Romans 8: Our Champion (5- Spirit-Filled Living)

Good morning, so good to see you here this morning.

Thank you for coming in.

If this is your first time joining us or you're new to Real Life Church, we want to welcome you.

If you were wondering, what is it about this Real Life Church?

What are they about?

Maybe this is your first time here.

I'd like to tell you about that In its simplest form.

If we could sum it down to one word, it would be a name.

We are all about Jesus here.

To one word, it would be a name.

We are all about Jesus here and we love Jesus, but we're also all about people and we love it when those two things come together publicly, as you saw in baptism this morning.

But what we want you to know is that you can belong here before you believe.

We're thankful to be a part of any of your journeys and we all started somewhere.

So whether you're starting here or you're ending up here, we're thankful to be a part of that and we're thankful to have you this morning.

So if you wouldn't mind sometime during the service, if you haven't done it before, if you'll look in that worship guide and find that Connect card and give us a little bit of information about yourself.

We'd love to just get to know you Well.

My name is Brandon Gillum and I'm honored to be a part of the teaching team here at RLC and I'm honored to be with you this morning as we continue in our series that we've been going through of Romans 8 called the Champion.

And we're going to jump right into that this morning.

And if you remember the Champion Brandon's title for this series, pastor Brandon's title for this series, the Champion, fits so perfectly with this because every battle has a victor, every battle has a champion, and so we've named it the Champion.

Now, if my boys could have named this series, it would have been called the Goat Greatest of all time.

It's great, I love that, but Pastor Brandon's title fits perfectly.

Now the first seven chapters, just to review this with you.

The first seven chapters of Romans leading up to Romans 8 is the story of that battle.

The difference about this particular battle is that, like battles today, it wasn't one with a gun or a sword, but this battle was one with a spirit and it wasn't fought in a field and it didn't happen in the mountains or in the open sea.

This battle was fought on a hill, it was fought on a cross and then, like other wars, where the sides of a war can be skewed, can blur together between good and evil.

This side was quite clear and, unlike other wars where lives were taken though a life was taken in this, this one was freely given and unlike other wars where it's an attempt to save a country from treachery or treason, this battle was against something different.

This battle was against disease, the disease of human nature, sin.

This battle rewrote the pages of history forever.

This battle rewrote the pages of history forever.

This is the predestined plan of the sovereign God set in motion against the sin of the world.

Predestined You're going to hear that word today.

Predestined.

This event we call history, but this event we call fact.

This event is the gospel and the book of Romans is Paul's account of that history, and Romans 8 is widely considered the apex of Paul's theological teaching, his writings in Scripture.

And if I could sum up Romans 8, what Paul was saying, it's all about life in the Spirit, or maybe you've heard it said, a Spirit-filled life, what it's like to live that, and that's what we've been walking through in this series, the Champion.

Now, if I were to give this particular message a title today, it would be that there is freedom in the Spirit.

There's freedom in the Spirit.

If you got your Bibles with you, you can be opening those to Romans 8.

We're going to be going through verses 26 through 30 today.

I felt it best that we take a look at these in two different sections, so we're going to break it apart.

It's going to be verses 26 and 27 first, and in those I want to talk to you a little bit about the Holy Spirit.

What does the Holy Spirit look like?

What does it mean?

What is it to us?

What part does it play?

That's an important part.

And then we're going to move on to verses 28 and 30, where we're going to fasten that link together, the link of the Holy Spirit and God's divine plan, god's plan for purpose in this life.

So I want to read these verses together.

Then we're going to break them down in those two sections, then we'll bring them back together, okay?

So Romans 8, starting in verse 26, says this in the same way, the spirit helps us in our weakness.

We don't know what we should pray, or some versions may say we don't know what God wants us to pray for.

But it says, but the spirit himself intercedes for us with groanings that cannot be expressed in words, intercedes for us with groanings that cannot be expressed in words.

