Sermon 21

You Have The Spirit! The Spirit Has You!

Romans 8:9-17

Th subject of Romans 8 is the Holy Spirit. In fact, Paul uses the word "Spirit" 21 times in the first 27 verses of the chapter.

Let's think about the Holy Spirit and His ministry to us today.

The first thing you need to know and understand is that if you are a Christian you have the Holy Spirit indwelling you. That wonderful truth is stated several times in this text.

v. 9 - the Spirit of God dwells in you

v. 9 - if you do now have the Spirit of Christ, you are not one of His.

v. 10 - if Christ be in you ...

v. 11 - if the Spirit of him that raised Jesus from the dead dwell in you

v. 11 - his Spirit that dwelleth in you.

When Jesus told His disciples that He was leaving, He promised that He was going to send them a Comforter. John 14:16-17 And I will pray the Father, and he shall give you another Comforter, that he may abide with you for ever; Even the Spirit of truth; whom the world cannot receive, because it seeth him not, neither knoweth him: but ye know him; for he dwelleth with you, and shall be in you.

Acts 2 describes the arrival of the Holy Spirit on the Day of Pentecost. It was a very dramatic and miraculous event. They heard a sound like a mighty rushing wind. They saw what looked like cloven tongues of fires. Four different things happened with the arrival of the Holy Spirit. First, it filled the house where they were meeting (baptism of the Holy Spirit). Second, it sat individually on each of them (indwelling of the Holy Spirit). Third, they were filled with the Holy Spirit (which means they were under the influence of the Holy Spirit). Fourth, they suddenly had the supernatural ability to speak in human languages which they had never learned (a temporary reversal of Babel) in order to preach the gospel to the many nationalities that were gathered in Jerusalem. Those things are not all the same thing but they all happened at the same time. And one of them was the indwelling the Holy Spirit. From that moment all, at the moment a person trusts in Christ, at the moment of salvation, at the moment one is born again, the Holy Spirit takes up permanent residence in the believer. If you are a Christian, you have the Holy Spirit and if you don't have the Holy Spirit you are not a Christian. I Corinthians 6:19 What? know ye not that your body is the temple of the Holy Ghost which is in you ...?

Thus, the first thing you need to know is that from the moment you trust Christ you have the Holy Spirit. What does that mean? What difference does that make? Mostly it means that you are never alone. Christ is always with you through His Spirit. You don't face the struggles of life alone. You don't face temptation alone. Your not alone when you have big and challenging decisions to make. The Lord is with you. His Spirit is present within you to empower you to overcome the flesh, to bring the necessary changes in your life. We have this wonderful, powerful resource within us 24 / 7 to fight the battles of life, to lift the burdens of life. The Holy Spirit indwells you. You have the Spirit!

But not only do you have the Spirit. Romans 8:15 says that the Spirit has you. The Holy Spirit is referred to as "the Spirit of adoption." Thus, we the "the sons of God" (v. 14) and "the children of God" (v. 16).

Adoption speaks of love, mercy, and grace. It is a legal action whereby a person is brought into a family. When a person is adopted he is given all the legal privileges that the other members of the family possess. Read II Corinthians 6:17-18.

The Bible speaks of God's people as having been adopted (Romans 9:4; Ephesians 1:5). You may be thinking, "I thought we were born into the family of God." Which is it born or adopted? Actually, it is both! We have experienced regeneration. We are born again, born into the family of God. But we are also adopted into God's family. These two words regeneration and adoption help us to understand the meaning of salvation. When we were saved, we were given a new nature, we were born of the Spirit, made partakers of the divine nature. That's what is expressed in the word regeneration. But we also were accepted into God's family, given his name and promised to be his heirs. That's what is expressed in the word adoption.

In our society, when we think of adoption, we think of children who are orphans or for some reason given up by their natural parents and taken into another family. But that was not the idea of adoption in the ancient Roman world. In Roman society, if a father didn't deem any of his own sons worthy of inheriting his name and estate, he would adopt a son for that purpose. He would find someone with character he wanted in a son. The adopted son, then would have precedence over the man's blood sons. When the Bible says that we are adopted children of God, it is giving us special recognition and privileges as the ones who wear the name and who will receive the inheritance of God! Not only do you have the Spirit, but through adoption, the Spirit has you.

Now with that in mind, Paul elucidates specifically how the Holy Spirit helps us, the ministries that he performs in our lives.

The Guidance Of The Spirit, v. 14.

Paul says that one of the things which assures of that we are the children of God is the guidance of the Holy Spirit. If you can sense God's guidance, you indeed are a child of God.

David sensed that about God. In Psalm 23 he said, "He leadeth me ..."

Jesus said that the Comforter will "guide us into all truth." He leads us away from sin and temptation "Lead me not into temptation but deliver me from evil" and he leads us into truth.

Walk in the Spirit and you will not fulfill the lust of the flesh. Follow the guidance of the Spirit and you will avoid sin. We have a choice. We can follow the Spirit or we can fight against the Spirit. We can respond to the Spirit or we can resist. We can go with the Spirit or we can grieve the Spirit. He does not drag us ... he leads us. He illuminates the path before us. One of the key ministries of the Holy Spirit is that of guidance.

The Assurance Of The Spirit, vs. 15-16.

Verses 15 and 16 are packed full of assurance. When we possess the Spirit, we do not have spirit of bondage but liberty. We are not motivated by fear but by love (Romans 5:5: I Timothy 1:7; I John 4:18).

Now, because we have been adopted, we do not go to a judge and plead for mercy from punishment. Rather we go to a Father and cry (loudly, with deep emotion) Abba (Papa, Daddy). That term is appropriate for only one person ... your father. "The force of Paul’s words here is that the Holy Spirit not only joins us to the family of God, but that He continually assures us and reminds us of this relationship."

Verse 16 says that the Spirit bears witness with our spirit that we are the children of God. That is, the Spirit continually confirms our salvation within our heart. That doesn't mean that we will never doubt our salvation. There are some popular preachers and teachers saying lately that if you doubt your salvation, then you aren't saved. It is common to experience doubt. But this passage tells us that when we doubt, the Spirit immediately comes to confirm and assure our salvation.

That assurance extends on into the future according to verse 17. We have been adopted into the family of God. We are his children. The Spirit confirms it within us. If we are his children, then we are his heirs! That makes us joint heirs with Jesus Christ! That means, that although there may be some suffering now, there is going to be glory in the future. You see, Paul is adding another proof of the security of our salvation. We are eternally secure because have the Spirit who will never leave us and because the Spirit has adopted us into God's family and will never disinherit us.

If you are saved, you have the Spirit! If you are saved, the Spirit has you! He is there to guide you, assure you, and promise you a great and glorious future.