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The Spirit

The Spirit - Gives Us Life

Gary Wright · Sunday, 10 August 2025 · Romans 8:9-11 · 35:56 · 4,454 words

Romans S16 · 8:9-11 Burton

There is no public page for this message yet — the transcript below is the whole of it.

Transformation in Christ is the core, illustrated by a caterpillar becoming a butterfly. The sermon examines Romans 8:8, showing that believers are indwelt by the Holy Spirit, freed from condemnation, and called to walk in righteousness. It emphasizes that salvation comes through faith in Jesus’ death and resurrection, not by a prayer, and that the Spirit convicts sin and empowers a new life. Listeners are challenged to examine whether they have the Spirit, trust Christ, and surrender to His leading.

What this sermon is about

Ranked by keyness against every other sermon in the corpus. Each one is a word this sermon actually said — nothing here was written by a model.

spirit 76 saul 23 butterfly 16 ananias 11 damascus 10 legs 6 holy 31 caterpillar 6 sown 4 jerusalem 7 indwelt 4 arrest 5

Topics

The Holy Spirit 17 Faith 8 Salvation 4 The Flesh 4 Prayer 3 Sin 2 Righteousness 2 Condemnation 1

Scripture referenced 24

Verified against the transcript. A reference the recording does not support is never listed here.

Romans 8 0:11 Romans 8:8 0:11 Romans 8:8 0:16 Romans 8 6:24 Romans 8:9 6:50 Romans 8:9 8:16 John 14:23 10:14 Acts 9:1-2 13:34 Romans 8:3-6 14:56 Ephesians 2:8 17:45 Romans 8:9 19:17 Acts 9:18-20 22:20 2 Corinthians 5:17 25:31 Romans 8 26:15 Romans 8:10 26:17 Romans 6:23 26:55 Romans 6:10 27:47 Romans 3 28:12 Romans 3:24 28:14 Romans 8 28:41 Romans 8 29:06 Romans 8:11 29:06 Romans 4:14 31:28 1 Corinthians 15 32:37

Transcript

Every word, as spoken, with the second it was said. Each word links to its own entry in the index.

Today, we're actually talking about being transformed into a new life.

But if you have your Bibles this morning, if you have your devices,

we're going to be continuing in the book of Romans.

We're still in chapter 8, and we're going to be starting in verse 8,

in Romans 8, verse 8.

So if you want to turn there, you can.

If you don't have a Bible or you don't have it on your device,

the Scriptures will be on the screen.

But I just think it's important if you have the Bible to read it right from the Word.

So I have an incredible mother-in-law.

Actually, she's not in here right now.

I think she's working in the nursery.

But I have an incredible mother-in-law, and she is fantastic with my grandkids,

her great-grandkids.

My grandson, she brings him here every Sunday,

but she has him over at her house quite often, and he's a hoot.

Like, he can't sit still.

He never shuts up.

He talks all the time.

Like, when he's playing by himself, he's just chattering away.

I don't know who he's talking to.

Probably us, and we're too old to hear him.

But anyways, my mother-in-law bought my grandson this net to catch bugs,

catch insects, because he loves insects.

He loves animals.

I mean, that's like his passion.

So he runs around and catches all these bugs, and he brings them up,

and he's all excited.

I've even...

I've even seen him try to catch bees, which I don't understand that.

That's a little crazy.

I would be scared of that.

But last Sunday, we went over there, and he'd caught a monarch butterfly.

He had it in a Tupperware thing with a lid on it.

It's flopping around in there.

He's got holes in it, and I'm like, dude, we need to let this thing go.

I said, it's pretty cool.

He's like, Papa, I want to keep it.

I'm like, it's going to die if we keep it.

And he's like, I still want to keep it, right?

So we talked him into finally letting it go, right?

So when the thing got out of there, boom, it was gone.

And so I was really glad he let it go.

And then, of course, he tried to chase it down.

But butterflies, I told you all they have to tell you this.

I had to talk about my grandson.

But butterflies are incredible to me.

Yesterday, and I'm sure you learned this in school,

I was reading about how caterpillars change into butterflies.

And they go...

The butterflies...

A butterfly goes through stages before it becomes a butterfly.

You know, they're born...

They're in eggs when they're first...

They're laid out as eggs.

When they hatch out, they're a caterpillar.

And they eat as much as they can.

And then they turn into something called...

And hopefully I don't butcher this, but...

Chrysalis, or a cocoon.

Okay?

And while they're in there, this metamorphosis happens,

a transformation.

And they come out.

And there's something totally different.

There's something totally different.

