The Work of the Holy Spirit

Okay, very good. Good afternoon, everyone, and welcome to Cornish Town Reform Baptist Church. I'm going to invite your brothers and sisters to please open up your Bibles to the Book of Romans, Romans chapter eight. Today, by God's grace, we're gonna continue with our study through the Book of Romans, Romans chapter eight. I'm going to call your attention to Romans chapter eight verse nine.

through 16. Last week, by God's grace, we spoke about the fact that we're not to leave according to the flesh, but that we're to leave according to the spirit. Today, I want us to focus on what the apostle seems to focus on verses nine through 16, and that is the work of the Holy Spirit in the life of the Christian. If we were going to give a title to the sermon this afternoon, we're going to be considering the work of the Holy Spirit in the life of the Christian and the apostle. As you're going to see there in verse nine of Chapter eight, he will speak about the spirit of Christ.

In verse nine, he says, You, however, are not in the flesh, but in the spirit. If, in fact, the spirit of God dwells in you, If that was not enough there, you can pay attention to verse 16, where the apostle once again is going to emphasize the work of the Holy Spirit. In verse 16, he says the spirit himself burst with mess with our spirit that we are Children of God. So what we're gonna be doing this afternoon is that we're going to be considering the work of the Holy Spirit in the life off the Christian. The work of the third person of the Trinity.

We have God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit. The work of the Holy Spirit in the life of the Christian. And we're gonna be focusing, of course, only on what the Apostle says in Romans chapter 8 from verses 9 through verse 16. We're going to be reading together from verse let us read from verse five all the way to 17. That is going to give us the context.

But before we read the Scriptures, let's come before the Lord that he will be present among us, giving us clarity to speak clarity to receive the words of the Lord and that he will be glorified that your souls will be edified and that we will become more like Jesus Christ. So let us come and before the Lord and let us pray together. Father, we come before you in the name of your son, Jesus Christ, and we give you thanks once again for this day that you have given us the life that has been extended to us when we did not deserve and the scriptures that now we have open before us. Lord, I pray that you will be present among us by your Holy Spirit. We know that we do not come to church.

to just simply be entertained that we come to church to receive the truth of God because our faith is strengthened through the words of God. So we are in much need of being strengthened in the inner person. We are in need of being conformed to the image. of Jesus Christ. There are so many things in our minds and in our hearts that are still deviated and away from the will of God.

So we pray, O Lord, that you will speak to us through your word, that you will reveal yourself in the person of Jesus Christ through the preaching and the exposition of God's word, and that you will point us to him, to the glory of Jesus Christ by and through the work of the Holy Spirit that is in us and among us. Lord, help us, Lord, to understand and to comprehend the text and to comprehend the truths that you gave us, Lord, here in the scriptures, so that we will understand your will and that we will live lives that glorify you for not only the exaltation of your name, but also the edification of this church. We pray that you will do this in Jesus' name. Amen. As I said, we're going to be addressing verses 9-16 of the 8th chapter of the Book of Romans.

But we're gonna be reading together from verse 5 to verse 17. We're speaking today about the work of the Holy Spirit in the life of the Christian. So let us read together. This is Romans Chapter 8, verse 5-17. For those who live according to the flesh, set their minds on the things of the flesh.

But those who live according to the Spirit set their minds on the things of the Spirit. For to set the mind on the flesh is death, but to set the mind on the Spirit is life and peace. For the mind that is set on the flesh is hostile to God, for it does not submit to God's law. Indeed, it cannot. Those who are in the flesh cannot please God.

You, verse 9, you, however, are not in the flesh, but in the Spirit. If, in fact, the Spirit of God dwells in you, anyone who does not have the Spirit of Christ, does not belong to Him. But if Christ is in you, although the body is dead because of sin, the Spirit is alive because of righteousness. If the Spirit of Him who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, He who raised Jesus or Christ Jesus from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through He is the Spirit who dwells in you. So then, brethren, we are debtors, not to the flesh, to live according to the flesh.

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 leave. Why? 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 there's witness with our spirit that we are children of God and if children then heirs heirs of God and fellow heirs with Christ provided we suffer with him in order that we may also be glorified in with him. Amen. This is the reading of God's Word. And as I said, I want us to focus on the work of the Holy Spirit in the life of the Christian. The Apostle has clearly told us in verse 9 that the Christian is not in the flesh, but that the Christian is in the Spirit.

And if the Spirit of Christ is in that person, then that person belongs to Jesus Christ. The center of the message of these verses is the work of the Holy Spirit in the life of the Christian. And I suppose that the best place to start is where the apostle is going to call us to action there in verse 13. If you pay attention to verse 13, the apostle is going to be very clear in calling us to a particular action, and that is not to leave according to the flesh, he says in verse 13. For if you leave according to the flesh, You will die, but if by the Spirit you put to death the deeds of the body, you will live."

This is the center of the practical call of the Apostle to the Christians in light of the work of the Holy Spirit. That is, that even though we are in Christ, the Apostle tells us that we are not to live according to the flesh. If we leave according to the flesh, the outcome of it is going to be death. On the other side, the apostle is going to contrast that that we are to buy the spirit, put to death the deeds of the body or the deeds of the flesh, and the result of it is going to be life. The apostle is not speaking here to the non Christian.

The apostle is not speaking to the person that is outside of Jesus Christ. Rather, the apostle is given a very clear and very strong exhortation, saying that if you live according to the flesh, the outcome of living according to the flesh is spiritual death. We uphold and we believe that once a person has been saved by grace through faith and the Spirit of God is in that person, we know that this is the work of God and that He will bring it to completion from the beginning until the end. But in the same way that we agree and we accept the truth that the Lord is the one that is going to bring to completion that work, we also are to take seriously the call that the apostle gives us in verse 13, that if you live according to the flesh, the outcome of it is that you are going to die. Now, the contrast is not that we are to live a moral life or that we are to live an ethical life.

