The Holy Spirit’s Role In Changing Us

My name is Mario. I'm one of the pastors here. I'm glad that you're with us.

This morning we are continuing in our series, Change. This is now part three.

And so for those of you that are new around here, I guess I should review a

little bit before we just jump into part three.

So going back two weeks ago, in the first week of the series,

we said that there are three transformations in the Christian life. Do you remember that?

All right, one of them was called conversion, and the second one was called

spiritual growth, and then the third one was called glorification.

Okay, very good. So conversion is the change from non-Christian to Christian,

when someone comes into contact with the gospel and they believe in Jesus and

they trust in him as their Lord and Savior.

Spiritual growth is the transformation from baby Christian to mature Christian,

takes place typically over the course of many years.

And then glorification is the change from mortal to immortal,

when Jesus returns and makes us fit for eternity.

We said in the, I think in the first week and definitely last week,

we mentioned that this series focuses on the second of those three transformations.

This series is not primarily about conversion or about glorification.

It's a series on spiritual growth.

And we said back in the first week of this series that there are four ways that

we are changed in the spiritual growth process.

This is not something I got from the Bible. This is something I actually just

got from a book that I was reading. And I told you that at the time, right?

Wow, that was an intense sneeze.

Like record-breaking. That was amazing. In fact, you probably want me to stop

drawing attention to you right now, don't you?

But it's really hard, like this is really hard. Okay, so.

I'm sorry. She's in my small group. I think she'll forgive me for that.

So what was I saying? Oh, yeah, yeah. So I was reading this book.

I was reading this, but prior to like me getting blown away,

I was reading this book and the guy that wrote it was a pastor.

And he said that when he talks to people who like just became Christians, there's usually four.

He had this list of topics. There was four of them that were in it.

He said that he usually talks to them about different ways that people change.

And so the thing that he listed is that the things, the way that people are

changed in the spiritual growth process is God's word, the Holy Spirit,

ourselves, and other believers.

Okay. That was the list that he had. And so I read that and went,

whoa, that would be a good series.

That's what we're going to do. We're going to talk about how God's word,

like God's word's role in changing us, the Holy Spirit's role in changing us,

our role in changing us, and other believers' role in changing us.

So we said all that from the beginning.

Last week, we covered God's words role in changing us, which is the first on the list.

So today we move on to the second thing on the list, which is the Holy Spirit's role in changing us.

And I think it's good that we are talking about the Holy Spirit,

because I think the Holy Spirit is the least talked about member of the Trinity,

except in the churches where he is the most talked about member of the Trinity.

Have you been there? Have you been to one of them? Do you know what I'm talking

about? Yeah. So it seems like you hear almost nothing or like every sentence.

So what I wanted to do is, before we even talk a whole lot about the Holy Spirit's

role in changing us, I wanted to start off with a clip.

So they're going to play a video for you. This was from a few years ago.

It was on Family Feud. And I just want you to see what happened.

Chyna? Yes, sir. Carney did okay. She got 184.

Chyna, you need 16 points to win. I'm going to ask you the same five questions you can ask.

Okay. Holy Spirit, activate. Oh, no. Holy Spirit, activate. Holy Spirit, activate.

Activate. Activate. All right, let's go. Eleven years has never happened before.

Right. Exactly. Holy Spirit, activate. Holy Spirit. Activate. I said, okay.

Activate. Woo! Nice.

Come on, you can do this. Hallelujah. Next time you're down at the DMV, Holy Spirit.

So when I watched that clip, I tried to imagine, like, if I didn't know very

much about the Holy Spirit, what would I think based on that clip?

And so one of the things that came into my mind when I thought about how she

handled it, I wondered, like, if I didn't know anything about the Holy Spirit,

would I wonder if it was a name for, like, a body part?

Because I could imagine that, like, if somebody had a health problem and,

like, they had a bunch of sugar, they might be like, pancreas,

activate, activate, right?

Or if you, whatever, drinking alcohol, you might go, liver, you need to activate, activate.

Like you could be calling on something within yourself to do its job for you

to be able to get over this whatever thing that you're trying to do.

