May 14, 2017 To Be Pleasing To God by Pastor Josh Sheldon

I'll turn please to Romans chapter 8 As we continue

To study to preach to work our way through this great letter to the Romans from the

Apostle Paul The Romans 8 our text this morning will be verses 9 through 11

Because you may recall that chapter 8 when we got there made the point that chapter 8 is about the work of the

Holy Spirit In verse 2 of this chapter it is he the Holy Spirit who has set us free from the law of sin and death

A work he does in alliance with the Lord Jesus Christ to the Spirit of life has set you free in Christ Jesus And now we walk according to his ways, which is verse 4 tells us

Verse 6 tells us that the mind fixed on him on Christ by his spirit that mind is

Determined to walk in his ways, and then we'll have a life life and peace

This is the work of the Holy Spirit of God now in verses 9 through 11 our Instruction in the person and work of what we call the third person of the

Trinity the Holy Spirit our instruction continues So look down in your

Bibles if you have those open there to chapter 8 verse 9 And just these three verses for our text this morning

The Apostle Paul writes 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 But if Christ is in you although the body is dead because of sin the

Spirit is life because of righteousness 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? And may God bless the reading and the hearing and the preaching of his word this morning

There is a change in how Paul writes here in chapter 8 of Romans There's a there's a whole shift if that I want to point out to you it's because previously he had been kind of general in his use of Pronouns he preferred for a long while a third person a bit of a distancing pronoun if you will

It's they it's he it's them and now if you noticed beginning

Here he Changes and writes directly to us From they from from him from those we get you we us

Even at the beginning of this chapter where he writes of those who were in Christ Jesus in the very next verse he

Betrays his unmistakably warm and personal connection to them

He says for the law spirit the law of the Spirit of life has set you free

And now in verses 9 through 11 as the Apostle instructs us yet further in the work of the

Holy Spirit This personal this warm intimacy continues. It's the

Holy Spirit who now has center stage as Paul expounds how the Spirit works in us.

He's going to build towards our ultimate hope Which is what? It's the resurrection.

It was right there in verse 11. That's where we're building to verse 11 the resurrection

He who raised Jesus from the dead is also going to give life to your mortal bodies verse 11

Gives us a promise That this is going to be our final end if you are in Christ Jesus if Christ Jesus dwells in you

This is the promise of God to you the resurrection You see the resurrection of believers is

More than just a propositional truth It is the promise of God Confirmed in history by the resurrection of his son

Jesus Christ from the dead and applied personally and Individually to the heart and soul of the believer by the life -giving

Spirit of God That's a fairly long sentence, but this is what we're going to see as we go through just these three verses

Let me say it again to you the resurrection of Believers your resurrection if you believe in the

Lord Jesus Christ It's not just a propositional truth It's not just a technical sentence or some conclusion like a lawyer going through a rhetorical exercise

It's more than that. It is the promise of God Confirmed in history by the resurrection of his son that if you are in Christ you will follow him

God by his spirit will raise you up as well There is in verse 9 a small but very very important word we've come across it before in Greek Just two letters.

We would alliterate it as de as death or day It's what we call an adversative.

It sets something off as distinct distinct from something else and here the way Paul uses it

It sets off what? Follows from what preceded so what preceded was this but then he uses the word but this

Adversative day and says instead of that now this verse 9 says you however

However is that word you however? Coming from that word death.

So you as opposed to something else are this as Opposed to that other thing that other condition you are this

Death other than that and we don't need to look very far for the antecedent

What is he setting us off from when he says you however or another way to say it would be?

But you has the same force the same meaning As opposed to what?