Rather, the contrast of living according to the flesh is to live by the power of the spirit and precisely and specifically, putting to death the desires or the passions or the deeds or the works of the body. Someone may ask, what is to live according to the flesh, according to Paul? Well, we're going to summarize what Paul says that is to live according to the flesh is two words. The first one is slavery and the second one, the mind. According to the apostle in Romans chapter 8, to live according to the flesh is to live in bondage to sin.

He has told us in verse 2 that the genuine Christian has been set free from the dominating power of sin and death, and now is in the life and in the spirit of Jesus. So then that means that the person that is in the flesh, He's a person that continues to be in bondage to sin. He's a person that is driven by the passions of the flesh. He's a person that is driven by the affections of the body. He's a person that is a slave to the practices that are sinful in nature.

Not only the actions is what the apostle focuses on, but also on the mind. As we read from verse five through verse eight, He compares the mind that is set on the flesh and the mind that is set on the spirit. To live according to the flesh is not only to be in bondage to sin, but it's also to have a mind that is set on the things of the flesh. It's a mind that is enslaved, that is always thinking, that is focused on the things of the flesh. And the Apostle has told us in verse 6 that the outcome of setting the mind on things of the flesh is death.

That is to live according to the flesh. A person that is a slave to the practice of sin, that cannot escape to the practice of sin, and their mind is focused, is set on the things of the flesh. In verse 13, the Apostle tells us that the person who lives in that way, who lives according to the flesh, will have one outcome, and that outcome is death. contrary to that or opposite to that the christian is meant to by the power of the spirit to put to death or to mortify as other translations will say the deeds of the body by the power of the spirit even though i still have passions within me The spirit empowers me to put to death the deeds of the body, the deeds of the fleshly mind that is still in me. The passions that are within me are put to death by the power of the Holy Spirit.

And, of course, the question that I suppose follows from that is, are you, by the Spirit, put into death the deeds of the body, the deeds of the flesh. If God was going to come and see into your mind and into your works and into your deeds and into the secrets of your heart, into your mind, if God was going to publicly see and open the book of your mind and your works and deeds, Would he say that you are, by the Spirit, putting to death the deeds of the body, the passions that are within you, the desires that are within you? Are you, by the Spirit, not by religion, not by morals, not by tradition, not by the effort of men, but are you by the power of the Holy Spirit, according to verse 13, putting to death or mortifying the works of your flesh? " The answer to that question, it is not only a theological or doctrinal answer, but rather divide those who live according to the flesh and will find death, and those who by the Spirit put to death the deeds of the body and will find life. The center of it is not you.

The center of it is not your efforts. The center of it is not your ability to recover, to fix yourself. The center of it is the work of the Holy Spirit. Because we're told there in verse 13 that we're to put to death the deeds of the body by the Spirit, not by the efforts of the flesh, not by the efforts of the mind, not by the intellect of the person, but by the Spirit. So it is necessary that we will not only understand, but the Lord will illuminate to us what is the great blessing that we have received from the Lord Jesus and the Father that is the third person of the Trinity, the Holy Spirit.

The center of it is the Holy Spirit working in the life of the Christian. He's not a Christian being powerful or good in order to fix themselves, but it's the power of the Holy Spirit. So we need to understand what the Apostle tells us about the work of the Holy Spirit in these verses that we have before us. The first thing that we're going to do from this text is that I'm going to call your attention to observe carefully how the Apostle is going to refer to the Holy Spirit. He's going to do it in a particular way that is going to give us insight into the framework that we can use to understand the work of the spirit.

First, what we're going to do is that we're going to observe carefully into the text to see how Paul refers to the Holy Spirit. Once we have understood that, then we're going to explore, I hope, with time here, the three works of the Spirit that the Apostle is going to point us to in verses nine through 16. I'm going to give them to you, even though I'm not sure if we're gonna be able to cover them. But the Apostle is going to tell us that one of the works of the Holy Spirit is first that the Holy Spirit dwells in the Christian. Pay attention there in verse nine.

He says in verse nine, You, however, are not in the flesh, but in the spirit. If, in fact, the spirit of God dwells in you, the first work of the spirit that we will see the Lord allows is the indwelling of the Holy Spirit. in the Christian. The Holy Spirit in dwells in the Christian. The second one is given to us in verse 14, actually from verse 12 through 14, and that is the leading off the Holy Spirit.

If you pay attention to verse 14 there we have for all who are let by the Spirit are sons of God. So the Spirit is not only indwelling the Christian, verse 9 through 11, but also the Holy Spirit is leading the Christian. And we're to understand that, especially in times in which we live in, which people speak about the Holy Spirit as this energy that guides people into making decisions or going to different places. We need to understand from the Scriptures what is it to the leading of the Holy Spirit for the Christian. And then finally, we're going to see there from verse 15 through 16.

That is the assurance of the Holy Spirit that is given to the Christian. I was trying to find a word for that, and I've just decided in the last second to call that the assurance of the Holy Spirit. So verse nine, the indwelling of the Holy Spirit. Verse 14, the leading of the Holy Spirit. And then from verse 15 and 16, we will explore the assurance of the Holy Spirit that is given to the Christian.

If you pay attention there to verse 16, the Apostle says, the Spirit himself bears witness with our spirit that we are Children of God. As we can see here in this passage, the Holy Spirit is not only indwelling the Christian, but also the Holy Spirit is leading the Christian on the Holy Spirit is given assurance to the Christian. But let us start with the observations because Paul is going to refer to the Holy Spirit. in a very particular and very unique way. If I was going to ask you, who is the third person of the Trinity?

Pretty much your answer will be the Holy Spirit or the Holy Ghost. You will say something like that. But Paul is going to use a very particular language to speak about this Holy Spirit or this Holy Ghost. It says in verse 9, if you pay attention, You, however, are not in the flesh, but in the Spirit, if in fact, The Spirit of God dwells in you. And that is all good.

This is the Spirit of God. This is the terminology that we usually know. And we refer to the third person of the Trinity. This is the Spirit of God. But Paul, in a very unique way, actually only here and somewhere else, he's going to say that this is Spirit of God.

