Romans 8: The Spirit of the Son Makes Us Cry Out Abba, Father

Introduction

"Is the Holy Spirit really at work in me?" Hugh Wessel starts from this question that many Christians ask. We look at our lives, our weaknesses, the sins that keep coming back, and sometimes at other Christians who seem to have much stronger spiritual experiences. So we wonder: "Do I have enough of the Holy Spirit? Why don't I feel his presence?"

In this message, preached at the service on September 6, 2026, the preacher opens Romans 8:9-17. He points out that Paul does not begin by asking what we feel: he begins by telling us where we are. Paul has just declared that "there is therefore now no condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus" (Romans 8:1), and he goes on: "You aren't in the flesh but in the Spirit."

Hugh Wessel follows this movement in three steps: you are in the Spirit and the Spirit lives in you, you owe nothing more to the flesh, and the Spirit of the Son makes you cry out "Abba, Father." For, as he reminds us, the Christian life does not begin with what you must do for God, but with what God has done for you in Jesus Christ.

Outline of the Message

1. Paul Begins by Telling Us Where We Are

• The text does not say: try harder to become spiritual, be more disciplined. It says: "You aren't in the flesh but in the Spirit."
• The preacher connects this word with the Beatitudes: "You are the light of the world," "You are the salt of the earth." It is a declaration, a reality, something God has done.
• He challenges the translation read that morning, "you are no longer under the control of the flesh, but under that of the Spirit." The Greek is simpler: you are not "in the flesh," but "in the Spirit." The difference matters.
• Paul is not only describing two influences competing for our lives, the flesh pulling one way and the Spirit the other. He is speaking about our situation, our belonging, the reality in which God has placed us: we were in the flesh, and we are now in the Spirit.

2. A New Citizen Facing His Old Regime

• Imagine someone who has lived his whole life under a tyrannical regime. He knows its laws, its threats, its fear. He has learned to obey to save his skin.
• One day he escapes and becomes a citizen of another country. Some time later, his former government writes to him: "You must still obey us." The old fears return, and he may even instinctively feel an obligation to obey. But reality has changed: he knows he is no longer under that jurisdiction.
• The flesh is still present, and temptations remain real. "Sin can still speak with an old voice, like a master, but it is no longer your master. The Lord is your master."

3. The Spirit of Christ Lives in You

• In the same passage, the Spirit of God is called the Spirit of Christ, and then Paul says: "Christ is in you." We are united to Christ by the Holy Spirit, and the three persons of the Trinity are active in our lives.
• The preacher returns to the image of the vine and the branches (John 15:5). A branch does not bear fruit because people stand beside it to encourage it: "Come on, produce some grapes now!" It bears fruit because it is united to the vine, and the same sap feeds it.
• So the Holy Spirit is not someone who drops by from time to time to give us a little spiritual help. He truly lives in us. It is the life of the risen Christ at work.
• The Spirit who raised Christ "will also give life to your mortal bodies through his Spirit who dwells in you" (Romans 8:11). The Spirit who lives in you is the Spirit of the resurrection.
• In the morning, your first question should not be: "Do I feel spiritual today?" When you have failed, do not start by measuring the strength of your faith. Start where Paul starts: "I am in Christ, I am in the Spirit, the Spirit of Christ lives in me."
• "Your spiritual life does not rest on how tightly you hold on to Christ, but on the reality of being united with Christ."

4. You Owe Nothing More to the Flesh

• "So then, brothers, we are debtors, not to the flesh, to live after the flesh" (Romans 8:12). Yet the flesh often acts as if we still owed it something.
• Imagine someone who carries an enormous debt for years. Every month the creditor demands payment. Then one day someone else pays the entire debt and the account is settled. A few weeks later, the former creditor phones again: "You have to pay." This time the answer is ready: "No, I don't owe you anything anymore. Someone paid for me." He can call, threaten, stir up fear, but he no longer has any claim.
• That is our relationship with the flesh. An old anger says: "Feed me." A lust says: "Satisfy me." The ego says: "Defend yourself." Resentment says: "Hold on to that wound." And Paul answers: you owe it nothing. The flesh still knocks at your door, but it has no more right over your heart or your house.

