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The River ChurchSermons

The Spirit

Will You Let Him In

Joe Wilson · Sunday, 10 August 2025 · Romans 8:9-11 · 41:29 · 5,036 words

Romans S16 · 8:9-11

Listen to this message

The sermon focuses on Romans 8:9‑11, emphasizing that the Holy Spirit gives spiritual life to those who are in the Spirit rather than in the flesh. It clarifies that being in the flesh means being ruled by sin, while being in the Spirit means being guided by God’s presence. Joe Wilson urges listeners to examine whether they truly let the Spirit work in them and to be intentional about their faith. He also points to the Romans Road as a simple guide for understanding salvation and sharing it with others.

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 59 intentional 11 allow 12 check 9 holy 27 heard 13 page 6 dead 17 must 13 somebody 13 dwell 9 share 13

Topics

The Holy Spirit 14 Sin 3 Prayer 3 Righteousness 3 Faith 2 Salvation 2 The Gospel 1 Hope 1 Obedience 1 The Flesh 1

Scripture referenced 24

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

Romans 1:16-17 6:46 Romans 8 12:33 Romans 8:9-11 13:09 Romans 1 14:56 Romans 7 14:56 Romans 1:11-15 15:36 Romans 8:9-11 16:43 Romans 8:9-11 16:57 Romans 8 17:55 Romans 8:9 17:55 1 Peter 3:18 19:53 Romans 8:10 20:58 Romans 8 22:34 Romans 8:11 22:34 Romans 3:23 34:49 Romans 3:23 35:12 Romans 6:23 35:37 Romans 5:8 36:34 Romans 10:9 37:02 Romans 10:13 37:34 John 4:24 38:20 James 4 38:55 James 4 38:55 James 4:14 38:55

Transcript

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

Pre-service announcement — 9 lines, 0:44. Excluded from every count and search on this site, kept here so nothing is hidden.

Hey, everyone. My name is Debbie, and thanks for checking out this message today.

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Thanks again for joining us, and we hope you are blessed by today's message.

Good morning. That's such an awkward walk.

It's like it's quiet. I don't know what to say.

So, well, first of all, River Church family, good morning.

Good morning. It's in a great morning, it is.

I'm just so, I'm so thankful.

I'm thankful that God has given each of us the opportunity,

and I'm just going to put this, you're going to see me messing with this thing a lot,

because it doesn't fit my ear well, so don't let that be a distraction.

It's an amazing morning, and it's an awesome opportunity.

If we really think about it, it's an awesome opportunity that God has given each and every one of us

to come here this morning to share in His Word.

So, I never want to take that for granted, and I want that for you also.

I know Pastor Jason already said it.

Welcome to everybody. Welcome to those online.

Those online would love to see you here sometime.

If I haven't had the chance to personally meet somebody in here today,

please make sure that that's not the case by the end of the day.

You know, stop by, say hi. I'll sit right here afterwards.

I know we'd already mentioned it, but once again, for those of you that didn't hear it,

my name is Joe Wilson. I'm one of the deacons here at the River Church,

and I'm just honored to be able to have the opportunity to share God's Word with you.

Before I walk through today's message,

can I just say that I hope that this, I hope that this microphone stays on,

but I hope that this series in Romans has been as impactful to you as it has been to me in my walk.

We've heard messages on the gospel. We've heard messages on the wrath of God.

We've heard messages on religious roadblocks.

We've heard messages on the righteousness of God.

We've heard messages on growing in faith, dead to sin, and much more.

And I encourage you that if you missed some, or some that you may be convicted by,

or some that you may, I want to dig into that a little deeper.

If you go to the app or the website, you can find the messages, not just from Waterford,

but from the other locations as well.

And if you need help with navigating the online stuff,

we've got a children's church down here that they can guide you.

They can help out.

So, yeah, okay. All you have to do is ask.

