Sermon: Spirit Wrought Obedience

Romans 8 and the Power of Spirit-Wrought Obedience

Good afternoon, brothers and sisters. Our text today is going to be from Paul's epistle to the Romans in chapter 8 if you want to open your Bibles there. I wasn't expecting to be with you in this capacity today, and yet here I am.

I enter the pulpit joyfully. The call must be answered. There's a lot of great work that the Lord is doing amongst, of course, Apologia Church Utah and our elders there. Or, we just returned from the G3 conference yesterday.

It was three days of service there on behalf of End Abortion Now, our ministry, and Action for Life, which is our political lobbying arm of that ministry. And I can't tell you how encouraged we were to be serving God there in that capacity amongst 6 ,400 believers.

In attendance, we were quite busy having conversations and making relationships and nurturing certain relationships. And I'm very, very excited about how many people know End Abortion Now, are involved with that ministry.

I spoke with a lady there who had started doing this type of work about two years ago. She started going to the abortion mills. We were able to equip her with materials. And two years later, she was telling me that she stopped counting after she had seen 60 babies saved from her work there.

So, praise God for that. That kind of story can be multiplied. God has been very, very gracious to us to allow us to equip local churches and to be a part of such an event like that. So we're very, very excited about all that He's doing.

I come to you today bringing a message from Romans 8. And really, I think the quotation that I chose that's on your bulletin is the best summation that I could give of the point of this message. And that is from Augustine.

Grace was given that the law might be fulfilled. The question that is before us today is where does the power of obedience come from for living the Christian life? And that's why the title of the message is Spirit Wrought Obedience.

Because we all know and are aware of the fact that God saves us by grace, through faith, in Christ, apart from any work that we can contribute to this gracious redemption. However, there is not just something that we have been saved from.

The curse of the law, the penalty of the law, the wrath of God, the just condemnation of God that rests upon us for our sins against a holy God. But we have been redeemed graciously by God and saved to something.

There is a purpose in our redemption outside of just going to heaven one day when we die. God has set apart good works for us to perform while we are here serving him in the world amongst the people of God.

And there is a lot of confusion and has been around this issue of justification, sanctification, the relationship between the two, the relationship between grace and works. And so the Apostle Paul, of course, is our guide in this and our authority comes from the text of God's word to hopefully provide clarity for this issue today.

So I want to read the text starting in verse one and then back up for just a few moments so that we can gather ourselves in the context of the passage and get up to this point. So that way, hopefully, this will be a meaningful application for us by the time it's all said and done, amen?

Amen.

These are the words of God. There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. For the law of the spirit of life has set you free in Christ Jesus from the law of sin and death. For God has done what the law, weakened by the flesh, could not do by sending His own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh and for sin, He condemned sin in the flesh in order that the righteous requirement of the law might be fulfilled in us who walk not according to the flesh, but according to the spirit.

Thus far as the reading of God's word, please join me in praying for the message. Our God and gracious heavenly Father, we thank you that we can gather together here today, Lord, amongst the chorus of crying children.

We thank you that you are among us, present with us by your very spirit, Lord God. You have blessed us today to be able to gather safely today to hear from your very mouth, Lord God, the words that are truth and life.

And God, we confess that we are not worthy to be under the hearing of your word today, but God, save for Jesus and the position that He has given us as a gift of your grace, Lord. We sit here today under the reading, under the hearing, and we ask that the word would have its intended effect in our hearts.

Lord, would you teach us today? Would you equip us? Would you open your word before the hearts and minds of your people and do what I cannot, Lord, and that is bring it home to the heart so that we can live in accordance with it, Father.

And we ask all of this in the name of Jesus Christ, amen. If you don't know Romans 8 1, get to know it. Lay it in your heart, of course. I think we all know it by this time, hopefully. No condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus.

This is a verse that we have tucked away to comfort us in times of sin, to remind us of our union with the Lord Jesus, the fact that we are hidden in Christ and in His righteousness. And there's gonna be talk of that in the message today because Paul spends quite a bit of time on that topic, union with Christ.

