Romans 8: 1-17: "THE LAW OF THE SPIRIT OF LIFE"
"THE LAW OF THE SPIRIT OF LIFE”
Romans 8:2
Preached by: Pastor Carolyn
Sissom
Sunday, August 22, 2010
Romans Eight is the
blessed mountain top of Romans. In
Christ we have a new authority, the Spirit of Life. The soul is not now our life-spring. We are no longer living in it or drawing from
it. We use it. We come to live our life in the Spirit and by
the Spirit. We still use our soul faculties
just as we do our physical, but now we
are servants of the Spirit and we have yielded our members (body and soul, i.e.
mind will and emotions) to be led by the Holy Spirit. When we yield to this Grace, then we are
vessels ready for the Master’s use.
As we have made the
journey through Romans, we have accepted our forgiveness; been declared
righteous; delivered from sin’s power; delivered from the law; sanctified by
the Word; and consecrated. Now we come
to the pathway of regeneration, adoption, the knowing that we shall be saved
from the presence of sin; the Holy Spirit outpoured; the Holy Spirit indwelling; and glorification as Sons of God. (“Whom He justified, he also glorified”.) God’s purpose in creation and redemption is
to make Christ the First Born Son among many sons.
The Holy Spirit is
for all. It is to prove His goodness
and greatness not ours. Christ has been
crucified, therefore, we have been forgiven.
Christ has been glorified, therefore, we have been endued with power
from on and high and we can walk and move and live in the Glory of God on this
side of the grave.
God’s gifts are
freely given. Anyone upon whom the Holy
Spirit falls will unfailingly know it.
The outward evidence may be many and varied but the Spirit is One and He
is Lord:
There is the
Seven-fold spirit of God in Isaiah 11: 1-5:
“The Spirit of the Lord shall rest
upon him the Spirit of Wisdom and Understanding, the Spirit of Counsel and
Might, the spirit of Knowledge and of the Fear of the Lord.”
There is also the
Holy Spirit of Truth (John 16: 12-15); The Spirit of Holiness (Romans 1:3-7);
Holy Spirit of Comfort; The Spirit of Promise (Eph. 1: 2-14); The Spirit of
Power (11 Tim. 1: 6-14); The Spirit of Grace (Heb. 10: 26-30); The Spirit of
Glory (1 Peter 4: 12-19); The Spirit of Adoption (Romans 8:15); The Spirit of Life (Romans 8:2). This is One Spirit, The Holy Spirit. (This list is inconclusive. For addditional description of the character of the Holy Spirit, see my teaching, The Holy Spirit is the Feast of Pentecost.)
Romans 8: 1-2: “There
is therefore now no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus, who walk
not after the flesh, but after the Spirit.
For the law of the Spirit of Life in Christ Jesus has made me free from
the law of sin and death.”
These first four
verses conclude what Paul was saying in Chapter Seven. When a toddler first learns to walk, he falls
less and less as his walk is strengthened.
God is not interested in the number of times His children fall down, but
in the number of good steps they take.
After a while the believer is walking more than he is falling. There is no condemnation for the falling down
while we are growing up in Christ.
However, for the “Fathers and/or Mothers” who are empowered to teach and
operate in the ascension gifts, there is more accountability.
The first chapter of
Romans began with the entire world condemned before God. For a Christian to be condemned for sin,
Jesus would also have to be condemned.
As we grow up in Christ, we are going to stumble and fall. This is not to say that sin is harmless. If we don’t confess it, sin can break our
fellowship with God. However, it cannot
break out son-ship. Sin can also rob us
of our joy, hinder our growth, reduce our blessings and rewards---but it cannot
take us out of Christ. Nothing can do
that except we choose to take ourselves out.
We have been
transferred by adoption from the Adam family to the family of God. For us to be condemned now, Jesus would have
to be condemned. Anyone seeking to take
us out of Christ would have to overpower him first. (Mt: 12:29) We are as safe as the strength of
Jesus. As in the natural realm, there
are higher and lower laws in the Spiritual realm. When we switched families, the lower law of
death in Adam is over-ruled by the higher law of life in Christ Jesus.
There are no degrees
of our union with Christ, we are either in Him or out.
8: 3-4: “For
what the law could not do in that it was weak through the flesh, God sending
his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh, and for sin, condemned sin in the
flesh; that the righteousness of the law might be fulfilled in us, who walk not
after the flesh, but after the Spirit.”
Man tends by human
nature to want to scheme around laws.
The law can’t change human nature.
So if God wants men to be Holy, as He is Holy, He has to accomplish it
another way.