All right, so as I was walking through Romans, as I was walking through preparing for this message,

if anybody knows anything about me, I love history, I love quotes, and I love quotes about history.

So, I want to read you this little account that took place.

On May 24th, 1738, an experience took place that directly points to the book of Romans.

On this night, a discouraged missionary went very unwillingly to a religious meeting in London.

There, it states, a miracle took place.

About a quarter before nine, he wrote in his journal,

I felt my heart strangely warmed.

I felt I did trust in Christ, Christ alone for salvation,

and an assurance was given me that he had taken away my sins, even mine,

and saved me from the law of sin and death.

Now, that discouraged missionary,

that discouraged missionary is a name we may recognize,

if you've walked with the Lord for a while, was John Wesley.

And the message he heard that evening was the preface to Martin Luther's commentary on the book of Romans.

Now, this letter to the, this is Martin Luther speaking, not me.

This letter to the Romans is truly the most important piece in the New Testament.

It is purest gospel.

It is well worthy, Christians, not only to memorize its word, word for word,

but also to occupy himself with it daily,

as though it were the daily bread for the soul.

It is impossible to read or meditate on this letter too much or too well.

The more one deals with it, the more precious it becomes,

and the better it tastes.

So, I want to ask you a question.

Do we let scripture impact us?

Do we let it sink into our heart?

Or do we just read it, check a box, and move on?

I think it's important, and I'm speaking to myself here, by the way.

I think it's important that we just don't check that box.

When scripture is read, God's word is read,

do we say, this is for that person over there?

Or this is for that lady over there?

Or this is for that young person?

Or do we look in the mirror and go, this is for me.

This is a gift God has given me.

So, I think it's important that we do that.

And it's said, to just reiterate how important this book of Romans is,

it's said that the following two verses are cited as key passages

that summarize,

that summarize the entire book of Romans.

So, Romans chapter 1, verses 16 and 17.

You can turn there if you'd like.

For I am not ashamed of the gospel,

for it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes,

to the Jew first and also to the Greek.

For in it the righteousness of God is revealed from faith for faith.

As it is written, the righteous shall live by faith.

Are we ashamed?

We might say, no.

Not at all.

Do we act ashamed?

We know what the word said.

We've heard it.

But do we absorb it ourselves?

Or do we say, this is for somebody else?

I'm glad you mentioned those words because this person needs to hear it.

At times, I think we need to spend more time in the mirror than pointing our fingers.

What's the old saying?

When you're pointing at somebody, you got four more pointing back at you.

Three more.

Yeah, three.

Three more and a thumb.

So, no matter how God has used the book of Romans to speak to you personally,

I think we can agree it's worthy of our...

Our time and intentionality.

Before we get going too far, I'd like to take some time to pray

and give God the glory for the time he's allowed us to spend here this morning.

Dear Lord and Heavenly Father, Lord, Lord, we love you.

We thank you for first loving us.

Lord, we thank you for the opportunity you've given each and every one of us to come here this morning.

Lord, just see what it is that you have for us.

Lord, I just pray that you give us ears to hear and eyes.

I just pray that you give us eyes to see and allow our hearts to absorb what it is that you have for each one of us personally this morning.

Lord, I pray that I stay out of your way, Lord, and that your words will shine through

and that I just be obedient, Lord, with what you've entrusted me to.

Lord, I pray for everyone here.

It is in Christ's precious name that we pray.

All right.

You ready to get going?

Okay.

So, let me ask you...

I like questions, by the way.

I like to challenge you because, well, I like to be...

I like to be challenged.

Have you ever found yourself in a situation where, through your own skill and your own knowledge,

that you can't complete the task that's been put before you?

You're just unable to do it.

With everything that you have, you need help.

So, lo and behold, help comes along.

Somebody that has the skill, somebody that has the ability to help you to complete that task that's put before you.

So, what do you do?

I got this.

When you know you don't, but you don't want to ask for help because, well, that would be wrong, right?

So, we just go, nope, I got this.

