THINKING BIBLICALLY ABOUT THE HOLY SPIRIT - Romans 8:5-11

Hey, I'd like to do this before we dive

into our passage this morning. I just

been really feeling just just a stirring

of the spirit uh in my heart and my life

just just throughout this week. And and

I've shared this wi with you guys. I

deal with anxiety from time to time. And

and over the course of of this week, I I

woke up I woke up at 6:00 in the morning

Saturday and I just my heart was just

racing. Try to catch my breath. I'm a

little bit out of breath this morning.

Try to catch my breath. And usually when

that happens, um, I know there are

chemical synapsis, if you've ever dealt

with with anxiety, there are things

going on in in the brain chemically that

often produce those those feelings. But,

uh, but I'm not above that that often

times there's a spiritual battle

underlying all of that as well. So, I

just I remembered praying. I've been

doing some breathing exercises and then

and then I decided I bought a weighted

vest, 20 pound weighted vest trying to

bring down my cholesterol levels, trying

to bring down my sugar levels. Been been

trying to eat a little bit healthier and

everybody said, [laughter]

and we don't. We don't eat healthier.

Tacos are just too good. Chips and salsa

are just too good.

>> But uh I got up, put on my weighted

vest, and I just I started walking three

miles in the neighborhood, and I just

started listening to the Bible just play

over the headphones, and it calmed me

down. And anyways, I just I've been

feeling just I don't know what the Lord

the Lord's always working. The Lord's

always doing something. And I want to be

in a position and church, this is my

prayer for us. I want to be in a

position where we can with wisdom and

biblical discernment

be able to feel, see, and step into how

God is moving and how God is working. I

think so often if we're not careful, we

live our life with spiritual blinders

because we're too focused on self

because we're more in love with the sin

in our life than we are in love with

Jesus Christ. And for a variety of

factors, we live our lives with

spiritual blinders. And that makes us

blind

to how God is moving and working. It's

not, and I want you to hear me, it's not

that God is not moving and working. It's

that often times we're not spiritually

in tune with how God is moving and

working. So, here's what I want to do.

We're going to be in Romans 8 here in

just a moment. I want to step into a

time of just individual repentance

and a time of corporate repentance. And

so, here's here's what I mean. Uh, in

just a moment, I'm going to ask us just

to bow our hearts before the Lord,

before we engage in his word, before the

gospels proclaimed, before we study his

his word together, that we would enter

into a moment where we repent of some

sin in our life. You know this just as

well as I do. And if you don't, I'm

going to clarify it for you. What keeps

you from fully experiencing the life God

has for you is the very sin that you

choose to engage in.

And it's the sin that you refuse to turn

away from. It's sin that you have

justified over and over again because it

feels good.

And let's just address the elephant in

the room. Sin does feel good.

The scripture addresses this and says

there is temporary pleasure in sin,

but it'll never bring you the

satisfaction your soul craves. It'll

never bring you the content that the

heart desires because only Jesus Christ

can do that. And when we choose to

repent of the temporary desires that the

devil tricks us with and waves in front

of us and it's enticing and it's int.

Some of us, we've given into it more

than we've desired this past week, last

night, whatever the case may be this

morning.

But Christ is there offering

who he is, his relationships. And we're

going to unpack this here in just a

moment. The Holy Spirit is there,

willing, available, and he wants to

indwell you

so that the the life that we live isn't

a life lived in my own strength. If

Roland tries to live a godly life in

Roland's strength, guess what? You know

this. You can testify to this because we

walk the same path. We will fail

tremendously.

If we try to white knuckle grip our

faith, we will fail.

But when we lean into

the indwelling presence of God,

when we depend on the filling of the

Holy Spirit in our life, church, that's

a game changer for us.

>> It's a game changer for us as

individuals, as children of God, sons

and daughters who have been called to

live a life indicative of the gospel

that transforms us and changes us.

It's a gamecher for us as a body of

believers, as a local corporate

gathering as we choose to step in the

spirit of unity

to not just pray, encourage, hold

accountable one another, seek the Lord's

face together. I'm so glad that song

that we sang here prior to this message

in the word portion of the service,

holy, holy, holy.

Did you know, I say this so often, the

spirit, the angels in heaven are

declaring that before the throne of God

right now.

And when we declare those words,

we're not beginning or creating some

aspect or form of worship, we're

stepping into participation into an

already existing worship right now.

