Romans 8, starting from chapter 1.
There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus.
For the law of the Spirit of life has set you free in Christ Jesus from the law of sin and death.
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 condemns 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.
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.
For to set the mind on the flesh is death, but to set the mind on the Spirit is life and peace.
For the mind that is set on the 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.
You, however, are not in 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.
If the Spirit of him who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you,
he who raised Christ Jesus from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies
through his Spirit who dwells in you.
Good morning.
We will mostly be focusing on Romans 8 verses 5 to 11,
but we will be starting with a slight recap, particularly looking at verse 4.
So if you have that passage open, Romans chapter 8, that would be fantastic.
Let's pray and ask for the Lord's help.
Heavenly Father, we thank you for our freedom to gather this morning
to sing your praises, to bring our requests before you in prayer,
to hear your word read and to meditate on it together.
Please enable me to speak clearly and truthfully this morning
and may this passage of your word resonate in our hearts and encourage us.
In Jesus' name, amen.
Well, Australians cannot stand people who think they're better than everyone else.
We value having a highly egalitarian society.
Everyone gets an education.
Everyone has access to healthcare.
Everyone can vote.
We're all equal.
And when individuals succeed, whether it's in business, whether it's in politics or sport,
in whatever field it is, when individuals succeed,
we expect them to be humble in victory.
We despise arrogance and elitism.
We have what we call the tall poppy syndrome,
that if anyone kind of rises up a bit too high,
they're a bit too successful and especially if they let it get to their heads,
we want to cut them down.
Now, this love of equality and kind of opposition to anyone
who gets a bit too big for their own boots,
all of this, I want to suggest,
is part of Christianity's legacy on Australian society,
part of the legacy of Christianity's influence.
Australia owes its egalitarian impulse to Christianity
because the Bible contains incredible boundary-breaking declarations and ideas.
Famously, Galatians 3, verse 28,
There is neither Jew nor Greek.
There is neither slave nor free.
There is no male and female,
for you are all one in Christ Jesus.
Breaking down boundaries.
Matthew 23, verse 8, the words of Jesus,
But you are not to be called rabbi,
for you have one teacher,
and you are all brothers.
There's one Lord,
one teacher, one Father,
and we're all brothers.
We're all the same.
Or think of Paul's appeal to Philemon
on behalf of his runaway slave,
Onesimus.
And Paul writes,
For perhaps this is why he was parted from you for a while,
that you might have him back forever,
no longer as a slave,
but as more than a slave,
as a beloved brother.
See, Christianity breaks down those boundaries,
and says we're all equal,
we're all on the same level before God.
And the Apostle Paul's great Christian manifesto,
his epistle to the Romans,
it also contains some boundary-breaking declarations.
From Romans chapter 3,
I'll read a few verses from Romans chapter 3.
What then?
Are Jews any better off?
Not at all.
For we've already charged that,
that all,
both Jews and Gentiles,
are under sin.
But there's no distinction,
for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God,
and are justified by his grace as a gift,
through the redemption that's in Christ Jesus.
Then what becomes of boasting?
It's excluded.
For we hold that one is justified by faith,
apart from the works of the law,
or is God the God of the Jews only?
Is he not the God of the Gentiles also?
Yes, of Gentiles also,
since God is one who will circumcise the justified by faith,
I'm sorry,
who will justify the circumcised by faith,
and the uncircumcised through faith.
The Apostle Paul tore down the law of Moses
as a boundary separating Jew and Gentile
by demonstrating that no one's justified
by works of the law.
We're all in the same boat.
We're all sinners condemned by the law,
and yet justified freely by faith in Christ.
Now, against that backdrop,
I want to suggest that Romans 8 verse 4
comes as a great surprise.
Romans 8 verse 4 comes as a great surprise.
Both halves of the verse are surprising.
Let's look at this verse, Romans 8 verse 4.
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.
Both halves of this verse are surprising.
It's surprising that,
having stated so emphatically
that none of us are able to obey the law,
Paul now speaks of the righteous requirement
of the law being fulfilled in us.
Now, as I mentioned last week,
it's possible this statement is about imputed righteousness.
That is, it's possible this statement is about
how the law's demand for righteousness
is satisfied for us
by the perfect righteousness of Christ
being credited to our account.
Now, that is wonderful.
It's certainly true.
And it's a cause of great assurance.
But verse 4 is especially surprising
if, as I suggested last week,
what this statement might mean
that the righteous requirement of the law
is fulfilled in us
is that the law's overall purpose of love
comes to be expressed and fulfilled
in the lives of Christians.
How is it possible that people
who have once been condemned by the law
because of our sins
might now fulfil the law through love?
