Romans 8:14-16 "The Spirit at Work" - 9/20/2018

[Music] I live ready are we ready alright guys here we go game day game day alright Romans 8 and as your eternity that I need to begin in a word of Prayer so let me just start order prayer father every time we open your word you speak directly to us your word is living and active and sharper than a two-edged sword and I pray that you will now give us ears to hear and eyes to see what you are saying to us give us understanding I thank you for these men and their commitment to Christ and I pray that they would receive the greatest blessing from this study and for those who are joining us by livestream I pray they would feel a connection with us may you use this lesson to greatly aid their Christian growth and development so we commit this study into your hands you do all things well we pray you would take control now and use this for your glory in Christ's name Amen okay we're in Romans 8 guys so take your Bible turn to Romans 8 I want to look at verses 14 through 17 Kevin Joseph does not have a Bible he has a cell phone okay that is not a Bible so when I say turn to Romans 8 I don't mean turn on Romans 8 okay so for those watching by livestream real Christians use real Bibles okay because we really don't know what Kevin's looking at right now he's just scrolling through things okay Romans 8 to put a title on this I would just call this the spirit at work and we're going to talk about the spirits work and our sanctification in our Christian growth so let me read these four verses and we'll see if we can cover this but beginning in verse 14 for all who are being led by the Spirit of God these are the sons of God any of in for you have not received a spirit of slavery leading to fear again but you have received a spirit of adoption as sons by which we cry out Abba Father the Spirit Himself testifies with our spirit that we are children of God and if children heirs also heirs of God and fellow heirs with Christ if indeed we suffer with him so that we may also be glorified with him these verses address the Ministry of the Holy Spirit in our Christian lives and why this is so very important is it has been well said that the Christian life is not hard it's impossible and there's only been one who has lived it perfectly and that's Jesus Christ himself and the only way that we can live the Christian life is Christ in us powerfully at work enabling us to live the Christian life so we in and of ourselves cannot live the Christian life we must have Christ in us who is the hope of glory and Christ is in us by His Spirit by His Holy Spirit Jesus is seated at the right hand of God the Father in a glorified body and it will be in that glorified body that he will return at the end of this age for us and take us back to glory and so Christ indwells us by the third person of the Trinity the Holy Spirit and in this passage he's referred in verse 14 as the Spirit of God he is referred as the spirit in in verse 16 and he was referred to as the spirit of Christ in verse 9 and so he has sent him and he brings the fullness of Christ to our lives and he's referred to as the Spirit of God because he is sent from God to us to bring the fullness of God to indwell us so it is the present Ministry of God the Holy Spirit sent by the father and sent by the son to bring the fullness of the father and the son to indwell us and to enable us to live the christian lives and I think sometimes we don't think often enough about the indwelling Holy Spirit as we go throughout the day who is powerfully mightily at work now in these verses verses 14 through 17 there are three distinct ministries that the Spirit of God is actively producing in our lives these are not the only three we could go to many other sections of Scripture and enlarge this profile list of what he's doing but these three are at the near the head of the list if not at the head of the list especially as it involves our sanctification now when I say sanctification you're surely aware that that's referring to the entirety of our Christian life as we grow in Christ's likeness so what the Spirit is doing is producing Christ's likeness in us and he's at work convicting us of what is not christ-like and paring back and pruning what is not christ-like and then watering and fertilizing our lives to bear the fruit of Christ's likeness so let me lay out these three ministries for us at the outset here in verse 14 we see the spirit lead us in verse 15 the spirit liberate sus and in verses 16 and 17 he assures us so he leads us verse 14 he liberate sus verse 15 and he assures us verse 1617 if anyone around this table can help me with the alliteration on that third point I will receive crumbs from any table okay so let's start now in verse 14 the Spirit leads us so let me read the verse again verse 14 for all who are being led by the Spirit of God these are the sons of God several things I want you to note the very first word for tells us that this is an explanation of the previous verse where we are said that we are to be putting to death the deeds of the body as we live our Christian life the beginning of verse 14 with the word for tells us now this is a connecting link with what has just preceded and this is very important because as we talked about being led by the spirit the the focus here is not upon the spirit leading us to make certain day-to-day decisions what I should wear should I do this business deal not do that business deal should I dinner here not there that's not what this is talking about now the Spirit is leading us as we make decisions but that's not the focus the primary focus here is that we are being led to put to death the deeds of the flesh we are being led in our sanctification context is is always a key in interpretation so the next word is all for all who are being led by spirit of God the word all should leap off the page and I'm reading out of the new American Standard your translation could read slightly differently but this is true of all believers all who are