Tonight we conclude our series through the topic of the Holy
Spirit tonight and the title tonight is Empowered.
How we need the power of the Holy Spirit in our lives.
And we can say Amen and go home after that, can't we?
We need the Holy Spirit and the power of the Holy Spirit in our
lives. And we're going to have a look
at Romans chapter 8, verse 1 to 17 tonight.
And it's a wonderful passage, a wonderful passage of Scripture.
Before we jump in, I want to briefly look back at what we've
covered so far in a bit of a summary.
This is message number six of our series and it's been it's
really been a great series through the book of through the
book of the Holy Spirit, that's the Bible through through the
topic of the Holy Spirit. But over the past few weeks
we've been exploring the person and work of the Holy Spirit.
We began with who is the Holy Spirit?
A good question, discovering that, you know, he's not some
impersonal force, that you know this holy wind that blows
through the cosmos, but in fact, he's the third person of the
Trinity, fully God, fully personal, always present with
us. Then we asked, what does the
Holy Spirit do? And we uncovered the role of the
Holy Spirit and his, his roles convicting our hearts.
And we thank him for that, comforting our souls, guiding
our steps, empowering believers, and sealing us for eternity.
Then we looked at the gifts of the Holy Spirit, understanding
how God distributes different spiritual gifts to equip us, his
church and glorify Jesus Christ. And then last week, Pastor Nat,
a message entitled this is that. And all that to say, I encourage
you go back over the messages, please.
It's such a wonderful study and you can listen to it on Spotify.
You can have a watch of it on YouTube.
And now the final message of this series is how we need the
power of the Holy Spirit in our lives.
And to do that, we're going to unpack one of the richest, most
Holy Spirit saturated passages in Scripture, in all of
Scripture, Romans chapter 8. But before that, let's pray and
commit tonight to God again. I know Pastor Net did pray, but
I just want to commit this time to the Lord again.
Father, we thank you so much for this ability, Lord, that we
could come together tonight. Lord, we pray that your Holy
Spirit would move in this place. Lord, move in our hearts.
Lord, convict us. Lord, speak to us, comfort us,
edify us. Lord, as we hear your word
tonight, we know you want to speak to us and I pray Lord,
that you would use me a broken vessel to to do this tonight.
We love you, we worship you, we we thank you for what you've
done in our lives and we commit tonight to you again in Jesus
name we pray and we all said Amen, Amen.
So let me ask you this, have you ever tried?
Have you ever tried to wake up really early in the morning,
just determined to read your Bible more so than you normally
would? You know, 4:30 AM, you get up,
get your word, you're determined, and then 5 minutes
later you're either fall fallen asleep again or a notification
on your phone comes up and all of a sudden instead of reading
God's word, you're scrolling Instagram.
Is it just me or has that happened to anybody?
You're going to leave me alone up here to just be fragile like
this in front of you. Maybe you're trying to be really
patient with someone at work or at school or at university, you
know, somebody that's really quite annoying and you know,
you've got to show them Christ. You know, you've got to be a
believer and a Christian in, you know, to show them the Lord.
Yet by 10:00, you just can't do it anymore.
They're too annoying. And you let RIP you just you
just go. You know, I'm going to tell you
what I think or perhaps like myself and I've got other, you
know, I can relate to all of these, but this is one in
particular that I struggle with. I'll say to myself, I am not
going to get angry at my kids today.
I'm not going to do it. And I try with all of the
strength that I can muster up. Yet by the end of the day, you
know, I've ended up yelling way lighter than they yelled.
And you just fail. You feel like you're a failure.
And by the end of these days, when we try and try and try, you
can end up just being just spent, exhausted, spiritually
frustrated, maybe even feeling a little bit defeated.
And you wonder, like me, like if I'm saved, why is it that I feel
powerless? Why is it that I fail?
Why is it that I'm feel defeated?
Well, tonight we're going to learn through this passage,
Romans chapter 8, that it's like trying to run a marathon, which
I've never done before. Just letting you know, Noah's
done it. Noah's done a marathon.
