back to index2016-11-13 The Work of the Spirit In Us
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Romans chapter 8, 12-17, reading out of the ESV. 00:00:13.480 |
So then brothers, we are debtors not to the flesh to live according to the flesh. 00:00:18.040 |
For if you live according to the flesh, you will die, but if by the Spirit you put to 00:00:24.600 |
For all who are led by the Spirit of God are sons of God. 00:00:27.360 |
For you did not receive the spirit of slavery to fall back into fear, but you have received 00:00:31.640 |
the spirit of adoption as sons by whom we cry, Abba, Father. 00:00:35.440 |
The Spirit himself bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God. 00:00:39.480 |
And if children, then heirs, heirs of God and fellow heirs with Christ, provided we 00:00:43.400 |
suffer with him in order that we may also be glorified with him. 00:00:50.920 |
Heavenly Father, you truly are a God worthy of all our praise. 00:01:01.720 |
We thank you for the gift of salvation and the Holy Spirit. 00:01:05.640 |
Help us, Lord God, as we search your word that you would teach, remind, encourage, rebuke, 00:01:23.480 |
As you guys know, I've been giving you updates on what's been happening to the building, 00:01:34.680 |
In the last maybe about two to three weeks, one, in order to speed up the process and 00:01:40.040 |
maybe even save a little bit of money, we've actually hired some handymen, so people that 00:01:49.600 |
I contacted one of the guys that we use to do some construction on that end. 00:01:53.680 |
I asked him if he can bring some of his friends to do some work because we had some things 00:02:00.800 |
We had some throwing away trash and cleanup, a lot of just physical labor. 00:02:04.360 |
A couple weeks ago, the guy that I contacted brought some of his friends. 00:02:10.160 |
When he brought some of his friends, I was just kind of taking it back initially because 00:02:14.120 |
the youngest of the three guys that he brought was my age. 00:02:23.200 |
He showed up and saying, "We're ready to work." 00:02:31.840 |
Again, every once in a while, you meet people who just kind of live in a completely different 00:02:38.920 |
world even though we're living in Orange County together, but they live in a completely different 00:02:45.880 |
They work eight hours just digging, like literally digging. 00:02:48.760 |
If you've ever dug dirt before, that's probably one of the hardest things to do physically. 00:03:02.480 |
Last two weeks, we've been kind of around the building and helping out this and that. 00:03:07.240 |
At the end of the night, a couple weeks ago, the guy told me because most of the guys don't 00:03:15.440 |
The guy that I contacted, he was telling me at the end of the night, and he said ... He 00:03:30.240 |
I can't believe he's able to have that kind of stamina." 00:03:44.720 |
He said the reason why he doesn't have hair is because he's in the middle of chemo. 00:03:55.040 |
He literally dug eight hours straight nonstop. 00:03:58.880 |
They've been working at the building for the last two weeks, just kind of picking up things 00:04:03.440 |
and doing some ... Again, this is heavy stuff, the heavy stuff that they're doing. 00:04:07.960 |
Especially these two guys, they're all hard workers, but especially two guys, every time 00:04:13.480 |
I come in, I always kind of feel bad, because they're not ... We're giving them more money 00:04:19.400 |
than they asked for, but it's not anywhere near what they deserve. 00:04:24.160 |
I've been trying to talk to them and get to know them to find out what's going on, but 00:04:28.760 |
this guy, he had chemo this Monday, and so he wanted to come to work, but he had to rest 00:04:35.720 |
because he was knocked down by chemo, but as soon as he felt better, he came back to 00:04:44.840 |
He just had chemo on Monday, and then I was at the building yesterday, and he was at the 00:04:48.640 |
building yesterday, because a guy that we hired to do some drywalling hired him to come 00:04:55.120 |
He was there all day Saturday, and he was asking me as I was leaving, "Hey, Peter, can 00:05:03.640 |
If you want to come check him out, you come to church on Monday. 00:05:07.920 |
I'm not exaggerating, but being around these guys just kind of put things in perspective, 00:05:14.160 |
because last month or two has been pretty crazy. 00:05:19.600 |
A lot of things ... You're not going to understand, but a lot of things, because we're at the 00:05:25.040 |
There's a lot of things that need to get done. 00:05:26.040 |
The inspector's coming the next day, so we're in a hurry, and there's a lot of grumbling 00:05:29.560 |
in my heart, because the architect and the structural engineer didn't do the drawings 00:05:34.840 |
correctly, and we're wasting a lot of time and money. 00:05:37.400 |
Then I meet these guys, and I felt bad, so one day while they were working, I went there 00:05:45.840 |
One of the guys looked at me, and he said, "Easy money." 00:05:52.360 |
It's like, "Wow, easy money after all of that?" 00:05:56.600 |
