Let us turn to God's Word in
that portion that we were considering this morning, Romans chapter
8. I'll read again verses 7, 8 and 9. Romans 8, verses 7, 8 and 9. Because the carnal mind is enmity
against God, For it is not subject to the law of God, neither indeed
can be. So then they that are in the
flesh cannot please God. 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. We said something this morning
with regards to man's natural condition, remarking how that
he is clearly a creature. Tis how, says the psalmist of
God, tis how he was made us, not we, ourselves. And he's created, he was made
in God's image, after God's likeness was he created. But we notice
especially that Mando, a creature, is corrupted. is a sinful creature. Our first parents fell there
in the garden of Eden, in the very paradise of God. They broke
God's commandment concerning the tree of the knowledge of
good and evil, and they partook of the forbidden fruits. And
so man as a result of that fall, is now in a state of enmity and
impotence. Certainly that is what is declared
here in our text, the words that we were looking at in verse 7. The carnal mind, it says, that
is the mind of the flesh, that natural mind, that noble part
of man, his understanding, is enmity. He is enmity personified,
and he is not subject to God's law. It says neither, indeed,
can be. Surely that word indeed emphasizes
for us the utter impossibility of man in any way improving himself. He is impotent. He is unable
to do anything for his own spiritual good. They that are in the flesh,
it says in verse 8, cannot please God. But then we have the contrast
in verse 9, and this is the verse that I want really to concentrate
your attention upon this evening. But, Paul is writing to the church
at Rome, he's writing to those who have made a profession of
faith, They have been converted to the Lord Jesus Christ 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. Here we are reminded of the spiritual
nature of real religion. the spiritual nature of that
religion that is only the right religion in the sight of God. We cannot exaggerate the ministry
of the Holy Spirit in making Christ known to the sinner. It
is the Spirit, and only the Spirit, who can make Christians. He is
spoken of there in Ephesians. Ephesians 1.17 as the spirit
of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of Him, in the knowledge
of Christ. He is to us that spirit. He makes
us wise to salvation. He grants that revelation whereby
we come to know God and the Lord Jesus Christ whom he hath sent,
and that is life eternal. It is all the work of the Spirit
of God. And so, tonight I want to take
for our theme that of the indwelling of the Holy Spirit, as we have
it here in verse 9. You are not in the flesh, he
says, but in the Spirit, if so be that the Spirit of God dwell
in you, the indwelling of the Spirit. Now if any man have not
the Spirit of Christ, he is none of His." First of all, looking
at the words before us, I want to deal with the Spirit's relationship
with the Lord Jesus Christ, because He is spoken of quite clearly
in that relationship. The end of the verse we read
of him as the Spirit of Christ. And when we think of Christ,
we're thinking in particular here of the person of Christ,
who Jesus of Nazareth really is. And who is Jesus of Nazareth?
This is that one who is God's. God's manifest in the flesh. This is that one who is evidently
a man. A man there is, a real man. And yet, evidently, as we read
through the Gospels, we see that he is also the eternal Son of
God. That is the great mystery of
godliness, the great mystery of our religion, as Paul puts
it in 1 Timothy 3.16. God was manifest in the flesh.
Speaking of the Lord Jesus. So when we think of the relationship
of the Spirit with the Lord Jesus Christ we have to take account
of that person and who that person is and the true natures in that
person. Think of the Spirit in his relationship with the Lord
Jesus and in terms of the deity of the Lord Jesus Christ. And
clearly here Paul speaks of that deity because he speaks of the
Spirit both as the Spirit of God and also as the Spirit of
Christ. That's one and the same. Is he
not saying that the Lord Jesus Christ is God? They're one and the same. God
is there in the Lord Jesus Christ. He is the image. of the invisible
God. And we know that this is the
greatest of all mysteries, the doctrine of God. God is one. Here, O Israel, the Lord our
God is one Lord. God is one in essence. There's
no more than one God, who is the living and true God, the
Creator of all things. And yet, the One God subsists
in three Persons. He is God the Father, God the
Son, and God the Holy Spirit. And do not those divine names,
Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, express something of the relationship
between the three Persons? The Father is that One who eternally
begets, The Son is that One who is eternally begotten? Isn't that the whole scope of
the Gospel really, that Jesus Christ is the eternal Son of
God? Remember the language of John?
