The Holy Spirit

Well, it is great to be here with you.

My name is Russ.

If I hadn't had a chance to meet you, I want to say welcome to Church at the Grove, and especially if maybe it's your first time with us, maybe second or third time.

Man, it is so good to be in God's presence.

It's so good to be in God's presence.

And so we need that because this world is harsh.

It's tough.

We live in a broken world.

You may have heard the story of the mother that she went into her son's bedroom.

She said, Hey son, it's time to get up.

Go to church.

And you know, dark in the room, she goes and throws open the curtain.

She said, The man, she said, son, it's going to it's a beautiful day.

The sun is shining.

He said, I don't want to go to church.

And she said, No, it's going to be a great day.

Let's get up and go to church.

I don't want to go to church.

She says, Why don't you want to go to church?

I don't like going to church.

People are mean to me.

People talk behind my back.

People are ugly.

And she said, son, you got to get up and go to church.

He says, why?

She said, because you're the pastor.

And I can say, thankfully, that is not the case at church at the grove.

But we live in a harsh world.

We live in a broken world.

My perspective, when I was growing up, I lived right around the corner from a church.

And I'm just going to be honest, I don't know that my perspective was accurate, but I thought those people were mean.

And they were judgmental.

I heard things said like that, and so I kind of bought into that.

And so growing up, a lot of times you would hear non-religious people speak of religious people as being condemning and judgmental and harsh.

But let me tell you the truth.

People are mean and they are ruthless and they are condemning.

And the world needs music.

We need music, right?

That's good.

And so and so we're we're diving into Romans chapter 8, and you might even think, why Romans chapter 8?

Romans 8 · chapter mention Romans 8 · chapter mention

You know, why not Romans chapter 1 or or Romans chapter 7 or Romans chapter 9?

Romans 1 · chapter mention Romans 7 · chapter mention Romans 9 · chapter mention

All uh the parts of Romans are important, but I believe that we could spend a few weeks, if not even more, uh looking at Romans 8, where God could speak to us in this season and maybe in your personal life.

Romans chapter 8 has been referred to as the skyscraper of scripture.

Romans 8 · chapter mention

Um this great 20th century Welsh preacher D.

Martin Lloyd Jones said this about Romans chapter 8.

Romans 8 · chapter mention

He said, It is one of the brightest gems of all.

Someone has said that in the whole of the scriptures, the brightest and most lustrous and flashing stone or collection of stones is this epistle to the Romans, and that of these, chapter 8, is the brightest gem in the cluster.

The most moving chapter in Romans is chapter 8.

Isaiah 8 · chapter mention

And so maybe God needs to speak to us out of Romans chapter 8.

Romans 8 · chapter mention

And the very first verse is so important because Paul says, therefore, there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus.

That's what he says.

Therefore, there is now no condemnation for those that are in Christ Jesus.

There's no condemning.

And so we need that verse one desperately in our lives because the world is tough, the world is broken, the world is condemning, and the world is ruthless.

People can be mean.

So you need to know there is no condemnation for those that are what?

In Christ.

And so you need to know that because listen, you're not going to always feel like you were in Christ.

You need to know you are in Christ, and as a result, there is no condemnation.

And so we need to look back at what Paul is talking about because the world is ruthless, the world is messed up, and we would ask the question what is wrong?

What is wrong with this world?

Have you ever just asked the question?

What is wrong with people?

But really, before we need to ask about other people, we might need to join with the apostle Paul and ask this question.

What is wrong with me?

What's wrong with me?

And so when Paul is saying, therefore, and given this great truth, there is now no condemnation for those that are in Christ Jesus, he's referring back to his struggle.

His struggle and how we need the hope.

And here's the big idea, here's the hope for today.

God's provision for God's people is God's spirit.

God's provision for God's people is God's Spirit.

Now, here's what Paul is thereforeing about.

Here's what the therefore is therefore.

He's saying Romans 7, 15, here's what he's saying.

And this is this is like this reads like a Dr.

Seuss book.

This is it's it's like a person with multiple personalities, it's which is really like you and I are made.

I mean, we're that's how who we are.

I mean, it's just our struggle in life.

He says in verse 15, in verse chapter 7, I don't really understand myself.

For I want to do what is right, but I don't do it.

