Right with God- Romans 8

We're in the book of Romans and we're getting close to the end. This will be the second last sermon on the book of Romans, and we've gone on a bit of a journey so far. Here's a bit of a summary of where we're at. We. We spent a few weeks looking at chapters one to four and exploring the idea of what it means to be justified by faith.

And so this teaching, it's a central pillar of Christianity. Justification means that when we believe in Jesus, we are made just. We become completely acceptable in God's sight. We're treated as if we were a perfect person. And that answers the question that we posed at the start of the series.

How are we made right with God? It's through faith in Jesus. And so in the following chapters, Paul then shifts into showing how this new reality should shape every part of our lives. And so in chapter five, we looked at how faith brings joy. And actually, joy should be that mark of a mature Christian.

In chapter six, we looked at how we are joined to Jesus. What's true of him is now true of us. And then in chapter seven, Paul takes, I think, an interesting sidestep, all right? He talks about his own sinful nature, and he talks about that in the sense that. Not that he used to be sinful and now he's become a perfect person, but in the present moment, he still wrestles with his own failings.

So in Romans 7, 21:23, he says this. He says, I have discovered this principle of life that when I want to do what is right, I inevitably do what is wrong. I love God's law with all my heart. But there is another power within me that is at war with my mind. This power makes me a slave to the sin that is still within me.

And so what he's saying is, it's complicated. It's complicated. Following Jesus is not always easy. There's going to be some bumps in the road in that process to becoming more like him. And I think that's a profound point for someone like Paul to make.

This is the guy who's written a large part of the New Testament. You know, we follow his teachings. He himself had this radical encounter with Jesus and profoundly changed the way he lived because of that moment. And what he's saying is that you can't expect to just pray one night and then wake up the next day and expect to be a perfect person. And it does make me think of the testimonies people have told me over the years.

Some people have had this real Quick ignition kind of experience where there's this very short amount of time, maybe a day, maybe it's just a moment, right, where they realize their desperate need for Jesus and they look to him and they say, I'm going to follow you. Right? And from that moment, some profound things do change in their life. You know, I've heard testimonies about people giving up drugs and alcohol, about forgiving people who have wronged them in their life, lots and lots of different things. And so there really is this sudden marked change in how they behave from that moment.

And I put Paul in that category. You know, he had this radical conversion moment on the road to Damascus, and he profoundly changed how he behaved from that moment onwards. For other people, this is more of a. What I'd call a slow burn, where they realize over months or maybe years what faith in Jesus is all about. And after considering it for a long time, there comes a time when they do finally commit to it and they put their faith in.

In him. And it's a slow process where they're challenged about how they live and they respond to that. And so what Paul is getting at in chapter seven is that whether your experience has been that slow burn or the quick ignition, in all of our lives, there are these issues, there's these patterns of thinking. There are deep flaws in our character that persist after that moment of conversion. Things to do with how we treat other people, how we react to difficult circumstances.

And as time goes by, maybe a year, maybe a decade later, those things keep coming back. And we often look at those times like, this should be simple. We should be perfectly changed from that moment. We put our faith in Jesus. And when we realize we're not perfect, we can feel like we're failing.

All right, and this is exactly what Paul is wrestling with, right? It's a battle of the old new and the new you. And what seemed like a sidestep in chapter seven is actually Paul setting us up for chapter eight that we're going to look at this morning. Because in chapter eight, we are given the solution. It is the Holy Spirit, but Paul.

But having this understanding of what Paul says in chapter seven is important because it helps us realize that we're not simplifying or trivializing our battle with sin. So let's read what Paul has to say. We're looking at Romans 8, 1, 11 this morning. I'll be reading this in the new living translation. It'll also be up on the screen if you'd like to read along.

Verse 1. So now there is no condemnation for those who belong to Christ Jesus. One of the most famous verses in Romans, this is something that we've become intimately familiar with by now. It's not a new idea at this stage in the book of Romans, Paul is describing that pillar of Christianity, justification by faith. And here he's just putting it in a different way.

He says there's no condemnation, there's no guilty verdict, there's no punishment for those who have put their trust and their belief in Jesus as Lord and Savior. And so it's a good time to take a moment and just remember who is writing this letter to the Roman Church. Right. This is the Apostle Paul, formerly known as Saul. Before his conversion on the road to Damascus, Saul of Tarsus was this zealous Pharisee who actively sought to destroy the early Christian church.

And Acts tells us lots of information about this. He oversaw the stoning of Stephen. He dragged men and women out of their homes to throw them into prison. Acts 9 describes Paul as eager to kill the followers of the Lord. He was ruthless, he was violent.

But then he encountered Jesus and that experience changed him into someone with love, with joy, with peace in his life. And now Paul stands as this example of someone with a checkered past who has this amazing sense of security about where he is going. He has this assurance, an assurance about what the future holds. He knows that because of his faith in Jesus, he will not be found guilty when God judges him and be looked at as if he was a perfect person. He goes on to say this in verse two, and because you belong to Jesus, the power of the life giving Spirit has freed you from the power of sin that leads to death.

