Life in the Spirit

Well, thank you so much for joining us this afternoon. It's really an honor to have you in our presence. And, you know, as I'm looking out there with the rain, it would have been a lot easier just to stay home today. And I'm thankful that you're here. I'm thankful for the opportunity to open God's Word with you.

You know, I encourage you to actually turn to that passage we just read if you have your Bibles with you today. And as it was being read, I heard these amens coming from all over the audience this morning. And I think that when we look at this chapter, Romans, chapter eight, it's a chapter that we love to read. It's a chapter that we love to dwell on. And, you know, we've preached some tough passages so far in this series, but now we're starting one of the most beloved passages in really all the Bible.

And over the next three Sundays, we're going to try to unpack this chapter and really understand what it means. Now, if you're here for the first time, or maybe you're new to Crossway, you know, maybe you're not even a believer, it might feel kind of odd what's going on here today. And you might look around and you see people that seem to not be ashamed. And maybe, you know, I think in our world, we look at. Our world, probably looks at Christians, and they say that that's a shameful thing, something to be ashamed of.

But yet, really, when we look at Romans, it's all about being unashamed. It's about being unashamed of the Gospel.

Now, last week, Enrico preached for us and he did a great job just helping us understand that we really stand under condemnation, that there's this shame that has overwhelmed our world. There's this tension in our condition, we could say tension in our human condition, that shame is a part of our human condition. And what we find is that this shame, it's really hard to break free from, isn't it? If we think about it, most of our lives are really built around trying not to feel shame. I mean, really, our days, when we go about our lives, it's all about trying to avoid shameful things.

Now, our dog Maggie, I think she's a good example of this. This is our dog, Maggie. Maybe some of you have met Maggie, and I would say, as a whole, Maggie is a good dog. You know, I think that she's a great dog, really, to be honest. Now, one thing that I've found is that when Maggie's alone Sometimes she does things that she shouldn't.

And what we've noticed is that sometimes when we leave the house, she will go around to all the trash cans and she will eat trash. Now it's very obvious when we return home what whether Maggie has been eating trash or not. Because sometimes we come home and she's jumping up and she's happy to see us. And other times she does this. She crawls around, she'll actually turn over on her back.

And it's almost as if she's begging. She knows that she's done something shameful. Something inside her tells her that eating trash is bad.

Kind of a funny illustration, but I think at the same time, this is our condition as well. I think in the same way, God has given us an innate a sense to know what trash is, to know that trash is bad. And we have this awareness that we have fallen short. We have this awareness inside of us that we've missed the mark. And if you remember back to Romans chapter one, Paul started with this.

He said in Romans, chapter one, verse 19. I think I have this in German because it's kind of long. But he says, for what can be known about God is plain to them. It's plain to mankind because God has shown it to them. He says, for although they knew God, they did not honor him as God or give thanks to him.

But they became futile in their thinking. And in their foolish hearts they were darkened, claiming to be wise. They actually became fools and exchanged the glory of the immortal God for images resembling mortal man, birds and animals and creeping things. Verse 24 says, and therefore God gave them up in the lusts of their hearts to impurity, to the dishonoring of their bodies among themselves, because they exchanged the truth about God for a lie. And worship and serve the creature rather than the Creator, who is blessed forevermore.

Amen. And there's a reason we feel shame and condemnation when we sin. And it's because deep down we have been given this ability to understand what is good and what is bad. Now, if you were with us last week in chapter seven, Paul he gave us a better understanding of why we feel this condemnation. And he explained it in this way, he explained it through the law of sin and death, that there is a power at work in us that is actually holding us captive to our flesh.

And as real as this law of gravity is at work in our physical world, we have this principle at work in our world that says when a law is introduced, our flesh is actually attracted not to obey that law, but to Break it. That the law cannot actually be used to prove our righteousness. But actually it does the exact opposite. The law proves our unrighteousness. Now, you would think that if something is good, then what is bad would not be attracted to this right, that there wouldn't be a relationship between these two things.

