Romans – New Power

Ezekiel 36:25-27

Romans 8:1-4

 

  1. Well, here we are at the 3rd sermon in a sequence of 4 on Righteousness Imparted, and the 7th sermon in a series of 13 from Paul’s magnificent letter to the Romans. This means we are over half way through this study!
  2. I wonder if you are beginning to experience the revelation about this letter that we hoped you would – this is really a book of straightforward, essential Christianity. Romans is often presented as a complex theological book, perhaps even too complex for the common reader. Honestly, many times when I told people that Dan and I were going to preach Romans, they looked at me like I had gone stark, raving mad. Now, I admit that Paul writes like a scholar. I certainly have reread more than a few sentences these past couple of months, but at the core is a really basic message:
    1. All people, Jew and Gentile, law abiding and grievously wicked, man women and child alike are hopelessly lost before the almighty God.
    2. But do not despair, for the selfsame God, out of great love, and in his righteous demand for justice, came as a man himself, in the person of Jesus Christ, and by his obedience and resurrection has provided for the total justification of all who believe.
    3. Consequently, the redeemed have a new relationship with sin and life. They are dead to the condemnation and enslaving power of sin and have inherited a New Life in Christ.
    4. This of course, creates a great war within the “saved person” against the old sin habits and desires of “the flesh” or fallen humanity
    5. Which brings us to this week’s sermon – Where Paul says, do not worry over the struggle either! Remember there is no condemnation is Christ Jesus. For we have been imparted a New, overwhelming and victorious Power in the person of the Holy Spirit, God who literally dwells within us.
  3. Prayer
  4. Romans Chapter 8 – A New Power
    1. Open your Bibles to Romans Chapter 8, pew Bible page 800
    2. You know the problem with these weekly sermons is that we have to break the flow of this argument unto chunks that do not really exist. So I want to remind you that this discussion in 8 is part of Paul’s candid discussion about his own struggle with obedience in his new relationship to sin and new life in chapter 7.
    3. For the sake of discussion I will divide chapter 8 into 3 sections

1.      vv. 1-17           According to the Spirit

2.      vv. 18-30         Assurance of the Spirit

3.      vv. 31-39         A Joyful Outburst

                                                             ii.      Funny aside- I have to admit that while I am trying to make the argument of the simplicity of Romans, my first headings for these sections were:

1.      Kata Pnuema   2. Inaugurated Eschatology   3. Doxology

  1. vv. 1-17 According to the Spirit
    1. 1-17 really form the heart of Paul’s argument on life after the indwelling of the Holy Spirit., and is thus where we will spend most of our time.
    2. Vv. 1-4: as I said 8 follows 7. And before anyone could get concerned about the struggle, Paul reminds them that in Jesus there is no condemnation. We do not need to be afraid, butrather meet this issue with realism. He also handles the subsequent implied Question is “are Christians doomed to hopelessly struggle with this alien righteousness? Suffering ongoing defeats and forever, displeasing God with their behavior? Well, I think the answer may be Yes and No. We will struggle, but that is not the end of the war.  READ 1-4.

                                                              i.      You see Paul admits the struggle, but he does not intend to leave the reader in focusing in the struggle, but lifts the mind to focus on living Kata Pnuema –according to the Spirit!

                                                            ii.      My conflicting fear is that too many Christian read Chapter 7, and say, “see, even Paul struggled with obedience,” and then softly acquiesce to the “inevitability” of it all. Well, the Apostle Paul, wants us to do no such thing. Rather he introduces in chapter 8 the good news of the war! We have the power. The enemy CANNOT win. Everything we do is bathed in the ministry of the Spirit, and we are fundamentally pleasing to God.

    1. In vv. 5-10 He goes on to point out that there are really two types of people in the world.

                                                              i.      Vv.5 & 6 alternate in a perfect AB pattern regarding those who live Kata Pnuema or Kata Sarka    READ 5&6

1.      Flesh here is not Basar, but Sarx. Remember Paul is not a Greek dualist. He went out of his way in chapter 6 to make that clear. This is why the NIV translates as “sinful nature”

                                                            ii.      Vv. 7 and 8 simply elaborate on the hopelessness of category A

    1. V. 9, 10 make it clear that the believer is a category B person!  READ

                                                              i.      Paul forms a reverse syllogism

1.      You are not controlled by the sinful nature

2.      If the Spirit of God Lives in you, you are not controlled by the sinful nature

3.      If You belong to Christ, the Spirit of God Lives in you

                                                             ii.      In other words the Life of the Spirit is given to you. You do not choose the Life of the Spirit after you get saved. It is part and parcel of belonging to Christ. Like the New heart given in Ezekial ( Iwill will cleanse/ I will give/I will put. We are given a New Power in the presence of the Spirit. All of us!

    1. V. 11 Paul introduces the lasting effect of freedom from spiritual death, that is, actual freedom from lasting physical death. A promise that will consume Paul’s argument form v.17 to the end.
    2. Vv. 12-17 start with Paul’s most famous transition – therefore

                                                               i.      If in fact we are not condemned by sin, but rather have the Holy Spirit living in us, how should we live? Paul answers with a genuine obligation. First he states it in the negative READ 12, 13a Then in the positive, 13b

1.      This is no walk in the park, or quiet surrender. This is a fight, a war to KILL the old nature

                                                             ii.      Vv. 14-17 elaborates on the appeal of vv. 12-13 by describing the Spirit in the language of adoption, literally “son-making” instead of (fear) slavery. READ 14-16. Evidenced by Holy Spirit enabled the Abba-Father cry.

