Where Our True Security Lies
A sermon from Romans 8:1-11
Our freedom and our security often go hand in hand. Think about that word “security.” When you go to the bank, you will see a decal near the door and by the tellers with the four letters FDIC: Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation. The way this is described on their website is:
The Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) is an independent agency created by Congress to maintain stability and public confidence in the nation's financial system. To accomplish this mission, the FDIC insures deposits; examines and supervises financial institutions for safety, soundness, and consumer protection; makes large and complex financial institutions resolvable; and manages receiverships.
Stability; confidence; insuring, soundness, protection. People look for this not only in their financial institutions but in their friendships, jobs, marriages, everywhere. Since so many institutions like this have gone belly-up and relationships have broken up, it's hard to imagine that there is anything that can provide this security.
It's here that I want to introduce you to the eighth chapter of Romans. The previous seven chapters of have built on the thesis of this letter from Romans 1:16-17:
For I am not ashamed of the gospel, for it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes, to the Jew first and also to the Greek. For in it, the righteousness of God is revealed from faith for faith, as it is written, “The righteous shall live by faith.”
The righteousness we need does not come from the ability of our obedience. What we will see from this passage is that through Christ by the Holy Spirit (who is mentioned 20 of the 30 times in Romans 8), the gospel of Jesus Christ secures our salvation by the Spirit who seals us in Christ (Ephesians 1:11-14). When Jesus said, “I am the way, the truth, and the life, no one comes to the Father except through me” (John 14:6), and when Peter said to the Jerusalem authorities, “There is salvation in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved” (Acts 4:12), along with scores of other Scripture, we see that Christ's work on the cross and empty tomb provides an eternal security to which we must believe and surrender.
Christ fulfilled the law for us so we can walk by His Spirit (Romans 8:1-4).
What a wonderful verse that starts off this incredible chapter. “There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus.” And you remember what those old preachers used to say: “Where you see a ‘therefore,’ you need to see what the ‘therefore’ is there for.” While one could obviously go back to Romans 7, which is talking about how our old self and the new self are battling with one another. This caused frustration as Paul noted in Romans 7:24-25: “Wretched man that I am! Who will deliver me from this body of death? Thanks be to God through Jesus Christ our Lord! So then, I myself serve the law of God with my mind, but with my flesh I serve the law of sin.”
Wretched? Deliverance? No wonder someone going through this would wonder if they were under condemnation. Romans 6-7 talk about our union with Christ and sanctification (that is, the removal of the power of sin over us through the work of Christ). Yet, condemnation refers to “justification,” that is, the removal of the penalty of sin over us through the death, burial, and resurrection of Christ. Keep in mind Romans 5:1: “Therefore, since we have been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ.” Then look at Romans 5:18-21:
Therefore, as one trespass led to condemnation for all men, so one act of righteousness leads to justification and life for all men. 19 For as by the one man's disobedience the many were made sinners, so by the one man's obedience the many will be made righteous. 20 Now the law came in to increase the trespass, but where sin increased, grace abounded all the more, 21 so that, as sin reigned in death, grace also might reign through righteousness leading to eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.
This leads some to believe that the “therefore” is connected back to Romans 5: the first Adam led to condemnation for all men, the second Adam led to justification. The first Adam brought in the penalty of sin, the second Adam (Christ) paid for it. How?
Well, let's get back to Romans 8:2-4. Verse two shows two “laws” in place: The law of the Spirit of life and the law of sin and death, and the first sets us free from the second. When we think of the “law,” it's usually centered around the Ten Commandments, that which we must obey if we want eternal life. So, the security we sought was unattainable, for we as sinful humans could not obey God's perfect law. Thus, we see those who may love the things of God walking around in great despair and insecurity wondering if they are obeying enough, loving enough, caring enough.
Think about it. Why do you do what you do? Is it out of insecurity or security? Verse 3 shows clearly that the “flesh could not do” what it needed to do, obey God perfectly and completely.
How we walk is shown by where we set our minds-- on the flesh or the Spirit (Romans 8:5-8)?
In Romans 8:5, we turn to a key component when walking with Christ--where we set our minds. “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” (Romans 8:5). Where you set your mind is exactly where you will live. Your living is simply an outgrowth of your thinking. Being aware of this and living intentionally in and for Christ is a result of being transformed by Christ.
D.A. Carson was right: “Nothing is more important for the growth and maturation of God's people than a heart hungry to read and understand what God says.”
There is no shortage of those who are trying to help with our thinking. I remember growing up hearing about the Power of Positive Thinking with Norman Vincent Peale, which fed the Prosperity Gospel and the Word of Faith movements which believed that thinking in positive faith turned faith into a force that would change the reality and results of life. Our positive faith and positive words determine the direction of our life. It's about self-empowerment that uses God for their own wealth, health, and prosperity.