Isn't that claim hopelessly optimistic?
Well, Jesus didn't think so.
By this, all people will know
that you're my disciples, Jesus said,
if you have love for one another.
But that's surprising.
But the second half of the verse is surprising too
because in the second half of the verse 4,
having so emphatically broken down the law
as a boundary dividing Jew and Gentile
for all alike are under sin,
in the second half of verse 4,
another great division in humanity is established.
There are those who walk according to the flesh
and there are those who walk according to the spirit.
See, it turns out, in the Bible's view,
there is a great division in humanity.
But it's not the divide between Jew and Gentile.
It's not the divide between slave and free.
It's not between law and not law.
The division is between flesh and spirit.
And it's this division
which explains how it is
that the righteous requirement of the law
might be fulfilled in believers.
Verse 5 and 6.
In these verses, flesh and spirit represent two opposing dominions,
to realms, to powers, to spheres of influence,
to opposing dominions,
someone can walk according to the flesh
and be according to the flesh
or they can walk and be according to the spirit.
Every one of us belongs to one or other of those dominions.
We either belong to the flesh or we belong to the spirit.
One or the other is the sphere
in which we exist and operate.
One or the other is the power which defines our lives.
Now, incidentally, this is an aside here,
the word spirit occurs 17 times in Romans,
the first 17 verses of Romans 8,
verses 1 to 7.
It's 17 times,
which makes it not just the greatest concentration
of spirit language in Romans,
it's the greatest concentration of spirit language
anywhere in the Bible.
What we have here is a passage that is describing to us,
teaching us about life in the spirit.
And each dominion, flesh and spirit,
has its own mindset.
There is a mind set on the things of the flesh
and there is the mind set on things of the spirit.
And those two mindsets are completely different.
Let me suggest three differences.
First difference,
the mind set on the flesh is earthbound,
whereas the mind set on the spirit is heavenly,
transcendent.
The mind of the flesh is occupied with things here below
and either denies or at least disregards heaven above.
You found the mind set of the flesh
whenever you find someone who is consumed by money.
They live for,
they pursue,
what they want is possessions and money and wealth.
I was running with a friend,
I just met the friend,
a Christian brother,
he was,
he is,
and he was talking about someone in his family
who just spends most of his day just examining,
just watching his share portfolio.
That's what's on his mind all the time,
money.
You found the mind set of the flesh
when you find someone consumed by their career.
All they think about is how they can advance
and that getting to the next step in their profession.
Or someone consumed by entertainment,
they just think about the movies or the music
or the video games or whatever it is
that just occupies their thoughts constantly.
Or by pleasure or by body image or by reputation,
whatever it is.
When it's just their thoughts,
their thinking,
their preoccupation
is with
things of earth below.
Now,
God created all things good.
Everything that God has made in this world is good
and to be received with thanksgiving.
But he created everything good so that we might lift our eyes
from the gifts while enjoying the gifts he's given
to the giver,
the God himself who has given them.
Not so that we'd enjoy the gift and ignore the giver.
One of the sports I've enjoyed is playing ultimate frisbee.
And I love playing frisbee.
If you don't know the sports,
it's a lot of running, a lot of jumping,
throwing a frisbee around,
trying to catch it and pass it between your teammates.
An energetic sport.
And I've had opportunity to sort of play in clubs and so on
with some of the players in Newcastle
who are like the top players in Newcastle.
Some of them have played for Australia and so on.
And I mean,
there are people who live for ultimate frisbee.
You know,
that's what their life's about.
And that's all their ambitions,
all their goals revolve around that sport.
It's not even in the Olympics.
Right?
You know,
I mean,
maybe there's a few American players that earn a living,
get sponsorship off it,
but you're not going to do that in Australia.
And yet that's what their life's for.
That's the mind of the flesh.
It's just fixed on something,
whatever it is here below.
With no regard for God above.
Second difference,
that the mindset of the flesh,
likewise the gaze of the flesh,
is fixed here and now.
It never looks forward.
Just the present,
never the future,
or never the eternal future,
in any case.
The mind of the flesh forgets
that there is a day of judgment.
That people will render account,
will give an account,
for the lives we've lived here.
The mind of the flesh forgets
that there's a resurrection,
that there is a life beyond the grave.
The mind of the flesh forgets
that there is a coming kingdom of God.
No,
the way things are now,
in the mind of the flesh,
is the way things will always be.
Temporary,
rather than eternal.
That's the second difference.
The third difference is that the mind of the flesh,
there's a difference of character.
A difference of character.
Paul writes in Galatians that the fruit of the spirit is love,
joy,
peace,
patience,
kindness,
goodness,
faithfulness,
gentleness,
self-control.
