Romans 8:11 But if the Spirit of him that raised up Jesus from the dead dwell in you, he that raised up Christ from the dead shall also quicken your mortal bodies by his Spirit that dwelleth in you.
There’s three things I’d like you to see in the subject of the text that have come out to me; three things just regarding the words of the text. I’d like to cover them as a sort of introduction before we get into the action of the text.
If… he dwells in you…
Verse nine says IF so be that the Spirit of God dwell in you. Verse nine asks IF any man have the Spirit of Christ. Verse 10 IF Christ be in you. Paul puts it out there three times. IF! IF! IF! Salvation is one big IF.
- “I am the door: by me IF any man enter in, he shall be saved.” (John 10:9)
- “That IF thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved.” (Romans 10:9)
Salvation is one big IF. If is a condition. Salvation is conditional. People are saved IF they meet the conditions. Not everybody is getting in. Not everybody has met the condition. Salvation is not just a big IF; a condition, but it’s also an EXCEPTION. An IF is a condition that invokes a rule. An exception is a condition that breaks the rule. An exception is kinda like an if turned inside out.
- “For I say unto you, That EXCEPT your righteousness shall exceed the righteousness of the scribes and Pharisees, ye shall in no case enter into the kingdom of heaven.” (Matthew 5:20)
- “And said, Verily I say unto you, EXCEPT ye be converted, and become as little children, ye shall not enter into the kingdom of heaven.” (Matthew 18:3)
- “I tell you, Nay: but, EXCEPT ye repent, ye shall all likewise perish.” (Luke 13:3,5)
- “Jesus answered and said unto him, Verily, verily, I say unto thee, EXCEPT a man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God… Jesus answered, Verily, verily, I say unto thee, EXCEPT a man be born of water and of the Spirit, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God.” (John 3:3,5)
- “No man can come to me, EXCEPT the Father which hath sent me draw him…” (John 6:44)
The rule is: ye shall in no case enter into the kingdom of heaven, ye shall all likewise perish, you cannot see the kingdom of God, you cannot enter into the kingdom of God, you cannot come to Jesus. The rule is that all have sinned and come short of the glory of God. The rule is that there’s none righteous, no not one. The rule is they’ve all gone astray. That’s the rule and it will never change. It will always be true. It’s the law. It’s the rule. Unless, there exist an exception: except ye be converted, except ye repent, except a man be born again, except the Father which hath sent me draw him.
Those EXCEPTIONs are really inside out IFs: If ye be converted, if ye repent, if a man be born again, if the Father which hath sent me draw him… IF. IF. IF.
Paul is giving us these great truths about about being in Christ Jesus. There is no condemnation. We’re free from the law of sin and death. The righteousness of the law is fulfilled in us. That old body, the body of this death, is dead because of sin, but the Spirit is life. Praise God. But none of this is so, none of this is ours, unless we meet the conditions, unless we meet the IFs.
Another name…
We talked about the names of the Spirit: The Spirit, The Holy Ghost, The Spirit of God, The Spirit of Your Father, The Spirit of Our Father, The Spirit of the Lord, the Spirit of Truth, The Spirit of Holiness, The Spirit of Life, The Spirit of the Living God, The Holy Spirit of Promise, The Spirit of Glory.
Just in these few verses (9-11), the Holy Ghost is the Spirit, the Spirit of God, the Spirit of Christ. But here we have a new name: The Spirit of Him that Raised up Jesus from the Dead. What a name? This is the name that declares the live-giving, resurrecting power of God. The Spirit of Him that raised the dead, who made the dead to live (made the lame to walk, the deaf to hear, the dumb to speak), this Spirit dwells in you.
What a name? This is the Spirit that can do the impossible. This is the Spirit that moved upon the face of the waters when the earth was without form, and void, and darkness was upon the face of the deep. This is the Spirit that can give life; not just change it, but give it. “And you hath he quickened, who were dead in trespasses and sins.” (Ephesians 2:1) This is the Spirit that gets the job done. He is the Spirit of Him that raised up Jesus from the dead, and he dwells in you.
Who shall deliver me from the body of this death? I’ll tell you who: The Spirit of him that raised up Jesus from the dead. The bible says “Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new.” (2 Corinthians 5:17) Who is going to make all thing new? Who is it that will throw out the old and usher in the new? The Spirit of him that raised up Jesus from the dead.