Again, I share this story because every single one of us are tremendously blessed, even just 00:06:08.940 |
How many of you would spend eight hours digging dirt for a hundred bucks? 00:06:14.520 |
But to them, and at the end of the day, I'll say, "Man, is this even worth it?" 00:06:19.520 |
But at the end of the day, every single day, they're begging me, "Can I come back tomorrow? 00:06:24.760 |
But it kind of puts things in perspective for me that everything that I grumble about 00:06:30.600 |
in my heart, a lot of times, is just so trivial. 00:06:36.320 |
These are people who lived life and just value what needs to be valued. 00:06:42.920 |
But so much of things that we complain about and we grumble about are so trivial in light 00:06:50.840 |
I share this story because as Christians, not only are we physically blessed, but as 00:06:55.680 |
Christians, Paul's been reminding us that we have the Holy Spirit. 00:07:01.560 |
The distinction between a Christian and a non-Christian is we have the Spirit of God 00:07:09.260 |
And sometimes we forget just the privilege that we have and what a blessing that we have, 00:07:15.480 |
that we've been targeted by the God of this universe to be loved in this specific way 00:07:22.160 |
that he sent his only begotten Son to save us. 00:07:27.200 |
This morning, and we're looking at this text, Paul reminds us of four things in this text 00:07:32.760 |
that I want to share with you as we're looking at this text, that the Holy Spirit, what the 00:07:42.920 |
First thing he says in verse 14, he says, "For all who are led by the Spirit of God 00:07:50.360 |
So the first thing that he is to us is the Holy Spirit is the identifying mark of a Christian. 00:07:56.440 |
The Holy Spirit is the identifying mark of a Christian. 00:08:00.760 |
He doesn't say that some Christians have the Holy Spirit and some Christians don't. 00:08:05.920 |
There are certain degrees given to certain people and certain people not. 00:08:09.880 |
The distinguishing mark between a Christian and a non-Christian is the Holy Spirit. 00:08:17.600 |
There is no Christian identified in the scripture that does not have the Holy Spirit. 00:08:22.200 |
If the Holy Spirit is not making a dwelling in you, then you would not be a Christian. 00:08:30.840 |
So he says in verse 14, "If you are led by the Holy Spirit, you are a Christian. 00:08:38.520 |
We see the same thing emphasized by Paul in Galatians 5.16. 00:08:42.160 |
He says, "But I say, walk by the Spirit and you will not gratify the desires of the flesh. 00:08:47.520 |
For the desires of the flesh are against the Spirit and the desires of the Spirit are against 00:08:52.400 |
For these are opposed to each other to keep you from doing the things that you want to 00:08:57.360 |
He says the mark of a Christian is the Holy Spirit restrains you from your flesh. 00:09:04.080 |
The Holy Spirit leads you away from the things that are harmful. 00:09:08.360 |
He said they are diametrically opposed to each other. 00:09:11.000 |
So an individual cannot, either you are being led by the Spirit or you are being led by 00:09:18.080 |
You know, we often hear how the church is hypocritical and how there's backbiting and 00:09:24.360 |
slander and let's be honest, all of that to a certain degree is true. 00:09:32.760 |
We have opinions that we don't agree with one another. 00:09:38.480 |
You know, I've been in, I've grown up in the church. 00:09:42.240 |
I've seen police officers show up at the church. 00:09:49.280 |
And as bad as we may say some certain things that we have seen in the church, the difference 00:09:55.600 |
between the community and the church and outside the church is that a church filled with genuine 00:10:01.120 |
believers, no matter how bad it may get, is restrained sin. 00:10:09.760 |
If you've ever worked in a workforce, which I know a lot of you do, and you've ever been 00:10:13.960 |
in a situation where somebody is out to slander you, you've offended them in some way, and 00:10:21.520 |
And it's unrestrained because there's nothing holding them back. 00:10:25.160 |
There's nothing inside of them saying like, "Oh, I feel bad. 00:10:28.280 |
No, they're going to do this until you grovel. 00:10:33.020 |
Look at the non-Christians and how they fight and how they distort the truth and say something 00:10:37.840 |
that somebody said and twisted it all for the purpose of, for their own gain. 00:10:43.600 |
Now, I know those of you who are new to the political arena may have been shocked by the 00:10:49.360 |
verbiage and how they're willing to go after their children, their wives, their heritage. 00:10:52.960 |
I mean, their hairstyle, their womanhood, man. 00:10:56.000 |
I mean, they'll go after everything, whatever it takes for them to get what they want. 00:11:00.400 |
See, that's the identifying mark of a non-Christian. 00:11:04.920 |
A non-Christian is not restrained by the Holy Spirit. 00:11:10.000 |
But what does it mean to be led by the Spirit other than just being restrained in the flesh? 00:11:15.080 |
