We often hear Christians talk about being born again or being in Christ. But what exactly does that mean, and how does it happen? Today on Truth for Life, Alastair Begg considers these questions and explains what God does for the believer and what we as believers are expected to do in response. I invite you to turn with me to Romans and chapter eight. As we continue our studies in this Wonderful chapter, one of the high points of the Epistle of Romans, and indeed one of the high points, I think, if we can have high points in the Bible.
Uh it's one of them. And we're going to read the section that begins at verse twelve and goes to verse seventeen. Romans chapter 8. And verse 12. Therefore, brothers, We have an obligation, but it is not to the sinful nature.
to live according to it. 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. Because those who are led by the Spirit of God are sons of God. For you did not receive a spirit that makes you a slave again to fear.
But you receive the Spirit of Sonship, and by Him we cry Abba Father. The Spirit Himself testifies with our Spirit. That we are God's children.
Now if we are children, then we are heirs. Co-heirs of God. 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. As some of us have taken on the challenge of memorizing Romans chapter 8, we'll be coming to that tonight.
And you will find in your bulletin there this morning Romans 8 in the English Standard Version, which is the version that we've decided together to Memorize this in. And since you have it in front of you, why don't we just read verses 9 to 17 in the ESV as well. Let me read it. You can follow along there. You, however.
No, I'm sorry, from verse 12.
So then, brothers, 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. For all who are led by the Spirit of God are sons of God. For you did not receive the spirit of slavery to fall back into fear.
But you receive the spirit of adoption as sons by whom we cry, Abba Father. The Spirit Himself bears witness with our Spirit. That we are Children of God. And if children, then heirs, heirs of God, and fellow heirs with Christ, provided We suffer with him. in order that we may also Be glorified with Him.
Father, we pray for your help now as we think about these verses that the Spirit of God will be our teacher. For Jesus' sake, Amen. What we're essentially considering from the perspective of Romans chapter 8. what it really means to be a Christian. And sometimes during the week when I'm thinking about things I say to myself, I wonder if I'm not just Um Flogging a dead horse here by trying again and again to explain to people.
Maybe by now they have actually got it. Perhaps everything is falling into place. And then I just, like you, read my paper, I listen to what's being presented to me. And I realized that so much that confronts me as an individual living in Western culture living here in suburban Cleveland and traveling around. Actually Challenges the fundamental convictions that are before us as we turn to the Bible.
And I had something of an illustration of the confusion that is represented in an increasingly syncretistic and pluralistic culture. In the obituary in the New York Times last Monday, the obituary of Ramon Paniker, who was a significant Roman Catholic theologian in the second half of the 20th century. He died at 91. His great influence was in promoting dialogue among religions. not from the perspective of a very solid understanding of the distinctive nature of Christianity, but rather far more of a blurring of the edges.
And this was the statement from him that struck me that was part of the obituary. He said, quotes, I left Europe as a Christian. I discovered I was a Hindu. and returned as a Buddhist. without ever having ceased.
to be Christian. It's quite remarkable statement. And uh it's a very appealing notion to many people.
Sounds highly intelligent. And it sounds to be the very antithesis of any kind of Dreadful Quran-burning mentality, such as we've been fed up during the last uh eight or ten days. And that's why it's so important, loved ones, that you are students of your Bible. I won't always be here with you. You won't always have one of my colleagues to hold your hand and get you through.
And so it's very important that you as an individual As a mom, as a dad, as a grandfather, That you're actually thinking these things out and you're paying attention to them and you're making. a deep seated decisions about them and the convictions that you have then become the underpinnings of the way in which not only do you live your life, but also that you communicate with your children and your grandchildren. And so I think it's timely for us to be here in Romans 8 to recognize what Paul is saying about life in the Spirit.
Now this is the reality that he described and which we considered last time in verse 9. You, however, are controlled not by the sinful nature, but by the Spirit, if the Spirit of God lives in you. And we noted that Paul is not describing here two different kinds of Christian. But he is actually distinguishing between those who are regenerate and those who are unregenerate. The distinguishing feature of those who are in Christ is that they are indwelt by the Spirit of God.
