The Spirit’s Ministry to Believers

Transcript

GRM 1128
9/28/14
The Spirit's Ministry to Believers
Romans 8:1-14
Gil Rugh

I would like to look with you back in Romans 8. We talked about the doctrine of sanctification when we looked at Romans 6, and I want to pursue that theme a little more with you today, don't want to leave it hanging. We noted the book of Romans is an unfolding of the Gospel that God has provided in Jesus Christ. Romans 1:16 tells us “it is the Gospel that is God's power for salvation to everyone who believes.” It's in this Gospel that the righteousness of God is revealed and it is provided for us by faith in Christ and His finished work. The book of Romans unfolds the wonder and beauty of the good news concerning salvation in the finished work of Jesus Christ. He started out by emphasizing and unfolding the reality of our sin. There is no salvation until we come face to face with the reality that we are sinners. All have sinned, there is none righteous, there is none who does good, we have all turned aside, we are all guilty, we are all under condemnation. But then in Christ, God has provided righteousness, the righteousness of God can be credited to us.

So beginning in Romans 3:21 through Romans 5:21 he talked about righteousness by faith in Christ, by Christ's death on the cross He stood in our place and paid our penalty so that the demands of God's righteousness would be satisfied, the penalty would be paid and we could be declared absolved from all guilt, credited with the righteousness of Christ.

Then when you come to Romans 6 he talks about the new life we have in Christ. Salvation is a package, it includes justification by which we are declared righteous by a holy God; it includes what we call sanctification, which the emphasis we're looking at in Romans is on the fact we now live lives set apart for God, we are saints, we are holy ones. Sanctify, saint, holy, all come from the same basic Greek word—to be set apart. We are those set apart from sin to God for Himself, how we now are to live, and the enabling power that God provides for us as His children to live lives pleasing to Him. And then the final step is glorification, when these physical bodies will be transformed, glorified, prepared for the glory of God's presence for eternity. That is all part of salvation, it is all ours in Christ. You don't get one piece and not another. When you enter into the salvation God has provided in Christ, that includes justification, sanctification and glorification. Obviously we haven't received glorification. If you were standing here looking at all of us, you would realize glorification hasn't occurred. I realize the screen just magnifies that mine hasn't occurred yet, either. That is yet future. But it is as good as done, it is settled. The God who cannot lie has promised that someday everyone who has placed his faith in Christ will experience the power of God in transforming these physical bodies to be like the body that Christ had when He was raised from the dead, a body of glory, a body fit and suited to dwell in the glory of God's presence forever.

What we want to talk about is how we are to live our lives today as those who have been justified, anticipating the time when we will be glorified—the doctrine of sanctification. We looked at Romans 6, just overviewed that chapter. The key word in Romans 6 is death. It appears some 17 times. It talks about sin, the result of sin is death and the provision of God to identify us with Christ spiritually in His death, burial and resurrection to new life. In Romans 7 the key word is the law, the word appears, I believe, 18 times in just that chapter. He'll talk about why the Mosaic Law, the commands of that Law which were good and perfect and right couldn't help us because we had no power to obey. Then in Romans 8 the key word is life, just the contrast of Romans 6 where the key word was death. Here the key word is life.

And Romans 8 is where we are going to focus, and it is so crucial because it brings into the picture the awesome work of the Holy Spirit in enabling and empowering us to live lives as those redeemed by the grace of God and now enabled to obey Him, submit to Him, and live lives honoring to Him. You'll note Romans 8 begins, “Therefore there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus.” Now the real connection to this is back in Romans 7:6, “But now we have been released from the Law,” talking about the Mosaic Law, its requirements, “having died to that by which we were bound so that we serve in newness of the Spirit and not in oldness of the letter.” The letter refers to the Law. Remember the Ten Commandments inscribed in stone, summarizing the 613 commandments, if you will, of the Mosaic Law. So you talk about the letters. We serve in the newness of the Spirit, the Spirit has made us new in Christ. Remember back in Romans 6 if you were here, we died with Christ, we were buried with Christ, we were raised with Christ to new life. So we serve now in that new life we have produced by the Spirit of God when we place our faith in Christ, not in oldness of the letter. Then you could jump right over to Romans 8:1, “Therefore there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus, for the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus.” So that Spirit of life who has given us new life, picks up what he was talking about in verse 6.