And then you just continue on in your utter failure.

I think of...

I like to share a story with it.

My lovely wife, she has no idea I'm about to say this.

So, this wasn't in the notes when I had to read them.

So, we decided it is time to get the siding redone in our house.

And she's like, great, you can do it.

And I'm like, great, no, I can't.

So...

A lot of it.

So, we started reaching out.

And lo and behold, long story short, the house resided.

And I'm not doing it.

But I know it's a funny little thing.

But I think we need to understand where we're at.

What do we have the skills and ability to do?

And what we don't.

And if you've walked with the Lord for any amount of time, you understand.

There's things we need help with.

And you can say, I got this all along, but it's not going to help you.

So, like I said, no more.

Know my heart.

I'm speaking to myself as well.

As somebody that doesn't speak every Sunday,

normally it's messages on what I'm convicted by.

Well, as this topic was given to me, I was like, okay.

And then I found more and more wrong.

I was like, okay, I'm convicted by this.

So, today's topic is the Spirit gives us life.

The Spirit gives us life.

The Holy Spirit gives us life.

Today's text can be found in Romans chapter 8,

And I encourage you to turn there.

Whether it's on your phone, whether it's in your Bible.

I think it's important to see the text and not just hear it.

Hear it's an important thing.

But also to be able to navigate the Bible yourself.

So, when you're turning pages, you're actually teaching yourself to find Scripture.

So, if you have your Bibles turned there, and if not, they're going to be on the screen.

Again, Romans chapter 8, verses 9 through 11.

And it reads,

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.

Now, for some of us, a big old light bulb should have just went off.

And if it didn't, no worries.

They've given me about a two-hour max.

I'm just kidding.

I'm not sure I could last two hours.

Anyways, we need to see if we can get that light bulb to turn on.

As always, I think it's important when we study Scripture

to understand the context around the Scripture.

Because if you just pick out a verse, and you don't know who's saying it,

who they're saying it to,

and why they chose to say it,

I think we're missing a huge portion.

So let's try and define two items here.

Who was the Apostle Paul writing to, and why?

And I think that will lead us into a better understanding

as we walk through today's Scripture.

So, in Romans 1, chapter 7,

to all those in Rome who are loved by God and called to be saints.

So further study shows that this is both the Jewish,

and Gentile Christians.

And I always try to look for Scripture to support Scripture.

That make sense?

You know, back it up.

Back it up.

Let's see.

I want to make sure that I can be thick-headed at times.

So I want to make sure that I understand what's going on.

So in Romans 1, verses 11-15, Paul writes,

For I long to see you, that I may impart to you some spiritual gift to strengthen you.

That is, that we may...

That we may be mutually encouraged by each other's faith, both yours and mine.

I do not want you to be unaware, brothers,

that I have often intended to come to you, but thus far have been prevented,

in order that I may reap some harvest among you,

as well as among the rest of the Gentiles.

I am under obligation both to Greeks and to barbarians,

both to the wise and to the foolish.

So I am eager to preach the gospel,

to you also who are in Rome.

So I think, I believe, we can conclude that Paul states he desired to visit Rome

and to share the gospel with them.

Them being fellow believers.

So one author puts it this way when speaking of today's main text, Romans 8, 9-11.

Romans 8, 9-11 highlights the transformative power of the Holy Spirit in the lives of believers.

It emphasizes that those who have the Spirit of God,

are not in the flesh, but are in the Spirit,

and that the Spirit gives life because of righteousness.

Furthermore, it speaks of the promise that the same Spirit who raised Jesus from the dead

will also give life to the mortal bodies of believers.

So I would like to walk through each one of these verses

and see what Paul is, as he's talking to the Romans, the believers,

see what he's telling us.

Romans 8, chapter, or Romans chapter 8, verse 9, says,

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.

So let's answer some questions here.

When he says, in the flesh.

Now, I never like to assume that because I may understand something,

or you may understand something, that doesn't mean everybody understands it.