They're this beautiful butterfly.

And it's amazing to me that they go in as one thing,

and they come out as something different.

Some of the things...

Some of the radical changes, I wrote a few of them down.

Caterpillars dart off, or they're pests sometimes

because they eat everything, every leaf,

they can come in contact with,

and they destroy plants.

But when they become a butterfly,

they don't eat plants.

They only drink nectar,

and they actually promote plant growth

instead of destroying it.

Okay?

Caterpillars have simple eyes.

They can't see black and white.

There's a single lens.

But butterflies, once this transformation happens,

a butterfly's eyes have multiple...

And they can see an array of colors.

There's this transformation that happens.

The last thing...

I'm not going to say that.

I thought it was something funny,

but I'm not going to say it because I'm never going to...

They have these stubby little legs, right?

They have six legs.

They have six legs, and they even have some fake legs.

But on these little stubby legs,

they can't move very quickly.

But when they become a butterfly,

they still have six legs.

They're longer.

Butterfly travel long distances,

even up to thousands of miles sometimes.

Listen, if we didn't know

that a butterfly started as a caterpillar,

we wouldn't think it was the same thing

because they're totally different.

Once the transformation happens,

they're totally different.

And that's what Paul's talking about today.

He's going to be talking about this transformation that happens.

This butterfly, really, to me,

has a new life.

And that's what we have when we become believers.

When we have the indwelling Holy Spirit,

we have a new life in Christ.

We're going to jump into this,

but I want to pray before we do that.

Father, thank you for today.

Thank you for your creation

and how amazing it is

and how it points us to you even, Lord.

It's so awesome.

And, Lord, I just thank you for the opportunity

to...

be here this morning,

the opportunity to share your word.

But I pray that you just move me out of the way

and speak to our hearts

through your word this morning, Lord.

We love you.

In Jesus' name, amen.

So in Romans 8, or 8.8,

Paul says this.

Those who are in the flesh

cannot please God.

This was one of the verses we read last week as well.

But when we're in the flesh,

or when we are following our sinful nature,

we're in the flesh.

We can't please God.

If we don't have the Holy Spirit dwelling in us,

we can't please God.

But then he goes on in verse 9,

and he says this.

And believers, he's talking to us.

He is talking to those

who have put their faith in Jesus

because he says these words.

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.

Without the Spirit, we don't belong to him.

Listen, Christians,

people who truly have the Spirit living in them,

are no longer walking in the flesh.

There should be a transformation that's happened,

and we should be walking,

or we should be bent towards God.

We're not going to be perfect,

but we should be living for God.

And that's what it means to be in the flesh.

It means to be,

being in the flesh,

means to be controlled by the sinful nature,

like I said earlier.

But being in the Spirit

means that we're controlled

by the Spirit of God that lives in us,

the Holy Spirit.

When the Holy Spirit indwells us,

he changes us.

And we're controlled by the Spirit

if God dwells in you.

Can you put verse 9 up there again?

Because you look at this verse and it says,

if, in fact, the Spirit of God dwells in you,

look, we walk,

and above that he says,

but in the flesh.

So if we have the Holy Spirit,

the Spirit of God,

we are in the Spirit.

That means we're controlled by the Spirit,

and there's change in our life.

And I think we need to address this as well

in our passage today.

Paul refers to the Holy Spirit as

the Spirit of God,

the Spirit of Christ.

And he also refers to him as Christ,

in you.

All of these things are interchangeable.

It means that we're indwelt with the Spirit of God.

And I believe Paul's speaking this way

about the Spirit of God

and the Spirit of Christ

shows Christ's deity.

It shows that he is the second person of the Trinity.

He is God, right?

And we could say the same thing about the Holy Spirit

is God.

And the Father, he is God.

And we're one,

and one is,

guess what?

They all are there, right?

So when we're indwelt with the Spirit,

God is in us,

and he controls us.

He also argues,

this also argues,

and I've really made this point already,

that the Trinity is real.

Matter of fact,

Jesus says something really cool

in John 14, 23.

He says,

if anyone loves me,

he will keep my word,

and my Father will love him.

And look at this.

And we will come to him

and make our home in him.

Who is he?

We, the Father, the Son, and the Spirit, right?

The Trinity lives in us.

God lives in us

when we're indwelt with the Spirit.

Anyone who has Christ,

anyone who has put their faith in Christ,

has the Holy Spirit living in them.

And if we're not in Christ,

we do not.

That's what Paul's teaching here.

And we talked about being controlled,

by the flesh.

And I wanted to give you an example

of someone being controlled by the flesh.

