The Greatest Chapter - Romans 8:11-15

This is ERC Sundays, the messages at Emmaus Rd.

Church in DeWitt, Iowa. ERC is a Church of people

striving to grow in Jesus and make him known to others through

our faith, words and actions. Find out more about our church

at emmausrdonline.org. Here's this week's message.

In our series on Romans 8, it's already already we've learned

and we've taken in so much to be honest, in week one, we learned

that because of sin, we are essentially prisoners of war and

that in order to be made free, we cannot do that so much

through willpower. We will fail far too often.

Instead, we need to have the gospel, the truth of Jesus

Christ, penetrate our hearts and our minds in such a way that we

can be free. And then last week, Pastor Matt,

he brought us from justification in Christ, meaning just as if

I'd never sinned. Cool idea, right?

Well, we go from justification. And he spoke about

sanctification and how the Holy Spirit in our lives is

sanctifying us through our whole lives.

And I'll probably never forget it.

I love what he said about it. He said because of the

sanctifying work of the Holy Spirit in our lives, man, we do

not have to fear our worst, nor do we have to hope in our best.

What an incredible truth that we have in the gospel and that's

amazing. And so this week, God's Word

draws us into what it looks like to live a spirit filled life.

Now, why does that matter? Why can't we just do things the

way that we kind of like to do them?

Well, let me give you an example of why it doesn't work.

Let's say for example, that you decide I'm going to go out and

I'm going to buy a brand new shiny car with all the bells and

whistles. And you know what new cars look

like? If you've seen them, they've got

these gigantic screens on them now and there aren't even real

buttons anymore. Everything is on a screen and

they just come with like the best GPS ever.

And So what happens is let's say you take this shiny new ride

with its world class GPS and you take it into unfamiliar

territory, but you do have a goal of getting somewhere.

Well, the GPS, it tells you turn right and you say, silly

computer, I have a better route. And then a little while down the

road, it says, take this exit. And all you can say to the

computer is you don't know me, you don't know what I'm doing.

And then finally, after you've made enough mistakes on your

own, it says rerouting, rerouting, rerouting over and

over again. It's like, I've heard it before,

right? And you say, come on, I'm doing

my own thing here. You can't tell me what to do.

Well, before you know it, you've doubled the time of your trip

and you might be wildly frustrated with the entire

experience. Now, the point I'm getting at

here is that God's Holy Spirit is this fantastic, this, this

amazing navigational tool that he gives us.

It is a tool to get us to move and to go in the right

direction. And when we listen to that

navigational tool known as the Holy Spirit, what happens is man

doesn't mean that life is perfect, but it sure does mean

that we find the right routes a lot quicker and the trip is far

less painful. And and it's just in a

significantly better way to move through this world.

And so here's the thing. I want us all, all of us, every

single person in this room, I want us to live full and free

lives. And that happens best when we

are living life with the Holy Spirit and when we are not being

led by our flesh and our most base desires.

All of a sudden, I can be led by somebody with real wisdom, real

wisdom, real heavenly wisdom. And so that's where we're going

to go today. And I'll tell you one more thing

that the Bible tells us, and this is kind of interesting to

me. The Bible tells us that those

base desires that we typically follow, those things need to

die. They have to die.

And that sounds awfully dramatic, but it's true.

And so let's figure out how this works.

Let's figure out how this movement of the Holy Spirit can

move us into better places, into an infinitely better life.

And so here's what that's going to look like today.

And we're going to see that first and foremost, the Spirit

kills rebellion. That's one of his jobs.

He kills that rebellion inside of us #2 we're going to see that

the Spirit creates courage in US, makes us new, makes us bold.

And finally, we're going to see that the Spirit invites us to

call the God of the universe Dad.

And that's an amazing thing, too.

So we're going to be reading from Romans chapter 8.

Romans 8 · chapter mention

So we're going to pick up at verse 11 and we're just reading

verse 11 through 1511. Is there for more of a context?

I'm not really teaching on that today, more so teaching through

12 through 15. So if you want to grab a Pew

Bible, you're welcome to do that.

That's on page 944. Or if you have your own Bible

you want to follow on the screen, open up the Bible app.

Any of those are good options. But Romans 811 through 15.

And we read this in Jesus name because it's his word.

