Three groanings, Romans 8:18-27

Last week we looked at the blessings and benefits of  what Paul described in vs 15 as adopted into the family of God, as a child of God.  I would remind you that adoption as children of God is not a natural condition.  Contrary to popular opinion, we are not naturally children of God, but Jesus said we were naturally children of our father the devil. Consequently we are all sinners and under the condemnation of death by natural birth.  But for those who have believed in Jesus Christ as their Savior and Lord, who have trusted in His substitutionary atonement on their behalf by His death and resurrection,  then they are born again spiritually, and at that point they are adopted into the family of God.

Now last week we looked at some of the blessings that are promised to the children of God. Not the least of which Paul states that we are now heirs of God.  He says in vs17 that we are heirs. “Now if we are children, then we are heirs -- heirs of God and co-heirs with Christ, if indeed we share in his sufferings in order that we may also share in His glory.”  Just think, we are co heirs with Christ.  We will share in the glory that is going to be given to Christ.  That’s an incredible, incomprehensible blessing that is part of our inheritance as the children of God.

Now verse 17 connects two things that we would normally never put together: sufferings and glory, or what someone has called the hurts and hallelujahs. And you will find that these two things they are almost always connected in the scripture.There is a popular false doctrine that is being taught in some churches today that claim hardship or suffering or illness or lack of anything you desire is contrary to the gospel.  But if you read this passage you must conclude that that doctrine is in error.  The road of Christianity is one of suffering and glory.  But the cross comes before the glory. 

Suffering and glory belong together, and you find them together in almost every passage of Scripture that deals with the suffering of the Christian. For instance, the Apostle Paul links them together in 2 Corinthians 4:17 saying: “For our light and momentary troubles are achieving for us an eternal glory that far outweighs them all.”

John seems to reference that two dimensional experience of a Christian in 1John 3:2 saying, “Beloved, now we are children of God, and it has not appeared as yet what we will be. We know that when He appears, we will be like Him, because we will see Him just as He is.” Again we see these presumably two opposing dimensions of our Christian life connected. There is a present condition that is typified by suffering, and a future dimension in which we will be like Christ in glory. And so in this passage we are looking at today, we see these two dimensions detailed in three arenas; in the arena of the creation, or nature, in the human arena, as in our personal experience as the children of God, and then even in the spiritual arena, as the Holy Spirit suffers with us.

Paul is speaking here of the present sufferings of the children of God, and their future glorification.  And I would add that suffering can take many forms.  It may involve persecution, though I would say we haven’t seen a lot of that in this country. However, I think we are heading in that direction.  But it can also take the form of family reproach.  It can come from situations in your career or job as a Christian.  It can take the form of isolation, loneliness, as it becomes difficult to have friends or loved ones because of your Christian convictions.  Jesus said the world hated Me, so don’t be surprised if it hates you. There are many ways you can suffer as a Christian.

However, the Bible teaches that suffering is used by God for a good purpose. That’s what vs 28 is talking about. Vs 28 “And we know that God causes all things to work together for good to those who love God, to those who are called according to [His] purpose.” Paul issn’t saying that everything in life is going to work out fine.  Don’t worry, be happy.  But he is saying that God will use everything, even suffering, for His purposes, and His purposes are good.  Suffering is used to purify His people, to sanctify us, to shape us into the image of Jesus Christ as we share in His sufferings.

So, our sufferings as believers - physical, emotional, whatever they may be - are directly linked with the glory that is coming. The important thing we need to see is that both the sufferings and the glory are privileges that are given to us. It is easy for Christians reading these passages to get the idea that we earn our glory by the sufferings that we go through.  But as this passage makes clear, glory is as part of our inheritance in Christ. And suffering, also, is our inheritance in Christ. Suffering is a privilege committed to us. Paul says this again very plainly in Philippians 1:29: “For it has been granted to you on behalf of Christ not only to believe on him, but also to suffer for his  sake.”

In the early church, it is recorded in Acts that those Christians actually rejoiced in their sufferings. Peter and John, Paul and Silas and many others rejoiced because they were counted worthy to suffer for the sake of the Lord. And though they may have been beaten and mistreated, they went away rejoicing because God had counted them worthy to bear suffering for his name's sake. That kind of perspective is what makes it possible for us to endure suffering and, more than that, to actually rise above it with rejoicing. James 1:2 says, “Consider it all joy, my brethren, when you encounter various trials, knowing that the testing of your faith produces endurance.  And let endurance have [its] perfect result, so that you may be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing.” We can only consider suffering joy it as a privilege to share in Christ’s sufferings, and a means by which He makes us like Christ.

The blows by the hammer on the steel may be hard, and the fire may be intense, but what is produced on the anvil will be a weapon that will be fit for service to God.  

Jesus promised a blessing in Matthew 5:11-12 for those that suffer. He said, "Blessed are you when men persecute you and say all manner of evil against you falsely for his name's sake. Rejoice and be exceeding glad, for great is your reward in heaven: for so persecuted they the prophets who were before you.”

So the theme of this passage is found in vs 18; “I consider that our present sufferings are not worth comparing with the glory that will be revealed in us.”  The theme is that incomparable glory lies after a time of suffering - glory beyond description, greater than anything you can compare it with on earth. A glory that will make the present suffering seem but a drop in the bucket of what God has planned for us.  We have a tremendous inheritance that awaits us as the children of God after we go through a temporary time of suffering here on earth.

So the apostle says, “Our sufferings are not worthy to be even mentioned in comparison with the glory that is to follow.”  Now, that statement could just be written off as hyperbole if it didn't come from a man like Paul. He was a man who suffered immensely. I’m sure that no one listening today has gone through even a fraction of the suffering that Paul endured. 

Paul listed some of his sufferings in 2Co 11:23-28 saying to some who had criticized him, “Are they servants of Christ?--I speak as if insane--I more so; in far more labors, in far more imprisonments, beaten times without number, often in danger of death.  Five times I received from the Jews thirty-nine [lashes.]  Three times I was beaten with rods, once I was stoned, three times I was shipwrecked, a night and a day I have spent in the deep.  [I have been] on frequent journeys, in dangers from rivers, dangers from robbers, dangers from [my] countrymen, dangers from the Gentiles, dangers in the city, dangers in the wilderness, dangers on the sea, dangers among false brethren;  [I have been] in labor and hardship, through many sleepless nights, in hunger and thirst, often without food, in cold and exposure.  Apart from [such] external things, there is the daily pressure on me [of] concern for all the churches.”

Even though Paul suffered tremendously, yet he still asserts that the suffering we experience is not even a drop in the bucket compared with the immensity of glory that is coming. This is the incredible glory that God has prepared for those who love him.

We can endure the suffering, and even triumph in it, because we see the glory that is to follow. But the future glory is preceded by three types of suffering, which Paul describes as characterized by groaning. So there are three groanings that he makes mention of in the remainder of this passage, which are but precursors of the glory which is to follow.

The first groaning is that from nature. Paul says that creation is suffering while waiting for the glory that is coming. Verse 19 tells us that nature is waiting for something: “For the anxious longing of the creation waits eagerly for the revealing of the sons of God.” The word in the Greek language which is translated “anxious longing" is an interesting word. It is a word that pictures a man standing and looking for something to happen, craning his head forward. 

Paul goes on to say that the creation was subjected to futility, or frustration. “For the creation was subjected to futility, not willingly (not by original design), but because of Him who subjected it, in hope that the creation itself also will be set free from its slavery to corruption into the freedom of the glory of the children of God.”

Paul is saying that creation not only is waiting for something, but that it is doing so because it is linked with man. Creation fell when man fell. Not only did our whole race fall into the bondage of sin and death, as the earlier chapters of Romans explain, but the earth fell as well. God said in Genesis 3; “Cursed is the ground because of you; In toil you will eat of it all the days of your life. Both thorns and thistles it shall grow for you; and you will eat the plants of the field; by the sweat of your face. You will eat bread, till you return to the ground, because from it you were taken; for you are dust, and to dust you shall return.”

It was man's sin that caused thorns and bramble to overrun nature. It was man's sin that made the animals to fear and devour one other.  With the fall of man came the curse of death upon the earth. And so the earth was subject to futility. It no longer is what it was intended to be; a paradise which was made for man to enjoy.