And one person in particular

came to mind for me.

The guy's name is Saul.

And actually, later,

he's the one that wrote this book.

His name has changed to Paul.

But listen, Saul,

he really came into play

in the Jerusalem

after the resurrection of Jesus

and after Jesus ascended.

he was a religious man.

He was a Pharisee.

And he thought,

you know,

he didn't believe that Jesus

was the Son of Man,

or the Son of God,

who died for the sin of mankind.

He didn't believe it.

He thought this was a false religion.

And he thought he was doing God's work

by putting a stop to Christianity.

That was Saul's mission

as a religious man.

And in Jerusalem,

he started arresting

going into their homes,

dragging them out,

putting them in jail,

putting some of them to death.

He was living in the flesh,

even though he thought

he was doing the work of God.

Christians did what anybody does

when they're terrified.

They ran, right?

They fled Jerusalem.

And one of the places they ended up

was a place called Damascus.

The Bible's really cool.

I have to share this.

It says,

when they went there

they told other people about Christ.

That's cool.

That's just a freebie.

I don't even have that in my notes.

I just thought of that.

But Paul, or Saul,

I'm sorry, I always go say

those two names interchangeable.

But Saul, he was so passionate

about snuffing these Christians out,

he pursued them.

In Acts 9, verses 1 and 2,

it says,

but Saul, still breathing out threats

against the disciples of the Lord,

that would be Christians,

went to the high priest

and asked for letters

to the synagogue in Damascus

so that if he found any there in Damascus

belonging to the way,

he might bring them bound to Jerusalem.

Look, he went to the leaders in Jerusalem

and said, look, give me papers

that say I can go there

and arrest these Christians.

And they did.

And Paul went there.

He's like, I'm going to snuff out this,

they called it the way, right?

And it was meant to be a,

like to kind of rag on the Christians,

calling them the way.

But truthfully, it is the way, right?

It is the way.

So he heads to Damascus

and on his way there,

something incredible happens.

And maybe you've heard this before.

But if we read on in Acts,

verses 3 through 6,

it says,

now as he went on his way, Saul,

he approached Damascus

and suddenly a light from heaven

shone around him.

And falling to the ground,

he heard a voice saying to him,

why are you persecuting me?

And Paul said, or Saul said,

who are you, Lord?

And he said,

I am Jesus whom you are persecuting.

Saul, on his way

to wipe out believers in Christ,

Christ, Christ.

At that point, Saul realized

his ways were wrong.

He realized who Jesus was

and what he did was the truth.

And he understood

that Jesus really was the way,

the truth, and the life.

He had faith at that point.

And because of that faith,

he was saved.

And listen, I want to stop right here

and share with you a story.

And share some things.

Sometimes people will lead us in a prayer.

They'll say, repeat after me

and you'll be saved.

A prayer does not save us.

A prayer does not save us.

What did Saul have here?

He had faith.

And we've even said things in the church

that I think can be misleading.

We say things like,

have you asked Jesus into your heart?

I don't know about you,

but I feel like that's really not

what salvation is.

Salvation is faith in Jesus Christ

and what he did on the cross.

That we're sinners

and God came in the flesh

and lived a perfect life

and died for you and I.

And he paid the price for our sin.

And he rose again.

Praise God, right?

Because he was God.

And when we trust that,

we're saved.

That's how we're saved.

That's faith.

Is prayer involved in that?

But the prayer does not save us.

It is the faith.

And I have to read this verse.

Ephesians 2.8 says,

For by grace you have been saved

through faith.

It is not your own doing.

It's not a prayer.

It's not some magic words we say.

It's not asking Jesus into our heart.

It is faith.

And it is a gift of God.

That is how we're saved.

we can get confused.

And a lot of times we ask people,

do you know Jesus?

Do you have faith in Jesus?

And they're like, yes.

Because sometimes,

somewhere in the past,

somebody's led them through this prayer,

repeat after me,

and they think they're good.

But they might not be.

Because if they don't have faith,

they're in trouble.

They are in trouble.

And that's why it's important to get it right.

That's why it's important to teach

what the scripture says.

Saul had faith.

He was saved.

And he received,

he received the Holy Spirit immediately.

And that's what will happen to us

when we come to Christ in faith.

Turn to Christ in faith,

we will receive the Holy Spirit immediately.

And the Holy Spirit is the proof

that we are saved.

Let's look at Romans 8, 9 one more time.

Paul says,

if anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ,

or anyone who does not have the Spirit of Christ,

does not belong to him.

If we don't have the Holy Spirit,

we have not put our faith in Christ.