And when we repent of our sins as

individuals and as a corporate body of

believers, don't miss this. We remove

the veil. The spirit removes the veil.

The spirit removes obstacles that

otherwise keep us from fully seeing

God's plan and hand at work in our life.

And so maybe for you this morning, you

come in here with some burdens,

with some heavy weight, with some

baggage. Maybe because you've been

dealing with a difficult season

and and maybe that season is a product

of your own sinful and prideful choices.

Maybe this season is a product of the

broken world that we live in and this is

just a hand that you've been dealt.

Remember, God never promised an easy

life.

Often times, we've learned this

throughout our series in the book of

Acts.

We see this pattern that when an

individual repents from sin and gives

their life to Jesus that oftent times

the devil will put a target on your back

and he will unleash the demons

to attack your life.

And the war, the battle, it gets fierce.

It gets difficult. But make no mistake,

church, greater is he who is in us than

he who is in the world. The power of God

rests in you.

And so wherever it is that you're coming

from today, let's for a moment, let's go

before the Lord. Let's repent of our

sins. Let's take it before his throne,

knowing knowing that when we turn to him

in faith, he is a just God to take the

sin that is your life.

And the scripture says, "He who knew no

sin," that's the savior, the lamb of

God, who's come to take away the sins of

the world, Jesus Christ, that he who

knew no sin, becomes our sin. And he

nails it to the cross

and his righteousness is now transferred

to your life. We call this in the church

world the great exchange. So, let's do

that for just a moment. Let's just bow

our hearts before the Lord. Let's have a

moment of repentance.

God, I'm so grateful for your mercy.

I'm grateful that they are renewed

morning after morning. I'm grateful that

you are patient with us, [snorts]

that your heart is set on the repentance

of your people, that you tar

because your desire is that all would

come to repentance. And so, Lord, I pray

today and if there's anyone in here who

has yet to repent of their sin and turn

to faith in you, Holy Spirit, would you

do a the work that only you could do?

Would you awaken faith in people? Draw

them to faith in Christ Jesus name. All

God's people said,

>> amen. All right. If you have a Bible or

an app, meet me in Romans chapter 8.

Romans 8 · chapter mention

We're going to unpack

what it means to have a biblical

understanding of the Holy Spirit. If

you've been with us since the turn of

the new year, we started a series called

Thinking Biblically. And the reason that

we are taking a couple of weeks to look

into the theme of thinking biblically is

because you know just as well as I do

that we live in a world that does not

think biblically.

And we live in a world that oftent times

might use the same verbiage, the same

lingo, and even speak the same language

that we would oftent times speak in the

church, but they have entirely different

definitions of what they mean by that.

And so what we need to do as believers

is to take to heart take to heart what

Peter says in his letters that we would

be ready to give a defense of the faith

that we would be ready to stand on truth

and to defend it. And here's here's the

key. You can't defend a truth you don't

know. You can't stand on a faith that

you've never experienced.

And so until we dive into the truth of

God's word, until we take it off the

shelf, until we dust the cover off and

dive into the pages that reveal the mind

of God, that reveal the character of

God, then we can't truly know who God

is. And once we engage in the truth,

once we receive the truth, we're called

to then build our life on the truth of

God's word. And who does the truth point

to?

The scripture says that Jesus is the

truth.

John writes in his gospel, Jesus

proclaims these words. I am the way, the

truth, and the life. No one comes to the

father except through me. There's

exclusive language when it comes to

faith in God. And the exclusivity of the

Christian faith means this. It means

that anyone can come to God, but they

can only come to God through the savior

Jesus Christ.

You don't come to God through good

behavior. You don't come to God through

different religions, denominations.

Being a Baptist won't save you. Being a

Catholic won't save you. Being a

Methodist won't save you. Only being a

son of God, a daughter of God will save

you. And so often we're more concerned

with religious rituals and traditions

than we are with biblical truth.

And if we're not careful, we can become

enslaved

them.

And we can be doing everything right on

the outside.

But there's no indwelling presence of

God in our life. As a matter of fact, if

you're familiar with the life, death,

and ministry of Jesus, you see this all

throughout the gospel narratives. You

see that Jesus dealt with a religious

group known as the Pharisees.

The Pharisees did everything right on

the surface. They went to church.

