Please turn in your Bibles this morning to Romans chapter 8 as we look at how the Spirit of God sets us free. Over the past few weeks in our study in Romans we have been looking at the sanctification process, being set apart by God for His use, being transformed into vessels of honor for Him.
In Romans chapter 6 we saw how we are dead to sin, that sin should no longer rule over our lives, lord over our lives because the flesh has been crucified with Christ. Paul said in Romans 6:4-7, “Therefore we were buried with Him through baptism into death, that just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we also should walk in newness of life. For if we have been united together in the likeness of His death, certainly we also shall be in the likeness of His resurrection, knowing this, that our old man was crucified with Him, that the body of sin might be done away with, that we should no longer be slaves of sin. For he who has died has been freed from sin.”
From there we moved to Romans chapter 7 where we saw how we are not only dead to sin but now alive in Christ. Paul put it this way in Romans 7:4-6, “Therefore, my brethren, you also have become dead to the law through the body of Christ, that you may be married to another -- to Him who was raised from the dead, that we should bear fruit to God. For when we were in the flesh, the sinful passions which were aroused by the law were at work in our members to bear fruit to death. But now we have been delivered from the law, having died to what we were held by, so that we should serve in the newness of the Spirit and not in the oldness of the letter.”
Now in Romans chapter 8 we are going to see the power given to us to live that kind of life, a life that is pleasing to God. It is one thing to have the tools but without the power to run those tools, they are useless and they will not be able to function in the way they were created to function and the same is true in our own lives. We need the power of the Holy Spirit!
Now before we get into our text this morning, let me share with you this story that will help you to see what we will be talking about this morning, the power to live. The story goes like this:
Author Jamie Buckingham once visited a dam on the Columbia River. He’d always thought that the water spilling over the top provided the power, not realizing that it was just froth, that deep within the turbines and generators transformed the power of tons and tons of water to electricity – quietly, without notice, not like the flashy froth on top.
- Source Unknown
Folks, as we are going to see, that is how the Holy Spirit works within us, not with a flashy, frothy show but quietly, without notice, molding and shaping us into men and women of God – the sanctification process. Now Paul truly sets the stage for what he is talking about in chapter 8 back in the previous chapter where he says, “For I know that in me (that is, in my flesh) nothing good dwells; for to will is present with me, but how to perform what is good I do not find. For the good that I will to do, I do not do; but the evil I will not to do, that I practice. Now if I do what I will not to do, it is no longer I who do it, but sin that dwells in me. I find then a law, that evil is present with me, the one who wills to do good. For I delight in the law of God according to the inward man. But I see another law in my members, warring against the law of my mind, and bringing me into captivity to the law of sin which is in my members. O wretched man that I am! Who will deliver me from this body of death? I thank God -- through Jesus Christ our Lord! So then, with the mind I myself serve the law of God, but with the flesh the law of sin.” Romans 7:18-25.
It is the classic struggle between the flesh and the spirit and Paul is crying out for help to live a life that is pleasing to God, to have the power to walk in the Spirit so that he will not fulfill the lust of the flesh. So, with that said, let’s begin reading in Romans chapter 8, starting in verse 1 and see what the Lord has for us this morning.
In the first seven chapters of Romans the Spirit is only mentioned two times but here in Romans chapter 8 the Spirit is mentioned some twenty-two times. Why is that? Because it is the Spirit of God that gives us the power to defeat the flesh, to keep the flesh crucified!
I have broken these verses down into 3 sections: FREED FROM THE CONDEMNATION OF SIN – ROMANS 8:1-4; FREED FROM THE MINDSET OF SIN – ROMANS 8:5-8; FREED FROM THE RESTRAINTS OF SIN – ROMANS 8:9-11, and then I will give you two examples of men, one who walked in the power of the flesh and what it did to his life and the other who walked in the power of the Spirit and what it did in his life, and I have called this section FREED TO PUT INTO PRACTICE THE NEW LIFE. Thus, my prayer for this study is that you would be empowered by the Holy Spirit to live a life that is pleasing to God instead of a life that is in bondage to the flesh, trapped in sin!
1. FREED FROM THE CONDEMNATION OF SIN – ROMANS 8:1-4
Paul tells us that there are two laws in operation in our lives, on the spiritual level. One is the Law that brings about sin and death. It is not that the Law is bad, the Law is good but we are bad and can’t keep the Law and the Law could not change that fact, it was powerless to do so, all it could do is show us our condition – that we are sinners and because of that our wages are death!
