Many of you know that Daniel Houseworth and I are attending a theology conference this week in Greenville, South Carolina at Greenville Presbyterian Seminary. The theme for the conference is “The Person and Work of the Holy Spirit.” Many of the messages we have heard this week have reminded me of our recent studies in Romans 8 (vv. 1-11).
What does the Spirit do?
1. The Spirit helps us to walk not after the flesh but after the Spirit (Rom 8:1).
2. The Spirit frees us from the law of sin and death (v. 2).
3. The Spirit changes our minds from thinking the things of the flesh to thinking the things of the Spirit (v. 5).
4. The Spirit gives us life and peace (v. 6; cf. John 3:16; Romans 5:1).
5. The Spirit enables us to please God (v. 8).
6. The Spirit of God dwells in believers (v. 9). Thus, the believer has within not only indwelling sin (Romans 7:17, 20), but also the indwelling Spirit which wars against the flesh (Galatians 5:17) and will eventually overcome it.
7. The indwelling Spirit provides incontrovertible evidence that we belong to Christ. Likewise, the absence of the Spirit shows that a man is not saved: “Now if any man have not the Spirit of Christ, he is none of his” (v. 9b; 1 Corinthians 2:14).
8. The Spirit makes us become dead to sin and alive to Christ (v. 10).
9. The Spirit that indwells the believer is the same as that which raised Jesus from the dead and will one day, likewise, transform our mortal bodies (v. 11).
For all these benefits, we praise the God who is Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.
Grace and peace, Pastor Jeff Riddle
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