It doesn't, it just doesn't, it doesn't mean it's as clear in somebody else's,

let's clear some of this up.

In the flesh means to be dominated by sin and worldly desires, spiritually dead.

Pastor Roy has said, and I hung on those words,

you know, he's never been called to do a funeral where somebody wasn't dead.

So dead is dead, spiritually dead, world desires and sin.

In the Spirit means to be guided by the Holy Spirit.

You have life according to the Spirit, by the Spirit.

As into the final question, who gives us life?

The Holy Spirit.

Okay, like I said, I never like to assume.

I like to make things as clear as possible.

That's why I love the book of Romans, because it's, you want the answer?

There's the answer.

It's right there.

So a few books later in the New Testament, the Apostle Peter states this.

In 1 Peter 3, verse 18,

For Christ also suffered once for sins, the righteous for the unrighteous,

that he might bring us to God,

being put to death in the flesh, but made alive in the Spirit.

So in this text, I have a couple words underlined.

Once, for Christ suffered once for our sins,

the righteous for the unrighteous, and also made alive in the Spirit.

Are you seeing this?

What it's teaching us about the Holy Spirit?

The Holy Spirit gives us life.

You're not doing it.

I'm not doing it.

The Holy Spirit for you.

And for me.

Continuing on in Romans chapter 8, verse 10, the next verse down.

But if Christ is in you, although the body is dead because of sin,

the Spirit is life because of righteousness.

Again, the Spirit is the source of life because of righteousness.

Spirit is the source of life.

The righteousness of Christ, not of ourselves, by the law or our works.

Has anybody else ever found themselves, well, if I, if I,

if I just read the Bible more, which you should, all these are good things.

If, if I've ever did this or done that, I would just be in a better spot.

So I would be more prepared to serve God, to be looked upon as a believer,

to have the peace, the confidence in Christ.

Well, guess what?

You can't do it on your own.

You don't have the ability to do it on your own, but we all know somebody that does.

And if for some reason you don't,

you don't know that somebody stop by, we'll introduce you to him.

Romans chapter eight, verse 11 follows and says,

if in 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.

The spirit of God who raised Jesus from the dead will also give life to the

mortal bodies of believers through the indwelling spirit.

This, this is a, this is a promise.

This is a promise that we should understand.

We should get.

So it's, it's, uh, the title of this sermon, by the way, is, is will you let him in?

Will you let him in?

One of, one of the guys, um, he's actually, his name's Keaton Washburn.

He's up at our, our Goodrich location, uh, shared a quote.

If you read in the Romans study guide and it just, it spoke out to me and it's like,

okay, well, I don't, I don't mind.

I don't mind stealing stuff, acquiring stuff or, uh, borrowing stuff.

Um, he states the spirit is not an occasional visitor.

He takes up residence in God's people.

Spirit doesn't come and go.

You know, it's, it might be more visible when we get out of his way, but it doesn't,

he doesn't come and go.

If you have the spirit, you have the spirit.

If you don't, you don't.

It's not an occasional visitor.

So I just, I thought that that led into, we must be intentional with our, our walk with Christ.

We must be intentional.

We must be intentional with acknowledgement of the Holy Spirit in our lives.

We have to be.

So that, that leads to another question.

Have you, sir, have you, ma'am, have you, young person, allowed yourself to, to receive the Holy Spirit?

Or are you holding back?

Are you holding back for some reason?

I looked a little deeper into this because I wanted to understand why somebody, myself included,

would resist or hold back the Holy Spirit.

I mean, as we walk along, we've already,

we've already identified this is a task we cannot complete on our own.

We don't have the ability, we don't have the knowledge, but we, we know somebody that does.

So why would you hold back that help?

So they're searching here and there and all over the place.

These are some things that I found to be continuous.

They just, they kept repeating themselves.

Now I'm sure there's other ones out there.

So if I missed yours, I'm sorry.