The Law made man cry
out to God for mercy, and God in turn provided a Savior. God’s answer to human depravity is a new
nature, a holy nature, Christ’s own nature.
When I was saved, I received Christ’s nature. If it is fair for a Just God to let men be
born with a corrupt nature, it is also fair to let them be born again with a
Godly nature.
God sent Jesus into
the world that everything required by the law might be fulfilled in us. Our souls have been washed in the Blood of
the Lamb. Our external walk should
reflect this internal holiness. We will
do this by surrendering to the Holy Spirit more and more each day.
Christ was the first
man to have a human nature and a divine nature.
Until then, mankind had a human nature. However, the OT clearly states that certain elect men of God had both the Spirit indwelling and the Spirit outpoured. That didn’t work out too well for Adam. As fully man and fully God, Jesus experienced
the struggle of the flesh versus the Spirit.
8:5: “For
they that are after the flesh do mind the things of the flesh; but they that
are after the Spirit the things of the Spirit.”
The Bible speaks of
three kinds of men:
- Natural – He is incapable of
discerning spiritual things.
- Carnal – A Christian who has Jesus as
Savior, but not as his Lord. His
nature is self-serving, selfish, and self-centered.
- Spiritual – A Christian who spends his
life bringing glory to Jesus. He
has a gradual change into the likeness of the Lord.
Our nature is
recognized by the fruit produced in our life.
We choose the degree of our surrender.
Both carnal and spiritual Christians have the faith to be saved. The difference is in their surrender.
8: 6-7: “For to
be carnally minded is death; but to be spiritually minded is life and
peace. Because the carnal mind is enmity
against God; for it is not subject to the law of God neither indeed can be.”
Salvation does not
change the old nature. As there is no
peace for the man outside Christ, neither is there any peace for the carnal
Christian. Each time we yield to the old
nature, we breathe again the deadly atmosphere of the flesh. When our carnal nature dominates us, we slip
back into that condition which is hostile to God. This is known as backsliding. A backslider grumbles at misfortune; resents
losses resulting in bitterness; loses faith in the face of spiritual battles; scoffs at the supernatural; has no interest
in reaching lost souls; has no interests in Bible Study or Corporate Prayer; sneers at God’s call on their life and often blames the "Church" for their backsliding.
8:9: “But you are not in the flesh, but in the
Spirit, if so then the Spirit of God dwells in you. Now if any man does not have the Spirit of
Christ; he is none of his.”
In verse 4, Paul
spoke of walking in the spirit as we surrender to the new nature. Here he speaks of our living in the
spirit. Our walk is concerned with what
we do the other with who we are. We may
act like children of the devil at times, but we are the Sons of God. Our souls are translated, not our
bodies. Our five senses are still in the
flesh, but can be quickened to hear, feel, smell, see and taste the Spiritual.
As we are translated
by the Holy Spirit into the
In this verse, Paul
says emphatically that if you do not have Christ, you do not have His
Spirit. The Holy Spirit brings the benefits
of the cross to us. It is He who applies
the Blood of Christ to our souls.
Without that no one can be saved.
We receive the gifts of the Spirit after salvation, and baptism in
water.
8:10-11: “And if
Christ be in you, the body is dead because of sin; but the Spirit is life
because of righteousness.”
The righteousness of
Christ imputed to us secures the carnal soul and body from death. The Holy Spirit preserves it, elevates it and
we become partakers of a supernatural gift of light, life and love not possible
to the carnal soul. This is the Joy,
Peace and Righteousness of the
We are experiencing
the habitation of the Lord in glory.
Since Jesus has promised that we will appear with Him, We will need
glorified bodies for the occasion. The
presence of the Holy Spirit in us is a pledge that these bodies, now serving as
His temple, will be changed to conform to His glorious body. If the same Spirit who raised Jesus’ body
from the dead lives within us, that same Holy Spirit will raise us up to rule
and reign with Him in Heavenly places.
The Spirit of God
within is God the Father, Son and Holy Ghost.
Oh, the greatness of God’s gift!!!
Oh the vastness of the resources within us!!! The Spirit who dwells within me is no mere
influence, but a living Person. I am
only an earthen vessel, but in this earthen vessel, I carry a treasure of
unspeakable worth, even the Lord of Glory.
This verse declares
that we, who have been born again of the Spirit of God, carry Jesus in our
heart. The Lord has made our hearts His
dwelling place!!! We should have
reverence that our Lord lives in us!!!
We were bought with a price. He
has divine ownership of us and all that we have.
