Romans 8

CHAPTER 8THEME: The new man; the new creation; the new body; new purposeThis chapter brings us to the conclusion of sanctification. In fact, it presents three great subjects: sanctification, security, and no separation from God. Here it is powerful sanctification in contrast to powerless sanctification. In this chapter we are going to see God’s new provision for our sanctification. While inadequacy has been my feeling all the way through this epistle, especially here I feel totally incapable of dealing with these great truths. This is such a glorious and wonderful epistle that all we can do is merely stand as Moses did at the burning bush with our feet unshod and our head uncovered, not fully realizing or recognizing the glory and wonder of it all. Chapter 8 is the high-water mark in Romans. This fact is generally conceded by all interpreters of this great epistle. Spencer said, “If Holy Scripture were a ring and the epistle to the Romans its precious stone, chapter eight would be the sparkling point of the jewel.” Godet labeled it, “this incomparable chapter.” Someone has added, “We enter this chapter with no condemnation, we close with no separation, and in between all things work together for good to those that love God.” My friend, how could you have it any better than that? We find that joy and peace is to be given to the child of God in this life. He is to live for God in the very presence of sin. Sin is not to dictate his life’s program. It has already been shown that there is nothing in the justified sinner that can produce this ideal state. We have seen that the new nature has no power and the old nature has no good. Then how is a child of God to live for God? Paul cried out for outside help, “O wretched man that I am! who shall deliver me from the body of this death?” (Rom_7:24). In other words, who is going to enable me to live for God? Paul concluded chapter 7 by saying, “I thank God through Jesus Christ our Lord. So then with the mind I myself serve the law of God; but with the flesh the law of sin.” Now chapter 8 will give us the modus operandi; that is, the means by which the victory is secured. This chapter introduces us to the work of the Holy Spirit in sanctification. The Holy Spirit is mentioned nineteen times in this chapter. Before chapter 8 there were only two casual references (see Rom_5:5; Rom_7:6). In this epistle we see the work of the Blessed Trinity: God the Father in creation (Rom. 1:1-3:20) God the Son in salvation (Rom. 3:21-7:25) God the Holy Spirit in sanctification (Rom_8:1-39) Now here in chapter 8 we see the Holy Spirit and real sanctification. A life that is pleasing to God must be lived in the power of the Holy Spirit. As Paul said to the Ephesian believers, “And be not drunk with wine, wherein is excess; but be filled with the Spirit” (Eph_5:18). Sanctification is the work of the Holy Spirit in the regenerated life of a believer, delivering the believer from the power of sineven in the very presence of sinand performing all God’s will in the life of the believer. Godet labels the first eleven verses “The Victory of the Holy Spirit over Sin and Death.”

Romans 8:1

“Who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit” does not really belong in this verse. Apparently some scribe picked it up from verse Rom_8:4 where it belongs. The literal rendering is: “Therefore now, not one condemnation.” This is the inspired statement that, in spite of the failure that Paul experienced in chapter 7, he did not lose his salvation. There is no condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus. However, he wasn’t enjoying the Christian lifehe was a failure, and he was a wretched man. God wanted him to have joy in his life. Now how is he to have this? Notice the next verse.

Romans 8:2

This is a very important statement. This little word for occurs seventeen times in this chapter. Because it is the cement that holds the chapter together, it is a word that requires real mental effort. We need to follow the logic of the apostle Paul. One of the great expositors of Romans said that if you do not find Paul logical, you are not following him aright. “The law of the Spirit” means not only a principle of law, but also the authority which is exercised by the Spirit. “The Spirit of life” means the Holy Spirit who brings life because He essentially is life. He is the Spirit of life. “In Christ Jesus” means that the Holy Spirit is in complete union with Christ Jesus. Because the believer shares the life of Christ, He liberates the believers. “The law of sin and death” is the authority that sin had over our old nature, ending in complete severance of fellowship with God. That new nature could not break the shackles at all. Only the coming of a higher authority and power could accomplish this, namely the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit operates upon the new nature, which is vitally joined to the life of Christ. The man in Romans 7, who was joined to the body of the dead, is now joined to the living Christ also.

Romans 8:3

We have here the whole crux of the matter. Let me give my translation, which may bring out several things we need to understand. “For the thing impossible for the Law in which it was powerless through the flesh, God, having sent His own Son in the likeness of the flesh of sin, and in regard to sin, He condemned the sin in the flesh; in order that the justification (the righteous result) of the Law might be fulfilled in us, who walk not according to flesh but according to Spirit.” It was impossible for the Law to produce righteousness in man. This is not the fault of the Law. The fault lay in man and the sin in his flesh. The Law was totally incapable of producing any good thing in man. Paul could say, “For I know that in me (that is, in my flesh,) dwelleth no good thing” (Rom_7:18). And friend, that is Scripture, and that is accurate.

Man is totally depraved. That doesn’t mean only the man across the street or down in the next block from you, nor does it mean only some person who is living in sin; it means you and it means me. The Holy Spirit is now able to do the impossible. The Holy Spirit can produce a holy life in the weak and sinful flesh. Let me illustrate this truth by using a very homely incident. Suppose a housewife puts a roast in the oven right after breakfast because she is going to serve it for the noon meal.

The telephone rings. It is Mrs. Joe Dokes on the phone. Mrs. Dokes begins with “Have you heard?” Well, the housewife hasn’t heard, but she would like to; so she pulls up a chair. (Someone has defined a woman as one who draws up a chair when answering a telephone.) Mrs. Dokes has a lot to tell, and about an hour goes by.

Finally our good housewife says, “Oh, Mrs. Dokes, you’ll have to excuse me. I smell the roastits burning!” She hangs up the phone, rushes to the kitchen, and opens the oven. Then she gets a fork and puts it down in the roast to lift it up, but it won’t hold. She can’t lift it out. She tries again, closer to the bone, but still it won’t hold.

