Romans 8: God's Spirit and the Bearing of Fruit

In Romans 7, Paul is inspired to offer a personal account of his battle with the flesh. In verse 24, if you recall, after describing the fight to control his own carnality—and I'm turning there probably at the same time you are—his tendency to sin, his selfish nature. If we want to go back not too well, many a year, which Herbert Armstrong used to call the way of get, not give.

He cries out in anguish, if you remember there by language, O wretched man that I am, who will deliver me from this body of death?

Now, I have no idea your reaction to those words, but I know that my reaction is I can easily identify with them, because there are so many times, even in my own life, where I think to myself, why this battle? Why this? And as we go through and read there, and we're reminded of what battle he's speaking of here, it's certainly easy to empathize with him, because we fight that same battle every day.

Thankfully, the very next sentence answers the question that he has just posed, and it gives us all hope.

He says, I thank God through Jesus Christ our Lord. And that's going to fit with the sermon by Mr. Cusi. Verse 26, Paul then provides a somewhat closure here by saying in these words, this battle with the flesh, So then with the mind I myself serve the law of God, but with the flesh the law of sin.

As we move then to the next chapter, Paul goes on to emphasize Christ's role in the removal of the death penalty, the gift of God's Spirit, and certainly the difference that that Spirit makes in our lives.

And so what I thought we'd do today is we would go into chapter 8. We've been moving through the Book of Romans, and you've been kind to go with me here.

And we can acknowledge what many acknowledge to be one of the most important chapters in the Bible.

This was stressed to me in a number of different ways when I was at Ambassador College. And I think at first, I don't know if I'm typically skeptical, but I think at first I thought, oh, come on.

And then after having gone through it multiple times, in different ways, for different classes, then I certainly tend to agree here.

Because the reality is it separates what's true Christianity from false Christianity.

And so we're going to spend those 39 verses looking at what's here. The difference being, and you well know already the difference between someone who just proclaims Christ versus acts in a Christian manner.

One where Christ is manifest in us, and those fruits come out of us, is God's Holy Spirit.

That's the only way this happens. That's the key difference between those who profess Christ and those who live a Christian life. So I've entitled this message, Romans 8, no surprise there, God's Spirit and the Bearing of Fruit. God's Spirit and the Bearing of Fruit.

So let's deal with a little bit of background here. I've noted this. My original notes come from Ambassador College.

So I'm dating myself here 20 some odd years ago. And I went and watched the ABC class notes to make sure that I was in sync with what was being taught there.

A number of commentaries that I'll talk about, Vines Commentary, the open Bible commentary, which I happen to...

I like in part because it's a part of my Bible, but because oftentimes it's accurate.

I'll note those different sources, and if I have any others, I'll certainly cite them along the way.

And we'll break this section down. We'll break down the book...excuse me, the chapter. We're not going to run the whole book. We'll break down the chapter into two sections. I'm going to offer here section one, freedom from sin through God's Spirit.

Freedom from sin through God's Spirit, that being verses 1 through 17. So we'll go two sections on this one.

And then that second section, the blessing of following God, which is 18 through the remainder of the chapter, 18 through 39.

Now, again, by reminder, there are a couple of things I'll draw your attention to. Romans 8, no surprise here. We still have Paul talking. We're well familiar with Paul having moved all the way through the book of Acts and seen him many times with Luke talking, see Paul in action.

But knowing Paul is writing here, there's so many other books, so many other epistles.

We are also noted here that he's talking with Jews and Gentiles in the church at Rome, but applicable to you and me today. We're well aware of that.

And I'll just make you aware, and we got two memory verses we oftentimes work in this chapter.

Romans 8 verse 7, when I say that, probably a quick trigger there.

And Romans 8, 28, and we'll get to both of those verses today.

Both memory verses that are valuable for us all to keep in mind. So at least you can put those on your radar.

Let's first of all then deal with Romans 1.

Excuse me, Romans 8 verse 1. Romans 8 verse 1.

And I'll only note this, that there is not a break, if you remember. The last time we were in Romans 7, there's no real natural break that happens here.

Again, we're back to those who happen to be scribes coming and inserting chapters in between.

So what we just read there by background at the latter end of Romans 7 is certainly a continuation of what we see in 8 verse 1.

Romans 8, 1, There is therefore now no condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus, who do not walk according to the flesh, but according to the Spirit. Now there's a lot of information that's packed there. I note three items that I'm going to draw your attention to.

One is three phrases. First off is no condemnation. The second off is there Christ Jesus.

And the third one is according to the flesh. And that according to the flesh is going to segue well into verse 2 because it's going to run a contrast between the latter end of 1 and what happens in 2. So by background, if we deal with that first phrase, no condemnation that appears there in verse 1, we know that condemnation appears only in Scripture three times.

We know it's in Romans 5 verses 16 and 18, and I can let you look that up on your own. And we also know that it appears here.

It's used only in isolated number of times. And it's helpful to at least understand why Paul, Paul who's well-learned, we know that, why someone like Paul would use this. Certainly by inspiration, we're aware of that. But at the same time, we also know that there was a specific reason why he used this.