Because a lot of times we use the word "led" as in this supernatural, you know, where it's 00:11:20.840 |
like, "Oh, you know, God spoke to me last night and He's leading me to do this. 00:11:28.720 |
And we use the term kind of very, you know, mystically. 00:11:32.080 |
And it sounds good, but in actual practice, like, what does that mean? 00:11:37.680 |
In fact, in Christian dating, maybe some of you have been a target of this mystical, you 00:11:51.040 |
And we make certain things like make it mystical and godly, but in reality, you just don't 00:12:01.920 |
Well, he explains in verse 18 in Galatians chapter 5, "But if you are led by the Spirit, 00:12:09.080 |
And then he describes an individual who's being led by the flesh. 00:12:15.800 |
Sexual immorality, impurity, sensuality, idolatry, sorcery, enmity, strife, jealousy, fits of 00:12:21.880 |
anger, rivalries, dissension, divisions, envy, drunkenness, orgies, and things like these. 00:12:28.160 |
I warn you, as I warned you before, that those who do such things will not inherit the kingdom 00:12:34.440 |
He's not saying that an individual who's being led by the Spirit, led by the flesh, that 00:12:38.480 |
all of these things are going to be true to everyone. 00:12:42.360 |
Somebody who's being led by the flesh may not have all of these qualities, but an individual 00:12:47.080 |
who's led by the flesh is an individual who has given in to these impulses. 00:12:52.280 |
And your whole life and trajectory is being led by these things. 00:12:57.120 |
Even in the church, you can come to church and be completely led by the flesh. 00:13:02.120 |
And that's why sometimes the church can be ruined if you have leaders who are being led 00:13:10.360 |
You know, there are situations where you're perfectly content with your life and the things 00:13:14.720 |
that God has given you until you go to someone else's house, and all of a sudden it's not 00:13:20.120 |
The income that you're making was good enough until you start talking about what other people 00:13:23.720 |
are making, and all of a sudden it's not enough. 00:13:26.080 |
And then here's this rivalry and envy and competition that comes into your heart, and 00:13:32.800 |
And so once you give in, now the trajectory of your life is to have what they have. 00:13:38.520 |
So now your flesh is leading you and not the Spirit. 00:13:42.580 |
You can have contention in the church and somebody said something that offended you, 00:13:48.360 |
and your heart is angered, and there's bitterness, and you give in to that. 00:13:53.920 |
And then now the things are coming out of your mouth. 00:13:55.760 |
You're deliberately slandering people, deliberately being divisive. 00:14:02.280 |
See, that's a description that is given to us by Galatians chapter 5. 00:14:06.840 |
An individual who's being led by the flesh is somebody who will wear the flesh that is 00:14:10.800 |
against the Spirit, and you've given in to it. 00:14:13.440 |
Now you're making decisions and deliberately doing things to satisfy your flesh. 00:14:19.000 |
But in contrast, in verse 22, "But the fruit of the Spirit is love." 00:14:23.960 |
Now I'm going to stop right there with the word "love," because love really encompasses 00:14:27.680 |
every other character that he's about to mention. 00:14:30.280 |
Joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control. 00:14:37.360 |
But the word "love" really encompasses all of it. 00:14:41.200 |
An individual who's being led by love, led by the Spirit and not by the flesh, you will 00:14:48.280 |
experience the same kind of slander, same kind of divisions, same kind of sinfulness 00:14:55.680 |
But instead of giving in to your flesh, you choose to love, because the Holy Spirit is 00:15:02.280 |
The Holy Spirit is compelling you to live in love. 00:15:06.800 |
So an individual who is driving, whose trajectory of life is being driven by the Spirit of God, 00:15:13.920 |
is going to be pursuing, actively pursuing, love, joy, patience, kindness, goodness, and 00:15:22.680 |
So this being led by the Spirit, at least the way that the Bible describes it, isn't 00:15:27.080 |
just wait there until the Holy Spirit speaks to you so that you can go. 00:15:35.940 |
Is the Holy Spirit leading you as to what wife or husband that you must get? 00:15:42.240 |
Being led by your flesh is basically giving in to your fleshly impulses, whether it may 00:15:48.040 |
be lust, or envy, competition, your pride, your ego, your anger, your bitterness, you've 00:15:55.000 |
given in to that, and now you're pursuing this. 00:16:00.520 |
And you're a man or woman being led by the flesh. 00:16:03.600 |
But one who is led by the Spirit, the Word of God, is constantly convicting you against 00:16:11.560 |
Against the things that are contrary to the things that you desire of your flesh. 00:16:14.600 |
But the Spirit of God is leading you in another direction. 00:16:18.040 |
But when He says you are being led by the Spirit, there's another thing that we need 00:16:22.620 |
