02 Life In The Spirit Series

Have you ever gotten into your car, ready to roll, turned the key — or pressed the button — and all you get is *click*? Or maybe a weak turnover. Or maybe nothing at all. No engine. No movement. Just silence.

This happened just a few weeks ago out in the church parking lot. I noticed a vehicle with the hood up, so I walked over to see if they needed a jump. They turned the key and… nothing. No click. No crank. Just silence.

I happened to have my tool bag with me, so I pulled out my multimeter and tested the battery — 12.4 volts. So the battery was fine. I checked the terminals for corrosion — they looked clean. But when I grabbed the cables and gave them a little wiggle … they lifted right off. No connection.

So I cleaned the terminals, seated the cables properly, tightened everything down — and the moment we turned the key again … boom. It fired right up. Problem solved.

Maybe it’s not your car. Maybe it’s a tool in the garage — a drill, a blower, a lawnmower — and you’re halfway through a project when it suddenly dies. You press the button, squeeze the trigger, flip the switch, turn the key … and nothing happens. Why? Because the power source is gone.

We’ve all had those moments. And here’s why I bring it up: it’s a perfect picture of the spiritual reality Paul is describing in Romans 8. You can be well-designed. You can have all the right wiring, all the outward signs of faith. But without connection to the power source — without the Holy Spirit — there is no life. No movement. No transformation. Just effort. Frustration. And a lot of religious noise that doesn’t go anywhere.

Last week, we looked at Romans 8:1–8 — which begins with this incredible declaration that “there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus.” We talked about what it means to be “... in Christ Jesus” and the contrast between living “according to the flesh” and living “according to the Spirit.”

The flesh is all about self-effort, self-rule, and ultimately, spiritual death. The Spirit brings life and peace — real freedom; true Life In The Spirit.

In verses 9–11, Paul wants to make something crystal clear: If the Spirit of God lives in you, then you belong to Christ — and that changes everything. You are no longer powerless. You are no longer left to struggle through life under your own strength. You’ve been given the indwelling presence of God Himself.

That’s the heart of what Paul is showing us in these verses and it’s the core truth that I want us to leave with today: The Spirit gives us a new identity, a new vitality, and a new destiny.

We’re going to walk through those three truths together. And as we do, I want you to ask yourself this: Am I trying to live the Christian life without the power of the Spirit — or am I truly alive in Him?

Let’s begin with this first key truth:

I. The Spirit Defines Our Identity (vs. 9)

Paul picks up where he left off in verse 8, “... those who are in the flesh cannot please God.” and in verse 9 he says:

However, you are not in the flesh but in the Spirit, if indeed the Spirit of God dwells in you. But if anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ, he does not belong to Him.

Paul is drawing a stark line in the sand. There are only two categories of people in this world — those who are “in the flesh” and those who are “in the Spirit.” And what makes the difference isn’t church attendance. It isn’t family background. It isn’t how good of a person you think you’ve been. What makes the difference is this: Does the Spirit of God live in you?

That’s the defining mark. The Holy Spirit isn’t an optional add-on for super-Christians. He’s not some advanced stage of maturity that you reach if you pray hard enough or live holy enough. The Spirit is the evidence that you belong to Christ in the first place.

Let’s break this down by looking first at what Paul says about the absence of the Spirit — and then what it means when He’s present.

A. Without the Spirit, We Are Still in the Flesh

To be “in the flesh” doesn’t just mean we have physical bodies. Paul’s not talking about your flesh and bones here — he’s talking about a realm. A way of life. A condition of the heart.

To be “in the flesh” means to live under the rule of sin where self is on the throne, where God is resisted, and where death is the outcome. It’s the condition of every single one of us when we are outside of Christ.