Well, we can just look at verse 8 Those who are in the flesh cannot please God but you are

Not in the flesh but in the spirit you However, but you you are not in that condition in which it is impossible to please

God If indeed the Spirit of God dwells in you you are not in that verse 8 condition

But adversative to that different from that opposite to that If you're in the spirit if the

Spirit is in you No longer that That disqualifying condition has been itself disqualified there is this qualification a very important one if in fact

The Spirit of Christ dwells in you if in fact the Spirit of Christ dwells in you

Then this is true of you Paul's not suggesting that they are not believers. What he is doing is he's he's restating something

We might call the sine qua non of Our faith that sine qua non Latin expression means very simply without which not it's speaking of something it could be almost anything you want to think of a

Battleship without guns is not a battleship. What is the sine qua non the without which not of a battleship must have guns?

Only those in whom the Spirit dwells are Christians Only Those in whom the

Spirit dwells are Christians It's just sine qua non without which not if you don't have the

Spirit you cannot be this and this is what Paul says Verse 8 those who are in the flesh cannot please

God Verse 9 you however are not in the flesh, but in the

Spirit If indeed if in fact the Spirit of God dwells in you where he says the

Spirit of Christ without him Without the

Spirit of God without the Holy Spirit without the helper There's one that Joseph was reading to you about that Jesus tells his disciples about in his high priestly prayer at the end of John's Gospel without him

There is there can be no conversion There can be no coming to Christ.

There can be no indwelling of the Spirit Without the Spirit dwelling in you as simple as that sounds that's a very profound truth

The sine qua non the without which not you cannot be a Christian without him

We've made the point before I'll make it again Not it Not just a force not just an influence.

He the person the third person the Trinity God the Spirit No, they can't be conversion without him because to him to the

Spirit of God is attributed our Regeneration now without regeneration there can be no faith and without faith there can be no repentance and without repentance

There can be no pleasure from God Did you catch all that?

Without the Spirit of God there is no conversion And if you not converted if you're not

Regenerated there can be no faith because it has takes regeneration to bring about faith

Faith is not natural to us. God doesn't look at your faith and say I'm happy with that faith Therefore will regenerate your soul quite the other way around Regeneration impossible without the

Spirit faith impossible without regeneration repentance impossible without faith and all this dependent upon whom

Not what? upon whom the Holy Spirit of God The more distant third -person mode is at the end of this verse

Because here when he says, but you you however not in the flesh, but in the spirit he's speaking personally

He's speaking to those to whom he seems to have some confidence. The pronouns are to you Not them anyone though Anyone who does not have the

Spirit of Christ I said impersonal that distance again Those people

The ones you may know who do not have the

Spirit of Christ those do not belong to him It doesn't say if you don't have or seeing that you don't have it just says anyone anyone who does not have

So I'll take a moment and from this test text we can ask ourselves

How is it the people like you or I can please God If you ever let your mind just dwell on this for a moment

That a broken feet of clay as we like to say Sinner like you or me can in fact, please

God dwell on that for a moment The adversity of death in verse 9 he draws that distinction between those who are in the flesh who cannot please

God They can't do it It's impossible and then there's Paul's target our audience in verse 9

Those who are no longer in the flesh those who are not in the flesh, but in the spirit the Spirit of Christ That distinction has to do with their being their ontology as we call it you remember that from last week

Paul calls it that in verses 8 5 and 8 9 your Ontology your state of being your state of existence is either flesh or it is spirit and those in the one

Cannot please God Implying those in the other can and in fact do if verse 8 declares the utter impossibility of pleasing

God when the approach to him is from this fleshly state of existence this fleshly physical perspective verse 9 then

With that small two -letter word that death that sets it off different as opposed to that now this it

Declares the certainty of God's pleasure in those who come to him by way of his spirit in other words

Broken sinners Like you and me are pleasing to God think about that for a moment

Think about God in all his glory his holiness his perfection his absolute

Antithetical nature to anything even close to not good much less sin

Think of that God for a moment the heavens declaring his glory every second and now think of Yourself and pleasing to him

By Your works no By my qualifications of course not

Because of the indwelling spirit because as it were when God looks upon this broken sinner

This one who can't stop doing these things There's one with feet of clay. What does he see?

on the manner of speaking himself the indwelling spirit of God He The Holy Spirit has placed us in God's Son Jesus Christ this idea began way back in chapter 5 of Romans where we learned the difference between having been born in Adam and inheriting the consequences of his sin primarily death and then being in Christ that federal headship that representative act of his and inheriting inheriting from him the consequences of His obedience which is life

Death in Adam life in Christ Aligned with Adam by natural birth and in Christ and Christ in you

By the Holy Spirit's rebirth. Let me stop a minute

Think about this meditate quietly for a moment on what this really means

And really think about this for a second I think if we consider it rightly

If we stopped just had silence in here for 10 or 15 or 20 minutes Really thought about that.

