A sermon preached at Covenant Presbyterian Church of Fort Smith, Arkansas on May 19, 2024.
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. So then, brothers, we are debtors, not to the flesh, to live according to the flesh. For if you live according to the flesh you will die, but if by the Spirit you put to death the deeds of the body, you will live. For all who are led by the Spirit of God are sons of God. For you did not receive the spirit of slavery to fall back into fear, but you have received the Spirit of adoption as sons, by whom we cry, “Abba! Father!” The Spirit himself bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God, and if children, then heirs—heirs of God and fellow heirs with Christ, provided we suffer with him in order that we may also be glorified with him. (Romans 8:9–17).[1]
On this Pentecost Sunday, a day on which we commemorate the coming of the Holy Spirit in fullness upon Christ’s church, I want us to consider within our passage today the indwelling characteristics of the Holy Spirit, and therefore the identifying characteristics, in every believer. To that end, I want us to think on this simple question: Who are the children of God? Are they the natural descendants of Adam, as the universalists believe? In other words, is every human being a child of God? Or, are they the natural descendants of Abraham, as the Jews of Jesus’ day believed, or as dispensationalists believe today? In other words, is every one of Jewish ethnicity a child of God? Or, how do the writers of the New Testament use the term “child of God,” or do they make a distinction at all?
As we consider the question, I want us to think back to the celebration of Pentecost, the Feast of Weeks as it was known, immediately following the resurrection and ascension of Jesus Christ. At the commencement of this old covenant feast, both Jewish worshipers and Gentile proselytes gathered in Jerusalem, including the twelve apostles (minus Judas plus Matthias). On the day of Pentecost, a visible and audible manifestation of the Holy Spirit descended upon the apostles in sound and scene, the rush of wind and tongues of fire (Acts 2:2-3). Filled with the Spirit, the twelve commenced to prophesy, not in their native tongue but miraculously in languages known to the various visitors to Jerusalem on that day (Acts 2:9-11). It was an extraordinary picture in time of God’s fulfillment of his promise to Abraham to bless all peoples and nations of the earth (Gen. 12:3; 22:18).
And then, Peter preached, explaining that he and the other apostles were neither drunk nor polyglots but Spirit-filled servants of Christ. Peter preached Christ “delivered up according to the definite plan and foreknowledge of God, …crucified and killed by the hands of lawless men,” and resurrected from the dead, conquering death with his life (Acts 2:23-24). It was a sermon that left no one thinking that everyone is a child of God, but all have sinned and fall short of God’s glory (Rom. 3:23). It was a sermon that left no one thinking that the wages of good works or ancestry earn life but rather every sin deserves death (Rom. 6:23). It was a sermon that left no one thinking that the descendants of Adam and Abraham were anything other than, as Jesus put it, the children of the devil (John 8:44) by nature. Luke records that the people were “cut to the heart,” evidencing the Holy Spirit’s work not only in wind and flame but conviction and repentance of sin. Mercifully, Peter did not leave them to wallow in their guilt but preached the gospel, leading them to repentance of sin, faith in Jesus Christ, and the sacrament of baptism.
On that day Jew and proselyte alike witnessed the fulfillment of God’s promise through Joel that he would pour out his Spirit upon young and old, slave and free alike, upon all who call on the name of the Lord (Joel 2:28-32). On that day they heard Peter confirm that the promise is “for you and for your children and for all who are far off, everyone whom the Lord our God calls to himself” (Acts 2:39). There is then a connection between our effectual calling, the Holy Spirit’s presence, and our relationship with the Lord. And to better explain this connection, look now with me to our passage in the eighth chapter of Romans, in which I want us to consider three identifying characteristics of the children of God: the children of God are all who are alive through and led by the Spirit; the children of God are all who may cry, “Abba! Father!”; and, the children of God are all who are heirs with Christ. There are, of course, other identifying characteristics, but let us focus on these three in our passage of Scripture today.
All who are alive through and led by the Spirit.
