BOOK OF ROMANS (PART 16) – LIFE IN THE SPIRIT (PART 2)

▪ It is good to know that we already have a life in the Spirit.
▪ Life in the Spirit is not something you turn off and then you turn on. It is always on. God already put you in the Spirit that’s why you have life in the Spirit.
▪ Ever since you believed in the Lord Jesus Christ, you have life in the Spirit.
▪ It doesn’t mean doing things, but God did things for you. He has done things for you.
▪ Paul said: “But you are not in the flesh, you are in the Spirit.”
▪ Declare: “I am not in the flesh. I am in the Spirit.”
▪ We are always in the Spirit. Yes, we still have the flesh, our bodies, but God has put us in the Spirit. He located us in the Spirit.
▪ Declare: “My life is in the Spirit. The location of my life is in the Spirit. God is the one who put my life in the Spirit.”
▪ A person cannot give himself a life in the Spirit. It is not something you do as a Christian that gives you a life in the Spirit.
▪ When you believed in the Lord Jesus, God located you and gave you a life in the Spirit.
▪ If you do not know this truth, like many believers, you will try to fabricate or make your own life in the Spirit. Something you do to be spiritual – Ex. long prayer, fasting, dawn watch/prayer chain, etc.
▪ There is nothing wrong with prayer and fasting. But if you think when you are eating lunch you are in the flesh, and you are in the spirit only when you pray and fast, you are wrong.
▪ Life in the Spirit is not what man could do. Life in the Spirit is what God has done through His Son.

What are those?
a. God has not condemned you.
b. God has set you free.
c. God has set your thinking in the Spirit.
d. God has given you life and peace.
e. God has made you fruitful by the Holy Spirit.
▪ It is not something we do but God has given us, we enjoy it, and we live it!
▪ Life in the Spirit is enjoying what God has done for us in Christ!
▪ Romans 8:9 – You are not in the flesh but in the Spirit.
▪ Romans 8:10-13

1. Life in the Spirit means: The Holy Spirit dwells in you.
▪ 1 Corinthians 3:16 – You are the temple of God and that the Spirit of God dwells in you.
▪ What does it mean to be a temple of God? 2 Corinthians 6:16-18:
a. God dwells in us – present in us.
b. God walks among us – present among us. He is not absent. We speak on behalf of God.
c. God is our God.
d. We are His people – inangkin na tayo ng Diyos.
e. God has received us – tinanggap na tayo ng Diyos.
f. God is our Father – We are His sons and daughters. Hindi tayo others. Iba ang anak. We have a close relationship and tender love for each other.
Declare: “I am a child of God.”

2. Life in the Spirit means: Our bodies are dead because of sin but the Spirit is life because of righteousness.
▪ This is talking about the old nature that Adam gave us.
▪ Jesus came, He did not sin, yet He took our sins and paid for it. His death became our death.
▪ As far as God is concerned, all the deeds of our body is dead.
▪ He also gave us His Spirit which is life to us who believe in Christ.
▪ “Mortify your bodies” – In Colossians 3:5 interlinear Greek, this is in past tense/aorist.
▪ Colossians 3:3 – “for you died”; Colossians 3:5 – “mortify your members” – this is in past tense. Therefore, mortified na ‘yan.
▪ He did not leave us dead but gave us His Spirit – now, we can do good works.
▪ Romans 6:8 – “Now if we died with Christ, we believe that we shall also live with Him.”
▪ God sees your body dead! Your deeds in the body dead! Why? Because when you believed in Christ, His death was your death. And because Christ is in you, He gives you life!
▪ God sees your spirit alive because Jesus, our righteousness, is life to us because of the justification, blamelessness God gave us.
▪ Reckon or see yourselves dead to sin, alive to God.
▪ See things the way God sees things.
▪ Unless you change your mind, it’s garbage in, garbage out (GIGO).
▪ So keep on hearing the Word of God to change/renew your mind.
▪ Make big of what the sacrifice of Jesus did for us. It is great and awesome!
▪ The truth of the Word of God will prevail whether you feel it or not.
▪ Take that grace in and you will see yourself walking in that grace.
▪ He who raised Christ from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through His Spirit who dwells in you right now.

God already put us in the Spirit that’s why we have life in the Spirit.
Life in the Spirit is not what man could do. Life in the Spirit is what God has done through His Son.
It is not something we do but God has given us, we enjoy it, and we live it!
Life in the Spirit is enjoying what God has done for us in Christ!
It means the Holy Spirit dwells in us, our bodies are dead because of sin but the Spirit is life because of righteousness, and it allows us to put to death the deeds of the flesh.
We already live in the Spirit, so we live according to the Spirit!

▪ So we can do good works that Jesus prepared for us.

3. Life in the Spirit: Allows us to put to death the deeds of the flesh.
▪ Romans 8:12-13 – We are not obliged to live according to the flesh.
▪ To the Brethren – For if you live according to the flesh you will die.
▪ You already live in the Spirit, so live according to the Spirit.
▪ “Live in” and “Live according” are two different things. Do not mix it.
▪ Illustration of struggle within – 2 dogs: Black dog (flesh, sinful) and white dog (new creation).
They say that the one that wins is whichever you feed the most.
Correction: The black dog is already dead! The old nature is dead in Christ.
▪ 2 Corinthians 5:17 – “Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; old things have passed away; behold, all things have become new.”
▪ No two natures. There is only one: The nature of Jesus Christ.
▪ The old is gone. You are a new creation. Let this truth rule in you!
▪ So get to know your new nature. Get to know the life in the Spirit.
▪ When you are walking in the Spirit, you are putting to death the deeds of the flesh.
▪ We are totally the Lord’s, yet He still gives us the choice – to do good or to do evil.
▪ That is true love – giving you freewill, giving you wisdom.
▪ He is giving us freedom although we are already His.
▪ So choose life in the Spirit. Mamili ka ng tama.
▪ Live according to the Spirit because you already live in the Spirit.