Romans 8 is another change in the Paul's letter to the Romans. In chapters 6 and 7 Paul has been discussing the law and how it is of no benefit for our salvation. He went as far to say that depending on the law was sin! But things move on in chapter 8 as Paul give us great comfort in verse 1 by saying that when we are in Christ we are not condemned for our sin. He then goes on to list the great advantage there is in living life int eh Spirit of God.

But a caution comes at the end of the passage as Paul tells us that anyone who follows Christ will face persecution. So the question comes is it all worth it? The answer is yes, because of the eternal hope we have in Christ.

Romans - The heart of the Gospel is a teaching series from Annalong Presbyterian Church. Find out more at www.annalongpc.org/sermons.

Thank you, Alan, for leading us in our

2

service so far this evening.

3

And, uh, it's good to be

back, to get back into Romans.

4

And this evening we're

looking at Romans 8.

5

And it's another one of those turning

points in Paul's letter to the Romans.

6

Um, there's no denying it,

chapter 6 and 7 were heavy.

7

Um, they took a lot of work, a

lot of thinking energy needed

8

on all our parts to even try and

understand what Paul was getting at.

9

But there's almost a moment where we're

delighted to get to what Paul says

10

here in, uh, Romans chapter eight.

11

What Paul has wanted to drive home to

us, even within those heavy chapters of

12

six and seven, was how useless the law

is for salvation and how useful it is

13

to know how to live well as a Christian.

14

Chapter seven was a passage about how

the law can be sin if we think that we

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can depend on it alone for our salvation.

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And the closing verse of chapter 7

expresses both the sure hope of the gospel

17

and the tension in which believers live

out that hope, where Paul wrote, Thanks

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be to God through Jesus Christ our Lord.

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So then I myself serve the law

of God with my mind, but with

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my flesh I serve the law of sin.

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This is the tension we have.

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We're still human.

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We're not perfect.

24

There's a long way to go.

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In fact, there's eternity to

go before we will be perfect.

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And so even though we can give

thanks to God through Jesus Christ

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because he is our savior, we still

live under the influence of sin.

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That means it's hard.

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That means it's tough to live

because we are bombarded day

30

and daily from every side.

31

If you happened to be out on Tuesday

morning as I was, simply to drop

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the children at school, I came

home drenched because the rain

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was coming at me from every side.

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I couldn't get a dry side any part of me.

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And that's what sin is like.

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It whirls around you.

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But thanks be to God through Jesus Christ.

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Because even though we face

the whirlwind of sin around us.

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We stand firm on a solid

rock of Jesus Christ.

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And that's what Paul wants to take us to.

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So as much as he's been focusing on the

law and what it means to, to understand

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the law in its right perspective, he

now wants us to look at the solid rock.

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He wants us to look at

the solid foundation.

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So if we are day and daily influenced

by sin around us, then we need to

45

look to a hope that is beyond this

world, beyond ourselves, that frees

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us from this hold that sin has.

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And freedom is an interesting concept.

48

In our human terms, we see

freedom as being able to live as

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we want without anyone hindering

us, or telling us what to do.

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Ask a teenager, and maybe we should

someday get a teenager up here

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and ask them, what is freedom?

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Well, they'll tell you, no rules.

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Able to do what I want to do, go to

bed when I want to go to bed, have

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the friends that I want to have.

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To them, that's freedom.

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What does freedom look like me?

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Freedom for me looks like

getting children to bed at seven

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so I can go to bed at nine.

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And how it all shifts and changes.

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But in some parts of the world,

freedom is a serious matter.

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People are not free because they live

under regimes that persecute Christians,

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that persecute other religious groups

as well, never mind Christians, where

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there's a crackdown on how people can

live freely and how they can worship.

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So around the world, freedom is serious.

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And so, as we study Romans, Paul has

spoken already of Christians being free.

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Because in chapter 6, he has spoken

about how Jesus sets us free from sin.

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The whole reason why

Jesus came was to do that.

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To deliver us from that

bondage that sin holds us in.

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This is not that we won't ever sin

again, of course we're going to sin

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again, but what Christ came to do was

to free us from the penalty of sin.

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In other words, that the consequence

of sin is no longer ours because

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it's been paid for by Christ.

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Yes, we will still be influenced by it

and indeed we may still fall into sin.

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But the eternal damnation of sin is

not ours because of Jesus Christ.

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And so in chapter 8 Paul begins again

speaking of freedom and in verse 2

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he tells us for the law of the spirit

of life has set you free in Christ

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Jesus from the law of sin and death.

