Scripture Reading: Rom. 8:4-16, 23, 26-27
In 8:9 Paul says, “But you are not in the flesh, but in the spirit, if indeed the Spirit of God dwells in you. But if anyone has not the Spirit of Christ, he is not of Him.” In the foregoing message we pointed out that to be of Christ is a matter of position, but to be in spirit is a matter of condition. The position that we are of Christ is settled once for all; however, the condition of being in spirit may fluctuate. For this reason, we need to consider how to stabilize our condition of being in the spirit.
One way to stabilize this condition is to declare that we are in the spirit. Learn to say, “I am in spirit!” In the past I encouraged you to call, “O Lord Jesus.” Now I am encouraging you to say, “I am in spirit.” Sometimes we can contact the Lord simply by saying “O”; it is not always necessary to say, “O Lord Jesus.” In the same principle, we do not always need to say, “I am in spirit,” for it may be adequate simply to say the word “in.” If you are about to lose your temper, exercise yourself to say “O” or “in.” This will help you to remain in the spirit. According to verse 9, we are in the spirit since the Spirit of God dwells in us. Now we can remain in this condition by declaring the fact that we are in the spirit.
Among Christians today, there are many teachings concerning how to experience the Spirit. I can testify that these teachings may hinder us from experiencing the work of the Spirit. In Romans 8 Paul does not say, “In order to be freed from the law of sin and death, you must fast and pray. The law of sin is terrible, and it is too powerful for you to overcome. That is why I cried out, ‘Wretched man that I am. Who can deliver me?’” Paul did not teach the believers in this way. Neither did he teach that believers must confess all their sins to both God and man before they can experience the Spirit.
To understand the matter of being in the spirit as mentioned in verse 9, it will be helpful to consider how we were saved. When we heard the proclamation of the gospel, we recognized it and acknowledged it. There was no need for us to say, “From now on I must behave myself in a way that pleases God. In the past I have done many sinful things. If I confess my sins and make up my mind to improve my behavior, then I’ll be saved.” This is wrong. This mistaken concept can affect a person’s Christian life for years. After a person hears the proclamation of the gospel, he should simply utter a strong, “Amen!” and say, “Thank You, Lord Jesus.” Anyone who has the heart to accept, to acknowledge, what has been proclaimed to him through the preaching of the gospel will certainly be saved.
Such an acknowledgment of God’s salvation not only helps a person to be saved; it is also a great help to that one’s Christian life in the future. Every aspect of the Christian life requires this kind of acknowledgment. Whenever a person acknowledges God’s salvation, says amen to the gospel, and thanks the Lord Jesus, the Spirit of God enters into him immediately. This is proved by Ephesians 1:13 and 14: “In Whom you also, hearing the word of the truth, the gospel of your salvation, in Whom also believing, you were sealed with the Holy Spirit of the promise, Who is the pledge of our inheritance, unto the redemption of the acquired possession to the praise of His glory.” Here we see that when the gospel is preached, proclaimed to us, and we acknowledge it, we are immediately sealed with the Spirit of God. From that time onward, the Spirit enters us and dwells in us. This means that the fact of being indwelt by the Spirit of God begins from the time we acknowledge the gospel. This is true even if a person in a weak way makes this acknowledgment, says amen, and thanks the Lord for the proclamation of His salvation. At that very moment, the Spirit of God comes into him and begins to dwell in him.
If a preacher of the gospel is one with God and according to God, he will go on to explain to a newly saved one that, since he has believed in Christ and received the Spirit, he should remain in the spirit. He may tell the new believer, “Right now you are not only of Christ and of the Spirit, but you are also in the spirit. Just stay in the spirit from now on. Whenever the thought or the desire comes to you to do something that is contrary to the Lord, you should declare, ‘I am in the spirit.’ This will be a great help to you in your Christian life.”
The well-known chorus of a gospel song says, “This is my story, this is my song, praising my Savior all the day long.” If we speak the fact that we are in the spirit, our story and song will be that we are in spirit. All day long we may praise the Savior that, because the Spirit of God dwells in us, we are now in the spirit. This will be a very effective inoculation against all the “bugs” sent by the enemy to trouble us in the Christian life.