But Paul argues that it is also true that when the Christian is delivered from the corruption, nature will be delivered as well. Therefore, when the time comes when the sons of God are going to be revealed - when it shall appear what shall be, as 1 John 3:2 says, when what we have become in our spirits, sons of the living God, shall become evident - in that day, nature will be freed from its bondage as well and reborn as the Paradise of God. 

That is the time on earth spoken of in Isaiah 11:6-9 “And the wolf will dwell with the lamb, And the leopard will lie down with the young goat, And the calf and the young lion and the fatling together; And a little boy will lead them.  Also the cow and the bear will graze, Their young will lie down together, And the lion will eat straw like the ox.  The nursing child will play by the hole of the cobra, And the weaned child will put his hand on the viper's den. They will not hurt or destroy in all My holy mountain, For the earth will be full of the knowledge of the LORD As the waters cover the sea.” That is the renewal that creation looks forward to.

But for now, under the weight of the curse, yet in anticipation of that day, the apostle says, nature groans, but it groans in hope (Verse 22): ”For we know that the whole creation groans and suffers the pains of childbirth together until now.” As Paul said earlier, nature groans in the hope that the creation itself will be liberated from its bondage of decay and brought into the glorious freedom of the children of God.  It groans under the suffering of sin that has kept it in bondage to futility.  And so Paul likens the suffering of creation as to the groans of a woman in labor, as she bears with the suffering, because she has a hope that something much better will be produced through her present labor and hardship.

A point that should be emphasized perhaps is that this teaches us that nature is made for man.  It was to be his domain, under his rule.  And when man fell, his domain fell under a similar judgment.  God cursed the ground because of man’s sin.  So in like respect, when man is regenerated in glory, then nature will be regenerated into glory as well.  Peter speaks of the fact that heavens and earth will be burned with a fervent heat, but we look forward to a new heaven and new earth.  The end of the earth as we know it will not be by flood, but by fire.  A purifying fire from which the earth will produce a new vegetation, a new animal life, in which there is no decay, no effects of sin, which will be compatible to the new glory which man will also enjoy.

The second groaning that Paul describes is that of the children of God in their present condition. Vs23 “And not only this, but also we ourselves, having the first fruits of the Spirit, even we ourselves groan within ourselves, waiting eagerly for [our] adoption as sons, the redemption of our body. For in hope we have been saved, but hope that is seen is not hope; for who hopes for what he [already] sees? But if we hope for what we do not see, with perseverance we wait eagerly for it."

Paul says here that though we ourselves are redeemed in spirit, our bodies are not yet redeemed; and so being in the corrupt flesh, we, too, are groaning.  He said as much about his own experience in chapter 7 concluding “O wretched man that I am! Who will deliver me from this body of death?” It was as if Paul is groaning in his spirit because of this great conflict within him between what he wants to do to please God, and what his flesh is found to be doing in spite of his best intentions. Because of his justification he has the first fruits of the Spirit.  He is seeing some evidence in terms of the fruit of righteousness because of the inward dwelling of the Holy Spirit.  But he is frustrated by the lack of perfection that he wants to achieve. And so he groans in his spirit in suffering under the burden of the flesh, and yet anticipating the future glory of  the body at the consummation.

 All through this passage there is a constant contrast between the groan and the glory; yet there is a link between the two. Nature groans; we groan. And yet the groaning, or suffering,  is producing the glory. I remind you again of what Paul said in Second Corinthians 4:17: “For momentary, light affliction is preparing for us an eternal weight of glory beyond all comparison.”  Suffering is preparing us by sanctifying us, conforming us into the image of Jesus Christ by sufferings.  

PhIl. 3:10-11 says, “that I may know Him and the power of His resurrection and the fellowship of His sufferings, being conformed to His death; in order that I may attain to the resurrection from the dead.” Our sufferings, our groaning, is producing in us a future glorification as we are being made like Christ spiritually, and will one day be like Him in body as well.

But in the meantime we groan because the spirit is willing, but the flesh is weak.  We groan because of the havoc that sin makes in our lives, and in the lives of those we love. We groan because we see opportunities that are not being taken advantage of. We groan because we waste the gifts of the Holy Spirit. The Bible tells us that, as Jesus drew near the tomb of Lazarus, He groaned in His Spirit because he was so burdened by the ravages that sin had made in the lives of those He loved. He groaned, even though he knew that he would soon raise Lazarus from the dead. So we groan in our spirits -- we groan in disappointment, in bereavement, in sorrow. We groan physically in our pain and our limitation. Life consists of a great deal of groaning. But the apostle immediately adds that this is a groaning which has hope. 

The Christian perspective is that, though the body is in pain and suffering and disappointment now, this is an important tool that God uses in our lives. It is something that is part of the purposes and plan of God, part of the privilege committed to us as Christians. We suffer with Christ that we might be like Christ. As he suffered, so do we, that we might also be glorified, even as He is.  As vs 17 said, “if indeed we suffer with Him so that we may also be glorified with Him.” That is our hope that makes the suffering bearable.  We have a hope that is not now realized, it is in the future, but it is nevertheless a sure hope.  A hope which the author of Hebrews calls the anchor of the soul. And so again, we are taught that our hope of a life of pleasant living, of everything working out, a life of health, wealth and prosperity is not God’s plan for the life of a Christian.  But there will be trials, there will be suffering, their will be groaning, and yet there is a firm conviction which we call the blessed hope,  which will make it all worth it all when we see Jesus.

Then there is the final groaning which is found in vs26, “In the same way the Spirit also helps our weakness; for we do not know how to pray as we should, but the Spirit Himself intercedes for [us] with groanings too deep for words;  and He who searches the hearts knows what the mind of the Spirit is, because He intercedes for the saints according to [the will of] God.”

Paul says the Spirit is groaning. The Spirit is groaning with words which cannot be uttered. This passage helps us in our understanding of prayer. The apostle says that we do not know what to pray as we ought. We lack wisdom. I want to point out that this is not an encouragement not to pray. Some people think this means that since we don't know how to pray as we ought, and if the Spirit is going to pray for us anyway, then we don't need to pray. But that would contradict many other passages of Scripture, such as James 4:2, which says. "You have not because you ask not.” God does want us to pray, and we are constantly encouraged to pray. Jesus taught us to pray. He asked His disciples to continue with Him in prayer in the Garden of Gethsamane. In Philippians 4:6, Paul tells us that in everything, with prayer and supplication, we are to let our requests be made known to God.

But the great encouragement should be that the Spirit prays with us, according to the will of God, to help us in our weakness.  That weakness is our weakness in temptation, it’s our weakness in steadfastness. It’s the weakness of our body of flesh.  And the Spirit who is in us, who understands and emphasizes with us, who also knows the heart of God and the will of God, helps us by praying with us.  

This verse is commonly misinterpreted to try to vouch for some kind of ecstatic speech, speaking in tongues, or an unintelligible prayer language of our spirit.  But to make such an  extrapolation from this verse is very simply bad exegesis.  Paul makes it clear that it is the Spirit praying, not us praying.  He is praying for us, because we are weak.  Because we are prone to sin.  Because we live in a fallen world and in fleshly bodies. Because we don’t always know the will of God. And so God has given us a Helper, who prays for us according to the will of God.

I am reminded of Jesus’s admonition to Peter when He said, “Satan has demanded permission to sift you like wheat.  But I have prayed for you that your faith may not fail; and you, when once you have turned again, strengthen your brothers.”  So as the Spirit of Christ continues the ministry of Christ as our Helper, as our Comforter, He also prays for us, that our faith will not fail, that we might do the will of God.  And that kind of intercession is essential to the process of our sanctification.  We would never be able to do the will of God without the Spirit of Christ working in us, and helping us, and praying for us.

