Pastor Tony Evans begins his book on the Holy Spirit by telling us an imaginative, hypothetical story. Suppose you’ve just come from the appliance store and you have seen the most incredible refrigerator. It’s huge. It has all the bells and whistles that you’d expect on a refrigerator, plus some things you’d have never imagined. This thing will turn off the lights at night, put out the cat, and lock the doors to the house. Of course, it costs thousands more than a typical refrigerator, but you are so impressed that you buy it anyway.
The refrigerator is delivered to your home. You are so excited; you shop for all your favorite foods to stock it. You stock it and go to bed for the night.
The next morning you run into the kitchen excitedly, only to discover the milk has soured and the ice cream has melted. The vegetables are wilted and changing colors. Your new refrigerator is not working.
You call the appliance store to give them a piece of your Christian mind. The salesman says, “I don’t understand what has happened. Open the door and see if the light comes on.” You open the door. No light.
“Put your ear close to the refrigerator and tell me if you can hear the hum of the motor.” You don’t hear any hum.
He says, “There’s a cord at the back of your refrigerator. Check to see whether it has been plugged in.” Lo and behold, there’s the cord, and it has not been plugged in.
You say to the salesman, “You’re right. The cord was not plugged in. But for the kind of money I paid for this refrigerator, that shouldn’t matter. This thing should work.” The salesman says, “No, no, you don’t understand. Appliances are dependent in nature. Although your refrigerator has all the parts and coolant necessary to cool all the food you put in it, it was manufactured in such a way that it will not operate without an invisible power source called electricity. Unless you plug in that cord, your food will continue to spoil.” (The Promise, Tony Evans, vv. 9-10)
Now that’s a silly story to state an obvious truth. No matter how much your refrigerator cost, it won’t work like it is designed unless it is plugged in to electrical power. Neither will your Christian life work as God designed unless you are living in the power of the Holy Spirit. If you are not living in the power of the Holy Spirit, don’t be surprised if your life turns sour and you have a meltdown when the heat is on.
A recent survey by LifeWay Research revealed a significant number of evangelicals have a profound misunderstanding about the character and nature of God. Almost one-third (30%) agree with the statement that “Jesus was a great teacher, but he was not God.” Almost one-half (46%) believe the “Holy Spirit is a force but is not a personal being.” Almost one-in-five (18%) believe the “Holy Spirit can tell me to do something which is forbidden in the Bible.” This kind of confusion about the Holy Spirit may explain, in part, the low living of the Christian life.
How important is the Holy Spirit? There would be no creation if there were no Holy Spirit. There would be no human race because we would not have the principle of life operating in us. There would be no Virgin Birth apart from the Holy Spirit. There would have been no victory over Satan in the wilderness for Jesus because it was the Spirit who led Him to be tempted of the devil. If there were no Holy Spirit, there would be no Christians, no Bible, no restraint of sin in this world, and no expectation of the return of Jesus Christ. No wonder John Stott said that the Christian life can be defined as life in the Holy Spirit.
That difference the person of the Holy Spirit makes in the life of the believer is seen between Romans chapter seven and chapter eight. There is one single reference to the Holy Spirit in chapter seven. Paul says in 7:6: But now we have been released from the law, since we have died to what held us, so that we may serve in the newness of the Spirit and not in the old letter of the law. Later Paul describes life not lived in the Holy Spirit in 7:18b-19: For the desire to do what is good is with me, but there is no ability to do it. (19) For I do not do the good that I want to do, but I practice the evil that I do not want to do. Then you come to chapter 8 of Romans.
The word “Spirit,” referring to the person of the Holy Spirit, is found in the original language 21x, more frequently than any other chapter in the Bible! The difference the Holy Spirit makes in the life of a Christian is dramatically outlined for us in chapter eight. The chapter begins by stating that there is no condemnation before God if you are a Christian. The chapter ends by saying there is no possibility of separation from God, and in between, there is no defeat for those who live in the power of the Holy Spirit. The overarching theme of chapter 8 is your security as a child of God. The possession and power of the person of the Holy Spirit assures us of that security.
Billy Graham said, “Man has two great spiritual needs. One is forgiveness. The other is goodness…God heard that first cry for help, that cry for forgiveness, and answered it at Calvary…But God also heard our second cry, that cry for goodness, and answered it at Pentecost…” You could say Jesus met our need for forgiveness, and the Holy Spirit met our need for the power to be good. Jesus met our need for eternal life; the Holy Spirit meets our need for our internal life. Only the Holy Spirit provides the power to overcome our sinful nature.