The ninth verse of the eighth chapter of Romans begins with a contrast: “You, however, are not in the flesh but in the Spirit.” Paul is speaking to believers specifically (“You”), those who are no longer under the condemnation of the law but who are in Christ Jesus, set free by the Holy Spirit from the law of sin and death, as Paul has explained in the preceding eight verses. The qualifier for “You,” however, is the presence of the Holy Spirit: “if the Spirit of God dwells in you.” Paul is clear on this point: “Anyone who does not have the Spirit of Christ does not belong to him.” All who believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, trusting in him alone for salvation receive and are indwelled by the Holy Spirit, without exception.
Without the Holy Spirit’s work in us, we would not see the true picture of our fallen nature, our sin and misery apart from Christ. It is the Holy Spirit who enlightens our minds in the knowledge of Christ, who renews our wills, who persuades and enables us to embrace Jesus Christ.[2] As a result, although apart from Christ we were spiritually dead (Eph. 2:1), in Christ the Holy Spirit has brought us to life. Paul says, “if Christ is in you,” which he is by his Spirit, “although the body is dead because of sin, the Spirit is life because of righteousness” (8:10). In other words, we are only righteous in God’s sight through the imputed righteousness of Christ by the Holy Spirit. We are then justified as righteous, adopted as God’s children, and being sanctified in conformity to Christ, and all of this is the Holy Spirit’s work of life in us, not momentarily or occasionally but unto eternity. There will be a day, Paul says, when our Spirit and flesh will not be at enmity but unity: “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” (8:11).
The work that Holy Spirit has begun in us will continue until the end, or as Paul puts it, “he who began a good work in you will bring it to completion at the day of Jesus Christ” (Phil. 1:6). And it is this ongoing work of the Holy Spirit in us, our sanctification, that further confirms our identity as children of God. For example, the Holy Spirit leads us to “put to death the deeds of the body” (8:13), to mortify the flesh. Let us not resist this sanctifying work but cooperate in obedience, for the Spirit who dwells within us knows what is best for us. Puritan theologian John Owen puts it this way: “Do you mortify; do you make it your daily work; be always at it whilst you live; cease not a day from this work; be killing sin or it will be killing you.”[3]
Of course, you won’t kill sin that you don’t want to kill, right? You must want to kill sin in order to kill it, which is one of the identifying characteristics of a child of God. The Holy Spirit’s presence changes our desires from the ways of the flesh to the Spirit, leading us in his work of conformity to Christ, “For all who are led by the Spirit of God are sons of God” (8:14). Of course, this side of glory we will never be perfectly Christlike, and regardless our age the Spirit has much work to do in conforming us to Christ. But the Holy Spirit’s presence is proven by our desire for Christlikeness. Is that your desire, to be Christlike? Do you desire to put sin to death in your life, longing for the day when you will finally be freed from it, or do you relish your sin, live for it, and can’t imagine a day without it? I think James Boice captures Paul’s sentiment well, when he says, “if you live like a non-Christian, dominated by your sinful nature rather than living according to the Holy Spirit, you will perish like a non-Christian – because you are a non-Christian.”[4] Don’t kid yourself into thinking that you are a child of God because of your heritage or habits. No, a child of God is one by God’s grace through faith in Christ by the Holy Spirit, and where grace reigns grace trains, as the Holy Spirit leads us to die to sin and live to righteousness (1 Pet. 2:24).
All who may cry, “Abba! Father!”
Our God is not a passive spectator in the lives of his children but personally active in each one of us. He does this by his Spirit, not moving from one of us to the next, but indwelling each and every one of us, as his child. This active role is not a reaction to our faith but was planned before time. “In love,” Paul writes to the Ephesians, “he predestined us for adoption to himself as sons through Jesus Christ” (Eph. 1:4b-5a). And through faith in Christ, we have become not distant relations but the very children of our heavenly Father, who promises us in his Word, “I will never leave you nor forsake you” (Heb. 13:5b) and guarantees it with his Spirit’s presence.