The Bible describes Christians being led by the Spirit because we haven't arrived yet. 00:16:27.720 |
Just in case somebody is sitting here thinking, "Well, you know, I still struggle. 00:16:34.000 |
But the reason why we're being led is because we're not there. 00:16:40.080 |
To be led means the Holy Spirit is taking you somewhere. 00:16:45.320 |
I know that 1 Corinthians 13.10 is often used to talk about by the cessationists, or people 00:16:51.360 |
who don't believe in the spiritual gifts, that the Word of God came and so the miracle 00:17:00.600 |
But in 1 Corinthians 13.10, when it says, "When the perfect comes, the imperfect shall 00:17:05.600 |
The word perfect, teleos, basically means to take something that was intended for a 00:17:15.360 |
What God intended in salvation, that He would take it to completion. 00:17:19.100 |
So sometimes people translate that as Jesus Himself, His work. 00:17:22.920 |
Or oftentimes it's translated as our salvation and sanctification itself. 00:17:28.720 |
But the word basically means to take something to its completion. 00:17:35.080 |
That's the mark of a Christian and a non-Christian. 00:17:37.280 |
A Christian is somebody who is being led by the Holy Spirit, not by the flesh, to bring 00:17:46.600 |
Not simply so, "Oh, you're not going to hell and work done." 00:17:50.000 |
No, "He who began a good work in you, to complete it until the day of Christ." 00:17:56.040 |
That's how the Bible describes the ministry of the Holy Spirit. 00:17:59.700 |
The Holy Spirit is the identifying, clear identifying mark of a Christian and a non-Christian. 00:18:05.380 |
The second thing that the Holy Spirit does, the Holy Spirit delivers us. 00:18:11.640 |
The Holy Spirit, number one, the Holy Spirit identifies us. 00:18:15.280 |
Number two, the Holy Spirit delivers us from enslavement, from fear, to freedom as sons 00:18:22.960 |
"For you did not receive the spirit of slavery to fall back into fear, but you have received 00:18:29.440 |
You notice how He contrasts enslavement and fear? 00:18:38.200 |
He doesn't just say, "We've been delivered from enslavement of sin and fear." 00:18:45.400 |
He said, "We've been delivered from that, and instead of fear, we have what?" 00:18:51.040 |
The contrasting statement that He makes is that we are adopted children of God, by which 00:18:59.320 |
Hebrews chapter 2, 14, it says, "Since therefore the children share in the flesh and blood, 00:19:04.360 |
He Himself likewise partook in the same things." 00:19:07.920 |
"That through death He might destroy the one who has the power of death, that is the devil, 00:19:12.560 |
and deliver all those who through fear of death were subject to lifelong slavery." 00:19:19.160 |
So when He says He's delivered us from fear of death, like how many of you don't fear 00:19:26.760 |
Of course, we don't fear what happens after death, but I think all of us fear death itself, 00:19:32.240 |
that moment where God calls us to cross over. 00:19:35.960 |
So when He's talking about fear of death, He's not talking about the actual event of 00:19:41.520 |
He's talking about the consequence of what happens after you die. 00:19:44.600 |
He's talking about the judgment, and that's what He clearly says in Hebrews. 00:19:50.360 |
We've been delivered from the fear of judgment, but He doesn't leave us there. 00:19:55.640 |
And that's, again, and I think that's the problem that we have in our generation, is 00:20:00.280 |
that the Gospel has been preached to deliver us from the penalty of sin, not recognizing 00:20:06.260 |
the whole purpose of deliverance was to make us a child of God. 00:20:12.080 |
In 1 Corinthians 15, 54, 56, "Death is swallowed up in victory. 00:20:19.440 |
The sting of death is sin, and the power of sin is the law." 00:20:25.600 |
Law no longer judges us or condemns us, but we are adopted children of God. 00:20:33.220 |
You know, obviously today we identify Christian and non-Christian. 00:20:36.780 |
The term Christian, right, has become such a generic term. 00:20:41.800 |
I would say, at least in the last presidential election, I actively followed presidential 00:20:51.040 |
Not that, you know, I was born before then, but where I was old enough where I actually 00:20:57.680 |
And every president, every president and every president nominee has always claimed 00:21:07.220 |
Not only the ones who are elected, but the ones competing, not only Republicans, but 00:21:11.520 |
I can't think, I mean, you can correct me if I'm, you know, I'm sure you can think 00:21:15.560 |
of one or two people, but I can't think of a single person who ran for presidency 00:21:23.460 |
And I can honestly tell you that I can only identify maybe about four people that I can 00:21:28.840 |
say they were actual Christians out of maybe 20, 30 people that I can remember. 00:21:33.580 |
Because in a nominal Christian nation, in a post-Christian culture, if you don't identify 00:21:42.400 |
So you may be pagan in every other way, but in public office, you have to be a Christian, 00:21:48.900 |
