Romans 8 Living by the Spirit or by the flesh

ROMANS 8C LIVING SPIRIT VS. FLESH
ROMANS 8:5-17
Introduction:
Living by the flesh verses living by the Spirit.

Example 1:  A young boy called the pastor of a local church to ask the pastor to come by to pray for his mother who had been very ill with the flu.  The pastor knew the family, and was aware they had been attending another church down the road.   So the pastor asked, "Shouldn't you be asking Pastor Smith down the road to come by to pray with your mom?"  The young boy replied, "Yeah, but we didn't want to take the chance that he might catch whatever this is that Mom has."
The young boy and his family,  living by the flesh or by the Spirit.
The pastor living by the flesh or living by the Spirit.

Example 2:  Grandpa and Grandpa were sitting in their porch rockers watching the beautiful sunset and reminiscing about "the good old days," when Grandma turned to Grandpa and said, "Honey, do you remember when we first started dating and you used to just casually reach over and take my hand?"  Grandpa looked over at her, smiled and obligingly took her aged hand in his.  With a wry little smile, Grandma pressed a little farther, "Honey, do you remember how after we were engaged, you'd sometimes lean over and suddenly kiss me on the cheek?"  Grandpa leaned slowly toward Grandma and gave her a lingering kiss on her wrinkled cheek.  Growing bolder still, Grandma said, "Honey, do you remember how, after we were first married, you'd kind of nibble on my ear?"  Grandpa slowly got up from his rocker and headed into the house. Alarmed, Grandma said, "Honey, where are you going?"  Grandpa replied, "To get my teeth!"
Grandma, living by the flesh or living by the Spirit”
Grandpa, living by the flesh or living by the Spirit?

Today’s verses covers a lot of area.
The ending of last Sunday’s verses 3b and 4 connect or set the tone for today’s verses.
Christ condemned sin in the flesh.
Fulfilling the righteous requirement of the law.
That we would be able to live according to the Spirit and not the flesh.
We are going to see how Paul contrasts living by the flesh and living by the Spirit.
We will see the results of both as well.

I.    Living by the flesh,  vs. 5

A.    How does that look?
Have their mind set on what the flesh desires?
Paul gives us a pretty good idea what these desires look like in Galatians 5:19-21 “The acts of the flesh are obvious: sexual immorality, impurity and debauchery; 20 idolatry and witchcraft; hatred, discord, jealousy, fits of rage, selfish ambition, dissensions, factions  21. and envy; drunkenness, orgies, and the like. I warn you, as I did before, that those who live like this will not inherit the kingdom of God.
Share a brief comment on each one.
Living by the flesh can not submit to God’s law nor can it do what the law of God says.
I believe the law mentioned here is the moral law.
The 10 commandments.
The first and greatest commandment.
The do unto others….
The mind governed by the flesh is hostile to God.
That is not a very good thought to be hostile to God.

B.    What are the results?
One result is the inability to please God.
One living in the flesh is not even able to please God.
They may want to and may even try to but is unable.
We should certainly have a desire to do that.
The mind governed by the flesh is death.
vs. 13a
Flesh and death go together.

II.    Living by the Spirit

A.    What does that look like?
vs. 13b  putting to death the deeds of the body.
When any of those acts of sinful nature try to come into play in your life stomp on them and put them to death.
Have their minds set on what the Spirit desires.
How do we know what the Spirit desires?
The fruit of the Spirit listed in Galatians 5:22 relate a good picture of what the Spirit desires.
Opening our heart and mind to the Spirit.
Reading and meditating on the Word of God.

B.    What are the results?
Have life and peace.
John 10:10,  full, abundant life.
Eternal life.
Paul talked a bit about peace in Romans 5.
The removal of fearing God’s judgment. VS. 15a
Fear of judgment or punishment is not a bit fun nor desirable.
It is not a bit nice to know that you are in trouble when your father gets home.
But to go through life knowing that you do not have to fear judgment at all is so nice.
The body is still subject to death.
That is a result of sin.
This is still an earthly body subject to the impact of the fall.
Yet the resurrection awaits.  
God is our father.
We can call out Abba Father.
We are God’s children
Heirs of God and joint heirs with Christ.
We look forward to sharing in God’s glory. 

III.    Our obligation

A.    To let the Spirit lead us. 
If our obligation is not to the flesh then it is to the Spirit.  Vs. 12
We have no debt to the flesh.
This flesh has done nothing for us but get us in trouble and set us up to die.
The Spirit’s leading will line up with the will and the Word of God.

B.    To share in His suffering.
We talked about this a bit on Wednesday.
Without a cross there will be no crown. 

Conclusion:   
Lord, help me live by the Spirit.
Lord I want
Life and peace
No fear of judgment
God to be my Father
To be an heir of God and a joint or co heir with Christ.
To share in God’s glory.