ROMANS 8:12-17 YOUR LIFE IN THE SPIRIT2015 Teaching by Jerry B Simmons

Teaching Transcript: Romans 8:12-17 Your Life In The Spirit

You are listening to FerventWord, an online Bible study ministry with teachings and tools to help you grow deeper in your relationship with God. The following message was taught by Jerry Simmons in 2015. We're here this evening in Romans chapter 8. We'll be looking at verses 12 through 17. And so let's begin our time by reading through that passage. Romans chapter 8 verses 12 through 17 verse 12 says this,

Therefore, brethren, we are debtors, not to the flesh, to live according to the flesh. For if you live according to the flesh, you will die. But if by the Spirit you put to death the deeds of the body, you will live. For as many as are led by the Spirit of God, these are the sons of God. For you did not receive the spirit of bondage again to fear, but you received the spirit of adoption by whom we cry out, Abba, Father.

The Spirit himself bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God. And if children, then heirs, heirs of God and joint heirs with Christ. If indeed we suffer with him, that we may also be glorified together.

So as we look at this passage here in Romans chapter 8 this evening, we're really taking our time here in chapter 8 of Romans. We've been studying Romans and kind of, you know, hitting passages at a time, but we've slowed down a bit for chapter 8 because it's really the climax of all that Paul has been teaching up to this point in the book of Romans. And so we're going to take a look at this passage here in Romans chapter 8 this evening.

And so chapter 8 just contains some glorious practical truths for us, things that we need to know. It's the conclusions of his arguments and helping us to understand the results of our position in Christ and being justified and how he works in us to bring us to completion. And so as we look at this passage, we're looking at the work of the Holy Spirit. And the title of the message tonight is Your Life in the Spirit.

♪♪ ♪♪

And so let me just remind you of some of the points that we hit last week from verses 1 through 11. Number one, you are set free from sin and death. Every believer without exception is set free from sin and death. That's the law of the Spirit. As a believer in Jesus Christ, having been born again by the Holy Spirit, you are set free from sin and death. Number two, the law is fulfilled in you.

It's not an if, it's not a maybe, it's not conditional upon, you know, how well you do. It's true. The law is fulfilled in you because you are a believer in Jesus Christ. Number three, you have life in peace.

Now we talked about, hey, you cannot be rich and live like a poor person. And so sometimes we don't have peace. We don't experience the peace, but we have life and peace. It's the law of the spirit. It applies to every believer. There's peace. There's life that is there for us in our relationship with God. Then we also saw that you can please God.

The person who's unsaved, the person in the flesh cannot please God, no matter what they do, no matter how hard they work. But you as a believer, you already please God because you believe, but then you also get the opportunity to do things that are pleasing to God, that he enjoys and that he rejoices over.

Well, then we also saw that you have the Spirit dwelling in you. And so it's a permanent residence where the Holy Spirit lives within you. It's the law of the Spirit. This is true of every believer in Jesus. And then finally, we saw that you will be resurrected. You will be resurrected. It's a guarantee as a believer in Jesus Christ. You have the Holy Spirit in you, and he will bring you

into eternity in that resurrected glorified body that is in store for you. And so those were the laws of the Spirit. It's universal truth. It's things that are applicable to all believers, not just those who are mature, not just those who are really faithful, not just those who are really passionate and growing. These are things that are true of every believer.

But as we look at those things, they're kind of doctrinal things. We have a better understanding about the Holy Spirit and our place and our position in the Holy Spirit. But now as we go forward into these verses this evening, I want to kind of emphasize that these truths are not just information for our head, but information

but it makes a big difference in how we live. It makes a big difference in how we operate and the things that we do. And so we're looking at your life in the spirit this evening, and there's four points that we'll be looking at here in verses 12 through 17. The first point found in verse 12 and 13 is you are a debtor to the spirit. The way that the, the,

Holy Spirit impacts your life or the way that you should live or the way that you live differently because of the Spirit is that you are a debtor to the Spirit. Check out verse 12 again. He says, therefore, brethren, we are debtors not to the flesh to live according to the flesh. So he says, you are a debtor. We are all debtors. We are indebted to

to someone, to something. Now, to be a debtor, it means that you owe someone else, that you are held under some obligation. You're bound by some duty. And so you have this obligation. We're debtors, he says.

But he points out, and he wants to make sure we understand, we're not debtors to the flesh. That is, we don't have an obligation to our sinful nature. That's what he's talking about here when he refers to the flesh. You're not a debtor to the flesh in that you are obligated to obey God.

Your sinful nature, your cravings, your desires, your lusts. He says, you're not obligated to the flesh to live according to the flesh. And I like the way that William MacDonald talks about this. He says, if Christ had not saved us, the flesh would have dragged us down to the deepest, darkest, hottest places in hell. Why should we feel obligated to such an enemy?

