Sunday Morning Service

Romans 8:12-27 (Click scripture reference for audio access)

"The Proof Of The Spirit"  •  5.6.12  •  Sunday Morning Service, Calvary Christian Fellowship

Intro.

- Paul is telling his readers that our sanctification, the imparting Christ's character, is accomplished by the Holy Spirit, who indwells, makes Himself at home in every genuine believer.

- God has done more than given you an external law to keep. He has given you His Holy Spirit, who fulfills in you His, dynamic, moment by moment law!

- This chapter is essential reading when it comes to a measuring line for what is normative Christian experience and that is a life that is defined by His Spirit.

- First, Paul finishes His call for believers to realize that they are to walk according to the Spirit.

Text

• Romans 8:12,13 : "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.'" : Because the Spirit of God indwells you and brings life from or through your mortal flesh, we are debtors.

- We are bound by duty, held by obligation, not to live according to the flesh. It is our duty to shun the flesh, to turn aside from it's call upon our lives, to diligently avoid it's desire.

- Why? Because if we live according to the flesh, we will die! Living to the flesh will kill you!

- This word is used to describe the drying up of a tree, which is a decaying toward death! As it moves toward death, it dries up and daily decreases in vitality.

- You and I, when we give in to the flesh and live, even temporarily, under it's influence, it's effect will be to dry us up spiritually. Who hasn't sensed that?

- Conversely, when you walk by the influence and power of God's Spirit, you put to death the deeds of the body and the life that God intends can happen!

- The tense of the verbs here is in the present indicative, meaning that you are always, repeatedly rendering the deeds of the body as dead! This is not a one time decision, it's hourly!

- I like the KJV rendering of this verse, in that by the Spirit, we do mortify the deeds of the flesh! This means that we are to continually kill it off in a cold blooded and merciless way.

- God's answer to our flesh is to mercilessly kill it by submitting to the Spirit of God! There is no other solution that God offers, simply because this is the only one that works!

- Walking in the Spirit necessitates a violent and vigilant effort against the flesh!

• Romans 8:14,15 : "For as many as are led by the Spirit of God, these are 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.'" : As many as are led by the Spirit of God. To walk according to the flesh is synonymous with being led by the Spirit.

- The word "led" speaks of one who takes another by the hand and walks with them into an area! The Holy Spirit's leading in your life is not distant, but constant and careful.

- He leads the believer, standing near to you, walking closely beside you and walking before you into wherever He leads you!

- He leads us first and foremost by the Word. When we submit to hearing the Word, daily taking it in, He speaks to us through it. As situations bear upon us, He brings His Word to our hearts.

- The Spirit Of God leads this way because you are Sons and Daughters, children of God! Like the Father that He is, God leads you by His Hoy Spirit through life.

- This is meant to promote confidence. He did not call us to receive the spirit of bondage to fear. You are not His slaves, except that we have a slaves attitude in service to Him.

- Ultimately, however, God does not want us to relate to Him as slaves, but as sons!

- In the time of Romans. a slave was considered on the level with any tool in your garage.

- It was useful until it was not and when it was not, it was thrown aside. Some slaves were literally just murdered and cast out with the trash. A slave's life was almost literally worthless!

- Paul is saying, "God has not brought you into a relationship that is insecure." You and I don't need to feel as if God will treat us like trash! We received not the Spirit of slavery, but of adoption!

- A slave versus one who is adopted is the difference between night and day!

- The adoption rights of Rome provide us with a rich series of historical typology and reveals to us what God envisioned for every believer to know!

- In the first century, the rule of the Roman Father over his children was absolute. Say a man had natural sons who did not live up to snuff, but found a man that did. He could adopt him.

- The process began with something called the "Mancipatio." In this ceremony, the new Father would symbolically buy and sell the adopted one using copper and scales twice.

- A third time, the Father would not buy or sell, symbolically showing the transfer of life to his protection and power.

- The next step was called the "Vindicatio," which was a legal presentation made to one of the Praetor's, a man like Pontius Pilate.

- The typology is incredibly rich: God the Father bought us by the blood of Jesus Christ, His Son and has legally justified us, transferring us from under the power of Satan, to His own power!

- Paul has covered this material in the first 5 chapters of Romans. This is the cause of our adoption. Paul is referring here to the consequences of our adoption.

- To be an adopted person in Rome at that time meant three things principally.

- First, the adopted one lost all rights to his old family and gained all the rights of his new family, including privileges equal to a blood relation.

- Second, as a full fledged member of the family, the adopted one receives full inheritance rights to the family fortune.

- Third and finally, whatever debts were held by the old family were canceled by the adopted one's entrance into their new family. They could never be held responsible for that old life.

- This is the spirit of adoption. In the Roman world, there was no clearer picture than this! Our old family, Adam, is cursed, but the past has no hold on us!