Condemnation is, as noted here, strongly associated or associated with a judicial setting. And a judicial setting, in other words, in a case like this, involves some verdict that's made about a man or a woman.

So what we find here is this verdict, this no condemnation, condemnation actually highlights those who are saved, who no longer have a death penalty on them.

Now that can easily come out of our mouth. Maybe if I give myself a little bit of distance, am I too close?

Or should we go closer? If I go closer, do I go less feedback? Go higher angle.

I'm going to do the Macarena here in a second, if you get me to do this. Believe it or not, because I can hear some of this and I don't want you necessarily to be troubled.

But that said, when we deal with this whole notion that we have no death penalty on us, at times we can grow a bit comfortable with this.

Because I think when we come into an understanding of the truth, that first love we oftentimes speak of, and even for us who happen to be second or third generation Christians, we come to a realization of, hey, wait a second! The penalty, the inevitability of death has been removed from us.

But at times we can, going long enough, go, yeah, I've had the death penalty removed, what's the big deal?

And what I'm kind of asking us to really focus on here, particularly in this verse, is the recognition that we are not sad to say, unlike those of the world, particularly those who once given an understanding of truth, are not condemned to death. We don't have the inevitability of death. We're not headed for death.

And that's what Paul's pointing out here by saying, there is no condemnation. You are not penalized to death.

The next phrase, no surprise here, comes up just shortly to those who are in Christ Jesus. To be in Christ Jesus refers to those who have shown. We know this from a number of places that Paul talks about, but also in commentaries, those who have shown faith, those who have been truly repentant, those who have been baptized, and those who have been given God's Spirit.

So we see this sequence. Now we're going to see here, as we move into Romans 8, some additional sequences that are talked about. But that sequence is key because, and we already understand this, because of what Christ did. He sacrificed his life. He gave his life after 33 and a half years, by all accounts, of perfect living.

The one individual who should not have been condemned to death was sacrificed for you and me. Well before you and I ever existed. Talk about love.

So what we find here is that he sacrificed it with the idea that, and we could go around the room, with Max Spiegelmeyer or John Beane or anyone in the room knowing that in the future that sacrifice could be applied and that penalty removed.

You know, the penalty then has been removed. That's the language that Paul is stressing here. But it requires, and we've talked about this already under the label of justification, but it requires that we walk unlike those of this world.

Which is what he's talking about here in the very next phrasing. Who do not walk according to this world? Or walk according to the flesh?

The notion of flesh here is really one who operates, if we go in and look at what's offered here in terms of the Greek, one who operates on impulse and feeling.

Now as human beings, you and I both know that we have feelings. God entrusted us. God gave us. He created us with feelings.

The danger becomes that too often, at least in our human state, we give into those feelings. And we let those feelings dictate things that those of this world oftentimes succumb to, but we're told not to. Don't walk according to this world.

And so what we see here in this very initial verse, and I spend a little bit of time going through this, is that we are to avoid all things fleshly.

You and I both know that Satan is working overtime to get us to succumb to these things. In how many ways does he go after us?

Well, certainly he strives to influence by attitudes. Certainly he tries to influence by those around us. Certainly by society, whether it be our work environment, by our media, whatever we deal with.

You know, it really becomes frustrating at times. In fact, I had noted this in a message that I was writing that hoped to give upcoming, is how many different ways Satan goes after us.

And I happen to have read a longer account and was reading a little bit of research about, even today, how—and you know how this works—when you're online, how so much of what's blown your way is based upon the algorithm built for you.

Whether it be those banner ads, or whatever pops up on the sides, or you go to a news page and all of a sudden all those ads.

And the item that the individual was talking about, who happened to be a researcher noting this, he said, how many of us start one direction? Here's someone without God's Spirit.

And we wind up in some place thinking, how did I get here? Why am I watching this garbage? Or why am I watching this cat video? Or whatever it is.

Why am I over this? How did I go eight clicks over here to find this? If you don't think that Satan the Devil has taken advantage of that, you're kidding yourself.

I have thought long and hard about smartphones and even in conversations with others in my department otherwise. I'm not convinced they are smartphones.

You probably know where I'm going with this. I'm convinced that they're more dumb phones because they're doing all they can to make us dumb. They're doing all they can in order to take us away from God. So we have to certainly be vigilant here.

So what Paul is saying is, do not walk according to flesh, but in contrast, walk according to the Spirit.

Verse 2, for the law of the Spirit, that's that other law we talked about. There are three that are housed here in the latter verses of chapter 7 and up through 8.

For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus has made me free from the law of sin and death. I'll ask you to...we can throw a marker here. We're just going to go talk briefly. We're going to go look. If you go over with the sermon on the Mount, I'm headed for Matthew 5.

We'll go look at just a short section here. Number of verses, nothing fancy. Christ speaking here, this longer message that he spends time talking about. Matthew 5, you know, this world is convinced that what's in law doesn't count anymore. Just profess Christ and I'm good.

This morning we happened to be over in Buford, and Dr. Steve Holliday was talking about how many Hail Marys does it take for me to be clean and free? That's generally how the Catholic Church works.

I don't have to follow anything, just profess Christ and I'm good. But if we're back over here in Christ's own words, if you want to go read letter edition, mine is that.

