Romans 8:5-13

"Your Resurrection Is Sure"

Last Sunday we began looking at Paul's masterful summation of the 1st half of his letter to the Roman Christians.  Here Paul provides you with the absolute assurance that eternal life is your certain possession through faith in Jesus Christ.

In v. 1, Paul states emphatically that you will never experience condemnation of any kind from God.  Why?  The answer is both simple and profound.  You will never even taste one drop of condemnation or wrath from God because Jesus drank God's bowl of wrath for you and he drank it to the last drop.  There is nothing left to pour out upon you.  The payment has been made for you at Calvary, "It is finished," he cried from the cross for you, and God is now satisfied -- His justice has been met.

What you couldn't do in obedience to God's law, Jesus Christ has done for you.  What you couldn't do, God has done by sending his only, beloved Son to meet the demands of the law for you and to become your curse and to die your death.

And now you have received the gift of eternal life with God and you are as assured of that gift as you are that God has accepted the precious blood of His Son as payment for your sin. 

But, why has God done this for you?  So that Christ would condemn your sin through his flesh and that the righteous requirement of God's perfect and holy law would be met for you.

But then in v. 4 Paul adds what seems to be an impossible condition that you must meet before you can be sure that you have eternal life:  this gift belongs to those "who do not walk according to the flesh but according to the Spirit."  What?  How can this be? 

"Paul, are you saying that God has done all this work in Christ for us but now he has added what is an insurmountable barrier that no man can cross?  Who can possibly fulfill the demand to no longer walk in the flesh but walk only according to the Spirit?  After all, wasn't that the problem in the first place that Jesus Christ had to come and pay for?  Wasn't our struggle that we couldn't follow God and that we only disobeyed him by walking in the flesh?" 

Indeed, it seems at first glance that Paul has now brought us full circle back to condemnation.  If our salvation is now dependent upon our "walk" then who among us can do it?  Just as we proved unfaithful to God in the beginning, we know our own nature, and we can be sure that we will not fulfill this new demand any better.

So what are we to do? 

The answer is provided for us in our passage this morning and it begins by understanding just what Paul means when he describes your daily walk in the Spirit in v. 4.  It is clear that in vv. 3-4 that Paul is assuring you that the demands of the law have been met for you by Christ.  He then describes the life that has been produced by the work of Christ.

You are no longer those who "walk in the flesh" but you now "walk according to the Spirit of God."  But how is that possible?  Every thing in our daily experience seems to contradict such an assertion.  We continue to struggle with sin in our bodies.  We give in to temptation and we do not obey God and glorify him as we ought to.  Added to that we still succumb to worry and even have difficult bouts with sadness and even deep depression at times.  We get angry and loose our cool when we lost control of the situation.  We are often afflicted with sickness, pain, and suffering.  And we all surely taste death in only a short while.

So, how can it be that Paul states what seems to be ridiculous and impossible to our reason and our daily experience?

Because Paul is not talking about "your" daily experience at all.  What Paul is talking about is your new position in Christ.  Everything that Paul says in vv. 1-4 has to do with the objective work of Jesus Christ outside of you.  Jesus has done this for you, on your behalf, and you are now considered by God as being in Christ and walking in the new power of His Spirit. 

Think of it this way:  the old realm or sphere that you used to live in was under the federal headship or representation of Adam.  That is what Paul normally refers to as being "in the flesh."  To be in that realm all you had to do was be born.  This is the state of everyone who is outside of Christ.  Every unbeliever is considered by God as being "in the flesh."

But once you are born anew from above by God's Spirit, you have been transferred from the old realm of the flesh into the new realm of the Spirit.  This is your new position now that you are in Christ. 

So Paul is not talking about your behavior at all.  He is not speaking of you doing "fleshly" things.  He is speaking about your position in Christ.  This is how God now thinks of you.  Your life is either under the power of the flesh or you are under the power of the Spirit.  You cannot be in both realms at the same time and now that you have believed in Jesus Christ you can no longer live in the realm or dominion of the flesh.

Now, in vv. 5-8 Paul describes in more detail the nature of those who are "in the flesh," a life that you once lived outside of Christ.