And so he wants us to understand we are not obligated to the flesh. The flesh is our enemy. The flesh would destroy us. The flesh would drag us down into hell if we allowed it to. That's our enemy. That's not something that we need to be obligated towards. But of course your flesh, I'm sure you have some experience with that, will try to convince you that you have to obey it.

So you're not obligated to obey the flesh. Again, we've looked at that already in Romans, how you're set free by what Christ has done for us.

But the flesh will try to convince you. And the flesh will be very persuasive and deceptive and try to convince you. You have to do whatever it is you're craving, whatever it is you're lusting after, whatever it is that you're desiring, those sinful actions, those sinful things. Your flesh will be doing its best to convince you, to persuade you. You have to obey it. But you don't have to. You're not obligated to.

You might choose to, but it's a choice that we make. It's not an obligation that we have. Your flesh will try to convince you that it deserves to be gratified. So when your flesh is like trying to convince you like, hey, you have to obey this desire. And if you're resisting that and you're saying, no, I'm not obligated to the flesh. Well, then, you know, it tries a different tactic. And so then there comes these ideas, you know, you've been working so hard, right?

And because you've been working so hard, you know, you really deserve to have some enjoyment. You really deserve to have some, you know, some whatever it is that you're craving, you know, that extra pile of ice cream or whatever. Like, you really deserve it. You deserve it. You know, you've been so faithful. You've been so good. You've been whatever. And so it kind of changes tactics and say, oh, it deserves to be gratified in the sense that it's owed to your flesh that it be gratified. Right?

And Paul's saying, you are debtors. You do owe a debt, but it's not to the flesh. You don't have to give in. You're not obligated to fulfill the desires and cravings of the flesh. And if you do obey your flesh, if you believe the story that you're telling yourself, you believe what your sinful nature is trying to convince you of, that you have to obey these things or that you deserve, you know, these things, then Paul says, you will die. Look at verse 13.

He says, for if you live according to the flesh, you will die. But if by the spirit you put to death the deeds of the body, you will live. So if you believe the flesh and you live in obedience to the flesh, he says, if you live according to the flesh, you will die. Because as we saw in chapter six, the wages of sin is death.

And so there is death when we live in sin. And if we live according to what our nature is telling us, our sinful nature, and we're feel obligated to obey what the flesh says, we're going to be experiencing the death that results from a life according to the flesh. So he says, you're not obligated to that. But notice again, he says, you are a debtor, but it's not to the flesh.

So who are we a debtor to, or what are we a debtor to? Well, the point that he's making here is you're a debtor to the Spirit. So he says, if you live according to the flesh, you will die. But if by the Spirit you put to death the deeds of the body, you will live. And so you are a debtor, but not to your sinful nature. You're a debtor to the Holy Spirit. You are indebted. You have an obligation towards the Holy Spirit.

We saw in verse 9 that, well, it says in verse 9, "...you are not in the flesh, but in the Spirit. If indeed the Spirit of God dwells in you, now if anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ, he is not his." You as a believer in Jesus Christ have the Holy Spirit dwelling within you. And if you don't have the Holy Spirit dwelling within you, you're not a believer. You're not a child of God. You're not His. But if you're His, then you have the Holy Spirit.

And it means that you are now indebted to the Holy Spirit. In verse 10, he says, if Christ is in you, the body is dead because of sin, but the spirit is life because of righteousness. We're indebted to the Holy Spirit because of the work that he does in providing us life. It's the work of the Holy Spirit which causes us to be born again.

which gives us spiritual life in the beginning, to begin with. The only reason we can have spiritual life is because of what's called regeneration. It's the work of the Holy Spirit causing us to be born again and giving us spiritual life. It's the work of the Holy Spirit that sets us free from sin and death.

And as we saw last week, it's the work of the Holy Spirit that gives us this resurrection promise that because the Holy Spirit dwells within us, he's going to resurrect us and we'll spend eternity with the Father. And so the Holy Spirit has done incredible things in us as we have believed in Jesus. And so we are indebted to the Holy Spirit, Paul is saying. We owe this obligation to the Holy Spirit because of what he has done for us.

And so instead of being indebted to the flesh, having this obligation towards the flesh and fulfilling it, he tells us in verse 13, here's what you need to do. By the Spirit, put to death the deeds of the body. And so instead of being obligated to your sinful nature, put those things to death. Put those deeds, that word deeds there, it speaks of habitual practices.

So put those habits to death. Put those practices, those sinful practices to death by the Spirit. Now, this is an interesting verse because it's something that we could look at and we can go, wow, okay, yes, yes, I see that. Put to death the deeds of the body by the Spirit. Okay, right on. Good stuff. But I would ask you to look a little bit deeper than that and consider what does that really mean, though?

So how do you put to death the deeds of the body by the Spirit? I mean, if I say, how do you put to death the deeds of the body, you could say by the Spirit. But what does that mean? Like, what tool are you using? How do you implement that? How do you put that to work? We know from what Paul has already taught us, you cannot deal with the flesh by using the law, right? He went to great detail to make sure we understood that.