If the Spirit of him who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in

you, he who raised Christ Jesus from the dead will also give

life to your mortal bodies through the Spirit who dwells in

you. So then brothers, we are debtors

not to the flesh, to live according to the flesh.

For if you live according to the flesh, you will die, but if you

live according to the Spirit, you will put to death the deeds

of the body, and you will live. For all who are led by the

Spirit of God are sons of God. For you did not receive the

spirit of slavery to fall back into fear, but you have received

the spirit of adoption as sons by whom we cry.

ABBA, Father Herein's the reading of God's Word.

May it be blessed forever and ever.

So to get us started, there's this interesting phrase that

that the Bible uses in it. And it's this phrase put to

death, put to death. And that's those are strong

words. And so I don't always do this

with you guys, but I thought it was interesting enough

definition that I wanted to share that verb with you and

what it actually means. Here's what it means.

It means to stop a state or activity with lethal

determination. I actually like that a lot.

It kind of sounds violent, but for some reason I'm drawn to it

with lethal determination right now.

The idea that the Bible get it is getting to here is that

unlike our willpower, which I fully know and I hope you know

it too, is typically a like a subduing resource that has

limited energy to it. That's not how the Holy Spirit

works at all. He has unlimited energy to fight

and essentially starve out those things which our base desires

are always tempting us to do. And so let me just maybe give

you an example of how that works, this starving out idea.

So during the Civil War, OK, during the Civil War, the Union,

they're marching South and it's at, it's coming at a significant

cost. Well, they come upon Vicksburg,

Ms. and what happens is they surround Vicksburg and instead

of going in and it costing the lives of more men on both sides,

what they do is they surround the whole place and they just

stop. They just wall off the entire

place. And so all of a sudden the

Confederate forces, they have no food coming in.

They have no resources coming in and they get weaker and weaker

as the weeks go by, and they're essentially being starved out of

the war. And it worked.

It worked. People didn't have to die.

It just worked to starve them out.

Abraham Lincoln actually said this was the key to the war, to

starve them out. And the point is just this.

When we are consistent in God's Word, when we are consistent in

prayer, when we are consistent in worship of Him, what we're

doing is we're drawing ourselves ever closer to the power of the

Holy Spirit. We're becoming more sensitive to

it through all those different means.

And what's happening is the Spirit is then moving inside of

us to starve out those base desires, to put them to shame,

to to make them lose their resource and their power.

And so man as that is being starved out not by our

willpower, but by the Holy Spirit in US.

It's amazing that those temptations which once seemed to

hold us and they seem to grab us by the throat, all of a sudden

those things get strangely quiet.

They grow dim. Now I have to tell you, it is so

cool when that happens. It is so cool when that happens.

And here's how I know that it's not because I went to seminary

or I read a lot of books. It's because I've lived it and

I've been living it with the Spirit of God.

As as I've poured into my relationship with God, as I've

made my relationship with the Lord a top priority in my life,

all of a sudden, man, these temptations, these things,

they've grown strangely dim in my life.

Here's a really cool thing. Years ago when I first became a

Christian in like my mid late 20s, I was struggling with some

of this stuff and Pastor Paul Lang who was here, I was talking

to him about it in this very building and he said, oh, Chris,

lean into your relationship with the Lord, Make it a priority and

God will change your desires. If I'm being really honest, I

thought he was a little crazy. I was like, I've been trying to

change me my whole life and it hasn't worked.

He's just going to magically do that.

Oh yes, Oh yes, he was absolutely right.

As I lean into my relationship with the Lord, man did he change

my desires? Man is he change what I want and

what I think is important. Now, having said all of that,

does that mean that I'm not a Sinner anymore?

If you don't know the answer to that question, then you just

need to talk to me for about 60 seconds and you'll figure it

out. You'll know, you'll know.

But what I'm telling you is that this experience of a heart

change, this experience of the Spirit changing my desires and

drawing me closer to Christ, it has absolutely changed my life.

It's changed my demeanor. It's changed how I think and how

I work and how I talk and how I move through this world.

And it has most certainly starved out most, if not all of

the things that were holding me captive.

Again, I don't say this as a guy who read books.

I say this as a guy who's lived it, and I continue to live it

every single week. It's amazing.

So that brings us to something really important, friends.

If you've been listening at all over the last several minutes

and you are struggling with the flesh, you're struggling with

these temptations that seem to keep on winning the war.

Gosh, you know what? It's not a knowledge problem.

