Led by the Spirit, Adopted by God | Romans 8:12-17

What does it really mean to be a child of God?

In Romans 8:12-17, Paul reveals one of the most beautiful truths in Scripture: Christians are not slaves living in fear—they are sons and daughters of God. Through Christ, we have been adopted into God's family, led by His Spirit, and given an inheritance that can never be taken away.

In this lesson, we explore:

•  What it means to be led by the Spirit 
•  Why Christians are no longer indebted to sin 
•  How putting to death the deeds of the flesh leads to life 
•  The significance of crying out, "Abba, Father" 
•  The Spirit's role in assuring us that we belong to God 
•  What it means to be heirs of God and fellow heirs with Christ 

Using examples from the life of Jesus, we see how the Spirit leads God's people through temptation, suffering, and ultimately toward glory. The Christian life is not merely about avoiding sin—it's about living as beloved children of a heavenly Father.

📖 Scripture: Romans 8:12-17
 📖 Additional References: Luke 4:1-14, Luke 10:21, Acts 10:38, Galatians 5:16-23, Mark 14:36

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#Romans8 #ChildOfGod #HolySpirit #ChristianLiving #BibleStudy #Faith #Adoption #HeirsWithChrist #ChurchOfChrist #SpiritualGrowth #AbbaFather

Transcript

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SPEAKER_00 0:01

Good evening. So good to see everyone here. We're going to be in Romans chapter 8. Romans chapter 8. We're going to look at verses 12 through 17, just a little piece of Romans 8. What does it mean to be sons of God? To be God's children, as Paul's going to put it. I really think that's a beautiful question. That's what Paul's getting at in just these few verses that we're going to cover tonight. He's going to show us in just these few verses that his children have the Spirit and are led by that Spirit, are led by God, and will receive a promise. He's just spent the first 11 verses in chapter 8 that telling us that look, Christ fulfilled the law by doing what the law couldn't do. That God sent his son to be human, to live perfectly according to the Spirit and not the flesh, setting that example for us. And if the Spirit dwells in you, he ended that section we talked about it this morning. The Spirit dwells in you, then the power that raised Jesus from the dead will do the same for you. That's a part of our promise. That's a big deal. In fact, he ends there by saying that if we are clothed in Christ, then that same spirit dwells in you. It's a wonderful thing, wonderful presence. And so he begins then by saying in our text tonight, Romans chapter 8, verse 12. So then, brothers, we are debtors, not to the flesh to live according to the flesh. For if we live according to the flesh, we will die. But if by the spirit you put to death the deeds of the body, you'll live. For all who are led by the spirit of God are sons of God. For you did not receive the spirit of slavery to fall back into fear, but you have received the spirit of adoption as sons by whom we cry, Abba Father. The Spirit Himself bears witness with our Spirit that we are children of God. And if children, then heirs, heirs of God and fellow heirs with Christ, provided we suffer with him in order that we may also be glorified with him. I know we looked at a similar passage in Galatians, Galatians 4, verses 8 through 12 in class. Want us to look at these verses here in Romans, hopefully with some fresh eyes. If we zoom in on verse 12, though, we notice if Christ, if uh the Holy Spirit dwells in us, he says in verse 12, so then, brothers, we are debtors, not to the flesh, to live according to the flesh. We are debtors, he says, that we're debtors, not according to the flesh. According to who? Who are we debtors to? It's implying that we are debtors to God. If we don't have God, then this verse also implies then we are debtors to the flesh, debtors to sin. And here's the thing. Our debt will come, or I should say our debtor, will come to collect if we've been living in sin, and that means death. And that is what sin does. You see, I can spend and I can spend and I can rack up an enormous amount of debt. Because the air I breathe, the time I have, it's a gift. It's borrowed. And what's crazy is it doesn't take much sin to collect debt. It really just takes one, one, to rack up too much debt that I can pay myself. I think of the when I read this passage, the prodigal son in Luke chapter 15. I mean, he wanted his inheritance, he wanted it now, and he took his father's money, and what are you going to do with it? He went and he spent it all. He lived that lavish lifestyle until there was nothing left for him to live for. Then, when he was eating from the trough of the pigs, he had no inheritance left, he had no money. He was essentially indebted to the life that he had lived. And when he was at his lowest point, where did he go? He went back to the farm. I think for many of us, there comes a point where we realize we have to go back to the one, the only one, that could pay that debt. And it doesn't matter how large a debt we may think we are in, or how much debt or sin we have, nothing, there's nothing too much for the blood of Christ. There's never too much sin in our past to keep us from salvation. Because