Let us turn to God's Word, and
I want this evening to direct you to a verse that we find in
the Epistle of Paul to the Romans, in Romans chapter 8 and verse
9. Romans 8, 9, But ye are not in
the flesh, but in the spirit, if so be that the Spirit of God
dwell in you. 9. Now if any man have not the
Spirit of Christ, he is none of his. Here then in Romans chapter
8 and verse 9, 10. But ye are not in the flesh,
but in the Spirit, if so be that the Spirit of God dwell in you.
11. Now if any man have not the Spirit of Christ, he is none
of his. to speak then on the theme of
the Spirit of Christ that Paul sets before us in this particular
text. How vitally important it is to
understand the spiritual nature of that religion that is real.
All real religion, of course, is that that is wrought of God. It is the work of the Spirit
of God. and we cannot really exaggerate
the ministry of God the Holy Ghost as the one who must make
the Lord Jesus Christ known. We're living in the dispensation
of the Holy Ghost and remember what John says speaking of the
Lord Jesus there in the seventh chapter of his Gospel the Feast
of Tabernacles Christ teaching in the temple and speaking of
the coming of the Spirit and he says that the Spirit was not
yet given because Jesus was not yet glorified. He's not saying
that there was nothing of the ministry of the Holy Ghost in
the Old Testament. He was there of course. He was
there in creation. Creation is the work of God,
Father, Son and Holy Spirit. By the word of the Lord were
the heavens made and all the host of them by the breath or
by the Spirit of His mouth. The Word is there, God the Son. The breath of God, the Spirit
of the Lord is there in creation and throughout the Old Testament
and all those who were the true Israel of God, they were a spiritual
people. The Spirit had wrought a miracle
in their souls. They were those who were born
again, born of the Spirit of God. But there was, after the
coming of the promised Messiah to be, a glorious outpouring
of the Spirit. So He came to pass, when the
day of Pentecost was fully come. We have the record here in Acts
chapter 2. The Spirit He shed abroad and
the 120 disciples that are spoken of in the opening chapter of
the Acts, the end of the Lord's ministry, just 120 disciples. And then when the Spirit comes
on one day, 3000 are added to the church. All the blessed work
of the Spirit. How Paul writes into the Ephesians,
speaks of Him as the Spirit of wisdom, and revelation in the
knowledge of God. There is a difference, a world
of difference between man's natural religion and that spiritual religion. Not enough is it to have clear
doctrinal views of the Lord Jesus Christ. It's good, it's good
that we read the Word of God and study the Word of God and
understand the doctrines of the Word of God. but how we need
that blessed ministry of the Spirit to make these things a
reality. That experimental manifestation
that the Spirit works in the soul. What is Christianity? It's
a revelation. It's a revelation of God in the
soul of man. It's a life of God by the Spirit
coming into the soul of man through religions more than notion. something
must be known and felt says Joseph Hart in those familiar words
of the hymn we need of those who have a form of godliness
but deny the power thereof yes we would that we might have a
good form, a right form of godliness that we might regulate our worshipped
by the Word of God. But God, when we come to worship
Him, is to be worshipped not only in truth, but also in spirit. As I said, we cannot exaggerate,
then, the necessity of that blessed ministry of the Spirit. Christ
says, the Kingdom of God is within you. The work of the Spirit in
the soul, it please God, says Paul, to reveal His Son in man. the indwelling then of the spirit
well let us come to the words that I've read here for our text
this evening you are not in the flesh but in the spirit if so
be that the spirit of God dwell in you if any man have not the
spirit of Christ he is none of his and I want to To divide the
subject matter of this spirit of Christ, this indwelling of
the Spirit, I want to divide it into two parts to say something
first with regards to the Spirit's relation to Christ and then the
Spirit's revealing of Christ. There is a relationship of course
between the Spirit and the Lord Jesus Christ. Now, we see that
relationship principally, of course, in the doctrine of God. Because God is one God, but God
subsists in three persons. God is Father, Son, and Holy
Spirit, and there is an inter-trinitarian relationship between the three
Persons. They are distinct Persons, but
they're not three Gods, they are one God. That's the mystery.