Romans 7:7-25 are important but they are an elaboration of what he talked about in the first six verses of Romans 7 on the place of the Law and the failure of the Law. Not because of something wrong in the Law, but because an inability in us to keep the Law. But the flow of thought goes from Romans 7:6 to Romans 8:1. Romans 7:7-25 don't move us along, it pauses to further clarify and elaborate on what we need to understand about the Mosaic Law. It could not enable us. The Law commanded, the Law demanded, the Law required, but the Law did not enable. And so bound and enslaved to sin, men could not keep the Law. But the Spirit of God in light of the finished work of Christ has brought salvation.

So Romans 8:1 where we are going to pick up, “There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus.” That word condemnation includes all that is involved in the condemnation of sinners. Used two other times—back in Romans 5, it is used both these times, the only other uses we have of this particular word. In Romans 5:16, “the gift is not like that which came through the one who sinned, for on the one hand the judgment arose from one transgression, resulting in condemnation.” There is our word. As a result of the sin of Adam to the passing on of that sin to every subsequent descendant of Adam, you are born in sin. We are born under condemnation. Down in Romans 5:18, “So then as through one transgression there resulted condemnation to all men.” That word condemnation includes all that was the result of sin, the wrath of God, our condemnation for sin.

When you come back to Romans 8:1, “There is no condemnation.” And the emphatic emphasis in this verse is on that word no—absolutely no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. That's important. John 3:36 tells us, “he that has the Son has life, he that does not have the Son shall not see life, but the wrath of God abides on him.” God's condemnation. Crucial. We see here the division we're talking about is between those who are saved and those who are not; those who are in Christ Jesus and those who are not in Christ Jesus. There is absolutely no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus, there is nothing but condemnation for those who are not in Christ Jesus.

So that's the two individuals we are talking about, the two groups of people we are talking about in Romans 8. We want to be careful as we move through this. We are not talking about two different kinds of Christians, we're talking about those who are not Christians and those who are. “There is no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus.” It has been clear when we come through up to this point in Romans, those who have placed their faith in Christ experiencing His cleansing power are in Him, have become the participants, the beneficiaries of His death on the cross and the salvation it provided.

“For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus has set you free from the Law of sin and death.” The law here refers to that power and authority exercised in the life. The law of the Spirit of life in Christ, that power, that authority that brought new life to those who placed their faith in Christ and became identified with Him in His saving work. “Has set you free from the Law of sin and death.” We are no longer under the power of sin, its control, its authority. We saw that back in Romans 6, that we died with Christ so that our body that is controlled by sin might be done away with, the authority of sin over us might be broken; its power in controlling us might be brought to an end. We have been set free from the Law of sin and death. We have been made alive in Christ. We were dead in our trespasses and sins, separated from God, the enemies of God, as we'll see, doomed to eternal condemnation. But a marvelous transformation occurs. The Gospel is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes. And the Spirit of God brought about that transformation that brought us life in Christ Jesus.

Verse 3 says, “for,” and you'll note these prepositions that begin. You have the statement in verse 1, “therefore there is no condemnation to those who are in Christ;” for verse 2, then for begins verse 3. “What the Law could not do, weak as it was through the flesh, God did.” See, there is the problem with the Law. People think they are going to be saved if they try to keep the Ten Commandments. You never could keep the Law, no one ever could. We were sinners enslaved to sin. Well, I try my best. The best is not good enough, my best is not good enough. We could not, we were enslaved to sin. That's why the book of Romans in talking about the Gospel and the good news of God's salvation starts out by declaring the fact that we are sinners, we are all unrighteous before God, we are not pleasing to Him. We have no power. The Mosaic Law was good, it was God's law. He said, you shall be holy for I am holy; and you shall live righteous lives and do this and do that. Great, except I couldn't do it. It's like a person who is totally paralyzed. You say, get up and take a walk, it's good for you, it's good for your health. The problem is they have no power to do it. God's Law was great, the weakness was in us.

“The Law could not do weak as it was through the flesh,” referring to our physical bodies, Apart from the work of the Spirit we were enslaved to sin. God did what we couldn't do, He sent His Son in the likeness of sinful flesh. He was truly human but He wasn't sinful. Every other human being ever born was born a sinner. As the psalmist said, “in sin did my mother conceive me.” Not that the conception was sin, but at conception the corruption of sin was passed on and we were born in sin.

