Fifth Sunday of Lent: The Indwelling Spirit

A friend of mine once said that Southern Baptists are “one-third atheist.” We don’t know how to treat the Holy Spirit, so we tend to ignore Him. Scripture doesn’t.

 

Scripture reading: Ezekiel 37:1-14.
Sermon text: Romans 8:6-11.

I want to introduce you to someone.

You can’t see Him. You can’t touch Him, even though He has touched countless lives in history. You can’t hear Him unless He speaks directly to you.

Yet, He will change you for eternity.

I want you to meet God, the Holy Spirit.

The Holy Spirit remains the least understood Person in the Trinity. Millions crave His presence. Millions misunderstand His work in the Church. Some fear Him. Yet, we cannot call ourselves believers if He does not dwell with us.

In last week’s sermon, we saw where the Holy Spirit “rushed upon David” at his anointing as king over Israel (1 Samuel 16:13). In the Old Testament, you’ll rarely see the Holy Spirit work in more than one person at a time. Usually, the Holy Spirit would indwell a specific person for the duration of that person’s assignment from God. We have no evidence that the Holy Spirit remained with every believer in Israel. We have evidence to the contrary in the case of Saul, the king David succeeded. In fact, the passage that tells us of David’s anointing tells us, “Now the Spirit of the LORD departed from Saul” (1 Samuel 16:14).

It seems that the Holy Spirit revealed Himself to almost no one for a period of over 450 years from the time of Malachi to the time of John the Baptist. The Holy Spirit next appears in the Scriptural record when He revealed to Simeon that “he would not see death before he had seen the Lord’s Christ” (Luke 2:26). St. Luke also recorded the presence of Anna, a “prophetess,” who served in the Temple at the time of Jesus’  presentation (Luke 2:36-38).

Jesus changed everything about the Holy Spirit’s work in the world. When Jesus gave His last words to His disciples, He told them, “I tell you the truth: it is to your advantage that I go away, for if I do not go away, the Helper will not come to you. But if I go, I will send him to you” (John 16:7). Jesus referred to the Holy Spirit as the “Helper.” After Jesus’ ascension, He sent the Holy Spirit into the world on the day of Pentecost in A.D. 33. The Holy Spirit “filled” the believers and empowered them to share the gospel of Jesus with the people of Jerusalem.

By the time St. Paul wrote to believers in Rome in c. A.D. 55, Christians had taken the gospel throughout the Roman Empire, including to Rome itself. In the sermon text, St. Paul told the Roman believers about the greatest mystery of the Holy Spirit: HIs ability to live within everyone who confesses Jesus as Lord and believes in Jesus’ resurrection. The sermon text today tells us about the importance of the Holy Spirit in our lives and also reminds us of the benefits of His presence within us.

First, we need to eliminate a major misunderstanding about the Holy Spirit. Repeat after me:

The Holy Spirit is not an emotion.

The Holy Spirit is God Himself.

Thank you! The sooner you understand the identity of the Holy Spirit, the sooner you can avoid some of the worst misconceptions about His work in our lives and in the life of the Church.

St. Paul opened the sermon text with a key lesson in the Spirit’s work. “For to set the mind on the flesh is death, but to set the mind on the Spirit is life and peace.” Did you notice a key word in the sentence? “Mind.” Again, the Holy Spirit is not an emotion. Many believers crave an emotional experience in worship, believing mistakenly that the Holy Spirit works only through our emotions. The Holy Spirit works primarily in our minds. St. Paul would later write in this letter, “Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect” (Romans 12:2). The Holy Spirit will begin working in our minds immediately after our conversion.

The Holy Spirit will help us to avoid some of the major conflicts that beset humanity. Again, “to set the mind on the flesh is death.” Most people spend their lives pursuing fleshly desires that will lead them into serious trouble. Note that the Scriptures never say we cannot care for our fleshly bodies; nor do the Scriptures deny the human desire for pleasure. However, the Holy Spirit works in our minds to help us moderate those desires and channel them into their proper functions. When we allow the Holy Spirit to work in our minds, He brings “life and peace” to us. The Holy Spirit will guide us into eternal life. The “peace” brought by the Holy Spirit reminds us of the Hebrew “shalom,” that sense of wholeness and well-being we receive when we live in a relationship with God.

