The mind is not neutral ground. The Bible says that your mind (and my mind) is either pleasing to God or hostile to Him. It’s not neutral ground. Romans 8:7a says, “⁷For the mind that is set on the flesh is hostile to God…” Pay careful attention to this shocking truth: A person can be hostile to God while still being a law-abiding, moralistic, good citizen. Let me begin today’s teaching with this illustration:

Consider a soldier fighting for the radicalized, terrorist group, Al-Qaeda. Show a Picture. (Let’s just choose this guy here) In his roles in this terrorist organization, he is a good soldier. He looks after the best interest of his fellow soldiers. He’s the nicest guy you’d ever meet. He tells great jokes around the camp fire. He keeps his gun in good working order, his knife razor sharp and his uniform clean.

He is the first soldier to arrive at the battlefield in the morning. He obeys the orders of his commanding officer without question. He is well trusted by all his companions and all the other guys in Al-Qaeda want to be his friend. He does all of that while swearing loyalty to Al-Qaeda and pledging hostility towards the West (and all other infidels).

In obedience to his commanding officer, this man has killed dozens of American soldiers and hundreds of civilians. One day he hopes to kill all infidels or to die trying. He is a good soldier and an excellent terrorist.

If the US Army were to capture this man, would they care that he is good at his job?
Would they overlook the civilians he had killed because he had a really sharp-looking uniform?
Would they spare his life if they found out that he treated the other terrorists with kindness and respect?
Would they make excuses for his role in killing American soldiers because he showed up to work early that morning?

The man might be a good soldier, but he has served in the context of a savage, militant, rebellious army. He has pledged loyalty to a terrorist leader. You would never expect this man to be let off the hook for his participation in Al-Qaeda just because he served that army conscientiously.

In the same way, a person who is living in the flesh may be a law-abiding, moralistic, good citizen in the army of the flesh:

He may feed the homeless and give money to charity.
He may pay all his taxes and be very contentious in his business practices.

But if he is doing all those things while he’s ignoring God, he still a rebel. He’s acting honorably on the outside while still harboring hostility towards God on inside.

Romans 8:7-8 say, “⁷For the mind that is set on the flesh is hostile to God, for it does not submit to God’s law; indeed, it cannot. ⁸Those who are in the flesh cannot please God.”

If I am in an active rebellion toward God (what the Bible calls living in the flesh) no matter how nicely I behave, I’m still at odds with God. The biggest change that happened at the moment of salvation is a change of sides. Before I was saved I was hostile toward God whether I knew it or not. Now that I am saved, I have a whole new standing before God.

I’m no longer a soldier in the army of the flesh. Instead, I’m a soldier in the army of the living God. I’m no longer “in the flesh,” but I am now “in the Spirit.” Although I have a lot of training to do and I might mess up the Commanders orders a few times along the way, the fact remains that (as a Christ-follower) I am now on the right side. I’m fighting the good fight. My allegiances are holy and noble and right and God-honoring.

How do I know if I’ve really switched sides? How do I know if my conscientious behavior is serving God as a member of His Holy army or serving the flesh as part of the rebellion against God? Romans 8:9 is highly personal and it is intended to provide the answer to those questions.

Up to this point, Paul has been talking in generalities, but in verse 9, the tone changes. In the first 8 verses of chapter 8, Paul referred to people in general categories (“those who are in Christ…” “those who are in the flesh…”). He no longer refers to people in general categories in verse 9, but he begins to address his readers personally. Listen to Paul’s highly personal tone as he helps his readers discern whether or not they are in the army of the redeemed or in the captivity of the condemned…

⁹You, 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.

From this passage, it is clear that the first mark of a believer is the indwelling presence of the Holy Spirit.

#1. The mark of an authentic believer is the indwelling presence of the Holy Spirit

All people (including you and me) were born with indwelling sin and not with the indwelling Spirit. Romans 7:17 and 20 both speak about sin “dwelling” in our hearts. The default position of the human race is in the army of the flesh and in the captivity of the condemned. We are born into the bondage of the flesh. By birth, sin dwells in our hearts.

The unique position of the Christian is to have something altogether different dwelling inside. At the moment of salvation, God grants the believer the Holy Spirit to dwell in them. This new presence in a believer’s life wages war against sin and seeks to subdue anything else that would try to present itself as more valuable or more beautiful or more desirable than God Himself.

This spiritual warfare is all part of turning a believers body away from being a temple filled with idols and toward being a temple of the living God (2 Cor. 6:16). Speaking to believers, 1 Corinthians 3:16 says that, “…you are God’s temple and that God’s Spirit dwells in you…” (In the notes) 1 Corinthians 6:19 says, “…your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit within you…” God promises to give every believer the indwelling presence of the Holy Spirit in such great measure that the believer becomes a temple in which the Holy Spirit dwells.

Therefore, the way that we know whether or not we have genuinely switched sides over to the fellowship of the redeemed is that our life is marked by the indwelling presence of the Holy Spirit. “Dwell” in the original language is the word Oikeo. Oikeo carries with it the idea of being or living in one’s own home.