They've memorized scripture. They gave

of their time, talent, and treasures to

the temple and to the worship and the

ministry of the priest. And yet, time

and time again in his encounters with

them, Jesus will say things like, "Your

hearts are far from me.

Your seeds, your children, your serpents

of the devil." He would call them out on

what was likely a polished outside but a

dead inside. Whitewashed tombs is a

phrase that the gospel uses. Now, we

hear that in our modern day lingo. We

hear that in American culture and we

think that's not a big deal. Whitewash

tombs.

That was a spiritual gut punch in the

time of Jesus.

because what it effectively exposed

was the hypocrisy in people's lives.

Now, how many of us have ever been

guilty of being hypocrites?

Yes. And amen. If you're not raising

your hand, you're guilty of hypocrisy.

We're all guilty of being hypocrites.

The church is a place for the broken.

Did you know that?

>> The church is a place for sinners. It's

a place where we encounter the beauty of

the gospel and the true nature of who

God is and what his mercy and grace

reveals to us and how it's not just

information, but it's transformation.

It's transformative power and it shifts

everything about us.

And when we experience new life, we're

not meant to keep it. We're not meant to

put it in our pocket and hold it as a

deep guarded secret. We're meant to

expose it. We're meant to reveal it to

the world outside so that we can call

them in and invite them in. And in

Romans chapter 8, Paul speaks to a

Romans 8 · chapter mention

reality that you and I face today.

That we are all subject to a governing

power in our life.

We're subject to the pride and the flesh

and the sin that reigns and rules often

times in our heart and our mind and our

soul and in our spirit.

But when we return, when we repent from

that and turn away and we give our

hearts and our lives and our faith, hope

and trust over to the Lord, the

scripture says we are dwelled. We are

indwelt by the power of the spirit. And

so it's no longer the power of the flesh

that reigns and rules in our life. It's

the power of God that reigns and rules

in our life. And so, if you're familiar

with the book of Romans, Paul does an

incredible job in the beginning chapters

of unpacking the gospel, of unpacking

what it means to be saved by God, to

have your life transformed by the life,

death, and resurrection of Jesus.

And then, not only that, he begins to

unpack, well, here's how it looks like

in the everyday.

And in his latters, he'll write what

living in accordance with Holy Spirit

power is about. And it all traces its

roots back here to the doctrine of the

Holy Spirit that he establishes in

Romans chapter 8. Now, here's my

Romans 8 · chapter mention

challenge to us this morning because

this was a challenge for me as I studied

this passage this week. When we talk

about the Holy Spirit moving and acting

in our lives, it could very easily move

to a conversation about the fruit we

bear. And we know the fruit of the

spirit is love, joy, peace, patience,

kindness, goodness, faithfulness,

gentleness, and self-control. [singing]

Fruit of the spirit song. Am I alone in

this? Right. In the book of Galatians,

this is the fruit of the spirit, which

is great. Paul makes great arguments.

Paul proves his point on how

transformation

through the gospel through the

indwelling of the Holy Spirit means that

we will live differently.

Your marriage will be different. Your

perspective will be different. The way

you engage with the community will be

different as the fruit of the spirit

is revealed in your life. the spirit of

love, joy, peace, patience, kindness,

goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and

men,

self-control.

But in Romans 8, Paul isn't necessarily

talking about transformative behaviors.

He's going to do that much later in his

letter. But but but here's a challenge.

When we look at the doctrine of the Holy

Spirit, particularly the way Paul is

unpacking it in Romans chapter 8, he's

Romans 8 · chapter mention

not talking specifically

about transformative behaviors, which

are great. We'll get into that just a

little bit. But he's talking about the

seal of approval

that it provides when it's when he's

placed in our life.

When you have the Holy Spirit in you,

that is the testament of God's mercy and

grace in your life.

In Romans 7, Paul paints this picture of

people who are indwelled by the power of

sin. And sin will only lead to death,

but the spirit leads to something else

entirely. The spirit of God leads to

life. So, Romans chapter 8, we'll begin

Romans 8 · chapter mention

in verse 5.

Let me read it.

For those who live according to the

flesh

have their minds set on the things of

the flesh,

but those who live according to the

spirit have their minds set on the

things of the spirit. So, so here's the

question for us.

What is driving your life?

What is moving the wheels of your life

forward?