in dwelt by the Spirit of God are being led by the Spirit of God so if you're if you're truly regenerated born again you are Phil you are in dwelt by the spirit and you are being led by the spirit now let's look at this this this verb here are being led for all who are being led this verb means to be led by being led by by laying hold of something now I want to make three observations from from this verb if you would let me be technical with you just for a second but this this is a Bible study right okay so I want to drill down in this first of all it's in the passive voice we are being led we're not doing the leading we are passive the Spirit of God is active the Spirit of God is actively leading us so we are being laid hold of by the Spirit of God in a in an active dynamic powerful way the Spirit is not passive and we're active the Spirit is active we are being acted upon okay second thing that I want you to note is this is what we call this verb is in the indicative mood and what that means is it's a statement of fact you don't have to pray for this the Spirit of God it the third observation I want to draw to your attention is this is in the present tense that means he's always leading you every moment of every day not just on Sunday morning but Monday morning Tuesday night not just when things are going well but when you're tempted when you are being confronted with trials whatever the circumstance good times bad times prosperity adversity he has constantly continually regularly actively laying hold of you and is leading you towards personal holiness and personal godliness so for all who are being led by the Spirit of God these are the sons of God if you're not being led by the Spirit of God you're not one of the sons of God you belong to another family all who are in the family of God are being led by the Spirit of God and these and and it's emphatic the idea is these and these only and these is in the plural meaning all believers now before we move on I just want to park here for a moment there are five truths that I want to draw from this because this is really a very important verse number one as I've already said stated all believers are being led by the spirit not some not many not most but all sons of God if you're a believer you are being led by the Spirit of God number two therefore there are only two families in the world with two fathers there are the sons of God you see that at the end of verse 14 if you're not a son of God that leaves the only other alternative you're a child of the devil so there are only two families in the world with two fathers the third thing the the only way to become a son of God is by the new birth to be born again to be birthed into the family of God so this just supposes the doctrine of regeneration that you have been supernaturally birthed into the family of God by the Holy Spirit and the spirit who birthed you into the family of God is the spirit who is leading you it's not just his beginning ministry it's his ongoing continual ministry forth truth to draw from this is that we entered this world by a physical birth which made us children of the devil so we came into this world lost separated from God even if you attended church as a young person there must come a time when you become a son of God there must come that time when you are birthed into the family of God the fifth thing that I want to say here is that part of the assurance of our salvation that we have is that you see and since the Spirit of God leading you in a personal holiness if you're not being led into a godly righteous life then that is serious that brings a serious question whether or not you're a true child of God because in every child of God you're being led into personal to put to death the deeds of the flesh as verse 13 talked about so I want to expand this just a little bit and I've given you those five things I also want to pause and park here just a little bit longer because this is so important for your Christian life and my Christian life concerning what the Spirit of God is doing now as I as I turn my Bible back to the previous page to the beginning of Romans eight we noted in context the first thing that he is doing is he is enabling us to put to death the deeds of the body we see that in verse 13 as believers we are not to just simply be coexisting with sin in our life we're not simply to be giving place to sin or tolerating sin we are to be mortifying the deeds of the flesh putting to death and the way we do it verse 13 says is by the spirit do you see that it's the Spirit of God who's wanting to root out of our lives bad attitudes bad reactions to situations bad vocabulary bad way that we size up people by superficial means and the way we treat people the Spirit of God is actively enabling us to put that to death okay now let me tell you a couple other things that he's doing while we're talking about as he's leading us he's also leading us in verse 4 to obey the law of God the moral law of God so when it says in verse 4 so that the requirement of the law might be fulfilled in us who do not walk according to the flesh but according to the spirit the Spirit of God is leading us into obedience to the Word of God and specifically here to the moral law of God which would be synonymous with the Ten Commandments so the Spirit of God is never going to lead you into disobedience the Spirit of God will always be leading you into obedience now we must as an act of our will choose to obey so we're not just an automatic pilot and just let go and let God know we must make decisive choices of the will to obey the script in the law of God this also presupposes that we know what the law requires of us in the Ten Commandments now in verse verses five and six the Spirit is also leading us to walk in a manner where we are setting our mind on the things of the Spirit so that is to say we are narrowing our focus upon eternal things those things that glorify God those things that honor God even in our vocation and in our family life and in our