- Every debt has been paid, every claim has been dismissed, every legal injunction, cancelled!

- We have gone from calling God "Master," to "Abba Father!" "Abba" is Aramaic and is equivalent to the word "Daddy." There is no more tender term that we can apply to our relationship.

- He is our Daddy! We are to think of Him on this basis, with great and tender love.

•  Romans 8:16,17  :  "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." :  One might ask, "How do we know that our adoption into sonship is a reality?"

- We know that in our spirit, our heart of hearts, but that is not the only witness to that reality, as the Holy Spirit joins His testimony to that reality.

- In Roman law, seven witnesses were required for adoption take place in case of the death of the Father. We do not testify of ourselves alone. The Spirit brings His testimony as well!

- His presence indwelling us is a perpetual witness to our status with the Lord. His interaction in your life provides legal testimony to the reality of who you are!

- Listen: If you have believed upon Christ, showing that by repenting of your sin, you are a son or daughter of God, an heir of God!

- The Spirit of God is a proof of sonship in eternity, the annals of heaven, but suffering with Him is a proof that we belong to Him while on the earth!

- We need to understand here that Paul is not saying that suffering equals a ticket to heaven. Rather, because we are in the same family business, we will be treated the same way!

- The word "suffer" refers to persecutions, betrayals, physical beatings, alienation for your beliefs, mockery. Jesus said that because the world hated Him, it will hate us!

- When you accurately reflect Him, their reaction will be the same as it has always been!

- When we suffer as He has, we can know that we will also be glorified or approved together!

- I like the NLT rendering here: "But if we are to share his glory, we must also share his suffering." It's an ominous promise that suffering goes hand and hand with glory!

- To be granted glorious standing, one must endure glorious suffering!

- It's rare that we are physically threatened, but in the world at large, our brothers and sisters face this reality every day! Many face a life and death struggle on a daily basis!

- There is no glory without suffering in any realm of life. If we are to be decorated as soldiers, we need to expect to fight battles! Paul quickly puts our suffering in context.

•  Romans 8:18 :  "For I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory which shall be revealed in us." :  "As I take an accurate accounting of the sufferings of the present and the glory of the future, it doesn't add up!"

- The word "consider" comes from the accounting world and is Paul's meaning. You can add up all the persecutions, all the pain and all the loneliness that we have in this season of life.

˚  "It here has in it the idea of a fixed conclusion arrived at after careful consideration."        Curtis Vaughn

- It doesn't matter who you are or how bad it has gotten. It will never add up or make a dent in the glory! The picture that Paul employs here comes from the scales in a market place.

- The value of a thing was set by a weighted measurement. No matter how many sufferings are put on the one side of the scale, it never moves the weight of glory!

- This glory is being revealed, not by us, but in us! What is that glory? The glory of the image of His Son, as the Holy Spirit conforms our character to His, which will ultimately be seen in heaven!

- Slowly, perhaps one might say, "ever so slowly," the Lord is making us a more accurate reflection of Christ. Our tastes have changed. Our habits have changed. Our desires have changed!

- That picture of Him is being revealed in you and I, the body of Christ!

- We are inching closer and closer to the time when what God has been working on in us will be fully and finally revealed!

•  Romans 8:19-21 : "For the earnest expectation of the creation eagerly waits for the revealing of the sons of God. For the creation was subjected to futility, not willingly, but because of Him who subjected it in hope; because the creation itself also will be delivered from the bondage of corruption into the glorious liberty of the children of God." : The word here for "earnest expectation" is anxious suspense, descriptive of a man who consistently scans the horizon, looking for what he is waiting on!

- The creation is on the edge of it's seat, looking for the time when man receives the full and complete end of their redemption.

- After the fall, all of creation was subjected to futilty, emptiness and vanity! The fall of man caused all of creation, animate and inanimate, to be swept under the vanity.

- It's not that it's not beautiful and wonderful. It's that the ground was cursed because of man and the chief agent that is to bring glory to God, is not singing his part!

- When all things are accomplished with us, when what God is making us is finally and fully revealed, the whole universe will be freed from the bondage of our corruption!

•  Romans 8:22,23 : "For we know that the whole creation groans and labors with birth pangs together until now. Not only that, but we also who have the firstfruits of the Spirit, even we ourselves groan within ourselves, eagerly waiting for the adoption, the redemption of our body." : The whole creation groans. It sighs like you sigh at the sight of that which is overwhelming. It sighs as the battle wages on in our lives.

- It groans ike a woman in labor, who physically feels the torment of the body. All of the universe is under the toil of pain. The same thing is true of us!

- We have the firstfruits of the Spirit. In the Old Testament, the firstfruits represented an offering from the people to God that was the first to come up.