Remember, we all fall under the

authority of some power.

The question is, what power is it?

Paul says, if it's the flesh, then your

mind will be set on the things of the

flesh.

But if it's the spirit, your mind will

be set on the things of the spirit.

Which is why in a in a couple of

chapters in Romans chapter 12, Paul will

Romans 12 · chapter mention

then explain the result of living a

spiritfilled life means that your minds

are transformed. You think differently,

you live differently. And as you think

and live differently, you become a

living sacrifice unto God.

Meaning your thoughts, your words, your

actions, everything about you, marriage,

family, work, everything

becomes a sacrifice that you usher up

before the Lord in the name of Jesus,

empowered by the spirit.

Now, if you are following with our Bible

reading plan this year, which by the

way, if you're not, I encourage you go

to reachtogrow.com,

click on our Bible reading plan, and

join us right where we are this year.

Again, we are committed to reading the

Bible more and reading God's word

throughout 2026. But if you're following

along presently with our Bible reading

plan, we've just entered the book of

Leviticus.

And Leviticus is full of laws and

standards and guidelines that are all

focused on how the Israelites were to

offer sacrifices unto the Lord.

Now, this far removed from the

sacrificial system that was the Jewish

faith. It is the Jewish faith. We might

read it and we might think, well, how is

this relevant to me? Jesus is the

ultimate sacrifice. All of this was

fulfilled in the true lamb of God who's

come to take away the sins of the world.

But if we're careful, we might miss this

God is a God of order and detail. And as

a God of order and detail, he expects,

not that he suggests, but he expects

worship to be done rightly. truthfully

and correctly. Which is why we'll pick

up on this theme elsewhere in the New

Testament. The scripture says that those

who worship God must worship him in

spirit and in truth.

How do we worship God in spirit and in

truth? Through the indwelling power of

the Holy Spirit that's been provided to

us by the way, the truth, and the life.

And so we see that God expects and God

demands appropriate worship

and that worship is only provided by the

power of God that dwells in you. So what

is driving your life? Because how you

live your life

shows

what or who has power over you. That's

convicting

because it should cause us to hit the

pause button in our life and to reflect

on the choices I've made that the things

that I've said,

the things that I've thought and to ask

myself,

is this influenced by a worldly power

or by a divine power?

Is it influenced by a pridefulness

towards self

or influenced

by a pridefulness in the gospel?

By the Lord who dwells in me and through

me. Let's continue verse six. Now the

mindset of the flesh is death, but the

mindset of the spirit is life and peace.

The mindset of the flesh is hostile

toward God. We've talked about this

several times. Your sin puts you at war

with God.

The very sin that we attempt to justify,

the very sin that we attempt to make

little in light of,

it puts us at war with God. It's an

affront to his holiness. It's

disobedience and rebellion against him.

Why? Paul says here, the end of verse

seven, because it does not submit to

God's law. it is unable to do so. Which

is why later Paul's making the argument,

this is why you need the Holy Spirit.

Because without the Holy Spirit in your

life, you are unable to walk in

obedience.

It's a matter of the will, there's no

desire, the ability, no ability to walk

in obedience to God.

Which begs the question,

if you are living in intentional

disobedience before the Lord, in other

words, we'll dive into this a little

deeper in just a moment. There is no

desire to repent of your sin. There's no

desire to make things right in your life

in terms of obedience to God and to turn

from the rebellion that is your life

against the holy God of creation. If if

that is you,

then it begs the question,

is the spirit of God in you?

Because what does Paul tell us here?

Right here in verse 5, for those who

live according to the flesh have their

minds set on the things of the flesh.

It's not a matter of someone casting

judgment over you and saying whether

you're saved or not saved or whether

you're a true believer or not a true

believer. But it's a matter of facing

the reality that is our life and

understanding the accounting nature of

the truth of God spoken over us so that

we might ask ourselves, does the spirit

of God live in me? Because if you were

to look at my life now, it would be an

indicator of the flesh rather than the

spirit.

Now, we'll talk about what does that

battle look like for believers because

believers aren't perfect.

Believers oftent times fall victim to

the flesh, but we'll talk about the

differences here in just a moment. Verse

eight,

those who are in the flesh cannot please

God.

You, however, now right now, now Paul

makes a shift here, right? He's bringing

it home. You, however, and this is for

us, daughter of God, son of God, those

who have repented of sin and have placed

their faith in Christ. This is for us.

