Paul declares our Sonship through the Holy Spirit
Part 1
Romans
8:12 Therefore, brethren, we are debtors --- not to the flesh, to live
according to the flesh. NJKV
Paul has just finished telling us that we are no
longer “in the flesh” because of God the Holy Spirit who lives and dwells
within each one of us. Paul now wants us to take this truth and manifest its
reality in the course of our daily lives. Our Lord Jesus Christ as we have
already learned from the Apostle Paul died for our sins when we were His enemy and
in so doing demonstrated His Love for us and to us without regard of anything
in us that was pleasing to Him (Romans
5:8). In fact everything in us and about us before our regeneration was
like a woman’s used tampon during her menstrual period in His Sight (Isaiah 64:6). Paul now draws the
conclusion of the matter of us no longer being “in the flesh” by saying we do
not ever owe our flesh any regard to please it or gratify its cravings,
desires, lust, or carnal passions. All that proceeded from “the flesh” prior to
our regeneration and new birth produced only death, destruction, and
devastation in each of our lives.
Paul is then concluding that why would any of us
feel any indebtedness to such a cruel, callous, and cold enemy seeing that we
now have received this glorious new life from our Precious Lord Jesus Christ by
the reality of His Spirit indwelling us to empower us to long for, live for,
and love to please Him in everything we do. Paul wants to drive home the
reality that every time we sin now in our body because of obliging our flesh we
bring our Lord Jesus into our sin and make Him a partaker of our evil desires
and deeds and He will not sit idly by without taking action to render correction
(Hebrews 12:5-11 & 1 Corinthians 3:16-17).
Paul has been making this case since he came out of Romans 5 and asked and answered the question here, Romans 6:1-2 What shall we say then? Shall
we continue in sin that grace may abound? Certainly not! How shall we who died
to sin live any longer in it? NKJV We were slaves of sin before the Holy
Spirit regenerated us, but now we are slaves of righteousness and we owe all of
our energy to our Lord Jesus as being His slave of righteousness for His Glory.
Psalms
116:16 O LORD, truly I am Your servant; I am Your servant, the
son of Your maidservant; You have loosed my bonds. NKJV
Romans
8:13-14 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. For as many as
are led by the Spirit of God, these are sons of God. NKJV
Paul has been thoroughly showing from the beginning
of this letter to the Gentile believers and the Jewish believers in Rome and to
us today the depravity that all men and women are born with, but he has
likewise thoroughly shown us the Power in the Gospel to change a person’s
nature and make them acceptable to God the Father and able to please Him and with
this glorious truth also comes our adoption into the Heavenly Family through
the Spirit as sons and daughters. We are no longer sinners at enmity or warfare
with God, but we are given the privilege and right to be called His Child by
what our Lord Jesus Christ did for us in dying in our place on the Cross (John 1:12-13). However, Paul also shows
that as sons and daughters of God the Father we have the active responsibility
to subdue our flesh in the Power of the Holy Spirit. As we have stated in
previous studies, the Holy Spirit is not going to take hold of our soul (where
our mind, will, and emotions
reside) and control it without our consent, compliance, or concession but He
will as we yield to Him take control and lead us into all truth, holiness, and
goodness that we will enjoy the life and peace that proceeds from being spiritually
minded (Romans 8:6).
Notice in verse 13 that Paul uses the second person
pronoun “you” four times indicating our personal responsibility to act that we
would continue in the freedom from sin’s enslavement that our Lord Jesus Christ
has already purchased for us when He took our sin into Himself and killed it on
the Cross. Paul gives two options that each one of us have, one brings us the
life and peace in Christ and the other takes us out of fellowship with Christ
and brings spiritual death, as he stated in Romans 8:6 and even in some cases will result in the physical death
of the son or daughter who persist in disobedience to our Heavenly Father (1 John 5:16). Paul never is ashamed or embarrassed
to say the same things over again, even when he does it merely by using
slightly different words because the objective is to convey truth to the
listener without waver.
