“Real Change”
Romans 8:1-13
November 18, 2007
Dr. Jerry Nelson
The story of the book of Romans, like the story of the
human race from very early on, is the story of a sin and death problem and
God’s remedy.
Paul delivers a sustained and convincing case that everyone (without exception) is both sinful (chapter 5) and sins (chapters 1-3) and stands liable to the wrath of God.
1:18 “The wrath of God is
being revealed from heaven against all the godlessness and wickedness of men…”
It doesn’t take an historian, a sociologist or a psychologist to be
familiar with the devastating personal, relational, international and even
ecological consequences of that sin in our lives and our world.
To us, sometimes it looks like life but it is death.
Whether it is mind-altering alcohol or other drugs, whether it is
sensuality and lust, whether it is pride and greed, whether it is anger and
hostility, whether it is fear and despair or a host of other alluring or
driving passions, it leads to destruction and death.
Proverbs 14:12 “There is a way that seems right to a man,
but in the end it leads to death.”
Every day I see it in myself.
And nearly every day I see it in the lives of others.
I see the effects of it as it moves to destroy marriages, families, and
the very souls of those who refuse to put it to death, who refuse to check it
early, to nip it in the bud.
Romans 6:23 “For the wages of sin is
death,
Romans 8:6 “The mind of
sinful man is death,
The good news, the gospel, is the story of God’s remedy for our sin problem.
But
God’s goal is not just to free us from the eternal consequences of sin; his
goal is a people who live differently.
God’s objective is not only justification but also reclamation – reclaiming what is rightfully his, and restoring us to the true life he intended when he created us – a life in relationship with him and each other.
Listen
to God describe it:
· 1 Peter 2:9 “you are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people belonging to God, that you may declare the praises of him who called you out of darkness into his wonderful light
·
Ephesians 5:25 “Christ loved the church and
gave himself up for her to make her holy…”
·
Matthew
1:21 Jesus came “because he
will save his people from their sins.”
·
Galatians 4:19
“I am again in the pains of
childbirth until Christ is formed in you,
But “how?” we ask.
“How can I live the way the way Jesus wants me to live?”
“I know myself, and I know the struggle with sin that I fight so often.
And
it seems that too often, I fail.
I’m speaking today to the person who wants to follow Jesus; the person who is a Christian.
Some
of you may call yourselves Christians but if there is no desire to follow
Jesus, no heart for God, no concern about sin, then it is a different sermon
you need; it is the sermon from chapter 2 of Romans or from the last half of
chapter 6, two weeks ago.
Step by step in Romans, Paul has been leading up to this 8th chapter.
In
the first 2-½ chapters he makes the case that everyone is sinful and separated
from a righteous God
In chapters 3 and 4 he demonstrates that a relationship with a holy God is by grace alone through faith alone in the person and cross work of God’s Son, Jesus.
In Christ alone, the righteousness of God, that righteousness which we must have, is credited to us.
In
chapter 5 Paul begins to describe the new life that is ours in Christ.
Then in chapters 6, 7 & 8, among other issues, Paul will describe the “why” and the “how” of living out that new life in Christ.
You do not have to be a Christian very long before you realize that becoming a Christian doesn’t end the struggle with sin.
As
we saw last week from Romans 7, even the Apostle Paul struggled with it.
Romans 7:15 “I do not understand what I do. For what I want to do I do not do, but what I hate I do.”
In that chapter Paul went on to give us insight into this struggle:
Romans 7:22-23 “For in my inner being I delight in God’s law; but I see another law at work in the members of my body, waging war against the law of my mind…”
Two “laws,” two powerful influences are at work in us.
First does Christ wherein we desire to love and serve God give the new life to us.
Second is our old sinful nature inherited from Adam whereby we still desire to serve ourselves.
Chapter 7 provides a big dose of realism to our thinking.
As I said, becoming a Christian doesn’t end the struggle with sin.
And we all know it.
And the truth is that even on our best days any goodness we think or do is tainted.
Until the day you die, sin will never give up trying to
destroy you.
But understand that Paul’s realism is not meant to discourage.
Chapter
7 is sandwiched between chapters 6 and 8.
All three chapters must be understood together.
And together they describe a great
expectancy, yes, an expectancy tempered by realism, but expectancy nonetheless.