Say, for example, that you were going through a tough time financially and you lost your home. You found out that I had an extra bedroom sitting empty in my house, so you asked me if you could come stay with my family for a while. I said that was fine, so you moved in and began to dwell with me.

When you dwell with somebody, you get to know them in an altogether different kind of way. Someone who lives in my house sees me when I’m rested and refreshed and acting reasonably. They also see me when I’m not so much like that. Because of our close proximity, we would have opportunities to have input into one another’s lives at a level you just wouldn’t have if you didn’t dwell together.

It is exactly this kind if imagery that Paul has in mind when he uses the word Oikeo. It is quite remarkable that the very Spirit of God makes his home in the life of the believer who trusts in Jesus Christ. It baffles the mind that He dwells in such close proximity to us. He’s not far off. He is dwelling right here with us. The implications are staggering!

What a privilege it is to be a Christian! Can you imagine anything higher or greater than being a follower of Jesus?! Not only are we in Christ, but this passage teaches that Holy Spirit – the Spirit of Christ – is in us. Galatians 2:20b says, “…It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me.”

There is nothing in the universe comparable to this kind of living. Those who are still living in the captivity of sin simply do not understand the Christian life very well. They tend to mock and jeer and despise a person with a new life in Christ. At that point, you must consider what they are missing out on.

They don’t know the risen Lord.
They have nothing beyond their own pleasure to live for.
They have no effective tool against the corrosion of sin.
In fact, they are totally at sin’s mercy and are, by nature, hostile to God and the object of His wrath.

I would never want to be back in that position! Those in the world will often point to their idols and their favorites sins and say to the Christian, “look at all you are giving up. Look at all the pleasures of this world that you are refusing to enjoy.” What they don’t understand is that all we gain in Christ is far greater than anything this world has to offer. True satisfaction and real, lasting, pleasure is found perfectly in the person of Jesus and in obedience to His commands.

If you are a Christian, then the Holy Spirit makes your life His home. He dwells with you. Too often we think of a church building being God’s dwelling place. One of my favorite parts of being a church planter, is that those of you who gather together in this congregation are not confused about the nature of our building. The Rec. Center is not God’s dwelling place, but YOU are. You are the Holy Spirit’s dwelling place. (…if you are a believer)

As a soldier in the army of the Most high God and as the dwelling place of the Holy Spirit, the devil will attack you. Don’t be surprised when Satan goes on the offensive in the spiritual battle you are engaged in! He will try to depress you. He will exploit your moments of weakness and fatigue. He will bring about discouragement through persecution or through feelings of loneliness or abandonment.

When you feel tempted to give into temptation…
When you feel knocked down and kicked to the curb and ready to quit, remember who dwells inside of you.
Remember who has made your life His home…
Your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit.

Too often times we approach our battle with sin like we are a lone soldier trying to fight off a whole satanic army on our own. We begin from a position of defeat and convince ourselves that we’ll probably be over-run by sin… It’s is probably too much for us to handle… we may as well just give up

We’ll begin an internal dialog that says, “I can never have victory over worry or anxiety or depression or overeating or anger or impatience. Jesus is powerful enough to save me from my sin, but I just can’t see how He’s enough for much of anything else.” If you and I start from a position of defeat, then it is no wonder why we just lay down and let the enemy take over our lives.

Instead, you and I must see sin for its utter weakness in comparison to the Holy Spirit’s utter sufficiency. If the Holy Spirit is dwelling in me, it is more like this: (Show Picture) It’s like I’m standing on the deck of a Nimitz class aircraft carrier (the most powerful ship in our Navy), with every one of it’s 90 fighter jets in the air, fully loaded for battle and backed by the full force of the US military and Satan is coming at me with a BB gun. Looking at it that way, I’m beginning my spiritual battle from a position of overwhelming victory.

If the Holy Spirit is in me, then Satan doesn’t stand a chance. We can turn to him and say, “Do you really want to take me on? Do you have any idea how powerful the Holy Spirit is? He dwells in me. Your BB’s might be annoying, but they won’t destroy me. I have the Spirit of the Living God not only on my side, but He lives in me. Go ahead and do your worst. You’ll be sorry! Because of Christ in me, I won’t be defeated by you.”

2 Corinthians 4:8-9 says, “⁸We are afflicted in every way, but not crushed; perplexed, but not driven to despair; ⁹persecuted, but not forsaken; struck down, but not destroyed…”

When we realize who exactly it is who dwells in us, it is hard to see Satan’s attacks as over-powering.
When we realize that God himself dwells in us, it is impossible to find a good excuse for allowing ourselves to become a victim of one of Satan’s attacks.
If the most powerful power in the universe dwells in me, then it would be difficult to argue that Satan tempted me with something so enticing that I couldn’t say no.

Do you know what the Bible says about our position on the spiritual battlefield? Go down to verse 37. Paul writes, “…in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us.” Conquerors. We enter the spiritual battlefield victoriously! But it doesn’t stop there. Not only does our position on the battlefield change from being and enemy of God’s to being under God’s command, but verse 9 also refers to a total change of ownership. The next thing we are told about a Christian in verse 9 is that they belong to Christ.