So she gets a spatula. She puts the spatula under the roast and lifts it out. You see, what the fork could not do, in that it was weak through the flesh, the spatula is able to do. Now, there is nothing wrong with the forkit was a good fork. But it couldn’t hold the flesh because something was wrong with the fleshit was overcooked. The spatula does what the fork could not do. The Law is like the fork in that it was weak through the flesh. It just won’t lift us up; it can’t lift us up. But a new principle is introduced: the Holy Spirit. What the Law could not do, the Holy Spirit is able to do. Therefore, you and I are to live the Christian life on this new principle. We are not to try to lift ourselves up by our own bootstraps. We’ll never make it that way, my friend. We make resolutions and say, “I’m going to do better"all of us have said that. But did we ever do better? Didn’t we do the same old things? God is able to do this new impossible thing by sending His very own Son, His own nature in the likeness of sinful flesh. Christ had the same kind of flesh that we have, apart from sin. Notice how the writer to the Hebrews puts it: “Forasmuch then as the children are partakers of flesh and blood, he also himself likewise took part of the same; that through death he might destroy him that had the power of death, that is, the devil …. For verily he took not on him the nature of angels; but he took on him the seed of Abraham. Wherefore in all things it behoved him to be made like unto his brethren, that he might be a merciful and faithful high priest in things pertaining to God, to make reconciliation for the sins of the people” (Heb_2:14, Heb_2:16-17). Also he says, “For such an high priest became us, who is holy, harmless, undefiled, separate from sinners, and made higher than the heavens” (Heb_7:26). Then he says, “Wherefore when he cometh into the world, he saith, Sacrifice and offering thou wouldest not, but a body hast thou prepared me” (Heb_10:5). This was God’s way of getting at the roots of sin in our bodies, minds, and spirits. He could condemn and execute sinful flesh on the Cross so that is had no more rights in human beings. God was able to deal with sin itselfChrist was identified with uswhat condescension! Sin has been condemned in these bodies of ours. It has not been removed, in spite of the belief of some very sincere people. These bodies are to be redeemed”…raised a spiritual body …" (1Co_15:44).

Today, the Holy Spirit is the Deliverer from sin in the body. A great many people think it would be wonderful if Christ would come and take us out of this world of sinand that would be wonderful. I wish He would come right now. However, there is something even more wonderful than that. It is this: He enables you and me to live the Christian life right where we are today in this old world of sin. That is more wonderful.

Our Lord Jesus said in His high priestly prayer, “I pray not that thou shouldest take them out of the world, but that thou shouldest keep them from the evil” (Joh_17:15). Down here is where the victory is. “That the righteousness of the law might be fulfilled"this is the passive voice. It means that the Holy Spirit produces a life of obedience which the Law commanded but could not produce. The Holy Spirit furnishes the power; the decision is ours. The next verse introduces us to a new struggle. It is not for us to do the fighting. Now it is the Holy Spirit versus the flesh.

Romans 8:5

“Do mind the things of the flesh.” When I was holding a meeting in Middle Tennessee after I was first ordained, I was invited to dinner in a lovely country home. The housewife had prepared some wonderful fried chicken. When we were already sitting at the table, she went out to call her little boy again. After she’d called him several times, she came in and said, “That young’un won’t mind me.” And what she meant was, “That young one will not obey me.” Paul, you see, sounds like a good Southerner because he uses this word, “they mind the things of the flesh.” We have seen that before in the sixth chapter of Romans. My friend, if you live habitually in the flesh and obey the things of the flesh, and the new nature doesn’t rebuke you, you must not have a new naturebecause “they that are after the Spirit [mind] the things of the Spirit.” A believer has been given a new nature, and now he can yield himself to the new nature. And this is an act of the will.

This is the new struggle that’s brought to our attention. “The flesh” describes the natural man. The Lord Jesus said, “that which is born of the flesh is flesh"it will always be flesh. God has no program to change the flesh. Rather He brings in something new: “and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit” (Joh_3:6). A new struggle is brought to our attention. It is no longer the new nature or the believer striving for mastery over sin in the body; it is the Holy Spirit striving against the old nature. The little boy coming home from school was being beaten up by a big bully. He was on the bottom, and the big bully was pounding him very heavily. Then he looked up from his defeated position on the bottom, and he saw his big brother coming. The big brother took care of the bully while the little fellow crawled up on a stump and rubbed his bruises. The believer has the Holy Spirit to deal with the flesh, that big bully. I learned a long time ago that I can’t overcome it. So I have to turn it over to somebody who can. The Holy Spirit indwells believers. He wants to do that for us, and He can! “They that are after the flesh” describes the natural man. Paul paints his picture in Eph_2:1-3. “And you hath he quickened, who were dead in trespasses and sins: wherein in time past ye walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that now worketh in the children of disobedience: among whom also we all had our conversation in times past in the lusts of our flesh, fulfilling the desires of the flesh and of the mind; and were by nature the children of wrath, even as others.” This was the condition of all of us until we were saved. And the “flesh” includes the mind. “And you, that were sometime alienated and enemies in your mind by wicked works, yet now hath he reconciled” (Col_1:21). It includes the total personality which is completely alienated from God. The natural man strives and even sets his heart upon the things of the flesh. Here is his diet: “Now the works of the flesh are manifest, which are these; adultery, fornication, uncleanness, lasciviousness, idolatry, witchcraft, hatred, variance, emulations, wrath, strife, seditions, heresies, envyings, murders, drunkenness, revellings, and such like: of the which I tell you before, as I have told you in time past, that they which do such things shall not inherit the kingdom of God” (Gal_5:19-21). It is an ugly brood! In Colossians Paul says: “But now ye also put off all these; anger, wrath, malice, blasphemy, filthy communication out of your mouth. Lie not one to another, seeing that ye have put off the old man with his deeds” (Col_3:8-9). The Lord Jesus said: “For out of the heart proceed evil thoughts, murders, adulteries, fornications, thefts, false witness, blasphemies” (Mat_15:19). It is humiliating but true that the child of God retains this old Adamic nature. It means defeat and death to live by the flesh. No child of God can be happy in living for the things of the flesh. The prodigal son may get into the pigpen, but he will never be content to stay there. He is bound to say, “I will arise and go to my father.” “They that are after the Spirit” are born again, regenerated and indwelt by the Spirit of God. They love the things of Christ. “If ye then be risen with Christ, seek those things which are above, where Christ sitteth on the right hand of God. Set your affection on things above, not on things on the earth” (Col_3:1-2). And Paul says, “Put on therefore, as the elect of God, holy and beloved, bowels of mercies, kindness, humbleness of mind, meekness, longsuffering” (Col_3:12). These are just some of the things for which the child of God longs. You and I cannot do these things by effort. It is only as we let the Spirit of God work in our lives that they will appear. Here is another great principle.