(Packer, Keep in
Step with the Spirit, 130-131)
And so now we go back to the original question, “If sin is still so powerful around me and even in me, how can I live the way Jesus wants me to?”
Chapter 8 will pull the pieces together to show us the way.
READ 8:1-13
I
believe it is the 13th verse that summarizes the thesis of this
section of Paul’s letter: “If you live according
to the sinful nature, you will die; but if by the Spirit you put to death the
misdeeds of the body, you will live…”
As I have already said, this issue of Christian living is no incidental matter.
Just as elsewhere in the Bible, so here Paul shows the great and eternal
consequences of two ways of living.
One leads
to death, the other to life.
Listen to God through Moses, centuries
earlier: Deuteronomy 30:15-18 “See, I set before you today
life and prosperity, death and destruction.
16 For I command you today to love the LORD your God, to walk in his ways, and
to keep his commands, decrees and laws; then you will live… But if your heart
turns away and you are not obedient, and if you are drawn away to bow down to
other gods and worship them, 18 I declare to you this day that you
will certainly be destroyed.”
Or as the New Testament puts it in Hebrews 12:14, “Without holiness, no one will see the Lord.”
In
Romans 6, among other important points,
Paul has made a clear declaration that if there is no fruit it means there
is no root.
You fatally deceive
yourself if you think you are a Christian and there is no evidence of it.
But I won’t cover that ground again today.
Listen to Dr. Mean’s
sermon from two weeks ago and also see my notes on that passage at
SoundLiving.org.
What Romans 8 is describing is “sanctification.”
According to the
Westminster Shorter Catechism (Q.35): “Sanctification is the work of God's free
grace, whereby we are renewed in the whole (person) after the image of God, and
are enabled more and more to die unto sin, and live unto righteousness."
Consistent with the rest of the Bible,
Romans 8 teaches that sanctification, growth in holiness, is just that, it is
growth; it is progressive.
Yes, we have our ups and downs, as Paul described in Romans 7 but over time God works his gracious sanctifying influence in us so that we grow to be more like Jesus.
To understand how that happens, I want you
to consider 5 ideas with me:
The basis of sanctification, of holy living,
the motivation,
the power,
the responsibility and
the result of holy living.
1. First, the basis of
holy living is justification:
It is no accident that chapter 8 begins with the words “Therefore, there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus…”
I might have thought we moved beyond that idea back in chapter 3:
·
3:24
“Justified freely by his grace through the redemption that came by
Christ Jesus.
·
3:26 “Justifies those
who have faith in Jesus.
· 3:28 “Justified by faith apart from observing the law
But here in the context of living the Christian life, Paul brings it back.
Why? Because before I take one step in trying to be obedient to Jesus, I must remember that I never could and never will be able to earn my relationship to him by my efforts.
I remember that I am saved by grace not by my efforts.
I did not gain God’s favor by my goodness and I will not retain his favor by my goodness.
He loves me and frees me from sin’s condemnation solely because of his choice and grace.
Holiness is not the source of my relationship with God;
it is the result.
I am no longer under condemnation.
I must always remember that!
But there is another way in which justification is the basis of our sanctification, our holy living.
We read in Romans 8:2 “because through Christ Jesus the law of the Spirit of life set me free from the law of sin and death.”
That’s
what the early part of chapter 6 was about.
Romans 6:3,5-6 “Don’t you know that all
of us who were baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death? …5 If we have been united with him like this in his death, we will
certainly also be united with him in his resurrection. 6 For we know that our old self
was crucified with him so that the body of sin might be done away with, that we
should no longer be slaves to sin…”
When
Jesus died, those who would belong to him were IN him.
When he died, we died.
When he conquered sin and death on the cross and resurrection, we
conquered it because we were connected to him.
As surely as Jesus is freed from sin’s ultimate power, I am freed from sin’s power to completely dominate me so that I can, not simply “may” but “can,” live an increasingly holy life.
Or as Paul says it in Romans 8:4 “In order that the righteous requirements of the law might be fully met
in us…”
Now Paul says in Romans 8:9 “You,
however, are controlled not by the sinful nature but by
the Spirit...”
Charles Wesley helps us sing this truth with these words:
“He breaks the power of cancelled sin;
He sets the prisoner free.”
When I died in Christ, something changed:
Before I
became a Christian, I could not, not sin.