I'll take my hat off to him. But maybe some of you have.
Imagine running a marathon with your running shoes tied
together, right? A noble, noble intention, but
terrible execution. And that's what it can be like.
And you know, this feeling of just being defeated every time
we try and we try and we try to live the way God needs us to
live, to live as believers, as Christians, we try, yet we fail
and we defeated. But we're not alone.
In fact, this struggle, this frustration is exactly what the
apostle Paul was wrestling with in the previous chapter, Romans
Chapter 7 and verse 19 of Romans Chapter 7.
He writes this. He writes the good I want to do.
I don't do the evil I want to do.
That's what I keep on doing. It's so profound, The good that
I want to do, I don't do it. I really want to, but I don't
yet. The evil that I know I'm not to
do, that's what I do. Does that sound familiar?
Certainly does in my life. Like you and I, Paul the
apostle, he knew that this Christian life, it's not some
walk in the park, not at all. In fact, sometimes it it feels
like climbing Mount Everest with a pair of thongs on.
Very, very difficult, frustrating.
And again, that's why he writes the good I want to do.
I don't do it and the evil I don't want to do.
That's what I keep on doing. And he's frustrated.
In fact, in Chapter 7 verse 24, finally he cries out and he
says, oh wretched man that I am, wretched man that I am who will
deliver me from this body of death.
But from Chapter 7 comes chapter 8.
And like or not like Romans chapter 8, I should say Romans
chapter 8 is picture it like this.
It's like a beautiful, much awaited sunrise after just a
tumultuous dark, dark night. You know, Romans 7 to 8 is a
turning point from frustration to freedom, from defeat to
victory, from religion to relationship.
And what makes all the difference?
What makes all the difference? The Holy Spirit.
The Holy Spirit makes all the difference.
So you've got to understand that Romans Chapter 7, and I'm
referencing it a little bit here and we've looked at a couple of
verses, but please, if you have some time, I implore you go home
and and read Chapter 7 if you don't already know what I'm
talking about and it'll fit a bit more, a bit better.
The puzzle will fit. But Romans Chapter 7 barely even
mentions the Holy Spirit is my point, right?
But then in Romans chapter 8, there's over 20 references to
the Spirit, to the Holy Spirit. So from no Holy Spirit to many,
many references of the Holy Spirit brothers and sisters,
Romans chapter 8, Romans chapter 8 is the key to understanding
what a Holy Spirit LED Holy Spirit empowered life looks
like. It's the key to that.
And it's and it shows why we, we so desperately need that power
today. You know, the late Pastor Chuck
Smith, he once said it perfectly.
He said this, he says the Christian life isn't hard, it's
impossible. The Christian life's not hard,
it's impossible. That's why God gave us the Holy
Spirit. The Christian life's not hard,
it is impossible. That's why God thank God, gave
us the Holy Spirit. So tonight in chapter 8, verses
1 to 17, we're just going to look at 4 things.
And these are four ways that the Holy Spirit changes everything
in the life of a believer, absolutely everything in the
life of the believer. So the first point in verse 1 to
4 is that the Holy Spirit sets us free.
The Holy Spirit sets us free. Let's have a read of verse one
to four. And I'm reading from the the New
King James Version if you want to follow along.
And Paul says there is therefore now no condemnation to those who
are in Christ, who do not walk according to the flesh, but
according to the Spirit, For the law of the Spirit of life, verse
2, in Christ Jesus has made me free from the law of sin and
death. Verse 3.
For what the law could not do, in that it was weak through the
flesh, God did by sending his own Son in the likeness of
sinful flesh on account of sin. He condemned sin in the flesh,
verse four, that the righteous requirement of the law might be
fulfilled in US who do not walk according to the flesh, but
according to the Spirit. So straight up in verse 1, he
says now there's therefore now no condemnation for those who in
Christ Jesus. Amen to that.
What a way to start the chapter. Let that soak in.
There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are
in Christ Jesus. He doesn't say less
condemnation. That'd even be good.
