Winning the War Within | Romans 08 (Part 2) | Gary Hamrick

just as a a running start to uh remind us of a the context of Romans chapter 8 chapters 6 and 7 that obviously precede chapter 8 Paul describes a battle that Christians are in concerning uh the the dichotomy of Our Lives whereby when a a Believer when a person gets saved and becomes a believer that is to say when he or she puts their faith in and trust in Jesus Christ your spirit is regenerated but your flesh is not and so your spirit that wants to please God is living within a body that wants to live for self before you become a Christian self is king and you live for your own pleasure when you become a Christian Jesus is king and you live for the glory of the Lord but because there's this struggle within your spirit that wants to please the Lord still housed in a body that still enjoys certain appetites and desires that are in conflict with your spirit there is this battle there's this war now I mentioned last time that not every appetite and desire that you have is sinful obviously God has given us desires and appetites it's only when those desires or appetites are gratified outside of the boundaries of God's prescribed ways and then they can become sinful so we have to harness uh ourselves we have to die it to self we have to realize the things about our flesh that are sinful and and die to those things that we might live to please the Lord and live for the glory of God and so Jesus even made mention of this kind of a battle when he spoke to his dis disciples in the Garden of Gethsemane just before he was crucified he's praying there and he asks them to join him in prayer and he says the spirit is willing but the flesh is weak now that's true about us you know your flesh my my flesh is weak our spirit is willing like we want to please God we want to do the right thing but our flesh is always wanting to do the wrong thing and thus the war now I've referred to this passage from Romans 7 several times now this will be the last time today I'm going to step aside and we're going to see this Romans 7 18-2 Paul writes for I know that nothing good dwells in me that is in my flesh for I have the desire to do what is right but not the ability to carry it out for I do not do the good I want but the evil I do not want is what I keep on doing now if I do what I do not want it is no longer I who do it but sin that dwells it within me so I find it to be a law that when I want to do right evil lies close at hand for I Delight in the law of God in my inner being in my spirit but I see in my members that is in my flesh in my body another law Waging War against the law of my mind and making me captive to the law of sin that dwells in my members Wretched Man that I am who will deliver me from this body of death he asks he answers it next verse thanks be to God through Jesus Christ Our Lord and so then with the mind I myself serve the law of God but with the flesh the law of sin by the way I mentioned a couple of weeks ago when he says there he asks that question who will rescue me what a Wretched Man I am who will rescue me from this body of death it's actually in the context a reference to an ancient practice that the Romans exercised in punishing murderers just to refresh your memories if you were here if you weren't this is a this is a dreadful way to die but this is the way Romans would sometime P punish murderers if you murdered someone they would take the corpse of the person you murdered and they would chain it to your back and you'd have to carry around the corpse of the person you murdered until the rotting decaying flesh the disease of that corpse was transferred onto you and then you died from that disease and so that's the reference Paul is making he says he says my My Flesh the the part of me that wants to sin it's like I'm carrying around this body of death this this fleshly rotting corpse and he says it's terrible who will rescue me from this body of death and then he answers it he says thanks be to God through through Jesus Christ my Lord and so that's chapter 6 and 7 and then he moves into chapter 8 and he says here's here's how we're going to be helped by the Lord and he's going to talk about the spirit of God chapter 6 when he describes the battle he doesn't mention the spirit once chapter 7 he refers to the spirit one time but by the time you get to chapter 8 21 references to the spirit CU he says that's what's really going to help us win the war within now last week we looked at the first part of chapter 8 and the last part of chapter 8 like book ends and we talked about how the Lord is exhorting us last Sunday's study no condemnation and no separation from his love no condemnation to them that are in Christ Jesus walk as a new person don't let guilt or shame weigh you down Jesus paid for your sins it's under the blood and then no separation we can't be separated from the love of God in Christ Jesus so those are wonderful book ends to chapter 8 what we're going to look at today have to do with the three different ways that Paul says the Holy Spirit helps us to win the war within and I'm drawing on these three things from the action verbs that Paul uses to describe how the spirit helps us and so I gave you a preview a minute ago number one he tells us the holy spirit gives life to us and we're going to see in the context it means he empowers Us number two the Holy Spirit Bears witness with us and in the context it's he talks about how he has adopted us into God's family and number three the