Text: Romans 8:1-17
Title: The Benefits of New Life- The Spirit
Romans 8:1-17 Therefore there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. 2 For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus has set you free from the law of sin and of death. 3 For what the Law could not do, weak as it was through the flesh, God did: sending His own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh and as an offering for sin, He condemned sin in the flesh, 4 so that the requirement of the Law might be fulfilled in us, who do not walk according to the flesh but according to the Spirit. 5 For those who are according to the flesh set their minds on the things of the flesh, but those who are according to the Spirit, the things of the Spirit. 6 For the mind set on the flesh is death, but the mind set on the Spirit is life and peace, 7 because the mind set on the flesh is hostile toward God; for it does not subject itself to the law of God, for it is not even able to do so, 8 and those who are in the flesh cannot please God. 9 However, you are not in the flesh but in the Spirit, if indeed the Spirit of God dwells in you. But if anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ, he does not belong to Him. 10 If Christ is in you, though the body is dead because of sin, yet the spirit is alive because of righteousness. 11 But 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. 12 So then, brethren, we are under obligation, not to the flesh, to live according to the flesh-- 13 for if you are living according to the flesh, you must die; but if by the Spirit you are putting to death the deeds of the body, you will live. 14 For all who are being led by the Spirit of God, these are sons of God. 15 For you have not received a spirit of slavery leading to fear again, but you have received a spirit of adoption as sons by which we cry out, "Abba! Father!" 16 The Spirit Himself testifies with our spirit that we are children of God, 17 and if children, heirs also, heirs of God and fellow heirs with Christ, if indeed we suffer with Him so that we may also be glorified with Him.
I. The Spirit Brings Eternal Security- vs. 1-4
II. The Spirit Brings Sanctification- vs. 5-8
III. The Spirit Brings us to Christ- vs. 9-11
IV. The Spirit Brings Life- vs. 11-13
V. The Spirit Brings Adoption- vs. 14-17
Please turn in your Bibles to Romans chapter 1. I know we’ve already been there. Don’t worry, I’m not going to start over. I’d like to start out today with a quick summary of where we’ve been and a look ahead to where we are going. I know that over the past few months a lot of people have been out sick or on vacation, so I want to bring us all up to speed.
If you remember I started out this series by talking about how Paul systematically constructs a theological house for us through the book of Romans.
The foundation of the doctrinal house was what? That’s right, revelation. The fact that God has revealed Himself to us through redemptive history, through the scripture, and through Jesus Christ is absolutely critical. It is how we know what God is like.
The first wall of our theological house was the doctrine of sin. In the first three chapters of Romans Paul explains what sin is, how it affects us, and what the consequences of it are.
In his discussion of the doctrine of sin Paul address three groups of people. In chapter 1 he addresses the pagan or the person who completely rejects God. In chapter 2 he deals with people who think that good works is enough to overcome the condemnation of sin. They are wrong.
Finally in chapter 3 he deals with the Jewish people who think that they will be saved simply because they have always been God’s chosen people. Paul illustrates in chapter 4 how salvation isn’t about your birthright, it’s about faith. If you remember, chapter 4 is all about Abraham as an illustration of justification by faith.
The second wall of our theological house is the doctrine of salvation. We have been talking about this one for the past few weeks. The doctrine of salvation can be split up into three parts; justification, sanctification, and glorification. In the last part of chapter 3 and all of 4 and 5 Paul explains justification.
We are made right in the sight of God through faith in Jesus Christ. New life is given to us simply as a gift of God’s grace.
In chapter 6 and 7 Paul deals with the subject of sanctification. If you remember he talked about how we are now dead to sin and alive in Christ. We are no longer enslaved to sin by slaves to Christ. And in chapter 7 he offered a glimpse at his own struggle with sin in order to help us understand the battle between the new heart and the old sin nature.
Starting in chapter 8 Paul begins to transition into talking about the last aspect of salvation; glorification. In chapter 8 Paul talks about some of the benefits of this new life we now have as believers in Jesus Christ.
This week we will talk about the benefit of the Holy Spirit in our new life. Next week we will see the benefit of hope in our new life. And then we’ll talk about the victory that comes with our new life in Christ. All from chapter 8.
The great thing about chapter 8 is that in it Paul weaves the present, earthly benefits of new life together with the future, heavenly benefits of new life. Each of these three things, the Holy Spirit, Hope, and Victory; all have value for us today, but they also link us to our future glory.
There’s a quick review of where we have been and where we are going. Today we are going to read chapter 8:1-17. Follow along as I read…
The first benefit of new life is the Holy Spirit. Back in the book of John, Jesus promised to send the Spirit…
John 14:16-17 16 "I will ask the Father, and He will give you another Helper, that He may be with you forever; 17 that is the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it does not see Him or know Him, but you know Him because He abides with you and will be in you.