John who has much to say with regards to the truth of the Lord's
deity. What does he say there in that
second epistle? "...who transgresseth and abideth
not in the doctrine of Christ hath not God, he that abideth
in the doctrine of Christ, he hath both the Father and the
Son." Here is the relationship. The Father begets, eternally
begets, the Son is eternally begotten, and the Holy Spirit
or the Holy Spirit is He who eternally proceeds from the Father
and from the Son. We read those words. I deliberately
started our reading not at the beginning of John 16. I wanted
to read those words that we have at the end in verse 26. When
the Comforter is come, says Christ, whom I will send unto you from
the Father, even the Holy Spirit, which proceedeth from the Father."
There is the relationship. As the Father eternally begets
the Son, so the Holy Spirit eternally proceeds. And the Lord Jesus
speaks of Him as that One who is proceeding, who will come
to testify even of Christ Himself. But as He proceeds from the Father,
so we see Him as one who also proceeds from the Son. Later
in John's Gospel, in chapter 20, we're told of the Lord and
His disciples, how He breathed on them and said unto them, Receive
ye the Holy Ghost. He is very breathing upon them.
Here is the procession of the Holy Spirit. These are deep truths,
profound truths. It is the very doctrine of God.
But those Divine Names, Father, Son and Holy Spirit do speak
to us in some measure of the relationship. Three persons,
distinct persons, but one Divine Essence. God is One. and God
is three. And so when we read here of the
Spirit of God, the Spirit of Christ, we see something of that
doctrine. And there's no priority, no inferiority. We're not to think that in some
way the Father is greater than the Son, and Father and Son are
greater than the Spirit. There's none of that. There's
no idea of any subservience between those persons. They are co-equal,
as they are co-eternal. The Father is God, the Son is
God, the Holy Spirit is God. Oh, here is the relationship
then. There is a relationship in the
doctrine of the Trinity, the relationship between the Holy
Spirit and the Holy Son. But then, here in the Gospel,
of course, we are to understand that Paul is referring, really,
to the complex person of the Lord Jesus. He is God-man. And
so we can think also of the relationship that there must be, not only
with Christ as He is God, but also a relationship with Christ
as He is man. And now the Holy Spirit is constantly
serving the Lord Jesus Christ throughout every part of His
earthly ministry. We know that He comes as the
promised Messiah, the Christ, the Anointed One. And we are
told, O the Father, give us not the Spirit by measure unto him. There is a great outpouring of
the Spirit upon him as upon no other man that has ever lived. Our God had promised in the Eternal
Covenant that this would be the case. The language of Isaiah
42, Behold my servant, whom I uphold, mine elect, in whom my soul delighteth,
I have put my Spirit upon him. All that glorious effusion. How the Spirit is time and again
spoken of as the Spirit of promise. The promised Spirit. Look at
what we have there at the end of Luke's Gospel. The Lord Jesus is speaking to
his disciples after his resurrection and previous to his departure,
his ascension. He says, verse 49 in Luke 24,
Behold, I send the promise of my Father upon you. but tarry ye in the city of Jerusalem
until ye be endured with power from on high. The promise of
my Father, that is the Holy Spirit. And remember how when he comes
there on the day of Pentecost and how Peter speaks of what
is happening, that this event has come about because of the
activity of the Lord Jesus Christ himself. What they are witnessing
is from Christ, being by the right hand of God exalted, having
received of the Father the promise of the Holy Ghost. He, that is
Christ, hath shed forth this which ye now see and hear. Oh, there is that promise of
His coming. He is the promised Spirit. And now, as the promised
Spirit, He is constantly throughout the Lord's earthly ministry. In that state of humiliation,
the Lord Jesus is so dependent upon the Spirit. And the Spirit
is ministering to Him. You know something of the detail.