holy spirit makes intercession for us in other words he prays for us now before I dive into these three ways that the Holy Spirit helps us I felt prompted in and prepping for today's study to not assume that everybody understands when I say Spirit or Holy Spirit what are we talking about so just to give by way of a two or three minute quick introduction to the Holy Spirit I think it's important that we all are on the same page if we're going to talk about how the Holy Spirit helps us here in Romans 8 we better know who the holy spirit is and so please understand when we talk about the Holy Spirit the god of the Bible is one God he's a singular God Christianity is a monotheistic faith we believe in One Singular God but that he reveals himself in three different persons or personalities you have God the Father you have God the son Jesus and you have God the holy spirit so three quick points about the Holy Spirit for you notak takers number one the holy spirit is the third person of the Trinity by Trinity we mean one God who reveals himself in a plurality of three persons you have God the Father God the son Jesus and God the Holy Spirit now I gave the reference to you up there Genesis 1:26 and 27 because we first see the plurality of a single God revealed in Genesis chapter 1 in Genesis 1:26 God says this then God said let us make man in our image according to our likeness who's God talking to there it was only the Lord Lord at that point I mean the angelss were there but um he hadn't yet created man and he says let us make man in our own image and its plural pronouns and just to make sure everybody understands God is not confused about his pronouns ladies and gentlemen he's using a plurality of pronouns because it reflects that he is a singular God who reveals himself in three persons because the very next verse Genesis 1:27 says so God created man in his own image in the image of God he created him male and female he created them you go from plural pronouns in verse 26 to singular pronouns in verse 27 and they both describe God because God is a single singular God who reveals himself in a plurality of three Father Son and Holy Spirit number two please understand that the Holy Spirit has always existed being co-equal and Co Eternal with God because he is God first reference to the spirit is Genesis 1:2 second verse in the whole Bible says this the Earth was without form and void and darkness was on the face of the deep and the spirit of God was hovering over the face of the waters so even though we see the power of the Holy Spirit revealed more in the New Testament um more directly the spirit of God has always been because the spirit of God is co-equal and co-eternal with God and then lastly just another quick point about the holy spirit before we jump into Romans 8 the holy spirit is not an it or just a force he has all the attributes of Personality example he has a mind 1 Corinthians 21 says for what man knows the things of a man except the spirit of the man which is in him even so no one knows the things of God except the spirit of God so the spirit of God knows spirit of God has attribut here of a mind also of a will in 1 Corinthians 12:11 when it talks about the distribution of spiritual gifts it says but one and the Same Spirit works all these things Distributing to each one individually as he wills and then also he has a motion Ephesians 4:30 says and do not grieve the holy spirit of God by whom you were sealed for the day of redemption the Holy Spirit can be grieved so don't refer to the spirit of God as an it or a force he is part of the godhead God the Father God the son and God the Holy Spirit now I know that's a very Swift overview of the Holy Spirit but I wanted to say that much before we dive in here to chapter 8 because Jesus said to us that when he after he rose from the dead when he would Ascend back into heaven where he is now that he would send another comforter or a counselor to be with us and the spirit of God comes to us when we have relationship with the Lord and He indwells us this is what Jesus said here in John chapter 14 he said to his disciples at the Last Supper he said and I will pray the father and he will give you another helper that he may abide with you forever the spirit of Truth whom the world cannot receive because it neither sees him nor knows him but you know him for he dwells with you and will be in you in you so when a person trusts Christ as Savior the spirit of God indwells that believer now the Holy Spirit also can Empower us and the gifts and the fruit of the spirit that's a whole another Bible study but for the moment just at least understand this much that when a person gets saved the spirit of God comes in and dwells in us now for these three points from Romans chapter 8 the first one is again number one that he gives us life he gives us life it's verse 11 if you have your Bibles there in Romans 8 look at verse 11 with me and it says this but if the spirit of him who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you which he does he who raised Christ from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through his Spirit who dwells in you now notice that 11th verse again it starts out with the word but but in the original Greek it can also be translated and or since and I like that because it sounds stronger doesn't it since the spirit of him who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you okay let that sink in for a minute The Same Spirit the power of God that raised Christ from the