[Read Romans 8:9-17]
Fairly early on in my ministry, a longing was stirred in me to better understand the work of the Holy Spirit. I’m not exactly sure where that longing came from. I’m sure it was partly because I was interacting quite a bit with some of the Charismatic Christians in our community, which caused me to wonder and question some of the things I was hearing and seeing from them. Also, somewhere around that time, I also heard a nickname that had been given to John Calvin throughout the last few centuries—a nickname that isn’t often associated with him anymore. A nickname he’s been given is “The Theologian of the Spirit.” Isn’t that interesting? I don’t think many people think of John Calvin when they think about diving deeper into an understanding of the Holy Spirit, do they? Most of the time, people are turning to the Charismatics for this information.
So, as I began diving deeper into these things I looked in a bunch of different places. I read a bunch of Charismatic theologians. I talked to a bunch of Charismatic believers. I also began reading more John Calvin and other reformed theologians. As I spoke with the Charismatics, they spoke a lot about speaking in tongues and miracles and prophecy when they spoke about the Holy Spirit. However, when I read John Calvin and reformed theologians, they didn’t talk about those things as much. I remember getting frustrated at one point because I read a book by RC Sproul called, The Mystery of the Holy Spirit, and he didn’t answer any of my questions. He didn’t spend much time talking about speaking in tongues and prophecy and miracles. He spent most of his time talking about “normal” things and I wanted to hear about the “supernatural” things—the flashy things of the spirit.
Eventually, as I was preparing to teach our teenagers about the Holy Spirit, I came across this line that changed my life and my entire understanding of the Holy Spirit. I don’t remember exactly where it was, but it said that the primary work of the Holy Spirit is applying Christ’s work to the live of the believer. Of course, the Holy Spirit does other things—things that are “flashy” and “supernatural”—but the primary work that He does is bringing people to Jesus Christ for forgiveness and righteousness, then working in their lives to help them live by faith and become more like Jesus Christ. Then, I noticed that very thing as I read through scripture. The primary way scripture refers to the work of the Holy Spirit is in regards to the process of saving faith and continued living by faith—as we’ll see in this passage. And, since this is the primary way scripture refers to the Holy Spirit, I think this is also the primary way we should refer to the Holy Spirit.
And, to be quite honest, this may not seem “flashy” or “supernatural” on the surface, but this is the most powerful and supernatural work that we’ll ever experience in our life. Think about what I spoke about in last week’s sermon. Our natural tendency—at the core of our sinful being—we are hostile to God and unable to live the way He’s called us to live. And the Holy Spirit comes into our lives and completely changes that nature—freeing us from sin, changing our fundamental desires, and empowering us to live the God’s called us to live. That is flashy. That is powerfully supernatural. I like to say that the work of the Holy Spirit is extraordinarily ordinary.
But that doesn’t make it any less powerful. Our passage this morning reminds us of the power of the Holy Spirit. We read, “But if Christ is in you, although the body is dead because of sin, the Spirit is life because of righteousness. If the Spirit of him who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, he who raised Christ Jesus from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through his Spirit who dwells in you.” (Romans 8:10–11, ESV). Take a moment to let that sink in. It was the power of the Holy Spirit that raised Jesus Christ from the dead. That’s not some itty bitty power. That’s true power. Power that pulls a dead man out of the grave after three days. That’s the power of the Holy Spirit. And that same Holy Spirit, along with that same power, are inside you. That’s incredible.
And that’s one of the things the Charismatic church understands better than many other denominations. They really, believe in the power of the Holy Spirit, while many other denominations downplay the power of the Holy Spirit. However, while the Charismatics believe in the power of the Holy Spirit, they don’t completely understand the primary way that power is used in the life of the believer. The power of the Holy Spirit is not primarily manifested through miracles, prophesy, and speaking in tongues. The power of the Holy Spirit is primarily manifested through resurrection life in the life of the believer. We read, “He who raised Christ Jesus from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through his Spirit who dwells in you.” (Romans 8:11, ESV). The resurrection power of the Holy Spirit will apply that same resurrection power to your life—he will give life to your mortal body. That’s referring to the work of the Holy Spirit both now and in the future.