The first and greatest of all mysteries, God is one in essence,
but He subsists in three distinct Persons. And The Divine Names
really express something of the relationship between the three
persons. The Father begets, He eternally
begets. And the Son, of course, is the
one who is eternally begotten. And the Spirit is that one who
eternally proceeds or comes forth. when we think of the Son, He
is the Son of the Father in truth and in love. He declares, doesn't
He, back in the 2nd Psalm, I will declare the decree the Lord hath
said unto me, this day have I begotten thee. Oh, it's this day. And how remarkable is that statement.
Not yesterday, nor tomorrow, but today. And what is the day
that's being spoken of there? It's the present time, it's the
eternal day. And what is that eternal day? It is declaring that one here
is being eternally begotten. This day have I begotten thee,
is ever being begotten. When there were no depths, I
was brought forth, he says. When there were no fountains
abounding with water. Before the mountains were settled,
before the hills was I brought forth, he's brought forth. The
father begets, the son is begotten. And then, what of the spirits? Well, how the Lord speaks of
him, remember we have those chapters. We read parts of chapter 16,
but 14, 15 and 16 are those chapters where the Lord, in the course
of His ministry, is saying so much about the Holy Spirit, the
Comforter. And He says, When the Comforter
is come, whom I will send unto you, even the Spirit of truth
which proceedeth from the Father. You see how He speaks of the
Spirit there? He speaks of sending Him. He
proceeds from the Lord Jesus Christ, He proceeds from God
the Son, but the Lord also says that He proceeds us from the
Father. And we read that portion also
in the 20th chapter, where after His death and His resurrection
and the Lord on that first day of the week is meeting with the
disciples and He breathes on them. And as He breathes on them
He says, Receive ye the Holy Ghost. The Spirit is that one
who proceeds. As the Son is begotten, so the
Holy Spirit proceeds. And there's no idea of any priority
or subservience in the Godhead. These three persons, Father,
Son and Holy Ghost, they're co-equal as they're co-eternal. We can't
really begin to explain these things. Reason fails with all her powers. Faith prevails and faith adores. We bow before that first, that
greatest of all mysteries. But there is a relationship.
There is a relationship between the Son and the Spirit. as there
is a relationship between the Son and the Father. And observe the language that
Paul is using here in our text. He speaks of the Spirit of God,
but he also speaks of Him as the Spirit of Christ. He is the
Spirit of God, He is the Spirit of Christ. A relationship there,
in the Godhead. but also when we think in terms
of the human nature of the Lord Jesus how we see the spirit as
that one who ministers to him throughout all the time of his
humiliation here upon the earth the spirit serves him, he is
the anointed one the very meaning of the word Messiah or the Christ,
he's anointed. God giveth not the Spirit by
measure unto him. He's very much the Spirit of
Christ. He's the one who is promised to him in the eternal covenant. In that covenant, although the
eternal Son of God He becomes God's servant. What does God
say? Behold my servant whom I uphold,
mine elect, in whom my soul delighteth, I have put my spirit upon him. Oh, he is promised to Christ in the
eternal covenant. And he is referred to, isn't
he? Many times in Scripture He is spoken of as that Spirit of
promise. When the Lord has accomplished
His great work, we come to the end of Luke's Gospel. After the
crucifixion, the resurrection, the Lord has been showing Himself
to His disciples. Forty days He showed Himself
to them. and he's about to ascend to heaven
and they will witness his ascension but he says behold I send the
promise of the Father unto you what is he speaking of when he
refers to the promise of the Father? that's a reference to
the Holy Spirit and so that promise is fulfilled when the day of
Pentecost is fully come And Peter declares it so plainly in the
course of his preaching, the sermon, that he preaches that
glorious, that auspicious day of Pentecost, being by the right
hand of God exalted, having received of the Father the promise, the
promise of the Holy Ghost, he hath shed forth this which ye
now see and hear. He is the promised Spirit, He
was promised to Christ and now we see the Lord's relationship
with the Spirit throughout all the days of His humiliation when
He humbles Himself and becomes obedient, obedient in every part
of His life, obedient unto death, even the death of the cross.