dead now lives within you as a Believer not who yes praise God the spirit of God lives in us the same power that raised Jesus from the dead and Paul brings this up not to highlight power for power's sake but to highlight power for your sake and my sake because what he's in effect telling us is that we therefore have the ability we have the capacity to resist sin because we have the same resurrection power power in us that raised Christ from the dead now think about that because when we want to know how do I win the war within this battle My Flesh my spirit my spirit wants to please God my flesh wants to live for myself how do I win this battle oh Paul says you have the spirit of God in you and the same spirit that raised Jesus from the dead is that spirit in you now this is wonderful exceptional news it's very encouraging because it means that whenever I'm tempted I can tap into the very power that raised Jesus from the dead residing in me but it's also a very challenging thing because it also means that since I have within me the power that raised Jesus from the dead to resist temptation that if I don't resist temptation listen to me on this it's not for lack of Holy Spirit power it is for lack of willpower and that puts the burden and responsibility on me on you because that means whenever we give into temptation it's not for lack of power yes or no was the power that raised Jesus from the dead powerful yes that same power is within you as a Believer so what excuse do we have now to give into temptation because God has given us the ability to resist now we're frail we're human um we're not going to say everything just right we're not going to do everything just right there will be sin in our lives we have an advocate with the father Jesus Christ so we need to keep a short account with God whenever we do sin we confess that we get right with God but this is very encouraging and challenging at the same time he's given us the very power that raised Jesus from the dead within us what excuse do we have to give into temptation and thus because we have the holy spirit's power Paul tells us in the following verse look in your Bibles verse 12 therefore and good Bible students whenever you see the word therefore you need to ask what is it therefore because he's building on what he just said so he says in verse 11 you got the power of the Holy Spirit within you the same power that raised Jesus from the dead and because of that therefore verse 12 Brethren sisters Believers 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 by the spirit you put to death the Deeds of the body you will live now let me read that to you also in the NLT the New Living Translation it's it's plain English same verses this is what NLT says therefore dear brothers and sisters you have no obligation to do what your sinful nature urges you to do for if you live by its dictates you will die but if through the power of the spirit you put to death the Deeds of your sinful nature you will live so he says here you have the power that raised Jesus from the dead so you're not obligated to fulfill the desire s of the sinful nature if you do that's on you that's on me and he says but what we need to do is to put to death those things of our flesh that are sinful now how do you do that in practical ways look I think this is a a truism most of our sinful choices are the result of some aspect of feeding our sinful nature I want you to think of your of your sinful nature like like a beast okay and and the idea is we have to stop feeding the Beast because the Beast wants to dominate the Beast Wants to Rule the Beast wants to control so so stop feeding the Beast so when when he says here we need to die to the flesh we need to put to death the Deeds of the sinful nature it means we have to stop feeding the things that that contribute to our sinful nature and and so look I'm just going to give you some examples but um you know you do inventory of your own life one of the things I think that can be very dangerous it's a reason I'm not on social media okay is because in some ways social media can be a gateway drug to deeper addictions it it really can what do I mean by that the the sensual things that people post the lies that people post the the the tempting things that people post can influence can feed our flesh and lead us into deviant behavior and sexual sin and false thinking and so maybe that's a good place for example to starve to stop feeding the Beast starve social media starve yourself from social media think oh no I can't believe he just said that yeah I mean I I mean I know I know it's so it's so it's so you know completely contrary to the way we think like I can't live without my social Med media well you you could die with your social media you know if it's contributing to things that are killing you so think of it this way I'm not one of these people that says necessarily unless you have to absolutely cut yourself off from it like alcoholics have to cut themselves off from alcohol it could be that you have to completely sever social media it could just be that you simply reain it in and you stop feeding yourself uh your the Flesh and you start using social media to feed your spirit so you you tune in to good podcasts that that you know are good Bible studies good Ministries that can feed your soul instead of feeding the Beast because we have to be careful what you watch can lead to sin what you listen to can lead to sin where you go can lead to sin the people you go there with can lead you