Romans 8:6

“For to be carnally minded” means that you are separated from fellowship with God and that flesh is death here and now. The Spirit who indwells the believer brings life and peace. When we sin, we are to come to Him in confession and let Him wash us. This restores us to fellowship. The “life” He offers speaks of full satisfaction and the exercise of one’s total abilities. Oh, to live life at its fullest and best! Many people think they are really living today, but it is a shoddy substitute for the life God wants to provide. “Peace” means the experience of tranquility and well-being regarding the present and future. Oh, my beloved, how you and I need to get into that territory! There is one thing for sure: if you are living in the flesh, and you are a child of God, you are not having fellowship with God. You can’t. The Lord Jesus in the Upper Room said to Simon Peter, “…If I wash thee not, thou hast no part with me” (Joh_13:8). Now, my friend, He meant that. He will not fellowship with you or with me if we are committing sin and are continuing to live in the flesh. “Well,” somebody says, “what are we to do?” Do what Simon Peter had to dohe stuck out his feet and let the Lord wash them. And you and I need to go to Him in confession. 1Jn_1:9 tells us, “If we confess our sins.” Who is “we”?

We Christians. “He is faithful and just …” when He does it, because it will take the blood of Christ, my friend. You and I do not know how wicked the old nature is. And we need to go to Him for cleansing. The English poet, John Donne, using the mythological story of the labors of Herculeswhere that strongman of the ancient world was confronted with the task of cleaning out the Augean stablesillustrates this important truth. Though Hercules was able to perform the task, Donne shows that man cannot clean the much greater filth of the human heart. He writes: Lord I confess that Thou alone are able To purify this Augean stable. Be the seas water, and all the land soap Yet if Thy blood not wash methere’s no hope. The blood of Jesus Christ, God’s Son, keeps on cleansing us from all sin (see 1Jn_1:7). This old nature is totally depraved. God has no plan to redeem it. He gives us a new nature. And you and I can’t live for God in that old nature. If you continue to live in that old nature, you must not be a child of God.

Somebody says, “Then if a child of God sins, what’s the difference between him and the lost man?” The difference is simply this: when the lost man goes out at night and paints the town red, he comes back and says, “I’ll get a bigger brush and a bigger bucket of paint next time; wow, I want to live it up!” While the child of God, if he does a thing like that, will cry out to God, “Oh, God, I hate myself for what I’ve done!” And this idea today that you can somehow train your old nature, and live in it, is false. That’s the thing that leads to legalism. Legalistswell, I call them Priscilla Goodbodies and Goody-goody-gumdrops, those sweet lovely people who are trying to control the fleshthey are so pious! I want to tell you, they are the worst gossips you have ever met. Dr. Newell has put down some very interesting statements which I would like to pass on to you. “To hope to do better is to fail to see yourself in Christ only.” You say, “I hope to do better.” You know you’re not. You need to see yourself in Christ today and realize that only the Spirit of God moving through you can accomplish this. And then Newell says again, “To be disappointed with yourself means you believed in yourself.” Somebody says, “Oh, I’m so disappointed in myself.” Well, you had better be disappointed in yourself. You know no good thing is going to come out of the flesh, friend. Stop believing in yourself, and believe that the Spirit of God today can enable you through the new nature to live for God.

Also Newell says, “To be discouraged is unbelief.” Somebody says, “Oh, I’m so discouraged.” My friend, that means you don’t believe God. God has a purpose and a plan, a blessing for you. And you need to lay hold of it. Here is another statement: “To be proud is to be blind.” We have no standing before God in ourselves. Oh, my friend, see yourself as God sees you. Here is the final gem: “The lack of divine blessing comes from unbelief, not a failure of devotion.” I am so sick and weary of these super-duper pious, “dedicated” Christians who talk about their devotion.

My friend, the lack of divine blessing comes because we do not believe God. It is not because of a lack of devotion. Oh, to believe God today! Now, real devotion arises not from man’s will to show it, but from the discovery that blessing has been received from God while we were yet unworthy and undevoted. Nothing I get from God has come through my devotion. I haven’t anything to offer Him.

It comes because of His marvelous grace. And I’ve seen these folk who preach “devotion” troop down to dedicate their lives in services. I got so sick and tired of seeing that same crowd come downand you could not trust them, my friend. They were liars. They were dishonest. They were gossips, and they would crucify you.

May I say to you, you do not need to dedicate yourself. What you need today is to believe God can do something and you can’t do anything. Now, somebody says, “That’s pretty strong.” I hope that it is. I intend for it to be that way, because Paul is making it very clear here. The carnal mind is enmity against God.