Nicodemus asked Jesus, “How can a man be born when he is old?” (John 3:4) I’ll tell you how: The Spirit of him that raised up Jesus from the dead. “That which is born of the flesh is flesh; and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit. Marvel not that I said unto thee, Ye must be born again. The wind bloweth where it listeth, and thou hearest the sound thereof, but canst not tell whence it cometh, and whither it goeth: so is every one that is born of the Spirit.” (John 3:6-8) Who shall bring forth this new child of God? Who shall deliver and birth this new life? The Spirit of him that raised up Jesus from the dead.
What a name! This name declares the life-giving power of God. Thus declares the deity of the Holy Spirit; that the Holy Spirit is in fact, truly God. Only God can have this kind of power. In the book of Job, it is written, “The Spirit of God hath made me, and the breath of the Almighty hath given me life.” (Job 33:4) One of the divine attributes of God is what we call omnipotence. Omnipotence means “to have all power.” I want to stress to you that the Holy Spirit is not power. Instead, He has power. This is an important distinction. Cults like the Jehovah Witnesses believe and teach that the Holy Spirit is God’s power, His force on this earth, that the Holy Ghost is not a distinct person, but a power. He is not power, He possesses and wields power.
After Jesus came out of the desert, the bible says that “Jesus returned in the power of the Spirit into Galilee…” (Luke 4:14) When Peter preached to Cornelius, “How God anointed Jesus of Nazareth with the Holy Ghost and with power…” (Acts 10:38) Paul admonished the Romans at the end of his letter “Now the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, that ye may abound in hope, through the power of the Holy Ghost.” (Romans 15:13) And to the Corinthians, Paul said, “My speech and my preaching was not with enticing words of man’s wisdom, but in demonstration of the Spirit and of power.” (1 Corinthians 2:4)
In all these verses, there is a distinction between the Holy Spirit and power. If there was no distinction, then the Bible would simply be redundant: Jesus would have returned in the power of the power. Jesus would have been anointed with the power and the power. We’d abound in hope through the power of the power. Paul’s preaching was in demonstration of the power and the power.
The Holy Spirit possesses power; the power of Him that raised Jesus from the dead. You see the life-giving power of the Holy Spirit in the birth of Jesus Christ.
And the angel answered and said unto her, The Holy Ghost shall come upon thee, and the power of the Highest shall overshadow thee: therefore also that holy thing which shall be born of thee shall be called the Son of God. (Luke 1:35)
That’s how I became a son of God. The Bible says “But as many as received him, to them gave he power to become the sons of God…” (John 1:12) When I received the Lord Jesus Christ as my Savior, the Holy Ghost had come upon me, and the power of the Highest overshadowed me. The last thing that the angel Gabriel told Mary was “For with God nothing shall be impossible.” (Luke 1:37) This is the Spirit that can do the impossible. O, the possibilities of the Spirit. What an amazing thought: Now, in the Spirit of God and the Spirit of God in you, all things are possible. Think of the possibilities of these verses:
For I know that this shall turn to my salvation through your prayer, and the supply of the Spirit of Jesus Christ, According to my earnest expectation and my hope, that in nothing I shall be ashamed, but that with all boldness, as always, so now also Christ shall be magnified in my body, whether it be by life, or by death. (Philippians 1:19,20)
What is possible through the supply of the Spirit of Jesus Christ. What sin can be forgiven? What faults and failures can be made right? What battles can be won? What victory can be wrought? What glory can be given to God? What souls can be saved? What lives can be changed? O, How Christ shall be magnified through the supply of the Spirit of Him that raised Jesus from the dead?
The other day, a man came to the shop driving a big truck; a Peterbilt. He needed a special bracket for his truck to hold a tool box of some sort. As he explained his need, I marveled at the truck he was driving. I’ve always been fascinated with trucks, and the trucking industry. I’m amazed at how neglected this profession is in the public schools. They tell you that you can become a doctor, or a doctor, or an engineer; but they never suggest that maybe a truck driver might be a perfectly reasonable occupation. I find it appalling because everything that we use, we eat, we buy and sell, comes in on a truck. Everything in your house, whether it be the floor, the cinder blocks, the concrete, the roofing materials, the furniture; every single bit of it came in on a truck. Everything comes in on a truck, yet in the public schools, you never hear a word of it.
I was telling this customer about all this, and he said, “Logistics! That’s called logistics.” And that’s exactly what it’s called. It’s about how to get supplies from one place to the next. Whether it be FedEx, or UPS, or USPS, or Central Freight, or Southwestern, or Estes, or Old Dominion; everything must be transported one way or another on a truck, and that’s called logistics. Well, then he said this and I’ll never forget it: “Do you know how we won World War II?” And of course I said “How?” He said “Superior logistics!” We were better able and equipped to run the supply lines to the front line than our enemy was.