It's not something that is peripheral to the Christian life. It's absolutely central. And what does it mean, just to boil it all down? You are in Christ if you are a Christian. You are clothed in His righteousness.

What's true of Him is true of you if you have been joined to Him by God's gift of faith. And then conversely, the other side of it is, not only are you in Christ, not only do you share in His triumph, share in His victory, are protected in Him by your union with the Lord Jesus, but the Spirit of Jesus Christ dwells in you.

Paul says, I have been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me. The life I live, I live in the body and I live it by faith in the Son of God who loved me and gave Himself for me.

This idea of union with Christ, central to Christian obedience, the perfect harmony, really, if you will, of grace and works, of obedience and mercy. And so let's back up for just a moment here. If you're familiar with the epistle to the Romans, Paul starts out by presenting his gospel of grace, saying that he's unashamed of it, for it is the power of God unto salvation for everyone who believes, to the Jew first and also to the Greek.

And then he proceeds to talk about how the wrath of God is being revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men who by their unrighteousness suppress the truth. And he gives the greatest description imaginable of your heart and my heart before God.

How we know God exists but we refuse to honor Him and give Him glory and worship Him. Instead, we exchange that glory and we worship and serve the created things rather than the Creator who is blessed forever.

And of course, that manifests itself in a myriad of different ways, as is described by the vice list that comes at the end of Romans chapter one. But there's more. He moves into Romans chapter two, now turning his attention to what would be the covenant people of God.

Those who thought that because they possess the mere symbols of God and because they had the Torah and they went to synagogue, that somehow that exempted them from this rather scathing commentary in Romans chapter one.

But Paul says, there's no difference. You violate the law of God as well, which is why he tells them that it's not about circumcision as an external act. You have to be circumcised in the heart. You have to be changed from the inside out.

And so the reason that he is first turning his attention over here to what would be pagans and then moving over here to the covenant people of God is to, according to chapter three, unite for us into one man or under one umbrella, if you will, the reality that all of us stand condemned before God.

There is none righteous, no not one, no one who understands, no one who seeks for God. There's no hope in appealing to the law of God. We can't be justified in that way. We can't have a right standing with God in that way before the throne of God.

We will be judged by him and the law serves to shut us up before the throne of God so that we have no reply, no defense before God's courtroom, before the judge. And so you ought to be feeling the hopelessness of that by the time you get to verse 21 of Romans chapter three.

You ought to be quite depressed. And then, what does he say? But now the righteousness of God has been manifested apart from the law. Although the law and the prophets bear witness to it, it's not something novel in history.

This is what God planned all along and that is what? The redemption that is in Christ Jesus whom God ordained to be our propitiation. The sacrifice that takes away, that removes the wrath of God from us.

And so, all of humanity is condemned by the same standard and is justified in precisely the same fashion. Justified by his grace as a gift through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus. And as Paul goes along, you have to remember in this epistle, he's answering objections all the way through it, right?

The voice of the imaginary objector chirping in his ear. And so then he moves from chapter three into chapter four, laying down an exegetical and a theological argument using two heroes from church history.

Who are they? And Abraham and David. And so, he's making his case for justification by faith, talking about how it is the children of Abraham who share in Abraham's faith and they have this incredible inheritance now because the promise that Abraham would be heir of the world now comes to whoever is Abraham's seed, his child.

And you are only the child of God if you have the faith of Abraham. And so, because you have the faith of Abraham, that gives you access to all of the promises of this glorious inheritance that is yours in Christ Jesus.

And then, as he moves into chapter five, we have the presentation of two different men, two different covenant heads. You're either in one or in the other. Because you're justified by faith, that places you in Christ, which is much more than you could get from Father Adam.

He can only give you disobedience. He can only give you sin. He can only give you unrighteousness. He can only give you death as a consequence of what he imputes to you, what he credits to you, that, quite frankly, many people raise this objection.