once we have put on Christ's and baptism, we have the Spirit dwelling within us. And then Paul says in verse 12, we are indebted again. This time not to sin, but to God. We can't live this life spiritually without being indebted. But the thing is, we need to be careful here, that word debtor becomes problematic if we don't understand it correctly. We look at the definition of that word debtor, pull up on the screen here, one who owes another a debtor, but also one held by some obligation. And many translations will translate, most of them really will translate debtors to be obligation, because of that second definition there on the screen. And what is that telling us? So that's telling us that we have a duty, a responsibility to align ourselves with God's will. And that seems to be the correct call here. Because to say debtor isn't wrong, but it can create a problem. It begs the question that if we are indebted to God, then we might falsely think that that implies well, we have to work for our salvation. Well, if I if I do enough good, then maybe I can I can pay off my debt. Maybe I can do that. And that's all. That's not it at all. That's not it. I don't want us to confuse debtor to think that I can somehow repay God for my salvation. The amazing thing is that even though we are indebted to God, that's still, and we're learning this in class, it still means we're truly free. Our debt to God, while it may be an eternal debt, is not one that we are to pay off because it's already been paid by the blood of Christ. We're talking about an obligation to live by the Spirit and to do the things of the Spirit. Because if we don't live with that obligation, and instead we decide to live by the flesh, then the payment is death. Romans 8, verse 13, Paul says this. He says, For if you live according to the flesh, you'll die. But if by the Spirit you put to death the deeds of the body, you will live. It's an interesting play on words there in that verse. He's saying, look, something's gotta give. Something has to die. It's either you, you're living by the flesh, or it's the deeds of the flesh, the deeds of the body. Live according to the flesh and you will die. But live by the spirit, then put to death the deeds of the body. If you don't, if you don't put to death the flesh, he's saying it's a warning, the flesh is gonna kill you. But here's the thing, and this is the great comfort, is that putting to death the deeds of the body, the flesh, is the same as living by the spirit. That's an active thing. They're happy simultaneously. When we live by the spirit, we are putting to death the flesh. We are putting to death the deeds of the body. I think sometimes we we think, well, if I just put to death the deeds of the body, and if I just stop sinning, well, then I can start living for God, start living by the spirit, then I can start doing what God wants me to do. And we have this mindset even after we're baptized. And Paul's saying no, verse 13. He's saying, if by the spirit you put to death the flesh, you put to death the flesh by the spirit, by living by the spirit, you put to death our sinfulness by the Spirit. We live by the Spirit, we're actively doing that. I think of it as if if we're doing what's right, we're not really leaving any room for sin. Especially if we are aligning ourselves with God's will, then there should be no desire to want to sin. There should be no desire for sin. Because the more we follow God, the less we should want to sin. And think of it, thinking of it in those terms really motivates me and gives me direction and purpose. And I hope the same is for you as well. Now I understand, I just need to do and to live according to the Spirit. Honestly, the best way to say it is how Paul says it in the very next verse in verse 14. We need to be led by the Spirit. Verse 14, chapter 8, for all who are led by the Spirit of God, he says, our sons of God. Are we willing to take God's hand and allow him to lead the way? Because at this point in verse 14, we begin to see this parent-child aspect throughout this passage. When I read this verse, I can't help but think of Jesus, though, as well. And his life and his ministry. Who did this, who showed us the way, who was led by the Spirit. He showed us how the Spirit leads. I mean, how can we know we are sons of God if we don't follow the example of the Son of God? But I want us to consider even the relationship here, as we look at what it means to be led by the Spirit of God, the relationship of Christ and the Spirit, and highlight some things. Turn over to Luke chapter 4. Luke chapter 4, and consider an example. Now, granted, Jesus was God, and he was led by the Spirit, and often in miraculous ways. Now, obviously, not applying that to us, but still there are some things that we can look at and glean. Think back when Jesus was baptized. He is baptized, he comes up out of the water, and the spirit descends on him in the form of a dove. And at that point, he's going to start his ministry, and immediately he is led by the spirit into the wilderness. You look at verses 1 and 2. And Jesus, full of the Holy Spirit, returned from the Jordan and was led by the Spirit in the wilderness for 40 days, being tempted by the devil, and he ate nothing during those days. And when they