You think about this. Fighting the battle is not just about pulling a trigger, or shooting a grenade. There are things that have to take place in the background in order to fight a winning battle. Troops must have ammunition; fire power, bullets, grenades and such. They have to have food. They’re not going to last long without food and water. They have to have power; that’s the gasoline to run the tanks, trucks, and other things; kerosene, diesel, jet fuel, and sometimes in the sky they need it. They need healing, medical personal and supplies. Soldiers get hurt and soldiers get sick. I’m sure there’s a lot of things they need in order to obtain success and victory on the front line. In World War II, this gentleman said that we had superior logistics. We were able to keep the supply lines running smooth. Whereas the Germans, we took out their bridges and their roads. We cut off their logistics.
I’ll tell you how were going to win this battle against the flesh; against the world and against the devil. Superior Logistics! We have got superior logistics, the supply of the Spirit of Jesus Christ. With Him, we can get the job done. With Him, the possibilities are endless if He’ll keep the supply lines running. What victory we can have if the Spirit of Him that raised Jesus from the dead supplies the need? What happens on the front line depends on what’s going on with the supply line. Don’t forget that.
When the battle gets tough. And it seems there’s no way to win. It seems like the way before you is impossible. Remember, we have superior logistics. It’s the Spirit of Him that raised Jesus from the dead that dwells and lives within that controls the supply line.
Him… He… His…
I believe this verse gives us the the perfect opportunity to cover an important doctrine of the Bible. It’s one that is taken for granted, in many ways perhaps. A doctrine that we take for granted in that we just assume that it is correct. A doctrine that we take for granted in that we are not able to defend it. A doctrine that we take for granted in that we may be easily swayed on it. A doctrine that we take for granted in that we mark not the importance and relevance of this doctrine. I speak of the doctrine of the Trinity. I’m not going to cover it all of course. I’ve got just a few things to say about it.
I see three people in this eleventh verse of the eighth chapter of Romans: The Spirit of him that raised up Jesus. You have the Spirit. You have him. And you have Jesus. In this verse, we see Spirit capitalized twice and Jesus and Christ both capitalized. But hidden in this passage is a the little him, and the little he, and the little his. Small little words, yet they stand in the place of our Heavenly Father. So it’s somewhat obsure, yet clear that the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost all take their place in this verse.
All three take place in this great salvation that we’ve been given. All three are involved in saving you. All three are interested in your soul. All three love you and care for you. All three are working in you to make you and mould you into what God wants you to be. I’m in the Spirit and the Spirit is in me. I’m in Christ, and Christ is in me. And through the Spirit of His Son, Jesus Christ, I’m in the Father and the Father in me. That’s why Matthew 28:19 is our creed. “Go ye therefore, and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost:”
But I want us to see the Father in all this. The Son did not act alone. He did the will of the Father. Jesus said, “For I came down from heaven, not to do mine own will, but the will of him that sent me.
” (John 6:38) He prayed on the Mount of Olives before he went to the cross, “Saying, Father, if thou be willing, remove this cup from me: nevertheless not my will, but thine, be done.” (Luke 22:42)
The Holy Spirit does not act alone. The Bible says, “Howbeit when he, the Spirit of truth, is come, he will guide you into all truth: for he shall not speak of himself; but whatsoever he shall hear, that shall he speak: and he will shew you things to come.” (John 16:13) Jesus and the Holy Spirit do not act independently of the Father. The Father is always behind the scenes.
So we see the Holy Trinity in this verse. Consider John 14:16 “And I will pray the Father, and he shall give you another Comforter, that he may abide with you for ever.” I, God the Son, will pray God the Father, and he shall give you God the Holy Spirit. This whole thing about walking in the Spirit, being filled with the Spirit, serving God in the newness of spirit, this quickening in the Spirit… It is the will of the Godhead, the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. They’re all three pulling for you. All three want to see you living for Him. They all want to help you. They all want what’s best for you.
But the Father? The Father sent the Son. The Father sent the Spirit. It’s the will of the Father that you might have life and that you might have it more abundantly. Which brings us to the action of the text.
