Lesson 31a
Romans 8:12-13 · JD McCulley · Apr 14, 2019
Romans (2018-21), No. 61
Holly Hills Bible Church
https://hollyhillsbiblechurch.org/teaching/messages/49261914341307

Transcribed from the recording by SermonAudio, so expect the occasional misheard word.

We will begin with, well we are going to end lesson 30 and I think I have one more question, question 11 to go through and then Davey will jump on to lesson 31. So again we are going through the verses Romans 8 and let me get back up there. 6 through 11, and it's really getting into this last verse that we're going to address in question 11. So, in verse 11, oh, you need a 30? Oh, no, that's fine. Well, this is 31, which we'll be getting into, and then 30, which is the last question right there.

So in question 11, and this is again from lesson 30, in verse 11, what does he mean, will give life also to our mortal bodies? And this is in verse 11. But if the spirit of him who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, he who raised Christ Jesus from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through his spirit who dwells in you. So this verse is directly addressing mortal bodies. So what does it mean, we'll give life also to our mortal bodies? We've been all talking about how bad the flesh is and all that, and it's condemned. And now he's saying, giving life to this mortal body. Is he changing everything up now? Stunned silence. Well, the mortal part is the sticker. Is the sticker mortal? Because we have new life. It's totally different in Christ. But I don't know how mortal that is. How mortal our new life is?

Yeah. That's immortal. That's eternal. I think it's spiritual. I think it's mortal. But the life, and again, It's kind of a little bit parsing between life and mortal body. I think it's kind of what you have to decipher in here. So what does it mean he's going to give life to this mortal body for our mortal bodies? Well, he's not going to let it die. He's not going to let it die? So we're going to live eternally? No, no, no, no. He's going to give the life to the mortal body as long as he has for you to live. He's going to continue. He's not going to let it die. Until he's got a plan.

So, I guess one thing is mortal. What does that mean? The flesh. You know, the body. Physical bodies. So, two words. Mortal and immortal. What does that mean? What are the two differences there? perishable or non-perishable. Eternal or not. So when he's talking about our mortal bodies, what's he talking about?

The physical. Physical body. Yeah. So he's giving life to it. So does that mean the flesh is now okay? No. So what does he mean? Giving life to our mortal body. Well, it's different than the flesh. The flesh has been condemned. The mortal body is is working in condemnation, but it's... there's no... you can't say that the mortal body is sinful. It's the flesh that's sinful. Yeah.

So, he's just going to continue to give us life until... It's now that we have two natures in us. We have the new nature that's living in this mortal body. And so he's given us life, new life, that resides in this mortal body. So the flesh is still condemned and everything, but he's given us life within this shell. So that's really what he is addressing here, that he's giving us new life in this mortal body while we're here. I just want to make it clear, because it's not like the flesh is now suddenly rejuvenated. It is still condemned. It's just we have a new life living in this body now. We also have the sinful flesh which is there too.

Do you think that it's too much of a stretch to think that as a believer that Christ is able to manifest himself through a dead body, dead to him? Yeah, he can manifest himself using this vessel. Because there is no question that we recognize that the rapture will have resurrected and then glorified bodies which will be suitable for the spirit that we have. But now that God in fact would use a body that is dead to him to manifest himself.

I think about that also. Think about how he uses different people all the time. Sinners as well as non-believers, believers, everything is being used by him. So I think that's the same thing. We're in a sinful body, but he's using it to ultimately manifest himself to a world. Through this sinful flesh, he's actually using that to manifest Christ. So he does use this sinful body in a way that is to glorify him. The wonderful part is we get rid of this at some point.

And then our glorified body, as you said, will match our new life, our new spirit. So there isn't this conflict of the sinful nature and the new life. So everybody got that? There are some good things that Newell had too. I think he addressed it pretty well.

Our spirits have been shown to have life now, while the body is still dead as to God, but now God announces that to these bodies, so dead to God, holiness and heaven is by and by to be given life. So that although our bodies are yet dead on account of sin, dead to God, the spirit of him who raised up Christ Jesus from the dead, Christ Jesus in whom God will give life also to these poor mortal bodies of ours and it will be by His Spirit who now indwells us. This word mortal means subject to physical death and is used in scripture only of the body. What an unutterable comfort, whether we wake or sleep, this blessed indwelling Spirit of God will give life to these mortal dead to God bodies of ours, so that they shall be as alive Godward as our redeemed spirits now are. It is present comfort beyond measure to know that when the day comes, God will do this blessed giving of life to our bodies through His Spirit that is now indwelling us.