But what Paul tells us is that the law works together with our flesh to actually show us how sinful we really are. He said just in this last chapter, verses seven and eight of chapter seven, he said this. And what shall we say then? That the law is sin? He says, by no means.

That's not what I'm saying. Yet. If I had not been under. But if it had not been for the law, I would not have known sin, for I would not have known what it is to covet. If the law had not said, you shall not covet but sin, seizing the opportunity through the commandment or through this law, produced in me all kinds of covetousness.

Apart from the law, sin lies dead. And what Paul is saying is that the law reveals our shame, the law reveals our condemnation, that our flesh gravitates towards the law, not to obey it, but to rebel against it. And you can observe this in everyday life. I mean, put a law in place and just stand back and watch what will happen. Now, I think I have this next slide.

If you put a sign up that says, do not climb over a fence, what are people going to do? They are going to climb over that fence. And if you put up a sign that says, please do not throw stones at this sign, what's going to happen? That sign is going to be riddled with dents.

I think what this proves is what Paul calls the law of sin and death. It's this principle that the nature of our flesh loves to do what is wrong. Loves just like Maggie, when given the opportunity, we will also eat trash.

It is this principle, I think, of sin and death that holds our world under condemnation. And the reason why we feel shame when we do something wrong is because we. Because of this is whether we are willing to admit it or not, we are aware of our sin.

The law testifies to us that we are deserving of condemnation.

Now you might say, well, thanks for that, Jim. That's what I wanted to hear when I showed up today.

But I think that we need to understand the bad news so we can understand the good news. We need to understand where humanity is so that we can understand the amazing things about this chapter that we're about to talk about in Romans 8.

So the question I think we have to ask ourselves is, where do we go from here? Because we recognize that there is this tension in our condition. We recognize that we have the spirit inside us, but also this flesh. And they oppose one another. There's a battle going on.

You know, last week Paul said, this wretched man that I am, he said, who will deliver me from this body of death? But remember, he didn't leave it there. He went on and he said, thanks be to God through Jesus Christ our Lord. So then my self serve the law of God with my mind, but with my flesh, I serve the law of sin. That there is a solution, and God has provided this solution.

In Jesus Christ there is one who is at work to release us from this body of death. And today we want to talk about how we can live life in the Spirit. It's a spirit who actually frees us to live in this way. I think that there's some misunderstandings about how the Spirit works. And I hope that we'll hear what Paul has to say as we open this passage.

So, Lord, as we open to this amazing chapter, Lord, I pray that your spirit will work. I pray that our eyes would be illumined to know the truth, that we don't want to hide anything. We want to know how we can live life in the spirit, how we can live in life in peace. So we pray that you would teach us, Lord, Today, in your name we pray. Amen.

So we're in this section of Romans. We've been talking about the gospel of salvation, this gospel of salvation in Jesus Christ. We've been working through these different doctrines. We talked about sin the first five weeks. It wasn't a fun experience to talk about sin.

And then we talked about justification. And now we're in this section called sanctification. And for those who have been saved, that we are now justified by God's grace. That means that we have been made righteous legally by God's grace, that we are now on a path to holiness. Now, if we're honest, this unfortunately may seem like a contradiction because Christians don't always seem to be the holiest people.

I mean, if we're honest, right?

Also, if that offends you, then I'm probably talking to you today because what I've observed being in the church since I was a young boy is that many times holy people. Holy people fear shame the most.

I think that they love to raise the bar. They love to raise standards. They love to condemn others. Have you noticed that? They love to control people with shame.

But my question for you today is if this is really what a holy person looks like, is this really what someone who has been redeemed by the blood of the Lamb looks like? Someone that has received God's grace. Heading on our chapter today, at least in my Bible, is this life in the Spirit.

In fact, the Spirit, I think it dominates Paul's thoughts in this passage today. If you look at these 17 verses that we're studying, 15 times he mentions the Spirit. And understanding the Spirit of God and how he works seems to be an important part of. Of understanding how we can be holy people. Martyn Lloyd Jones once said this about this chapter.

He said, I make bold to assert that the great theme of chapter eight is not sanctification, but the great theme is security of the Christian. Now, you know, that sounds odd, doesn't it? We're in this passage talking about sanctification, but yet Paul goes back to security. He goes back to assurance. He goes back to identity.