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And so we're now introduced

to something new here.

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The law of the spirit of life and we're

going to come back to that in a moment

80

because the heart of this verse is

the freedom it begins with from that

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freedom from the law of sin and death.

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And this all follows hot on the heels

of verse one, which is that wonderful

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refrain that we sung at the beginning

of our service in our opening hymn.

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There is therefore now no condemnation.

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For those who are in Christ

Jesus, we sung those words.

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No condemnation, now I dread.

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Jesus, or fear, Jesus is mine.

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That's what Paul is getting at.

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That's what Wesley wrote

and why he wrote it.

90

In that hymn.

91

So that we would know

what this means for us.

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And this is this turning

point, a great moment of,

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of really letting out what has been

building up in us to know that we

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don't have the burden of the law.

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We have Jesus.

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And because of that, then we fear no

condemnation because we are in him.

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This is such a beautiful truth.

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It's such a beautiful heart of the gospel.

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Because in our salvation, we

have something wonderful that

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we call union with Christ.

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This means we are in him and he in us.

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So we are no longer condemned

for our sin because he has

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taken the punishment we deserve.

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And he has proved his authority

over death and the grave so that no

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one can condemn him again either.

106

You see, it was okay for Christ to die.

107

But all the fingers would

continue to point at him to say

108

that he died the sinner's death.

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What needed to happen was the resurrection

to prove his authority over it all so

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that no one could point the finger.

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He proved that not only could he bear

the weight of sin, but he proved that

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he could face the ultimate penalty

of sin, death, by rising again.

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This is what Jesus has done.

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This is what union with Christ means.

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That not only do we die in a way to

our sin as he died, But that we will

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rise again because he rose again and

we'll think of that later this evening.

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But it's all about this idea of freedom.

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And I don't know if you've ever been

in the presence of someone who was once

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incarcerated and then won their freedom.

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Even within days, weeks or a year of that.

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I haven't.

122

Certainly that I'm aware of.

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But I do recall this

very day 34 years ago.

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It was a Sunday, and I remember

going home after church and

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sitting at the lunch table.

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Unusually for us, the television

was on and my dad, mum and

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grandparents were focused on events

at the opposite end of the world.

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I didn't know it at the time, but I

was witnessing live on TV the event

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that would change South Africa.

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It was on that day, 34 years

ago, that Nelson Mandela was

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being released from prison.

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No one had seen this man in 28 years.

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And the cameras were darting across the

Assemble, people trying to figure out who

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he was to try and be the first one to get

the shot of this anti apartheid leader.

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He looked old, but he was strong.

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On Robben Island, for the

years that he was there.

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When he was chipping away with a pick

at the white stone, his eyes blinded.

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He was a man who was weak in many ways,

yet came out strong in his freedom.

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And that evening he had been brought to

Cape Town, and the man who had been locked

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away was now standing at a window in a

government building, speaking about his

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freedom and the freedom for that nation.

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He was no longer held for

crimes that he was charged with.

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His freedom meant that he was truly

free and faced no condemnation

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because indeed he received a

pardon for each and every one.

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This is the closest that I have

ever seen to the sense of freedom.

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That there is great delight and great joy.

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Not because someone thinks they've

got away with it, but because they

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know what it means to be free,

having spent time locked in a cell.

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This was simply one man, 34 years ago.

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So how much more for God's people today

should we celebrate and rejoice freedom?

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When in Christ we are free

and no one can condemn us.

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Oh, Satan will try, and he

does try, but he cannot succeed

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because Jesus has paid it all.

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And Romans 8 outlines for us in

verses 3 to 11 the difference

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between freedom in the Spirit of God

and the constraints of the flesh.

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So going back to this term in verse

2, the law of the Spirit of life.

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is not the law as given to Moses.

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The law of the spirit of life is not to be

viewed as a means of self justification.

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This law is of grace.

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God's law is given by the spirit and

results in life, that is, eternal life.

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So Paul wants to affirm what is

a major positive outcome in this.

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He reminds us again in verse 5 of what

he said in the second half of chapter 7.

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For those who live according to the

flesh set their minds on the things

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of the flesh, but those who live

according to the spirit set their

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minds on the things of the spirit.

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It turns out that we

are to be single minded.

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We are to have our minds on

either the flesh or the things

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of the spirit, but not both.

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And James agrees with this in

James chapter 1 and verse 8 when

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he describes the one who is mixed

minded by saying he is a double

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minded man, unstable in all his ways.

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We are to have our minds set on

the things of the spirit because

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there are consequences if we don't.