You, however, are not in the flesh, but

in the spirit, if indeed the spirit of

God lives in you. If anyone does not

have the spirit of Christ, he does not

belong to him. Now if Christ is in you,

the body is dead because of sin, but the

spirit gives life because of

righteousness. Now whose righteousness

is Paul pointing to? Christ.

Not your righteousness, not mine.

Because biblically there is no

righteousness in our life apart from

Jesus. Apart from the indwelling power

of the spirit.

Verse 11. And if the spirit of him

who raised Jesus from the dead lives in

you, I love this. I love this. Listen up

on this. If the spirit of him who raised

Jesus from the dead lives in you,

then he who raised Christ from the dead

will also bring your mortal bodies to

life through his spirit who lives in

you. I love the now, the both now and

forever statement there. And all God's

people said,

>> "Amen." Lord, would you bless your word?

Holy Spirit, would you stir our hearts

this morning?

This is powerful.

One of the things that we need to

recognize is

Paul's not describing

two kinds of Christians.

At least not only. He's describing two

realms of existence.

Did you know that there is a spiritual

realm that exists right now? an unseen

realm that is currently at war for the

souls of creation.

The New Testament is going to put it

this way that we don't battle against

flesh and blood, but we battle against

powers and principalities

and the forces of darkness in this age.

Do you know who the author of those

powers and principalities are? Who the

author of death, sin, and evil is?

It's the devil and his demons.

And he wants to take us down on the

burning ship.

The devil knows his power is limited.

The devil knows his days are numbered.

And so he will do everything in his

limited power to draw us into the

burning ship to go down with him. And so

what Paul is revealing here is these two

realms of existence. It's the realm of

the flesh

which everyone is born into. It's our

default nature. We are born into sin. We

don't learn to sin. It is our default

setting. Which is why the Holy Spirit

dwelling in us is so transformative

because the Holy Spirit does what?

Restores our nature to precinct

conditions or puts us on the path to get

there. So that there's a power that

rests in us to overcome the sin in our

life. Remember salvation, the indwelling

power is both past, present, and future.

We are saved from our past sins.

The Holy Spirit seals us. We are covered

by the blood of Jesus. Past sins are

forgiven. I love the old Sunday school

adage. And where are those past sins

thrown? In the sea of forgetfulness,

the Holy Spirit presently gives us the

strength to overcome the power of sin in

our life.

We still deal with temptation sin. Even

as Christians, Paul gets into this here

in just a moment. Even as Christians, we

still deal with the presence of sin and

the power it can have over our life. But

through the indwelling power of the Holy

Spirit, we can overcome.

We won't be sinless. I've said this

often, but as Christians, indwelled with

the power of the Holy Spirit, we can sin

less.

Here is one of the markers of a growing

Christian.

It becomes, and I hesitate to say this

because there can be so so many

misunderstandings, but I I'll unpack it

with us. One of the markers of a growing

Christian is it becomes easier to say no

to your sin.

Why?

Because this voice becomes louder than

the voice of temptation.

Now, that doesn't mean you won't

struggle, but it does mean that we have

access

to a power. We have access to an ability

that that Paul, we just read it, says is

not available otherwise if you're still

living in the flesh.

So, two realms of existence, the flesh

or the spirit. And so from this, I want

us to go back through the passage and I

want us to look at three truths

about the role of the Holy Spirit in our

lives. Often times I feel

you ever been on the playground in

elementary school? You ever experience

being the last person picked on the

team?

It's kind of a feeling that nobody

really likes.

Oftentimes, I think even as believers,

and maybe your experience has been

different. Often as believers, the Holy

Spirit becomes that last person that we

pick to be on our team. We're all about

God the Father. We're all about Jesus

the Son. And and oftentimes, the Holy

Spirit just kind of gets left at the end

of the table and is not invited into the

conversation. But remember, we serve a

triune God.

One God, three persons, Father, Son,

Holy Spirits.

all equal in power and nature.

And so it's a package to use that term.

When we say yes to Jesus,

we're we're saved because the power of

the Holy Spirit awakens faith in us. We

see that Jesus is the way, the truth,

and the life. And Jesus brings us before

the father in heaven. Thus, we have

unity and reconciliation.

