ROMANS 8:5-11 - “THE HOLY SPIRIT MAKES THE DIFFERENCE!”

 

Romans 7 is the picture of a person that has truly begun to understand themselves.  From Paul’s own experience in 7:13-25 we learn that all believers still struggle with sin. We take it for granted that godless people sin thoughtlessly.

Thinking of the latest high-profile case of Jeffrey Epstein, Andrew Mountbatten, and so many others – do you think that they have ever understood themselves? Do you think that they  have understood the far reaching consequences of their sin?  Did they ever think about what they have done? Epstein is dead now, and Andrew has consistently denied doing anything wrong, but the  facts are out and they are incriminating!

What helps Christians to understand themselves? It is the knowledge of God, and His holy law that ultimately helps them to understand themselves.  

You and I may not have gained notoriety as high profile sinners, and perhaps we may be morally relatively better in relation to another person, but when my life and your life is measured against the standard of God’s holiness, you and I fail the test miserably! “There is no one righteous, no nor one!” (3:10).

It is against that background that the apostle Paul cries out, “Wretched man that I am! Who will deliver me from this body of death?” (7:25).   

Paul, like Isaiah in Isaiah 6:1-7 has seen the Lord, and he knows that he is undone! Knowing that you are undone begs us to ask the question, Who will deliver me from this body of death?”  

The answer is not slow in coming for Paul : “Thanks be to God through Jesus Christ our Lord!”

This is  Paul's great encouragement. This is our great encouragement.

This is the great answer to the question, “How will I stand one day before that great Judge of the Universe?” - Thanks be to God through Jesus Christ our Lord!”

Our acceptance by God can never be on the grounds of our personal merit. 

We have none!  

The only way to stand before God will be by Christ’s merit imputed to us: “In Him we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses, according to the riches of His grace…”(Eph. 1:7). There is the answer! There is the solution!   All you need to do is to believe in the Lord Jesus with your whole heart. 

And from this follows that great statement in Rom.8:1, “There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus.  

Now someone will say, “That is all very good, but how do I know that this is true for me? With all that remaining sin that still plagues me, how can I have assurance that I am a Christian, and that I will not stand condemned on the great day of Judgement? 

Again, the answer to this question follows in our text! The answer in a nutshell is this: The Holy Spirit makes the difference! 

The work of the Holy Spirit is introduced in 8:2: “For the law of the Spirit of life has set you free in Christ Jesus from the law of sin and death.” From this verse follows an ‘avalanche’ of verses that testify to the vital work of the Holy Spirit in the life of the believer. I have counted 20 references to the Holy Spirit from 8:2-27. We now have a wonderful opportunity to consider the work of the Holy Spirit, following our understanding of the work of Christ.

The primary work of the Holy Spirit is to provide us with an inner witness, an assurance that we are the children of God.  8:16 is our key text in this regard: “The Spirit Himself bears witness (testifies) with our spirit that we are children of God”.  

The question now follows: How do I know that the Holy Spirit is working in me?  It is actually the same question as - how do I know that I am in Christ? It is the same question as:   How do I know that I am born again?  Romans 8:5-11 greatly helps us.   

In this text we consider 

     1.      The marks of one who lives according to the flesh

2.      The marks of a Christian who lives according to the Spirit

3.      A bonus point  in 8:10,11

We begin with  the fact that there  is  a contrast made between the person who has the Spirit, and a person who does not have the Spirit.

The terms that Paul uses are, “those that live according to the flesh” and “those that live according to the Spirit”. 

We discover that there is a real difference between these two in terms of character, desires, attitudes, and conduct.

There are fundamental observable differences between the two, and the difference does not lie in the fact that Christians do not sin, while non-Christians do! The Holy Spirit  makes the difference!

1.       The Marks of one who lives according to the flesh.

“According to the flesh…”. Paul uses this term to describe fallen human nature, corrupted through the fall, directed and controlled by sin.   All our sinful  actions start in our mind, our   thought life, commonly referred to as the heart.   

•      A mind-set  rooted in the realm of the flesh is characterized by a focus on material things (8:5a). ”Those, who live according to the flesh set their minds on the things of the flesh.  This worldview completely ignores the spiritual nature of things.  There is no God in that worldview - and since the human heart craves to worship, it worships created things, rather than the Creator (1:25), thereby exchanging the truth of God for a lie. This is what Paul means by living according to the flesh and having set the mind on the things of the flesh.
•       In 8:7 Paul goes one step further. "For the mind set on the flesh is hostile to God, for it does not submit to God’s law; indeed, it cannot. “Not only is a mind set on the flesh worshipping the material world (nature etc.), but such a person is actually hostile to God.  Such a person is deeply resentful of God.  Such a person rejects God and His rule. This hostility is not necessarily seen in strong emotional fits of anger against God.  Atheists like Richard Dawkins write angry worded books against God. However, most people express their hostility simply in terms of ignoring God and doing life ‘their way’, excluding God from their  thought processes.   This is what Paul observes in 8:7b, "The mind set on the flesh is hostile toward God; for it does not submit itself to the law of God." 
•       And then at the end of 8:7 Paul says, “… indeed it cannot (submit to God).”  Why is that? Here the serious consequences of the fall need to be considered: “They are dead in their sins and trespasses!”  (Eph 2:1). The wages of sin is death (Rom. 6:23). This refers firstly to being spiritually dead to God, but secondly it means also that   our physical bodies die.   Dead men cannot respond.  The man of the flesh  is physically alive (for a while)  BUT he is spiritually dead.   
•      And so, we see in 8:8 that such a person cannot please God. These are indications of a person who is in the flesh, a person who is apart from the influences of the Holy Spirit.

