Last week:
Romans 8:16-17
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.
Paul is like a coach pulling his team together and saying, make the choice to reject sin and embrace the Spirit! We often have an incredibly hard time just putting our foot down and being disciplined about the things that we should and shouldn’t do. At least to an extent Paul is the same way:
Romans 7:15
For what I want to do I do not do, but what I hate I do.
1. Earth is hard, we need to
have faith that heaven is coming.
(Verses 18-25)
Romans 8:18
18 I consider that our present sufferings are not worth comparing with the glory that will be revealed in us.
Romans 8:22
22 We know that the whole creation has been groaning as in the pains of childbirth right up to the present time.
Even as we’re choosing to live by the spirit and not by the flesh, we need to do this with the HOPE that redemption is coming, where our fleshly struggle is over.
Roman 8:24-25
24 For in this hope we were saved. But hope that is seen is no hope at all. Who hopes for what they already have? 25 But if we hope for what we do not yet have, we wait for it patiently.
2. The Holy Spirit helps us.
(Verses 26-27)
Romans 26-27
26 In the same way, the Spirit helps us in our weakness. We do not know what we ought to pray for, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us through wordless groans. 27 And he who searches our hearts knows the mind of the Spirit, because the Spirit intercedes for God’s people in accordance with the will of God.
When we don’t even know what to pray because we’re so full of our flesh, the Holy Spirit does it for us! He knows your mind, he knows your spirit, and He does all the work, to align your prayers with the heart of God.
3. God knows what he’s doing.
(Verses 28-30)
Romans 8:28
28 And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose.
Those who love him means Christians, but not just people who call themselves Christians. This is people who admit that they’re sinners,
accept Jesus’ gift of salvation,
and give Him full control of their lives - born again believers.
Romans 8:29
29 For those God foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son, that he might be the firstborn among many brothers and sisters.
“Foreknew,” means:
Knew ahead of time that they would give their lives to Jesus.
Those people, He “Predestined” for Heaven, meaning:
Because He knew what they would do in their lifetimes,
He already has a place in Heaven ready for them.
In order for them to get to Heaven, they had to be
“Conformed to the image of his Son”
because the only way to heaven is being perfect,
and we are only perfected through Jesus.
Romans 8:30
30 And those he predestined, he also called; those he called, he also justified; those he justified, he also glorified.
He “Predestined" people
because He saw the future of His sacrifice
and their choice to give Him control.
Because He saw that future,
He “Called" them, which literally means:
to Summon towards His heart.
So He “Justified” them, meaning:
to declare or make them righteous.
And finally “Glorified” them, meaning:
lifting them up to a place, that they don’t belong.
THAT is the power with which we choose the Spirit and not the Flesh.
And it’s in that place that you can look at your flesh,
that you can look at the sin in your life, and declare:
“If God is for us, who can be against us?”
“we are more than conquerors through him who loved us"
4. Because of God, we’re more than conquerors.
(Verses 31-39)
Romans 8:31-39
31 What, then, shall we say in response to these things? If God is for us, who can be against us? 32 He who did not spare his own Son, but gave him up for us all—how will he not also, along with him, graciously give us all things? 33 Who will bring any charge against those whom God has chosen? It is God who justifies. 34 Who then is the one who condemns? No one. Christ Jesus who died—more than that, who was raised to life—is at the right hand of God and is also interceding for us. 35 Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall trouble or hardship or persecution or famine or nakedness or danger or sword?
After knowing that God is doing all of those things for us, and God Himself in Heaven is interceding on our behalf, do we really think that the Enemy is really going to separate us from God? No!
36 As it is written:
“For your sake we face death all day long;
we are considered as sheep to be slaughtered.”
37 No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. 38 For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, 39 neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.
The only way that we can ever choose the Spirit over our flesh is:
- to pull close to Jesus
- to listen as he summons us to His heart
- to continue to be conformed to the image of his Son
- to be glorified by Him, even though we don’t deserve it
The truth of the matter is that a lot of times, we are going to look in the mirror and see our own failure, but it’s not our reflection that makes us “more than conquerors...” It’s His.