Verse 17 of chapter 5, Matthew, do not think that I come to destroy the law or the prophets. I did not come to destroy, but you know this to fulfill. For assuredly I say to you, till heaven and earth pass away.

One jot or one tittle will by no means pass from the law till all is fulfilled. Whoever breaks, therefore one of the least of these commandments and teaches men so shall he be called least in the kingdom of heaven.

But whoever teaches, excuse me, whoever does and teaches them shall be called great in the kingdom of heaven. And we're reminded as you move forward from verses 20 to 30, which I won't read here for only for sake of time, that as you and I, in terms of a coming to an understanding of truth, we begin to recognize that there are physical requirements here.

But for those who have an understanding of God's Spirit, there are spiritual requirements that we're to keep. So as you read the next verses 20 through that next section talks about you're not supposed to hate someone, but I mean, you're not supposed to kill someone, but neither are you to hate them.

We're not supposed to show disdain, dislike, anything in opposition to someone else. Now, that doesn't mean we're gullible, but it does mean that we have a responsibility.

Having God's Spirit to treat others fairly, to not hold those grudges. That section after that talks about it's not just committing adultery. Don't think wrongly of a female along the way.

So we see these spiritual nuances much more amplified once we understand God's Spirit. That law of the Spirit in verse 2 of Romans 8 is what he's talking about here.

As noted here, as we move through this, of life in Christ Jesus, who made me free from the law of sin and death. Who then, once repentant, delivered us... Oh, well, I'm asking here rhetorically. Who then delivers us from this penalty of sin and death, and we know that to be Christ. Now, I'll ask you to go back. If you're back with me in Romans 8, this is not too far, John. We can read over in Romans 6, verse 18, and this is only going to reinforce that the point Paul is making here.

As he writes, Romans 6, verse 18 reads, And having been set free from sin, you become slaves of righteousness, no longer slaves of sin, no longer slaves of that bondage that holds us. But we're now slaves, the opposite types of slaves. We're indebted to righteousness. 7, verse 24 tells us how. We read this just a moment ago. Well, 24 talks about how wretched man that I am. 25 says, I thank God through Jesus Christ our Lord. There's the reason why we are made free from the law of sin. Verse 3, I'm going to keep going. For what the law could not do, in that it was weak through the flesh, God did. By sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh, on account of sin, he condemned sin in the flesh. You know, the point here is not that the law is weak. And by language, we lose a little bit here in translation. The reality is the law is the law.

The weakness only comes from us. Human beings are weak. Laws don't change. And that's really what Paul is noting here. That key ingredient being God's Spirit. And so we have that inevitability of sin removed. Verse 4, continuing in the same sentence, that the righteous requirement of the law might be fulfilled in us, who do not walk according to the flesh, those words again, but according to the Spirit. Again, the law doesn't make us righteous. The only way we're made righteous is by having God's Spirit in us. That's the only way. It's his Spirit that teaches us, that guides us in how to keep that law. It was Christ's first time on earth, his sacrifice, that led to the giving of God's Spirit. It takes God's Spirit then to change us, to walk according to the Spirit. And it's when that Spirit is in us that we start to reflect the character of Christ as he walked while here, as God in the flesh. The language there that shows up in verse 5 only continues to reinforce this. For those who live according to the flesh, set their mind. That notion of set their minds by language means orient toward.

Orient toward. Set their minds on the things of the flesh, but those who live according to the Spirit, the things of the Spirit. You know, years ago, and I have no idea, I don't know if for whatever reason certain things come to mind, years ago I had, in going to camp, had a chance to work with Mr. Dave Gotthles. And we had this discussion at times about how to be an effective basketball player. Why this sticks out now, I don't know, but it's coming up. And Gotthles, Coach Gotthles, was convinced, he said that whatever we do in life, just recognize that your eyesight, whatever you focus on, you're going to go that direction.

And we got into this longer discussion about focusing, making sure if you're a good basketball player that you're focusing on the rim, because if you go there, your eyes will track. Same thing happens when we play any athletic sport. If you go and look away, I'll tell you the easiest way to probably illustrate this, and this happens all the time when you're on the road.

My family will probably tell you, I am running commentary when we're on the freeway. Because you can tell exactly who's on their phone when we're driving. In fact, I got penalized this morning on the way to Buford. It was, okay, Dad, you can't talk about traffic for a while, because you've been talking about traffic. Because if that car in front of me is doing this, my immediate comment is, he's on his phone. I know what he's doing. He's on his phone. As soon as we take our eyes off that road, you get all this drifting that goes on.

And that's really what the mindset or the idea that's conveyed there in the first five. 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, the things of the Spirit. Verse 6, which oftentimes fits closely with 7, for to be carnally minded is death. But to be spiritually minded is life and peace. Talk about a large contrast there.

Verse 7, here's a memory verse. Because the carnal mind is enmity, which means hostile against God. It's hostile to God. For it is not subject to the law of God, nor indeed can be. Whenever we're born, our general inclination as we grow older is to resist. I think back when I was having a short conversation, and my son's not in the room so I can talk about him. I had a short conversation about how strong will my guy is and our guy is, who we love so much.