But Christ was born in the likeness of sinful flesh, truly human but not sinful. And He was born to be a sacrifice for our sins. We studied the book of Hebrews which emphasized this, and Hebrews 2 tells us that He took to Himself humanity so He could be the Redeemer of mankind. He didn't take to Himself the nature of angels because He was not providing redemption for angels who sinned, He was going to provide redemption for human beings.

“He condemned sin in the flesh,” He exercised judgment on sin, He paid the penalty for sin by stepping in our place. As Peter wrote, “He Himself bore our sins in His body on the cross that we might die to sin and live to righteousness.” God's provision was the enablement for us to escape the penalty for sin and experience His righteousness.

So verse 4 says, “This was done so that the requirement of the Law might be fulfilled in us. What was the requirement of the Law? You shall be holy for I am holy, that we be righteous. Christ died so that we could meet the demands of a holy God. How? By trying our best, by trying to keep the Ten Commandments. No. You are not paying attention if that's what you are thinking. The Gospel starts out in the first three chapters of Romans telling us we are sinful. All have sinned, there is none righteous. You cannot enter into God's salvation if you don't agree with God, if you continue to reject what God says. That's the point.

So the requirement of the Law was fulfilled in us. Why? By Christ the righteous One taking my place, paying the penalty of sin. “The wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus,” we saw that in Romans 6:23. “So that the requirement of the Law might be fulfilled in us.” Now note this, it doesn't just say, in us who believe in Christ. That would be true, but remember we are talking about the doctrine of salvation which deals with how we live. So he puts the emphasis on the pattern and walk of our life. So he talks about those who walk or do not walk, “they do not walk according to the flesh but they do walk according to the Spirit.” It is those who have placed their faith in Christ, but those who truly have placed their faith in Christ live a different life, they live their lives differently, they walk. And that's the normal word to describe the pattern of conduct that would characterize a person. It is one step after another. So we walk. We use it today, we talk about walking through this life. It's just the daily pattern of moving through life. That's what he is talking about here, the pattern of our life, the characteristic of our life. We don't walk according to the flesh, we walk according to the Spirit. Now if that's not the pattern of your life, the requirement of God's holiness has not been made. You are not saved by living your life a certain way, you are saved by faith in Christ. Period. But if you've truly placed your faith in Christ and experienced the power of God's salvation, that will change your life. You will live differently, because God's salvation is a package, remember. It includes justification, sanctification and glorification.

So we walk. That does not mean a Christian never sins, but it does mean the pattern of a Christian's life is different, and when he does sin it is a blot, it is out of character, so to speak. It's not the pattern of his life. “Do not walk according to the flesh but according to the Spirit,” Galatians 5 where he talks about the works of the flesh and the fruit of the Spirit. The works of the flesh characterize the person who has not experienced God's salvation; the fruit of the Spirit characterizes the life of a person who has experienced God's salvation.

Some to verse 5, we pick up with a “for.” He is going to elaborate here on that walk we've been talking about. “For those who are according to the flesh set their minds on the things of the flesh.” We talked about it in our study of Romans 6, this includes our mind because our mind makes the decisions for our body. So those who are according to the flesh, walking according to the flesh, picking up the theme of verse 4. Those who are according to the flesh, walking according to the flesh, living according to the flesh, living in the realm of sin, this body without the redeeming power of the Spirit of God involved, what 1 Corinthians 2 calls the natural man, the soulish man, the man who does not have the Spirit of God. And man devoid of the Spirit so he is walking according to the desires of a fallen person.

“Those who are according to the flesh set their mind on the things of the flesh.” So their lives manifest the pattern of sin because that's what they think about, that's what they desire, that's what they long for, lust for. So that shapes their conduct. “Those who are according to the flesh set their mind on the things of the flesh, those who are according to the Spirit the things of the Spirit.” There are just two kinds of people, fleshly minded and Spirit minded, those who walk according to their sinful desires and those who walk according to the power and motivation of the Spirit of God. We're not talking about two kinds of Christians. Much has been written and preached on this passage, talk about carnal Christians, carnal being the word for flesh, as though you can be a Christian but just living your life fleshly. There is no provision for that in this chapter. You are either in Christ or you are not. There are only two kinds of people—those who set their minds on the things of the flesh and those who set their minds on the things of the Spirit.

