Be Led by the Spirit

Romans 8:1-17

Welcome! Today we continue with our series on Romans. Last week, Fred, despite a broken leg, taught us powerfully on Romans 7. In this passage, Paul jumps from third to first person (from “he” to “I”), saying that there are two laws at work in him. The first law is God’s law, and in his mind, Paul says he is a slave to this law, and in his inner being he delights in this law. But the second law is the law of sin, and Paul says that in his sinful nature, in his flesh, he is a slave to this law. This second law wages war against the first law, and Paul calls himself a prisoner of this law of sin. He calls himself wretched – in the Greek, a powerful compound word that literally means pierced with affliction, and asks who will rescue him? Of course, everything Paul describes is not just the situation for Paul; it is also reality for all of us. We all struggle with doing the very things we do not want to do – we all battle ourselves in our struggles to avoid sin. Who will rescue him? Who will rescue us? The answer is God, who delivers us through Jesus Christ our Lord – and how rescue really works is explained in today’s wonderful passage from Romans 8. Let’s get right into this passage:

Therefore, there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus… - Romans 8:1

I want to stop there, in midsentence. Verse 1 of Romans 8 just might be the climax of the entire book of Romans. I realize that, as people who have mostly been believers a long time, it is easy to miss how breathtakingly amazing and wonderful and shocking this message really is. I encourage you to reflect on the shorter phrase “now no condemnation”.

First, let’s remember what is meant by condemnation. This is not just God telling us that we have sinned. Condemnation is not just the guilty verdict; it is also the punishment. And the punishment is far worse than anything we can ever imagine. It is total separation from God. Even in our pre-saved days, God was not entirely separated from us. He was wooing us, calling us to Him, restraining us. But all of this comes to an end with condemnation. The world that the condemned go to is not like our world that we now live in, a world that, although cursed, is still filled with reminders of the beauty and goodness of God. In severe contrast, the world of the condemned is a world utterly without God, utterly separated from Him. Those who are there experience the agony of separation, of knowing that they didn’t have to be there, of knowing that they willfully chose this horrendous place. Anything you have experienced in this life, physical pain, emotional pain, regret, emptiness – all of this is nothing compared to the world that the condemned go to.

But there is now no condemnation! This good news is true now. If you have put your faith in Christ, declared Him Lord of your life, then there is now no condemnation for you. Today. Tomorrow. Forever. And this good news is true in completeness, in totality. There is now no condemnation for you. None. Zero. Never.

Although our condemnation is deserved, although we stand before God guilty of every sin we have noticed that we have done, along with countless other sins that we have self-deceived ourselves into thinking were either no big deal or that we never even committed, there is now no condemnation. This is good news beyond our ability to comprehend.

The passage continues:

Therefore, there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus, because through Christ Jesus the law of the Spirit who gives life has set you free from the law of sin and death. For what the law was powerless to do because it was weakened by the flesh, God did by sending His own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh to be a sin offering. And so He condemned sin in the flesh, in order that the righteous requirement of the law might be fully met in us… – Romans 8:1-4a

I am stopping midsentence again, because I want this to begin to sink in before we go on. To me, Romans 8 is like eating a rich dessert, so rich that you can only take very small bites of it or you will become overwhelmed.

The law of the Spirit who gives life sets you free from the law – that is, the operative principles – of sin and death. The law was powerless to do this – the law pointed out to us what to do, but we couldn’t do it. But God did it, by sending Jesus to be a sin offering on our behalf. God declared His just condemnation on us for our sins, but Jesus took the penalty in His death.

This message is the heart of the gospel, the good news, that we are forever free from the condemnation that we deserve, thanks to Jesus. We owe our lives to Jesus, we owe eternity to Him. And because of this, we should want to live for Him.

I am reminded of 2 Corinthians 5:21:

God made Him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in Him we might become the righteousness of God. – 2 Corinthians 5:21

But how? How do we do what our minds want to do but our flesh does not? As Paul explained in Romans 7, we are conflicted. Our flesh betrays us. This passage answers this too. Let’s go a little farther:

Therefore, there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus, because through Christ Jesus the law of the Spirit who gives life has set you free from the law of sin and death. For what the law was powerless to do because it was weakened by the flesh, God did by sending His own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh to be a sin offering. And so He condemned sin in the flesh, in order that the righteous requirement of the law might be fully met in us, who do not live according to the flesh but according to the Spirit. – Romans 8:1-4

We live according to the Spirit? What spirit? This is speaking of the Holy Spirit, the third Person in the trinity that is God. Recall how Jesus instructed Nicodemus in John 3:3-5: “Very truly I tell you, no one can see the kingdom of God unless they are born again.” Nicodemus had no clue what Jesus was talking about and asked Jesus how someone could be born when they were old. Jesus explained further by saying “Very truly I tell you, no one can enter the kingdom of God unless they are born of water and the Spirit.”

