The Essential Need of the Spirit of God

[praise_yeshua]

Jer 10:23 O LORD, I know that the way of man is not in himself: it is not in man that walketh to direct his steps.

Rom 8:14 For as many as are led by the Spirit of God, they are the sons of God.
Rom 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.
Rom 8:16 The Spirit itself beareth witness with our spirit, that we are the children of God:

If you've ever spent time studying the book of Romans, you'll realize that Paul was greatly influenced by Jeremiah. In fact, I believe it is unmistakable that Paul is appealing to the teaching of Jeremiah to establish what Paul wrote in Romans 8:14-16

Man is lead/directed only through the Spirit of God. Such was true for Jeremiah. Such is true for all of humanity throughout the endless ages. Man does not know how to direct himself in pleasing God.

1. The "Word of God" comes from the Spirit of God. The "Word of God" is more than just what is "written". The "Word of God" is Christ. The "Word of God" has come from prophets, priests, kings, and ordinary men.
2. However, the leading of the Spirit of God is personal. Notice how Jeremiah and Paul includes every individual. They do not try to direct those individuals themselves, they appeal to God alone directing man.

Paul also confirms this to those in Corinth where he ministered. He would never presume to speak for God in ALL things. (that seems to be a trait uncommon today)

1Co 7:17 But as God hath distributed to every man, as the Lord hath called every one, so let him walk. And so ordain I in all churches.

It is essential that a person be lead by the Spirit of God.... IF anyone desires to be directed of the Lord. (which establishes the freedom of actions in humanity), they must have a relationship with the Spirit of God.

What the Spirits says to others, might not entirely apply to YOU. If you want to know what to do today.... Pray. Seek God. Find comfort in His words to YOU.

 

[Lily]

I love Romans chapter 8. Here's a little study on it.


1. FIGHTING SIN WITH THE SPIRIT


In Romans 7, Paul showed us that Christians still wrestle with remaining, indwelling sin*. He says: “But what I hate I do” (7:15). But, at the same time, Christians have experienced a revolution in consciousness—a real disgust over sin and (now) an inability to find any lasting pleasure in it: “But what I hate I do.” These two facts keep us from either the legalism that says: Real Christians don’t struggle with sin anymore, or the permissiveness that says: Real Christians are human; they sin just like anyone else. The Spirit of God has come in and transformed our “inner being” and self (7:22) so we want God and holiness, but our “flesh” or “sinful nature” is still powerful enough to keep us from doing what our new desires want.
But Romans 7 does not say everything about the Christian life. Our new condition—a “double nature”—can actually lead to more distress unless we “live … according to the Spirit” (8:4). Paul gives us directions on how to live in the Spirit. Unless we do, we will find ourselves continually doing what we hate.


No Condemnation

Before showing us how to live according to God’s Spirit, though, Paul wants to show us how God’s Son has given us life. Verse 1 begins “therefore”—he could be reaching right back to sections such as 3:21–27 (as John Stott suggests) or to the previous two chapters (Douglas Moo’s position), where Paul has characterized the Christian as one in whom sin is still powerful, but whose inner “true” self is “a slave to God’s law” (7:25), and who can look forward to being rescued “from this body of death … through Jesus Christ our Lord”.

However far back in his letter Paul is looking, the great truth of 8:1 is captured in two words: “no condemnation.” These two words tell us of our position as Christians. To be “not condemned” is, of course, a legal term; it means to be free from any debt or penalty. No one has any charges against you. A person who is in Christ Jesus is not under any condemnation from God. Paul already said this in Romans 5:16 and 18.
This is tremendous! It means God has nothing against us! He finds no fault in us. He finds nothing to punish us for.

However, the phrase Paul uses is not simply that Christians are “not condemned.” This is a much stronger phrase than that. He says that for Christians there is no condemnation at all. It doesn’t exist for us. It’s not that we have moved out from under it for a while, but that it could return. No; there is no condemnation for us at all—it doesn’t exist anymore.

The reason it is important to mention this is that many think that a Christian is only temporarily out from under condemnation. Many want to limit the meaning of this phrase to our past, or to our past and present. But Paul is saying categorically that condemnation no longer exists at all for a believer. It is not waiting in the wings to come back and cloud our future!

Many believe that Christians who confess sin and then live a good life are forgiven and are, at that moment, not condemned. But they believe that, should they sin, they are back under condemnation until they confess and repent again. In other words, if a Christian man were to sin, he would again come under condemnation and could be lost if he died in that state. If this were true, then Christians would be people who are always moving back and forth, in and out of condemnation.

But this view doesn’t square at all with the comprehensiveness and intensity of Paul’s statement. Paul says quite literally that condemnation itself no longer exists for us—“There is no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus” (8:1). Thus, the moment we come into Christ Jesus, condemnation is gone forever. There is no more condemnation left for us—it is gone. There can never be condemnation for us. There is nothing but acceptance and welcome for us!


Timothy Keller, Romans 8–16 for You

Amazon.com