Instead, I do what I hate.

But if I know that what I am doing is wrong, this shows that I agree that the law is good.

So I'm not the one doing wrong.

It is sin living in me that does it.

And I know that nothing good lives in me.

That is in my sinful nature.

I'm reading out of the New Living Translation.

My preferred study translation is the English Standard Version.

It's more word for word.

I like the New Living Translation because it's a reading level.

It's a little bit easier to read.

But I but here's where I struggle.

Because when you see sinful nature in the New Living Translation, the more accurate word is flesh.

So we're gonna be coming back to the word flesh.

When you see sinful nature, and when I read this, it's flesh.

And I'll explain that in a second.

He says, I know that nothing good lives in me, that is my sinful nature.

I want to do what is right, but I can't.

I want to do what is good, but I don't.

I don't want to do what is wrong, but I do it anyway.

But if I do what I don't want to do, I am not really the one doing wrong.

It is sin living in me that does it.

I have discovered this principle of life that when I want to do what is right, I inevitably do what is wrong.

I love God's law with all my heart.

And some of us can say that with Paul.

But there is another power within me that is at war with my mind.

This power makes me a slave to the sin that is still within me.

Oh, what a miserable person I am.

What's wrong with me?

Who will free me from this life that is dominated by sin and death?

Thank God.

The answer is in Jesus Christ, our Lord.

So you see how it is in my mind, I really want to obey God's law, but because of my sinful nature, my flesh, I am a slave to sin.

And so we can ask the question, what is wrong with me?

We need to ask that question, what is wrong with me?

Before we look at the world, before we think about how it's broken, before we think about the mean people, how people are condemning, how people are canceling, ask the question, what's wrong with me?

And so Jared's gonna throw me the beach ball here, and I'm gonna catch it.

Alright, good.

So, so I want you to picture this.

I remember when I was a kid, and we went to the beach for vacation, and I had a beach ball like this.

I was probably eight or nine years old.

I would play with this for hours in the pool.

For hours.

I mean the whole day.

I'd go to the beach for a little while and I would dig in the sand and play in the waves, and I'd come back to the pool, and I would just kind of lay over this beach ball.

And my in my mind, I could push this under the water and hold it.

That was just my whole objective for the whole day.

That was one of the best periods of my life.

It kept me busy.

I wasn't distracted.

You know I wasn't distracted?

Why I wasn't distracted at the beach?

Because I hadn't hit puberty yet.

I mean, I wasn't, there was nothing else I was interested in that caught my eye.

And so I'm the whole time I'm thinking I can, if I'm gonna hold this ball up under the water.

Now you and I know that it would it would be impossible if it is fully inflated.

It's impossible.

I can't do it.

And that's the picture of our attempt in life to be good in our own human strength.

And so Paul is talking about this struggle, and it's why we need to know verses 1 and 2 in Romans chapter 8, because we struggle.

Romans 8 · chapter mention

There's two traps, we as believers, those of us that are in Christ, we struggle with.

We struggle with the performance trap.

It's this idea if I can be good enough, I can have favor.

People would like me, God will be pleased with me.

And even after you put your faith in Christ, it's our default nature to go back to that performance trap.

If I can live good, I will continue to have God's blessing.

If I can suppress the bad.

I mean, it's just the it's just the idea, hey, I don't, I struggle.

I know something's wrong with me, I don't like what I see in me, my flesh, my sinful nature, but I'm gonna pretend.

It's what many of us do on Sunday mornings.

I mean, you get up and you're trying to get your young kids up and you're trying to get them dressed, and you have forgotten about salvation, you have forgotten about the goodness of God, you barely get them in the car, and you're driving on the way to the church building, one of them is saying to the other, he's looking at me, he's looking at me, and they've taken their sock off, and you're just frustrated, and you turn around and you say, Listen, if you don't get it together, you're gonna meet God before we get to church.

I mean, you know what I'm it is real, it's real, it's still real at my house.

You get out, and I'm telling you, there's nothing sanctified in you, but you get out of your car and you see somebody and you're like, oh, good morning, brother.

God bless you.

Good to see you at the house of the Lord today.

It's the pretending trap.

And Paul says this, when we and we feel it, right?

We feel it.