Adding laws, rules, regulations, whether it's Moses' law or our own system that we build, that's not effective at dealing with our sinful nature. In fact, it kind of stirs up and makes our sinful nature crave even more things than if there wasn't a law. And so the law is not effective. Rules and regulations don't work. Before Christ...

The law cannot save you. We know that. That's what Paul's been teaching. But also we need to remember that in Christ, the law cannot perfect you. And so the law is not effective. It's not by putting in rules and regulations that we put to death the habits and practices of the body. There's something else that has to happen. It's by the Spirit.

But what does that mean? Again, how do we do that? So what do I need to do, right? What do I do to put to death the deeds of the body? Well, I think by the Spirit is something important for us to consider. And here's the simple way that I would answer the question I'm asking. The way that you put to death the deeds of the body is by letting the Holy Spirit do the work.

In essence, it's not something that you do. So it's not, I'm not saying, well, here's how you put to death the deeds of the body. Just read four verses. All you got to do is read four verses. If you only read three, it's not going to be effective. You know, you got to read four verses and then by the spirit, or what if I say, okay, you're dealing with the flesh, you're struggling with the flesh, you want to put it to death. All right, memorize this specific verse and now you're going to put it to death.

It's not a formula like that. The idea of putting to death the deeds of the body by the Spirit is that you're not doing the work, but you're allowing the Holy Spirit to do the work. On Sunday, we talked about the importance of feeding the Spirit, and this is what it boils down to. Our job is not so much to try to fix the flesh,

Our job isn't to try to reform the flesh and fix all those sinful habits and things like that. That's really not our focus. It's not to be what we live our lives, you know, focusing on. Our lives are to be focused on drawing near to God. You draw near to God.

And as you draw near to God, you are feeding the Holy Spirit and giving him the opportunity and what he needs in order to do the work in you to transform you and put to death those deeds. You focus on hearing from God.

knowing him and walking with him. And as you focus on drawing near to God and hearing from him, the Holy Spirit is going to be at work in you. You focus on loving God with all of your heart. And as you focus on loving God, he's going to be the one who is doing that work of putting to death the deeds of the body. Now, I'm not saying that there's nothing that you'll never be asked to do,

But what's going to happen is as you're drawing near to God, God's going to tell you. God's going to speak to you. He's going to say, here's what I want you to do. And so you don't have to like target like, I really don't like that I gossip. And so let me figure out a formula. Let me figure out a system. Let me put some laws together. And then I can fix that. I can fix that part of my life.

no you focus on put together a system for drawing near to god and walking with god and hearing from him and loving him with all your heart and let him worry about that and when he tells you hey i want you to do this about that issue i want you to go in this area he might be saying that i'm not working on that area maybe you want that fixed right now but that's not my focus i'm doing something else in your life and so

Our job isn't to try to override God and fix what we want when we want. Our job is to draw near to God, feed the Spirit. It's the same with salvation, right? You don't tell people, and when we were born again, it wasn't that we fixed our life, got everything in order, and then we came to God and He saved us. No, you came the mess that you were. I came the mess that I was, and then He saves me.

Well, the rest of our Christian life is the same way. We come the way that we are, the mess that we are, and he does the work. We need to let him do the work. It doesn't change after salvation. And so we need to put to death the deeds of the body by the Spirit, by allowing the Holy Spirit to work, by giving the Holy Spirit time and opportunity to work as we draw near to God.

Now, when he says to put to death the deeds of the body, the word there for put to death, it's in the present tense, which is significant. And it means that this is an ongoing thing.

So you don't put to death the deeds of your body once and then, okay, I'm done. Then now I don't have to struggle with the flesh anymore. There's no sinful desires, you know, or I fixed that one. You know, now let's move on to the next one. I'll never deal with that one again. It doesn't work that way. It's a continual thing. For the rest of our lives, we are going to be

Putting our deeds to death by the Spirit, by turning ourselves over to God, by pursuing after God and letting Him do the work in us that He desires to do. So if you live according to the flesh, you will die. If you give in to those desires, if you live according to those, you let those things dictate how you live, you will die. But if by the Spirit you put those things to death and you turn from sin to follow Christ, you will live.

And so you are a debtor to the Spirit. Keep feeding the Spirit and let Him do the work in you that He wants to do. I like the way that the New Living Translation puts verse 12 and 13. So let me read that to you. He says,

But if through the power of the Spirit you put to death the deeds of your sinful nature, you will live. You have no obligation to do what your sinful nature urges you to do. You'll feel obligated, and it's very convincing, convincing us that we have to do what it wants us to do.

But you have no obligation to do that. Instead, you turn to the Lord and let Him do the work in you. We've been talking about sanctification for the past few weeks. And let me just remind you again, sanctification is a process. It's a process. It includes victories and it includes defeats. It's a process where God is going to be making you like Him and transforming your life over time.