This is quite remarkable when you consider that we were once slaves to sin, alienated from, and at enmity with God (Rom. 6:17-18). But God, so to speak, went into sin’s slave market and bought wretched rebels, like you and me, redeeming us with the precious blood of his only begotten Son, that we might become the sons and daughters of God. This means that we live today and every day to eternity as the children of God, not under a spirit of slavery, not in fear of condemnation, but as the children indwelled by the Spirit of adoption who enables us to cry out as only a rightful child can do, “Abba! Father!” Though the name “Abba” sounds foreign to our ears, it is an Aramaic equivalent of Father, which Paul quotes from Jesus’ prayer in the garden of Gethsemane (Mark 14:36). Paul’s use of it here is not to increase our vocabulary but to teach us about our relationship with God. God is not merely our Maker who since creation has left us to ourselves but is our heavenly Father to whom we cry out just like Jesus did.
Should you ever have doubts that you are truly a child of God, which some of us may have from time to time, look to the evidence of the Holy Spirit’s work in your life. Consider the evidence of the Spirit’s conviction of sin, for example. The unbeliever is neither concerned about nor convicted of sin, but the child of God is convicted and led by the Spirit to repent of it. Or, consider the evidence of his Spirit in a desire to please God. Have you noticed that your appetite, albeit imperfectly, has changed from fulfilling your fleshly desires to a hunger for the things of God? Have you noticed a desire to know God’s Word better, to receive the Lord’s Supper, to pray to your heavenly Father? Have you experienced a desire to be with the church worshiping together in fellowship on the Lord’s Day? Brothers and sisters, answer your doubts with the evidence of the Holy Spirit’s presence, for truly “the Spirit himself bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God” (8:16). If you do not know these characteristics, then believe, today, on the Lord Jesus Christ as your Savior, and indeed you will be saved and know the true presence of the Holy Spirit as a child of God.
All who are heirs with Christ
In the second chapter of Ephesians, when the apostle Paul is describing what we were apart from Christ and what we are by God’s grace through his gift of faith in Christ, he reveals a heavenly truth that is easy to miss. He says that because God is rich in mercy and because of his great love for us, he has saved us by his grace from spiritual death to life in Christ. By virtue of this union we have with the Son of God, our heavenly Father has “raised us up with [Christ] and seated us with him in the heavenly places” (Eph. 2:4-6). Note the verb tense is present tense: He has “raised” and “seated,” just as Christ is. We are raised to spiritual life and given a heavenly place with Christ already, “so that,” Paul says, “in the coming ages he might show the immeasurable riches of his grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus” (Eph. 2:7). Who we are in Christ is a present reality with promised heavenly fulfillment. As children of God, we are already citizens of heaven, simply awaiting the last day.
And in Christ, we are not only children of God but “fellow heirs with Christ.” We are heirs of all the wealth of heaven: complete Christlikeness, sinless perfection, at home with God, a banquet of celebration, authority to reign over creation with Christ, and more! But the greatest wealth of heaven, is God himself, of whom we are heirs (8:17). We will enjoy what we were created to do forever, to glorify God and enjoy him forever.
What awaits us in heaven, we cannot imagine, but what awaits us today, we can. For today, and until the Lord returns, we will continue to struggle, even suffer, with this fallen world, our sinful flesh, and the attacks of our enemy the devil. But today is not forever. For, one day, our sanctification by the Holy Spirit will become our glorification upon our Lord’s return. Or, as the apostle John explains, “Beloved, we are God’s children now, and what we will be has not yet appeared; but we know that when he appears we shall be like him, because we shall see him as he is” (1 John 3:2). “Amen. Come, Lord Jesus!” (Rev. 22:20b).
[1] Unless referenced otherwise, all Scripture quotations are from The Holy Bible, English Standard Version (Wheaton: Crossway Bibles, 2001).
[2] “The Shorter Catechism” Q. 31, The Westminster Confession of Faith and Catechisms (Lawrenceville: PCA Christian Education and Publications, 2007), 374-375.
[3] John Owen, “The Mortification of Sin,” The Works of John Owen, Vol. VI (Edinburgh: The Banner of Truth Trust, 1981).
[4] James Montgomery Boice, Romans Vol. 2 (Grand Rapids: Baker Book House Company, 1992).
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