Life in the Spirit

But I wanted something that I could show my wife and my kids as to why their dad was gone all day. And so I had a hiking book that was with me that had some blank pages on it, and I had a pencil. And so I tried to sketch out the, the vista that was before me. And I'm I'm I took my time, like 30 minutes, really trying to to draw this. And then I did the 11 miles back down, and I showed my wife, this is why it was worth it.

This is what I got to see. And she's trying to be appreciative, but it looks like it's a bunch of, you know, triangles and maybe some trapezoids that I have just kinda put there, but in no way at all reflected the glory that I got to see. That's the task I feel before me. I'm gonna try to sketch out some some things. So at least you kinda get a feel of the glory of these pages, But really, you are going to need to read, and to read, and to prayerfully read, and ask the Spirit to write these things on your heart.

Chapter 8 of Romans is what I believe to be the greatest chapter in all of the Bible. Now before we begin this though, we probably need to do a little review and to get you back up to speed because it feels like it's been a long time since we've been Romans. You've had a lot of eggnog since then, probably had COVID. You're in a fog. You don't you don't really know what to think.

So really quick, Romans is a letter written by Paul. And in this letter, Paul doesn't just tell us the gospel, Paul explains to us the gospel. And the difference is there, he doesn't just tell us the story, he tells us the inner workings, the mechanics of the gospel. How it all works. And that's why he really slowly takes his time to do that.

You know in the first couple of chapters, he tells us the basics. There is a God. He's created the whole world. We have sinned against him. He goes on to say, so we will be held accountable at judgment.

But there's good news. Even though you've blown it, Jesus came and lived the perfect life you were supposed to live. You were saved by faith now because of Jesus' grace. He gives us examples of Abraham being saved by faith. He pulls up Adam and he says, remember how when Adam through his sin, everyone sinned.

Now we have a new Adam, Jesus. And through his righteousness, all can be saved. And so Paul, he's been building all these arguments. Then he comes to Romans 6 and 7, and he talks about our ongoing battle with sin. These were the weeks where I felt like every single week I'm getting up here and like, guys, once again, we're gonna talk about sin.

I mean, it was just sin, sin, sin. And it's, you know, Paul says, Yes, you're saved, but it's kind of a bummer. We're gonna keep struggling with sin. And then that brings us to Romans 8. It says, don't despair. Why? Well, because of Romans 8. So if you would read with me the first 11 verses. There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. For the law of the spirit of life has set you free and in Christ Jesus from the law of sin and death.

For God has done with the law, weakened by the flesh could not do. By sending His own son in the likeness of sinful flesh and for sin, He condemned sin in the flesh. In order that the righteous requirement of the law might be fulfilled in us. Who walk not according to the flesh, but according to the spirit. For those who live according to the flesh, set their mind on things of the flesh.

But those who live according to the spirit, set their minds on the things of the spirit. For to set the mind on the flesh is death, but to set the mind on the spirit is life and peace. For the mind that is set on the flesh is hostile to God, for it does not submit to God's law. Indeed, it cannot. Those who are in the flesh cannot please God.

You, however, are not in the flesh, but in the spirit. If in fact, the spirit of God dwells in you. Anyone who does not have the spirit of Christ does not belong to him. But if Christ is in you, although the body is dead because of sin, the spirit is life because of righteousness. 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.

This is the word of the Lord. Pray with me. Father, we ask that through your spirit, you would do the work that we cannot do. We'd open up our minds and our hearts, and you would transform us. You'd breathe into us new life. I pray we'd walk out of this room looking more like Jesus. Lord, I pray that my words would fall to the ground and blow away and not be remembered anymore. But, lord, may your words remain and may they change us. We pray this in the strong name of Jesus. Amen.

So Paul begins this letter with some of the most comforting and well known verses in all of the Bible. There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. If those words aren't underlined or highlighted or starred in your Bible, they need to. If Somebody's looking next to you and it's not, and don't judge, it's probably a new Bible. But but this is one of those verses that that you need to know, you need to memorize.

When Paul begins here by saying, there is therefore. That therefore is referring to the gospel he has been unpacking to us for the last 7 chapters. For the first part of this letter, he's he's been telling us all about this great gospel that we believe. And now he's come to chapter 7 right before this, and if you remember there he talks about our struggle with sin and he says, The good I wish I do not do, but I practice the very evil that I do not wish. He talks about how, yes we're growing in Christ, but as we get closer to Him, the more sin is revealed in us, and it's just terrible.