Shall also…
As we get into the action of the text, what is done, we see that Paul says, “Shall also!” I want to stress again by these two words shall also that our new life in Jesus Christ is given to us by the same hand that raised Jesus from the dead, the hand of the Father himself. God the Father did not just finish with the resurrection with his Son. No, the bible says:
But now is Christ risen from the dead, and become the firstfruits of them that slept. For since by man came death, by man came also the resurrection of the dead. For as in Adam all die, even so in Christ shall all be made alive. But every man in his own order: Christ the firstfruits; afterward they that are Christ’s at his coming. (1 Corinthians 15:20)
Now, this scripture in 1 Corinthians speaks of a physical resurrection at his coming. Christ is the firstfruits concerning the resurrection when the end cometh. Paul addresses this in his letter to the Thessalonians:
But I would not have you to be ignorant, brethren, concerning them which are asleep, that ye sorrow not, even as others which have no hope. For if we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so them also which sleep in Jesus will God bring with him. For this we say unto you by the word of the Lord, that we which are alive and remain unto the coming of the Lord shall not prevent them which are asleep. For the Lord himself shall descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trump of God: and the dead in Christ shall rise first: Then we which are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air: and so shall we ever be with the Lord. Wherefore comfort one another with these words. (1 Thessalonians 4:13-18)
All that is well and good. He says to comfort one another and it does comfort me. But in Romans 8, Christ is the firstfruits of the resurrection, yet so are we. Paul said to the Thessalonians I would not have you to be ignorant concerning them which are asleep. Paul was teaching the brethren about people that are dead. You are not dead. You are alive and breathing. So this may give you comfort regarding your loved ones that have died in the Lord, or comfort regarding yourselves when you die. But what Paul is handling in Romans is NOW; the life-giving, resurrecting power that is available to us now.
Christ is the firstfruits of the resurrection of our physical bodies when this is all done. When Jesus comes in the clouds, we will experience a physical bodily resurrection. When you get saved though, you experience a spiritual bodily resurrection.
Know ye not, that so many of us as were baptized into Jesus Christ were baptized into his death? Therefore we are buried with him by baptism into death: that like as Christ was raised up from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we also should walk in newness of life. For if we have been planted together in the likeness of his death, we shall be also in the likeness of his resurrection: (Romans 6:3-5)
The likeness of his death, and the likeness of his resurrection. My body was not physically nailed to a the same cross as Jesus Christ, and neither was Paul’s. But he can say as well as I, “I’m crucified with Christ.” I have been planted in the likeness of his death. Remember, Paul asked, “Who shall deliver me from the body of this death?” And then in verse 10, he said, “If Christ be in you, the body is dead because of sin.” Then in verse 11, he says that the Spirit of Him that raised Jesus from the dead shall also quicken your mortal bodies by his Spirit that dwelleth in you.
God’s resurrection plan is not on hold until the end of times. No. Christ is the firstfruits of the resurrection. Yes. But so are we. You ask “What are you talking about, preacher?” James said, “Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, and cometh down from the Father of lights, with whom is no variableness, neither shadow of turning. Of his own will begat he us with the word of truth, that we should be a kind of firstfruits of his creatures.” (James 1:17,18) Oh Yes!
There is a quickening that takes place in your soul, in your spiritual body. There is a death and there is a resurrection. We’ve got that I’m crucified with Christ part down pretty good. It’s the nevertheless I live part that we have trouble with sometimes. When Jesus died on the cross, our sin was put in him. He became sin for us. He paid the price upon that cross. They took him down and put him in that tomb. On the third day, when he rose from the dead, he had no sin. My sins are gone.
They were not as far as the west is from the east. (Psalm 102:12) They are gone! There were not sealed up in a bag. (Job 14:17) They are gone! They were not thrown in the depths of the sea. (Micah 7:19) They are gone! They were not cast behind his back. (Isaiah 38:17) They are gone! Sometime between the crucifixion and the resurrection, God has taken my sins away, and made them to be no more.
And they shall teach no more every man his neighbour, and every man his brother, saying, Know the LORD: for they shall all know me, from the least of them unto the greatest of them, saith the LORD: for I will forgive their iniquity, and I will remember their sin no more. (Jeremiah 31:24)
You might ask, “Preacher, what about the sins we’ve yet to commit? What about my future sin?” When Jesus died on the cross, ALL our sins were future sins. He’s the Lamb slain before the foundation of the world.
What I want you to see though is this: We can look at the cross as a place where our sins where nailed. But that is not entirely correct. Our sin was place in the Lord Jesus Christ, and he was nailed to the cross. But that is not entirely correct either. Paul said I am crucified with Christ. Can I say this: Our spiritual bodies, dead in their trespasses and sin, and awaiting the judgement of God, was clothed in the Lord Jesus Christ. And Jesus walked that body all the way up to mount Calvary. And when his body was nailed to that cross, our body was nailed to that cross, with all it’s sin. And there the wages of sin were paid, through the body of the Lord Jesus Christ.
