Title: Dr. Jekyll?
Bible Book: Romans 8 : 5-11
Author: Frank Page
Subject: Spiritual Conflict; Christian Living
Objective:
Introduction
The central character in Robert L. Stevenson's Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde is Henry Jekyll. By day he is a prominent physician. At night he becomes a creature of evil named Hyde. Stevenson's story is a story about life. Within each person there is a Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, two compelling forces. Victor Hugo said, "I feel two natures struggling within me." Carl Sandburg said, "There is a wolf in me." Paul the Apostle said, "I do not understand what I do. For what I want to do I do not do, but what I hate do" (Romans 7:15).
Do you ever feel like that? Do you ever have the problem, which Paul described? I think so. There is great discussion today concerning the subject of the spirit-controlled and flesh-controlled natures. Despite all the discussion, we recognize experientially the tension in our lives between these two forces, these two natures. While recognizing the tension, we become increasingly aware of the absolute necessity of the Holy Spirit's power in our lives and in the life of our church. I agree with Jack Taylor who said, "The Spirit's power is the only thing that will restore the church to its rightful place in our world. There is a lot of difference between chopping wood with a sharp axe and flailing away with a plain axe handle."
Yes, we need the Spirit's power in our church but it must come through individuals. We need the sharpness of God's Spirit. Yet we stand crippled in His absence. Let's see why. Let's turn to Romans 8:5-11.
In this passage Paul is drawing a contrast between two kinds of life. He is showing us that these are two human natures. In understanding spiritual warfare, this is a truth we must understand.
I. Dominated By The Sinful Human Nature ( 6-8)
There is the life which is dominated by the sinful human nature.
This is the life whose focus and center is self, the life that is absorbed in the things of sinful human nature. In different people, this life may be different. It may be passion-controlled, lust-controlled, or pride-controlled, or ambition-controlled. Although all humans have problems in these areas, this type of life is controlled by sinful nature.
In the area of spiritual warfare, it is extremely important to know that this scripture identifies our three primary enemies as the world, the flesh, and the devil. Last week we saw God's powerful admonition to "love not the world". This sermon deals with the second powerful enemy. That enemy is the flesh. In this text, Paul is warning us about the power of our sinful human nature or flesh nature.
The life that is dominated by the desires of sinful human nature is on the way to death. There is no future in it. To allow the things of the world completely to dominate life is self-extinction. It is spiritual suicide. By living a life dominated by the world, a person is making himself totally unfit to stand in God's presence. He is hostile to God and fights God and no person has ever won the last battle against God. You may call it "sowing wild oats," being human, whatever, but it is war with God. It results in total death (v. 6).
Our society has become an expert at glorifying the fleshly nature. We have so fallen into this trap in seeing the fleshly nature as an acceptable part of our humanity that God's people are among the worst in accepting terrible expressions of the fleshly nature. Our excuse, "I'm only human", is a dangerous copout. The unabashed shamelessness of our society has desensitized believers to the point where we not only fail to react negatively, but react positively toward the things of this world. In our world today, when one is leading an immoral, ungodly lifestyle, it is redefined as an alternate lifestyle. Sadly, thousands of supposed Christian congregations affirm such ungodly lifestyles. Our world can define sin however it likes. God's people however, must understand that the life that is dominated by sinful human nature has the sentence of death pronounced upon it.
II. Dominated By The Spirit Of God (v. 9-11).
There is teh life which is dominated by the Spirit of God.
This is the one who has Christ in his heart and has the Holy Spirit guiding his/her life. The scripture is Very plain here. If the Spirit of God is in your heart then you are His child, and vice versa.
This passage is beautiful for it presents our Christian experience in three phases.
The new position for the Christian took place in the past when "the Spirit of God" or "the Spirit of Christ" came to dwell in Him. From that time onward the Christian was not in the flesh but in the Spirit. He is in the Spirit and the Spirit is in him, as one lives in the air and breathes it in at the same time.