We surrender all
without reservation. Of course, I speak
for myself, and usually when the Lord requires more responsibility from me, I
have to spend some time dying again.
The "all" is our-selves, our possessions, our business, our families, and
our time. All we are and have become are
his to be held entirely at His disposal.
We are His guests, His tenants, and His stewards. All direction of our lives and all control
are committed to the Spirit. If we do
not give him absolute authority, He is present, but the power and Glory of the
Spirit is quenched.
When the Holy Spirit
is given full
God is daily waiting
for a settlement of all our controversies with Him. I can trust the Holy Spirit to do in me what
I cannot do myself. Exod. 14:13: “Stand
still and see the salvation of the Lord, which He will work for you.”
The Holy Spirit will
bring us forth triumphant and victorious.
The Cross procured our salvation.
The Spirit produces salvation in us.
Christ raised from the dead and ascension into Heaven is the basis of
our salvation. Christ in our hearts by
the Spirit is its power.
“I live, and yet no longer I live, but Christ lives in me”. We should not think that we have a
“changed life” but an “exchanged life”.
Christ being formed in me is “reproduction”. When the seed of His life is deposited into
each of us by the Holy Spirit, then we, too, reproduce the
God gave unto us
eternal life, and this life is in His Son.
He that has the Son has the life, and he that has not the Son of God has
not the life.
“I can do all things in Him that strengthens me.” As Jesus is free from limitations, so am I.
In Romans Seven, we
learned that our intentions were good, but our actions contradicted it. The highest point the will can reach is that
of willingness.
8:12-13: “Therefore,
brethren, we are debtors, not to the flesh, to live after the flesh. But if you live after the flesh, you shall
die; but if you through the Spirit do mortify the deeds of the body, you shall
live.
We are under new
management, a new owner and a new government.
When a believer sets his heart to resist an impulse stirring in his old
nature, the Spirit is ready to back him in power. However, that kind of power must be triggered
by Faith. Having the Holy Spirit does
not automatically cause holiness. The
power is there, but we must resist the devil.
The instant we are
tempted by satan, we must will to not sin.
We must trust the Holy Spirit to help us overcome the desire behind that
particular sin. This is Spiritual
warfare. Here again we can apply the
“reckoning” technique. We reckon
ourselves dead to sin. We picture and
believe ourselves victorious.
8: 14-15: “For as
many as are led by the Spirit of God, they are the sons of God. for you have received the Spirit of adoption,
whereby we cry, Abba, Father.”
It is the Holy Spirit
of Adoption which produces son-ship. The
Spirit of Son-ship guarantees we will reach adulthood. When a Jewish youth turned 21, he was taken
to the marketplaces where his father proudly displayed him as being “of
age”. The Spirit of Son-ship is not here
referring to Christian growth, but to our status as Sons.
Our Heavenly Father
will reveal our son-ship to the world.
The receiving of the Spirit of Adoption leads us into a place to enjoy
our privileges. We are trusted with the
8:16-17: ‘The
Spirit itself bears witness with our spirit that we are the children of God.
And if children, then heirs, heirs of God, and joint heirs with Christ; if so
be that we suffer with him, that we may also be glorified together.”
As we come to the
last half of this chapter, Paul leads us into the revelation of
glorification. We are God’s
children. The Greek here means begotten
ones. When we were born again, we are
now God’s sons by birth. Within us is
an inaudible witness which is beyond the comprehension of the unsaved. This working that we may also be glorified is
beyond the five senses.
A man operates at two
levels: conscious and unconscious. Even
when we are distracted and not listening to the Holy Spirit on the conscious
level, then He speaks to us in dreams and visions of the night.
The Holy Spirit gives
us the witness of the Spirit which is our imprimatur. Through the imprimatur of Faith in believing
what the Spirit is saying, we then witness the supernatural manifestation of
miracles in the natural realm.
“Even our human mind
has come into nature from super-nature.
We have our taproot in an eternal self existed, rational being whom we
call God.” (C.S. Lewis)
This evening, we will
conclude Chapter Eight of Romans as Paul continues to lead us to the present
reality of the “glory which shall be
revealed in us.”
Preached by: Pastor Carolyn Sissom
Scripture from
K.J.V.; Bibliography: F. F. Bruce Bible
Commentary, Leslie C. Allen, C.S. Lovett’s Lights on Romans; Dake’s Annotated
Reference Bible; Matthew Henry’s Commentary and quotes from my Bible Study
Notes prepared in 1987. The comments and
conclusions are my own as revealed to me by the Holy Spirit and not meant to be
the views of those from whom I have gleaned.