Book of Romans Study
Lesson #18
Roman’s 8:9 - 8:18
By Rev. James May
Is anyone here a Born Again Christian, then, Say Amen! The experience of being Born Again is the greatest experience and most wonderful miracle that could ever happen to the heart of anyone. To be brought from spiritual death to spiritual and eternal life in Christ is an amazing thing. It’s something that no one can truly explain for you. You have to experience it for yourself!
Though the experience itself is not always felt the same way by everyone, the end result is always the same. At that instant, the burdens of life suddenly seem so much lighter. From that moment forth, there is a change in your heart from loving the things of the world to loving the things of God. There is a witness inside, something down deep in your heart, that speaks peace into your soul and gives joy even in the middle of the greatest sorrows. There is a sense of the presence of Christ within, and somehow you know that the Spirit of God now dwells in you, and that you are in him – YOU IN GOD, AND GOD IN YOU, FOREVER INSEPARABLE!
What a marvelous promise is fulfilled in us as we are adopted into the very family of the Creator, our Holy God and our Heavenly Father. Jesus’ paid the price that made the atonement for our sin, paying the debt that we could never pay.
Look at that word “Atonement, or Atone”! In that word is the meaning of what the atonement did for us. It has enabled us to be “at One” with Jesus, “at One” with our Father in Heaven, and “at One” with the Holy Ghost, and the knowledge and assurance of the “At One – ment” is something that we cannot explain for there is nothing can compare.
To be at peace with Almighty God and to know, that you know, that you know, that you are accepted, loved and adopted is a personal experience that every man must know for himself!
If you’re there, let me hear you say “Amen” one more time. If not, then say, “Woe is me”, for to be without Christ in your heart is definitely the worst condition that anyone could be in.
If you’re a Born Again Christian then these next few verses of Paul’s writings to the Romans in Chapter 8 are speaking to you and about you.
Romans 8:9 But ye are not in the flesh, but in the Spirit, if so be that the Spirit of God dwell in you. Now if any man have not the Spirit of Christ, he is none of his.
You who are now Christians, having experienced the New Birth in Christ, and now have the Spirit of God living in you, are no longer under the power of this corrupt body of flesh to have rule over your life. You are free from worldly, ungodly desires and the passionate hold that sin once held on your life is forever broken. The power of the blood of Jesus has forever shattered the chains of sin that had you bound!
Instead of now being earthly-minded, constantly being forced to focus on the things of this world, you are now under the direction and godly influence of the Holy Spirt that dwells in you every second of every day.
The Holy Spirit dwelling in you is always there to lead you, guide you and point you to Jesus so you can be constantly moving in the direction of becoming more like Jesus. During the course of your life in Christ, the Holy Spirit within you will be producing works (fruits), which are proper and holy. We call them the “Fruits of the Spirit” and the Bible lists them as “meekness, love, joy, peace, longsuffering (godly patience), gentleness, goodness, and on the list goes!
Because the Holy Spirit lives in you, there is an intimate connection between you and God, and that connection carries with it all of the Life of God and the Power of God that you could ever need to be an overcomer of everything in life that may come your way! In spite of anything that comes against you, Christ in you is bigger, stronger and able to deliver you and give you victory! NOW THAT SHOULD MAKE YOU SHOUT FOR JOY!
Now, just we are perfectly clear on this matter – if you don’t know what I’m talking about, and you’ve never experienced anything of what I’ve said, and you have no clue to what this means, then you can rest assured that “You don’t have the Spirit of Christ dwelling in You”, but you certainly need him, and you can have him right now, in this very instant, if you want him.
What does it take to have this Spirit of God living in you? It’s a very simple process and we wrap it all up in one word, “Salvation”! Salvation comes through first of all, exercising the faith that God gives to every man to believe that God is real, that Jesus is the very Son of God, and that Jesus came to this world, took on the form of a man and then gave his body and his blood as a sacrifice to pay for your sin. It’s a work of faith and must be accepted by faith. You exercise that faith by choice, by your own free will! You have to choose to believe and no one, including God will force you! It’s all up to you! If you choose to believe in Jesus, that he is the Son of God, and that he died, was buried and arose from the grave on the third day, and has now arisen into Heaven where he is alive forever more, then that’s something that must be confessed by your own lips!
We will get to these same scriptures again later, but this is what Paul writes in Romans as a statement of how salvation comes:
Romans 10:10-11, "For with the heart man believeth unto righteousness; and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation. For the scripture saith, Whosoever believeth on him shall not be ashamed."
