Gospel Dynamite with Dr. Allen Mashburn

 I would like to remind you that the book of Romans was written to believers. It is a book given to those who have trusted Jesus Christ as their Savior. Therefore, the message of this book is intensely to the Christian. 
 
And, while we will never solve the puzzle of salvation and just why Christ loved us, completely in this life, some of the answers to our questions are in these verses.
Today, we are dealing with "The Determination Of The Spirit Life." When I speak of determination I am referring to the determination of God rather than to the determination of the saints of God. I think we will see from these verses that salvation is something that produced by God and enjoyed by man. Salvation is one of those things that we had absolutely nothing to do with it becoming a reality in our lives. 

Imagine being born into a family that was poverty stricken. A family that was dysfunctional and doomed. A family with no hope or prospects for the future. A family that was dying and that didn't even care for you at all. Now imagine that along comes a kind, gentle, and wealthy man. This man tells you that he loves you and offers to take you in as his own child. This man offers you everything your natural family could never give you and he offers it to you free of charge. All you have to do is come with him and consent to be his child. Sounds far-fetched, doesn't it? However, that is exactly what happens to every person who places their faith in the Lord Jesus Christ!
As Paul moves deeper in this eighth chapter of Romans, he is continuing to illustrate the superiority of the Spirit life. He has already spoken of the deliverance of the Spirit life and the differences of the Spirit life. Now, in these verses, he speaks of The Delights Of The Spirit Life.

We all know that the Bible tells us that it is "more blessed to give than to receive.", Acts 20:25. However, at this time of year, in the midst of all the giving and the receiving, even the biggest Scrooge among us likes to receive a gift. For many, including myself, one of the best parts of receiving a gift is the anticipation and the excitement that accompanies the unwrapping of that gift. We are thinking, "I wonder what it is?"; "Is it what I want?"; "I hope I won't look disappointed if it isn't!". Everyone in this room knows exactly what I am talking about!
Well, regardless of whether you get a new tie, a new set of bunny slippers, or that new car you have been dreaming of, nothing you will receive this Christmas will come close to measuring up to the gift God gave the world on that first Christmas. Paul put it this way in 1 Cor. 9:15, "Thanks be unto God for his unspeakable gift." He said that the gift God gave the world was great beyond description! What was the gift that God gave to the world 2,000 years ago? It was His Own darling Son, the Lord Jesus Christ, John 3:16. He gave His Son to this world so that sinners like you and me might be saved from our sins and from the wages of those sins, death in Hell forever, Rom. 6:23.
In this passage, Paul writes about the great, unspeakable gift of God. 
He helps us to understand Jesus, His mission and His ministry a little bit more clearly. In effect, he helps us to unwrap Heaven's gift.

Romans chapter 8 marks a major shift in the thinking of the Apostle Paul. In this chapter, he introduces several aspects of how life is transformed by the Spirit of God. This chapter is all about the new life of the Spirit
In the first four verses, Paul spoke about the deliverance of the Spirit life, now, in the verses we have read this evening, he writes about The Differences Of The Spirit Life.

Have you ever noticed that there is a difference in a person who has trusted Jesus as their personal Savor? Have you noticed that they think different, they act different, they walk and talk different? The reason this is true is that they have been invaded by a Being from another place. At the very instant of salvation, the child of God is indwelt by the Holy Spirit, 1 Cor. 12:13.
When He comes in, He does so to abide with that new believer forever, John 14:16-18. When the Spirit of God comes into a life, that life is forever changed! This the essence of our being made a new creature, 2 Cor. 5:17. It is this life in the Spirit that is the focus of this eighth chapter of Romans.

This is one of the easiest passages in the Bible for me to identify with. It tells the absolute truth about the life of the believer!
Some commentators feel that Paul is describing the life of a carnal Christian. That he is telling us how saved men who refuse to yield to the Spirit of God live their lives. Yet, I read these verses and to me they are intensely personal. It is as if Paul rips the covers back from his life and gives us an intimate portrait of himself and of how he struggles through life.
No, this isn't a description of a carnal believer! This is a portrait of a maturing saint! It is the way life is for the child of God; described with no punches pulled and no holds barred. This is how life was for Paul.

We have been in the Book of Romans for some time.  It was never my intention to preach through Romans on our broadcast network, but it seems to be what the Lord had in mind…..   We have learned the truth that all men are sinners before the Lord and that men are in need of a Savior, chapters 1-3. We have learned that true righteousness, and salvation come only through the exercise of faith, chapters 4-5. We have learned that in Jesus Christ, we are dead to sin and to the Law, chapters 6-7a. Most recently, we discovered that we have been liberated from the Law of God by our death with Christ on the cross and that we are no longer married to the Law, but are married to Jesus and are free from the Law. These are blessed truths!
In the verses before us, Paul is going to illustrate his teachings about the Law of God by sharing with us an intimate look at his own life. In these verses, and through to the end of the chapter, Paul gives us his spiritual autobiography.

It has been said that there is nothing certain but death and taxes. I have never experienced death, but I know something about taxes and I am convinced that the only way to be free from them is to die. Your family might get a bill, but you will be beyond the reach of the IRS. This is what Paul is trying to get us to understand about our new relationship to the Law and to sin.
Chapter seven finds the Apostle Paul still trying to make this matter of our being dead to the Law and to sin clear. In the last of chapter 6, he used the analogy of slavery to teach us that, in Christ, we were free from the old master of sin and alive to a new Master: the Lord Jesus Christ.
Now, he moves from the analogy of a master and slave to a husband and wife. He uses marriage as a picture of our new relationship to the Law. The fact is, spiritually speaking, we are married to either the Law or the Lord. So, tonight, I would like to look into these verses for a few minutes and consider the question "Married? Yes! But To Which Husband?”