Romans 8:7

This verse reveals how hopelessly incorrigible and utterly destitute the flesh really is. It is a spiritual anarchist. This demolishes any theory that there is a divine spark in man and that somehow he has a secret bent toward God. The truth is that man is the enemy of God. He is not only dead in trespasses and sins but active in rebellion against God. Man will even become religious in order to stay away from the living and true God and the person of Jesus Christ. Man in his natural condition, if taken to heaven, would start a revolution, and he would have a protest meeting going on before the sun went down! Jacob, in his natural condition, engaged in a wrestling match. He did not seek it, but he fought back when God wrestled with him. It wasn’t until he yielded that he won, my friend. Anything that the flesh produces is not acceptable to God. The so-called good work, the civilization, the culture, and man’s vaunted progress are all a stench in the nostrils of God. The religious works of church people done in the lukewarmness of the flesh make Christ sick to His stomach (see Rev_3:15-16). I wonder if we are willing to accept God’s estimation of our human boasting. This is a terrible picture of man; but it is accurate. Yet there is deliverance in the Spirit of God. Are you willing, my friend, to turn it over to the Holy Spirit and quit trusting that weak, sinful nature that you have? That is the question.

Romans 8:9

This first “if” is not casting a doubt over the Roman believers’ salvation. They are saved. Let me give you a literal translation: “But you are not in the flesh, but in the Spirit since the Spirit of God really dwells in you.” That is the real test. But if anyone has “not the Spirit of Christ, he is none of his.” The true mark of a born-again believer and a genuine Christian is that he is indwelt by the Spirit of God. Even Paul could say to the carnal Corinthians: “What? know ye not that your body is the temple of the Holy Ghost which is in you, which ye have of God, and ye are not your own?” (1Co_6:19). When Paul went to Ephesus the first time, he missed something; he missed the distinguishing mark of the believer.

So he asked, “Did you receive the Holy Spirit when you believed?” They didn’t even know what he was talking about. So he asked them, “…Unto what then were ye baptized? And they said, Unto John’s baptism” (Act_19:3). Well, John’s baptism was unto repentance; it was not to faith in Jesus Christ. So he preached Christ to them. Then they received Him and were baptized in His name (see Act_19:5).

A believer is a new creation. Do you love Him? Do you want to serve Him? Are these things uppermost in your mind and heart? Or are you in rebellion against God?

Romans 8:10

In other words: Now if Christ be in you, the body indeed is dead on account of sin; but the Spirit is life because of righteousness. He is saying here that you and I are in Christ, and since we are in Him, when He died, we died. And we are to reckon on this, as we have already been told. Also we are to yield, that is, present our bodies to Him. Don’t say you can’t do thisthat is not the language of a believer. Paul could say, “I am crucified with Christ: nevertheless I live; yet not I, but Christ liveth in me: and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me, and gave himself for me” (Gal_2:20). If you today are not conscious of the presence of the Spirit of God in your life and if you do not have a desire to serve God, then it would be well to do as Paul suggests, “Examine yourselves, whether ye be in the faith; prove your own selves. Know ye not your own selves, how that Jesus Christ is in you, except ye be reprobates?” (2Co_13:5). The Lord wants us to know that we are in Christ. “To whom God would make known what is the riches of the glory of this mystery among the Gentiles; which is Christ in you, the hope of glory” (Col_1:27). If you are not sure that Christ is in you, He extends this invitation: “Behold, I stand at the door, and knock: if any man hear my voice, and open the door, I will come in to him, and will sup with him, and he with me” (Rev_3:20). Is your door open? Has He come into you? My friend, the body has been put in the place of death. This is something the child of God should reckon on. And he should turn over his life to the Spirit of God, saying very definitely, “I cannot do it, Lord, but You can do it through me.”

Romans 8:11

These bodies that you and I have will be put in the grave one of these days, if the Lord tarries. However, the indwelling Holy Spirit is our assurance that our bodies will be raised from the dead (2Co_5:1-4). Because Christ was raised from the dead, we shall be raised from the dead. The Holy Spirit will deliver us from the “body of his death"this old nature.

Romans 8:12

In other words, we are not to live according to the flesh. God created man body, mind, and spirit. When man sinned, his spirit died to God. Remember that God warned, “But of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, thou shalt not eat of it: for in the day that thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die” (Gen_2:17). After Adam ate of the fruit, he lived several hundred yearsphysically; but spiritually he died immediately. Man was turned upside down. The body, the old nature, the flesh became dominant. Today man is dead spiritually. Regeneration means that you are turned right side up, that you are born again spiritually, and that you have a nature which wants to serve God. Oh, my friend, to stay close to Christ is the important thing. You can be active in Christian work, as active as a termite, yet Christ can be in outer space as far as you are concerned. The natural man says he owes it to his flesh to satisfy it. He may rationalize his dishonesty by saying, “A man has to eat.” A movie star has said, “I live for sex, and I have to have my needs met.” We hear this today on every hand. Satisfying the old nature has plunged our nation into the grossest immorality! But God says that we as believers are not debtors to the flesh. My friend, the fleshand we all have itis a low-down, dirty rascal. And we don’t owe it anything.

Romans 8:13

“For if ye live after the flesh, ye shall die"die to God. That is, you have no fellowship with Him. I am not talking about a theory; if you are a child of God, you know this from experience. If you are a child of God and you have unconfessed sin in your life, do you want to go to church? Do you want to read your Bible? Do you want to pray? Of course you don’t. You are separated from God. “But if ye through the Spirit"you can’t do it yourself"do mortify the deeds of the body, ye shall live.” Let’s be practical now. What is your problem today? Liquor? Drugs? Sex? You may say, “I don’t have those problems!” Then how about your thought-life?

How about your tongue? Do you gossip? Do you tell the truth? Whatever your problem is, why don’t you confess it to God, then turn it over to the Holy Spirit? My friend, if you deal with it in reality, you won’t need to crawl up on the psychiatrist’s couch. He won’t help you.

He can shift your guilt complex to another area, but he can’t get rid of it. Only Christ can remove it; He is in that business. He says, “Come unto me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will rest you” so that you will know what it is to have sins forgiven (see Mat_11:28).