It's a life, a human life that's lived in complete and utter dependence
upon the Spirit of God. He is clearly the Spirit of Christ. His very conception. How is he brought into this world? He is conceived of the Holy Ghost.
The Holy Ghost shall come upon thee, the power of the Highest
shall overshadow thee. Says the angel to the Blessed
Virgin Mary, Therefore also that holy thing that shall be born
of them. All that human nature that was
conceived in Mary's womb was the work of the Holy Ghost. That
human nature, that thing that is to be joined to the person
of the eternal Son of God. That holy thing shall be called
the Son of God, His birth. But then, when we come to the
Lord entering into His public ministry, and that's marked of
course when He goes to the River Jordan to be baptized of John,
isn't it there that we see the great effusion of the Spirit,
the outpouring of the Spirit upon Him, as He willingly submits
to John's baptism, and the Father speaks from heaven, this is My
Beloved Son. and the Spirit descends upon
him in the form of a dove. And then, as throughout all his
earthly ministry, he is always under that gracious ministry
of the Spirit, when he commences his preaching. After that baptizing, he's full
of the Holy Ghost, and he's led by the Spirit into the wilderness. And there, how the great adversary
of souls will come and tempt him. He's tempted of Satan. But
under all those temptations, he's full of the Spirit of God.
And he resists all the assaults of the devil. And then, how he
comes up out of the wilderness. And as he comes up out of the
wilderness, we see him as one who is full of the Spirit still as he
comes to Capernaum and goes into the synagogue on the Sabbath
day not Capernaum, Nazareth where he'd been brought up he goes
to the synagogue in Nazareth and as he's there we have the
record in the fourth chapter of Luke's Gospel he's there observing
the Sabbath day He is a Jew and is obedient to
all the Jewish law. He keeps the Sabbath day as it
should be kept. He is a great example of the
proper keeping of the day. He has nothing to do with all
the perversions of Pharisaism. He is in the temple and the minister
gives him the book of the Prophet Isaiah and he turns there to
that 61st chapter. Then he reads the portion, the
Spirit of the Lord is upon him. He has anointed me to preach
the Gospel, to give sight to the blind, to heal the lame. All the wondrous works that He
will perform and He says this day is the Scripture fulfilled
in your ears. Is He not declaring that all
His ministry is going to be under that blessed influence of the
Spirit that He's full of? And when he comes to perform
great miracles, how does he do it? He casts out demons. It says in Luke, he casts them
out by the finger of God. But interestingly, in Matthew's
account, it says he casts them out by the Spirit of God. Or the great miracles, the mighty
works. What are these works? It's just
an easy work for the spirits. who has anointed the Lord Jesus.
It's the work of His fingers. Oh, but the Lord, you see, ever
dependent on that gracious unction of the Spirit of God. And when
He comes ultimately to die, through the Eternal Spirit, says the
Apostle, Hebrews 9.14, through the Eternal Spirit He offered
Himself without spot to God. Oh, the Spirit is there in the
crucifixion. Although it is not the Spirit
of course who suffers and bleeds and dies, it's God the Son. But
he's ever always anointed by the Spirit in the resurrection,
put to death in the flesh he was. But Peter says he was quickened
by the Spirit. This is the relationship then. He is one The Lord Jesus Christ,
one with the spirits, Father, Son and Holy Ghost, one God in
three persons. But when we see him in the state
of humiliation as the Messiah, the Christ, in all his life,
in all his ministry, he is so dependent upon that gracious
unction that he has received from the Father. He is the Spirit
of Christ. and here in the text the apostle
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 well we need to know that self same
ministry the spirit of Christ which is the spirit of God and
so in the second place to say something with regards to the
Spirit's revelation, the Spirit's revealing of the Lord Jesus Christ. As we've said, it says He's exalted
by the Father, that He sheds abroad the Holy Spirit there
on the day of Pentecost, He first sends that spirit who
will come to work an almighty work in the soul of sinners,
the work of conviction. We read the portion there at
the beginning of John 16, the familiar words, when he is calm.
