Greetings friend, welcome back. I hope you are finding your studies helpful and encouraging.
Before we begin our study today, I want to address a question that you might have about now: “Is it really possible to find freedom from years of drunkenness, drug dependence, or smoking? After all, I’ve been enslaved to this habit for years, and I’ve been taught that I’ll always be an addict and the best I can hope for is to be in recovery all my life. Can I really be free?”
This question is a good one and deserves an answer. In short, the answer is an overwhelming “YES!” with one qualification: you must believe the gospel of Jesus Christ and apply it in your life. This means that you must reject the lies the world teaches you about “addiction” and “recovery” and simply put your faith in the truth of the gospel.
The gospel is “the power of God for salvation” (Romans 1:16-17) and is “the power of God for us who are being saved” (1 Corinthians 1:18). So those who hear the message of the cross, and put faith in that message experience supernatural power! This is life-transforming power, Holy Spirit power, resurrection power (see Ephesians 1:19-20).
This power of God, and how it comes through the message of the cross, is why Paul decided to know nothing but Jesus Christ and Him crucified. Notice how this supernatural power is connected to the message of the cross in 1 Corinthians 2:1-5 NIV:
“And so it was with me, brothers and sisters. When I came to you, I did not come with eloquence or human wisdom as I proclaimed to you the testimony about God. 2 For I resolved to know nothing while I was with you except Jesus Christ and him crucified. 3 I came to you in weakness with great fear and trembling. 4 My message and my preaching were not with wise and persuasive words, but with a demonstration of the Spirit's power, 5 so that your faith might not rest on human wisdom, but on God's power.”
1 Corinthians 2:1-5 NIV
Question 1. How does 1 Corinthians 2:1-5 show that the message of the cross and the power of the Holy Spirit are connected?
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Can you experience God’s power to free you from slavery to sin, even if you’ve been captive to alcohol, drugs or cigarettes for a very long time? Overwhelmingly, yes! It just takes focusing on the cross, seeing Jesus loving you unto death, watching as He sheds His blood to atone for your sin, breathe out His last breath to give you His Holy Spirit, and die to forgive you and give you life! Can you see this right now? If so, dwell on it awhile, meditate on it, believe it as we now begin our study for today.
We studied in the last lesson about the struggles that we believers endure. We noticed that believers still have flesh. This is why sometimes even though it is in our heart to do what is right, we find that we do what we don’t want to do. In spite of this, we do not find our identity in our sin struggles but in Jesus Christ who delivers us.
We’ve noted before that if we walk by the Spirit, we will not gratify the lusts of our flesh (Galatians 5:16). Today, we will see from Romans 8 two functions of the Holy Spirit and also see how He helps us in the weakness of our flesh as we walk with Him.
Set Free by the Holy Spirit
We left off studying in the previous lesson about the war within us. Paul said he was “sold as a slave to sin”, meaning his flesh demanded to be gratified, and, at times, he succumbed to it. And it is in this context of failure and the disappointments of sin slavery that Paul pen’s the next words:
Therefore, there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus, 2 because through Christ Jesus the law of the Spirit who gives life has set you free from the law of sin and death.
Romans 8:1-2 NIV
Question 2. In Romans 8:1, Paul tells us there is no condemnation for us who are in Christ. In Romans 8:2, what is it that the Spirit of God does for us?