And I also thought about it and I realized what maybe another way that it could

be taken, and I think this would be the most common probably view of the Holy

Spirit, both outside of the church and inside, is that I would think maybe the

Holy Spirit was like an energy or a force,

that's like out there in the ether that you can tap into,

in order to win video game or game shows or whatever.

If you're having a rough day at the DMV, like you just, you can tap into this

power or this energy and you'll be able to get through it.

And so it dawned on me that we should start this sermon with some explanation

as to what or who the Holy Spirit is, okay?

If we've got that happening on national television, at some point we're going

to have to, what or who is the Holy Spirit before we even talk about change in our life?

So there are five passages that are going to come up on the screen.

And the reason it's going to be five is I want to take you to several different

Bible passages because there is not, like, there's not like a book in the Bible

that's like the book that, this is the book that explains the Holy Spirit.

The Holy Spirit is a character all throughout the Bible. And if we want to understand

what the Bible says about the Holy Spirit, we're going to have to look at all

different places where he is mentioned.

So we're not going to look at all of the places, but I'm going to start off

with five of them right now.

So the first one is Acts chapter one, verse 16. I'm just going to read the first part of the verse.

And there's quotes around it because if you had read the verse just before this

one, you would see that Peter is the one speaking.

Okay. The apostle Peter is talking to the other disciples and he says,

brothers, the scripture had to be fulfilled that the Holy Spirit through the

mouth of David spoke in advance.

And then the rest of the verse goes on. He describes the situation therein.

And then he quotes from Psalm 69 and he quotes from Psalm 109.

So what I want you to notice in this very first verse is as Peter's talking,

he believes that the Holy Spirit spoke through David, okay?

When? When the Psalms were written.

Because after he says, we gotta pay attention to what the Holy Spirit said through

David, and then he quotes from two of the Psalms.

So this is one of several times where the New Testament credits the Holy Spirit

as the author of the Old Testament.

All right, Acts chapter 13, verse two says this. As they were ministering to

Acts 13 · chapter mention

the Lord and fasting, the Holy Spirit said, set apart for me Barnabas and Saul

for the work I have called them to.

We covered this in our series on the life of Paul. There was a group of people

that were kind of doing a church service sort of thing.

And then the Holy Spirit showed up and it says the Holy Spirit said, okay?

And then what did he say? Now, what's interesting is it's not a Bible verse

that comes next. This is not the Holy Spirit said through the mouth of David.

This is not the Holy Spirit. Like this is not quoting the Old Testament.

The Holy Spirit is talking and saying something new that had not been said before.

Set apart for me Barnabas and Saul for the work I have called them to.

So Holy Spirit speaks through scriptures and the Holy Spirit speaks, right?

1 Corinthians 12, 11 says, but one in the same spirit is active in all these,

distributing to each one as he wills.

If you read the verses just before this verse, you'll see it's talking about the Holy Spirit.

And when it says one in the same spirit is active in all these,

okay, these is a pronoun, it's referring to the gifts of the spirit that had

just been listed in the verses before.

So the The Holy Spirit has these different gifts that Christians have,

different abilities that Christians have.

And so it says one in the same spirit is active in all these gifts,

distributing, meaning distributing the gifts, like the different things that

God gives people as abilities to do.

He distributes to each one as he, what's that word?

Wills, that's interesting. The Holy Spirit has a will.

Rather than just some vague force, he's saying, this verse is saying the Holy

Spirit gives out gifts as he desires, as he decides.

This person gets this one, this person gets this one.

Ephesians chapter four, verse 30 says, and don't grieve God's Holy Spirit who

sealed you for the day of redemption.

Can a force or an energy be grieved? Because the Holy Spirit can.

And then the last one is right in the middle of a story. It's Acts chapter 5

Acts 5:3

verses 3 and 4 and I'm not going to read you the whole story but I will point

out it was only like four or five weeks ago that I referenced this story in church.

Like I told the story in church of Ananias and Sapphira and how they lied about

the money that they donated to the church. It was fairly recently.

This is that story and it says, then Peter said, Ananias, why has Satan filled

your heart to lie to the Holy Spirit and keep back part of the proceeds from the field?

