I have entitled the message on Romans 8.10-11 "Facing Death with Hope." Although hope is not explicitly mentioned in this passage, look for it as the underlying tone and tenor of the text. In these two verses, there are two claims. They may not be as clear as we might like in the NIV translation. The first claim, verse 10, gives a remarkable contrast between physical death and life by the Holy Spirit (v. 10, note that the small cap word, "spirit" should be capitalized as a reference to the Holy Spirit). Let's read the verse again with clear reference to the Holy Spirit (my paraphrase: "but if Christ is in you, your body is subject to death because of sin, but your Holy Spirit is life because of righteousness). I will say more about this verse when I get into the message proper. The second claim is in verse 11. This claim gives a remarkable promise of life to those haunted by a relentless enemy that dogs their heels until they lie silent and still in the grave. Let me read that promise again (v. 11). Note the work of the Father, Son and Holy Spirit that is interwoven in this text ("He" refers to God, the Father, who raised Christ and who will give life to your mortal bodies through "His" Spirit).

The initial "but" (v. 10) opens a shift from those who do not belong to Christ to those who do belong to Him (look back to 8:7-8). This text (8:7-8) is one of the clearest on man's total depravity. Total depravity means that man is unable to remove his hatred of God (and of the light); he cannot change his own nature, as a leopard cannot change its spots. Being evil, he cannot do good especially the good of returning to God. He does what he wants, and what he wants is evil. Man is totally and completely unable to turn around, repent, and believe the gospel. He is totally and completely unable to submit himself to God's law because he hates God. He is unable to submit himself to the authority of Jesus Christ as his prophet, priest, and king. But it is a different story for you, "if Christ is in you" (v. 10a) and if the Spirit is living in you (v. 11a). Paul unfolds this different story by making the two claims, one giving a contrast and the other giving a promise. I want to speak to each.

1A. The contrast (v. 10).

If Christ is in you, then your body is dead, but your Spirit is life. What does this mean? To answer this question, let's begin with the type of statement we have here.

We have a conditional statement. This is an important kind of statement that we use all the time. In logic, it is so important that whole chapters of text books are given to it. So what is a conditional statement? Simply put, it is a statement that has an "if" and a "then." Specifically, t`he "if part" is called the antecedent and the "then part" is called the consequent. We thus have a condition followed by a result (an antecedent followed by a consequent).

Paul states that something is necessary for the result to be the case. It is necessary that Christ be in you for the contrast between death and life to be true of you. But there is more, the condition or antecedent is not only necessary, it is also sufficient. This means that if the condition is fulfilled, then without question, the consequent stated will also certainly be the case. The difference between necessary and sufficient conditions can be illustrated. For example, if I go to the mall, I usually spend money at the mall. It is necessary to go there to spend money there but going there is not sufficient to bring about the spending (though that may be the case for those who shop till they drop; perhaps this is why some do not want their spouses to go to the mall, even to "just look"). For me that is not a sufficient conditional, though it is necessary to go there in order to spend money there. But it seems to be the case that whenever I go to the tennis company-"just to look, you know"- I see things that "make" me buy them. That is a sufficient conditional. Now consider the temperature going below zero. Under normal conditions, for water to freeze it is necessary for its temperature to drop below 32 degrees and if the temperature does drop then it is certain that the water will freeze. This cold temperature is both necessary and sufficient for water to freeze. Paul gives us conditions here that are both necessary and sufficient for the then part of the statement.

The condition here is "Christ in you" (v. 10a). Remember what Jesus said before He went away: I will come to you, I will indwell you, I will be with you always to end of the age. To bring this about, He went to the cross and was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father.

What follows if Christ is in you? What follows is a marvelous contrast between what we have because of sin and what we have because of the work of Christ. We can consider each side of the contrast as Paul presents them. This contrast is the case if Christ is in you!

On one side, because of sin, the body is dead (v. 10b). That is, it is subject to deterioration and physical death. For any who may need a testimony to the reality of sin, they need only look to the fact of physical suffering and physical death. This is the centuries old testimony to the fact of sin: by one man sin entered into the world and death by sin. Each of us can look at ourselves and ask, "Am I a sinner?" And each of us can then find the answer if we have ears to hear it: I suffer physically, I am aging, I am dying, I am subject to death; therefore, I am a sinner, there is no doubt about it. That is the sobering fact to which we are pointed by Scripture. Every now and then you see a new wrinkle when you look in the mirror. Why? Because of sin. As the years march on, you feel many aches and pains. Why? Because of sin. If you go across this entire globe on which we live, you will find something in every single land, culture and community: grave markers. If you travel century by century back in time in all these lands, cultures and communities to the very first human beings on earth, you will find something in every single land, culture, and community—death. Why? Because of sin.

