The Spirit of Life (Romans 8:1-11)

WEBVTT 1 00:00:02.279 --> 00:00:05.679 Well, let's hear God's word now from Romans Chapter Eight, and this will 2 00:00:05.679 --> 00:00:11.230 be this will be the text for the sermon this morning. Romans Eight, 3 00:00:11.310 --> 00:00:33.420 versus one through eleven. Let us fix our minds and hearts on hearing the 4 00:00:33.500 --> 00:00:41.009 word of God Romans Eight. There is therefout. There is therefore now no 5 00:00:41.450 --> 00:00:45.969 condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus, for the law of the spirit, 6 00:00:46.009 --> 00:00:49.609 of life, has set you free in Christ Jesus, from the Law 7 00:00:49.649 --> 00:00:54.479 of sin and death. For God has done what the law, weakened by 8 00:00:54.520 --> 00:00:59.799 the flesh, could not do by sending his own son in the likeness of 9 00:00:59.880 --> 00:01:04.150 sinful flesh and for sin. He condemned sin in the flesh in order that 10 00:01:04.230 --> 00:01:11.189 the righteous requirements of the law might be fulfilled in us who walk not according 11 00:01:11.189 --> 00:01:15.230 to the flesh but according to the spirit. For those who live according to 12 00:01:15.269 --> 00:01:19.060 the flesh set their minds on the things of the flesh, but those who 13 00:01:19.060 --> 00:01:23.180 live according to the spirits set their minds on the things of the spirit. 14 00:01:23.140 --> 00:01:27.180 For to set the mind on the flesh is death, but to set the 15 00:01:27.299 --> 00:01:32.500 mind on the spirit is life and peace. For the mind that is set 16 00:01:32.540 --> 00:01:37.370 on the flesh is hostile to God. For it does not submit to God's 17 00:01:37.370 --> 00:01:44.890 law. Indeed it cannot. Those who are in the flesh cannot please God. 18 00:01:46.650 --> 00:01:51.079 You, however, are not in the flesh but in the spirit. 19 00:01:51.439 --> 00:01:55.640 If in fact, the spirit of God dwells in you, anyone who does 20 00:01:55.719 --> 00:01:59.719 not have the spirit of Christ does not belong to him. But if Christ 21 00:01:59.799 --> 00:02:04.310 is in you, although the body is dead because of sin, the spirit 22 00:02:04.510 --> 00:02:08.110 is life because of righteousness. If the spirit of him who raised Jesus from 23 00:02:08.110 --> 00:02:13.550 the dead dwells in you, he who raised Christ Jesus from the dead will 24 00:02:13.550 --> 00:02:19.259 also give life to your model mortal bodies. Through his spirit, who dwells 25 00:02:19.300 --> 00:02:45.639 in you, a God, bless his word, may be seated. There 26 00:02:45.680 --> 00:02:50.800 are various ways in which people think about what it means to be a Christian 27 00:02:52.120 --> 00:02:57.800 and oftentimes their definitions of what it means to be a Christian are taken from 28 00:02:58.240 --> 00:03:05.710 not so great places, unfortunately, sometimes even Christians. But these definitions are 29 00:03:05.830 --> 00:03:09.590 often based on their experiences in some might be accurate, some not so accurate. 30 00:03:10.189 --> 00:03:14.740 They might be all over the place. I'm some people think of Christians 31 00:03:15.060 --> 00:03:20.580 just as religious people or church goers. Maybe people think of Christians as Nice 32 00:03:20.699 --> 00:03:25.139 people, or maybe selfrighteous people or maybe Republicans, or maybe white people, 33 00:03:25.139 --> 00:03:30.129 or maybe givers or moralists, or the list can go on and on and 34 00:03:30.250 --> 00:03:38.530 on. What is a Christian? It's a really important question, because to 35 00:03:38.689 --> 00:03:44.240 be a Christian means to belong to Christ, and to belong to Christ means 36 00:03:44.840 --> 