And so now what he's doing is this, therefore, is he is applying the gospel to that situation. In light of the struggle that of sin that we have, how much condemnation can we now expect? That's the question that arises from this. And now that I can see so much more sin in my life, just how much condemnation is before me. And Paul says, None.

There is none. Because of the gospel, there is no condemnation. And notice that Paul does not say there is therefore no condemnation. He says there is therefore now no condemnation. He he adds that little word now.

I have been chewing on that word now for weeks. Why why does he add that little word, there is therefore now no condemnation? You've got a couple of options. He could just be talking about at this point in history, meaning that before this moment, before the cross, you stood condemned in your sins, but now in light of the cross, you were not condemned. And that would certainly be true, but I don't think that's what Paul is talking about here.

I don't think that's why he included that little word now. I think what he is saying here is you don't have to wait until judgment day to hear the words that you are not condemned. Those words are being spoken over you now in this moment. Now you receive this verdict of no condemnation. While in this life, while still struggling with sin, no condemnation.

While you get angry at your spouse, no condemnation. While you got in a fight with your family on the way going to church, no condemnation. While you fell once again to lust, no condemnation. While you once again fell back into fear or anxiety instead of trust. No condemnation.

Now at this very moment while you are a sinner, you do not stand condemned. And can we just can we just sit here for a while? And so it's one of those those those peaks. You just kinda wanna get up there and just just sit and savor the view. Don't you? There is now no condemnation. And do you hear the totality of that statement? There is now no condemnation. None at all. Condemnation hasn't just been temporarily suspended only to revisit you later.

Condomation no longer exists. It's not gonna come back in the future to haunt you. It's not hanging over your head. It's not just waiting for you around the corner for the next time that you sin. There is no condemnation at all. And we'll see for a moment that it's been replaced by something. Complete and total acceptance. You're welcomed into the arms of God. Once again, church, can we just sit there? I mean, what a view that we have.

Now this isn't a promise for everyone. It is reserved only for those who are in Christ Jesus. This is a promise that is reserved for those who have placed their faith in Jesus, believing him to be the son of god who came into this world, lived the perfect life that you should have lived, paid the penalty for your sins, by faith, you have united your life with his. If that's you, then you are not condemned. If you have not done that, there is therefore condemnation.

You stand condemned. And and please hear me. If you have never placed your trust in Jesus, I don't care if you hear another word in my sermon. Stop where you are. Spend the rest of the time just pleading and asking the Lord to reveal himself to you and call out to him. Alright. So how is all this possible? How can we not be condemned? How is it that there can be no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus? Well, the answer is because that condemnation has already taken place.

If we jump ahead, just jump over verse 2, go to verse 3. And don't worry, we're gonna go back to verse 2. Verse 3, we read this. For God has done with the law, weakened by the flesh could not do, by sending his own son in the likeness of sinful flesh and for sin. He condemned sin in the flesh. So when Jesus went to the cross in that moment, sin was condemned. Notice that Paul doesn't say that Jesus was condemned. No. Sin was condemned. Your sin was condemned, my sin was condemned on the cross.

So why is there no condemnation now? Because that condemnation happened 2000 years ago to the sin placed on Jesus. Here here's an amazing thought. I mean, you could just sit there and dwell for hours, but an amazing thought, like, before you ever committed your first sin, it was already paid for. Before you ever committed it.

I mean, I have Christians all the time like, was God gonna forgive me if I I sin in the future? I'm like, He already forgave you 2000 years ago. Already, that verdict was given then. And you know that God would actually be unjust at this moment to condemn you. He cannot demand payment from you for something that Jesus paid for 2000 years ago.

That'll be unjust. There's no condemnation. Can I ask you, do you ever feel condemned though? Or do you ever fear condemnation? No, we don't we don't typically use that word, and that we feel condemned, so maybe I can kinda flesh out what that looks like.

Do you do you ever find yourself getting super defensive? Or maybe you are really sensitive to criticism. Do you ever try to hide some of your struggles with sin? Certain sins you're struggling with in your life and you don't want anyone to know about. You don't You only want people to know that you even think about doing those things, let alone do those things.

So you so you have to hide those sins. Why is that? Why do you get defensive? Why are you so sensitive to criticism? Why are you trying to hide those struggles with sin?

Well, it's because in that moment, you were trusting in your appearance or you were trusting in your performance for your righteousness instead of trusting in Jesus for his righteousness. And therefore, you fear condemnation. In those moments, you're forgetting the gospel. So so whenever you have those moments when you you realize I I'm being very defensive here, or I really don't want people to see this sin, let that be a mirror that you hold up, and it says, in this moment, I'm not believing the gospel. I'm trusting remind yourself of the gospel.