And when that is the case, Distinguishing there in verse 9b from those in whom it is not the case, because if anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ, he does not belong to Christ. When the reality of it is made clear, Then there are certain results that flow from it. And we tried to give ourselves to that last time. If Christ is in you, your body is dead because of sin, yet your spirit is alive because of righteousness. The fact of our mortality, the fact of the decline in our physical frame.
Sets within the greater context or the parallel context of the reality of what we are in the spirit. Paul says it elsewhere when he says, though outwardly we are wasting away, yet inwardly we're being renewed day by day. And one of the results, of course. of what he's describing here. is simply the impact of the fact of a resurrected Christ.
If Christ is raised, if by the Spirit He lives in you, then certain things follow. He knows all of our sorrows. He's able to heal our sorrows. He is able to be the inspirer and the sanctifier of that which makes us joyful. He's able to sympathize with us in our needs and to supply our needs.
He's not distanced from us. He enters into our griefs. He carries our sorrows. And despite all of the changing circumstances of life, uh the variation of the seasons Uh the Ebb and flow of human relationships. the loss of loved ones, the departure of friends, and so on.
The Christian must come back again and again to the fact that Jesus says, I am he that liveth, that liveth and was dead, and behold, I am alive forevermore. and the reality of the resurrection of Christ made real in the life of those who belong to Christ is being described for us here by Paul in relationship to this matter of life in the Spirit. Having laid this down up until verse 11, he then goes to a therefore in verse 12 or in the ESV. Uh so then We say all the time that we have to have so what in our notes, in our thinking. Why is this significant?
How does this apply? How will this help me? And so on. And he makes it clear. that the reality of Life in the spirit.
brings with it responsibility. Ours is an age of irresponsibility. I don't think it's just an extreme generalization to make such a statement. We are consumed with rights and entitlements. And fairly opposed to the challenges of Responsibility.
And school teachers tell me about this all the time, as do other people. And it's no surprise then that here as Paul is underpinning for these Roman Christians the nature of belonging to Christ, he drives home this obligation. Therefore, brothers and sisters, we have an obligation. Or let me quote it to you in the ESV. If you've got that sheet in front of you, this is easy.
So then, brothers, we are debtors. We are debtors. not to the flesh to live according to the flesh. But to the spirit. If by the Spirit you put to death the deeds of the flesh, and so on.
It's incongruous, he says, to become slaves to the very things from which the Holy Spirit has set us free. And the 13th verse makes it very straightforward: 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. In other words, there is a kind of life that leads to death, there is a kind of death that leads to life. That's what he's been saying in these earlier verses. And he is addressing believers here.
We must keep that in mind. The doctrine of the security of the believer, does not eliminate The straightforward warning here in verse 13. If you do this, then this will follow. If you don't do this, then that will follow. How does this work?
says someone. I thought that once we were saved, we were always saved, and there was nothing that could interfere with it.
Well, you know, it's often the way that argument is stated that causes so much confusion. As if somehow or another the notion of our eternal security in Christ is separate from our perseverance in the things of Christ. And it isn't. We are saved. Through our perseverance, not by it.
We're saved through it. and not apart from it. In other words, the work of God in securing us for Himself. uh has written into its DNA Perseverance. If you like, first of all, his perseverance with us.
Which then is revealed in our perseverance in the things of the Spirit. Jeff Wilson makes a very helpful comment when he says, We dare not mistake. A false sense of security in sin. From a true experience of salvation. From sin.
We dare not mistake a false sense of security in sin. from a true experience of salvation from sin. If you're wondering about that, you can just read for Homework the book of Romans, the book of Hebrews, and realize how many times the warnings of God are given to the people of God so to make sure that they do not drift off from the path. And so it is that the reality of what we saw, or what we see in verse 6 of chapter 7. Is now the basis for the activity to which he calls his readers here.
Verse 6 of chapter 7, but now by dying to what once bound us. We have been released from the law.