Wretched man that I am, who will deliver me from this body of death.

Thanks be to God through Jesus Christ our Lord.

So then I myself, so then I myself serve the law of God with my mind, but with my flesh I serve the law of sin.

And then he says, therefore, there is no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus.

You're in Christ.

And so the mistake we make, try harder, do better.

That's not the gospel, that is not the good news.

See, you don't need to walk around with the name tag that says condemned if you are in Christ.

Take the condemned off.

Take loser off.

You are now new.

So there is now no condemnation for those who belong to Christ Jesus.

Verse 2, and because you belong to Him, the power of the life-giving spirit has freed you from the power of sin that leads to death.

Hallelujah.

Right?

I mean, listen, that is what we get excited about.

You are forgiven.

You are free.

You are free from your past, you are free in the present, you are forgiven in the present, and you are forgiven and free in the future.

You are in Christ.

How do you know?

You don't know how I'm gonna live in the future.

Let me tell you something: that you didn't do one thing to earn your salvation.

And so don't think that we are big enough to perform well enough to earn it.

So you aren't big enough or bad enough to lose it.

It is his to give, and he is the one that sustains and keeps.

Amen.

This the gospel is absolutely ridiculous.

It is absurd to the natural mind that God would give us mercy.

And see, we get we need we we get we get mercy and grace mixed up.

Mercy.

Let me let me clarify.

Mercy is not receiving what you deserve.

What we deserve is eternal condemnation.

We deserve hell, we deserve separation from God.

And so mercy is not getting that when we put our faith in Jesus.

Grace is a whole nother thing.

Grace is when you are receiving something that you don't deserve.

I don't deserve new life.

I don't deserve heaven.

I don't deserve the hope and the security of living life without being condemned.

And I don't deserve the hope and the joy and the Holy Spirit that God gives me to overcome my weaknesses.

And so Paul is telling us, he's making sure that we get this idea that the law, the rules, they are they are not powerful enough to keep us from sinning, but they're also not powerful enough to give us eternal life.

They can't save us.

Rules can't save you.

It's a relationship with Jesus that saves you.

Now, it's a joke that I'm uh I there's no way I can get through all of this.

But we're gonna let me hit, we're gonna do the best we can.

So here's what Paul says in verses 3 through 5.

Romans 8, 3 through 5.

The law of Moses was unable to save us because of the weakness of our sinful nature.

When I say sinful nature, what does that really mean?

Flesh.

So God did what the law could not do.

When I say law, I'm talking about the law in its purest form is the Ten Commandments.

The law in other terms and other understandings is the first five books of the Old Testament, the Torah.

The law in its even greater understanding is all of the old covenant.

And so it's the rules that God has given for life.

And so God did what the law could not do.

He sent his own son in a body, like the bodies that we sinners have.

And in the body, God declared an end to sin's control over us by giving his son as a sacrifice for our sins.

He did this so that the just requirement of the law would be fully satisfied for us.

It's the gospel.

Who no longer follow our sinful nature.

When he says sinful nature, what does he mean?

But instead we follow the spirit.

Those who are dominated by the sinful nature, the flesh, think about sinful things.

But those who are controlled by the Holy Spirit think about things that please the Spirit.

That's what Paul is saying, your moral potential.

We think flesh, we think it's all bad.

No, flesh is your good, your ability to be good in your own power.

So a Pharisee can be in the flesh.

A religious person can be in the flesh.

A playboy or a sinner or a debauchery, somebody living in debauchery can be in the flesh.

But flesh is just meant, it's meant to be our moral potential.

It can be our desire to do good, and then our desire to do bad.

The difference between being in the flesh and being in Christ is this.

It's the Holy Spirit.

It's the Holy Spirit.

He says in verse 6, for to set the mind on the flesh is death, but to set the mind on the spirit is life and peace.

For the mind that is set on the flesh is hostile to God, for it does not submit to God's law.

Indeed, it cannot.

Those who are in the flesh cannot please God.

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.

Here's what he's saying: if you are in Christ, you have the Spirit.

The Spirit of God is in you.

And what God forgives me from, the Spirit is always working in such a way to set me completely free for what I have been forgiven from.

You see it.

Is the Spirit of God that lives in you that gives you victory over the flesh.