- When they planted, the first things that came up were given over to the Lord. The firstfruits are a recognition of the full harvest that is to come. His Spirit in us producing fruit is a proof!

- For those who love God and desire Him, there is a connection that we long for. We want badly to see the end of our redemption, to be given entirely to Christ.

- We are groaning in our spirits as we watch the struggles unfold and the difficulties increase. We look around and see hopeless battles being waged and the enemy seemingly having a field day!

- We want to see God win, but our flesh keeps us from participating in the way that we'd like!

- Within us, as we grow in Christ, as our love for Him increases, we are steadily fixing our eyes on the day when we will see our Father and the final redemption of our body!

- That is what holds us back today. We groan in our spirit because our body cannot keep up! With every new resolve to follow God fully, we find an unwilling partner in our humanness!

•  Romans 8:24,25  :  "For we were saved in this hope, but hope that is seen is not hope; for why does one still hope for what he sees? But if we hope for what we do not see, we eagerly wait for it with perseverance." : We were saved in the confident expecation that God would fulfill all His promises to us!

- When you came to Christ, perhaps you came as I did, just to have a blank slate. But as you grew in Christ and saw your own wretchedness, you understood, you needed more than forgiveness!

- You needed His presence with you. And as you became aware that His Spirit indwelt you, you understood how wonderful fellowship with God could be.

- You began to love it, but then it was interrupted by your flesh! If you are a Christian, you long to get to the place where you can fellowship with God in an unending way!

- That is what heaven is all about! Life is simply a training ground that defines how great our enjoyment of heaven can be!

- This hope necessarily cannot be seen, otherwise, it's not hope. When we see it, that is fulfillment and that is when we will finally and fully rest in what we are: Sons of God!

- Paul is saying that part of our sanctification is to live in the hope that we have, with great patience, looking every day to the hope, the certain expecation that lies before us!

- Have you ever noticed in scripture that God never tells His people when He is going to do something? He gives them instructions and even the outcome, but never the "when!"

- As we've been studying in Numbers, the people were told to move when the cloud moved! They were just to look up and see if it was still there. When it moved, they moved!

- Jesus told us that no man knew the day or the hour, but He told us to watch and what to watch for! Hope is a major part of your sanctification.

- Waiting with a heart of expectation, putting your heart into a place where what it invests itself in eternity, are attitudes that God uses to make you like Christ!

- But how? How can we? With all of the struggles and difficulties, how do I pray? How can I overcome the weaknesses that keep me Earth centered? Paul answers in verse 26.

•  Romans 8:26,27  :  "Likewise the Spirit also helps in our weaknesses. For we do not know what we should pray for as we ought, but the Spirit Himself makes intercession for us with groanings which cannot be uttered.  Now He who searches the hearts knows what the mind of the Spirit is, because He makes intercession for the saints according to the will of God." : "Likewise" meaning "in a similar fashion" that the Spirit also groans and helps us in our weaknesses.  

- The word "helps" comes from a word that refers to laying hold onto someone.

- As you think about the word "weaknesses" think about a person who is feeble or infirm, unable to do something on their own.

- This is the type of help that comes when we are too weary to come ourselves. We don't know what to say or what to think. In that moment, the Spirit comes along and walks with us to the Lord.

- Have you ever seen this person? They are the one's who have been unaffected by the tragedy. They are not in shock. Their clothes are clean and they are walking with someone in shreds.

- That is what the Spirit of God does for us! We don't even know where to begin! We know that we should pray, but what can be said!?

- That's when the Holy Spirit makes intercession on our behalf, speaking in a way that can't be interpreted by God! The Holy Spirit is speaking God language.

- They communicate clearly within the Trinity, but our feeble minds could not grasp it. The Spirit can meet with God or intercede on our behalf.

- Essentially, "intercession" means to meet with someone on someone's behalf.

- One commentator notes the unique construction of the word and comments that it means to rescue one in trouble without resource!

- The Spirit is meeting with God for us when we cannot! He has this authority because He has immediate access to the throne and He knows you intimately.

- He searches the hearts! He is continually examining our hearts. He knows what we want to say in our prayers and even better, God knows what the mind of the Spirit is.

- God knows the hearts and the Spirit makes intercession for us according to the will of God, meaning that He reconciles our thoughts and brings them into the will of God.

- Listen to the NLT rendering of this verse: "And the Father who knows all hearts knows what the Spirit is saying, for the Spirit pleads for us believers in harmony with God's own will."

Conclusion

- If we live according to the Spirit, we will not be condemned. If we are led by the Spirit, we will be treated as Sons, in heaven and on earth.

- If His Spirit is changing you, we will groan in agreement with the universe and with the Spirit, longing for the fulfillment and full reaity of our adoption.

- Only the Spirit can do this in your life. Only a genuine experience with Christ makes this possible, the Spirit making it secure!