So, again, just the thought of getting our new bodies. It's actually covered in 1 Corinthians 15 and 50 through 57. So I'll just go through this about the new body. Now I say this, brethren, that flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God, nor does the perishable inherit the imperishable. Behold, I tell you a mystery.

We will not all sleep, but we will all be changed in a moment, in a twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet. For the trumpet will sound, and the dead will be raised imperishable, and we will be changed. For this perishable must put on the imperishable, and this mortal must put on immortality. For when this perishable will have put on imperishable, and this mortal will have put on immortality, then will come about the saying that is written, Death is swallowed up in victory. O death, where is your victory? O death, where is your sting? The sting of death is sin, and the power of sin is the law.

But thanks be to God who gave us this victory through our Lord Jesus Christ. If the earthly tent, which is our house, is torn down, we have a building from God, a house not made with hands, eternal in heaven. For indeed, in this house we groan, longing to be clothed with our dwelling from heaven, inasmuch as we, having put it on, will not be found naked. For indeed, while we are in this tent, we groan, being burdened, because we do not want to be unclothed, be clothed. Now he who prepared us for this very purpose is God who gave us this spirit as a pledge. So again, we're going to get rid of this mortal body and we'll have an immortal body that matches our new life.

So, JD, you are up. I want to mention something before JD comes to your Lesson 31. There's a mistake there. It says verse 11 through 13, 12 and 13. And question number one says, what's the conclusion stated in 811? It should be 812. Thanks for that. Just before you get started, I want you to know the questions you studied were wrong. But he couldn't wait to just jump in. I'm sitting here the whole time like, can you just report me for answering my first question? We'll have confessions afterwards. OK. Lesson 4. Changing in the Garden. All right. So we're going to start on lesson 31. We're going to read chapter 8, 12, and 13. I'll read that for us. Let me read 11, just so it rolls right in.

But if the Spirit of Him who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, He who raised Jesus Christ from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through His Spirit who dwells in you. So then, brethren, we are under obligation, not to the flesh, to live according to the flesh. For if you are living according to the flesh, you must die. But if by the Spirit you are putting to death the deeds of the body, you will live.

Anybody ever remember reading that for the first time? Thirteen's a kicker. Yeah. Yeah, it is. We'll see what we get by that one. We need another whiteboard across that kind of wall, so we just keep illustrating down the wall. I'm going to get rid of this. First question, what is the conclusion of Romans 12. 8.12. What is Paul concluding there? We're not supposed to live in the flesh. Okay. We're not obligated. Okay. No obligation.

Let's go back to Newell's mentioned something about verse 11 that I thought was interesting, since I was prepared for that. He mentions that he who raised Christ Jesus from the dead will also give to your life bodies through his Spirit. Newell mentions that Christ Jesus, this term, in referring to the Lord, is his resurrection name. It's the name used in the epistles for the resurrected Lord. Before that, Christ individually, Jesus individually, but risen is Christ Jesus.

That's the spirit that you get. You think about the show, what is the greatest display of God's omnipotence? His all-powerfulness. The resurrection? Yeah. The very same spirit that raised Christ from the dead is the one that's in you. In you. How do you think about that?

That blows me away. The very same... we can't go back 2000 some odd years ago and witness the resurrection. But the very same spirit of God that raised Jesus from the dead as well as you. And I'm done. Do you remember reading that for the first time? I feel like I read it for the first time again.

It's like I think of God's Spirit quite often as being the guiding principle and empowerment of the life that I live unto the Lord, but I sometimes forget that it's the very same spirit that raised Christ from the dead. You weren't there to witness Christ's resurrection. You were there by position, right? Both in the crucifixion, burial, resurrection, sentencing, we talk about our identification truths, but it's the very same spirit who dwells in you. How important does that make you as a believer?

It also conjures up the thought that although I'm subject to sinning and I'm weak and all the things that the spirit who is in me has no peers when it comes to power. No what? No peer when it comes to power. There's nothing in comparison. My sin nature, which I'm really familiar with how it can control me, I can't control it. but he can and because he has infinite power it's not as though he's just a tick above, you know, or he's just made the grade, he's infinitely greater and I don't appreciate that most of the time. Me neither. Weiss talks about this, so then since the saint is not within the sphere of the evil nature, the power of the latter having been broken, And since he is within the sphere of the Holy Spirit, he is under no obligation to the evil nature to live under its domination or dominion.