Anything
I did, even my best efforts, my most generous deeds, were not for God’s glory.
Now, by God’s grace, I can, not sin; I can serve God.
Not yet perfectly, but I can.
“In Jesus” that is now possible.
One man wrote, When
God draws us to himself, he “implants desires that were not there before:
desire for God, for holiness, and for the hallowing and glorifying of God's
name in this world; desire to pray, worship, love, serve, honor, and please
God; desire to show love and bring benefit to others.” J.I.
Packer from article on “Sanctification” in Concise Theology: A Guide to
Historic Christian Beliefs
Those desires weren’t there before.
Mark it down
Christian, you are no longer under condemnation and the power that your old
sinful nature had to utterly control you has been broken.
Those aren’t just possibilities; they are facts!
And they were accomplished at the cross.
The basis of holy living is justification in Christ.
2. But let’s see
next, the motivation for holy living.
Romans 8:5 “Those who live
according to the sinful nature have their minds set on what that nature
desires; but those who live in accordance with the Spirit have their minds set
on what the Spirit desires.
Holy living comes from a mind set on what the Spirit of God desires.
The motivation for holy living
is God’s love: I am motivated by the love of God and love for God
Holy living is not about sin-management.
It
is not about keeping myself from doing what I really most want to
do.
No,
when I stop long enough to think, I realize this thing that is so tempting me,
is NOT what I most want to do.
God has placed within me a new set of desires – a mind set on the Spirit.
Or as God said it years before: Jeremiah 31:33 “This is the covenant I will make with the house of Israel after that time,” declares the LORD. “I will put my law in their minds and write it on their hearts. I will be their God, and they will be my people.
I
have a new nature now, a new predisposition; it is a heart that wants to love
and serve God.
What I now most want to do is please God.
Let me
give you an example: When you are sorely tempted to sin against your own child,
or you do sin against them, what often comes to mind?
I love this child; I want the best for them.
What is it that motivates you to stop and to do what is right?
It is not just some abstract idea of right and wrong but your heart – you love them.
This is, to me, a powerful motivation in holy living.
When sin tempts, whether from within or without, whether from the world, the flesh or the devil (and I often can’t discern the difference), I have the opportunity to ask myself, “How this will make my God and others feel?”
I love him.
Holiness is not merely the absence of sin but holiness is, positively, a devotion to God and, negatively, it is a resistance movement.
A
resistance against any sin that wars against my love for God and others.
I need to be constantly reminded of two truths:
I
am no longer under condemnation: I have been set free from the absolute
controlling power of sin.
AND
I am loved by God and desire more than anything else to love him in return.
Over 200 years ago Thomas Chalmers of the Free Church of Scotland wrote a book which title is instructive in itself: The Expulsive Power of a New Affection.
In further explanation he wrote, “There are two ways in which (we) may attempt to displace from the human heart its love of (some sin) - either by (proudly prevailing upon the heart to) simply… withdraw its regards from an object that is not worthy of it; or, by setting forth another object, even God, as more worthy of its attachment, so as that the heart shall be prevailed upon not to resign an old affection, which shall have nothing to succeed it, but to exchange an old affection for a new one… The former method is altogether incompetent and ineffectual and the latter method alone will suffice for the rescue and recovery of the heart from the wrong affection that domineers over it.
Thomas Chalmers “The expulsive power of a new
Affection” (19th C. Free
Church of Scotland preacher) http://www.monergism.com/directory/link_category/Sanctification/
Only
a new heart for God will truly make us able to change.
When I think of many of our attempts at changing our
behavior, it seems that too often it is simply a sin-management issue - a
behavior modification program.
What
if, instead of pulling ourselves up by our own bootstraps, we were to consider
the love of God and our love for God and allow the “expulsive power of a
new affection” to motivate us to truly desire to change.
The basis of holy living is justification.
The motivation for holy living is the love of God and for God.
3. Now the power for holy living is the Holy Spirit.
At least 10 times in these 13 verses Paul refers to the Holy Spirit of God.
He
anchors his teaching about holy living in the person and power of
the Spirit.
In
verses 7-8 Paul spoke of those who are not Christians.
He wrote, “the sinful mind is hostile to God. It does not
submit to God’s law, nor can it do so. 8 Those controlled by the
sinful nature cannot please God.