recreational life nevertheless we are have a mindset of glorifying God in everything that we do so that's just to open up that lens a bit and so let's come back to Romans state now in verse and our section here in verse 14 now I don't want to wear you out with lists but I like this okay so how does the spirit lead us i I just want to give you some things here to really develop this a little bit more fully number one he leads us personally just has he and dwells us individually he leads us individually so this is very personal very individual second he leads us internally from the inside out so this is something that is taking place in the depth of your soul third he's leading us scripturally he is the one the Spirit of God inspired the scripture the Spirit of God offered the scripture the Spirit of God is leading us to pursue the scripture and to obey the scripture that's how he leads us he's not leading us with dreams and visions and subjective emotional impulses and and things like that are supposed voices that we are hearing he is leading us through the written objective Word of God forth he's leading us blamelessly meaning he never leads us into sin but away from sin into personal holiness v he's leading us convicting lis in that when we fail to follow his leading into personal holiness he actually convicts us and puts his finger on the live nerve in our soul and there is a haunting sense of that that I have strayed from the path and I have to circle back to someone and say I think I spoke to you and in in an improper way or an in godly way would you please forgive me that's the Spirit of God who is like a sharp knife poking us you need to make this right but we also need to make it right with God and not just with the person that we have offended which is why we must be those who are confessors of our sin still as a Christian and in Matthew 6 Jesus says that we are to be confessing our sins to God on an ongoing basis so that's also a part of the Spirit's ministry in our lives number six he is leading us perfectly he never misleads us he never miss directs us it is always a flawless leadership that he is providing in our lives and I'm going to give you one more word he's permanently he will never stop leading us he will lead us all the way home to glory but even unto our deathbed he will still be leading us into sanctification and into personal holiness so we'll never reach a plateau in our Christian life where we don't need him to be leading us into godliness so that that's just kind of a quick flyover but it's very important in our understanding of the Christian life so I want you to be consciously aware as you live your Christian life the Holy Spirit has taken the lead he's in the leadership position and he has laid hold of you and he will never let go of you and he is leading you into the will of God and into a life of obedience and if we drag our feet or if we stray from the path a bit then he will come with his conviction and help prod us back onto the path so praise God for this what were it not for this Ministry of the Holy Spirit we would be in stagnation I mean we would just be pulled over on the side of the road and park if not regressing and so it's the Spirit of God who's like a shepherd who's Lee who is coming in and prodding us on in our Christian life so that's the first ministry the Spirit leads us and so I just want to ask you this last question are you following are you consciously following the leadership of the Holy Spirit by his written word into the will of God now second the spirit liberates us and we see in verse 15 we see the same word that starts verse 15 for and that is a follow-up confirmation of of what is being said in verse 14 and 13 it's just a continuation of the flow of thought for you have not received a spirit of slavery leading to fear again but you have received a spirit of adoption as sons by which we cry out Abba Father so Paul is an outstanding teacher negative denial positive assertion he tells us first the negative which he did not receive now the positive which you did receive now when he says received he's talking about the moment of conversion the moment that you were born again you received something and he begins by telling us what we did not receive at that moment we did not receive a spirit of slavery leading to fear again this slavery is talking about before we were converted to Christ how sin was our master and we were slaves of sin and sin cracked a main whip and he sin was driving us to live a self-centered self focused life and-and-and-and there was fear involved dread of having to meet a standard we could not keep and even the dread of eternal punishment whether that was in a heightened sense and our conscience or not it nevertheless was there and there was this fear in which we lived and slavery to our sin we were we were in Chains to sin and that's one reason why there's really no such thing as free will and the purest sense I mean you were a slave of sin okay the only way for you to exercise your will towards God would be for someone greater than sin to come unlock those chains and to set you free and we know who that was the Lord Jesus Christ and in John eight he says that the Sun shall set you free you shall be free indeed well until he sets you free your you were in bondage to your sin and not just your mind and your emotions but also your volition your will as well and he's saying here you didn't receive that kind of of a spirit now some translators just to make you aware of some commentators two-spirit here to be the Holy Spirit and my new American Standard it's a lowercase s and that would be a human spirit it doesn't really affect the truth of being that's being taught here so if you have a translation that is a capital S I have with a small ass it's still basically the same idea and just so you'll know this there were no capital letters in the Greek that Paul wrote this with so it's just strictly a translators decision but you did not receive the spirit of slavery leading to fear