The Spirit Secures Liberation – Courage for the Journey
Holy Spirit Liberation
Today I am reflecting on Romans 8. It is one of those chapters on which I have no business speaking. Reading it is its own holy liberation, and any comments I make would only cheapen the grace offered on its pages.
I am not alone in thinking this beautiful chapter is a favorite amongst believers who cannot help but savor its truths.
I came across a YouTube video of John Piper, and it is the most beautiful reading of Romans 8 I have ever heard. And now when I read it, I cannot help but carry the same inflection and emphasis he shared.
It is set to this glorious, majestic music that climaxes in thunderous applause and then gently settles down to wrap the listener in the comfort of God’s love that cannot even be comprehended.
It reads like poetry as the Holy Spirit testifies to our spirit who we really are…who we were made to be in Christ…who God always intended us to be.
The Holy Spirit makes this possible as He secures our liberation -in part now and in fullness when Christ returns.
With that Spirit guarantee, nothing can separate us from future glory.
The impact of which changes and challenges my mindset to inform how I live my life in freedom, not letting the temporary things of this world have too much emphasis as I hope for what is to come.
Key Thoughts Romans 8 Teaches
Since this is a key chapter in understanding the role of the Holy Spirit, I will humbly endeavor, by God’s grace, to press on.
Paul wrote a letter to the Romans to announce the Gospel is God’s power for salvation. The whole book is a little overwhelming if you consider it in view of God’s mercy.
I am going to read Romans 8 in the English Standard Version so you can join in the exclamation of victory that the divine outpouring of a not guilty verdict warrants.
But I am going to break it up with some key thoughts I want you to consider with me. So, grab your coffee and get ready!
These are key thoughts to consider as we reflect together:
In Christ and by His Spirit, we are no less than 8 things
- Not condemned
- Resurrected
- Adopted as Heirs with Christ
- Glorified
- Saved in Hope
- Joined in Prayer
- Called with Purpose
- Love beyond Comprehension
We will probably get to five of those today. You will have to come back next week for the last three.
First – We are Not Condemned 8:1-8
8 There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus.[a] 2 For the law of the Spirit of life has set you[b] free in Christ Jesus from the law of sin and death. 3 For God has done what the law, weakened by the flesh, could not do. By sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh and for sin,[c] he condemned sin in the flesh, 4 in order that the righteous requirement of the law might be fulfilled in us, who walk not according to the flesh but according to the Spirit. 5 For those who live according to the flesh set their minds on the things of the flesh, but those who live according to the Spirit set their minds on the things of the Spirit. 6 For to set the mind on the flesh is death, but to set the mind on the Spirit is life and peace. 7 For the mind that is set on the flesh is hostile to God, for it does not submit to God’s law; indeed, it cannot. 8 Those who are in the flesh cannot please God.
As we consider those first 8 verses, what does it mean to you that, in Christ, you are no longer under condemnation? I have cried real tears over those words many times.
Guilt is no longer held to my account or yours. It’s just as if we had never sinned. We have the peace with God that Paul talked about in chapter 5 and now refers to again here. It’s not an absence of conflict. There will still be plenty of conflict while we are on this earth. But rather it is a tranquility of mind amidst conflict and trials, arising from reconciliation with a Holy God. Reconciled back to God to enter His presence. It’s a sense of divine favor that reaches into our very soul to remind us of every kind of goodness and prosperity in life that belongs to someone who sets their mind on the Spirit. Some of which is realized now and will be completely realized in the future forever.
The mind set on the Spirit is life and peace, now and forever. Setting our mind on something motivates our will to act. We are purposely and with forethought and careful consideration choosing what we want to gratify. Our mindset expresses our basic nature. In order to be controlled by the desires of the Spirit, we will choose to set our mind on the things that gratify the Spirit.
Second – We are Resurrected 8:9-11
9 You, however, are not in the flesh but in the Spirit, if in fact the Spirit of God dwells in you. Anyone who does not have the Spirit of Christ does not belong to him. 10 But if Christ is in you, although the body is dead because of sin, the Spirit is life because of righteousness. 11 If the Spirit of him who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, he who raised Christ Jesus[d] from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through his Spirit who dwells in you.
The same Spirit who raised Jesus Christ from the dead dwells in us, y’all. Contemplate that. The Spirit of life and peace is also the Spirit of resurrection. What kind of power raises someone from the dead never to die again? I think we should stop saying our loved ones who left this earth to go Home are dead. If death is separation from God, they are more alive than they have ever been. They are hanging out with Jesus until they, and we, receive the same resurrected body He did.
Furthermore, we act like we are driving a lawn mower when we are actually driving a corvette. I don’t actually know much but car engines, but the point is we don’t act like someone who has access to all the power in the universe.
Christ’s resurrection is the pledge of ours. There is a kind of life that leads to death and a kind of death that leads to life. We don’t owe this old life one cent. Our debt has been paid. We can put to death the sins that once ruled us and live forever as sons and daughters of God.
Now we are just getting warmed up!
Third – We are Adopted as Heirs with Christ 8:12-17a
12 So then, brothers,[e] we are debtors, not to the flesh, to live according to the flesh. 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. 14 For all who are led by the Spirit of God are sons[f] of God. 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!” 16 The Spirit himself bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God, 17 and if children, then heirs—heirs of God and fellow heirs with Christ…
The very Spirit of God is beckoning. Everyone who God’s Spirit beckons is a child of God. We were legally adopted -not to fall back into slavery to fear and bondage, but instead to live with child-like excitement, expectantly asking our Father, “What’s our next adventure?”
