This Spiritual Life

S. Grab our bibles and turn to Romans chapter eight. Romans chapter eight.

If you don't have a Bible with you, just raise your hand.

We're passing those out right now, So raise your hand. If you need

a Bible or if you need a bulletin, that's going to be super handy

because there's sermon notes on the back of that. So raise your hand if

you and keep it up. We'll find you if you need a Bible or

a bulletin, and turn to Romans chapter eight. We're gonna be in verses

one through eleven. Ask our brother to come here here and read the sermon

text for us again. It's Romans eight one through eleven. Good morning,

Morning. 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.

For those who live according to the flesh set their minds on the things

of the flesh. But those who live according to the Spirit, set their

minds on the things of the Spirit. For to set the mind on the

flesh is death. But to set the mind on the Spirit is life and

peace. For the mind that is set on the flesh is hostile to God,

for it does not submit to God's law. Indeed, it cannot.

Those who are in the flesh cannot please God. You, however, are

not in the flesh, but in the spirit. If in fact, the

Spirit of God dwells in you, anyone who does not have the spirit of

Christ does not belong to him. But if Christ is in you, although

the body is dead because of sin, the spirit is life because of righteousness.

If the spirit of Him who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you,

he who raised Christ, Jesus from the dead, will also give life

to your mortal bodies through His Spirit who dwells in you. And this is

the word of the Lord. Amen. I'm going to make a statement that

I'm going to take an entire sermon to explain, and it's this The ordinary

Christian life is utterly supernatural. The ordinary Christian life is utterly supernatural. See

in Romans chapter eight. Paul has just finished to describing in Romans chapter seven,

that's how that works, the misery of trying to live under the law

by the flesh and serve God and continue to fail. And he's described that

in chapter seven. Remember what a wretched man I am is? How paulpus

it, this wretched man that I am miserable? But now he gets to

Romans eight, and he describes a new way of living, and as he

describes it, he gives us kind of a conceptual sandwich. He starts with

a spiritual reality that serves as the basis for a spiritual activity, and then

he backs up and gives us another spiritual reality that that spiritual activity is also

rooted in spiritual reality. Spiritual activity spiritual reality, and in many ways.

Before we jump into it here, I just want to say that this passage

of Scripture is what I would call the secret of Christian living, which is

a ridiculous thing to say, because it's right here in Romans chapter eight,

the most beautiful, most well known chapter in all the Bible. How in

the world Pastor Josh, could you call this a secret? It's right there.

And the reason why I do is because so many people neglect it and

persistently live in Romans chapter seven misery. And I don't just mean occasionally live

in Romans chapter seven misery. We all do that. I mean persistently.

And here it is. Here it is believers have a new way of living.

It's life in the Spirit that, by the grace of God, through

the work of Christ, in the power of the Holy Spirit, believers have

a new way of living, a new way of serving God. And so

we're gonna look at it. We're gonna We're gonna go through Paul's sandwich,

right, spiritual reality, spiritual activity, spiritual reality. And here's the first

spiritual reality, no condemnation. This is the basis. This is this is

the ground. This is where everything that Paul is about to say about living

in the spirit is rooted. Right, let's look, get it starts with

verse one. There is therefore now now that therefore now calls back to verse

six of chapter seven, right where he says, but now we are released

from the law, having died to that which held us captive, so that

we serve in the new way of the spirit, and not in the old

way of the written code. So then he spends the rest of seven talking

about the old way and the misery. And now he gets to verse one.

Therefore, now there is no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus.

That's the spiritual reality for all who are united to Christ, no condemnation.

Let's just sit there for a second. Bible comes at this just in

these three verses in a variety of ways, some angles on this. When

we're talking about this spiritual reality of living in no condemnation, you've got the

spiritual reality of acquittal. Acquittal, there's no condemnation. In other words,

you who would be rightfully in yourself judged by the Living God, condemned,

judged for sin and sins, have instead, because of Christ Jesus, been

acquitted, and you stand before the Living God with no condemnation. That's the

state you live in if you're united to Christ. Worth remembering not to mention

this other angle that the Scripture comes at it with the spiritual reality of freedom

of freedom Verse two. For the law of the Spirit of life has set

you free in Christ Jesus from the law of sin and death. In other

words, you were under bondage. You were under bondage to sin and death.

