The Mind of the Spirit: Romans 8 - Feb. 22, 2009
Good morning. Turn with me to the book of Romans, chapter 8. We have been going through this book written by the Apostle Paul to Christians living in Rome, the capital city of the Roman Empire. He writes them to share the “good news” of salvation - explaining what our salvation means for us. In chapters 1-3 he writes about condemnation -- all men, -- out and out sinners, kind moral people who try to do good, and even religious Jews -- all men are condemned by God, because a holy, holy, holy God cannot allow sin in His presence. Our sin condemns us all.
Paul goes on in chapters 4 & 5 to talk about our justification -- the legal declaration that we are “not guilty” of our sin. Even though we are spiritually bankrupt on our own, God has “credited” to our account all the righteousness of Jesus Christ. In chapter 4 Paul shows us that this justification, this bringing us into right standing with God, does not come about by trying to keep the OT laws. The law could never make us right with God, it only ever condemned us. The law was given to us to show us our sinfulness.
And then in chapter 5, Paul goes on to talk about sanctification - the discussion of how we become “set apart” from sin and set apart unto God. We talked about how God develops godly character in our lives. God allows us to struggle in life, because the struggles make us stronger. When we suffer, it helps us to endure -- to keep on holding on and not give up. The perseverance builds character in our life, which inspires us to keep on believing in God: to have HOPE!
We looked in chapter 6 & 7, and talked about our sanctification.
• Justification has to do with our standing - that we have been declared “not guilty” of our sins: the righteousness of Christ has been credited to our account.
• Sanctification has to do with our conduct - do we “live out” the truth of who we are in Christ?
Many times we look to the LAW to give us victory in our Christian lives. In our lives, not necessarily the 10 commandments, but we look to a system of outward performance. We try to gain victory in our lives over sin by trying to DO all the right things. We think that if we can just try harder we will gain the victory. But the sad truth is that all you DO on your own strength will NEVER give you victory over sin.
The key to spiritual victory is NOT in outward performance, but a reliance upon the Holy Spirit. We said victory was as easy as ABC -
Acknowledge Christ’s Accomplishment - KNOWING the truth, that victory over sin’s control has been accomplished through Jesus Christ.
Believe what Christ has done for you -- Not only to we need to KNOW the truth in our heads, but we also need to believe it in our hearts. We act with our minds and accept the truth; we act with our hearts and believe the truth; and we act with our wills:
Commit ourselves to following God - We make the decision that we will choose to follow God rather than sin.
That brings us to chapter 8. For many, this is one of the greatest chapters of the Bible. There is so much truth here that we could spend the next couple months in this one chapter. But today, as we think about sanctification, the process of living a life set apart to following God, we want to talk about the part the Holy Spirit of God plays in that process. And as we come to this chapter, let’s pause to pray -- one of the most important things we can do today -- that God Himself would speak to us through His holy words. PRAY.
Read 8:1-16 -- Paul starts out in this chapter in verses 1-2 talking about our position - who we are in Christ. We are free from the law. The law cannot condemn us (verse 1) it cannot claim us (verse 2) and it cannot control us (verse 4). As we saw last week, a key verse in gaining spiritual victory in our lives is found in John 8 - You will know the truth, and the truth will set you free. (32) - and then down in verse 36 - So if the Son sets you free, you will be free indeed. In Christ we are positionally free from the power of sin in our lives.
So practically, how do we gain the victory over sin? It is not by working harder to try on our own strength to do a better job of living a godly life. Rather, the victory comes as we rely upon the Holy Spirit to do in us that which we can never do on our own strength.
[Hold up a surgical glove -- and on powerpoint] What can this glove do? Absolutely nothing!
And at the same time, just about everything. This glove can lift weights of hundreds of pounds; This glove can juggle; this glove can play a piano concerto; this glove can do brain surgery. This glove can do all these things, depending on the hand that fills the glove. Of itself, we are nothing; but when the Spirit of God is at work in us, we can say like Paul in Philippians 4:13 - I can do everything through him who gives me strength.
So in verse 1-2 we see our position - set free from the control of sin. In verses 3-4 we see our practice - Paul goes on to talk about how we practically live out our lives. Even though we are freed from sin, we no longer need to be a slave to sin, on the issue of our practice, often we live in bondage to sin. Paul talks about the difference of our old self, controlled by the sin nature, and our new nature, the new creation we are in Christ Jesus. And down in verse 7 we see one of the key contrasts: we WERE enemies of God. The sinful mind is hostile to God. We were God’s enemies. We were at war. But now verse 6 tells us we are at peace.
