Characteristics of a Person Who Has the Spirit

Introduction

My Father-in-law once told the story of how he was preaching one day and it seemed like he was really on fire. A lady who had been a member of a Pentecostal church came up to him after the service and said. You got it don’t you. Katy’s dad was a little perplexed by what she meant. What did he have? You got the Holy Spirit don’t you? She went on. That lady assumed that if you had the Holy Spirit, there would be this passion and burning in your preaching. She also assumed that some who are Christians, if not most, don’t have the Spirit. It was something to be gained after salvation.

Pentecostal theology teaches that the baptism of the Spirit is a second blessing that the Christian must seek after. They divide those who have the spirit from those who do not. There is no gradual transition from one to the other. You either got it or your don’t. Early Pentecostals and some Methodists believed that this would lead to a state of sinless perfection. If you could just get to this point, you would never sin again.

Back in verse 3, Paul explained that those who have the Spirit can fulfill the righteousness of the law. The verses we are going to look at this morning are going to define for us who the us of verse 3 are. Who has the Spirit? Who is he talking about in chapter 8? Who is it that is not condemned from vs 1? In this passage, he gives three descriptions of the man who has the Spirit.

The true Christian is spiritually minded

Romans 8:5–8 “For they that are after the flesh do mind the things of the flesh; but they that are after the Spirit the things of the Spirit. For to be carnally minded is death; but to be spiritually minded is life and peace. Because the carnal mind is enmity against God: for it is not subject to the law of God, neither indeed can be. So then they that are in the flesh cannot please God.”

In these four verses there is a word that is repeated four times: that word is some form of mind. One evidence that a person has the Spirit is that they think spiritually. Verse 5 begins with a contrast between those who are after the flesh and after the spirit. The meaning of these two phrase is that they are controlled by either the flesh or the spirit. So we see that what you think about reveals what kingdom you are part of. Which one controls you shows which master you serve. Let’s use this illustration to show how this is true:

Consider a mother and a single woman. Paul says in 1 Corinthians 7 that the married woman cares for the things of the world. What Paul means is that she has different concerns than an unmarried woman. A mother has to be concerned about having a good marriage. She stressed about where her kids are and what they are doing. She feeds and cleans up after them. Now an unmarried woman doesn’t have to worry about a husband or kids. She can do what she wants more freely. What we see is that our thoughts reveal who we are. Proverbs 23:7 “For as he thinketh in his heart, so is he: Eat and drink, saith he to thee; But his heart is not with thee.”

What matters to you reveals where you heart is? Paul is arguing that the person who never thinks about God or listens to the Spirit is revealing that they are not in the family of God. They are in the flesh, but those who have a heart for God and care about what the Spirit is leading them to do reveal that they are in the Spirit.

2. We also see in this passage that the end result of being in the flesh is death. Verse 6 while following the Spirit is life. Why would I ever desire to follow the spirit? Why not just do what my flesh desires? The answer is in the results. Why not eat chocolate cake for every meal every day? The answer is because it will make you fat, give you heart disease and possibly diabetes. Those who live in the flesh will experience death. I believe this is consistent with what Paul is saying here because the implication is that if you are not following after the Spirit, you aren’t a Christian.

3. In verse 7-8 we see that our thinking determines our attitude toward God. The person who lives in the flesh doesn’t like God. The verse describes it as enmity against God. I used to wonder how some “Christian” young people could be so spiteful against God, could act like he was just a tyrant holding them back. The answer is they weren’t Christians and god was their enemy. The person in the flesh is not submitted to God’s word. They want to do what they want to do and in fact They can’t do what is right.

The true Christian is indwelt by the Spirit

Romans 8:9 “But ye are not in the flesh, but in the Spirit, if so be that the Spirit of God dwell in you. Now if any man have not the Spirit of Christ, he is none of his.”

Where that Pentecostal lady got it wrong was in her belief that some Christians don’t have the Holy Spirit. Paul affirms his belief that these believers are in the Spirit. The evidence of being in the Spirit is that the Holy Spirit lives inside you. Jesus promised that After He ascended to heaven, He would send the Holy Spirit and he would

John 14:17 “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.”

Notice the tense of the phrase shall be in you. This is a future tense promise. Once Pentecost came, every believer would receive the Holy Spirit who permanently sets up residence in the believer. This is why Paul later in 1 Corinthians speaks of our bodies being the temple of God because God literally lives in us.