This describes us. We, if we have put our faith in Christ, are not only born of water (that is born as all babies are born), but also born again, this time of the Spirit.

Note that Romans 8:4 says as a matter of fact, of reality, that we do not live according to the flesh but according to the Spirit. This passage is not telling us to do something. It is telling us that we are something. We are those who now live according to, or empowered by, or through, or because of, the Spirit. It’s who we are. Just as a baby has either been born (meaning it is now outside of its mother, breathing air with its lungs) or not yet born (meaning it is still inside the mother, not yet using its lungs), so too we have either been born again (meaning that we live according to the Spirit) or we have not (meaning that we still live according to the flesh). In a pre-born baby, the ductus arteriosus is an opening that shunts the blood from the not-yet-functioning lung of the baby, who experiences blood gas exchange through the mother’s placenta. After birth, the ductus arteriosus begins to close, and the closure is normally completed within 72 hours. This physiological change in the infant is irreversible, which is a complicated way of saying the rather obvious fact that the baby can’t go back, even if it wanted to (and I suspect some unhappy babies would rather want to).  I would argue that Paul’s wording here similarly implies that the same is true for us: we don’t live according to the flesh any longer; now we according to the Spirit. We can’t point to any physiological change in our case, but I believe that the change in us is even more significant, even more profound.

Romans 8 continues:

Those who live according to the flesh have their minds set on what the flesh desires; but those who live in accordance with the Spirit have their minds set on what the Spirit desires. The mind governed by the flesh is death, but the mind governed by the Spirit is life and peace. The mind governed by the flesh is hostile to God; it does not submit to God’s law, nor can it do so. Those who are in the realm of the flesh cannot please God. – Romans 8:5-8

Without jumping ahead to verse 9, let’s think about what this might mean. There are apparently two groups of people – those who live according to the flesh and those who live in accordance with the Spirit. The first group has their minds focused on what their sinful flesh wants, is said to have minds that “are” death, and have minds that are hostile to God--unwilling and unable to submit to God or please Him. The second group instead has their minds focused on what the Holy Spirit desires and is said to have minds that “are” life and peace.  

After hearing Romans 7, to which group do you think you belong? At first glance it appears that you might be those who live according to the flesh. After all, we sin, right? We do what we do not want to do, right? But let’s think more carefully about this. In Romans 7, Paul says that in his mind, he desires to do what is right. It’s his flesh that gets in the way. Here in Romans 8, it says that the first group has their minds set on sin. So it doesn’t sound like we (and Paul) are in the first group, does it? Let’s continue with the passage.

You, however, are not in the realm of the flesh but are in the realm of the Spirit, if indeed the Spirit of God lives in you. And if anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ, they do not belong to Christ. – Romans 8:9

You are in fact in the second group, if you are a born-again believer. Paul, or more precisely, the “I” of Romans 7, which includes us, is in the second group. Why? Because the mind of the Romans 7 “I” is desiring to love and live for Christ. The fact that he is miserable, torn, conflicted, because of his flesh leading him to do what he does not want to do – is actually evidence that he is in the second group. If he were in the first group, he wouldn’t care; his failings wouldn’t make him miserable. The same is true for you. If you hunger for knowing, loving, and serving Christ but hate your weakness, your pride, and your selfishness, then you are very likely a born-again believer. I cannot say this with 100% certainty, because I do not want to contradict or bypass 2 Corinthians 13:5, which says to examine yourselves to see whether you are in the faith. But let’s press on:

But if Christ is in you, then even though your body is subject to death because of sin, the Spirit gives life because of righteousness. 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 because of His Spirit who lives in you. – Romans 8:10-11

This passage makes me think of my baby analogy. If a baby is born, it has significant physiological differences from a pre-born baby; the baby’s heart is quite different – it now provides blood to the lungs without a bypass severely limiting the supply. In the same way, if you have been born again, you are spiritually speaking quite different – the Holy Spirit is now living in you, providing you with life.

Have you ever thought about the fact that, as a believer in Christ, your body still gets old and dies? I think as believers we say something that is inaccurate – when we are reaching the end of our lives we say, “I’m dying.” I think a more accurate statement is, “My body is dying.” Listen – we are not dying! Our bodies are dying. And with them, that part of us that fights the better part of us, the part of us that Paul calls our flesh, is dying too. Once it dies, it will be gone forever. We should say, “My body is dying, but I am not dying; I am going to live forever!” When Paul writes “Who will rescue me from this body of death?” in Romans 7, he does not mean that the body would be rescued. But he will be rescued – by Jesus Christ our Lord.

Therefore, brothers and sisters, we have an obligation—but it is not to the flesh, to live according to it. For if you live according to the flesh, you will die; but if by the Spirit you put to death the misdeeds of the body, you will live. – Romans 8:12-13

What is an “obligation”? What does this mean? An obligation is something we are in debt to, something we are required to pay back. We have no obligation to the flesh. This means we don’t owe the flesh anything, as it hasn’t done anything for us. In fact, it does the opposite – it leads us towards death. So if our obligation is not to the flesh, to whom is our obligation? To Jesus. He is the one who has given us this new life, and it is because of Him that the Spirit lives in us.