again and one reason why is you already had that that's where you were living before you were converted with a sense of haunting guilt that's what that fear was but as verse 15 continues you have received and that points back to the time when you were birthed by the spirit into the kingdom of God you received a spirit of adoption sons now my new American Standard has a small s if you have an ESV it's a capital S it still doesn't affect our understanding of what's being said here it's it's still the Spirit of God working inside my human spirit so you received a spirit of adoption as sons so this word adoption is used only in the New Testament it's not used in the Old Testament and it's only used by Paul so John Peter Luke do not talk about adoption this is strictly what we call a pauline word and he only uses it five times in his 13 epistles three of the five are here in the book of Romans so we should take note of this because this is a rare use of the word adoption and just to remind you of what we've talked about in the past you come into the family of God from the divine perspective by two ways one plan of salvation by but two metaphors one is the new birth and one is adoption and the new birth you enter into the family of God as a little baby and it innit pictures how you will spend the rest of your Christian life growing and developing into Christlikeness and what a supernatural conception and delivery the new birth is adoption comes at it from a different angle adoption you come into the family of God as a fully grown adult son you don't come in as a baby you enter as an adult and the reason why that's important is you enter with all of the privileges and rights immediately of an adult son you don't turn the keys of the car over to a little child you don't turn a vast inheritance over to a little baby they would just squander it away I know of a situation from years ago where someone received their father's inheritance and they blew the whole thing gambling before they reached an age where they were mature enough to be able to handle it they just blew it all at the horse races well with adoption you come into the family of God not as a baby who cannot be entrusted with certain resources but with adoption you come in as a mature adult immediately such that your inheritance can begin to be turned over to you and there's a sense in which we receive part of the inheritance in this lifetime and we will receive the fullness of the inheritance in the life to come and the initial part of the inheritance that we receive right now is the down payment of the Holy Spirit and the Holy Spirit immediately comes to indwell us and so we have already received the first part of our inheritance but there will await us a vast estate the size and the sum of which far exceeds our wildest comprehension we'll talk about that in a moment but at this point what what Paul is wanting us to know is that we have been liberated from our previous spirit of slavery to adoption we have been liberated from the fear under which we once lived fear for the state of my soul fear of what lies on the other side of death fear of the final judgment fear of eternal punishment we we lived with that fear and when we are brought into the family of God the spirit of God liberates us from that fear that fear is dissipated and we enter in now to a brand-new relationship towards God we are no longer alienated from God and we are no longer the objects of his wrath Romans 1:18 we now are adopted as sons and brought into the father's den conference room as it were and shown the vastness of the inheritance that we have received and and note the end of verse 15 that this is the initial part of the inheritance that we have already received by which we and I just want to point out to you this small detail we as in the plural this is all believers all Christians by which we cry out Abba Father now Abba is an Aramaic word the book of Romans is written in Koine Greek Abba is an Aramaic word and it's intentionally used to stand out to get our attention and the idea of ABBA is a very intimate loving relationship with God the Father and it's almost like saying daddy or Papa some sons have very strict fathers and would never dream of this kind of an intimate relationship Martin Luther the great German reformer said he could never begin the Lord's Prayer our Father who is in heaven because he had such a strict father he could not think of God as his father and there are some people who grow up with was such a stern taskmaster who never says I love you I think of Ken Venturi when the 1964 US Open at Congressional his father never said I'm proud of you never said I I'm so grateful for the way that that you have honored the family and and took it to his to his to his death never having his father's approval well Paul is saying here we have a totally different relationship with our Father he is not a an unloving inexpressive Stern father who always frowns and never smiles no we have a relationship now with God the Father that we can actually say Abba Father this is a big deal we've kind of grown up with such an emphasis on the love of God that we've kind of lost some perspective on how big this is that we now have a relationship with God in fact it says that we cry out Abba Father is it's not like we just whisper it and like I I'm I'm hesitant for this to even come out of my mouth no we cry it out with confidence and we approach the throne of grace with confidence Hebrews 4 14 through 16 says we cried out and this speaks of praise and prayer whether it is audibly expressed or whether it's just thought in our mind and and it's in audibly internalized as we go out go throughout the day we have confidence to cry out Abba Father because the Spirit of God has been has been deposited within us as the first part of our inheritance and he is really moving us with confidence to cry out Abba Father now this says certain things number one when we pray we pray to God the Father through the son by the Spirit we approach the