The Battle of Mind, Body, and Spirit
Romans • Sermon • Submitted • Presented
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Tonight we continue to unpack Romans 8 as this chapter works to answer Paul’s question, “Who will rescue me from this body of death?”
Paul is relating to every person out there regarding the struggle of doing what is right… and not doing what is wrong.
Who determines right and wrong? God and His Word. The Scriptures outline what a life of righteousness looks like, and what a life of rebellion and sin looks like. The definitions are clear.
The struggle comes in the choice… which way will we go… for there are two directions to choose from. Paul outlines those two directions as:
The way of sin.
The way of the Spirit.
Both bring influence and both are speaking. Which one will we ultimately listen to?
Do you guys remember in the older cartoons when a character had a big decision to make… and the shoulder angel and devil showed up?
Each one was trying to sway the character into going their way.
Some might see this as a battle of conscious. And it is illustrated in a funny way.
However, in real life, it is a battle of spirit.
And where does this battle take place? It takes place in the mind.
Look at Romans 8:5 as Paul gives a description of the battle at hand.
5 Those who live according to the flesh have their minds set on what the flesh desires; but those who live in accordance with the Spirit have their minds set on what the Spirit desires.
This basic breakdown gives us insight as to what is going on.
One of the influences identified, is one of the flesh. This word has also been translated as sinful desire. This desire leads us to do whatever we want instead of whatever God commands. This desire leads us in the way of rebellion.
The second influence is the Spirit of God. The Spirit leads us according To God’s truth and commands. It leads us in the opposite direction of sin. This desire leads us to please the Lord instead of pleasing. self. This desire leads us toward His righteousness.
Two voices of influence are working to lead us in certain directions. And this battle takes place in the mind.
Paul is speaking of a mindset. What is a mindset?
A mindset is a mental attitude or inclination. It is the way you typically lean when making decisions. IT CAN BE INFLUENCED or convinced to sway or shift.
Your flesh, that sinful desire, wants to gain audience with your thoughts. It wants you focusing on self… focusing or gratification… focusing are doing what feels good.
God’s Spirit desires for you to set your mind on other things. The Holy Spirit wants us focusing on God and His ways.
Lastly, Paul gives a way of knowing which influence is winning our thoughts at the end of the day.
The Word says it will be evident in how we live.
There is an observable difference between living in the flesh and living by the Spirit. The fruit that our lives produce will reveal the mindset we have. The mindset we have is either swayed by our flesh or God’s Spirit. THERE IS NO IN BETWEEN.
So the question to consider this evening as we continue in our talk is: Who is your mindset focused on?
Is your mind influenced by the leading of the Holy Spirit?
Is your mind influenced by the desires of the flesh?
The answer is found… in the fruit that we bear. And I want us to see how that is as we continue reading Romans 8.
First, Paul starts by talking about the desires of the flesh.
The Mind Set on Sin.
The Mind Set on Sin.
6 The mind governed by the flesh is death, but the mind governed by the Spirit is life and peace. 7 The mind governed by the flesh is hostile to God; it does not submit to God’s law, nor can it do so. 8 Those who are in the realm of the flesh cannot please God.
Paul gives an immediate contrast between the mind governed by sin and the mind governed by the Spirit.
The mind governed by the flesh… is death. The mind that is influenced by the flesh will perish.
If the mind is set on the things and ways of the world… it will lead a person away from God… and it will lead to terrible results. The following verses highlight why this is the case.
One, the mind governed by the flesh is hostile to God.
This mindset is unfriendly or antagonistic toward the Lord. It sees the ways of the Lord as irritating, annoying, unnecessary, old fashioned, etc. It looks for its satisfaction in the world and its ways instead of looking to God.
When I hear people excuse sin by saying, “My happiness counts too,” that is a hostile statement toward God.
As I hear the world try to redefine God’s truth and Word, that is a hostile action toward God.
As I see “Christians” compromise their walk for worldly pleasure or enjoyment, that is a hostile move against God.
ALL SIN… is hostile toward the Lord. That is why it is labeled as rebellion.
Which brings us to the second point to see… the mind governed by the flesh does not submit to God’s law.
Submission is something that is becoming more difficult to come by. Submission is an act of submitting to the authority or control of another. It means the surrender of control to someone else.
True submission… must be full submission.
Too many times, people try to go half way or three quarters of the way… but that is not submission. That is withholding
Remember Ananias and Saphira in Acts? They withheld funds and lied about what they were giving to the church. They tried to show face and please self and it all came to a crashing halt.
Submission requires giving all… not just a part. Withholding leaves a portion of self in control, which is all the enemy needs to wreak havoc in our lives. When submission is absent, it leads to the third point Paul brings out...
Three, those governed by the flesh cannot please God.
What this is ultimately saying is… there is no relationship with God here. Even if someone claims to know God… if they continue to live in sin… then no relationship exists.
Too bold? Too harsh? It the Word.
6 If we claim to have fellowship with him and yet walk in the darkness, we lie and do not live out the truth. 7 But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus, his Son, purifies us from all sin.
The mind set on sin… leads a person away from God. It leads to death and destruction. It comes with very real and terrible spiritual consequence.
