Romans 8:12-17

Mason Tate

Sermon • Submitted a year ago • Presented a year ago

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Heirs with Christ

English Standard Version Chapter 8

12 So then, brothers, we are debtors, not to the flesh, to live according to the flesh. 13 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. 14 For all who are led by the Spirit of God are sons of God. 15 For you did not receive the spirit of slavery to fall back into fear, but you have received the Spirit of adoption as sons, by whom we cry, “Abba! Father!” 16 The Spirit himself bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God, 17 and if children, then heirs—heirs of God and fellow heirs with Christ, provided we suffer with him in order that we may also be glorified with him.

English Standard Version Chapter 8

12 So then, brothers, we are debtors, not to the flesh, to live according to the flesh.

What is a debtor? It means that we owe a debt. That because of a payment, there is something that we owe. The NIV translates this word as an obligation which I like better because debtor means that there is something to be paid back, but obligation means that there is something that we have to do.

Obligation I like because it is a compelling to do. It is a desire knowing what has happened to do, but the obligation we have is not to our flesh, but rather to the Spirit. To the Lord to live as though He has called us to live.

English Standard Version Chapter 8

13 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.

We know this to be true right? That living by the flesh leads to death. Paul says in Romans 6:23 “for the wages of sin is death. Sin leads to death. Again, maybe not always physical death, but for sure a spiritual one.

But I love what Paul says…if by the Spirit you put to death…putting to death is final, it is aggressive verbiage for sure, but is has to be that way. We have to put to death our sin or it will put to death us.

1 Peter 5:8 says this

English Standard Version Chapter 5

8 Be sober-minded; be watchful. Your adversary the devil prowls around like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour.

Lions are ferocious beasts that are hunting, killing, and when they are not doing those things, they are thinking about those things. But our enemy, who is the one that tempts us to follow the deeds of our flesh, is not waiting or playing games. He will try to win, so while put to death sounds harsh, it is the reality of what we need to do. We have to be that tenacious with our sins.

But I love what Paul says…by the Spirit. Not by us, for we are weak. Man fell to sin, but by the Spirit (Holy Spirit) because God has the victory over sin, and through Him and only through Him are we able to put to death the things of the flesh.

English Standard Version Chapter 8

14 For all who are led by the Spirit of God are sons of God.

This is something I love though…This is a promise. It is a promise that the Spirit of God that raised Jesus from the dead leads us and guides us through life. It is not an extra thing for those who are “advanced” in the faith, but rather a real thing that because we have been saved, we are called sons and daughters of God, and because of that, we have the Spirit to lead and guide us.

English Standard Version Chapter 8

15 For you did not receive the spirit of slavery to fall back into fear, but you have received the Spirit of adoption as sons, by whom we cry, “Abba! Father!”

This is not saying that we recieved a spirit of slavery from the Lord, but rather the opposite.

Again, I like the way the NIV says it...

But lets talk about this word Adoption for a second.

Paul uses this word only 5 times in the NT, 3 of those being in Romans specifically because the Jewish people did not practice adoption. This was a Roman and Greek thing to do. Adoption in this time signified being granted the full rights and privileges of sonship in a family to which you do not belong, but were chosen.

So in short, the family chose this person, and gave him the full rights of adoption.

Here is the cool part though…This is something that applies to us. That we, you and I were not the chosen people. That was the nation of Israel, but we are adopted sons and daughters of the Lord. That when we got saved, we were no longer strangers, but rather because of Jesus’ work on the cross we have been called adopted. We have been granted all rights and privileges of the Father who adopted us.

Because of this, we can cry out Abba.

This is an intimate term. Often it was used by children who would cry out to their dads. If we lived in Jewish times, we would probably see little 5 year olds running around with their dad and saying “Abba” as they saw him. It is like Daddy. Its this word that shows that you have a deep intimate relationship, and reliance on the one that you call Abba Father.

We have been adopted because of what Jesus did on the cross, and we can go to God with the same intimate calling of Abba because of Him.

English Standard Version Chapter 8

16 The Spirit himself bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God, 17 and if children, then heirs—heirs of God and fellow heirs with Christ, provided we suffer with him in order that we may also be glorified with him.

The Spirit in our lives is the one that bears witness to our lives that we are children of God. Fun fact, not everyone is a child of God.

What is cool here is that we are children of God and heirs with Christ. This means that we get to spend eternity with God because of Christ.

But, we cannot forget that we as believers do not have an easy path. Christ suffered a death on a cross. We too are called to suffer. Not that I am saying that we need to hang ourselves on a cross, but Jesus pointed out that the world will hate us, because of Him. Our suffering may be persecution...