father when we pray and the only basis of approaching the father as we come through the son in the name of the son and it is we are energized in our prayers by the holy spirit and it is the Spirit of God who is enlarging our confidence to come boldly before the throne of grace knowing that is my Abba Father and I can bare my soul to him and I can bring my requests to him someone once asked G Campbell Morgan after preaching a sermon a very proper lady in London pastor can I pray for little things or do I only pray for big things when I pray to God and he said to her ma'am everything in your life is little compared to God there's nothing big in your life compared to God now that doesn't mean you're not important to God you're very important but from where God sits and where we live it's like standing on top of the Empire State Building and looking down at people who look like ants down on the sidewalk everything's small in our life so we we just bring whatever the Spirit of God is leading us to lay before the father big things small things in between things for me for others and we should come crying out Abba Father as the Spirit of God has transformed us from slaves to sons and that's what it says in verse 15 we've gone from slaves to sons and we've gone from fear to freedom so that's what the Spirit of God is doing in our lives he he is creating within us an awareness of this sense of intimacy an acceptance that we have with the father now there's a third and final Ministry of the Spirit that I want you to see and as the Spirit assures us meaning assurance of salvation look at verse 16 the Spirit Himself I want to just pause there for a moment and the emphasis is upon the spirit alone no one else it's not an angel doing this it's not a prophet doing this it's the Spirit Himself this is an on-site Ministry of the Spirit of God this hasn't been delegated to to someone else this hasn't been subbed out to a to it to a subcontractor it is the Spirit Himself on-site in our lives who's doing this testifies with our spirit now we know that that spirit is a small should be a small s God is testifying to our spirit now please note that's in the present tense he's always bearing witness with our spirit he's always confirming in our heart this what and we are children of God that we belong in the family that God is our Father that we have been born again so we have assurance of salvation externally and internally externally by in verse 14 how we see the spirit is leading us into holiness as we see Christ's likeness being produced in our lives so you ought to be able to look at your life and see wow God really is at work in my life and he is making me more like the Lord Jesus Christ internally in verse 16 there is this subjective witness of the Spirit of God who is bringing an overwhelming sense of God's presence in our lives it is the Spirit of God who brings a profound awareness of God at work in our hearts it is the Spirit of God who is bringing a deep persuasion of the father's acceptance of us and our relationship to him it's it's and this is subjective but our emotions are real and it's like we feel that the pull and the tug in our heart that we are rightly connected to God this is its assurance of salvation comes from the Holy Spirit it doesn't come from a man it doesn't come from a church it doesn't come from a new members class it doesn't come from an evangelist it doesn't come from a pass stir it comes from the Holy Spirit he takes ownership of your assurance of salvation he's the one who convicted you he's the one who drew you he's the one who regenerated you he's the one who gave you repentance he's the one who gave you saving faith he's the one who sealed you in Christ he is the one who has come to and dwell you he's not gonna give up assurance of salvation to somebody who just walked up on the scene he's going to finish the work he's going to bring it to completion and he will guarantee our eternal security all the way to heaven but he also is going to be giving us the assurance that we belong to him now I do think it is possible for a true Christian to have a low sense of assurance of salvation sometimes it's because of their personality they just are obsessive perfectionist people and it's hard for them to believe anything but also some Christians sit under such poor Bible teaching and have had such a steady diet of experiential stories and little witty slogans and one-liners and hyped up emotional worship services that people sit under that stuff if you even are saved it would be hard for you to know what even what's what's your salvation is even all about I mean you have very little understanding of how it is you have been burst into the family of God and what all has happened to you if you are sitting under clear sound Bible teaching the Spirit of God has a lot to work with in your soul and in your heart and the Spirit of God you see for yourself in verse 16 the Spirit Himself testifies with our spirit that we are children of God and the Spirit of God is omnipotent he is sovereign he is indwelling us he can get his message across to our hearts that we belong to God so this is the third ministry that Paul speaks of here and in our sanctification and it would be very difficult to live your Christian life if you did not have the assurance of your salvation it would be very difficult to move forward if you didn't know whether you're in or out it would be very hard for you to enjoy this this this voyage across the ocean if you weren't certain that you're really on board and if you weren't really certain that this ship is going to make it to the puck to the harbor on the other side of the of the of the ocean so in order for you to enjoy the Christian life and for you to be able to move forward in your Christian life you need to know that you are a child of God that you've been born again and and and Paul now puts this in the very heart of Romans chapter 8 as a critical part of your sanctification because you just can't move forward if you're always