SPIRIT MINDED by Dr. Shah, Clearview Church, Henderson, NC
Introduction: We are drawing closer to and closer to our reason for choosing Romans as the starting point of our series on the end-times. It was to get us to Romans 9 where we learn about the role of ethnic Israel in end-times prophecy. In the process, we have learned so much about the Christian life. Couple of months ago, someone wrote to me – “I am…humbled that the Lord would be gracious to teach me deeper things at my age; and that after 8 churches in the area that he would lead us to Clearview; and that we could receive such wonderful learning here in the country…” To God be the glory for this! Today, we come to Romans 8 which introduces us to the agent of sanctification – the Holy Spirit of God. He is the third person of the godhead with a mind, with emotions, and a will. He thinks, and he knows. He can be grieved, and he can be quenched. He is a comforter, and he is a counsellor. He comes to convict the world of sin, righteousness, and the judgment to come. He gives life to both creation and our redemption. If the cross is the basis of our salvation, the Holy Spirit is the enabler of our salvation.
Romans 8:6 (page #1741) “For to be carnally minded is death, but to be spiritually minded is life and peace.”
Context: Paul was teaching the church in Rome in the first century about the basics of our salvation. This church, as you know, was made up of Jewish background and Gentile background believers who were not getting along. He wrote the letter to teach them about the common ground of their salvation and victory over sin. We ended last week with Romans 7 24 “O wretched man that I am! Who will deliver me from this body of death? 25 I thank God—through Jesus Christ our Lord!…” Those are the words of a Christian who has come to the end of himself/herself, all defeated and discouraged. What does he/she find on the other side – Jesus is there waiting for you. He planned this all along.
Application: Have you come to end of yourself? Are you at the point of despair and ready to turn things over the Jesus? Are you saved?
Now comes the big question – How do I live the Christian life “through Jesus Christ our Lord?” This is where Romans 7:25 onwards into Romans 8 comes in. Here’s the remainder of Romans 7:25 “…So then, with the mind I myself serve the law of God, but with the flesh the law of sin.” Don’t forget the 4 laws that Paul mentioned and we briefly looked at last week: law of God; law in my members; law of my mind; and law of sin. So, the law of the mind teams up with the law of God, but the law of my members (flesh) teams up with the law of sin. Unfortunately, there are lots of books that support one or the other laws (Of God, of mind, of members, of sin), but none of them work.
All of this is referring to our sanctification as a believer. Don’t forget that God’s primary attributeis holiness. God is holy, separated from sin and devoted to his honor and glory, and he wants us to be holy (Hebrew = kadosh, Greek = hagias). Leviticus 20:26 “you shall be holy to Me, for I the LORD am holy, and have separated you from the peoples, that you should be Mine.” So also, in the New Testament – 1 Peter 1 15 but as He who called you is holy, you also be holy in all your conduct, 16 because it is written, “Be holy, for I am holy.” In his High Priestly Prayer, in John 17:19, Jesus said “And for their sakes I sanctify Myself, that they also may be sanctified by the truth.” Here’s the point: At salvation, our sins are forgiven, and we receive the righteousness of Christ, but we still have to contend with the old sin nature. The removal of this sin and victory over it is sanctification. It comes to us in 3 steps: 1. Positional Sanctification; 2. Progressive Sanctification; 3. Perfect Sanctification. No issue with our positional or perfect sanctification. 1 Corinthians 1:2 “To the church of God which is at Corinth, to those who are sanctified in Christ Jesus, called to be saints…” 1 John 3 2“Beloved, now we are children of God; and it has not yet been revealed what we shall be, but we know that when He is revealed, we shall be like Him, for we shall see Him as He is. 3 And everyone who has this hope in Him purifies himself, just as He is pure” (pure = hagnos). The real struggle is over our progressive sanctification, and this is what Romans 6-8 is about – it describes the struggle/angst/frustration of a believer against sin in his/her life – “Why do I do things that I don’t want to do?” “Why do I not do the things that I want to?”
Paul begins Romans 8 by introducing us to the Holy Spirit. He is referred to 19 times in this chapter, more than any other chapter in the whole Bible. Here Paul is explaining to us the role of the Holy Spirit in our Christian life. Jesus had promised this to his disciples – John 16 7 “Nevertheless I tell you the truth. It is to your advantage that I go away; for if I do not go away, the Helper will not come to you; but if I depart, I will send Him to you. 8 And when He has come, He will convict the world of sin, and of righteousness, and of judgment…12 “I still have many things to say to you, but you cannot bear them now. 13 However, when He, the Spirit of truth, has come, He will guide you into all truth; for He will not speak on His own authority, but whatever He hears He will speak; and He will tell you things to come. 14 He will glorify Me, for He will take of what is Mine and declare it to you. 15 All things that the Father has are Mine. Therefore I said that He will take of Mine and declare it to you.” For starters, he does not come to condemn us but to help us. Romans 8:1 “There is therefore now no condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus, who do not walk according to the flesh, but according to the Spirit.” First things first, there is no condemnation.The flesh may tell you that you are condemned but we do not listen to the flesh but to the Spirit. Again, in Romans 8:16 “The Spirit Himself bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God…”
Next, the Holy Spirit begins the process of counteracting sin and death. Romans 8:2“For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus has made me free from the law of sin and death.” This is a powerful statement of the work of the Holy Spirit in every believer’s life. There is the Law of Sin and Death. This is my indwelling sin—old nature, the flesh. All it does is bring death in my life. All it does is to condemn and destroy. All it does is pull me down. When I am saved, the old nature is crucified but it is not eradicated. God will take care of that in the end. What God has done is that he has applied another law – the Law of the Spirit of life to counteract the Law of Sin and Death.