But let's let's go back. us. Look at

these three three truths of the role of

the Holy Spirit. If you're taking notes,

here's the first one. The Holy Spirit

defines

who belongs to Christ.

That's a marker of believers

is that you possess the Holy Spirit.

Now, for so many people, maybe you've

never understood the role of the Holy

Spirit in your life. Maybe you've never

understood the access to power that you

have in your life by way of the Holy

Spirit. But the Holy Spirit is the

marker, the one who seals. Now, let me

just clarify this. The Holy Spirit isn't

an abstract force. The Holy Spirit isn't

a spirit that hovers. The Holy Spirit is

a person who indwells.

One God, three persons, three distinct

persons. That's known as the doctrine of

the Trinity. Again, God the Father, God

the Son, God the Holy Spirit. and the

person of the Holy Spirit indwells

believers. Let's look at verse nine.

Paul says, "You however are not in the

flesh, but in the spirit." If indeed the

spirit of God lives in you. If anyone

does not have the spirit of Christ, he

does not belong to him.

So Paul is drawing a clear line in the

sand. This is a dividing line between

those who genuinely know who Christ is,

who genuinely have been reconciled to

the father in heaven by Christ the son

through the Holy Spirit

as opposed to those who remain in the

sin of the flesh. And what's the

dividing line, church? The indwelling

power of the Holy Spirit.

The Holy Spirit's in you. He's not a

later addition to your life. He's not

someone you access in your time of need.

He's someone who indwells you

permanently right now at this very

moment. Now, this isn't very Baptist of

me to say, but right now you are

operating under the divine power of the

Holy Spirit. You are living in the

spirit.

It's the spirit of God that guides and

leads and influences you. It's the

spirit of God that gives you power. It's

the spirit of God that helps you declare

through prayer God's truth over your

life to live in expectation of God's

miracles in your life. Did you know

miracles still happen today?

>> Miracles occur all across the world. And

what the Holy Spirit does is the Holy

Spirit gives us the eyes to see

God's hand at work. Now often times I

think we miss out on miracles actually

taking place because in our minds we

think miracles are only and we begin to

list these top tier miracles.

But did you know mom and dad the miracle

of your child coming to Jesus that's a

miracle to celebrate?

I know some of our stories and the

restoration of your marriage, that's a

miracle

of God moving and working in your life.

The fact that you woke up today and had

breath in your lungs is a miracle of

God.

>> God is moving and working. And so what

do we see here? We see that belonging to

God

is not defined, right? This is the

dividing line is not defined by external

religion. It's not defined by what we

do. But belonging to God is defined by

who indwells us. Now that doesn't negate

the importance of fruit bearing in our

life. Because elsewhere after describing

this, Paul will constantly come up to

this theme, this this anticipated

rebuttal where people will say things

like this and and we've mentioned it

here before. Well, if if God forgives

anyway,

if if it's not about the things that I

do, but about who dwells in me,

then I can just do what I want because

the spirit already dwells in me. And and

Paul says, "Watch it. Watch that line of

thinking.

We shall not continue to sin so that

grace may abound." Absolutely not. Paul

says

because those who have a lack of

transformation in their life and who

continue to live in accordance with the

flesh is an indicator that perhaps the

spirit of God does not dwell in them.

And this is something that we need to

confront in our lives.

So what does this tell us?

It means that the Holy Spirit is not

merely

evidence of salvation.

But the Holy Spirit is living union with

Jesus Christ.

I think I think this is what appeals to

me the most to know that my savior walks

with me

and he walks with me and he talks with

me and he tells me I am his own.

and the joy I share as we terry there.

Come on. None other has ever known. This

is why I don't sing on the worship team.

But God dwells with us.

He's not far and away. He's not I'll do

my thing, God, you do your thing, and on

Sundays I'll have an encounter with you.

He's walking with you when you're doing

your thing.

And he's saying there's there's a thing

that's better.

That's death. That's decay. That's rot.

And you go back to it. And Jesus uses

these powerful words like a dog goes

back to its vomit.

But there's a better way. The spiritual

way. Union with Christ. So what does

this mean?

This means that assurance is not

grounded necessarily in how intensely we

feel or how consistently we perform, but

it's grounded in whether the spirit of

God lives in you. I want us to wrap our

minds around this. The Holy Spirit is

the seal. The Holy Spirit is the

testifier of you before the Lord.