having this haunting doubt as to whether or not I'm in or out external witness internal witness external witness you ought to be able to see a change life with a new direction that you're now on and you know you couldn't fake this it's God producing this change in your life but there's also the internal witness of the Spirit of God just pulling on your heart and anchoring you to the throne of grace that's your father Abba Father so let me just so we can wrap this up the Spirit of God testifies with our spirit that we are children of God here this trigger is not true it is true now verse 17 and if children heirs also heirs of God and fellow heirs with Christ if indeed we suffer with him so that we may be also so that we may also be glorified with him you know even as I begin to look at this verse and as I look at the clock I realize I just need to stop right here because I've got so much to say about verse 17 and and I don't want to leave anything in the vault I want to bring it all out and put it on the table in front of you so I'm gonna stop right here at verse 16 and I'm going to land the plane and we're going to talk about this we've got ten minutes here and then if you can stay any longer we'll talk a little bit longer but let me just end with this last question are you following the leading of the Holy Spirit you don't need to pray Spirit of God lead me this is in this is a statement of fact in verse 14 he is constantly continually daily leading you into the will of God into personal holiness and he is working through the written word of God these are not just vague oblique thought opaque thoughts these are very specific steps that the Spirit is leading us in the Christian life both in our attitude on the inside and our actions on the outside so we need to keep in step with the spirit the J I Packer wrote a book years ago keeping in step with the spirit spirits moving out I mean I remember times my dad bring the car around the side of the house I mean he's ready to go either we get in the car and go or we're gonna be left behind so the Spirit of God is leading and moving out I mean we just can't sit around and be be passive and and just observe this we're gonna have to keep keep up we're gonna to keep step with the spirit as he's leading us because if we don't then he has a way of coming in and prodding us with a conviction and even discipline to keep in step with the spirit okay let's stop right here Kent have you got anything that's a come in or do I just open it up with us here okay operator just difficulty okay all right well guys let me open it up yeah right here well yeah wait wait yeah we got to get way to go Luke Luke brilliant brilliant I just I just know the repetition of the word receive and it's it's it's it wasn't an offer it's something we we got and we received it you know by grace through faith and and just for that I mean it's it's a you know picking out the way you focus on the words that's that's one thing I thought of yeah it wasn't something that was just out there but we got it yeah we got it no thank you for that and the verb tense shows this has already happened so again it's not there's nothing we have to pray of for that would come about it's a done deal and and how good of God to give us the best he didn't give us this cringing fearful relationship with him as he is a distant father who never expresses his love never shows kindness to us no we have a father who has allowed us this intimacy of access to him and he has lavished his goodness upon my father's love to be good to their children I mean it brings greater joy to a father to be good to his children than to be good to himself that's just the way it is with a father I find greater pleasure in making you happy than doing even something for myself so of course God glorifies himself as his chief motive but nevertheless he delights in being a loving father to us yeah you said numerous times that the Spirit of God leads us through the scripture not outside the scripture yeah however question specifically I'm going throughout the day I'm in my office I've had a phone call I have a decision to make I'm not reading the Bible haven't been in the Bible in that last 10 15 minutes how does the Holy Spirit move me to make a decision or lead me to make a decision and it's not a black and white decision or something that I've seen in the Bible but we know that the Holy Spirit is also leading us are you gonna play nine holes or 18 holes okay okay 18 on Friday afternoon should I should not anyway but but but again there is some obviously conversation movement not not verbal but if you could explain how the Holy Spirit does impress upon us in our daily lives mm-hmm so there is some sort of sure yeah and and I know but I don't want people to think that and I think this is a question for you to answer that only if we're reading our Bibles can we get a movement of the Holy Spirit in our lives yeah you meaning at that moment yeah yeah well that's a great question and this is kind of taken in a very practical area taking it in a little bit of a different realm which is decision-making in the will of God as opposed to very black and white sanctification issues so that there's not a one principle that fits all there there are a series of questions that you would need to ask as you are making some of these decisions number one is what most glorifies God now that may not be immediately apparent but let's just say it's it's a financial decision everything that I own really I'm just a steward of it this isn't my money this isn't my property this isn't my account this is all gods it's all been transferred over to him I'm just a steward who's a manager of God's resources as well as time my time now is no longer my time it's all God's time and Luke 14:33 makes this abundantly clear that we don't own anything it's all God's so I now I'm a manager and an investor of God's resources how am I to wisely with the end in mind of what will most glorify God as I make these decisions now the decision really