Romans 8:1-17
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Now it’s interesting, in the last week I had several
conversations with people that asked me about ‘soul sleep’,
talking about death. A few of my friends say when you die that you
lay in your body in the ground until the resurrection. I ain’t doing that. [laughter] I
ain’t doing that. Elijah
when he goes up to Zeraphath and he’s staying with a widow,
the widow’s son dies. Elijah throws himself on that boy three times
and prays for that boy. It
says the third time, his soul came into him again.
The soul wasn’t laying there in the body. [Solomon talks of the spirit in man, which is
this “soul” in Ecclesiastes.
Solomon said that the spirit in man when he dies goes
to heaven, but the spirit’s of the animals goes into the ground.
But Solomon also said that the dead know nothing after
death, indicating that this “spirit-in-man” could be unconscious when it goes to heaven (and is safely stored
by the Lord), not conscious, until it is re-united with the
new bodies we receive at the resurrection to immortality.
This is one biblical interpretation based on solid
Scripture in Ecclesiastes.
Other more allegorical passages in the New Testament
appear to point to the spirit in man being conscious after
death. When the Bible
leaves a teaching like this in an either-or category, it means
it’s a totally secondary issue, and we’ll know when it happens,
or we’ll know later, it’s not important.
So believe whichever way you wish, and we’ll all find
out when we die. Either
way, in our next conscious moment, we’ll either be in heaven
with the Lord, or awakening in our new resurrected bodies
at Jesus Christ’s 2nd coming.
Way too much preaching effort goes into this secondary
Biblical issue. This
passage that Pastor Joe gives of David could fit into either
interpretation with no problems at all, conscious or unconscious
‘spirit-in-man.’] David says of the young boy that died, of Bathsheba,
he’s no longer going to come and be with me, but I will go
to be with him, indicating that he had already departed. Paul said, ‘I’d rather depart and be with Christ.’
It’s far better. Paul doesn’t say, “Oh yippee, I can’t wait to
lay in the dirt.” Lazarus
and the rich man, they weren’t laying in their bodies.
[that is an allegorical proverb, which could be taken
literally or figuratively.
But which way Jesus wanted us to take it is not clear.]
Abraham’s bosom, the rich man in torment.
Revelation chapter 6, the souls of those who were slain
for Christ were under the altar in heaven talking to God,
saying ‘How long oh Lord.’ They weren’t in their bodies. [This could be an allegorical passage too, or
it could be meant to be taken literally.
It’s one of those grey areas of biblical interpretation
which different denominations differ on.
We’ll find out later.
And compared with the forever and forever time-span
we’ll spend with the Lord in new spirit bodies, glowing like
the sun after his 2nd coming, this temporary state
of being “spirits” in heaven will be like a nano-second of
our out-of-body existence.
So much effort is expended on trying to nail down a
totally temporary out-of-body existence we spend with the
Lord in heaven waiting for the re-uniting with our bodies
at his 2nd coming.]
So, for you and I, though presently the law of sin
and death is still having its ravages on the physical frame,
we’re aging, we’re wearing out, we haven’t yet realized the
purpose God has for this physical frame. Because the body that God has made for us to
be eternal in the heavens, is a spirit-drive model, not a blood-drive system. ‘Touch me, doth a spirit have flesh and bone?’
It doesn’t say ‘flesh and blood.’
And that model is going through walls, appearing and
disappearing—traveling, I assume, much faster than the speed
of light—at the speed of thought.
So, the promise is, one day, though this is not heaven
now, this is earth, one day, the same Spirit that raised Christ
from the dead, that He will raise your physical frame also
from the dead. See,
we as Christians don’t just believe in life after death, some
ozone, some spiritual realm.
See Aunt Tillie and go and run right through her.
Jesus said ‘Touch me.’
He said to Mary ‘Let go of me, I haven’t yet ascended
to the Father.’ They embraced him, they held onto him. See, that’s resurrection. Not just life beyond the grave, it’s resurrection.
That’s what we believe in.
I think of so many from church that have gone on.
And I have this great confidence that when I see them,
there’s going to be a warm embrace, a reality.
