The Obedience of Faith

There’s a bit of boom in parenting programmes on the TV at the moment. Ben is a young man whose swearing and aggression towards his mother make upsetting viewing, so my Radio Times tells me, in an article entitled ‘Raising Hell’. It’s interesting, by the way, how a culture that doesn’t believe in the existence of hell can’t escape using the language of hell, and seems to find hell everywhere.

Ben refuses to go to school, and bullies his mother. I should perhaps make quite clear to those of you who are aware that I have a son called Ben that we did not volunteer him for this programme. This Ben, we’re told, is thirteen, out of control, frighteningly violent, and abuses his mother in the most shocking way.

Then along comes parenting expert Warwick Dyer. He talks to Ben’s mum, Sally, but he never meets Ben. He suggests to Sally that she give Ben £1 each day, and fine him 1p every time he swears or is violent. Apparently it works a treat. Unfortunately I missed the programme..

But what’s the principle at work there? I think you could call it enlightened self interest. Thirteen year old boys like having money to spend. It doesn’t take him long to realise that if he behaves reasonably, he’ll come in to an income of £365 a year. Worth having. And if he doesn’t behave, he’ll lose it all. So he tones down his language and kicks the cat instead of his mum. Sounds good to me, and if you’re a parent of an out of control teenager, why not give it a try.

But it’s not the way God goes about his parenting. What God does is this. First of all, he adopts children who are severely off the rails. Then he tells them that he’ll take the rap for anything they’ve done in the past and, come to that, anything else they might get up to in the future. Then he gives them access to all his vast wealth. Then he promises them that he’ll never withdraw their access. Then, having done all that, he asks them to obey him. And it works. How? That’s what we’re going to find out this evening.
In this Sunday evening series we’re focussing on our mission as a church – Godly Living, Church Growth and Changing Britain. We want to learn more from the Bible about what God is calling us to. This evening we return to the theme of Godly Living. And you’ll see from the outline on the sheet that you were given that my title is ‘The Obedience of Faith’.

Our passage is - Romans 8:1-11. But that title doesn’t come directly from there. It comes from the beginning of the letter. Just turn to that for the moment – on p 1128. Take a look at Romans 1.5. The apostle Paul is talking about himself and his own calling – he’s explaining himself and his purpose to the Christians in Rome. And he says:

Through him [that’s Jesus Christ] and for his name’s sake, we received grace and apostleship to call people from among all the Gentiles to the obedience that comes from faith.

Obedience to God flows from faith in Christ. Through faith in Christ we find forgiveness. We are put right with God. And God does that for a purpose. What is it? It is that we will glorify him. How? By obeying him. By living for him.

So how can disobedient enemies of God who cause havoc become obedient children of God who delight him? That’s the impact of the Holy Spirit in our lives, and that’s what our passage – Romans 8.1-11 – is all about. So do please turn on to that. Let's take a good look at this together. Share one of the Bibles if you need to.

Now in trying to help us to understand this I’ve come up with two headings, and you can see those on the sheet you were given. You can use that for notes if you’d find that helpful. First, God has freed believers from the guilt and power of sin; and secondly, believers live to please God. So:


First, GOD HAS FREED BELIEVERS FROM THE GUILT AND POWER OF SIN

Chapter 8 begins:

Therefore …

So we need to pause immediately to ask what that ‘therefore’ is referring back to.

In general terms, it refers to the whole sweep of Paul's teaching from the end of chapter 3 onwards. He’s been spelling out how it is that those who put their trust in Christ have been saved from the eternal death penalty that their rebellion deserves because, as 5:8 puts it, "While we were still sinners, Christ died for us".

Specifically, Paul is going back to the point that he reached in 7.6 before he launched into his depiction of the war that rages in the believer's life between the old sinful nature which is under sentence of death but not yet finally finished off, and the new Godly nature brought to birth by the work of Christ within the believer's heart.