You know, I didn't do anything to deserve that. I didn't have any part in that kind of thing. But then, making that objection, we have to be careful, of course, because we didn't deserve the fruits of the other man and his obedience, his perfect life, that is our substitute righteousness, that one act of righteousness.

And then the point of that is to tell us about this reign of grace that we have been transferred into by God's work, not our work. Scriptures are very clear. Paul says in 1 Corinthians, it is because of God that you are in Christ Jesus.

Because of God that you are in Christ Jesus. This is his work. He transferred you out of darkness and into light, into the kingdom of his beloved son. And then the objector comes and says, well, we can just do whatever we want then, because grace is just raining now so we can sin all the more, right?

Paul, is that what you're saying? And of course, what is his response? By no means. How shall we who died to sin still live in it? If you've been joined to Christ, if you have this Messiah as your substitute righteousness, then what does that mean?

You have died to sin. You have been crucified with Christ on that cross. You have been buried with him in that tomb. You have been raised with him to newness of life. And you have been seated with him in the heavenly places.

So because of this union, what's true of Christ is true of us. If we have been united with him in a death like his, we will be united with him in a resurrection like his. So that perfect security that you enjoy as a believer also translates to your sanctification.

God has not only predestined you to be elected, to be justified, but he has predestined you, believer, unto glorification. Do you know what that means? That means if you're in Christ, you will make it to the end.

You have every assurance that God has given you predestined unto glorification. It's so certain in the mind of God that you will make it to the end. So that includes every provision for your sanctification, for you to walk in obedience to God as you live the Christian life.

And that's really what this message is about. It's about the power of that obedience. Because union with Christ has to do with the fact that we have been justified of the law is the exact word that's used in the text in the original language in chapter six.

Now, what does that mean? Christ has saved us from the penalty of the law. What ought to have fallen on us fell upon him. He became the curse. He took the punishment in our place. So as to the demand of the law for that righteousness to be justified in God's sight, Christ satisfied that perfectly.

That was his work, of course. And then in Romans chapter seven, what are we told? Paul gives this example about marriage, right? You're only obligated to serve in this way to a spouse as long as there's no death.

But what's happened? You have died to the law. You have died to its penalty, died to the curse of the law. And so what is he telling us? This is a legitimate union. This is not an illegitimate union with the Lord Jesus.

There has actually been a transfer of ownership. You have been taken from the domain of sin and transferred into the arms of a new master so that you no longer serve sin and are its slave. Being a slave is unavoidable, but there's only one slavery that leads to freedom, and that's being the slave of Jesus Christ.

That's the message. Unbelievers say that all the time, don't they? I could never become a Christian because I don't want my freedom violated, thinking that somehow they're free. But it's not true. If you're outside of Christ, you're a slave to sin.

And the only thing that sin pays as a wage is death. He's a vicious taskmaster, and you will not get out until you have paid the last penny. He will take it all from you. He is a tyrant, but the free gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ, our Lord, the free gift of God.

And so, coming to the end of chapter seven, leading up now to Romans chapter eight, you have this discussion of Paul wrestling with something. He's talking about this conflict that's within him, and he's talking about these principles that are at war within his mind and his heart.

Now, a lot of believers have looked at this passage in the past and believe that it's talking somehow about just Christian sanctification. I don't do the things that I want to do. I do the things that I don't want to do, but I would take the perspective, we would take the perspective as a church, as other men of God in the past have, I believe it's well-supported, that Paul is actually addressing what it means to be and to struggle as a Jew living under Torah, wrestling with the law.

He delights in the law of God and the inner man, but what's missing? He can't do it. He can't carry it out. There's no power to affect the obedience. As a Jew, he loves the law of God. He's raised on it.

And yet there is this principle at work within him, right?

The law.

But at the end of this, it's important because this kind of, it helps really illuminate the understanding of this in verse 21 of chapter seven. He says, I find it to be a law that when I want to do right, evil lies close at hand.