We cannot be saved

and not have the Spirit indwelling you.

So here's my question.

The question you might have.

How do we know we have the Holy Spirit?

How do we know?

Because we can know.

First thing is this.

Are you convicted of sin?

When you do something

that is rebellious against God

and you know it,

is the Holy Spirit telling you that's wrong?

Are you feeling guilt?

Are you feeling guilt?

Are you feeling conviction?

But it's like guilt.

The Holy Spirit isn't going to just sit by

and let you do that

and not try to get you to change.

He's not going to do that.

You're going to feel conviction.

That's one proof that you have the Spirit.

If you don't have the Spirit

and you can do whatever you want

and you don't feel that conviction,

I would be concerned that I really have faith in Jesus.

The second thing,

and we hit on this last week,

is that there will be a change in our life.

The Holy Spirit isn't going to indwell us

and let us keep on going the way we were going.

He's going to change us

and we're going to want to go that way

because he's inside of us.

I said I was,

I told myself I'm going to be calm today when I talk.

I'm sorry.

I got a little carried away.

But I also believe we can look at Saul

and see this truth.

After Saul met Jesus,

he was blind

and he actually stayed blind for three days.

And the people that were with him,

they led him to Damascus.

And he met a guy named Ananias.

And that's a story in itself

because God came to Ananias in a dream

and he says,

hey, I want you to go meet Saul

and pray over him

because Saul has been praying

to have his blindness restored

or have his sight restored.

Anyways, I'm not going to get into that.

So Ananias comes

and he's in Damascus.

He lays hands on Saul

and he prays.

And this is what happened.

This is Acts 9, verse 18 through 20.

It says,

and immediately something like scales

fell off his eyes

and he regained his sight.

Then he rose and he was baptized.

And taking food, he was strengthened.

For some days,

he was with the disciples,

the other believers at Damascus.

And immediately,

and immediately,

this is amazing to me.

He proclaimed Jesus in the synagogue

saying he is the son of God.

So did Saul, when he got his sight back,

did he like say,

okay, I'm going to arrest Ananias

and I'm going to go start arresting these Christians

and I'm going to haul them back to Jerusalem?

Absolutely not.

If he would have done that,

what would we have said?

The Holy Spirit is not in you, brother.

We wouldn't even have called him brother, right?

That's the same thing that happens

in our life.

When we meet Jesus

and we have the Holy Spirit,

we are transformed.

Saul was transformed.

He got baptized.

He proclaimed Christ.

The Spirit gave him life pillar

and he became a butterfly.

I want you to understand this as well.

Paul's circumstances did not change.

They did not change.

He was going to Damascus

when he went,

when he met Jesus

and after he met Jesus,

where did he end up?

Circumstances didn't change.

His mission did.

When we meet Christ,

when we ask him into,

I almost said ask him into your heart.

Sorry, I'm so used to saying that.

When we have faith in Jesus

and we have the Spirit,

our circumstances will not change.

God may change them over time.

You may still be in a horrible situation,

but guess what?

That doesn't mean that Jesus,

that the Holy Spirit isn't in your heart

because he has you there for a mission.

Our circumstances may not change,

but our mission will

because we have a new life in Christ.

This Saul, who later became Paul,

wrote this to the Corinthian church.

This is 2 Corinthians 5.17.

It says,

as anyone is in Christ,

he or she is a new creation.

away the new has come.

That's the proof of the Holy Spirit.

That's the proof of salvation.

do we really have the Spirit in us?

So the Spirit gives us life that way,

but the Spirit also gives us eternal life.

If we read on,

I know I took a big left turn here,

but I want to come back to Romans 8

and I want to look at verse 10.

It says,

but if Christ is in you,

the Holy Spirit,

however you want to say it,

although the body is dead because of sin,

the Spirit is life because of righteousness.

Look, when we get saved,

that doesn't mean we're not still going to die.

Our physical bodies are still going to die

and I hope we all understand that.

Physical death is part of the punishment for sin.

I mean, we read this,

Paul writes about it in Romans 6, 23.

He said,

the wages of sin is death.

And now this death,

death is separation from God

and it's also physical death.

The part that,

I have to read the rest of the verse,

but the free gift of God is eternal life

through Christ Jesus our Lord.

Look, the part that,

the part of us that has eternal life

is our spirit.

Our fleshly bodies are going to die,

even if we are believers,

even if we have the Holy Spirit indwelling us.

But we are going to have eternal life.

our spirit is alive

and it's because of Christ's righteousness.

In our passage it says,

in verse 10 it says,

the spirit is life because of righteousness.

it's not anything we do.

