Living Supernaturally

Living a

Supernatural Life

Romans 8:8-11

8 So then they that are in the flesh cannot please God.

9 But ye are not in the flesh, but in the Spirit, if so be that the Spirit of God dwell in you. Now if any man have not the Spirit of Christ, he is none of his.

10 And if Christ be in you, the body is dead because of sin; but the Spirit is life because of righteousness.

11 But if the Spirit of him that raised up Jesus from the dead dwell in you, he that raised up Christ from the dead shall also quicken your mortal bodies by his Spirit that dwelleth in you.

Introduction: Christian living is supernatural or it is nothing. The church is made of “living stones built into a spiritual house” (1 Peter 2:5). “Spiritual” is the opposite of merely “natural.” It means inhabited and guided and empowered by the supernatural Spirit of Christ.

Paul distinguished between a “natural person” and a “spiritual person” (1 Corinthians 2:14-15). And he described those who act like “natural” persons as: “mere humans” (1 Corinthians 3:4). Christians are not “mere humans.” They are “spiritual humans.” God resides in them (1 Corinthians 6:19). They have new supernatural life flowing through them. They live with power that is not merely their own.

There is no way we can be the church without this experience. The call to deny ourselves for the sake of love, to return good for evil, to forgive seventy times seven, to endure one another, and to keep on doing this with joy for 50 or 60 or 80 years is not possible to the natural human. It is only possible supernaturally.

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I. The Absence of the Spirit

We cannot live supernaturally without the indwelling presence of Holy Spirit.

a. No understanding

1 Corinthians 2:14 But the natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God: for they are foolishness unto him: neither can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned.

b. No union – “Now if any man have not the Spirit of Christ, he is none of his.”

2 Corinthians 5:17 Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new.

c. No unction – powerless

Non-Christians are not connected to the source of all power -

8 So then they that are in the flesh cannot please God.

II. The Abode of the Spirit

a. The Person of the Spirit

We cannot live supernaturally without a correct understanding of the Third Person of the Trinity.

Jesus said, “How much more will the heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to those who ask him!” (Luke 11:13).

John Piper writes the following…”Every Christian is indwelt by the Holy Spirit. The Spirit came to you the first time when you believed in the blood-bought promises of God. And the Spirit keeps on filling, and keeps on working, by this same means.

He has a name and He is real. Not a ghost, or a force but a real person with personhood.

OBJECT LESSON: HOLY SPIRIT

I have a children's sermon to try to explain the Holy Spirit. It isn't original to me or to the first person I heard use it, but I think it's powerful.

I take an empty glove and tell the kids that it's a magic glove. I tell them it is amazing because it can pick things up. Then, I drop it on a hymn book or Bible and tell it to pick up the book. When it doesn't move, I apologize for its failure and assure them that I've seen it pick up books before. I suggest it might be too heavy, so I move to a smaller book. When it still doesn't work, I move to a piece of paper.

When it still doesn't work, one of the older children is usually on to me and says that I need to put it on. I then suggest that I neglected something important. A glove can't pick anything up without a hand inside it. Then, I share that we can't do anything significant unless the Holy Spirit is inside us. Just as the glove can do things with my hand inside it that it cannot do by itself, so we need the Holy Spirit.

And yet, so many believers try: to deal with their sin problems without calling upon the Holy Spirit; to handle their personal problems without getting guidance from the Holy Spirit; and to serve God without getting power from the Holy Spirit. How can this be? I believe it’s because we are thinking of the Holy Spirit as a resource rather than as God's Person in our lives. I think it’s because we think about the Holy Spirit as one point on our spiritual checklist instead of responding to the leading of the Holy Spirit in terms of growing in a wonderful relationship with God. I think it’s because we treat the Holy Spirit as our "Sunday clothes" instead of letting God be involved in our ordinary, daily life.