Many Christians have received teachings that distract them from the spirit. Some have been taught in this way: “Now that you are a child of God, you must behave yourself and glorify God. The Devil, however, is busy. He never sleeps. He will tempt you, seduce you, and cause you to do many evil things. Formerly, you were under his control. Now that you have become a child of God, he will not let you go. Instead, he will do many things to trouble you. Therefore, you need to fast, pray, and exert all your effort to live a proper Christian life.” We have learned from experience that this kind of teaching distracts us from the spirit. The more we make up our mind to behave ourselves for the glory of God, the more we become like the wretched man described in Romans 7.
Defeated Christians who seek the advice of preachers may be exhorted to pray more or to read the Bible more. But even these activities, when they are simply our own doings, can cause us to “switch off” the spirit. The divine electricity has been installed into us. Once it has been switched on, we should not turn the switch off. However, by their innocent doings, many Christians have turned off the switch. As a result, some begin to doubt if they have truly been saved, or if they really have the Spirit. This may cause them to go from one Christian group to another seeking help. This is the situation among many of today’s Christians.
This kind of situation is very different from the good news of the gospel. The gospel is this: God selected us, predestinated us, and marked us out in eternity. Then one day the Son of God came to accomplish everything for our salvation. He has passed through the process of incarnation, human living, crucifixion, and resurrection and has become the life-giving Spirit. When you heard the proclamation of the good news and acknowledged it, this life-giving Spirit entered into you and began to dwell in your spirit. Now just stay in the spirit. Do not do anything that will take you away from the spirit. On the contrary, just declare that you are in the spirit. Proclaim this wonderful fact: “The gospel was a proclamation, and I have acknowledged it. Now the Spirit of God dwells in me, and I am in the spirit.” If we declare this in faith, nothing will be able to defeat us. On the contrary, everything will be under our feet. This is the glad tidings, the gospel of Christ, and the gospel of God. How marvelous!
Those who have been Christians for a long time may still have memories of defeats and failures. Thus, when they hear about proclaiming the fact that since the Spirit of God dwells in us, we are in the spirit, they may ask questions about different things. They may wonder about this and that. We need to forget all these matters and proclaim that we are in spirit. Do not say, “How about my problems at work or at home?” Instead, say, “I am in spirit.”
The small word “in” has very great significance. According to 8:1, there is now no condemnation to those who are in Christ. According to 8:9, since the Spirit of God dwells in us, we are not in the flesh, but in the spirit. There is no need for us to try to do so many things. We should simply acknowledge the facts and proclaim them.
When I was a young Christian seeking the Lord, I bought many books on subjects such as how to pray, how to be holy, and how to overcome sin. I was always interested in “how to”: how to be spiritual, how to be victorious, how to please God, how to preach the gospel. However, eventually I learned that these books could not help me. Instead of reading books on how to do this or that, it is better to read and pray-read Romans 8 verse by verse. This will fill you with enjoyment. You need to give special attention to verse 9, concentrating on the words “in the spirit.” Again and again, we need to pray over and declare the fact that we are in the spirit.
It is difficult to determine if the word spirit in the phrase “in the spirit” should be capitalized. The reason for the difficulty is that this word refers to the mingled spirit, to the divine Spirit mingled with our regenerated human spirit. Verse 16 refers to these two spirits: “The Spirit Himself witnesses with our spirit that we are the children of God.” This verse does not say that the Spirit witnesses and our spirit witnesses also. It says the Spirit witnesses with our spirit. To say that the Spirit witnesses with our spirit is deeper than saying that the Spirit and our spirit witness, for it indicates that the two spirits are one. To say that the Spirit and our spirit witness means that these spirits remain two. But to say that the Spirit witnesses with our spirit indicates that the two spirits have been mingled and have become one.
Now let us go on to consider from Romans 8 the various aspects of the blessed work of the Spirit. First, the Spirit is the indwelling Spirit (vv. 9, 11). It is a great matter to have the Spirit indwelling us. Suppose the President of the United States came to your city and stayed for a while in your home. That would be considered a great honor and privilege. But we have someone much higher than the President dwelling in us — we have the Spirit of God dwelling in our spirit!
The second function of the Spirit is to give life. As the Spirit indwells us, He is not idle. Rather, He is active to impart life to us. The indwelling Spirit is the life-giving Spirit, the Spirit who gives life.
The third function of the Spirit is found in verse 13: “For if you live according to flesh, you are about to die; but if by the Spirit you put to death the practices of the body, you will live.” According to this verse, the Spirit not only gives life, but also kills, puts to death. Positively, the Spirit gives life; negatively, He kills and clears away all the negative things within us.