How strong willed that little guy was. When you would tell him something, I'm not going to do it. I'm going to see how far you're going to go to push me to see if I will actually bend or break here. How many times did Sarah have to say to me, Hey, Phil, this isn't working. You probably need to go walk around and we'll see what will happen at that point. Because for whatever reason, the paddle's not getting through to him. That said, our general inclination is just to be resistant.

We don't want to follow rules. And that's what we note here. As humans without God's Spirit, we really are selfish. And the best we can muster with that selfishness is a self-righteousness. One thing that I happened to have noted the other day in class, and I've said here before, is interestingly enough, human beings, when you go and ask them, we individually, on our own journey in life, are all convinced that the things we do individually, we've seen this supported numerous ways, is the smartest, is the most logical, is the best.

All of these things always come up. You begin to see the problem. If we have 50 people in a room, we've got 50 people who are all convinced they're right. And it's really only by God's Spirit that we come to an understanding of what actually is right. And that's what Paul's talking about here. It's not subject to the law of God, neither indeed can be. Verse 8, So then those who are in the flesh cannot please God. There is no way we can make God happy whenever we're fleshly.

Verse 9, But you are not in the flesh, but in the Spirit. If indeed the Spirit of God dwells in you, now if anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ, he is not his. I'll only make note here of John 15, verse 26. Because one of the things that's helpful we see at the tail end of John, and should be referenced here, is to recognize that that Spirit emanates.

It starts with the Father, and it goes through the Son. John makes unmistakably clear there that God's Spirit starts, but it's sent by Christ. John 14, verse 26 says, God's Spirit is given in the Son's name, but it starts with God the Father. And that's a good reminder here. Verse 10, And if Christ is in you, the body is dead because of sin, but the Spirit is life because of righteousness. Verse 11, But if the Spirit of him who raised Jesus Christ from the dead dwells in you, he who raised Christ from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies.

The body of Bill Bryant. The body of Phil your name in here. Through his Spirit who dwells in you. Certainly he'll give you wisdom in this life. He'll look out for you. He'll care for you. He'll allow you to build and forge character like his. God the Father is in Jesus Christ the Son. But ultimately, he will give you immortality that goes well beyond this. And here's where I made reference to Galatians 2.20 earlier, but I'll ask you to turn with me.

If you just want to listen, I'll read a memory verse for many of us. Galatians 2.20 again, Paul writing, I have been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me. And the life which I now live in the flesh, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me. We're right back to the reference, Christ dying for us before he ever knew us. Verse 12 continues, Therefore, brethren, we are debtors, not to the flesh, to live according to the flesh. For if you live according to the flesh, you will die.

But if by the Spirit you put to death the deeds of the body, you will live. It's God's Spirit that's given to us that puts those deeds of the flesh to death. Verse 14, for as many as are led by the Spirit, led in first or remind us that this is an ongoing process.

It's not a one-time deal. It's not baptism, you're given Spirit, and, oh, I'm done, I'll wash my hands of the rest. It means every day, supplication, going before God, asking for forgiveness with a repentant heart, and asking for God, remember how David prayed? To restore that Spirit to me. To have that Spirit restored. For as many as led by the Spirit of God, these are the sons of God. We are begotten sons and daughters of God by God's Spirit. For you did not receive the Spirit of bondage again to fear, but you received the Spirit of adoption, by whom we cry out, Abba, Father.

Now, I'll only make a reference here to 1 Timothy 1, verse 7, which talks about how God, in giving us His Spirit, has given us the Spirit of fear. But if you remember there, He's given us the Spirit of a sound mind, and a power, and a sound mind. And so we see all of that here. So when we have God's Spirit, sometimes, I know this, as human beings, we will kind of backtrack, or we'll find ourselves fearing whatever it might be. But the realization is we don't have to, because that's not the Spirit you've been given. And you can certainly be comforted by other sections of Scripture, Matthew 6, which talks about, don't worry.

Stop worrying about things. Stop laying awake. This is as much to me as it is to you. Stop laying awake between 2 and 3.30 a.m., trying to figure out life. Because God will take care of you. You're good. We don't have to have fear in this. God's Spirit in us actually empowers us in so many ways. And we see that in Scripture. It changes the direction of our life. It brings to mind the things that must be brought to mind when we commit ourselves to God.

It gives us the peace that this world lacks. You talk about uneasiness. You can go talk to probably a number of your co-workers and see the things that are unfolding in society today. To see when I say society, not just in this country, but around the world, talk about a time of uneasiness.

You don't have to have that same uneasiness. You're not given that Spirit. You and I both are given a Spirit of peace and of comfort and of confidence in God. Verse 16, the Spirit Himself, or itself should be more accurate, bears witness with our Spirit that we are children of God. God communicates through that Spirit to you. He triggers in you a reminder of what the commandments are, what the standards are to live by.

That's how God's Spirit works. You can choose as I can. You can choose to not listen to that. You can choose to violate sin. But the consequences of that are great. But that's how God works with us through that Spirit. And if children then heirs, heirs of God, and joint heirs with Christ, if indeed we suffer with Him, that we may also be glorified together.