So in 7.7-25 there’s a vivid war report from the front line that runs through the soul of every believer. But in 8:1 Paul returns to the operations room, as it were, where it’s clear from a strategic overview that though the fighting continues between sin and Godliness, the war is already won. We haven’t got to VE Day yet, but D Day is well behind us, and the enemy is on the retreat. So Paul has said in 7:6:

But now… we have been released from the law so that we serve in the new way of the Spirit …

What is the new way of the Spirit? That’s what he expands on now. 8.1:

Therefore, there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus, because through Christ Jesus the law of the Spirit of life has set me free from the law of sin and death. For what the law was powerless to do in that it was weakened by the sinful nature, God did by sending his own Son …

Now, we need to take some care if we are going to understand this. There are three different 'laws' being spoken of in those verses.

First, there is in verse 2 'the law of the Spirit of life'. Put simply, that means the power of the life-giving Spirit of God. So, for instance, we might speak of ‘the law’ to refer to the power of the police, backed by all the authority of the state. That’s the law of the Spirit of life.

Then secondly, at the end of verse 2, there’s 'the law of sin and death'. Similarly, that means the power of sin, which leads to eternal death. The power of sin controls the life of unbelievers rather as the power of some war-lord might control territory from which a lawful authority has been pushed out.

Then thirdly there is 'the law' mentioned at the beginning of verse 3, which says ‘what the law was powerless to do… God did…’ This third law is the Law of God, in the sense of the commands of God, the moral law written in the Scriptures, but also on the hearts of all mankind – so no one has any excuse.

Verse 3, then, is saying that those commands of God could never set us free from the hold that sin and death had on our lives. Not that there was anything wrong with God's Law. If we had obeyed it, we would have been OK. But we never have obeyed it. None of us. The power of sin has spread like a cancer through our moral muscles to the point where we’re incapable of obeying God and living lives that please him. We’ve been paralysed by sin, and no amount of being commanded can rebuild our destroyed moral and spiritual muscles.

It’s no good just saying to an ungodly sinner, ‘be Godly’. We can’t do it. It’s like saying to somebody with two broken legs, ‘run a marathon’. We need to be remade. And that’s exactly what God is in the business of doing. So verse 3:

For what the law [that is, God’s moral law] was powerless to do in that it was weakened by the sinful nature, God did by sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful man to be a sin offering. And so he condemned sin in sinful man …

Jesus died on the cross and rose from the dead and ascended to the throne of heaven and poured out his Holy Spirit. He died for our sin, in our place, so that we don't have to go to hell. We were guilty and deserving of eternal death. But all of our crimes against God have been wiped from the record. God now regards us as innocent.

Imagine you’re up before the judge. You’re going to be banned from driving because you’ve been continually amassing points on your licence. You’ve been consistently breaking the speed limit, going through red lights, driving without due care and attention, being reckless, getting involved in road rage incidents, and causing accidents.

It’s as if the judge has all of your points and penalties transferred to his own driving licence, and issues you with a new clean licence, and gives instructions that any further points or penalties you get should also go onto the judge’s licence. The only condition is that you be willing to give up your old licence, and let the judge become your driving instructor.

Jesus died for our sin. He rose again so that we can have eternal life. He sends his Spirit into our lives to remake us, so that we can obey God. The law can’t change us. He can.

So, if we just back up to verse 2 in the light of that, verse 2 is saying: Through all that Jesus has done, the power of God’s Spirit has set me free from the power, the deadly grip, of sin.

So this isn’t merely a vague generalised freedom. This is a real freedom experienced for real in the life of every individual believer. Are you a believer? Then you, you individually, you personally, you – insert your own name – have been released from the stranglehold of sin that was hatefully and determinedly squeezing the life out of you. You are now in the safe, secure and invincibly strong hands of the Holy Spirit. And why have we been liberated so wonderfully? Why has Jesus done this for you? Verse 4:

… in order that the righteous requirements of the law [that is, God's commands again] might be fully met in us, who do not live according to the sinful nature, but according to the Spirit.

