Scripture Reference: Romans 8:5-17
“You have the Spirit” – Continued
Please review Romans 8:9-11 for background to this section.
What a difference it makes in your body when the Holy Spirit lives within. You experience new life, and even your physical faculties take on a new dimension of experience. When evangelist D.L. Moody described his conversion experience, he said:
“I was in a new world. The next morning the sun shone brighter and the birds sang sweeter . . . the old elms waved their branches for joy, and all nature was at peace.”
Life in Christ truly is abundant life!
However, there is a third level of experience for which the other two are preparation.
“The Spirit has you!”
Please review Romans 8:12-17 for background to this section.
It is not enough for us to have the Spirit; the Spirit must have us! Only then can He share with us the abundant, victorious life that can be ours in Christ. We have no obligation to the flesh, because the flesh has only brought trouble into our lives. We do however have an obligation to the Holy Spirit, for it is the Spirit who convicted (convinced) us, revealed Christ to us, and imparted eternal life to us when we trusted Christ. Because He is “the Spirit of Life,” He can empower us to obey Christ, and He can enable us to become more like Christ.
But He is also the Spirit of death. He can enable us to “put to death” (mortify) the sinful deeds of the body. As we yield the members of our body to the Spirit (Romans 6:12-17), He applies to us and in us the death and resurrection of Christ. He puts to death the things of the flesh, and He reproduces the things of the Spirit.
The Holy Spirit is also “the Spirit of adoption.” The word adoption in the New Testament means “being placed as an adult son.” We come into God’s family by birth. But the instant we are born into the family, God adopts us and gives us the position of an adult son. A baby cannot walk, speak, make decisions, or draw on the family wealth. But the believer can do all of these the instant he is born again.
He can walk and be “led by the Spirit of God.” The verb here means “willingly led.” We yield to the Spirit, and He guides us by His Word day by day. We are not under bondage to Law and afraid to act. We have the liberty of the Spirit and are free to follow Christ. The believer can also cry out: “Abba, Father.” Would it not be amazing if a newborn baby looked up and greeted his father! First, the Spirit says, “Abba, Father” to us (Galatians 4:6), and then we say it to God. (“Abba” literally means “papa”—a term of endearment.)
A baby cannot sign checks, but the child of God by faith can draw on his spiritual wealth because as His adopted children we are “heirs of God and a joint-heirs with Christ.” The Spirit teaches us from the Word, and then we receive God’s wealth by faith. What a thrilling thing it is to have “the Spirit of adoption” at work in our lives!
There is no need for any believer to be defeated. He can yield his body to the Spirit and by faith overcome the old nature. The Spirit of life will empower him. The Spirit of death will enable him to overcome/mortify/put to death, the flesh. And the Spirit of adoption will enrich him and lead him into the will of God.
FOR THE LOVE OF GOD 
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