00:03:51.000 several very important things that Paul talks about here in Romans, a things that 37 00:03:51.080 --> 00:03:55.229 are a matter of life or death. And so when we think about what 38 00:03:55.349 --> 00:04:00.629 it means to be a Christian, we're not just defining defining a certain social 39 00:04:00.830 --> 00:04:08.550 group, a part of our culture. We're defining what life is itself and 40 00:04:08.710 --> 00:04:15.300 what it means to not have Christ and to die. So where do we 41 00:04:15.379 --> 00:04:18.899 get a true definition of a Christian? Well, we find it here in 42 00:04:19.139 --> 00:04:25.009 Romans, eight many other places in scripture as well. But here there are 43 00:04:25.089 --> 00:04:31.410 some wonderful things that God teaches us about who you are in Christ or who 44 00:04:31.490 --> 00:04:38.529 you may be if you trust and belief in him. So Paul, under 45 00:04:38.569 --> 00:04:42.680 the inspiration of the spirit of Christ, teaches us here what it means to 46 00:04:42.839 --> 00:04:47.759 be a Christian. He gives us three things. He says that when we 47 00:04:48.079 --> 00:04:54.550 are Christians, when God saves a sinner, they receive a new verdict, 48 00:04:55.990 --> 00:05:00.509 a new way of living and a new body to live in. Well, 49 00:05:00.550 --> 00:05:04.470 think about each of these three things. A new verdict, a new way 50 00:05:04.470 --> 00:05:11.019 or walk of life and a new body. Now, before we jump into 51 00:05:11.019 --> 00:05:15.300 those, let me just point out the logic of the chapter and what is 52 00:05:15.579 --> 00:05:18.740 beginning here, so we can ground ourselves a little bit. And it's really 53 00:05:18.740 --> 00:05:23.889 an easy thing to do, because we just sang it in verse four of 54 00:05:24.050 --> 00:05:29.089 and can it be, we saying long my imprisoned spirit lay fast, bound 55 00:05:29.250 --> 00:05:33.290 in sin and nature's night thine. I diffused a quickening ray. I woke 56 00:05:33.449 --> 00:05:38.600 the dungeon flamed with light, my chains fell off, my heart was free. 57 00:05:38.800 --> 00:05:43.680 I rose, went forth and followed thee. This is, you might 58 00:05:43.759 --> 00:05:48.079 say, Romans six and seven. God Paul has been describing here what it 59 00:05:48.240 --> 00:05:53.230 means to be released from the law, what it means to be free, 60 00:05:53.589 --> 00:05:57.949 to be under grace. He's been showing us that we are not released so 61 00:05:58.069 --> 00:06:00.310 that we might walk back into the Dungeon, or release so that we might 62 00:06:00.550 --> 00:06:04.860 walk out in blindness and wander around the earth, but we're released so that 63 00:06:04.980 --> 00:06:11.899 we might walk forth in freedom and follow the Lord. So that's verse for 64 00:06:12.500 --> 00:06:18.649 in and can it be? Then verse five continues and says, no condemnation. 65 00:06:19.649 --> 00:06:26.569 Now I dread Jesus and all in him is mine, and that's how 66 00:06:26.649 --> 00:06:31.610 Romans eight starts. There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in 67 00:06:32.199 --> 00:06:36.560 Christ Jesus, for the law of the spirit of life, with the hymn 68 00:06:36.680 --> 00:06:42.240 calls that quickening ray. The law of the spirit of life has set you 69 00:06:42.279 --> 00:06:46.120 free in Christ Jesus. No longer are you a fast bound in sin and 70 00:06:46.149 --> 00:06:49.589 nature's night. Or is verse two says here? No longer are you bound 71 00:06:49.589 --> 00:06:54.670 according to the law of sin and death, because verse three, God has 72 00:06:54.750 --> 00:06:57.589 done what the law, we can buy the flesh, could not do. 