It's not only the Spirit of God, but it's also the Spirit of Christ. Pay attention there to the following clause in verse nine. Anyone who does not have the Spirit of Christ, does not belong to him the spirit of god is the spirit of jesus christ or the spirit of christ and this is not only a very good verse that helps us to show and to teach the deity of the lord jesus christ because the spirit of christ is the spirit of god but also it teaches us that for paul The Holy Spirit finds its centrality and its meaning in the work and in the person of Jesus Christ. We can even see that more deeply and more clearly in verse 10 when Paul is actually going to say that to have Christ is to have that spirit. In verse 10 he says, but if Christ is in you.

Although the body is dead because of sin, the Spirit is alive because of righteousness." Paul is using interchangeably those words, the Spirit of God, the Spirit of Christ, and even Christ himself. And if that was not enough, in verse 14, in verse 16 better, or in verse 15, the apostle is going to call the Spirit, not only the Spirit of God, the Spirit of Christ, and Christ himself, but the Spirit of adoption. Pay attention to verse 15. 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."

Now we could go into Galatians chapter 4, and then you will see, if you read Galatians chapter 4 from verse 1 through 5, that when the apostle refers to the spirit of adoption, he is referring to The Spirit of His Son, the Spirit of the Son, Jesus Christ. What am I pointing to you two? Here is that for the Apostle, the Spirit of God finds his centrality in the person of Jesus Christ. The work of the Holy Spirit is meant to be understood with Jesus Christ as the center of it. We are not at the center of the work of the Holy Spirit.

Jesus Christ is the center of the work of the Holy Spirit. The church is not the center of the work of the Holy Spirit. Jesus Christ is the center of the work of the Holy Spirit. The work of the Holy Spirit is only meaningful for the individual and for the church, when the center of the work of the Holy Spirit is the glory of the person of Jesus Christ. Now, you may agree with that, but it's very important that we put as a foundation the purpose of the work of the Holy Spirit.

And that is the exaltation of Jesus Christ. Because if we don't, then we're going to end up making the Holy Spirit this energy, This feeling or this emotion that is primarily focused on the experience of the individual and the experience of the church, rather than the exaltation of Jesus Christ. To the point that, sadly, you may find expressions such as, I don't feel the Holy Spirit. Well, I'm not experiencing the Holy Spirit. While it is true that the Holy Spirit, when He brings truth and He's abiding in a person, the affections and the emotions of the person are going to be aligned with Jesus Christ.

We ought to understand that the work of the Holy Spirit and the purpose of his work is not to make you feel something was not to make you experience something. The focus of the work of the Holy Spirit is the exaltation of the person of Jesus Christ. This is the teaching of the Savior. If you come with me to John chapter 16 perhaps let's go into john chapter 16 you will see that this is what the lord jesus christ says That is the focus and the center of the work of the holy spirit. So come with me to john chapter 16 And there we are going to see it from the words of the lord.

Jesus christ himself Let us go better to john chapter 14 and we can read a few verses there john chapter 14 the centrality of the focus of the work of the holy spirit is the exaltation of christ and not the emotions or the feelings of the person. It says in John chapter 14 verse 15, it says, if you love me, you will keep my commandments and I will ask the father and he will give you another helper. to be with you forever, and even the Spirit of truth." So Jesus is speaking about here that when He's gone, that He's going to give His disciples the Holy Spirit. This is the Spirit of truth.

"...whom," He says in verse 17, "...even the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive." Because He neither sees Him nor knows Him. You know Him, He says to the disciples, for He, that is the Holy Spirit, dwells with you, language that Paul uses, and will be in you.

This is the Holy Spirit. If you go to verse 25, there the Lord Jesus Christ will tell us something more about the Holy Spirit. Verse 25. These things I have spoken to you while I am still with you. Verse 26, By the Helper, that is the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in My name, He will teach you all things and bring to your remembrance all that I have said to you.

That is, the Holy Spirit will bring to your remembrance the words of Jesus Christ. If you turn your page and then you go to chapter 15 in chapter 15 in verse 26, the Lord Jesus Christ continues to speak about the work of the Holy Spirit. Verse 26. He says, but when the helper comes 1526, but when the helper comes, whom I will send to you from the father, the spirit of truth who proceeds from the father, he will bear witness about me and you will also bear witness because you have seen you have been with me from the beginning. We have here that the work of the Holy Spirit when he comes is to point the disciples to the person of Jesus Christ, to the words of the Lord Jesus Christ.

And if that was not enough, the apostle or better John and the Lord Jesus Christ is gonna make it more clear in verse 12 of chapter 16. I think if you come to Verse 12 of chapter 16, there the apostle is going to make it more clearly, or the Lord is going to make it more clearly in verse 12 of chapter 16. I still have many things to say to you, but you cannot bear them now. When the Spirit of truth comes, He will guide you into all the truth. For He will not speak on His own authority, but whatever He hears, He will speak, and He will declare to you the things that are to come.

Pay attention to verse 14. This is the key verse. He will glorify Me. The Lord says there in verse 14, He will glorify Me, for He will take what is Mine and declare it to you. Verse 14 is the pinnacle of this truth.

Verse 14, He, that is the Spirit of truth, the Holy Spirit, will glorify Me, referring to Jesus Christ, for He will take what is Mine, the Lord says, and declare it to you. All that the Father has is Mine. Therefore I said that He will take what is Mine and declare it to you." The foundation of understanding the work of the Holy Spirit is this, The primary center and the focus of the work of the Holy Spirit is not the person, is not the church, is the glorification of Jesus Christ. The center, the objective of the work of the Holy Spirit is Christ Jesus, is not you.

It is true that the Holy Spirit, when He comes in you, He's going to sanctify you and He's going to work in you. But the way that He works is for the glory of Jesus Christ. So the Holy Spirit is not so much concerned with how you feel, But with how you are, spiritually speaking. That is that you are to become like Jesus Christ for the glory of God in the person of Jesus Christ. At times, the work of the Holy Spirit is even going to go against your fleshly emotions.