Salvation is by grace through faith and that is the
gift of God (Ephesians 2:8-9), but that
free gift imparted into the spirit and soul resurrecting it to life in Christ
must be worked out with fear and trembling (Philippians 2:12-16) in order that we may enjoy continual freedom
from sin and all of its corresponding corruption sin brings into our lives and
live worthy of the high calling in Christ Jesus our Lord we have received (Ephesians 4:1). The desire of a man or
woman to be moved along by God the Holy Spirit (as a sail moves a ship along
the sea or ocean) even as the Spirit’s desires go in 180 degree opposition to
the cravings of “the flesh” is proof or evidence that that man or woman has
been adopted into the Heavenly Family of God the Father by the new birth and
his or her desires have been changed radically and dramatically to and for the
Glory of God (James 4:5).
2
Corinthians 6:16-18 And what agreement has the temple of God with idols? For
you are the temple of the living God. As God has said: “I will dwell in them And walk among them. I will be their God, And they shall be My people.” Therefore
“Come out from among them
And be separate, says the Lord.
Do not touch what is unclean,
And I will receive you.” “ I will be
a Father to you, And you
shall be My sons and daughters, Says the LORD Almighty.” NKJV
Ephesians
1:3-6 Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has
blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in
Christ, just as He chose us in Him before the foundation of the world, that we
should be holy and without blame before Him in love, having predestined us to
adoption as sons by Jesus Christ to Himself, according to the good pleasure of
His will, to the praise of the glory of His grace, by which He made us accepted
in the Beloved. NKJV
Revelation
21:7-8 “He who overcomes shall inherit all things, and I will be his God and he
shall be My son. But the cowardly, unbelieving, abominable, murderers, sexually
immoral, sorcerers, idolaters, and all liars shall have their part in the lake
which burns with fire and brimstone, which is the second death.” NKJV“The influence of the Spirit, if followed, would lead every man to heaven. But when neglected, rejected, or despised, man goes down to hell. The glory belongs to the conducting Spirit when man is saved; the fault is man’s when he is lost. The Apostle here does not agitate the question how it is that the people of God are led by the Spirit, or why they yield to Him when others resist Him. His design is simply to state the fact, that they who are thus led are the sons of God, or have evidence of piety.” Albert Barnes
“It is only in proportion as the Christian manifests the fruit of a genuine conversion
that he is entitled to
regard himself and be regarded by others
as one of the called and elect of God. It is just
in proportion as we add to our faith the other
Christian graces that we have solid ground on which to rest in the assurance we belong to the family of Christ. It is not
those who are governed by self-will, but ‘as many as are led by the Spirit of God, they
are the sons of God’ (Romans 8:14).” A. W. Pink
“You
and I cannot achieve victory by our own will-power (for we have none that is
sufficient). Rather, victory comes through faith, by an act of our will to
enter into and abide, remain, continue, and stay in Christ’ power. Through
surrender and submission to the leading of the Holy Spirit day by day we experience
victory as He cancels satan’s dominion, rule, authority, power, and control
over sexually immoral behavior.” Clifford D. Tate, Sr. from my Book entitled “silent
Assassins of the Soul”If you do not know the Lord Jesus Christ and His amazing healing power, pray this from your heart to the Lord Jesus Christ (you speaking directly to Him), Dear Lord Jesus, I confess to You that I am a sinner and I need Your forgiveness. I believe You shed Your Blood and died for my sins. I believe that You rose from the dead proving that You alone are God. I repent of my sins. I want to turn from my sins. I ask You Dear Lord Jesus to come into my heart and take control of my life. I want You to be my Lord, Savior, and my God. Amen...
Sincerely in Christ,
Author
of “Silent Assassins of the Soul - Are you Broken by Pornography and
Masturbation? You can be Restored by the Lord Jesus Christ and brought into
Deliverance, Freedom, and Victory! A Guide for Men and Women in the Enemy’s
Crosshairs” e-book available now @ Amazon Kindle, @ Apple I Bookstore for IPod,
Barnes and Noble for Nook, Reader Store for Sony Reade, Kobo, Copia, Gardners,
Baker and Taylor, and eBookPie…
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