Grace Baptist Church, Nokomis, IL.

Text:

According to a survey of 6,000 people, the average American will in their lifetime spend six months sitting at stoplights, eight months opening junk mail, one year looking for misplaced objects, two years unsuccessfully returning phone calls, four years doing housework, five years waiting in line, and six full years eating. We fill our time with many activities, but we don’t have an endless amount of time.

Many people delay accepting Christ as Savior because they believe they have plenty of time. And certainly if salvation was merely about going to heaven, they may have a point. Chances are, you probably will live past tomorrow. But although our future salvation is our greatest need, there is also a great immediate benefit to us in knowing Christ.

“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 life because of righteousness. If the Spirit of him who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, he who raised Christ Jesus from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through his Spirit who dwells in you.” (Rom 8:9-11 ESV)

To belong to Christ means to have the Holy Spirit living in you (v. 9). But what does it mean to belong to Christ? Obviously, everyone who lives belongs to Christ. He is God and He owns all things. But when we humble ourselves to Christ’s authority, we belong to Him in a special way. He is our Master, and we are His servants.

But it does not say, “If anyone does not belong to Christ, he does not have the Spirit of Christ.” Stating the verse that way sounds very similar to what is written. But notice how that phrasing of the verse would stress something different. It ultimately would stress our own works, proving that we belong to Christ because of what we have done. As written, it stresses the presence and power of the Holy Spirit. It ought to be extremely apparent to us and others that the Holy Spirit lives in us. Because it is extremely apparent when the Spirit doesn’t live in a person. They do not humble themselves to Christ’s authority. They do not have the Holy Spirit’s power to transform them. God does not save a person without changing a person.

To have the Holy Spirit in you means to have Christ in you (v. 10). It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me. Yet Christ is not physically inside you. However, the nature of Christ is in you, because Christ is God and the Holy Spirit is God.

Just as Christ rose from the dead, we have life because of the Spirit inside us! These bodies we have are going to die. We can’t stop that. It’s not natural that these bodies should die. It’s because of sin. However, our spirit has been made alive in Christ! It is very clearly talking about our spirit, not the Holy Spirit. Yet the Holy Spirit is clearly involved because He’s how our spirit is righteous. Though these bodies will die, our soul is alive now and will be alive forever.

Not only that, but our bodies will also be raised and perfected (v. 11). God raised Jesus from the dead bodily. God’s Spirit lives in us. The nature of Christ is in us. God rose Jesus once, and He’ll do the same for us who, like Christ, have the Spirit inside us. But I don’t think we have to look to the future to experience this verse. These mortal bodies, although corrupt because of sin, can do things that please God today. As we walk with Christ, we become more and more alive.

All of this is based on a condition we must be in with God. Verse 9 says, “IF the Spirit of God dwells in you…” Verse 10 says, “IF Christ is in you…” Verse 11 says, “IF the Spirit of him who raised Jesus dwells in you…” Having the Holy Spirit in you isn’t optional. It is how we have a changed life. It is how we glorify God while still living in these mortal bodies. And it is how these perishable bodies will one day be raised imperishable.