So in our generation, the term Christian has become so generic. 00:21:53.500 |
When somebody says they're Christian, we don't know what that means. 00:21:57.320 |
In fact, this very week I had a conversation, because I'm at the new building a lot, and 00:22:02.040 |
there's a couple of workers who were doing the fire alarm for us, and very lively guys, 00:22:10.480 |
And I try to get to know them a little bit better. 00:22:12.800 |
And so one day they were out there a little bit later, and we were the only ones there. 00:22:18.620 |
And I told them, "Hey, this is a church, and I'm the pastor." 00:22:34.840 |
And they were saying, "Yeah, my mom's a Christian, and somebody's a Christian." 00:22:44.080 |
So I said, "Are you a Christian because you're a Christian, or are you a Christian because 00:22:52.760 |
And what was interesting to me is in the context of this conversation, one of the guys asked, 00:22:57.880 |
because they've been working putting fire alarms in every single room. 00:23:01.720 |
And one of the rooms that they were working on for, I don't know, it wasn't me, but somebody 00:23:08.360 |
You know, some of you guys who went to that building, you saw we have a large cry room 00:23:12.280 |
And so the whole time he was working, he couldn't figure out what that was. 00:23:23.720 |
And so before I could even answer, the other guy standing next to him was trying to answer 00:23:35.160 |
So the whole time they're having this conversation, I'm just sitting there listening to this. 00:23:52.840 |
So eventually I came in and said, "Oh, it's for parents with small children. 00:23:56.800 |
So when they cry, they can take them into that room." 00:23:59.240 |
So I thought when I told them that, they would say, "Oh, that's what they meant." 00:24:02.440 |
But even like, "So when babies cry, they go into that room?" 00:24:10.520 |
So obviously, you know, these guys have never been to church, but they identify as Christians. 00:24:20.000 |
You know, the term Christian has been thrown around. 00:24:25.080 |
So they go, "Oh, you're an evangelical Christian." 00:24:26.440 |
But now, even the term evangelical has been watered down, and you don't know what that 00:24:31.840 |
The term Christian that was given to us was a derogatory term. 00:24:36.120 |
It was people who hated Christians, who were persecuting Christians in the early church 00:24:44.240 |
So that's where the term Christian came from. 00:24:47.960 |
The earliest term that was given to us that we may have embraced is the word "the way." 00:24:54.240 |
And that was first used in the Church of Antioch, the first Gentile church. 00:25:01.280 |
And we say, "Jesus is the way and the truth and the life." 00:25:04.960 |
But when you read the Scripture, and predominantly how God addresses us is His children. 00:25:13.800 |
The way that the Bible describes us is children of God, sons of God, daughters of God. 00:25:19.680 |
You know, and I was thinking as I was meditating on this, how much if we started to think of 00:25:24.400 |
ourselves and addressing ourselves as children of God, sons of God. 00:25:31.440 |
How much of that would affect, maybe, the way that we view ourselves and our salvation? 00:25:37.120 |
And I think part of the reason, I'm not saying all the reason, but part of the reason why 00:25:41.000 |
there is this ambiguity after salvation of what to do with our Christian lives is because 00:25:48.920 |
Where we talked about deliverance from sin, and then not understand what that deliverance 00:25:57.000 |
Was that whole purpose of salvation was not simply to get us away from the penalty of 00:26:01.280 |
sin, it's so that we may become children of God. 00:26:11.120 |
So the scripture tells us that the purpose of the Holy Spirit is to confirm, is to confirm 00:26:22.360 |
The scripture says in this passage that we have become adopted children of God. 00:26:27.240 |
Even the term adoption, we have to make sure that we understand it the way they understood 00:26:33.080 |
In our generation, when we talk about adoption, we're talking about maybe mercy. 00:26:37.800 |
You know, you go to some of the poor countries or something happens and this child needs 00:26:44.520 |
So adoption has become an act of ministry in our generation. 00:26:48.500 |
So we think, when we hear the term adoption, we think, "Oh, God had mercy on us." 00:26:55.460 |
But in the Greco-Roman world, adoption predominantly wasn't for the purpose of mercy. 00:27:02.480 |
Adoption oftentimes happened because their wife couldn't have a boy for whatever, they 00:27:09.560 |
couldn't have children at all or they couldn't have a boy. 00:27:11.840 |
And so they would go and adopt a child for the purpose of carrying on the name of that 00:27:17.120 |
Because in that world, if you didn't have a son, your name and your generation would 00:27:24.100 |
So in order to prevent that tragedy, they would go and adopt a son and give him that 00:27:29.040 |
son's, your name, in order that your name would continue. 00:27:33.840 |
You know, what was interesting was, a few months ago, I was at the church at Living 00:27:45.920 |
