Series: GOD is for You Week 2: Allowing the Spirit to Lead You
Romans 8:12a. “Therefore…” –Points back to last week: Your position in Christ deals with the penalty of sin and your practice with the Spirit deals with the power of sin. Today: how the Spirit enables us to defeat the power of sin in our lives. Moving from what God has done for us to what is expected from us. As a result of having no condemnation and having the companionship of the Holy Spirit, followers of Christ have 3 important concerns:
- We have a new focus. Romans 8:12-13
“Obligation” refers to one who owes another & is under duty to live a certain way. If you’re born-again, now you’re someone you never were before 2 Corinthians 5:17. PROBLEM: many fall back into flesh-living instead of faith-living.
Sinful living is always inseparably linked to death but putting sin to death is inseparably linked to life. FLESH: Following Long Established Sinful Habits.
Don’t cater to the flesh when God tells us to crucify it.
2 parts of putting the deeds of the body to death which appear to be contradictory:
- It has already been done positionally. Galatians 5:24.
- We must do it experientially. Colossians 3:5.
We must apply by faith what God has already done in fact. Romans 6:11. We must fight against the flesh continually, habitually, and actively.
I don’t have the power to stop sin on my own, but I do have the power to submit to the Holy Spirit. It’s a beautiful balance: I must do it by the Holy Spirit and the Holy Spirit chooses to do it through me.
Philippians 2:12b-13. I cannot do it without the Holy Spirit; the Holy Spirit will not do it without me. This is how sanctification works. We’re given all we need but we must by the Spirit “put to death the misdeeds of the body.”
2. We have a new family. (8:14).
If you have repented & received Jesus Christ, John 1:12 says you are a child of God. There are no naturally born children in God’s family, but because of the new birth, He now calls you “son” or “daughter.”
As children of God, we can now live in freedom, not fear. (Romans 8:15a). In the place of fear, God has given us fortitude—2 Timothy 1:7
Romans 8:15b tells us we have been adopted into God’s family. Adoption is the process by which a person who does not belong to a given family is formally brought into it and made a full, legal family member with the rights and responsibilities of that position. “Abba” communicates relationship; “Father” speaks of reverence. Galatians 4:6.
There are times when you may wonder if God really does care for you. It’s at those times the Holy Spirit goes to work in yet another way. (Romans 8:16).
- 1 John 4:13: the Spirit gives us certainty about our salvation …
- 2 Corinthians 1:21-22, the Holy Spirit gives inner testimony with our spirit that we are adopted into God’s family.
3. We have a new future. Those who are related to Jesus through the new birth, won’t just get a portion, but will inherit the full amount of His inheritance. (Romans 8:17a). Heir of God: you are in God’s will, & share God’s family fortune.
It would be easy to think life is just going to be easy now. But … (Romans 8:17b). Not ordinary struggles but suffering that comes from being identified “with Him.” Sonship and suffering go together.
We are heirs of God but the full benefits of this will not be poured out on us until eternity. Our present grief prepares us for promised glory. Now we are to share in the sufferings of the Savior. Since Jesus suffered, we should be prepared to suffer ourselves.
Suffering doesn’t get the last word. The story of God ends with glory! Because we suffer with Him, we will be glorified with Him.