God has left us in this broken world with a flesh that has the potential to be a religious Pharisee and the potential to be an immoral sinner.

And so the Holy Spirit is the difference.

It's a supernatural work.

I've been in I've been in a couple of different settings or traditions, ecumenically speaking.

I came to Christ in a full-blown charismatic Pentecostal church.

And then I went to seminary in a Southern Baptist church.

So I am completely messed up.

But it in some circles of Baptist tradition, the Trinity is the Father, the Son, and the Holy Bible.

And we're scared of the Holy Spirit.

And I was in a church.

If I told you things that happened, you would understand why we're scared of the Holy Spirit.

Manipulation, fake manipulation, cheesy things, things that don't represent the Spirit of God.

But let me tell you why the Spirit of God is given to you.

The Spirit of God is given to you to form you into the character of Christ.

The Spirit of God is given to you to empower you to become what Jesus saved you from and for.

And so the Holy Spirit gives you the power to fulfill the purpose for which God has created you.

And that we have these misunderstandings.

We had these misunderstandings that when you become a Christian, you're going to just instantly have spiritual growth.

That's not what happens because you're still attached to your flesh.

You don't just instantly become like Jesus when you get saved.

You might change some, but that's a myth.

This misunderstanding of instant change.

It takes time to grow in the spirit.

It's more understood like a crock pot, but we live in a microwave world and we get frustrated because we don't change overnight.

Another misunderstanding is this idea that if the longer we're around, the more spiritual we're going to be.

That's not true.

It doesn't matter how old you are.

The myth of true spirituality is a product of time.

And just because you've been around for a long time and served in a church doesn't equate to spiritual maturity.

It just means you're old.

And then there's the solo misunderstanding.

And this one maybe is the one that's this the worst one because we live in a culture where the American church is in decline.

And one of the things that's killing the American church is this idea of American rugged individualism.

I can do it by myself.

And the Holy Spirit transcends all of this.

Think cooperation, not effort, investment, not achievement.

And Paul goes on, and he says in verse 10, and Christ lives within you.

So even though your body will die because of sin, the Spirit gives you life because you've been made right with God.

The Spirit of God who raised Jesus from the dead lives in you.

And just as God raised Christ Jesus from the dead, he will give life to your mortal bodies by the same Spirit living within you.

Therefore, dear brothers and sisters, you have no obligation to do what your sinful nature or your flesh urges you to do.

For if you live by its dictates, you will die.

But if through the power of the Spirit you put to death the deeds of your sinful nature, your flesh, you will live.

For all who are led by the Spirit of God are children of God.

If I am in Christ, why do I struggle and keep sinning?

You can have the Spirit of God in you and struggle with sin.

You can.

That is a reality.

As a matter of fact, if you don't struggle with sin, there is a greater danger.

If you have struggle and you fight against your flesh and your sinful nature, the Spirit of God in you is what is struggling against your flesh.

Thank you, God, that I struggle.

If you don't have any struggle and you sin and there's no conviction and there's no struggle, then you may not be in Christ.

And you need Jesus.

God's provision for God's people is God's spirit.

Romans 1 through 7, the word spirit is used five times.

Romans 9 through 16, the word spirit is used eight times.

In Romans chapter 8, the word spirit is used 21 times.

Romans 8 · chapter mention

And so maybe God is trying to tell us that the Holy Spirit is important in Romans chapter 8.

Romans 8 · chapter mention

It is the Spirit of God alive in man that makes the difference.

He says in verse 9, I'll read verse 9 again, but you are not controlled by your sinful nature, your flesh.

You are controlled by the Spirit if you have the Spirit of God living in you.

And remember that those who do not have the Spirit of Christ living in them do not belong to Him at all.

You have the Holy Spirit living in you.

And he's available to you.

And he will empower you.

He is all you need.

He is enough.

You don't need to be afraid of the Holy Spirit.

You need to lean into the Holy Spirit.

And so, Russ, I crazy things may happen.

Praise God.

In this world that is mean and ruthless, we need something that will stand out and set us apart.

And you know what it is?

It's the Holy Spirit.

You've got nothing to prove.

You don't have anybody to impress.

And if God could get us to that place, we'll be dangerous.