So Paul talks about something else now, something new that we receive more than just having an assurance that we're saved by our faith. We also have access to what Paul calls the life giving Spirit. So he's talking about the Holy Spirit. This is God's personal presence in our lives. And what Paul is saying is that our faith in Jesus allows us access to that.

And that axis is powerful. It's powerful because it has the power to defeat sin. Something that the law couldn't do. Goes on to say this. The law of Moses was unable to save us because of the weakness of our sinful nature.

So God did what the law could not do. He sent his own Son in a body like the bodies we sinners have. And in that body, God declared an end to sin's control over us by giving his Son as a sacrifice for our sins. So Paul says the law of Moses was unable to save us, right? And if you remember back to last week, this is what Pastor Simon spoke about.

Paul says that the laws of the Torah, they're good. They're actually good. They show God's will for how ancient Israel was supposed to live. But if you read the storyline of the Torah, you'll see that ancient Israel broke all of those rules. And Paul points out the reason here.

He says because of the weakness of our sinful nature. So he's talking about this innate desire that we have to rebel, to do things our own way, to be selfish right at the end of the day. And so even when God gave his people specific moral rules to obey, that that didn't fix the problem of the sinful human heart. And paradoxically, those rules made ancient Israel even more guilty. Paul talks about how his knowledge of the law led to sin having this power over him.

But Paul says that apparent contradiction, it reveals a deeper truth, right? That through that God made it clear that the real problem has always been the evil desire to. That's taken over the human heart. And the law, as good as it is, couldn't stop that, right? People, as good as they wanted to be, couldn't live up to it.

And so Paul says here, God did what the law could not do. He sent Jesus and he came in a body like the bodies we sins have. That's a reference to Jesus humanity, right, but one with an important difference. It is without sin. So Paul has, I think, chosen his words carefully here to highlight how Jesus himself wasn't sinful, but was still able to identify with us now with our humanity, with our limits, struggles.

He's saying this is God coming alongside us to defeat those evil desires in our heart.

He continues in verse 4. He did this so that the just requirement of the law would be fully satisfied for us. We no longer follow our sinful nature, but instead follow the Spirit. Those who are dominated by the sinful nature think about sinful things, but those who are controlled by the Holy Spirit think about things that please the Spirit.

So letting your sinful nature control your mind leads to death, but letting the Spirit control your mind leads to life and peace. For the sinful nature is always hostile to God. It never did obey God's laws and it never will. That's why those who are still under the control of their sinful nature can never please God. So what becomes clear here, I think, is that Paul has this kind of worldview.

I think you can depict it in the a relatively simple way. This is our. There's our human existence, our humanity on one side, and there's the Holy Spirit on the other. Right? And in these verses, Paul contrasts two, quite intentionally says our humanity has this innate sinful nature, something Paul says is hostile to God and leads to death.

And the Spirit, on the other hand, it's in line with God's will. So it's righteous. It brings peace and life. And Paul's view is that those two things fit at opposite ends to each other. Right?

Our sinful nature, our sinful desires are contrary to the Spirit. And Paul says that for those of us who are Christians who have invited the Holy Spirit to live inside of us, we now have a foot in both of those worlds. So it might look something a little bit like this. The Holy Spirit is in our lives. We start being transformed into this new kind of human.

Our sinful nature starts to be burnt away. And the Holy Spirit empowers us to live a life that then fulfills what Paul says is the true purpose of the law. And how does Jesus summarize the law? He says, love God and people. Love God and people.

And we're now empowered to love God and people, to resist injustice, to heal hurt, to lift others above ourselves, to fulfill the true purpose of the law. But Paul doesn't trivialize this process. And it's important. He says, that our sinful nature is trying to draw us back into our sinful desires, to this worldly gratification, to independence from God, while the Holy Spirit is pushing us to be generous, forgiving, humble. There's this battle going on inside each of us.

But Paul says something interesting in those verses. He says, follow the Spirit. He says, let the Spirit control your mind. To Paul, that's the key to overcoming our sinful nature. Your mind is the battleground where your sinful nature and the Spirit fight.

But they are incompatible with each other. They can't both get their way. So naturally, what we focus on is going to win. What we focus on is going to have more influence over us. He continues on.

He says this, but you are not controlled by your sinful nature. You are controlled by the Spirit. If you have the Spirit of God living in you. And remember that those who do not have the Spirit of Christ living in them do not belong to him at all. So Paul says that over time, it should look like the Holy Spirit is controlling your mind.

And so you go from something like this to maybe something like this. You know, Paul says that that happens by following the Spirit, by turning your focus, your attention to the Holy Spirit and the Things that please the spirit. So he's not talking about being a mindless zombie. He's talking about what people call sanctification or formation, this idea that God's spirit guides us and transforms us over the course of our lives. It's this continuous progress that we experience in our lives as we're reshaped into people who look more and more like Jesus.