It's not a knowledge problem at all because I've just told you

how it works. The Bible tells you how it

works. So what are you going to do

about it? Are you going to keep fighting

the same dumb fight and taking on casualties?

Or are you going to lean into your relationship with the Lord

and allow Him to start doing the heavy lifting?

Because He will through the Holy Spirit, He'll do it.

If you let him pursue that relationship with the Lord

through His Word and through prayer and through worship.

My goodness, friends, it will change you.

Now here's the thing, as it changes you, we learn and we

experience that the Holy Spirit, it doesn't just kill those base

desires, it also creates courage in US, creates real courage,

real boldness, right? It says that you did not receive

the spirit of slavery to fall back into fear.

I think it's really interesting. I learned something new

recently. CS Lewis often talked about this

thing called serval fear. Serval fear.

Do you know what that means? I didn't tell like a week ago,

so no problem. If you don't, it's fine.

Serval fear is the idea that we are so willing to bend our knee

and we're so willing to serve as if we were a slave who is scared

of what his master's going to do to him if he fails.

That's what serval fear is. And this text tells us and the

entire Bible tells us that that is not what our relationship

with Christ is supposed to look like.

That's not how we are supposed to address God is in that, you

know, meek, that meek fear of what's he going to do to me if I

mess up. Well, here's the thing, I like

debates. I enjoy that stuff.

So let's just say that's how you are in your Christian walk right

now. You are actively afraid of what

God is going to do with you when you mess up.

Well, I will tell you unequivocally that means a

number of things, but I don't have time to get into all of it.

So I'll just tell you the most important thing that means.

It means that you don't trust God if that's where you're

living right now. I'm telling you, you have a big

trust issue with God. Let me prove it.

When you sin, do you immediately think, Oh my goodness, God must

be so mad at me. He must be so disappointed with

me. I promised Him I wasn't going to

do this and I keep doing it over and over again.

I don't even want to pray. I don't even want to pray

because I'm too ashamed. I cannot go to him and repeat

the same things that I've been doing.

He won't take it. My goodness, friends, that's all

pointing to the fact that if that's you right now, when Jesus

said it is finished, that hasn't hit your heart yet, that has not

penetrated your mind and your heart in such a way that you

walk with confidence. Because when Jesus said is it is

finished, he means that he is not joking.

He gave his life for it to be finished, so that you don't have

to live in fear, so that you don't have to be afraid, so that

you can come to God with your open and honest confessions and

say, Lord, I did it again. But I know, I know because of

what Jesus Christ has done that you have made me clean.

You have washed me with the blood of Christ, and I am white

as snow. The Bible clearly states in

first John 418, there is No Fear in love, but perfect love.

It casts out fear, for fear has to do with punishment, and

whoever fears has not been perfected in love.

You see, Fear says I must obey or else.

Fear says I got to get this right or God's going to be so

mad at me. Fear says I don't, I can't go

back to him. I've I've broken my promise too

many times. He won't take me back.

Those are all fear statements. And here's the thing about fear,

man. Satan uses it and it will make

you compliant for a while until you've just been fed up and

you've had enough. Let me give you a fun example.

Let's say money is tight and so you know where the cop sits,

you've scouted them, you know where they sit.

And so man, you are, you are keeping that speed limit down

because you are afraid of having to pay that ticket.

But as soon as money is no longer an object, you're like

Zoom, zoom, here we go. I've done it.

It's no, it's not funny, but I think it is.

Sorry, can't help it. I've shared this story before

but I'll be brief about it. When I was a teenager, I went to

a youth convention. It wasn't with our denomination,

but man, I am sure that their entire goal was to just scare

the hell out of us the whole time showing these videos of

kids getting car crashes and going to hell.

And man was I afraid. Man, was I so afraid coming out

of that conference until I wasn't.

And it really didn't take that long.

And in fact, instead of being afraid, I became bitter and I

said I don't need that. I don't need that manipulation.

I don't need that junk in my life.

And I walked away. That's why the truth of the

gospel, it needs to penetrate our hearts and our minds and our

souls, because it is the assurance of God that creates

courage in all of us. We don't well that up inside of

ourselves as if we can do that. No, it is the Spirit of God

telling you you're a son, you're a daughter, that creates real

courage in us. It creates boldness and it

creates freedom because courage comes when you know you are

fully, fully accepted by God. And courage comes when we trust

the work and the character of God.