Fourth, in verse 14 we have the function of the Spirit’s leading: “For as many as are led by the Spirit of God, these are sons of God.” The indwelling Spirit leads us, and His leading is so sweet. Many of us can testify that it is the Spirit who leads us to the church meetings when we may be inclined to do something else. Praise Him that He is the One leading us!
Romans 8:15 gives us the fifth function of the Spirit: “For you have not received a spirit of slavery to fear again, but you have received a spirit of sonship in which we cry, Abba, Father.” The Spirit cries, “Abba, Father,” in a very sweet way. Whenever we cry, “Abba, Father,” we sense sweetness and comfort. Truly the Spirit is the crying Spirit.
As we have already pointed out, according to verse 16, the Spirit witnesses with our spirit. Hence, He is the witnessing Spirit. Because of the witness of the Spirit, we have the confirmation and testimony within us that we are children of God. There is a living One, the indwelling Spirit, witnessing in us that we are children of God.
Seventh, verse 26 says, “And in like manner the Spirit also joins in to help us in our weakness; for we do not know for what we should pray as is fitting, but the Spirit Himself intercedes for us with groanings which cannot be uttered.” Here we see that the Spirit functions by joining in to help us in our weakness. If we were not weak, the Spirit would not join in to help us. But simply because we are weak, He becomes our partner helping us in our weakness and sharing our weakness. This is a wonderful blessing which human words cannot explain adequately.
Eighth, in verse 27 we have the interceding of the Spirit: “But He Who searches the hearts knows what is the mind of the Spirit, because He intercedes for the saints according to God.” The interceding of the Spirit is also mentioned in verse 26, where we are told that the Spirit intercedes for us with groanings which cannot be uttered. According to these verses, the Spirit’s interceding takes place not in the heavens, but within us. Notice that verse 27 says that God searching our hearts knows the mind of the Spirit. This indicates that He has mingled Himself not only with our spirit, but even that He has mingled His mind with our heart. God searches our heart to know the mind of the Spirit. This means that the mind of the Spirit is one with our heart.
At this point let me ask a question: Is it the Spirit who groans, or are we the ones groaning? Verse 26 says that the Spirit intercedes with groanings which cannot be uttered. Surely we are the ones groaning. But our groaning is the Spirit’s interceding. This indicates once again that we and the Spirit, the Spirit and we, are one. Our groanings become the Spirit’s interceding. Furthermore, the Spirit’s mind is involved with our heart. How wonderful that the Spirit is not only mingled with our spirit, but His mind is mingled with our heart and His interceding is in our groaning! How marvelous that He is one with us in this way!
Eventually, according to verse 23, we have “the firstfruit of the Spirit.” What we are enjoying today is just the firstfruit, not yet the full harvest. The firstfruit is an example, a foretaste, a guarantee, of the full taste which is coming. As verse 23 indicates, this full taste is related to the redemption of our body. Today we are enjoying the Triune God in our spirit and, at most, also in our soul. Our body has not yet been brought into the full enjoyment of the Triune God. Therefore, we need the redemption of our body. While we are enjoying the firstfruit of the Spirit, we are expecting in the future to enjoy the full taste, the redemption of our body.
It is not an insignificant matter to remain in the spirit. When we stay in the spirit, we enjoy the Spirit’s indwelling, life-giving, killing, leading, crying, witnessing, joining in to help in our weakness, and interceding. Eventually, we enjoy Him as the firstfruit of the Triune God, who will become our full taste. This is not a mere teaching; it is an unveiling and also a proclamation of the facts for our enjoyment.
When you read of all these aspects of the work of the Spirit, there is no need to fast and pray. Instead, just say amen to each function of the Spirit: “In the spirit, amen. Indwelling, amen. Life-giving, amen. Putting to death, amen. Leading, amen. Crying, amen. Witnessing, amen. Joining in, amen. Interceding, amen. Firstfruit, amen. Amen, I am in the spirit, enjoying the work of the Spirit in me.” I encourage you to amen every verse in Romans 8, especially the phrase “in the spirit.” If you proclaim the fact that you are in the spirit and say amen to each aspect of the work of the Spirit, you will experience a change in your Christian life. This will transform you, build you up, and give you the growth in life.