In verse 9, Paul uses the word dwell. The word comes from the Greek word for house. He sets up house in you. The evidence of his residence is that he is going to change things around in the house and the more submitted we are to his rule and reign in our life the more we will see this.

The last phrase of the verse is very clear:

If you do not have the Spirit, you are not a Christian.

Or another way to word this is: every Christian has the Spirit. There is no waiting around for a second blessing. We are not looking or asking the Holy Spirit to indwell us; rather, the Christian should be seeking the Holy Spirit to have more control in their lives. We could spend a whole year talking about what the Holy Spirit does when he indwells a believer and it would be helpful, but we are not going to drill down into that today. We will focus on what the Spirit does in the life of a believer from what Paul says in this passage.

The true Christian has spiritual life.

Romans 8:10–11 “And 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.”

What does it mean that the body is dead because of sin? Some believe this refers to the fact that we died to the body of sin or the flesh in Jesus, but I don’t think that is what Paul intends to say here. The Christian faces a dilemma since we are still in this body. Even though we possess eternal life by the Spirit and will live with God forever, we still die physically. Sins effect on our bodies will still reach its conclusion and if the Lord does not rapture us away, we will all still die. But now matter what happens to our bodies, our Spirits will live forever. Martyn Lloyd Jones comments:

The Message of Romans c. The Indwelling of the Spirit (9–13)

The moment we enter into this world and begin to live, we also begin to die. Your first breath is one of the last you will ever take!… the principle of decay, leading to death, is in every one of us.’

Verse 11 makes it clear that Paul is talking about physical death. This verse teaches that if we are Christians, the Spirit that lives in us will someday raise our bodies from the dead. In that phrase quicken your mortal bodies, the word quicken means to make alive. Its kinda like a story I once read:

A man is driving along a highway and sees a rabbit jump out across the middle of the road.He swerves to avoid hitting it, but unfortunately the rabbit jumps right in front of the car.The driver, a sensitive man as well as an animal lover, pulls over and gets out to see what has become of the rabbit.Much to his dismay, the rabbit is the Easter Bunny, and he is DEAD .The driver feels so awful that he begins to cry. A woman driving down the highway sees a man crying on the side of the road and pulls over.She steps out of the car and asks the man what's wrong."I feel terrible," ! he explains,"I accidentally hit the Easter Bunny with my car and KILLED HIM."The lady says,"Don't worry."She runs to her car and pulls out a spray can.She walks over to the limp, dead Easter Bunny, bends down, and sprays the contents onto him.The Easter Bunny jumps up, waves its paw at the two of them and hops off down the road.Ten feet away he stops, turns around and waves again, he hops down the road another 10 feet, turns and waves, hops another ten feet, turns and waves, and repeats this again and again and again and again, until he hops out of sight.The man is astonished.He runs over to the woman and demands,"What is in that can?What did you spray on the Easter Bunny ?"The woman turns the can around so that the man can read the label.It says… Hair Spray ...... Restores life to dead hair, and adds permanent wave."

But in all seriousness, for those who have the Spirit, death is a temporary reality. Death has been defanged because we have eternal life. While its touch remains on our bodies, we still experience decay, disease and death; it cannot have any permanent affect on us. This resurrection of our bodies happens because of the Spirit. Later in Chapter 8, Paul is going to talk about the resurrection, but the purpose is to show that we have conquered death. Death is the condemnation for sin, but we have overcome. We are not condemned.

Conclusion

The question we need to ask this morning is do you have the Spirit? Paul says if you are a Christian you do, but there will be evidence in your life. Jesus said Matthew 7:16 “Ye shall know them by their fruits. Do men gather grapes of thorns, or figs of thistles?” This verse was spoken about the false teachers, but the principle is true of everyone. Jesus uses an analogy, every good tree brings forth good fruit. That little word every means this applies to all of us. A healthy apple tree produces what? healthy apples. A healthy plum tree produces healthy plums. Now if the roots of the tree are rotting, the fruit is going to be affected. The person who is not condemned from vs 1, is the person in whom the spirit dwells. And if the Spirit lives in you, at least to some extent, you will be spiritually minded.

When you look at your life today, do you see the fingerprints of the Holy Spirit in your life? Every Christian has them; so lets look for them.