He will reprove, or as the Margin says, he will convince. It's
a work of conviction. Reproving of sin, of righteousness,
of judgment. of sin because they believe not
on me of righteousness because I go to the father and you see
me no more of judgment because the prince of this world is judged
or the spirit you see will come to bring a man to the realization
of what his sin is and that sin would so easily beset us of sin
because they believe not on me what are we by nature we are
dead in trespasses and sins with those who are full of unbelief
and we have to be convinced of that and shown what we are by
nature it's the awful the awfulness of our denial of God the fool
who says in his heart there is no God and there's all the evidence
of God about him And there's a scripture of truth
that reveals to us this One who is the Eternal Son and the only
Saviour of sinners. And men refuse Him and reject
Him. He comes to His own, His own receive Him not. Now the
Jews pour scorn upon Him. And yet the Spirit comes to convince
men of their sins. But he also comes to convince
them of righteousness. It's a wonderful thing, isn't
it, when the Spirit then goes on to convince that there is
a righteousness. The poor sinner, he realizes
he has no righteousness. He's altogether lost. He's dead
in trespasses and sins. But says Christ, He will convince
also of righteousness because I go to the Father. and you see
me no more." He has ascended now on high. The Father has set
His seal upon all His work. He's declared to be the Son of
God by the Spirit of holiness, by the resurrection from the
dead. All that He said of Himself throughout
His ministry is true. And the Father has not only raised
Him, He has received Him into the highest heavens. He has entered
heaven itself. And that's where the believer's
righteousness is. And it's a wonderful thing when
the Spirit convinces us of that truth, that there is a righteousness.
And that righteousness is for that sinner before the very throne
of God. It's in the person and the work
of the Lord Jesus Christ. But he doesn't just convince
of sin and righteousness, but also judgment. Of judgment, because
the prince of this world is judged. All Satan, that great tormentor,
that one who tempts, that one who entraps, that one who draws
us out of the narrow way, And then as soon as we stumble and
fall and sin against God, what does he do? He turns accuser. He's the accuser of the brethren.
We'll accuse them day and night before God. He's a defeated foe. The Lord Jesus Christ has vanquished
all the powers of darkness. Satan is now that one whom the Saviour
has overcome. And how can God's people overcome? We can only overcome by and through
faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. We cannot resist Him of ourselves. If ye through the Spirit do mortify
those deeds of the body, Paul says, ye shall live. We have
to live in dependence upon that Spirit who is ever to us the
Spirit of the Lord Jesus Christ. He comes in to convince of sin,
of righteousness and of judgment, but He comes also to reveal,
doesn't He? He comes to reveal the Lord Jesus
Christ. We referred to it again this
morning, that remarkable passage later in that portion we read
in John 16, verses 13 and 14, His self-effacing ministry. So
remarkable really. Here is the Spirit, here is God.
He doesn't speak of himself. He doesn't speak of himself.
He shall testify of me, says Christ. He shall take of mine
and show it unto you. He shall glorify me. What a ministry is that blessed
ministry of the Spirit. He's the Spirit of Christ. and
so is spoken of in the text if any man have not the Spirit of
Christ and if we have that Spirit of Christ surely we must be those
who know something of what humility is what are the marks of us having
the Spirit of Christ we must have those fruits of the Spirit
the Apostle speaks of in Galatians chapter 5 and amongst them we
must have that blessed fruit of humility Nothing in self,
you see. The Spirit of Christ, where the
Spirit of Christ is, Christ is all, and in all to that man. No man can say that Jesus Christ
is Lord, but by the Holy Ghost. What is it to say that Jesus
Christ is Lord? It's for us to be in the dust.