Romans 8:14

THE NEW MANWe come now to a new section concerning the new nature of man. That makes sense, doesn’t it? God does not drive His sheep; He leads them. When our Lord told of the safety and security of the sheep, He made it clear that they were not forced into the will of His hand and that of the Father. He said, “My sheep hear my voice, and I know them [and I drive them out! Oh, no] and they follow me” (Joh_10:27). They are the ones who are safe and secure; they follow Him. They are led by the Spirit of God. They hear His voice because they have a new nature, and they follow Him. I have been preaching the Word of God for a long time. I have found that those who are His sheep will hear His voice. The othersthey hated me and wanted to get rid of me. Why? They were not His sheep. The Lord Jesus said, “If the world hate you, ye know that it hated me before it hated you” (Joh_15:18).

A young pastor came to me and said, “I’m having all kinds of trouble!” I asked, “Who is giving you trouble?” He said, “My church officers and my Sunday school teachers.” So I asked him what he had been doing. He said, “Well, I’ve been preaching the Bible, following your Thru the Bible method.” I said to him, “Well, thank God. You will find that a lot of your folk are not really His sheep.” Friend, His sheep will follow Himthey have to because they are His, you see. That’s what Paul is saying here.

Romans 8:15

“Ye have not received the spirit of bondage again to fear"there is not the spirit of fear within you, wondering about your spiritual condition, unhappy, and despondent. Instead, you are filled with joy because you are His child. And the Spirit of God wells up within you, saying, “Abba, Father.” The word Abba is an untranslated Aramaic word. The translators of the first English Bibles, who had great reverence for the Word of God, who believed it was indeed the Word of God, would not translate it. Abba is a very personal word that could be translated “My Daddy.” We don’t use this word in reference to God because of the danger of becoming overly familiar with Him. But it expresses a heartcry, especially in times of trouble.

Romans 8:16

I found this true the first time I went to the hospital for cancer surgery. I turned my face to the wall, like old Hezekiah did, and said, “Lord, I’ve been in this hospital many times. I’ve patted the hands of folk and had prayer with them, and told them, ‘Oh, you trust the Lord; He will see you through.’ Lord, I have told them that, but this is the first time I’ve been in here. Now I want to know whether it is true or not. I want You to make it real to me. If You are my Father, I want to know it. And, my friend, He made it real. At a time like that the Spirit of God cries out, “Abba, Father"it just wells up within you. How sweet it is to trust Him, turn yourself over to Him.

Romans 8:17

“If so be” assures the fact that the child of God will suffer with Him. I believe it could be translated “since we suffer with Him.” I don’t think the “if” is as important as some folk make it out to be. My friend, what are you enduring for Him today? Whatever it is, Paul makes it clear that it is just a light thing we are going through now. But there is a weighty thing, an “eternal weight of glory” that is coming someday. In eternity we will wish that we had suffered a little more for Him, because that is the way He schools and trains us. “For whom the Lord loveth he chasteneth, and scourgeth every son whom he receiveth” (Heb_12:6).

Romans 8:18

THE NEW CREATIONThis brings us to a new division in this eighth chapter of Romans. Not only the bodies of believers are to be redeemed, but we’re going to find out that this entire physical universe, this earth on which you and I live, is to be redeemed. That is the purpose of God. In fact we’re trading in this old earth for a new earth, a new model, brand new, wherein there will be no sin. No curse of sin will ever come upon it again. That is something that is quite wonderful. Someone said to me not long ago, “I believe that healing is in the Atonement.” I think I shocked the person when I said, “I believe that too.

Not only is healing in the Atonement, but a new body is in the Atonement, and a new world is in the atonement of Christ. But we don’t have it yet.” The political parties and the United Nations have been trying to bring in a new world for years, but we certainly do not have these yet. But Christ is going to bring it in someday through His redemption. And then I’m going to get a new body. I’m looking forward to that. This one I’ve got is wearing out, and I want to trade it in for a new one.

And that’s coming. And healingI’ll grant that it is in the Atonement, but I don’t have all of that yet. I still have cancer. “I reckon” means that Paul calculates, counts upon, both the debit and credit side of the ledger of life. “The sufferings of this present time” are the common lot of all believers. This generation, which is enjoying more creature comforts than any other in history, frowns upon this statement, but even present-day Christians cannot escape suffering.

Romans 8:19

Let me give my translation of this verse: For the creation, watching with outstretched head (head erect), is waiting (sighing) for the revelation of the sons of God. The world is not waiting for the sunrise of evolution’s pipe dream. The pipe dream of evolution will never come true. However, creation is waiting “for the manifestation of the sons of God.” Creation is like a veiled statue today. When the sons of God have removed the outward covering of this flesh, creation also will be unveiled. What a glorious day that will be!

Romans 8:20

“For the creation was subjected to vanity"vanity means “failure, decay, something that is perishable.” “Not willingly” means not of its own will, but because of Him who subjected it on the basis of hope. King Solomon, who was quite a pessimist, by the way, wrote: “All the rivers run into the sea; yet the sea is not full; unto the place from whence the rivers come, thither they return again” (Ecc_1:7). There is a weary round of repetition. The rivers run into the sea, and the Lord has quite a hydraulic pump that pumps the water right out of the ocean, and with His good transportation system, the wind moves the clouds across the dry land, and here comes the rain again. It fills the rivers, and the rivers run into the sea. There is a monotony about nature; you see it on every hand. Nature is waiting for the promised manifestation, the unveiling. “Creation was subjected to vanity” because God made it that way. The curse of sin came upon man in Adam’s disobedience, but the physical world also came under the curse. Remember that God said to Adam, “Thorns also and thistles shall it bring forth to thee; and thou shalt eat the herb of the field; In the sweat of thy face shalt thou eat bread …” (Gen_3:18-19). I enjoy going out to the Hawaiian Islands; I know of no place quite as delightful. Yet on a golf course in that “paradise” I foundof all thingsthorns! I knocked a ball out in the rough there, out in the lava, and I have never seen as many thorns as were there. I have a pair of shoes that have thorns in them to this good dayI can’t get them all out. Even in that paradise there are thorns. There is a curse on creation.