When he cried with a loud voice, “It is finished!” and bowed his head and gave up the ghost. That was the Holy Ghost. I believe the Holy Ghost left Jesus with the unholy ghosts. Just like the Holy Spirit descended in bodily form on the Jordan River, he ascended and left Jesus with our spiritual bodies to die on the cross.
But on the third day, when his body got up out of that tomb, our bodies got up with him. And when his body got up and our spiritual bodies got up, the sin was gone. Gone! Nevertheless I live. Because he lives, I live. The Bible says, “And you hath he quickened, who were dead in trespasses and sins.” (Ephesians 2:1)
Romans 8:11 But if the Spirit of him that raised up Jesus from the dead dwell in you, he that raised up Christ from the dead shall also quicken your mortal bodies by his Spirit that dwelleth in you.
You might read that and say, “Preacher, it says mortal bodies not spiritual bodies.”
I’ll say this. Mortal means “subject to death.” What we can glean from this is that the Spirit of God makes that which is subject to death no longer subject to death. If you are not saved, you have a mortal spiritual body and a mortal physical body. If you are not saved, you have a spiritual body that is subject to death and physical body that is subject to death.
If you are saved, you have an immortal spiritual body and a mortal physical body (that will resurrect). If you are saved, you have a spiritual body that is not subject to death, nor ever will be; and you have a physical body that subject to death that will resurrect in that last day.
Martha saith unto him, I know that he shall rise again in the resurrection at the last day. Jesus said unto her, I am the resurrection, and the life: he that believeth in me, though he were dead, yet shall he live (this speaks of the physical body and the resurrection at the last day) : And whosoever liveth and believeth in me shall never die. Believest thou this? (John 11:24,25)
And that speaks of the spiritual body; the immortal spiritual body of the saved. Jesus is not contradicting himself. He’s just talking about two different things. If you are saved, you’re spiritual body will never die and your physical body will resurrect later. If you are lost, you’re spiritual body is subject to death, it’s mortal.
I know it’s tempting to think that Romans 8:11 is talking about the resurrection at the last day. But let me say this, if your spiritual body is not immortal, raised from the dead, by the power of the Spirit of Him that raised Jesus from the dead, then your physical body is not going anywhere, in this life or in the life to come. If there is not something in you alive and kicking that is stirring you and working in you to live for God… If there is not enough power in you to move your physical body in this life, on this earth toward heaven and the things of God, then what makes you think there will be enough power in you to raise your physical body from the dead at the last day. I’ve heard some preachers say, “If your salvation or religion is not enough to take you to church, what makes you think it’ll take you to heaven?”
Romans 8:11 But if the Spirit of him that raised up Jesus from the dead dwell in you, he that raised up Christ from the dead shall also quicken your mortal bodies by his Spirit that dwelleth in you.
He SHALL ALSO. This verse can be a demonstration of our faith; an object of our faith. You can put your faith and trust in this verse. Paul said, “The life I now live in the flesh, I live by the faith of the Son of God…” I believe God. That’s why we pray that God would use us, and fill us, and live that life in us. We do it because we believe. We ask God because we believe he’ll do it.We sing that song Take My Life because we believe he’ll do it!
Take my life and let it be,
Consecrated, Lord, to Thee.
Take my moments and my days,
Let them flow in endless praise.
Take my hands and let them move
At the impulse of Thy love.
Take my feet and let them be
Swift and beautiful for Thee.
Take my will and make it Thine,
It shall be no longer mine.
Take my heart, it is Thine own,
It shall be Thy royal throne.
He will take our life, if you let him have it. He shall quicken your mortal bodies, if you’ll let him. He will live his life through you, if you want him. Don’t you want him to take your life? What are you gonna do with it? What have you done with it so far? Why don’t you let him have it? Or maybe I should ask why don’t you let your life go?
He that loveth his life shall lose it; and he that hateth his life in this world shall keep it unto life eternal. (John 12:25)
If any man will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow me. (Matthew 16:24)
What God has for you, he’s already done for you through the Lord Jesus Christ. It’s yours for the taking and the trusting.
His power can make you what you ought to be;
His blood can cleanse your heart and make you free;
His love can fill your soul, and you will see
’Twas best for Him to have His way with thee.
Know that the God the Father, He that raised up Christ from the dead, SHALL ALSO quicken your mortal bodies by his Spirit that dwelleth in you. That’s what He’s there for. Won’t you let him.
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