LIFE IN THE SPIRIT
Romans 8:1-4
My brothers and sisters, as long as many of us have been associated with the church, I’m inclined to believe that many of us know a lot about it. We know at the nine o’clock hour. There is Sunday School. At ten forty-five praise and devotions starts and at the eleven o’clock hour Sunday morning worship begins. On Tuesday we have prayer and praise at six and Bible study at seven. We are familiar with the schedule for each choir rehearsal and when discipleship classes are in session. We even know other things like, who sits where, what choir is going to sing on which Sunday, and we just about know who will be in attendance and who will not. I tell you that we know many things about church. But when it comes to knowing whom really makes the churches go, many can only take a guess. We feel that if certain people sings, certain people pray, certain people preach and certain musicians play, then we can have a great time in church. But, what we should really know is that it is not the people who sings, pray, preach or play, that make the difference in the worship experience, it is the Holy Spirit that can enlighten and deliver us while we lift up our hearts in worship.
I found an interesting story in a book of Bible Illustrations, which brought to life a truth that we the church should follow. It said, An old man once said, that it took him forty years to learn three simple things. The first was that he could not do anything to save himself; the second was that God did not expect him to; and the third was, that Jesus Christ had done it all for us. When it comes to a Spirit filled life and the grace of God, you should always keep this little saying in your hearts and minds:
You can’t.
God never said you could.
Jesus did it all; because the Father said He would!
As we looked last week at the first verse of this amazing eighth chapter of Romans. I neglected to share with you what happened at the end of the seventh chapter concerning Paul’s war in the flesh. Verse fifteen of chapter seven starts off by Paul speaking of his struggles with sin. In fact he said, he didn’t really understand himself, for he wanted to do what was right, but he wouldn’t do it. Instead, he would do what was wrong. Then he said in verses sixteen and seventeen and if you would allow me to paraphrase, he said, if he knew that he was doing wrong, then the law was good or effective. He also wanted us to know that he was not the one doing wrong; it was the sin that was living in him. Paul then went on to say how there is nothing good in his flesh, and that he would do good but he does not, because of evil. In other word he was letting us know that when he desired to do good, evil was present with him. But he ended the chapter by thanking God because the answer for his sin problem was in Christ Jesus, our Lord. And in his mind he really wanted to obey God’s law, but because of his sinful nature, he was a slave to sin. This champion knew this about himself and he is actually letting us know about his dependency on the Holy Spirit. That is why he could start off the eighth chapter with, there is, therefore now no condemnation to them who are in Christ Jesus. Paul figured out that the salvation that he had was not because of himself, but because of the Son dying and the Holy Spirit keeping him. So as we look at this text for the week, I pray that we will get the understanding just like Paul, that without the Holy Spirit controlling our flesh, we will find nothing good in it.
First of all, if we are to have a life in the Spirit . . .
1. THERE SHOULD BE EVIDENCE THAT THE SPIRIT HAS SET US FREE (v.2)
“For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus hath made me free from the law of sin and death.”
One of many negative things that is said about the Church is, that its actions are everything but Christian. Now I would be the first to tell you that many of these indictments are not true, especially when the church refuses to be used by the ungodly. But on the other side of that coin, we find some truth in their indictments. It has been my experience and many of yours too that some of the meanest people are found in the church, and some of them have a tongue, an unclean tongue that they will display from time to time.
This is because the Holy Spirit has yet to guide their lives. Dr. Charles Stanley in his book (The Wonderful Spirit-Filled Life) said that “he is concerned about men and women who simply go through the motions, they go to church, read their bibles, say their prayers and even learned to confess their sins.” I agree with Dr. Stanley because they do all these things, but yet they show no evidence that the Holy Spirit is active in their lives, they are just going through the motions of what happens at church. But a true believer of Christ will live as though he is Spirit-filled. His every waking moment will be to live for the Lord. It is just like my golf instructor reminds me to do before every golf shot, “Make the motion, the motion will make the shot.” Likewise, if we act like we are Spirit-filled, we’ll live like we are Spirit-filled.
Secondly . . .