In v. 5, Paul contrasts the life of the Spirit with the life of the flesh.  "For those who are according to the flesh," or unbelievers, they "set their minds on the things of the flesh" whereas "those who are according to the Spirit," those who are in Christ, set their minds "on the things of the Spirit."

The unbeliever sets his or her mind on the things of this world.  That makes sense because that is all they have -- this material world.  What else is there to set their mind on?  As Paul says in chap. 1:

They have exchanged the truth of God for a lie and worshipped the creature rather than the creator (Rom. 1:25).

Paul describes the life of the unbeliever in Ephesians:

You were dead in your trespasses and sins in which you formerly walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, of the spirit that is now working in the sons of disobedience. 3 Among them we too all formerly lived in the lusts of our flesh, indulging the desires of the flesh and of the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, even as the rest . . . you were at that time separate from Christ, excluded from the commonwealth of Israel, and strangers to the covenants of promise, having no hope and without God in the world (Eph. 2:1-3, 12).

But the believer in Jesus Christ sees another world, not by sight, but by faith.  We do not live in this world without hope in God.  We look not at the things of this world that are passing away, but to eternal things, spiritual things.  Paul says in Col.:

You have been raised up with Christ, keep seeking the things above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God. 2 Set your mind on the things above, not on the things that are on earth. 3 For you have died and your life is hidden with Christ in God. 4 When Christ, who is our life, is revealed, then you also will be revealed with Him in glory (Col. 3:1-4).

We live with our eyes gazed upon Heaven.  We live in hope of the coming of our King to consummate his glorious Kingdom.  We have been given the mind of Christ that we might now discern and understand spiritual things.  We have been born again so that we now see the kingdom of God as Jesus promised.

We now see the life to come -- it is ours by faith and one day we will know it by sight.  It is already ours given to us by Christ.

Again in v. 6, Paul says that the unbeliever's gaze upon this world only ends in death.  John, the apostle, said this about the world:

Do not love the world, nor the things in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him. 16 For all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh and the lust of the eyes and the boastful pride of life, is not from the Father, but is from the world. 17 And the world is passing away, and also its lusts; but the one who does the will of God abides forever (1 John 2:15-17).

Equally Paul exhorts us to:

But this I say, brethren, the time has been shortened . . . so that from now on those who weep, as though they did not weep; and those who rejoice, as though they did not rejoice; and those who buy, as though they did not possess; 31 and those who use the world, as though they did not make full use of it; for the form of this world is passing away (1 Cor. 7:30-31).

It is the unbeliever who "makes full use" of this world.  Why?  Because he does not see that the world is passing away.  This world is the beginning and the end of his life.  This is all he sees and it is a life that ends in death.  When this world and all that it contains is gone, everything the unbeliever has, including his own life, will be gone with it.  And at that point his or her only destiny is to be cast into Hell, in torment and utter darkness, for all eternity.

As Paul says in vv. 7-8, the mind of the flesh is hostile towards God -- it does not subject its life to the commandments of God because it is not even able to do so.  This is what we call in theology as the doctrine of total depravity.  The unbeliever lives in the deadly grip of sin, which colors his or her vision of life and pollutes every part of their being.  Therefore, it is a life that cannot please God.  The last thing the unbeliever wants to do is be in the presence of God.  He or she lives a life here on earth that is comfortable for them and that's exactly the way they want it.  They don't want to bow the knee to any other higher authority than themselves.  They are slaves to the dictates of their own fallen, sinful hearts.  And because the unbeliever is bound to his or her sin they are unable to rescue themselves from their fallen condition.

But the believer has already been rescued by Jesus Christ and therefore he or she sets his or her mind on eternal things, things which are above and seen only by the agency of the Spirit of Christ.  It is a life of faith that we see the unseen.  And it is this mindset that gives us life and peace even in the darkness of this world.  Not simply inner, subjective peace, but more importantly peace with God.  We have been reconciled with our Creator through our Redeemer.  And now the God of the universe has become loving, tender Father of us all. 