The question, the question is not, do I have the Holy Spirit?

The question we need to ask is, does the Holy Spirit have all of me?

Does the Holy Spirit have all of me?

And day to day, moment to moment, it is going to be a fight and it is going to be a struggle.

There is a tension that will never be resolved until we step into heaven.

Until Jesus comes back, or your life comes to an end, and your flesh will die.

You won't die.

You'll simply change locations.

But until then, there will be a tension that is unresolved.

There is a struggle that we will have.

And listen, I'm not an MMA fan.

I can't handle the blood.

But I do know this about it is that if you are in a hold or you are getting beat up, there is one thing that will demonstrate that you're ready to stop.

What is it?

Tap out.

And if I want to kill my flesh, I need to tap out and say, Holy Spirit, would you take over?

Would you come and would you work?

I'm gonna tell you, we don't have time, but if we had time, we would I would talk about some practical things that help us live, walk, listen, journey with the Holy Spirit, basically it's turning everything else off.

And realizing that God has given us the gift of his word.

And when I open this book, God opens his mouth.

And I have found in this struggle with the flesh and the spirit, whatever gets fed the most is what will surface and be evident.

Now we're gonna get we're gonna we're gonna get to this passage in a couple of weeks.

But I love this where Paul says, What who shall separate us from the love of Christ?

So tribulation or distress or persecution or famine or nakedness or danger or sword as it is written.

For your sake, we are being killed all day long.

We are regarded as sheep to be slaughtered.

No, in all these things, we are more than conquerors through him who loved us.

For I am sure that neither death nor life, nor angels or rulers, nor things present, nor things to come, nor powers, nor height or depth, nor anything else in all creation will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus, our Lord.

There is victory in Jesus.

There's a game going to be played this afternoon.

Two teams.

Two young coaches, I think the two youngest coaches that have ever fought the fought, have ever played or opposed each other in the Super Bowl.

Can you imagine the stress?

Sean McVay, who coaches the Rams, he's from Atlanta, went to Marist High School.

I imagine he's gonna walk out on the field and he's gonna ask this question have I prepared?

Have I coached well enough?

Is my team ready?

And he'll wonder.

He'll wonder, he'll know, I there's no way to know until we play the game.

But I wonder if we've got what it takes.

Now imagine if he knew.

If he knew, man, we're he knew the outcome before the game was played.

Man, we're gonna win.

There's no worry, there's no distress.

Man, he's a walk.

He walks out, man.

Bring it on.

Because I know we're gonna win.

Can I tell you that when you have the Holy Spirit and the victory that comes through Jesus Christ, you can live life with confidence.

Because I know who wins in the end.

And so he was going to ask you just to bow your heads.

Let's just ask the Lord to work, to speak.

Father, I pray that you would help those of us who are in Christ be aware fully of the Holy Spirit living inside of us.

And that, Father, in this fight, that it's this struggle and the flesh and the spirit, that, God, that we're simply called to yield.

We're called to tap out.

That you have already given us victory.

And you want to do so much in us and through us.

That God, you have so much in store.

God, as we live life, as we share our faith, as we work hard, as we provide for our families, as we raise our kids, that God, you have given us the power of the Holy Spirit.

God, may we be willing to simply press in, lean in, walk in, dwell in your spirit.

Father, I pray that you would give us discipline to shut things off where needed.

And for you to work in such a way that we would be dependent and stay filled with your Holy Spirit.

Some of you need Jesus this morning.

When I talked about the fact that there is not a struggle that spoke to you, and you need Jesus.

And Jesus said, You simply repent and believe.

Admit that you need him.

Believe and trust in what he did in his life and his death and his resurrection.

It's sufficient for your eternal salvation, and you confess him as your Lord.

Now, some of you are beaten up, and you're not walking in victory, your name tag says condemned, loser.

And you need to yank that off.

You need to pull that off.

And you need to dwell on the fact that Jesus came and died for you.

And if you have put your faith in him, you are in Christ.

And you have victory over your flesh.

And even though we will struggle in this life before we step into the next, that we struggle with confidence that we have victory.

You are forgiven.

You are free.

You are empowered.

You are in Christ.

So, Father, would you meet us and would you work?

Would you speak?

It's in Jesus' name we pray.

Amen.