And he who searches all hearts knows the mind of the Spirit, because the Spirit intercedes for the saints in accordance with God's will.

Moving on to verse 28, it says and we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love Him, those who have been called according to his purpose, for those God foreknew and he also predestined to be conformed to the likeness of his son, that he might be the firstborn among many brothers.

And those he predestined he also called, and those he called he also justified.

And those he justified he also justified, and those he justified he also glorified.

So again, let's separate these two sections first, and I want to look at them individually and then together.

So verse 26 and 27,.

They speak a lot about the Holy Spirit.

Now the Bible.

I just want to back up a little bit and throw some things out at you about the Spirit, and then we're going to come back to this.

So just hang with me.

Spirit is a word that we hear quite often in the Bible.

In many contexts it talks about many spirits, the Holy Spirit being one of those.

So, to better understand the word Spirit, I'd like for us to first talk about us.

I want to look at us as a creation of God.

When God created you, when he created us, he created us with three distinct parts, okay, and not one of these parts stands alone by itself, meaning all three parts have to be there for life.

All three parts are needed for life.

This is your spiritual anatomy, okay, spiritual anatomy, if you will.

When you were created, god gave you these three parts.

He gave you a body, he gave you a soul and he gave you spirit.

All three are needed for life.

Now you might hear some people say it's body, mind and spirit, and the mind and the soul can interchange a little bit.

But from a biblical perspective, this is your spiritual anatomy soul and spirit.

That what?

That's what makes you up to exist in the world.

You need all three.

You can have your body, but your body does not function without the other two.

When god made us, he created the body from the dust of the earth.

He formed you from creation itself, from the dust of the earth.

It says that in Genesis 2 when it says the Lord formed the man from the dust of the ground.

I love that.

But it also said that he foreknew you.

He knew you in the womb, even before he made you.

He gave you personality, he gave you emotions.

He knew you.

That's your soul.

So there's two parts of you already there.

But listen to this, do not miss this.

Please get this.

Genesis 2.7,.

The Lord formed the man from the dust of the ground and then he breathed into his nostrils the breath of life and the man became a living creature.

So two parts were there, two parts existed in creation, but it wasn't until Adam was given the breath of life that he became a living creature.

All three were needed.

In Greek, the word spirit is pneuma, pneuma.

It means breath.

It's where we get the word pneumonia or disease of the breath.

It is your life.

It is literally, literally the gift of life breathed into you from God, breathed into your spirit.

Job 33, 4 says it like this.

It says the spirit of God made me, but it was the breath of the almighty that gives me life.

Your very first breath was not in your lungs.

It was not in your lungs.

It was the breath of God, breathing the gift, gift of life into you, into your spirit, and that's exactly what separates us from animals?

We're the only creature God gave spirit.

It's our spiritual link to God.

Now, this is not the Holy Spirit.

I'm not talking about that yet.

We'll get to that in a minute, so I don't want to confuse you.

I'm not talking about the Holy Spirit, but your spirit, your breath of life from God, your connection.

It's why, before you even knew the Bible, before you even knew the gospel before, it's why people in the world that haven't heard the gospel or the Bible you hear them say they can still discern that there is something there protecting them, watching over them.

It's their moral rightness, it's your spirit and it's God calling out to you in that spirit.

It's why you have your moral compass.

It's why, when you're a little kid, you had some discernment of right and wrong already, before knowing it.

Some of us need a little more work, but you know, something is there.

It also says in Ecclesiastes 12, 7,.

The dust returns to the ground from which it came.

That's your body.

When you die, you will return to the dust, one way or the other.

But it also said your spirit.

The spirit returns to God.

Who gave it, who gave you your spirit?

It returns to him.

It is hidden.

It belongs to him.

So here's the visual makeup that I want you to see him.

So here's the visual makeup that I want you to see.

This is your body, this is your soul and this is your spirit.

Your body, this is your flesh, this is your vessel, the vessel that God gave you.

Your body interacts with the physical world, okay.