Put another way, God has done this for us, so that we can become Godly.

Now one righteous requirement of God’s law is that the sinner must die. That requirement has been met for us by the death of Jesus. When our name is called on the Day of Judgement we can point to Jesus and say 'He died for me, as my substitute and my representative. The sentence has already been carried out'. God has freed believers from the guilt of sin.

The other righteous requirement of God’s law is that we live holy lives, Godly lives, lives pleasing to God, Christ-like lives, lives of self-sacrificial love and service. And the Holy Spirit has freed us from the power of sin so that that requirement of the law might be fulfilled in our lives. A Christian life is a changed life. The transformation will not be complete this side of death. Paul has just left us in no doubt, in chapter 7, that there’s a continuing and intense struggle between sin and holiness in the believer's life. But it’s an unequal struggle. Sin is done for.

Like Hitler in the final stages of the war, while the battle rages, sin is trapped in its bunker and its days are numbered. A Spirit-filled life is a Christ-honouring life. God has freed believers from the power of sin. After Hitler shot himself in that bunker, power passed to Goebbels as Hitler had said should happen. But the accounts of some who were in the bunker and survived say that no one took any notice of him. Every body knew that his power had been broken. His supposed authority was just ignored. And he could do nothing to enforce it.

So it is with the power of sin in the believer’s life. It is broken.

So that’s the first point. God has wonderfully freed believers from both the guilt and the power of sin.


Secondly: BELIEVERS LIVE TO PLEASE GOD.

What do we do as believers with our new found freedom? We live to please God. We no longer live to please ourselves. That takes a complete change of mindset. And that’s exactly what takes place in the mind of the believer: a comprehensive change in the way we think.

When verses 5-9 speak of 'the mind', they mean a person's whole way of thinking - his or her entire mindset. Look at what Paul says about the mindset of the unbeliever and its consequences in those verses. V 5:

Those who live according to the sinful nature have their minds set on what that nature desires…

Verse 6:

The mind of sinful man is death…

Verses 7-8:

the sinful mind is hostile to God. It does not submit to God's law, nor can it do so. Those controlled by the sinful nature cannot please God.

That doesn't mean that all that an unbeliever does is bad. It means that the world-view of the unbeliever is opposed to God and his law. That is the essence of sinful thinking. And such is the power of sinful thinking that when we’re caught up in it, even if we wanted to please God, which we don't, we find ourselves powerless to do it. Our 'pleasing God' muscles have wasted away.

But when the Holy Spirit liberates our minds, all that changes. Verse 5b:

those who live in accordance with the Spirit have their minds set on what the Spirit desires.

Verse 6b:

the mind controlled by the Spirit is life and peace…

Verse 9:

You, however, are controlled, not by the sinful nature but by the Spirit, if the Spirit of God lives in you.

Our whole way of thinking changes. How? Because the believer is in the Spirit and the Holy Spirit of God lives in the believer.

You cannot be a Christian and not have the Holy Spirit. When I say 'Christian', I mean of course a true Christian. Not a nominal Christian. Not someone who happens to live in a Christian country. Not someone whose parents are Christian. Not someone who sits on an uncomfortable pew in a fine example of high Victorian neo-Gothic architecture at 6.30 on a Sunday evening. I mean someone who depends on the death of Christ for forgiveness; someone who has handed their life over to Christ. You cannot be like that, and not have the Holy Spirit.

That’s exactly what the apostle Paul says here, in v 9:

… if anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ, he does not belong to Christ.

Or to put the same thing the other way around: if you do belong to Christ, then you do have the Holy Spirit. So what is the impact of the Holy Spirit in someone’s life? Godly Living. And how will that Godly Living show itself? By obedience to God.