He doesn't say that though. He doesn't say not someday there
will be no condemnation. No, he says now, therefore now
there is no condemnation. That means if you're a believer,
then it's the reference here is you're in Christ and you're not
under God's judgement anymore. Amen to that man, that's so good
means that you're in if you're in Christ, if you're a believer,
you're not under God's judgement anymore.
It means that your guilt as a believer, your guilt and your
sin has been nailed to the cross and the legal verdict for your
and my sin if we are believers tonight is not guilty, not
guilty. Why?
Verse 2 tells us it says for the law of the Spirit of life in
Christ Jesus has made me free from the law of sin and death.
Let me explain that. So the spirit of life as a
believer has set us free how? By Christ's work on the cross.
But now the Holy Spirit applies that finished work of Christ on
the cross to our lives every day.
Did you see that? In other words, Jesus won the
victory of the sin and death on the cross.
That was the decisive moment. The war was won.
But the Holy Spirit now is the one who moves into our hearts as
believers and helps us walk in that victory every single day.
Thank you, Holy Spirit. Thank you, Holy Spirit.
That's so good. And what I'm not just saying,
you know how the Tilly evangelists will say, oh, thank
you, Holy Spirit, you know, like, like the Holy Spirit's
there talking to them about certain things all the time.
It can happen. But I've seen so many bad
examples of it in my life, man, on the topic of the Holy Spirit.
And that's partly why we've, we've done this series.
There's so much misinformation, so much abuse of the Holy
Spirit. That's all we need to focus on
what the word says alone, not on what man says or some
televangelist. Anyway, that's a side thing.
I can talk for hours and now trust me, I grew up as a
Pentecostal which anyway park that right there.
Paul continues in verse 3 and verse 4 and he says for what the
law could not do in that it was weak through the flesh.
God did by sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh
on account of sin. He condemned sin in the flesh.
Verse four that the righteous requirement of the law might be
fulfilling us. We do not walk according to oh,
I've lost my spot. Do not walk according to the
flesh, but according to the Spirit.
According to the Spirit. So in these first opening 4
verses, we see that the Holy Spirit sets us free.
Amen to that. Free from condemnation, free
from the power of sin, free to walk now in the newness of life.
That's what the Holy Spirit's done.
So the question for you and I tonight is that are you walking
in that freedom? Are you walking in that freedom?
Ask yourself that. Be honest.
Are you walking in that freedom? Because if you're still walking
around way down by condemnation, by guilt, by shame, by fear,
listen, that is not from God. That's not from God.
That is a lie from the enemy. It's a lie from the enemy.
It's not from God. So let's move to the second
point in verse 5 to 8. The second point is the Spirit
renews our minds. The Holy Spirit renews our
minds. So verse 5 says, for those who
live according to the flesh set their minds on the things of the
flesh, but those who live according to the Spirit, the
things of the Spirit. Verse 6 For to be carnally and
that means fleshly, to be carnally minded is death, but to
be spiritually minded is life and peace.
Verse 7. Because the carnal mind is
enmity against God, for it's not subject to the law of God, nor
indeed can be. So then those who are in the
flesh cannot please God. Verse 8 So here what Paul does
is he contrasts two ways of living in these verses.
Did you see it? He's got the carnal or the flesh
versus the spirit, death versus life and peace, hostility or
enmity towards God versus harmony with God.
He contrasts these two ways of living.
And where's the battleground for these two ways of living?
The battleground is up here in our mind.
That's where the battleground is.
You see the mind is mentioned multiple times because where our
mind goes, our life follows where our mind goes, our life
follows. Proverbs 23 verse 7 says it
well. It says as a man thinks in his
heart, so is he. So where your mind goes your
life will follow. So therefore, if your mind, if
my mind is dominated by the carnal or the the fleshly, which
is sinful desires, you name them, worldly values, selfish
ambition. What does the Bible say that
leads to death? Not just physical death, but
perhaps you can relate spiritual dullness, emotional dryness,
moral compromise. But the good news, if your mind
is set on the Spirit, rooted in God's Word, renewed in worship,
centred on Christ, it leads to life and it leads to peace,
which is so good. So the Holy Spirit filled life
begins in the mind. We need to have a renewed mind.