Christians still live in a body of flesh, but living in the flesh is living under the domination of the flesh (7:5). The easy way in which Paul shifts from "Spirit of God" to "Spirit of Christ" leads toward a Trinitarianism in which the indwelling of the Spirit is the presence of God in Christ. In 7:17-18, 20 it was indwelling sin, but now it is indwelling Spirit that rules. Possession of the Spirit is an essential, not an extra, for the Christian. One does not belong to Christ if he/she does not have the Spirit of Christ (Jude 19). If you do not have this "past", you will have no future.
The new condition is the present experience of the Christian (v. 10). You are now alive! Here is the reason.
The indwelling Spirit is the indwelling Christ (cf. Galatians 2:20). Paul does not identify Christ as the Spirit, not even in II Corinthians 3:17, as the terms "Spirit of the Lord," "Spirit of His Son," and "Spirit of Christ" reveal (Galatians 4:6), but the functions of one are ascribed to both.
The new perspective, which is the future experience of the Christian is the resurrection of the dead (v. 11). The Spirit of God is now called "the Spirit of Him who raised Jesus from the dead" (cf. 4:24; 6:4). The resurrection of Christ is the first fruits of which the resurrection of Christians will be the full harvest (I Corinthians 15:23), and this will be the time when the Spirit "will give life" to the mortal body (6:12; II Corinthians 4:11).
The mortal body will put on immortality (1 Corinthians 15:53), an event in which the creation itself will participate (8:23). This is the future result of the indwelling Spirit.
Oh, what a life, to possess God's Spirit and be possessed by Him! It is then that we become our true selves. I recently read of a young boy who was learning to play the piano. A mother, wishing to encourage her young son's progress at the piano, bought tickets for a Paderewski performance.
When the night arrived, they found their seats near the front of the concert hall and eyed the majestic Steinway waiting on stage.
Soon the mother found a friend to talk to, and the boy slipped away. When eight o'clock arrived, the spotlights came on, the audience quieted, and only then did they notice the boy up on the bench, innocently picking out "Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star."
His mother gasped, but before she could retrieve her son, the master appeared on the stage and quickly moved to the keyboard.
"Don't quit - keep playing," he whispered to the boy. Leaning over, Paderewski reached down with his left hand began filling in a bass part. Soon his right arm reached around the other side, encircling the child, to add a running obbligato. Together, the old master and the young novice held the crowd mesmerized.
In our lives, unpolished though we may be, it is the Master who surrounds us and whispers in our ear, time and again, "Don't quit - keep playing." And as we do, he augments and supplements until a work of amazing beauty is created. When our life is dominated by God's Spirit, we can truly reach His potential for our life.
The Spirit-controlled life is the way to life. Daily it is coming nearer heaven even when it is still on earth. It is a life which is such a steady progress to God that the final stage of death is only a natural and inevitable stage along the way.
A Christian can never be completely free of his/her lower nature while in this world. Even though he/she is a child of God, he/she is also a child of Adam. However, Christians can keep the lower nature from controlling their lives. This is possible when one looks to Jesus Christ for strength and power. Look again at verse 9. Do you think that this verse would be there if living by the spirit were not a possibility? Do you think God would set us up for this kind of failure if He did not empower us to live a life of victory and spirit controlled power? I do not think that God would do that. I believe it is possible to keep the lower nature from controlling our lives. In another text in Galatians, Paul says that one of the fruits of the spirit is self-discipline or self control. God gives us a spirit provided power with which to live in victory. Many of you have experienced ongoing defeat in the arena of the fleshly nature in this spiritual warfare in which we live.
Many of us are like a "one way" street sign which was seen in Washington which said, "One Way!, 7:00 to 9:30 A.M. M-F." Too many Christians are the same way. We pledge boldly our commitment, but with conditions.
Won't you commit your life totally so that you can have the Spirit-led life?