may be on a Friday afternoon if you've already put in 50 hours of work and you know the weekend is gonna be a crunch you you really may need to go play around a golf that's called recreation which is recreation every one of us around this table needs to have this sabbatical principle of recreation and recreating so that when we step back into it our batteries are recharged and I'm all in on in pursuing the will of God and serving God in various means it may be that you need to get your son to go play with you it may be would get your wife to ride in the cart with you whatever but as you're making decisions how can I most glorify God also how may I best serve others how may I take into account the good of others as more important than my own Kevin here for example has been in China serving the Lord on the mission field that decision was not made by what would be the easiest life for me what would be the softest life for me he made that decision based upon but with most glorify God and how can I best help others well the greatest thing you can do for someone else is to bring the gospel to them there's a lot of different strategies from preaching to building bridges and using business contacts and relationships but that's a part of making that decision and what will most edify me build me up in Christlikeness I mean we know certain things are just going to be detrimental to my spiritual growth I mean this is just gonna feed my flesh if I go do this if I'm exposed to this this this is just going to ensnare me this is gonna put leg weights on me this is not gonna free me up so I mean Kent I mean you you've asked such an open-ended question and to walk through them if there are other principles that have to be addressed even down to the principle of evangelism as I make this decision what will help extend the gospel the best and the most so even your decision to open this coffee shop I know part of that decision was okay this could be an Avenue by which we get the gospel out that we can have a gospel witness it wasn't you know how can I become a coffee Baron it was it was how can i how can I get the gospel out yeah yeah so there's a there's multiple decisions but but I think it really starts at the highest level of really thinking through my life doesn't belong to me my life belongs to God and how can I best glorify God most glorify God that that's the end now wisdom is the steps to reach that end we are Bible we immerse ourselves in the scripture close it pray go on about our lives the Holy Spirit is still leading us right he's drawing drawing for us not resources of this as we make these decisions that seem worldly in a sense which some are do I go to lunch here do I do this here do I call this person do I tell this person no do i totally well even that what sort of you do whether you eat or drink all to the glory of God first Corinthians 10 I already won and the Holy Spirit leads us in that he does he does now there there are certain things that become so obtuse like we don't you know they have to go into prayer and fasting about which toothpaste do I use and stuff like that unless you just really want to micro down but I mean to a snail's pace I mean there is some common sense that that's that's involved so well I see that we've gone past our time and so I do need to at least let whoever needs to slip out slip out though we have locked the doors so I just needed to let you know you can slip out doesn't mean you will so let me just close in a word of Prayer and let me just say for those of you who have been watching thank you wherever you are around the United States overseas around the world we're grateful to be able to share this time with you may you be following the leadership of the Holy Spirit in your life let me just reaffirm he's leading he's moving out you and I need to keep pace with what the spirits leading us to do so father thank you for this study in Romans 8 thank you for the precision with which Paul has written this I pray you would continue to illumine our understanding of not only what this says but how to live this out in our lives in a practical way and so give us continued insight throughout the day thank you that you would allow us to have such a close relationship with you and we we treasure the fact that you are our Father in Jesus name Amen amen guys we'll be here next week also I need to say that so we'll be here next week so we'll pick up verse 17 next week which is a great verse I want to get it all out of the vault it's very practical thank you for your question I think that you know you realize okay the Holy Spirit doesn't lead us outside of the scripture but the Holy Spirit is in our lives and he is prompting us and moving us in our daily lives and and I think we can even have we can lay on our beds at night and we can have thoughts and impressions and and obviously comparing it back to the will of God not outside the will of God that the Holy Spirit can you know or we can think about this or think about that or have a you know a thought I need to be there I don't need to go there yeah and yeah and so I think it is a it isn't really because you know we don't want to go where we're being led I've seen it where men come in and say you know the Lord has just told me and we'll be happier divorced then I have to marry this woman that I will be a better father if I leave this woman and go to this other woman and because and I've been praying about it this with the Lord well that doesn't know that's that's cosmic rebellion against God but but on the other hand I think we can have really serious promptings yeah wherever we are yeah well I think it begins with the mind and in Romans 12 verse two he says do not be conformed to this world but be transformed by the renewing of your mind so that you may prove what the will of God is that's good that which is good and acceptable and perfect yeah so we prove what the will of God is with a renewed mind so it really begins with the mind so therefore the Word of God must be dwelling richly