So law in this sense means principle. There is a power at war within him. And that is warring against his desire to be obedient so that he can't carry it out. Can't do it. And then he moves into chapter eight in that tremendous statement.

There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. This work of God and justification that delivers us from the curse of the law and the penalty of sin, where our guilt is removed by the imputation of Christ's righteousness.

Our legal condition is changed by God's judicial act. And that grants me and grants you the right to enjoy God forever. And that's what salvation is, by the way. God allowing us, as John Piper says, and I think it's very well put, to make much of God forever.

The enjoyment of God. That's where all of history is going for the people of God, to the praise and the glory of praising that grace. However, Paul makes very, very clear that salvation is not just freedom from guilt, but freedom from moral pollution.

It's not just about atonement for sin, but our renewal. Not just pardon, but purification. Not just pardon, but purification. The work of the Spirit liberates us from our bondage to sin, breaking its power over our lives.

And that's what it means to be sanctified, to be set apart by God, to be recreated in the image of God. And it is this progressive growth in our own experience towards the righteousness that has already been credited.

To us by faith.

That's sanctification. The progressive growing in our righteousness towards what God, the status that He's given to us.

In justification.

It is the process by which God prepares us for the enjoyment of eternal life. And how does He do this? How does this take place for us? By dying to sin and living in conformity to His will. So there is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus.

So conversely, what does that mean? Outside of Christ Jesus, there is only condemnation. Only condemnation outside of Him. There is no hope, there is no help, there is no refuge. There is no peace with God outside of this Messiah and His perfect finished work.

So for those who are in Christ Jesus, there is no condemnation. Lay it on your heart, lay it on your mind. And then, verse two, the law of the spirit of life has set you free in Christ Jesus from the law of sin and death.

Again, the law as in this new principle that is present in the heart of every believer. This new power that is driving out sin, that is teaching us to renounce sin and to pursue righteousness and holiness.

This is why, as Paul makes abundantly clear, grace is no excuse to sin. Grace is actually the deterrent of sin. In contrast to what the accusers were bringing before him, do whatever you want because you're under grace, right?

On the contrary, grace prevents us from sinning because God's superior power is revealed in the spirit who now takes up residence in the heart of every believer and causes us to love God. You heard it in the Psalm read at the beginning of the service.

I delight to do your will, O God. Your instruction is in my heart. Jesus quoted that of himself in the New Testament. I delight to do your will, O God. In Jesus now, the relationship of the believer to the law is no longer one of hostility because of our inability to keep it, because of its ability to aggravate the offense within us and actually make it worse and show us how far we fall short.

Grace is not an excuse to sin. The ground of the believer's justification, our status, is that there's no condemnation in Christ for us. And the evidence that this is true is seen in the fact that the power of the spirit is overcoming the power of sin in our lives and setting us free.

The walking out of our new lives is the outcome of our new status secured by Christ. The law of the spirit of life has set you free in Christ Jesus from the law of sin and death. This is reality. This is an accomplished work of God that we now experientially walk in, right?

It's like a child putting on his father's clothes. What does it look like? A little boy puts on his father's jacket and the sleeves hang all the way down past his fingertips, right? And he looks silly because it's too big for him.

But as he grows up into the image of his father, righteousness becomes him. It fits him. It clothes him. And he grows into maturity as a man, walking in righteousness, being sanctified. As Paul says elsewhere in the book of Ephesians, God has ordained the means by which we grow up into Christ.

And that is in the fellowship of the church of Jesus Christ. We grow up into maturity, into the man, into the head, the Lord Jesus Christ. And then in verse three, God has done what the law weakened by the flesh.

Could not do.

By sending his own son in the likeness of sinful flesh and for sin, he condemned sin in the flesh. What's very important here is that he sent his son in the likeness of sinful flesh. Jesus never sinned, but he assumed the nature of a man.