How comforting is that to you? Today, we often think about where we're headed. One day we won't have to deal with the blood clots and the knee replacements and, you know, all the things. And we're often looking forward to that hope of a resurrection body. But what do you have right now? The spirit of dwelling. Resurrection life. How much comfort is that? That is a great... You mentioned it from the middle. This present comfort is beyond measure.

They don't get it. The unbelieving friends of ours that we love dearly, don't understand the possession of the spirit which we have, which dwells in us. They can never understand that comfort. And that's what separates us. So greatly, through all the trials, we'll face the same kinds of things that they'll face. We're going to wear out just like they're going to wear out.

But we have a present comfort of the resurrected life in Christ Jesus that is beyond measure to anything else. The very spirit that raised Christ from the dead gives life to you even while you're in your moral body. No matter where that's at on the spectrum, you have this life. And that's what we celebrate, right? Even as we look at one another, we pray for each other every week.

There's a lot of things that are going downhill. This is not going downhill. This hope is something far greater. Far greater. And because of it, we have no obligation to this thing. It lives out here now. It's in nature. And it barks. But because we have the resurrected life of the Lord Jesus dwelling in us, this guy has no obligation over us whatsoever. According to what he said, no authority. Here we are. It's been condemned. It's been judged.

When I think about dealing with temptation or dealing with my sin nature, I sometimes forget that it is the very spirit that raised Christ from the dead that has authority over me and authority over that sin nature. You have no obligation to this guy. No obligation whatsoever. Genie, that goes back to what the ultimate, our whole Christian life comes down to, faith. Do you believe that?

Sometimes I don't. I know, but that's, I think, what the growth, spiritual growth is. It's, you know, 2 Peter 3, 18, growing the grace and the knowledge of the Lord Jesus. And that's, you know, by faith, you're understanding that as you grow in your faith, of Christ, all these different things, but it comes down to believing that.

And it is. I've said that several times. I think it's the Jeremy Camp song, that it's the same power. It's basically saying that you realize that the Holy Spirit that raised and has done all this throughout eternity is dwelling in you now. And again, it's the growth in the faith that you understand that. And then all the other truths that are true about us in Christ. Do you believe it? Yep. So then, verse 12. I have a story. You know the lady we just prayed for, Kathy? Sure. I was talking to her on the phone, and she said, she has a pretty strong faith. She said, you know, I was asking the Lord, why do I have this now?

Because, you know, not whining about it, And that very same day she gets a phone call from her niece who had struggled for 10 years with food disorders. And her niece says to her, hey Anne Cathy, you know, you're really strong about this. She said, I'd like to go through this with you. You with the chemo and the radiation and you can help me with my food disorder. to me and we could work together, we could grow together about her. I thought that was really cool. Is she a believer as well? Yeah, she is. Have you ever heard the term kindred spirits? No. I think what's really, really cool about believers is we are kindred spirits. It's the same spirit.

And why does it look different? Because we're so stuck on red hair and freckles. That's that guy. You know, no. Not if you understand these passages. Who we are, and I think it's equally difficult for us to learn who we are in Christ, and it's the same kind of difficult, if not even more, to understand who you are in Christ. Because we're growing at different paces. Just like you said, we're dealing with challenges of faith over different truths at different times and in different circumstances. But we share the same spirit. And I just think that that is amazing. And the result of that is in verse 12, no obligation. What does that mean to you? You're under no obligation.

Do you guys have to get up and go to work on Monday mornings? I just heard her tell me a story. She said, I just got a peek into my parents' life and on a moment's notice, I have to be ready to go. Are you under obligation? You are. Life is all about obligation, isn't it? From the day you You've got to breathe to live. You're obligated to sleep and wake up and do the things. You know, all the things. Sometimes we fail at our obligations, but generally speaking, if you're still ticking and moving along, I see that you all have breath in your lungs and you're here, so apparently you've worked hard enough to get a vehicle or have some kind of transportation. You've obligated yourself to live this life, but here from a spiritual perspective, Paul is telling us you're under no obligation anymore to this guy. How does that change your day? It should be. It should be. Why isn't it sometimes? Because you forget. Well, you forget and you like to wrestle with the guy. I mean, right? Just a little. Not a lot. Maybe a lot. So then. So then means it's a consequently therefore.