Paul presents the gospel of Christ in Romans. In chapters 1-4, he declared all people have sinned and are guilty before God. God’s provision for guilty sinners is his Son’s death on the cross. God forgives or justifies sinners when they repent of sin and put their faith in Christ alone as their Savior. I heard theologian Bill O’Reilly, formerly of the Fox Network, say that everyone is saved of all faiths if they lived their life on the basis of the Golden Rule. What a colossal insult that is to Jesus crucified on the cross. If chapter 1-4 is about justification, which explains how God makes guilty sinners not guilty before Him, chapter 5-8 deals with the teaching of sanctification, which is how to live a righteous and holy Christian life.
In chapter five Paul emphasizes that God’s love frees sinners from God’s wrath. The result is that we have peace with God. In chapter six, Christ’s death sets us free from the power of sin because of our union with Christ. This is pictured in baptism. In chapter seven, Paul says that the law reveals that we are sinners and cannot obey it perfectly. Using the picture of a remarriage to Christ, we have been set free from obeying the law in order to be saved; instead, we are saved by our relationship with Christ. How do we experience the fullness of this amazing salvation that Jesus Christ has provided? The person of the Holy Spirit provides the power for us to overcome our sinful nature.
What are the implications that the Holy Spirit provides the power to overcome our sinful nature?
I. THE SPIRIT SECURES OUR SALVATION (ROM. 8:1-2)
Therefore, there is now no condemnation for those in Christ Jesus, (2) because the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus has set you free from the law of sin and death.
There are some verses that a Christian simply must memorize. John 3:16 and Romans 10:13 are two examples. In addition, you need to know Romans 8:1: Therefore, there is now no condemnation for those in Christ Jesus. You’ll use it over and over.
“Therefore” lets us know that Paul is concluding his argument. Since God’s love has made peace with sinners, their union with Christ has broken the power of sin, and their relationship with Christ means they are no longer required to obey the law to be accepted before God, therefore, they are not condemned.
Notice Paul says “no” condemnation. The word means, “not any,” or “not one.” The word “condemnation” is a legal word from the law court. The word refers to the sentence and the execution of the guilty. Dzhokhar Tsarnaev and his brother blew up a couple of bombs at the Boston Marathon. People died and others were maimed for life. He’s guilty and deserves to be executed. That’s this word “condemnation.” This is you and me before God apart from a saving relationship with Jesus Christ. However, because of Jesus’s death on the cross and our faith in in Him, we are set free from the punishment we rightly deserve. Amazingly, we are sinners through and through; but, in Christ, we stand before God as totally innocent.
Should a Christian feel guilty when he commits sin? Yes, like a child that disobeys his loving Father, you should feel convicted about your sin. No, like a criminal that has been set free, you should not question your acceptance before the Judge of the universe.
This freedom from condemnation is only for those who are “in Christ Jesus.” Paul uses this phrase 119x in his letters. It’s shorthand for being a Christian. There are only two categories of people: those in Adam and those in Christ. On one hand, those in Adam are under the condemnation of God and face His terrifying wrath for their sins. On the other hand, those in Christ are forgiven. Christians have their judgment day for sin behind them, but unbelievers have their judgment day for sin before them.
It’s not a trivial question to ask, “Are you a Christian?” When God destroyed the world with a flood there were only two kinds of people: those safely in the ark and those dying outside the ark. They may not have believed that God was going to judge the world but that didn’t change the reality that He did. Hear the warning if you are in the state of condemnation. Come to Christ as your Savior now.
Paul explains why they are not condemned in v. 2: because the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus has set you free from the law of sin and death. Before Christ there was the power of sin that dominated a person and produced spiritual death or separation from God. But now that you have Christ, you have a new power and authority that reconciles you to God and gives you the power to have victory over sin. The law of gravity holds you down, but you can be set free from the law of gravity by the law of aerodynamics. The person of the Holy Spirit gives us victory over the law of sin within our sinful nature.
The Holy Spirit empowers Christians to overcome their sinful nature. One implication of the Holy Spirit’s empowering is that He secures our salvation. We are no longer condemned. A second implication of the Holy Spirit’s power to overcome our sinful nature is that the Spirit sanctifies our salvation.
II. THE SPIRIT SANCTIFIES OUR SALVATION (ROMANS 8:3-4)
How was this victory over sin achieved? Paul explains in v. 3-4:
(3) For what the law could not do since it was weakened by the flesh, God did. He condemned sin in the flesh by sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh as a sin offering, (4) in order that the law’s requirement would be fulfilled in us who do not walk according to the flesh but according to the Spirit.