He himself likewise partook of the same so that it was necessary for him to be our representative. And God in Jesus condemned sin in the righteous one. For our sake, he made him who knew no sin, sin on our behalf so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.

And so what's highlighted here is the inability of the law to justify us and the inability of the law to produce the obedience that God commands. It wasn't the law that brought death to him, but his captivity to sin's power.

The only thing the law can do is shine a light on sin and expose it for what it is. So the law isn't going anywhere. Proof of that, the cross. Jesus went to the cross because someone had to die for sin.

There was a price that had to be paid, which is why Christ went to the cross. But according to where we're getting in verse four, God has done something else. He has sent his son in the likeness of sinful flesh.

Galatians 4 .4, but when the fullness of time had come, God sent forth his son born of woman, born under the law to redeem those who were under the law so that we might receive adoption as sons. Hebrews 2 .14, since therefore the children share in flesh and blood, he himself likewise partook of the same things that through death he might destroy the one who has the power of death, that is the devil, and deliver all those who through fear of death were subject to lifelong slavery because that's what fear of death is, slavery.

Slavery to sin. So the law demands that payment be made for sin and Jesus who obeyed the law was put to death for the sins of those who by faith are placed in him. Some people say the cross is only about God's grace, but as another brilliant man says, if you look at the cross and you do not see the justice of God, then you will miss the grace of God as well.

You need the two together. God's law says that sinners must die because the law obligates death for payment, Christ the righteous one took that penalty and so sin was condemned in the flesh. The sins of all those whom the son was representing on the cross were punished in him, paid for and paid in full.

The death of Jesus shows us that the law of God is eternally valid and as you get to verse four of chapter eight, what does it say? He condemns sin in the flesh in order that the righteous requirement of the law and you would almost expect it to say would be satisfied by Jesus's death, yes?

But he says so that the righteous requirement of the law might be fulfilled in us. Interesting, isn't it? Our debt to God has been satisfied, but our relationship now to the law has changed. No more hostility, now the commandments of God are no longer burdensome or they shouldn't be at least for the believer.

Because of God's work, the law has done something and is something for us now that is remarkable. We are empowered now by God's grace to keep the law. Christian sanctification is law oriented. Now just to hammer it home to make sure that nobody misunderstands this, we are saved by grace alone, amen?

Amen.

But Christian sanctification must have an objective reference point. We can't make it up as we go, right? God's word is the blueprint for Christian ethics. It's the guide, it's the standard for how we live our lives as Christians.

So Paul already tells us that justification must be followed by a sanctified life. We've seen this in our lives. You see people that profess faith in Christ and there is no visible difference to how they were living before, right?

If there's no sanctification, if there's no desire for holiness, if there's no desire to flee sin, can we say that justification has truly taken place? It is absolutely necessary that it follows. If Jesus has saved us, Paul's whole point is that we will walk in obedience because the power of grace, the power of the spirit of life has triumphed over the law of sin.

Now, I want to talk here for just a moment.

About verse four, this word fulfilled.

If you have been going to Apologia Church for any length of time, you have been blessed by the 20 year long series in the book of Matthew. And you've probably heard this text quoted more often than not when it comes to Jesus's view of the law of God.

What does he say in Matthew 5, verse 17? Don't even let it enter your mind. Meno mesete. Don't even begin to think that I have come to abolish the law or the prophets. I did not come to abolish them, but to what?

Fulfill them. Now that word does not mean change. Fulfill, in its truest sense, means to confirm, to establish, to ratify. Quite literally, to give its proper measure or to put into effect. And that's what Christ came to do.

And he exposes the law in the sermon on the mount in a way that absolutely takes the legs off of his contemporaries of the day who made it all about externals.

Right?

Isn't that what he did? So he does this, and then Paul tells us that God has put forward Jesus in order that the righteous requirement of the law would be what? Fulfilled, and it's the same word. Fulfilled in us who what?

