I. Romans 8:1 speaks of us being in a righteous position before God, but says nothing of actual righteousness. That is, at this point the one who believes in Jesus and the one who doesn’t may have the exact same actions, but a different verdict is reached, based not on their actions alone, but on their position as righteous. Now I want to make clear two points.
A. There is no other way to be declared not guilty. That is, aside from Christ there is no way to be perfect. Even if it were possible to be completely sinless form this moment on, which it’s not, it would be completely impossible to undo the sins of your past.
B. This declaration of “not guilty” is not a license to sin, knowing that you cannot be convicted. For example, I saw a television show recently, I forget the name of it. But it was a cop show based in Washington D.C. The police were after a heroin dealer and found him very quickly. They arrested him, but had to immediately release him. Can anyone guess the reason that they couldn’t arrest him? He was the son of an ambassador and had a “diplomatic passport.” Someone who carries a diplomatic passport cannot be convicted of a crime. Now this law was made so that hostile countries couldn’t just arrest diplomats from another country on false charges. But this one guy was taking advantage of the process. Well, you can’t do that with Christianity. God knows you much more deeply and he is much more just. So, he knows how to separate the too. If you use this promise as a license to sin, you will find condemnation close behind.
II. Paul continues in Romans 8 to explain after being declared righteous how one can become actually or practically righteous. The weight or yoke of worrying about condemnation has been removed, not so that you can avoid becoming righteous, but to make it possible for you to become righteous. We call this sanctification.
Romans 8:2, “For the power of the life-giving Spirit has freed you through Christ Jesus from the power of sin that leads to death.”
The Holy Spirit himself gives you the power to be free from the power of sin. Previously, and yes even after coming a believer, in our own strength it is impossible for us to resist sin. We were completely unable to resist, because we were like Paul when he said.
Romans 7:25, “but because of my sinful nature I am a slave to sin.”
But it is the Holy Spirit himself, living in you, that gives you the power to actually overcome sin.
In order to understand more clearly just how the Holy Spirit helps us to overcome sin, lets’ look at
Romans 8:3, “The law of Moses could not save us, because of our sinful nature. But God put into effect a different plan to save us. He sent his own Son in a human body like ours, except that ours are sinful. God destroyed sin’s control over us by giving his Son as a sacrifice for our sins.”
In the first part of this verse, Paul mentions the Law of Moses again. He says here that the Law of Moses couldn’t save us, because of our sinful nature. The fact is, that as I’ve already mentioned, the Law could change the actions or appearance, but it couldn’t change the heart, which is what really matters. All the Law could do was tell us what was right or wrong. But we were already predisposed to do what is wrong, and the Law gave us no power to change that predisposition. Really the Law is good for one things: to show us just how bad we really are. To show us just how impossible it is for us to do it on our own. So that we will turn to Jesus, the one who can really change our hearts.
In Romans 8:2, some of the translations say, “the Law of the Spirit and the Law of Sin and death.” Here Paul is using a play on words. Putting the way of the Spirit against the Law. We know clearly what the law of sin and death is, but sometimes we’re unclear as to what the Law of the Spirit is. For this reason I think many people miss the whole point that Paul is trying to make in Romans 8.
We can look back to the Old Testament promise of a new covenant for this answer in
Jeremiah 31:31-33 “
"The day will come," says the LORD, "when I will make a new covenant with the people of Israel and Judah.
This covenant will not be like the one I made with their ancestors when I took them by the hand and brought them out of the land of Egypt. They broke that covenant, though I loved them as a husband loves his wife," says the LORD.
"But this is the new covenant I will make with the people of Israel on that day," says the LORD. "I will put my laws in their minds, and I will write them on their hearts. I will be their God, and they will be my people.
It’s no longer a law written on stone tablets telling us what’s right and wrong. It’s no longer an external law that cannot penetrate to our hearts. But the laws will be in our minds and written on our hearts. This is a law where God doesn’t just tell us what’s right. He changes our heart so that we want to do what is right. He doesn’t just tell us what’s wrong. He changes our heart so that we hate what is wrong. Now, we don’t just change our actions to conform to the laws, but our righteousness flows naturally from a heart that has been changed. Instead of merely acting righteous, we become righteous in Christ. That is the new plan that God put in place to save us. That is, by sending Jesus Christ to die for us, he destroyed sins control over us.