Romans 8:21

Man has a dying body. As someone has said, “The moment He gives us life, He begins to take it away from us.” And there is death and decay yonder in nature. Go out in the beautiful forest, and there you see a tree lying dead, corrupt, rotting. That’s nature. And you catch the stench of the decaying bodies of dead animals.

Romans 8:22

Browning in his Pippa Passes writes: God’s in His Heaven All’s right with the world. The Christian knows that that is not true. God is in His heaven all right, but all is not right with the world. The Word of God is more realistic: “How do the beasts groan! the herds of cattle are perplexed, because they have no pasture; yea, the flocks of sheep are made desolate” (Joe_1:18). Some have called our attention to the fact that nature sings in a minor key. The wind blowing through the pine trees on a mountainside and the breaking of the surf on some lonely shoreboth emit the same sob. The music of trees has been recorded, and it is doleful. The startled cry of some frightened animal or bird pierces the night air and chills the blood. Surely nature bears audible testimony to the accuracy of Scipture. Godet quotes Schelling in this connection, “Nature, with its melancholy chorus, resembles a bride who, at the very moment when she is fully attired for the marriage, saw the bridegroom die. She still stands with her fresh crown and in her bridal dress but her eyes are full of tears.” It is accurate to say that “nature is groaning.”

Romans 8:23

THE NEW BODYNot only does nature groan, but the believer is in harmony with nature. This verse is devastating to those who propose the theory that the mark of a Christian is a perennially smiling face. They contend that a Christian should be a cross between a Cheshire cat and a house-to-house salesman. A Christian should grinat all times. Smile your troubles away is good for Rotary, but it is not the Christian method. We groan within these bodies. Some years ago when I began to move into middle age, I would come down the steps in the morning groaning because my knees were hurting. My wife told me I ought not to groan! I told her it is scriptural to groan. Paul says, “For in this we groan, earnestly desiring to be clothed upon with our house which is from heaven” (2Co_5:2). Also the psalmist wrote, “I am weary with my groaning; all the night make I my bed to swim; I water my couch with my tears” (Psa_6:6). Our Lord Jesus did some weeping also. Although I believe He was a joyful person, there were times when He wept. In these bodies we groan.

Romans 8:24

“We are saved by hope” speaks of the work of Christ for us on the Cross and our faith in Him. But that is not all. We have a redeemed body coming up in the future.

Romans 8:25

You see, faith, hope, and love are the vital parts of the believer’s life. There would be no hope if all were realized. Someday hope will pass away in realization. In fact, both faith and hope will pass away in the glory which shall be revealed in us. Only love abides.

Romans 8:26

Years ago when the late Dr. A. C. Gaebelein was speaking, a very enthusiastic member of the congregation kept interrupting with loud amens. That annoyed Dr. Gaebelein. Finally, he told him, “Brother, the Scripture says that the Spirit maketh intercession for us with groanings which cannot be utteredso don’t you utter them if it’s the Spirit of God.” We didn’t even know how we ought to pray; but the Spirit of God will make intercession with groanings which cannot be uttered. Have you gone to God sometimes in prayer when you actually did not know what to pray for? All you could do was just go to Him and say, “Father.” You could not ask anything because you didn’t know what to ask for. At times like this the Spirit “helpeth our infirmities.” How wonderful that is!

Romans 8:27

Now, if I go to God in prayer and say, “Look, Lord, I want You to do it this way,” that’s the way I usually do it, and I may not get the answer the way I prayed. But it’s wonderful sometimes to go to the Lord and say, “Lord, I don’t know what to ask for. I don’t know what to say. But I’m coming to You as Your child. And I want Your will done.” And the Sprit of God then will make intercession for us according to the will of God. My, again, how wonderful that is!

Romans 8:28

NEW PURPOSEWe come now to the new purpose of God. If Romans is the greatest book of the Bible, and chapter 8 is the high-water mark, then verse Rom_8:28 is the pinnacle. God’s purpose guarantees the salvation of sinners, and the next three verses give the “ascending process of salvation,” as William Sanday calls it. I have translated it this way: But we know (with divine knowledge) that for those who love God, all things are working together for good, even to them who are called-ones according to His purpose. The late Dr. Reuben A. Torrey (I had the privilege of being pastor for twenty-one years of the church that he founded) was a great man of God, greatly abused and misunderstood. He knew the meaning of this verse, and he called it a soft pillow for a tired heart. Many of us have pillowed our heads on Rom_8:28. We know the whole creation is groaning, but we also know something else: all things are working together for goodeven the groanings. “We know” is used five times in Romans, and “know” is used thirteen times. It refers to that which is the common knowledge of the Christian, that is, that which the Holy Spirit makes real. “Knowledge puffeth up, but love edifieth” (see 1Co_8:1), and this is the knowledge that only the Spirit of God can make real to our hearts. Charles Spurgeon used to say, “I do not need anyone to tell me how honey tastes; I know.” And I can say, my friend, that I know God loves me. I don’t need to argue that point; I know it. “For those who love God” is the fraternity pin of the believer. “For in Jesus Christ neither circumcision availeth any thing, nor uncircumcision [that is, there is no badge]; but faith which worketh by love” (Gal_5:6). Love is the mark. The apostle John put it like this: “Herein is love, not that we loved God, but that he loved us, and sent his Son to be the propitiation [the mercy seat] for our sins. Beloved, if God so loved us, we ought also to love one another. No man hath seen God at any time. If we love one another, God dwelleth in us, and his love is perfected in us.