And if Christ lives in you,

he's not a roommate, then it's just

sharing space.

He's the Lord who owns the house.

If you were here last week, I love the

illustration that Pastor Jared shared

about the dresser drawer. Jesus is not

just a compartment in our life. He is

our life. The Holy Spirit's not just a

compartment in our life. The Holy Spirit

doesn't just take up space in our life.

The Holy Spirit is our life. That's

Paul's argument here. You once had a

life. Sin reigned and ruled. Now you

have another life. The spirit reigns and

rules.

And this is why the spirit defines who

belongs to Christ. Because when God

looks at your life, he either sees the

spirit in you or he sees sin in you.

And the scripture tells us, we'll read

or in the book of Leviticus throughout

our reading plan that there is no

remittance. There is no forgiveness.

There is no justification for sin

without the shedding of blood.

Life for life.

And when you have been sealed with the

Holy Spirit,

guess whose blood has been shed on your

behalf?

Jesus.

And if you refuse

to follow Jesus, you refuse to turn from

your sin, and you refuse to embrace

faith in Jesus Christ, your life will be

required to pay for your sin.

Someone's life will pay for your sin.

Either yours in eternal condemnation

or Christ's

in eternity and in his kingdom. Here's

the second thing that we see. The Holy

Spirit transfers us from self-ruule to

God's rule. We've already talked about

this in depth.

What does Paul declare? Go back with me

to verse five.

For those who live according to the

flesh have their minds set on the things

of the flesh. But those who live

according to the spirit have their minds

set on the things of the spirit. Now,

the mindset of the flesh is death, but

the mindset of the spirit is life and

peace.

Now the mindset of the flesh is hostile

towards God because it does not submit

to God's law. Indeed, it is unable to do

so. Those who are in the flesh cannot

please God. Paul is painting a

contrasting picture

where you rule your life or the spirit

rules your life.

Where God is in control or the devil is

in control.

Now, I don't know many people in my 20

plus years of ministry that have ever

told me, I don't think not one has ever

told me, "The devil is in control of my

life and I'm for it."

But there have been people who have

embraced sin

who have

intentionally refused to repent of it

and turn to the Lord

all because they think they want to be

in control. We've talked about this

several weeks ago. In your sin, you are

never in control. I want you to know

that.

>> Who's in control? The devil and his

demons.

>> There is a power that rules us. We are

under authority and subjected. Our will

is subjected to a ruler.

Sin or is it Christ? Is it the spirit

that dwells in you? And this is what the

Holy Spirit does. The Holy Spirit as he

indwells us transfers us out of the

dominion of darkness. Paul uses these

words in Philippians and Ephesians. Out

of the dominion of darkness and into the

kingdom of his beloved son, church.

This is what the Holy Spirit does. He

sets us free. And so here's here's a

challenge. This calls for honest

self-examination. This is a point in our

service where we really have to face the

reality that is our life. For some of

us, this this morning is an affirmation

that God is working in you and through

you and that you're leaning heavily on

the spirit. Yes and amen. Let's continue

to press on together. And maybe for some

of us, this is a moment where

accountability is beginning to set in.

There's some conviction that is taking

place right now. We need to have an

honest self-examination.

It's not whether we fight sin. We all

fight sin.

The presence of war is an active reality

in our life. The question is who rules

over you in that war? Who's your

general? Who's leading that advancing

army in your life? I pray that it's

Jesus.

I pray that it's a spirit that indwells

you. And let me just say this very

clearly as I can. If there is no desire

for God,

if there is no grief over your sin, if

there's no internal movement, there's no

intentional desire and passion and angst

to move towards holiness,

that absence should not be ignored in

your life. That is a clear indicator

that you need the Holy Spirit in your

life.

that you to rest in his power. But I

love here, we'll close on this. Paul

doesn't stop at transformation,

at least presently. But what does he do?

His eyes lift towards the future.

You see, we live in the both now and

forever reality. We've phrased it this

way, the already but not yet.

We experience God's power. We experience

God moving in our life. We experience

blessings and and miracles. We

participate. We bear witness. I I love

to use this phrase. We have front row

seats to God moving and working in our

life. We get to experience that now.

But there's still something greater to

come. I think of these moments where

we're worshiping together. And I've said

this before. I love standing in the

back. I love worshiping from back back

there because I get to see you worship.