And he adds in the latter part of verse 9: “And if anyone does not have
the Spirit of Christ, he does not belong to Christ.
Now Paul’s point is that YOU are
not like that!
Romans 8:9 “You,
however, are controlled not by the sinful nature but by the Spirit…”
In Romans
5 Paul then describes some of the benefits of this new relationship with God.
The most significant
one he notes is in Romans 5:5 “God has poured out his love into our
hearts by the Holy Spirit, whom he has given us.”
God has given us his
Holy Spirit.
So here
in Romans 8:9 Paul is not challenging you to question whether you are a
Christian – you are a Christian by grace through faith.
He
is here asserting that one who is a Christian has the Holy Spirit and
conversely one who does not have the Holy Spirit doesn’t belong to Christ and
by inference in this context, doesn’t have the powerful influence of the Holy
Spirit to live for Christ.
But you do have the Spirit and
thus you do not have to live any longer under the absolute control of
sin because you have the powerful influence of the Spirit.
The Holy Spirit of God dwells within me, predisposing me and empowering me to holiness.
Romans 8:4 “in order that the
righteous requirements of the law might be fully met in us, who do not live
according to the sinful nature but according to the Spirit.
Here is the truth you may claim: The same power that raised Jesus from the dead is the power that is now available and working in you.
Again,
this isn’t just a possibility; it is a fact.
The next time we face temptation, we must realize that we are not being asked to take the temptation on in our own strength but we are asked to believe, to place our faith in the Spirit of God, to trust that he will enable us.
4. Having said that the power, to refuse
wrong and live right, comes from the Holy Spirit, I must quickly add, fourthly,
that the responsibility for holy living is ours:
Romans 8:12-13 “Therefore, brothers, we have an
obligation—but it is not to the sinful nature, to live according to it.13 For if you live according to the sinful nature, you will die; but if by
the Spirit you put to death the misdeeds of the body, you will live…”
Does this sound like a contradiction to what I said about the power belonging to the Holy Spirit? It is not.
The same dependent action is being called for here that is
being called for when you initially trust in Christ for salvation.
The Spirit of God grants us faith
to believe but we must believe.
So here the Spirit plants within us new desires, a mind set
on the Spirit, and the Spirit empowers us, but we must respond, we must act.
This is so consistent with the rest of
Scripture:
Hebrews 12:1 “Let us throw off everything that
hinders and the sin that so easily entangles, and let us run with perseverance
the race marked out for us.”
Ephesians 4:22-24
“You were
taught, with regard to your former way of life, to put off your old self, which
is being corrupted by its deceitful desires; 23 to be made new in
the attitude of your minds; 24 and to put on the new self, created
to be like God in true righteousness and holiness. 23 to be made new
in the attitude of your minds; 24 and to put on the new self,
created to be like God in true righteousness and holiness.
What we see is that
the Spirit works, but he works in us to act.
·
We want the
Spirit to take away any desire to sin.
·
We want the
Spirit to remove all temptation.
·
We want the
Spirit to pick us up and turn us around when we are tempted.
But
according to the Bible, the Spirit of God works through means and he calls on
us to respond to the means by the ability he gives us.
Earlier and at
other times I have called it “dependent action.”
Listen to the Bible describe the means that
God uses to enable us.
1 Corinthians
10:13 “No temptation has seized you except what is common
to man. And God is faithful; he will not let you be tempted beyond what you can
bear. But when you are tempted, he will also provide a way out so that you can
stand up under it.”
When temptation first strikes, God’s Spirit is there to remind us of his provision and call us to obedience.
Yes, it is true that at that
point we have a decision to make – do we want his help or do want more
what is tempting us.
He will provide a way out, but
we must take it.
Jesus gives us prayer.
He taught us to pray: Matthew
6:13 “And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from the
evil one.’
Do we realize each
day the danger we are in and do we call out to the Lord to protect and deliver
us?
And do
we pray this prayer not after the fact but long before.
Jesus gives us his Word.
King David
declared, Psalm 119:11 “I have hidden your word in my heart that
I might not sin against you.”
Hear God’s promise
in Isaiah 55:11 “My word that goes out from my mouth… will
not return to me empty, but will accomplish what I
desire and achieve the purpose for which I sent it.”