He's a very popular speaker at our church, so we've had him come and speak many times. 00:27:50.760 |
He's married to a Caucasian lady and he himself told us that all his children are very light 00:27:57.120 |
So when I was at his church speaking, you couldn't readily identify his children because 00:28:07.840 |
His name is James Im and he's 100% Korean-American. 00:28:11.560 |
His wife is 100% Korean-American and they've adopted two African-American children. 00:28:17.960 |
So if you go to that church, you would naturally automatically think, "Oh, Pastor Ray, are 00:28:24.480 |
And what was interesting was we were having dinner one day and he was telling me that 00:28:42.440 |
But the only two boys in that whole family are the two African-American boys that they 00:28:53.220 |
So he was jokingly telling me, "One of these days when they grow up, they're going to have 00:29:01.520 |
Because at some point, all the Im's in that family may be African-American because of 00:29:09.480 |
And he was telling me, "Yeah, these are the only boys in our family. 00:29:15.280 |
In the Greco-Roman world, when they talked about adoption, that's how they viewed adoption. 00:29:21.320 |
It was for the purpose of carrying on the inheritance, the name and the inheritance 00:29:29.260 |
So it makes sense when the scripture talks about adoption and inheritance always go hand 00:29:35.540 |
So the reason why this is significant, not that if you adopt for the purpose of mercy 00:29:39.160 |
that it's any less, but because in the Greco-Roman world that that child was adopted for that 00:29:47.320 |
purpose, do you think that that child was one of many children in the home? 00:29:55.580 |
He was the one because through that child, the name was going to be passed down. 00:30:04.360 |
Everything that the father owns, his honor, his name, was to be carried down through that 00:30:09.840 |
And that's how the Greco-Roman world understood adoption. 00:30:13.700 |
So it is not simply, well you have the regular children and then you have the adopted children 00:30:17.460 |
which is kind of, you know, trying to get the two things mixed. 00:30:20.420 |
But an adoption at that particular time automatically was understood as someone who was very, very 00:30:29.400 |
That's the imagery that is used here to describe what you and I have become. 00:30:35.700 |
That we're no longer aliens and strangers who are far off. 00:30:38.460 |
The Holy Spirit not only delivered us from the bondage of sin leading to fear, He made 00:30:44.900 |
And the Holy Spirit confirms that through that, that we are able to call Him our Abba 00:30:53.660 |
That's why the Bible tells us, "Be holy because your Heavenly Father is holy." 00:30:58.820 |
The motivation behind our sanctification is not simply because it's right. 00:31:05.660 |
First and foremost, it's because our Father is holy. 00:31:08.460 |
Just like an adopted child is to take on the name and the honor and the inheritance of 00:31:13.660 |
the father, we are called to take on that brand. 00:31:16.860 |
God is seeking His own glory in the life and the thoughts and the heart and the worship 00:31:26.900 |
I was very aware of this when I was younger that I was a pastor's son. 00:31:31.020 |
And even when I wasn't a Christian, I couldn't leave the church, even though I wanted to 00:31:35.660 |
leave the church, because I knew that if I left the church when I was younger, how that 00:31:42.920 |
Even as a non-Christian, I remember thinking that. 00:31:46.300 |
So I remember even before, even as a young as 14, thinking, "When I'm 18, I'm leaving 00:31:52.460 |
Like, I never shared this with anybody, you know, especially with my parents, because 00:31:56.060 |
if I knew if I left the church at 17, there was going to be an uproar, "How can a pastor's 00:32:01.620 |
But I was very aware of who I was and how that reflected on my father. 00:32:05.420 |
See, the scripture primarily teaches us that to pursue sanctification because our heavenly 00:32:14.660 |
It's when we don't have, that's why this relationship with our father is so important, because all 00:32:19.420 |
that we have and all that we pursue is motivated by a personal relationship with him. 00:32:25.420 |
So if you don't have a personal affection for him, you don't have the motivation for 00:32:39.860 |
Thirdly, the Holy Spirit compels us to pray and to seek the Father. 00:32:47.900 |
For you did not receive the spirit of slavery to fall back into fear, but you have received 00:32:51.420 |
the spirit of adoption as sons by whom we cry, "Abba, Father." 00:32:56.860 |
See, a Jew, when he heard the Lord's Prayer, typically if you've ever heard an exposition 00:33:03.340 |
of the Lord's Prayer, we would stop by saying, "Our Father which art in heaven, hallowed 00:33:09.340 |
Thy kingdom come, thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven." 00:33:11.620 |
And usually where we stop for exposition is, "Hallowed be thy name." 00:33:16.340 |