So your body, then, has worldly awareness.

It is aware of the things of this world.

Your soul, this is you, your consciousness.

What makes you you?

This is your mind, your emotions, your will.

The soul makes decisions, feels, emotions and reasons for you.

So the soul has self-awareness.

You have self-awareness of yourself.

Nobody knows you like you know you, except for God.

That's your soul, your self-awareness of yourself.

But the Spirit, the Spirit is your faith.

It is your faith, it is your worship, it's your moral consciousness.

Okay, the Spirit has God awareness.

The Spirit is your link to God.

The Spirit is the very deepest part of you and it is your capacity to relate to God.

In Proverbs 20 and 27, it says the spirit of the man is the lamp of the Lord searching all its innermost parts.

So let's go a little bit deeper here.

I can get excited about this.

I promise we're coming back to Romans 8.

Here we are, but I want to throw this stuff out to you.

You really have to understand this, to understand what the scripture is saying in Romans 8.

So here's the deal.

The soul okay, you and the spirit are closely connected.

They're closely connected, but neither one of those can control the other.

Okay, you don't control your spirit.

You can't morph your spirit in any way.

Your spirit is of God, it's from God, it belongs to God.

And you don't control God, though sometimes we like to think we do.

But you cannot.

It never works out for you.

But the Spirit also doesn't directly control the soul.

God, although he is sovereign over all things, and although he does have the ability if he wanted to, he could take any one of us in his hands and just clap and it would be lights out for you and though he has the ability to do that, he doesn't let the spirit do the soul's job.

Big hint here, that's free will.

God doesn't let the Spirit do the soul's job for you.

So what he did instead was he gave you a control center.

He gave you a control center where you can take in all of your desires and you can discern those.

So he gave you a desire center, a desire container, if you will.

He gave you a heart and your heart is the link between all three of these parts.

It is your desire center and every desire that you have is feeding into the heart.

It feeds to the heart from somewhere and then the heart then will feed it to your soul.

What is in your heart is what's in your soul.

What you fill your heart with will be your makeup.

It comes from everywhere to the heart and it goes to you so you can reason and then you can make a decision.

Now I said the heart is a storage container for desires.

Those desires can come from two things they either come from the body or they come from the spirit.

They either come from the flesh the world, satan or they come from the Spirit God, things of the Spirit.

Now you can, in the heart, store all the desires of the flesh, all of the desires of the body.

When the body wants something, it will fill the heart.

Until the heart pushes it to the soul to fulfill the desires of the body, because it is the body's job to do the will.

Until the heart pushes it to the soul To fulfill the desires of the body, because it is the body's job To do the will of the soul.

The body does whatever you tell it to, it always will.

And those desires of the flesh, those are things like lust and greed and money, and these big house ideas, ideas and immorality.

And if you continue to push those desires to the heart, you will continue making decisions of worldly, bodily desire.

Or the heart can store things of the spirit, spiritual things, things like peace, patience, kindness, joy, servitude, humbleness, courage, honor, moral rightness.

Those are things, among other things, things of the spirit, spiritual desires.

And as you begin to fill your desire center with these things, then the heart begins to change, the heart begins to soften and you begin to become aware of more of the things around you and you begin to become aware of the way that the flesh is taking a toll on the soul and you begin to think to yourself man, maybe, just maybe, there is another way to live this life.

There is.

This scenario has two outcomes.

Two outcomes One of the roads is broad.

One of the roads is wide and many people take that road, but that road leads to destruction of your soul, the destruction of you.

The other road is narrow and the Bible says that there are few that find it.

But this road is the road to spiritual maturity, to spiritual peace, to spiritual fulfillment, to purpose, to righteousness.

So here are the only two outcomes Either you continue to fill your heart with more and more worldly desires so you can chase after lust and greed and immorality, and eventually the heart becomes sick and it becomes deadened to the point that the bible talks about in jeremiah 17 9, when it says the heart is deceitful.