It is the Holy Spirit who confirms this as He testifies, as He bears witness with our spirit, that we are children of God. And if children then heirs – fellow heirs with Jesus Christ. Jesus is our brother because we have the same Father.
I had a really good father. I called him Daddy. He showed me a picture of my Heavenly Father’s protection and provision. He did not care for the snotty nosed boys that came calling for his four daughters. He told us if we ever wanted a way out, to call him and he would come get us. We did not have cell phones, but he gave us extra cash so we could buy our own dinner and a quarter to slip out and call him, if needed. The heritage he left was one of strength and carefully placed trust. As beautiful and affirming as that is, it doesn’t compare to the inheritance that I share with my brother Jesus.
We share in the glory of Jesus Christ’s inheritance with Him. This confirmation is assured through the fruit His Spirit produces and the power He gives to share this good news and blessing with others.
But…there’s a big but coming.
Fourth – We are Glorified 8:17b-23
…provided we suffer with him in order that we may also be glorified with him.
18 For I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worth comparing with the glory that is to be revealed to us. 19 For the creation waits with eager longing for the revealing of the sons of God. 20 For the creation was subjected to futility, not willingly, but because of him who subjected it, in hope 21 that the creation itself will be set free from its bondage to corruption and obtain the freedom of the glory of the children of God. 22 For we know that the whole creation has been groaning together in the pains of childbirth until now. 23 And not only the creation, but we ourselves, who have the firstfruits of the Spirit, groan inwardly as we wait eagerly for adoption as sons, the redemption of our bodies.
Oh dear. Suffering and Glory belong together and cannot be separated and cannot be divorced. Christ suffered. He died so we could live. In order to share in the Glory of the Resurrection Life, we must also suffer.
Do you know anyone who enjoys suffering? I don’t. I don’t think I really even identify with Christ’s disciples who counted it joy to be able to suffer for the cause of Christ. Yay, we were beaten and put in prison for Christ! What? I really don’t want to suffer.
But I have suffered. And you probably have too.
Even creation itself was subjected to the frustration of thorns and thistles. And it is groaning with the pains of childbirth as it waits for the emergence of the transformed universe. We call it New Heaven New Earth. For which we also groan as we eagerly wait for our bodies to be resurrected like Christ’s.
But there is something connective between two souls that have suffered a similar predetermined affliction. I can comfort someone who has suffered the loss of a child better than someone who has not. I can weep earnestly with those who weep because I understand the dark, painful, and seemingly never-ending days of grief. And I can give them words of hope as a balm to their shattered heart.
But that doesn’t mean I understand the suffering you have been asked to endure. There is a lot of suffering in this world that is way worse than my child leaving this earth and going Home to heaven.
So, I don’t find it particularly noble to compare suffering. Suffice it to say there is enough to go around.
What Paul was counting on was that those to whom he was writing would be convinced that their present suffering, in all its forms, could not even be compared to the Glory that would come.
Remember, Suffering and Glory are married. Paul and his cronies endured a lot. But He was able to say in another letter, one to the Philippians, “that to live is Christ, and to die is gain.” Whether he lived or he died wasn’t up to him. He would rather go ahead and die and be with Christ, but if he was asked to keep on doing the Kingdom work God called him to for a little longer…so that others could see God magnified through his suffering…well, he was willing to do that too.
That is what Courage for the Journey is about. Trusting God will come through when you fear He won’t. We don’t ask for suffering. We don’t particularly love it when it comes. But we bravely endure, even if we are still a little afraid, because we have hope that it will not last forever.
If we know something better is coming, doesn’t that help us hang on a little longer? But only if we don’t give up too soon.
JJ Heller has a song with this title, Don’t give up too soon. It has been such an encouragement to me. The last verse especially resonates with a word of hope:
When it feels like you have fallen
To the bottom of the well,
Oh there is nothing braver
Than calling out for help.
Please keep waiting
Hope is coming…
He waits with you
So don’t give up too soon.
Fifth – Saved in Hope 8:24-25
24 For in this hope we were saved. Now hope that is seen is not hope. For who hopes for what he sees? 25 But if we hope for what we do not see, we wait for it with patience.
Did you hear that repeated word that signals to us is a key word we should pay attention to?
When we were saved, we were only half-saved. We were half-saved in hope of total liberation. God has already completed everything needed to secure our great salvation. Christ claimed this when He cried on the cross, “It is Finished.”
But we are living in between the times of present difficulty and future Glory. Some refer to this as the Already, not Yet. Biblical Hope brings these two together.
What is biblical Hope?
I am glad you asked. It is not lighting birthday candles and blowing them out as you make a wish.
No. It is a sure and certain expectation that the thing you wished for is going to happen. Future Glory is going to happen. It’s why we don’t give up too soon in suffering. We know we can count it, so we wait for it with joyful composure.
Eagerness for the future is balanced with the patience to endure the present through prayer.
In Closing
That is all we are going to cover today. Please join me next week as we finish considering this incredible chapter by looking at how we are joined in prayer, called with purpose, and loved beyond comprehension.
As we reflect on these truths of Romans 8, we are reminded that our liberation is not something we achieve on our own, but something secured for us by the Spirit of God.
The Spirit assures us of our identity as God’s children, empowers us to live in freedom, and anchors our hope in the promise of future glory.
Even as we face suffering and uncertainty, we do so with the confidence that nothing can separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus.
Our journey is marked by hope, sustained by prayer, and guaranteed by the Spirit’s presence within us. Let us live each day with the assurance that our ultimate liberation is secure, and let that assurance shape our lives, our prayers, and our hope for what is yet to come.
