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.
b. The Presence of the Spirit
9 But ye are not in the flesh, but in the Spirit, if so be that the Spirit of God dwell in you.
John Piper: If you are like me, you may have strong longings from time to time for the mighty working of the Holy Spirit in your life. Perhaps you cry out to God for the outpouring of the Spirit in your life or in your family or church or city. Such cries are right and good, but what I have found most often in my own life is the failure to open myself to the full measure of the Spirit’s work by believing the specific promises of God. I don’t mean merely the promise that the Spirit will come when we ask. I mean all the other precious promises that are not directly about the Spirit but, perhaps, about God’s provision for my future — for example, “My God will supply every need of yours” (Philippians 4:19). God’s Spirit is supplied in an ongoing and powerful way precisely through specific acts of faith in specific promises for specific situations. Do I trust him right now to do what he has promised to do? This is what is missing in the experience of so many Christians as they seek the power of the Spirit in their lives. The Spirit is supplied to us “by hearing with faith” (Galatians 3:5) — not just faith in one or two promises about the Spirit himself, but about all the soul-satisfying presence of God in our future to do for us, and be for us, whatever we need.”
LLUSTRATION:
A Christian arrives in Heaven and meets the people of the OLD TESTAMENT Scriptures.
To Noah, he asks what it was like to be in the ark with all those animals.
To Joseph, he asks what it was like to be to understand dreams and be 2nd in command of all of Egypt.
To Moses, he asks what it was like when the Red Sea parted.
To David, he asks what it was like to take down Goliath.
To Solomon, he asks what it was like to have such great wisdom.
To Daniel, he asks what it was like to be in the Lions Den.
As they each responded, they in return asked one question…
What is it like to HAVE the SPIRIT OF GOD IN YOU?
c. The Purpose of the Spirit
THE PURPOSE OF THE HOLY SPIRIT
N T Wright, the famous New Testament scholar talks about the task of Christians in the world. He says, "Many say, 'Oh yes, the Holy Spirit came in his place to live in us.' Yes, but for what purpose? The Holy Spirit came to empower us to be God's life in the world. We are to do the work of God in the world. We are to be God to the world. And we cannot do that alone. The church is God's redemptive community in the world. Without you, and without you joined with God's other children, God's work will not be done. He will not do it without us. He will not do it for us."
(From a sermon by Rodney Buchanan, The Message of Jesus, 11/16/2009)
III. The Activity of the Spirit
We cannot live supernaturally without surrendering to the control of the Holy Spirit.
You and I receive all of the Holy Spirit we will ever have at the moment of salvation. The real question is how much of us does He have?
a. The work of the Spirit
Galatians 5:22 But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith,
23 Meekness, temperance: against such there is no law.
Fruit implies growth and there is not growth and that cannot happen unless we give the HS the control to regulate and enhance that growth.
b. The walk with the Spirit
The HS is our guide. Jesus said that the Comforter would guide us to all truth and bring His Words to remembrance. Through the work of the HS we discern, discover, and develop God’s will for our lives.
c. The witness of the Spirit
Our assurance of salvation comes from the Spirit of God.
Romans 8:16 The Spirit itself beareth witness with our spirit, that we are the children of God:
17 And if children, then heirs; heirs of God*, and joint-heirs with Christ; if so be that we suffer with him, that we may be also glorified together.