Hereby know we that we dwell in him, and he in us, because he hath given us of his Spirit. And we have seen and do testify that the Father sent the Son to be the Saviour of the world. Whosoever shall confess that Jesus is the Son of God, God dwelleth in him, and he in God. And we have known and believed the love that God hath to us. God is love; and he that dwelleth in love dwelleth in God, and God in him” (1Jn_4:10-16). My friend, you are going to have trouble believing that God loves you, and you will have difficulty loving God, if you are hating other Christians. “We love him, because first loved us” (1Jn_4:19).

And the apostle Peter said: “Whom having not seen, ye love; in whom, though now ye see him not, yet believing, ye rejoice with joy unspeakable and full of glory” (1Pe_1:8). The thing that will bring joy and brightness into your life is the sincere love of God. “All things"good and bad; bright and dark; sweet and bitter; easy and hard; happy and sad; prosperity and poverty; health and sickness; calm and storm; comfort and suffering; life and death. “Are working together for good” is causative and means that God is working all thingsthere are no accidents. You remember that Joseph could look back over his life, a life that had been filled with vicissitudes, disappointments, and sufferings, yet he could say to his brethrenwho were responsible for his misfortune”…ye thought evil against me; but God meant it unto good …” (Gen_50:20). And I am confident that we as children of God will be able to look back over our lives someday, and say, “All of this worked out for good.” Job could say, “Though he slay me, yet will I trust in him …” (Job_13:15). That is the kind of faith in God we need, friend. We know that He is going to make things work out for good because He’s the One who is motivating it. He’s the One who is energizing it. However, we often cry out, as Jeremiah did, “Why did you let me see trouble?” (see Jer_11:14). It was during the San Francisco earthquake many years ago that a saint of God walked out into the scene of destruction and debris and actually smiled. A friend asked her, “How can you smile at a time like this?” Her reply was, “I rejoice that I have a God who can shake the world!” How wonderful to be able to face lifeand deathunafraid. I think of Paul who could face the future without flinching. He said to his friends, “…What mean ye to weep and to break mine heart? for I am ready not to be bound only, but also to die at Jerusalem for the name of the Lord Jesus” (Act_21:13). Many of us would like to come to that place of total commitment to Him. Now notice that all things are working together for good for them “who are the called” ones, and it is “according to his purpose.” This is something that is hard for a great many people to swallow. “The called” are those who not only have received an invitation, they have accepted it. And they were born from above. They know experientially the love of God. Paul describes three groups of people, and I think they are the three groups that are in the world today: “But we preach Christ crucified, unto the Jews a stumblingblock, and unto the Greeks foolishness: but unto them which are called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God, and the wisdom of God” (1Co_1:23-24). (1) The Jews trusted in religion, rite and ritual. To them the Cross was a stumblingblock. (2) The Greeks (the Gentiles) trusted in philosophy and human wisdom. To them the Cross was foolishness. (3) “The called” were a group out of both Jews and Greeks who were chosen not because of their religion or wisdom.

God called them. To them the Cross was the dynamite of God unto salvation. “The called” heard God’s call. That is important. Let me go back to my illustration of the turtles. Suppose you go down to a swamp, and there are ten turtles. You say to the turtles, “I’d like to teach you to fly.” Nine of them say, “We’re not interested. We like it down here; we feel comfortable in this environment.” One turtle says, “Yes, I’d like to fly.” That is the one which is called, and that is the one which is taught to fly. Now that doesn’t have anything in the world to do with the other turtles. They are turtles because they are turtles. My friend, the lost are lost because they want it that way. There is not a person on topside of this world that is being forced to be lost. They are lost because they have chosen to be lost. A boy down in my southland years ago wanted to join a church. So the deacons were examining him. They asked, “How did you get saved?” His answer was, “God did His part, and I did my part.” They thought there was something wrong with his doctrine, so they questioned further. “What was God’s part and what was your part?” His explanation was a good one. He said, “God’s part was the saving, and my part was the sinning. I done run from Him as fast as my sinful heart and rebellious legs could take me. He done took out after me till he run me down.” My friend, that is the way I got saved also. This does not destroy or disturb the fact that “whosoever will may come” and “whosoever believeth.” Henry Ward Beecher quaintly put it, “The elect are the whosoever wills and the non-elect are the whosoever won’ts.” And it is all according to His purpose. And, my friend, if you have not yet got your mind reconciled to God’s purpose and to God’s will, it is time you are doing that, because this is His universe. He made it. I don’t know why He made a round earth instead of a square oneHe didn’t ask me how I wanted itHe made it round because He wanted it round. My friend, His purpose is going to be carried out, and He has the wisdom and the power to carry it out. Whatever God does is right.

Don’t you criticize God and say He has no right to save whoever wants to be saved. He has the right to do it. He is just and He is loving, and anything my God does is right. There was a great theologian in the past by the name of Simeon. In his sermons on Romans 8 he said there were three reasons why he preached on the doctrine of election: It laid the axe at the root of pride, presumption, and despair. I like that. My friend, there is no place for human pride in the doctrine of election. It is God’s work, His wisdom, and His purpose that is being carried out. The will of God comes down out of eternity past like a great steamroller. Don’t think you can stop it. In fact, you had better get on and ride.

Romans 8:29

“For” refers back to verse Rom_8:28 to remind us that he is not talking about anybody being elected to be lost, but he is speaking of “the called,” the predestined ones. Predestination never has any reference to the lost. You will never find it used in connection with them. If you ever hear someone talk about being predestined to be lost, you know he is not being scriptural. Predestination means that, when God saves you, He is going to see you through. Whom He foreknew, He predestinated, and whom He predestinated, He called, and whom He called, He justified, and whom He justified, He glorified. In other words, this amazing section is on sanctificationyet, Paul does not even mention being sanctified. Why? Because sanctification is the work of God in the heart and life of the believer. This is God’s eternal purpose.