into sin and so we have to starve whatever is feeding the beast but let me just say this to you because I want to always prepare people when you want to get serious with God and you say no more to this person no more to watching that and no more to going here be prepared for times of loneliness and you just have to embrace the loneliness friends because it is better to be alone with God than to be surrounded by plenty of people or things that are going to lead you down a wrong path so when you see those times when you see those times cuz when you get serious about God and you're like okay I'm not going to go here anymore I'm not going to hang out with this person anymore I'm going to cut this off from my life I'm going to I'm going to you know you know stop doing this stop doing that you're going to experience periods of loneliness and isolation and boredom and you're going to say this is no fun use that time to press into Jesus use the time if you and I stop to think about all the wasted hours we spend on either the internet social media television Netflix you name it the time that could be converted into being alone with the Lord how much richer would our souls be we have to stop feeding the fatty flesh and start feeding sassy Soul right our soul you know the Puritans the Puritans from from ages ago they used to call fasting Soul fattening because they said when when we would fast had periods of fasting to get along with Jesus it fattened our souls so they would call fasting Soul fattening and I think there has to be some of that in our lives where we're starving the things that feed our flesh and we're drawing closer to the Lord we're replacing wasted hours with more time in the word wasted hours with more time listening to worship music find new friends at church if you're a teenager get in the youth group if you're young adults start going to young adults on Monday nights if you're a man needing a Bible study with other men there's men's bible studies a woman who needs Bible studies with other women there's women's Bible studies I mean there's plenty of places to plug in and to find connection and fellowship so that you're feeding your your soul in a right way and dying to self instead of feeding the flesh number two he also tells us here in this eth chapter that the spirit of God Bears witness with us now this is verses 15 to 17 I want you to see those three verses with me look in your Bibles verse 15 for you did not receive the spirit of bondage again to fear but you receive the spirit of adoption by whom we cry out ABA father ABA is Hebrew it's actually the same word in Aramaic ABA means father he says the spirit himself this is verse 16 the spirit himself Bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God and if children then heirs Heirs of God and Joint HS with Christ if indeed we suffer with him that we might also be glorified together now question based there on verse 16 why is it important that the spirit Bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God the answer is please hear me on this because it's not only important that you know who you are it is important that you know who you are you are a child of God you are a son or a daughter of the most high King and we have a responsibility and obligation to live up to our family name God says here you've been adopted into my family that's the the work of the spirit of God when we become a a a Christ follower when we surrender Our Lives to Jesus he adopts us into his family God has no grandchildren God only has children and he adopts Us by faith in Christ into his family that's why I love those of you who have opened up your heart in your home adopting children because you're actually demonstrating the love of our father he adopts us as his children we come into his family and we cry ABA father now I'm going to tell you something about ABA um even beyond the fact that they were a great musical group in the 1970s ladies and gentlemen okay they had some Mama Mia uh the winter takes it all Dancing Queen by the way Dancing Queen was about a dancing girl not a guy in a dress great music though I got to tell you I digress ABA is the same in Hebrew as it is in Aramaic means father but I got to tell you I've done some deeper study on this and it is not what for years I thought and many of you have been told to so let me tell you the modern definition of ABA in Hebrew versus the ancient biblical definition today when you go to Israel you will hear little children refer to their daddy as ABA I remember the first time I was in Israel 25 years ago I was in the old city of Jerusalem I saw this little boy about 5 years old chasing after his dad and calling him ABA ABA and I remember how tender that sounded because in modern colloquial Hebrew ABA means Daddy Dad it's a very endearing very tender term but that's modern Hebrew that was not the Hebrew of ancient Biblical times so sorry for those of you are like it's such an endearing term in this context ABA is used three times in the New Testament this is one of them and in ancient Biblical times ABA did not mean the colloquial daddy like it does today it meant sir it was a term of respect for authority ABA that's why Paul is saying here listen gang if you're a Believer you have the spirit of God that raised Jesus from the dead living in you so show respect to your Heavenly Father by obeying him how many of you grew up in homes where you were told to say yes ma'am no ma'am yes sir no sir let me see Instant Respect you had for your parents because