73 00:06:58.310 --> 00:07:00.310 You were in Chage, you were in a dungeon, you could not do 74 00:07:00.579 --> 00:07:10.339 anything, but God has saved you, and now no more condemnation. You're 75 00:07:10.379 --> 00:07:14.540 not sitting in a jail cell waiting for the punishment to come, waiting for 76 00:07:14.660 --> 00:07:19.850 the day when the king will put you under his wrath. No, you're 77 00:07:19.889 --> 00:07:27.610 set free and declared justified. Well, that takes us to the first point 78 00:07:27.649 --> 00:07:30.560 here. As a Christian, what it means to be a Christian? It 79 00:07:30.680 --> 00:07:36.240 means that we have received a new verdict. To be condemned is to have 80 00:07:36.480 --> 00:07:42.079 a judgment placed on you, and Paul says here, is a Christian. 81 00:07:42.480 --> 00:07:47.110 There is therefore now no condemnation, not a little bit, not tiny slice, 82 00:07:47.230 --> 00:07:56.310 not halfway, part we part way. No condemnation now. This implicitly 83 00:07:56.389 --> 00:08:00.939 tells us what he's told us back in chapter five, that under Adam we 84 00:08:01.060 --> 00:08:05.819 are all born under condemnation. Were each of us born into a family that 85 00:08:07.180 --> 00:08:13.129 is condemned? Take it at back to a level that you expective experienced in 86 00:08:13.209 --> 00:08:16.889 a more earthly way. Each of you have been born into a family. 87 00:08:18.889 --> 00:08:22.209 Maybe you were born into a wealthy family or poor family. Maybe you were 88 00:08:22.250 --> 00:08:28.160 born into a family with good genes and a lot of beauty, maybe not. 89 00:08:28.319 --> 00:08:31.559 Maybe you were born into a loving family, or maybe you don't know 90 00:08:31.759 --> 00:08:37.879 who your parents are. Well, in Adam we were born into a family 91 00:08:37.000 --> 00:08:41.429 and we belong to that. We received certain things by virtue of our birth 92 00:08:41.750 --> 00:08:48.269 and belonging to him, and that was not a good family. There was 93 00:08:48.350 --> 00:08:52.070 a sense, in which there is, a sense in which we are made 94 00:08:52.190 --> 00:08:54.710 in God's image and which we have bivid gain even all these good things from 95 00:08:54.710 --> 00:08:58.539 God. But to belong to the family of Adam, to belong to the 96 00:08:58.580 --> 00:09:03.860 human race, means that we've taken all those gifts. God's good law is 97 00:09:03.940 --> 00:09:09.340 covenant with us, and we've spat on them and we've despised them. A 98 00:09:09.659 --> 00:09:16.370 bad family and a family that is condemned righteously by God. God says you 99 00:09:16.450 --> 00:09:20.809 are sinful, you are hostile to me, you have fallen away from me. 100 00:09:22.809 --> 00:09:26.039 Each and every person that has been born, apart from Jesus, because 101 00:09:26.080 --> 00:09:33.600 of his miraculous and divine birth, we are all born under the law and 102 00:09:33.799 --> 00:09:39.350 in this fallen state we have a father, but we hate him, we 103 00:09:39.509 --> 00:09:45.190 have major attachment problems with him. We fight him, we struggle against him, 104 00:09:45.190 --> 00:09:48.710 we sin against him in every way, and it's always going to be 105 00:09:48.950 --> 00:09:54.179 that way as long as we remain in this state, as long as we 106 00:09:54.299 --> 00:10:00.019 remain under the law, in our sin and fast bound, we find ourselves 107 00:10:00.019 --> 00:10:05.379 under condemnation. And so in this way, he's not just the one who 108 00:10:05.419 --> 00:10:11.649 made us, but each and every person in the world is also under God 109 00:10:11.889 --> 00:10:18.370 as judge, who will condemn us for