In God’s
description of our warfare against temptation, the only offensive weapons he
mentions are prayer and the Word of God, which he calls “The Sword of the
Spirit.”
Are you filling
your mind with the Word of God?
And lastly I mention that Jesus gives us his
church.
Colossians 3:16 “Let the
word of Christ dwell in you richly as you teach and admonish one another
with all wisdom…”
God never expected us to make it on our own.
We must have Christian friends (true friends) who come alongside to talk, pray, ask questions, expecting success and challenging failure.
We all need people who are fighting for our souls.
Holiness does not come automatically or by praying a prayer to receive a “second work of grace,” in the baptism of the Spirit, or even by praying to be filled with the Holy Spirit.
Holiness comes through
dependent action – a choice to use the means of grace that God has given us
as we depend on the Spirit to build our resistance to sin and our love for
holiness.
J.I. Packer wrote, “Holiness teaching that skips over disciplined
persistence in the well-doing that forms holy habits is thus weak; habit
forming is the Spirit’s ordinary way of leading us on to holiness.” (Packer, Keep in Step
with the Spirit, 109)
A critical activity in this “dependent action” is to “put to death the misdeeds of the body.”
Old John Owen summed it up accurately and
pointedly: “Be killing sin or
it will be killing you."
We cannot be passive about sin in our lives.
When it rears its ugly head we must act early and ruthlessly.
John Piper has done his usual good job at describing this activity of “killing sin.”
I refer you to the notes online with my sermon.
5. I mention 5th
and last that the result of holy living is conflict, increasing Christlikness and
eventual glory.
First of all, as
we saw last week, living the Christian life will bring conflict.
That old sinful nature inherited
from Adam will be with us until we die.
8:7 “The sinful mind is hostile to God. It does not submit to God’s law…”
Be realistic about
it, holiness is a life-long battle.
But secondly and
at the same time realize that by the power of the Spirit, we can increasingly
become like Christ.
Galatians 6:22-23
“The fruit of
the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control…”
That’s
Gods promise to you.
You may struggle
deeply with some particular sin but know that God is at work in you.
I offer this tentatively: Don’t let defeat in one area keep you from attending to the means of grace that may build the very resistance you need in that troubling area.
Certainly
do not allow the enemy of your soul to convince you that you are under
condemnation when you are not, that you are hopeless when you are not, and that
you are powerless when you are not.
Now thirdly realize that the result of holy living is eventual glory.
Romans 8:10-11 “But if the Spirit of him that raised up
Jesus from the dead dwell in you, he that raised up Christ from the dead shall
also quicken your mortal bodies by his Spirit that dwells in you.”
There is coming a day when the battle with sin will be over, victory
will be complete – that day is when Jesus comes again and with resurrected
bodies we will live with him and his people forever.
Revelation 21:4 “And God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes; and there shall be no
more death, neither sorrow, nor crying, neither shall there be any more pain:
for the former things are passed away.
The old sin nature, the world, and the devil that caused those centuries
of devastation in humanity and the rest of the world will together be finished.
Romans 8:1-4
“Therefore, there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus,
because through Christ Jesus the law of the Spirit of life set me free from the
law of sin and death. For what the law was powerless to do in that it was
weakened by the sinful nature, God did by sending his own Son in the likeness
of sinful man to be a sin offering. And so he condemned sin in sinful man, in
order that the righteous requirements of the law might be fully met in us, who
do not live according to the sinful nature but according to the Spirit.”
The
following notes contain:
1. Comments on Romans 8:1-17
2.
Sinclair Ferguson on Christian Spirituality…
3. J.I,
Packer on “Sanctification - The Christian Grows in Grace from Concise Theology)
4. Robert Brinsmead on “Justification by
Faith and the Current Religious Scene
Comments on Romans 8:1-17
1 Therefore, there is now no condemnation
for those who are in Christ Jesus,
Paul will explain that in verses 2-4.
See Romans 8:1 sermon from Spurgeon – the basis of all of
Christian living is my confidence in Jesus – I am no longer under condemnation.
2 because through Christ Jesus the law of
the Spirit of life set me free from the law of sin and death.
The “law of the Spirit of life” is that
powerful influence the Spirit now exerts in the life of the Christian.
The “law of sin and death” is that
powerful influence that the sinful nature still wields (Romans 7:14-25).
But notice which power is greater! God!!