Our Father which art in heaven, hallowed be thy name. 00:33:18.420 |
What does hallowed be thy name mean, especially if you memorized it in King James, right? 00:33:22.460 |
I memorized it in King James, "Hallowed be thy name." 00:33:24.780 |
And I learned through study that it means to magnify, to honor, to glorify, right? 00:33:31.220 |
And so usually we would begin the exposition of the Lord's Prayer by, "Hallowed be thy 00:33:36.900 |
A Jew, at that particular time, would have heard if when Jesus says, "Our Father which 00:33:44.240 |
art in heaven," they wouldn't have stopped with, "Hallowed be thy name." 00:33:50.940 |
Because they were afraid to even say His name. 00:33:56.800 |
They would call Him Adonai, Lord, because they were afraid to use His name in vain, 00:34:00.540 |
to have this intimate relationship with the Heavenly Father. 00:34:10.460 |
Now, it wasn't because that they never did it. 00:34:14.260 |
You know, there are places where Israel is referred to as son and children, but it just 00:34:22.700 |
It was kind of like, you know, your son coming in and saying, "Hey, Peter, what did you 00:34:30.500 |
Just say, "Hey, tell Peter this, tell Peter that." 00:34:35.300 |
Not only was it disrespectful, it seemed inappropriate, but Jesus is giving them authority that you're 00:34:45.540 |
You're not just slaves, you're not just servants. 00:34:50.620 |
So Jesus is authorizing His disciples in addressing God, first and foremost, as Father. 00:34:59.260 |
See the Scripture says the Holy Spirit compels us to seek the Father and cry out, "Abba, 00:35:07.820 |
In almost every instance that we see Jesus addressed, seeing His Father, it's almost 00:35:17.620 |
Only one time we see in Jesus' life where He calls Him God. 00:35:21.860 |
Where He's hanging on the cross and He says, "My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?" 00:35:26.460 |
In that moment of separation because He was taken on the sin of the world. 00:35:34.220 |
He says, "Now you have become my brothers and you are authorized to call Him Abba, Father." 00:35:49.860 |
You know, even in the English it is a very strong word. 00:35:57.980 |
But this is what John Stott says about this word. 00:36:00.740 |
It expresses a loud, spontaneous, emotional shout. 00:36:08.940 |
And that same word, cry out, shriek, was referred to when the demons saw Jesus and in terror 00:36:18.140 |
And that's the word that is used here to cry out. 00:36:22.380 |
The meaning behind this is that the Holy Spirit that in our utter desperation comes and compels 00:36:32.540 |
It is the Holy Spirit that reminds us of the intimacy that we have with Him. 00:36:38.500 |
That you are not just going to a throne, some king. 00:36:46.700 |
In Romans 8.26, "And likewise the Spirit helps us in our weakness, for we do not know what 00:36:52.860 |
But the Spirit Himself intercedes for us with groanings too deep for words." 00:37:00.140 |
Have you ever been in a situation where your prayers were just groans? 00:37:07.020 |
That you were in such despair and felt like there's no help. 00:37:12.880 |
That all you could say before God, you couldn't articulate the words. 00:37:19.380 |
And that's how it's described when your pain is so deep. 00:37:23.440 |
When your despair is beyond comprehension and you're groaning. 00:37:27.100 |
He says, "Know that the Holy Spirit has been given to you that He may also groan with words 00:37:38.580 |
When someone is in so much pain, you know, usually we have words that encourage people. 00:37:46.620 |
We say all of these things, you know, meaning well. 00:37:51.460 |
But there are situations, there are things that people go through where words actually 00:37:56.180 |
You know, you're going through anguish and you're really suffering and somebody just 00:38:08.020 |
See, he's talking about as Christians living in a fallen world. 00:38:13.460 |
And I think everybody experiences this at different levels. 00:38:25.700 |
We have a hard time understanding each other. 00:38:27.540 |
Even with our wives and even with our children. 00:38:31.520 |
In the midst of anguish, he says, "The Holy Spirit has been given to us and it compels 00:38:38.300 |
us to cry out to our Abba Father that he may listen and answer our prayers." 00:38:47.020 |
It's the Holy Spirit that leads and guides us to him. 00:38:50.620 |
Fourth, he says, "The Holy Spirit guarantees." 00:38:56.860 |
In Ephesians 1, 13-14, "In him you also, when you heard the word of the truth, the 00:39:03.060 |
gospel of your salvation, and believed in him, were sealed with the promised Holy Spirit 00:39:07.660 |
who is the guarantee of our inheritance until we acquire possession of it to the praise 00:39:16.860 |
He said, "The Holy Spirit was given to us guaranteeing our salvation." 00:39:24.140 |
I know that those of you who have been a Christian for a while, there are certain sins and certain 00:39:32.780 |
And there are certain things that you may have even questioned yourself. 00:39:40.220 |
What causes us to make it from point A to point B after all these years? 00:39:52.020 |
