Enemies to Heirs

BIG IDEA: The Spirit reveals to us our need for a Savior, brings us to repentance, then, as the one Bride of Christ, marries us to Christ. We were enemies, engaged in active rebellion against God, and we are now called sons and daughters of God. Heirs with Christ.

Introduction

Beloved, there is no greater love than this. The love of a Father who sent His only Son, Jesus, to die on the cross for His Church. A Father who created this whole world, and in stark contrast to the false God’s of this world, declared in the second commandment that there would never be an image or an idol that represented Him. God chose to represent Himself in the crown jewel of His creation, mankind, whom He created in the image and likeness of Himself. We, as that image, not only rejected our Father, who didn’t need us to be God, or to bring Glory to Himself, but in our sin, we actively rebel against Him.

God set a crown on Adam’s head, and Adam sold it to the serpent to do his own will. We are born with that same desire as Adam. To be our own God. The world doesn't want to be told what’s right or what’s wrong, we want to decide that for ourselves. Just look around. Everyone is fighting for their own will. Everyone wants to be an influencer. Whether it’s on social media, or within the company that we work for, there’s a part of all of us that is drawn to the fame, the money, and what the world would call freedom. Freedom from anything that would keep you from being the God of your own life. What we all want is glory for ourselves, and that’s not what we were made for. We were made to be vessels of the Glory of God, taking His light out into the world. We were made to bring glory to the King, who gave us dominion over this world. We were made to rule this world under the authority of the one who made it, and gave us dominion. We all want that position of glory and power, but that glory and power is all God’s

That void inside of us all is crying out for the creator who we were made to glorify. It can only be filled by the presence of God. And in this text, we see that God has done much more than just fill that void. He has filled our cups to overflow.

Romans 8:7-17

I want to break this text into 3 parts this morning. The Holy Spirit Reveals the Glory of God, The Holy Spirit Resides in us, and now, we have received by the Holy Spirit the riches of Adoption as sons and daughters. We have been made Heirs with Christ

1. Reveals: From Enemies → Living Temples

v 7. Paul says here that, before we received the Holy Spirit, we were hostile to God. We were actively rebelling against God. We were at war with God.

It’s the same thing that could lead the psalmist to say in …

Psalm 16:2 “I say to the Lord, “You are my Lord; I have no good apart from you.””

Or when Jesus, in John 15:5 says that He is the vine, that we are the branches, and that apart from Him, we can do nothing.

John 15:5 “I am the vine; you are the branches. Whoever abides in me and I in him, he it is that bears much fruit, for apart from me you can do nothing.”

v.8 No one can please God in the flesh.

And before, in Romans 3:10-12, Paul quotes the psalmist from Ps 14 and 53 and says that “None is righteous,… no one does good.”

Romans 3:10–12 “as it is written: “None is righteous, no, not one; no one understands; no one seeks for God. All have turned aside; together they have become worthless; no one does good, not even one.””

No one seeks God, and no one understands. That’s a death sentence if Paul is right. Well, let me reassure you, Paul is right.

v.9 In his very next words, he says that the reason we have hope is not because of our flesh, it’s in spite of it. It’s because of God’s spirit in us that we have been saved. Jesus accomplished it all.

It’s that same Holy Spirit who applies that saving work of Jesus to us, who is in us now. We are indwelt by that Holy Spirit, and it is through Him that we can have hope of understanding Scripture. It’s also in that same Holy Spirit that we know the words that Paul has written are true. Now, I love myself a red letter Bible, don’t get me wrong, but while Jesus’ words were most definitely the words from the mouth of God, so is every other word written in your Bible.

Jesus constantly referenced Old Testament authors, and He doesn’t attribute the quote to the man, but to God.

Matthew 22:31–32 “And as for the resurrection of the dead, have you not read what was said to you by God: ‘I am the God of Abraham, and the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob’? He is not God of the dead, but of the living.””

Mark 12:36 “David himself, in the Holy Spirit, declared, “ ‘The Lord said to my Lord, “Sit at my right hand, until I put your enemies under your feet.” ’”

The Holy Spirit not only illuminates Scripture for our understanding, but it is through the inspiration of the Holy Spirit that these authors wrote these words.

We have the Spirit-Breathed Word of God. It’s these 66 separate works by many different authors that we now have as this one unified story of Redemption. — The Spirit inspired and now illumines Scripture

2 Timothy 3:16 “All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness,”

2 Peter 1:19–21 “And we have the prophetic word more fully confirmed, to which you will do well to pay attention as to a lamp shining in a dark place, until the day dawns and the morning star rises in your hearts, knowing this first of all, that no prophecy of Scripture comes from someone’s own interpretation. For no prophecy was ever produced by the will of man, but men spoke from God as they were carried along by the Holy Spirit.”

