1 20 13 “The Christian OBLIGATION”
Romans 8:1-14
The SHORT SIDE
I. God in Christ has given me a new life (zoe) to live for Him. (vs. 1-2)
II. The law cannot save, sanctify, nor justify us: only Christ can. (vs. 3-4)
III. If you are LIVING in the flesh (sinFULL self), you are trusting in the flesh; You will die in yourself (sin), by yourself, and be judged for yourself (sin).
* If you are LIVING in the SPIRIT you have life in Christ and peace with God. (vs. 5-8)
IV. The Believer in Christ escapes neither sin nor death, but is sustained by the Holy Spirit through both! (vs. 9-11)
V. The Believer IN Christ is indebted TO Christ. (13-17)
* To Put to death the deeds of the flesh.
* To Walk and live in the Spirit.
A BELEIVER HAS A DEBT OF GRATITUDE TO PAY BY putting to death the deeds of the flesh and to Walk and Live by in and by the Spirit
I was thinking about the adage that goes: “There are two sides to every story”. Everybody has “A STORY” of some kind or another, and often when CONFLICT or accusations arise, we are quick to say: “There are two sides to every story”. IN a Christian, there are two sides on the INSIDE of US: There is the conflict of the TWO I’s. There is the fleshly, worldly sinful side and then there is the Spirit of God-I-want-to-please-you side.
We have been looking at the some of the struggles in the Christian life. That brings us to Romans 8 (NAS): 1 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. (If Christ’s Spirit has come into your heart, you believe in Jesus’ death on the cross and life for you, then you have been set free from the condemnation from sin and death. Listen: You have been released from the law and death for a specific reason and that is to serve the Spirit of the Living God! The word LIFE (zoe) means a real and genuine, active and vigorous existence which is DEVOTED TO GOD, not to the world and flesh! I.God has given me a NEW life (zoe) and Spirit to live for HIM. You have a continual lifestyle change.
Galatians 2: 20 says: "I have been crucified with Christ (my sin and death have been crucified with Christ) ; and it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me;(THE NEW SPIRIT OF LIFE) and the life which I now live in the flesh (while I am still here on this earth) I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself up for me.”
Rom. 8:3 “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 (12th time in the book of Romans: the earthly, prone to sin and opposed to God, that which is going to die) but according to the Spirit (the spirit of God).”
The Spirit of God IN US is the key to the Law being fulfilled in us. The Spirit calls the believer to obedience. For the Believer, the end is not condemnation but righteousness.
II.The law could not save us! We cannot save ourselves because we are sinful before birth, but God sent Jesus in the flesh but without sin to fulfill the perfect requirement of the law. Now Jesus imputes His righteousness to us: He assigns HIS RIGHTEOUSNESS to believers; He places it on the believer’s account, even though they have ABSOLUTELY NONE OF THEIR OWN RIGHTEOUSNESS and no reason to deserve His. The law cannot sanctify us (make us holy and pure) and the law cannot justify us (It only declares us “Guilty”). Only God in Christ can SAVE.
We can understand with a heart of faith how Christ sanctifies us and justifies us, but how is the requirement of the Law fulfilled in us? How can we be Christ-like, submitting to persecution, turning the other cheek, producing HOLY FRUIT like the law requires us to do? The key to having God’s holiness fulfilled in us is that we WALK (LIVE) ACCORDING TO THE SPIRIT. We don’t fulfill the requirement by turning to the law, and trying to DO BETTER. We have do a complete “about face” and turn from OUR REMEDIES to God’s remedies: We have to TURN TO JESUS CHRIST. “Wretched man that I am! Who will set me free from the body of this death? Thanks be to God through Jesus Christ our Lord !” (Rom. 7: 24-25)
Romans 8:5- “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. (IT SHOWS IN OUR LIVES, doesn’t it? The way we are actually living are like a litmus test: Our lives show whether we are living for ME and my sinful desires, for the FLESH for sin, OR whether we are living for God through HIS Spirit of life.) 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; (GOD’S BITTER ENEMY) for it does not subject itself (will not OBEY) 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.”
The law demands perfection because GOD IS HOLY. There is NO SIN in HIM ever; God condemns unrepentant sinners; If you do not keep the law PERFECTLY, you sin and you will die, because God, actually DOES PAY ACCORDING to what you DO! (The wages of sin is death.) This is one side of the story, the Flesh Sin Adam side of the story: If you are trusting and living in your own works and don’t trust in CHRIST’S WORKS, your mind is set on the Flesh, on the things that you CAN see, and so you CANNOT AND WILL NOT PLEASE God.
III. If you are living in the flesh (in sinFULL self), you are trusting in the flesh; You will die in yourself (sin), by yourself, (no one to defend or rescue you) and be judged for yourself (sin). How many sins does it take to be IMPERFECT? Only one. If you are living in the Spirit you have life in Christ and peace (not condemnation) with God.