And through struggles and through, again, victories and defeats, you're going to have struggles. You're going to have issues. And you're going to have struggles with the same thing, perhaps, for a while. Or you might have struggle in an area for a while, and then you have victory. And then later on, that area becomes a struggle again. And that's just part of the process. And sometimes we beat ourselves up because we're not already over that. Like, why isn't this fixed already? Right?

and it's not really up to us. What's up to us is pursuing God, feeding the Spirit, drawing near to God, and focusing on that, and then letting Him do the work. So we are not debtors to the flesh, but debtors to the Spirit. Point number two, you are led by the Spirit. As a believer in Jesus Christ, you need to know you are led by the Spirit.

Now, I think this is interesting because if you kind of contrast it with Galatians chapter 5, where similar language is used about, you know, being led by the Spirit and walking in the Spirit, we typically think of being led by the Spirit as a moment-by-moment thing, a situation-by-situation thing, where, you know, if we're led by the Spirit, you know, it's talking about that moment, that situation. But what I would suggest to you as we look here in Romans chapter 8, Paul's not talking about

being led by the Spirit in that way. He's saying, as a believer in Jesus, you are led by the Spirit. Not whether or not you were in that particular moment, but overall, in general, as a believer, you are led by the Spirit. Look at verse 14. For as many as are led by the Spirit of God, he says, these are the sons of God. As many as are led by the Spirit of God, these are the sons of God.

And so from this, we can see Paul's not talking about moments. He's not talking about, wow, when you led worship tonight, you were really led by the Spirit, Kim. You know, that you were really followed his leading, and so you were led by the Spirit. And so, you know, according to verse 14, that means you're a child of God. Or, you know, when I was driving on the road today, I wasn't really led by the Spirit. When I did that, you know, that wasn't led by the Spirit. That's not what Paul's talking about.

Otherwise, if that's what Paul was talking about, there would be an issue here in verse 14 because he says, So that would mean, you know, several times each day, you're a child of God, you're not a child of God. You're a child of God, you're not a child of God. That's not what Paul's talking about. It's not that a child of God is a person who always does everything that the Spirit says.

Even as children of God, even as those who are led by the Spirit of God, we're not always going to do everything that the Holy Spirit prompts us to do or desires or instructs us to do. Not that we shouldn't or that we couldn't, but we're flawed. We're not perfect. We're going to fall short. And so it's not that we are led by the Holy Spirit perfectly in every situation without exception. No, think about the bigger picture. You are led by the Holy Spirit.

as a believer in Jesus. Because a child of God is a person who responds to the work of the Holy Spirit. And that's from the very beginning. It really kind of starts before conversion. Because you remember that Jesus said the Holy Spirit would be sent to convict the world of sin, of righteousness, and of judgment. And it's the Holy Spirit coming alongside of us who

really awakens our heart to the fact that God is calling out to us. And so the opportunity of salvation, it comes as the Holy Spirit is leading us. Now here's the thing. When we respond to the Holy Spirit's leading and receive the gospel message, then we're born again by the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit dwells within us. That just continues. He's right there leading us.

He is presenting the gospel to us before we're saved, and we resist it for some time. We disregard it, or we kind of delay, or we do whatever, right? But the Holy Spirit's still there leading. He's still there calling out. He's still there speaking. And then when we get saved, the same thing happens. The Holy Spirit is still leading us, even though sometimes we're not following Him.

The Holy Spirit is still leading us. He's still speaking to us and calling out to us, even though we might fall behind or drag our feet or refuse, but the Holy Spirit continues to call out to us. And so let's say the Holy Spirit wants to do something in your life, and so he's calling out to you and you're resisting. He doesn't just say, well, you missed out. I tried. I called out to you a couple times. I extended my hand to you a couple times, and you wouldn't follow, so that's it.

You're not led by the Spirit. It's not that moment-by-moment thing. That's not what Paul's talking about. Here's the real point. Here's what you need to consider. Do you ever hear God speak to you? And I don't mean audibly.

But do you ever have that where you know God is calling out to you? The Holy Spirit is speaking to you. The Holy Spirit is directing you. The Holy Spirit is working in your life. If you ever have the Holy Spirit working in your life, here verse 14, as many as are led by the Spirit of God, these are the sons of God. That is, as the Holy Spirit's working in your life and speaking to you and directing you, that's your confirmation. You are a child of God. That's you. You can rest assured. God's working in my life.

If you're not a child of God, the Holy Spirit's not going to be working in your life. But as a child of God, you are led by the Spirit of God. And sometimes, yeah, we drag our feet. But even when we run the other direction, He's still there leading us, giving us opportunity to come back. He's still calling out to us. And even if we run off and veer off the path, then He's leading us to where we need to go from there.