As a consequence of all the things that I've told you as Paul through Romans 6, 1 up until this point there's a consequence and therefore there's a result. So what are some of the things that we've talked about? I'm just going to write some words up here. All the great truths from Romans 6, 1 to now that Paul has been mentioning were identified. What are we identified in? Not the five things, but who?

Christ. Christ Jesus. Isn't that cool? I actually looked that up, just to make sure he was right. There was one question I had about from the book of Acts, but it was Paul talking in a historical book that was on an epistle, so that still counts. So, yeah, Christ Jesus, the resurrection name of our Lord. Never, never knew that. You've been identified with Christ. We learned that.

6-1 till now, I'm just summarizing. What happened to our old man? Crucified. What happened to our connection with the old man? The old Adam? We're not saying that we are. It's broken. Separated from Adam. He shares with us his newness of life. So that newness... That second E in separated is really an A. I learned in elementary school that you have to remember that a rat is in the middle.

I'll never forget that. Maybe this is why I never write on the board. Can I get a pass for spelling right? Can I just get a pass for that? I'll tell you what, I'll make a deal with you, you can deal with me. You can always correct me and I'll fix it. But I'm still going to do it. That's okay. Okay. The spirit of life is caused to what? What does it do in us? Dwells. How important is that word? Dwelling. At home in. At home in? Is that what you said? The spirit is at home in us? I like that. I don't know if I've heard it that way.

It means it's not going to go away. It's not going to go away. How worried are you about things going away? Barely. I would be. I mean, there's things that I'm not too fond of in my life, but there's a lot of things I am. We don't like it when a certain person goes away that we need to have near us. No, we don't.

I've noticed, and first, John, I've studied it and memorized it, and I've noticed that there are two words that are similar but different in meaning. Remain speaks to me as my obligation towards my responsibilities towards God, and they're not definite, whereas dwells is God's responsibility to us, and it is very definite. And those two words I've used interchangeably, whereas my responsibility is to remain in Him. That's good. And that's permanent. Have you ever entertained the thought that if you don't make it to heaven, it's God's fault? That's silly. I was going to blame you, but... Blame me all you want.

Is it? It sure is, because he's the one that's giving us these guarantees and information regarding what he's done. What is his guarantee? I'm going to jump ahead a little bit to question three. We owe a debt to God. What is it? Love? I think it's faith. Are we debtors? How so? How do I say this?

Our debt has been created by God. in what he did not only for us, but to us. And what I mean by to us is that we, this list of things you're going through, we were co-crucified, buried, resurrected, we have newness of life, and life functions in a certain way. And the only obligation he requires of us is that we believe him, we trust him. Are we free? Has he set us free?

Sure did. So you're saying the only debt we owe to God is faith? To believe him, about what he did. And that isn't just a one time shot, that's every minute of every day. Faith is an attitude. But when we believe, isn't that debt paid? As of right now, we are not in debt? So let's talk about specifically the sin debt.

You all have a certificate of death. You're born with it. And on the death side is an unending list of sins produced by what? Your nature. We're talking about fallen man. Your certificate of death is completely full with sin. Christ says, okay, that's a problem and I'm going to fix it. So I come as a man. I die. as a man on the cross capable of paying your sin debt. You believe in me, and I'll pay that sin debt on your behalf. So you place your faith in the Lord Jesus, and God says, okay, here's your certificate of death.

It's 100% paid for. What was resulting in eternal death is now paid for by Christ's righteousness imputed to you so that you now have eternal life. Sin debts paid. All of it. Not only that, all of this happened too. Now you're made alive. Do you have a certificate of death hanging over your head? What do you have? You have Christ Jesus. You are placed in Him.

When the Lord looks at you, does he see you as a debtor in the terms of sin? No. So, Nick, to answer your question, yes, when we believe that debt was 100% paid for, it wasn't swept under the rug, it was paid for. I think some, especially younger believers, operate under the principle of God paying them back. That's what I was getting. Do we have to pay God back for something?

To think of us paying God back is to think that he didn't take care of it all himself. And that's the problem with Catholicism and the other law-based systems. There's just a few things that you didn't take care of on the cross, and two, I've got to do. I've got to work a little bit of that out myself. And I don't feel value before you if I don't get some end of the deal. Like I've got to do something.

