“LIFE IN THE SPIRIT”

Romans 8:1-17

April 29, 2007 Pastor Jack Harpold

"0 wretched man that I am! Who will deliver me from this body of death?" (Rom. 7:24). Romans 7 is a dark chapter, filled with failure and defeat - Romans 8 brings the promise of deliverance. In this chapter a powerful Person is introduced - One who comes in to take control. When we are baptized into Jesus Christ, we come into possession of a new Power, the indwelling Spirit of God (Acts 2:38).

Our bodies are temples of the Holy Spirit. The Spirit's presence awakens spiritual life, and the Holy Spirit) gives power to walk in holiness and to bring forth fruit for God - if we let Him. He is called "the Spirit of life” (vs. 2). Righteous conduct comes from walking after Him (vs. 4). If His mind is followed, we will experience life and peace (vs. 6). If anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ, he is not His (vs. 9).

Sanctification is not so much expelling sin, as it is yielding to the Holy Spirit. The old nature is in us and still very active - but the Bible says we should walk in the Spirit and you will not fulfill the lust of the flesh (Galatians 5:16).

God's great purpose in salvation is not merely to get us to believe in Christ so we can escape Hell. His purpose is to conform us to the image of His Son (Romans 8:29).

The child of God is to have joy and peace. He is to live for God even in the presence of sin. Sin is not to dictate his life. Paul wrote to the Ephesians, “And do not be drunk with wine, in which is dissipation; but be filled with the Spirit" (Eph. 5:18).

There is therefore now no condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus, who do not walk according to the flesh, but according to the spirit [Rom. 8:1]. The last phrase as found in KJV is repeated from verse 4. This statement, in spite of the failure Paul experienced he did not lose his salvation. But he wasn't enjoying the Christian life - he was a failure and a wretched man. God wanted him to have joy in life. How?

For those who live according to the flesh set their mind on the things of the flesh; but those who live according to the Spirit the things of the Spirit [Rom. 8:5].

"They who live according to the flesh" describes the natural man. Jesus said, "That which is born of the flesh is flesh" - it will always be flesh. God won’t change that. But, "that which is born of the Spirit is spirit" (John 3:6). If you live habitually in the flesh and obey the things of the flesh, and the new nature doesn't rebuke you, you must not have a new nature - because "they that are after the Spirit [mind] the things of the Spirit.”

It is no longer the new nature of the believer striving for mastery over sin in the body; it is the Holy Spirit striving against the old nature. A little boy going home from school was being beaten up by a big bully. When his big brother came along he took care of the bully while the little fellow crawled up on a stump and rubbed his bruises. The believer has the Holy Spirit to deal with the big bully, the flesh.

“And you, who were once alienated and enemies in your mind by wicked works, yet now He has reconciled" (Col. 1:21). The "flesh" includes the mind. It includes the total personality which is completely alienated from God. Here is the diet of the natural man: "Now the works of the flesh are manifest, which are these; adultery, fornication, uncleanness, lasciviousness, idolatry, witchcraft, hatred, variance, emulations, wrath, strife, seditions, heresies, envyings, murders, drunkenness, revellings, and such like: of the which I tell you before, as I have also told you in time past, that they which do such things shall not inherit the kingdom of God" (Gal. 5:19-21). It is an ugly brood!

Jesus said: "For out of the heart proceed evil thoughts, murders, adulteries, fornications, thefts, false witness, blasphemies" (Matt. 15:19).

No child of God can be happy in living for the things of the flesh. The prodigal son may get into the pig pen, but he will never be content to stay there.

We can all slip. One Saturday night a pastor said to himself, “No way I can face that congregation tomorrow. I’m going golfing.” He phoned his assistant and told him he wasn’t feeling well and wouldn’t be at church. Then the pastor rose very early and drove out to the golf course. Up in heaven, St. Peter nudged God and said, “You see your servant down there, Lord? You see what he’s doing?” God replied, “Mm-hmm.” Well, aren’t you going to do anything about him?” God replied, “Don’t worry.” The truant pastor was the first one at the tee. He teed up his ball, took a swing, and – oh, what a shot! It was the best drive he’d ever hit. As he watched, with disbelief and joy, the ball bounced high on the apron and rolled on the green directly to the flag. The pastor ran up to the green to find the ball in the cup. His very first hole-in-one! He danced around the green all excited. Meanwhile, St. Peter tugged at the Lord’s sleeve, “God, I thought you were going to take care of this guy! Now he’s gone and gotten a hole-in-one.” God replied, “I took care of him. Who do you think he’s going to tell.”