The fact that it goes against your fleshly emotions, it does not mean that the Holy Spirit is not working in you. But rather, that it is working in you. When the Holy Spirit comes and convicts you of sin, you're not happy and rejoicing that you are convicted of sin. You experience guilt and you experience, perhaps, a sense of obscurity, of unrighteousness. But that feeling of feeling, perhaps, guilty is used by the Holy Spirit to bring you to the person of Jesus Christ.

So the center, the focus of the Holy Spirit is not to make you feel good. In a fleshly way, it is to conform you to the image of Jesus Christ. So if we were going to ask a question of, is the Holy Spirit working in your life and in the life of a church? We are not to measure that by how I feel, emotionally speaking. But rather, how much am I being conformed to the image of Jesus Christ?

Because the object and the goal of the work of the Holy Spirit is the glory of Jesus Christ. We could go into Philippians Chapter 1, Colossians Chapter 2, and to see that the Father is glorified when the Christian bears fruits of righteousness for the glory that is seated in heaven. The fruit of the Spirit. When we hear the fruit of the Spirit in Galatians Chapter 5, it's not other things, the characteristics of Jesus. joy, peace, and love, all of those things, do not have any meaning at all without the person of Jesus Christ.

Every single fruit of the Spirit, it is only meaningful in the person of Jesus Christ. There are no moral characteristics or abstract ethical categories that men can define. The definition of the fruit of the Spirit is found in the four Gospels, the person of Jesus Christ. So the work of the Holy Spirit is this. to glorify Jesus Christ in the life of the believer.

Now, if we return to our text, then we can see under the scope of the framework of this glorious truth that the work of the Holy Spirit is to glorify Jesus Christ in the life of the believer. And we can see through these three things that Paul tells us that he does. The first one, as he mentioned before, It is found from verse 9 through 11, and that is that the Spirit of God in dwells or leaves or abides in the Christian. So if I was going to put it in the framework of the things that I have said, the framework will be something like this. The Holy Spirit glorifies Jesus Christ, by taking possession of the person that was in the flesh and bringing them into life in the Holy Spirit and abiding in them.

The Holy Spirit glorifies Jesus. How? By taking possession of the sinner and coming and abiding in the sinner. The sin and death that was abiding in me now is removed by the presence of the Holy Spirit that glorifies Jesus by coming and abiding in the life of the one who was dead in their sins and their trespasses. The Apostle uses that language very clearly there in verse 9.

Pay attention to verse 9. He says, "...you, however, are not in the flesh, but in the Spirit, if in fact the Spirit of God dwells, or abides, or lives in you. Anyone who does not have the Spirit of Christ does not belong to Him." The question, the important question, when it comes to the Holy Spirit is not, do you feel the Holy Spirit?

As many people will say, the important question is, do you have? the Holy Spirit. Because if you don't have the Holy Spirit, your emotions can deceive you into making you think that you're experiencing something that is divine, but it's purely only your flesh. The question that we ought to ask ourselves is, do you have the Holy Spirit abiding in you. And the only way that the Holy Spirit abides in the person is with everything that Paul has said from chapter 3 to chapter 6 and chapter 7 that is purely by the grace of God that is given to the sinner.

When the sinner comes in faith and repentance to Jesus Christ, the life of Christ is given to the sinner and now the Holy Spirit is abiding in the one that was before in the flesh. The Holy Spirit glorifies the Lord Jesus Christ by taking possession of, by dwelling in the one who is now a Christian. And this is the only time in redemptive history in which God has accomplished to dwell once for all in the life of sinners." Because when God manifested Himself in the garden to Adam and Eve, the presence of God was among them. He was with Adam and Eve.

But the sinful disobedience of Adam and Eve removed and separated the dwelling presence of God in the garden and they were removed or ejected from the manifested presence of that temple, of that tabernacle that was the garden. As redemptive history continued, the people of Israel attempted to have the glory and the presence of God among them. initially in the people, and then in the tabernacle, and then in the temple. But the sins of the people of Israel caused the separation, the departure of the presence of God from among the people. But when God loved the world so much that He sent His only begotten Son, Jesus came to dwell among us in the likeness of our flesh.

And when He conquered all the things that Adam and Israel could not fulfill, when Jesus Christ, the true Adam, Jesus Christ, the true Israel, fulfill all the requirements, he could dwell in us permanently. So then by grace, through faith, we're united to him. And now the Christian becomes the temple and the habitation of the Spirit of God, which is what the apostle says in first Corinthians chapter six, if you come with me. The Christian now becomes the dwelling spiritual place of the Spirit of God because of the accomplishments of Jesus Christ. Before Jesus, nobody was able to contain or to keep the dwelling presence of God.

Only in Jesus Christ, we have the dwelling of Christ in us. 1 Corinthians chapter 6, you can read it there. from verse 15 1st Corinthians chapter 6 do you not know verse 15 do you not know that your bodies are members of Christ no members of anything else but of Christ shall I then take the members of Christ and make them members of a prostitute never Verse 16, "...or do you not know that he who is joined to a prostitute becomes one body with her?" Here the apostle is exhorting against sexual immorality.

He continues, "...for as it is written, the two will become one flesh. But he who is joined to the Lord becomes one spirit with Him." flee from sexual immorality. Every other sin a person commits is outside the body, but the sexually immoral person sins against his own body.

Or do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit within you, whom you have from God? You are not your own, for you were bought with a price, so glorify God in your body. The Holy Spirit glorifies the Lord Jesus Christ in taking possession of the sinner that was dead in their sins or their trespasses. So when the Holy Spirit takes abode or habitation in a sinner, this is the banner of truth. This is the conquering flag of Jesus Christ that is put in the heart of a person that was conquered by sin and death.

And that conquering flag that is put there is to say, I am now the one who rules this person. I am the one now who dwells in this person. And that is given to us as a guarantee, the apostle says in Ephesians chapter one, of the future promise that we have. It is very important that we understand this. Genuine Christian is equal to having the Spirit of God in them.