Paul tells us that now, in salvation, through placing our faith in Christ, we become - vs 16 - children of God.
The Spirit himself testifies with our spirit that we are God’s children. The big word for this is REGENERATION - we are born again, and we become part of God’s family. There is a connection with God that is made. As we talked a couple weeks ago, we have “access” to God - we can come before the very throne of the Most High God and have no fear, because we come as His children.
A question for us to consider is this: Do we pray like God is our father? And do we pray like God is a good father who loves to give good gifts to His children? Sometimes we come to God like a “door-to-door” salesman, trying to manipulate Him and coax Him into giving us what we want. Instead, we should come like a child sitting on his father’s lap, expressing the love of the relationship, and sharing our hearts and thoughts, all our concerns, fears, desires, wants, and wishes, and asking for His wisdom, leading, and insight, and trusting His love for us to lead us in the best way. Paul says we become children of God.
Paul also says we become “sons.” Verse 14 - because those who are led by the Spirit of God are sons of God. We often think that sons and children are the same thing. But Paul is writing to a Roman audience, and to the Romans these were two very different concepts. Romans could have many children, by many wives, concubines, or sexual partners. But they had few sons. Sonship was a legal declaration, normally done as a child approached adulthood, where the father legally declared that the child was now the full heir of his estate. It was a declaration of the rights of inheritance. It was an issue of privilege.
Not only do we become “children” of God -- being born into the family, but God declares us “adopted sons” - we are heirs of God and co-heirs with Christ verse 17 tells us. Neil Anderson has a beautiful selection of phrases from scripture that reminds us who we are. Allow me to read just a few.
Read selected passages from “Who I Am in Christ.”
So, when we are in Christ, we are changed. No longer are we at war with Christ. We are at peace. We are now on His side, and He is for us. Verse 31 - What, then, shall we say in response to this? If God is for us, who can be against us? The Father is for us. Verse 34 tells us Jesus, the son, is for us. Verse 26 tells us the Holy Spirit is for us. So the whole trinity, Father, Son, and Spirit is for us. But we need to remember that we still have an enemy. When we become at peace with God, we become the enemy of Satan.
Lest we ever forget, we ARE still at war. We are in a spiritual battle. Ephesians 6 reminds us, Put on all of God’s armor so that you will be able to stand firm against all strategies and tricks of the Devil. For we are not fighting against people made of flesh and blood, but against the evil rulers and authorities of the unseen world, against those mighty powers of darkness who rule this world, and against wicked spirits in the heavenly realms. Use every piece of God’s armor to resist the enemy in the time of evil, so that after the battle you will still be standing firm.
We are in a spiritual battle. And the battlefield where we face the frontal assault of Satan is our minds. Remember what we saw over and over again as we went through the book of Ephesians last year: Right thinking brings Right Action. When we think rightly, we will live rightly. But when we drift into wrong thinking, it affects our lives.
Right now there is a battle in Iraq. It has been going on for years. And the question is, Why? Why haven’t we been able to go in and destroy the enemy? If the enemy lined up against our forces, it would be easy. But instead, they attack like snipers. One or two hide, attack, and flee. And Satan attacks us the same way. He attacks and flees. Attacks and flees. And he tries to attack us with wrong thinking.
Look down in verses 5-8. You will see the word “mind” mentioned several times. The battleground for spiritual victory takes place in our minds. We face the mind of the flesh, our old sin nature, versus the mind of the Spirit of God. Lest we forget, our sinful nature gave us a corrupt mind - Romans 1:28 called it a “reprobate” mind - one that was twisted and turned from the truth. Ephesians 4 calls it an empty mind. 2 Corinthians 4 says the minds of unbelievers are blinded by Satan, so they will not believe the truth.
But in salvation, we have been given a renewed mind. Paul will write a few chapters later in 12:2 - Do not conform any longer to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. We have a mind that as verse 6 tells us is to be “controlled by the Spirit.”
So, the war we face is a war with Satan, and sin, and our flesh. We are at peace with God, and we are now on His side. The battleground is our mind. But there are two key things to remember this morning. First,
* You think about that which you are exposed to! Just like computer programming, there is a phrase: Garbage in, garbage out. If you program a computer, it will give you back what you program into it.
