“Freed for the Spirit”

Scripture: Romans 8:1-17

Some years ago, I heard that a number of noted theologians were asked the following question: “If they knew that they were going to be stranded on a desert island for the rest of their life, and could only take 1 book of the Bible with them, what book would they take? And if they could only take one chapter of the Bible with them, which chapter would they take?”
Their answers were nearly unanimous – the book would be Romans, and the chapter would be Romans 8.

The chapter is about the life giving offer that God holds out to the unworthy sinners of earth, and when we accept that offer, it brings about the conquest of death and condemnation that is rightly ours. This reversal of destinies comes, not by some measure of goodness that we might develop within ourselves, but simply by faith in Jesus Christ and the great sacrifice that he made on our behalf. This incredible gift of God is the very thing that the Law attempted to achieve in us, but never could. By faith in Christ, the Life-giving Spirit has replaced our sin with God’s indwelling power. Chapter 8 of Romans is the message of hope for the hopeless of earth, and those who have been stranded on a deserted island are about as hopeless as anyone could be – nearly as hopeless as every person on earth without Jesus Christ in their lives.

Read Romans 8:1-4

The previous chapter focuses on the struggle that humanity has with sin. Paul tells us that if the law had never been given, there would never be sin – without the law, there would never be anything to judge our actions against, and therefore there could never be any “wrong”, but neither could there ever be any “right”. Without the Law, whatever we do in this life would just be.

But the law was given, and humanity expanded and enlarged it until it was choking us to death. But then Jesus came, and Hope was restored. And Hope would no longer be based on how well we lived our lives – it would depend solely on our allegiance to the life and teaching of Jesus. Following the Law of Moses will never bring joy or glory to the Lord – that can only occur through obedience in Christ.

Paul tells us that by faith, we are no longer under the sentence and condemnation that sin brings to us. The Judgment that will come about in the Day of the Lord has now come to our day, this day – and the Judge’s decision, for all who claim Jesus Christ as their Lord and Savior, is “Come home – you are free”! Remember, though, this doesn’t mean that we are guiltless! It means that the penalty for our sins has already been paid in full by Christ at Calvary, and by faith, we accept and claim his redemptive gift.
And yet, the freedom that we now enjoy will continue to be under attack by Satan. We will continue to be barraged with calls to doubt our salvation, to believe that we are worthless, that God doesn’t really love us, that we have nothing to offer our Divine Savior, so why not just give up! They are all lies of course, but if we let the Darkness get a foothold in our lives, we will never get to see the Radiance of God at work within us! Satan can only have power over us if we allow it.
Recently, we have had some partially overcast days. If we keep our focus on the dark clouds that are above us, all we will ever see are the storms. But if we look to the western sky – to the blue that is beyond the dark - we will know that bright sunshine is still part of our lives, and that glory is on the way. Remember Peter when Jesus called him, and he began to walk on the water? (Matthew 14:22-33) When doubt snuck in, it was then that he began to sink.

Jesus has destroyed the darkness in our lives and has sent our sin to hell, while at the same time, has brought life and glory in to replace it. But we must stay focused on him if we are to remain above the storm waters of doubt.

Read Romans 8:5-11

Paul begins to compare a life in sin to a life in the Spirit. It’s interesting that he believes that this difference is dependent on our minds and thoughts. We usually see faith as a matter of the heart, but here we see that it is actually dependent on the decisions that we make, and not just faith. There are three issues that Paul raises.
First, our nature is one of sin. Our natural tendency is to sin, but we can disown that nature by deciding to follow the Spirit’s leading instead of our own personal disposition.
Second, the mind – the thinking – the decisiveness of our normal nature will always lead us to death and condemnation. But if we give up control of our lives to the Spirit, we will immediately discover that God’s glory comes to rest upon our lives, and that his peace and presence will fill us.
Third, Paul says that our normal nature, our sinful decisions, are “hostile” to God. This doesn’t just mean that God is just opposed to them – it means that they are antagonistic against the Lord, they are anti-God, that they never will and never can be compatible with the God Nature.

If you ever hear someone state that their lifestyle is simply who they are - that it is how they were made - we can wholeheartedly agree with them. But we can also let them know that they also have the power to decide to live differently - if they completely surrender their personal control and decision-making processes to the Lord Jesus. We don’t have to make the effort to do everything correctly – we just have to make a decision for Christ, and then allow the Spirit to lead us and convict us in his way instead of ours. Not always an easy thing to do, and we may very well have to recommit and re-decide every single day, but the Spirit will continue to bless and lead us, as long as we allow him to do so. Will we continue to satisfy the flesh, or will we free the Spirit to lead us to the fullness of a life in Christ?

This decision is what frees us to live in Him. We will, without question, continue to sin from time to time, although it may not be as prevalent as it once was, and Paul says that our body will be dead because of it. Our physical being will die, as we all know so well, but our spirit will never be condemned because a life in and with Christ is eternal. If Jesus lives eternally, so will all who love him! (John 3:16-18)

Read Romans 8:12-17

Remember the promise from Romans 5:3-5? We have Eternal Hope, because “God has poured out his love into our hearts by the Holy Spirit, who he has given us.” This gift of the Spirit is what overcomes our “flesh-loving” nature. And it brings such incredible riches to our lives.
It brings God’s promise – his covenant – made to Abraham (Genesis 17:1-8) into our lives. Abraham was to become the father of many nations, and not just the nation of Israel, and in Christ, we become one of those “nations”. (John 10:11-16)
It brings us to the realization that God, indeed, loves us far beyond anything we can possibly imagine. (John 3:16)
It brings a sense of peace, and hope, and joy to our otherwise burdened lives. This doesn’t mean that life suddenly becomes “cushy” and easy, but we now have the Spirit of God helping us through those trying and tempting times, and we no longer have to go through it alone. (Matthew 11:25-30)
It means that our “free will” can now be put to use for the good of others, and not just for our own benefit! (Matthew 25:34-40)
It means that we can lean on the full wisdom and power of Almighty God, and not have to depend on our own limited abilities to gain success in life. (Matthew 6:25-34)

And by faith in Christ, we become the children of God – in fullness and perfection, not just in name only. We can now call out to God, not as some unknown Being, but as “Father”, and “Abba”. We have a full inheritance of glory with Christ – not as second class or distant relatives, but equal in our inheritance with him.

But Paul says that we have an obligation for all that we receive – unfortunately, he says little about what that obligation may be! So think of it this way – that our obligation to faith in Christ, our obligation in becoming a child of God, is to live faithfully within the teaching of Jesus and the leading of the Holy Spirit. The last verse of our text for today tells us this – as children of God and co-heirs of glory with Jesus, we are called to first, acknowledge and expect the same trials and temptations that Jesus experienced, and second, to be faithful to his teachings, even to the point of suffering as he once suffered.

Last week, we began with the thought that “our present sufferings aren’t even worth comparing to the glory that will be revealed in us.” (Romans 8:18) The promise of Glory and Eternity is before us. A life in Christ will never be easy, but that which awaits us, regardless of what we may experience through the antagonism of earth, will so far exceed the struggle, that we will be overwhelmingly amazed and blessed by the splendor of God’s presence.

That is the Lord’s promise, and it all comes in the freeing decision that we make for him. Have you made that decision?