                                                            iii.      Now in verse V. 17, after establishing our genuine familial association with Jesus,  Paul transitions into the second segment of his argument –the role of the Spirit in our present suffering and our future GLORY with Christ guaranteed by the sign and seal of the Spirit.

  1. Vv. 18 -30 The Assurance of the Spirit
    1. Quite simply, Verses 18-35 remind us again of the significant Already-Not Yet component of our faith. Paul directs our attention, to unity with all of creation as we corporately groan while we await the final consummation and return of Christ. We groan in suffering and the creation groans in anticipation of the finishing of our adoption. We have the Spirit of adoption, but we are “waiting for the adoption, that is, the redemption of the body” (v. 23). The soul has been redeemed, but not the body. We wait in hope, however, because the indwelling Spirit is given as “the first fruits” of the deliverance God has for us in the future. [1]
    2. Vv. 26-27 return to the theme of our present groaning, or suffering and the ministry of the Holy Spirit. In which case our groaning actually takes the form of Intercession on our behalf by the work of the Spirit.
    3. Vv. 28-30 conclude Paul’s reflection on the present and the past and places everything in the context of God’s meta-strategy, working all things for our good, with the end Goal of conforming us to the likeness of Christ, that the he predestined, he called and those he called, he Justified and those he justified he also glorified, which returns him to where he began in verse 17.



  2. Vv. 31-39, A Joyful Outburst
    1. This section holds one of the most moving and theologically powerful examples of Paul’s signature rhetoric. I love that truth and beauty of the gospel overwhelms him. I can see him practically signing these final praises of the truth he has recently confessed.
  3. In short, chapter 8 makes this simple point
    1. Do not fear your struggle in with the old nature. Meet it head-on. For there is no condemnation for those in Christ Jesus. There is a New Power. The Spirit of Life has accomplished what the Law could not do with our sin –make an answer, a solution. You see in this world, there are two types of people. Those who do not know Jesus and live according to the fallen nature and those who have believed in Faith and have received life according to the Holy Spirit. You are the second kind of people. Consequently, you have a happy obligation to live that way. This is great news. The former things led to death and slavery. You had no freedom. Now you are free to obey the good Father. I mean for goodness sake, you have been taken in as actual sons and daughters not slaves. And sure, there is going to be the struggle, and you will face trials, but so in the Holy Spirit is with you in the struggle, and he covers you in a garment of praise and is the sure guarantee of your glorious future. He is the presence of your promise- Today and Tomorrow. Not only has your soul been saved but also your body. Isn’t this great, everything is coming together like God planned. He chose us, then he justified us, he is working in us in the person of the Holy Spirit, and he will finally glorify us someday! Wow! Wow! Wow! Hallelujah, nothing can separate us from the love of God!
  4. The Facts of the Matter
    1. So, if I could step-up on my soapbox for a moment I would like to make an additional practical point from chapter 8– THE HOLY SPIRIT IS NOT AN IDEA!

                                                              i.      The Holy Spirit is not the influence of the Father( Jehovah’s Witness). The Holy Spirit is not God manifested in you

                                                            ii.      The Holy Spirit is the actual, ontologically equal, third member of the beautiful God-Head. A genuine being totally separate and simultaneously totally intertwined into the other two.

                                                          iii.      And Paul, the great Christological theologian wants to make it clear how absolutely fundamental His ministry is in the life of the believer - Second only to the association with Christ Jesus.

                                                          iv.      I feel compelled to remind us that we are Trinitarians, from my conversations with lots of people that many Christians are philosophical Trinitarians but practical Binatarians, and the Spirit is reduced to a gray, oblong specter involved in the spiritually mysterious or manifesting socially embarrassing behavior. Certainly others have progressed to far off the other end of the spectrum as well.

                                                            v.      Now, Dan and I purposely designed the outline of this series so that this sermon would land on June 8, 2003 Pentecost Sunday

                                                           vi.      A day which traditionally this marks the 50th day following the Passover, the conclusion of the Passover period. The latter is evident from the fact that leavened bread could now again be brought as an offering celebrating the Feast of Weeks and the First-Fruits of the harvest.  In contrast to the great sobriety and solemnity of the Passover, Pentecost had a cheerful and merry character.

    1. But today some 2000 years later, right here in the funny little neo-classic church in the parking lot of a major Pentecostal church, we celebrate the unreserved outpouring of the Holy Spirit to the apostles at Jerusalem and subsequently to all believers. And such is my point, the point of this little church. We strive to incorporate the best of the traditional and the Pentecostal. Almost all religious types are comfortable with God, some struggle with Jesus, but many stuggle with the Holy Spirit. Here, we desire to declare the ministry of the WHOLE Godhead, Father, Son and Holy Spirit. Accordingly this and next week are set aside to declare the delightful ministry of the beloved Spirit. Thank be to God! All of them  :~) 

[1]Weirs, W. W. (1997, c1992). Wiersbe's expository outlines on the New Testament (Ro 8:1). Wheaton, Ill.: Victor Books.