Wasn't it yours while you possessed it and after it was sold?

Wasn't it at your disposal?

Why is it that you planned this thing in your heart? You have not lied to men, but to God.

So I think this passage is interesting for a couple of reasons.

First of all, apparently the Holy Spirit can be lied to because that's who he

says Ananias was lying to. You're lying to the Holy Spirit.

So here's my question. Can you lie to a thing?

Or do you have to lie to a someone? Like if I were at my house and I were to

say some false things to a fence post or to the wind, would anyone say that that's a lie?

You'd say, well, no, that's not a lie because you didn't say it to anybody, right?

No, in order to lie, you have to lie to a someone. And Peter says that this

guy was lying to the, not like something like the wind or like solar power.

You lied to the Holy Spirit. He treats the Holy Spirit like he's a person.

And then by the end of the paragraph, notice he's accusing Ananias of lying

to the Holy Spirit at the beginning of the paragraph, and by the end he's accusing

him of lying to who? To God.

So in these verses, and there are lots more, but in just these five verses,

we see that the Holy Spirit speaks, the Holy Spirit desires and decides,

the Holy Spirit can be grieved, can be lied to.

In other words, he's not a what, but a who.

And he's not just a who, he is God. Peter seems to use the word Holy Spirit

and God as synonyms in this passage, as well as, as I already told you,

he credits the Holy Spirit as the author of the scripture and not just Peter,

this happens multiple times in the New Testament.

There are multiple authors in the New Testament that quote from the Old Testament

and say, sometimes they say, you know, they talk about God as the author of

the Old Testament, but sometimes they specify the Holy Spirit as the author of the Old Testament.

Peter does it, Paul does it, the author of Hebrews does it.

They will say the Holy Spirit said, and then they'll quote from Isaiah.

So this is all over the New Testament that the Holy Spirit is the author of

scripture, even though God is the author of scripture.

So the Holy Spirit is not an energy or a force like gravity or,

you know, whatever, like solar power.

Rather, he is the third member of the Trinity, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.

Now, the Trinity is interesting. There may be some of you that have a hard time

understanding the Trinity.

Maybe some of you understand it very well. Maybe some of you that don't understand

very well, you haven't heard a whole lot about it. Maybe some of you have heard

a whole lot about it and you don't understand it very well.

But the Trinity is this idea that God is one God in three persons,

the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit, the Son being the same thing as Jesus.

Historically, this is how Christianity has presented God. Three persons, one God.

And this is because the Bible presents him this way. And the word that is used

to describe this is Trinity.

The word Trinity is not from the Bible. It's a Latin term that they,

I guess, made up at some point to try to describe three and one.

Okay. And like tri is the prefix that means three, like tricycle.

And unity is a word that means one. So you've got tri and unity and they put

it together because they're trying to describe, but it's three, it's one.

And so they came up with a word for that. So there's the Father,

Son, and Holy Spirit. They are not one-third, one-third, one-third.

And when you add them all together, you get one.

They are one plus one plus one. And then you add them all together and just one God.

Which you might say, well, mathematically, that's not possible.

Yes, but apparently theologically it is because the Father is God and the Son

is God and the Holy Spirit is God and they're not each other.

But then when you combine them all, there's not three gods, there's one God.

Now you might go, well, that's hard to understand. Well, I agree.

However, I don't know that it's impossible to understand. it seems to me,

and I could be wrong about this, but I'm going to try to explain it.

It seems to me that at least some of us in this room have a category for like,

this is a thing, and this is a thing, and they're not each other.

But when you combine them, it's just one thing. Okay. And I'm going to use myself

as an example, because I think it applies to humanity.

There's something about, there's like at least a two-ness, if not a three-ness

about human beings that we seem to just accept and understand.

At least many of us do. So let me, let me explain it to you the way I see it.

I am my body, I am my mind, and I am my spirit, right? All of those are me.

But if you combine all of them, there's not three Marios, right?

There's just one Mario. But those things are not part of me.

They're not one-third of me. They are me.