His very birth. His very birth. The angel says
to Mary, the Holy Ghost shall come upon them. She is with child. How is she with child? She is
a virgin. She is with child of the Holy
Ghost. Oh, that is the miracle of the
virgin birth. That is the great mystery of
the Incarnation. That Holy Thing conceived in
Mary's womb is the work of the Holy Spirit. And then, later
at his baptism, as he comes out of the waters of the river Jordan,
the heavens open, the Father speaks, the Spirit descends upon
him in the form of a dove. They're all the persons of the
Godhead present on that auspicious occasion, the baptising of the
Lord Jesus. It's there that he is so anointed
with the Spirit. And then he commences his ministry.
And how does he commence that ministry? He's led of the Spirit.
The Spirit leads him. Leads him into the wilderness.
And he's there 40 days and 40 nights. Fasting. And there he is beginning his
ministry and beginning it in the midst of great temptations.
But he resists the devil. He dispatches Satan from him.
The devil leaves him for a little season. And then we are told
how he returns from the wilderness. He returns in the power of the
Spirit. All his ministry, you see, right
from the very outset, so dependent upon the Holy Spirit. And then,
next we see him going, as was his custom, into the synagogue
on the Sabbath day. And the minister there sees him,
and the minister hands to him the book of the prophet Isaiah,
and the Lord turns to the words of Isaiah 61. And he reads that
very portion. Oh, what a portion of Scripture
is that! And it's all being fulfilled
now, fulfilled in the ministry of the Lord Jesus Christ, the
Spirit of the Lord God is upon them, because the Lord hath anointed
me to preach the good tidings unto the meek. He hath sent me
to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives,
and the opening of the prison to them that abound, to proclaim
the acceptable year of the Lord, and the day of vengeance of our
God, to comfort all that mourn, to appoint unto them that mourn
in Zion, to give unto them beauty for ashes, the oil of joy for
mourning, the garment of praise for the spirit of heaviness,
that they might be called trees of righteousness, the planting
of the Lord, that He might be glorified. These are the very
words that the Lord reads there in the synagogue at Nazareth.
The spirit of the Lord God is upon them. Because the Lord hath
anointed me to preach, he says. And he closes the book. Then
he gives it to the minister. And all the eyes are upon him
and he says, this day is this scripture fulfilled in your hearing. Oh, he acknowledges the Spirit
and he's dependent in his ministry upon God, the Holy Spirit. How does he cast out the demons?
How does he perform the miracles? or the Jews will accuse him of
casting out demons by the spirit of Beelzebub. But no, says the
Lord, if I with the finger of God cast out demons, then the kingdom
of God is among you. And so he reads in Luke's account,
in Luke 11.20, he speaks of the finger of God. But in Matthew's
account, Matthew 12, 28, it says the Spirit of God. If I, by the
Spirit of God, oh there you see His miracles. It's another demonstration
of the Spirit, His dependence upon the Spirit, in all of His
ministry. And then, when He comes to die,
Or we read about Christ, who through the eternal Spirit, offered
himself without spot to God. Who through the eternal Spirit. Hebrews 9.14. And then he rises
again from the dead. And there is a minute of the
Spirit in the resurrection. being put to death in the flesh,
says Peter, quickened by the Spirit. This is the ministry
of the Lord Jesus. There is a relationship. There's
a relationship at all times with the Holy Spirit. Even when we
think of the complex person of Christ as the Eternal Son, of
course there's a relationship with the Eternal Spirit. because
Father, Son and Holy Spirit, those three persons are one God.
But there's also a relationship with the Spirit even throughout
the earthly ministry of the Lord Jesus. Now of course it is not
God the Father who is manifest in the flesh. It is not God the
Holy Spirit who is manifest in the flesh. We have to mark the
fact that it is God the Son. who is manifest in the flesh.