We should know that by now.

But righteousness does not come from us.

The righteousness is not ours.

It is Christ's righteousness

which is imputed to us,

transferred to us.

If you read the next verse,

in Romans 3,

verse 24 it says,

and are justified by His grace

as a gift through the redemption

of Jesus Christ.

Look, we're justified.

That means that when God looks at us,

because we have faith in Jesus,

He declares us righteous

even though we're guilty.

That's the imputed righteousness.

That's why we have eternal life.

That's why we have the Holy Spirit.

Even though we're guilty,

Romans 8-1 tells us

there's no condemnation.

There's no condemnation

for those who are in Christ.

The Holy Spirit gives us spiritual life

and it's eternal.

But our physical bodies die,

but God is going to change

those physical bodies someday.

I love this.

Paul goes on in verse 11 in Romans 8

and he says,

if the spirit of Him

who raised Jesus from the dead

dwells in you,

He who raised Christ from the dead

will also give life

to your mortal bodies

through His Spirit.

The Holy Spirit who dwells in you.

What does this mean?

The Holy Spirit

who raised Jesus from the dead

lives in us

and as we're alive,

the Holy Spirit

will strengthen us

and give us the ability

to walk in the Spirit.

Okay?

I want you to think of Ananias again

back in our story.

God came to Ananias in a dream.

He said,

I want you to go

and meet this guy named Saul of Tarshish.

And I want you to do this.

I want you to do that.

And Ananias is like,

You want me to do what?

You know why this guy came here?

He came here to arrest me

and take me back to Jerusalem.

And what does Jesus say?

Go.

That's His first word.

Go.

Because this guy

is going to be a great man for me

is basically what He's saying.

Look, Ananias,

like all of us,

when we're called by the Lord

to do something,

we don't feel like we have the strength

to do it.

But the Holy Spirit

who dwells in us

gives us that strength.

That's what one of the things

Paul's talking about here.

That is the power

that Ananias used

to go to Saul

and pray with them.

Without the Holy Spirit,

I think Ananias would have

stayed in bed that morning.

The Holy Spirit strengthens us

and He changes us

and He gives us the ability

to do what God is calling us to do.

And not only that,

but some days

those of us who have been

indwelt with the Spirit,

are going to be resurrected

like Jesus was.

Romans 4.14 says,

Knowing that He

who raised the Lord Jesus

will raise us also

with Jesus

and bring us with you

into His presence.

Look, when we die,

our physical bodies

are going in the ground.

Our spirit will be

immediately with the Lord.

The Bible says,

the King James Version says,

absent from the body,

present with the Lord.

And our spirit

will spend eternity

in His presence.

But when Jesus comes back,

He's going to resurrect

our old bodies.

But they won't be the same.

They will be different.

They won't be,

they won't have

the nature of sin

attached to them.

We'll have a spiritual body.

And I love in 1 Corinthians

how Paul compares the two things.

This makes me excited.

This is,

this is 1 Corinthians 15,

42 and 44.

It says,

So it is with the resurrection

of the dead.

What is sown perishable

is raised imperishable.

Talking about our bodies.

And it is sown in dishonor

and it is raised in glory.

Chill bumps right now.

This is amazing.

It is sown in weakness.

It is raised in power.

It is sown in natural body

and it is raised

a spiritual body.

There is a natural body

and there is also

a spiritual body.

have life.

And we have it now

and we're going to have it

Life in the spirit though

boils down to one thing.

That is,

faith in Jesus Christ.

Have faith.

That's the question.

You have faith.

that his death on the cross

paid the price for your sin.

That he's God

who lived the perfect life,

became our perfect lamb

and died for our sin.

You believe that

he didn't sin.

That he rose again

three days later.

And are you willing

that we're sinners

and we're wrong

like Paul did

and turning Jesus

for his help,

for his salvation.

That is how

we become believers in Christ.

That's how we become

and have the Holy Spirit.

That's how

we get to heaven.

This is the faith

that saves.

It's not words we say.

It's not even a prayer we say.

Even though prayer

when we have faith

is a good thing

to talk to you, Lord.

Have this faith.

We have a new life.

Circumstances won't change

but our mission will.

This life

and the Spirit

in this life.

bodies in our spirit

will be resurrected

and be in the presence

of the Lord

is a win-win.

It's a win-win.

don't want to go there.

We think,

I don't want to change my life.

But guess what happens

when you really surrender

to the Lord?

You don't want to go back.

Right?

I don't miss this stuff.

I love being

a follower of Christ.

I'm a caterpillar

to a butterfly.