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And Paul outlines these consequences

for us in verses 6 to 8.

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Where he says, For to set the mind

on the flesh is death, but to set the

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mind on the spirit is life and peace.

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For the mind that is set on the

flesh is hostile to God, for it

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does not submit to God's law.

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Indeed, it cannot.

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Those who are in the

flesh cannot please God.

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Do you see the problem here?

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You can't have your feet in both camps.

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You can't have one part of you

in the flesh and one part of

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you in the life of the spirit.

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You're either fully for God,

or you're fully for the world.

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There is no middle ground.

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And perhaps to help us see this a little

bit more, this is what verses 68 tell us.

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When we have our minds set on

the flesh, well it means death.

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Not just physical death,

but eternal death.

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Our minds set on the flesh, on the

pleasures of this world, means hostility,

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that we will be hostile towards God.

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And if our minds are on the flesh,

it means we cannot submit to God.

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And it means we cannot please God.

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But if we have the mind set on

the Spirit, then we have life,

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and we have it in abundance.

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Life better than ever you could imagine.

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Because it's life both now and for

eternity, but there's also peace.

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We've talked a lot about this over

recent months, what peace means for us.

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But only a mind set on the

Spirit will give us true peace.

200

It means we can go to bed at night and

wake up in the morning not worrying.

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Because we leave it all with the

Lord, He grants us a peace that

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transcends all understanding.

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It also means that when we have

our mind set on the Spirit, there's

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a willingness to submit to God.

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That we're willing to

recognize His authority.

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His ruling over our life as

our creator and as our maker.

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But when we have our mind set

on the Spirit, it also means

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we will live to please God.

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We will want to live his way.

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And this is what Paul has been

trying to tell us about the law.

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The law has a purpose.

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The law is good because the law

tells us how to live well for God.

213

But it doesn't tell us or by, by living

it out, we cannot save ourselves.

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I hope this, these two

columns are helpful for us

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because at times we do need

to see it in black and white.

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We do need to see this compare and

contrast because we are one or the other.

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We're not both.

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You can't be.

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Your mind is either, either set on the

flesh or your mind is set on the spirit.

220

If you think you can play

both teams, you're wrong.

221

Because you will have hostility to God

and you will be completely against Him.

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And in our minds we might be weighing

up, is a mind set on the spirit worth it?

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We think that a mindset on

the flesh allows for more fun,

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that allows for more freedom.

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Nothing could be further than the truth.

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It is only when we trust Jesus and

have our mind set on Him that we

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have true freedom and true life.

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Which is it for you?

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Are you fully for God?

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If you're not, then you lose

so much because you will

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then be fully against Him.

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I urge you this evening, don't

be double minded about this.

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Don't think you can play God

at this game because you can't.

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Know Christ as your Savior so that you

can know the blessings of salvation.

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And there's that list

again if we put it back up.

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What are the blessings?

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Well, it's life, it's peace, it's

understanding who we submit to.

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But it also means that

we live to please God.

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That's the blessing of salvation, as

Paul gives it here in these three verses.

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This is what it means to live for him.

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But Paul moves on, and so do we,

to verse 9, to share more, uh,

242

that can be added to our lesson.

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He begins with an important statement.

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He says, You, however, are not in

the flesh, but in the Spirit, if in

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fact the Spirit of God dwells in you.

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Anyone who does not have the Spirit

of Christ does not belong to him.

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You see, there is a change when we

know and we come to know Christ.

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We are not like we used to be

because a change happens within.

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The Spirit dwells within us and

takes us to what I mentioned earlier.

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Union with Christ.

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One of the privileges of serving as your

minister is to officiate at weddings.

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Weddings are not an excuse for a good

day out, or as I used to joke with my

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grandmother, an excuse to buy another hat.

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They are more serious because what they

do before God and before the assembled

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congregation The man and the woman

become one, they form a union together.

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This isn't just, in a Christian

marriage, a physical union,

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but it's a spiritual union.

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And the marriage union, and that's

why we call it a union, is so

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that actually the two become one.

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They become more like each other,

rather than being two individuals

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who happen to live together.

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That, that's What is so

significant about marriage?

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Well, union with Christ is central

and essential to the Christian faith.

264

Unless sinners are united to Jesus,

they remain unable to receive

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any spiritual blessing from God.

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As we read in Ephesians 1 verse 3,

Blessed be the God and Father of our

267

Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed

us in Christ with every spiritual

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blessing in the heavenly places.

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So union with Christ, as it is

central and essential for the

270

faith, can only happen when we know

the blessing of Christ within us.

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That means we must know him.