The other Law that is at work is the Law of the Spirit that leads to life. You see, God sent His Son in the likeness of sinful flesh so that He could be the substitutionary sacrifice for our sins and thus, no longer do we receive the wages of sin, which is death, but now the free gift of God which is life that is found in Christ Jesus.
Think of it this way. There is a 747 airplane sitting on a runway and it will not just float into the air. Why is that? Because the law of gravity is in effect. But, if you take that same airplane and start the engines, as it travels down the runway and gains enough speed, it will lift off the ground because another law is in effect, the law of aerodynamics. It doesn’t negate the law of gravity for if you turned off the engines, it would drop to the ground for now the law of gravity would take over once again. You see the law of aerodynamics supercedes the law of gravity as the plane is flying just as the Law of the Spirit supercedes the Law of sin and death.
Because of that there is no, none, absolutely no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. You see, condemnation upon believers is from the Devil and it draws us away from God. “I’m not good enough!” “I haven’t read my Bible!” And it is this and that and the more you are condemned the more you isolate yourself from your Christian friends, from the church, from prayer, from reading your Bible and the Devil has you where he wants you – condemned with your witness of Jesus extinguished!
The Holy Spirit convicts us when we are going astray which does not drive us away from God but draws us close to Him, back to Him. David, in Psalm 119:9-11 said, “How can a young man cleanse his way? By taking heed according to Your word. With my whole heart I have sought You; Oh, let me not wander from Your commandments! Your word I have hidden in my heart, That I might not sin against You.”
You see, it is the Word of God, illuminated by the Spirit of God, to do the will of God – not condemnation but conviction. In knowing that it gives to us the freedom to live unto God, not by our strength, not by our might, but by the power of the Spirit, as Paul said, “For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus has made me free from the law of sin and death.”
2. FREED FROM THE MINDSET OF SIN – ROMANS 8:5-8
Do you see the two natures that are fighting to control your mind? They are the flesh nature and the spirit nature. One lives to satisfy the flesh, the other to please God, and you can tell what is controlling your life by what your mind is focused upon.
It is easy to fall prey to the mindset of sin, to become accustomed to sin and not to hate it as God does. How can we change, how can we have a heavenly mindset? Paul tells us in Romans 12:1-2, “I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that you present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable to God, which is your reasonable service. And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, that you may prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God.” Again, the Word of God illuminated by the Spirit of God to do the will of God will transform our minds; give to us a heavenly perspective!
Paul, in Colossians 3:1-4 tells us, “If then you were raised with Christ, seek those things which are above, where Christ is, sitting at the right hand of God. Set your mind on things above, not on things on the earth. For you died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God. When Christ who is our life appears, then you also will appear with Him in glory.” Again the picture is of sanctification and what you fill your mind with will overflow into your actions. Thus, fill your mind with the things of God and it is the nature of God that will flow from your life. It is as one person said, “Let the mind of the Master be the master of your mind.”
Also, as you are spiritually minded you find life – not just existence but abundant life, fruitful life and peace. It is as Isaiah 26:3 says, “You will keep him in perfect peace, Whose mind is stayed on You, Because he trusts in You.” Again, you can see where your mind is focused upon by the life you have and the peace you have. If you are at war with God walking in the flesh, fighting against the Spirit of God, you won’t find peace, you will have life but just existence, not the abundant life that God wants you to have. The power of the Holy Spirit has set us free from the mindset of sin – thus, may we live accordingly!
3. FREED FROM THE RESTRAINTS OF SIN – ROMANS 8:9-11
Sin has us chained up, in bondage but Christ has come to set us free from the bondage of sin and by the power of the Holy Spirit we can be freed from the restraints of sin in our lives. The problem comes when we think we know better than God and we do our own thing instead of doing what God wants. Thomas Huxley said: “A man’s worst difficulties begin when he is able to do as he likes.” I would have to agree with that, only adding that he is not doing what God desires of him to do.
Paul, in Colossians 1:13-14 tells us, “He has delivered us from the power of darkness and conveyed us into the kingdom of the Son of His love, in whom we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of sins.” God has done this for us and He has given us His Spirit to enable us to live that kind of life. Thus, don’t walk in darkness and become entangled in sin, restrained from living a life that is pleasing to God. We are no longer controlled by the flesh, but by the Spirit and thus, we should live accordingly.