Come over to Colossians 3, there are other passages but we'll just take this one to show the parallel. Verse 1, “Therefore if you have been raised up with Christ.” Remember you died with Christ, you are buried with Christ, you are raised with Christ to newness of life. That was Romans 6. If that has happened to you, “keep seeking the things above where Christ is seated at the right hand of God.” Your desire now is to please God, honor heaven, if you will. Set your mind on things above, not on things that are on the earth. We have a responsibility here but God has transformed us by the power of the Spirit within, so He transforms our mind, He gives us new desires. That's what he is talking about. “Set your mind on things above not on things of the earth.” Why? “You have died, your life is hidden with Christ in God. When Christ who is our life is revealed, you will be revealed with Him. Therefore consider the members of your earthly body as dead to all kinds of sinful activities.” And that's why the wrath of God will come on the sons of disobedience. The sons of disobedience are those who have not experienced God's salvation. It's like they have disobedience as their father, characterizes their life.

Verse 7, “In them you once walked when you were living in them.” But now we've been changed so we don't do those old things anymore. I'm not enslaved and controlled by sin, the lost impassions of a fallen mind. I've been made new in Christ and now I am to live accordingly. You see I have a responsibility with my will to live as God would have me live. And He provides the enabling power to do it.

Come back to Romans 8. You'll note the contrast again, verse 6, “the mind set on the flesh is death.” That's it. The mind absorbs so it has to do with where our mind is, what we think about. We are transformed by the making new of our mind. God's work of salvation is complete, He gives me a new mind with new desires, the new focus and the decisions we make with our mind control what we do with our body. So there is a whole new focus of life. “The mind set on the flesh is death, the mind set on the Spirit is life and peace.” We started out talking about peace and peace with God and the peace of God. And we talked about Philippians 4, “the peace of God which passes all understanding shall stand guard at your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus.”

Back up to John 16. This is great encouragement to us as believers. Tragedy comes when believers begin to absorb the thinking of the world and we get a corruption because we begin to try to handle life by a mixture of the thinking and pattern of the world and verses from Scripture. And we nullify the effect of Scripture. Look at John 16:33, Jesus speaking, “These things I have spoken to you so that in Me you may have peace. In the world you have tribulation, take courage, I have overcome the world.” Romans 5:1 says that we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ. And when we have peace with God the peace of God becomes a characteristic of our lives. That's one of the fruit of the Spirit—love, joy, peace. Now look, he doesn't say he'll keep us from being in tribulation, trials. “In the world you have tribulation, in Me you have peace,” because He has overcome the world. So the Spirit of God at work in our lives is a spirit that brings life and peace. We have to be careful. Christians get confused here and you go to them, and even churches have counseling to help you get through this. You go to a Christian physician, he may think you need some pills or you need to go to a counselor. Wait a minute, what's the pattern here? Where do we go for peace? You have to have life in Christ. We begin to try to deal with the trials and tribulations of the world, like the world and then we wonder what is wrong. I know I've trusted Christ, I want to live but somehow . . . Well, when I don't function biblically, I created difficulty within myself and pretty soon I am not functioning as I should because I'm not doing what the Word says. Handle it biblically. Doesn't mean it will be easy. In the world you have tribulations. He didn't say, in the world you won't have tribulations; he said in the world you will have tribulations, trials of all kinds. “Be of good cheer, I have overcome the world. In Me you have peace.” Something is wrong when you can't tell any difference between those who profess to be Christians and the unbeliever. We are trying to solve our problems the same way. Trials, tribulations, I can't handle it. Give me a pill, I need a counselor. We come to Christ, but even Christians can get thrown into turmoil when we don't function biblically. That's why we're talking about this again, that's why the Spirit of God put this here. It's not just automatic, if the Spirit of God dwells in me, it will just all come together. Then we wouldn't have to do anything, I wouldn't have to have Romans 8. It would just be happening. I have a responsibility with the will I have, even the new mind I have in Christ, I have to exercise it as God says, focus on things above, not on things on earth.

“The mind set on the flesh is death, the mind set on the Spirit is life and peace.” Some of you asked me, how do you decide, is there something you are doing here? Well, these things just tie together for me. When I start in Philippians 4 and talk about peace, that reminds me of Romans 6, and that new life reminds me of Romans 8 and the power for that new life, that's the Holy Spirit. I am concerned that the whole doctrine of sanctification which is how believers are to live their lives, their new life in Christ has just been abandoned by the church. And so we begin to look more and more like the world and we have almost the same problems as the world and we handle them the same way as the world. The exciting thing to me is that I have something the world doesn't have. The world has tribulations and no peace, I have tribulations but I have peace because my Savior has overcome the world and He has done for me what no one else can do.