5. A Healthy Fear and a Battle Fought by the Spirit

• The danger remains real. Paul says: "For if you live after the flesh, you must die" (Romans 8:13), and we must not take the force out of that sentence. How do we hold it together with "no condemnation"?
• There is a bad fear, the fear of slavery: "Will God finally reject me?" The answer is: no condemnation. But there is also a healthy fear, the kind that takes seriously the warnings of our heavenly Father.
• A father is walking with his child, and the child starts running toward the road. The father shouts: "Stop! A car could kill you." He does not say: "Sweetheart, if you want to stay, that would please me." He gives a direct order, and the child does not answer: "Daddy, why don't you love me?" It is precisely because his father loves him that he warns him.
• God's warnings in the biblical texts are not there to undermine our assurance. They are among the ways our Father keeps us on the right road. "Grace removes fear and condemnation, but grace does not remove the healthy fear of danger."
• "If by the Spirit you put to death the deeds of the body, you will live." We do not negotiate with sin. A Christian never fights his sin alone, because Christ lives in him. Sanctification is neither passive nor solitary: we act, but we act by the Holy Spirit.
• You may know very well what still knocks at your door: an anger, a secret habit, a jealousy, a lust, an inability to forgive. Never say: "That's just the way I am." That is no longer who you are, since you are in the Spirit.
• When the old master demands your obedience, or your loyalty to keep a grudge, you can answer: "I owe you nothing." "We do not fight sin to enter into life. We fight because the life of Christ is already in us."

6. The Spirit of the Son Makes Us Cry "Abba, Father"

• The preacher confides that he misunderstood this passage for a long time, until the day when, while reflecting and praying, he believes he understood it. The word "for" in verse 14 is important: those who put to death the deeds of the body by the Spirit are those whom the Spirit leads, because they are children of God.
• "For you didn't receive the spirit of bondage again to fear, but you received the Spirit of adoption, by whom we cry, 'Abba! Father!'" (Romans 8:15). We have moved from slavery to the family, and this new relationship expresses itself in a cry.
• A small child plays, runs, falls, gets hurt. Immediately he cries: "Daddy, it hurts, I fell!" Or, during the night: "Daddy! Mommy!" He does not wonder whether he has the right to cry out. He cries out because he knows he is their child.
• We sometimes look for experiences, and that often complicates things. We read that "the Spirit himself testifies with our spirit" and we look inside ourselves for what we should feel. Paul shows something deeper and simpler: whom do you turn to when you have sinned? Whom do you pray to when you suffer? Whom do you ask for help when you are afraid? "Do not despise your cries." Something extraordinary happens in the very ordinary cry of a child.
• In Gethsemane, Jesus prays: "Abba, Father, all things are possible to you" (Mark 14:36). That is the cry of the Son. Paul writes to the Galatians: "God sent out the Spirit of his Son into our hearts, crying, 'Abba! Father!'" (Galatians 4:6). And in Romans 8, it is we who cry "Abba, Father."
• Why is this possible? Because we are united to Christ, who is Son by nature. United to him by his Spirit, we are brought into his relationship with the heavenly Father. "The Father of Christ becomes our Father. His Spirit lives in us and his cry becomes our cry." The Holy Spirit does not only teach us to speak about God and to God: he makes us share in the Son's relationship with his Father. For the preacher, this is fundamental to understanding the Christian faith.
• He returns to his series on the Beatitudes: Jesus announces that our righteousness must surpass that of the Pharisees, those "religious professionals" who are always justifying themselves. The Christian, when he stumbles, turns to God and asks forgiveness. He knows he has sinned against God, that he has coveted, that he has made himself an idol.
• In his pastoral work, his struggle is to help Christians recognize what they are holding on to that keeps them from moving forward. He mentions a woman he has known for a long time, full of bitterness, who cannot change the past but keeps that bitterness. And a man filled with hatred toward the person who had killed his child: a pastor who came to comfort him reminded him that he could do nothing about it and that the man would be judged, but he answered: "I hate him anyway." He called himself a Christian, but could not accept that Christ lived in him and could be his righteousness.
• If you wonder whether the Spirit of Christ really lives in you, do not start by looking for an extraordinary experience. Ask yourself a simple question: whom do I cry out to when everything goes wrong? Whom do I turn to when my conscience accuses me? When prayer becomes difficult, does that movement toward God remain: "Father, I can't do this, I am too tired, I can't go on"? That movement is not insignificant: "It is the life of the child."

