Week 32 - Free Weekend Program

Text : Romans : 11 -15

Theme : The Indwelling Spirit

Verse 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.”

Remember Verse 10, it says that if Christ is in you, then your body is dead because of sin, but your spirit is alive because of righteousness.

This means that when we have a relationship with Jesus, our body is dead to God, it is our old nature, it will also die physically, but our spirit has been made alive because of righteousness, which is a gift from God.

Romans 8:11 is saying that if the Spirit of God, who raised Jesus from the dead, lives in us, then that same Spirit will give life to our physical bodies.

This means that the same power that raised Jesus from the dead will transform and give life to our physical bodies, not just our spirits. We have the Holy Spirit living in us, and through Him, we can experience the power of God’s resurrection in our physical body; the same power that raised Jesus from the dead, which lives right now in our Spirit.

Verse 12 “Therefore, brothers and sisters, we have an obligation—but it is not to the flesh, to live according to it”

We have responsibilities, obligations but not to the flesh, we are no longer tied to living according to our sinful nature, which is characterised by uncontrolled sin and sinfulness, Instead, our focus is on living according to our new nature by the Holy Spirit power.

This means using our bodies and abilities to do what is right and honourable, because Christ has given us new life; yielding our members as instruments of righteousness. We learnt this in Romans chapter 6.

We are debtors only to Christ, he bought us with His precious blood, away from sin, unto Himself not unto ourselves or unto sin.

Verse 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.”

Sinners are dead already and will die a second death - eternal damnation, eternal separation from God; an endless prison of hell fire.

Everyone who lives according to the flesh, according to the continual dictates of the sinful nature as we saw in Romans 1 or by self effort - by making himself look good (self righteous-hypocrisy); refusing and asking no help from God through Christ, disregarding faith in Christ, will experience this horrible eternal state.

However, if by faith, by trusting in Christ through the help of the Holy Spirit, you say No! to the deeds of the flesh, to sin, to the old nature, you will enjoy eternal life - paradise, Everlasting communion and fellowship with God. A place of no more sorrow, poverty or death.

Verse 14 “For those who are led by the Spirit of God are the children of God.”

Not led by the spirit of the world ( worldly wise man), not by Satan or by their own spirit (old nature), like those blind and dead, but those led as children, weak, vulnerable in themselves, but led and taught how to walk and where to go by the Holy Spirit.

The Spirit of God leads us away from sin and away from relying on our own goodness - away from self righteousness.

He leads us on a new path of faith, truth, righteousness, and holiness. This path may not always be easy, it is a path we are not naturally familiar with, but it is the right way to go.

The Spirit leads us to Christ and His sacrifice, to experience God’s grace, and to be in His presence. He teaches us the truths of the Gospel and helps us grow in our relationship with God. This process happens gradually, as the Spirit helps us recognize our own sinfulness, trust in Christ, and to understand God’s love and favor towards us in forgiving our sins.

Those led by the Spirit of God are led in this way, they are sons of God. It is sonship by adoption, what is adoption? Adoption is when someone becomes a part of a new family with rights to inheritance. We are not sons of God like Christ is or like Adam was, but God adopted us, made us his children, brought us into His own family and gave us an inheritance in Christ. we still have our earthly fathers, but God is now our spiritual Father. He has a special relationship with us and has prepared an everlasting inheritance for us. God chose us from the beginning and made us His own through the sacrifice of Christ. He gave us the ability to have faith and to believe in Him. He has guided you to this program and has been opening your heart to receive the message of the Gospel.

All those He chose from the beginning for adoption as sons receives this privilege - the grace to believe, to put faith in Christ. Now, we owe him a loving duty, to obey Him and to honour Him.

Verse 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.”

We are no longer slaves and servants bond by the law, sin, impending judgement and punishment. Impending means something is about to happen soon, it is eminent, the threat is severe, and terrifying. The law of sin and death leads to the prison of eternal hell; but Christ came, paid our sin debt by dying on the cross and has set us free.

No more condemnation, sentencing or punishment because we are in Christ, He who believe cannot be condemned or punished, no more fear, Jesus has paid it all; now, we run to God not from Him. Before we were unable to see His face, like Adam, our sin made us hide, our inherent and continual disabilities (sin) kept us away, Now, we can come boldly before His throne because Christ has made us perfect. He reconciled us to God, the Holy Spirit puts this confidence and assurance in us.

First, Because of God’s grace and mercy, we receive special privileges even though we have sinned. These privileges include forgiveness, the experience of God’s love, and the promise of heaven. We are justified, it means that God sees us as righteous because of Jesus’ sacrifice. Our sins are covered, and they are not counted against us. Romans 4:6-8 explains it.

Second, We get all the blessings we would have had by following the law, and even more, because Christ followed it for us.

Third, We receive all the love and acceptance that perfect obedience could have earned from God, because Christ was perfectly obedient in our place.

Finally, everything we have is in Christ, the Law couldn’t give us Christ, Adam couldn’t give us Christ. It is only through Christ’s crucifixion that we truly see and understand God’s glory.

This understanding of Christ and faith in Him rewards us with great blessings and benefits- forgiveness of sin, everlasting righteousness, peace with God, eternal life in the celestial city.