Years ago, Remind yourself of the gospel. Years ago, somebody moved here to Birmingham, moved back to Birmingham. He was a believer. He actually had just got back from a mission trip. He'd been attending our church for a while.

He asked to meet with me, and he just confessed sin when we got together. I mean, he he confessed some bombshells. And he said, but, you know, the Lord the Lord's delivered me from this. I I haven't done this in in several months here, but I I really I just you need to know this. I want it's who I am.

I said, I'd love to introduce you to some other people. You need to have some other guys around you for encouragement. And so I set up a breakfast and, and introduced them to to some other guys from Redeemer. Some of you were there at that meeting. And if you remember, had everybody go around and introduce themselves, and they'd be like, I'm so and so.

I work at this law firm. I'm so and so, you know, went to Alabama. Roll Tide. You know, I'm they would go all around. And then my new my friend, he got there and goes introduces who he was and he said, I want you to know that up until 2 months ago, I was regularly seeing prostitutes, prostitutes going up and down for 70 North.

I got back from a mission trip, and I don't know what happened, but just sexual addiction was unleashed in me. And I've just given myself to things I never thought possible. The Lord has set me free from that. And you can hear this pin drop. Everybody's just so quiet and I will always remember what he said next.

He looked around at everybody and goes, why am I the most comfortable guy in this room? Why am I the most comfortable guy in this room? It's because his identity alone was in Jesus at that moment. That's why he was the most comfortable guy in the room because his righteousness was not based on performance, It was not based on appearance. It was based on a righteousness given to him by Jesus.

He's the only one that felt no condemnation. Everyone else is hiding something. He knew who he was and he knew he was nothing apart from Christ. That's what that's what Paul is talking about here. There's an incredible freedom in that, finding your identity in Christ alone.

The good news of the gospel is that condemnation has been removed from us while we are still sinners. And you see this all of the time in the gospels. We don't have time to go through all of these. Probably the most famous example of this is when you had the adulteress woman in the gospel of John who's thrown down at the feet of Jesus. She was caught in the very act of adultery, and people have all gathered up stones and are like, Jesus, should we stone her?

Remember Jesus said, hey. He who is without sin cast the first stone. 1 by 1, they drop their stones. They walk away. And Jesus says, who is left to condemn you? She says, no one. He says, neither do I condemn you. Go and sin no more. Don't ever forget the order of this. Jesus looks at a person caught in adultery, says, I do not condemn you.

Now go and sin no more. He doesn't flip it. Say, woman, you were caught in the very act of adultery. You need to get your life together. Come on, you need to turn over a new leaf. It's time for you to get rid of all your sin. It's time for you to, come on, grab a hold of yourself. Do something with your life. And once you do that, I won't condemn you. That's not the gospel.

That's the way the rest of the world operates. That's the way the the religions of the world operate, but not Christianity. Christianity is Jesus saying, There is no condemnation. None. Now go and sin no more.

Another image that I have is of the paralytic man who was lowered by the ropes. You know, they break through a house. They lower him down before Jesus. Remember Jesus, he goes up to this man and he looks at him and he says, your sins are forgiven, first thing he says. Then he says, now rise up and walk.

Don't ever get the order reversed. Some of you with crippled legs have been trying to stand on your own righteousness and follow Christ, and you can't ever do it. You have to hear Jesus saying you are forgiven. There is no condemnation. And then in the power of that, you are now risen to walk and to follow him in joyful obedience.

It's the good news of the gospel. Looking at the clock, we're at verse 1, people. You could just put the clock down. Don't We're There's no way we'll get to verse 11, but we'll get as far as we can. Alright. Verse 2. For the law of the spirit of life has set you free in Christ Jesus from the law of sin and death. Alright. Now up to this point in Romans, Paul has only mentioned the Holy Spirit twice. Once was just kind of in his introductory remarks, doesn't really even count.

Chapter 5, he mentions the Holy Spirit again. We made a big deal about that when we were preaching through it. That's when he actually talks about what the Holy what the Holy Spirit, he does, and that was in the context of comforting us and suffering. So only twice, once only really has he talked about him. Now in Romans chapter 8, he is going to talk about the Holy Spirit 20 times.

I mean, I'm I'm about ready to hand out tambourines, we're going full on Pentecostal in the next few weeks people. Okay? I mean, he is deep diving into some Holy Spirit in front of us. And the reason he's doing this now at this point is because up to this point, he's been talking about how one becomes saved, how do they get saved, but now he's gonna describe what it means. Right?