I think therein lies an important truth if we want to understand how we can live life in the Spirit, that the Christian walk is more about assurance of what God has done than what we can do. We just sang about it just a little while ago, didn't we? Because Paul, he seems to be telling us that where the law is at work to condemn us, the Spirit is at work to set us free.

And the first thing we learn as we look at our chapter is the Spirit is at work to remove our shame. Now, that may come as a surprise to you, because if you have been around holy people, like I said before, they seem to want to do the exact opposite of this. When you're around them, they want to bring shame on you. Yet Paul, he begins with one of the most encouraging verses in the whole Bible. When he says this in Romans 8:1, he says, there is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus.

Can I get a hallelujah? Thank you. Now, when I read that, and when you hear that verse, and for those of you who are in Christ, because, see, that's the condition there. Those who are in Christ. Did you feel something that was like a sigh of relief?

You feel like you can breathe when you hear that voice, that verse, it brings peace, doesn't it?

I think it's important because our condition tells us that we should feel condemnation. But yet in Jesus Christ, the guilt of our sin can no longer touch us.

And notice that this statement, it does not just cause you to rush to do something. That's not our first response, is it? We Want to dwell there a little while, don't we?

This is how the Spirit works. The Spirit brings peace, not shame. You know, Paul goes on in verses two to four to explain how the Spirit actually removes our shame.

He very clear in verses 2 through 4. Read it with me. He says, for the law of the Spirit of life has set you free in Christ Jesus from the law of sin and death. And it's because of this. 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 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. Now, the first thing I want you to notice is that in Christ there is a new sheriff in town. Do we see that. That there is no condemnation because we are set free in Christ Jesus to be attracted to a new law. You see the two laws there?

And just as sin held power to attract us to this law or principle that we talked about of sin, sin and death, what we see is that the grace of God now attracts us to live, set free to the law of the Spirit of life. And how is this made possible? Well, verse three says, because of what God has done. For God has done this in the law, weakened what the law could not do. But he did it by sending his own Son.

And what we find is that Paul's argument is that we can live free because God has done this. He has sent His Son to become like us. Not to condemn us, but to actually condemn sin. He's actually turned condemnation on its head. He sent His Son to become like us for this purpose.

That Jesus took away sin's power by his own obedience. It was his own action that has taken this condemnation. And God did this by sending His Son in the likeness of sinful flesh. Did you catch that? This likeness of sinful flesh.

And this is a critical aspect for us to understand that what Paul is communicating is the sinless nature of Christ. It's this likeness that was different, that he was like us in every way, but without sin. That Christ Jesus was able to bring peace. Because he was not only God, but He was also man. He was the perfect representative of both God and man.

And this is what allowed him to become sin for us. Now don't get confused here. Paul's not saying that Christ took, by taking on human flesh, corrupted his flesh and made him sinful. But here the word for sin, it actually means he became a Sin offering for us.

We are now under no condemnation because God provided a perfect lamb to take away the sin of the world. Now could we take a second to marvel at that, because we feel this shame. But our God actually came and took all the shame on himself so that we would no longer have to feel that he lowered himself and took the shame that we deserved so that the Spirit of God could liberate us from the shame, from this condemnation. And what this actor atonement initiated was the satisfying of the righteous requirement of the law. That's what it says next in our text, that he did this 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.

This was the central purpose in why Christ came, was to fulfill this righteous requirement that we could not fulfill on our own, so that we could actually be given this same righteousness. That is an amazing reality. When we let that hit us.

And we already considered right, that we are now already considered righteous before God. If we believe that what Christ has done and that this is sufficient.

I think this is an amazing truth. Because herein lies the key, I believe, to walking in the Spirit instead of the flesh. Because your destiny is already secured in the work of Jesus Christ, that the guilt of sin cannot touch those who are in Christ Jesus. And it is from this position that we are called to obey a new law, that our status has changed. And as we will see shortly, we have a new heritage as well.