That notion of heirs references sonship. It references the idea, even in the Old Testament, where the eldest was given an inheritance. There is an inheritance waiting for you. The amazing thing here is we are given the exact same inheritance as Christ was given. I'll ask you to go here with me to Hebrews. We're almost through this first section, and then we'll move a little more rapidly through the second. I'm headed for Hebrews. Hebrews 1 verse 2. Hebrews 1...forgive me, I'm not in Hebrews. Better to read Hebrews. Hebrews 1 verse 2.

Hebrews 1, I'll start. Let's go 1-1. God, who at various times in different ways spoke in times passed to the fathers by the prophets, has in the last day spoken to us by His Son, whom He appointed heir...what did He inherit? He made the worlds. That's included there. You can go up one chapter to chapter 2 verse 5 and continue reading. We're going to jump just ahead to verse 5.

For He has not put the world to come, of which we speak in subjection to angels, but everyone testified in a certain place, saying, What is man that you're mindful of him, or the Son of man that you take care of him? You made him a little lower than the angels. You crowned him with glory and honor, and have sent him over the works of your hands, and have put...you ready for this?

All things in subjection under his feet. You don't think you have a promising future? You're going to get the exact same reward as Christ had. That's what we're reminded of. As Christians, certainly we have that by God's Spirit. Without aiming to get into nuances here of, Well, that means if we're equal with Christ, we'll be able to counter whatever he wants.

No, Christ will be over us. But we are told that indeed we will be given the exact same reward. And that's unmistakably clear from Paul's words here in verse 17. Okay, that takes us to the last section, verse 18-38, which I've entitled, The Blessings of Following God. We'll move a little faster here. Verse 18, for I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared.

Not worthy to be compared with the glory which shall be revealed. No matter how much you suffer today. I don't care if you hurt when you wake up in the morning, if you don't make enough money, if there's aggravation in your life that goes as high as you can think.

There is no comparison between what you go through today and what you're going to be given at one point in the future. Verse 19, for the earnest expectation of the creation eagerly awaits for the revealing of the sons of God. I don't know if we think about that too often. This world's waiting for us. It's waiting for God's sons and daughters. For the creation was subjected to futility not willingly, but because of Him who suggested it in hope. Because the creation itself also will be delivered from the bondage of corruption into the glorious liberty of the children of God.

You know, we can go out and we can look at planets and we can see the pockmarks on those planets from the battle that happened at one point in the past, between Satan and his demons in opposition to God. We can see the frustration and anguish that we see people today go through in their own lives. And there's no question, even if we go, we can even go to, you know, our suffering planet route. There's no question that our planet is certainly suffering things. But as we look in all of this, God is going to allow us to be given these things. It travails now, but God's going to give us these things so that it might be restored.

And just as we come up on the fall Holy Days, we'll be reminded of this through particularly the Feast of Tabernacles, but by those additional Holy Days. So what we find here is that indeed Satan and man's rebellion and the sin that's involved has destroyed this earth. Verse 23, and not only they, but we also who have the firstfruits of the Spirit, even we ourselves, grown within ourselves eagerly waiting for the adoption and the redemption of our body. That redemption being the releasing from this body, this pain that we deal with.

You know, the earth will be cleansed at one point in the future. Once the earth is made new, as we know, in the millennium we'll be responsible, we'll be deeply involved. You want to get your hands dirty? You'll be deeply involved with changing this world. It will look nothing like what we see today. It will be breathtaking to see and to smell and to experience. It will be nothing like it. We have to do that in anticipation for that great white throne judgment that's coming. Because all those people are going to come up. Not only are we going to do training with those who make it through to Christ's return, there will be those in opposition and they'll certainly be involved.

There will be some resistant. We know that Egypt won't be happy until we take rain away. And then all of a sudden they'll go, okay, I guess I can make it to the feast. There will be opposition, but you'll be deeply involved in that. And the transformation will be so incredibly different. Not just what we see, but in how everyone acts and how everyone thinks. It will be remarkable.

There will be nothing like it. Verse 24, for we were saved in this hope. But hope that is seen is not hope. For why does one still hope for what he sees? But if we hope for what we do not see, then we eagerly wait for it with perseverance. You know, you go to Hebrews 11 and we're reminded there that those who died in the faith didn't waver from that vision in their mind.

Never waver. There were years ago that I don't know why my dad did this. I love my dad. He used to listen to tapes, whoever they might be. Dale Carnegie or whoever. And I remember one, I used to sit in the back of the car, particularly on the Sabbath, because we did both churches, felt like every Sabbath.

And he would play a tape once the sun set. And it was oftentimes a tape about... It wasn't a Stephen Covey, but it was something like that. And one guy used to come on as I would lay in the back when we never used seat belts. I think about that now. And the one guy would come on and they were interviewing him, and they would say, you have been so incredibly successful. How did that happen? And he said that oftentimes he would sit in his office with all the lights off.

He'd spend one period of time, once a week, sitting in his office or laying on a couch or laying on the floor for about 30 minutes. And he would close his eyes and envision what he needed to do next to be successful. And then after that period of time, he would get up and write it all...