And courage comes when we reject Satan's lies.

And by the power of the Holy Spirit, we move into freedom and

joy, knowing that we are sons and daughters of the very King

of the universe. That will get you freedom.

That will move you forward in your life.

Oh my goodness, friends, I when you're no longer a slave to

fear, you become a child, a child of God.

And that is a remarkable thing because when you become a child

of God, you know what that means.

The Holy Spirit then invites you to call the God of the universe.

Dad. Long time ago, long time ago,

there was an occasion where I was first called Lissa's

husband. Wow, what a moment.

Truly the, the, the pride I felt of being her husband.

Amazing that that's never left me.

And then at some point in my younger life, the first time I

was called Mr. Hartley by a student, that was really cool.

I felt so accomplished. And then first time I was called

pastor by somebody. My goodness, friends, the weight

of responsibility. But none of that is the same.

None of that is the same. The first time I was is the

first time I was called Dad. First time I was called Dad, it

permanently shifted my heart. It has permanently shifted my

heart. It moved my heart.

And I knew in that moment, I knew in that moment of receiving

the the gift in the title of Dad that I would do anything.

I would spend the rest of my life doing anything and

everything it takes to love and care for my children.

Anything. Did you know your Heavenly

Father feels the exact same way about you?

Did you know that? Did you know that as the Holy

Spirit draws you closer to Him and you call on Him, that he has

that same reaction? It opens his heart, it moves him

into love. I I can only imagine if I feel

the way I feel about being called dad, man, our heavenly

Father when we call out to him in that way, it just moves his

heart. It's amazing.

It's amazing. Now I want to give you something

interesting about this. When Jesus calls God ABBA,

father, it was a it was a radical thing for him to do.

ABBA is an Aramaic word that is really interesting because think

about how a little kid talks Mama Dada ABBA.

It's just kind of usually gibberish with consonants and

vowels mixed in. And but man, the word ABBA, it

sounds just like that. It's very familial.

And so for Jesus to call God the God of the universe, ABBA, you

know what he's doing? He's saying, Dad, let me ask you

a question. Maybe you know the answer.

Do you know when Jesus called God ABBA?

Do you know when he did that? It was in the garden the night

before he was going to be crucified.

It was in the garden. And so he, he prays ABBA.

Dad, isn't there any other way? Is there any other way we can

get this done and save them? Dad said no.

Jesus's response, unlike us broken sinners, that we are

always seeking our own self preservation.

Jesus said, OK, all right, I will honor you, Father, I'll do

it for you. I'll do it for them.

And then the next day, Jesus tortured and beaten, is hung on

a cross, hung on a cross. And while he's hanging on the

cross, he says, my God, my God, why have you forsaken me?

In that moment, God's rejection of his own Son meant our

inclusion. In that moment, as God pushed

his Son away, he pulled us forward.

He pulled us into his loving embrace so that we can look at

God, we can look at the Creator of the heavens and universe, and

we can say Dad. And instead of rejection, he

just pulls us in tighter. That's the gospel.

That is the good news for every single person who puts their

faith in their hope and their trust in Jesus Christ.

I hope that's you today, man. I hope that's you today.

Because when that is you, you will no longer be afraid.

You will not be controlled by base desires.

You will move forward in your life in power and in freedom,

because the blood of Jesus Christ has set you free.

Amen. Yeah, My goodness, friends,

Jesus's rejection means everything to us.

I hope you see it. I hope you see how your Father

in heaven, your dad in heaven loves you and how he wants to

embrace you. Don't pull away.

Don't do that. He wants you to come home.

Let's all go home together, huh? Let's pray.

Our Father in Heaven, our Dad of the universe, Your steadfast

love is unrivalled. It is amazing what you've done

for us. I can't even fully wrap my head

around it, but I know it's true. So Father, I pray for each and

every person in here this morning that you would use your

Spirit to move them ever closer to you, that you would use your

spirit to give us courage and not fear that we would fully

lean on the gospel. Lord, may your name be glorified

for all times because of what you've done for us.

Lord God, move in our hearts, make us your children by your

word and by your spirit. We pray all these things in

Jesus name, Amen. Thanks for listening to the ERC

Sundays to support work God is doing an Amazed Rd. church.

Visit amazedrdonline.org/giving.