7. Heirs with Christ, and an Invitation

• "If children, then heirs; heirs of God, and joint heirs with Christ" (Romans 8:17). The preacher stresses these words: with Christ. The whole passage leads there: in Christ, in the Spirit, the Spirit in us, Christ in us, putting to death the deeds of the body by the Spirit, crying "Abba" by the Spirit of the Son, and now heirs with Christ.
• God does not keep us at a distance, saying: here is what you must accomplish to become my child. When a child is born into your family, he belongs to it, even though he cannot yet walk. You do not wait for him to be independent before welcoming him. He will grow in his understanding of the family and of the graces he has received, just as you grow in the Lord.
• The preacher is convinced that the Lord gives us this reality so that we may better understand his love: nothing can destroy our love for our child, even if that child turns away from us, as we sometimes turn away from God.
• When the old master knocks at the door, remember: you owe him nothing. When sin tempts you, put to death by the Spirit what belongs to the old life. And when you no longer know what to say: "Abba, Father, help me." Not because you managed to produce an experience or an act of obedience, but because the Spirit of Christ lives in you.
• The message ends with an invitation. Perhaps you have never confessed Christ as Lord, never dared to call God Father, and yet a desire was born in you this morning: "I too would like to be able to call God Daddy." "Do not despise this desire." You do not need to wait for an extraordinary experience or to become better before you come. Come to Christ as you are.
• The suggested prayer: "Lord God, I want to know you and to be able to call you my Father. Jesus, I believe that you gave your life for me and that you rose from the dead. I come to you as I am. Forgive me, receive me, and teach me from now on to live with you and to follow you as my Lord."

Key Takeaways

• Paul does not begin with what you feel, but with where you are: in Christ, in the Spirit, and the Spirit of Christ lives in you.
• Your spiritual life does not rest on how tightly you hold on to Christ, but on the reality of your union with him.
• You owe nothing more to the flesh: anger, lust or resentment may knock at your door, but they have no more claim on you.
• Grace removes the fear of condemnation, not the healthy fear of danger. God's warnings are those of a loving Father.
• The Spirit's testimony is not first a feeling: it is the cry of the child who turns to his Father, "Abba, Father."

Personal Application

1. In the morning, or after a failure, where do you start: measuring what you feel, or reminding yourself that you are in Christ and that his Spirit lives in you?
2. Which old voice is still knocking at your door right now (an anger, a secret habit, a jealousy, a grudge), and to which you can answer: "I owe you nothing"?
3. Is there an area where you tell yourself: "That's just the way I am"? What changes for you in knowing that you are in the Spirit?
4. Whom do you turn to first when everything goes wrong, when your conscience accuses you, or when you can't go on?
5. Are you holding on to a bitterness or a hatred that keeps you from moving forward? What could you say about it to your Father today?

Verses Cited

• Romans 8:9-17
• Romans 8:1
• Matthew 5:13-14
• Matthew 5:20
• John 15:5
• Mark 14:36
• Galatians 4:6

Frequently Asked Questions

How can I know whether the Holy Spirit really lives in me?

Hugh Wessel invites us not to look for an extraordinary experience or a feeling. Paul begins by telling where you are: in Christ, in the Spirit. The question to ask yourself is simple: whom do you turn to when everything goes wrong, when your conscience accuses you, when you can't go on? That movement toward the Father is the life of the child.

What does "we are debtors, not to the flesh" (Romans 8:12) mean?

Like a person whose entire debt someone else has paid, the Christian owes nothing more to the flesh. Anger, lust or resentment may still knock at the door and demand what they are owed, but they have no more right over your heart. You can answer: "I owe you nothing."

How can "no condemnation" be reconciled with "if you live after the flesh, you must die"?

The preacher distinguishes the bad fear, that of the slave who wonders whether God will reject him, from the healthy fear, which takes the Father's warnings seriously. Like a father who shouts "Stop!" to his child running toward the road, God warns us because he loves us and to keep us on the right road.