Now this eliminates the need for the written law, but as I have said, this is not a license to sin. Instead, where we once were forced to sin, by our sin nature, we now have a license to not sin. We now have a license to be holy. So, this is not the abolishment of the Law of Moses, but it is the fulfillment of the Law of Moses. This is the power to keep the Law, a power that comes through a changed heart. But precisely because our hearts have been changed, there is no longer a need for the written law, because it is in our hearts. That’s why Jesus was able to summarize the Law like this:
Matthew 22:36-40, “36 "Teacher, which is the most important commandment in the Law of Moses?" 37 Jesus replied, "’You must love the Lord your God with all your heart, all your soul, and all your mind.’ F123 38 This is the first and greatest commandment. 39 A second is equally important: ’Love your neighbor as yourself.’ 40 All the other commandments and all the demands of the prophets are based on these two commandments."
Because so many believers have not found their way to freedom from sin, we know that something must be missing. Even though we are promised in Romans 8:2-4 that the power of the Spirit sets us free from the power of sin, not everyone has experienced that freedom. If all Paul did was tell us that this freedom is possible, then it would be encouraging, but beyond that it wouldn’t be much use. However, if we read on, we can see that Paul gives us some practical advice on how to achieve this victory over sin.
Romans 8:4, “He did this so that the requirement of the law would be fully accomplished for us who no longer follow our sinful nature but instead follow the Spirit.”
A. The first thing we can read about the one who has found freedom is that he does not follow the sin nature, but he follows the Spirit.
I would characterize this as a moment of decision. Even though following is a continuous thing, it is really the result of a one-time decision to turn around and follow that thing. We were once following after sin and all of the sinful desires of our flesh. Our goal was to fulfill our craving for sinful things. But when we believe, the Bible uses the term “repent” which simply means to turn around. We realize that the way were are going may
Proverbs 16:25, “There is a way that seems right to a man, But its end is the way of death.” (NKJ)
And we turn around and follow God’s way instead. This moment is a complete paradigm shift in our lives from pursuing ourselves to pursuing God and what he wants. Our own fulfillment is no longer our aim, but our aim is to do what’s right… to do the will of God. And this is the first step to finding freedom, making the decision to walk in the direction of freedom. Making the decision to stop pursuing your own selfish sinful fulfillment and pursue God’s ay instead. Now, this may not make much sense, when you consider that my whole premise is that having this relationship with God is what brings fulfillment. But the fact is that you have to stop seeking your own fulfillment if you want to find fulfillment.
Matthew 16:25, “If you try to keep your life for yourself, you will lose it. But if you give up your life for me, you will find true life.”
B. Now, making the decision is a big step, but that isn’t necessarily going to ensure success on its own. On three separate occasions last week, I decided I was going to clean my room, but something always came up, and my room is still a mess. Because making the decision alone wasn’t eh solution to getting my room clean. (Now I’m planning to clean it tomorrow. We’ll see if something else comes up.)
It’s the same way with overcoming sin. Unless we make that decision to follow after the Spirit we will never find freedom, but the decision itself is not enough.
Paul continued in Romans 8:5,6, “5 Those who are dominated by the sinful nature think about sinful things, but those who are controlled by the Holy Spirit think about things that please the Spirit. 6 If your sinful nature controls your mind, there is death. But if the Holy Spirit controls your mind, there is life and peace.”
Here is the real secret: being controlled by the Holy Spirit instead of being controlled by the flesh. Now, Jesus broke already the control of sin in your life. You no longer have to let sin control you. And Paul is here pleading that we no longer ALLOW the flesh to control us.
Now exactly how do we get to the point where the Spirit controls us? Well Paul gives us some answers to that in this passage. He says, those who are dominated by the sinful nature are those who think about sinful things.
2 Corinthians 10:5, “bringing every thought into captivity to the obedience of Christ,” (NKJ)
Remember that if Satan puts a tempting thought in your mind, that is not sin, but that doesn’t mean that you should make your mind available for any kinds of thoughts that you want to have. The fact is that every action starts out as a thought. And if you allow those thoughts to fester in your mind, then eventually they will control your mind. If they control your mind then it is only a matter of time before they also control your actions. If you stamp out that sin when it’s still a thought, it can never grow to become a sinful action.
The reverse of this is the second half of the verses 5 and 6. “Those who are controlled by the Holy Spirit think about things that please the Spirit. 6 if the Holy Spirit controls your mind, there is life and peace”
The secret to overcoming sin, then, is to allow the Holy Spirit to control your mind.