were ended, he was hungry. Of course he was. Now, we may not literally be led into the wilderness to be tempted like Jesus was. But look at the end of that story in verse 14. Jesus returned in the power of the Spirit to Galilee, and a report about him went out throughout all the surrounding country. Kind of like two bookends, led in by the Spirit, came out, and powered by the Spirit. Similar to Jesus, we often find ourselves, even as sons, even as children of God, tempted. And while being tempted, you can tell in this story, Jesus was under a lot of pressure. Satan likes to do that. He likes to place pressure on us. Jesus was tempted, and they were serious temptations. He was tempted to turn these stones into loaves of bread to forget that God is the one that sustains life. He was showing all the kingdoms of the earth and saying, You can have authority over all these kingdoms and their glory, tempted to worship and serve the world. He was brought to the pinnacle of the temple and tempted to guide himself off. And God will say, You notice the spirit here isn't just directing him into the wilderness, he's directing him through the wilderness. He's directing him through closer and closer to the Father. We have to think about how the Holy Spirit leads. Paul uses the word lead in Romans 8 14, and we have to lean into that. And by leading, he directs and frames our loyalty and faith to God. Galatians 5, 16. When we are in temptation, when we are in our weakness, he helps us. We looked at this, we will look at this in class, but I say, Paul says, walk by the Spirit. Same idea, and you will not gratify the desires of the flesh. God doesn't want us to sin. God is going to lead, and He's going to lead us out of temptation. He's going to lead us further into holiness. Even though we may have to go through some temptation. Go back to our text. You look at Romans chapter 8, verse 13. 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. The Spirit helps us become more and more like Christ, not to fall back into sin. We can't think that we can rely on our willpower and our willpower alone. We're foolish if that's what we think we can do. The Spirit is there working in that death to sin work. And we see Jesus here, led by the Spirit, just as we should be. Again, if we look at his ministry, it's constantly filled with this connection, connection to the Spirit, connection to the Father. There's an intimacy there. Now, not the Gospels, but in Acts chapter 10, verse 38, here Peter expresses and reflects on the life and ministry of Jesus and how it was shaped by the Spirit. And he says, how God anointed Jesus of Nazareth with the Holy Spirit and with power. He went about doing good and healing all who were oppressed by the devil, for God was with him. An emphasis on that idea of with him, because it's going to come up again in Romans chapter 8, verses 16 and 17. This idea of being with God. That's the idea that Paul's talking about. It's about the presence, being in the presence of God. If I suffer, I suffer with him. If I'm glorified, I'm glorified with him. This is the idea. Now, granted, we may not be going out physically healing people the way Jesus was. But with the spirit, we can absolutely and we should do good. Doing good to everyone. Doing good, especially to the household of faith. You remember the fruit of the spirit? Right? Galatians chapter 5, 22 to 23. What's the fruit of the spirit? Love, joy, peace, patience. What's that fifth one? Goodness. Faithfulness. Self-control. All of these things that we should see in the life that's led by the Spirit. Goodness we can practice. And these are the fruit of being God's children, of being led by the Spirit. There's a moment I just want to kind of help you see an entire encompassing of Jesus' ministry being led by the Spirit. In Luke chapter 10, there's a moment where Jesus has sent out the 72 to proclaim the gospel, to cast out demons, and they return, and he is filled with joy, right? Something that we see from the Spirit. And he says this, Luke chapter 10, verse 21. And that same, he rejoiced in the Holy Spirit and said, I thank you. I thank you, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, that you have hidden these things from the wise and understanding and revealed them to little children by your gracious will. This passage is such a humbling passage to have something revealed to little children. And the verse, Luke chapter 10, verse 20, right before that, he talks about how he's also rejoicing that these names are written in heaven. The Spirit dwells within us. There's going to be, and we're going to see this, an assurance that we are God's children. And that's something to be joyful about. It's true. His children should be led by the Spirit, and it's a joyful thing. We see this. This is Jesus being led by the Spirit through his ministry. Paul goes on in the text, Romans chapter 8. Romans chapter 8. Look at verses 15 through 16. For you did not receive the spirit of slavery to fall back into fear. Now, this fear that Paul is talking about, is that a fruit of the Spirit? I don't remember. I don't think so. But you have received, he says, the spirit of adoption as sons, whom we cry, by whom we cry, Abba Father. The Spirit Himself bears witness with our Spirit that we are children