As you‘re well aware, we’ve just had a general election. The government of this country has not changed. So there’ll be no major changes of policy or direction. I must admit that part of me was hoping against hope that the new government would be formed by the Monster Raving Loony Party. Why? Because they had my favourite policy of all: to issue a 99p coin to save on change. Too bad – we shall have to wait a bit longer for that.

When we put our trust in Christ, the government of our lives changes for ever. Power changes hands for good.

As believers, we’re no longer under compulsion to sin. We’re free to obey God. We’re free to please him. We can never any longer say, ‘I couldn’t help myself’ or ‘I had to do it’. It’s vital that we understand that – because our habits and our feelings tell us otherwise. They often scream at us to keep sinning. And again and again we do. But that’s because we choose to. And now, because of the work of God’s Spirit, we don’t have to. We can choose the Godly way instead. We’re free to do that. What are the patterns of sin that are deeply ingrained in your life? The chains that once bound us to our sin have been cut. We can walk away from it. We can say no to sin and yes to God.

And not only are we free to obey God because the power of sin is broken. We find that we want to obey God. More than anything else, wanting to obey God begins to take over as our number one priority. And that combination – we can obey God and we want to obey God more than anything – means that we do obey God. We search the Scriptures to discover his will. And when we find it, we do it.

So, for instance, last week Ian was talking from Galatians 6 about God’s command that we do good to others – restoring our fellow sinners, carrying each others burdens, supporting the Christian teachers who teach us. It doesn’t come naturally to us to put the needs of others before our own. But God changes us. The power of our self-centredness no longer enslaves us. We can serve others. And what is more, we find we want to serve others. So more and more, we do good to others, in obedience to Christ’s command.

Of course we fail. I’ve already talked about the continuing struggle. And we’re always needing forgiveness through the cross. But we begin to find that the whole tendency of our thinking is different. Instead of tending towards rebellion, we tend towards obedience. We find more delight in pleasing God than in anything else. That’s a miraculous transformation. That’s the power of God’s Spirit within us.

Now we also need to understand that though our minds change radically, our bodies don’t. Not yet. However, our expectation of the future of our bodies does change radically – and that has a profound effect on the way that we live now.

So verse 10:

if Christ is in you, your body is dead because of sin …

In other words, everyone dies physically, whether a believer or not. That’s in store for all of us (unless Jesus returns first). Christians are subject to the ravages of disease, old age, violence and disaster like everyone else. But even now, verse 10 again:

your spirit is alive …

The eternal life of the believer has already begun. What, then, of the body? Does that get left behind? Absolutely not! Human beings are physical beings. God's creation is physical. It’s not just our minds that are saved from eternal death by God's grace. It’s our bodies as well. But there’s a time lag. Verse 11:

And if the Spirit of him who raised Jesus from the dead is living in you, he who raised Christ from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through his Spirit, who lives in you.

For the believer, physical death is the gateway to bodily resurrection, and entry into the new heaven and the new earth - the new physical and spiritual realm that God will create when Christ returns. Knowing that transforms the way we think about death, and therefore the way we think about our priorities in this temporary life. The Holy Spirit frees the believer from death and guarantees eternal life - in spirit now, and in body after the general resurrection.

Death becomes the gateway to glory, which means that we can live today secure in the knowledge that our eternal happiness is assured. So the believer can make tough choices and live to please God and handle hardship knowing that there’s a glorious light at the end of the tunnel. The believer does not need to live for today. Instead, the believer can contentedly live for Jesus, and for others - whatever the price.

What is common to all believers? The indwelling of the Holy Spirit. And what does God’s Spirit bring? True freedom. Freedom from the guilt and power of sin; freedom from a sinful mindset; freedom from the fear of death.

So those who have the Holy Spirit can and do submit to God's law; they can and do stop sinning. They don’t do that perfectly yet – and they can always find forgiveness for the failures. But the whole direction of their lives has changed. They can and do live to please God.