Deo Gloria
Sermon for March 26, 2023
Pastor Martin Bentz
Text: Romans 8:11-19
Theme: If the Spirit of God Lives in You…
- Then you have an obligation
- Then you are a son of God
Whenever friends or relatives of ours come and stay with us for a while, it sort of changes the way we live. Here’s what I mean. Before they come, we usually spend extra time cleaning around the house: dusting, vacuuming, picking up papers or magazines that might be lying around, cleaning bathrooms, doing laundry, etc. so everything’s nice and clean before they come. While they’re staying with us, some of us may have to give up their bed so our guests can have a place to sleep. While they’re staying with us, we tend to be more polite and courteous toward one another. When we get up in the morning, we tend to shower and get cleaned up first and then eat breakfast, so the bathroom will be free for them to use when they get up. Having people staying at our home just kind of changes things.
Now imagine what it would be like if God came and stayed at your house for while. Imagine all the cleaning you would do before his arrival. Imagine how extra polite and courteous you would be. Imagine what you would talk about around the dinner table, and what you would not talk about.
Now let’s take it one more step. Imagine what it would be like if God actually lived in you, if he made your body his temple, if he made your heart his home. Would that change things? Would that make a difference in the way you lived? You bet it would. And that’s the point Paul is making here in Romans, ch. 8. He is reminding us what a difference it makes when we have the Holy Spirit living inside us. For one thing, it means we have an obligation. And secondly, it means we are sons of God.
Paul begins ch. 8 with these familiar words: “Therefore, there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus.” What a relief, huh? What tremendous words of comfort! You and I don’t have to worry that God is going to condemn because of our sins. They’re all forgiven. They’re all taken away because of Jesus our Savior. Does that mean, however, that you and I are free to sin all we want to? Not at all! In the verses that follow Paul makes the point that God has given us life by his Spirit and so we are to strive to live according to the Spirit, which brings us to v. 11.
Paul writes, “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 through his Spirit, who lives in you.” By using a conditional sentence, Paul is not trying to question or raise doubts as to whether or not the Spirit of God actually lived in them. He was writing to Christians, people who did believe in Jesus as their Savior. So Paul knew the Spirit was living in them. In fact, another way we could translate Paul’s words is “since” or “because.” Since the Spirit of God lives in you… Because the Spirit of God lives in you, that changes things. It makes a difference in your life. The same is true today. I’m not here today to cast doubt as whether or not the Spirit of God lives in you. If you are a Christian, if you believe in Jesus as your Savior, he does live in you. So if you want to, you can take a pen or pencil and cross out the word “if” in the sermon theme and replace it with the word “since.” Since the Spirit of God lives in you, it changes things. It makes a difference in your life. Here in v. 11 Paul talks about the difference it will make in eternity. One day God’s Spirit, who lives in you now, will bring your body back to life. He will raise your body from the dead, just as he did Lazarus, and you will live forever. But we’ll touch more on that later. In the mean time, let’s look at what it means for us right now that we have the Spirit of God living in us.
For one thing, it means that we have an obligation. “Therefore, brothers,” Paul says in v. 12, “we have an obligation.” Literally Paul says, “Brothers, we are debtors.” We are indebted to someone. Many of you have a mortgage, so you know what it means to be a debtor. You borrowed money from the bank in order to buy your home, so you are indebted to the bank and you have an obligation to pay them back. Every month you have to send in your mortgage payment. And if you don’t, you may end up defaulting on your loan and losing your house. Paul says you and I are debtors.
But to whom? To whom are we indebted? To whom are we obligated? In the words that follow Paul makes it very clear whom we are not obligated to. “Brothers,” he says, “we have an obligation—but it is not to the sinful nature, to live according to it”(v. 12). What has your sinful nature done for you lately? I mean, what good has it done for you? Has it improved your relationship with your spouse or your children? Has it made you more patient and loving and kind toward others? Has it improved your relationship with God? No, it hasn’t done anything good for you lately. It never has. It has only brought sin and trouble and guilt and sadness into our lives. So we are not obligated to it. We have no reason, no need to live our lives according to our sinful nature.
In case we weren’t sure what it means to live according to the sinful nature, Paul spells it out in another letter of his. In Galatians ch. 5 he writes:
The acts of the sinful nature are obvious: sexual immorality, impurity and debauchery; idolatry and witchcraft; hatred, discord, jealousy, fits of rage, selfish ambition, dissensions, factions and envy; drunkenness, orgies, and the like.(vv. 19-21).
So tell me: if your sinful nature hasn’t done anything for you and you are not obligated to live according to it, why do you? Why do you live according to your sinful nature at times? Why do engage in acts of sexual immorality and impurity? Why do allow yourself to be filled with hatred and jealousy and rage? Why do you indulge in drunkenness and debauchery? Do you not realize how serious that is? Do you really think it’s no big deal? “If you live according to the sinful nature,” Paul warns in v. 13, “you will die.” If you give yourself over to your sinful nature and let your sinful nature run your life, you will end up losing your faith and you will die. You will end up separated from God in hell.