Whereas the flesh,
well, the flesh is filled with anger,
jealousy,
impurity,
greed,
malice,
hatred,
selfish ambition.
There's a difference in character between flesh and spirit.
The example from the previous chapter of the flesh,
of the sin operating in our lives is coveting.
You might remember Paul talked about when,
as soon as he hears the law,
you shall not covet.
Sin arouses all kinds of covetous desires within him.
There's a difference of character.
So there's a different mind.
Each of these dominions,
spirit and flesh,
has a different mind.
And each also has its own destiny.
You'll see there in verse 6,
to set the mind on the flesh is death.
That's the destiny of the flesh,
death.
But to set the mind on the spirit is life and peace.
There's the destiny of those who are in the spirit.
Life and peace.
Peace with God, that is.
So two dominions,
two minds,
two destinies.
And in verses 7 and 8,
Paul goes on to unpack a bit more
the mind of the flesh,
what it's like to live under the power of the flesh.
Verse 7,
for the mind that's set on the 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.
The mind of the flesh is in enmity to God.
This is the opposite of the peace of the mind of the spirit there in verse 6.
Here there's enmity,
there's hostility.
And these verses 7 and 8 unpack that enmity,
which is the reason that there's death.
Hostility towards God.
Not only this refusal to submit to God's law,
but an inability to submit to God's law.
I hate God,
and I disregard God.
They're equally expressions of the flesh.
They're equally hostility towards God.
God,
it's just,
God,
I won't submit to you.
I won't listen to you.
I don't care for what you want.
Those who are in the flesh,
verse 8,
cannot please God.
Now that sounds extreme,
doesn't it?
Someone who's in the flesh
can't please God.
Few people would think of themselves in these kind of terms.
This isn't how people think about themselves.
But that's because people have so thoroughly expunged the idea of God from their thoughts
that they don't think there's any need to please God.
They imagine they can live lives that are good without God.
But that's madness.
People who live according to the flesh,
who are just bound by the things of this world,
and of the present,
and of the attitudes and desires of the flesh,
people who live that way,
they may go on to do all sorts of impressive and noteworthy things.
But a car's not a good car
if it doesn't go where the driver steers it.
And a dog's not a good pet if it bites its master
and doesn't come when called and go when sent.
And humans aren't good humans when we ignore our creator.
Without faith, it's impossible to please God.
And that's the mind of the flesh.
Hostility to God.
Disregarding God.
But then Paul says,
in verse 9,
you, however,
you, however, are not in 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.
Let's unpack this a little bit.
You, however,
Paul is convinced that those he's writing to
are not in the flesh,
but in the spirit.
He makes a contrast here.
You, however,
are not in the flesh,
but in the spirit.
You don't belong to the dominion of the flesh.
You belong to the dominion of the spirit.
The power of the flesh does not dominate your life.
Rather,
you are controlled and governed and ruled
by the power of God's spirit.
You, however,
are not in the flesh,
but in the spirit,
if, in fact,
the spirit of God dwells in you.
Now,
that sounds a bit uncertain in our ears
as we read it.
No,
like Paul's saying,
well,
you belong with the spirit.
If the spirit dwells in you.
You know,
maybe the spirit dwells in you.
Maybe the spirit doesn't dwell in you.
But I don't think it's supposed to sound uncertain,
actually.
I don't think it's supposed to sound uncertain here.
The word,
the Greek word that's translated as,
if,
in fact,
it can also be translated as,
since,
which is exactly how ESV translates it
in Romans 3,
verse 30,
which I read a little bit earlier.
There it is.
Yes,
God is the God of the Gentiles,
also,
since God is one.
You know,
there are points being made.
God's not just the God of the Jews.
He's the God of Jews and Gentiles.
He's the God of all people.
Because God's one,
there's one God.
They're the same word as translated as since.
And I think it's got that sense here too.
You know,
it's sort of context
that determines
whether we should translate this word
as if indeed,
or since indeed.
And one thing you notice here
is that when Paul switches,
like from verse 8 to verse 9,
he switches from speaking in the third person
to the second person.
So verses 5 and 6,
he sets up the two categories,
flesh and spirit.
Verses 7 and 8,
he then elaborates on the flesh
in the third person,
that is speaking about they,
them,
those people
who are in the flesh.
But then verses 9 to 11,
as he elaborates on the spirit,
he switches to the second person,
you.
He speaks about those
who are in the flesh,
but you who are in the spirit.
So Paul,
as he's addressing the Roman Christians
to whom he's writing,
he's not trying to make them
kind of wonder
whether they might be in the spirit.