Jesus promises not to leave us alone, but that the Father will send us a helper, a councilor, and advocate. This helper is the very Spirit of God. It empowers us and benefits us is a number of ways.
First of all, the Spirit brings eternal security. The very first few verses testify to this truth. 1-4…
There is now no condemnation for those who are saved and sealed by Christ through the Holy Spirit.
What an amazing promise. It doesn’t say that there will be no condemnation when you get to the judgment seat. It says that right now, this minute, there is no condemnation that we face. We are completely justified. There is nothing that we did to earn this justification and there is nothing that we can do to lose it.
The Holy Spirit acts as a protective seal, guaranteeing our salvation. Eternal security is a concept that some Christians have a hard time accepting. But there is nothing that can separate us from God once we have been brought into His family. Once the Holy Spirit regenerates our heart it never dies again. Once our sins are forgiven and atoned for, no amount of sin can reverse that.
This is because the work of salvation is done by God, through the sacrifice of Jesus Christ, and by the convicting and transforming of the Holy Spirit.
Over in Ephesians Paul explains how the Holy Spirit brings eternal security…
Ephesians 1:13-14 13 And you also were included in Christ when you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation. Having believed, you were marked in him with a seal, the promised Holy Spirit, 14 who is a deposit guaranteeing our inheritance until the redemption of those who are God’s possession-- to the praise of his glory.
I love this passage. It says that when you heard the word of truth, the gospel… how many of you have heard the gospel? When you heard it you believed it… how many of you have believed it? Once those two things happened something amazing happens inside each one of us; we are marked with a seal, we are preserved, approved, set apart by the promised Holy Spirit.
This Holy Spirit acts as a deposit guaranteeing our inheritance until we are finally redeemed by God. The language here is so clear. We are sealed, we have a deposit, or a pledge, and we have a guarantee from God that we will be redeemed.
If you have heard the truth of the gospel and believed in it you have an iron clad guarantee from God Himself that you are headed for heaven. Your place in heaven is secure.
On a cattle ranch the way that a rancher marks his cattle is with a branding iron. It sears the rancher’s logo into the cow. That brand is a mark of ownership. If there is ever a dispute as to who owns that particular cow, the brand settles it. In the same way, the Holy Spirit of God is His mark of ownership on us. The Holy Spirit is a mark of God’s authority, ownership, and security until the day of redemption.
So first, The Holy Spirit brings us eternal security. Second, the Holy Spirit brings sanctification. The Holy Spirit helps to change and transform us. The Holy Spirit convicts us and guides us. Look at verses 5-8…
Last week Paul described the struggle between the old fleshly nature and his new inner man or new heart. Chapter 7 is more of Paul describing his disgust at the fact that he still fails and does the kind of things that he lo longer really wants to do. He still sins even though he now wants to obey God.
In this passage Paul is describing that same struggle as a battle between the flesh and the Spirit. The Spirit has brought our heart back into working order. The Spirit brings us to life and dwells within. But just like Paul illustrated in chapter 7, the flesh doesn’t go away.
I think it is important to point out that there is a difference between the kind of failure to sin that Paul admits to in chapter 7 and the kind of sin that he is talking about here. Paul admits that he occasionally does the very things that he no longer wants to do. It isn’t so much a lifestyle of sin and rebellion as it is succumbing to the flesh.
Here Paul is talking about walking according to the flesh. It isn’t just an occasional failure, but living in the flesh; allowing the flesh to guide you. If we allow that old nature and that old set of desires to take control we will face difficulty and discipline. It isn’t how God wants us to live.
In fact, like we talked about last week, a person who doesn’t face this inner struggle between the new heart and the old flesh might not have a new heart. They will just give in to the flesh every time.
This is just a review of what we talked about in detail last week. We need to learn to live by listening to our clean heart, our new set of desires, and the convicting of the Holy Spirit. Over in Galatians 5 Paul summarizes this teaching by saying…
Galatians 5:16-17 16 So I say, live by the Spirit, and you will not gratify the desires of the sinful nature. 17 For the sinful nature desires what is contrary to the Spirit, and the Spirit what is contrary to the sinful nature. They are in conflict with each other, so that you do not do what you want.
Notice the similarity in langue here and in Romans. Because of the struggle between the flesh and the Spirit we end up doing what we do not want to do.
How exactly does the Holy Spirit help us in our sanctification? There are a couple of ways that this works.
- First, the Spirit convicts. He nags at our conscience. He enlightens our sense of right and wrong.
- Second, the Spirit enlightens. The Holy Spirit helps us understand the scripture. He helps us grasp the truth of God.
Third, the Spirit empowers. He gives us the strength to overcome anything.
A part of this sanctifying work of the Holy Spirit is to bring us to Christ. This is such an important reality. The Spirit’s job is to draw us to Christ, through the Word, through faith, and through convicting us of sin. The Holy Spirit continues to bring us to Christ every day of our lives. Look at verses 9-11…
The very same Spirit that raised Jesus from the dead lives in us. That same Spirit resides in our hearts.
