now this phrase only applies for those who are in Christ. Meaning those who have submitted to the rulership of Christ.
It might help us understand if we look at the flip side: If we are not in Jesus Christ, there is only condemnation for us.
This is a very unpleasant subject to have to speak on. But we cannot gloss over the truth of the Bible, God’s word.
If you are not in Christ Jesus, and are walking after the flesh, you have no way to escape from condemnation. That will end with you going to hell then the lake of fire for all eternity experiencing the wrath of God forever.
How can a Christian place their confidence in this verse and have peace?
Confidence and peace comes after the confusion and conflict with ourselves. Look at chapter 7 we were unable to do anything to save ourselves.
The only chance we have is in Jesus. So look to Him only.
How does this work for us?
We should know by now that we deserve condemnation. We get to partake of this standing because Jesus bore our condemnation and now for those who are in Christ our identity is now in Him.
So as He is not condemned, neither are we.
Paul isn’t just answering the question brought up in chapter 7. He is tying in the thoughts from the very beginning of the letter too.
This chapter begins with no condemnation; it ends with no separation, and in between tells us there is no defeat.
You might notice there is a sentence missing.
“Who do not walk according to the flesh, but according to the Spirit.
These words are not found in the earliest ancient manuscripts of the letter to the Romans and they do not agree with the flow of Paul’s context here.
The likely conclusion is that they were probably added by a copyist who either made a mistake or thought he could “help” Paul by adding these words from verse 4.
While it is true that those who are in Christ should not and do not consistently walk according to the flesh, but according to the Spirit, this is no a condition for their status of no condemnation.
Our position in Jesus is the reason for our standing of no condemnation.
“The oldest copies are without it, the versions do not sustain it, and the fathers who quoted abundance of Scripture do not quote this sentence.” -Spurgeon
Vv 2-4) Life in the Spirit and life in the flesh.
Vv 2-4) Life in the Spirit and life in the flesh.
[2] There are two opposing laws or principles. The law of the Spirit of life and the law of sin and death.
For eons the law of sin and death seemed to be an absolute law. After all every sin we have ever committed and every cemetery we see proves that that.
The truth is that the law of the Spirit of life is stronger and it frees us from the law of sin and death.
We are free from the law of sin. Though we will inevitable give in, the Christian does not have to sin, because we have been freed from the dominion of sin.
The same is true pertaining to the law of death; death therefore no longer has any lasting power against the believer.
“O death, where is your victory?
O death, where is your sting?”
The sting of death is sin, and the power of sin is the law. But thanks be to God, who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.
Romans 8:1 tells us that we are free from the guilt of sin, and verse 2 tells us we are free from the power of sin.
The two opposing principles have defining characteristics. The Holy Spirit is to empower believers for holy living. Indwelling sin is to drag a person down to death.
It is like the law of gravity. When you throw a ball into the air, it comes back down because it is heavier than the air it displaces. A living bird is also heavier than the air it displaces, but when you toss it up in the air, it flies away.
The law of life in the bird over comes the law of gravity. So the Holy Spirit supplies the risen life of Jesus, making the believer free from the law of sin and death.
[3] The law can do many things. It can guide us, teach us, and tell us about God’s character.
but the law cannot give energy to our flesh; it can give us the standard, but it can’t give us the power to please God.
The law has right but not might; sin’s law has might but not right; the law of the Spirit has both right and might.
The law is weak to us, because we are weak to it: the sun cannot give light to the blind, not because the sun is weak, but because it doesn’t have the capability to give the blind sight.
Praise God that he intervened by sending His own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh. Take careful notice that the Lord Jesus die not come in sinful flesh itself but in “the likeness of” sinful flesh.
He did no sin.
He committed no sin, neither was deceit found in his mouth.
He knew no sin.
For our sake he made him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.
There was no sin in Him.
You know that he appeared in order to take away sins, and in him there is no sin.
You see by coming into the world in human form, He resembled sinful humanity.
As a sacrifice for sin, Christ condemned sin in the flesh. He died not only for the sins which we commit but also for our sin nature.
For Christ also suffered once for sins, the righteous for the unrighteous, that he might bring us to God, being put to death in the flesh but made alive in the spirit,
Do you realize what this means? Jesus not only died for what we’ve done, but also for what we are.
[4] As we turn over the control of our lives to the Holy Spirit, He empowers us to love God and love our neighbor, and that, after all, is what the law requires.
“Teacher, which is the great commandment in the Law?” And he said to him, “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind. This is the great and first commandment. And a second is like it: You shall love your neighbor as yourself. On these two commandments depend all the Law and the Prophets.”
So what Paul did in these four verses if gathered together the threads of his argument from chapters 5 though 7.
Chapter 5 dealing with the federal headship of Adam and Christ. Now he shows that the condemnation we inherited from Adam is removed by Christ.
Chapters 6-7 showed that we had a horrendous problem of sin in our nature. Now he announces that the Spirit’s law of life in Christ has made us free from the law of sin and death.
Vv 5-8) Trying to please God in the flesh is futile.
Vv 5-8) Trying to please God in the flesh is futile.
[5] We are confronted with two different lifestyles, “living according to the flesh” or “living according to the Spirit.”
living according to the flesh: These are those who are concerned with the things of the flesh. They obey the impulses of the flesh. They live to gratify the desires of that corrupted nature. Catering to the body only.
Living according to the Spirit: These can only be true believers- living for things that are eternal. Raised above the flesh, occupied with the word of God, prayer, worship, and Christian works.