He is always leading us. He's always working in our lives. You are led by the Spirit if you are a believer in Jesus Christ. You are led by the Spirit because you responded to the gospel, and that's given to you. That's presented to you by the Holy Spirit. Whoever, you know, he used to bring that gospel message to you, that person was involved, but it's the Holy Spirit's work.

from beginning to end. And so you are led by the Spirit. And again, this is true of all believers. This isn't just true of mature believers. Mature believers are led by the Spirit. Immature believers are not led by the Spirit. That's not true. Now, you might be able to say mature believers respond to the Spirit, but we all have the same opportunity. The Holy Spirit's desiring to work in us across the board, the same. It's not just for the mature. It's not just for the faithful.

A child of God is a person who responds to the work of the Holy Spirit. And so you are led by the Spirit. Now the exhortation that I would give us for that or in response to that is to be led involves yielding, which we don't like to do even when it's just a yellow triangle sign, right? Yield. We don't like to do that that much, but that's what it means to be led by the Spirit.

The Holy Spirit's leading you in the sense that he's speaking to you. He's giving you direction. He's calling out to you. Whether or not you're listening is a different matter. Whether or not you're yielding is the real issue. You have to let him lead. Just a silly example, but if I was blindfolded and I asked for one of you to give me directions to get to the door, you could give me directions, but...

Unless you pick me up and carry me, you can't force me to do what you're saying. You could say, well, there's a chair there. Go to your left. Go to your left. Nope, nope, nope. Back up. Go back. You could say whatever you want. You can give all the leading that you want, but it's up to me to receive that and then put it into practice and do what you are saying. Follow the leading that you're giving. In the same way, the Holy Spirit is speaking to you.

You're a believer in Jesus. The Holy Spirit for sure guaranteed he's speaking to you. But our job is to hear that, to listen, to yield, to submit to what he is speaking to us. I really like Psalm 32 where God is speaking and he says in verse 8, I will instruct you and teach you in the way that you should go. I will guide you with my eye.

That's the work of the Holy Spirit, instructing us, teaching us, this is the way to go. Here, walk in this way. He says, I'll guide you with my eye. But then he goes on in the next verse, which is my favorite part. Psalm 32, 9, he says, do not be like the horse or like the mule, which have no understanding, which must be harnessed with bit and bridle, else they will not come near you. So he says, I'm going to lead you. I'm going to guide you. I'm going to instruct you and teach you. Now, don't be stubborn, right?

Okay, don't be like the horse or mule where I'm gonna have to put, you know, a bit and a bridle in the horse's mouth to get it to do what it's supposed to do. Don't be like that, God says. You are led by the Spirit. The Holy Spirit is speaking to you. You believe in Jesus, so it's guaranteed. You're led by the Spirit of God. Now, don't be stubborn. Yield to what the Holy Spirit instructs you. Yield to what God is saying to you.

You don't always let him lead, but he is always reaching out to you. Even when you have that season of running, even when you get so busy that you're not paying attention to him, even when you're ignoring him or just flat out refusing, he is still leading you. He's still reaching out to you. He's tugging at your heart. He's prompting you. He's calling out to you. And to walk in the Spirit is to respond to his leading. And so you as a believer in Jesus Christ are led by the Spirit.

And my encouragement to you is don't be like the horse or the mule. Don't be stubborn, but yield. Let him lead. Listen and follow his instruction. Point number three, as we go on now to verse 15, you are a child of God. This is an important part of your life in the Spirit.

You are a child of God. Verse 15, he says, for you did not receive the spirit of bondage again to fear, but you received the spirit of adoption by whom we cry out, Abba, Father. So he said in the previous verse, those who are led by the spirit are sons of God or children of God, sons and daughters of God. And he explains it further here. He says, you didn't receive the spirit of bondage,

When you received Christ, it wasn't a spirit of bondage. It was the Holy Spirit of adoption. And there's a big difference between bondage and adoption. Think about being a slave in someone's house or being the adopted child in someone's house. You did not receive the spirit of bondage. Thomas Constable puts it this way. Unlike sin, the spirit does not enslave us. He does not compel us or force us to do God's will as slaves of God.

Rather, he appeals to us to do so as sons of God. He leads us. He says, hey, this is what's pleasing to God. He doesn't force us to do what's pleasing to God. He doesn't force us to yield to him. He says, hey, this is what's pleasing to God. This is what a child of God would do or does.

It's not a spirit of bondage where you are enslaved now and you have to do what God wants you to do. It's a spirit of adoption. And that's a whole different thing. Adoption, well, adoption impacts your past, your present, and your future. This is an important concept. Now, adoption was something that they were very familiar with as Paul is writing here to the Romans. There was the official practice of

adoption in his day and it was a legal action. And when you were adopted or when you adopted somebody, there were actual rights that were passed on to the people or the person who was being adopted and it would affect their past, their present, and their future. How would it affect their past? Well, whenever someone was adopted under Roman law, all their previous debts would be wiped out

Can you imagine that? So think about that. So here's Richard. He's in all kinds of trouble. He's got debt collectors chasing after him. And, you know, he's just made a mess. Got all kinds of enemies. He's got, you know, warrants out for his arrest, let's say. And this is all made up. I'm not saying this is actually Richard's condition. But then Chico says, you know, I'm going to adopt Richard. I'm going to officially make him part of my family.