One of the things we don’t talk about much is the resurrection of the body. We talk a-lot about the resurrection of Jesus from the dead, but we don’t often talk about our own physical resurrection. Do you know that one day we will also be raised from the dead? Listen to this passage from 1 Corinthians: “But in fact Christ has been raised from the dead, the firstfruits of those who have fallen asleep. For as by a man came death, by a man has come also the resurrection of the dead. For as in Adam all die, so also in Christ shall all be made alive. But each in his own order: Christ the firstfruits, then at his coming those who belong to Christ.” (1 Corinthians 15:20–23, ESV). When Christ comes back at the end of time, our mortal bodies will be raised from the dead by the power of the Holy Spirit. We will receive new bodies—scripture describes these bodies as spiritual bodies that will never perish or fade. And we will spend the rest of eternity with Jesus in these new bodies. The resurrection of Jesus was just the beginning. Our resurrection will come one day and will also be accomplished by the power of the Holy Spirit. That sounds pretty flashy and supernatural, doesn’t it?
However, the Bible also teaches us that this resurrection life—resurrection power—is not just something for the future, but it’s at work in us right now. The power of the Holy Spirit is not just giving life to our mortal bodies sometime in the future, its giving life to our bodies right now as He lives in us. The power of the Holy Spirit is all about giving us life, now and in the future.
Here’s how the Spirit gives us life now. It’s stated very clearly in verse 13: “For if you live according to the flesh you will die, but if by the Spirit you put to death the deeds of the body, you will live.” (Romans 8:13, ESV). Here’s that same language that was used last week. The “flesh” is our sinful, corrupted nature. This passage tells us that if you keep living according to that nature, you will die—it will kill you. This is one of the most important things we can pound into our own heads. Sin will only lead to death and destruction. It will kill you.
So, if the power of the Holy Spirit is all about giving us life—and the flesh is all about bringing us death—the primary way the Spirit gives us life is to overcome our sinful nature. This passage clearly tells us that if we want to live—if we want life—we need to put to death the deeds of the sinful nature by the power of the Holy Spirit. There’s a famous quote from a theologian named John Owen who says, “Be killing sin, or sin will be killing you.” That’s exactly what this passage is teaching us. The power of the Holy Spirit is primarily directed at this one thing—destroying sin in our lives.
And we don’t think of this much because there’s a part of us that thinks we have things under control. We think we have the strength and power to kill our own sin. That’s why we rarely attribute this to the Holy Spirit. If we overcome a sin in our life, we give ourselves all the credit and feel really good about ourselves and our self-control. But guess what? You may be proud of your self-control, but guess where that self control came from? The Holy Spirit: “But the fruit of the Spirit is…self-control…” (Galatians 5:22–23, ESV). You didn’t have the self-control to refrain from that sin. The Holy Spirit gave you the self-control. The same goes with the other fruit of the Spirit—love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, and gentleness. You don’t have those things inside you either. If you’re truly loving to someone, that love came from the Holy Spirit. If you’re truly gentle toward someone, that gentleness came from the Holy Spirit. If you’re able to have peace and patience in the midst of trial and adversity, guess where those things came from? The Holy Spirit. That’s the power of the Holy Spirit at work in our lives.
And here’s why this is such an important reminder for each of us. You are not strong enough or capable enough to fight the sin in your life. You cannot do it on your own. If you try to do it in your own strength you will fail and fail and fail again. This is why the steps one and two of AA are (1) “We admitted we were powerless over alcohol—that our lives had become unmanageable” and (2) “We came to be aware that a Power greater than ourselves could restore us to sanity.” This is true for every one of us. Sure, some are addicted to alcohol or other substances, but we’re all addicted to something. We all have a sin addiction. And the first step to overcoming that sin in your life is to admit that you are powerless over it—you are not strong enough to defeat that sin. Then, the second step is to recognize that you have the power of the Holy Spirit inside you to restore your sanity and destroy the sin in your life.