But by the work of Christ have been united to Him in his death

and resurrection. By faith, you are free. The door is open,

the chains are gone. You're free. It's nothing you did. It's nothing

you're doing. God did it. You're free. It's nothing you did.

It's nothing you're doing. God did it. You're acquitted. It's God's action,

it's God's initiative. It's God's power. Look at verse three four.

God has done. I love the subject of that verse. God has I

love the tense it's in has done what the law, weakened by the flesh,

could not do. In other words, you couldn't do it. You

couldn't live up to God's commands. The law couldn't do it. Weakened buy

your flesh. So God stepped in and did it for you. You didn't

do it. It's nothing that you did. It's nothing that you're doing.

God did it. God took the initiative and he did what needed to be

done for you and I. If you were in Christ Jesus to live in

this spiritual reality, no condemnation because of the spiritual reality of substitution. Let's

finish verse three by sending his own son in the likeness of sinful flesh and

for sin. He condemned sin in the fle uh In other words, there

is no condemnation for you, because there was condemnation for Christ. You in

yourself and I in myself would rightfully fall under God's judgment and condemnation. But

instead God sent his son in the likeness of human flesh and for sin,

so that he would condemn your sin, and did condemn your sin as a

just judge should, but condemned your sin in Christ Jesus, so that you

could be acquitted and freed by his action of substitution. No condemnation. That

is the Gospel. With a zoom lens, you could put on the wide

angle lens and look at a lot of things that God has done through the

work of Christ and reconciling all things to himself. There's a lot to say

about the Gospel, but if you want to put a on the zoom lens

and get right down to the center of the message of the entire Bible,

it's these three verses, and listen, child of God, that spiritual reality

is the basis of our joy that spiritual reality. Listen, it is not

your faithful obedience that forms the basis of your joy. It is not your

overcoming sin that forms the basis of your joy. It is not your fruitful

ministry that forms the basis of your joy. As much as all of those

things, in those things we naturally enjoy much comfort and vigor. To quote

my favorite man, John Owen, we naturally and practically enjoy much comfort and

vigor from those things. Defeating sin, walking in holiness, and obedience of

fruitful ministry, all those things fine, they will waver. Fruitfulness will come

and go. Your faithfulness will waver. You know it, do you know

it? Honesty in church, your overcoming of sin and powers of darkness will

also waver. But this will never waver because it's nothing you did. It's

nothing you're doing. God did it. No condemnation. That is the basis

of our joy, and it must remain so we can't take our heart off

of it. As Jesus said to his followers in Luke chapter eleven, he

sent them out to do ministry in the land early on, and they came

back to Jesus and they're like, Jesus, you should have been there.

It was awesome. Even the demons had to do what we said. And

how did Jesus respond? He said, rejoice, not that the demons are

subject to you, but rejoice that your names are written in heaven. That

is the basis of your joy. Overcoming sin, glorious natural to receive comfort

and vigor from much mortification of sin. Natural to receive much comfort and vigor

from much fruitfulness in ministry and discipleship, and in walking in full obedience.

But the basis of our joy is that your name is written in heaven,

and that will never change because you didn't do it. It has nothing to

do with what you did. Nothing that you're doing. God did it.

And if you're here this morning, you're not a Christian. Let me just

say as clearly as I can that spiritual reality is what is being proclaimed to

you as an offer from God in his scripture. That is the central message

of the Bible, is that you can live at peace with God, with

joy in God, with love from God, and stand under no condemnation before

God. Because of Jesus. You can literally trust God at his word and

trust that Christ has done what must be done for you to be free and

put your life into his hands and walk in no condemnation forever with him.

That's the offer, and I'm making it to you on behalf of God,

from his word and as one who's experienced it himself. Period, full stop,

new paragraph. Right, Because what you need to understand Christian is that

no condemnation does not mean no conviction. No condemnation does not mean no conscience.

