The Spirit of Life

Romans 8:2–11 ESV

2 For the law of the Spirit of life has set you free in Christ Jesus from the law of sin and death. 3 For God has done what the law, weakened by the flesh, could not do. By sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh and for sin, he condemned sin in the flesh, 4 in order that the righteous requirement of the law might be fulfilled in us, who walk not according to the flesh but according to the Spirit. 5 For those who live according to the flesh set their minds on the things of the flesh, but those who live according to the Spirit set their minds on the things of the Spirit. 6 For to set the mind on the flesh is death, but to set the mind on the Spirit is life and peace. 7 For the mind that is set on the flesh is hostile to God, for it does not submit to God’s law; indeed, it cannot. 8 Those who are in the flesh cannot please God. 9 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. 10 But if Christ is in you, although the body is dead because of sin, the Spirit is life because of righteousness. 11 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.

Today we’re beginning a new series on the Holy Spirit. Next week is Pentecost Sunday, and we’ll be looking at God’s Word about the Pentecostal Experience. My sermon next week is entitled, “The Spirit of Power.”

But today’s message is sort of an introductory message. It’s sort of a pre-Pentecost message. I want to make sure that we have a base-level understanding of who the Holy Spirit is and what His role is in our lives.

So today the title of our teaching is “The Spirit of Life.”

And we’re starting with the Apostle Paul’s letter to the Romans, chapter 8, where Paul calls the Holy Spirit in verse 2, the Spirit of life. And Paul is writing in Romans 8 to tell us that it’s the Holy Spirit who gives us new life when we put our faith in Jesus.

Now before we go any further, I want to point out two basic, biblical truths about the Holy Spirit.

1.) The Holy Spirit is God

he is eternal

he was instrumental in creation

he lives in unity with both God the Father and God the Son

He is omnipresent - he’s everywhere

He is omnipotent - he is all powerful

He is omniscient - he is all knowing

He is often equated with the breath of God, the voice of God

He is called the Spirit of Jesus, He is the presence of Jesus unlimited by the confines of Jesus’ physical, resurrected body

Just as much as the Father in Heaven is God, Just as much as Jesus the Son is God, so is the Holy Spirit God.

He is to be worshipped. Honored. Revered. Respected. Feared.

2.) The Holy Spirit is Personable

he is a person (not in the sense that He’s human, but in the sense that he is not an inanimate object, nor is He simply a force or a collection of energy.

he has a personality:

he has emotions

he has a will

he has thoughts

he can speak

he can be resisted

he can be embraced

he can be rejected

you can talk to him

you can experience him

you can offend him

you can please him

This is step one to having good theology about the Holy Spirit: He is not energy, he is not just a feeling you get when you get goosebumps, he’s not spooky. He is God, and he’s personable.

The Holy Spirit Gives New Life

Have you ever met someone who truly BELIEVES in Jesus, who truly agrees with the basics of what we believe about God the Father sending his Son Jesus—God in the flesh—to live and bring the Kingdom of Heaven. That he was crucified for our sins and raised to life on the third day. Like—they believe that.

But it didn’t really seem to change anything about how they lived the rest of their life? They intellectually agreed with the basic teachings of Christianity even though they aren’t really living the basic teachings of Christianity?

We all know people like that. Some of you in this room might be people like that....

But why is that the case. How can you believe it all—but not really live it all.

I believe it’s because the church started preaching Christianity as your get out of jail free card instead of preaching Christianity as the radical, life-transforming, resurrecting, sin defeating, death defying truth that it is.

We have begun to believe that CHRISTIANITY is only about forgiveness and not also about receiving a NEW LIFE.

When we become Christians, though—and I mean when you really get saved, when you really make Jesus Lord and Master of your life. The Bible teaches us that in that first moment of faith, the Holy Spirit comes in and he doesn’t just give you forgiveness…he gives you an entirely NEW LIFE.

Before you committed your life to Christ—the Holy Spirit was calling you, drawing you, wooing you toward Christ.

The moment you committed your life to Christ—you didn’t just receive Jesus, you received the NEW LIFE that Jesus gives you through the ministry of the Holy Spirit.

There’s a theological term for this… it’s called REGENERATION. In everyday language we call it being BORN AGAIN. Jesus in John 3 called it being BORN FROM ABOVE. It is a rebirth to a totally different life than what you had before. It’s dying to the OLD LIFE and being RAISED to a NEW LIFE.

And it’s the Holy Spirit who accomplishes and enacts that New Life in you.

In the Bible, there are two main words used for Spirit. One is in Greek and one is in Hebrew. In the Old Testament the Hebrew word for spirit is ruach. In the New Testament, the Greek word for Spirit is pneuma.

The Spirit of Life is Your Helper

The Spirit of Life is Your Teacher

You Need The Holy Spirit