But Paul spoke of another direction we can go… if we allow ourselves to be influenced by someone else other than our sin and flesh.
The Mind Set on God’s Spirit
The Mind Set on God’s Spirit
9 You, however, are not in the realm of the flesh but are in the realm of the Spirit, if indeed the Spirit of God lives in you. And if anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ, they do not belong to Christ. 10 But if Christ is in you, then even though your body is subject to death because of sin, the Spirit gives life because of righteousness. 11 And if the Spirit of him who raised Jesus from the dead is living in you, he who raised Christ from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies because of his Spirit who lives in you.
Remember the contrast Paul gave in verse 6? Look at that again: the mind governed by the Spirit is what… LIFE AND PEACE. And Paul expands on that in the verses we just read. As the life governed by the flesh has its consequences… so does the life governed by the Spirit have its blessings.
Number one, life governed by the Spirit is confirmation of belonging to Christ.
Paul leaves no room for guessing here, if you do not have the Spirit of Christ, you do not belong to Christ.
This declaration is bold, but elementary by nature. ALL people in relationship with Christ has the Holy Spirit dwelling within them. In fact, as we looked at this last Sunday, the Spirit given is God’s way of sealing or marking those that belong to Him.
Ephesians 1:13–14 (NIV)
13b ...When you believed, you were marked in him with a seal, the promised Holy Spirit, 14 who is a deposit guaranteeing our inheritance until the redemption of those who are God’s possession—to the praise of his glory.
When the Spirit is given, He is a seal - a deposit or guarantee regarding our future eternal inheritance.
Nothing on this earth is guaranteed or eternal. But life in the Spirit is.
So if the indwelling of the Spirit marks our belonging to Christ, then the absence of the Spirit gives evidence of no relationship with the Lord.
Again, there is no grey area here. You are either in Christ, or you’re not. The Spirit is either in you, or He isn’t. The indwelling of the Spirit confirms our belonging to the Lord.
Number two, Life governed by the Spirit is new life today because of righteousness.
Consider this: All of us know the bad health battle I had almost three years ago because of a blood clot in my lung.
The nurse routinely expressed to me where I should have been physically… and she couldn’t believe I wasn’t there yet. Septic was the word she used.
I struggled to breathe. The pain in my lung was unbearable - in fact it still hurts occasionally today. I couldn’t walk ten feet without help from an oxygen bottle.
And yet… I NEVER FELT AFRAID THAT I WAS LOSING A BATTLE. Why? Because of the life we have in Christ.
The new life we have in Christ is not subject to the physical body or our surrounding circumstances. It is found in the resurrecting power of the Spirit of God.
With a mindset of righteousness, the Spirit leads us away from the things that bring spiritual death. This body can fail, the world can fall apart, but I don’t have to. Because my hope was never in this body or in this world. It is found in Christ alone.
And when our feelings try to override this faith, never forget the last point Paul makes.
Our bodies… these old fleshly bodies… are subject to death because of sin. As this may be true for all, those who are in Christ Jesus know a new life in the Spirit… that death has NO MASTERY OVER.
And… there is coming a day when even the body will be set free.
Number Three, life governed by the Spirit promises resurrection.
IF that same Spirit that raised Christ from the dead dwells in a person, that person will also, one day, be raised to new life.
That resurrection is NOT the same old sinful body being reborn… it is something new.
50 I declare to you, brothers and sisters, that flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God, nor does the perishable inherit the imperishable. 51 Listen, I tell you a mystery: We will not all sleep, but we will all be changed—52 in a flash, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet. For the trumpet will sound, the dead will be raised imperishable, and we will be changed. 53 For the perishable must clothe itself with the imperishable, and the mortal with immortality. 54 When the perishable has been clothed with the imperishable, and the mortal with immortality, then the saying that is written will come true: “Death has been swallowed up in victory.”
We know that… outside of the rapture taking place… these bodies will fail at some point. We know that our soul continues on.
This body as it is… is perishable. Why? Because of sin. It is corrupted. It has ungodly desires. We know this. Paul knew this. And this is the battle He is speaking of.
BUT… when the Spirit moves in… new life comes to our soul. Yes, the body will perish but the soul in Christ is promised eternal life.
And one day, at the sound of the trumpet, the perishable will put on the imperishable. The mortal will put on immortality. Death WILL BE swallowed up in victory.
For as death can never again come to Jesus, nor will it ever come again to the redeemed!
It will be as God intended it in the Garden of Eden. The same Spirit that raised Christ from the dead WILL GIVE LIFE.
He does give life and He will give life!
Where death is the sign of life governed by the flesh, life is the sign of life governed by the Spirit!
The Way We Live Tells Of How Our Mind is Set.
This is plain and simple. One way leads to life, the other to death. WHO WE LISTEN TO IS THE KEY.
Are we listening to the Spirit of God… or the sinful nature of the flesh?
There is more to cover on this next week… but bottom line is Who is your mind set on? Self… or the Savior? Sin or the Spirit?
If you find that sin is pulling at your heart, Jesus has the power to deliver you from that today.
Call on His name for help and receive freedom in Christ!
If you find you are doing well in following the Spirit… continue to follow Him passionately and submissively. HE HAS LIFE TO THE FULL IN STORE FOR YOU!