Above all things, it is desperately sick.

Who could understand it?

Now?

I told you before that you can't control the spirit, that the soul doesn't control the spirit.

It's God's and it returns to God's.

And the spirit gives you life.

And the Bible tells us that nothing can separate you from the love of God.

That will never be cut off.

But you can cloud the heart.

But you can cloud the heart.

You can cloud the heart because you feed it all the wrong desires, so much that you can become what we call spiritually dead.

And I promise you, many walk around this world this way.

It is the broad path and many take it.

Maybe you've seen this analogy before.

I have here with me today a glove.

A glove, it exists here just fine, in this world.

It's a glove and if I were to set it here on the table, it will exist at a glove without influence from anything else.

It will stay here.

It will stay here and exist as a glove without influence from anything else.

It will stay here.

It will stay here and exist as a glove until its natural decay, when it just falls apart.

This is the glove with emptiness, without purpose.

But when you put a hand in the glove, all of the sudden the hand gives the glove purpose.

It can be used for many different things to accomplish many different tasks.

Our spirits are the gloves.

Without God, your spirit will exist here.

You will exist here, you will live and you can do it and make that decision without God.

And you will exist here in this world, in all of its bleakness, until your natural decay, without any purpose at all, always wondering what am I supposed to do?

But God's hope for us is that we will desire Him more than the world, that we will fill our hearts with desires of the Spirit over the desires of the world.

That's the Holy Spirit.

The Holy Spirit is the hand of God in the glove that gives you purpose.

So now that we've discussed Spirit, let's touch on the Holy Spirit.

I mentioned before that there are three parts of us and that none can be separated.

None can do the job of the other.

There is one exception to that rule, one exception that I want to tell you about.

Should you decide that the soul the soul can then freely give up control but it has to be freely given.

It cannot be taken by the Spirit.

It has to be freely given up Then the Spirit is free to assist the soul in what the body should do.

The soul that's you can freely give control to God, and that's where the Holy Spirit comes in.

The soul takes on the new identity and the Spirit is now transformed.

The Bible says that you are given a new heart, and this is called giving your life to Christ, deciding that the ways of the Spirit are better than the ways of the world.

It's putting God's hand in your glove, it's giving you purpose.

This is the life that Paul is talking about in Romans 8.

The life in the Spirit, when God's purpose is on you, when the Holy Spirit is the hand in the glove.

So I want to read to you a verse again.

Let's get a little bit deeper into Romans 8, verses 26 and 27.

Romans 8:26

But before we do that, I want to take you back a couple weeks.

Now that we've talked about Spirit this is an important verse and now that we've talked about spirit and we sort of understand it a little bit, I want us to go back now and read Romans 8, 16 that we read a couple of weeks ago.

It says this the Spirit Himself, the Holy Spirit, the Spirit Himself bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God.

When you make that decision, the Holy Spirit bears witness with your spirit, it testifies for you, it testifies to your spirit that you have.

You are a child of God.

Remember the Holy Spirit, god's hand in the glove.

So let's read again verse 26.

It says In the same way.

So he's referring back Paul's referring back to the other passages.

In the same way, the Spirit helps us in our weakness.

Thank goodness I have many.

We don't know what we should pray for, but the Spirit intercedes for us with groanings that cannot be expressed in words.

Now, if you've read any relationship book at all, if you are a married person or you've ever had a therapy session or a counseling session or read any type of self-help book.

You know there is one important key to a relationship.

Everybody knows it the key to a strong relationship is communication.

We have read them All right.

I love that.

So let me give you an example here of clear communication.

When I am working around a project on the house and I need help for my wife let's say I need a screwdriver I know telling my wife I need a screwdriver is not clear communication.

That leaves questions, that leaves things unanswered.

There are many different types of screwdrivers.

I also know that telling my wife I need a Phillips head or a flathead screwdriver, that is not clear communication.

That is on me.

I know that that still leaves questions for my wife.