I Mean Jesus Christ's prayer his what we call high priestly prayer. It'd be breathtaking

Should make us faint away think about some of the things he said John 14 verse 23 if anyone loves me this is our

Lord speaking if anyone loves me He will keep my word and my father will love him and We will come to him and make our home with him

John 16 verse 27 For the father himself loves you Because you have loved me and have believed that I came from God Think about this a moment we're speaking here from Romans chapter 8 verses 9 through 11 of the work of the

Spirit and Jesus here the night before his crucifixion Speaking of the

Spirit whom he will send to accomplish these very things that we're studying from the book of Romans The father loves those who are in his son with the love with which he loves his son

We did a whole sermon on this a couple of years ago when we were preaching through the gospel of John It's like an equal sign

God's love for Jesus Christ Equals his love for those who are in Jesus Christ now think of yourself compare yourself to God and Wonder at the beauty and the power and the love and the compassion of the

Holy Spirit of God Who converts our souls and then dwells within? Such that when

God looks upon his son Jesus Christ He who knew no sin his beloved son and The Holy Spirit as it were puts an equal sign on that love and points it straight to you where he himself dwells think on this

The next time you're feeling down and out How came we to be in this position?

Nothing, we did we said it last week neither you or I or any other person in history ever took any part in accomplishing this

This equal sign of the love of God pointing from his son to you It's not something that he did because he's pleased with anything we've ever done

No, this transference from flesh to Spirit from death to life is totally the work of and the realm of the

Holy Spirit of God the helper our advocate The one who comes alongside us the one who reminds us of all things that Jesus said

Jesus said of him John 6 63 it is the spirit who gives life

The flesh is of no avail the words. I've spoken to you are spirit and life

John 15 26, but when the Helper comes whom I will send to you from the Father the spirit of truth who proceeds from the

Father he will bear witness about me John 16 13 But when the spirit of truth comes he will guide you into all truth

For he will not speak on his own authority But ever he hears he will speak and he will declare to you the things that are to come

This is the Holy Spirit That Jesus promised and this is the Holy Spirit in Romans 8 9 through 11

That Paul says what about? He's come and If he has done his work of regenerating your soul remaking your heart if he's done this work

He's dwelling within you and all these promises are right now true of you

Romans 8 9 through 11 It gives us a clear witness not a single mention of the

Holy Spirit is made without connecting him to his joyful work of what? revealing Jesus Christ You see we're pleasing to God the

Father because God the Spirit has placed us in God the Son There's a Trinitarian work if you're a Christian if you by faith have repented of your sins fled to the cross for forgiveness

You're a walking embodiment of the work of the Trinity Father Son Spirit all included here

The Spirit as Jesus said he will bear witness of me When God looks at us he sees us through the prism of our immersion in his

Son Jesus and he loves those who are in Christ with the with the same love with which he loves Christ and The Spirit every mention here just in these three verses in Romans His every mention is connected to the one it is his glorious intention to reveal

Christ Look down at these verses again look down at verse 9 The Holy Spirit is mentioned there three times just in that verse

Do you see what he's called? He's called the Spirit When I stand at this pulpit, and I say the

Spirit you know who I mean I mean the Holy Spirit of God Paul calls him the Spirit, and then he calls him the

Spirit of God and Then he calls him the Spirit of Christ. He's a spirit. He's a spirit of God.

He's the Spirit of Christ in verse 10 He's simply called the Spirit again and here connected with his life -giving ministry.