When PAUL says HOWEVER, PAY ATTENTION: 9 However, you are not in the flesh but in the Spirit, IF indeed (or since) the Spirit of God dwells in you. But if anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ, he does not belong to Him. (Paul is writing this letter to professing Christians in Rome. Don’t be deceived! There can be counterfeit Christians. They are not the real deal. They’re like play actors on a stage. They may look pretty good on the outside but still do not have the Spirit of God on the inside. They only have the spirit of the flesh. Having the Spirit of God IN YOU is something you KNOW!)
10 IF Christ is in you, though the body is dead because of sin, yet the spirit is alive because of righteousness. (That righteousness is God’s 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.”
IV. The Believer in Christ escapes neither sin nor death, but is sustained by the Holy Spirit through both! God’s grace is so awesome! I was dead in sin but He made me alive in Christ. He gives me a righteousness that I could not attain. THEN, He puts His Holy Spirit in this failing body in order to COMBAT sin, so I can distinguish between what pleases Him and what doesn’t please Him, to bring Him glory while I live HERE, AND He gives me the assurance that this failing body will one day be resurrected and renewed by the POWER of His same Life-Giving Spirit.
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,(Paul is not speaking generally to people “OUT THERE” but to “the beloved of God in Rome, called as saints”, called as the Holy Ones of God) you must die; but if by the Spirit you are putting to death the deeds of the body, you will live.” Is Paul saying that you are saved by God’s grace and faith, as long as you add works? No. What he IS saying is that-
V. The Believer IN Christ is indebted TO Christ; that’s what the word “obligation” means. We do not have a debt that has to be paid for sin if we are IN CHRIST, because He paid THAT debt with His Blood. The LETTER of the Law required condemnation for sin and that debt is paid, for those who have received His Spirit cleansing. Hallelujah! Vs. 14- For all who are being led by the Spirit of God, these are sons of God.
Christ’s righteousness is not only put on our account so that our sin debt is paid, BUT the Spirit of Righteousness now lives in our hearts. The Spirit of the law commands service and doing RIGHT THINGS (righteous living). The same Spirit that descended on Jesus at His baptism, the same Spirit that raised Christ from the dead, That same Spirit works in us to put to death the deeds of the flesh.
Galatians 5:19 mentions those: “Now the deeds of the flesh are evident, which are: immorality, (Porneia- illicit sexual intercourse, anything other than what God prescribes in His Word) impurity (the opposite of holiness), sensuality,
20 idolatry,(putting anything before God. How ‘bout the god of OPTIONS or OPINIONS. People think they have so many options other than God!) sorcery, (Gr. Pharmakeia, drugs, anything that leads you away from a sound spiritual mind: tarot cards, horoscopes, mind readers) enmities,(HATRED) strife (Fighting), jealousy,(Root word is to “boil with HEAT) outbursts of anger, disputes,(it’s what politicians do trying to sway people to their side) dissensions, factions,( hah'-ee-res (GR.) causing division by harassing)
21 envying, (to covet or be discontent) drunkenness (substituting one kind of spirit for the Spirit of God,) carousing,(to be following the devil) and things like these, of which I forewarn you, just as I have forewarned you, that those who practice such things will not inherit the kingdom of God.” These are clear signs of walking or living in the flesh.
In the same chapter: Galatians 5:16 But I say, walk by the Spirit, and you will not carry out the desire of the flesh. 17 For the flesh sets its desire against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh ; for these are in opposition to one another, so that you may not do the things that you please. 18 But if you are led by the Spirit, you are not under the Law…
22 But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, 23 gentleness, self-control ; against such things there is no law. 24 Now those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires. 25 If we live by the Spirit, let us also walk by the Spirit.
The Believer IN Christ is indebted TO Christ, and that debt is to walk and live by the Spirit of God. We cannot claim moral and spiritual bankruptcy if we are IN CHRIST. That’s where we once were in Adam. We didn’t have any choice but to sin and to reject God. But if we are IN CHRIST, we now DO HAVE a Choice. In Christ we have the Spirit to enable us to chose Him.
What were the predominant words that were used so often in Romans 7? I DO and I DON’T DO. In order to follow the Spirit, discipline is necessary in our lives, SELF discipline, the disciplines of adoration and confession in prayer, to be avid students of God’s Word, and to encourage each other; ALL or theses things HELP us TO DO what God wants us to do; They don’t save us but enable us to BETTER PLEASE God. The Believer, a child of God, will produce the fruit of the Spirit because not only does he HAVE the Spirit but he is following the Spirit, living with the Spirit of God in us.
I’ll close with Romans 6:22: But now that you (you beloved saints, called to be HOLY) you have been set free from sin and have become slaves to God, the benefit you reap leads to holiness, and the result is eternal life.” We don’t lose anything, but have everything to gain.
The debt we pay is really gratitude to our Savior for dying for your sins; We demonstrate our gratitude by dying to self and to the deeds of the flesh. It is impossible for us to do that without the Spirit of Life in us, but with Him in us we can walk and LIVE in His Resurrection Spirit.
Think of these two examples from Jesus: Mark 10:17f: The Rich Young Ruler basically said: " I can’t give up what I can see, for what I can’t."
Luke 12:16f: The Rich Foolish Farmer said: I will invest in what I CAN see, not in what I can’t. How about you?