Clear communication for Lydia when I need a screwdriver is whether or not I need the plus sign screwdriver or the minus sign screwdriver.

That is clear communication and you laugh at it.

But now you're thinking boy, that really does.

That makes a lot of sense.

That is clear.

That answers all the questions.

She needs to know I need the plus sign screwdriver this time.

That is clear communication when all questions are answered.

But here's what I'm getting at.

We have times, don't we, as Christians, where we have questions, have times, don't we, as Christians where we have questions, where communication with God may not be so clear.

We still have questions that we want to ask Him.

We still have things that we want to understand.

Maybe you're like me Sometimes you don't even know what you're trying to ask.

You don't even know what you need.

I've been there.

I just know I am not right.

I don't feel right, I don't feel close to you.

I don't know what I need, but I need something.

We all have those moments.

Maybe you're in the middle of sorrow, those moments.

Maybe you're in the middle of sorrow.

Maybe you're in the middle of a hurt so bad that only God can take it, but you're hurting, so bad that you can't even mutter words about it or you break down.

You don't know what to ask for.

What then when communication isn't clear?

What then when communication isn't clear?

It says the Holy Spirit intercedes for us in our weakness.

Those are our weaknesses.

It intercedes for us with groanings that cannot be expressed in words, and I love that verse because you know what I think of when I hear the words groanings.

He is crying out with the utmost importance.

The same comparison Paul uses in verse 22 from a couple weeks ago, where he talks about creation itself, is groaning out for redemption from the Lord.

And you know why I think he adds that part about groanings that cannot be expressed in words.

It's just my opinion, because the Spirit intercedes and cries out for you in languages of the heavens, languages you don't know what is happening to you, and your weakness is of the utmost importance to God and it's the clearest communication.

He uses the language of the heavens themselves, cries of worship to the Lord, god over you, his child Worship, in language that our minds are too simple to even comprehend, that we can't even grasp a hold of, that we don't even know that we need.

And the next verse, 27, simply tells you how that happens.

And it says and he who searches our hearts, the Father, knows the mind of the Spirit, because the Spirit intercedes for the saints that's you and I, the saved, the believers, and it's all in accordance with God's will.

Now, you will not get a clear grasp or a good understanding of this verse if you don't have a good understanding of the Trinity, the Trinity of God.

Now, I love to talk about the Trinity, I do, but I don't have enough time to be able to go into everything about the Trinity.

But here's what I will say.

Here's what I used to think of when I thought of the Trinity, when I was younger, before I didn't fully understand it, and I still don't think we'll fully understand it.

I don't think that we can grasp the vastness of that relationship.

We don't know exactly how all three interact, because our minds don't have the capacity to understand that type of love, that type of connection.

So here's what I've come to accept and here's what I want you to consider.

Accepting is that, though we don't know everything, god gives us what we need to know and that's enough.

So here's what I used to think of the Trinity.

I used to think there was God and God was Jesus and, for a lack of better terminology, when God was Jesus, it was God DBA, or doing business as Jesus.

That's what I used to think.

Jesus, that's what I used to think.

Or God doing business as the Holy Spirit, or God doing business as the Father.

That's what I used to think.

But the truth is that's not biblical, because that doing business as mindset leaves you to think that all three don't exist together, as mindset leaves you to think that all three don't exist together, and that's simply not true.

If you remember in the Bible when John the Baptist baptizes Jesus, all three were there.

All three were present.

The Father spoke from the heavens, the Son was there in baptism and the Holy Spirit descended like a dove over the sun.

All three were there, all three coexisted and that's the Trinity, all three persons together, one being.

There is no hierarchy.

They stand alone by themselves, also as fully God.

They stand alone by themselves also as fully God, fully God, but stand alone separately as God.

But they also stand as fully God separately, but also eternally.

And what I mean when I say eternally is they were there at the beginning.

The Spirit and the Son were not created by the father.

They were with God At creation.