The Spirit of God is not given as a subsequent second experience. Once the Christian has developed certain abilities or has developed certain ways of doing things and there's going to be a second experience in which the Holy Spirit will come to that person and certain Christians will have the Holy Spirit and certain other Christians will not have the Holy Spirit. Every single person who has received the grace of the Lord is a recipient of the presence of the Holy Spirit, and the Holy Spirit dwells in that person. Is it true that the Holy Spirit can empower at times for holiness and the proclamation of the gospel? It is true, but every single genuine believer has the presence of the Holy Spirit dwelling in them.

Because the apostle tells us very clearly in the second half, or the second clause of verse nine, that he who does not have the Spirit of Christ does not belong to Him. So if the Holy Spirit is the one who has taken possession of the body of the person, Then that means that the spirit of Satan cannot take possession of the one who is a Christian. This is very important because there's going to be many people that say that Christians now can be demon possessed or that spirits of the evil one can come and take possession of the Christian can come and take a boat in the Christian. This is an error. This is a mistake.

The Christian that has generally come to Jesus is the one who has the presence of the Spirit of Christ dwelling in them. While it is true that demons can oppress or sometimes even confuse genuine believers, demons cannot take possession of the heart of a person who is now in possession of the Holy Spirit. So when a Christian has a problem, an ethical problem of their lives, the problem is not that there's a demon that is guiding them to sin, but rather is the flesh that is leading them to do things that they are not supposed to do. And the solution to the problem of sin in a Christian is not to come and exercise them as if they had a demon in them, but rather is to point them to Christ in repentance of their sins that they will find forgiveness in the person of Jesus Christ. Now, the apostle inverse 10, if you come with me to verse 10 in Romans, is going to recognize that the dwelling of the Holy Spirit is going to present conflict.

And certainly we're not gonna finish everything that we were planning, but let us just go as the Lord allows and leads here. Here in verse 10, the apostle is going to recognize that the dwelling of the Holy Spirit in the Christian is going to present a conflict. Even though the Holy Spirit is in the life of the Christian, the Christian is still going to face the conflict of the flesh and the conflict of the life of the spirit. And the comparison that Paul gives us there in verse 10 is actually very interesting. He's taking from Romans chapter five and six, and he goes something like this.

Your body, as a Christian, remains dead because of the sin that you still have present in you. But as a Christian, you have the spirit of life. And this is not because of you. This is because of the righteousness of Jesus Christ. So he tells us there in verse 10, The body that you have, even though you have the Spirit of Christ in you, or Christ in you, your body is still dead because of your sin.

But the presence of the Holy Spirit is not contingent upon you. The presence of the Holy Spirit is contingent upon the righteousness of Jesus Christ. He says that in verse 10, if you pay attention there to verse 10. But if Christ, that is the Spirit of God, is in you, Although the body is dead because of sin, the spirit is alive because of righteousness. The spirit of the Christian, yes, is dead.

Why? Because we will need to die. We're not gonna keep these bodies until the end. This body is dead. My body is not alive.

My body is just in a process of deathness. I'm getting older and weaker, and I'm just simply taking steps towards death. I'm not alive in that sense. I'm alive, spiritually speaking, by God's grace in Christ Jesus, but my body is death. I'm living in death, the deathness of my body.

And even though my body is death because of sin, The Spirit of God is life, not because of my righteousness, but because of the righteousness of Jesus Christ through whom the Spirit has been given to me. So then the Christian can have certainty that once the Spirit of God comes and takes a boat in you, The indwelling of the Holy Spirit in your soul is not contingent upon you holding the Holy Spirit. Don't go, don't go, don't go and trying to be good and try to perform just to keep the Holy Spirit in you. But the habitation of the Holy Spirit, the indwelling of the Holy Spirit is contingent upon the righteousness of Jesus Christ. Is it true that we can grieve the Holy Spirit?

It is true that we can grieve the Holy Spirit with our sins. with our unrighteousness. Is it true that we might sometimes feel that the Holy Spirit is disconnected from us and that we are not connected, that the presence of the Spirit is not with us? It is true that we can feel that, but from an objective point of view, once the Holy Spirit has come and dwelt in a person. This is the banner of victory of Christ Jesus that has taken a person that was dead in their sins and their trespasses, and now the Holy Spirit is the guarantee that Jesus Christ has been conquered in the soul of that person, and that is going to be confirmed in the eternity that is to come, as the apostle says there in verse 11.

If, verse 11, If the Spirit of Him, that is of God, 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 within you. That is that the promise is not only that the Christian has the Holy Spirit in them. and that there's going to be conflict. But the promise is that your mortal body is going to be made alive because of the life of Jesus Christ.

Just as the Holy Spirit of God resurrected Jesus Christ, the Holy Spirit also gives a promise to the Christian that even though these bodies that are weak and are feeble and are getting old will pass away, then the Christian is going to be resurrected in newness of body. And that is the eternal life the Christian has because of the presence of the Holy Spirit in us. The Holy Spirit glorifies the Lord Jesus Christ in taking full possession of the sinner that was dead and coming and dwelling in him or her purely by the grace of God. And I don't know about you, perhaps I do, but I do know certainly about me the things that are in my mind. And the things that are in my head or in my heart, the things that are within me, I cannot reconcile how God will choose to have an abode in me.

I cannot understand and reconcile how He will come and live with me, that He's witness of my thoughts, that He's witness of my deeds, that He's witness of my feebleness. But brethren, that is the mercy and the grace of the gospel. That even though He knows who we are and how we are and how broken we are, He comes and dwells in us as a guarantee, as an assurance that the work that He has started in us, He will bring it to completion. Why? Because the Spirit of God glorifies the Lord Jesus Christ by taking possession of the dead sinner and coming and dwelling in them once for all.

And if the Spirit has been given to a person generally, that spirit is not going to depart. For nothing can separate us from the love of God that is found in Christ Jesus. And the Holy Spirit has been given as a guarantee of that glorious union that we have with Him. That is the indwelling of the Holy Spirit. As I said, the most important question is not, do you feel or do you experience the Holy Spirit?

