Romans 8
The Mind
In your mind you can be transported to other locations in less than a second
On cold wet fall days, my mind takes me to beaches in sunny Florida
The mind can be developed, entertained, has sentiment, or opinions and interests
The mind receives info from the five senses
What we see, hear, taste, smell, and feel stimulates our minds
The mind quickly engages
This engagement can result in wonderful things
Like when you see a friend suffering, sympathy and compassion move into action
Thoughts of lust, greed, envy, etc. comes quickly from our selfish desires
Why people think the way they do, can be a mystery
Or, why they don’t think, can be a mystery
In the end, Paul tells us our brain, the place of our spirit
Is to be co-inhabited with the Spirit of God
Not to fulfill our plans and purposes, but to fulfill His purpose
His purpose has been the same from beginning to end
His purposes will meet all your needs
The Mind
The mind is so amazing.
In your mind, you can be transported
to other locations in less than a second.
On cold wet fall days, my mind
takes me to beaches in sunny Florida.
The mind can be developed, entertained,
has sentiment, or opinions, and interests.
The mind receives info from the five senses.
What we see, hear, taste, smell, and feel
stimulates our minds.
The mind quickly engages.
This engagement can result in wonderful things
like when you see a friend suffering,
sympathy and compassion move into action.
Thoughts of lust, greed, envy, etc.
form quickly from our selfish desires.
Why people think the way they do,
can be a mystery.
Or, why they don’t think, can be a mystery.
Paul spends a lot of time talking
about our actions and our thoughts.
Our actions are the results of our thought.
Because we all have a sinful nature…
We will think and do things that
gratify our natural desires.
The law teaches us…
Those desires and actions, are sin.
The law also judges our sin
with the verdict of death.
“The wages of sin is death”
Romans 6:23
Paul in the famous 8th chapter of Romans tells us…
There is a way to live without condemnation.
Paul divides the mind into two categories…
The carnal or sinful natural mind
and the spiritual mind.
Paul says…
Those controlled by the sinful nature cannot please God.
Romans 8:8
Paul tells us…
The change that takes place
when we choose to have our minds
controlled by the Holy Spirit.
There is no condemnation.
Romans 8:1
Christ took our condemnation upon Himself
when He died on the cross.
Romans 8:2-4
The one whose desire is to have
their mind set on the Spirit of God…
Will be dead to sin
and alive to righteousness.
Romans 8:10
The mind controlled by the Spirit
will have the same power that rose Christ from the dead,
because the Spirit lives in that person.
Romans 8:11
It is still our “obligation” to live
according to the Spirit…
Not the sinful nature.
We always have the choice.
With the choice comes the ”obligation”.
There is always God’s part and our part.
Romans 8:12
So if we do our part of dying to the sinful nature
and by working with the Holy Spirit…
We put to death the misdeeds of our body.
We will “live”.
Romans 8:13
Becoming led by the Spirit…
We become kinship, family, child or sons of God.
Romans 8:14-15
The evidence of this is the His Spirit.
The Holy Spirit Himself testifies jointly,
corroborates by concurrent evidence
with our spirit that we are Children of God.
We have a lot of knowledge about our bodies.
We seem to work well the things that are tangible
but our spirit and soul, the mind, are great mysteries.
It is this relationship of our spirit
and the Spirit of God that makes us
alive and gives us the understanding
we are His children.
Like any relationship…
The more active, the deeper it goes.
Distance effects relationships.
During the Vietnam War, I saw many women
who loved their man that was off to war
fighting for their freedom, write “Dear John Letters”.
God wants to take up residence in our hearts,
our minds, the very place our spirit resides.
Our brain is to be co-inhabited
with the Spirit of God.
Why do we co-inhabit?...
Because of love.
How will we recognize the Spirit of God?...
By His voice, we will want to hear Him,
so we will read and study His Word.
We will pray our form of communication.
And because of our love,
we will worship with songs and adoration.
God has made this promise to us…
“Never will I leave you or forsake you.”
So, with confidence we are
in His Word, prayer and worship
because we are confident…
He is our Helper.
Romans 8:26-27 says…
In the same way, the Spirit helps us in our weakness. We do not know what we ought to pray for, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us with groans that words cannot express. And he who searches our hearts knows the mind of the Spirit, because the Spirit intercedes for the saints in accordance with God's will.
When we invite the Spirit of God into our heart,
that resides in our brain…
Powerful intersession takes place
so the will of God will be accomplished.
Paul confirms this relationship of becoming His child
is founded in love in the famous verse
of Romans 8:28…
And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose.
We cannot forget God’s Spirit
does not come into our lives
to help us fulfill our purpose…
But His purpose.
We are called…
We are invited…
To join His purpose.
Scripture Reading
Romans 8:1-29 NIV
8:1 Therefore, there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus, 2 because through Christ Jesus the law of the Spirit of life set me free from the law of sin and death. 3 For what the 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, 4 in order that the righteous requirements of the law might be fully met in us, who do not live according to the sinful nature but according to the Spirit.
5 Those who live according to the sinful nature have their minds set on what that nature desires; but those who live in accordance with the Spirit have their minds set on what the Spirit desires. 6 The mind of sinful man is death, but the mind controlled by the Spirit is life and peace; 7 the sinful mind is hostile to God. It does not submit to God's law, nor can it do so. 8 Those controlled by the sinful nature cannot please God.
9 You, however, are controlled not by the sinful nature but by the Spirit, if the Spirit of God lives in you. And if anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ, he does not belong to Christ. 10 But if Christ is in you, your body is dead because of sin, yet your spirit is alive because of righteousness. 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.
12 Therefore, brothers, we have an obligation — but it is not to the sinful nature, to live according to it. 13 For if you live according to the sinful nature, you will die; but if by the Spirit you put to death the misdeeds of the body, you will live, 14 because those who are led by the Spirit of God are sons of God. 15 For you did not receive a spirit that makes you a slave again to fear, but you received the Spirit of sonship. And by him we cry, "Abba, Father." 16 The Spirit himself testifies with our spirit that we are God's children. 17 Now if we are children, then we are heirs — heirs of God and co-heirs with Christ, if indeed we share in his sufferings in order that we may also share in his glory.
18 I consider that our present sufferings are not worth comparing with the glory that will be revealed in us. 19 The creation waits in eager expectation for the sons of God to be revealed. 20 For the creation was subjected to frustration, not by its own choice, but by the will of the one who subjected it, in hope 21 that the creation itself will be liberated from its bondage to decay and brought into the glorious freedom of the children of God.
22 We know that the whole creation has been groaning as in the pains of childbirth right up to the present time. 23 Not only so, but we ourselves, who have the firstfruits of the Spirit, groan inwardly as we wait eagerly for our adoption as sons, the redemption of our bodies. 24 For in this hope we were saved. But hope that is seen is no hope at all. Who hopes for what he already has? 25 But if we hope for what we do not yet have, we wait for it patiently.
26 In the same way, the Spirit helps us in our weakness. We do not know what we ought to pray for, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us with groans that words cannot express. 27 And he who searches our hearts knows the mind of the Spirit, because the Spirit intercedes for the saints in accordance with God's will.
28 And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose.
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