7:25 ended with “So then, I myself in my mind am a slave to God’s law, but in the
sinful nature a slave to the law of sin.”
How
can Paul say both 7:25 and 8:2?
How can I be both slave and free at the
same time?
In this life, before the resurrection, we
still have a powerful sinful influence (we call it the sin nature) that is sold
out to sin – a slave to sin. But when we are regenerated by the Holy Spirit,
God gives to us another even more powerful influence. It is so powerful that Paul
can use such strong language, as we are set free. While as an unbeliever Paul
had no power to resist sin effectively, now as a believer he has the power of
the Spirit of God. As we have said in reference to Romans 6, before we had no
power to not sin. Now we have the power to not sin. It doesn’t mean that we
won’t sin, but now we have the power to not sin. That is radically different
than before. The believer can now revolt against the controlling power of sin.
He can now fight back. (Cranfield, 175).
“Though
the hold of his old master (the sinful nature we inherited from Adam) is not
yet destroyed, his new, his rightful, Master has a firm hold upon him, and has
claimed him for Himself and will not let go His claim… And we know that,
powerful though sin still is over us and in us and capable of worsting us again
and again, the power of the Spirit is far stronger and must triumph at the
end…” (Cranfield, 175-6)
Paul says in verse 2 that it is something
that Christ has done which made the enormous change. What he did is explained in verses 3 and 4.
3 For what the law was powerless to do in
that it was weakened by the sinful nature, God did by sending his own Son in
the likeness of sinful man to be a sin offering. And so he condemned sin in
sinful man, 4 in order that the righteous requirements of the law
might be fully met in us, who do not live according to the sinful nature but
according to the Spirit.
The
Law of God (Mosaic Law) was unable to, in fact was never intended to, free us
from condemnation. One of it’s purpose, among others, as we have seen earlier,
was to show us how desperately sinful and helpless we are.
But what the Law could not do, God did by
sending his son to “condemn sin in sinful man. “
“Condemn” both the divine disapproval of
and the punishment for sin
In verse 3 we see that Christ became sin
(1 Cor 5:21) or a sin offering (the sacrifice) for us.
“in sinful man” translates the word
“flesh.”
So is the “flesh” Christ’s flesh so that
it means Christ bore the sinfulness and punishment of sin in his own body? 1
Peter 2:24 “He himself bore our sins in his
body on the tree, so that we might die to sins and live for righteousness; by
his wounds you have been healed.
OR
does “flesh” mean “sinful man” in that Christ’s death satisfied the divine
demands against “sinful man’s” sins?
Romans 5:8 “But God demonstrates his own love for us in
this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us.”
Either way Christ fully satisfied divine
disapproval and punishment against us. No longer will we face condemnation
because Christ faced it for us.
But
Paul goes on to say that not only did Christ’s death deal with the demands of
divine justice but God/Christ did this 4 in order that the
righteous requirements of the law might be fully met in us, who do not live
according to the sinful nature but according to the Spirit.
Yes, I believe that Christ perfectly obeyed
and fulfilled the law so that in him we can be said to be perfect already – a
positional sanctification BUT I don’t think that’s what this verse is
describing.
Here I believe Paul is saying the result of
Christ’s cross work is that we might meet the requirements of the law.
We have been saved so that we may be saved
from the controlling power of sin in our lives.
Or to say it differently, that we might
live increasingly holy lives.
Christ’s death for us was never meant to
only give us a ticket to heaven, but was always meant to sanctify us.
God saves us to make us holy. And although
it will only be completed in our resurrected bodies, when Jesus comes again,
God has begun that process now.
How this increasing righteous living takes
place is by living according to the Spirit rather than according to the sinful
nature.
It is a matter of whose voice you respond
to – your Savior’s or your old sinful nature.
In the language of chapter 6 it is the
question of who you yield to, sin or God.
5 Those who live according to the sinful
nature have their minds set on what that nature desires; but those who live in
accordance with the Spirit have their minds set on what the Spirit
desires.
This is a matter of whose side you are
choosing to take – the Spirit’s side or your sinful nature’s side.
6 The mind of sinful man is death, but the
mind controlled by the Spirit is life and peace;
We must remember that a mind set on
responding to the powerful influence of the sinful nature within us is death.
And a mind set on responding to the more
powerful influence of the Spirit is life and peace.