If the Spirit of God does not dwell in you, and you have not experience being Born Again, then you are not a Christian, no matter how long you have come to church. You are not a Christian, no matter what works you may have done in the church, or for other people. And you are not a Christian in spite of the fact that your own heart is probably saying that you’re as good as anyone else and probably better than others, even other people who are true Born Again Christians.
Don’t trust your heart! Trust the only thing that will never lie to you – the Word of God! There is only one way to salvation and that’s through believing and accepting who Jesus is and what he has done for you, then confessing your sin, repenting of that sin, and turning your heart over to Jesus and asking him to come in and be the Lord, or controlling power, in your life forever!
The question is very simple, and the answer is just as simple. Are you Born Again, or not? The answer is, Yes, if Jesus lives in you; or NO, if he doesn’t! There’s no neutrality at all! It’s either Yes I’m saved; or No, I’m lost! Each of us must know the answer to that question. Your eternity is coming and where you will spend “forever” depends upon the answer.
Romans 8:10 And if Christ be in you, the body is dead because of sin; but the Spirit is life because of righteousness.
If Christ lives in you, then the body that you live in is still dead for it is corrupt with sin and there’s no way out of it until death comes to give you that sweet release from its hold on your life. But even while you have to live in this body of death, waiting for that moment to come when your soul will be released from its icy grip of death, you are alive on the inside. You have the eternal Spirit of Life! That Life of God in you is yours today and forever because of the Righteousness of Christ that has been applied to your heart and soul!
In effect, you are a living soul, trapped in a dead and dying body – yearning to be free from those earthly bonds so that your soul may soar into heavenly places with God your Father!
Romans 8:11 But if the Spirit of him that raised up Jesus from the dead dwell in you, he that raised up Christ from the dead shall also quicken your mortal bodies by his Spirit that dwelleth in you.
Just think about that! That same power of Almighty God that gives eternal life and carries the power over death; that brought Jesus out of the grave, triumphant over death, IS IN YOU RIGHT NOW! When that day comes that you leave this body, your life will go on and your spirit will arise to go to be with the Lord!
Even more than that, when the great day of the Resurrection comes, and Jesus comes again to take his Bride, the Church, away, then every soul that has died shall be reunited with the body from which it came, and then those who are dead shall rise first, and those who are still alive shall all be caught up together, and in an instant of time (the twinkling of the eye), these mortal bodies will be changed into an immortal, everlasting, glorious body without the effects of sin, and we shall rise to meet Jesus in the air, and there we will live with him, as the heirs and joint-heirs of Christ, to inherit all of the wonders of Heaven and dwell in the Heavenly City of God forever! WHAT A DAY THAT WILL BE!
Romans 8:12 Therefore, brethren, we are debtors, not to the flesh, to live after the flesh.
Because we have been set free from the desires of this body of flesh, and we have been redeemed by the price that Jesus paid for our souls in his own blood, then we no longer owe a debt to this flesh to fulfill its desires. We do not live according to what this flesh wants, but according to what the eternal Spirit of God in us wants!
Romans 8:13 For if ye live after the flesh, ye shall die: but if ye through the Spirit do mortify the deeds of the body, ye shall live.
Living after the flesh means that we are willing to take into our hearts and lives anything that this world has to offer with/ or without limitations. The flesh nature is never satisfied, but always craves more and more, until it destroys itself through over-indulgence! The evil heart of man knows no bounds, and we can see through our daily news that men are ever seeking new ways to become more evil to the point that nothing that people do is a surprise anymore. Evil grows rampant and has no boundaries in the heart of sinful men! If we live by that rule, then there is no other alternative than death to the body, and then death to the soul since the only penalty for sin is death without exception.
But, if we will allow our lives to be under the control of the Spirit of God in us, then he will lead us into paths of righteousness, we will put down the desires of the flesh and increase our desire for the things of God. That’s what we call holy living or the sanctification of the flesh. We force ourselves, by our own will, and by the help of the Life of God in us, to do that which pleases God and not the flesh. If that’s the rule of life that we will choose to live by, then the Life of God inside will never die, but bring life to us forever!
Romans 8:14 For as many as are led by the Spirit of God, they are the sons of God.
Here’s the key! For you to know that you are an adopted, Born Again child of God, then the evidence must be in your life that you are being led by the Spirit of God that dwells in you, and not by the power of the flesh that wants to control you!
To be a Child of God, you must be led by the Spirit of God, or you are not his child! It’s as simple as that!
All Christians submit to his influence; all sinners decide to reject it and oppose it. The influence of the Spirit, if followed, would lead every man to heaven. But when neglected, rejected, or despised, man goes down to hell.
This is a test of whether you are truly a Child of God.