our sins. This is what it 110 00:10:18.450 --> 00:10:22.799 means to be under the law. But then we have verse three. But 111 00:10:22.039 --> 00:10:26.679 God did what the law, weakened by the flesh, could not do. 112 00:10:28.840 --> 00:10:33.440 What did he do? He took away our condemnation. He's going to go 113 00:10:33.679 --> 00:10:37.750 on in the next passage, in verses twelve through seventeen, to talk about 114 00:10:37.830 --> 00:10:43.110 that adoption, to talk about the ways in which he brings us close and 115 00:10:43.269 --> 00:10:48.470 blesses us with all kinds of wonderful things in which he overcomes that hostility. 116 00:10:48.669 --> 00:10:52.139 But here he focuses first in chapter eight, the beginning there, on this 117 00:10:52.620 --> 00:10:56.700 change of verdict. What does it mean to be a Christian? It means 118 00:10:58.179 --> 00:11:03.409 to have a new verdict, to not be condemned any longer. Once we 119 00:11:03.610 --> 00:11:07.570 received a verdict you are bad, you will be punished, and now the 120 00:11:07.610 --> 00:11:13.250 verdict is you are good and you will be rewarded. That's what it means 121 00:11:13.289 --> 00:11:18.200 to be a Christian. Well, how does that happen? How does a 122 00:11:18.240 --> 00:11:26.840 sinful, hostile enemy of God change and become a lover of God, someone 123 00:11:26.919 --> 00:11:35.830 at peace with God? Paul explains, he says, by sending his own 124 00:11:35.950 --> 00:11:41.350 son in the likeness of sinful flesh and for sin. He condemned sin in 125 00:11:43.070 --> 00:11:48.860 the flesh in order that the righteous requirements of the law might be fulfilled in 126 00:11:48.059 --> 00:11:54.779 us. You know what he's talking about here, don't you? He's talking 127 00:11:54.860 --> 00:12:01.250 about the father sending the son into the world, to take on human flesh 128 00:12:01.289 --> 00:12:05.730 and to take a part in our family, the human family, the condemned 129 00:12:05.929 --> 00:12:13.889 family, to stand, under condemnation, that he didn't deserve to take our 130 00:12:13.009 --> 00:12:18.519 sins and punishment on himself, and then, in turn for that, in 131 00:12:18.679 --> 00:12:26.000 turn for taking our sins, he gives to us his righteousness. When it 132 00:12:26.120 --> 00:12:31.269 says he condemned sin in the flesh, he's not talking about his sin, 133 00:12:31.350 --> 00:12:37.309 he's talking about arson your sin. As a Christian, he condemned sin in 134 00:12:37.429 --> 00:12:41.789 the flesh in order that the righteous requirements of the law might be fulfilled. 135 00:12:43.830 --> 00:12:46.299 He paid the penalty that was coming. We were waiting in the dungeon, 136 00:12:46.659 --> 00:12:52.539 waiting for God's wrath to be poured out honest the execution, the eternal execution, 137 00:12:52.659 --> 00:12:58.730 to take place, and Jesus said here, give me those chains, 138 00:12:58.330 --> 00:13:03.690 give me that execution, I'll take it for you and you, you go 139 00:13:03.889 --> 00:13:09.970 free. Now. This would be the saddest thing in the world if it 140 00:13:11.049 --> 00:13:15.639 weren't for the past fact of the power of Jesus's life, the divinity of 141 00:13:15.759 --> 00:13:20.799 his nature, and that he too went forth and he too rows up out 142 00:13:20.879 --> 00:13:24.799 of the grave, as Paul goes on to say here, it was the 143 00:13:24.879 --> 00:13:28.350 spirit who raised him, up raised him from the dead, that same spirit 144 00:13:28.429 --> 00:13:35.750 who dwells in US and raises us as well. This is what God has 145 00:13:35.789 --> 00:13:39.950 done for us. So when we stand okay, when we stand under