7 the sinful mind is hostile to God. It
does not submit to God’s law, nor can it do so.
8 Those controlled by the sinful nature
cannot please God.
Why does setting our minds to do sinful
behaviors lead to death?
Because it demonstrates hostility to God,
it refuses God’s authority and cannot please God.
9 You, however, are controlled not by the
sinful nature but by the Spirit, if the Spirit of God lives in you. And if
anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ, he does not belong to Christ.
Now the crucial fact, the determining
factor, or the essential truth: you are not like verses 7-8 describe, you are
Back in Romans 3, 4, and 5 Paul has made
it clear that a relationship with God is by grace through faith not works.
By trusting Jesus to do what he says will
do, his righteousness is credited to us.
In Romans 5 Paul then describes some of
the benefits of this new relationship with God. We have peace with God, we have
access to the full grace of God and God grants to us his Holy Spirit. Romans
5:5 “God has poured out his love into our hearts by the Holy Spirit,
whom he has given us.”
So here
in 8:9 Paul is not challenging you to question whether you are a Christian –
that is by faith.
He is
asserting that one who is a Christian has the Holy Spirit and conversely one
who does not have the Holy Spirit doesn’t belong to Christ and by inference in
this context, doesn’t have the powerful influence of the Holy Spirit to live
for Christ.
But you
do have the Spirit AND THUS you do not have to live any longer under the
control of sin because you have the powerful influence of the Spirit.
I see 8:10-11 as something of an
explanation out of the main flow of the discussion. Paul will digress to speak
to how it is that the believer still has a mortal body and what will happen in
the future.
10 But if Christ is in you, your body is
dead because of sin, yet your spirit is alive because of righteousness.
You are a Christian, and Christ is in you
in he person of his Spirit.
It is
true that your body is dead because of sin, you will suffer physical death
(unless Jesus comes before then) but your spirit is alive or the Spirit is life
to you because of righteousness (the righteousness you have in Christ).
11 And if the Spirit of him who raised
Jesus from the dead is living in you, he who raised Christ from the dead will also
give life to your mortal bodies through his Spirit, who lives in you.
And furthermore, speaking of your body’s
death, you know that since the Spirit lives in you, even your body will be
resurrected when Jesus comes again.
Now back to the main point:
12 Therefore, brothers, we have an
obligation—but it is not to the sinful nature, to live according to it. 13
For if you live according to the sinful nature, you will die; but if by the
Spirit you put to death the misdeeds of the body, you will live,
Paul starts this thought I saying you
aren’t indebted or obligated to your old sinful nature to live that way – in
fact, knowing where that leads (verse 13a) you owe it nothing but to kill it.
Instead, implied from verse 12 is that
our obligation is to the Spirit to live according to the Spirit.
But instead of saying that, Paul again
shows the great and eternal consequences of two ways of life: “if you live
according to the sinful nature, you will die; but if by the Spirit you put to
death the misdeeds of the body, you will live…”
Deuteronomy 30:15-18 “See, I set before you today life and prosperity, death and
destruction. 16 For I
command you today to love the LORD your
God, to walk in his ways, and to keep his commands, decrees and laws; then you
will live and increase, and the LORD your
God will bless you in the land you are entering to possess. 17 But
if your heart turns away and you are not obedient, and if you are drawn away to
bow down to other gods and worship them, 18 I declare to you this
day that you will certainly be destroyed.”
Among other important points, Romans 6 has made a clear declaration that
if there is no fruit there is no root. I won’t cover that ground again. Listen
to Dr. Mean’s sermon from two weeks ago and also see my notes on that passage
at SoundLiving.org.
I want to focus on the last part of 8:13
“if by the Spirit you put to death the misdeeds of the body, you will live,
This is our part in the sanctification
process that God is doing:
Here is the synergy.
“It is a clear-sighted recognition of
evil as evil, leading to such a decisive and radical repudiation of it that no
imagery can do it justice except putting it to death.” (Stott, 229) Jesus said we must deny ourselves and
take up our cross (an instrument that deals out death) and follow him. We must
act. We have to “pull it out, look at
it, denounce it, hate it for what it is; then you have really dealt with hit.” (D.M. Lloyd-Jones in Stott,
229)
The result of this
transformed and transforming way of acting is “you will live.”