No, the more amazing thing is, that would indicate
that just like those disciples on Resurrection morning, you’re
also going to feel his embrace and put your arms around him. And it says “he himself will wipe the tears
from our eyes.” What
a day. All the food there is no-cal. No carbohydrate diets or protein diets. If your bald husband goes to heaven before you,
somebody’s going to have to say ‘Oh, see that guy over there
with all that long black hair?
That’s him, and he doesn’t look like he did when he
left, but who he is now.’ “Thirty Something”, seems like not a TV show
but an eternal state. “But if the Spirit of him who raised up Jesus
from the dead dwells in you, he that raised up Christ from
the dead shall also quicken your mortal bodies by his Spirit
that dwelleth in you. (verse 11)
Therefore...”—now speaking about all this
stuff we’re talking about. I’m talking to you that believe.—“Therefore brethren”—this is a family
thing. If you’re not
saved tonight, you think they got me from the banana farm,
I know what you’re thinking. And you think they need to send me back to the
banana farm. Brethren,
this is for God’s family.
“Therefore brethren, we are debtors not to the flesh to live after the
flesh, for if you live”—perpetually—“after the flesh”—this
is suppositional—“you shall die.”
That’s the life of the unbeliever.
“But if through the Spirit you do continually
put to death the deeds of the body you shall live.” (verses
12-13) So what
he says is this. ‘We’re not indebted to the flesh.’ Look at all this remarkable stuff we talked
about. Yeah, we’re
wearing out now, yes we live in a fallen world, yes, all of
that is taking a toll on us. And yes, there’s this struggle within, we have
this new-birth, and there is something in us that longs for
the things of God, there is something in us that sets its
affection on things above and not of things of the earth—something
that was never there before the new-birth, that marvelous
thing that takes place now.
And God has taken away our hearts of stone and he has
given us hearts of flesh, and our hearts break now and tears
come to our tear ducts and God’s done a wonderful work in
us. And he’s given
us a future and a hope that is undefiled, incorruptible, that
fadeth not away. He
has put all of that before us, and as we consider all of that,
Paul says, ‘So then, we’re not indebted to the flesh, there
wasn’t anything in it, it was just bringing us to death.’ It never had anything for us and never produced
anything in us. There
was no future there, so we’re not indebted to it, to serve
it, to yield to it. Because if that’s all we ever do, we’re not
saved. But if through the Spirit, God’s Spirit, that’s the context, we do continually
put to death the works of the flesh, we shall live, eternally. He says there’s a certain kind of living
that causes death, and there’s a certain kind of killing that
brings life. There’s a living that’s constantly geared toward
the flesh, and if that’s the way someone lives, they’re headed
towards death. There’s
a killing which is constantly mortifying our—putting to death
the deeds of the flesh—that leads to life.
And we always have people in the church saying, “I’m
tired, I can’t go on, I’m tired of it, I hate myself, I’m
gonna kill myself.’ Well
there’s a way to do that.
And it ain’t the way you think.
And I always say, there’s no sense killing your body.
It got dressed, it came to church and it griped.
It drove a car, it combed its hair, what you’re trying
to kill is inside. You’re not trying to kill your body. You’re trying to kill the pain that’s inside.
That’s how Satan deceives people in the world into
thinking that if they kill themselves it will be over. No, it’s just beginning for eternity then.
He knows he has them. [There are numerous differing beliefs about
what hell is within the body of Christ.
Be sure to check this interesting topic out at http://www.unityinchrist.com/plaintruth/battle.htm.] But for the Christian, some feel like saying,
‘I don’t want to go on anymore.
I don’t want to live.’
Now we understand some of that.
Paul says, him and Silas despaired of life itself,
they were pressed beyond measure. But Paul also tells us the secret. “I am crucified with Christ, nevertheless I
live, yet not I but Christ liveth in me, and the life that
I now live in the flesh I live for the Son of God who loved
me and gave himself for me.” There is a way to put ourselves to death, and
it’s putting to death that thing inside.
And if we live that way, habitually putting to death,
killing, mortifying the deeds of the flesh, we’re headed for
life. We’re headed for life, if we habitually live
after the carnal nature, that’s evidence that we’re headed
for death. We’re not saved. [Now various differing fellowships have different
interpretations here. Calvary
Chapel’s believe in the “once saved, always saved” doctrine. Others believe a believer can lose out if he
or she enters back into habitual sin and doesn’t repent of
it. Dr. Michael L. Brown says believers can become
re-bound in sin. So
there are differing interpretations here.