It just simply means this: When the Lordwho is the Great Shepherd of the Sheep, the Good Shepherd of the Sheep, and Chief Shepherd of the Sheepstarts out with one hundred sheep, He’s going to come home with one hundred sheep; He will not lose one of them. You may remember that our Lord gave a parable about this, recorded in Luke 15. There was a shepherd, a good shepherd, who represents the Lord Jesus. One little old sheep got lost, got away. You would think He might say, “Well, let him go. We’ve got ninety-nine of them safe in the fold.

That’s a good percentage.” Anyone raising sheep knows that if you get to market with a little over fifty percent of those that are born, you’re doing well. But this is an unusual shepherd. He is not satisfied with ninety-nine. If He justifies one hundred sheep, He’s going to glorify one hundred sheep. I’ll make this rather personal. Someday He will be counting them in"One, two, three, four, five …ninety-seven, ninety-eight, ninety-ninewhere in the world is Vernon McGee?

Well, it looks like he didn’t make it. We’ll let him go because a great many people didn’t think he was going to make it anyway.” My friend, thank God He won’t let him go. That Shepherd is going after him. The doctrine of election means that the Lord will be coming home with one hundred sheep! This is not a frightful doctrine; it is a wonderful doctrine. It means that Vernon McGee’s going to be there; and it means you are going to be there, my friend, if you have trusted Christ.

This is a most comforting doctrine in these uncertain days in which we live.

Romans 8:31

“What shall we then say to these things?” My answer is, “What can I say? This is so wonderful I have nothing to add!” “Who can be against us?” God is on our side. Nobody will be able to bring a charge against us in His presence.

Romans 8:32

How wonderful that is! He did not spare His Son. He spared Abraham’s son, but not His own. Since He gave His Son to die for us, He will give us all things that we need. Somebody may say, “But I may not be able to hold out.” He is going to do that for youHe will hold you. His sheep are safe, my friend. It is not because they are smart sheep. A rancher in San Angelo, Texas, who raises sheep, told me, “Sheep are stupid!” Also they are defenseless. They don’t have sharp claws or fangs to protect themselves. They can’t even run very fast. They are little old helpless animals. If a little old sheep stands up and sings, “Safe am I,” is that sheep safe? Yes. Smart sheep? No, stupid. That little sheep is safe because he has a wonderful Shepherd. “How shall he not with him also freely give us all things?” Dwight L. Moody illustrated it somewhat like this: Suppose I go into the finest jewelry store in the land, and they bring out the loveliest diamond, and the owner says, “It’s yours!” And I say, “You don’t mean that you are giving me this valuable diamond!” He says, “Yes. I am giving it to you.” If he gave it to me, do you think I would hesitate asking him for a piece of brown wrapping paper to wrap it up and take it home with me? My friend, since God gave his Son to die for you, don’t you know that He is going to give you everything that is necessary in this life and in the life to come?

Romans 8:33

God’s elect are justified sinners. God has placed His throne behind them. Who is going to condemn them? Nobody can condemn them. Why? “It is Christ that died, yea rather, that is risen again.” Christ has removed all condemnation, and the believer is secure because of the fourfold work of Christ: (1) Christ died for usHe was delivered for our offenses; (2) Christ was raised from the dead, raised for our justification; (3) He is on the right hand of God. He is up there right now, my friend. He is the living Christ. Do you need Him? Why don’t you appeal to Him? (4) He maketh intercession for us. Did you pray for yourself this morning? You should have. But if you missed praying, He didn’t. He prayed for you. How wonderful! This fourfold work of Christ is the reason that nobody can lay anything to the charge of God’s elect.

Romans 8:35

He mentions everything imaginable here. Is it possible that “tribulation” or trouble can separate us? No, my friend, because He won’t let it. “Distress or anguish?” Oh, you may think God has let you down, but He hasn’t. “Persecution"and this means legal persecution. It means there are those who will carry on a campaign against you. But that will not separate you from the love of Christ. “Or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword?” By the way, this is a brief biography of Paul’s life. He knows from experience that these will not separate you from Christ’s love.

Romans 8:36

This is a quotation from Psa_44:22: “…yea, for thy sake are we killed all the day long; we are counted as sheep for the slaughter.” This is a frightful picture of the saints in this day of grace. I believe with all my heart that this is the attitude of a satanic system toward the child of God even in this hour. Also the history of the church reveals this. My friend, if you stand for God today, it will cost you something. My first job, as a kid about fifteen years old, was in an abatoir, a slaughterhouse. I worked right next to the man who took a sharp knife and cut the sheep’s throat. To see animals slaughtered by the hundreds was a frightful spectacle. I got so sick I had to go outside and sit in the fresh air. And, friend, it is sickening to see what is happening to some of the saints of God in our day. But even this will not separate us from the love of God.

Romans 8:37

How can a sheep for the slaughter be more than a conqueror? This is another wonderful paradox of the Christian faith. What does it mean to be more than a conqueror? It means to have assistance from another who gets the victory for us, who never lets us be defeated. The victory belongs to Christ; not to us. The victorious life is not our life. It is His life.

Romans 8:38

“For I am persuaded” means that he knows. “Death” cannot separate usin fact, it will take us into His presence. The response of many of the early Christian martyrs when they were threatened with death was, “Thank you, you will transport me right into the presence of my Savior.” You can’t hurt people like that. “Life"often it is more difficult to face life than to face death. But life’s temptations, failures, disappointments, uncertainties, and sufferings will not separate us from the love of God that is in Christ our Lord. “Angels"and I think he means fallen angels"principalities and powers” are spiritual enemies of the believer (see Eph_6:12). “Things present” means present circumstances. “Things to come” refers to the future. “Nor height, nor depth” may refer to the space age in which we live. “Any other created thing” would include anything else you want to mention. Absolutely nothing can separate us from the love of God which is centered in Christ. My friend, salvation is a love story. We love Him because He first loved us. Nothing can separate us from that. We entered this chapter with no condemnation; we conclude it with no separation; and in between all things work together for good. Can you improve on this, friend? This is wonderful!