And Paul does not just speak in general about this fact. He says that those who have Christ living in them are subject to death. In His purpose as the Lord of world history, Jesus is working things out over time. This being the case, His people who have Him living in them, are subject to physical death. Why are we subject to physical death within His purposes for history? Because of sin.

But there is another side. The contrast directs us to something we have because of the work of Christ. If He is in us, then the Spirit is life (v. 10c). Spirit here refers to the Holy Spirit. More can be said to defend this point (over against the NIV translation), but it should be enough to simply follow the flow of thought and note that the contrast is not between parts of ourselves (body to spirit, v. 10, or sinful self to spiritual self), but between ourselves without the Holy Spirit and ourselves with the Holy Spirit (those in the flesh or sinful nature are people who mind the things of the sinful nature and they do not have the Holy Spirit; those in the Spirit have the Spirit, mind the things of the Spirit and belong to Christ). Thus the term "spirit" should be taken in flow as the Holy Spirit (note this as I read vs.9-10).

The contrast to the dominion of death over us is the presence of the Spirit who is life. As Jesus is the way, the truth and the life, likewise the Holy Spirit is the way, the truth and the life. He is the source of our life by the new birth. We are born into the family of God by the sovereign, mysterious, and miraculous working of the Holy Spirit, as Jesus told Nicodemus (Jn. 3:5-8).

And Paul says He is "your Spirit." He indwells us and is with us to the end of the age. We have fellowship with the Father and Son and one another to be sure. But we must not forget about the fellowship and communion of the Holy Spirit (2 Cor. 13:14). The Christian can say, "Jesus is my personal Lord and Savior who accomplished my salvation", and the Christian can also say, "The Holy Spirit is my personal Guide and Teacher who applies to me what Jesus accomplished for me."

The basis for the Spirit's work is the work of Christ. This is stated in the phrase, "because of righteousness" (v. 10c). The Holy Spirit is life as our Holy Spirit and life-giver because of the righteousness of God secured for the people of God by the Lord Jesus Christ. Note in the book of Romans how righteousness is needed and how it is given to sinners by grace through faith.

But what is it that is given? What is the righteousness that makes the Spirit life? It is the righteousness of God. It is the righteousness of Christ. The Holy Spirit brings life to us in our frail bodies because Jesus is our righteousness in the fullest sense both negatively and positively.

Negatively, He is our righteousness because He secured a righteous standing before God for us by His death. I never tire to ask this profound question: How can the guilty be declared not guilty? How can we stand before God, in His righteous court, and be declared righteous when we all know that we are not righteous? In any court of law if the judge were to say "I find no guilt" regarding those he knows to be clearly and truly guilty" we would cry bribery or injustice. To see how the declaration of "not guilty" can be true and just, we need to focus on the meaning of the term "guilt." To be guilty means to be subject to punishment for the crimes committed; it means to be subject to eternal punishment under the wrath of God that we store up against ourselves for the day of wrath. Christians are truthfully declared "not guilty" on the ground that Jesus endured their punishment back at Calvary. Christians are justly declared "not guilty" on the ground that justice was discharged and executed on their behalf back at Calvary.

Personalize these facts. Listen to Paul speak to you as he did to the Romans: if Christ is in you then even though you are subject to physical death because of sin, your Holy Spirit is your life giver because of the righteousness of God that was secured by Christ in His death on the cross. Now let's shift to the positive side.

Positively, the Holy Spirit brings life to us in our frail bodies subject to death  because Jesus lived a righteous life. He lived this life for us. We are saved by His life (Rom. 5:10). His very "lived out" righteous life is given to us in our justification by faith. You see it is not enough that Jesus dealt with our sins on the cross because the cross deals with our sins before God's just and holy law, but it does not give us positive righteousness. The cross is the remedy for our sins; the cross is needed to satisfy the wrath of God, stirred up by our ungodliness. The cross deals with the sentence for our sins, with punishment justly due us all. So, it takes away our unrighteousness and its judgment, which is necessary if we are to be righteous. But the cross does not give us righteousness. We get that from the righteous life of the Lord Jesus. In our justification by faith, our sins are removed as charges against us, and a righteousness of God, the righteousness of Jesus, is given to us as our own.