But rather, do you have the Holy Spirit? Because if you don't, the Apostle Tess has clearly there that you do not belong to Christ. If you do not have the Spirit dwelling in you, you do not belong to Jesus. He does not ask the question of do you come to church or have you done these certain things? He has the question of the presence of the Spirit in you.

How can we know then that we are the sons of God by the Spirit? Then we move on to the second. We're told there in verse 14 that the Holy Spirit is not only dwelling in us, but secondly, also, we're told that the Holy Spirit leads us. Pay attention to verse 12 through 14. So then, brethren, we are debtors, not to the flesh, to live according to the flesh.

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. Why? What is the reason of this, Paul? He gives it in verse 14.

For all who are led by the Spirit are sons of God." These are the words of Paul. He says that everyone that is led by the Spirit is equal to be a child of God. Now, if I'm just simply going to use logic, then I cannot say that someone who confesses, who professes to be a child of God, is not led by the Spirit. Because all of those who are led by the Spirit are equal to be sons or children of God.

So the conclusion is that those who are genuine Christians, first of all, have the Spirit of Christ dwelling in them, verses 9 through 11. But also, their habitation of the Spirit in them is seen in that they are led by the Holy Spirit. The question that follows then is, what is it? What is to be led by the Holy Spirit? What is the leading of the Holy Spirit?

Is it that I'm going through a rot and then I feel that I need to take right instead of taking left? And then I said, I'm being led by the Holy Spirit and I'm taking the right. Or is it that I'm going to make a decision about where am I going to study and I have three options there and I pray and then I'm let to choose option B. I'm being led by the Holy Spirit. Was it that I'm going to marry and I have options there and I'm praying and I'm led by the Holy Spirit that I'm going to choose this option there?

Even though there is a sense in which God providentially prompts us and leads us in that way, I think it is very important for us to have a biblical biblically grounded understanding of what is to be led by the Holy Spirit. And sometimes I feel that even myself, even from this pulpit, often use that word to be led by the Spirit in a too broad way that makes the meaning of what the apostle intended now disappear and not to be longer any presence in the mind of the Christian. This expression, to be led by the Spirit, is only actually found two times in the New Testament and in the Scriptures. And if we actually wanted to know what is to be led by the Holy Spirit, we should not make our experience what defines what is to be led by the Holy Spirit, but actually just simply pay attention to two instances in which Paul uses this language of being led by the Holy Spirit. I'm going to submit to you, explain it first, and then we see it from the text.

That to be led by the Holy Spirit is with the purpose of being sanctified. The leading of the Holy Spirit is the action of the Spirit of God that dwells in me that leads me to, by the Spirit, mortify the deeds of my flesh and to be like Jesus Christ. to be led by the Holy Spirit is sanctification-guided, or sanctification-focused. That is, that the work of the Holy Spirit that is in me is leading me to mortify the things of the flesh. So even though God can providentially sometimes lead me to choosing this, or moving to this place, or finding a dissolution, while God can prompt me in that way, The biblical meaning of the leading of the Holy Spirit is with the purpose of sanctification and this word that exists between the passions of the flesh.

I think verses 12 and 13 make it very clearly there, but we can also go there to Galatians chapter 5. Read once again there verse 12. So then brothers, oh brethren, we are debtors not to the flesh to live according to the flesh. 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, then you will leave.

The explanation of it is given in verse 14. What is to by the spirit put to the deeds of the body of those who are led by the Spirit of God are the sons of God. Paul explains that more clearly in Galatians chapter five. If you come with me, Galatians chapter 5 explains to us this leading of the Holy Spirit to be led by the Holy Spirit is in the context of this battle that exists between the flesh and the Holy Spirit. And that's why those who are led by the Spirit are not under the condemnation of sin and of the law, as Paul will say in Galatians chapter 5.

Galatians chapter 5, if you pay attention to verse 16, he says in 5.16, but I say, Walk by the Spirit, and you will not gratify the desires of the flesh. For the desires of the flesh are against the Spirit, and the desires of the Spirit are against the flesh. For these are opposed to each other to keep you from doing the things that you want to do." Remember, this is what Paul thinks in Romans chapter 7.

There is the flesh, that is making war against the things of the Spirit. The genuine Christian has the Holy Spirit dwelling in them. But the Christian is not perfect yet. We need to find that perfection in the future that is to come. The Holy Spirit now is at war with the natural passions of my body that is dead.

Remember? Although the body is dead because of my sin, the Spirit is alive because of righteousness. There's a conflict that is happening within me. But the Holy Spirit is going to lead me in this battle against my passions and my flesh, and the leading of the Holy Spirit is in my mortification of it, or in my battling against them, in my, you know, punching them, or doing whatever I have to do to fight against the passions that are within my flesh. Not in my power, but in the power of the Holy Spirit.

That's why he says there in verse 17 once again, The desires of the flesh are against the Spirit, and the desires of the Spirit against the flesh. For these are opposed to each other to keep you from doing the things that you want to do. Verse 18, But if you are led by the Spirit, you are not under the law. That is, when I was in my sins and my trespasses, the law was condemning me because of the sinful nature that I had. So now in my battle against the passions and the flesh, the only thing that I found was guilt, guilt, guilt, guilt.

Why? Because it was under the law, because of my sins. It was pointing me to my sins. You shall not lie. But I'm a liar.

So then He's pointing me to my guilt, my guilt, my guilt. But now that I'm in Christ Jesus and have the Spirit of Christ in me, now I can fight the commandment. And when I fight the commandment, I do not find the guilt in the commandment, but rather I find the power in the person of Jesus Christ. I have what is needed in Him now to fight my lies. To fight my sexual immorality, to fight my evil thoughts, to fight my evil mind, to fight the things that do not correspond to the things of the Lord.

