Let’s think about verses 8 and 9 this morning. This sets down a couple of Bible doctrines that are essential for good spiritual and mental health. But I don’t just want you to feel good this morning, I want you to be good. I want you to grow in your love for the Lord Jesus Christ who has made this blessing possible. I want you to live your life in a fashion which glorifies His Name.
Do you see the words “if so be” in verse 9? We might restate their meaning by saying: “assuming that…” “Ye are not in the flesh, but in the Spirit, ASSUMING THAT the Spirit of God dwell in you.” Let’s use the words “assuming that” to introduce the three points of our message. You’ll notice that some of our logic comes across just a bit backwards, but it’s not backwards doctrine.
Let me ask you this: Has any man on earth ever pleased God? Sure they have. The entire chapter of Hebrews 11 describes people who pleased the Lord. For example there was Enoch. “By faith Enoch was translated that he should not see death; and was not found, because God had translated him: for before his translation he had this testimony, that HE PLEASED GOD. But without faith it is impossible to please him: for he that cometh to God must believe that he is, and that he is a rewarder of them that diligently seek him.” Enoch pleased God, and he did so by faith, for without faith it is impossible. And when did Enoch please God? Obviously, he pleased the Lord before his translation into Heaven. He pleased the Lord while he was still in his earthly body. Can we assume Enoch received a second, third, or fourth work of Grace and never had a fleshly thought? Can we assume He never spoke an unkind word; He never yearned for a car that didn’t need repair? He was never jealous, never angry, never pouty, never covetous, never lazy? All except for the car, he was probably guilty of all these things once in a while. Enoch was a man of like passions with the rest of us. I guarantee that he had his moments of carnality and fleshliness. He was defeated, from time to time, by each of his enemies – the world, flesh and the Devil. You can be sure that Satan particularly hated that man and attacked him ferociously. Even if Christians say that they have no sin, they deceive themselves – I John 1.
Coming back to Romans, it’s one thing display sporadic carnality, another to be in the flesh. Paul wrote, “Ye are not in the flesh.” And to whom was he writing? “To ALL that be in Rome, beloved of God, called to be saints” – Romans 1:7. Do you mean to tell me that all the saints in Rome were living completely above the flesh? There wasn’t a shred of carnality in any of their hearts or minds? If you think so, I’ve got a piece of moon rock brought back on Apollo 13 that I’d to sell to you. Sure they were sometimes sinful and fleshly.
Yet Paul is telling us is that no child of God is any longer in the flesh. Isn’t that a contradiction? Take God at his word here. This suggests that there may be FLESH in the Christian, but the CHRISTIAN is not in the flesh. We were once in one army, but now we’re in another. Maybe it would be better to say, we were once in one uniform, but now we’re in another. In the past, we were of our father, the Devil, and the lusts of our father we obediently obeyed. We lived with an uncontrolled love of the world. We were in the flesh, of the flesh, obedient to the flesh and controlled by the flesh. But, by way of the new birth, our born-again spirits are no longer in the flesh, but in the Holy Spirit.
Let me go over this again. When Hebrews 11:6 says “but without faith it is impossible to please God,” there an implication that by faith we can please God. Only those in faith can please God, only those who have been born-again can please God. Every child of God can, should and probably does to some degree, please God. But, Paul says here that “they that are in the flesh CANNOT please God.” Therefore, the word “flesh” cannot refer to simply our fleshly bodies. And he says that the Romans, and I’ll assume Christians everywhere, are not in the flesh. Obviously he is talking about our standing as Christians. This isn’t a statement about our experience, but about our position in Christ Jesus.
So there is a sense in which no true Christian is in the flesh, he is rather in the Spirit. You say that you don’t understand? You say that you don’t agree? What does the Word of God say? Take God at His word here. Christians are not in the flesh, their standing is one of being in the Spirit.
“Ye are not in the flesh, but in the Spirit of God, if so be that the Spirit of Christ dwell in you. Now if any man have not the Spirit, he is none of his.” The “Holy Spirit,” the “Holy Ghost,” the “Spirit of Christ” and the “Spirit of God” are all one and the same. The Holy Spirit, is both the Spirit of Christ and the Spirit of God, because there is a unity between them. In fact there is a unity between all three: Father, Son and Spirit. And we could logically speak of the “God of the Spirit,” or the “Christ of the Spirit” if we wanted to. But this is not Paul’s point, so we move along.