So again I say, "Christian, personalize this marvelous passage. If Christ is in you then though your frail body is subject to physical deterioration and death, you have the Holy Spirit, He is your Holy Spirit as Jesus is your Savior. Moreover, He is your life giver because of the righteousness of Christ in taking away your unrighteousness and in giving you His righteousness." Truly, what the law could not do, God did sending Christ, who set us free from death and bondage through the Holy Spirit.

2A. The promise (v. 11)

We have another conditional, again both a necessary and sufficient conditional given by Paul. If you have the Holy Spirit living in you, then your mortal body will be given life. For you to be resurrected from physical death (or transformed without death), it is necessary that you have the Holy Spirit living in you. And the fact that you have the Holy Spirit living within is sufficient to render it certain and absolutely sure that your body, subject to death, will be given life, yes, immortal and incorruptible life that fades not away. That's the promise!

Jesus saves the whole person body and soul. He is not just a soul winner but a person winner. Recall the worry passage on life "being much more" (Matt. 6:25-34). If you have the safety and security of your entire existence, body and soul, before God and forevermore, then worry must go out the door and hope must come to dwell and be at home in your thoughts.

Thus, Christians are born again by the Father unto a living hope, a lively, earnest, uplifting and life changing hope. Peter has much to say on this. He is sometimes called the apostle of hope (cf. be ready to give an answer of the hope that is in you, 1 Pet.3.15).

So what is the bottom line of all this?

1) Hope is expectation. It is not wishful thinking but expectant desire. This desire is already stirred up in us by the presence of the Holy Spirit as a down payment and foretaste of what is to come. One of my teachers used to speak of being too busy to eat as a young man in a boarding house. But the cook would come to his room with a spoonful of chicken soup. The foretaste led him expectantly to the dining room. We have communion with the Father, Son and Holy Spirit as a down payment and foretaste that promises life to our mortal bodies. So, we expectantly make our way to the dining room in heaven yet to come.

It is often said, in the way of a profound joke about getting older and older that, "I feel like a person who has one foot on a slippery banana peel and one foot in the grave." But child of God, if you want to use that analogy, use it like this, "you have one foot on a banana peel and one foot in glory!" You are closer to glory now than when you first believed!

2) Fix your eyes in heaven, on Jesus, on the heavenly treasure to cultivate this living hope that turns your life upside down and inside out for the glory of God.

Pretend for the moment that you are the heir of Bill Gates (he has a few millions) or of Martha Stewart who added millions to her millions in one day, last Tuesday by the sale of stocks in her one person centered company. If you were the heir in good standing of either of these people you would be hopeful regarding the future and perhaps more with Bill because Martha is a little older (she is 58 and some brokers do not recommend her stock because it is a one person centered company and she is getting up there; the likelihood of death has to be factored in).

To my point, if you were the heir to one of these people, then your frame of mind would be such that you would know yourself to be entitled to riches untold, and you would know that you will have them at a definite time in the future when Bill or Martha dies. Between now and then, it will be kept for you, you are the heir. However, the death factor has to be introduced again. These estates may be around for a long time, but, and here is the significant question, will you be around to enjoy them? Will you be healthy enough to enjoy the abundance?

Having come from a life of a very nip and tuck struggle to survive, and by much hard work as a stone mason, my Dad told me a short time before he died (at 92) that he felt like a rich man when he got onto social security. Then he said, "it is too bad, I didn't have this when I was young and could enjoy it." Like it or not, face it squarely or not, aging and death intrudes its ugly head into your business and cries out against your life.

But the Christian has an assurance no Gates or Stewart heir can ever have. The Christian "knows the absolute certainty that the inheritance will not merely be kept for him, but that he will be kept for it" (Vos, Glory, 143). See 1 Peter 1:3-5,

Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! In his great mercy he has given us new birth into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead.  And He has brought us into an inheritance that can never perish, spoil or fade, kept in heaven for you, who through faith are shielded by God's power until the coming of the salvation that is ready to be revealed in the last time (NIV).

3) Finally, be about your work, heartily and in earnest, with gratitude and vigor. Note: 1 Corinthians 15:51-58,

Behold, I shew you a mystery; We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed, In a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trump: for the trumpet shall sound, and the dead shall be raised incorruptible, and we shall be changed. For this corruptible must put on incorruption, and this mortal must put on immortality. So when this corruptible shall have put on incorruption, and this mortal shall have put on immortality, then shall be brought to pass the saying that is written, Death is swallowed up in victory. O death, where is thy sting? O grave, where is thy victory? The sting of death is sin; and the strength of sin is the law. But thanks be to God, which giveth us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ. Therefore, my beloved brethren, be ye stedfast, unmoveable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, forasmuch as ye know that your labour is not in vain in the Lord (KJV).