But the Father sends him. The Father is involved. The Father
owns and acknowledges him. This is my beloved son in whom
I am well pleased. The Father sets his seal to that
work. There's a sense in which the
Father raises him. And the Holy Spirit. The Holy
Spirit is there constantly ministering to him. And the Lord lives that
life that life of willing, ready dependence
upon the ministry of the Spirit. And of course, finally, we have
to see it is the Spirit who reveals the Saviour to sinners. And that really brings me, from
our first point, the idea of the relationship between the
Lord Jesus Christ and the Holy Spirit, and how the Spirit is
the one who reveals the Lord Jesus Christ. And isn't this
what the text is saying? In the former part, which we
concentrated upon more particularly earlier, we see man's natural
states as a sinner. The carnal minds which is enmity
against God. It is not subject to the law
of God, neither indeed can be. All man is in that state of enmity,
in that state of impotence. They that are in the flesh cannot
please God. There's nothing of salvation
outside of the ministry of the Holy Spirit. And this is what
the Apostle is saying in verse 9, "...ye are not in the flesh,
but in the Spirit." Well we cannot exaggerate the importance of
this ministry of the Spirit with regards to the revealing of Christ.
"...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." and as I've said the Lord Jesus
is that one who sent him being by the right hand of God
exalted having received of the Father the promise of the Holy
Spirit he has shed forth this which he now see and hear or
there was a ministry of the Spirit previous to the day of Pentecost
I've spoken of that ministry in relation to the human life
and ministry of Christ the Spirit is there The Holy Spirit is there
in the Old Testament. David, in all the agonies of
his soul when he had committed terrible sin as we see in Psalm
51, what does he say? Take not thy spirit from me.
Not that God would take his spirit from any of his children. But
David feels so desolate he has grieved the Spirit of God. The
Spirit is there in the Old Testament. We have those words in John 7.
the Spirit was not yet given, because Jesus was not yet glorified. Now that doesn't mean, obviously,
it doesn't mean there was no ministry of the Spirit. There
was a ministry, as I've just said, but there is something
significant about the completion of the work of the Lord Jesus
Christ, when that work is accomplished, when Christ rises from the dead
and Christ ascends to heaven He then sheds abroad the Holy
Ghost in a remarkable fashion. And he comes now clearly as the
Spirit of Christ. And he comes to reveal the Lord
Jesus Christ. Again, it's there in that portion
that we were reading as our lesson from the Word of God. John 16, 13, O be when he the Spirit of truth
is come, he will guide you into all truth. For he shall not speak
of himself, but whatsoever he shall hear that shall he speak,
and he will show you things to come. He shall glorify mercy,
for he shall receive of mine and shall show it unto you. all
the outworking of the Covenant, how remarkable it is, the persons,
Father, Son and Holy Spirit as I sought to emphasize, they are
equal. They are equal. There's no superiority,
no priority. Father, Son and Holy Spirit are
equal. But when it comes to the Covenant
the Great Covenant of Grace, the Son willingly serves the
Father. He becomes the Father's servant.
He comes to do the will of the Father. He comes to accomplish
all the Father's work. And so here we see how the Spirit
of Truth also comes to serve the Lord Jesus Christ. How self-effacing
the ministry of the Spirit is. He shall not speak of himself.
Why? The Spirit is God. The Spirit
is to be worshipped as God. We are to ascribe the same honour
and glory to God the Holy Spirit as we would to God the Son and
God the Father. And yet, so self-effacing, he
shall not speak of himself. He shall glorify me, says Christ,
for he shall receive of mine and shall show it unto you. For this One who proceeds from
the Father and from the Son, the Lord says there at the end
of chapter 15, He shall testify of me. He shall testify of me. If any man have not the Spirit
of Christ, he is none of His. Verse 14, as many as are led
by the Spirit of God, they are the sons of God. He comes forth
to reveal the things of Christ, how necessary, how necessary
it is. No man can say that Jesus Christ
is Lord, but by the Holy Ghost as the Apostle. Or we can utter
the words We can simply say the words Jesus Christ is Lord. But Paul is speaking of something
far greater than that. He's speaking of such a work
of the Spirit in the soul of a man that he owns, he acknowledges,
he submits to that Lordship of the Lord Jesus Christ. He bows
before the authority of the Saviour and he can only do that by the
ministry of the Holy Spirit. Who are we those friends who
are in the Spirit? Does the Spirit dwell in us?
But, he says, you 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. Observe then the contrast that
is being drawn. There is a not and there's a
but. You are not in the flesh but
in the spirit. There's always a negative and
a positive and so we have it here. And what is a negative? Well, we really spoke of the
negative this morning. It's what we are by nature. It's
our real condition. The carnal mind enmity against
God. It's death. It's that death that
is in Adam, our first father. Look at what we have here in
verse 9. In the flesh. To be in the flesh
is simply to be in Adam. And that's true of everyone.