And if he goes through that process and he legally adopts Richard, all that gets wiped out. That criminal record, it's gone. Those debts, completely gone. He doesn't owe them anymore because he belongs to a new family now. There's a new identity that he has. I mean, that was a pretty radical thing, as you can imagine, for them. And so it was a brand new start, a clean slate. Past just wiped out, but it also affected his present identity.

Because the person who is adopted now became part of the family. And the way that the law was, it was that this person who's adopted has the same membership in the family as those who are part of the family by birth. That it's not like, well, you know, you're part of the family, but, you know, you're kind of the black sheep of the family. You're kind of the lesser, you know, family. It

it wasn't like that. Legally, they had every right, just like the rest of the family. They were not a lesser member of the family. Adam Clark, the commentator, says, "...the child, thus adopted, ceased to belong to his own family and was in every respect bound to the person who had adopted him as if he were his own child."

And so you become that person's child when you're adopted. That's what happens. It affects your past. It affects your present. But it also affects your future. Because as a child, well, there's an inheritance. And so in the future, you get...

Your just portion of the inheritance as any other of the children. You're one of them and you get an equal share of the inheritance. And we'll talk more about that in the next point. So you've received the spirit of adoption and that's what we need to think about. All of those things, but now apply to us. You are a child of God. You've received the spirit of adoption and that affects your past. That is, your previous debts wiped out. Your crimes wiped out.

Clean slate now. You're washed. You're cleansed. You're out of that. You're a whole new person now. Paul said that, right, in 2 Corinthians 5.17. If anyone's in Christ, he's a new creation. The old is gone. Behold, all things become new. You've been adopted. You're a new person. You're part of a new family. It affects your past. It affects your present because you're a full member of the family of God. You're an actual member of the family of God. You're not like, you know, the lesser family like, you know, well,

The weird cousin, I wish they wouldn't really come around, you know, but maybe they'll send me a Christmas card. You know, it's not, you're not that. You're a full member of the family of God. You've completely separated from your old family. You're now part of this family. And it affects your future because you have full rights to the inheritance. And again, we'll see that more in the next point. But so Paul is making it clear here. We have received the spirit of adoption. That's a huge thing for us.

as we become a child of God. And he says, by whom we cry out, Abba, Father. This adoption is so real. This adoption is so valid that we call out, we cry out, Abba, Father. And the word Abba is an intimate form of the word Father. And so, you know, it's like a pet name. It's like, you know, that endearing term. So we would maybe equate it to Papa, you know, or Daddy, right?

And you could just think about a kid, just in that way, calling out, Papa, or Daddy. Maybe I shouldn't say that as the kids are walking out of the bathroom. Give them ideas. But that crying out for the parents, that's the idea here of this word Abba. You are adopted into the family of God, which means you are a child of God, which means you get to cry out, Abba, Father.

You get to have that special endearing term and you get to relate to him like a child does his father. Now, not everybody has good examples of that in their own lives. You may or may not have had a good father. And so maybe that's not that meaningful for you, you know, thinking about your own experience. But think about it this way. You have the same access to the father that Jesus has.

That's what this is talking about. You're a child of God and you get to cry out, Abba, Father. You have the same access to God as

that Jesus does in Mark chapter 14 verse 36 Jesus is in the garden of Gethsemane and you remember there he's praying to the father if if it's possible let this cup pass from me and he prays three times to the Lord in Mark chapter 14 verse 36 Jesus says Abba father all things are possible for you take this cup away from me nevertheless not what I will but what you will

This idea of Abba, Father, this approach to God that Jesus had is the same approach and access to God that you have because you are adopted into the family of God. You are a child of God. David Guzik says, it's easy for us to see Jesus relating to the Father with this joyful confidence, but we may see ourselves as disqualified for it. But he says, however, remember that we are in Christ,

We have the privilege of relating to the Father even as Jesus Christ does. You have the privilege. It's your right. You're a member of the family and you're not a distant cousin that nobody wants around. You're a member of the family and you have the right to cry out, Abba, Father, to have that kind of access to God, to have that kind of relationship with God, to call out to Him with whatever, whether it be

Like Jesus, the hardest time in his life, there in the Garden of Gethsemane, you can cry out to God in those times. Or whether you stubbed your toe or you just need a coffee or whatever, you can cry out to him. You want to talk to him about good things? You can cry out to him, Abba Father. You want to rejoice and talk about? You want to just rant and rave? You want to ramble for a while? You have full access. He's your heavenly father. He's adopted you. You're his child. You have the right to

as his child to call out to him anytime, anywhere, for any reason. And again, let me remind you, this is true of all believers.