To be led by the Holy Spirit is the work of the Spirit that dwells in you, trying to mortify the works of the flesh for the glory of Jesus. So how does the Holy Spirit glorify Jesus Christ? The Holy Spirit glorifies Jesus Christ by taking possession of the sinner that is dead. And now the Holy Spirit dwells in that Christian. And second, the Holy Spirit glorifies Jesus Christ by leading your soul unto righteousness, by leading your soul to be like Jesus, by leading your soul to mortify the things of the flesh.

and to live righteously for the Lord. So when a person is advancing in holiness, when the person is advancing in sanctification, when the person is advancing in Christlikeness, that is a victory of the Holy Spirit for the glory of God, for the glory of Jesus Christ. And the questions that follow from there, we're going to finish very soon, I promise. How can I be led by the Holy Spirit? How can I be led by the Holy Spirit?

Do I need just to close my eyes and said, lead me, lead me, lead me, please lead me. And I need just to invoke, as we say in Spanish, the presence of the Spirit for me to actually go. How does the Spirit? leads the Christian onto holiness and onto righteousness. Two words, understanding and discernment.

Understanding and discernment. The Holy Spirit is not a mystical force that is difficult to decipher or difficult to understand. And I just need to invoke as an obscure power that is just to come Holy Spirit. And I don't feel you. I don't know where you are.

The Holy Spirit is not a mystical pagan force. The Holy Spirit is the third person of the Trinity that glorifies Jesus Christ, and Jesus Christ is the Word incarnate. So then that means that it's through the Word of God that I'm going to be ministered by the Holy Spirit. Paul makes that clear in 1 Corinthians chapter 2. If you come with me to 1 Corinthians chapter 2, understanding first and second discernment, understanding first and second discernment.

First Corinthians chapter two, you will find how the apostle tells us there about the understanding that the Spirit of God gives to his people. It says there in First Corinthians chapter two. I'm tempted to read from verse six, but it's 48 minutes. So let us just simply cut it a little bit from verse 12. It says in verse 12 to 12.

Now we have received not the spirit of the world." Very similar language to what Paul says in Romans chapter 8. We have not received the spirit of slavery to fall back into fear. Here he says, verse 12, Now we have received not the spirit of the world, but the Spirit who is from God. The apostle says that we might understand the things freely given us by God.

What is the purpose of receiving this Holy Spirit that has been given to us according to this verse? That we will understand the things that have been freely given to us by God. Because what the Holy Spirit does is that it's going to renew your mind primarily. The Holy Spirit is not coming here to make you feel and to, you know, just to have the shivers through your spine or something like this. The Holy Spirit is going to change your mind.

And in that, perhaps your emotions are going to be manifested in different ways. How providentially God has wired you and made you. But primarily, the work of the Spirit is that He's going to make you understand spiritual things. Open your mind to spiritual things. He says in verse 13, and we impart these in words.

not taught by human wisdom, but taught by the Spirit, interpreting spiritual truths to those who are spiritual. Here, the teaching of the Apostle is very clearly given to us. The Holy Spirit is the one that illuminates the understanding of the spiritual person so that the spiritual person will understand the things of God. These things of God are not understood according to the ways of the world, are not understood in a fleshly way. Even if the person can be smarter, and have a higher level of IQ than all of us put together.

If that person does not have the Spirit of God in them, the things of God are going to be close to them. And the most feeble of the saints with the most limited intellect and with the most limited ability to comprehend the things of men, if that person has the Spirit of God that is leading them to become like Jesus Christ, the eyes of that person will be open, illuminated by the Spirit to understand the spiritual things of the Lord Jesus Christ. Because the way that the Spirit leads us is through the renewing of what it is in here. It is through the renewing of your mind. It is by the changing of the things that you see as truth and removing those and putting the truths of God as they have been given to us by God.

And the way that we have the words of God In old times, it was by his voice, it was by his prophets. Now we have it in this book that is the Scriptures. So when Paul is speaking that we have received these things that are taught by the Spirit, I have a note in my Bible that says now the Scriptures because this is the word of God now for us. That's why it says there in verse 14, the natural person does not accept. the things of the Spirit of God, for they are folly to him, and he is not able to understand them because they are spiritually discerned."

That is that we need to have the presence of the Spirit in us to discern the things of the Lord. So how do I want to be led by the Holy Spirit? Do I need to put the music loud and put myself into a dark room and then just move from one place to another? I'm not saying that there's nothing wrong in that. But if the center is not to feed my mind with the truths that God has revealed through the Scriptures, the center is only my emotions.

Then what I find myself doing is just pleasing whatever emotion I have in me. I'm not seeking the truth of the Spirit in the Word of the Lord. Now, every person will manifest that in a different way, and we're not to judge the way that is manifested. But the center of it, the center of it is meant to be the truth of God, as is revealed in the Scriptures, pointing to the person of Jesus Christ as we move and renew our minds in the understanding of the things of Jesus Christ. So the question is not so much how I feel, because that may vary between us.

The question is, am I being conformed to the image of Jesus Christ? Where is my mind? How do I speak? How do I treat others? What do I feel in my heart towards my enemy?

Or do I have enemies at all? Or how do I feel towards people of the opposite sex? Or how do I feel about people that might say certain things? How do I take offense? How do I take when someone does something that I don't like or that I do not appreciate?

How does my soul respond to the things of life? Is this governed by the flesh? Is this governed by self? Is this governed by me on top of everyone else? Or is this governed by the principle of Christ who came to die upon the cross for the forgiveness of sins?

And that principle cannot be given to us by morals or by ethics, only by the power of the Holy Spirit living in us and making us die to self and conforming us to Jesus Christ. And finally, we move not only to understanding, but a genuine biblical understanding will lead us into discernment. And discernment is found in Hebrews, if you come with me, to Hebrews chapter 5, and we will finish with this. Hebrews chapter 5, discernment. It's not only about this understanding, a spiritual understanding of the things of the Lord, but a spiritual understanding will lead us then to discernment.

And discernment will make us say, this is wrong. This is right. I acted wrongly. I acted rightly. This is correct.

This is incorrect. This sermon is the result, not of the things that we do constantly, but rather the Word of God in us and being trained by the Word of the Lord. Hebrews chapter 5 verse 11. It says about this. About these we have much to say, and it is hard to explain, since you have become dull of hearing.