He is assuring them
that they are in the spirit.
Since the spirit of God dwells in you,
Paul says.
And he reinforces that assurance
with the negative
at the end of verse 8,
anyone who does not have the spirit of Christ
does not belong to Christ.
To put that around the other way,
if you do belong to Christ,
then you do have the spirit of Christ.
If anyone who doesn't have the spirit
doesn't belong to Christ,
then if you do belong to Christ,
you must have the spirit.
It's impossible to belong to Christ
and not have the spirit dwelling in you.
There are no spiritless Christians.
If you have Jesus,
you have God's spirit.
It's both or nothing.
Or rather,
it's all three persons of the Trinity
or nothing.
For in verse 9,
he's both the spirit of Christ
and the spirit of God.
To have the spirit
is to be united
with the Father and the Son.
And Paul reassures
the Roman Christians here
of their present union
with God's spirit.
That God's spirit
indwells in them.
And notice how he convinces them.
He doesn't call on them
to analyse their performance.
He doesn't tell them
to conduct an experiment.
He doesn't say,
you have the spirit in you
if you can speak in tongues.
He doesn't say,
you have the spirit in you
if you've attained
a certain level of holiness
or godliness.
The thrust of verses 9 to 10
is if you have Christ,
you have the spirit.
The spirit is the present possession
of every single Christian.
Now you might feel yourself
to be unspiritual.
You might think
there's nothing special
about you.
You might feel like
sin has the upper hand
in your life.
But God doesn't justify you
on the basis
of your own goodness.
God doesn't justify you
on the basis
of your moral achievement.
and neither does
God's spirit
indwell you
on the basis
of your goodness.
The spirit comes to us
as Christ comes to us
on the basis
of God's abundant grace
and infinite mercy.
So brothers,
sisters,
you don't need to worry
that you haven't received
God's spirit.
Receiving God's spirit
isn't a separate,
additional step
after receiving Christ.
We received Christ,
the spirit,
when we received Christ.
If you belong to Christ,
if you believe in Jesus,
if you're one of Jesus' followers,
you have God's spirit
dwelling in you.
And verses 10 and 11
go on to two
inestimable benefits
of being indwelt
by God's spirit.
first,
Paul speaks of present
spiritual life
in verse 10.
But if Christ
is in you,
although the body
is dead
because of sin,
the spirit
is life
because of righteousness.
Now,
I enjoy
frisbee,
I enjoy running,
I've mentioned both
already.
I try to keep myself
in pretty decent
physical condition,
but the clock
keeps ticking.
I remember
as a,
I think it was like
as a late teenager
sitting down
with my godfather
and I was a young man
and I was a bit aimless
in life
and I remember him
asking me like,
what was my goal
in life?
Like,
what did I want
to achieve?
And the only thing
I came up with
that I wanted
to run 800 metres
faster than two minutes.
Like,
now,
running 800 metres,
let me just be clear,
faster than two minutes,
yeah,
that'd be pretty quick,
but that's not even
going to get you
into the Olympics,
right?
It's not that quick.
But that was my goal,
right?
That's all I could
come up with
at that point in time.
And,
it's a pretty pathetic goal
and,
you know,
I'm happy to say
I've discovered
some better goals since.
You know,
but still,
I would kind of like
to run 800 metres
that fast
and yet it's not
going to happen,
right?
I've missed my opportunity
and it's not just
because I've got
other priorities in life,
it's also just because
I keep getting older.
It's just the effects
of age setting in.
First,
it was my knees
and then it was
my hamstrings
and then it's
my Achilles
and what's going
to be next?
I don't know
what's going
to be next,
but,
you know,
I've reached the age
that whenever I
book an appointment
to see my GP,
I make sure I book
a double appointment
because I've never
got just one thing
I need to talk about.
But still,
like,
I'm only 47,
right?
And,
I'm healthy
and God willing,
I have many more years
of decline ahead of me.
but,
you know,
even though my body
is dead
or dying,
right,
you know,
whichever word
you want to use,
there is dwelling
in me
the Spirit
who gives life.
The Spirit
who gives life.
As Paul says
elsewhere,
outwardly we're
wasting away,
but inwardly
we're being
renewed
day by day.
And this means,
verse 10 means here,
that the 95-year-old
invalid
who is
bed-bound
in a nursing home
but has the
Spirit of God
dwelling in them,
that person
has more life
than the 23-year-old
Olympia.
the Spirit
who gives life
is dwelling
in them.
Present
spiritual life
is the first
benefit
of the Spirit.
The second benefit
is in verse 11,
verse 10 speaks
of present
spiritual life,
verse 11 speaks
of future
bodily life.