4. FREED TO PUT INTO PRACTICE THE NEW LIFE
Now we are going to see how this is all played out in life by looking at two men. One is named Samson and the other David. One walked after the flesh and the other after the Spirit. One lived a life of defeat and the other a life of victory. One was in bondage the other was free. And as we look at these examples may we learn from these lessons to help us to grow and mature in the Lord for as Paul said in Romans 15:4, “For whatever things were written before were written for our learning, that we through the patience and comfort of the Scriptures might have hope.”
A. SAMSON – BONDAGE TO SIN – JUDGES 13-16
Samson was born during the period of the Judges in Israel, before the kings. And of his life we are told in Judges chapter 13, “‘For behold, you shall conceive and bear a son. And no razor shall come upon his head, for the child shall be a Nazirite to God from the womb; and he shall begin to deliver Israel out of the hand of the Philistines.’ . . . So the woman bore a son and called his name Samson; and the child grew, and the LORD blessed him. And the Spirit of the LORD began to move upon him at Mahaneh Dan between Zorah and Eshtaol.” Judges 13:5, 24-25. God was going to use Samson to deliver His people from the Philistines. He was born with a mission, for a purpose, as I believe every one of us is!
The problem for Samson was he didn’t crucify the flesh, put it to death, but instead he fed his flesh and it grew until it controlled his life, until the flesh lorded over him and it was what finally brought him down.
Samson started out by lusting after a Philistine woman, badgering his parents that he wanted her until they finally gave in and allowed him to marry this Philistine woman. But, through a series of circumstances, his immaturity, he left the wedding party in a huff and his father-in-law, thinking he was never coming back, gave his daughter to the best man of the wedding.
As Samson cooled down, after a period of time, he went back and when he saw what happened he was furious. So he caught 300 foxes, tied two each together tail to tail and placed a torch between, lit the torches and sent them through the Philistine grain fields, destroying them. When they found out why this happened to them, who did it and why, they killed, burned to death Samson’s wife and her father! Sin affects many people!
Then in Gaza he found a harlot and slept with her! This was a man of God and yet his actions spoke differently, they showed who was lord of his life, his flesh. Listen to what Paul admonishes us to do in I Thessalonians 4:1-8, “Finally then, brethren, we urge and exhort in the Lord Jesus that you should abound more and more, just as you received from us how you ought to walk and to please God; for you know what commandments we gave you through the Lord Jesus. For this is the will of God, your sanctification: that you should abstain from sexual immorality; that each of you should know how to possess his own vessel in sanctification and honor, not in passion of lust, like the Gentiles who do not know God; that no one should take advantage of and defraud his brother in this matter, because the Lord is the avenger of all such, as we also forewarned you and testified. For God did not call us to uncleanness, but in holiness. Therefore he who rejects this does not reject man, but God, who has also given us His Holy Spirit.” That is the will of God that we know how to control our bodily appetites, not feeding the flesh but starving the flesh and feeding the spirit, something that Samson did not do!
After that incident with the harlot, Samson fell in love or should I say he lusted after another Philistine woman whose name was Delilah. Now Delilah did not love Samson, she was interested in finding out where his power came from so she could tell the lords of the Philistines and she then would be rewarded for that information.
Each time Delilah asks where his strength comes from, he lies to her until finally he gives in and tells her. And when she had cut his hair, symbolic of his consecration unto God and his power, we are told in Judges 16:20, “And she said, ‘The Philistines are upon you, Samson!’ So he awoke from his sleep, and said, ‘I will go out as before, at other times, and shake myself free!’ But he did not know that the LORD had departed from him.” A life lived in the flesh is a life that is weak in the spirit and the result of that kind of life is told to us in Judges 16:21, “Then the Philistines took him and put out his eyes, and brought him down to Gaza. They bound him with bronze fetters, and he became a grinder in the prison.” Notice what sin does in our lives; it blinds us, and it binds us and it grinds at us!
And as Samson was grinding at the mill, walking in circles grinding the grain, he had time to repent and get right with God and as the Philistines gathered to worship their god, Dagon, they wanted to gloat over the man of God they defeated and they brought him into this stadium where they were worshiping their god to have Samson entertain them. And as Samson stood there, he placed his hands on the pillars and pushed them down, killing more Philistines in his death than in his life.
Samson could have walked in victory as he submitted to the power, the guiding of the Holy Spirit, but instead he grieved the Holy Spirit, he hindered the Holy Spirit’s work, and he lived a life of defeat instead of victory! What a powerful lesson for us to learn.