Like, I'm standing in a room with you and you're looking at me right now.

And I don't think there's anybody in this room that thought like,

hey, look up there, one-third of Mario is on the stage, right?

I can't wait to hear what one-third of Mario has to say this morning.

Like, none of you You think you're looking at a part of me.

You're looking at me because I am my body. But here's what's weird.

If I were to die today and you were to have a funeral for me next week,

many of you in this room would say, Mario went to heaven, wouldn't you?

You wouldn't say one third of Mario went to heaven. You wouldn't say Mario's spirit went to heaven.

You'd say Mario went to heaven. And what's weird is you'd say that even if my

body were in a coffin right here.

Like the thing that you were calling Mario last week could be in the room and

you'd still say Mario went to heaven.

Isn't that weird? So are there two Marios? Nope, just one. Well,

then how does that work? I don't know, but somehow we kind of figure it out, don't we?

There's something about it that it seems like we can understand it.

There are some books that I wrote that are in that little, I don't know,

in the lobby, there's like shelves and there's some books that I wrote.

If you ever want any of them, you can have them for free.

But my name is on the cover because I'm the author, But I've never heard anyone

say, like, Mario's mind wrote this. This is the product of Mario's mind.

One third of Mario wrote this book. Like, we just recognize that I am my mind. We call my mind me.

Now, I realize there may be some of you here who go, well, no,

Mario. See, the thing you're calling your mind is your brain,

which is a part of your body.

So you're really not three things. You're two things, Mario.

Like, there's the physical you and there's the spiritual you.

Okay, I don't care how you categorize it. The principle is still there. Isn't there a me and a me?

And you combine them? Just one me? You following that?

So, maybe that's, I don't know if that's how God works or not.

I'm just saying, perhaps in a similar way, God is difficult to describe,

and nonetheless, he is three persons who are one God.

This is what Christians have maintained throughout history, because this is

how the Bible presents him.

The Father is God, the Son is God, the Holy Spirit is God, one God.

So, with all that understood, I wanted to read you a quote. This is from a pastor

in Philadelphia. Well, he was. He has gone on to be with the Lord,

but he was a pastor in Philadelphia.

His name's James Boyce. And in one of his books that he wrote before he died, he said this.

He wrote all of his books before he died.

Okay, so James Boyce says this. He says, the first point we must settle in our

minds in regard to the Holy Spirit is whether the Holy Spirit is a real person,

whose work it is to get a hold of us and use us or whether the Holy Spirit is

merely some vague power we are to get a hold of and to use for our benefit.

This is important as a mere matter of truth for either the Holy Spirit is a

real person or he is not, but it is also important on a practical level.

If we think of the Holy Spirit as a mysterious power, our thought will continually

be, how can I get more of the Holy Spirit?

If we think of the Holy Spirit as a person, our thought will be,

how can the Holy Spirit have more of me? Do you see the difference?

So let me go ahead and answer two questions about the Holy Spirit changing us.

As we've kind of defined, okay, who the Holy Spirit is, now we go back to our

series and go, okay, so through the spiritual growth process, we are changed.

How is it? What is the Holy Spirit's role in changing us? So I have two questions

that I wrote down I wanted to answer. First question is, what is his goal?

And the second question is, how does he change us?

What is the Holy Spirit's goal in our life, and how does he do what he does?

How does he change us? So as far as his goal, I want to go to Romans chapter 15, okay?

Romans 15 · chapter mention

If you have your Bible, go to Romans 15. We're going to be in there for a little

while. I'm going to start reading in verse 14.

This section is toward the end of the book of Romans. It's written by the apostle

Paul. And what's interesting is what I'm.

Like his mission in life, but not simply what he thinks his mission in life

is, though he does say that, like what God's mission for him is.

Like he believes like his life's purpose is the same thing as what like the

Holy Spirit or God's purpose for his life is.

So he's trying to describe, this is what I made, this is what like God made

me to do. This was the purpose. This is what I'm trying to accomplish.

So let me show you what he says, because he brings up the Holy Spirit and seems

to me to bring up the Holy Spirit's goal. So here we go.