Verse 11,
if the Spirit
of Him
who raised
Jesus from the dead
dwells in you,
He who raised
Christ Jesus
from the dead
will also
give life
to your
mortal bodies
through His
Spirit
who dwells
in you.
Now just notice
how beautifully
Trinitarian
this verse is.
We see twice
right there
in this verse
we have
the Father,
the Spirit
and the Son.
The Spirit
of Him
who raised
Jesus,
the Father
who raised
Jesus,
Jesus the Son
from the dead
the Trinity
and then we
get it again.
He who raised
Christ as the
Father who raised
the Son
from the dead
will give life
to your mortal
bodies
through His
Spirit
who dwells
in you.
This is the
Trinity again.
The Father,
the Spirit
and the Son
working together
to do what?
With what goal?
With what effect?
With what outcome?
To give life
to your mortal
bodies.
Paul is
speaking of
the future
bodily
resurrection
of beliefs.
Bodily
resurrection.
The resurrection
of Jesus
from the dead,
bodily from the
grave,
that's the
pattern for
us,
the pattern
for our
future.
He's the
first fruits,
where the
harvest that
is to come.
What God
has already
done in the
case of
Jesus,
He will
do in the
case of
everyone who
belongs to
Jesus,
through His
Spirit who
dwells in.
So if you
have God's
Spirit in
you,
and you
have God's
Spirit if
you believe
in Jesus,
then as
your body
fails and
wastes away,
what a hope
we have
that God
will restore,
God will
raise up,
God will
bring life.
Everything
God's created
is good and
that includes
our bodies.
and it's
not God's
will that
our bodies
should rot
in the
ground and
just our
spirits depart
to heaven and
that's our
eternal future,
but rather that
spirit and body
be reunited and
He raise us up
in perishable
and in glory
as Jesus has
been raised.
Future bodily
life,
life now
in God's
Spirit and
a future where
even our bodies,
though they perish
and die,
will be raised
from the dead.
Why is it
that we have,
I mean we've
seen two
dominions,
two minds,
two destinies,
why is it
that we have
a different
destiny?
Because we
have a different
dominion,
because it
is the
Spirit dwelling
in us
who determines,
by God,
who determines
our future.
And why is it
that the
righteous
requirement of
the law
might be
fulfilled in
us?
Because we
live under a
different dominion.
We have the
mind of God's
Spirit dwelling
in us,
a mind that
is life and
peace,
a mind of
God's Spirit
dwelling in us,
enabling the
renewing of
our minds,
which Paul will
speak of in
Romans 12.
Don't be
conformed to
this world,
but be
transformed by
the renewal
of your
mind,
that you
may discern
what is the
will of
God,
what is good
and acceptable
and perfect.
Now if you
feel,
if you feel
yourself trapped
in patterns of
thought that
belong not to
the Spirit but
to the flesh,
feel trapped
in those patterns.
I want you
to know,
God wants us
to know,
there is hope,
there is
freedom.
If you're
a greedy
person and
you find
yourself just
always wanting
more for
yourself,
you don't
need to be
that.
you don't
have to keep
living that
way.
You can
let it
go.
God's
Spirit dwells
in you and
he desires
something else.
If you're an
angry person,
if you're,
you know,
you're just,
there's a,
there's an
anger in you
that's just
always there
sort of below
the surface,
seething away.
every now
and then
it erupts.
You don't
need to hold
on to that,
whatever it
is that's
causing that
anger.
You can
let it
go.
Those
things,
greed,
anger,
impurity,
whatever the
pattern of
thought is
that you're
stuck in,
it belongs
to the
flesh.
But you,
you belong
to the
Spirit.
You belong
to the
Spirit.
So,
live
in the
freedom
of the
Spirit of
God.
Let's
pray.
Heavenly
Father,
we thank
you that
when we
believe and
when we
have
believed in
your
Son,
Jesus,
you've
not only
forgiven
us all
our sins
and justified
us,
counted us
as righteous,
but you've
come to
live in
us in
the person
of your
Spirit.
You've
united us
with
yourself,
with your
Son.
Thank you
for your
Spirit
already
dwelling
in us
and with
us,
filling
us with
spiritual
life.
Thank you
for the
mind of
the
Spirit
dwelling
in us,
that he
can
transform
our
minds.
Thank you
that you,
by your
Spirit,
can free
us from
every
pattern of
thought and
behaviour that
belongs to
the flesh.
so please
Lord God,
continue that
good work
in us.
Change
our minds,
transform
us so
that we
might
desire
what
brings you
delight.
Assure it
wholeheartedly.
In Jesus'
name.
Amen.