This isn't only true of mature believers or only true of passionate believers or only true of really good believers or only true of believers who didn't sin this week. This is true of every believer. No matter what your condition is, no matter how messed up you've been or whatever might be happening, you are a child of God and you have the right to call out to God and say, Abba, Father. Being a child of God is your position.

So whether you feel like that or not, maybe you don't feel like I'm this special child of God and I have this special privilege. It's not about whether you feel that or not. God doesn't operate based on your feelings. He's given you the right. He's given you the right. In John chapter one, verse 12, it tells us, as many as received him, to them he gave the right to become children of God, to those who believe in his name. You believe in Jesus, you have the right. It is your legal right now.

as far as God is concerned. You're his child. You can call out to him. You can cry out to him. You have that kind of relationship with him. Now, there's plenty of room for us to grow, for sure, but you can call out to God. You can cry out to God. Your position is one of full privilege. Charles Ryrie states this. He says, "'One who is born into the family of God as a child needs to grow and develop,'

but his position is one of full privilege. His practice involves growth and grace. So yes, you're going to grow as a believer. Yeah, you have room to grow. You have room to develop. There's things that you need to overcome and draw near to God, and he's going to be doing some work in your life. But then you don't like, you know, finally reach this level where now I have full rights as a child of God. Now you have full rights as a child of God from the very beginning.

Or even when you ran away. Or even when you fell really hard. Even when you rebelled really hard. Think about a teenager, right? You can rebel as a teenager. You're still the child. It doesn't change that. It doesn't change that. You are a child of God. You're his adopted child. It affects your past, your present, and future.

your future. Well, finally, verse 16 and 17 gives us point number four. Your life in the Spirit, number four, you are a joint heir with Christ. You are a joint heir with Christ. Not only are you a child of God, but you are a joint heir with Jesus. You share in His inheritance. We share in the same inheritance as the Lord. Verse 16.

He says,

He'll confirm that. He'll bear witness and let you know that you are his child. But now he goes on to build onto that point and say in verse 17, and if children, then heirs, heirs of God and joint heirs with Christ. If indeed we suffer with him, that we may also be glorified together. So the Holy Spirit will bear witness and confirm to you, you are a child of God.

Now, that being understood, that being established, building on top of that, if you are a child of God, Paul says, then you are an heir. You are deserving of, you are in line to receive an inheritance. What are you an heir of? Well, he says, you're heirs of God. You're heirs of God. Your inheritance is God. This is pretty incredible.

Adam Clark describes it this way. He says, It's not an earthly portion nor a heavenly portion, but God himself who is to be your portion. It is not heaven you are to inherit. It is God who is infinitely greater and more glorious than heaven itself. It's not just about eternity. Eternity is going to be glorious, but your inheritance is God. You're an heir of him.

You get to partake of God. You get to, I'm not saying like don't get twisted and weird and say you're becoming God or anything like that. No, but you get to have fellowship and relationship and closeness with God for the rest of eternity. That's your inheritance. That's what your heart needs. That's what your soul is thirsting for. It's only God who can satisfy you. Eternity in heaven would be worthless if God isn't there, right?

Worthless. The point is, you're going to spend eternity with God. And so your inheritance is God, and your joint heir is with Christ. Now again, in Roman law, whenever there was an adoption, if there was biological children as well within the family, when the inheritance was divided up, the adopted child received the same portion as the natural child.

Now, we know Jesus is the Son of God, but you're adopted. You've received the spirit of adoption. You are a child of God. You're a joint heir with Jesus. You're part of the family in the same way that Jesus is because you've been adopted. And so you get to share in the inheritance with Christ.

Remember when Jesus said in John chapter 17, he was praying for us that we would be one as he is one and that him and us and us and them and this relationship, this closeness that he has with the Father and that we would have that same closeness with him and with one another and with the Father. And there's this unity, there's this fellowship together between all of us. That's our inheritance. That's our inheritance.

That's the reality of eternity, that we get to be with God in the same way that Jesus is with the Father. We get to be with the Father. You're a joint heir with Jesus. But then, kind of throws a little bit of a curveball at us at the end of verse 17, right? If indeed we suffer with him, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, wait a minute. Like this is all glorious stuff, right?

Now, we're going to deal with this a lot more next, in the following verses. And so we'll get to that in a couple weeks. So I'm not going to go into great detail here. But here's the idea. You are joined together with Jesus. And so we have this glorious eternity. You're part of that because you're joined together with Jesus. But also, what Jesus experienced is the hatred and animosity of the world.

And so the world's hatred of Jesus, well, you're part of that too, because you're joined together with Jesus. Jesus said, he told his disciples, hey, if the world hates you, don't be surprised, it hated me first. You're part of me. And so you're going to experience the suffering that goes along with that. David Guzik describes it this way. He says, as far as God is concerned, it's all part of the same package of sonship. Our sharing in present suffering is part of our future glorification.