You are saved, but why? What was it all for? And this is why he's gonna say, it's because so the Holy Spirit could come inside you and you could be given new life. Now for the first time ever, you can obey God, and you can begin to look like Jesus. And through the Holy Spirit, you will even be glorified like Jesus.

And so Spirit Spirit Spirit, just just buckle up for what's ahead. Paul calls here the Holy Spirit, the Spirit of Life. That's the first way he introduces the Spirit to us, the Spirit of life. And it's really the theme of this entire section. The Holy Spirit comes and gives new life.

It's really how we're introduced to the Spirit of God in the bible back in Genesis. Those the first, you know, couple verses in Genesis, you have, the dark waters of the deep, and then you have the spirit of God fluttering or hovering over the dark chaotic waters. Just hovering there. And then God says, let there be light. And light comes, and then life comes.

Paul's saying, this is the spirit who's come to us. His holy spirit has come and has just fluttered over our hearts, The darkness of our hearts. The chaos that was there. The deadness that was there. And the holy spirit breathed life into us And we became new people at this point.

He gave us a new heart. The language He's gonna use is like, He set us free. Free. A question that Christians often ask unbelievers, you know, if they're sharing their faith, but perhaps you've heard this, is, if you were to die tonight, where would you go? Or would you go to heaven?

Or why would the Lord let you into heaven? It's a good question. Actually, I was having dinner with somebody a couple nights ago, and and that's how he came to know the Lord is someone asked him that question, and he came to know Jesus. But there's actually another question we can ask as well. If you were to wake up tomorrow, if you wake up tomorrow, what will the evidence be that the Holy Spirit is in your life?

Will there be evidence that the Holy Spirit is in you? Because for Paul here, when he says, there is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus, and then they're like, well, how do we know if there's no condemnation? He goes here, he says, because the spirit of God is inside of you. That's his you wanna know if you're not condemned? Is the spirit of God inside you?

Is there new life? You can think of it this way. The spirit of God has changed that that old heart that, struggled so much with sin. Sin was so dominant, it was overpowering you. Now the Holy Spirit has come in, and for the first time, you have the power to say no to sin and the power to say yes to God for the first time.

It's like this. Before you were a Christian, you used to think of sin as breaking a rule. That's what he did, he broke a rule. I broke so many laws driving here to church this morning. I mean it was, you know, early, way before anybody's out on the streets, I did not stop at one stop sign.

At that point, it's it's when no one's on the road, it's optional. It's more like you have the option to stop, and I chose not to exercise that option. I I slowed, but I went. When I'm over here at 41st, the light that's there, it's red, and literally no one anywhere. I didn't stay at that red light.

I went right through it. Maybe that's sin, maybe it's not, but we we we say we see sin is like it's just breaking a rule. It's kinda like the rules you have posted at a pool. You know, you go to a hotel pool. Have you ever read them? And then when you do read them, you're like, that's just there to keep us from having fun. I mean, like, what kid can have fun at a pool if they don't run around? That's the first rule, no running at the pool. Alright. We used to think that was sin.

It's breaking a rule that was to keep you from going where you wanted to go or to keep you from having fun. Then the Holy Spirit came in your heart. He became a Christian, and now sin is not breaking a rule, sin is breaking a heart. Huge difference. The Spirit of God has changed a relationship with God.

It's no longer a list of rules. Now your family. You become a child of God, or or the Bible talks about our relationship with God in terms of marriage. So, why do I not want to yell at my wife? Why do I not wanna do those things? Because I love her. I don't want to hurt her. If I hurt her, it hurts me. If I want joy, I joyfully serve her and love her. I'm kind to her.

Huge change in the way that we relate to God. We relate to sin. That's the work of the Holy Spirit. Is that how you would say your life is? Or do you still relate to sin, still relate to God as a list of rules that you need to follow? You sin, you're like, well, okay. I I broke a rule. Or is it when you sin, you're like, oh, this would grieve your heart because you sinned against your father, your spouse, and you joyfully want to serve Him. This is what the Holy Spirit has done to us. Alright.

Verse 5. I'll end with verse 5. Zero chance of going past this. Alright. So Paul is in verse 5, gonna tell us how we walk according to the spirit.

Verse 4, he told us we need to walk according to the spirit. Now he's gonna tell us how we are to walk according to the spirit. So he says, for those who live according to the flesh, set their mind on the things of the flesh. But those who live according to the spirit set their mind on the things of the spirit. So to walk or to live according to the spirit means that you set your mind on the things of the spirit.