I get to hear you sing. I get to watch

your hearts bowing in obedience before

the Lord and I get to participate and be

a part of that.

It's a privilege that God has given us

and God moves and God works in us. We

get to experience that now. And as

beautiful and as wonderful as it is to

think that God still has something

better

because our worship will be free from

human limitations

and it'll be set free into all that God

has prepared for us. So uh let me read

verses 10 and 11. We'll close with this.

Right? The Holy Spirit brings

resurrection life now and forever.

That's the picture that we see. Verse

10. Now, if Christ is in you, the body

is dead because of sin, but the spirit

gives life because of righteousness.

We demonstrate that. We've been

demonstrating this since the turn of the

year through baptisms.

Guys, we've celebrated six baptisms this

year. That's incredible. We have more

planned. God's doing something. God's

moving. The Holy Spirit is doing

something. And I'm for it. It's

incredible to be a part of it.

And when we experience when we when we

witness baptisms, this is what we're

witnessing. Death to sin,

resurrection to new life in Jesus

Christ. Verse 11. And if the spirit of

him who raised Jesus from the dead lives

in you, then he who raised Christ from

the dead will also bring your mortal

bodies to life through his spirit who

lives in you. That is a both now and

forever reality

pointing to the new life we can

experience now. The indwelling spirit

who raised Jesus from the grave is the

indwelling spirit that lives in us. Here

here's what that means.

It means currently right now we're not

called to manage sin.

We're called to actively put it to

death.

And we do so through the power of the

Holy Spirit. It also reminds me of we

talked about it this morning in our

worship meeting

about how God takes serious the place

where he dwells.

And in the Old Testament that was the

tabernacle.

And if you are following our Bible

reading plan, we just finished the book

of Exodus. Hey, that's three Bible uh

books already. Three Bible books already

that we've read together, church. Amen.

And towards the end of Exodus, you have

God giving the plans, the blueprints of

the tabernacle.

And it's very detailed. It's very

specific. It's very intricate. And you

may read that and you may think, okay,

it's just inches and feet and and

you know, the gold being embroidered and

and the tablets being in the ark of the

covenant like, okay, why all the

details? Because God takes serious.

Don't miss this. God takes serious the

place where he dwells. And the glory and

majesty of God dwelt in the tabernacle.

But now because of Jesus,

God no longer dwells in a temple made of

stone. He dwells in living temples.

Who's the living temple?

Us. And if God takes serious the stone

temple

that he built and gave details for and

how it was to be pure and righteous and

free from stain and defect, how serious

do you think he takes you living temple

of God where his spirit of glory and

majesty dwells

so that our lives are indicative of the

God who lives in us. Well, how do we do

that? Through resurrection power. What

does resurrection power do? It breathes

life into things that were dead.

Your sin makes you dead.

The things in your life you're dealing

with that are dead are dead because of

rebellion and sin.

Turn to Christ. Trust in him and

experience both life now and forever.

Church, this isn't about half-hearted

faith.

It's about the spirit living in you,

dwelling in you, giving you new

identity, new dominion, and new destiny.

And let me close with this.

The question is, has the spirit of God

taken residence in you?

Have you surrendered

your life to him? Let us pray. Lord, we

thank you for your word. We thank you

for the power that is the gospel, how it

transforms and how it changes lives. And

Lord, we pray that in everything,

you would be glorified.

God, I pray that

your hand would be upon the remainder of

our service as we worship you through

song.

Holy Spirit, would you do your thing?

The thing that only you can do, which is

to change lives, which is to awaken

people out of death and sin to life

eternal. Lord, we love you. It's in

Christ's name we pray. All God's people

said, "Amen." Hey, would you stand to

your feet with me? We're going to close

our service. We're going to sing

together.

This is a time of response for you. This

is a portion of our service where

[music]

we have our altar open. You're free to

come forward and and and kneel before

the altar. Um you can you can come to

Pastor Eric or myself. We we're be we

will be available to pray with you. We

we would love to pray with you. Dads, if

you want to bring your family and just

have some time where you get together

with the Lord, you can do that as well.

This is a time for you. The gospel's

been proclaimed and when the gospel is

proclaimed, a response is required. What

is your response?

And so let's sing together. Let's lift

up the name of Jesus together

and let's continue to pursue him. I love

you, church.