Think of your life like a smartphone, right?
Obviously, Nah, just your life like a smartphone and you think
of the two main operating systems today.
I'm geeking out a little bit here.
I'm sorry, but try and follow me.
Two main operating systems. Obviously there's Apple iOS,
which is the master, the best one, and then you've got Google
Android. But these are the 2 main ones,
right? These operating systems control
how the phone works, how the phone responds, how it looks.
The operating system controls all of these things.
So in a similar way, as an illustration, you and I, we're
either running on the kernel or the Flesh operating system, or
the Spirit operating system. One crashes a lot, Android one
crashes a lot. The other runs smoothly.
The Flesh OS leads to frustration.
The Spirit operating system OS, that's what OS means, leads to
peace, leads to life. And you and I, we get to choose
which operating system our minds run on.
We get to choose that see the Holy Spirit gives us, gives you
and I as believers the power to reset our mind to with the same
sort of illustration, to uninstall all the lies that the
enemy has told you and he'll compete complete, complete.
He will continue. He will continue over and over
to whisper those lies. We can uninstall those lies and
reinstall, reinstall the truth of God's word.
Romans 12 verses 2. It says be transformed by the
renewing of your mind. So the question for us is.
What's dominating our thinking, our thought life, our minds?
What is dominating it? Ask yourself that.
What's dominating it? You know, for for young people,
often it's social media, man. It just dominates and consumes
you. For most of us, it's fear,
anxiety, bitterness. Or is it worship?
Is it prayer? Is it is it the Bible,
scripture? So what we need to do?
We need to submit or yield. The Bible says we need to submit
to the Holy Spirit and simply ask Him to help to guide us.
And don't just ask for external change.
Ask the Holy Spirit to retrain your mind.
He'll help you think differently.
He will. He promises to do that, and that
in turn will lead to living differently.
So this renewing of our mind is one of the greatest needs in the
Christian walk. It's not more willpower because
that's what we often think, isn't it?
More willpower? No, it's a renewed mind through
the power of the Holy Spirit. This is one of the greatest
needs as believers that we need in our lives.
Let's look at the next few verses from verse 9:00 to 11:00.
And it's the Third Point and it's that the Spirit, the Holy
Spirit dwells in US and gives life.
Let's read verse 9 to 11. Paul writes, he says, but you
are not in the flesh, but in the Spirit, if indeed the Spirit of
God dwells in you. Now if anyone does not have the
Spirit of Christ, he is not his. Verse 10 And if Christ is in
you, the body is dead because of sin, but the Spirit is life
because of righteousness. Verse 11 But 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 that dwells in you.
So good. So if you are a believer, and I
pray that you are tonight, if you're a believer, the Holy
Spirit dwells within you. Holy Spirit dwells within you.
That right there is an absolute foundational truth that we ought
to know and need to be reminded of as believers.
It's foundational. The Holy Spirit dwells in us.
The Holy Spirit dwells in me, the Holy Spirit dwells in you.
Remember that. Be reminded of that.
Be encouraged by that. And you and I, we're not
believers because we try hard to follow a list of rules.
That's not why we're believers. We are believers because God's
Spirit lives inside of us. Paul is clear.
He even says if you don't have the Spirit of Christ, you don't
belong to him. If you don't have the Spirit of
Christ, you don't belong to him. It's the Holy Spirit who is the
seal and the guarantee of your and my salvation as believers.
Amen. Verse 11 says, But 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 who dwells in you.
So what does it mean that the Spirit gives life?
What does it mean? See, even though our bodies are
subject to death, we have mortal bodies, sickness, ageing,
mortality. Even though that's the case, the
Spirit, the Holy Spirit gives life because of righteousness,
not our righteousness, but Christ's righteousness credited
to us. See in the beginning of the
verse there, the Spirit who raised Jesus from the dead, the
very power that conquered the grave says lives in US.
