December 28th, 2025: The Holy Spirit | Romans 8:12-17, 26-27

If ye love me, keep my commandments. And I will pray the Father, and he shall give you another Comforter, that he may abide with you for ever; Even the Spirit of truth; whom the world cannot receive, because it seeth him not, neither knoweth him: but ye know him; for he dwelleth with you, and shall be in you. I will not leave you comfortless: I will come to you. (John 14:15-18).

Accepting Jesus changes EVERYTHING. The old self is taken away, and a new believer emerges.  Paul wrote the book of Romans to explain the newness through Jesus that unites all people, Jews and Gentiles, back to a right relationship with God. Paul’s credentials for this writing? - God inspired a Pharisee of the Pharisees,   a highly educated student of the Old Testament and Jewish law, someone fluent in multiple languages, to write a meticulous instructional manual! From beginning to end, Paul is comparing and contrasting, defending the faith in Jesus, and the changes that being a believer in Christ makes in our everyday lives. One of those fundamentals of the faith is the indwelling of the Holy Spirit. 

The first time we hear of the Spirit of God, we see Him moving across the waters in the first verses of the book of Genesis. He is the third part of the Godhead, forming the Holy Trinity - One God,  three persons.  In Hebrew, Ruach is the word used for the Spirit of God.  It means life, breath, wind.  In the Old Testament, the Spirit of God fell upon individuals as it was needed.  In the New Testament, becoming a believer means that the Spirit of God lives in you. You are energized and directed by the very indwelling of God.   

Jesus did not leave us to do this new relationship alone.  He promised and sent the Holy Spirit of Truth, the Comforter. There is a joke among Sunday School Teachers that a little boy came home one day after class, and his mom asked him what he had learned.  The little fellow said not to worry, “your blanket will arrive!”  Not understanding,  the mother asked the teacher what the lesson had been about. She smiled and said that the “Comforter will come.”  In some ways, the little boy painted a better picture than the joke gave him credit.  As we study about the Holy Spirit, you may find being wrapped in His security and intercession is exactly like having your favorite blanket!  Jesus said that to love him was to keep his commandments and words. Jesus also added,  But the Comforter, which is the Holy Ghost, whom the Father will send in my name, he shall teach you all things, and bring all things to your remembrance, whatsoever I have said unto you. (John 14:26).

Therefore, brethren, we are debtors, not to the flesh, to live after the flesh. For if ye live after the flesh, ye shall die: but if ye through the Spirit do mortify the deeds of the body, ye shall live.

For several chapters prior to this lesson, Paul has been making the case for the differences in attitudes and actions between non-believers and believers in Jesus. Many of these philosophies and questions still float around in the church world today.  If we are saved, then does it matter if we sin? Are there absolutes of right and wrong? Paul’s answer is that your salvation isn’t a loophole or a game. Your salvation is a matter of your heart.  Paul starts with who do you obey- the law of Moses, yourself, the world, or the word of God?  Know ye not, that to whom ye yield yourselves servants to obey, his servants ye are to whom ye obey; whether of sin unto death, or of obedience unto righteousness? (Romans 6:16). We don’t often think about who it is that influences our actions. Paul suggests you start here.  Paul writes that as a believer, there is a battle between our human nature and our spirit.  A dilemma for every man and woman of faith.  Paul’s answer, For I know that in me (that is, in my flesh,) dwelleth no good thing: for to will is present with me; but how to perform that which is good I find not. (Romans 7:18). God knew in advance we would need help. That help is God the Holy Spirit.  

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

Jesus understood Paul, and He understands us. The battle is real. Temptations are everywhere.  Arguments for and against the Bible abound.  Yet, we are not left without a resource.  The help needed is here.  An indwelling of the Holy Spirit, the Comforter. But the hour cometh, and now is, when the true worshippers shall worship the Father in spirit and in truth: for the Father seeketh such to worship him. God is a Spirit: and they that worship him must worship him in spirit and in truth. (John 4:23-24). Jesus told His followers to wait on the Holy Spirit.  He would send HIm to them fifty days after Passover, the Feast of Weeks, also called the  Feast of First Fruits, but now known as Pentecost.  It was here, after the Passover and resurrection of Jesus, that the Holy Spirit showed himself physically to dwell within believers.  This will be repeated at the gentile Cornelius’s house when he and his household commit their lives to Jesus. 

 The Spirit of God dwells in believers, making them sons and daughters of God. Adoption, when done correctly, means that there is no difference between a true-born child and the adopted child. The Father loves them both equally and with all the rights and privileges allowed.  Paul writes here that not only can we cry to our Father, we can do so as Abba Father, or Dad. We are not adopted as second-class children. We need not fear that God will treat us differently or fear that He will act as if He doesn’t know us. We are intimately loved and have the privilege of access to our Father God (Dad) whenever we need it.

And if children, then heirs; heirs of God, and joint-heirs with Christ; if so be that we suffer with him, that we may be also glorified together.

We become the children of God, regardless of how bad we are or where we start by believing in Jesus,  the only begotten son of the Father. He searches for us, and we choose to believe or not.  When is a son a prince?  When is a daughter a princess?  When their Father is the King.  We are sons and daughters of the King!  We are brothers and sisters of Jesus.  Joint heirs are a little different.  A  set of heirs will inherit from their Father and divide up the wealth evenly among each individual.  Joint heirs never divide things up - everything belongs to them all.   Let the world or non-believers mock and laugh.  Everything that Jesus has believers will have also! It is good to be a child of God!

Likewise the Spirit also helpeth our infirmities: for we know not what we should pray for as we ought: but the Spirit itself maketh intercession for us with groanings which cannot be uttered. And he that searcheth the hearts knoweth what is the mind of the Spirit, because he maketh intercession for the saints according to the will of God.

The Holy Spirit of truth does many things. He covers for the weaknesses of our humanity.  Dwelling within us, He speaks of Jesus- He does not promote himself.  He bears witness with the Spirit in others and unites believers as the family and the Bride of Christ.  Here Paul reminds us that the Holy Spirit prays for us when we don’t know how to pray. He prays on our behalf leading and directing us according to the will of God.  He bears fruit in our lives- things that we all desire and bring forth as a witness to God’s goodness. But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, Meekness, temperance: against such there is no law. (Galatians 5:22-23).

We know God the Father - We can cry out to our Father in Confidence.  We know God the Son - Jesus the Messiah, born as a man to know our humanness and to suffer and pay the ultimate cost for our sin. Now we know a little more about God the Holy Spirit - our comforter, leading and directing, reminding us who Jesus is and our role in the Bride of Christ. The world cannot see Him. The lost do not know him, yet God left nothing undone. Our rescue is His complete plan of Salvation.  Stand in faith and confidence.  If you don’t know Him- Get to know Him!  

Thank you for studying with us! God bless!