He's the Spirit the Spirit is life But notice that verse 10 begins with Christ The one the

Spirit reveals look at verse 11 He is the Spirit who raised Jesus from the dead, and he is the

Spirit who dwells in you there's not a mention of the Spirit here and His work in you without connecting that to what to whom to Jesus Christ You see the

Spirit the Holy Spirit without Jesus is just an impersonal force or influence and Jesus without the

Spirit is what he's just a historical figure Romans 8 9 through 11 though is as Trinitarian as you can find anywhere

Paul transitioned so smoothly between each of the three persons of the Godhead Attributing to each the name of the individual person the

Spirit of God the Spirit of Christ or the Spirit Jesus prayer in John 16 adds this for us.

He's the helper. He's the Spirit of truth John 1 17 says grace and truth came through Jesus Christ Do you see how they're all in connect interconnected here?

Are you getting a vision why God would now be able to be pleased with you when he looks upon you and sees the indwelling?

Himself he sees the Spirit of truth in you He sees the Spirit of God the Spirit of Christ the helper the advocate

He's pleased because what he sees is himself anyone he says

Going back for a moment to the impersonal third person anyone who does not have the Spirit of Christ Does not belong to him perhaps a warning

Perhaps a qualification he gives Perhaps simply a statement of fact so we glory glory and revel all the more

And what God has done? Like before the seemingly negative statement implies just as strongly the positive

If he says if you do not have the Spirit of Christ You do not belong to him and him could be God him could be

Jesus him could be the Spirit makes no difference You could see how easily they're just Intermixed here means all one in the same thing

If you don't have the Spirit you don't belong to him if you do have the Spirit you do belong to him

That's simple. We could just turn it around. That's exactly what Paul is saying here This is a personal warm Intimate relationship with God by and through his spirit

Where Paul spoke of the negative does not have he's speaking of personal possession of the

Spirit Now God we know is the initiator of this Ephesians 1 3 said it is he

God the father who chose us before the foundation of the world even so This is

God in his mercy by his spirit deigning condescending joyously

Taking up residence and that within such as us

You see it pleases God to see his will carried out in the conversion of sinners We know what

Jesus said in Luke's gospel. What happens when one sinner repents I Like to picture that he says all heaven rejoices all the angels rejoice before the

Father and the way I like to think of that is is as if God the Father said okay Hold it a moment.

We're gonna change. Holy. Holy. Holy and just for a second I want all heaven to stop and say praise

God Almighty who by his spirit did that marvelous creative work of regenerating a soul

And so all the angels with God's good pleasure Stop and give him glory when they look in wonder angels know nothing of salvation

Jesus didn't die for them. He died for you And they look and wonder so much so That when one sinner out of all humanity one sinner stops to repent heaven stops to rejoice before God the

Father It pleases God when sinners are converted

So pleased is he that he dwells with them and it's that indwelling that causes the conversion in the first place the word dwells

The word dwells in the Greek is okay. Oh, you don't need to remember that but it's used once in a

Verse 9 is used twice in verse 11 It speaks of something that fills a vessel

Whatever oikos is the dominant feature the thing that it fills You could go so far as to say that the oikos the dwelling entity will brook no sharing no dual occupancy

Remember what I read a moment ago where Jesus said if anyone loves me He will keep my word and my father will love him and we will come to him and make our home with him

Who dwells in you if you have the Spirit as I said before it's not just some impersonal distant force

Remember the change in pronouns From anyone from them from he she they to you to we

The Holy Spirit, he's the one the Spirit of Christ the Spirit of God if you speak of persons

They are all they're settled and pleased to be there dwelling within this person

If you speak of God, he is there present as the one true living God Indwelling the believer by his triune personage

You could say it any way you want As long it is a God the Father Electing people to be in God the

Son and benefit from his redemptive work and your heart made Knowledgeable of that by God the

Spirit it works and his proper theology and his good doctrine and what a support for our souls this must be as we walk through this world as We stumble and fumble and sin and need to go to God again and again for forgiveness of our sins

To know that when we go to God even in our fumbling in our stumbling He's pleased with us because the

Spirit of God is in us First ten says but if Christ is in you with all the although the body is dead because of sin the

Spirit is life because of righteousness It's more like saying seeing that Christ is in you

Seeing that he is in you and here's the result if Christ is in you Here's the result we live in bodies that will manifest the ravages of sin.

