THE SPIRIT OF LIBERTY: Free to Experience a New Life

In the opening verses of the eighth chapter of Romans, Paul tells us that we have been liberated by the Holy Spirit to be free to experience both a new law (v.1-2) and a new love (v.3-8). Yet, there is more! In verses 9-11, we discover that we are free to experience a new life!

9 But you are not in the flesh but in the Spirit, if indeed the Spirit
of God dwells in you. Now if anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ, he is
not His.
10 And if Christ is in you, the body is dead because of sin, but the
Spirit is life because of righteousness.
11 But if the Spirit of Him who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in
you, He who raised Christ from the dead will also give life to your mortal
bodies through His Spirit who dwells in you.

Life in the Spirit is described by the Apostle in this text in three ways. He tells us that it is:

REAL LIFE IN THE SPIRIT (v.9).
Those who do not have a second, spiritual birth into God’s family are in a state of spiritual death. They have physical life, but it is a pseudo-life—a mere existence. They move around as zombies—animated corpses and are dead in trespasses and sins. But when the Spirit of God enters us we receive in Him real life—the very life of God indwelling. Otherwise, we are not saved! Adrian Rogers has said, "You are either a saint or an ain’t!" Friend, you aren’t living until you meet the Savior! The Spirit is the breath of God to make you alive in Christ.

RIGHTEOUS LIFE IN THE SPIRIT (v.10).
Remember that in chapter six, we learned of our union with Christ in His death—that we are dead to sin, but in His resurrection we are alive to righteousness. Christ is our life—all He is available to us for all that He wants us to be. Phil Mickelson recently won the Master’s and is one of the top golfers in the game. I play golf—but not at that level—and that is a charitable assessment. If I told my golfing buddies one day that I was going to play like Phil, they would roll on the ground laughing. Yet, what if I silenced them by hitting booming drives, soft lobs to the green and snaking in putts to shoot a 59! Now, I have shot a 59—but it was on nine holes! Doing it for eighteen holes like Phil would astonish my playing partners! Suppose that my secret was a pill that had been invented containing all the knowledge, skill, coordination and ability of Phil Mickelson, so that it was no longer I, but Phil playing golf through me! Well, this is what the Christian life is—the Righteous One—Christ Himself expresses His life through my humanity.

RESURRECTION LIFE IN THE SPIRIT (v.11).
Salvation is in three tenses: we have been saved from the penalty of sin (justified), free from sin’s condemnation; we are being saved from the power of sin (sanctified), free from sin’s compulsion; we will be saved from the presence of sin (glorified), free from sin’s contamination. Each of these is in view in Paul’s teaching in this text. We have real life in the Spirit because of a spiritual birth—salvation. We have righteous life in the Spirit because of the Spirit’s indwelling and filling—sanctification. Then, we see there is resurrection life in the Spirit because of the Eternal One within—glorification. This is a living hope!