The Bible teaches sort of in both directions, so this
is definitely a doctrine in the gray area of interpretation.
But if you find yourself in that boat and you know
you’re a believer, this is what you do.]
And the sad thing is you hear Christians say, “I can’t
help myself, I didn’t mean to do it.” Yes you did. “I didn’t mean to drink [to excess],
somebody grabbed me and pulled me into the bar, and made my
mouth say ‘Give me a beer, a shot’n a beer,’ it just came
out of my mouth and something made my hand go like this to
the bar, and something made my hand go to my mouth and I was
trying to fight it off and I couldn’t stop.” Wait a minute. It says we’re not debtors to the flesh to serve
the flesh, we’re not indebted to the flesh. And through the power of God’s Holy Spirit we
don’t have to do that. So,
no one can say “I can’t help it, I just do it.”
No, no, no, no. If
you’re convinced that you have no strength over that, get
alone with the Lord, and get on your knees, and say ‘Lord
Jesus, you need to make the law of the Spirit of life in Christ
Jesus a reality in my life—not just to speak in tongues—but
to be led of the Spirit of God, to have a transformed life.
Lord, your power, your Holy Spirit, not just to talk
about and have a theological position, but a reality in my
life, Lord. Set me
free, break this bondage.
You’re the Lord of the universe, you’re Almighty, you’re
my Strong Tower, you’re my Healer, you’re my Provider, you’re
my Peace. Lord, you’re my Saviour, you’re my Father, my
Brother, set me free.’ And
I believe he can do that.
And I live in the middle of thousands of people that
are testimonies to the fact that he can do that. [There are over 3,000 people in Pastor Joe Focht’s
congregation.] We’re
not indebted to the flesh.
We’re not debtors to that.
It can’t come around and try to get payments out of
us all of the time. We’re
not indebted to it.
“For as many as are led by the Spirit of God,
they are the sons of God.” (verse 14)
As many as are led.
Notice, the steam just isn’t in the engine to blow
the whistle, it’s there to move the train.
Those that are led, interesting, led. It means to be directed, led. It means to be guided. It’s used in the sense of a companion in a wedding
ceremony, to be led is to have him as our companion. It’s used in the sense of being “protected.”
Led, of God’s Spirit, guided
and protected by him, strengthened by him, companioned by
him, led
of God’s Holy Spirit. “Those that are led by the Spirit of God,
they are the sons of God.”
And by the way, and
daughters.
“For ye have not received the spirit of bondage
again to fear”—slavery is the idea, you’re not a slave
to fear—“but you have received the Spirit of adoption,
whereby we cry Abba, Father.”
He says “we
haven’t received the spirit of bondage again to fear.” (verse
15) How many Christians
to you know, thinking ‘Oh, if I mess up, he’s got his gun
out, he’s gonna make me dance.
He’s gonna get me if I mess up, blam!
He’s gonna shoot at my feet with lightning, make me
dance, dance, you!’ You’re
laughing, but how many Christians are in that bondage to fear?
That’s not what he’s called us to.
[remember that prayer he just gave for you to pray
to Jesus, Yeshua, if you find yourself in bondage to a sin?
When you pray that, you’re praying that to your elder
Brother, Jesus, Yeshua, and to your heavenly Father, Abba.
Through the Holy Spirit they come running and set you
free. It’s a loving family relationship. Not all guilt ridden with fear. We may have a sense of fear when we sin, or
of guilt. That’s good,
it’s a soft Christian conscience working within us for good. But it shouldn’t be abject fear, a bondage type
fear.] He’s our Father. We’re his sons. He’s given us the Spirit of adoption. And Paul, it wasn’t known the way he writes
this out to the Greek mind even.
This is something that Rome understood.
You guys that watch Ben
Hur, how many of you have seen Ben
Hur? OK, those of you who haven’t, ask somebody who
saw it. Remember, Charlton
Heston is rowing in the Roman ship and they get in that naval
battle, and [the ship gets hit and is sinking] he escapes
and he ends up floating on this piece of wood with the Senator
from Rome and saves his life.