Where our sinful nature loses control, it gets burnt away, and where there's a transition of power from our sinful nature to that of the spirit. And that's the process that's going to happen within us over time if we turn our focus to the Holy Spirit. And then he finishes off these, this section with these two verses. And Christ lives within you. So even though your body will die because of sin, the spirit gives you life because you've been made right with God.

The spirit of God who raised Jesus from the dead, lives in you. And just as God raised Christ Jesus from the dead, he will give life to your mortal bodies by the same spirit living within you. And so Paul touches on a question here that everyone asks at some point in your lives, what happens after we die? Right? It's one of those areas where a few myths have crept into popular Christian thought.

You know, one of those myths is that when Christians die, their bodies decay once and for all and their spirits go to be eternally in heaven with God. It's like a bodyless spirit world. There's often angels sitting on clouds, maybe some harp music to go with it. But Paul's view here is different to that, right? He talks about God giving life to our mortal bodies, that even though our physical bodies at some point die, God is going to resurrect them all.

Right? This is not talking about the abandonment of creation. It's the rescue. It's the resurrection of creation. And so the biblical view is that creation is good.

It's not an afterthought. Creation is a work of an eternal artist, right? And that includes our bodies. And so the biblical view is that when Christians die, we rest safe in God's presence until our physical bodies are raised to life forever to enjoy a new creation. And Paul says here, he says, we can look forward to that.

We can have an assurance of that because in verse 11, the spirit of God who raised Jesus from the dead, lives in us. And so where we once were fighting our sinful nature, going through that process of formation, we will one day experience this, a new humanity in a resurrected body. Paul says, Jesus resurrection is a moment in history that we can point to that shows that God not only has the power to, but he wants to breathe new life where there is currently death and decay. Jesus resurrection is a guarantee that God will do the same for us, right? And for the whole of creation at the climax of history.

So there's a lot in the book of Romans, there's a lot in the chapter eight that we could discuss today. But I want to leave you with this one thought, that Romans 8 is about assurance, right? That when we put our faith in Jesus, we can be sure that there is no condemnation, that we have access to the Holy Spirit. And that you can look forward to one day being in God's presence in a resurrected body, right? And knowing this and tapping in to the power of the Holy Spirit.

That is what will allow you to overcome your own sinful nature. This is what will transform you into a new human. But Paul doesn't trivialize this process, okay? He talks about it like a battle that's going on inside your mind between your old sinful nature and the Holy Spirit. And what you tend to more will determine how that conflict is going to turn out.

And so for you this morning, Paul's hope here is that you would recognize the nature of that situation in your own life, that despite having faith in Jesus, that there are these issues, these patterns of thinking, these deep flaws in your character that persist after that moment of conversion. And as time goes on, you might find they don't seem to go away. But what Paul is saying to you is, don't be disheartened. This is something that Paul himself wrestled with. It's a battle between the old new, the old you and the new you.

And so this is not excusing those failings. We're not saying that those things are okay or that you shouldn't tend to them, right? But what Paul is saying is that despite those failings, you still have this assurance that for you, there is no condemnation. There is access to the Holy Spirit, there is a future with the resurrected body. Your faith in Jesus gives you access to.

To those things. So turn your focus, turn your attention to those things. Read these verses for yourself and meditate on them. Think deeply about what they mean for you. Join a connect group.

We're talking about Romans in connect groups right now. Come to that deeper understanding of what they mean. Because from that position of assurance and with the help of the Holy Spirit, you will find that you can overcome those patterns of thinking. You can overcome those deep flaws in your character. Let's pray.

Dear Lord, as we come before you this morning. We are just so thankful, Lord, for Jesus. We are so thankful, Lord, that you sent him and that his death sets us free from sin, that his resurrection is the proof that we will one day have new life, Lord. And so as we think about that, Lord, and we think of what you have done for us, we put our faith in Jesus, Lord. We commit ourselves to him, to following him.

And in that, Lord, we find your assurance that there is no condemnation for those who have put their faith in Jesus. If there is access to your Holy Spirit, Lord, we have access to your own personal presence in our lives, transforming us and burning away the sin that is in our lives. And, Lord, as we turn to Jesus and your Holy Spirit, we are assured that there is a future for us. There is a future with a resurrected body in your presence, Lord. A place where there is no more death or decay, no more injustice or hurt, Lord.

And we look forward to that time. And we thank you, Lord, for all those things that you've done for us. And we pray, Lord, that you would work through us in a powerful way, way to really work through and defeat the sin in our lives, Lord. Those deep character flaws that we have, the problems that we're experiencing, the failings that seem to keep coming up and up again, Lord, we pray that that process of formation would lead us to be people who look more and more like Jesus every single day. Pray this in your name, Lord.

Amen. Sam.