So, Scripture is both inspired by the Holy Spirit, and Illuminated by the Holy Spirit. And though we don’t have time to unpack it this morning, I just want to say clearly, that the Bible that you hold in your hand, while it may contain a controversial translation here or there, if you stick with a mainline translation like the KJV, NKJV, ESV, or NIV, you have a Bible that accurately translates the inerrant word of God. When you hear that the Bible is inerrant in it’s original manuscripts, that is to say that in the original Hebrew, Greek, or Aramaic that it was written, it is free of error. Scripture is not only inerrant, but it is also infallible. It does not have the ability to be wrong, because it is the Holy Spirit who inspired it’s writing.

It’s like my words this morning, I pray fervently that my words would be inerrant, but I am a fallible man, I am more than capable of being wrong, as my wife, I’m sure, would be glad to testify.

Now, that Holy Spirit who is in you does more than just inspire and illuminate, but he indwells you. Remember, that was the whole purpose of the Tabernacle and the Temple. A space where God’s Spirit would be among His people. Now, it’s through our union with Christ we are made living temples.

1 Corinthians 6:19–20 “Or do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit within you, whom you have from God? You are not your own, for you were bought with a price. So glorify God in your body.”

C.S. Lewis has a beautiful quote here from Mere Christianity.

“Imagine yourself as a living house. God comes in to rebuild that house… You thought you were being made into a decent little cottage, but He is building a palace. He intends to live in it Himself.”

The Spirit who turns enemies into temples now indwells you

2. Resides: From Debtors → Children of God

v. 11-12 We now have a new obligation. We were once obligated to serve the desires of our flesh. We all know overwhelming feeling of temptation, and before we had the Spirit of God, we didn’t resist it. We may have had a feeling that the things we were doing were not good for us, but we did them anyway.

Now, we have been freed from our debt to the flesh, and we’re told to put to death the flesh. Put to death the deeds of the flesh. Put to death the old man, so that the new one can flourish.

v. 13 Paul has made this point over and over again. Here, Paul is talking about before we were saved, and he is assuring us that our service to our flesh led only to death. Now, he makes an “if” statement. For my coders and excel pros out there, you know that where there is an “if” statement, there is a condition that has to be met. If we put to death the deeds of the body, we will live. Did anyone read it that way? Don’t miss Paul’s 3 words in that statement. If, by the Spirit. It’s not hope in ourselves that we can put to death the deeds of the body, but it’s hope in the Holy Spirit, that He will give us the strength and wisdom and guidance to put to death the deeds of the body.

Now, we’ve talked a lot about this war that rages within us, and our own responsibility to starve the old man and feed the new man. We must, as Colossians 3:5 puts it, “Put to death what is earthly in us.” Paul says in Romans 6 that we have died with Christ and been risen with Him. Now we must follow the command of Jesus in Luke 9:23, take up our cross daily, and follow Him.

And it’s the active work of the Holy Spirit within us, equipping us to do that work, so that, we can be sons of God, as Paul says in v. 14.

3. Bestows Riches: From Slaves → Co-Heirs in Glory

v. 15 Our spirit of flesh has be replaced by the Spirit of Adoption, where we can cry out, “Abba! Father!” We were in bondage to the flesh, just as the Israelites were slaves in Egypt. Now, we are children of God.

v. 16 The Spirit testifies with our spirit that we are children of God. It’s not by our strength that we are children of God, but it’s by the strength of the Spirit of Adoption, who is testifying within us, the Holy Spirit. And now, it’s by the power of that same Holy Spirit that we can call on the creator and sustainer of all things as Father.

v. 17 Again Paul gives us a beautiful truth, which he writes boldly here. There is still an element of the “already-not-yet” in that our inheritance is secured through suffering to glory. To be glorified is to be made free from sin, and in perfect union with the Father. That is what we look forward to.

Conclusion

J.I. Packer says in his wonderful work, Knowing God,

“The traitor is forgiven, brought in for supper, and given the family name. To be right with God the Judge is great; to be loved and cared for by God the Father is greater.”

And, as we wrap up, I just want to make sure that we don’t miss the eternal weight of what’s being said here. We have, in some ways, already inherited the Kingdom of God. We have the presence of God within us. We have been declared righteous by God the Judge. We have been called children of God the Father. And when the Lord has given us our last breathe here, that will be the moment that we take our first breath in glory. Randy Alcorn says in his book, Heaven,

“If you’re a child of God, you do not just ‘go around once’ on Earth. You don’t get only one earthly life. You get another—one far better and without end.”

“The best of life on Earth is a glimpse of Heaven; the worst of life is a glimpse of Hell. For Christians, this present life is the closest they will come to Hell. For unbelievers, it is the closest they will come to Heaven.”

We can’t change the trajectory of our life. If we indeed have the Spirit of Him who raised Christ from the dead in us, we are Heirs. But we can fight against Him, tossing a snack to the flesh when it begs. But we all know how dogs are. If you feed them from the table once, it’s over. They’ll beg every time you sit down to eat. Don’t feed your flesh, begging for a taste of this world. Beg your Father to feed your spirit with a taste of Heaven.

We were enemies made temples, we were debtors made children, we were slaves made heirs. There is no greater Love than the Love of God. There is no greater Love than this.