That's why it says in John In the beginning was the word and the word was with God and the word was God.

He was with God in the beginning and in Genesis when God created the waters.

And in Genesis, when God created the waters and the Bible says that the earth was dark it says the spirit of God Hovered over the waters.

The spirit was there In the beginning.

The Holy Spirit was there.

And it also said God said let us make man in Our image, the three parts we made in the image of God are three parts making one person.

God is three persons, one God.

And I'm not saying that because I'm not comparing our creation to the Trinity.

That is also not biblical.

I'm just saying three parts and three parts made in the image of God.

Now, to help you understand this, I want to get real theological and real deep here.

So try and hold on, if you will.

This is going to be tough.

God is like the pretzel.

I know it's hard to get Three parts Three wholes.

None is like the pretzel.

I know it's hard to get Three parts Three wholes.

None is like the other.

Whole one is not like whole two, whole two is not like whole three, but they're all the same dough.

You see that Three parts the same being.

That's as deep as I want to get with you today on that, because I know we need to keep going.

But the reason I brought that up, that's as deep as I want to get with you today on that, because I know we need to keep going.

But the reason I brought that up.

So, when it says that he who searches all hearts knows the mind of the spirit, it literally means he knows it, he is it.

He is in the mind of the spirit.

He is there too.

The most rudimentary way that I could explain it to you in our minds is that if I were to think of a thought and you already know what I'm thinking, there is no delay.

When I think something, you know when you think something, I know when you say something, I've already thought it.

Each knows each other's thoughts and will, and they never disagree.

They are always in accordance with the will of God, and that's also why it's very clear that every single letter in the Bible is fact, is fact.

There are no mistakes, even when we clearly don't understand it.

If you think there is a misinterpretation of the Bible, I would strongly encourage you to lean toward that.

You simply don't understand the full capacity of God.

He does not make mistakes.

Now let's get into the next part of this.

I love.

I love these next parts too.

Verse 28, it says that we know all things and we know okay.

So fact.

Paul is saying fact.

We know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, that in all things God works for the good of those who love Him, who have been called according to His purpose.

We know that in all things, god works for the good of those that love Him.

I love this verse, awesome verse, comforting verse.

They put it on coffee cups and bumper stickers and t-shirts.

It's that good of a verse.

It says we know fact that God works all things for good.

So here is three things that this verse is saying.

Three things it does say God is sovereign over all things, all things, that is, suffering, injustice, evil, loss, your hurts.

It is also saying that God is always actively working all things for good, but not just for good for His will.

And it also says that this promise is for good, but not just for good for His will.

And it also says that this promise is for believers, for your good, for those who love Him.

That is the promise.

Three things this verse does not say.

This verse says nothing about that.

God directly causes evil or sin.

We can misinterpret that sometimes and think that when we're hurting it's because God is putting that there.

God does not directly cause evil or sin.

It also does not say that everything that happens is going to be a good thing.

There are bad things that happen.

And it also says that you will not, or doesn't say that you will always understand.

It doesn't promise us God is not promising us in this verse that we will fully see everything all the time, that we will fully understand His will, we will fully understand what's going on.

But here's what I'll say about that.

But here's what I'll say about that.

I think he gives us enough to know he is good in all things.

He gives us enough to establish a track record of His goodness, to know that he is working for us, that we are in the bad coming to the good, coming to his sovereignty, and that he is good in all things, when all things aren't always good.

This is the last part, verse 29 and 30.

It says for those god foreknew, it says and those he predestined he also called.

And those he called he also justified.

And those he justified he also glorified.

There's a big theological controversy, if you will, that goes on in the Christian community about predestination and free will and how they could exist at the same time.

How can you be have predestination but then also be free To make your own choices?

I can't answer all the questions on that for you.

I feel like big, controversial Biblical things like that Are best left to lead pastors and associate pastors.

So if you have any questions about that, please direct your questions to Pastor Brandon or Pastor Chris.

