Uncontainable: Life in the Spirit

(NIV)

9 You, however, are not in the realm of the flesh but are in the realm of the Spirit, if indeed the Spirit of God lives in you. And if anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ, they do not belong to Christ. 10 But if Christ is in you, then even though your body is subject to death because of sin, the Spirit gives life because of righteousness. 11 And if the Spirit of him who raised Jesus from the dead is living in you, he who raised Christ from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies because of his Spirit who lives in you.

I have been reading this book by Henry Neuman called “The Wounded Healer”. There is a story in there about a young minister named John visiting someone in the hospital called Mr. Harrison who is in the hospital and is going to have surgery to keep his legs but he is also having heart complications. Mr. Harrison doesnt want to die but he also doesnt want to live without his legs.

Harrison found himself in a position where he was afraid to die but also afraid to live again. It would be unknown territory. We can find ourselves in similiar situations. It can be losing a loved one and adjusting to the new norm of having one less seat at the dinner table or losing a job and adusting to the new flow of income. Whatever the situation and crisis may be, we come to a crossroads. Will we trust in Christ or will we trust in our circumstances. Will we walk in the spirit or walk in the flesh.

We can find ourselves in the same situation. It would be unknown territory

John Wesley considered it to be an absolute impossibility to be half a Christian,

I agree. You cant walk with God and at the same time hold hands with the devil. We have this internal struggle and have this disease called sin that we are afraid to die to because the life it would bring is something that we havent experienced.

Two Realms

The apostle Paul says in verse 9 “You, however, are not in the realm of the flesh but are in the realm of the spirit”

He is talking to Christians here who are walking with God and have binded their minds to Christ. He is talking to people who are spiritually alive.

The Apostle Paul is contrasting two Realms which are the realm of the spirit and the realm of the flesh. A realm can be easily defined as an area of activity or interest.

Now last week we named the fruit of the flesh as found in such as sexual immorality, idolatry, witchcraft, fits of rage, selfish ambition, drunkenness and the like.

But the realm these Christians are living in and what they are controlled by is NOT the realm of the flesh but, it’s the realm of the Spirit. Which is characterized by the fruit of the Spirit which is also found in and is love, joy, peace, forbearance, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self control.

We are spiritual people

But, the thing is, we confuse all this by thinking that Jesus came to make bad people good. That’s not His intention.

His intention is to make spiritually DEAD people become spiritually ALIVE!

English Standard Version Chapter 2

But3 God, being rrich in mercy, sbecause of the great love with which he loved us, 5 even twhen we were dead in our trespasses, umade us alive together with Christ—vby grace you have been saved— 6 and raised us up with him and wseated us with him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus,

Paul says in

“4 But because of his great love for us, God, who is rich in mercy, 5 made us alive with Christ even when we were dead in transgressions—it is by grace you have been saved. 6 And God raised us up with Christ and seated us with him in the heavenly realms in Christ Jesus”

We are spiritual people who have a soul, spirit, and body.

The Apostle Paul writes....”Now may the God of peace Himself sanctify you entirely; and may your spirit and soul and body be preserved complete, without blame at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ ( NASB).

Four “ifs”

The Apostle Paul gives us Four “ifs” statements

If indeed the Spirit of God lives in you

If anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ, they do not belong to Christ

3. If Christ is in you, then even though your body is subject to death because of sin, the Spirit gives life because of righteousness.

4. If the Spirit of him who raised Jesus from the dead is living in you...

The first if statement is one that maybe we have asked ourselves. “If indeed the Spirit of God lives in me”. We may have had doubts and questions about our faith. Whether we really are saved or not.

You belong to Christ

Your body will be resurrected

The first “if” statement

by the Apostle is something that I think most of us have wondered and questioned about ourselves. “If indeed the Spirit of God dwells in us”. Some of us have wondered through those times of not hearing his voice, feeling His presence or through a difficulty in life whether the Holy Spirit really lives in us. After all doesn’t David sing “do not take your prescence from within me. Some of us think we have committed the unpardonable sin mentioned in

when he says...

(NIV)

“31 And so I tell you, every kind of sin and slander can be forgiven, but blasphemy against the Spirit will not be forgiven. 32 Anyone who speaks a word against the Son of Man will be forgiven, but anyone who speaks against the Holy Spirit will not be forgiven, either in this age or in the age to come.”

The unpardonable sin is given credit to Satan for the work of the Holy Spirit. The pharisees accused Jesus of doing the work of Satan when he was performing miracles. It is permeantly rejecting the work of God.

Evidences of knowing you haven’t committed this unpardonable sin

The best way to know you haven’t committed this sin is that you are asking yourself “have I committed this sin”. The only sin God wont forgive is that of unbelief from someone’s heart who completely rejects and has hardened there heart to a point where they are even inventing new ways of sinning. That is why we need to protect our hearts and nurture our relationship with him. Grow in understanding of His Word and just fall deeper in love with Him.

How do we know that His spirit lives in us?

"The Spirit itself beareth witness with our spirit, that we are the children of God." . If we are sinning, the Holy Spirit will let us know about it. He will not let us continue to walk after the flesh and will urge us on to walk in Him.

The second “if” statement

by the Apostle Paul is “If anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ, they do not belong to Christ”.

What’s so interesting here is that he says “Spirit of Christ” and not Spirit of God as he did in the first “IF” statement. This exact phrase of “Spirit of Christ” is used in only one other place in the whole Bible which is in as mentions the sufferings of the messiah and the glory that would follow.

Christ is the the perfect example to follow. As He is fully God and fully man and left the comforts of heaven to put on flesh. He showed us what perfect submission to the father looked liked and we see this perfect unity between the trinity.

The Apostle Paul goes on to say that “if you don’t have the Spirit of Christ, then you don’t belong to Christ”!

Third “If” Statement

The third “if” statement by Apostle Paul is “if Christ is in you, then even though your body is subject to death because of sin, the Spirit gives life because of righteousness.”

There is good news though as he follows that by saying BUT…BUT…BUT… If Christ is in you…even though your body is failing you, your body gives you aches and pains, even though it’s subject to death because of the penalty of sin....that “if” Christ is in you and you follow the promptings of the Holy Spirit and obey Him then you will have life.

Fourth “If” statement

The fourth “If” statement from Apostle Paul is “And if the Spirit of him who raised Jesus from the dead is living in you”

This if statement reveals the power of the gospel and passion of Jesus Christ. That if the Spirit that raised the body of Christ from the dead is in us then we will share in the benefits of Christ suffering as we will be raised from the dead, if we remain in Him.

(NIV)

(NIV)

How to remain in Christ

42 So will it be with the resurrection of the dead. The body that is sown is perishable, it is raised imperishable; 43 it is sown in dishonor, it is raised in glory; it is sown in weakness, it is raised in power;

What exactly will our resurrected bodies look like?

Our Resurrected bodies will be the same as they are now but different

Our resurrected bodies will be not be capable of death, pain, and tears

Our resurrected bodies will not be capable the weaknesses it has now but will be raised in power.

We can rest assured that God never serves dessert first. If this physical body is wonderful, our resurrected body will be even better.

We have this hope in Jesus Christ. The hope of his resurrection that this life isn’t all there is and one day He will come back again. We have a God who will not leave us in the grave But, His spirit will breathe life in us and raise us from the dead.

Do you feel dead already? When you feel powerless remember God is powerful and remember that when you are faithless he is faithful. I want to challenge you today to put your faith in God in whatever area of your life that needs a resurrection.