Does it ever seem like the Holy Spirit is sort of a mysterious, faceless, member of the Trinity? I mean it is normal to pray to God the father and we often pray to Jesus, but we don’t often pray to the Holy Spirit. Some people even think of the Holy Spirit as more of an energy or force, rather than a person.
The Spirit is described as a wind or breath. He takes the form of a dove at Jesus’ baptism. He does a lot of behind the scenes things like guiding and enlightening and empowering. We know He’s present and working, but sometimes we’re not sure what to do with the Spirit.
I think this is by design. I think the Spirit’s role is to point us to the Bible and to Christ. Theologian J.I. Packer put it this way…
“…think of it this way. It is as if the Spirit stands behind us, throwing light over our shoulder on to Jesus who stands facing us. The Spirit’s message to us is never, "Look at me; listen to me; come to me; get to know me", but always, "Look at him, and see his glory; listen to him and hear his word; go to him and have life; get to know him and taste his gift of joy and peace." The Spirit, we might say, is the matchmaker, the celestial marriage broker, whose role it is to bring us and Christ together and ensure that we stay together.”
This is an important distinction to make because there are some very liberal theologians out there who are teaching that we don’t need to know Christ as long as we have the Holy Spirit. I know I’ve mentioned it before, but some believe that you can separate the saving work of Jesus Christ and the saving work of the Spirit.
They believe that where there is evidence of fruit of the Spirit then there is salvation. Even if the people don’t know anything about Jesus Christ.
But the work of the Holy Spirit isn’t necessarily to save us, but to draw us to our savior. The saving work of the Spirit and the Son are intertwined. They work together in perfect unity. The triune God is one God. God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit all play a part in our redemption.
Along with sanctification, the Holy Spirit brings life. Look at verses 11-13…
If the Spirit was able to raise Jesus from the dead, surely He can bring us back to life. The Spirit dwells in us, revives us, gives us new purpose.
That’s the reason Paul says here that we are under obligation to live by the Spirit. Another way of saying it is that we are indebted to the Spirit because the Spirit has brought us to life. But we are not indebted to the flesh, because the flesh has given us nothing but heartache and death.
We have the ability to live a new kind of life because of the Spirit that dwells in us.
Isn’t that a completely amazing concept? The creator of the whole universe, the awesome God of the Bible, resides in us. It’s just to amazing to understand. I don’t think we really grasp the extent of the power that is available to us through the indwelling of the Holy Spirit. We have life, and life abundant.
Finally, the Holy Spirit brings us adoption. The Holy Spirit brings us into the family of God. Through the work of the Holy Spirit we move from being God’s enemies to being children of God. Look at the last few verses with me…14-17…
Adoption is a beautiful illustration of our relationship to God. I know a number of people here understand adoption first hand. Many of you have adopted children or were adopted.
The Osborn’s just adopted a beautiful baby girl, Christ Jayne. She now will receive all the privileges of being a child of Eric and Amy. Christa gets the Osborn name. She gets to live with them and be blessed by them; she is now a part of their family.
God grants us those same blessings when He adopts us into His family.
In Paul’s day being adopted was seen as a huge privilege. Often the adopted child had a higher place in the family structure than natural born children. An adopted child is special because they are chosen. This is the understanding that Paul’s readers would have had.
Paul wants to remind us here of our standing with God. We aren’t just God’s friends; we aren’t just saved from hell; we are now considered sons of God, adopted into His family.
The Holy Spirit is the proof that we are sons of God.
“For all who are being led by the Spirit of God, these are sons of God.”
We don’t have a Spirit of slavery or fear, but a Spirit of adoption. In other words, God isn’t a cruel task master, but a loving father. We have a relationship with God that enables us to cry out to Him with terms of endearment. It says we can cry out “Abba, Father”.
The word “Abba” is Aramaic for “Dear Father” or “Daddy”. It is a term of intimacy and familiarity. It was never ever used by the Jews to refer to God, and it still would never be used by a Jew. They would only use more reverent terms to refer to God.
My two girls usually call me daddy. But every now and then Lilly will experiment with words and call me “father”. But usually that doesn’t last for very long. Father just sounds so formal and cold. Daddy is not just a title, but a term of endearment.
In the Garden of Gethsemane Jesus prayed to His father as he faced the coming crucifixion.
Mark 14:36 36 And He was saying, "Abba! Father! All things are possible for You; remove this cup from Me; yet not what I will, but what You will."
Jesus was able to refer to God as Abba because Jesus was the son of God. So Paul’s words here clearly point back to that prayer of Jesus. Just like Jesus Christ had a close, intimate relationship with God, we can too because of our adoption as sons.
The work of the Holy Spirit in us is one of the greatest blessings of this new life. There is so much that the Spirit does for us and in us and through us. Let us no longer walk according to the flesh, but according to the Spirit of Life.