you were trained that's the way that I speak to them that's showing respect for their Authority that's the way Paul means it here because he's saying since you and I have the spirit of God that raised Jesus from the dead living in us we need to live obedient lives because the spirit of God has adopted us into the family we have the family name in our Jersey we better start living like we belong to Jesus that's obedience that's a call to respecting the authority of Our Father in Heaven know not only who we are but whose's we are and show respect for our father in Heaven by living a life that honors him last Point number three and then we got to run number three make it makes intercession for us look at verses 26 and 27 it says likewise the spirit also helps us in our weaknesses is anybody happy about that yes for we do not know what we should pray for as we ought but the spirit himself makes intercession for us with groanings which cannot be uttered notice that cannot be uttered now he who searches the hearts knows what the mind of the spirit is because he makes intercession for the Saints according to the will of God let me first tell you what this is not saying before I tell you what it is saying I believe completely in the availability of all the gifts of the Spirit today I don't believe that they ended at the at the end of the apostolic age that the gifts of the Spirit are still available as God distributes and that's for another Bible study I I've spoken extensively about the Holy Spirit and the gifts of the Spirit but some people think that this verse here where it says the holy spirit intercedes for us with groanings that cannot be uttered is a reference to one of the gifts of the Spirit which is the gift of tongues and I would just respectfully disagree this is not speaking about the gift of tongues as much as I believe in the present availability of that gift and all the other gifts and the reason why this cannot be a reference to the gift of tongues is because the gift of tongues is an utterance this verse says that the spirit intercedes for us with groanings that cannot be uttered what does this mean if you've ever been in a situation where you are so distraught that you have been flat out on your face on the carpet before God crying out to God the carpet underneath your face is soaked with your tears because you are beside yourself with some horrible news or some grief or some terrible loss you're in such pain and all you can do is weep and groan and you have no words to pray then you know exactly what he's talking about here if you've been in a situation like that then that then you know exactly what he means here because there are times in our lives and if you haven't experienced this and you've never really suffered loss and so praise God that you haven't but at some point you probably will because this side of Heaven there's a lot of pain there are going to be times when you are so beside yourself in agony and grief and pain that all you can do is sob and you have no words to pray no words to pray and it is in those moments that the Holy Spirit intercedes and prays for us and connects our heart with the heart of to the father when we have no words to pray isn't that wonderful how God's spirit knowing our spirit knowing our heart in our deepest darkest moments when we have nothing to pray he intercedes for us and he prays in our behalf and he connects us to the heart of the father what a wonderful promise of our Lord so these things Paul says to us the this is how the Holy Spirit helps us to win the war within number one he empowers us the same power that raised Jesus from the dead is within us to be able to resist temptation number two he's adopted us into his family the spirit of God has brought us into the family of God therefore we need to live in a way that honors God and obeys him as ABA sir father and then lastly in our darkest times oh how the Holy Spirit prays for us he intered seeds for us when we don't have words to pray and this is how the Lord helps us by his holy spirit amen amen let's pray father we thank you for your word and we thank you that you are at work in Us by your spirit to help us to live our lives in such a way that bring glory and honor to you but it is a battle Lord our flesh wants to please self our spirit wants to please you so we pray God that we would lean more on your spirit that we'd be more aware Ware the fact that you're the power that raised Jesus from the dead is within us to help us to say no to temptation to resist the things of the flesh Lord thank you for adopting us into your family we honor you we praise you we want to be obedient to you because we want to respect you as our Father in heaven and Lord we just also give you praise for the fact that even when we don't know how to pray you're praying for us so thank you Lord for your word today impress these things on our hearts until next time and we give you the praise and the glory and the honor in jesus' name and all God's people said amen and amen God bless you all have a great day God bless you

Channel: Cornerstone Chapel - Leesburg, VA

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Keywords: Cornerstone Chapel, Calvary Chapel, Gary Hamrick, Biblical sermons, leesburg va, gary hamrick sermons, Cornerstone Chapel Leesburg VA, bible study, verse by verse, in depth bible study, Verse by Verse Church, Chapter by Chapter Church, Gary Hamrick Cornerstone Chapel

Id: V23mhjiBY98

Length: 30min 52sec (1852 seconds)

Published: Mon Apr 15 2024