When you encounter a place where you're not walking in integrity, where you're

walking in sin that needs to be repented of, you don't say, well,

there is no condemnation for those in Christ Jesus. So I guess I

don't need a change. On the contrary, because you live in peace with

God, enjoy in God, in love from God, the most normal,

pure fitting thing to do is repent toward God. There's no condemnation, right,

you can just go to him. And this is super important because it's

actually central to Paul's train of thought here. It's central to Paul's train of

thought. In other words, this spiritual reality is the basis for this upcoming

spiritual activity. This spiritual reality, no condemnation is the basis for this spiritual

activity walking according to the spirit. Let me show you that connection in verse

three and four by sending his own son in the likeness of sinful flesh,

and for sin. He condemned sin in the flesh in order that for the

purposes of the righteous requirement of the law might be fulfilled in us, who

walk not according to the flesh, but according to the spirit. In other

words, Christ's work is the basis for our walk. Let me put it

in another way, maybe a finer point. The righteous requirements of the law

were fulfilled for you in order that the righteous requirements of the law would be

fulfilled in you as you walk according to the spirit, dive into that spiritual

activity, walk according to the spirit? Okay, what does what does that

mean? And how do I do it? Josh, I'm going to try

to assist our understanding one because I have a heart. I have a heart

for people to grasp this for living. I want this for you, and

it's widely confused in our time, walking according to the Spirit is widely confused.

So the way I'm going to try to assist our understanding is through three

contrasts. Three contrasts rooted in this text. Okay, and the reason why

I'm giving you these street three contrasts. This is what this is what I'm

trying to get. This is what I'm trying to accomplish, is that you

would better know walking according to the spirit, and you would better go walking

according to the spirit. So I'm going for understanding that you would better know.

But understanding is not enough for me. It's not enough for me.

Better know and better go, That's what I want. That's what I'm trying

to accomplish. So here's the first contrast. When the apostle Paul says walk

according to the spirit, he is talking about something that is active, not

just automatic. He's talking about something that is active, not just automatic.

Right, as he explains the difference between walking according to the spirit and walking

according to the flesh, the implied exhortation is walk do it like he says

in Galatians five sixteen. But I say, still Paul saying this, but

I say, walk by the spirit, and you will not gratify the desires

of the flesh. This is an active thing. In other words, you

don't just wait around for walking according to the spirit to happen unto you.

There is something that happened unto you. The spiritual reality of acquittal and freedom

and God's action in substituting Christ for yourself. You live under no condemnation.

Is nothing that you did. It's nothing that you're doing. God did it

no condemnation. It was done unto you, and you have united yourself to

Christ by faith. It's yours now, walk according to the Spirit. It's

active. It is by no means, it is by no means your action

independent of the Spirit. But it is also not the Spirit's action independent of

you. Right, it's not teleport according to the spirit, it's walk according

to the Spirit. To quote John Owen, my man, the Spirit works

in us, preserving our liberty and free obedience. He works in us and

with us, not against us or without us. So when it comes to

walking according to the Spirit, it's not let go and let God. It's

led God, so let's go. It's active. Second contrast. Second contrast.

When the apostle Paul says walk according to the Spirit, he is talking

about something that results in obedience and life, not disobedience and death. Right

remember verse four, in order that the righteous requirement of the law might be

fulfilled in us who walk according not according to the flesh, but according to

the Spirit. Right. So we're called to walk in an obedience that reflects

the very character of God. That's what we're called to. After I preached

Roman seven a couple of weeks ago, remember how miserable. I don't mean

this experience was miserable. Maybe it was, But Paul says, wretched man,

that I am miserable, miserable man trying to live and ultimately fail to

live under the law by the flesh. And someone a friend of mine commented

me after that service to the effect of saying, like, do you think

that a misunderstanding of Roman seven could create an animosity towards the law of God?

Right? And yes, I do think a misunderstanding Roman seven would do

that. In fact, that's why Paul continually tries to correct his readers by

saying, but the law is good and holy and righteous. The aim of

our walk in the spirit is that the righteous requirements of the law would be

fulfilled in us, that we would obey in such a way as to reflect

the entire character of God. As Jesus said on the Sermon in the Mountain.

You've said, you've heard that it was said, do not commit adultery.