Every person who walks the face of the earth, by nature, is in
Adam. Because Adam stands at the head
of the race, we're all descended from Adam. But what is there in Adam? Well,
go back to what he says in chapter 5. Wherefore, as by one man sin
entered into the world, and death by sin, and so death passed upon
all men, for that all have sinned." Verse 12, where the margin says,
"...in whom all have sinned." "...in whom all have sinned." As by one man, the man being
spoken of here is Adam. I refer to this chapter, it's
a remarkable chapter. that we have here in Romans chapter
5 because it speaks so clearly of the federal headship of Adam. He stands at the head of the
race. He's the representative head of all who descended from
him. He is the one man by whom sin entered into the world and
death by sin and so death passed upon all men for that all have
sinned in whom all have sinned. We all sinned in Adam. in the language of 1 Corinthians
15 as in Adam all died as in Adam all died ought to be in
that state and how Paul speaks of it previously in this chapter
he speaks of the law of sin and death Again, he's making a contrast.
The Lord of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus hath made me
free from the Lord of sin and death. That Lord of sin and death
is in Adam. Under the Lord of sin, under
the condemnation of the Lord of God. Well, that's where we
are by nature. Remember the words that we have
in chapter 3. Verse 19, We know that what things
soever the law saith, it saith to them who are under the law,
that every mouth may be stopped, and all the worlds may become
guilty before God. Every mouth is stopped. Men have
nothing to plead, they're undone. They're unable to help themselves,
they cannot save themselves, They're dead in trespasses and
sins. They're lost. And they're lost
in Adam. That's what the law teaches me. Oh, it is a fearful
lesson that we have to learn concerning our natural state. The carnal mind enmity against
God. Not subject to the law of God.
neither indeed can be, so then they that are in the flesh cannot
please God. But what does it say here? But
ye are not in the flesh. Oh what a but, what a but is
that? But ye are not in the flesh. And how do we come to that experience
of deliverance well we have to be made to feel
something of the deadness of our natural state before the
deliverance can be truly experienced and enjoyed surely there must
be that experience of death how can you be delivered if you feel
you have no need of deliverance. You see, sin, sin is that that
is clearly of the creature. God is not the author of sin.
But where there is in any man that sense of his sinnership,
that realization of his condition, his solemn states in the sight
of a holy God, oh, that's the work of God Himself. new life
from Him we must receive before for sin we rightly grieve. How important it is! And now
this was Paul's own experience of any man who's writing this
epistle. He'd walk this way, he'd had this experience. He
was Saul, he was the Pharisee. He was an expert in the Lord
of God. When we lived a life, he reckoned,
of complete obedience to the Lord of God, touching the righteousness
which is of the law, he imagined himself to be blameless. But
what happened? Well remember how he tells us
in the previous chapter, there at verse 9 in chapter 7, he says,
I was alive without the law once. He thought he knew the law, and
kept the law and obeyed the law, he knew nothing really about
the law of God. I was alive without the law once,
but when the commandment came, sin revived and I died, and the
commandment which was ordained to life I found to be unto death.
For sin taking occasion by the commandment deceived me, and
by it slew me." Well, that was Paul's experience. He learned the truth of what
he stated in the first part of the text, here in verses 7 and
8 of this 8th chapter. He learned what it was to be
in bondage. He learned the awful doctrine
of the sinner's total depravity. He says, remember in the opening
chapter of 2nd Corinthians, we have the sentence of death in
ourselves. Speaking of himself and those
who were associated with him in his gospel ministry we have
the sentence of death in ourselves that we should not trust in ourselves
but in God that raised us to death who delivered us from so
great a death and doth deliver in whom we trust and he will
yet deliver us. Oh we knew what it was to have
death in self and all His deliverance was found only in the Lord Jesus
Christ. And that's the positive, you
see. The negative is death, death in Adam. The positive is deliverance
in the Lord Jesus Christ. Besides knowing ourselves and
what we are, we must also have that revelation of the Saviour,
the Lord Jesus Christ. Well, we have to know ourselves.