And I understand how that works. I was going to say that also dismisses grace completely. It does. Our sphere is completely and totally changed in terms of law. It's paid for, it's done, it's been fulfilled. And now you are indwelt by the very spirit that reigns rose Christ from the dead, and you are in a spirit of grace. Your operating system is now grace. We haven't necessarily learned all of that from Romans 6-1, but we definitely have learned a lot of it. The spirit dwells, and I think I want to have it personally.

That happened really fast. In verse 12, so then brethren, we are under obligation not to the flesh to live according to the flesh. So we're talking about being debtors to God, not in a sin debt. But the only thing that we can operate under in terms of, if you want to call it a debt, is to believe in what He's said of you. And do you believe this one? Cause he's gone through all these things and there's more. I'll read this. So then, has all the great truths in mind from chapter 6, 1 to this verse.

Identify with Christ our old man was crucified with him, our connection with Adam, the first being thus broken by death. Next, we share his newness of life as being in Christ risen. Next, the spirit of life is caused to indwell us. by His almighty power setting us free from the law of sin and death, because all rights of sin as connected with flesh were cancelled at the cross. Finally, although our body is still debt to God, yet the Spirit of Him who raised Jesus personally dwells within us, guaranteeing that He who raised Christ federally and caused us to share His risen life will make our bodies also alive toward Him when Christ's return. And meanwhile, the indwelling spirit becomes an earnest of the coming redemption of our bodies. You mentioned guarantee a minute ago. What's our guarantee? The Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit. He guaranteed by indwelling you with his very risen life that he would redeem you and eternally save you from the consequences of sin. This body is all that's left of that. Everything else has already been taken care of.

I wanted to get into this, but question four will kind of start the process. What was the answer to number two? What do the words, so then, in verse 12 require us to do mentally? Consequently, therefore, as a result of all that happened, and what Paul said from 6-1 up until now, why are you under no obligation? Because of all the things I've just told you. That's the consequence of who you are in Christ Jesus. You're not under obligation to this guy anymore. That's the consequence. It's a deposed monarch, we've called it. No authority. Condemned. Judged.

One of the discussions I had with a guy this week was his insistence on the fact that he had to remember all these things. And I said to him, I said, well, if you're indwelled by the spirit of Christ Jesus, why don't you rely on him to remind you? Because that's what he's there to do. And that way you can, you know, to some degree behold the glory of the Lord and stop worrying about whether you're going to remember these things that actually are true of you. Because they don't do you any good if you don't remember them. And I said, well that really, I think, is the responsibility of the Holy Spirit to do that. It illuminates, doesn't it? Yeah. And it reminds. It brings to light. That's its purpose. One of the Spirit's roles in our lives is to teach us.

I think a little bit earlier what we were talking about, thinking about with Kathy and bringing that individual in and all those things, the combination is also, the two things I really harp on a lot is the sovereignty of God and His eternal love. He's allowing all these things and He's taking individually us through this and what to is bringing those things individually in different circumstances. God is individually working in each one of our lives, indifferently. He is bringing us through different things to maybe eliminate one truth to you, different to Mike, different to Nick, different. He is revealing it. That is the of those truths as he takes us through.

He brings us through things certainly to grow us in Christ. I think this verse is critical in the sense that we have to be taught that we are not under an obligation to sin. We don't know that There are circumstances that arise that are specifically designed to teach us that principle.

I'm not obligated. And I think that that's where, I mean, we'll go into verse 13 two weeks from now. So next week there's no elective, just for the Easter Sunday. But that's what I would encourage you to go away with today. When this guy starts barking at you, The moment you walk out that door, no obligation.

You can throw in a verse, Romans 8, 12, right? Spend that on the postmark of the sin nature. That's right. Father, we are just so thankful for the truths of the Book of Romans and all that Paul just penned in this letter and how important it is to the foundation of our Christianity, the foundation of our faith. It's not just a belief system, it is personal. You've indwelt us, you've crucified us with yourself on the cross, you've separated us from Adam, you've given us newness of life, and you've made a deposit of your very spirit personally in each one of us in order to bring about freedom from the sin nature and so much more when it comes to beholding you and loving you through your very word. We thank you for the truths of this book and we just pray that we would remember that according to your word we have no obligation to the flesh whatsoever. We have the freedom to walk in your spirit in the newness of life. In your name we pray. Amen.