Everyone that is living on this earth will suffer from the effects of the fall to some degree or another.  No one gets out of here alive.  It is appointed for man to die, and after that the judgment.  But for those who have trusted in Christ as their Savior, who have repented of their sin and been born again as children of God, there is a hope that this is not all that there is.  We have a promise of God, who cannot lie,  that we will receive an inheritance that is equal to the inheritance which is Christ’s.  That hope gives us assurance and even joy as we live our lives with a view towards the future.  If you are here this morning and you don’t have that hope, but have come to the realization that life without the Lord is hopeless, then I urge you to come to Christ today as your Savior and Lord.  He who believes in Him will never die.  Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and you will be saved.  And you can know the same hope that we have.  Today is the acceptable day of salvation.  Don’t waste this opportunity.  Call on Him today and He will make you a child of God, an heir of salvation, and give you a future inheritance of glory with Christ.  

Children of God, Romans 8: 12-17

The point that I think Paul is making here is who is in control of your life.  He has made the case very clearly, starting in chapter 7, that there are two natures at war in your body; that which is flesh, and sinful, and that which is Spirit.  Paul uses the phrase or something like it again and again in this passage, a phrase like “of the Spirit,” “or by the Spirit,” or “led by the Spirit.”  

Now the question arises what is meant by “in the Spirit?”  A lot of people get off track on this whole subject of the Spirit.  The primary mistake they make is thinking that the Spirit is an unseen force rather than the third person of the Godhead.  So it’s not a matter of how much Spirit you have as if He is like electric current; ie, 110 volt or 220 volt, etc.  No, He is a person of the Godhead and we receive Him at salvation.  As Paul said in vs 9 “if anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ, he is not His.”  So the Spirit is not just an unseen force but He is the Spirit of Christ, so that Paul say’s in the next verse that “If Christ dwells in you…”  So there is a oneness in the Godhead that enables us to have the Spirit of Christ in us through the indwelling of the Holy Spirit.

The other mistake that is commonly made is that being in the Spirit is communicated by a feeling.  They talk about getting goosebumps or succumbing to tears or feelings of ecstasy or  exuberance or some sort of feeling which they attribute to the Spirit.  So the Spirit is relegated to an emotion that moves you inwardly or makes you feel something.  But the Bible never relates the presence of the Spirit as a feeling, but as in knowledge. We know the presence of the Spirit because of knowledge based on God’s truth, not by some experience.

The Bible teaches that the Spirit is the Spirit of Christ.  He is a person that dwells in us.  And as God, He gives life to our spirit, so that we are spiritually alive in Christ, and our spirit is now reestablished in the hierarchy that was ordained by God in Creation, but which was overturned at the fall.  That hierarchy is spirit, soul and body.  And that reestablishment of our original design as humans was accomplished by the Spirit when we were born again. Jesus said in John 3:6 says "That which is born of the flesh is flesh, and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit.”

Before our salvation we were living in bondage to the body, or flesh, but now our renewed spirit is governing our soul, or mind, and our mind is exerting control over our body or flesh.  That is the divine order that we are to operate under as born again Christians.  And our spirit is in communion with the Holy Spirit who indwells us and controls us.  

Now the old nature, the flesh, still remains in us.  And Paul says that the way we give control to the Spirit, or live by the Spirit, is to kill off the flesh. We don’t need to seek more of the Spirit, but we need to have less flesh. God said in Genesis 6:3, ““My Spirit shall not strive with man forever, because he also is flesh.” We are not obligated to listen to the flesh any longer nor to obey the flesh any longer.  Notice vs 12, “So then, brethren, we are under obligation, not to the flesh, to live according to the flesh—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.”  

So though the flesh remains we are not obligated to it. But we are indebted to the Spirit. 1Cor. 6:19-20 says, “Or do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit who is in you, whom you have from God, and that you are not your own?  For you have been bought with a price: therefore glorify God in your body.”  We belong to a new Master.  We have been married to a new Bridegroom.  If we were to continue to live according to the flesh he says in vs13 the outcome would be death.  But by the Spirit we are putting to death the deeds of the flesh and the outcome is life. So Paul says in 1 Cor. that he buffets his body and makes it his slave.

But what does Paul mean, by “the Spirit we put to death the deeds of the body?”  Does that mean we don’t do anything, we just lay back and watch the Spirit of Christ put to death the deeds of our body?  No, Paul relates this as something we are responsible for.  Notice that Paul says “you are putting to death the deeds of the body.”  Our body is something that is under the control of our mind, whether consciously or unconsciously.  So how do we by the Spirit put to death the deeds of the body?  Well, the answer must be, by the controlling influence of the Spirit, by the wisdom of the Spirit, we deliberately put to death anything that we would do  that is contrary to God.  We recognize by the illumination of the Spirit that certain things are sinful, that they are contrary to God’s will for us, and we decide in our will that we will not respond to those desires of the flesh. We choose to die to those things that the Spirit of God tells us are wrong. And we choose to live to those things which are of the Spirit.

In Joshua 24:15 the Israelites were told; “choose you this day whom you will serve.”  And in Matthew 7:24 Jesus told a parable about a man who built his house upon the sand, and another man who built his house upon a rock.  They made a choice which life they were going to live, based on hearing the words of Christ and acting or not acting upon them. There is a choice whom we will serve. We have a responsibility to choose whom to obey.

So then to the degree to which we yield to the Spirit and deny the flesh, then we do things of  the Spirit, and by the Spirit.  He controls us.  Paul states it that way in 2Cor. 5:14-15 “For the love of Christ controls us, having concluded this, that one died for all, therefore all died; and He died for all, so that they who live might no longer live for themselves, but for Him who died and rose again on their behalf.”

Now if you are being controlled by the Spirit, if you are choosing to serve Him and denying the flesh, then you are obviously being led by the Spirit.  He is leading, we are following His leading.  So Paul says in vs 14, “For all who are being led by the Spirit of God, these are sons of God.”  Paul is now going to enumerate further the benefits of our relationship with God.  Paul has used the analogy of slaves to a new master, and he has compared us to the bride of Christ, and now Paul says we that are led by the Spirit are sons of God.  Now sons of God means children of God, as we can see in vs 16. But the reason that he generically lumps us all together as “sons” is because in that culture, the sons were the ones to whom was left the inheritance. 

We have already addressed this concept of being led by the Spirit. It means our sanctification (that is as we are formed into the image of Christ) is something that is orchestrated by the Spirit as He indwells us, as He corrects us, as He teaches us, as He controls us, as He illumines our hearts and minds, as He gifts us, and as He produces in us the fruits of the Spirit.

And since we are led by the Spirit, Paul says we are not under the spirit of slavery, which leads to fear, but we have received the spirit of adoption.  Consider how tremendous our salvation is in light of this verse.  We once were enslaved to sin and under the penalty of death.  But the blood of Jesus Christ was the payment by which we were bought by a new Master.  Under this new Master we were purchased to be slaves of righteousness.  But God was not content with keeping us as slaves.  Lo and behold, God loved us so much, even when we were slaves, that He wanted us to be HIs children, and so He adopted us. God chose us to be His children.   

Imagine a low level slave in Rome in the first century.  He is put on the auction block for sale.  And an incredibly wealthy and wise man buys that slave and takes him to his home.  But instead of sending him to the fields, he washes him, cleans him up, dresses him in the finest clothes, and announces to him that he is going to adopt him to be his son.  And then before the startled slave can comprehend how great it is to be a son, the master tells him that he is also going to make him the heir of all that his estate.  This formally worthless, penniless, hopeless slave is made an heir to an incredibly wealthy estate and is able to live with this man, not just as his master, but as his father.  That’s a picture of what God has done for us.

The apostle John writes in 1John 3:1 “See how great a love the Father has bestowed on us, that we would be called children of God; and [such] we are.”  I don’t know if the tremendous blessing of the fact that God is our Father has escaped you.  I fear that it has for me to some degree.  I have accepted the reality of my salvation to be sure.  I know that I am saved.  But I must confess that I have not fully comprehended all the wonders of the fact that I am a child of God, that He has chosen me to be His son and all the blessings that go with that.

Listen, in a great house in the time of the Romans, there would have been a tremendous difference between the way a son lived and acted, and the way a slave acted.  A son has an assurance and confidence as he lives in the house that comes from knowing that all belongs to him.  Whereas a slave lives with the awareness that nothing belongs to him, and his very life belongs to his master.  And so there would have been a sense of dread upon the slave, but a sense of freedom and confidence in the son.  And that is the relationship that we have with God as His adopted children.