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We must know that we are sinners

who need to repent, so that we can

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receive every spiritual blessing.

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R.

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C.

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Sproul continues to explain it like this.

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By union with Christ, God confers

on the elect all the saving

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benefits Christ merited by his life.

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Death and resurrection.

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Union with Christ occurs in

the application of Redemption.

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Union with Christ is something

that the Holy Spirit does.

282

The Holy Spirit moves us closer to

Christ so that we may be united with him.

283

The Holy Spirit by whom Christ

offered himself without spot or

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blemish to God regenerates believers

when he unites us with Christ.

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By this, what is a vital spiritual

union, just as vital as the marriage

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union is, God brings believers from

spiritual death to spiritual life, as

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we saw in Romans chapter 5 verse 6.

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Before this act of union, believers

remain outside Christ and are

289

dead in sin and trespasses like

the rest of fallen humanity.

290

And it's verse 10 that helpfully

summarizes the form, uh, the form that

291

that life in the spirit of Christ takes.

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Because verse 10 tells us that Christ

is in you, meaning believers have faith

293

in Christ like Abraham had faith in God.

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And therefore Christ is real in our

lives and unites us with others in

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the church as well as with himself.

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Christian fellowship is not just shared

religious individuality, though faith

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is intensely per, uh, personal, but

it's also a common identity generated by

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Christ's lordship and our union with him

and his headship as he shapes us into

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a unity with him and with each other.

300

You see, this is what it

means to be transformed.

301

It means that in Christ we are union

with him, and union with each other.

302

We have fellowship with the other,

and the purpose for all of this

303

is revealed to us in verse 11.

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Because we are to be

made ready for eternity.

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This is ultimately where

the journey of faith leads.

306

When we have the Spirit in us, through

faith in Jesus Christ, then we too,

307

like Christ, and again, because of our

union with him, we too will be raised.

308

Our mortal bodies that are born

in sin and shaped by it will not

309

dictate our eternal destination.

310

It is life in the Spirit that

will take us home because it is

311

the safe Spirit, the same Spirit

that raised Christ from the dead.

312

And isn't that a wonderful truth

to behold and to hold on to?

313

Because this is the hope that we have.

314

It's not ill founded.

315

It is our assurance.

316

As Paul tells us in first Corinthians

15, verses 20 to 23, but in fact

317

Christ has been raised from the dead.

318

The first fruits of those who

have fallen asleep for us by a

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man came death by a man has come.

320

Also the resurrection of the dead.

321

For as in Adam all die, so Christ, so

also in Christ shall all be made alive.

322

But each in his own order, Christ

the firstfruits, then at his

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coming those who belong to him.

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This is wonderful assurance that talks

about Christ's authority over death,

325

so that we need not fear the grave.

326

Because in union with him

as he rose, so will we.

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But we're not there yet.

328

Our resurrection will come in due course.

329

And so in verses 12 to 17, Paul

directs about how we are to live now.

330

And in verse 12, he says

that we are debtors.

331

Paul, however, unhelpfully doesn't

specify how we are debtors or what

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debt, or what our debt might be.

333

But we owe nothing to the flesh.

334

That's what he tells us.

335

Because for Paul, the flesh

represents sin globally.

336

So that the deeds of the flesh include

hatred and envy as well as drunkenness.

337

But it's actually his writings in

Galatians chapter 5 and verse 3 that

338

help us understand what this debt is.

339

Because in that passage Paul

reminds us that to approach God

340

on the basis of obedience to the

law alone means to be a debtor, to

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keeping the whole law perfectly.

342

Because of Christ's resurrection,

Christians are not mired in this

343

hopeless predicament, which would doom

them to live according to the flesh.

344

As Paul has said again and

again and stressed, the flesh

345

is no match for sin or the law.

346

But in fact combines with them to

assure defeat and condemnation for all

347

who pursue that route by completely

disregarding the gospel and its truth.

348

So those in Christ, as

Philippians 3, verse 3 says,

349

put no confidence in the flesh.

350

And verse 13 explains why.

351

Because for if you live according

to the flesh, you will die.

352

But if by the Spirit you put to death

the deeds of the body, you will live.

353

And once again we are confronted with

the stark reality of life and death.

354

The way of the flesh can never lead to

life but the spirit leads to life in a

355

position that is of not of our own making.

356

I've told you in the past of my

circumstances of being a McCullough.

357

I wasn't born a McCullough.

358

I don't know to whom I was born, but the

McCullough family took me as their own.

359

They gave me their name and

without any form of distinction

360

treated me as a birth son.