And when they get back to Rome, the Senator, having
a big bash there [party], and he’s been given some kind of
an award for a naval victory, and he was part of that, calls
Charlton Heston, he calls him, and in front of everyone he
puts a ring on his finger, changes his name [this was Roman
adoption]. That’s what Paul’s talking about. It is receiving the adoption of adult sons and
daughters, and making us joint heirs with Christ. When we can cry, Abba, Father, we immediately
understand we’re talking to God Almighty.
Now the problem is, as we read this, that God is taking
us and bringing us into his family as sons and daughters.
Now we are so wounded and scarred and beat up by the
‘old family’, Adams’ family, (not Morticia and uncle Festor
[laughter]), Adam and Eve’s family and everything that has
trickled down to us from them, all the inclination of Cain
and Abel and the hatred and abuse. So many of us have our whole lives tenaciously
had to fight for our
sanity or we’ve learned so well to put up our defense mechanisms
that we find as human beings that we can’t even break down
those walls on the horizontal. And all of a sudden, we’re having this appeal
to us from the vertical. The
Holy Spirit is appealing to us, saying there’s another family. I remember talking to Don McLure and I saw the
same thing here in our church, a family who adopted a little
child from another country.
They go out to Pizza Hut to eat dinner, and as their
kids are eating the pizza, throwing the crusts on the plate,
this other kid is taking the pieces of crust, wrapping them
up in a napkin and putting it in his pants, putting it in
his pockets. They found food hidden under his bed at home.
You know, Don McLure, friends with a wealthy family
that had adopted a child, eight or nine years old, from a
poverty stricken country, and they would come into his bedroom
in the day and find canned goods stuffed under his bed, find
all this stuff gone, supplies, cold cuts from the refrigerator
stuck under his bed. And you know, you have to say ‘Kid, the refrigerator
is yours. Your stuff
will stay fresher there than it will under your bed.’ ‘The toys in this room belong to you. The clothes in the closet are yours. All that I have I’ve bestowed upon you.’ The adoption of a son gives you the right to
the inheritance. It
gives you the right to every relationship.
It gives you the right to every debt that’s owed to
the one who’s adopted you. It gives you all of the benefits. And I think we struggle as we grow in Christ,
to receive love that comes that freely with no strings attached. Love that knew the day it saved us, of all of
the failings and wrestling’s that we’d have in the future
and saved us anyway—love that reached to us and called us
its own, even though we would do many things that wouldn’t
reflect the One who called us to be his own, and he called
us anyway. Love that
is committed without strings being attached to conform us
into the image and the likeness of his Son, love that is unlike
any other earthly love that puts us in the position of either
receiving it by faith, or not receiving it at all. We either get out of the boat and walk on the
water, or we never experience the fullness of what God desires
to give to us freely. Again,
I love Camel Morgan’s analogy of Micah chapter 7 verse 18,
where he says ‘Who is a God like unto thee, showing mercy,
you’ll not always chide, but you’ll love, forgiving iniquity…’
And his point is, again, that you and I see something
every day that God can’t see. We see something every day of our lives that
God cannot see, and that is, we our equals—unforgiving, tempermental,
crabby human beings. And
when God looks around, all that can be said is “Who is a God
like unto thee?” There isn’t anybody, there’s no equal. That’s what makes him holy, completely separate,
because there is no one like him.
All that exists is that which is God and that which
is not God. All that exists is Creator and creation. That makes him holy. And it makes his love unlike any other love
in the universe. We
can’t put it on a graph and we can’t measure it.
He doesn’t love us on a curve where those of us that
are pretty good get a little more of his love than those of
us who are miserable. It comes freely, it comes without strings attached,
it comes to us without anything in us eliciting that love. There is no reason to it except for God himself.
And in that he’s paid the price, for those of us who
ask for forgiveness he’s filled us with his Spirit, set us
free from sin and death, set a new law over our lives, the
law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus.
He made us his sons and his daughters, removed from
us the fear of death and put in its place the expectancy of
heaven [or being in the kingdom of heaven]. And he’s given us the very Spirit of adoption
whereby we cry Abba, Father.
That somewhere deep within us, when we’re alone, there’s
something deeper than human hearts that actually cries Abba,
which is a term of endearment, Father. And unlike any human adoption, with all the
benefits that may be there, this one differs in that he actually
places the very Spirit of his Son within us, so that it’s
the very Spirit of adoption.