You see, where life in the Spirit is to flow from, that's the question. And Paul's argument for battling against the flesh is because we have this new identity. The passage is about identity. Now, what we find is, as we continue on, our passage, is that it's critical to living life in the Spirit. What is critical to this is winning the battle of our minds.

And this is why verse 5 is so pivotal in our text today. This is how we understand how gospel transformation actually happens. Notice that there's one aspect of who we are that dictates how we will live. Verse 5 says, 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.

The Spirit is at work to renew our minds, and this is why our minds are the battlefield. This is where the battle is either won or lost. Now, the word live here in the text is really important because it helps us understand what we're doing in our minds. Live actually means that we're giving permission for something to enter, that we're desiring to be present with this in many ways, what it's saying is that the mind is the gatekeeper to what will either bring life and peace or death and destruction to our bodies. That it always starts here.

Once it's already in, it's too late. It's why we have to guard our minds if we want to live for life and peace.

I don't know if you've ever noticed that when you find yourself doing something wrong, it's normally because you fail to have your guard up in your mind. You know, maybe you become distracted, maybe you're tired. These are normally when this happens, right?

You relax. And this is when those thoughts enter. This is when we allow entry for the flesh to actually have an influence over us.

I think most of our decisions that we are ashamed of happen because we allow ourselves to be distracted. This is why it's so important that we're vigilant. In fact, you've probably noticed that when you choose to sin, many times we do our best not to think about our sin in this moment, right? We try to, like, put it to the side or not use our minds. We turn our minds off when we're in our sin.

That's because our flesh, it doesn't want us to think clearly about what we're really doing. And maybe this is critical to understanding how we can win the battle of our mind because maybe we should consider memorizing verse six to help us think clearly about what we want to set our mind to in these moments. Look at verse six with me. Verse six says, for to set the mind on the flesh is death, but to set the mind on the spirit is life and peace.

Now, I don't know about you, but I would rather have life and peace than death. And when I think clearly about that, that seems like it would be easy to make that decision, doesn't it? You know, Maggie, she also has another tendency. While we're gone, she doesn't just eat trash. Unfortunately, she loves to eat chocolate too.

Now, I can kind of understand that, right? I mean, we can understand why she would go after the chocolate. In fact, Franz, he actually gave me some chocolate he had gotten from Africa. And I was really looking forward to eating this. And Maggie got in my bag, she ate all this chocolate.

We came home and she looked like she was about to explode because of all the chocolate streaming through her veins.

Maggie loves chocolate.

Unfortunately, what Maggie doesn't know is that every time she eats chocolate, it's killing her. Because chocolate is poisonous for a dog.

Now, we can give Maggie a pass, right? I mean, she's got a small brain, but God, he's given us the ability to reason and decide if something is good or bad. And it seems really clear there what choosing the flesh brings. Seems really clear there what choosing the Spirit brings. And the question we must ask ourselves when sin comes knocking at the door is whether we want to let death and destruction into our house.

Because what we're really saying when we choose the flesh is, oh, flesh, come on in, please destroy my family.

You know, I felt like I needed a little death today. Thanks for being here. Sounds stupid, right? To think in that way. But if we really think clearly about what the flesh is bringing, then maybe that is where the battle is won.

We have to be aware that sin is deceiving, that our flesh is deceiving. It likes to make us think that we can avoid the consequences. But here's the thing. Death and destruction will always follow when the flesh is at work.

So I could give you something simple but yet maybe profound to utilize in the battlefield of your mind. Two words. Simply think.

Think about where these actions will take you. Teach yourself not to react in the moment. Because that's what we're doing, right? When someone cuts us off in traffic or we have an opportunity, or we feel like we have a window, we're home alone, right? We think, okay, I'm going to turn my mind off or I'm just going to react in this moment.

And what happens when we do that? Normally, the things that come out aren't what we want to come out. We do the exact opposite of what we want to do. Like Paul says, right?

So teach yourself to think, to be proactive, to guard your mind in these moments and to think clearly about your sin. Think before that happens, before you're out on the road and someone doesn't treat you right, someone offends you, how you should respond in that moment.