And because we are adopted into God’s family as His children, we can call out to Him, “Abba, Father!”  Abba is the Aramaic for father.  Paul, as did Mark, adds Father after Abba for their Greek and Roman readers.  But it’s not necessary to say both.   Father is an intimate expression of our relationship and of His love for us.

Perhaps you have seen photographs of President John F. Kennedy  that were taken in the Oval Office, and his young son is hiding under his desk.  Here is the most important man in the world, and yet when his son calls out “Daddy” he stops everything he is doing, and scoops up the young boy and sets him on his lap.  That’s a picture of the relationship we have with our Father, whose ears are tuned to hear our cry of “Abba.”

Jesus called the Father “Abba” in the Garden of Gethsemane. He used “Father” when He taught His disciples to pray the Lord’s Prayer. He constantly referred to God as His Father. And the amazing thing is that we have that same privilege that Christ had as the Son of God, as we are the children of God.

Now as to that assurance that we are indeed the children of God, it says in vs 16, “The Spirit Himself testifies with our spirit that we are children of God.”  So there are two that bear witness to our relationship with God.  The Holy Spirit gives evidence to us by the fact that we are filled with His presence, and by the fact that He leads us.  If we had not the Spirit of Christ, Paul said earlier, then we would not belong to Him.  But the fact that we have the Spirit in us is evidence that we are His children.  

But also Paul says that our spirit bears witness that we are His children as well.  How is that? John gives us an indication of how that occurs in 1John 3:10, “By this the children of God and the children of the devil are obvious: anyone who does not practice righteousness is not of God, nor the one who does not love his brother.”

So as our spirit is in communion with the Holy Spirit and under His leading, then it controls the mind and body so that the deeds of the flesh are put to death and the works of righteousness are accomplished in us, is that not evidence that our spirit is regenerated and that we are children of God?  Paul says that it certainly is.  

Now that sonship that Paul speaks of expands logically into heirship. Vs 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.]”  The state of being a child implies the benefit of being an heir, which of course, means that there is an inheritance in store for us.  This is an immediate benefit and blessings which comes from being a child of God, but there is also a future blessing which comes as Paul says at the end of this verse “that we may also be glorified with Him.”

In an inheritance, there is a will. It’s often called the last will and testament of so and so.  And the one who is writing the will, is called a testator.  So who is the testator of this will?  It is no less than God, our Father.  Christ of course is the main heir of the Father, but again the amazing thing is that He has declared us to be co heirs with Christ. 

Let’s consider the inheritance that God has promised us.  Like the imaginary master who adopted his slave, our Father’s estate is beyond our imagination.  Haggai 2:8 says that all the gold and silver are His.  Psalm 50:10 says that He owns the cattle on a thousand hills and all the animals in the forests. Everything belongs to Him, and He is ruler over all. Solomon in all his glory can not begin to compare with the glory that belongs to God. 

According to Revelation 3:12 we will inherit a new name.  In Rev.4:4 John says we shall receive a crown of gold. In chapter 20 vs 4 John says with Him we shall reign. Probably the greatest aspect of our inheritance is found in 1 John 3:2, “Beloved, now we are children of God, and it has not appeared as yet what we will be. We know that when He appears, we will be like Him, because we will see Him just as He is.”  We will be like Him.  What an amazing thought, that we will become like God.

In vs 18, which we will be looking at in more detail next week, Paul says, “For I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory that is to be revealed to us.” 

In 1Cor. 2:9  Paul quotes from Isaiah saying, “but just as it is written, ‘THINGS WHICH EYE HAS NOT SEEN AND EAR HAS NOT HEARD, AND [which] HAVE NOT ENTERED THE HEART OF MAN, ALL THAT GOD HAS PREPARED FOR THOSE WHO LOVE HIM.’”  The long and short of it is our inheritance cannot be even comprehended.  And what is known, especially that the glory which was given to Jesus is the same glory that we are promised to share with Him, that we will rule with Him, we who were slaves will become kings with God,  is unfathomable.

The caveat though is that there will be suffering experienced here if we are God’s children. If we will share in Christ’s glory, then we will also share in Christ’s suffering. And perhaps that is another witness of the fact that we are children of God.  The devil certainly recognizes the Spirit of Christ in us and he will do all that he can within his power to make us suffer, hoping that we might deny Christ, even as Job’s wife urged him to deny Christ to end his suffering. 

But if we are children of God, and if we believe the promises that our Father has given to us, then we cannot deny our Father. And the promises that we have are the hope that is within us, that enables us to suffer with Him, so that we might be glorified with Him in the resurrection. 

Suffering as a Christian can take many forms.  It can mean alienation from loved ones.  It can cause problems on the job, even possibly losing your job because of your testimony or your refusal to participate in certain things that they want you to do.  Suffering may take place at school, for those who are still of that age.  It may take the form of being a social outcast. 

But it’s important that if we suffer, as Paul indicates, it’s because we are a Christian, and not because we have done wrong and suffer the consequences of it.  Peter says in 1 Peter 4:12-19  “Beloved, do not be surprised at the fiery ordeal among you, which comes upon you for your testing, as though some strange thing were happening to you;  but to the degree that you share the sufferings of Christ, keep on rejoicing, so that also at the revelation of His glory you may rejoice with exultation.  If you are reviled for the name of Christ, you are blessed, because the Spirit of glory and of God rests on you.  Make sure that none of you suffers as a murderer, or thief, or evildoer, or a troublesome meddler;  but if [anyone suffers] as a Christian, he is not to be ashamed, but is to glorify God in this name.  For [it is] time for judgment to begin with the household of God; and if [it] [begins] with us first, what [will be] the outcome for those who do not obey the gospel of God?  AND IF IT IS WITH DIFFICULTY THAT THE RIGHTEOUS IS SAVED, WHAT WILL BECOME OF THE GODLESS MAN AND THE SINNER?  Therefore, those also who suffer according to the will of God shall entrust their souls to a faithful Creator in doing what is right.”

Let me close then by reminding you of what we started with.  That if you are of the Spirit, if you are being led by the Spirit, then you are being controlled by the Spirit.  The Spirit of Christ works in you to sanctify you. Peter said in 1 Peter 1, you “are chosen according to the foreknowledge of God the Father, by the sanctifying work of the Spirit, to obey Jesus Christ and be sprinkled with His blood.”  I urge you then as children of God to yield to the Spirit of Christ.  He will speak to you the words of Christ and bring to your remembrance the things that He has taught us.  He will correct you and convict you when you stray from the way of righteousness.  Listen to Him, follow him, and He will direct your paths.  And that path is the path of righteousness, whereby we are being conformed to the image of Christ here on earth, that we might share in the glory of Christ in the future consummation of the kingdom when Christ returns for the children of God.  You are children of God.  May the grace of God enable  us to live as such. 

No Condemnation, Romans 8:1-11

In our study of Romans 7 over the last couple of weeks, we learned that Paul describes an inner  struggle that is going on in our life as a Christian.  He summarized that struggle in chapter 7 vs 25, “So then, on the one hand I myself with my mind am serving the law of God, but on the other, with my flesh the law of sin.”  This is the summary of the struggle that Paul describes in chapter 7. He said there are two laws or principles at work in him.  And this is the personal experience of Paul.  Notice the redundant use of “I myself.”  I think Paul wants us to know that this is not just theoretical postulation. But it’s the actual experience of someone whom we would all agree was probably one of the most godly people that ever lived.

And Paul makes himself an example so that we might have encouragement, as we are also beset with trials and temptations, and we often find ourselves falling back into the sin of the old man which we thought we were delivered from. But like Paul, we must realize that there are two natures or principles at work in us, what he calls the law of sin in the flesh or body, and the law of the Spirit in the mind.  He says in [Rom 7:21 “I find then the principle that evil is present in me, the one who wants to do good.  For I joyfully concur with the law of God in the inner man,  but I see a different law in the members of my body, waging war against the law of my mind and making me a prisoner of the law of sin which is in my members.”