So going on in Romans 8. Verse 7 is a very important verse. They are all important but this put things in perspective. The mind set on the flesh is hostile toward God. There are only two kinds of people in the world—those who are in Christ as a result of placing their faith in the salvation He has provided in His death on the cross and His resurrection, and those who have not. “Now the mind set on the flesh is hostile toward God.” Understand that. There is active enmity, there is a war going on. The person who has not come to salvation in Christ is at war with God, he is hostile toward God, there is active enmity. Furthermore he says, “that mind does not subject itself to the law of God, it is not even able,” a word we translated not able, a word for power. It has no power. We get words like dynamic, dynamo, dynamite from this basic word. It is not able, it has no power. You see the world is in active hostility toward God, it has no desire to submit itself to God.

Back up to Romans 1 where we started this message of the Gospel. Verse 18, “the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men who suppress the truth in unrighteousness.” In fact he goes on to say, “they know there is an eternal God, the creation declares it.” So the end of verse 20 is “they are without excuse.” You understand where fallen man is, he is not in ignorance in the ultimate sense. He is unwilling. Why is there such hostility toward telling anybody what the Bible says? You can go down to the university we have here and say any ungodly, unholy, unrighteous thing you want and that's fine. Go down there and try to tell them what the Bible says and you will soon be ushered out. Why? There is no room for it. You understand there is a hostility toward the truth, a desire to suppress that truth, they don't want to hear it, they don't want to proclaim it. We see what's happening to the world. We know what's happening to the world. The Bible tells me the whole world lies in the evil one, the Bible says unbelievers are hostile toward God, they are at war with God, they want to suppress the truth. They don't want it to be known, they don't want to hear it. _________________ what's going on. We better vote for the right people. I'm not saying you shouldn't vote for who you think the right people are, but don't give the idea that's the solution to the problems here. Don't be shocked and surprised when unbelievers function like unbelievers. The unregenerate mind focuses on the things of the flesh and all that is in the world is the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes and the boastful pride of life, 1 John tells us. We begin to deny the Gospel by the things we say and imply.

We had a movement among evangelical Christians back in the '80s called the Moral Majority. What kind of goofy theology is that? Coming from Christians, the Moral Majority. If you're going to be biblical, you talk about the immoral majority. I mean, the whole world lies in the evil one. Where did you get the idea that most people are moral at heart? Most people are not. You weren't either. You were a child of wrath just like the rest, and so was I. It is the redeeming grace of God that transformed us. Somewhere along the line the fog begins to come in and Christians begin to think, I never was that bad, I was never like that, I don't know what the world is doing. The world is ripening for judgment. Give sinners the opportunity to manifest their sin, turn them loose and they are on it. And don't be deceived, even when it is not as openly displayed, it is there in their hearts and minds. And they are suppressing the truth.

Come back to Romans 8. “It is not able.” That's why I don't want to be part of moral reformation movements—trying to clean up our city, trying to clean up our society, trying to hold back the tide of wickedness. God didn't sent us out to turn the darkness of the world to grayness. The Jews were just as lost as the pagan Romans but humanly speaking they were much more moral, but they were no less sinful. So all of that is just an exercise in futility. Looks like we're doing something good, and if all Christians would get together we could turn back the tide, we could change . . . That's the Gospel? That's just the church rolling over to become just another religious institution in the world. But the world says, that's what the church ought to be. Doesn't your church do good things? Don't they help the poor? Don't they do this? Don't they do that? We are doing the one thing God has called us to do—to tell the world the wonder of the Gospel of Jesus Christ that will change a heart and mind. When the heart and mind is changed, then the life is changed. That's the point.

Verse 8, do you have it highlighted, underlined, starred, circled? “Those who are in the flesh cannot please God.” Is that clear? Do you know who he is talking about, who are in the flesh? Everyone who is not in Christ, everyone who has not heard the truth of the Gospel of our wretched sinfulness, our hopeless lostness and turned from their sin and placed their faith in Christ, the One who loved them and died for them, was raised from the dead in victory, and their trust is in Him alone for their salvation. Everybody else is in the flesh. They cannot please God.

