It's time for our weekly dip into the book of Romans which our students are working through during Sunday School each week! This week we're taking a look at one of the most important chapters of any book in the Bible, let alone just Romans....we're going to work through Chapter 8 this week.
If you've missed out on any of Romans, thus far, feel free to go back into the blog archive and get yourselves caught up, because Paul has been laying the groundwork for several chapters to get readers ready for chapter 8....so let's go!
We Have the Spirit's Presence (Romans 8:9-11)
Paul begins chapter 8 by reaffirming that for those who put their hope in Christ there is an escape, a rescue if you will, from sin. Paul stresses that we have the power of the Holy Spirit and thus we have the power to be free from and to now avoid sin in our lives. He stresses that we are no longer controlled by our fleshly, sinful nature. Instead we are now controlled by the Spirit of the God which is living inside of us!
You can see then how it flows logically that those who give evidence of the Spirit's presence in their lives by hating sin and struggling against it are genuine believers. They are spiritual persons in a most profound way! On the other hand, those who show no evidence of the Spirit's work in them demonstrate that they really do not belong to the Lord. They are still in spiritual darkness and are in bondage to the sinful nature. In other words, Paul is teaching that the Holy Spirit's presence and power are absolutely fundamental and foundational to the Christian life! The Scripture here clearly indicates that the Holy Spirit enters a believer's life fully and permanently at conversion.
This should encourage us as believers to know that we can find strength in seeing our ongoing Christian experience in light of God's ultimate goal for us. Our fleshly nature (the body) needed to die for sin's control to be broken. This death occurs when we by faith join with Christ Jesus in His death on the cross. At the same moment of conversion, the Spirit entered us and brought life! We will continue to struggle with the old nature in this life, but when these physical bodies at death return to the dust from which they were made, the One who raised Christ from the dead will also bring our mortal bodes to life through His Spirit living in us!
We Have the Spirit's Guidance (Romans 8:12-17)
Ok, so we now know that we as believers have the Spirit living in us...so what does that mean for us? What does that mean we are capable of now that we weren't before?
First, it means that we are not obligated to the flesh to live according to the flesh. Now, this doesn't mean that we are now incapable of sinning, but it does mean that we are no longer obligated to sin. Our sinful nature doesn't rule us anymore like it still does an unbeliever. We can and should say no to temptations. So we have the Spirit's guidance to help us avoid sin.
Second, we can live assurance that we belong to God's family. We are meant to be led by God's Spirit. He's not living inside us just to quickly put out the fires of temptation, but also to guide us in all dimensions of the Christian life.
Paul talks in verses 14-15 about this "spirit of adoption". If you think back to when God freed his people from slavery in Egypt, you will remember that the Israelites didn't always feel like their freedom was a great thing. The Israelites were going to have the Lord's constant presence and protection....sounds good right? But at that time the Israelites were so worn out from walking in the wilderness...they were so upset that their lives weren't simple, easy, and comfortable that they actually considered and contemplated going back to Egypt....going back to bondage....back to slavery! Just as God didn't rescue his people to just turn them over into having the "spirit of slavery", go wants us to understand exactly where we stand with Him: we are adopted as sons and daughters!
Third, believers are able to confidently endure trials and suffering because the Holy Spirit is present to guide and help us. Children who are legally adopted immediately become full heirs alongside any natural-born children. Because the Spirit's presence in believers testifies to our adoption as God's children, we can live with confidence that we are heirs of God and coheirs with Christ!
We Have the Spirit's Prayers (Romans 8:26-27)
A lot of times, I know that as a Christian, I have struggled at times with what to pray for and how to pray. Maybe it's when we face an overwhelming situation like 9/11 or a huge earthquake in Chile. Maybe it's when we have just hit a tough patch in our lives...work is tough, our marriage is struggling, our finances are struggling. Maybe it's a time when we just really can't figure out the Lord's will for our lives.
Paul assures us that the Spirit Himself intercedes for us with unspoken groanings. This term "unspoken groaning" can be understood simply as "groans that words cannot express." The Spirit has the ability to understand our weaknesses and then to intercede for us with the Father.
The Spirit works in believers to search their hearts and to determine their true concerns. The Spirit then will help us pray according to the will of God even though we don't know how to express it.
We Have Assurance (Romans 8:28-32)
Paul closes out chapter 8 by continuing to describe the Spirit's work. Paul states in verse 28 a fact that he claims "we know." The phrase "we know" indicates confidence and assurance. Believers live with assurance because we know God is in control. Jesus is Lord and the Spirit lives in us. Therefore we can know that all things work together for the good of those who love God.
Now in verses 29-30 the idea of election comes into play....let's be clear about this.....this is a spiritual truth that is understood fully only in the counsels of God. We can't as human beings pretend that we can with 100% certainty speak to this topic of predestination, so we are not going to get hung up on it at all!
What we can know is that God's purpose in this action was to create a family of many brothers (male and female) of whom Jesus is firstborn. That term "firstborn" simply gives Jesus the respect and honor of being the first to be born again from the dead through His resurrection and the first in rank and importance as the Lord of the church.
Once one is called into this family and once they respond in faith to Christ they are justified - which simply means they are made right with God for eternity. They can look forward to the time ahead when they will be glorified with their Father in heaven.
Next week we jump into a few chapters - Romans 9-11....so read up!
Heffe
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