this 146 00:13:41.389 --> 00:13:46.659 new verdict, no condemnation or, to put it positively, justification, when 147 00:13:46.700 --> 00:13:52.299 your file that has your name on it is stamped justified and your transferred to 148 00:13:52.379 --> 00:14:00.049 a new pile, that's a wonderful thing, an amazing thing. It means 149 00:14:00.129 --> 00:14:03.809 that you no longer will face the eternal wrath of God but, unto said, 150 00:14:03.929 --> 00:14:09.519 you walk in the life that Jesus walks even now. That's one. 151 00:14:09.720 --> 00:14:13.679 That's the first thing it means to be a new Christian. It means to 152 00:14:13.799 --> 00:14:20.879 have a new verdict. It well, second thing Paul mentions here, for 153 00:14:20.080 --> 00:14:24.429 being under grace, for being in Christ, is not just a new verdict 154 00:14:24.470 --> 00:14:33.110 but also a new way of living a spiritual life. And that word spiritual 155 00:14:33.269 --> 00:14:39.980 there is not to mean etherial or non physical or mystical, but think of 156 00:14:41.100 --> 00:14:45.899 that word with a capital s, as in Holy Spirit, jual life. 157 00:14:46.460 --> 00:14:52.169 You remember what he says here. He says that the spirit dwells in us. 158 00:14:54.929 --> 00:14:58.809 God Not only justifies us on the cross, but he unites us with 159 00:14:58.970 --> 00:15:05.250 his spirit. God himself dwells in US and brings about a new way of 160 00:15:05.450 --> 00:15:11.399 living. Just like v the letter V comes before the letter w, the 161 00:15:11.559 --> 00:15:18.360 verdict comes before the walk, justification comes before sanctification. God declares US justified, 162 00:15:18.480 --> 00:15:22.549 but he doesn't just leave us there. He begins to work in our 163 00:15:22.590 --> 00:15:28.950 hearts. He begins to root out all that Yuckiness, all that sinfulness, 164 00:15:28.990 --> 00:15:35.379 all those things that did wrong. He causes us to really be born again. 165 00:15:37.299 --> 00:15:41.139 is how Jesus describes it in John Three, and he describes the work 166 00:15:41.179 --> 00:15:46.659 of the spirit in our lives. He says that those who are no longer 167 00:15:46.740 --> 00:15:50.009 condemned because they are in Christ are those, this is that the end of 168 00:15:50.090 --> 00:15:56.610 verse four, who walk not according to the flesh but according to the spirit. 169 00:15:58.049 --> 00:16:00.649 This is what describes a Christian. In other words, this is the 170 00:16:00.769 --> 00:16:06.159 definition he gives. A Christian is one who has a new verdict, no 171 00:16:06.360 --> 00:16:10.679 more condemnation, but they also have a new walk. A Christian is one 172 00:16:10.720 --> 00:16:17.720 who walks not according to the flesh but according to the spirit. And then 173 00:16:17.759 --> 00:16:22.509 he explains this. He describes how this works in the spiritual life, how 174 00:16:22.629 --> 00:16:26.789 this works inside of us. In verses five and following and there's a contrast 175 00:16:26.950 --> 00:16:33.340 here to pay attention to, for those who live according to the flesh set 176 00:16:33.500 --> 00:16:37.500 their minds on the things of the flesh, but those who live according to 177 00:16:37.539 --> 00:16:41.980 the spirit set their minds on the things of the spirit. Now this word 178 00:16:42.139 --> 00:16:47.019 mind here in Greek doesn't just mean that the intellect, but it has something 179 00:16:47.059 --> 00:16:52.009 more fully in in mind. It has the heart and the affections and the 180 00:16:52.090 --> 00:16:59.330 will combined here. This the self, really what you are setting oneself into, 181 00:16:59.370 --> 00:17:02.639 the same way that we use that phrase in English. I put my 182 00:17:02.919 --> 00:17:07.200 mind to it. It's not merely an intellectual exercise right, it's a I'm 183 00:17:07.240 --> 00:17:11.960 putting myself to it everything in me. I'm attaching myself to this thing. 