Life Through The Spirit
Notes
Transcript
Life Through the Spirit
Romans 8:1-17
8 Therefore, there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus, 2 because through Christ Jesus the law of the Spirit who gives life has set you free from the law of sin and death.
3 For what the law was powerless to do because it was weakened by the flesh, God did by sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh to be a sin offering. And so, he condemned sin in the flesh.
4 in order that the righteous requirement of the law might be fully met in us, who do not live according to the flesh but according to the Spirit.
5 Those who live according to the flesh have their minds set on what the flesh desires; but those who live in accordance with the Spirit have their minds set on what the Spirit desires.
6 The mind governed by the flesh is death, but the mind governed by the Spirit is life and peace. 7 The mind governed by the flesh is, in the realm of the flesh cannot please God.
9 You, however, are not in the realm of the flesh but are in the realm of the Spirit, if indeed the Spirit of God lives in you. And if anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ, they do not belong to Christ.
10 But if Christ is in you, then even though your body is subject to death because of sin, the Spirit gives life because of righteousness.
11 And if the Spirit of him who raised Jesus from the dead is living in you, he who raised Christ from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies because of his Spirit who lives in you.
12 Therefore, brothers and sisters, we have an obligation—but it is not to the flesh, to live according to it. 13 For if you live according to the flesh, you will die; but if by the Spirit you put to death the misdeeds of the body, you will live.
14 For those who are led by the Spirit of God are the children of God. 15 The Spirit you received does not make you slaves, so that you live in fear again; rather, the Spirit you received brought about your adoption to sonship. And by him we cry, “Abba, Father.”
16 The Spirit himself testifies with our spirit that we are God’s children. 17 Now if we are children, then we are heirs—heirs of God and co-heirs with Christ, if indeed we share in his sufferings in order that we may also share in his glory.
Prayer!
Let use add some historic content to the period Paul is writing to the church.
Paul the Counselor!
The apostle Paul speaks much in the language of the Law. Paul was not only acquainted with the useful handicraft of tent-making or sail-making, but he was also trained in the profession of the Law.
He had a considerable acquaintance to the practice of the law in courts. From the brief references in the Acts of the Apostles, to his personal history before his conversion, it would appear as if previous to that time he had been engaged as a public prosecutor of the Christians.
After he became a Christian, he was frequently called upon, for Christ's sake, to appear at the bar of Jewish and Roman courts of justice. On his first missionary visit to Europe he was dragged before the magistrates at Philippi, and again before Gallio at Corinth. Then, he stood before the Jewish council at Jerusalem, and finally, before Nero himself at Rome.
C.H Irwin
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On the present occasion he is writing to people at Rome. Rome at the time was the metropolis of the world, the center of the world's legislation. To stand at Caesar's judgment-seat was to stand before the highest earthly authority then in existence, and to be tried by the greatest code of laws which, with the exception of British law, the world has ever known.
Paul in Romans speaks of the Christian as being prepared for a judgment-day.
8:1 There is therefore now no condemnation to them that are in Christ Jesus." That day needs a preparation. "For we must all appear before the judgment-seat of Christ, that everyone may receive the things done in his body, according to that he hath done, whether it be good or bad.
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Paul the prisoner reasoned with them about righteousness, temperance, and the judgment to come. It is that dread of something after death that makes the murderer's sleep so restless, and the dishonest man's gains, like a weight of lead upon his mind. Conscience does, indeed, make cowards of us all. The Christian recognizes that there is a terror in the judgment, as Paul did when he spoke of "the terror of the Lord"
2 Corinthians 5:11
But the judgment brings no terror to him. He knows that he too will be judged according to his deeds, that the fire will try every man's work of what sort it is, and, therefore, he will realize his responsibilities and privileges. But he knows that one thing is certain, that he is safe from condemnation.
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The first point to consider is, the actual death of the body of man through his yielding to sin. What might have been the condition of man, had Adam remained in a state of purity we have no way of knowing. The human body under its present conditions of sleep, nourishment, and wickedness, demonstrates how far we have fallen form God. The shadow which fell on the soul of Adam fell through his senses over all the world.
Paul is telling us here that there are two masters, either of whom we may serve!
1. Christ is one.
2. Sin is the other.
Christ is the Lord of our spirits. If we claim Him for our Lord and serve Him, then we must live as if we were spiritual beings, trusting, hoping, loving, holding our bodies in subjection; if we serve sin, then the body becomes the master, and the spirit dies.
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But, Paul says, "it need not be so with any of us.
Christ, the Lord of our spirits, saw that the spirits of men were dead within them, that they were living as mere fleshly creatures, and he came down and lived on this earth and died on it, that he might deliver these spirits out of death, and bind them to Him.