These are all things that the Pharisees were confident about. 00:39:55.940 |
So when Jesus said, "When the Son comes to set you free, you will be free indeed," 00:40:07.500 |
The Bible says what you could not do, God did by sending his Holy Spirit. 00:40:11.620 |
And what is the primary work of the Holy Spirit? 00:40:21.740 |
If one of my children, not my older children obviously, but if one of my children, I guess 00:40:27.500 |
He's young enough to use him as an illustration. 00:40:30.820 |
One day walked off, couldn't find him for days, and then we find out that he's wandering 00:40:36.500 |
We get a phone call and I run over there to get him. 00:40:42.500 |
We find him and then I go there and then I say, "Look Isaiah, this is how you get home, 00:40:48.900 |
Now get out a pen, take the number 15 bus, right? 00:40:52.740 |
Get on it and make a ride on Grand Street and then go there for about three hours and 00:40:57.500 |
then get off that bus and you don't have any money so you're going to have to get a job. 00:41:02.060 |
Somehow get $3, get on that bus and then go on there. 00:41:05.420 |
It's going to take you about six hours to get there but good luck. 00:41:17.700 |
When I find him, I'm going to grab him and I'm going to stick him in the car and I'm 00:41:24.420 |
going to put the seatbelt on him so tight that he may not be able to breathe, lock all 00:41:30.740 |
the child safety, you know, and all the doors, make sure all the windows are locked up and 00:41:36.860 |
then drive and go home, put him in the bed, tuck him in and then lock the front door and 00:41:45.780 |
Make sure, I will sit at that door, make sure that he can't ever open and put the lock way 00:42:01.020 |
See the scripture, when the Bible tells us that it leads us, he leads us to sanctification, 00:42:06.820 |
he empowers us for ministry to preach the gospel, he convicts the world of sin but the 00:42:11.020 |
primary work that the Holy Spirit has given us is to help us to go home. 00:42:21.820 |
Is to help us to go home because you and I lost our way. 00:42:28.340 |
He didn't just give us instructions and say, "Hey, follow these instructions and hopefully 00:42:36.060 |
When the disciples were concerned, "If you leave us, what's going to happen to us?" 00:42:39.060 |
Remember what Jesus said, "I will not leave you as an orphan, the helper, he's going to 00:42:43.740 |
come and he's going to teach you everything that I have taught you." 00:42:53.020 |
You need to rest in him and you need to rely on him because the Holy Spirit is going to 00:42:58.180 |
come as a deposit, guaranteeing, "I'm going to put you in the car, I'm going to strap 00:43:04.980 |
you in, I'm going to take you home and I'm going to make sure that you're going to make 00:43:18.740 |
This primary work, 2 Corinthians 1:21, "And it is God who established us with you in Christ 00:43:23.940 |
and has anointed us and who has also put a seal on us, giving us the Holy Spirit in our 00:43:33.380 |
And you know what this inheritance is that he's bringing us to? 00:43:40.940 |
Douglas Moo says the inheritance that he's talking about is not a mansion, is not a great 00:43:46.740 |
house, is not whatever that you are fantasizing about when you get to heaven. 00:43:51.700 |
All of these things may be true because he is our Father. 00:44:00.620 |
He is the one that he sent this Holy Spirit to bring us to, to bring him back. 00:44:07.820 |
If I picked up Isaiah and brought him to Irvine and then dropped him off at that house and 00:44:25.340 |
His home, he's safe there because that's where his parents are. 00:44:29.500 |
Heaven would be worthless if that's not where our Father was. 00:44:37.060 |
He's bringing us to his home to be by his side so that he can protect us, so that he 00:44:50.060 |
And there is nothing on earth that I desire besides you. 00:44:53.720 |
My flesh and my heart may fail, but God is the strength of my heart and my portion forever." 00:45:00.820 |
Every Christian has been given the Holy Spirit to deliver us from bondage into sonship. 00:45:08.780 |
It compels us to cry out to the Abba Father with groanings. 00:45:14.860 |
He reminds us of the inheritance that we have in Christ and the Holy Spirit is the one who 00:45:21.660 |
preserves us, joining with Christ, that we may make it home to our Father. 00:45:32.180 |
I'm not telling you anything that you don't already have. 00:45:36.740 |
Everything that Paul says is telling Christians that this is what you have. 00:45:41.600 |
And just like these men, you know, I have just being around these guys just makes me 00:45:50.460 |
Sometimes we just need to remember, you and I have this and this is why we worship. 00:45:58.540 |
Again, I want to invite you to take some time to pray and to come before the Lord in honest 00:46:11.900 |
Sometimes we make prayer so complicated that it needs to be biblical. 00:46:23.120 |
Pray where you are, what you're going through, what you're feeling and be honest before God. 00:46:28.460 |
Let's take some time to pray as our worship team leads us.