So Proverbs 28:9 says, “He who turns his ear away from hearing the Word of God, even his prayer is an abomination to God.” We have people who claim to be evangelical Christians thinking we join together with peoples of other religions, whether it is Catholics, Mormons, whoever because we agree on moral issues—the sanctity of marriage, the wretchedness of abortion. These are issues too important to divide over theological differences. That is the doctrine of the devil, that is doctrine of demons. That's not biblical truth.

Those who are in the flesh cannot please God. That means when they are walking in an anti-abortion rally, that's not pleasing to God. That means when they are standing for the sanctity of marriage, that's not pleasing to God. Do you believe what the Bible says or not? Those who are in the flesh cannot please God. It's either true or it is not. Somehow we claim to be Bible believing Christians and we just put our theology on the shelf and think here is something important—the moral issues facing us today as a country are too important to let doctrinal differences divide us. We can unite on this. And imply what? That these people are pleasing God by doing something good? God says they can't please Me. Even their prayers offend Me. I don't want to tell people their prayers are offensive to God. I want to tell people what God says.

“Those who are in the flesh cannot please God.” That's it. You cannot please God, I refuse to bow before Him, I refuse to submit to Him and His salvation but I will join with Christians in defending the sanctity of marriage. We cannot join together. I'm not going to be unequally yoked together with unbelievers. Do I expect the world to understand? No. Do I care if the world understands? No. I'm here to tell the truth of God.

“Those who are in the flesh cannot please God. However you are not in the flesh but in the Spirit if the Spirit of God dwells in you. And if anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ, he does not belong to Him.” You see we have two fixed categories. Christians have gotten confused and created a category of carnal Christians, those who are Christians but live fleshly. The Bible makes no such category, and that includes
1 Corinthians 3. A misunderstanding. What does he say here? “You are not in the flesh but in the Spirit if the Spirit of God dwells in you.” And if the Spirit of God doesn't dwell in you, you don't belong to Christ. Can we get any more clear? We have Christians walking around, I don't know. One of the ways the devil wants to work is first soften us up, tolerance and love. We move away from what the Bible says about love to what the world thinks about love and it's some kind of emotion filtering in the air, I guess.

“You are not in the flesh but in the Spirit if indeed the Spirit of God dwells in you.” If the Spirit of Christ doesn't dwell in you, you don't belong to Christ. If Christ is in you and you see the trinity here and the close connection, you can talk about the Spirit of God, the Spirit of Christ; you can talk about the Spirit dwelling in you, you can talk about Christ dwelling in you. They are not the same person but they are so closely identified in their work, the carrying out of salvation.

“If Christ is in you though the body is dead because of sin, the Spirit is alive because of righteousness.” - see the contrast. There is still another dimension to my salvation—glorification. So my body is dead in that sense. I am in the process of dying. There is a picture hanging in a room back there, when I graduated from college. If we put it up here I don't know that you would recognize it. Why? I'm in the process of dying. My hair wasn't always that color and there was more of it. The body gets weaker. If Christ doesn't come in twenty years, many of us will be gone. But it's included in my salvation and that's where he is going.

“Though the body is dead because of sin the Spirit is alive because of righteousness. But 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 the Spirit who dwells in you.” The presence of the Spirit of God in you is God's guarantee that He'll finish what He started. He who began a good work in you will bring it to perfection in the day of Christ Jesus. The Spirit, according to Ephesians 1, is God's down payment, guaranteeing the future completion of the transaction. That's why I say salvation is a package—justification, sanctification, glorification. And you don't get part of it, you get all of it. That's why he can say that those who are living according to the flesh never experience the justifying power of God. That was the beginning of the Spirit's work in their lives to accomplish God's salvation that will culminate in glorification.

“So then, brethren,” verse 12, “we are under obligation, not to the flesh to live according to the flesh. If you are living according to the flesh, you must die.” You are still lost and dead in your sins. That person who is living in sin, that's their life, and we parents look back and say, I know my child. They have grown up and they are not living for the Lord. They don't have any interest in church and they are not interested in the Bible. But I take comfort, when they were young they prayed to receive Christ. We like to delude ourselves. What does he say? If you are living according to the flesh, you must die. The wages of sin is death. You have to pay your penalty.