Well, here's what he would say. He would say, where do I need to be in 10 years? What I need to be doing in 10 years to be successful? And once he flipped the lights on, he'd go write it all down and start doing it. This is, in essence, what we see. You can hope all day long, but that vision has to be clearly part of us.

It has to be a very fabric of our thinking. So that we are, if we go back a few verses, so it is what we orient to. Our sights are set on that. It's unmistakable. Verse 25, but if we hope for... I've denoted that. Verse 26, likewise, the Spirit also helps in our weaknesses. For we do not know what we should pray for as we ought, but the Spirit, that Spirit that God provides us, makes intercession for us with groanings which cannot be uttered.

Now, we're reminded here, even as we go through this, sometimes even as we pray, you know, I'm not even sure what I'm supposed to pray for. God's Spirit will make that clear. Now, you may go in and find words of David in the Old Testament or in other locations that remind you of what we should be praying for, even as we use his words and we speak of them in prayer. But the realization is God's Spirit provides that. It helps us overcome our weakness. It's Christ who's living in us.

If we drop down to verse 34 and we see this, it's Christ who's making intercession for us. That's how he's living in us. Now, I'll only make reference to a couple of additional verses that remind us of that intercession. Ephesians 2.13, which notes he's our mediator. And then Hebrews 7.24 and 26. Ephesians 2.13 through 18, if you want to go that far, that he's our mediator in Hebrews 7.24 through 26.

Both remind us that he's making intercession for us. Verse 27, Now he who searches the heart knows what the mind of the Spirit is, because he makes intercession for the saints according to the will of God. We are, by connotation here, intercession is we are rescued from our wrongdoing. We are rescued from our own fleshly desires. Verse 28, another memory verse. We hit one a little bit earlier. 8.7 verse 28. And we know all things that work together for good to those who love God, to those who are called according to this purpose.

So I do this sometimes. I don't know if you do this. I'll scroll the radio dial, and I'll listen to sometimes whatever minister's on. And many times they claim this. And I hate to be a bear of bad news, but this verse doesn't apply to them. It applies to those who are called and who have God's Spirit. Because that's what Paul is offering here. Those called are those invited. That's the Greek word that's meant there.

What this verse is dealing with, not everyone's called right now. Not everyone's invited. This refers to those who are invited. This deals with those who God is working with.

And it notes here, we know all things work to good for those who love God. How do we love God? The only way you love God, 1 John 5.3, is what? How? By keeping those commandments. Those who love God, He works with. So we must be commandment keepers. Those who are called according to His purpose. Now, only make reference to chapter 9, verse 11, because it talks about there how we're children, not yet born.

But we are noted here, the purpose of God, according to the election, might stand. God has already commissioned. He's commissioned a set number. And He's given us the opportunity by invitation to do that. And that's who He's working with in verse 28. Verse 30, more over whom He predestined. That's what this talks about here next. These He also called, whom He called. These He also justified, whom He justified. These He also glorified.

Now, we think by background, there are specific individuals in Scripture. And I'm looking at Mr. Spiegelmeyer, because I'm reminded of his comments about Samuel, who before the womb were called. You can go back and you can look at what we see in Scripture in regard to Moses, in regard to Samuel, in regard to Jeremiah, in regard to Jesus Christ. Prophesied, knew beforehand. Is everyone predestined? Well, what God did is He allocated a set number that He needed His first fruits.

And then He provided invitations to you and me, and it becomes our responsibility to act on that invitation. So this whole notion of predestination that once called, always called, you're involved in this. There's participative Christianity going on here. You've got to do your part. That's what the justification element is that we've talked about all the way through the several chapters that happened prior here.

We have to do our part, or otherwise this doesn't work. Which means you have to be actively involved, and I have to be actively involved. Verse 31, what then shall we say to these things? If God is for us, who can be against? There is no opposition. He who did not spare his own Son, but delivered Him up for us all, how shall He not with Him also freely give us all things? Who shall bring a charge against God's elect?

It is God who justifies. That same point about justification is noted here. I'll just reference Philippians 1, verse 6, that says, God will fulfill the good work He starts in you. Verse 34, Who is He who condemns? It is Christ who died, and furthermore is also risen, who is even at the right hand of God, who also makes intercession for us.

Now we know, sad to say, that there is a spirit world. That's what we addressed this morning over in Buford. And we know that Satan's doing all he can to take everyone out. And Satan, in terms of his belief, and I'm going to take everything with me, he's doing all he can to condemn you. But we can't be condemned, because that's what Christ's sacrifice means. That's the purpose for it. Verse 35, Who shall separate us from the love of Christ, shall tribulation or distress or persecution or famine or nakedness or peril or sword?

Nothing will. That was 35, 36, as it is written, For your sake we are killed all day long, we are counted as sheep for the slaughter. Yet in all things we are more than conquerors, through him who loved us. For I am persuaded that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor things present, nor things to come, nor height, nor depth, nor any other created things, shall be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord. There is nothing there that can separate us.

I'll quote Philippians 1, verse 6. It says, I always pray with joy because of your partnership in the gospel from the first day until now, being confident of this thing, that he who has begun a good work in you will carry it out to completion until the day of Jesus Christ. Nothing, no one, can separate us from God's love. So what do we then take from this one chapter? You've moved through 39 verses with me.