So that we serve in the new way.
Sometimes you listen to people teach the Bible, it says, We have been released from the law, therefore, that's it. It's over. You just do whatever you choose, whatever you feel, whata however you feel led. No, he says. We have been released from the law so that we serve in the new way of the Spirit.
and not in the old way of the written code. The law, as we said, is not a basis for our justification, nor is the law a basis for our sanctification. It provides the framework. The dynamic is provided in the work of the Spirit of God. And therefore, when you come to verse 13, if you live according to the flesh, you will die, but if by the Spirit you put to death the works of the flesh or the misdeeds of the body, you will live.
The motto, says Jim Packer for this section, should not be let go and let God, but should be trust God and get going. Trust God and get going. In other words, we're not just sit around waiting for God to take care of things. In pastoral counselling, this comes up all the time.
Well, I just thought that if this is wrong, as it clearly is, I know the Bible says it's wrong, so why doesn't God take care of it? Why doesn't he just remove it for me? And presumably he hasn't removed it for me because it's okay for it to stay here.
Now it's not okay for your lustful heart. to dominate your life. But he doesn't remove that for you. He works in you. giving you the instruction of the Bible.
and telling you to remove it. But I can't remove it. That's right. By God's enabling, I can do what I can do. That's right.
Seems paradoxical. That's right. Work out your own salvation with fear and trembling. For it is God who is at work in you. both to will and to do of his good pleasure.
We have to take this seriously, we must pay attention to it. The enabling power of the Spirit. Is it work? to ensure That we as individual believers. Come up with a strategy.
for the eradication of sin. Come up with a strategy for the eradication of sin. Sin is crouching at your door every day. Remember Genesis? Sin is crouching at your door, it desires to have you, but you must master it.
Whatever sin is crouching at your door, whatever sin has been crouching at your door this week, at the door of your mind, at the door of your office, wherever your door is. The answer is not in some blanket statement made from the Bible that we just lay hold of and walk around quoting to ourselves. The answer is by some significant practical activity. It may mean They Change of job, it may mean the removal of material, it may mean a lot of different things. If we are to do what is being said here in verse 13 of chapter 7, John Owen, in an earlier generation, said, Let not that man think he makes any progress in holiness.
who walks not over the bellies of his own lusts. That's a very graphic picture, isn't it? the bellies of his own lusts. Your sins of gluttony. The sins of idolatry.
The sins of immorality. What are we supposed to do with these things? Go out and say, I don't know anything about them because the life of the Spirit of God lives in me, therefore, I've got nothing to do with this anymore. then you would be an idiot. And you wouldn't be telling the truth.
Because you know the truth, he's already stated it in chapter 7. Oh, but a wretched man I am, who will deliver me from this body of death? The good I want to do, I don't do, and the bad I don't want to do, I keep on doing it. How are we supposed to handle this?
Well, he says, there is a new obligation that attaches to you. This is not a call to self-transformation. This is a call to do what the Spirit of God enables us to do. It is essentially a call to become what you are. You are this.
Therefore drawing on the resources that are provided for you. You can deal with it. And what we are confronted with is something that is vital for us to reckon with, namely that our sinful inclinations In Christ have been dethroned. But they haven't been destroyed. Therefore, we have to learn to deal with them.
We have to learn to deal with sin immediately. Decisively? Radically? Consistently. And Paul here is simply reinforcing what we've been discovering in our studies in Mark's Gospel, that Jesus had the exact same thing to say.
He said it's worth making the costliest of sacrifices in this life for the sake of eternal life. For the sake of eternal life. That's why he uses the metaphor: if your hand offends, you cut it off. You better go into heaven minus a hand than go to hell with both your hands. And he applies that to the feet, and he applies it to the eye as well.
Now Pay careful attention here. If by the Spirit you put to death the misdeeds of the body, you will. Life. If you don't, You won't. And what kind of life?
