Sermon Tone Analysis

We are exhorted by the Apostle Peter to: 18 "But grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.

To him be the glory both now and to the day of eternity.”

()

It’s an amazing thing to watch a person grow in Christ.

As a person grows in grace that person begins to elevate his Master.

In direct proportion to that, they begin to talk less of themselves and their credentials or their degrees and of what they have done in the past or what their doing now.

They become smaller and smaller in their own eyes, until, like the morning star, he fades away before the rising sun.

Oh for more of Christ and less of us.

To that end, let us pray...

Our Father in Heaven, we thank You for the revelation of Christ to our hearts and to our souls from the Scriptures of truth.

Lord we thank You for the One who died in the place of the ungodly.

Lord we pray four an out pouring of grace into the hearts of all Your gathered people.

May You grant the gifts of faith and repentance to Your people today.

May You bless us now as You shut out the clamoring of this world and shut us in with Yourself dear Lord.

Lord come down upon us and give us help we pray in Jesus Name and for His sake, AMEN.

12 "So then, brothers and sisters, we are not obligated to the flesh to live according to the flesh, 13 "because if you live according to the flesh, you are going to die.

But if by the Spirit you put to death the deeds of the body, you will live.

14 "For all those led by God’s Spirit are God’s sons.

15 "You did not receive a spirit of slavery to fall back into fear.

Instead, you received the Spirit of adoption, by whom we cry out, “Abba, Father!” 16 "The Spirit himself testifies together with our spirit that we are God’s children, 17 "and if children, also heirs—heirs of God and coheirs with Christ—if indeed we suffer with him so that we may also be glorified with him.”

()

We are exhorted by the Apostle Peter to: 18 "But grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.

To him be the glory both now and to the day of eternity.”

()

It’s an amazing thing to watch a person grow in Christ.

As a person grows in grace that person begins to elevate his Master.

In direct proportion to that, they begin to talk less of themselves and their credentials or their degrees and of what they have done in the past or what their doing now.

They become smaller and smaller in their own eyes, until, like the morning star, he fades away before the rising sun.

Oh for more of Christ and less of us.

For the true believer, who’s been called out of the darkness of his sin and has been regenerated, having recieved a new heart and a new spirit in them, begin to be progressively sanctified.

This of course happens because of infinite value and virtue of Christ death and resurrection.

5 "For if we have been united with him in the likeness of his death, we will certainly also be in the likeness of his resurrection.

6 "For we know that our old self was crucified with him so that the body ruled by sin might be rendered powerless so that we may no longer be enslaved to sin,” ()

So God has brought us into the grave and out of the grace, spiritually raised with Christ to walk in newness of life.

This growth, or newness of life, is all because of the person and work of Christ.

This actually happens to a believer by the power of God’s Word and the Spirit of God indwelling a person.

25 "Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ loved the church and gave himself for her 26 "to make her holy, cleansing her with the washing of water by the word.”

()

Christ makes His bride, the church, holy, cleansing her with the washing of water by His Word.

This of course is a journey.

It’s a walk.

That leads to many a battle with sin, to which sin eventually loses its strong hold due to the inward, continual principle, the Spirit of Christ, which is as a new nature, that inclines and makes alive that man in whom He dwells with, towards a holy life.

That’s what’s being spoken of here by the Apostle Paul in .

In vv1-17 form one of the most important passages in all of Scripture for a believer, as we think about the context.

Its subject cannot be overemphasized: the power of God’s Spirit in the life of the believer.

If the believer needs anything, he needs the power of God’s Spirit.

Forcefully, Scripture spells out point by point what the power of the Holy Spirit is.

1. “Now,” since Christ has come (v.

1).

2. The Spirit gives life (vv.

2–4).

3. The Spirit pulls the mind to spiritual things (vv.

5–8).

4. The Spirit dwells within the believer (v.

9).

5.

The Spirit gives life to the believer (vv.

10–11).

6.

The Spirit gives the power to put evil deeds to death (vv.

12–13).

Let’s look at verses 12 & 13 together.

This title of this message is: WHAT OBLIGATION DO WE ALL HAVE?

This title of this message is: WHAT IS MY OBLIGATION?

Let’s consider that together as I see two obligations

that everyone in this room is obligated to do.

You are not to live according to the flesh.

12 "So then, brothers and sisters, we are not obligated to the flesh to live according to the flesh, 13 "because if you live according to the flesh, you are going to die....” ()

Seeing that the law of the Spirit of life has set us free from the law of sin and death,

Paul says, we are no longer, like slaves subject to their masters,

required to live according to the flesh.

The apostle then explains that there are two ways of living:

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.

These words are reminiscent of , : ‘See, I set before you today life and prosperity, death and destruction.…

This day I call the heavens and the earth as witnesses against you that I have set before you life and death, blessings and curses.

Now choose life, so that you and your children may live’.

In Deuteronomy, however, the alternatives are blessing and life in the promised land or

destruction, which means that they will enjoy no more that life in the promised land.

However, the alternatives of ‘life’ and ‘death’ that Paul has in mind are eschatological,

expressed by the future tenses (‘will die’ and ‘will live’).

The alternatives are eternal life in the presence of God or

death in hell without any prospect of a life with God.

But we’re obligated not to live according to the flesh because for the follower of Christ the flesh has no more rights!

It’s been crucified, so we owe the flesh nothing!! Which implies that it’s God Spirit, in making us alive to Christ and uniting us to Christ!

Here is where our debt lies.

Here’s our obligation!

Winston Churchill paid a great tribute to the young men who guarded England during World War 2.

He said, “Never in the history of mankind have so many owed so much to so few.”

“Never in the history of mankind have so many owed so much to so few.”

A particular battle: represents one of the bloodiest action in World War II.

A monument there pays tribute to the heroism of the US 101st Airborne Division: “Seldom has so much American blood been shed in the course of a single action.

Oh, Lord, help us to remember!”

But when thinking of the beloved Christ who hung on the cross, we can say:

“Never in the history of the universe has mankind owed so much to One.”

Tan, P. L. (1996).

Encyclopedia of 7700 Illustrations: Signs of the Times (p. 208).

Garland, TX: Bible Communications, Inc.

That’s our obligation!

Debtor’s to Christ!

But don’t misunderstand Paul dear believer.

It’s not as though a choice is being presented to you.

The flesh” is not eradicated but is an ever-present reality.

Paul goes on to explain that to be indebted to the flesh means “to live according to the flesh”.

This is not an option for the believer.

“The flesh” is not gone yet, but is an ever-present reality.

Paul goes on to explain that to be indebted to the flesh means (in v13) “to live according to the flesh”.

This is not an option for the believer.

This leads us to our second obligation.

12 "So then, brothers and sisters, we are not obligated to the flesh to live according to the flesh, 13 "because if you live according to the flesh, you are going to die.

{Pause}

But if by the Spirit you put to death the deeds of the body, you will live.”

()

My Second obligation is By the Spirit’s power: To kill my sin.