Philippians 4:8, “And now, dear brothers and sisters, let me say one more thing as I close this letter. Fix your thoughts on what is true and honorable and right. Think about things that are pure and lovely and admirable. Think about things that are excellent and worthy of praise.”
This is the part of overcoming sin that is a fight day by day. Every day you think, and every day you must allow your mind to be dominated by things that are lovely and pure, not with things that feed the sin nature. Day by day, you must refuse the thoughts of impurity and cling to pure thoughts until you have the mind of Christ.
We have a saying here in America, though I’m not quite sure what it means, “You are what you eat.” But I would say that what Paul wants to teach us here is that “You are what you think.” Please don’t think that I’m talking about “Positive Thinking” here. There is a mindset today that you can, just by thinking positively change the circumstances around you. If you want to be rich, you have to think of yourself as rich. This isn’t what I’m saying here, because that idea is foolishness. What you’ll change by your thinking is not your circumstances of your place in life, but you will change YOU.
Have you ever noticed that when you’re really busy, you don’t get tempted as much? Do you know why? Because you have no time to just sit down and think. But when you’re not busy and you just sit down and relax, that’s when the Devil has time to plant a lot of bad thoughts in your head. Now, the solution is not to keep so busy that you never have time to think. All that’s going to do is burn you out. Instead, when you have time and your mind begins to wander, be aware, and refuse to allow it to wander in directions that are not pure and lovely. The best way to do that is to constantly meditate on God’s word and God’s ways.
Joshua 1:8, “Study this Book of the Law continually. Meditate on it day and night so you may be sure to obey all that is written in it. Only then will you succeed.”
I once heard the story of a Jewish scholar who wanted to study Greek philosophy. He went to his teacher and he told him that he had mastered the Law of Moses because he had already studied it many years and he thought that some Greek philosophy would help him now. Him master, referring to Joshua 1:8 told him, “Tell me a time that is neither day nor night and in that time you may study Greek philosophy.”
Day by day, as you allow the Holy Spirit to control your mind, you will notice that you are neglecting the old desires of the flesh, until they fade away because you have submitted your mind completely to the Holy Spirit.
III. Now, remember that the first point I made is that we have been found not guilty. There is no condemnation, even when we mess up. Now, someone might take that knowledge, combined with the fact that sin is pleasurable for a season according to Hebrews, and think that because they are free from condemnation anyway, they might as well have their fun with sin. They may say that since they are positionally righteous, practical or actual righteousness is optional. However, Paul clearly answers any such foolish ideas in
Romans 8:12, 13 “12 So, dear brothers and sisters, F29 you have no obligation whatsoever to do what your sinful nature urges you to do. 13 For if you keep on following it, you will perish. But if through the power of the Holy Spirit you turn from it F30 and its evil deeds, you will live.”
While your sins are forgiven and you stand uncondemned as long as you are in Christ Jesus, Paul says that those who continue following their sinful nature will perish. Now, this may seem on the surface to be a contradiction by Paul, but when we look at it carefully, it’s not. Remember that following principally involves a decision to follow. That is, when you follow, you are walking in a particular direction. You are walking toward a goal, but you have not necessarily arrived at that goal yet. Even you may not be as far along in the path as the one you’re following, but you’re headed in that direction. As long as you’re headed for the goal, that is turning from the evil deeds of your sin nature, as long as you’re headed for righteousness you’re covered.
When you are following the Spirit and walking on the Highway of Holiness toward what is right and you stumble and fall, Paul says, “there is no condemnation for those who belong to Christ Jesus.” But if you decide somehow that the way of righteousness is not for you and that you would rather follow the desires of your flesh, then you no longer belong to Christ Jesus. Therefore, you are no longer exempt from condemnation, because you are no longer following the Spirit.
Now, obviously somewhere in there is a fine line. There must be one moment where you were covered and then you’ve stepped over the line and you’re not covered anymore. And for centuries theologians have debated where exactly that line is. But that’s complete nonsense. If you’re wondering just how far you can go before it’s sin, then IT”S ALREADY SIN. Because you’re walking in the direction of sin. If you’re wondering how far is too far, then you’re too far already. We need to stop worrying about what we can get away with and just follow after Jesus and follow after the Spirit. It is then that we are assured that we can not only stand without condemnation, but we can really overcome sin.
c. 2001