(1) Are you conscious that an influence from above has been drawing you away from the corruption and sin of this world? This is the work of the Spirit in you.
(2) Are you conscious of a desire to yield to the influence of the Holy Spirit in you and to be led into the paths of purity, holiness and godly things in life? This is evidence that we are the sons of God, giving us a new heart after God.
(3) Do you not resist that leading influence of the Holy Spirit, but follow it with joy, and do your best to follow where He leads? Do you do your best to put down pride, turn over your passions and ambitions to him; run from temptations and lusts of the eye; humble yourself before him and force yourself to focus on the things of God and not worldly wealth or acceptance? God will always lead, but we must choose to always follow! He will never lead us astray as long as we are yielded to him!
Romans 8:15 For ye have not received the spirit of bondage again to fear; but ye have received the Spirit of adoption, whereby we cry, Abba, Father.
If you are a Born Again Christian, then you are set free in Jesus, and you have the choice to remain free! The Spirit of God is not a spirit of bondage that forces you to do any certain thing! He gives you freedom to choose! The Spirit of God in you is not there to bring fear into your heart if you fail, but brings joy and peace in knowing that even if you fail, he will be there to lift you up and help you get better and move on in God’s direction.
The Spirit of God that dwells in you will always bear witness that you are truly loved because the Love of God dwells in you and bears witness that that love is eternal, pure and will never leave. You have the Love of God for his child, and you, as his child, have a Love for God because he is your Father – YOUR FATHER, who cares, is compassionate, is concerned, always there watching over you, to protect you, keep you, deliver you, save you and never let you fall! It’s a love that is unconditional and eternal and ever growing stronger!
Romans 8:16 The Spirit itself beareth witness with our spirit, that we are the children of God:
If that Spirit of God dwells in you, constantly showing you the way to God, and always bearing witness of God’s love to us, then we know that we are God’s own children, and that he looks upon us with the same love that he looks upon Jesus!
Romans 8:17 And if children, then heirs; heirs of God, and joint-heirs with Christ; if so be that we suffer with him, that we may be also glorified together.
As I said a few minutes ago, we are heirs with Jesus for all that Our Heavenly Father has to offer! We are adopted children of Almighty God. As children, we are all equal with one another, and we have been made equal with Christ himself as far as having the right to enjoy and possess anything that is in the house of our Father. All of Heaven is ours, and there will be nothing lacking.
No, we are not equal to Jesus in power, glory, majesty or position as God, but we are equal in every other way, including being glorified and living in the presence of the glory of God in Heaven forever!
Though we may suffer in some ways as Jesus did while he was upon the earth, we will never have to suffer as much for He carried the weight of the sin of the world upon his shoulders. That’s something we will never have to do. We won’t even have to carry the weight of our own sin, for Jesus carried that on the cross too.
But we may suffer for the cause of Christ in this life, yet when it’s all over, the suffering won’t compare with the glory that will follow! One instant in the presence of God in the glories of Heaven will erase all of the pain and suffering of this life forever! All tears will be wiped away and there will be eternal joy and no more crying from that moment forth!
Romans 8:18 For I reckon that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory which shall be revealed in us.
There’s God’s promise in his Word, from the pen of Paul to the saints of God at Rome, and by proxy, to every Child of God!
No matter what you have to face in this life; no matter how tragic things may be, or may become; no matter what difficulties arise; no matter how good or bad your circumstances in life are now, or have been in the past, or will be in the future, for as long as you live – NOTHING is worth missing Heaven!
There is simply nothing good enough, grand enough, beautiful enough, or anything else that can make it comparable to what awaits those who enter Heaven’s gates.
When I think of the beauty and majesty of this old sinful world, with all of its beautiful mountain vistas, scenes upon the seashore, and the wonders of nature, and the beauty of life itself that we all have seen in the faces of our loved ones, friends and family; and when I think of all the good things in life, and the things that God has given to make life enjoyable and bring happiness – it’s all so great that I can’t thank God enough for it! We are truly blessed beyond measure already!
But think about this – All of the world around you was created in only 6 days, and the things you enjoy have only been for a short time and will soon go away. What will be left is only that which is eternal – the heart and soul of those you love! Everything else will be destroyed forever!
But our Father’s House in Heaven is eternal, and there is nothing but things eternal there! How beautiful Heaven must be! There is no doubt that the finite mind of mortal man cannot begin to fathom the beauty, majesty and wonders of Heaven. You’ll have to see it for yourself! It will be seen by those who are called the Sons of God, Children of God, Born Again Christians who are making themselves ready to be welcomed into the presence of God as the Bride of Christ!