And Christ to be that one who is exalted, Lord, and Saviour
of sinners. All the Spirit's gracious work
there. He comes to reprove, to convince,
to convict. He comes also as that Comforter
to reveal all that fullness of salvation that is in the Lord
Jesus. But looking at the at the text
here, there's a negative and a positive aspect surely to that
blessed ministry of the Spirit. Firstly let's say something with
regards to the negative, as we have it here. Paul says, but
you are not in the flesh. Literally it is, you are not
in Adam. We are not in Adam. Look at what he has said previously
in the chapter. In verse 2, The Lord of the Spirit
of life in Christ Jesus hath made me free from the Lord of
sin and death. That's what we are in the flesh. We are the descendants of Adam. And what do we have in and through
our first Father? We have in us the Lord of sin
and of death. We are under that Lord of sin. Remember how Paul speaks of the
ministry of the Lord there in 2 Corinthians chapter 3. What is it? It's a ministry of condemnation. It's a ministry of death. This
is what the Spirit is to do. We've touched on it already,
you know, when he comes to reprove of sin. What does he show us? He shows
us where we are. We are under condemnation. And this is the purpose of the
Lord of God and the ministry of the Lord of God. Remember what he says back in
the third chapter, familiar words which we often refer to there
at verse 19. We know that what thing soever
the law saith, it saith to them who are under the law, that every
mouth may be stopped and all the world may become guilty before
God. Here's the great ministry of
the law It announces those who are in Adam to be guilty. We sinned in Adam. He is the great head of the human
race and that first transgression is imputed to all his descendants. Not only imputed of course but
we have received from him a fallen nature and Paul does speak of
these things in the fifth chapter remember There in Romans 5 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. He's contrasting
these two men, the first Adam and the last Adam. And the last
Adam of course is the Lord Jesus Christ. But all that ministry of the
law you say, it stops the mouths of men. What
can they plead? What are we in Adam? In the flesh,
in Adam, we're dead. In trespasses and in sins. All that carnal mind, that natural
mind, it's so set against God. As we read here in the 7th verse,
it's enmity against God, it's not subject to the law of God.
neither indeed can be so than they that are in the flesh cannot
please God there is a negative aspect we have to see ourselves
as God sees us and where God's law finds us out and condemns
us and when Paul writes of these things of course it was something
that he very much knew in his own soul's experience He was
a great one for the law, was Paul. He was a Pharisee. And he says, doesn't he, to the
Philippians, touching the righteousness which is in the law, I'm blameless.
I lived the life of a Pharisee. But then the commandment came.
Remember how he speaks here in chapter 7, verse 9, I was alive. He was really dead in trespasses
and sins and yet he's congratulating himself that he's the most righteous
man. 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. Every mouth he stopped, you see.