Jesus whose name we are baptized in, whose death we are made partakers, he who died that our sin would die, who rose that our spirits would rise and live, he is still with us, the Lord of our spirits, still unchanged and unchangeable.
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Believing in Him, claiming that right in Him, gave us in baptism, he has never withdrawn from us, since claiming our union with Him who has died unto sin once, paid the price for our salvation, and death has no dominion over Him.
With our spirits we can trust in Him, with our spirits we can hope in Him, and with his Love we can rise up with Him, and ascend with Him, and reign with Him.
Romans 8:9-11
You, however, are not in the realm of the flesh but are in the realm of the Spirit, if indeed the Spirit of God lives in you. And if anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ, they do not belong to Christ.
10 But if Christ is in you, then even though your body is subject to death because of sin, the Spirit gives life because of righteousness.
11 And if the Spirit of him who raised Jesus from the dead is living in you, he who raised Christ from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies because of his Spirit who lives in you.
Read
With Jesus we have tasted this liberty, and can enjoy it continually. Let us be ruled by the spirit.
Followers desire to give up their Flesh, to be ruled by His spirit, to be filled by Him with all holy desires and good thoughts, and prompted to all just works.
The thought of God is the happiness of man, to serve as subject of knowledge, or motive for action, or means of excitement, to give you a greater understanding of the will of the spirit to follow his will into greater pastors of life.
He alone is sufficient for the heart who made it. We do not give our hearts to things irrational, because these have no permanence in them. We do not place our affections in sun, moon, and stars, or this earth. Because all things material come to end and vanish like day and night.
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God's presence is the foundation of the peace of a good will, and of repentance. True repentance cannot be without the thought of God, for it seeks Him, it quickened with love, and even sorrow must have a sweetness if love be in it.
Romans 8:14-17
14 For those who are led by the Spirit of God are the children of God. 15 The Spirit you received does not make you slaves, so that you live in fear again; rather, the Spirit you received brought about your adoption to sonship. And by him we cry, “Abba, Father.”
16 The Spirit himself testifies with our spirit that we are God’s children. 17 Now if we are children, then we are heirs—heirs of God and co-heirs with Christ, if indeed we share in his sufferings in order that we may also share in his glory.
Read
Adoption is that act whereby we are received into the family of God. We where not born into the family of God, but brought in from outside, literally adopted. He elects them from everywhere, and grafts them into the family. As soon as the union takes places between a soul and Christ, God sees that soul in the relationship in which he sees Christ.
He gives them a partnership and same privileges, and treats them as if it were his own child, he gives them a place and name, better than of sons and daughters. In fact, he has adopted them.
But this adoption, if it stood alone, would be no blessing. We cannot sufficiently admire the wisdom of the provision, but we thank God for the manifestation of His grace. Wherever he gives adoption he follows it by the spirit of Adoption.
AMEN!
The Spirit seals the union between the Creator and the creature. The Spirit of Adoption cries "Father."
A child does not ask a father as a stranger asks, He does not want wages for his work, but he receives rewards. The Christian works for another motivation. His life now has been transformed, he seeks to please the father through service to others.
Philippians 2:1-4
Therefore if you have any encouragement from being united with Christ, if any comfort from his love, if any common sharing in the Spirit, if any tenderness and compassion, 2 then make my joy complete by being like-minded, having the same love, being one in spirit and of one mind.
3 Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit. Rather, in humility value others above yourselves, 4 not looking to your own interests but each of you to the interests of the others.
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Remember you have to work together with God. Take care that you grieve not the Holy Spirit. Feel that every point gained in spiritual life is a point to be maintained.
Take care that when you are brought nearer to God by suffering, you do not allow yourself to fall back; if you do, the light of the Spirit will fade. "If then ye live in the Spirit, walk in the Spirit."
There is no spiritual birth without Christ. Christ comes to make you and me live again as we have never lived before, be ruled by a Divine Spirit; live with compassion in your heart, and live with purposes in our soul.
There is but one Being that can make a change in our position in regard to God, and there is but one Being that can make the change by which man shall become a new creature.
There is know Christ without faith, Christ is everything to him that trusts in him.
Conclusion
Jesus inheritance is the result of suffering to the cross, and our suffering is a result from our union with Christ. Our trials have no meaning unless they are means to an end.
The end is the inheritance, along with sorrows, the Spirit's work here, both are the inheritance. The measure of the distance from the farthest point of our darkest earthly sorrow.
The throne may help us to the measure of the closeness of the bright, perfect, perpetual glory above. And then we can say that we are glorified with Christ together.
Amen.
Prayer!