But so the things that can hinder a person from receiving the Holy Spirit, lack of faith.

How's our faith?

Do we pray for it?

Increased faith, unrepentant sin.

Now it's a tough one because we don't like to share our stuff, but have we truly repented of our sin?

What God's word tells us to do?

Fear, absolute fear, because we don't understand.

I think that's where trust comes in.

A lack of understanding about the Holy Spirit.

Do we know who the Holy Spirit is?

I mean, we know God, the Father, we know God, the Son, and we know the Holy Spirit.

That's the Trinity.

We understand that.

Do we acknowledge the Holy Spirit?

Holy Spirit is God.

Some may also struggle.

Some may also struggle due to some unresolved emotional wounds.

You've been hurt.

You've been hurt by church.

You've been hurt by church family.

Do we give that to the, do we allow the Holy Spirit to help us, to heal us, to walk us through it?

I'm just going to confess to you, this is a struggle of mine.

A fear of full surrender.

Are you a control freak?

Do you have to have control?

Because guess what?

You don't.

Or a tendency to hold on to bitterness or resentment.

Ooh, none of us hold a grudge, do we?

Or am I just talking to myself?

So is this you?

Is this me?

Have you allowed yourself to receive the Holy Spirit?

You've got to be intentional about it.

And mind you, as you've walked with the Lord for a while, which some in this room right now have,

think it's something that we say, okay, I know that, check, move on.

No.

It's something we must review every single day.

There's a guy I went to school with in Pastors Academy.

He's...

Works up at the Holly location.

I love to use his quote.

And I've told him, I said, that's forevermore.

I'm stealing that.

That's the way it is.

He said, you've got to check yourself before you wreck yourself.

And guess what?

We need to check ourselves.

Even though you are of a seasoned period in life, right down to, you are just getting started.

Check yourself.

This is something we need to do every day.

Am I allowing the Holy Spirit to speak into my life?

Does your life...

Does your life overflow with the love of the Spirit?

Or do you keep it back to yourself?

Are you stuck in the flesh?

This is mine.

This is mine.

I don't know how to share it because, well, because I don't know how to share it or I'm afraid.

Do we trust in the Holy Spirit?

When are we going to get it that we need to trust in the Holy Spirit?

Either we do or we don't.

If you're hearing this, it could be an ouch moment.

But he is right here, folks.

He is right here.

He is willing to help and provide that which we cannot do on our own.

So I ask you again, because I want this to stick with you.

Why do we continue to say, I got this, when we know that we don't?

And again, speaking to myself, we must accept the love of Christ.

We must be intentional.

And in my notes, I got this in all capitals to make a point.

I didn't know whether to go.

But I want to make a point.

We must accept the love of Christ.

Just talk about it.

We can't just go to church on Sunday and go, check, I'm good.

No, we must accept it.

And we have to be intentional about it.

Maybe you've entrusted, you've trusted Christ as your Savior

and have the Holy Spirit dwelling in you right this very moment.

Then I challenge you, contemplate on this thought.

This was one of the other guys that I went to school with.

As Christians who have accepted Christ, we must further our relationship with Christ.

Seek him out, read scripture, and talk with him because without maintenance,

our house or our spiritual lives will become broken and appear dead once again.

So this is speaking to seasoned Christians.

Are you doing maintenance?

Are you going to church once a week and say, I belong to a church?

Maybe you're sitting here right now going, Joe,

I haven't allowed the Holy Spirit to give me life spiritually.

I've held back for one of those reasons or one of my own.

We love you enough to just be honest with you.

You must be intentional.

You must be intentional about your actions.

You must.

So here, and some of you are going to go, oh yeah, I've heard that.

But I want you to get rid of that thought.

I want you to open yourselves up here for a second.

Because I'm about to say something that there's a good majority have heard before.

Try to listen to it with fresh ears.

I would like to introduce something to you or reintroduce something to you

referred to as Romans Road.