And when it [He] cries Abba, it is meaning what it
says, Father. We actually
become the sons and daughters
of the Living God. “The Spirit itself [Greek: himself]
beareth witness with our spirit, that we are the children
of God. And if children, then heirs; heirs of God, and
joint-heirs with Christ; if so be that “we suffer with him,
that we may be also glorified together” (verses 16-17). ”—
which could be “since we do suffer with him.”
And then Paul goes
on in the next verse to say “I reckon…”, he’s from down South
somewhere. And next week we’ll start “reckoning with Paul.
I want to encourage you, as we sing this last song…and
just honestly say “Lord”, and I’m going to say it, I’ve been
saying it lately, more than ever, “Lord I want to grow in
grace and in the knowledge of who you are.”
You know, Paul the apostle had seen the risen Christ,
Christ had appeared to him. Paul the apostle had performed miracles. God had worked through him, he had seen the
miraculous before his eyes.
Yet he would say, “I count everything else as refuse,
that I may know him, the fellowship of his sufferings, the
power of his resurrection…if by any means I may be conformable
to his death.” You
see, even in the ages to come, he’s still going to be revealing
his mercy to us. Even in the ages to come we will never have
seen the full measure of Who he is, because he will always
be infinite, and we will always be finite.
That means, zillions of years from now, there’s no
time there, I’m just saying it so we can talk about it, for
those of you who are scientific and can’t get past that—zillions
of years from now, in the process of being conformed into
his image and likeness, what that means is that we will always
be approaching and yet never arriving at the full measure
of the Infinite Son of God. Which means that in the ages to come, he’ll
still be revealing his mercy to us.
Which means, that’s why it’s incorruptible, it fades
not away, because when we’re there a zillion years it will
still be as exciting as it was the first minute we got there—because
he will be as new and as shocking and as beautiful and surprising—we’ll
always be seeing some facet of him that we have never seen
before. I’m ready for
that. You know, I watch
the Rocky movies now, and just the same thing happens every
time. Ah, there’s something I like about it, but I
kind of know, you know, what’s gonna happen.
No, there, ever fresh, ever glorious, ever wondrous. We will be as amazed, as we look at the throne
of God and of the Lamb [which will be on earth, within the
New Jerusalem, cf. Revelation 21:1-17], zillions of years
after we’re there, we will still come before him, privately
with the same wonder, and say “Lord Jesus, thanks for dying
for me.” And it will
be more wondrous the millionth time we’ve said it than it
was the first time we said it.
If you don’t know what we’re talking about, you can
think that we’re ready for the banana farm, that’s up to you…
“ [transcript Romans
8:1-17, given by Pastor Joe Focht, Calvary Chapel of Philadelphia,
13500 Philmont Avenue, Philadelphia, PA
19116. © Calvary Chapel of Phila. 1996]
Quotes from Harper’s
Bible Commentary (on Romans 8)
[Romans] 8:1-17, A Forward Look: The Power of the Spirit to Effect Life
for Righteousness...
“…the
power of the law to condemn has been decisively broken (the
resumption of [Romans] 5:16 and 7:3 is unmistakable). “The
law of sin and death” (vs.2) is a shorthand summary of [Romans]
7:7-25; it is the Mosaic law used by sin in such a way as
to cause death.
“The
parallel phrase, “the law of the Spirit of life,” is
clearly intended as a rhetorical counterpart and suggests
that life is the result when the law is used by God’s Spirit, his
life-giving presence and power, instead of sin.
“Like
the expression “law of faith” in [Romans] 3:27, it joins what
Paul often sets in tension; only the context can supply its
meaning. But that context is clear enough. The law itself is not demonic; to link law with
Spirit instead of sin is the logical sequel to the argument
of chap. 6 that freedom in Christ is aimed at the reshaping
of human life, both individual and corporate, according to
the good that God wills for it. Verses 3-4 supply the grounding for this
new connection by declaring that this was the whole purpose
behind God’s “sending of his own Son.”…
“The
fundamental contrast in the whole passage is between the inability
and weakness on the one hand of the law to renew and reorder
life so long as sin is in control, and the effectual life-giving
power of God’s own presence in the Spirit on the other [i.e.
when God’s Spirit is in control, the law takes on new meaning,
and then serves the purpose for which it is ultimately intended—that
it be written upon the hearts and into the minds of believers,
now empowered to use it to reorder and renew life.