          2.      The Mark of the Christian

Paul only gives one explicit contrast between the man in the flesh and the man in the Spirit.  You see this in 8:5. The man in the flesh is set on the flesh; the Christian’s mind is set on the things of the Spirit. He walks according to the Spirit (8:4).

• His mind, set on the Spirit is governed by life and peace (8:6). 
• By way of inference, this person is not hostile to God’s law (8:7b).  This person desires to do what is right (7:18b). This person delights in the law of God (7:22).  This is a mark of the spiritual man and woman. 
• This person, unlike the person who lives according to the flesh is able to please God (8:8 - deduction).
• We find then that the Christian who walks by the Spirit has a framework which is entirely different from the person who lives according to the flesh. All this is due to the fact that God has intervened in the life of the person who now lives according to the Spirit.  

The Holy Spirit makes the difference!   And just to drive the point home -  it is REALLY  the Spirit that makes the difference. 

Therefore we must affirm that the Christian is not inherently better than a non- Christian. There are many non- Christian people in this world who have a superior sense of charity or even moral virtue, when compared to a struggling Christian. But they are not Christians. A Christian is a redeemed sinner, saved by the blood of Jesus, forgiven by the Father, and being progressively renewed/sanctified by the Holy Spirit. Very often they have been saved from a very sinful background.  Such people who would trust in Him, Jesus came to save. And so, we say it again: The presence of the Holy Spirit in a believer makes the difference.  NO boasting is possible on our part. This is the work of God.

And so, in 8:9 Paul expresses his confidence in the spiritual state of these Roman Christians in 8: 9: “You Roman Christians are not in the flesh, but in the Spirit, if in fact the Spirit of God  dwells in you.”   

And so, to emphasize this point again, he adds, “Anyone who does not have the Spirit of Christ (NOTE - Spirit of Christ = Spirit of God) does not belong to him.  

To be a Christian means that you are in Christ AND you are Spirit filled. 

 A NOTE on the ‘inseparableness’ of Christ and the Holy Spirit.

·       A Christian by definition is in Christ.

·       A Christian is also indwelt by the Holy Spirit.

·      There have been those who have taught that one receives Christ first, and then at some later time you receive the Holy Spirit.  Paul strongly disagrees ! 

·       For Paul, to be in Christ is to be in the Spirit, and to be in the Spirit is to be in Christ.

·       If you are not in Christ, you are not in the Spirit.

·       If you are not in the Spirit, you are not in Christ.

·       Christ and the Holy Spirit are inseparable in the work of salvation.

·       You cannot be a Christian without the Holy Spirit.

[Incidentally – this is not discussed here, but worth noting: The observable marks of having the Holy Spirit are the new desires, and the new abilities to love God. Such desires and abilities are seen in fruit-bearing (see Galatians 5:22,23) ; In John 15:8 Jesus reminds us that we are appointed to bear much fruit. In that same chapter in John Jesus also speaks of the work of the Holy Spirit.

 3.      8:10,11 is a bonus point, a rich promise and a great encouragement:   The indwelling of the Spirit assures you of your resurrection.

“But if Christ is in you, although the body is dead because of sin, the Spirit is life because of righteousness”.  

At first glance this is a difficult verse. But it is not difficult.  What Paul is saying here is this:   If Christ is in you (even though your body is dead … or dying…  because of sin) - DON’T WORRY, because the Spirit of life is at work in you because you have been declared righteous by the shed blood of Jesus!

8:11 And this is what the Spirit of life will do (even though your body must die) … He who dwells in you NOW,  raised  Jesus from the dead, and therefore this Holy Spirit will also raise up/ resurrect (give life) to your mortal body.  

And I shall not only be raised from the dead, but now in this life He will continue to perfect in me that which God had first begun.  We shall pick up on that next time as we consider 8:12-17.

And so,  Paul reminds us again and again that the law in and of itself cannot supply the power to save us. It cannot supply the power to sanctify us. The law continues to be the standard of holiness, and as such we love the law and embrace it, but it has no power in itself to make us holy. It can only point out our many defects. 

The indwelling Holy Spirit alone that enables us to live the Christian life.  

The Holy Spirit makes the difference – and He does  this  on the basis of the shed blood of Jesus!