Assuming that the Spirit of God dwells in you, ye are in the Spirit, not the flesh. Does the Spirit of God dwell in any of us? He most certainly does, if you are resting in the shed blood of the Lord Jesus for your salvation. Timothy Richards, a missionary to China once visited a Christian man in Shantung. That Chinese saint of God unashamedly said that he read and re-read the New Testament. And out of all the profound things that he found there, what was the thing that amazed him most? That it is possible for men to become temples of the Spirit of God. It is easier to grasp that God might forgive a sinner than the idea that God enters and indwells him. You might pardon someone, but would you ask that one to come live in home?
But does God enter the soul of His former enemies? What saith the Word? Galatians 4:4-6 – “When the fulness of the time was come, God sent forth his Son, made of a woman, made under the law, To redeem them that were under the law, that we might receive the adoption of sons. And because ye are sons, God hath sent forth the Spirit of his Son into your hearts, crying, Abba, Father.” There are a multitude of scriptures which say that God has given His Spirit for to dwell in His the saints: John 7:37-39; Acts 11:17; I Corinthians 2:12; II Corinthians 5:5; Galatians 3:2; I John 3:24. Romans 5:5 – “The love of God is shed abroad in our hearts by the Holy Ghost, which is given unto us.” I Corinthians 6:19-20 – “What? know ye not that your body is the temple of the Holy Ghost.” I John 4:13 – “Hereby know we that we dwell in him and He is us, because he hath given us of his Spirit.” Among many others there are verses 10 and 11 here in Romans 8 – “If Christ be in you, the body is dead because of sin; but the Spirit is life because of righteousness. But if the Spirit of him that raised up Jesus from the dead dwell in you, he that raised up Christ from the dead shall also quicken your mortal bodies by his Spirit that dwelleth in you.” The Holy Spirit of God dwells in the heart of every child of our Heavenly King. The Spirit is thereby the earnest of our inheritance. He is the seal and guarantee of our salvation.
And assuming that the Spirit of God dwells in you, ye are in the Spirit, not the flesh. And then making one more assumption:
Jesus told Nicodemus that he had to be born again of the Spirit of God. The new birth – what we call “regeneration” – is an operation of the Holy Spirit. The Lord Jesus doesn’t accomplish salvation outside of the working of the Spirit. It is the Spirit who convicts us and convinces us of sin, righteousness and judgment. It is He who leads us unto the cross of Christ. It is He who dispenses to us faith and repentance.
Every saint of God is a saint because the Holy Spirit makes him one. And he who does not have the Spirit of Christ, does not have Christ. Just as he who does not have Christ does not have God the Father.
An earthly brother of the Lord Jesus, a man named Jude, wrote a letter by the Holy Ghost. In that letter he came down very hard on false prophets and teachers. He first described them and then prophesied of severe judgment upon them. Let me read from verse 14 on down and notice the words when I stop. “And Enoch also, the seventh from Adam, prophesied of these, saying, Behold, the Lord cometh with ten thousands of his saints, To execute judgment upon all, and to convince all that are ungodly among them of all their ungodly deeds which they have ungodly committed, and of all their hard speeches which ungodly sinners have spoken against him. These are murmurers, complainers, walking after their own lusts; and their mouth speaketh great swelling words, having men’s persons in admiration because of advantage. But, beloved, remember ye the words which were spoken before of the apostles of our Lord Jesus Christ; How that they told you there should be mockers in the last time, who should walk after their own ungodly lusts. These be they who separate themselves, sensual, HAVING NOT THE SPIRIT.” Those who HAVE NOT the Spirit will feel the wrath of Almighty God.
They that are in the flesh CANNOT please God. And they that HAVE NOT the Spirit are in the flesh. They that have not the Spirit have no inheritance in Christ Jesus. They are lost, they are hell-bound, they are aliens, and without hope.
s the song recommends, “We’re marching on to Zion, Come a join our happy band.” Come to Christ this morning, where there is no more condemnation. Move from the flesh to the Spirit; receive ye the Spirit of God. Remember, except a man be born again, he cannot see the Kingdom of Heaven. Remember that they that are in the flesh, CANNOT please God.
The only life worth living is the one that contains the assurance of unending peace with the Lord. Only through being justified by faith, can we have peace with God. Repent before God, and believe on the Lord Jesus Christ.