This struggle in the life of Paul caused him to cry out in a sense of frustration, “Wretched man that I am, who will set me free from this body of death?” The answer he gives is that thank God, Christ Jesus has set us free from the body of death. What that means is that God has declared us free forensically in the court of divine judgment.  Another person has died for our transgressions so that we are pardoned and set free. But though we have been declared free and given new life in our spirit, the flesh is a creature of habit.  The spirit is willing, but the flesh is weak.  The flesh has not been made new.  The spirit in us has been reborn and is new but it must now exercise dominion over the old nature.  The flesh still exists, but we are no longer obligated to it. We are set free to serve the Spirit by the spirit, through a renewed  mind, which takes dominion over the flesh. 

Now having understood that law of the two natures, and the new dominion over the flesh which we have in Christ, Paul goes on to add a really important principle that underscores this new life in the Spirit.  And the principle is this: Rom 8:1 “Therefore there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus.” No condemnation means freedom not only from the guilt of sin, but freedom from the enslaving power of sin.   Those who have trusted in Christ have been justified, that is freed from the condemnation of sin.  And those who have trusted in Christ have are being sanctified, the mind and the flesh are being set free from the condemning power of sin as a process of the Spirit of God working in us.  

Justification is accomplished for the believer when he comes to Jesus in faith, and the penalty of sin which is due to us is transferred to Jesus Christ.  He paid the penalty for our sin.  He was condemned to death for what we did.  That is what “no condemnation” means for those who are in Christ.  We are not condemned because He was condemned in our place.  He died in our place.  And God is not so unjust as to still hold us accountable when someone else has paid the penalty. So therefore there is no condemnation to those who are in Christ.

Sanctification happens when the justified believer receives the indwelling of the Holy Spirit who gives us life, who gives us power, who gives us a new heart, so that  the life which we live in the flesh is now accomplished through the power of the Spirit within us, so that we have new desires, and that new desire is to please God.  The sanctifying work of the Holy Spirit is in dominion over our lives so that we no longer live according to the flesh, but according to the Spirit.  Listen carefully to Gal. 2:20,  "I have been crucified with Christ; and it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me; and the [life] which I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself up for me.”  Notice, the life I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God.”  The Spirit of God in me gives me the power to live in the flesh.

And that’s exactly the point that Paul states in vs2, “For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus has set you free from the law of sin and of death.”  So through Christ, the working principle of the Spirit has set us free from the working principle of sin and death.  Notice Paul speaks about the “law (or principle) of the Spirit of life.”   In other words, the Spirit is life and He imparts life, both spiritual life and physical life.  He makes that point more explicit in vs 11, which says, “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.”  Notice; “your mortal bodies.” That is your flesh has been given life through the Spirit.

The point should be clear, that the Holy Spirit is given to us that we might have the power to live the life that God has given us.  Before our salvation we lived according to the power of the flesh. We were enslaved to sin, and thus incurred the condemnation of death.  But upon justification, we are given the Spirit of God that we might have new life according to the Spirit and by His power we have the power of the risen life, so that we do not live under the dominion of sin, but under the dominion of the Spirit of God.

So on the one hand in my flesh I am still enslaved to sin, so I find it difficult to do the things which I ought to do.  But on the other hand, the Holy Spirit has set me free so that I am no longer obligated to the flesh and by the Spirit working in me I exercise control over the fleshly nature. There are two natures in my being.  Though I am still a prisoner in the flesh, I am literally in the same old body, yet I have been set free in my spirit. Since I am free in the spirit,  Satan cannot make me do the things that I know are wrong anymore.  Sin has no power over me.  There may still be a weakness in my flesh, a propensity to do wrong,  but there is a greater power working in my spirit through the Spirit of God that enables me to be free from my weaknesses.  

As I quoted the ex slave trader turned preacher John Newton a couple of weeks ago as saying, “I am not what I ought to be, I am not what I want to be, I am not what I hope to be in another world; but still I am not what I once used to be, and by the grace of God I am what I am.”  So I might add; I am a work in progress.  I have been justified, declared righteous in the sight of God, and by the Spirit of God at work in me I am being sanctified, that is being made holy in my body by conformity to the image of Jesus Christ through the Spirit working in me.

This sanctification is accomplished not by any strength of my flesh, but by what Jesus has done for me.  vs.3,4: “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, 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.”

Trying to keep the  law in the strength of my flesh, says Paul, could never accomplish my deliverance from sin, because my flesh was too weak. It wasn’t the laws fault, it was my fault. I can do my best to try to keep the law, but sooner or later I fail miserably because of the weakness of my flesh.  But God did for me what I could not do for myself. 

God sent Jesus to take our condemnation.  We are going to be singing the song, “Hallelujah, What a Savior” in a few minutes.  And there is a line in that song which speaks of this.  It says of Christ, the Man of Sorrows, “bearing shame and scoffing rude, in my place condemned He stood, sealed my pardon with His blood, Hallelujah, what a Savior!”  

In Christ’s incarnation, He took on human nature.  I want you to think of this for a moment.  Joe and Nick and I were talking about it on Friday morning in my backyard.  Jesus, who was equal with God in all respects, the exact representation of the nature of God, who was one with God, took on human nature in addition to His divine nature so that He might be like us.  We were made to be like Him, created in His image, in His likeness.  But in sin we fell from that spiritual state, so that in order to save us, and because of His great love for us, Christ lowered Himself, and took on human form, that He might be one of us, that we might be made one with God. He took on two natures even as we have two natures.  And the Bible teaches that He ascended into heaven in that same human body and is thus ever with the Lord and will come again in that same manner.  And so Christ remains the God Man forever so that He might redeem us from the curse of the law.  What a Savior indeed!

We find that same principle stated in Phil. 2:5-8 “Have this attitude in yourselves which was also in Christ Jesus,  who, although He existed in the form of God, did not regard equality with God a thing to be grasped,  but emptied Himself, taking the form of a bond-servant, [and] being made in the likeness of men.  Being found in appearance as a man, He humbled Himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross.”  

Notice there the phrase “being made in the likeness of men.”  That’s similar to the thought here in Romans 8:3, “God sending His own Son the the likeness of sinful flesh.”  And God condemned His own Son for our sake, that the righteous requirement of the law might be fulfilled in us. The requirement of the law for sin was death.  And it was in Christ’s flesh that God condemned and punished sinful man. It was in our place that Jesus stood condemned and bore the wrath of God’s punishment for sin. We cannot comprehend the horror that the Holy One of God had to bear as He became sin for us in order to be our substitute.  And yet He did it for us so that we might be set free and receive life.  Our response should be that of gratitude for what He did for us, we might respond by striving to fulfill  His standard of righteousness.

Vs. 4 says, “so that the requirement of the Law might be fulfilled in us.” And we strive to fulfill that standard of righteousness according to the leading of the Holy Spirit.  So that according to the last part of the verse, we “do not walk according to the flesh, but according to the Spirit.”  Righteousness then is the fruit of the Spirit.  On Wednesday nights we are studying 1 Corinthians, and we are looking right now at the gifts of the Spirit.  And I made the point then, which I hope you remember, which is that the gifts of the Spirit are given to produce the fruits of the Spirit.  What are the fruits of the Spirit? The short answer is righteousness. 

Galatians 5:22-23 “But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness,  gentleness, self-control; against such things there is no law.”  To walk in the flesh is to walk according to my sinful nature, which results in selfishness and greed and anger and so forth.  But the opposite way of life is to be led by the Spirit to produce works of righteousness, which are the fruits of the Spirit.

A few verses earlier in Gal 5:16-18, Paul says, “But I say, walk by the Spirit, and you will not carry out the desire of the flesh.  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.  But if you are led by the Spirit, you are not under the Law.”  He says if you are led by the Spirit, you are not under the law, that is under the condemnation of the law.

Back in Romans 8, Paul tells us how we can accomplish this by saying in vs 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.  For the mind set on the flesh is death, but the mind set on the Spirit is life and peace,  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,]  and those who are in the flesh cannot please God.”

Those who live according to the flesh allow themselves to be governed by the lusts, the passions, the desires of the flesh. That’s what they are attuned to.  That’s what they live for; physical things.  And the sinful nature takes opportunity through the desires of their flesh to enslave them to serve the flesh.  They live for things that they think will satisfy the flesh.  That’s what defines their life.

