Bible Baptist Church

THE POWER OF THE INDWELLING HOLY SPIRIT

Pastor James J. Barker

INTRODUCTION:

1. Last week we finished Romans 7, which deals with the power of indwelling sin.

2. This morning, we will start in chapter 8, which deals with our deliverance – the power of the indwelling Holy Spirit (8:1, 4).

3. The Holy Spirit delivers us from the penalty of sin (8:1).

4. The Holy Spirit delivers us from the power of the flesh (8:3).

5. The Holy Spirit delivers us from the power of death (8:11).

I. DELIVERANCE FROM THE PENALTY OF SIN.

1. “Therefore” (8:1) brings us back to the previous chapters, which dealt with our justification (chapters 3,4, and 5) and our sanctification (chap. 6 and 7).

2. Therefore, because we have been justified, and because we have been sanctified – we are no longer condemned with the world.

3. This has absolutely nothing to do with our good works or church membership or baptism. We are saved by God’s grace through faith, and we are sanctified by God’s grace through faith (6:23; 7:4-6).

4. Beloved, if you are saved you are “in Christ Jesus” (8:1), and you are secure in Him. Romans 6—8 deal with our union with Christ (6:3, 4).

5. Some people have a hard time understanding what it means to be “in Christ.” We are identified with Christ in His death, burial, and resurrection.

6. Being “in Christ” means to be resting in Him, depending upon Him, trusting in Him, and believing in Him.

7. Let me give an illustration (cf. Gen. 7:1). The ark was a picture of Christ. Those inside the ark were saved. Those outside the ark perished.

8. The ark was pitched “within and without with pitch” (literally, “atonement” – Gen. 6:14). “The Lord shut him in” (Gen. 7:16). This is a beautiful picture of our security and safety “in Christ” (cf. Rom. 8:1).

9. This is what we call objective truth. But it is subjective also (cf. 8:16). The true believer in Jesus Christ is secure from the moment he trusts Christ up until he goes home to be with the Lord (8:38, 39).

10.When we believe in the Lord Jesus Christ and are born again, we receive a new power – the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit delivers us from the law of sin and death (8:2).

11.Here in 8:2 the Holy Spirit is called “the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus.” It is on account of the Holy Spirit’s acting as a law of life, delivering us from the law of sin and death, that there is now no condemnation.

12.Before we were saved we were condemned (John 3:18). But once a person receives Christ as his Saviour he is no longer condemned (Rom. 8:1).

13.This is not by keeping the law. Not that there was anything wrong with the law (7:12-14). The problem was not with the law but with us – “it was weak through the flesh” (Rom. 8:3). Carnal man is incapable of obeying the law of God. He does not have the power to obey.

14.This is what the apostle Paul means when he says the law “was weak through the flesh” (8:3). The law demanded what sinful man could not provide.

15.The law can only condemn. The law commands obedience but it cannot produce obedience. So God sent His only begotten Son to die for us on the cross and do what the law could not do. The law cannot save but Jesus saves.

16.We are now free from “the law of sin” (7:25) because we are now “in Christ Jesus” (8:1).

17.W.H. Griffith-Thomas wrote, “Law had failed because of man’s inability to work; the Gospel succeeds because of God’s ability to give” (St. Paul’s Epistle to the Romans).

18.Because of our sinful, fallen nature we could never keep the law, but the Holy Spirit produces a life of holiness and obedience in the child of God (8:4, 5).

19.The law is like a mirror that shows us we are dirty. The law shows us our sin and points us to Christ. And since it was Christ alone who kept the law, He is our perfect substitute.

20.“For Christ is the end of the law for righteousness to every one that believeth” (Rom. 10:4).

II. DELIVERANCE FROM THE POWER OF THE FLESH.

1. The Holy Spirit is mentioned 19 times here in Romans 8. The emphasis in chapter 8 is walking in the Spirit (8:1, 4).

2. The emphasis in chapter 7 is the problems of indwelling sin – the “flesh” (7:18).

3. The “flesh” here refers to the old, unregenerate, sinful nature. The flesh does not want to live for God. The flesh does not like to memorize Scripture. The flesh does not like to pray. The flesh does not like prayer meeting or Sunday School, etc.

4. Let me stop here and stress that walking after the flesh does not necessarily mean a man or woman is living a filthy dirty life.

5. The flesh may be educated, refined, cultured – but it is still the same wicked old flesh (cf. Rom. 8:5-8).

6. We should also note that there are religions and churches that appeal to the flesh. While these religious observances may be popular, God is not in it and they must be avoided by spiritual people.

7. One of the reasons so many Christians battle with the flesh and walk in the flesh is they lack a proper understanding of the Holy Spirit (Rom. 8:1, 2, 4, 5, 8, 9, etc.).

8. “Therefore” (8:1) looks back to the struggle of chapter 7 (cf. 7:15). When we get saved we still must deal with the flesh (7:14).

9. The unsaved man is totally dominated by the flesh (cf. 7:5). But once he gets saved, he receives the Holy Spirit (cf. 8:9). Every Christian is indwelt by the Holy Spirit. This is why deliverance from the flesh is available to each and every Christian.