He says, no matter how much our flesh may want to have the inheritance and glory without the suffering. Yeah, we might want that, but it's all part of the same package. You join together with Christ, and yes, there will be suffering. There will be tribulation, but there will also be the glories of eternity. And so we'll delve into that a little bit more in the next verses, and we'll come back to that in a couple weeks. But here again, the point is you are a joint heir with Christ.

And this is true of all believers, not just mature believers, not just on fire faithful believers, not those who haven't sinned this week. You are joined together with Christ. That includes the suffering, but it also includes the glory and the eternity with God and the fellowship and relationship with God. How could God adopt us in this way and give us this position? Well, again, Paul is building upon the things that he's been teaching.

You are justified as a believer in Jesus. That means he declares that you are not guilty, that you are completely righteous. He sees you as righteous and holy and perfect as Jesus. And so he brings you in to be part of the family because you've believed you've been justified. And it's not by our works. It's not that we earn it. Titus also talks about this. In Titus chapter three, let me just read to you a couple of verses. He says, "'When the kindness and love of God, "'our Savior toward men appeared,'

Not by works of righteousness which we have done, but according to his mercy he saved us through the washing of regeneration and renewing of the Holy Spirit, whom he poured out on us abundantly through Jesus Christ our Savior. That having been justified by his grace, we should become heirs according to the hope of eternal life.

You can hear just the words of Paul there to Titus. It's the work of God. It's his grace. It's his mercy. He's done the work from beginning to end. It's not by works of righteousness. It's not that you have to earn these things. This is your life in the spirit. This is who you are as a believer in Jesus Christ. And this is how it should impact your life. Number one, you are a debtor to the spirit. It should impact your life in that you believe

realize I don't have to give in to, I don't have to obey what my sinful nature desires. Instead, I can keep feeding the Spirit, and He's going to do a work in me to put those things to death. This is your life in the Spirit. The Holy Spirit's going to be working in you to help you put to death the things of the flesh.

Number two, you are led by the Spirit. This is your life as a believer in Jesus. The Holy Spirit is speaking to you. He is prompting you. He's calling out to you. He's giving you instruction. He's giving you everything that you need. And so our response then is to not be stubborn. Don't be like the horse or the mule, requiring a bridle. Don't be like that. But hear, listen, pay attention, and then respond as the Holy Spirit speaks to you. Number three, you are a child of God.

This isn't an if or maybe or perhaps. You, as a believer in Jesus, you are a child of God. And you have the same access to the Father that Jesus has. You can call out to him, Abba, Father. You have that kind of access. No matter what's going on, you can walk with him. You can speak to him. You can shout at him. You can pray to him. You can weep before him. You have that kind of access to the Father.

And finally, point number four, you are a joint heir with Christ. You are a joint heir. You have the rights, the privileges of being a child of God that include the future promises of glory and eternity with the Father. All of these are true or none of them are true. Think about that. All of these are true or none of them are true. If you're a believer in Jesus, all of these are true. You might be looking at, well, maybe that one, maybe not that one. It's all or nothing.

and as a believer in jesus they're all true and if they're not true well then you need to receive the forgiveness that christ offers you you need to receive his work upon the cross let him make you born again and give you spiritual life let him receive what he has done and allow him to do the work that he wants to do all of these are true or none of them are true this is your life in the spirit you have great privilege you have great opportunity

God's done a good work in you. And so our responsibility now, our response is to live accordingly and allow God to do the work in us that he wants to do. Amen.

At this time, Kim's going to come up and lead us in a few more songs. And so I want to encourage you to let the Holy Spirit lead you and work in your life the way that he desires. And as we always do on Wednesday evenings, during these next few songs, you have the opportunity to worship the Lord and spend time with him and seek him. And I encourage you to do that. But you also have the opportunity to minister to one another. And many times God works together.

through us to help other people and to minister to them. And so if God puts someone upon your heart, you want to pray for somebody, maybe there's a scripture that, you know, God wants you to share with somebody, then take this time, anytime during these songs, you can go ahead and get up and move about and go and minister to one another and pray for one another. The Holy Spirit is leading you and he's going to be probably prompting some hearts.

It's your opportunity, you know, whether or not you're going to respond to that and do as he calls you to. But if he prompts your heart, I would encourage you to do it. Yeah, you'll be freaked out. Yeah, it'll be weird. But that's okay. He's prompting your heart. What are you going to do? Wrestle with him? Don't be like the horse or the mule.

So seek the Lord and spend time with him. Allow him to do the work that he wants to do as you feed the spirit and you pursue him. And as he prompts you to minister to one another and encourage one another, then be led by the Lord and do that. All right, let's worship the Lord together. We pray you have been blessed by this Bible teaching. The power of God to change a life is found in the daily reading of his word. Visit ferventword.com to find more teachings and Bible study resources.