Recognize that you no longer have to be attracted to sin, to the law of sin and death, but because of the Spirit, you can actually live differently because those in Christ have the Spirit inside us that is helping us with this. And here's the amazing thing. Because God hasn't just given us a tool to help us live in this way, but he's given us Himself to help us, that the Spirit is at work in us. The Spirit is at work in us to change our willpower, that he can actually change what our willpower is.

We are indwelt by the living God to no longer do what pleases our own flesh, but to do what pleases God. Verses 7 and 8 say, for the mind that is set on flesh is hostile to God, for it does not submit to God's law. Indeed it cannot. Those who are in the flesh cannot please God. Before Christ, we were incapable of pleasing God.

We could only go after the flesh. But because of we are under a new law, we can live in a different way and notice that Jesus fulfilling the law and becoming sin for us, what it really did. In verses 9 through 11, he says, you, however, are not of 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.

But if Christ is in you, although the body is dead because of sin, the Spirit is life because of righteousness. And if the Spirit of Him who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, he who raised Christ from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through His Spirit who dwells in you. That's an amazing truth, isn't it? And what we find is that Paul again brings us assurance that we belong to Christ, that the Spirit is alive in us. And it is this Spirit alive in us that gives us the ability to please God.

Now, this is conditional on whether we will allow him to work in us. We have to set our minds. We have to renew our minds for this purpose. The Spirit has power to change what we love if we'll only allow him to renew our minds. I love how Paul says this here in a couple chapters In Romans 12, he says, I appeal to you, therefore, brothers, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship.

And he says this, do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind. That by testing, you may discern what. What is the will of God? What is good and perfect, acceptable and perfect. That is the Spirit at work in us.

There is this relationship between the mind and body that is meant to transform us. Did you catch that? In those verses we have the body and the mind. It's really interesting what Paul actually does here because now he talks about the Soma and the Sarks. Kind of sounds like a Christian band, doesn't it?

The Soma and the Sarks. So he's been talking about the Sarks the whole time. This is the flesh, the word for flesh in our text. He's been talking about it for. For a couple chapters now.

The Word is Sarks. But then all of a sudden, when he talks about the mortal bodies that are going to be brought back to life, he switches to soma and he talks about the soma. I think that we really have to understand that, that there is this link between our body and our mind that is destined for life. And what we have to understand is that our Sarks, our flesh is destined for death. It will not survive.

And notice that our bodies, these are this physical part of us that will be given life.

And this is why we must break free from the flesh, because the flesh is not part of our destiny. And the assurance that Paul gives us is that we can be sure that the Spirit will raise our mortal bodies because this very Spirit is alive in us, that it guarantees that death cannot hold us because it is in us. And this is exactly what Paul says in another letter in Ephesians 1:13, 14, he says in him, you also, when you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation, believed in him and were sealed with the promised Holy Spirit. You were sealed. This is nothing can change this.

And this Holy Spirit is the guarantee of our inheritance until we acquire possession of it to the praise of his glory. This is how the Spirit is working inside us. Now here's the exciting thing that Paul wants us to know, that we can be sure of that not only does the Spirit of God seal our salvation when we believe, but he guarantees that God is greater than our flesh, that he is greater than death.

And Paul's final encouragement to us is this, that the Spirit is at work in us to bear witness that we are his heritage. And I love these last verses as we look at this, that we are his heritage now. Verses 12 through 14. So then, brothers, we are debtors. Not to the flesh, to live according to the flesh.

For if you live according to the flesh, you will die. But if by the Spirit you put to death the deeds of the body, you will live. And then what does Paul say? For all who are led by the Spirit of God are sons of God. Now, literally, what that says is, are sons and daughters of God.

That we are indebted to the Spirit and called to be servants of the Spirit, because by grace we are no longer slaves to sin, but we are now known right now in the heavenlies as sons and daughters of God. And this is Paul's plea to allow the Spirit to testify that you are now children of God. And look at what we have received in Christ. Verse 15 says, for you did not receive a spirit of slavery to fall back into fear. But you received the spirit of adoption as sons and daughters by whom we cry Abba.