Living by the spirit, walking with the spirit, being filled with the spirit, whatever language you wanna use here, means that you fully engage your mind. But you engage it in the right things. Whatever you have your mind on is gonna shape the way that you live. It's gonna, it's gonna shape your lifestyle. It's gonna shape your character.

The things that you dream about, the things that preoccupy your mind, the things that you imagine. So if you're always thinking about politics, that's all you're reading about, all you're thinking is politics, it is gonna shape your character in the way you live. If you're always humming the tune to some song that's just filled with sexual immorality or betrayal, or violence because that's what you've been putting in your mind, don't think for a moment that doesn't affect your walk with the Lord or your ability to listen to the spirit. Because that's what you're engaging your mind with. Don't think for a moment that when you're sitting down and you finally have a free moments, and every single time you do that, you pick out your phone and you just go to social media and you endlessly scroll that that doesn't have any effect with you.

You're not engaging your mind with the things of the Spirit. Engaging the spirit begins by engaging your mind. All the time I have people coming and asking me. They're like, you know, I just I can't I feel like I just can't hear the spirit. I just can't hear what God wants me to do and all this. I'm like, well, what are you listening to? What are you putting in your mind? Well, there's your answer. So how do you begin thinking about the spirit? How do you begin engaging your mind?

Once again, you you you don't just sit around and just think holy spirit, holy spirit, holy spirit. That's not it. Notice he doesn't say, set your mind on the spirit. Set your mind on the things of the spirit. The things of the spirit.

So you don't go around just, I just gotta think of the holy spirit. No. You go around thinking of the things of the holy spirit. And what Paul is describing here is really friendship. CS Lewis, when he was talking about friendship, he said friendship begins with the two words, you too.

You too. So you meet somebody, and they might mention how they love a certain band that you love, and you're like, you too? It's the basis of a friendship. And mine just happens to be you too. Or it could be, you know, like you're talking about books you've read, and how you love Lord of the Rings.

You're like, me too. You too. And you start geeking out, you know, on Aragorn and Elves and stuff like that. And it's a it's the basis of a friendship that you too. This is what Paul's describing here for us. You wanna walk according to the Spirit. You wanna be led by the Spirit, filled by the Spirit. You don't just set your mind on the Spirit, you set your mind on the things of the Spirit. What is the Holy Spirit thinking about? What are those you twos?

Well, the holy spirit is all about giving glory to Jesus. So seek to glorify Jesus, and the holy spirit is gonna be like, I am all on that, and he will fill your life. Seek to live by the fruit of the spirit. Be filled with love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, gentleness, faithfulness, self control. Try to do those things, and when you do those things, the Holy Spirit is like, I am all about that, and he will empower you to live that way.

And one of the things that you're gonna find here in Romans 8, and we don't have time to go through with this, there's 3 particular things that we find that the Holy Spirit is all about. And it's this. The Holy Spirit wants because He's all about your adoption. He's all about letting you know how loved you are and all about letting you know how accepted you are welcomed into God's presence. That's what Romans 8 is gonna unfold for us, that you are adopted.

You are God's child. If you dwell on that, the Holy Spirit's gonna be like, that's the thing I like to think about. I'm all about that. And he will come and he will make that real to you. Then begin to think about and I'm I'm know the gospel says I'm so loved in Jesus, and the holy spirit's like, I'm all about that too.

And he comes and he makes it real to you. Or that I'm accepted and welcomed into God's presence. I need to go to him in prayer, and the Holy Spirit's like I am all about that. You too? Me too? Alright. And he comes and he empowers, and you are accepted by God. That's the glorious journey that we have in the chapters before us in the chapter before us. But I wanna end with I I have to at least read verse 11. Can I do that?

We'll get to it next week or 2 weeks. I don't know. 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. That life there isn't just eternal life, like when you die, you're gonna keep that's not he's like, eternal life breaks in now. It's a life that then never goes away.

But for those He he He who raised Christ Jesus from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through His Spirit who dwells in you. Amen? If you would pray with me. Father God, we thank you for the gift of your Holy Spirit, and we pray that now that he would do his work and he would make much of Jesus. That he would convict us of sin, that he would change us to look more like you, Jesus.

Thank you for such an amazing gift. For those who don't know you, Jesus, I pray in this moment, they would realize to their utter horror that they stand condemned. But may they hear you calling them right now offering them life if they would trust you. Thank you, Jesus, that eternal life begins in us now and grows and grows for all of eternity. We pray this in the strong name of you, Jesus. Amen.