But the opposite attitude should be that of the believer, who now live according to the Spirit.  And  Paul says in vs5 we do that by setting our mind on the things of the Spirit. Therefore, we are controlled by the Spirit, so we focus on the things of the Spirit.  And I would suggest that such things of the Spirit are found in the word of God. The Spirit wrote the word of God. Jesus referred to the Holy Spirit as the Spirit of Truth.  Not the Spirit of emotion, or the Spirit of feelings. So the way to set your mind on things of God is to read scripture.  That is how the Spirit speaks to us.  It’s not through suggestion in the mind. I would warn against listening for a still small voice in your head.  There are a lot of crazy people running around claiming that they have heard God tell them something.  God speaks to us through His word and the preaching of His word.  Every thing that claims it is God speaking must be reconciled to His word.  

So there are two natures, and men must take sides with one nature above another.  On the one side are those who live according to the flesh, and the other side those who live according to the Spirit.  And there are two outcomes for those lives.  The life lived according to the flesh is death, but the life lived according to the Spirit is life and peace.  If a person is focused on the flesh, then Paul says that the end of that person is death.  But if you are focused on the Spirit, then you will have life, as opposed to death, and then the added benefit, which is peace.

What is peace? That subject came up the other day as well,  in my backyard discussion with Joe and Nick.  Jesus said, My peace I give to you, not as the world gives.  So the peace from God is not the same as the peace we often think of in human terms.  I believe that the peace Paul is talking about is the assurance that your sins are forgiven, that your circumstances are being used for God’s good purposes, and that nothing will ever separate you from the love of God.  

But there is another aspect of peace that Paul indicates here by the statement he makes in vs 7, where he says, “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,]  and those who are in the flesh cannot please God.”  He speaks of a hostility towards God by the one who is focused on the flesh.  Hostility is the opposite of peace.  Hostility means they are at war with God.  And the basis of that war with God is they do not submit to the law of God.  God says such and such is sin.  And they say, no such and such is fun.  I like it.  It seems good to me. It feels good so I’m going to do it.  That’s insubordination towards God. 

But peace with God is found by walking according to the Spirit.  It’s a peace of contentment, a lack of striving, a sense of security. But those, Paul says in vs 8 who are living according to the flesh cannot please God. I can picture a mother with a small child who she is holding by the hand, trying to steer this child through a supermarket, and he is struggling, trying to grab things, trying to resist his mother’s guidance.  That’s a picture of living in the flesh in hostility against God.  But the opposite is peace, allowing the Spirit to lead you, being obedient to His will, and being content with His direction.

Now Paul is writing to believers.  And so the difficulty comes in knowing is this person who is living according to the flesh a believer or an unbeliever?  It’s tempting to say it is an unbeliever.  But the context should remind us of chapter 7 vs 22, when Paul said “For I joyfully concur with the law of God in the inner man,  but I see a different law in the members of my body, waging war against the law of my mind and making me a prisoner of the law of sin which is in my members.” Paul, the epitome of a Christian said he has a war going on in his body, so that he ended up doing the very thing that he hated. 

So then we must concede that even for believers there is a struggle going on between our two natures, with the result of our life being see sawed between discontent and peace. Isaiah 26:3 says “you will keep him in perfect peace whose mind is stayed on you because he trusts in you.”  The problem is that we don’t always keep our mind fixed on the Lord. Our mind is not always steadfast. We let our minds start to covet, to think about what others seem to be enjoying in this life, we think about things that appeal to our flesh. And like Peter who tried to walk on water, when we take our eyes off of Jesus we end up sinking fast.  Peter was a believer.  But his experience is evidence that it’s possible to live in the flesh even still.

However, the assurance that we are in Christ comes from the Spirit of Christ living in you.  If you don’t have that, then certainly you are an unbeliever, living according to the flesh and as such under the law of condemnation. Paul says in vs 9 that if anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ, he does not belong to Him.  We can know that we are Christians by the confirmation within of the Holy Spirit.  That confirmation is a new heart, new desires, a mind that is focused on the things of God.  I can tell you from experience that conversion results in a hunger for God, a hunger to read His word, to know Him, and a desire to please Him.  And this doesn’t come from the flesh, it can only come from the Spirit. Paul says in vs7 that the fleshly mind is not able to please God.  So a desire for God can only come from the Spirit who is in you.

So in vs9 Paul says “you, however, are not in the flesh but in the Spirit, seeing that the Spirit of God dwells in you.” “If Christ is in you, though the body is dead because of sin, yet the spirit is alive because of righteousness. 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.”

Let me try to summarize this then so that we can bring this to a close. The point that Paul is making is that if you have the evidence of the Spirit of Christ in you, then even though the body is sinful, yet your spirit is alive because of the imputed righteousness of Jesus Christ. He justified you, made you righteous by His death. But the same Spirit who raised Jesus from the dead, who also dwells in you, will also give life to your mortal body, that is your flesh.  

The point is, we can have victory over sin. That’s what sanctification means; power over sin.  We are not under obligation to the flesh anymore.  Oh, the old nature is still there. There is still an inherent weakness in our flesh that we have to struggle with.  But as we yield to the Spirit, He will give life to our flesh, that we might please the Lord even while in our flesh.  That we might do the works of righteousness even while in our flesh.  Because the Spirit rules over the mind, and the mind rules over the flesh.  And by the Spirit of God the dominion of righteousness can prevail over our sinful nature so that we do not have to succumb to it, but we can live for God.  

Sanctification then is being conformed in our bodies to the image of Jesus Christ.  As Romans 12:1,2 says, “Therefore I urge you, brethren, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies a living and holy sacrifice, acceptable to God, [which is] your spiritual service of worship.  And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, so that you may prove what the will of God is, that which is good and acceptable and perfect.”

We present our bodies, our flesh to God, yielding it in submission to the Holy Spirit, and at the same time fix our minds on things of God, no longer fixing our minds on this world, on the things of this world, and in fixing our minds on the Lord, our minds are transformed, and then in the flesh we can do the will of God, we can do the works of righteousness, that which is good and acceptable and pleasing to God.

Our Christianity may be marked by two natures that are struggling.  But we do not have to live two different lives.  We don’t live one way on Sunday morning and another way on Monday morning.  But by the working of the Spirit of God and by fixing our minds on Him, we can walk with the Spirit day by day, and do the things that are pleasing to God.  We can have the peace which comes from being in fellowship with God.  

The struggle in sanctification, Romans 7:7-25

By the use of three different analogies in the previous passages, Paul has shown that to be a Christian there must be a change by death of the old man, and a new life in the new man.  He first showed that in chapter 5 starting in vs 15 as the old man, represented by Adam, needed to die, so that he might be resurrected to new life in Christ. The next analogy Paul used is found in chapter 6 starting in vs 16 which likens the old man in slavery to sin, and the death of that man which brings freedom from sin, so that we might be enslaved in the new man to righteousness.

Then last week, Paul used the analogy of marriage in chapter 7 vs 1, which as the old man dies the woman is free to marry a new husband which is Christ and the fruit of that relationship is righteousness.  So in all three cases, the point that is emphasized is that there is a necessity of death of the old man, that we might have new life in the spirit.  Now that’s the basic premise of our salvation, that there needs to be a death to the old man, and we must be spiritually reborn.  

Jesus said as much to Nicodemus in John 3, “you must be born again.”  Nicodemus didn’t understand what He meant by that.  So Jesus explained, “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born of water and the Spirit he cannot enter into the kingdom of God.”  So man is born naturally in the flesh, which is characterized by water, and then he must be reborn in the spirit.

For those of you who have been with us awhile, please forgive my redundancy in relating the following.  But I think it might be helpful in understanding today’s passage especially.  When God created man, He made him with three components of his being.  God made man spirit, soul and body.  And He made him in that order of dominance; first spirit, then soul, and then body.

When man sinned, God said that the penalty for sin was that man would surely die.  And what died that day that Adam sinned was the spirit of man. The essence of man that was designed for communion with God, that was made to spiritually rule over the soul and the body, died as a result of sin.  The process of the body dying also started at the moment, but that death took longer.  However, the spirit died immediately.