361

This is what it means to

know the truth of the Gospel.

362

To live according to the Spirit.

363

Because Paul in verses 14 to 15

tells us about this wonderful thing

364

that union with Christ includes,

which is adoption into a family.

365

Something that I have

known and indeed I cherish.

366

You see, it is through the Spirit of God

that we are adopted into the family of

367

God so that we can call God our Father.

368

And it's wonderful there that Paul

says those words, Abba Father.

369

The most personal, special, and loving

words that we can ever say of God.

370

And the evidence is, that we're part of

this family, that we live by the spirit,

371

so that we live as the children of God.

372

And this leads us back to verse 11,

as this section concludes with our

373

inheritance, an inheritance that

Peter tells us will never perish,

374

will never spoil, and will never fade

because it's kept in heaven for us.

375

But notice how verse 17 finishes.

376

And if children, then heirs, heirs

of God and fellow heirs with Christ,

377

provided we suffer with him in order

that we may also be glorified with him.

378

So perhaps as we finish off this

passage, there's a little bit of

379

something that doesn't sit well with us.

380

Because Paul knows himself, he's now

an elderly man writing this letter,

381

that we will suffer for the name

that we have if we are Christians.

382

Christians will be persecuted because

the world is naturally against

383

the things of the Kingdom of God.

384

But the suffering is worth it because

this is what Jesus taught in Matthew 5

385

and verse 10 in the Sermon on the Mount.

386

Blessed are those who are persecuted

for righteousness sake, for

387

theirs is the Kingdom of Heaven.

388

See what these first 17 verses are

doing, are pointing us to that kingdom.

389

We have no condemnation,

that's how he began.

390

We do not fear the evil one accusing us.

391

Because Jesus has done it all.

392

He's the one who was born so

that we can walk out free.

393

And declare freedom.

394

But as we do, we must be mindful

that we have to live in the spirit.

395

Freedom in Christ means we live his way.

396

We can't have a foot in the flesh.

397

We can't.

398

We simply can't.

399

Because if we do, then

there's truly no hope.

400

It is only in Christ that we

can know that sure and certain

401

hope of heaven and that kingdom.

402

that has been made ready for us.

403

And this is how we finish tonight.

404

Living life in the Spirit is blessed.

405

It brings us union with Christ and

adoption into the family of God.

406

This life in the Spirit assures us

of a kingdom that is ours, even when

407

we face the hardest moments in life.

408

Why would you want anything else?

409

Let me ask you, are you adopted

into the family of God tonight?

410

Can you cry out, Abba, Father?

411

Do you know the blessings of salvation?

412

Life eternal?

413

Peace?

414

Knowing to whom is over authority over us?

415

Is that who you are, adopted,

taking on the name of God?

416

Do you know this for certain tonight?

417

Because there is so much

blessing in this family.

418

And so I ask you, will you

know its peace and its unity as

419

you live in the spirit of God?

420

Will you live by that spirit

and be attentive to that spirit?

421

Will you allow God to work in your life

in ways that you can't even imagine?

422

Because it is truly for our good.

423

And for his great glory.

424

There's a series of cassettes, for

those of you who remember what cassettes

425

are, in our house called Kids Praise.

426

And one of the Kids Praise

songs I remember is entitled

427

Welcome to the Family.

428

And a church that I used to attend in

England, they used to sing this regularly

429

whenever new members would come.

430

Welcome to the family, we're glad that

you have come to share your life with us.

431

I've often wondered about

should we sing it here.

432

I don't know.

433

Jury's out.

434

Might be too twee, but

the sentiment is the same.

435

The sentiment is whenever we come in

union with Christ, to live with Him,

436

we are truly welcomed in the family.

437

Not just an eternal family, but

a family that is living here

438

and now within these very walls.

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This is a family you are welcome to.

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This is a family that needs each other.

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And by the grace of God, this is

a family that will know peace.

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And we'll know unity.

443

May Christ be each of ours this

night as we seek him, as we serve

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him, and as we love him more.

445

Let's pray.

446

Our Father God, we thank you for the

heart of the gospel that calls us to be

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your own, to be adopted into your family.

448

So may we live as people who are.

449

In our heart of hearts, may we

answer these questions honestly and

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deeply so that we can be right with

you and live well as your family.

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Father, heaven is there, heaven

is ours, but until you take

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us home, we live together.

453

So may we know our union with

Christ overflowing into union

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with each other, that unity of

spirit and purpose and worship.

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So, Father, may we respond

well to your word this evening.

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In Jesus name.

457

Amen.