That finishes this statement in Harper’s.
[so in essence, the law when being used by God’s
Spirit, as a spiritual mirror, and being written into upon
the hearts and minds of believers now
has the power to reorder and renew spiritual life in
a person—but that person must be indwelt by God’s Holy Spirit.]
Verses 5-8 elaborate briefly on the contrast between “flesh” and “Spirit”
as these effect human beings.
Each is a reality transcending the individual, but
each is also a “mind-set” that involves a deliberate choice
of values and human effort toward a goal…
“Above
all, each is most basically a relationship to God.
The one, flesh, is a regression to the deadly “enmity”
and defiance that preceded reconciliation (cf. 5:10).
The other, Spirit, is God’s life-giving presence and
power. It is renewing because it creates a new mind-set
that is not inimical to God, that
submits to God’s law without the distrust that corrupts obedience
into self-defensiveness, and that no longer allows God’s law
to be used as an instrument [i.e. spiritual mirror] for holding
one in its power.”
What
we are seeing in Harper’s is that the law of God can have
a good or bad effect on a person, dependant solely on whether
God’s Holy Spirit is a part of the process, is indwelling
the one using God’s law. The
proper use of God’s law, the end-purpose, is that it will
be written upon the hearts and into the minds of all born-again
believers, who upon their glorious resurrection or change
into spirit at Christ’s 2nd coming will be transformed
into the image of Christ.
If you don’t believe me, look up and read Jeremiah
31:31-34 and Hebrews 8:6-13, the two places in the Bible that
define the new covenant, and the very purpose for the law—to
be written upon the hearts and into the minds of believers. Is something that is intended to be written
upon our hearts and into our minds to be avoided or called
evil? Why would the apostle John in 1 John 3:4 define
sin as the transgression of God’s law, and why does the entire
New Testament (and Old) for that matter, tell the believer
to come out of sin—which is to say—“obey God’s law”—if the
law no longer had a purpose in the believer’s life.
A person striving to obey God’s law all on his or her
own, is accurately described by Harper’s as people who have
corrupted obedience which lapses into self-defensiveness,
and self-righteousness. The
very ones who were so diligently keeping God’s law (externally,
not in the heart) killed Jesus Christ.
Keeping it brought no heart-change for those evil individuals. Also there is another category of individual
who is at enmity with God and his law, those not indwelt by
God’s Holy Spirit who have absolutely no desire for the things
of God. They live for the flesh, this world and its
society. They don’t
even believe in God, or if they do, he’s an abstract concept
which they don’t understand or care to understand.
“If
these definitions of flesh and Spirit suggest that human choices
are the ultimate determinates of human destiny, vv. 9-11 quickly
correct that impression by returning to God’s primal life-bestowing
act in the resurrection of Jesus (cf. 6:1-14). What is most striking about these verses is
the free interchangeability of a whole series of phrases:
“belonging to Christ” (v.9b), “being in the Spirit” (v.9a),
“God’s Spirit dwelling in you” (vv. 9a, 11b), “Christ’s Spirit”
(v.9b). “Christ in
you” (v.10), and “the Spirit of the one who raised Jesus from
the dead” (v.11). Each
interprets the others and is interpreted by them.
God is the one who gives life to the dead (4:17); he
has raised Jesus from the dead. The Spirit is not the possession of some elite
group within the church. It
is another word for God’s life-giving power present through
Jesus to all that belong to him, active already in their lives
in spite of the mortality that still belongs to the body,
working toward righteousness and undergirding the promise
that the Son’s identification with them will issue ultimately
in their sharing inn his resurrection (cf. 6:5,8).
The Spirit is not only a mind-set; nor is it [he] merely
the external power by which God raised Jesus from the dead.
It [he] is also the power of the risen Jesus to take
men and women into his power and reshape life to make it well
pleasing to God—thus doing what the law [all on its own] could
not do and reversing the power of sin. That is why Paul could call the gospel “the
power of God for salvation to all who rely on him, the Jew
first and also the Greek” (1:16).
Verses 12-17 bring this unit to a close...Obedience is not finally the
work of self but the result of the Spirit’s leading. The Spirit produces an authentic filial relationship
to God in place of slavery and verifies that gift by enabling
people to address God with the intimate term “Father”…The
Aramaic word “Abba”…
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