We know from chapter seven that the problem wasn’t with the law. Paul said in 7:12 that the law was holy, just, and good. The problem was with our sinful nature. We were too weak to keep the law perfectly. Thank God, He intervened! The God the Father’s one unique Son, Jesus, willingly took upon Himself our human nature and lived perfectly in this sinful world. Jesus offered His sinless life as a substitute for our sin. The goal of the law is to move us to be like Jesus. For this transformation to occur, a believer has to choose to follow the desires of the Holy Spirit rather than the desires of the sinful nature. The word walk describes a steady progression in the same direction. Occasionally, you might turn aside or even go back some of the way you’ve traveled, but the inclination or determination of your life is to be like Christ.
To sanctify something means you set it aside for its intended purpose. If you tear off a piece of paper to scribble a note, you have sanctified that paper. I picked this tie from many to wear this morning. I have sanctified this tie. God intends for you to be like Jesus Christ. The Spirit of God does that work in our life. He works to remove sin from our life that we may become more like Jesus. This work of the Holy Spirit is called sanctification in the Bible.
Craig Barnes is the pastor of the National Presbyterian Church in Washington, D.C. His father was a pastor and abandoned the family when Craig was seventeen. They never heard from him again. He tells about a year later when he and his brother tried to hitchhike some distance to see his mother around Christmas time. Hours pass, it begins to snow and gets dark. They are standing beside the road reciting Bible verses to one another. Verses their father had them memorize as children. Verses like Prov. 3:5; Rom. 8:28; Jer. 29:11. And for the first time he heard them. He writes:
“I was confused, frightened and grieving over the loss of everything that once held my world together. I needed a savior…. This is the great advantage of abandonment—it makes it easier to hear God’s words of love and purpose for us…. I thought I had captured God like a canary in my hand. But when I opened my hand, all I found was a Bible reference. Now I had to believe. I had to believe not in what I knew about God, because that was just information. Now I had to believe that God knew me. I had to believe that I was precious, honored and loved…. I began that evening as a lost teenager on the side of the road. After hearing the word of the Lord to me, I knew my life had been lost for a purpose…. Nothing is ever wasted when God converts us.”
What Craig Barnes experienced was the Holy Spirit using the Word of God to do a saving and sanctifying work in his life. The Holy Spirit longs to do the same kind of saving and sanctifying work in our life. Not later this week but right now. Whatever failure your experiencing right now--be it personal or relational or emotional or something from the past or something in the future--is a witness to your need to turn to the Holy Spirit and know His indwelling presence and power. What is the word of the Lord to you right now? Hear it. Trust it. Obey and experience the sanctifying power of the Holy Spirit.
The Holy Spirit gives us the power to overcome our sinful nature. One implication is that it secures our salvation. A second implication of the Holy Spirit’s power to overcome our sinful nature is that the Spirit sanctifies of our Christian life. A third implication of the person of the Holy Spirit is surrender to the Holy Spirit.
III. THE SURRENDER TO THE SPIRIT (ROM. 8:5-11)
Why does it happen for some and not for others? Paul explains in v. 5-8 that the only people who can live in a way that pleases God are those who live according to the Spirit. They yield to the promptings of the Holy Spirit and surrender control of their life to His instructions found in the Bible.
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. (6) Now the mindset of the flesh is death, but the mindset of the Spirit is life and peace. (7) The mindset of the flesh is hostile to God because it does not submit to God’s law. Indeed, it is unable to do so. (8) Those who are in the flesh cannot please God.
What does Paul mean by mindset? Our basic mindset reveals whether we are a Christian or an unbeliever. If a person’s nature is of the flesh, the sinful nature, they tend to fundamentally think and act in ways that satisfy their ungodly self-centeredness. They are fundamentally selfish. If a person’s nature is of the Spirit, they tend to fundamentally think and act in ways that love and glorify Christ. They live their lives looking outward and not inwardly. They tend to serve others rather than seeking to be served. Our ambitions drive the use of our energy and time, and what we give much of our thoughts and resources to reveals what is our fundamental nature. The nature that dominates you is revealed by your thoughts and actions.
Our mindset is not a little matter. It is clue to what may be our eternal destiny. This is as dramatic as the difference between death and life or being hostile toward God Almighty or having peace with God. There are some people with whom you should not pick a fight. Someone said you shouldn’t pick a fight with the press because they have reams of paper and buckets of ink. Likewise, it is the height of folly to make your Creator your enemy. Your mindset not only affects your present conduct, it tells you about your eternal destiny. Listen to what I am saying, your mindset reveals if you will have life everlasting, which means peace now and for eternity.