It's happening to all of us Some of you younger ones don't think so because it's not quite as accelerated process as it is for others amongst us

It's true of all of us all the while knowing that the

Spirit is working life in you as As you see the ravages of sin

Primarily death because as Alistair Begg said and I love to quote this one out of one.

It's kind of a startling statistic The Spirit within is working life because of righteousness

We cannot undo What Adam did not historically or literally?

He sinned he brought death and all who come after him will die Even Christians who possess and are possessed by the

Holy Spirit We all feel the effects of sin We age we grow weary more and more easily cancer strikes any number of maladies attack us

Gray hairs become more prominent even as hair itself becomes less. So the bodies we live in are dead because of sin

Dead and dying and It's not your particular sin though. The wages of any sin is death as We said as Paul has said it's

Adam's sin that brought death and it is this sin that's in view here Adams legacy is for all humankind.

We're all born in him. We all inherit his sin We all inherit that consequence, which is death being the one that is coming to us all

Then verse 10 does something that verse 9 did You see verse 9 turn verse 8 on its head

Remember verse 8 said those who are in the flesh cannot please God verse 9 starts. I said but you but you or in our

ESV you however Verse 10 follows on the warning at the end of verse 9

Anyone who does not have the Spirit of Christ does not belong to him With that same but that oh so important little word death

But if Christ is in you Which is to say if you are a Christian if your faith is in Christ if by faith

You've repented of your sin And if you trust and hope in God and all he is accomplished by and through his son

Jesus at the cross Where and where alone he suffered the penalty for your sin for my sin if this is true of you

If all of that is true of you Then the indwelling spirit is life the death sin life righteousness cycle comes as from From chapter 5.

I want to read to you three verses from there just to remind you Paul writes if because of one man's trespass death reigned through that one man

Much more will those who receive the abundance of grace and the free gift of righteousness reign in life through the one man

Jesus Christ Therefore as one trespass led to condemnation for all men so one act of righteousness leads to justification and life for all men

First by one man's disobedience the many were made sinners So by the one man's obedience to us is speaking of Jesus Christ is speaking of his entire life

But most particularly his cross by one man's obedience the many were made sinners

So by the one excuse me Let's get that one right

By one man's obedience Jesus Christ at the cross the many will be made righteous

Thank you for your patience the correlation of this idea of righteousness with life is an old idea in the scriptures

Psalm 119 40 behold I long for your precepts in your in your righteousness.

Give me life Proverbs 12 28 in the path of righteousness is life and in his pathway.

There is no death Proverbs 21 21 Whoever pursues righteousness and kindness will find life righteousness and honor as a

Paul says It's the spirit giving life to our mortal bodies when he speaks of mortal bodies he's speaking of a present physical condition

That doesn't deny that you're in the spirit or the spirit is in you What it says is that as long as we are here until Christ calls us to himself

Or we pass away before he does so we are in these deteriorating states even while The spirit of life is within You see in one sense.

We are walking dead men Ephesians 2 says you were dead in trust the trespasses and sins in which you once walked

Or you can think of 1st Corinthians 6 with that long list of heaven preventing iniquities and then

Going back to Ephesians 2 for a moment says you're dead and trespasses sin But God being rich in mercy because of the great love with which he loved us made us alive together with Christ 1st

Corinthians 6 after 6 after that long list these shall not inherit the kingdom of God There's no way they can they never shall but you were washed

You were sanctified you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and by the spirit of our

God You see you've got to watch out for that little word, but It cancels everything

Our bodies are dead because of sin and then he says but but but if Christ is in you

The spirit is life because of righteousness. I ask you do you believe this?