For the believer, this world is not all there is.  Nor is it the most important thing in their lives.  The believer is heavenly minded and sets his or her heart on Christ in heaven.  The believer constantly lives with being home sick -- longing to be with Christ in heaven.  As Paul says, "To live is Christ but to die is gain."

It is only as we understand the contrast between these two realms or worlds that we can then make sense of what Paul says in v. 9.  "You are not in the flesh but in the Spirit since the Spirit dwells in you."  The flesh belongs to this fallen world in rebellion to God.  And even though everything in our daily experience says that you are still "of the flesh," Paul emphatically denies that a Christian can belong to the flesh. 

You have been set free from that old life and you have become a part of the new creation, all old things have passed away, and behold, all things have become new.  This is true of you because you are now in Christ through faith.  His life has become your life and you now belong to God.  But how can you be sure? 

Because this possession of the Spirit is not based upon what you have done or what you now do.  Rather, it is and always will be based upon what Christ has done for you.  Therefore, you can be sure of your new life in the Spirit as you are sure that Christ has finished the work at Calvary.

It is this new life in the Spirit that now redefines your present life in this fallen world.  How so?  Well, your daily experience, as we have been saying, contradicts what is truly yours in Christ.  You still feel the weight of sin in your life and you will all one day see the full effect of sin in death.  Your body, no matter how healthy and strong it is today, will one day lie down for the last time and breathe its final breath. 

But even in death, the believer has a new life (v. 10).  For though the body of the believer still dies in this life, the part of you that is you lives on.  As Paul says, "Absent from the body, present with the Lord."  Death is not the end but the beginning to a whole new, glorious life in the presence of Christ.  It is the doorway into his heavenly temple.  It is our graduation from the tests and trials of life into the glorious rest in the almighty arms of God.

And this resurrection life is yours, not because of something you have done, but because of the perfect righteousness of Jesus Christ.  The Spirit has overshadowed you and dwells within you giving you the life of Christ that he lived, died, and was raised to give you (v. 11). 

Do you see what Paul is saying?  On the one hand, you have your life, which is still mortal, frail, and weak.  But on the other hand, you have the life of Christ outside of you, full of life and power, never to die again.  So how are these two connected?

By the Spirit who dwells in you.  He brings the life of Christ from heaven and graciously unites your mortal life to His so that as he raised Jesus from the dead, the Spirit will also raise your life from the grave.  Now, why do you think Paul brings these two together?  Because he wants to assure you that as the Spirit certainly raised Jesus from the grave, that you will know that He will certainly raise you from the dead as well.  There is no doubt about.  Christ's resurrection is your resurrection (cf. Rom. 6:5).  If Jesus Christ has been raised from the dead, you can be certain that one day the Spirit will lift your body from the grave and raise you up into the glory of the Son of life.

Now, the glorious result of this new life that you already possess is that, unlike the unbeliever who cannot please God, you have the incredible joy and privilege of right now living a life that is well-pleasing to God (vv. 12-13).  In fact, God has already ordained the good works and loving service one to another that you now walk in:

For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them (Eph. 2:10).

Since you have been set free from this old life of bondage to sin -- a life that ends in death -- you can now truly live your new life in Christ.  And it is the same Spirit who gave you life and will one day raise your mortal bodies from death, that is at work in you to transform you into the glorious image of Christ. 

Do you see what Paul is saying?  Not only can you be sure that you have this new life AND not only can you be sure that even when you die that you will live, BUT you can be equally sure that you no longer have to live your present life in bondage to sin so that you cannot please God.  But you are certain that God's Spirit is at work in you so that you might bear good fruit unto God.

And it is this glorious new power at work in you that Paul prays that you will all fully comprehend:

I pray that the eyes of your heart may be enlightened, so that you may know what is the hope of His calling, what are the riches of the glory of His inheritance in the saints, 19 and what is the surpassing greatness of His power toward us who believe. These are in accordance with the working of the strength of His might 20 which He brought about in Christ, when He raised Him from the dead, and seated Him at His right hand in the heavenly places (Eph. 1:18-20).

Amen!-SDG-