SinClair Ferguson
From Christian Spirituality: Five Views of Sanctification
Union with Christ in his death and resurrection is the element of union, which Paul most extensively expounds...if we are united to Christ, then we are united to him at all points of his activity on our behalf. We share in his death (we were baptized into his death), in his resurrection (we are resurrected with Christ), in his ascension (we have been raised with him), in his heavenly session (we sit with him in heavenly places, so that our life is hidden with Christ in God), and we will share in his promised return (when Christ, who is our life, appears, we also will appear with him in glory) (Rom. 6:14; Col. 2:11-12; 3:1-3).
This, then, is the foundation of sanctification in Reformed theology. It is rooted, not in humanity and their achievement of holiness or sanctification, but in what God has done in Christ, and for us in union with him. Rather than view Christians first and foremost in the microcosmic context of their own progress, the Reformed doctrine first of all sets them in the macrocosm of God's activity in redemptive history. It is seeing oneself in this context that enables the individual Christian to grow in true holiness.
Sanctification
- The
Christian Grows in Grace
J.I. Packer (from Concise
Theology)
"Do you not know that the wicked will not inherit the kingdom of God? And
that is what some of you were. But you were washed, you were sanctified, you
were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and by the Spirit of our
God" (1 Cor. 6:9, 11).
Sanctification, says the Westminster Shorter Catechism (Q.35), is
"the work of God's free grace, whereby we are renewed in the whole man
after the image of God, and are enabled more and more to die unto sin, and live
unto righteousness." The concept is not of sin being totally eradicated
(that is to claim too much) or merely counteracted (that is to say too little),
but of a divinely wrought character change freeing us from sinful habits and
forming in us Christ like affections, dispositions, and virtues.
Sanctification is an ongoing transformation within a maintained
consecration, and it engenders real righteousness within the frame of
relational holiness. Relational sanctification, the state of being permanently
set apart for God, flows from the cross, where God through Christ purchased and
claimed us for himself (Acts 20:28; 26:18; Heb. 10:10). Moral renovation,
whereby we are increasingly changed from what we once were, flows from the
agency of the indwelling Holy Spirit (Rom. 8:13; 12:1-2; 1 Cor. 6:11, 19-20; 2
Cor. 3:18; Eph. 4:22-24; 1 Thess. 5:23; 2 Thess. 2:13; Heb. 13:20-21). God
calls his children to sanctity and graciously gives what he commands (1 Thess.
4:4; 5:23).
Regeneration is birth; sanctification is growth. In regeneration, God
implants desires that were not there before: desire for God, for holiness, and
for the hallowing and glorifying of God's name in this world; desire to pray,
worship, love, serve, honor, and please God; desire to show love and bring
benefit to others. In sanctification, the Holy Spirit "works in you to
will and to act" according to God's purpose; what he does is prompt you to
"work out your salvation" (i.e., express it in action) by fulfilling
these new desires (Phil. 2:12-13). Christians become increasingly Christlike as
the moral profile of Jesus (the "fruit of the Spirit") is
progressively formed in them (2 Cor. 3:18; Gal. 4:19; 5:22-25). Paul's use of
glory in 2 Corinthians 3:18 shows that for him sanctification of character is
glorification begun. Then the physical transformation that gives us a body like
Christ's, one that will match our totally transformed character and be a
perfect means of expressing it, will be glorification completed (Phil. 3:20-21;
1 Cor. 15:49-53).
Regeneration was a momentary monergistic act of quickening the
spiritually dead. As such, it was God's work alone. Sanctification, however, is
in one sense synergistic - it is an ongoing cooperative process in which
regenerate persons, alive to God and freed from sin's dominion (Rom. 6:11,
14-18), are required to exert themselves in sustained obedience. God's method
of sanctification is neither activism (self-reliant activity) nor apathy
(God-reliant passivity), but God-dependent effort (2 Cor. 7:1; Phil. 3:10-14;
Heb. 12:14). Knowing that without Christ's enabling we can do nothing, morally
speaking, as we should, and that he is ready to strengthen us for all that we
have to do (Phil. 4:13), we "stay put" (remain, abide) in Christ,
asking for his help constantly - and we receive it (Col. 1:11; 1 Tim. 1:12; 2
Tim. 1:7; 2:1).
The standard to which God's