“But if by the Spirit you are putting to death the deeds of the body, you will live. For all who are being led by the Spirit, these are the sons of God.” People say, you are not the judge of hearts. I'm not, but God is. He tells me that those who manifest the leading of the Spirit and live their lives in obedience to the Spirit, seeing His fruit produced in a life, those are the sons of God. What's the confusion? We like to blur the issue, thinking we are being nice. I mean, we're running around pointing out to everyone, you are a believer, you're not, you're not. But by the same token I talk to someone who is living their life in sin, who manifests no desire to please God with their life, but they claim to be a Christian. And I say, I can't see your heart, maybe you are. I can see their heart, not because I'm God, but the God who looks at hearts tells me that those who are being led by the Spirit of God, these are the sons of God. And I act like it's not possible to know. We turn around and deny what the Bible says.

“Those who are being led by the Spirit of God, these are the sons of God.” Well, I don't think you can tell. It's exasperating. And this is what happens when the church begins to deny what it claims to believe. What are we left with? Confusion. Any wonder professing believers and the evangelical church grope around like it's just not sure what to do. It keeps closing itself down to not hearing. Well, it's there but I'm not sure. You are living according to the flesh, you'll have to die. People joke about my counseling. If somebody comes in and they are living their life in sin. Where are you? I don't see you at church, are you going to a Bible believing . . .? No. Do you read . . . No. If you are living in sin, you get drunk every weekend, you do this and you tell me you are a believer? I don't believe it, I believe you are a liar. I believe God and He cannot lie.
“All who are being led by the Spirit, these are sons of God. You have not received the Spirit of slavery leading to fear again, you have received the Spirit of adoption as sons by which we cry out, Abba Father,” Abba being the Aramaic word for father. Father, father. “The Spirit Himself testifies with our spirit that we are children of God, if children, heirs also, heirs of God, fellow heirs with Christ. If we suffer with Him we will be glorified with Him.” So I'm not concerned about the sufferings of this present time, they are nothing compared to the glory that will be revealed, as Paul goes on. Put it in perspective.

Now be careful, verse 16 says, “His Spirit testifies with our Spirit.” Some people say, you can't tell, I really believe I'm a Christian. That's not the only verse here. There is a confirmation within as well as without, they go together. But you can't separate them. I believe in my heart that I'm saved. Well then is verse 14 not true? It goes together. Praise God for the confirmation of the Spirit that brings that assurance to us from the Word. But Paul told the Corinthians, you better examine yourselves to see whether you are in the faith. Don't you know the Spirit of God dwells in you if you are truly His child, 2 Corinthians 13. How do you examine yourself? I look at the fruit of the Spirit. Do I see it? Do other believers see it? That ought to be evident. Well, I'm a Christian. I don't care what you think. I do care what you think, we care what one another think. Something is wrong. If you don't see the work of the Spirit in my life, His leading and guiding, not just on Sunday morning but my life through the week. And the people who see me, something is wrong.

This is God's plan, it's beautiful. Think about what it means for you as a believer, you have the Spirit dwelling in you, the Spirit of God who in Genesis 1 hovered over the creation as it was being created and unfolded, the Spirit who is God Almighty, all powerful. And your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit, He dwells in you. His intention is to enable you and empower you. Sometimes I just want to resist it, I just don't want to do what He says. Why? Well, sometimes sin can be alluring, can be attractive. It can be appealing. There is pleasure in sin. If there were no pleasure in sin, no one would sin. But for us as believers there is greater pleasure—pleasing the One who is my heavenly Father, the One who has saved me. And difficult, there is a battle, it's a spiritual warfare, but the Spirit of God dwells in me and greater is He who is in you than he who is in the world. I never have to lose one of these battles. I didn't say I never lose, but I never have to lose. God has made every provision for me to live every day pleasing to Him. That's part of my salvation. I didn't just get justified when I placed my faith in Christ, I was given the provision for sanctification and the indwelling Spirit so I would be sanctified and live a new life. And just as sure, the final step will be glorification and that could happen today if Jesus would come in the air to call us to Himself.

Let's pray together. Thank you, Lord, for so great salvation, a salvation limitless in power, salvation so great that it brings about the redemption of a lost, fallen, hopelessly condemned, doomed-to-hell individual. Lord, we give you praise that Christ has done what needed to be done, what only He could do so that we by turning from sin and placing our faith in Him might experience the power of that salvation. Thank you for Your grace that has brought us to faith in Christ. May we live the new life that we have in Him. Lord, I pray for any who are here. Lord, we are reminded that attending this church, being baptized at this church, doing any number of things is not what brings salvation. Some here may be struggling, may be battling, Lord, I pray they may come to know the power of Your saving grace, the new life and peace that can come only in Christ, in whose name we pray, amen.