What is bazar is how easy it can be for us to fall back into that old lifestyle after coming to Jesus.
The comparison here also serves as an easy way for us to determine if we are walking in the Spirit or if we are walking in the flesh. It is summed up with were is our mindset is.
The mind is the battleground where the flesh and the Spirit fight.
Unbelievers only have the ability to live according to the flesh. One prime example of this is found when Peter meaning well, tells Jesus to avoid the cross. Jesus responded to Peter with these strong words.
But he turned and said to Peter, “Get behind me, Satan! You are a hindrance to me. For you are not setting your mind on the things of God, but on the things of man.”
[6] When we set the mind on the flesh- that is, having the mental inclination of the fallen nature we bring death into our lives.
Only the Spirit of God is the guarantee of life. Life that guaranteed to be a life of peace with God, and a life of tranquility.
Listen close family… We must, guard against false spirituality and understand that Paul means the flesh insofar as it is an instrument in our rebellion against God.
Paul isn’t talking about normal physical and emotional needs we may think about, only the sinful gratification of those needs.
[7] The flesh battles against God because it doesn’t want to die. It doesn’t want to be crucified or surrendered to Jesus.
It doesn’t want to live out:
And those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires.
I know many of you know how hard the battle against the flesh can be. When it come to the battle to tame the flesh, the law is powerless.
Notice that our text doesn’t say, “For the mind that is set on the flesh was hostile to God.”
It says, “For the mind that is set on the flesh is hostile to God.”
What this means is that it isn’t black, but blackness; it is not at enmity, but enmity itself; it isn’t corrupt, but corruption; it is not rebellious, it is rebellion; It isn’t wicked, it is wickedness itself.
“The heart, though it be deceitful, is positively deceit; the quintessence of all thing that are vile; it is not envious against God, it is envy; it is not at enmity, it is actual enmity. - Spurgeon
[8] There shouldn’t be any surprise that those who are in the flesh cannot please God.
There is perhaps the best text of Scripture that more completely sets forth the hopeless state of men, living for themselves.
The implications of this verse is something else. Because there is nothing an unsaved person can do to please God- no good works, no religious observances, no sacrificial services, absolutely nothing.
They need to place their hope and trust in Jesus Christ. Only then can an unbeliever experience God’s approval.
Vv 9-11) Empowered to live in the Spirit.
Vv 9-11) Empowered to live in the Spirit.
[9] When a person is born again, they are no longer in the flesh but in the Spirit. They live in a different sphere.
Just as a fish lives in water and a man lives in the air, so a believer lives in the Spirit.
He not only lives in the Spirit, but the Spirit lives in him. This means that every Christian has within themselves a principle higher and more powerful than the flesh.
Those who do not have the Spirit do not belong to Christ. If a person is not filled with the Holy Spirit, they are not a Christian at all.
How many miss out on living the Christian life?
To live a life in the constant fullness of the Spirit one must constantly be filled with the Holy Spirit.
Remember God did everything only He could do. We have a responsibility now to do our part.
And do not get drunk with wine, for that is debauchery, but be filled with the Spirit,
They have experience of what Jesus spoke about when He described this:
On the last day of the feast, the great day, Jesus stood up and cried out, “If anyone thirsts, let him come to me and drink. Whoever believes in me, as the Scripture has said, ‘Out of his heart will flow rivers of living water.’ ” Now this he said about the Spirit, whom those who believed in him were to receive, for as yet the Spirit had not been given, because Jesus was not yet glorified.
“Rivers of living water” flowing from the believer.
How does one know that they have the Spirit?
Has the Spirit led you to Jesus?
Has the Spirit put in you a desire to honor Jesus?
Is the Spirit leading you to be more like Jesus?
Is the Spirit at work in your heart?
[10] It is amazing to think that the Lord of life and glory dwells in our bodies, especially when we remember that these bodies are subject to death because of sin.
In contrast to the body, the Spirit is life because of righteousness. We once being dead toward God, have been made alive through the righteous work of Jesus in His death and resurrection, and because the righteousness of God has been imputed to us.
Isn’t that wild. Because Jesus lives in us, the old man is dead, but the Spirit lives and reigns, and will live out His salvation even through our mortal bodies through resurrection.
[11] Family don’t be afraid of death. It shouldn’t cause alarm or despair. The fact the the Holy Spirit indwells our bodies is a guarantee that, just as God raised Christ from the dead, so He will also give life to our mortal bodies.
This will be the final act of our redemption- when our bodies are glorified like Jesus’ body of glory.
The Lord bless you and keep you;
the Lord make his face to shine upon you and be gracious to you;
the Lord lift up his countenance upon you and give you peace.
We are one in the Spirit
We are one in the Lord
We are one in the Spirit
We are one in the Lord
And we pray that all unity
May one day be restored
And they’ll know we are Christians
By our love by our love
Yes they’ll know we are Christians
By our love.
All praise to the Father
From whom all thing come
And all praise to Christ Jesus
His only Son
And all praise to the Spirit
Who makes us one
And they’ll know we are Christians
By our love by our love
Yes they’ll know we are Christians
By our love.
We are one in the Spirit
We are one in the Lord
We are one in the Spirit
We are one in the Lord
And we pray that all unity
May one day be restored
And they’ll know we are Christians
By our love by our love
Yes they’ll know we are Christians
By our love by our love
Yes they’ll know we are Christians
by our love.