Romans 15, starting in verse 14. My brothers, I myself am convinced about you

that you are also full of goodness, filled with all knowledge and able to instruct one another.

So he's saying to them, like, y'all are doing good spiritually.

Verse 15, nevertheless, I have written to remind you more boldly on some points

because of the grace given me by God, right?

So you're doing good, but there's some stuff I needed to tell you because God's

called me to say this stuff.

Now look at verse 16. So he says, because of the grace that's given to me by

God to be a minister of Christ Jesus to the Gentiles. So let me just pause right there.

You're like, what does that mean to be a minister of Christ Jesus to the Gentiles?

He is saying, God has given me a special role. This is what I'm supposed to

do. I need to be Jesus's minister to the Gentiles.

So what are Gentiles?

Gentiles are people who are not Jewish, okay? So it's like a lot,

it's like most people, okay?

So Gentiles are people who are not Jewish. Well, why in the world would God

call him to be a minister of Jesus Christ to the Gentiles? So this is important to understand.

This was a very big deal, especially at the time. At this point in history,

or actually just a little bit before this, there was a point in history where

every Christian in the whole world was Jewish. Did you know this?

All of them were, okay? There was just a few Christians, every single one of

them Jewish. Jesus was Jewish. You didn't know that. Jesus was Jewish.

His disciples were Jewish.

Their friends were Jewish. Their moms were Jewish. Their dads were Jewish.

Okay, all of them, all the early Christians were Jewish.

And then at some point, I mean, they understood Jesus is the Messiah,

who is the savior of Israel.

But then at some point they figured out, and Jesus said stuff like this,

So perhaps they should have figured it out earlier.

But at some point they figured out Jesus is not just the Messiah for Israel,

but is the Messiah for the whole world.

That he is the savior, but not just to save Israel as a nation.

He's the savior of all the people groups, all the different nations.

He is the Lord. He is the king, not just the king of Israel.

He is the king of the whole world.

And he has died on the cross to save all the people groups from their sins.

One of the first people to like really, really get that, because at first they

were like, I don't know, that couldn't be right, is it?

And one of the first people that like really, really got that is the guy who wrote Romans.

He was one of the first Christians that went, wait a minute,

he is the king, he is the savior, he's the Messiah for all the nations, all the people groups.

Well, in that case, we gotta go tell all the rest of the people.

And so he was one of the first people to do this and take this very seriously.

So he's going around as a minister of Christ Jesus to the Gentiles,

all of the people groups and all of the nations that don't know about Jesus yet.

So he says, the special grace has been given to me to be a minister of Christ

Jesus to the Gentiles, serving as a priest of God's good news,

right? I have this message, this good gospel message.

And so I'm serving as a priest of God's good news. My purpose is that the offering

of the Gentiles may be acceptable, sanctified by the who?

Holy Spirit. This is important. So this is what he's saying his mission is.

He's saying, my mission, the reason I'm going around telling all the Gentiles

about Jesus so that they will follow him.

The reason I'm doing it, my purpose, is I'm trying to be like a priest of God's

good news. I think this is a metaphor here.

He's saying, like a priest makes an offering in the Old Testament,

I am trying to make an offering to God of the Gentiles.

Like God, I want to present to you the Gentiles.

I went around and I rounded up a whole bunch of Gentiles and I present them

to you as an offering, God.

And he's saying, so as I present these Gentiles to the Lord,

I want them to be acceptable and sanctified by the Holy Spirit.

That's what I got to do. I got to make sure they are acceptable and sanctified by the Holy Spirit.

That word sanctified, we talked about two weeks ago as a word that means to

be set apart for holy use or to be set aside for a sacred purpose. Do you remember that?

So he's saying, I am trying to offer Gentiles who are people who've been set

apart by God for holy purposes.

That's why I'm spreading. That's why I'm telling the gospel.

That's why I'm telling all these

people to submit to Jesus as Lord and to trust in him as savior. here.

Therefore, I have reason to boast in Christ Jesus regarding what pertains to God.

For I would not dare say anything except what Christ has accomplished through

me to make the Gentiles. Now, this is interesting.