Every mouth he stopped. No salvation there in the Lord
of God. And he says it again, doesn't
he, right into the Corinthians, there in the opening chapter
of his second epistle. We have the sentence of death
in ourselves. We have the sentence of death
in ourselves. But he says more than that. that
we should not trust in ourselves but in Christ the Deliverer all we have to
die to self if we would live to the Lord Jesus Christ we have
to die to self there is the negative but there's also the positive
and I think of that Illustration often used, you've probably heard
it before. That's Scott's minister, Hector
Macphail. Who, I can't remember his date,
I think it was early in the 19th century. But he'd been away preaching
and he was staying in some sort of guest house. He was a minister
and of course, much respected and the end of the day he would
call all who were present to come together that they might
have a reading of the Word of God and prayer and praises and
he gathers all there, all the servants and he asks is everyone
present and they say well there's one little girl the scholarly
maid but she's busy in the kitchens and well she's a poor ignorant
little thing we don't normally bother with her but he wouldn't
he wouldn't have that he said no no we cannot commence until
that young girl is present with us and she comes in and she's
a poor little thing really so ignorant and he he speaks gently
to her and she's so ignorant He says, well, you know, we've
come together, we've come to pray and she doesn't even know
what prayer is, she's never heard of prayer. Well, he says, who
made you? She doesn't know anything about
a created God. She's so ignorant, but she sits
there and the service takes place and then afterward he turns to
have a conversation again with the little maid and he says,
I'm going to teach you a very simple prayer. just three words
and I want you to pray this prayer day and night and what are the
three words she's to pray? four words show me myself Lord
show me myself and he goes away and he's doing
his preaching rounds and it's some while later maybe a year
or two later that he comes and he's in the same place again
and he enquires after the little maid and they say, well, since
you came, all her behaviour, it's been so peculiar, she's
really good for nothing, we scarcely know why we even still employ
her here. She's so often weeping and in
fact at the moment she's taken to her bed, she's so wrought
upon. And the man is pleased to hear
what they're telling him, and he says, well, can I see the
maid? And he sees her, and he speaks to her, and he said, young
woman, I'm going to teach you another prayer, a simple prayer,
but what I want you to pray now is this, Lord, show me thyself. Lord, show me thyself. And that
is the order, isn't it? we have to see ourselves we have
to experience something of that negative what it is to be in
the flesh, to be in Adam to be dead in trespasses and sins but
then there is the positive, there is deliverance you see the spirit
doesn't just reveal self the spirit also comes to reveal the
saviour of sinners He is the Spirit of Christ, ultimately. That's his ministry. He doesn't
speak of himself. He delights to speak of Christ,
to show the things of Christ. He turns us, as it were, from
the first Adam to the last Adam. The first man Adam was made a
living soul. The last Adam was made a quickening
spirit. all that quickening spirit you
see the Lord Jesus Christ the first man he's of the earth the
second man he's the Lord from heaven and that blessed ministry
of the Lord Jesus Christ all he delivers you see he delivers
from everything from all the conviction of sin from all the
dread of judgment He brings that assurance of salvation into the
soul of the sinner. Oh, Christ has come, you see,
and He has answered for His people. What has He done? He has answered
all the demands of that holy, righteous Lord of God. He doesn't
come to destroy it. He says, not that I have come
to destroy the Lord or the prophets. I came not to destroy, but to
fulfill. is the end of the law for righteousness
to everyone that believeth we read here in chapter 10 and verse
4 this is his blessed ministry and what a deliverance it is
and how the apostle of course is continually bringing these
things out here in this epistle His epistle to the Romans, it's
full of the gospel, isn't it? Full of the gospel. It's a definition
of the gospel, we've said it many a time, that's what Paul
does, right at the outset. He was separated under the gospel
of God, which He had promised to fall by His prophets in the
Holy Scriptures. And what is this gospel concerning
His Son, Jesus Christ, our Lord, the Great, the blessed deliverer
of his people. And where are they? They are
under grace when they are in Christ. Not under the law, but under
grace, where sin abounds, grace not so much more abounds. Or there is a blessed deliverance
in the Lord Jesus. who referred already to the language
that he is using there in the opening verses of that second
epistle to the Corinthians you remember the sentence of death
itself that we should not trust in ourself but in God which rises
up the dead who delivered us from so great a death and doth
deliver, in whom we trust that He will yet deliver us." There's
deliverance upon deliverance upon deliverance in the Lord
Jesus Christ. And it's the minute of the Spirit
to reveal this precious truth to us. You are not in the flesh
but in the Spirit, if so be that the Spirit of God dwell in you."
Or what do we know of the Spirit of God indwelling us? How solemn
the word is, we have to examine ourselves in the light of it.
If any man have not the Spirit of Christ, he is none of His. We cannot, as I said at the at
the beginning. We cannot exaggerate that necessary
ministry of the Spirit. O God, grant that we might know
Him and that we might know Him as that One who is ever the Spirit
of our Lord Jesus Christ. May the Lord bless His Word to
us. Amen.