Walk not according to the flesh, but according to the Spirit. For the believer, something drastic has changed. And what is that something? Titus 2 .13 and 14, back up to verse 11. For the grace of God has appeared, the grace of God has appeared, bringing salvation for all people, training us to renounce ungodliness and worldly passions and live self-controlled, upright, and godly lives in the present age, waiting for our blessed hope, the appearing of the glory of our great God and Savior, Jesus Christ, who gave himself for us to redeem us from all lawlessness.

How does John in his epistle define sin? Sin is, it's a catechism question, sin is any transgression of the revealed will of God. And John says, sin is lawlessness. That's what we're saved from, right?

So we're saved from lawlessness, so what happens now? What are we saved to in Christ Jesus with the Spirit of God living within us? Lawfulness, we are saved, bought by the blood of Christ from lawlessness with the intention of Christ to purify us for good works.

I sincerely hope that we all know it, Ephesians chapter two, verse eight. For by grace you have been saved through faith, and this is not your own doing, it is the gift of God, not a result of work, so that no one may boast.

But hold on a minute, for we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand that we should walk in them. So here's the point, the demand of God's law is still in effect.

The law cannot justify us, it cannot save us, but for those who are in Christ Jesus who enjoy all of the blessings of being joined to Christ, our standard is, of course, the word of God, and God will see to it, through his sanctifying work, that we are conformed to the standard of obedience, the word of God, the law of God.

The miracle of this new status, this relationship with God that we have, is that he himself supplies the very thing that he demands. He himself supplies the very thing that he demands. He demands it, we can't do it, he gives it to us by grace.

Salvation is not freedom from the law, but only from its curse. If God saved us from sin and saved us to good works, you think about it for a minute and consider it, how do we know what holiness is and what sin is?

We must have the standard before us to show us what we are to flee and what we are to pursue, to show us what pleases God and what does not please God, what is righteous and what is unrighteous, and some will say, well, why do we need that?

We have love, right, it's all about love, that's the summation of the law and prophets, really. Right, but just because something is a summary of it doesn't mean that the content of that revelation is somehow just negated now, as in it's all just subsumed under love.

What is love without content? What is love without a standard that shows me what love looks like? What righteous conduct requires of me to love my neighbor? We don't decide the blueprint for the Christian life.

We don't get to do that. We don't get to make it up as we go. We don't get to be autonomous to have ourself be the reference point. Paul is clear that as believers, he says this in chapter six, because of this status that we have, this relationship now in Christ, we must count ourselves dead to sin and alive to God in Christ.

This is huge.

Believer, this is how you are to consider yourself, dead to sin and alive to God in Christ. In other words, let it dawn on you that this is your status now in Jesus. This is how you're to see yourself.

This is how you are to count yourself. If we're in Christ, then we're indwelt by the Spirit and we can obey God. That's the punch behind what he's saying here is that you can now obey because there is a foreign and alien power now that is at work in you, allowing you to fulfill the law of God in the way that it was intended, serving in the new way of the Spirit rather than in the old way of the written code.

The glory of this new covenant that Jesus has inaugurated is not that he has implemented some new law, but that he has taken the same law that he is the author of and given us new power to obey. I'll say that one more time.

The glory of the new covenant. Jesus has inaugurated is not that he has implemented a new law, but that he has taken the same law that he is the author of and given us new power to obey. You turn with me quickly to 2 Corinthians 3.

Paul here at the end of chapter two asked the question, who is sufficient for these things? Talking about his commission to speak for the Lord in Christ. And then he says in verse one of chapter three, are we beginning to commend ourselves again or do we need as some do letters of recommendation to you or from you?

You yourselves are our letter of recommendation written on our hearts to be known and read by all. And you show that you are a letter from Christ delivered by us, written not with ink, but with the Spirit of the living God, not on tablets of stone, but on tablets of human hearts.

Such is the confidence that we have through Christ toward God, not that we are sufficient in ourselves to claim anything is coming for us, but our sufficiency is from God who has made us sufficient to be ministers of a new covenant, not of the letter, but of the Spirit.