The author of Hebrews is a little bit upset with the Hebrews because they were not understanding certain things. It says in verse 12, for though by this time you ought to be teachers, You need someone to teach you again the basic principles of the words of God or the oracles of God. So he says, by now, with all the information that you have and all the things that you have, you should have so much understanding that you should be teachers of others. You should be guiding others by now because you have been receiving so much. You should be now being teaching others, but you're not, but you're not, he says there.

You need milk, not solid food. For everyone who lives on milk is unskilled in the word of righteousness, since he is a child. Unskilled in the word of righteousness. unskilled, as I have it here in the ESV, unskilled, not in life, right? Because sometimes we aim just to be skilled in the things of life, and we gain some experience from the things of life, and that is good.

But spiritual maturity, unskilled in the word of righteousness, since he's a child. but solid food is for the mature, for those who have their powers of discernment trained by constant practice to distinguish good from evil. The spiritual understanding of the words of the Lord as he grows and he grows and he grows and strengthens in the heart of the Christian is going to lead that person to discern the mind of God because the mind of that person is no longer be theirs is going to be the mind of God that is formed in them. And brethren, we do not need our own minds. We need the mind of Jesus in us, the mind that He has given us by His Spirit, that it needs to grow and increase, that Christ Jesus will be in us.

That is to be a Christian, is to die to self and that Jesus Christ will increase. That is to be a Christian. To be a Christian is death. That's why the Bible says, Take up your cross and follow me. Take up your cross and come behind me.

Follow me. Follow my statue. Take up your cross and follow me. As I died and I was crucified, you ought to be crucified. So the offer of Christianity is not so much come and have a better life and have many, you know, bank accounts and money and cars and a big house and all of these things and everything is going to be fine with you, and we're going to please and satisfy what you desire.

The offer of Christianity is come and die. Take up your cross and follow Jesus. When no one follows him, are you there to follow the Lord Jesus Christ? When people are going to oppose, are you going to be there to stand up for the things that the Lord says that they are right? When the whole world is stand up for that which is unrighteous, are you going to stand up for the things of Christ?

Let me submit to you that if the Spirit of Christ is not dwelling in you and the Spirit of God is not leading you, None of us will. All of us will choose ourselves and all of us will choose the things of this world because the only way that we can stand even against the unrighteousness of our own hearts is when by the Spirit. We put to death the deeds of the body, when by the Spirit who dwells in a Christian to glorify the Lord Jesus Christ, taking possession of that sinner that was dead, when the Holy Spirit that comes and leads that Christian unto righteousness for the glory of Jesus, not for our glory or the glory of the Church, when that Holy Spirit is the one that is working in us, That is the work that Christ does in His people. That's why He said, I'm going. And it's good that I go because when I go, I will send you a comforter, a helper.

And this helper that is with you, he will take you until the end of this age. And when I come, I will take my bride out of the wilderness of this age. My Holy Spirit would have kept the church pure and defiled until the end without stumbling. Because those who receive the Spirit of God are sealed. are sealed, not in the head, not in the hand.

They are sealed, spiritually speaking, by the Spirit of God until the Lord Jesus Christ comes. And He's the guarantee. He's the assurance that one day, even though we suffer in this person's body, there's going to be rejoicing and there's not going to be sin and there's not going to be dead because we are in Jesus Christ. That is the work of the Holy Spirit that we're going to continue to explore next week. Next week.

May the Lord give us the grace that is needed for us to understand the great blessing that we have inside of us. These vessels off earth, these vessels off of lay the clay that they're going to be broken. These vessels that now are containers of the presence of the spirit of Jesus Christ. Amen. Let us pray.

Father, we give you thanks once again for the teaching of your word. I pray, O Lord, that you will grant to the hearts of these brothers and sisters to receive and to hear the words that are spiritually discerned that come from above. I pray, O Lord, that you will strengthen the faith of my brothers and my sisters. I pray, O Lord, that you will point us to Christ by and through the Holy Spirit. I pray, Lord, that if we have been tempted in different temptations and the things of this world.

And even if your Holy Spirit convicts us now of the sins that we've committed against you, Lord, that we will not run away trying to fix ourselves, that we will come to the feet of Christ by this same spirit, knowing that Jesus is just and faithful to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. I pray, O Lord, that you will strengthen us spiritually speaking in this sermon, that you will grant us a deeper and greater understanding of your word, that you will make us humble before your presence, Lord, that you will point us to Christ. I pray, O Lord, that your word will dwell in our hearts so richly that we will not sin against you, Lord, that we will be filled by the truth of Christ and desire to be like him. If there is anyone among us that is not in Christ Jesus, if there is anyone among us in whom the spirit of Christ is not present, if there is anyone among us in whom the spirit of Christ does not dwell, I pray, O Lord, that even at this very time and this very hour, You will bring repentance to this person and that this person will know that there's forgiveness of sins only found in the person of Jesus Christ. We pray, Lord, that you will strengthen us in our faith, that you will help us to live our lives in light of who we are in Christ Jesus and not in light of the things that our senses immediately see in our lives, that we will learn to step back from the perspective of the temporality of our days and to see ourselves in the hands of God in the work of Jesus Christ.

I pray, Lord, that you will grant us of these by your Holy Spirit that is strengthen us and empower us and that as we grow in understanding and discernment of the things of the Holy Spirit that also we will grow in affections that are aligned with your word affections that are aligned with your will the affections of Christ that even as teach us to speak like him to be like him and even to feel like him oh Lord I pray that Jesus Christ will be conformed in our hearts and that he will be the center of everything that we do We pray now, Lord, as we come to this table, that you will bless us as we partake together of it, as we proclaim that we have been united spiritually with Christ Jesus, and that this union that we have with Jesus, that the Spirit of God dwells in us, and that we can proclaim that we are temple of the Holy Spirit, never to be separated. We praise you and we give you thanks, and it's in Jesus' name that we pray. Amen.