B. DAVID – FREE IN CHRIST – I SAMUEL 17
The Philistines, the perennial enemy of Israel, was once again warring against Israel and David, a young man was sent by his father to see how his brothers were doing in this battle and to bring some food to the captain who was over them. Now the Philistines had a giant of a warrior named Goliath, who stood over 9 feet tall, his body armor weighed over 125 pounds and the head of his spear weighed 15 pounds. And this Philistine, long before WWF or World Wrestling Federation was around, made this challenge to Israel, “Then he stood and cried out to the armies of Israel, and said to them, ‘Why have you come out to line up for battle? Am I not a Philistine, and you the servants of Saul? Choose a man for yourselves, and let him come down to me. If he is able to fight with me and kill me, then we will be your servants. But if I prevail against him and kill him, then you shall be our servants and serve us.’ And the Philistine said, ‘I defy the armies of Israel this day; give me a man, that we may fight together.’ When Saul and all Israel heard these words of the Philistine, they were dismayed and greatly afraid.” I Samuel 17:8-11.
As David approaches, this young teenager, and he sees Israel cowering in fear of this Philistine giant, he is outraged. Through a series of events, David is the man who stands up to fight against this giant with 5 smooth stones and a slingshot. As they come together get this picture in your mind – David maybe, some 5 feet tall and around 120 pounds and Goliath, over 9 feet tall and weighing in at over 600 pounds. Talk about intimidating!
Not only that, but the Philistine did some trash talking as we read in I Samuel 17:42-44, “And when the Philistine looked about and saw David, he disdained him; for he was only a youth, ruddy and good-looking. So the Philistine said to David, ‘Am I a dog, that you come to me with sticks?’ And the Philistine cursed David by his gods. And the Philistine said to David, ‘Come to me, and I will give your flesh to the birds of the air and the beasts of the field!’” In seeing this guy and hearing him say those words, I would be ready to exit stage left and hope I could out run him, but that is not what David did!
Notice what David does as he faces this giant in his life. We read in I Samuel 17:45-47, “Then David said to the Philistine, ‘You come to me with a sword, with a spear, and with a javelin. But I come to you in the name of the LORD of hosts, the God of the armies of Israel, whom you have defied. This day the LORD will deliver you into my hand, and I will strike you and take your head from you. And this day I will give the carcasses of the camp of the Philistines to the birds of the air and the wild beasts of the earth, that all the earth may know that there is a God in Israel. Then all this assembly shall know that the LORD does not save with sword and spear; for the battle is the LORD's, and He will give you into our hands.’” Do you see how he surrendered his life to the Lord, gave it to Him and then stepped forward in the strength of God’s Spirit and gained the victory as David used his sling and the rock and hit Goliath in the head dropping him to the ground. Yes, the battle is the Lords, but we must step forward in faith and the victory will be ours! It doesn’t matter how big those giants are in your life, give them to the Lord and see the victory He will bring in your life!
Samson starved the spirit and fed the flesh and the flesh destroyed, consumed his life. David fed the spirit and the flesh was crucified, it starved and he gained the victory. The same is true in your life, what are you feeding, the spirit or the flesh? You see, by what you are feeding that will be the controlling factor in your life. May it be the spirit!
As we have seen, we are freed from the condemnation of sin. We are freed from the mindset of sin. And lastly, we are freed from the restraints of sin. In knowing that, we are able to put into practice the new life we have in Christ and as Paul said in Galatians 5:16-18, “I say then: Walk in the Spirit, and you shall not fulfill the lust of the flesh. For the flesh lusts against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh; and these are contrary to one another, so that you do not do the things that you wish. But if you are led by the Spirit, you are not under the law.”
As I close this morning, let me leave you with these words from Peter Marshall who spoke these words before the U. S. Senate. He prayed:
Lord Jesus, thou who art the way, the truth, and the life; hear us as we pray for the truth that shall make all free. Teach us that liberty is not only to be loved but also to be lived. Liberty is too precious a thing to be buried in books. It costs too much to be hoarded. Help us to see that our liberty is not the right to do as we please, but the opportunity to please to do what is right.
- Peter Marshall, before the U. S. Senate
May we hate sin and love the LORD. May we not be slaves to sin but free in Christ. May we walk in the liberty we have in Christ, doing as He pleases in the power of the Holy Spirit – not in bondage, a slave to sin but free in Christ. As the Lord said to Zechariah, “ . . . ‘Not by might nor by power, but by My Spirit,' Says the LORD of hosts.’” May we live that way, continually submitting ourselves to the leading, the direction of the Holy Spirit and walk in victory that God desires us to have and not in defeat!