of God. Look, I don't know all the inner workings of the Godhead and of the Spirit. I don't think we are expected to know how everything intimately works in every detail. We just know what the scriptures tell us. But the Spirit, Paul says, the Spirit works with our spirit. That word witness there in the Greek is this idea to work together. It coordinates. And so his presence shows and proves that we are children of God. And that should give us assurance of our salvation. Now, if we just consider for a second what that witnessing looks like, right? The Spirit witnesses in many different ways with our Spirit. We see in Ephesians chapter 6, verse 17, it witnesses through the Word. How the Word, if we look at the armor of God, is our sword through baptism in Acts 2.38. And also through the participation of God's family. First Corinthians 12, 13 will tell us that we are all connected, individuals, into what with one spirit. At the same time, we also have to recognize that there is an inner working of the spirit within ourselves. I'm reminded of Ephesians chapter 3, Ephesians 16 through 17, where he says, This is Paul, he's he's praying here, and he says that according to the riches of his glory, he may grant you to be strengthened with power through his spirit and your inner being, so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith. Now consider for a second what he says in Romans chapter 8, this idea of witness. Because the Holy Spirit, working with our spirit, seems to be some sort of internal working. If you think about it, Paul just finished at the end of Romans chapter 7 talking about this internal battle and struggle. And then he says here in verse 15, for you did not receive the spirit of slavery to fall back into fear, but you have received the spirit of adoption as sons by whom we cry, Abba, Father. The very fact that we can, with our heart, cry out to God in a personal way, Abba, this idea of Papa, Dad, Father, shows that God is working through us from the inside out. That is a personal call. And it seems to be the way the Spirit witnesses that we are sons and heirs. A child who knows their father is going to be comfortable calling their father that, calling their father dad. That is exactly what we need when we are in this life and we are often at our lowest points, when we are in distress, when we are tempted, when we are anxious, and also when we are full of joy. We have a father that we can call out to, a father whose spirit bears witness. Our spirit, Paul says. As God's children, we put to death the deeds of the flesh by following the spirit's lead. Now, granted, Jesus didn't have any deeds of the flesh of his own to put to death, but he did follow the spirit all the way to the cross. Help us to put to death the deeds of the body and the flesh. And that is how Paul ends this section of text in the fact by saying we need to be willing to do the same, but follow in that same suffering. Now that we have been adopted to be to be his sons, to be heirs of his inheritance, God didn't abandon us, just leave us in our sin. No, he adopted us out of that sin into a relationship with him. And Paul says in Acts chapter, sorry, Romans chapter 8, verses 16 through 17. The Spirit Himself bears witness with our Spirit that we are children of God. And if children, then heirs. Heirs of God and fellow heirs with Christ, provided we suffer with him, in order that we may also be glorified with him. You read that and it sounds great. And then you get to that word provided, and then things become very real. Heirs, provided you suffer. But here's the comfort. Everything about this is relational. We do suffer. There's many suffering now. And when we suffer, we suffer with him. We suffer with God, it says. So that when we are glorified, we are glorified with him, with Christ. The question that you should be asking is, are you willing to suffer with Christ? Jesus was willing to do that for us. We should be willing to do the same. I'm reminded when Jesus was about to go to the cross and he is sweating blood, he is full of stress, and in Mark 14, verse 36, he says, Abba, Father, all things are possible for you. Remove this cup from me, yet not what I will, but that, but what you will. And he cries, Abba. There is a relational intimacy there between him and the spirit. That Paul says it's the same type of intimacy that the Spirit produces within us in this passage. That same word a child uses for their father, that warm closeness, it's a trust, trusting in the power of God. Later on in Romans chapter 8, verses 26 through 27, Paul is going to say something very similar, and how the Spirit does help us in our weakness, and how it does help us conform to God's will. And so if you are God's children, children of God have the spirit that, the spirit dwelling in them. That spirit that leads them, leads them all the way to the glory, future glory, which Sam will talk about next Sunday in the next few verses. But if you're not a Christian, you haven't put on Christ, you're living, you're indebted to sin in the flesh. Why keep on living that way? Any payment, any inheritance is debt. Jesus has adopted. Allow that to happen. Adopt you out of sin and into his family. If that's what you want this evening, come forward now while we stand and we