#2 A person indwelt by the Holy Spirit belongs to Jesus

Romans 8:9 says, “⁹You, 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.” Let’s look at that verse from the positive: That means that anyone who does have the Spirit of Christ dwelling in them belongs to Jesus.

If the Spirit of Christ is dwelling in a person, Christ owns that person. In 1 Corinthians 6:19 where Paul talks about our bodies being a temple of the Holy Spirit, he also talks about our change of ownership. (In your notes) We used to be owned by the world, but listen to what it says in verse 19 and 20: “¹⁹…do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit within you, whom you have from God? You are not your own, ²⁰for you were bought with a price. So glorify God in your body.”

The Apostle John (in John 17:6) describes a Christian as someone who the God the Father gave to Jesus. Then the Bible says that Jesus is the Divine Advocate for all those who the father gave to Him. He defends them and pleads their case before the Father. He is their Intercessor. He is interceding on their behalf before the Father as the Great High Priest. We enjoy all the benefits, blessing and protection offered to those who are the prized possession of Christ’s.

The Bible describes the church as cherished bride of Jesus
It paints a portrait of Jesus as the shepherd who is taking care of us as his valued flock.

There is no greater position than to be in the army of God as the prized possession of none other than Jesus Christ Himself. If we are so valued and protected and loved by God, then it is no wonder that at the end of this chapter Paul concludes that nothing can pluck us out of His grip. Romans 8:38 says, “ ³⁸For I am sure that neither death nor life, nor angels nor rulers, nor things present nor things to come, nor powers, ³⁹nor height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.”

Let’s wrap up today by looking at a few practical implications of this teaching.

APPLICATION

When we are considering the marks of a genuine believer, it acts as an encouragement to believers to stand in the power of Christ in them and it also is a test to determine the authenticity of our profession of faith. When the scripture says, “…Anyone who does not have the Spirit of Christ does not belong to him…” it brings with it a sober-mindedness. You and I know that if we don’t belong to Christ, then we are still under the condemnation of our sin.

Any profession of faith has to be able to stand up to a deeper test than simply raising a hand during an evangelistic message. It has to have more substance to it that an academic belief in the possibility of a Divine being. The message of the gospel is not that God is out there and He’s nice. The message of the gospel is that you and I were, by birth, owned by our sin. God offers you the opportunity, through Christ, to be owned by Him instead.

The test of authenticity in not membership in a church or citizenship in a given country or some good works done for a charity. Those are fine things, but an American, church going philanthropist can still be hostile toward God and no closer to heaven than the most wicked man on death row.

Take for example Dr. Albert Schweitzer. Dr. Schweitzer openly denied Christ and yet did a lot of good works. He was a renown organist, he was a pastor’s son and he even held a theology degree. At one point in his life, he gave up his career to live in a tropical forest and build a hospital there. Some people got confused and some people called him the “greatest Christian of the 20^th century.”

Yet in one of his most famous works, a book called “The Quest for the Historical Jesus,” he wrote:

The Jesus of Nazareth who came forward publicly as the Messiah, who preached the ethic of the kingdom of God, who founded the kingdom of heaven upon earth and died to give his work its final consecration never existed. He is a figure designed by rationalism, endowed with life by liberalism, and clothed by modern theology in a historical garb. This image has not been destroyed from outside; it has fallen to pieces…

Let me ask you this: Is the Spirit of Christ in this man? Will the Lord overlook his utter rejection of Christ because he was a good organist and because he went to seminary and because he build a hospital?

Having the Spirit of Christ in you does not mean that you just live a contentious life. Terrorists can be good soldiers and have the capacity to act with kindness towards other terrorists. Those who deny Christ can be outwardly moralistic. A Christian, thought, is marked by something far greater than good works and contentious living.

Romans 8:9 says that an authentic believer has the Holy Spirit living in them. The Spirit of Christ does not dwell to those who still belong to the world, but only in those who believe in Jesus and His atoning death on the cross.

According to the scriptures, the Holy Spirit has been sent to glorify the Lord Jesus Christ and His work on the cross. Jesus says in John 16:13-14, “¹³When the Spirit of truth comes, he will guide you into all the truth, for he will not speak on his own authority, but whatever he hears he will speak, and he will declare to you the things that are to come. ¹⁴He will glorify me, for he will take what is mine and declare it to you.”

The first thing the Spirit does is to glorify Jesus as God and to highlight the significance of Jesus’ work on the cross. Therefore, a man who does good works yet he does not believe in Jesus as God and in His atoning work on the cross does not have the Spirit of Christ in him. He might be a very nice man. He may be a well-behaved man. He may do a lot of good works. But, he still is not saved. He fails to show proof that the Spirit of Christ dwells in his heart.

May God bring increasing clarity in these last days. We must be careful not to simply assume that a nice person is a saved person. There are courageous, sincere, likeable and honorable people who still do not have the Spirit of Christ dwelling in them.

To be a Christian means that the Holy Spirit is dwelling in you. You are no longer “in the flesh,” but you are born-again as a new person – as a new creation in Christ. The ultimate test of whether or not you are really saved is most evident in your attitude and view of the Person and work of Jesus, the Son of God.

Indwelling | Romans 8:9