So earlier he said, my purpose is the Gentiles need to be acceptable and they

need to be sanctified by the Holy Spirit. Then he says, so that's what I'm doing.

Like what God has done through me is he has accomplished through me that I'm

making the Gentiles, now this is interesting, what does he say the second time?

He says to make the Gentiles obedient by word and deed.

Up here, he says, I'm trying to make sure that the Gentiles are acceptable,

sanctified by the Holy Spirit.

And the next time he goes around to say it, he says, what's being accomplished

through me is the Gentiles.

I'm making them obedient by word and deed. It seems to me that these are being

treated as synonyms. Do you see that?

So that's why I bring it up. What is the Holy Spirit's purpose?

He thought the Holy Spirit is setting apart a people for himself for sacred use.

And then later on, when he's talking about that same thing, he says,

there are these people and they need to be obedient.

And so if I'm understanding this correctly, it looks like what God wants,

and if this is true, it fits with the rest of scripture.

What God wants is not just a rescued people, but an obedient people.

God's idea of saving people isn't just that they would have intellectual knowledge

about him, but that they would be obedient to him as their Lord.

That's the sanctification that comes by the Holy Spirit.

Okay, well, then the second question is, how does he do it? How does the Holy Spirit change us?

So for this one, I'm going to show you three passages. They're all going to

come up on the screen in a minute, all at the same time.

And the reason they're all going to come up at the same time is because I think

all three of these passages pretty much make the same point, okay?

The same little two-word phrase

is found in every single one of these passages I'm going to read to you.

And I think this little two-word phrase gives away some differentiation between

the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit when we think about what is it that

the Holy Spirit does in our lives. So, let me show you these three verses.

So, first one is 1 Corinthians chapter 6, verses 19 through 20.

1 Corinthians 6:19–20

It says, don't you know that your body is a sanctuary of the Holy Spirit?

He's talking to Christians in this verse.

Don't you know that your body is a sanctuary of the Holy Spirit?

Who is, now what's the next two words? In you.

Where's the Holy Spirit? He says, she's talking to him. He says,

who is in you, whom you have from God?

You are not your own, for you were bought at a price. Therefore,

glorify God in your body.

So what is the goal here? Okay. What is it that the verse is trying to get you to do?

Well, it's to glorify God in your body, which I think matches with sanctified by the Holy Spirit.

It matches with obedient, right? This is the same thing. You're supposed to

honor God in the way that you use your life. Okay.

Now, what does the Holy Spirit do as you're supposed to be glorifying God in your body.

Indwelling is what the Holy Spirit is doing in this verse, right? He lives in us.

All right, let's look at Romans 8 verse 9. You, however, are not in the flesh,

Romans 8:9

but in the Spirit, since the Spirit of God lives, what's the next two words? In you.

But if anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ, he does not belong to him.

This is an interesting verse to me because it seems to me that the phrase Spirit

of God and Spirit of Christ are being used as synonyms.

And they're being used as synonyms for the Holy Spirit, right?

Do you see how like the whole Trinity's all hanging out in this one verse?

Okay, so we got the Spirit of God, which is the Spirit of Christ,

which is the Holy Spirit, right?

And he lives in you, right?

So the verse seems to say like, if you don't know Jesus, then you don't have

him living in you. But if you do know Jesus, then he lives in you.

If you belong to Christ, he lives in you. And then Philippians chapter two,

verses 12 through 13 is the final verse we're going to look at.

And it says, So then my dear friends, just as you have always obeyed,

not only in my presence, but now even more in my absence, work out your own

salvation with fear and trembling. Let me pause there just for a second.

Clearly, Paul, the guy who wrote this, believed that we have some role to play

in our Christian life, right?

Because he tells these people to work out your own salvation with fear and trembling.

There's something about the deliverance from sin that you have a role to do

in. In fact, you're not just, you have a role, it's serious.

You're supposed to take it serious with fear and trembling.

So we may very well get to this verse again next week when we talk about our

role in changing us, okay?

But for now, I will just point out we have a role in changing us,

but that's not the reason I picked this verse. Let's keep reading.