184 00:17:14.200 --> 00:17:18.509 Well, back to the contrast. Those who live according to the flesh set 185 00:17:18.670 --> 00:17:22.069 their mind on the things of the flesh, but those who live according to 186 00:17:22.109 --> 00:17:26.990 the spirit set their minds on the things of the spirit. And then he 187 00:17:26.109 --> 00:17:32.019 says what the result of this is, or the equivalent, for to set 188 00:17:32.140 --> 00:17:37.259 the mind on the flesh is death, but to set the mind on the 189 00:17:37.339 --> 00:17:41.140 spirit is life and peace. For the mind that is set on the flesh 190 00:17:41.259 --> 00:17:45.289 is hostile to God, for it does not submit to God's law. Indeed, 191 00:17:45.329 --> 00:17:52.250 it cannot. Those who are in the flesh cannot please God. So 192 00:17:52.410 --> 00:17:55.569 you see what he's saying here, that those chains that we describe in the 193 00:17:55.609 --> 00:17:59.240 hymn, the dungeon, the power of the law, the person who is 194 00:17:59.400 --> 00:18:03.960 bound up. We describe it in that way because of what the Bible says. 195 00:18:03.000 --> 00:18:10.279 A person who lives in the flesh, whose spirit, who's the spirit 196 00:18:10.319 --> 00:18:12.990 of God, is not in them. They walk according to the flesh, 197 00:18:12.990 --> 00:18:18.390 they set their minds on the things of the flesh, and it's ultimately death 198 00:18:18.910 --> 00:18:23.589 because they are disobedient to God, hostile to him, and indeed there is 199 00:18:23.829 --> 00:18:30.220 no other way for them to be. That's what it means to be fallen. 200 00:18:30.420 --> 00:18:34.299 That what's what it means to be in an estate of sin and misery, 201 00:18:34.900 --> 00:18:41.890 to be in a position where you cannot please God, and you cannot 202 00:18:41.930 --> 00:18:45.930 because you don't want to. You hate it, you are hostile against the 203 00:18:45.970 --> 00:18:49.289 things of God, you don't want to do the things of God. It 204 00:18:49.450 --> 00:18:55.759 doesn't please you to do the things of God. That is what it means 205 00:18:56.240 --> 00:19:00.279 to not be a Christian. To be a Christian is to de be the 206 00:19:00.519 --> 00:19:06.759 opposite of these things. It means that we set our minds on the things 207 00:19:06.839 --> 00:19:11.910 of the spirit. What are the things of the spirit? They are the 208 00:19:11.990 --> 00:19:15.150 things that he's spoken in his word. They're the works that God has done. 209 00:19:17.029 --> 00:19:21.509 They're the things that he calls us to do, the fruit that he 210 00:19:21.589 --> 00:19:27.059 produces in us. Love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, 211 00:19:27.259 --> 00:19:36.099 gentleness, self control. These are spiritual things, capital as holy, 212 00:19:36.259 --> 00:19:41.089 spiritual things that he produces in us, and we, as Christians, set 213 00:19:41.130 --> 00:19:47.289 our minds on those things and that's how we walk. You can imagine a 214 00:19:47.369 --> 00:19:53.319 person who is walking with a map and a guide. They trust the map, 215 00:19:53.480 --> 00:19:59.039 they trust the guide and they move forward on a particular course. They 216 00:19:59.160 --> 00:20:02.400 they might get off every now and then. They might mean it misread the 217 00:20:02.480 --> 00:20:06.799 map may be the course that they're walking isn't always as consistent