I don't have all the answers for you, so let me tell you what I personally believe.

This is me, brandon.

This is what I believe.

Personally believe.

This is me, brandon.

This is what I believe.

I believe in my heart, without a doubt, that both do exist, that they can, that there can be a predestined plan and you have the free will to choose it or not, to choose it.

And saying that it can't, you're limiting the God of creation, who created all things, who breathed the breath of life into you.

They absolutely both can exist and you have to accept that.

Maybe you just don't understand it I don't Sometimes.

Here's what I'll say when you read this verse, listen, please listen.

It says For those God foreknew.

He knew you, he made you.

He knew you even before he made you.

He foreknew you, he formed you in the womb.

He knew beforehand and the ones he foreknew he also predestined.

He predestined for you a way out, a safe home, a freedom, a plan to save you.

He predestined that for you before the start of the world.

He knew this would happen.

He knew that we would do this, that we, we would mess it up.

He predestined a way out for you out of love and grace.

He predestined for you a way when he breathed life in your spirit, he gave you that spirit.

And why did he do that?

This gets overlooked so often and I think it's key.

It's key to this argument that you might, might, not guaranteed that you might be conformed to the image of Christ, that he might be the first among many brothers, meaning your choice, your free will.

God is not exerting forcefully himself on you.

He loves you.

He calls to you through the spirit, but he will never take you.

He loves you, he calls to you through the spirit, but he will never take you.

You have to freely give that.

And with the spirit he gave you, he calls for reformation and if you accept, he justifies you, justifies, justifies your creation, your existence.

He washes you clean with the blood of Christ, cleanses you, the Bible says, gives you a new heart.

Your receipt of sin says paid in full, your debt is paid.

He takes that from you, justified, and for those he justified, he also glorified.

That is the plan of salvation, that is the golden chain of events.

Salvation, that is the golden chain of events.

He made you, he predestined a way out for you.

He calls to you and if you accept, he justifies you.

And when he justifies you he takes that sin from you and then he glorifies you, gives you the Holy Spirit, a new gift, a purpose, an existence, the hand of God in an empty glove, with no existence, no purpose before.

The Bible says that we were dead to our sins, gives you purpose, and when it says that he glorifies you as in Christ, that last part is also predestined.

Predestined will happen.

What you've seen now, what you feel now with the Holy Spirit, paul says it's just a taste of the glory that's to come when we reunite, when Christ returns.

Jesus has already conquered death and in that you has already conquered death and in that you've already conquered death.

But Jesus has also already experienced death and you and I haven't experienced that yet.

That hasn't happened yet.

In 1 Thessalonians it says 1 Thessalonians 5, 23,.

It says Paul is praying, and when he prays he says Now may God, the God of peace himself, sanctify you completely, all parts of you.

And it goes on to say May your whole spirit, your soul and your body be kept clean and blameless at the coming of the Lord Jesus Christ.

May it be cleaned and new until Jesus returns.

And the Bible tells us that when we die, our bodies return to the dust of the earth, but our spirit returns to God, for it is his.

And then your soul waits for the coming of Christ, when you will be fully glorified and on a new earth with Christ.

That is the predestined plan of salvation and you have free will to choose it.

You can fill yourself with the ways of the world and you can continue in this existence, empty, without purpose, an empty glove, or what I would do if I were you.

Fill yourself with the things of the Spirit, the things that last, the things that are eternal, that don't decay away, that don't fade.

Fill your heart with those.

It is the narrow road.

Swim upstream for a little bit.

Everybody floating downstream.

We already know what they get to.

They're just floating along.

We know what's downstream.

Swim upstream, see where the waters meet, see where living water comes from, see the things that not many see at the start of the water.

Fill yourself with the things of the Spirit.

Give this life a purpose and God's predestined plan and plan.

2 Corinthians 3.17 says this Now the Lord God is the Spirit, and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom.

There is freedom in the Spirit.

We just have the free will to accept it.

Let's pray together this morning.