And as a result of the death of the spirit, the spiritual order of man’s being was overturned.  In God’s design, the spirit was to rule over the soul, and the soul was to rule over the body.  But in the post-fall man, that order was inverted, the body now ruled over the soul, and the spirit was dead. Now man is governed by the lusts of the flesh, and the mind or soul is under the dominion of the body, especially the sins of the body.  So the mind or soul serves the body.

However, when a man is born again, the Spirit of God brings to life a new spirit within man.  And the divine order of man’s being is reestablished; man is once again made spirit, soul, and body, in the original order of dominance. Therefore, sin no longer rules through the flesh, but the Spirit reigns over our mind, and our mind controls our body. And to exercise control the body, Paul often refers to it in 1 Cor. 9:37 as discipling his body and making it his slave. 

So then, God’s divine plan of salvation is accomplished whereby man becomes a new creation and old things are passed away and all things become new. But what then? The penalty for sin has been paid for, and the power over sin through the indwelling of the Spirit has been made available. We are born again spiritually into a new life. But are we totally free from the influence of the flesh?  Has sin been completely eradicated in our life? 

Well, that is the question that Paul has been trying to address in the last couple of chapters. And today, I hope to show you how Paul perceives the dichotomy that exists within the believer.  And what is particularly helpful, is that in this section of scripture, Paul relates this dilemma as something that pertains to him. Notice the consistent use of personal pronouns “I” and “me” as he illustrates this dilemma.  And that should be an encouragement to us.  This struggle that is prevalent within us is not something that necessarily indicates a moral failing on our part, so that we become disillusioned with Christianity because we feel like such a failure.  But we can say that if Paul had problems in this regard, and I think the text makes it clear that he did, then we can have assurance that such difficulties in the flesh are common to even the best of Christians.  And in fact, our ability to recognize our deficiencies indicates that we are in fact sons and daughters of God, in spite of struggling at times with the old nature.

So Paul summarized the three analogies we spoke of earlier with the following statement in vs 5 “For while we were in the flesh, the sinful passions, which were aroused by the Law, were at work in the members of our body to bear fruit for death.  But now we have been released from the Law, having died to that by which we were bound, so that we serve in newness of the Spirit and not in oldness of the letter.”

Paul speaks of the old sinful passions being aroused by the law.  He speaks of being released from the law.  So the question that might arise then, is the law bad? Is the law something that was analogous to the old man and therefore is sinful?  He says in vs 7, 8, “What shall we say then? Is the Law sin? May it never be! On the contrary, I would not have come to know sin except through the Law; for I would not have known about coveting if the Law had not said, “You shall not covet.  But sin, taking opportunity through the commandment, produced in me coveting of every kind; for apart from the Law sin is dead.”

So the answer is no, the law is not sinful.  “On the contrary” Paul says, the law reveals sin.  Paul said the same thing back in chapter 5 vs 20, “The Law came in so that the transgression would increase.”  The law made sin more magnified.  The holy standard of God made sin that much more apparent.

Notice Paul said he would not have come to know sin had it not been through the law.  Now that does not negate what he said in chapters 1-3, that all men have a form of law written in their hearts which condemns them when they sin.  But I think he is referring here to the more distinct knowledge of his sin that came through the commandments.  It would appear that he is speaking here directly about the 10 commandments because he mentions particularly the law of coveting, which is the 10th commandment.

We need to remember that Paul was a Pharisee, someone who kept the law to the ninth degree. They were fastidious about the law.  But as Jesus pointed out in the Sermon on the Mount, they may have attempted to keep the letter of the law, but they failed to keep the spirit of the law. So Paul writes that there was something about the 10th commandment that shook his confidence in his ability to keep the law.  And perhaps that is because the 10th commandment speaks of coveting, of desire.  It speaks of a sinful heart in wanting what is not yours.  It was one thing to say you had not committed adultery, or murder, but it is another thing to examine your motives or your thoughts in light of God’s law.  And when Paul considered that, he was convicted of his sinfulness.

And he adds that sin taking opportunity through the law produced in him coveting of every kind.  And what I think he means by that is a reiteration of the earlier principle about law and sin in 5:20.  In other words, the law magnified his sin, and because of the law he saw that his coveting extended to all sorts of things, far beyond what he may have originally been aware of.  Coveting is a sin that applies to all other sins and in fact, may be the instigating factor in adultery, murder, lying, idolatry and so forth.

And that brings up an important aspect of our sanctification.  As we draw near to God, as we are molded into the image of Christ, we become more aware of our sin, not less aware.  That person that has little or no awareness of sin is not more sanctified, not more holy, but more carnal.  However, the man whose heart is right towards God and is being conformed to Christ becomes ever more aware of his sinfulness and how much he fails as a Christian in his walk.

Consider for instance, the saints of old, who did not take pride in their righteousness, but fell on their face before God, having become more aware of their shortcomings. Job, whom God called a blameless and upright man, said in Job 42:6, “I abhor myself and repent in dust and ashes.”  Daniel, undoubtedly a great man of God, said in his prayer, “O Lord, we have sinned and done wrong, we are covered in shame because of our sins against You.” Isaiah, a great prophet fell on his face before God and said in Isaiah 6:5, “Woe is me, for I am a man of unclean lips.”  So then it is not  immature, carnal believers who are aware of their sin, but the more mature spiritually you are, the more aware you are of your sin.

So not only is the law not sinful, but Paul says that apart from the law sin is dead. Maybe it would be easier to understand if “dead” was translated as “dormant.” Without the written law, you are unaware of the terrible, deadly nature of sin. By nature you can be complacent in your sin, almost unaware of it, but when the law appears, it makes you aware of your sin.  So Paul says in vs 9, “once I was alive apart from law, but when the commandment came, sin sprang to life, and I died.” In other words, the spiritual deadness had occurred in him because of sin, but when the commandment came in, sin sprang to life, he became aware of his sin, and he died to that self satisfied complacency.  What he says there reminds me of Adam and Eve before their sin, having no shame that they were naked.  But when they broke the law of God, sin sprang to life, and they became aware they were naked, and they tried to hide from God.

He goes on to say in vs10, “and this commandment, which was to result in life, proved to result in death for me; for sin, taking an opportunity through the commandment, deceived me and through it killed me. So then, the Law is holy, and the commandment is holy and righteous and good.”  Notice Paul isn’t saying here that keeping the commandments was supposed to bring you salvation.  But what he is saying is that the commandment was to result in life.  In other words, the law was to keep you from death, to keep you from sin. Think back to the Garden of Eden, the commandment not to eat of the tree didn’t give them life.  But it preserved their life. Breaking the commandment brought death.  So the commandment was intended to keep you from death, that you might have life.  But sin deceived me, Paul said, and through the law, killed me.  The wages of sin is death, according to the law.

But Paul is quick to point out that doesn’t negate the goodness of the law.  The law is holy, righteous and good.  The law reveals the character of God. The law is the means God uses to train us in righteousness. And we know that God is holy, righteous and good. So it’s not the laws fault that we sinned. It’s the fault of the sin nature that was inherent in us, which was made apparent by the law.

He says that in vs13, “Therefore did that which is good become a cause of death for me? May it never be! Rather it was sin, in order that it might be shown to be sin by effecting my death through that which is good, so that through the commandment sin would become utterly sinful.” The law did not cause us to sin.  But the  commandment made us aware of our sin as utterly sinful, that we might not be complacent in our sin, but be driven to the cross to be delivered from sin by the Savior. The cause of death is sin, not the commandment.  The commandment simply made sin more apparently sinful.

Now that Paul had explained the principles of the law and sin and the way in which they worked in him, he then relates his experience of it.  And this is his experience while yet a Christian.  Thus we can relate to his experience because it is so often our experience. And as I said earlier, he isn’t speaking as an unbeliever, nor is he speaking as an immature believer.  But contrarily, he is speaking as a mature believer who by the Spirit of God in him has become more convicted of his sinfulness.