The life that is truly life. This is the great challenge you see in speaking to young people, in speaking to teenagers, in speaking to university students, because out there is everything that says, hey, we can show you how to live. We'll show you how to live. And you tell them about the Bible, they say, well, that's not how to live, that's a form of death. That's a form of restriction, that's a form of uh spoiling everything.
No, it's actually it's actually not. If you want to really live, Live by the power of God. and live in obedience. to the word of God.
Now, the responsibilities of life in the Spirit are then Representative of the relationship which is enjoyed by. The Christian. And he goes on to say, verse 14, Because those who are led by the Spirit of God are sons of God. In other words, we would expect that since God has made us His sons or His daughters. Since He has come to live in our lives by the Holy Spirit, One of the indications that we belong to him would be that we live in obedience to.
his leading. We are God's children, therefore, we would want to. Go in the direction that God intends. And this little phrase here, being led by the Spirit of God, I don't think should be thought of in terms of subjective guidance. People say this all the time.
I had somebody tell me this week, I asked him, I said, I believe you're moving to New York. And the fellow said, Oh, yes, we're moving to New York. I said, And is that because of your job? And he said no. He said I just I bought told us to go to New York.
Well, I was at At the end of a meal, it was late at night, and I was leaving a restaurant, and I didn't have time to. engage in a dialogue, but I went away and I said, I wonder how that works. I never God never once told me to go to New York. I wonder how you I wonder how you get that. Then I thought, well, maybe God didn't tell him to go to New York.
And if he did, I wonder how he did. Luther Speaking of this notion of the leading of the Spirit of God. Says such leading excludes all fanaticism. All auto suggestion All hearing Of fictitious Imaginary inward voices. It always sounds very spiritual when people tell you that God told them to go somewhere.
I'm not denying that God can tell people to do whatever He chooses to do. I'm just telling you that He has never told me that. I suppose ultimately he told me to come to Cleveland, otherwise, I wouldn't be here, but I never had any audible voice. If I had listened to the voice in my head, I guarantee you I wouldn't be in Cleveland. And I don't mean to dishearten you in any way, but if I listened during the week to the voice in my head, I would never have stayed in Cleveland.
So, I'm really afraid of the voices in my head. My head is full of whistles, so I do not want to be paying attention to that. No, actually, I think when he says here, because those who are led by the Spirit of God or sons of God, verse 14, we ought to understand it in terms of verse 13. 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. Because, explanation, those who are led by the Spirit of God are sons of God.
In other words, they are the ones who do what they're supposed to do in the realm of obligation, and they live as opposed to those who don't, and therefore they die. You're sensible people, you can figure it out. You're listening to Truth for Life with Alastair Begg, and we'll hear more about living in the Spirit tomorrow. You know, as Alastair pointed out in today's message, it's important to be students of the Bible, to think things out so that our convictions underpin the way we think and the way we live.
So if you're looking for a topic for your next Bible study, I want to encourage you to consider a series Alastair has put together called My Times Are In Your Hands. This series focuses on what Scripture teaches about suffering. why God allows pain Hardship, disappointment. Even as believers we are not exempt from hard times, the good news is the Bible gives us a framework for how to respond to trials, even extended periods of suffering. In this study, you'll examine topics like God's faithfulness in affliction, a godly response to unjust suffering.
how you can rest in the security of God's sovereignty, These messages along with the paired twelve session digital study guide are available together from Truth for Life Today. You'll find the complete study at truthforlife dot org slash my times. And if you enjoy deep Christian fellowship and spending time in God's Word, why not combine that with your next vacation? You can join Alastair aboard the Deeper Faith Norwegian Fjords cruise. It takes place little less than a year from now, September 5th through the twelfth, twenty twenty six.
Alastair will be teaching through God's Word throughout the week, and you and other believers will take in breathtaking views of Norway and the majestic fjords. Learn more by calling 855-455-555-555-555- Five six five 5519 or visit DeeperFaith Cruise.com. We are glad you joined us to study God's Word today. Tomorrow, we'll learn what makes genuine Christianity radically different. from formalized religion.
The Bible teaching of Alastair Begg is furnished by Truth for Life. Where the Learning is for Living.