Father. That is an intimate term. It's a term of reconciliation.

Why would we go back to the flesh when the God of the universe wants to call us Papa? And this is the amazing thing about the gospel of Jesus Christ and the salvation that we receive because we receive this spirit of adoption, that we are adopted as sons and daughters of God. Now, many of you know or have heard of my, my nephews, Victor and Gabe. This is their family.

Yeah, it's a little emotional because when I look at that picture, that was the day that Gabe, the little one sitting there in my sister in law's lap, Jess. That was the day that he had to go back to the public orphanage.

And I look at that picture and you look at the faces of my brother and my sister in law and Victor, who has also been adopted.

And then you look at Gabe's face and he's still in the process of adoption, but you look at his face and he's smiling. And even though his adoption here in China, they live in China, hasn't been legalized by Chinese law, you can see on that little boy's face that he has a baba and a mama, that nothing can separate him from their love.

And that's what our God does.

He takes us as his own children.

It's an amazing thing that God would adopt us as sons and daughters. It's unfathomable that part of God's plan is to save his people through adoption. And it reminds us that he will never let us go, that Paul's encouragement to us is to come live for what we're destined for, that God's plan for us is royal.

You know, Paul says that this is what the Spirit wants to bear witness to, that the Spirit himself bears witness with our Spirit, that we are children of God. And notice what Paul ends our passage with.

It's this truth that the Spirit bears witness that we're not only the children of God, but that we are also heirs of God. He says in verse 17, if children, then heirs, heirs of God and fellow heirs with Christ, provided we suffer with him in order that we may also be glorified with him. That our inheritance is assured as we suffer with Him. Now the reality is some will suffer better than others, just like in the Old Testament. I think we see this as well.

And we see all these children, Abraham or Isaac, Jacob, they all received an inheritance, right? But some of them received different inheritances. It was based on their obedience and their Faithfulness.

And we too will be awarded blessings and honor for being faithful sons and daughters. And this is why it's important to understand what Paul is charging us, encouraging us to. What he's encouraging us to is that we would suffer with that we would suffer. Well, you might ask yourself, how do we know whether we're doing this, whether we're allowing the Spirit to work in us? Well, maybe we should ask ourselves the question, what is following after us?

Are we adding to others condemnation? Are we encouraging others to renew their minds? Or are we contributing to their destruction? Is death and destruction following us or life and peace?

To suffer with is to hold together with the one who is holding all things together. Colossians 1:17 20 says it this way. And he is before all things, and in him all things hold together. He is the head of the body of the church. He is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead, that in everything he might be preeminent.

For in him all the fullness of God was pleased to dwell, and through him to reconcile to himself all things, whether on earth or in heaven, making peace by the blood of his cross. May we desire to hold captive every thought, to renew our minds, to desire that our our willpower would change, to reconcile every action we take. And may we remember that the Spirit has power to transform us as we allow him to work in us. We're going to sing just in a second this song the Battle Belongs. I invite the worship team to come forward now.

And it's a reminder of who the battle really belongs to. I hope we'll sing this together. Let me pray as we end. Lord, we thank you for your spirit that leads us.

Lord, we thank you for your work. God, we thank you that your son came, that you sent him for the purpose of giving us this ability to be righteous, not because of what we have done, because of what you have done. Lord, I pray that this identity and this assurance that you are at work in us would transform our lives. Lord, will we be a people that is not only unashamed, but a people of life and peace that bring life and peace everywhere we go?

We know you can do this. Lord, we thank you for what you've done. In your name we pray. Amen.

I hope you remember this week that the battle belongs to God, that we can live unashamed by the power of the Spirit. Thank you once again for coming today. And we invite you to, if you haven't been here before, we have a coffee fellowship. Maybe get to know someone that you don't know once again. We're thankful that you're here.

Thank you for coming. I just wanted to leave you with these verses from Ephesians 3, 20 and 21 as we leave now, to him who is able to do far more abundantly than all that we ask or think according to the power at work within us, to him be the glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, forever and ever. Amen.

Amen. Thank you so much for coming. We hope you have a great day.