And to begin his explanation of his experience he states the principle of his dual nature in vs14; “For we know that the Law is spiritual, but I am of flesh, sold into bondage to sin.”  This is where we see clearly the principle regarding the three components of our being, that I spoke of earlier.  We are made spirit, soul, and body. And Paul here says that the law is spiritual.  It is something that reflects the character of God. The Holy Spirit works through the law of God to convict the Christian of sin and righteousness.  The law speaks to the spiritual nature of man and only by the spiritual nature can it be ascertained in it’s fullness.  And it can only be accomplished in the realm of the Spirit.  That’s what we saw when we studied the Sermon on the Mount last summer.  The only way to accomplish any of the laws that Jesus was talking about was by first becoming spiritual, a new creation.  So the law is spiritual.

So the law is spiritual, but, Paul says, I am carnal, so as a slave to sin. I believe he is referring to the inherent carnal nature of his body.  He has a new spirit, but he still has the same body.  A body that was born into the slavery of sin. It’s a common theme in the  history of the Jews that even though they had been delivered from slavery in the exodus by Moses, they still had the desire to return to that slavery and still returned to the sins of Egypt. So also Paul acknowledges that the carnal aspect of his nature are still there. He was sold, he said, as a slave to sin. I think he is speaking of his inherited nature from Adam.  David said in Ps.51:5, “Behold, I was brought forth in iniquity, And in sin my mother conceived me.”  So sold into sin from his birth by nature.

And that sin nature is very much in effect, even though he has been born again.  Notice vs15, “For what I am doing, I do not understand; for I am not practicing what I [would] like to [do,] but I am doing the very thing I hate.”  Now Paul is writing this as a converted person.  For the unsaved do not hate their sin, but they love evil. Jesus said in John 3:19, “men loved the darkness rather than the Light, for their deeds were evil.” But the converted man hates his sin, because it goes against his new nature.

Vs16 “But if I do the very thing I do not want [to do,] I agree with the Law, [confessing] that the Law is good.”  That’s what repentance is, ladies and gentlemen.  Repentance is agreeing with the law.  The solution is not to disregard the law and continue in sin.  The way to sanctification is to recognize that the law is good, recognize when I fall short, and confess it to God and agree with God and ask by His help to be obedient to it.

Paul then in vs 17 restates the sin principle that is at work in his sinful nature, in his flesh. And he sees it in opposition to his better nature, that is the spiritual nature that has been reborn. Vs 17-20  “So now, no longer am I the one doing it, but sin which dwells in me.  For I know that nothing good dwells in me, that is, in my flesh; for the willing is present in me, but the doing of the good [is] not. For the good that I want, I do not do, but I practice the very evil that I do not want.  But if I am doing the very thing I do not want, I am no longer the one doing it, but sin which dwells in me.”  

So he discovers another law.  Not a law of God, but a principle working in him.  And the principle is summarized in vs 21; “I find then the principle that evil is present in me, the one who wants to do good.”  Notice how Paul characterizes this evil nature, “evil is present in me.” The RSV translates it this way; “So I find it to be a law that when I want to do right, evil lies close at hand.”  It reminds me of God’s warning  to Cain in Genesis 4:7, “And if you do not do well, sin is crouching at the door; and its desire is for you, but you must master it.”  Sin is like a crouching lion waiting for an opportunity.  And Paul says he recognizes that in himself.

I wonder how much of our problem with sin is because we give the devil an opportunity by going some place we should not be, or looking at something we shouldn’t look at, or thinking of something we should not be thinking of. Or as Paul said was his problem, desiring something that we shouldn’t desire. That’s giving the devil and opportunity. We may think we have it under control and we aren’t going to sin, but this principle of sin that was crouching at the door sees the opportunity and comes alive and you fall.  Paul said in Eph. 4:26-27 “BE ANGRY, AND [yet] DO NOT SIN; do not let the sun go down on your anger,  and do not give the devil an opportunity.”

But then in vs22, Paul differentiates between the spirit and the flesh, and he reiterates that spiritually he loves God’s law, but there is another law or principle working in his flesh. He says in vs 22,  “For I joyfully concur with the law of God in the inner man,  but I see a different law in the members of my body, waging war against the law of my mind and making me a prisoner of the law of sin which is in my members.”

What Paul is saying is that there is a war going on in him between the law of God which is spiritual, and the law of sin which is in his body.  And the interesting thing is that the battlefield is in the soul, or the mind.   The fact that he uses the word law as a descriptor for all three elements of man, the spirit, soul and body, indicates that he is talking about the governing principles of the spirit, soul and body.

But let’s not pass over too quickly this principle that the soul, or the mind is the battleground between the spirit and the body.  Remember in my first illustration about how God designed us as spirit, soul and body, and then the order was reversed by sin so that it was body, soul and spirit, in both cases the soul stays in the middle.  The mind either subjects itself to the governing principle of sin in the body, or it subjects itself to the governing law of the spirit, depending on whether or not you have been born again.

And we see that necessity of renewing the mind emphasized again and again in scripture.  The most prominent passage concerning that is found in Romans 12:1.  “Therefore I urge you, brethren, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies a living and holy sacrifice, acceptable to God, [which is] your spiritual service of worship.  And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, so that you may prove what the will of God is, that which is good and acceptable and perfect.”  

So there you see the necessity of offering your body sacrificially to the Lord, and the need to renew your mind so that you may do the will of God.  We that have been saved have a new spirit, and the divine order has been restored.  But for that order to work as it should our minds have to be transformed as well, in submission to the Spirit effecting the spiritual discipline over our bodies, or over the flesh.  And our minds are transformed by the washing of the word of God.

Another text which speaks to that is Eph. 4:22-24  “that, in reference to your former manner of life, you lay aside the old self, which is being corrupted in accordance with the lusts of deceit,  and that you be renewed in the spirit of your mind,  and put on the new self, which in [the likeness of] God has been created in righteousness and holiness of the truth.”  There Paul puts the operation of the spirit and mind together, laying aside the old self.  That is, he stops listening to the old man, and starts listening to the new man which is created in the truth, that is, God’s word.

God’s law is another way of referring to God’s word, which is God’s governing principles.  And the psalmist tells us that God’s law is the means by which we are given wisdom of the mind. Psalm 19:7-8 says “The law of the LORD is perfect, restoring the soul; The testimony of the LORD is sure, making wise the simple. The precepts of the LORD are right, rejoicing the heart; The commandment of the LORD is pure, enlightening the eyes.” 

The word of God is the means by which we are trained in righteousness, that our minds are transformed, so that we  might have success in our walk with God.  As it says in Joshua 1:8 "This book of the law shall not depart from your mouth, but you shall meditate on it day and night, so that you may be careful to do according to all that is written in it; for then you will make your way prosperous, and then you will have success.”

Well, very quickly we must close.  In comprehending this war that is within his body and spirit, Paul cries out, “O wretched man that I am! Who will set me free from the body of this death?”  Notice he recognizes that it is the body that is the offensive thing here.  The Spirit give life. But the body leads to death.  And Paul yearns for the freedom from that body of sin that is still clinging to his soul. He finds himself despairing of this war within his being.  

But he gives us the  answer to that question in vs 25; “Thanks be to God through Jesus Christ our Lord!”  Jesus Christ has set us free from the bondage of sin in the flesh. We are no longer under it’s dominion.  It still is there, crouching in wait for an opportunity, but by walking in the Spirit we will no longer be subject to the flesh. Gal 5:16 Paul says, “But I say, walk by the Spirit, and you will not carry out the desire of the flesh.”

Paul concludes in vs 25, “So then, on the one hand I myself with my mind am serving the law of God, but on the other, with my flesh the law of sin.”  Paul can thank Jesus Christ that He has won the victory over sin and death and that as he is in Christ, then he too will overcome this body and death.  At the resurrection we will be raised with a new, incorruptible body, a body without the sin nature and all that turmoil that this present body causes our soul will be left behind.  Our salvation will be complete and final.  And we will live forever with the Lord in a world without sin and death, without sickness and sorrow.  Thanks be to God though our Lord Jesus Christ we have been saved from the penalty of sin, delivered from the power of sin, and at the resurrection we will be delivered from this body of sin.  That is our salvation, and it has been purchased by Jesus Christ, received as a gift of His grace by faith.  I trust that you have received Him as your Lord and Savior, that you have been born again as a new creature, old things have passed away, and all things have become new.

Gal 5:24-25 “Now those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires.  If we live by the Spirit, let us also walk by the Spirit.”