Do you believe this watching our bodies fail under the ravages of Adam's sin might make it a little hard to believe

But how do we walk By faith not by sight

If our sight shows that the age is encroaching and its end is nearer now than it was before Our faith says that Jesus has conquered death and though you may die yet.

You shall live It's 1st Corinthians 15 Where Jesus Christ has conquered death

That's John 11 at Lazarus's tomb If you have faith in me says

Jesus though you die yet you shall live That God is a God of life

The indwelling spirit of God proves it ask yourself.

Why are Christian funerals so different and I would answer at least partly

Because we don't have to pretend anything We can acknowledge death and at the same time believe it is not the ultimate end

We don't have to pretend that death is anything other than horrible and It is bad.

It's Tragic there's nothing to celebrate when someone dies There's nothing to celebrate about that And because we have a realistic view of it because by the inner witness of the indwelling spirit

We look beyond mere succession of life of the biological functionings. We don't look just at that but with the eye of faith

We look upwards to Christ. We can give vent real vent to our true sorrow

Without contriving ways to make it hurt less. That's just one of the many applications of this

Because of the indwelling spirit of life Knowing that we will be Like Jesus one day

We can treat things realistically Can we say biblically? Because the

Bible pulls no punches about what a horrible thing death is how antithetical that was to God's original design

Finally there's verse 11 As we try to finish this up this morning 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.

We've talked quite a bit about this Here's our final answer here is the one answer which holds virtually all of our

Bible together What is it? It's the resurrection It's the resurrection verse 10 says that the spirit is life

In verse 8 to that's his name the spirit of life How important is this for us to apprehend?

to know To go in this strength when we leave this place and go on about our business in the world

How important is this for us? Just look at the repetitions in verse 11.

I Read it a second ago Listen again the spirit of him who raised

Jesus he who raised Jesus from the dead the spirit who dwells in you

They says though his spirit who dwells through his spirit who dwells in you and the middle of all this.

What does it say? Will also give life to your mortal bodies What is this it's the resurrection from the dead and This is the promise of God This is what means to be in the spirit and not in the flesh

There's much ethical behavior that the scripture insists upon as being characteristic of the Christian of The one in dwelt by this spirit of life

But without the resurrection without this promise without this hope what is our ethical behavior?

It's just ethics It's just ethics. It's just doing good and decent moral things but because of the resurrection

Because of the certainty that we will be raised up just as Jesus Christ was Our lives in these mortal and decaying bodies carrying importance far beyond what it would be otherwise

So let me close With a very simple statement. I said it before if you're in Christ Your resurrection is not just a propositional truth

It's not just a platitudinal statement to make you feel good if you are in Christ Your resurrection you personally no more them they others know you

Believer in Jesus in dwelt by the Spirit of God who is the Spirit of Christ who is the

Holy Spirit in dwelt by him If you are that one if he has done that work in you then your resurrection is

God's promise to you personally to you personally a

Promise confirmed by the inner witness of the Holy Spirit, but in history by the resurrection of the Lord Jesus Christ himself

This promise is applied directly Personally to your heart by him by the life -giving

Spirit of God. I think you can see

That I was quite taken With these very small changes in language in these three verses of Romans 8

That two -letter word death, but however that negating word

The one that says no longer unable to please God because no longer in the flesh, but you are this other and Then the pronouns the pronouns you

Me Us we by the indwelling

Spirit Confirming this resurrection and applied personally to you by God who loves you

The way he loves his son Amen Heavenly Father give you thanks again for this day that you've given us this time together in your word

We thank you Father for the assurance that we have that all these words are true That your

Holy Spirit indwelling each of us and God willing all of us Witness to this truth

That these are more than words that God the Father has promised because he has placed us in God the

Son That God the life -giving Spirit will also bring us to the same place as Jesus is

For these promises father applied directly and personally and warmly and lovingly to us. We give you great

Thanks, we pray Lord that as we go on about our our weeks our lives that we will go in the strength of this promise