The Spirit, I'll read it. The Spirit of him who raised
Jesus from the dead dwells in you.
He who raised Christ from the dead, that Spirit dwells in you.
That's amazing. That is amazing.
The same power that brought Jesus back from the dead out of
the tomb is at work in your in my life right now.
That's amazing. Thank you Lord, the same power
that brought Jesus out of the tomb.
Resurrection power is at work in your in my life right now.
So are you aware of the Spirit living in you?
Are you aware of that? Do you lean on His power or do
you lean on your own strength? Do you ask the Holy Spirit to
fill you each and every day to awaken His power in your life?
You see, the Holy Spirit is not some passive guest in your life.
No, He is an active life giver and power giver and we need Him
so desperately. Amen.
The final point in verses 12 to 17, we see that empowered by the
Holy Spirit putting to death the deeds of the body.
So Paul writes in verse 12. Therefore, brethren, we are
debtors not to the flesh, to live according to the flesh.
For if you live verse 13, 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 as many as are led
by the Spirit of God. These are the sons of God and
daughters of God. I just added that because it's
true. Verse 15 for you did not receive
the spirit of bondage again to fear, but you received the
spirit of adoption and I love this of whom we cry out ABBA
Father. Verse 16, the spirit himself
bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God.
And if children, verse 17, then heirs, heirs of God and joint
heirs with Christ, if indeed we suffer with him, that we may
also be glorified together. So good.
This passage is amazing. So verse 12, Paul calls us
debtors, but notice we're not debtors to the flesh.
So yes, we owe something, but not to sin and not to
selfishness. See living by the flesh.
The Bible teaches us here, living by the flesh leads to
death. Romans 623 We know it.
The wages of sin is death. Living according to the flesh,
it's walking in rebellion, selfishness in sin, and it leads
to separation from God to death. But by the Holy Spirit we can
put to death those sinful deeds again, not by trying, grooding
our teeth, trying harder, no, but by yielding and submitting
to the Spirit's leading, Holy Spirit's leading and his power.
The Holy Spirit now indwells in US, empowers us to say no to sin
and to say yes to holiness. That's the power of the Holy
Spirit in our lives. Pastor Chuck, he often said that
the Christian life is a spirit fed, Spirit LED life.
The flesh wants to dominate, but the Spirit, the Holy Spirit
gives you the power to overcome this flesh.
It's not about willpower, it's about surrender to the Holy
Spirit. Verse 14 to 16, again, it says
for as many as are led by the Spirit of God, these are sons of
God and daughters of God. For you did not receive the
spirit of bondage again to fear, but you received the spirit of
adoption, by whom we cry out, ABBA, Father, the Spirit himself
bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God.
So here in these verses we see that being led by the Holy
Spirit is the key mark of a child of God.
It's the key marker of a child of God being led by the Holy
Spirit. The Holy Spirit guides our
decisions, guides our character, guides our relationships and we
no longer live as slaves to fear or or condemnation, but as
beloved children. And the Bible says crying out,
have a father. That's that's an intimate tender
cry to our loving father. We're children of God.
You know, the late John MacArthur on the adoption by the
Holy Spirit. He teaches that this adoption,
being able to call God our Father, being children of God,
this adoption is both a legal declaration and a spiritual
reality. He says we are fully accepted
and loved by God not because of what we do, but because what of
Christ has done. And the Spirit confirms this
truth in our hearts. I love that.
So are you yielding, which means submitting?
Are you submitting? Yielding to the Holy Spirit's
leading in your life, are you walking as a child of God, free
from fear, from condemnation? Do you know how much God loves
you? Do you know how much He backs
you, How much He cheers you on like any good Father would to
their children? Will you practise listening for
the Holy Spirit's promptings as you read His word, as you you
come to Him in prayer, Will you listen, practise listening for
his promptings? He will guide you away from sin
that leads to death and into life, into God's best.