in us even the book of Proverbs that that helps us in making decisions yeah and how to interact an interface with people in our relationships and without that you're kind of like a ship without a rudder I mean you're just gonna be bouncing off some rocks here and there and just pray the wind steers you in the right direction but the better you know the scripture the better is your rudder that leads the spirit of God's is leading you it's the renewing of your minds good yeah yeah bill Bill's got a question here bill this needs to be good okay personally this yeah that I wanted to share it you know we have to continually remind ourselves that this Lord has not given us a spirit of fear many decisions I've made business decisions out of fear yeah fear that I don't make if I don't do this it's going to be bad yeah if I do do this I'm gonna lose this I mean so I mean when you have those decisions you really have to ask the Lord to renew that sound line that you've given me and take away that spirit of fear and and I think that'll help it'll help you with decisions where the Holy Spirit's trying to lead you in a certain direction yeah where there's more of a peace and your flesh might be trying to go this way yeah yeah sure sure no thank you bill thank you for that Ted are you familiar with the book decision-making in the will of God yeah Jason yeah in there he talks about these decisions that we make and you know many people are pray about who should where should I go to school and but they wait and number three to school goes away you can't get in number two goes away and they finally say oh well the God's telling me to go this school well not really you just waited so long yeah what he is saying is he wants us to make the decisions but to pray that God would give us the wisdom to make the right decision and like you said whatever glorifies God that's what we need to look for but his book is excellent yeah decision-making in the will of God yeah but just they're hard decisions but he does not I don't think he wants us to be a robot he's not going to tell us everything to do right he wants us to make our decisions some will be right some will be wrong in the wrong decisions we make everything you know it works too good yeah yeah God Romans 8:28 yeah yeah it does underscore the importance of wisdom which even like the book of Proverbs is a very necessary part of our Christian lives yeah yeah no you're exactly right you know wisdom is knowing what is what is the highest goal the best goal and what are the steps to achieve the highest goal wisdom is how we get there and and it's an unfolding series of doors you know that we go through we know we don't always know what's on the other side of the next door and so we're having to make this as we go we naturally would want the whole thing laid out for us that's a real step of faith yeah yeah it's like there's no faith involved in that where you're planted water but you're meditating on the word day and night and that meditation on the word yeah is is how the Lord works to fill your mind and as your mind is filled and you're in the word and you're thinking more christ-like and you're more in step with the spirit then when we go out into the world we make better decisions right absolutely absolutely that's really that again that's I guess that's a way of getting under the power of the word of God but but but but still it's not you're right it's not mechanical it's hard you know like do I give Steve a mulligan or not probably not that's easy when in doubt yeah I heard of teaching on wisdom one time and it's always stuck with me because the Lord gives us with it doesn't come from man yeah going to 1:5 and this teaching was this wisdom is knowing what to do with the knowledge you gain mm-hmm the Lord gives you wisdom to know what to do with knowledge yeah and I think that comes out in Paul's prison prayers in Philippians 1 and Ephesians 1 in Colossians 1 you know that that you would have this wisdom to know how to put your knowledge into practice so it's one thing to have knowledge it's something else to know what to do with it and that's where wisdom comes in the Hebrew word for wisdom is hope mom which means skill like a carpenter can take a piece of wood and skillfully crafted so he would fit in the tabernacle or someone could take threads and skillfully weave a tapestry that would go into the tabernacle it's the the skill of godly living of how to take Bible doctrine and Bible truth and to skillfully weave it into your life such that it the result is something that is beautiful in the eyes of God so that that's a that's a great to follow up on what you're saying bill absolutely so people who have wisdom are able to to live lives that are beautiful in the eyes of God that glorify God because they can take what the truth God has given them weave it into the fabric of their daily life yeah yeah absolutely yeah James 1:5 Vinnie man lacks wisdom let him ask of God who gives liberally without reproach so I mean we don't have to like go back to God and go I know I was just here and I please forgive me for even asking again but I need I need more wisdom know God gives liberally without reproach I mean he's got oceans of wisdom and we've got a little Dixie cup of a life I mean he's got more wisdom to fill up our little life I mean we need to be asking him in prayer yes absolutely well this is all good we're here next week and we're gonna pick up verse 17 is really a bridge that goes from 14 16 into 18 really to the end of the chapter on the hope of future glory and so it's appropriate that that we ended where we were we did because it'll transition us into this next section on future glory and and I'm glad we stopped when we did because it's it's good for us it's just hard for me sometimes to hit the brakes but I need to yeah yeah so guys thank you for coming it's been great a lot of being with you [Music]

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Length: 77min 59sec (4679 seconds)

Published: Thu Sep 20 2018