"They that are after the Spirit" love the things of Christ. If then you were raised with Christ, seek those things which are above, where Christ is, sitting at the right hand of God. Set your mind on things above, not on things on the earth (Col. 3:1-2).

"To be carnally minded" means you are separated from fellowship with God. One thing for sure: if you are living in the flesh, and you are a child of God, you are not having fellowship with God. You can't. He will not fellowship with you or with me if we are committing sin and are continuing to live in the flesh.

What are we to do? When we sin, we are to come to Him in confession and let Him wash us. This restores us to fellowship.

The blood of Jesus Christ, God's Son, keeps on cleansing us from all sin" (see 1 John 1:7). Somebody says, "If a child of God sins, what's the difference between him and the lost man?" The difference is this: when the lost man goes out at night and paints the town red, he comes back and says, "I'll get a bigger brush and a bigger bucket of paint next time; wow, I want to live it up!" But the child of God, if he does a thing like that, will cry out to God, "Oh, God, I hate myself for what I've done!"

God has a purpose and a plan, a blessing for you. There is deliverance in the Spirit of God. Are you willing to turn it over to the Holy Spirit and quit trusting that weak, sinful nature you have? That is the real test. The true mark of a born-again believer is he is indwelt by the Spirit of God. Do you love Jesus? Do you want to serve Him? Are these things uppermost in your mind and heart? Or are you in rebellion against God?

Paul could say, I have been crucified with Christ; it is not longer I who live, but Christ lives in me; and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself for me (Gal. 2:20).

If you are not conscious of the Spirit of God in your life and if you do not have a desire to serve God, it would be well to do as Paul suggests, "Examine yourselves, whether you are in the faith" (2 Cor. 13:5). The Lord wants us to know we are in Christ.

If you are not sure of Christ in your life, He extends this invitation: "Behold, I stand at the door, and knock: if any man hear my voice, and open the door, I will come in to him and dine with him, and he with me" (Rev. 3:20). Is your door open?

These bodies you and I have will be put in the grave one day, if the Lord tarries. But the indwelling Spirit is our assurance that our bodies will be raised from the dead (2 Cor. 5:1-4). Because Christ was raised from the dead, we also shall be raised.

God created man body, mind, and spirit. When man sinned, his spirit died. Remember God warned, "But of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, you shall not eat: for in the day you eat of it you shall surely die" (Gen. 2:17). After eating the fruit Adam lived several hundred years - physically; but spiritually he died immediately. Man was turned upside down. The old nature, the flesh became dominant. "For if ye live after the flesh, you shall die" - die to God. You have no fellowship with Him. If you are a child of God, you have experienced this. If you are a child of God and you have unconfessed sin in your life, do you want to go to church? Do you want to read your Bible? Do you want to pray? Of course you don't. You are separated from God.

To stay close to Christ is the important thing. You can be active in Christian work, yet Christ can be in outer space as far as you are concerned.

"But if by the Spirit you put to death the deeds of the body, you will live." Let's be practical. What is your problem? Alcohol? Drugs? Sex? You say, "I don't have those problems!" How about your thought-life - your tongue - do you gossip - do you tell the truth? Whatever your problem is, why don't you confess it to God and turn it over to the Holy Spirit? That is the only way to deal with it. The psychiatrist can’t help you. He can shift your guilt complex to another area, but he can't get rid of it. Only Christ can remove it; that’s his business. He says, "Come unto me, all ye that labor and are heavy laden, and I will rest you" so you will know what it is to have sins forgiven (Matt. 11:28).

For as many as are led by the Spirit of God, they are the sons of God [Rom. 8:14].

That makes sense, doesn't it? God does not drive His sheep; He leads them. When our Lord told of the safety and security of the sheep, He made it clear that they were not forced into the will of His hand and that of the Father. He said, "My sheep hear my voice, and I know them [and I drive them out! Oh, no] and they follow me" (John 10:27). They are the ones who are safe and secure; they follow Him.

The Spirit itself bears witness with our spirit, that we are the children of God. And if children, then heirs; heirs of God, and joint-heirs with Christ; if indeed we suffer with him, that we may be also glorified with Him [vs. 16 & 17].

What are you enduring for Him today? Whatever it is, Paul makes it clear that it is just a light thing we are going through now. But there is a weighty thing, an "eternal weight of glory" that is coming someday. In eternity we will wish that we had suffered a little more for Him, because that is the way He schools and trains us. "For whom the Lord loves he chastens, and scourges every son whom he receives" (Heb. 12:6).