Think back to elementary school. How did you learn the ABC’s? How did you learn your multiplication tables? By repeating them over and over and over again. That repetition, that continual focus helped us to lock into memory the basic truths. If I ask any one of you here today, How much is 2 times 3 -- most of you could give me the answer: 6. Because you have repeated the truths of the arithmetic table until it is part of you.
That’s why it is essential to focus daily, repeatedly, upon the truths of God’s word. David said in Psalms 119 - How can a young man keep his way pure? By living according to your word. . . I have hidden your word in my heart that I might not sin against you.
But what does Satan tempt us with -- what does he expose us to? Violence, sexual images, marital infidelity, profanity. And when we focus on these things, that is what we will think about. Why is there so much abuse, rape, violence, school shootings, immorality -- because we think about that which we are exposed to.
Satan basically has three plays which he runs over and over again. He doesn’t need to be smart; he just consistently attacks like a sniper, attacking in one of the same three attacks over and over again. 1 John 2:15 - Do not love the world or anything in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him. For everything in the world--the cravings of sinful man, the lust of his eyes and the boasting of what he has and does--comes not from the Father but from the world. Or in the wording of the KJV - the lust of the flesh, and the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life.
Satan attacks us with desire. James 1 tells us, but each one is tempted when, by his own evil desire, he is dragged away and enticed. Then, after desire has conceived, it gives birth to sin; and sin, when it is full-grown, gives birth to death.
Satan attacks us with temptation, appealing to our natural, sinful desires. And that which we are exposed to, we will think about. That’s why Paul writes in Philippians 4:8 - Finally, brethren, whatsoever things are true, whatsoever things are honest, whatsoever things are just, whatsoever things are pure, whatsoever things are lovely, whatsoever things are of good report; if there be any virtue, and if there be any praise, think on these things. But the second truth to consider - we think about what we are exposed to, and
* You are what you think. Or we become that which we we focus on. Right thinking brings right action. We can’t say, “Oh, it doesn’t affect me.” Yes, it does. What does God say in Proverbs 23:7 - For as he thinketh in his heart, so is he. Or consider these verses from Proverbs 4 - Above all else, guard your heart, for it affects everything you do. . . Look straight ahead, and fix your eyes on what lies before you. Mark out a straight path for your feet; then stick to the path and stay safe. Don’t get sidetracked; keep your feet from following evil.
If you think negative thoughts, you will be a negative person.
If you think you are sick, you will feel sick.
If you think you’re worthless, you will turn out to be worthless.
If you think evil thoughts, you will take evil actions.
But if you think godly, wholesome, pure thoughts, you will live a godly, obedient life.
You will know the truth, and the truth will set you free. If we understand this truth, that we are that which we think about, and if we take action and think rightly, it will totally change the person that we are. That’s why over and over and over again, we are told to control our minds.
Think about what Paul writes to the Ephesian church in chapter 2 - As for you, you were dead in your transgressions and sins, in which you used to live when you followed the ways of this world and of the ruler of the kingdom of the air, the spirit who is now at work in those who are disobedient. All of us also lived among them at one time, gratifying the cravings of our sinful nature and following its desires and thoughts. Like the rest, we were by nature objects of wrath.
That’s what we started out saying - we were at war with God, and followed our sinful desires.
But because of his great love for us, God, who is rich in mercy, made us alive with Christ even when we were dead in transgressions--it is by grace you have been saved. And God raised us up with Christ and seated us with him in the heavenly realms in Christ Jesus, in order that in the coming ages he might show the incomparable riches of his grace, expressed in his kindness to us in Christ Jesus.
That’s what we’ll look at next week in the end of this chapter. Our future hope. But he continues on.
For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith--and this not from yourselves, it is the gift of God-- not by works, so that no-one can boast. For we are God’s workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do.
When we control our minds, when we control our desires and passions and thoughts, then we will end up living a life of good works. We are not saved BY our good works, but we are saved TO good works. When we engage in the battle against sin and self and satan, when we take the armor of God, we will live an obedient life that honors God by doing that which is right.
