Whose are You?

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Transcript

Welcome And Who We Are

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Hello and welcome to Five Minutes in the Word. I'm Ronnie Cooksie.

Family Resemblance And Spiritual Identity

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Most of my children look a lot like me. Fortunately, they get my look and then they add their mother's beauty to the look and it works out okay for them, but they definitely look like me. One of our little girls, my wife used to say that if she had a mustache, she could go to the bank and get all of my money out. Why do they look like me? Because they've got dad in them. And we see today, as we continue with Romans chapter 8, that we are different because we have the Spirit in

No Longer Owing The Flesh

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us. Verse 12, so then, brethren, we're under obligation not to the flesh, to live according to the flesh. For if you're living according to the flesh, you must die. But if by the Spirit you are putting to death the deeds of the body, you will live. This sounds at first like it's works-based salvation that we earn our forgiveness. No, not so. Let's look at it. The Lord reminds us with the kind of power living in us, if we're believers, we're no longer obliged. We're not forced to bow down to the dying sinful flesh that carries us around. He says we're no longer debtors to the flesh. To be a debtor, you owe something. Not so to the old man without Christ. Yes, you were born with him, but you were also set free from the bondage of sin because you've come to know Christ as your Savior, if that's who you are. You were bought with a price. You were set free, and now you belong to God. And he says in verse 13 that if you live after the flesh, you'll die. Well, do you want life or death? You see, even after believing, we still aren't sinless. We have to keep choosing by God's grace and strength and power working inside us to choose to walk in the path of life that He's purchased for us.

What Death Means In Daily Sin

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What does He mean that we'll die? Well, every sin is choosing to play among the dead. James 1, we read that the sin leads to death in our life. And we learn from Paul in Romans that the wages of sin is death. So we just want to get away from the ways of death and get over into the ways of life in Christ that He's purchased for us. Now it's certainly true in some lives, we'll never know, only God will. But there are times that God brings someone's life to a close early so as to not dishonor his name or harm others. And it ultimately can mean that if you live your entire life never changing because you've never encountered Christ, well, then you truly are headed for eternal death, which is not his will for you. He came to die for you so that he would set you free from that. He goes on and says that in the spirit we're putting to death the deeds of the body. That's how we know we're living and that Christ is living in us. Not that we're perfect, not that we don't sin, but that our pattern is to keep trying to press on towards the Lord, thankful that He's paid for the sin that we do commit. So what a beautiful passage

Led By The Spirit As God’s Children

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this is. Well, he goes on here as we close this last verse, and he says, This is how you'll know that you're mine, in verse 14, for all who are being led by the Spirit of God, these are the sons of God. If Christ lives in you, he leads you. You you hear him in your heart, in your spirit, telling you, This is what you ought to do, this is what you ought to not do. You're not just a number, you're not just a part of the crowd. You are his child. I have a friend, and he has, like I do, many children, and when it's time to go or he's trying to get their attention, he'll begin by saying, My kids, and they know to listen. Why? Because he's their dad, their loving dad, by the way, and so they belong to him. Does God lead you? Wow. What a privilege to have the God who created the heavens and the earth living inside of you and leading you because he cares for you, because you're his child.

Growing In Spirit-Led Living

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We no longer have to sin. We still do, but before we came to Christ, the very best thing we ever did was still under the category of sin. Not so now. We can, by his grace, as we grow deep in the Lord, we can live more and more in the life in the spirit for which he purchased us. God bless you. Tell a friend if this is helpful. You can send a link to one of the episodes you like to a friend, and I'll see you back here next time.