Is that you want? No, brothers and sisters, first of all may God forgive us for the times we have given in to our sinful nature and lived according to it! May he forgive these sins of ours and all our sins for the sake of Jesus Christ our Savior! He is the one we are obligated to. He is the one who has done so much good for us. He is the one who suffered and died for us in order to pay off the enormous debt of our sins, a debt you and I could never repay. In addition, he is the one who sent his Spirit into our hearts to give us spiritual life, to chase away the darkness of sin and unbelief and give us faith, faith to believe in him as our Savior. Without him and his love and the working of his Spirit in our hearts, we’d still be lost, lost in the darkness of sin and doomed to eternal death in hell. He is the one we are obligated to. He is the one we are indebted to.
For his sake, and with the help of his Spirit who lives in us, let us put to death the misdeeds of the body: the hatred and envy and jealousy, the sexual immorality, the debauchery and drunkenness. Let’s repent of those sins and turn away them, and instead live according to the Spirit. Again Paul spells out for us exactly what that means in Galatians ch. 5: “The fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control”(Gal. 5:22-23). This is our obligation. Since we have the Spirit of God living in us, our obligation and our goal is to live according to the Spirit.
Secondly, having the Spirit of God in us also means we are sons of God. Paul makes this point, beginning in v. 14. He writes, “Those who are led by the Spirit of God are sons of God.” Again, Paul doesn’t say we might be or could be sons of God. He says we are. “Those who are led by the Spirit of God are sons of God.” What an honor! What a privilege!
In the next verse Paul reminds us how we got to be sons of God. “For you did not receive a spirit that makes you a slave again to fear, but you received the Spirit of sonship”(v. 15). The Christians in Rome knew all too well what Paul was talking about. The religion they were part of before was a religion of fear. The gods they worshiped before, they worshiped out of fear. Every day they had to do their best to appease the angry gods by the sacrifices they brought and the good things they did for them. And if they failed, the gods were going to make them pay. But what a difference now that they had come to know Jesus as their Savior! They weren’t slaves to fear anymore. They were at peace with God. They had received a new spirit, the Spirit of sonship.” Literally Paul says, “…the Spirit of the adoption of sons.” That’s how we got to be sons of God. We were not born into his family. We did not earn a place in his family. God adopted us. Through the working of his Spirit, he brought us to faith in Jesus as our Savior, and through faith he adopted us into his family as his very own sons and daughters. Don’t let Satan try to put doubt in your mind as to your status in God’s family! And don’t ever fall for his lie either: that you have to try to earn your way into God’s family. Since you have the Spirit of God living in you, you are part of God’s family. You are a son or a daughter of God.
Being a child of God has its benefits too. “You received the Spirit of sonship,” Paul says, “and by him we cry, ‘Abba, Father.’” Abba is the Aramaic word for “Daddy.” It’s the word little Hebrew children would use in talking to their father. “Daddy, will you read me a bedtime story?” “Daddy, will you take me for a ride on the snowmobile?” “Daddy, will you kiss my owie?” What father could resist? That’s the kind of close, personal relationship you and I enjoy with the God of heaven and earth. We don’t have to call him Mr. God, or Mr. President, or Your Majesty. We can call him “Daddy.” We can bring our prayers and requests to him as a little child does to his father. “Daddy, will you watch over me today? Will you keep me and my family safe?” “Daddy, will provide for me and care for me?” “Daddy, will you help Uncle Fred get better from his stroke and my friend get better from the flu?” Daddy, will you wipe away my tears and calm my troubled heart?” Our heavenly Father can’t resist either. He is always ready and willing to answer the prayers of his children.
A second privilege we enjoy as God’s children is that we are heirs. Take another look at v. 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.” An heir is someone who gets the inheritance. So what inheritance do you and I have to look forward to? $1 million? A 1968 Ford Mustang with only 50,000 miles on it? A cabin on a lake somewhere up north? Something far better: a place in the Father’s house in heaven, the privilege of living with Jesus in the Father’s house. All the glory and honor and beauty and riches of heaven—it’s all ours, and will be ours forever. This is our inheritance, the eternal glory that far outweighs any suffering we have to experience. In this world of sin and sadness, you and I will experience suffering—no question. In fact, unless Jesus happens to come back first, we will experience death; but death won’t be the end. Remember what Paul said back in v. 11? One day the Spirit will give life to our mortal bodies. He will raise our cold, lifeless, decaying bodies from the grave. And he will make them new and perfect and whole. And then we will enjoy our inheritance: eternal life with our Savior in glory.
Do you see the difference it makes? Do you see the tremendous difference it makes when you have someone living with you, when you have the Holy Spirit living inside you? Since you are Christians, since you have the Spirit of God living in you, you have an obligation: to live according to the Spirit. And you have a tremendous privilege as well: you are sons and daughters of God. Amen.