To set the mind on the Spirit means to trust the Lord with our eternal salvation and to trust Him and His purposes. Those purposes will entail joys but also sufferings. We do not set our minds on Christ so it will benefit us materially or socially but because it glorifies Him, regardless. He may choose to bless us--then glory to His name. He may choose another less materially-prosperous path--then glory to His name. We do not take His Word and speak our life into being. This is setting the mind on the flesh. Where does that lead?
Setting the mind on the flesh is, as verse 6 says, is death and hostility toward God. Some of you have started reading through the McCheyne Bible Reading Plan and came quickly to Genesis 6 with Noah and the Worldwide Flood. In Genesis 6:5, it says, “The LORD saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every intention of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually.” So, the Lord sent judgment on the earth through this worldwide flood. After the flood was concluded five months later, God made a covenant with Noah, to which Noah provided an offering. God said in Genesis 8:21: “And when the LORD smelled the pleasing aroma, the LORD said in his heart, ‘I will never again curse the ground because of man, for the intention of his heart is evil from his youth.’” If God were to curse the ground from that point on for the evil in humanity's heart, he would be levying judgment perpetually.
When Paul wrote to the Galatians, he mentioned to them the fruit of the flesh:
19 Now the works of the flesh are evident: sexual immorality, impurity, sensuality, 20 idolatry, sorcery, enmity, strife, jealousy, fits of anger, rivalries, dissensions, divisions, 21 envy, drunkenness, orgies, and things like these. I warn you, as I warned you before, that those who do such things will not inherit the kingdom of God.
Setting the mind on the Spirit is life and peace. “Death” in this sense is separation from God which leads to a hostility toward Him. This is what sin is which leads to death--sin is a desire to move away from God's design and purpose for your life. You may respect Christ, see Him as a great moral teacher or influence, but when His ways conflict with how you want to live your life, you reject His ways and become hostile to them. We are separated from Him and are glad to be so.
During the Broncos game yesterday in the first, Broncos quarterback threw a swing pass out to one of his receivers for a big gain. The analysts calling the game said that it was the perfect play to counter the defense the Bills set up. What I remember is seeing Bo Nix (the Broncos quarterback) point and smile at coach Sean Payton. When the coach designed a play and the team executed, there was joy. The things of the Spirit dominate our thinking and a longing to glorify and please God in every way.
So let's look at a passage from Philippians 4:8:
Finally, brothers, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is commendable, if there is any excellence, if there is anything worthy of praise, think about these things.
But why? The previous paragraph starts this way, “Rejoice in the Lord always; again I will say, rejoice.” Then in verse 6, “Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God. And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus” (Philippians 4:4, 6-7). Our minds should be set on Christ, for when they are, there is no separation from Him but a connection, a union with Him. We want Him glorified, not our portfolio multiplied.
Let's get back to Romans 8:7-8. The mind set on the flesh is hostile to God, not at peace with Him. It does not submit to God's law; indeed, it cannot. If you're in the flesh and setting your mind on the flesh, you cannot please God.
R.C Sproul notes:
“We are at war with God because we do not want to be subject to the law of God. The media covers every ethical controversy facing mankind today, yet Christianity is held at bay in the discussion. The majority do not want the church involved in ethics because they want the right to do what they want to do. Who gave them that right? Certainly not the law of God. Every time we want to do our will, express our appetites, and live out our preferences, we run right into the wall of the law of God.”
The Christian life is fueled by the indwelling Spirit (Romans 8:9-11).
Christians are not in the flesh, but in the Spirit. They cannot tolerate living in the flesh or thinking in the flesh, entertaining anything that inflames desire in the hearts that goes against the things of God. You do not want to, as Paul told the Ephesians in 4:30, “grieve the Holy Spirit.”
John 3, when Jesus speaks to Nicodemus at night, he tells him that, “You must be born again” (John 3:3). Then, two verses later, he says that you must be “born from above” then “born of the Spirit.” When we have been born again/born from above/born of the Spirit, this means that mere natural birth is not enough to save, even if you were providentially brought into a Christian home with Christian parents. Jesus was clear: “You must be born again/born of the Spirit.”
Verse 10 shows that “if Christ is in you, although the body is dead because of sin, the Spirit is life because of righteousness.” How do we obtain that righteousness? Don't forget that in verse 4 that Christ fulfilled the righteous requirement [so that] the law might be fulfilled in us.” Do you see the reliance on Christ? Do you see where our security comes from?
The resurrection of Christ seals everything, for since He is alive, and we are in Him by the Spirit, we will live as well.