with the map 218 00:20:06.960 --> 00:20:11.630 and the guide, the the instructions they're receiving, but that's the way things 219 00:20:11.710 --> 00:20:15.990 work and it's like that inwardly. It's like that in our relationship to God. 220 00:20:17.869 --> 00:20:22.380 Those who are in the flesh walk a particular course, a fleshly course, 221 00:20:22.500 --> 00:20:27.619 a worldly course, a sinful course, being hostile to God. It's 222 00:20:27.660 --> 00:20:33.380 a course away from heaven, it's a course away from God, it's a 223 00:20:33.500 --> 00:20:41.289 course to hell, into destruction. And what is their guide? What is 224 00:20:41.329 --> 00:20:48.049 their map? It's their own sinful hearts. It's the temptations of Satan, 225 00:20:48.890 --> 00:20:55.799 it's worldly desire. But when the spirit comes in us, that changes. 226 00:20:56.119 --> 00:20:59.400 To be a Christian is not just to have a new verdict, but it 227 00:20:59.480 --> 00:21:02.680 had us to have a new way of life, a new walk, a 228 00:21:02.839 --> 00:21:07.509 new course. And it's a new course because it's a new map and a 229 00:21:07.630 --> 00:21:14.109 new guide, the Holy Spirit dwelling in US saying no, not that way 230 00:21:14.150 --> 00:21:18.940 any more. That's the way of the sinful passions, that's the way of 231 00:21:18.019 --> 00:21:22.859 the world. You are no longer of this world. You're a citizen of 232 00:21:22.900 --> 00:21:26.940 the Kingdom of Heaven. You belong to Christ. Jesus remember, no more 233 00:21:27.099 --> 00:21:33.809 condemnation for you. You're not in judgment anymore, you're not under judgment anymore, 234 00:21:33.769 --> 00:21:40.250 you're no longer fearing wrath. You're on your way to heaven. The 235 00:21:40.369 --> 00:21:44.849 spirit guides us, lives in us, dwells in us, and that's why 236 00:21:44.970 --> 00:21:49.240 we walk not according to the flesh, but according to the spirit who lives 237 00:21:49.559 --> 00:21:57.200 and dwells in us, the spirit of Christ, given to us that we 238 00:21:57.240 --> 00:22:03.670 might please him and know him and be in him. By the way, 239 00:22:04.470 --> 00:22:08.390 come to Sunday school, because we're going to be talking a lot about a 240 00:22:08.869 --> 00:22:12.670 lot more about what it means to have the spirit of the Lord, what 241 00:22:12.829 --> 00:22:18.180 it means that the spirit is from Christ. So there you have one and 242 00:22:18.299 --> 00:22:25.500 two, a new verdict and a new way of living. The third thing 243 00:22:25.619 --> 00:22:32.009 Paul Mentions is having a new body. Being a Christian, in other words, 244 00:22:32.170 --> 00:22:37.009 is not just about being reborn in our souls. There is a renewal 245 00:22:37.170 --> 00:22:45.799 that will happen in our very physical bodies, these bodies. It's easy to 246 00:22:45.880 --> 00:22:52.000 think that when our bodies are sick and ti hired and breaking, whether we 247 00:22:52.119 --> 00:22:57.079 are skinning our knee or getting a knee replacement, from beginning to end we 248 00:22:57.279 --> 00:23:06.150 feel the weakness of our bodies. But God promises something new, not just 249 00:23:06.470 --> 00:23:11.230 inwardly, but outwardly, to he wants all of you. When he says 250 00:23:11.269 --> 00:23:18.019 you are now no longer under therefore, there is now no condemnation. When 251 00:23:18.059 --> 00:23:22.940 he says that, he is not just talking about your inward self, he's 252 00:23:22.980 --> 00:23:29.529 talking about your outward self, to your physical self, he's talking about all 253 00:23:29.690 --> 00:23:34.289 of you. All of you is a Christian, and he promises this in 254 