10. Unfortunately, a Christian can be genuinely saved and still be carnal (cf. I Cor. 3:1). I know a preacher who says it is impossible for a genuine Christian to be carnal, and yet he himself is quite carnal in many ways. He just will not admit it (cf. James 1:22-25).

11. Last week I quoted Harry Ironside: “The flesh of the believer is no better than the flesh in an unbeliever.”

12. While it is true that some Christians are in the flesh, it should be emphasized that this is not the normal Christian life (8:8). It is not God’s will that a Christian walk in the flesh.

13. When a man gets saved, he is immediately indwelt by the Holy Spirit. And “the law of the Spirit of life” (Holy Spirit) delivers him from the law of sin and death (8:2).

14. The “law of sin and death” is the authority that sin had over us before we were saved. As I said last week, the conflict described in Romans 7 is not the normal Christian life.

15. It is unfortunate that some Christians have been taught that Romans 7 is the normal experience for every Christian. This is one of the reasons for all of the carnality in our churches.

16. Those who are “carnally minded” (8:6) walk after the flesh, and are spiritually dead – “For to be carnally minded is death” (8:6).

17. Paul goes on to say that the carnal mind is enmity against God (8:7), and that “they that are in the flesh cannot please God” (8:8). These verses describe unregenerate worldlings who walk after the flesh.

18. Please read verses 6-8 carefully, and then consider whether or not it is appropriate to watch vulgar TV and movies, or to listen to worldly rock music, etc. One cannot please God if he indulges in these sinful activities.

19. God does not want to change the flesh or reform the flesh. Neither does God want to punish the flesh. I once saw a video of Filipino RC’s whipping themselves and even crucifying themselves. This cannot please God.

20. Beloved, God does not work that way. His plan is to change us from the inside out and impart to us His divine nature (cf. II Peter 1:3, 4).

21. By the way, some Protestants are just as confused as these RC’s. I heard about a charismatic pastor who preaches, “We must kill the old man!” But the Bible says the old man is already dead (Rom. 6:6).

22. We died with Christ and we are risen with Christ. Victory over sin comes through Christ living in us and through us. We must be depending upon Christ, and walking in the Spirit, and yielding to Christ. If we depend upon our flesh we will fail every time (cf. Rom. 8:8-10).

23. Paul goes on to say that the same Spirit that raised Christ from the dead dwells in us and gives us the power to have victory over sin (Rom. 8:11).

24. Of course, if you have never been saved it is as natural for you to walk in the flesh as it is for a bird to fly or a fish to swim. Because this is all you know, and this is all you understand.

III. DELIVERANCE FROM THE POWER OF DEATH (8:10, 11).

1. The apostle Paul says in Romans 8:6, “For to be carnally minded is death; but to be spiritually minded is life and peace.”

2. We see this contrast over and over again in the Word of God.

3. Galatians 5:25, “If we live in the Spirit, let us also walk in the Spirit.”

4. Even after we are saved, “the body is dead because of sin” (8:10). Our bodies will be redeemed some day but that day has not come yet (cf. 8:11b, 23).

5. Our “mortal bodies” (8:11) will put on immortality at the resurrection. “For this corruptible must put on incorruption, and this mortal must put on immortality. So when this corruptible shall have put on incorruption, and this mortal shall have put on immortality, then shall be brought to pass the saying that is written, Death is swallowed up in victory” (I Cor. 15:53, 54).

6. On the other hand, “the Spirit is life because of righteousness” (8:10). In Romans 8:2, the Holy Spirit is called “the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus.” And we have the Spirit of life living in us.

7. Our spirit has been made alive by the Holy Spirit the moment we were born again.

8. The Bible says we are “quickened” by the Spirit of God (8:11; cf. Eph. 2:1-9).

9. We must understand that as far as God is concerned, unregenerate sinners are dead in trespasses and sins (Eph. 2:1).

10. I cannot understand why some Christians are enamored with pop culture and worldly celebrities and unsaved athletes and so on. These people are all dead.

11. And the Spirit of God has delivered us from the power of death.

CONCLUSION:

1. John Wesley was born in England in 1703. His father was an Anglican minister. He graduated from Oxford University and traveled to America as a missionary, arriving in the colony of Georgia in 1735 with his brother Charles, famous for composing hundreds of beloved hymns, such as “And Can It Be That I Should Gain,” “Christ the Lord is Risen Today,” “O For a Thousand Tongues to Sing,” and “Hark! The Herald Angels Sing.”

2. However, his work in Georgia was discouraging and he soon headed back home to England.

3. In the evening of 24 May 1738, John Wesley “went very unwillingly to a society in Aldersgate Street” in London. He wrote in his journal that, “one was reading Luther’s Preface to the Epistle to the Romans. About a quarter before nine, while he was describing the change which God works in the heart through faith in Christ, I felt my heart strangely warmed. I felt I did trust in Christ, Christ alone, for my salvation; and an assurance was given me that he had taken my sins away, even mine; and saved me from the law of sin and death.”

4. Note that John Wesley not only understood that Christ had saved him from the penalty of sin – he also understood that Christ had saved him from the power of sin.

5. Wesley wrote in his journal, “I felt I did trust in Christ, Christ alone, for salvation; and an assurance was given me, that he had taken away my sins, even mine, and saved me from the law of sin and death.”