We have a role in it. Work out your own salvation with fear and trembling.

But then look at the next part.

For it is God who is working, what's the next two words?

In you, enabling you both to desire and to work out his good purpose.

You're supposed to do your part, why? Because God is in you doing his part.

He's in you enabling you to do your part, enabling you to desire what you're

supposed to desire and to work out his good purpose.

So if I'm supposed to, if I'm trying to answer the question,

how does God change us or how does the Holy Spirit change us?

I think I could answer it in one word.

Internally. How does the Holy Spirit change us internally? And I think this

is slightly different than what we learned last week, right?

Last week we learned God's words role in changing us. Remember that?

In some ways, I think we could say like the Bible is external to you,

right? You're you and the Bible's the Bible.

And so if we were gonna combine last week's sermon with this week's sermon,

we're saying, you are to be changed by the Bible externally.

You are also to be changed by the Holy Spirit internally.

Have you ever heard the phrase, they got a man on the inside?

Whenever I've watched like, I don't know, TV shows and movies,

there's a lot of times that this will come up where there's a group of people

and they're trying to infiltrate, you know, whatever it is, the Pentagon,

or they're trying to rob a bank or something. And they're like,

well, how will we ever get in there?

And then somebody says, oh, don't worry, we got a man on the inside. Have you heard this?

Well, if you belong to Jesus, you have a God on the inside,

so that transformation is not merely external obedience, but there is an internal

working so that you desire his good purpose. Woo-hoo!

That's worth that. You're right.

Without the internal desire, you'd be doomed. Do you realize that?

If you're like, well, I'll just do this on my own. Do you remember back when you did it on your own?

If you've come to Jesus, the reason you became to Jesus is because you realize

I am not good enough to fix this on my own, right?

How am I going to fix my problems? I'm the common denominator of all my problems.

Okay, so let me go back to the screen that we used last week,

or no, two weeks ago. Remember the drawing that I used the very first week of the series?

If we could have that drawing come back up. Remember how we talked about conversion,

spiritual growth, glorification?

I think sometimes Christians, I don't know where we get this from,

but I think sometimes we accidentally act as if like, okay, when conversion

happens, like that's because God like showed up and did something in my life.

And when glorification happens, that's when God shows up and he's like,

he does something in my life.

But then in between here, I'm kind of on my own, just sort of white knuckled,

grit teeth, try really hard to obey.

And I think the verses that we looked at today, particularly that verse in Philippians

chapter two, I think it makes it clear that not only did God do something here

and does God do something here, God is doing something all along the way.

Yes, God did something here. Yes, God did something here.

And God is in you. The Holy Spirit is in you every step of the way in between.

If you know God, you are not alone. He is working in you both to desire and

to work out his good purpose.

Let's pray.

Lord, we thank you. Some of us are at the point where we remember.

We remember when I go, yeah, I am not able to fix myself from what I got me into.

And I need you.

And some of us hardly understood you back then. And some of us did.

Some of us grew up in church.

And by the time we turned to you, we turned to a God who we actually knew quite

a bit about. So we're in different situations.

But for anybody in this room who has not come to that point yet,

I do pray that they would be converted, that they would trust in you today.

But for those of us who trust in you,

I pray that this knowledge that you are in us.

Would help us in our spiritual growth. I mean, obviously, when Paul said,

the Holy Spirit lives in you, therefore glorify God in your body.

He thought there was something important about knowing that you're in us that changes how we live.

And so I pray by the power of your spirit within us that you would change us

and we thank you for it. Like we, at least anybody who hears agree with me,

I guess they can say amen at the end if they agree with this.

We aren't able to do what you want us to do apart from you. And so we thank

you for enabling us to both desire and to work out your good purpose.

We thank you for that. We praise you for that.

In Jesus' name we pray, amen. Let me end with these good words from God's word.

I think I'll go with the passage from Philippians one more time.

So then my friends, just as you've always obeyed, not only in my presence,

but now even more in my absence, work out your own salvation with fear and trembling

for it is God who is working in you,

enabling you both to desire and to work out his good purpose. That is good news. Amen.