Title: Romans 08:9-11 Man of Christ
Contents
The man of Christ (Romans 8:9-11)
A person's thoughts rule his life and determine its direction. “Those who follow the flesh think of the things of the flesh, and those who follow the Spirit think of the things of the Spirit.” Thoughts are free, but the results of those thoughts make a huge difference. “The mind set on the flesh is death, but the mind set on the Spirit is life and peace.” We are Christ's people. Therefore, we must think about the things of the Spirit and decide what pleases God. God thought, planned, decreed, and put it into practice concretely to save us spiritually. He sent Jesus Christ to die on the cross, to become a living hope through resurrection, and to ascend to heaven to provide a place for us to dwell in the kingdom of heaven. By sending the Holy Spirit, He completed the work of salvation and confirmed the salvation of each person.
1. The coming of the Holy Spirit is what God promised.
God made a promise in the Old Testament Joel 2:28. “In the last days, says God, I will pour out my Spirit on all flesh, and your children will prophesy, your young men will see visions, and your old men will dream dreams.” Jesus also said: “He will testify of me when the Counselor I will send to you from the Father, the Spirit of truth, who proceeds from the Father” (John 15:26). This promised Holy Spirit came upon Mark's upper room on the day of Pentecost (Acts 2).
2. The Holy Spirit comes upon those who believe.
Peter said in Acts 2:38, "Repent and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins, and you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit." It is a promise that the Holy Spirit will come upon those who believe. In verse 9, Paul says, "If the Spirit of God dwells in you, you are not in the flesh but in the spirit. If anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ, he is not of Christ." This means that anyone who does not have the Spirit of Christ does not belong to Christ, and whoever has the Spirit of Christ in us is a person of Christ. In other words, it means that a person of Christ must have the Spirit of Christ.
In John 1:12-13, "To all who received him, to those who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God, who were born not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God." Those who receive and believe in Jesus are the children of God. A child of God means a Christian. Christians necessarily have the Spirit of Christ. “Do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit who is in you, whom you have from God, and you are not yours” (1 Corinthians 6:19).
3. The man of Christ is distinct from the man of the flesh.
(1) Carnal people are condemned for their sins. But the people of Christ are never condemned (v. 1). “For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus has set you free from the law of sin and death” (verse 2). Those who dwell in the flesh are destroyed by the law of sin and death, but Christians receive life through Jesus and eternal life by the law of the Holy Spirit (verses 10-11).
(2) People of the flesh live according to the desires of the flesh. But Christians are people who do not live according to the flesh, but kill the deeds of the body with the spirit and live a life that pleases God in the realm of the Holy Spirit (verses 7-9). Those who live according to the flesh do not think of spiritual things. Therefore, their "end is destruction" (Philippians 3:19). "...You are not yours, but you were bought with a price; therefore glorify God in your body" (1 Corinthians 6:19-20). Christians are people who have undergone a fundamental change. Those who die in the flesh and are born again as new creatures enter the realm of the Holy Spirit. Therefore, they "do not love the world or the things in the world, for everything in this world is full of the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life, and all these things are not of the Father, but of the world." "It is (1 John 2:15-16).
Christians do not consider themselves to be dead to the works of the flesh, but to them. Christians do not live for a dying body. They do not live for the lusts and lusts of the flesh, but for the Holy Spirit, and they live for the kingdom and will of God. Let's live like Christians. Amen