Well, I have three simple lessons that I'm asking us to give attention. The first one comes from Romans 8, verse 13. And certainly we should be reminded from Romans 8, this chapter, is that we have a role in our conversion. I've already made note of this. No surprise here. We already talked about 1 John 5, verse 3. The book of 1 John has so much on the law in keeping the law.

We have to be reminded of how valuable it is. We have to be obedient. That's our responsibility. We have to be obedient. And when we fall short, sad to say we will, we have to be repentant. And there has to be that heartfelt contrition. We have to be kind of... The notion of contrition. In Scripture, there's oftentimes the notion of attrition, which talks about, in essence, being apologetic in our head. And then contrition, which is where the heart gets involved. Sometimes we do this when we're parents.

Well, tell our child something, and our child will go, Well, I'm sorry. And you go, no, no, no, no. That's not working for me. I don't know where that came from, but I've got to have something that comes from the heart here. I need sincere apology out of you. That's what God wants from us.

He doesn't want us going through the motions, honoring... Knocked it out. I did my 15 minutes of prayer. That's not what God wants. He doesn't want that out of any of us.

You know, kind of like, you know, we've got to stopwatch. Okay, done there. Knocked that one out. What's next on the to-do list? God doesn't want that. He wants us to pour ourselves out to Him. He wants connection with us.

He gave us His Son as a sacrifice. How much does He love us? He wants to hear deep-seated repentance from us, where we're wrong, acknowledgement. And that doesn't necessarily mean we have to carry that burden the rest of our life. David gives us this example multiple times.

Even in the case with Bathsheba, what does he do? He fasts, he gets up, the child dies, and he moves on. There are still consequences in life. We know that. But he doesn't continue to bear that same burden. That's what God wants out of us. He wants people who are sincerely repentant from the heart. That's what conversion teaches us. I'll ask you to go with me to Colossians 3.

Colossians 3. We'll read Colossians 3. I have about six, seven verses here. Colossians 3. Hopefully you left a marker back there if you want to go back to Romans 8. Colossians 3, verses 1 and 2. Here's Paul again talking. If then you were raised with Christ, I'm in verse 1, seek those things which are above, where Christ is sitting at the right hand of God. That's exactly what Mr.

Cusi talked about there. That's that citizenship thing. Verse 2, set your mind on the things above, not on the things of earth. Don't be distracted. That's what he's talking about here. Verse 5, therefore put to death your members which are on earth. Fornication, list here. Uncleanliness, passion, evil desire, and covetousness, which is idolatry. Because of these things the wrath of God is coming upon the sons of disobedience. God will not tolerate these things.

Verse 7, in which you also once walked when you lived in them. But now you must also put off all these things. And he adds to the list, anger, wrath, malice, blasphemy, filthy language out of your mouth. Do not lie to one another, since you have put off the old man with his deeds, and have put on the new man who is renewed in the knowledge according to the image of him who created him.

You know, I'll read 11 because we're here. Where there is neither Greek nor Jew, circumcised nor uncircumcised, barbarian, Scythian, slave, or Scythian, slave nor free, but Christ is all and in all. So the reminder here is that conversion, we have a role in our own conversion. That's one of the things we should take from Romans 8. Second lesson I'm asking us to consider is to make clear that there is a reward for all those who are called and faithful.

Now, we've been through this. Verse 15 is where I just touched upon here, this spirit of adoption. And I'm going to go just briefly into the Greek. This comes from Vines Complete Expository here on this section. The notion of adoption refers to sonship. In the Greek, it actually refers to being given sonship as one who does not naturally deserve it.

Now, I'm going to kind of maybe let your mind wrap around it. What we're given is something we don't deserve. Christ deserved it. He was with God and became the word of the word, became God, lived a perfect life. He deserved it. This notion of adoption references the fact that we don't deserve it. But we're still given this privilege. We're still given this gift. God has set up a system to give us this gift. In this case, we are, by analogy, placed into the family like a biological offspring of his. And that only occurs by the spirit.

It's as though we were just like Jesus Christ the Son always. That's how much we love. How so much God loves us. We will be like Jesus Christ our older brother, but he'll always be above us. So I'm going to leave one marker here. I'm going to ask you to go over to John 3. First John 3, sorry. Let's go First John. First John 3. And we'll read the first several verses here. First John 3. This is, again, familiar territory. Valuable to read every time. First John 3, verse 1. Behold, what manner of love the Father has bestowed on us that we should be called children of God?

Maybe I should read that differently. Behold, what manner of love has the Father bestowed on us that we should be called children of God? Therefore, the world does not know us because it did not know Him. Beloved, now we are children of God, and it has not yet been revealed what we shall be. Mr. Robert Armstrong used to use the phrase begotten because we're not yet born.

But we know that when He is revealed, He's returning, Day of Trumpets reminds us of this. We shall be like Him. If you thought you had frailties, gone in a second. As you rise to meet in the air and we look around at each other going, What is going on?