Now, a lot of people are going to go, all right, I've heard of that before.

I get it.

And I question you.

Do you?

Because a lot of times, I think we throw words around, but we don't explain ourselves.

And somebody may be sitting here right now going, I have absolutely no idea what you're talking about.

And they don't want to step up and ask because, well, this is something I should know because I'm a believer.

So we're going to go through it, whether you know it or not.

It's a step-by-step approach to understanding why salvation is needed, how God provides it, and how God,

it can be received.

And again, for those of you familiar with it, give me a few minutes and don't check out on me.

Sometimes we, like I said, we use this terminology and we just assume that everybody knows.

So to review is a good thing.

Back to the words, check yourself before you wreck yourself.

Okay?

All right.

So I would like you to turn with me here.

And I'm going to give you a chance to get there because I want you to be able to come back to these pages when you need them.

So Romans 3, 23.

A few pages back from where we are on our main.

You know, I know you've heard speakers, pastors say, you know, I'd love to hear the pages turn.

I'm going to share something with you.

You can really hear the pages turn up here.

And it's cool.

So Romans 3, 23.

For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.

Yes, that verse is well spoken.

It's well heard of.

But you pick up on a few words there.

For all.

That isn't for that person or that person or that person or, oh, that person that's out there on the road this morning.

Yeah.

No, it's for all of us.

Romans 6, 23.

A couple pages back to the right.

For the wages of sin is death.

But the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.

For the wages of sin is death.

Go back to the previous one.

For all have sinned.

For the wages of sin is death.

Now, I'm not a real smart guy, but I can figure that out.

For all includes me.

For the wages of sin is death.

So that includes me.

Remember when you're sharing this with a new believer, be honest because you've heard truth and love.

You can't have.

You can't have love without truth.

And you can't have truth without love.

Just remember both those.

Romans 5, 8.

But God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.

But God shows his love for us.

While we were still sinners, you and me, Christ died for us.

Romans chapter 10, verse 9.

I'm picking up a little speed right now, by the way.

Because if you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart,

that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved.

It's an intentional act.

If you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead,

you will be saved.

Finally, Romans chapter 10, verse 13.

For everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.

It's an intentional act.

So I'd like to leave you with the following.

What if you know, without a doubt,

that the Holy Spirit dwells within you?

Well, then that's an amazing thing.

Do you acknowledge him?

Do you celebrate him?

Do you allow him to work in and through you?

John chapter 4, verse 24 says,

God is spirit, and to those who worship him must worship in spirit and in truth.

Maybe it's you who hasn't allowed the Holy Spirit to dwell within you,

to give you spiritual life Scripture has spoken of.

Well, you can right here, right now.

Don't allow it.

If you have no other excuse to deceive you, talk with someone.

Let the church walk through you with it.

Because James 4, chapter 4, verse 14, says this.

Yet you do not know what tomorrow will bring.

What is your life?

For you are a mist that appears for a little time and then vanishes.

Don't wait.

Don't assume that you have tomorrow.

I came upon this reading, and I'll close with this.

I came upon this reading this week, and it just kept coming back into my head.

It wasn't in the message originally.

I wrote it down and said, okay, I'm going to hold on to this.

But I want to share it with you.

I want to share it with you.

Jesus isn't looking for fans that will admire him,

but followers who will trust and obey him.

Are we going to trust and obey him as we're called to do?

Let's pray.

Dear Lord and Heavenly Father, Lord, you are so, so, so awesome.

Lord, I thank you for allowing me to participate in the sharing.

Lord, I pray as we move among our days this week, this afternoon,

Lord, that we allow your word, your holy and inerrant word to impact us,

to sit in our hearts.

Let us meditate on them.

Let us refer to them every day.

Lord, let us be the believers and the followers you've called us to be.

Let us be intentional with our actions and with our love

as you've been the perfect example.

of. It is in your precious, precious and holy name that I pray. Amen.

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