Now verse 13 is one that sometimes causes confusion. Some people claim it points to a works-based salvation. But this goes against the whole argument of Romans, that it is by grace we have been saved. So what does verse 13 mean? It is an explanation of verse 12. Why do we have no obligation to the flesh? Because those who live according to its sinful desires are headed to death. In contrast, those who live according to the Spirit are empowered by the Spirit to put to death our sin, and those who do this are not headed to death, but to life!

So how does the Spirit help us? It helps us to perform mortification. This is not a word used much today. You won’t hear our culture talk about the word or what it means. Its root is mort, or mortus, which is death. It is ironic that the Bible uses killing as the word picture for what we who are promised life are to do about our sin. Life comes out of killing. It’s the same kind of statement as “whoever wants to be first should be last.”

So how do we, by the Spirit, perform mortification? How do we, by the Spirit, put to death the misdeeds of the body? Well, “by the Spirit” is not just words that sound nice. It is the essential thing. Apart from the Spirit, we cannot get anywhere. Flesh cannot kill flesh. Romans 7:18 says that nothing good dwells in me that is my flesh.

The Spirit is not a power. The Spirit is a Person. The Spirit is God. The Spirit gives us power. We don’t need to seek power. We need to seek God. We experience the power of the Spirit by seeking and by yielding. We do this by filling our thoughts with thoughts of God, by renewing our mind in the Scriptures, by spending time with God in prayer, by surrendering our will when God reveals things in our lives that conflict with His purposes and principles, by acting on His frequent but subtle promptings to serve and help others.

This process is not always pleasant. It is not true that becoming a Christian means your life will be happy all the time. We are talking about killing our flesh. If you are really doing this, you will find times that you even have to grieve over the loss of your flesh. We did the sinful things we did because we loved them, after all.

But the process is also not always painful. As we, by the Spirit, proceed in killing our flesh, we also discover more and more, deeper and deeper, Him. Our knowledge of God grows. Our personal love of God grows. Our capacity to love others grows. And we discover joy, which has a much richer and more complex flavor than happiness.    

I worry that you tire of my frequent comparisons to my diet that I have been on for the past 20 months, but today I cannot resist. When I had to give up so many foods that I had enjoyed my entire life, there really was a grieving process. And as I ate my new foods at first, I didn’t really enjoy it. But something happened that surprised me – my tastes changed, and the foods that didn’t at first do much for me, after a few weeks, began to taste wonderful. I have read that our taste buds actually do regrow, and our tastes really change. I eat a far greater variety of foods today than I did before my diet. This is a good picture I think of how life proceeds when, by the Spirit, we kill our flesh.

I love how Paul describes this kind of life, a life dependent on the Spirit of God, in Titus 2:

For the grace of God has appeared that offers salvation to all people. It teaches us to say “No” to ungodliness and worldly passions, and to live self-controlled, upright and godly lives in this present age, while we wait for the blessed hope—the appearing of the glory of our great God and Savior, Jesus Christ, who gave Himself for us to redeem us from all wickedness and to purify for Himself a people that are His very own, eager to do what is good. – Titus 2:11-14

We will see more ways that the Spirit helps us later in Romans. But for now, let’s look at the last part of our passage for this week:

For those who are led by the Spirit of God are the children of God. The Spirit you received does not make you slaves, so that you live in fear again; rather, the Spirit you received brought about your adoption to sonship. And by Him we cry, “Abba, Father.” The Spirit Himself testifies with our spirit that we are God’s children. Now if we are children, then we are heirs—heirs of God and co-heirs with Christ, if indeed we share in His sufferings in order that we may also share in His glory. – Romans 8:14-17

Putting our flesh to death sounds like dreary, horrible work. But we do not work alone. Nor do we work under a harsh taskmaster. That is not at all who the Spirit is for us. We work for Dad, and with Dad, encouraged by Dad, strengthened by Dad, loved by Dad. I am sorry if your personal experiences with your father were not always wonderful – to some degree unfortunately this is true for all of us. No earthly father can compare to your heavenly one.

But our heavenly Dad is wonderful. We do not work alone, but with Him. Apart from Him we can do nothing. But with Him as we do this horrible task, we somehow get to experience something wonderful. Nothing can bring more joy than spending time with our heavenly Father, getting to know Him, experiencing His love.

I want to close today by praying Ephesians 3 over you:

I pray that out of His glorious riches He may strengthen you with power through His Spirit in your inner being, so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith. And I pray that you, being rooted and established in love, may have power, together with all the Lord’s holy people, to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ, and to know this love that surpasses knowledge—that you may be filled to the measure of all the fullness of God.

Now to Him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to his power that is at work within us, to Him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, for ever and ever! Amen. – Ephesians 3:16-21