I like this. This is good. Talk about vertical. We shall be like Him, for we shall see Him as He is. And everyone who has this hope in Him purifies Himself. That's what we do. There's our part. Just as He is pure. So, as we see here, the reward of those who are called is unparalleled.

And that's what Paul is spending time talking about in Romans 8. The one other item I have here that I ask that we give attention is that, it's the point I started with, is that God's Spirit changes everything. God's Spirit changes everything. Now, I'll read one last section of Scripture, 1 Corinthians 2. 1 Corinthians 2. 1 Corinthians 2. We'll begin in verse 9. 1 Corinthians 2, verse 9. This is closely related with that which is there in 1 John 3 that we talked about.

We oftentimes read these together, so it's fitting we go here. But again, understand what Paul is talking about here along the idea that God's Spirit changes everything. Changes everything for us. Verse 9, But as it is written, I has not seen nor heard, nor have entered into the heart of man the things which God has prepared for those who love Him. But God has revealed them to us through His Spirit, for the Spirit searches all things, yes, the deep things of God. For what man knows the things of God except the Spirit of man which is in Him?

Even so, no one knows the things of God except the Spirit of God. The insight that God provides you, this world doesn't know. The only reason you know it is because God's given you a Spirit, or He's working with you, and that Spirit is around you all the time. That's how this works!

Otherwise, you wouldn't be sitting here. I wouldn't be here either. There would be no reason for us. The only reason is by God's Spirit that we get this. Verse 12, Now we have received not the Spirit of the world, but the Spirit who is from God, that we might know the things that have been freely given to us by God.

These things we also speak, not in words which man's wisdom teaches, but which the Holy Spirit teaches, comparing spiritual things with spiritual. I hate to tell you here, and you probably already know this, no matter what man touches, it really comes to failure. I speak as someone who did the schooling thing in order to get the piece of paper to teach in the University Senate. I'd love to tell you that all the insights that I have change you. Okay, they're helpful. I get that. I mean, I spend most of my days talking about having better relationships.

I get that. Does it scratch what scratch? You can't even come close to what God provides in His Word. Doesn't even come close. Any inside, I'm oftentimes struck by this, any inside I come to in terms of a research breakthrough, generally just sheds light on what's already here. It's all sitting right here. It becomes our responsibility to do something about it. And we can either leave the Bible on the shelf and show up on Sabbath services and hope we recoup ourselves as though we fasted spiritually for six days and we're trying to shove it all in at the local buffet, or we can take the time along the way and continue to go to that Word and continue to use that Word and let God's Spirit be stirred up in us.

I'm digressing momentarily. I was laughing, not laughing. Well, I was a bit angry and frustrated this morning. I was making eggs. I wasn't angry at that. But I had flipped the radio on while I made the eggs, and they were talking about, and I know as liberal as it is, I flip over to NPR, they were talking about that the research studies that were done about 30, 35 years ago on sugar were all sponsored by the sugar industry.

And the realization is that sugar is much worse for us than we ever imagined. In fact, the connection with heart disease, they said, is unmistakable. That just like, and they likened it to the smoking industry, that they had covered over this for this long a time. And I got a little irritated there because I thought to myself, well, I kind of think I knew that, but the fact that you're telling me this really bothers me. Because I took for granted that the scientists involved would actually tell us sugar was this bad. But now you're making a connection with all of these ailments, whether it be heart disease or diabetes, and you've told me you've been keeping this a secret for 30, 35 years.

So they released that. The American Medical Association said, I'm sorry, earlier this week. I think that chapped me even more. But that said, this notion of wisdom, that's man's wisdom. That's not God's wisdom. The Holy Spirit teaches, but which the Holy Spirit teaches, comparing spiritual things with spiritual things. But the natural man does not receive the things of the Spirit of God. For they are foolishness to him, nor can he know them because they are spiritually discerned. The things that you and I have in terms of understanding, they are God working with His Spirit, Christ in you, revealing them to you. Matthew 15. But he who is spiritual judges all things, yet he himself is rightly judged by one.

For who has known the mind of the Lord, that he might instruct him, but we have the mind of Christ. I mean, we have this tremendous gift in God's Spirit that changes our lives. You know, when you look at Romans 8, there is a lot, no surprise here, a lot of valuable information. Two memory verses and some lessons that we should all pull from it.

Today we've gone through Romans 8. We've gone through what many contend as one of the most important chapters in the Bible. We see Paul reiterate a number of things. Christ's sacrifice as being necessary for removing the death penalty, the gift of God's Spirit, and the difference that the Holy Spirit makes in our lives. When we move forward in the next sections, we won't get there until after the Holy Days, Romans 9, 10, and 11 are actually a unit of Scripture that all fit together. If you go and recall, Romans 9 involves Israel being chosen as God's people.

Paul's going to talk about that. Romans 10, the rejection of God and the Messiah, which is what the Israelites did. Romans 11, the eventual restoration and salvation of Israel. If you have opportunity, I'd certainly encourage you to read ahead to spend a little bit of time on the commentaries. We'll get there.

It'll just take us a little while. In the meantime, certainly we can be pleased. We can be elated about what we learned today in terms of what Paul is inspired to write in Romans 8.