God has to teach us the truth concerning self. But God also
must grant that knowledge of the Saviour. Paul says, when
He pleased God to reveal His Son in man. Oh, there must be
that revelation. Our eyes open to the wonder of
Christ and the work of Christ. And it's the Spirit It's the
Spirit but you are not in the flesh but in the Spirit. If so
be that the Spirit of God dwell in you. To be taught of that salvation
that is only in Christ. He is the last Adam. He is the last Adam. Adam the
first is that one who is a type. of the last Adam. The first man,
Adam, was made a living soul. The last Adam was made a quickening
spirit. Adam was a living soul. God breathed
into his nostrils the breath of life. He became a living soul,
but the last Adam is a quickening spirit. There is that spirit of Christ
that comes into the soul of the sinner and communicates new life
Oh, that first man Adam is of the earth, earthly. The second
man is the Lord from heaven. And now He comes. He comes to
deliver from sin. He comes to deliver from the
curse of sin. How does He deliver? He doesn't
destroy the Lord of God. No, He fulfills the Lord of God.
He honors the Lord of God. He magnifies the Lord of God.
Oh, that Lord that condemns the sinner. As many as are of the
works of the law, we're told, they're under the curse. Cursed
is everyone that continueth not in all things written in the
book of the law to do them. If a man keeps the whole law
and offends in one point, he's guilty of all condemnation in
the law. But what does Paul say? Christ.
Christ has redeemed us from the curse of the law being made a
curse for us. For it is written, Cursed is
everyone that hangeth on a tree. This is the great work that Christ
has done. He has come, made of a woman,
made under the law, standing in that law place, answering
before the law, fulfilling the law in his life, obeying every
commandment, every precept, honoring the Lord also in his death. bearing
that dreadful penalty, the punishment that was due to the sins of his
people. Oh, Christ hath delivered us
right into the churches of Galatia, to those believers. Christ hath
delivered us from the curse of the law being made a curse for
us. How He has come and honoured
and magnified that law. Again, We have it there in that
fifth chapter. Verse 18, Therefore as by the
offense of one judgment came upon all men to condemnation,
even so by the righteousness of one the free gift came upon
all men unto justification of life. For as by one man's disobedience
many were made sinners, so by the obedience of one shall many
be made righteous." Here are the two men that God sees, the
first Adam, the last Adam, by the offense of the first judgment,
condemnation, or by the righteousness of the other, the free gift,
justification. That's the Lord Jesus Christ
ought to be in here. Surely that is the great thing
And it is the Spirit who has to lead us to Christ. It is the
Spirit who brings us to Christ. It is the Spirit who works faith
and repentance in the soul of the sinner. All of these are
the gifts of God. Yes, we're looking on to Jesus,
who is the author and finisher of our faith. He has exalted
the Prince and the Saviour to give repentance to Israel and
the forgiveness of sins. But how does faith, repentance,
forgiveness come? How does Christ communicate these
things? It's all by the Spirit. It's
by the Spirit of Christ. He must come. How we need the
Spirit, and alas, alas, how often we grieve the Spirit of God,
or the Blessed Spirit, to be those who are in the Spirit. That's what we should desire.
not in the flesh, but in the Spirit. If so be the Spirit of
God is dwelling in us. As solemn the words are, if any
man have not the Spirit of Christ, he is none of this. Or that we,
each of us, might have that Spirit, that we might know Him as the
Spirit of Christ, taking the things of Christ, making them
real to us, making them precious to us. O God, grant then that
we might know that blessed ministry, and that we might be those who
by the Spirit are the true followers of our Lord Jesus Christ. Well,
the Lord be pleased to bless this word to us tonight. Amen. Let us conclude as we sing
our final praise. It's in 538. The Tunis Remington, 395. By nature, none of Adam's race
can boast of goodness in God's sight. Sin plunged them all in
sad disgrace. No, nothing merely human's right. Good men there are, but be it
known their goodness dwells in Christ their Head, united to
God's only Son. Their holiness can never fade. the hymn 538.