You know, we've seen how essential the Holy Spirit in
this passage is in our lives. And it's not just some
theological idea. It's a living, powerful reality
that transforms us from the inside.
Art, We've seen tonight that the Holy Spirit sets us free from
sin and death in this passage that's so good.
We've seen that the Holy Spirit renews our minds, empowers us to
live holy lives. We've seen that the Holy Spirit
dwells within us and it gives us resurrection life and power.
Amazing. We've seen that the Holy Spirit
leads us as children of God, assuring us of adoption and
love. You see, the reminder for us
tonight is that we're not, we're not just to try harder, you
know, just try harder, group your teeth, knuckle down, try
harder. No, we're to daily yield and
submit to the Holy Spirit's power in our lives.
It's about walking in step with Him, trusting Him to lead,
trusting Him to guide, trusting Him to empower us and to change
us. And He wants to, and He will.
So will you ask yourself tonight, am I living a Holy
Spirit LED life? Am I living a Holy Spirit LED
life? Or am I relying on my own
strength? Am I relying on the Holy
Spirit's power? Am I open and sensitive to the
Holy Spirit's leading in my decisions, in my relationships,
in my daily walk? Again, Pastor Chuck Smith, he
told the story. It's great.
He says he goes. We had a fellow in our church.
I want to try and do his accent, but you know, we had a fellow
in. I can't do it.
It's so slow. It's so smooth, isn't it, Pastor
Chuck's voice? Anyway, we had a fellow in our
church who was a retired naval officer.
Through the years in the Navy, he had developed a real foul
tongue. His six months after he accepted
Christ here at Calvary Chapel, Pastor Chuck says he's mowing
the lawn, whistling a worship song.
Love, love, love, Christian, this is your call.
Just minding his business. Then he clipped a low branch and
went flying forward, hitting himself in the forehead.
He lay there on the ground, pain shooting in his head.
But then he jumped up, ran in the house and said to his wife,
Honey, guess what happened? She looked at the big Welt on
his head and said, What did happen, sweetheart?
He says, Oh no, not that I hit a tree, but I didn't cuss.
I love that. And she says, you know, I've not
heard you use a swear word in six months.
He says, haven't I? It was just one of those
moments. Pastor Chuck says he wasn't even
thinking about it until later. That's the Holy Spirit's work.
You're not even aware until days or weeks later.
And then all at once you realise the desire for sin is gone and
God has changed me. And Pastor Chuck goes on to say,
and I think that is why God lets us struggle.
He lets us see our weakness so we do not go around boasting.
He lets us get to the place of hopelessness and total inability
so that when he works, when he truly does transformation
through his Spirit, we know it's him.
Then we give him glory. That is the victory through
Jesus Christ. So here Pastor Chuck Smith
reminds us that true Christian victory isn't about momentary
strength that we muster up or willpower.
It's the invisible Holy Spirit wrought transformation that
becomes evident over time, and that's what Romans chapter 8 is
all about. South.
In closing, if you've never invited the Holy Spirit to take
control of your life or if you've drifted away from his
power, you know tonight or today is the day to say yes to the
Holy Spirit. Let's just pray a quick prayer.
If that's you, if that's you, pray this with me.
Holy Spirit, oh Holy Spirit, I need you.
I want you to lead me. I want you to empower me.
I want you to transform me. Will you fill me afresh?
Fill me anew today. Help me live a life that honours
you and and reflects Jesus. Thank you for your presence,
Holy Spirit, for your power and for your promises in Jesus name,
Amen. Now the Christian life is not
about self effort again, it's about Holy Spirit empowered
living. Verse 11 in Romans 8 here it
says, if the Spirit of him who raised Jesus from the dead
dwells in you, he will raise Christ Jesus from the dead will
also give life to mortal bodies through His Spirit who dwells in
you. Will you and I tonight take hold
of that? Will we walk in that power of
the Holy Spirit? Will we live by the Spirit?
Will we be transformed by the Spirit?
And will we be free? Amen.