And this will be a lifelong process for every, single Christian. Last week I mentioned our continued struggle—or wrestling match—with sin. This passage gives us that same imagery but a little more graphic. It’s war. Be killing sin, or sin will be killing you. Eventually, I will do a more extended teaching on spiritual warfare, but make sure you’re clear on this. The primary spiritual battle in your life is the battle with sin—the battle between your sinful nature and the Holy Spirit. It’s not primarily against devils and demons. It’s primarily against the sinful nature that goes everywhere you go. Yet, thanks be to God, the Holy Spirit also goes wherever we go, and is much more powerful than the sin in our lives, frees us to fight against the sin in our lives, and empowers us to win the battle with sin in our lives.
And in the midst of this battle with sin, the Holy Spirit does something else that helps us in our battle against sin. We’re told, “For all who are led by the Spirit of God are sons of God. For you did not receive the spirit of slavery to fall back into fear, but you have received the Spirit of adoption as sons, by whom we cry, “Abba! Father!” The Spirit himself bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God,” (Romans 8:14–16, ESV). The Spirit helps us in or battle against sin by reminding us that we are children of God. We are no longer slaves to sin, but we are sons of God. And since we are children of God, he interacts with us like a good Father interacts with his children. He doesn’t kick us out the moment we mess up or fail. He picks us up, dusts us off, gives us some correction, then sends us on our way.
This is an essential reminder as we battle sin in our lives. As I mentioned last week, we can easily become despairing and defeated in our battle against sin. We can easily begin to wonder if God has forgotten about us or if he has turned his back on us or if he has walked away from us. And if we feel like God has done those things, we are easily overcome with sorrow and weakness and unable to fight against sin. We just give up and give in.
Yet, when we’re reminded that we are children of God—we’re part of his family—and He has promised to never leave us nor forsake us—He’s not going anywhere—then we have the confidence to fight against sin. We don’t have to worry or despair every time we mess up. We know that God is our Father, he’s right there to pick us up, dust us off, correct us where needed, then—with a smile on his face—tell us to get back to work.
And in the midst of this, the Holy Spirit does the powerful work of reminding us that we are children of God. He gives us assurance that we are children of God. He writes that on our heart so we don’t forget it and so that we can feel the relief and freedom to fight the sin in our lives. That’s also the power of the Holy Spirit.
As I wrap up, I want to bring all of this back to remind us of Jesus. In this season of Lent—a season remembering the life and death of Jesus Christ—it’s important to remember that Jesus also fought a battle with sin in the power of the Holy Spirit. When Jesus was baptized, we read, “Now when all the people were baptized, and when Jesus also had been baptized and was praying, the heavens were opened, and the Holy Spirit descended on him in bodily form, like a dove; and a voice came from heaven, “You are my beloved Son; with you I am well pleased.”” (Luke 3:21–22, ESV). Then right after this we read, “And Jesus, full of the Holy Spirit, returned from the Jordan and was led by the Spirit in the wilderness for forty days, being tempted by the devil…” (Luke 4:1–2, ESV). Jesus fought a battle with sin and Satan in the wilderness, and he fought that battle in the power of the Holy Spirit, and he won that battle in the power of the Holy Spirit—and he won that battle throughout his life, and he achieved the victory of that battle on the cross.
Now, that same Spirit is at work in our lives. First, the power of the Holy Spirit works in our life, opening our eyes to see Jesus for who he really is and opens our hearts to grab hold of him by faith so that we can receive his forgiveness and his righteousness. Then, the power of the Holy Spirit works in our life to give us a new heart and new desires and new direction in life. Then, the power of the Holy Spirit continues working to bring new life out of death, slowly overcoming our sinful nature. The power of the Holy Spirit reminds us that we do not fight sin like slaves, but as freed children of God who are no longer condemned and who are empowered by the Holy Spirit to keep on fighting until the battle is won.