In v. 9-11, he applies these truths to his readers:
(9) 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. (10) Now if Christ is in you, the body is dead because of sin, but the Spirit gives life because of righteousness. (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.
The distinguishing mark of a Christian is the indwelling Holy Spirit. There are two consequences of the indwelling Holy Spirit. They are distinguished by the two “if’s” in v. 10 and 11. First, in v. 10, though your body is mortal, your life is eternal. Sin is the cause of the mortality of your body but the Spirit is the cause of eternal life. Do you see that in v. 10? Read. The second consequence is in v. 11. The Spirit will one day raise this body and fit it for eternity. The Holy Spirit is in the business of transforming us inside and out. This transformation occurs as we submit to the Holy Spirit.
An elderly saint prayed in church: “Oh Lord we will praise Thee; we will praise Thee with an instrument of ten strings.” People wondered what he meant, but understood when he continued, “We will praise Thee with our two eyes by looking only unto Thee. We will exalt Thee with our two ears by listening only to Thy voice. We will honor Thee with our own two hands by working in Thy service. We will honor Thee with our own two feet by walking in the way of Thy statutes. We will magnify Thee with our own tongues by bearing testimony to Thy loving kindness. We will worship Thee with our hearts by loving only Thee. We thank Thee for this instrument, Lord keep it in tune. Play upon it as Thou wilt and ring out the melodies of Thy Grace! May its harmonies always express Thy glory!”
This Christian prayed that every part of his life respond to God and be an example of holy living. When He prompts you to pray, then pray. When He puts it in your mind to put down the remote and pick up your Bible, pick up your Bible. When He challenges you to not stay home on Sunday and watch some mind-killing, soul-numbing TV show but go hear the teaching of the Word of God, go to church. The victory over sin is won by obeying the Holy Spirit’s gentle persuasion in our life through conviction of sin or direction through the Bible. A lifetime of responding to the gentle promptings of the Holy Spirit will in time transform your life.
CONCLUSION
My pastor, Wana Archer, tells about a time when he was a teenager and worked at a restaurant for .25 cents/hour. In this restaurant, there was a gambling machine that looked like a pinball machine. A player would deposit a nickel and get one shot to hit the jackpot or win some money. He noticed that people would get a quarter’s worth of nickels to play. After it had been played by several it would get close to paying off. He got to where he could determine when that was. He’d get a quarter’s worth of nickels and play. You’d win $2. Well, that was a whole day’s wage.
When school started back, he had to give up that job, but he would walk near the restaurant and he’d think about that gambling machine. He’d go in and put in a nickel and lose just like all those customers he watched lose. He did this several times.
It dawned on him that he’d become addicted to gambling. He talked to the Lord about this. “What am I going to do?” The Lord made it clear that he had to stay clear of that gambling machine. If it meant going a block out of the way so he wouldn’t be tempted, then that is what he must do. He did. In time as he resisted the pull to gamble, he noticed the desire to gamble left him. He yielded to the Holy Spirit and the Spirit fulfilled the law of righteousness in his life. He experienced peace and life and not death.
What’s your gambling machine? The Spirit wants to sanctify you and draw you away from a belief or a behavior that will not produce the life of Christ in you. Instead, it is producing the death of sin.
I don’t know anyone who has to go to church to discover that they are sinners. I don’t know of anyone who has to go to church to discover that they are guilty. That’s the work of the Holy Spirit in this world. What I do notice is that people need to know how God has dealt with their sin so they can be forgiven and reconciled to God. Romans makes clear that reconciliation with God by good works is impossible. We can’t be good enough. It requires repentance and faith in the Savior. Repentance means I want to stop going my own way. I want to go God’s way. It’s no longer acceptable for me to ignore God. I must have God in my life. I surrender all. I will trust and obey. If that is working in your heart, that is the work of the Holy Spirit seeking to bring you to salvation. What an amazing gift from God and testimony of His love for you. Let’s talk about that. Join me at the front. Say, “I want to be a Christian.” At least, leave me a note on a contact card and put it in the offering plate. I will follow up.
The great need of the church today is for Christians to demonstrate righteous, Christ-like lives. The world is progressively doubting the Bible, but they do not doubt the reality of God when they see Christians live holy lives. This is only possible in the power of the Holy Spirit. Believer, yield to the Holy Spirit.
Only the Holy Spirit provides the power to overcome our sinful nature.