So, coming back to our minds. What type of mind do we have now? Scripture tells us we have a
Renewed Mind - we have been talking about that. Also, it tells us we are to have the
Mind of Christ - Philippians 2:5 - Let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus. And the passage goes on to say that Christ lived obedient to the will of His Father. In our lives, we so often live based on our feelings. How do I feel about something? Instead, we should live our lives based upon obedience - what does God SAY about that? God isn’t interested in how we feel about something being right or wrong. He tells us in His word how to live, and He wants us to live an obedient life.
We have been looking here in chapter 8 at how the Holy Spirit works in our lives the victory. We are in a battle; we gain the victory but submitting ourselves to the control of the Holy Spirit.
How can you tell if you are following the Holy Spirit? Look at the things you are desiring, following, thinking about, focusing on, and doing. They will show you if your mind is focused on obedience to God or on fulfilling the pleasures of the sinful nature. Galatians 5 tells us, So I say, live by the Spirit, and you will not gratify the desires of the sinful nature. For the sinful nature desires what is contrary to the Spirit, and the Spirit what is contrary to the sinful nature. And by looking at our lives, we can see whether we are choosing to follow the Spirit or the sin nature. Galatians goes on to contrast the acts of the sinful nature and the fruit of the Spirit. Then it goes on to say, Since we live by the Spirit, let us keep in step with the Spirit.
That brings us back to what Paul is saying here in Romans 8: Let the mind of the Master be the master of your mind. Down in verses 12-13, he reminds us that we have an obligation to follow the Holy Spirit.
So, we are to have a renewed mind, the mind of Christ, and a
Mind of Love - Matthew 22:37 - Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind. This is the first and greatest commandment.
What is it that you really love? Love is one of the greatest motivators in our lives. Those of you who are married, think back to those days when you fell in love. You thought about that person constantly. You wrote their name over and over and over. Ronda Seilhamer Rhine - Ronda Sue Rhine - Mrs. Ronda Rhine.
Our love caused us to think constantly about the one we loved. But when we have a mind of love for God, it will cause us to think about Him. Matthew 6 - For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.
How often do you think about pleasing God, serving Him, doing what He wants? How often do you think about heaven and all that God has in store for you? Far too many Christians are heavily invested in all that this world has to offer, and because of that, we don’t love the things of God, we love the things of the world. Even though God tells us Love not the things of the world. And then, we are told to have
One Mind - Paul writes in 2 Corinthians 13 - Aim for perfection, listen to my appeal, be of one mind, live in peace. And the God of love and peace will be with you. And in Philippians 2 Paul writes, If you have any encouragement from being united with Christ, if any comfort from his love, if any fellowship with the Spirit, if any tenderness and compassion, then make my joy complete by being like-minded, having the same love, being one in spirit and purpose.
We need to have a mind of unity. We agree together in following our God. We don’t have uniformity -- we won’t always think the same; we will have differing ideas; but we agree on the same goals: to honor God and serve Him faithfully. Here at Bethel, we won’t have uniformity; but we desperately need unity. We need to agree on being likeminded. We want to be one in spirit and purpose. Paul says in Ephesians,
Put off your old self, which is being corrupted by its deceitful desires; to be made new in the attitude of your minds; and to put on the new self, created to be like God in true righteousness and holiness. Therefore each of you must put off falsehood and speak truthfully to his neighbor, for we are all members of one body. He goes on in that passage to say, Do not let any unwholesome talk come out of your mouths, but only what is helpful for building others up according to their needs, that it may benefit those who listen. Don’t tear others down by your speech; build them up. If we will have one mind, we will use right speech toward one another. We want to work together here at Bethel to honor and follow God. We want to encourage one another daily. We want to build one another up.
There are many other aspects of our minds that we could look at: we are to have a Willing mind, a Ready mind, a lowly mind, a sober mind, a pure mind, a sound mind, a serving mind, a fervent mind, and others as well. But today, take a moment to ponder what we have talked about.
We are in a battle - a battle against Satan, against the sin nature, against the desires that seek to control us. And the battle takes place in our minds. What you are exposed to, you will think about. What you think about, you will become. Right thinking brings right action.
Will you choose today to engage in the battle for your minds, to yield you thoughts over to the control of the Holy Spirit and let Him control your thoughts. When we do, we will lead obedient lives that bring glory to our Lord.
Why do we live like this?? Verse 17 tells us so that we can share in His glory. We will talk about that next week. Let’s pray together.