00:23:34.369 --> 00:23:40.690 verses nine and eleven. Nine through eleven or, I'm sorry, ten and 255 00:23:40.769 --> 00:23:45.599 eleven, he says. But if Christ is in you, although the body 256 00:23:45.799 --> 00:23:51.839 is dead because of sin, the spirit is life because of righteousness. If 257 00:23:51.920 --> 00:23:56.750 the spirit of him who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, he 258 00:23:56.950 --> 00:24:03.390 who raised Christ Jesus from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies 259 00:24:03.910 --> 00:24:11.819 through his spirit who dwells in you. The promise of the Resurrection, the 260 00:24:11.980 --> 00:24:18.220 promise of a new body for you is a Christian, is already guaranteed by 261 00:24:18.339 --> 00:24:22.779 the spirit's indwelling. Do you see what Paul is saying? He's saying that 262 00:24:22.900 --> 00:24:27.769 the very same spirit who resurrected Jesus from the dead is the same spirit who 263 00:24:27.769 --> 00:24:33.369 will cause you to be resurrected from the dead. And that's not a spirit 264 00:24:33.609 --> 00:24:37.690 that is going to come at some future point in time. It's a spirit 265 00:24:37.730 --> 00:24:45.319 who dwells in you now. So this is what it means to be a 266 00:24:45.400 --> 00:24:52.630 Christian. It means to have no longer a verdict of justification or, I'm 267 00:24:52.670 --> 00:24:56.869 sorry, of condemnation, but one of justification. It means to no longer 268 00:24:57.029 --> 00:25:03.349 walk according to the flesh, but now according to the spirit of Christ, 269 00:25:03.630 --> 00:25:10.460 and it means no longer just being means no longer being confined and knowing that 270 00:25:10.579 --> 00:25:15.500 the eternal destruction of your body is close at hand, but instead the eternal 271 00:25:15.740 --> 00:25:22.730 living and blessedness of your body is close at hand when the Lord returns. 272 00:25:26.329 --> 00:25:32.450 This is what it means to be a Christian. Of course, all the 273 00:25:32.569 --> 00:25:37.759 opposite of this is true for those who are not in Christ. Sin, 274 00:25:37.440 --> 00:25:45.359 death, hostility, destructtion, not life for your immortal bodies, but death 275 00:25:45.680 --> 00:25:52.430 for your mortal bodies, condemnation, imprisonment. That's what it means to be 276 00:25:52.509 --> 00:25:56.309 outside of Christ and that's why it's true, as I said at the beginning, 277 00:25:56.430 --> 00:26:00.269 knowing what it means to be a Christian is everything, because you must 278 00:26:00.269 --> 00:26:06.099 be a Christian if you are to live, if you are to know God. 279 00:26:07.579 --> 00:26:11.779 But it's something that happens and only works in one way. You don't 280 00:26:11.819 --> 00:26:18.059 go out and start walking so that God can then say, all right, 281 00:26:18.569 --> 00:26:26.009 now, justify to you walking, verdict before walk, the before w this 282 00:26:26.250 --> 00:26:30.769 is what God gives to us and it's what he has done. I'll finish 283 00:26:30.849 --> 00:26:37.519 by reading verse three. For God has done what the law we can by 284 00:26:37.599 --> 00:26:44.960 the flesh, could not do by sending his son. May God continue this 285 00:26:45.119 --> 00:26:47.990 work in our lives, and may we often go to him in prayer and 286 00:26:48.150 --> 00:26:52.630 ask that people, when they ask what is a Christian, would learn it 287 00:26:52.390 --> 00:26:59.349 from us by seeing that we are no longer under condemnation, that we walk 288 00:26:59.549 --> 00:27:03.900 in the newness of life and we hope in the resurrection of the dead. 289 00:27:03.940 --> 00:27:06.180 Let us pray