But I say unto you, a man who looks at a woman lustfully

has committed adultery with her in his heart. This is the kind of obedience

that Christ is calling us to. This is the kind of obedience that walking

according to the Spirit aims at fulfilling the very righteous requirements of the law,

not less than the letter of the law, not less than the letter of

the law, actually the very character of God. So the result of walking

according to the spirit this spirit, is life and obedience. You can see

that. And the contrast in verses six through eight. Right, walking according

to the flesh is disobedience and death. For to set the mind on the

flesh is death, But to set the mind on the spirit is life in

peace. For the mind that is set on the flesh is hostile to God,

for it cannot submit to God's law if it does not submit to God's

law. Indeed it cannot, for those who are in the flesh cannot please

God. So as we walk according to the Spirit, we expect it to

be active, not automatic. We expect it to result in life and obedience.

We are, in fact walking that is motivated and directed by the Spirit

of God towards the things of God and the righteousness of God. Trusting the

promises of God, taking steps of obedience in faith in God. It results

in obedience. Okay, third contrast, The third contrast to help you better

know walking according to the spirit and better go walking according to the spirit.

Is this When the apostle Paul says walk according to the spirit, he's talking

about something that is ordinary and supernatural and mindset focused. Ordinary, supernatural and

mindset focused, not extraordinary, spectacular and miracle focused. Let me do a

bit of explaining mindset focused. Look how often the scripture repeats this term here

verses five through seven. For those who live according to the flesh set their

minds on the things of the flesh. Those who live according to the Spirit

set their minds on the things of the Spirit. For to set the mind

on the flesh is death. But to set the mind on the Spirit is

life and peace. For the mind that is set on the flesh, it

is hostile to God. So as a spiritual activity, walking according to the

Spirit is mindset focused. Literally, mind setting is the part we play.

We set our minds not on the things of the flesh, not on the

realm of the flesh. Fleshly desires, fleshly priorities, old habits and patterns

of the flesh. We set our minds on the things of the Spirit,

and you say what things, because that's not broken down for us here.

But I think it would be helpful to consider things of the Spirit, like

his instructions, when you don't know what to do, or when you're tempted

towards something that you know is going to give your conscience pause. Set your

mind on the Spirit's instructions. You have them right here. Set your mind

on the Spirit's promises. Right when this world and possessions and prestige are distorted

into appearing like they are actually of real value. Set your mind on the

Spirit's promises that you are going to stand before the Living God and he's going

to say, well done, good and faithful servant, that your Father,

who sees in secret, will reward you. Set your mind on the Spirit's

promises, because these things that the world has to offer, prestige, possessions,

they are not actually valuable, although they sure can look at. Set

your mind on the Spirit's fruit. When you forget what it is that you

are becoming, who it is that the Lord is shaping you into. Set

your mind on the Spirit's fruit and so, oh yeah, this is who

I'm becoming, one who is fruitful in love and joy and peace and patience

and kindness and goodness. Set your mind on the Spirit's presence and power,

you know, this passage, this passage actually moves from just talking about set

your mind on the things of the spirit, to set your mind on the

Spirit like himself. So like, when you don't know where the power is

going to come from to walk in these things, ask him in faith and

step out in faith, because you are not on your your own in this

walk. Where do you think the power is going to come from you?

A bit more explaining, Paul's talking about something that's ordinary, not extraordinary.

Talking about something that's ordinary, not extraordinary. Right, the fruit of the

spirit, love, joy, peace, patience as opposed to the works of

the flesh, sexual immorality and impurity, like living out that distinction is ordinary

for the Christian. Right, that's not an extraordinary thing that Paul's talking about.

I say that because some have misunderstood walking according to the spirit, or

being filled with the spirit, or being led by the spirit or living by

the spirit to be extraordinary sort of weird spectacular things. Now, don't get

me wrong. The Spirit of God can do extraordinary and spectacular things. There's

a word for that, miraculous, the miraculous. Praise God for the miraculous.