2. WE MUST REALIZE THE LIMITATIONS OF THE LAW(v.3)
“For what the law could not do, in that it was weak through the flesh, God sending His own Son, in the likeness of sinful flesh and for sin, condemned sin in the flesh.”
There are some that believe that if they keep the Ten Commandments, they would be saved from God’s judgement. True that the Ten Commandments was God’s law to man and it was to remind man of the guidelines in which he is to follow God. If he followed God’s law, he pleased God, if he didn’t he displeased God. The law was to remind man when he had crossed the line from being innocent, at that point you are breaking the law and you are guilty for doing so. So, the law was to remind us that we were guilty for violating that law, the down side of that was that the law did not provide a satisfactory pardon for anyone who broke the law. So the law had its limitations. I am reminded of something that recently happened to my older brother. He is a long distance bus driver and he often made trips into Canada. He made so many trip into Canada that he started knowing the border people by name and they knew him, on both sides of the border. But one day they stopped his bus for a pre-entrance security check setup by Canada’ Homeland Security. And they found an infraction on my brother’s record that happened over forty years ago, and they would not allow him to enter into Canada. Now mind you, my brother had paid the penalty for that crime through the correctional system, and he thought that he had satisfied the judges verdict. In other words, he did the crime and he served the time. When he went to the embassy with paper work in his hands to prove this, he was informed that there was no reciprocity for a felony charge without going through a long legal process, and even then there would be no guarantee that he would be allowed to enter into Canada again. I tell you this is an example of the law having limitations. This is a classic example of the law became a burden, and it could not correct our wrong to make us righteous. But there is some good news for us. God made a way out from our guilt of sin. He sent His own Son in our likeness. That is, Jesus came to us in the flesh. He (God) left his heavenly throne, took on a human body, that was tempted by the flesh, and He suffered many things on our behalf. On the cross, He condemned sin in the flesh. In other words He brought salvation to us through the death of His earthly body.
Finally, if we live in the Spirit . . .
3. THE FULFILLMENT OF THE LAW WOULD BE EVIDENT (vv.3b, 4)
“God sending His own Son, in the likeness of sinful flesh and for sin, condemned sin in the flesh, 4. That the righteousness of the law might be fulfilled in us, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit.”
Everything has a balance. In nature, the birds have the bees, the flowers have the trees, the moon has the sun, Deacon Anderson has Deaconess Anderson and the Son balances the Church. In this text we see that the law has its fulfillment. You see the law standing by itself could not do a thing for us except to give us the understanding that we are guilty. But we see that the law have a righteous side. And it is found through the blood of Jesus Christ. That if it was not for the shedding of the blood we would still be guilty according to the law.
But God, sent His Only Begotten Son to fulfill the law, that through Him the law would no longer condemn us but through Him we will be found righteous. You see by the law of the land, every man is innocent until he is found guilty through a trial of his peers. But through the law of God every man is guilty until he is found innocent through the blood of Jesus Christ. My brothers and sister just like Paul, we must realize that there is nothing good found in the flesh. We must learn to walk not after the flesh and the things of this world, but we need to learn to walk in the Spirit.
CONCLUSION
I’m so glad today that I can recognize like Paul, that there is no good thing in my flesh. The flesh would make you override what the Spirit wants you to do. We tell people to let your conscience be your guide. But I got a question for you. Who is your conscience guide? You see if you had never allowed the Holy Spirit into your life, I’m sorry to tell you that your conscience is being guided by someone other that the Holy Spirit. And if that is so, you will find your conscience saying things especially when someone does something to you.
• Your conscience will tell you to get even. But the Spirit will tell you, to love those who despitefully use you.
• When someone slanders your name, your conscience would tell you to do the same to them. But the Spirit would tell you that a soft answer turns away wrath. I hope you get the message.
• When someone starts an argument with you, your conscience would tell you to argue back. But the Spirit would tell you to follow peace with all men.
I remember a song that Refreshing Springs Church of God In Christ use to sing at the start of their radio broadcast. It said,
(Life can be beautiful
Beautiful, beautiful, if you live for Him.)