Unfortunately, most people will spend their lives alienated from God because they instead choose to keep their minds “set on the flesh.” Those with this mindset cannot “submit to God’s law” of love for God and love for others. Those in the fleshly mindset will choose their own desires over the love of God. When we cannot show godly love to people, we live in separation from God. “Those who are in the flesh cannot please God.”

The Holy Spirit “dwells in you” from the moment of your confession in Jesus as Lord and helps you life in peace with God. This describes one of the great mysteries of Christianity. We fully believe that Christianity does not rely on a set ritual of initiation, nor does it rely on a formal creed for admission. Instead, we believe that, by faith, God Himself indwells every person who believes in Jesus, confessing Him as Lord and believing in His resurrection (Romans 10:9-10).

What does this mean practically? It means that God dwells within you and brings “life” to us. “The Spirit is life because of righteousness.” St. Paul wrote to the Ephesians, “And you were dead in the trespasses and sinsvin which you once walked, following the course of this world” (Ephesians 2:1-2). The Holy Spirit brings us alive spiritually. St. Paul also wrote to the Ephesians, “God, being rich in mercy, because of the great love with which he loved us, even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ” (Ephesians 2:4-5).  The Holy Spirit gives us a sense of “life” and helps us to live in “righteousness,” or in right standing before God. We do the right things because the Holy Spirit empowers us. We love others because of the Holy Spirit’s presence in our lives.

The Holy Spirit’s presence assures us of our eternal salvation (Ephesians 1:13-14). As St. Paul wrote in the sermon text, “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.” Humanity has feared death since the first death recorded in history. I’ve seen people die. I’ve seen the fear in their eyes as death approached. I’ve also seen the peace of those who die with faith in Jesus. The presence of the Holy Spirit has brought peace to them in the worst event they will face in eternity.

The Holy Spirit’s coming into our lives may bring an emotional response. Most Christians I’ve known experienced an intense emotional experience at the coming of the Holy Spirit. However, the Holy Spirit remains with us regardless of our emotional state. His presence does not rely on our emotions; it relies on the faithfulness of God and His promise never to leave us or forsake us (Hebrews 13:5).

What do we know then about the Holy Spirit from today’s text?

First, we must receive the Holy Spirit to have assurance of our standing before God. No one can please God without the Holy Spirit because that person remains spiritually dead until His coming. The Holy Spirit will come to everyone who confesses Jesus as Lord, believing in His resurrection (Romans 10:9-10). If you’ve never confessed Jesus as your Lord and believed in His resurrection, you must do so to receive the Holy Spirit.

Once the Holy Spirit comes into your life, you can live confidently knowing that He will help you please God. You can freely love other people in spite of their desirability, or even more importantly, because of your attitude or opinion of those people. You know, through the Holy Spirit, that God loves them, too, and desires for them to receive the Holy Spirit as well.

The Holy Spirit will help you live rightly before God by joining you with other believers. If I could summarize the Holy Spirit’s work in two characteristics, I would say this:

  1. The Holy Spirit always draws people to Jesus and magnifies Jesus, not Himself.
  2. The Holy Spirit always draws believers to other believers for worship, fellowship, and encouragement.

Have you believed in Jesus? If not, believe in Him today and receive the Holy Spirit in your life. If so, then live boldly and confidently before God, loving everyone He has placed in your life. Live boldly and confidently before the world, knowing every person you encounter brings an opportunity to share God’s love and the joy of Jesus’ redemption from sin. Live boldly and confidently with other believers, joining in worship, fellowship, and encouragement.

The Holy Spirit who indwells us will guide us in this life. He will also bring us through death itself, through our own resurrection, and into a glorious eternity promised to everyone who believes in Jesus, Our Lord.