But the Spirit of God also has his ordinary work, by his ordinary

means, motivating and directing God's people like wind is filling the sales of a

boat, like when filling the sales of a boat, to walk in God's

righteousness, to walk in such a way that the righteous requirement of the law

would be fulfilled in them. And as we seek to walk according to the

spirit, we're seeking God's ordinary work. Yeah. Thanks, I got worked

up. It started in the singing oh yeah. But this is what I'm

trying to get across to you. Just because we're seeking God's ordinary work doesn't

mean it's not supernatural. It's utterly supernatural. God's work is super natural.

We're talking about the unlimited spirit of God motivating and directing a limited human being.

We're talking about the Spirit of God taking natural ink and flimsy pages and

illuminating it such that it alters the human soul forever, day by day.

It's completely supernatural. It's just not miraculous. Right. The definition of miraculous

is the unusual working of God. Right, it's God not working according to

his ordinary means. So when he does the unusual or the extraordinary, that's

miraculous, and by definition it's not very common. But what we forget,

what we forget is that as God is doing his usual and ordinary work in

us, it's still supernatural. It's God's spirit at work in your heart.

And when we forget that it's supernatural, the result is that we forget to

pray, We forget that God loves to meet faith with power, and we

act like walking in righteousness or walking in love and joy and peace are just

the results of your mere human effort back to miserable Roman seven. And so

we don't seek the spirit of God in our walk when we absolutely continue to

need the ordinary, supernatural work of God. It's active, not automatic.

It results in obedience in life, not disobedience and death. It's ordinary,

supernatural and a mindset focused tech and it's not extraordinary, spectacular or miracle focused.

And it's based also in this other spiritual reality. Now we're getting to

the last part of the sandwich, briefly, the indwelling spirit. Right,

So remember the structure of Paul's argument here there's a spiritual reality. No,

I'm really trying to whip the crowd into a frenzy here or just wake you

up spiritual reality. This serves as the basis. Is no condemnation. That

serves as the basis for this spiritual activity walking according to the Spirit. And

then Paul steps back and shows us another spiritual reality that this activity is rooted

in. Here's what Paul saying with this paragraph. It makes no sense for

you to set your mind on the things of the flesh because your whole life

and future is based in a realm of the Spirit that is broken into now,

because the Spirit dwells within you. It makes no sense for you to

set your mind on the things of the flesh because your whole life and future

is based on what the Spirit is doing and that has broken into now.

He's in you, says in verse nine. You, however, are not

in the flesh, but in the spirit. If in fact, the Spirit

of God dwells in you, anyone who does not have the Spirit of Christ

does not belong to him. So you don't have to wonder if the Spirit

is going to ignore you. You have the spirit now, but that means

you are now your present should be completely formed by what the Spirit is doing

in the future. Let's just read the rest of the paragraph. But if

Christ is in you, although the body is dead because of sin, the

spirit is life because of righteousness. If the spirit of Him who raised Jesus

from the dead dwells in you, he who raised Christ, Jesus from the

dead, will also give life to your mortal bodies through his spirit who dwells

in you. In other words, this current body, this current life of

flesh, is dying. It's as good as dead. It doesn't deserve your

mind to be set on it. This isn't the realm for you anymore.

There is a future, glory and resurrection that the Spirit will work in you,

just as he raised Jesus. And that's not just about the future,

because the future has broken into the present. Because the Spirit dwells in you

now right, your new future sets the agenda for your present. It's like

a new compass from a new world pointing to a new North. All of

this is dying and fading. Why let this set the agenda for your living.

Set your mind on what the Spirit who lives in you will one day

do give life to you in a whole new way. So you look at

that place on the horizon, and you walk according to the Spirit, with

his promises in mind, with his instructions in mind, with His power at

work in its ordinary supernatural way, and step out in faith and walk.

I hope I've made some sense for you of my beginning statement. The ordinary

Christian life is utterly supernatural. Right, the spiritual reality that your resurrection future

has broken into the present by the indwelling spirit. It should set the agenda

for your living. And this spiritual activity, this spirit meeting you in power

as you step out in faith with your mindset on His instructions and promises,

this is our this is our work, this is our walk, this is

our life. Now it's utterly supernatural. And the spiritual reality that you live

under no condom nation. You're acquitted, You're freed by God's action of substitution

in Christ is utterly supernatural. That's your ordinary Christian life.