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Good morning friends who are ‘Walking with Jesus” together,
Today we arrive in one of the most powerful chapters in the Bible. . . Romans 8.
You’ll remember yesterday, in Romans 7, Paul bemoaned the fact that the sinful nature in us continually works trying to draw us into thinking, speaking and acting in ways that dishonor God and hurt other people. As Christians, our new, Holy Spirit birthed, Spiritual nature, longs to honor God in every aspect of living, thus a battle rages in our minds and hearts, everyday.
And when we succumb to the temptation of our sinful nature, and we say or do those things which dishonor God and hurt others, we quickly feel shame, guilt, remorse and find ourselves in damage control mode, trying to fix the problems we’ve caused. Too often we actually further complicate the problem and end up in the place of despair as Paul concluded chapter 7 “What a wretched person I am! Who will rescue me from this body of death?”
But then there’s Jesus! And chapter 8 is Paul’s glorious, celebration of Jesus’ response to the despair of chapter 7. Let’s drink deeply of this spring of hope: “Therefore, there is now NO condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus, because through Christ Jesus the law of the Spirit of life set me free from the law of sin and death.” (8:1) Can you express what these two opposing laws are?
Of course the law of sin and death is what we saw in Romans 3… everyone has sinned, no exceptions, and sin is cumulative. Like compound interest, sin condemnation grows as our sin guilt piles up with each new sin. “The wages of sin is death” (Rom. 6:23) so there is no escape, no hope, for anyone.
The law of the Spirit of life, is that Jesus’ atonement death payment on the cross, is accepted by Holy God, as payment in full for our sin debt. Thus God can extend forgiveness for our sin and declare us “justified”, and reconcile us to Himself, in restored relationship! Remember that’s the power of Romans 5?
So now we understand how Paul can make this outrageous claim, that anyone who has fully trusted in Jesus Christ as their Savior, is freed by God from their sin condemnation! This is another cornerstone in the foundation of our Christian faith! No other religion in the world can make this claim!
Do you see in vs 3&4, Paul explains that the purpose of God’s laws were to help us see how we should live to be holy. But because of our sinful nature and our frequent failure, our sin guilt only grows. But the miracle of God declaring us ‘justified’ and placing the holiness of Jesus upon us, as forgiven sinners, enables us to be seen by God, as the holy people the laws were trying to help us become.
Now please take careful note of vs. 5-9, as it explains the battle for our minds, our thoughts, that we all struggle with everyday. It’s very clear and should make it easy for each of us to assess who has greater influence in our minds… the Holy Spirit or the devil? “The mind of sinful man is death, but the mind controlled by the Spirit is life and peace; the sinful mind is hostile to God… Those controlled by the sinful nature cannot please God. You however, are controlled not by the sinful nature but by the Spirit, if the Spirit of God lives in you. And if anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ, they do not belong to Christ.”
So we now discover another way to evaluate if someone is authentically a born-again Christian: does the Holy Spirit of God live within them and are they able to discern the work of the Spirit of God in their mind, heart and life?
Verse 11, by the way, is not a promise that if the Holy Spirit lives in you your body will never be sick, it will not age and grow old, or will not die. No, the fact that we are born-again Christians does not in any way interfere with the normal function of our bodies, nor the normal ageing process. But verse 11 does promise that the power of God will, on resurrection day, do with our dead bodies, what He did with Jesus’ dead body, and raise us to new life with Christ forever. We read that in 1 Thessalonians 4:13-18 and 1 Corinthians 15 several weeks ago, remember?
Do you notice Paul once again uses the word “Therefore” in vs. 12, as he did in vs. 1 of Romans 8? He likes that word. It’s a hinge word, a building block word. Like a rock climber, it gives us a strong foot and hand hold so we can keep climbing, moving on to new truth.
Here Paul calls Christians to take ownership of the fact that because of 8:1-11, “…we have an obligation…” The obligation is an empowered choice… to live not according to our sinful nature, but according to the leading of the Holy Spirit of God within us. But it’s a choice, isn’t it? May I remind you of a powerful statement we saw a few days ago in Deuteronomy 30:19,20… “Now choose life, so that you and your children may live, so that you may love the LORD your God, listen to His voice, hold fast to Him, for the LORD is your life.”
Remember that challenge was from Moses to the younger generation in the desert, as they prepared to leave the desert and move into the land God had promised them? Do you see Paul & Moses are saying the same thing? Do you see our children will live in the shadow of our choices? Do you see how living by the influence of the Holy Spirit should make a huge difference in our lives?
Now finally, and I say finally because this chapter is so rich, we’re going to take two days to work through it… look at 8:14-16 “…those who are led by the Spirit of God are sons of God. For you did not receive a spirit that makes you a slave again to fear, but you received the Spirit of sonship. And by Him we cry, ‘Abba Father’. The Spirit Himself testifies with our spirit that we are God’s children.”
Are you ready for another important word that describes one of the diamond faces involved in our salvation experience? It’s “ADOPTION”! Yes, God actually ADOPTS people He saves from their sin bondage, into His family. That’s “Sonship” or we could also say “daughtership”. Now watch this… God has no grandchildren! Only sons and daughters. That means no one will find themselves in heaven because they had a praying mother, or Pastor father. Salvation is an individual decision. We each have our own sin guilt to deal with. Salvation is a unique, individual, personal work of God in one person’s life, as they trust fully in Jesus Christ’s atonement death to be sufficient to pay for their sin guilt, and they entrust their life to a resurrected, living Savior, Jesus! (Hebrews 7:25)
Then the Holy Spirit is sent by the Father, to live within a person Jesus has redeemed and the Father has forgiven, and ADOPTED! The little phrase “Abba Father” means a divine Father who is extremely loving and always good.
Now let me give you two others Bible verses you can look up, to more fully grasp this idea of adoption by God… John 1:12 and Galatians 3:26-4:7.
Do you know anyone who has been adopted? Perhaps are you legally adopted? It’s a remarkable thing for a person to go from orphan, parent-less, living, even if they are in a kind foster home… to being adopted. Belonging in a family, by the formal decision of parents who are willing that a child not born to them biologically, becomes a legal part of their family, equal in standing with any biological child… Adoption!
That’s the power of Romans 8:17 “Now if we are children, then we are heirs – heirs of God and co-heirs with Christ…” Yes my friends, this means God has not only adopted us as His children, into His global and eternal family, but we are heirs… there is an inheritance awaiting us in His presence! Can you imagine what a God inheritance might be like? Yes, of course it means we will be with Jesus, and God the Father, and all the angels in heaven, and then an eternity together… but it means much more, and tomorrow we’ll move through the rest of Romans 8, to discover more.
For today, may I leave you with some questions to ponder, from Romans 8?
1. Why is there now no sin condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus?
2. What is the difference between a person whose mind is controlled by their sinful nature and a person whose mind is controlled by the Holy Spirit of God who lives within them?
3. How do you describe ADOPTION of a Christian by God, into God’s family?
Thank you Jesus for these wonderful, powerful truths that should change our lives and give us great hope for living in such a complex world…
Have a comment or question about today’s chapter? I’m ready to hear from you, contact me here.
Pastor Doug Anderson 262.441.8785
“Let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us, with our eyes fixed on Jesus…” (Heb. 12:1,2)
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