For e.g. George Goodman gives a great illustration in his book “I Live, Yet Not I”—“A father and his little son were walking in the garden in the springtime when the display of early beauty was at its best. ‘What is gravitation, father?’ asked the boy, ‘Gravitation, my son, is a law or principle of nature by which everything is attracted or drawn down to the earth. Thus, if you drop a stone or an apple, the earth draws it down, and so it falls as we say, to the earth.’ ‘Oh, but father,’ objects the child, ‘look at those beautiful tulips. They all go upwards. They are not drawn down.’ ‘True, my boy; but that is because in them there is another law at work. The law of life, which is stronger than the law of gravitation has made them free from it as long as they live. See, if I destroy the life by cutting one off, it falls at once to the ground.’”
Listen again to Verse 2 “For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus has made me freefrom the law of sin and death.” Meaning: If I am saved, I don’t have to wait for the Holy Spirit to do this for me. I don’t have to surrender more for the Holy Spirit to do this. I don’t need a special experience from the Holy Spirit for this to happen. I don’t have to speak in tongues for the Holy Spirit to do this for me. It is done! The Holy Spirit has already brought the life of Jesus Christ to us. Some Christians think that the Holy Spirit is sitting all disappointed, dejected, and waiting for us to turn it all to Him before He can help us. Nothing could be further from the truth. He is working all along to help us. When we disobey, He simply turns from bearing fruit to convicting us and from convicting us to disciplining us.
Keep in mind that it is a maintained condition not a state. It requires abiding. It is not suppression, eradication, but counteraction.
What else? Jesus did everything for us. Listen to verses 3 “For what the law could not do in that it was weak through the flesh, God did by sending His own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh, on account of sin: He condemned sin in the flesh, 4 that the righteous requirement of the law might be fulfilled in us who do not walk according to the flesh but according to the Spirit.” Sanctification is a gift. You have to receive it by faith. Does that mean that we just sit back and do nothing. To the contrary, holiness is a gift, and we work from holiness, not to holiness.
Illustration: Other religions tell you the goal and command you to work to get there. Christianity begins by gifting you the goal and then helps you to enjoy it. That’s the work of the Holy Spirit as you walk according to his leading.
Application: Are you daily trusting in the Holy Spirit? Are you walking according to the flesh or are you walking according to the Spirit?
Now, there is a battle, not between the old nature and the new nature, but between the old nature and the Holy Spirit. Romans 8 5 For those who live according to the flesh set their minds on the things of the flesh, but those who live according to the Spirit, the things of the Spirit. Better translation: “For the minding of the flesh is death; but the minding of the Spirit is life and peace.” 6 For to be carnally minded is death, but to be spiritually minded is life and peace. 7 Because the carnal mind is enmity against God; for it is not subject to the law of God, nor indeed can be. 8 So then, those who are in the flesh cannot please God. 9 But you are not in the flesh but in the Spirit, if indeed the Spirit of God dwells in you. Now if anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ, he is not His. 10 And if Christ is in you, the body is dead because of sin, but the Spirit is life because of righteousness.
This is not quietism. Watching and praying, self-examination, confession of sin, diligent study, mind on Christ, listening to the Holy Spirit, serving God (See Steve Barabas). 11“But if the Spirit of Him who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, He who raised Christ from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through His Spirit who dwells in you.”
You are set free from sickness. Does that mean that you will never get sick? No, you are set free from that sickness to carry out the will of God. There’s not one thing that God wants you to do if you are allowing the law of life in Christ Jesus to set you free that the Holy Spirit cannot quicken your mortal body to do. Now, I have seen some people who got sick and put in bed, and it took the law of life in Christ Jesus to set them free so that they would be as free in that bed as Paul was in the jail cell. They became prayer warriors. It is the law of life in Christ Jesus to give them such freedom and peace and joy never to get up but to keep praising God and serve him (Manley Beasley).
Manley Beasley tells the story of Corey Ten Boom when she was in her 60s. God called her to go to Japan as a missionary. She told God that she was too old and that her body is not going to make it. She felt that she was just not able to do it. Her time in the Nazi prison camp didn’t help either. God kept insisting that she go. Finally, she prayed to God that if he will show her that her body will not be a hindrance to his will then she would go. God gave her Romans 8:11, and she went and served in Japan for several years. She would walk everyone to death. Psalm 103 1 “Bless the LORD, O my soul; And all that is within me, bless His holy name! 2Bless the LORD, O my soul, And forget not all His benefits: 3 Who forgives all your iniquities, Who heals all your diseases, 4 Who redeems your life from destruction, Who crowns you with lovingkindness and tender mercies, 5 Who satisfies your mouth with good things, So that your youth is renewed like the eagle’s.”
You are also set free from suffering. Does that mean that you will not suffer? Of course not. It simply means you are set free from suffering to carry out the will of God.
Romans 8 12 Therefore, brethren, we are debtors—not to the flesh, to live according to the flesh. 13 For if you live according to the flesh you will die; but if by the Spirit you put to death the deeds of the body, you will live. 14 For as many as are led by the Spirit of God, these are sons of God.
Some people think that this is all mumbo jumbo, theological verbal gymnastics when real life is harsh and tough. Question: why do you trust in a man to save you who died under a Roman punishment 2000 years ago?
When you serve God, he gives you the energy to keep serving. When you stop serving, even the energy you have starts seeping. Giving is not service. What ministry at Clearview will shut down if you’re not there. How about you?