It's All About Choices
Romans • Sermon • Submitted
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Life in the Flesh vs. Life in the Spirit
Life in the Flesh vs. Life in the Spirit
Life is all about choices. Our walk is no different. We decide moment by moment if we are going to walk in the flesh or in the Spirit of God. Last week we left off with this verse:
9 But you are not controlled by your sinful nature. You are controlled by the Spirit if you have the Spirit of God living in you. (And remember that those who do not have the Spirit of Christ living in them do not belong to him at all.)
Holy Spirit’s indwelling in the believers life. The evidence of salvation is in the fruit of the Spirit that develops in the life of the believer. As we mature, as we live more by the Spirit, our inner selves are transformed into the likeness of Christ.
We are going to back up a couple of verses for a moment. We all need a clear understanding of exactly what Paul is talking about here.
6 So letting your sinful nature control your mind leads to death. But letting the Spirit control your mind leads to life and peace.
7 For the sinful nature is always hostile to God. It never did obey God’s laws, and it never will.
8 That’s why those who are still under the control of their sinful nature can never please God.
The Greek word for human nature is sarx. Sarx means “fleshly, worldly, earthly. The word for Spirit is pneuma. This word, pneuma, literally means wind or breath of God in this context.
Paul is making an absolute division between the flesh and the Spirit. We can not please God when we are living in sarx, the flesh. As a matter of fact, Paul tells us that the sarx remains hostile to God. When we fall under control of pneuma, the Spirit, we are not walking in the flesh, but in His Spirit.
Paul is making an “if, then” statement. If you are acting in the flesh, you are not acting in the Spirit. If you are acting in the Spirit, you are not acting in the flesh.
It does not matter what we do, how great the argument sounds, or how much the justification makes sense to us, outside of Christ and the Spirit, we are in sarx, the sinful nature of the flesh, and cannot please God.
12 Therefore, dear brothers and sisters, you have no obligation to do what your sinful nature urges you to do.
Paul starts this verse with “therefore,” putting the obligation to choose on the individual hearing or reading this letter. We choose to follow sarx or pneuma. The flesh or the Spirit. “I had to do it!” “No you did not have to do it.”
13 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.
Paul is telling us that if we cater to the flesh, we are going to fail. When we live in this flesh and rely on our strength, and our power, the end result is always the same. Death.
Living by the power of the Spirit means that we recognize that we do not have the power to present ourselves before God as sinless and perfect. The very blessings and grace that we have received, we are now receiving, and will receive come through Jesus Christ. Through the power of the Spirit, we live kingdom life here and now, and from here into eternity with the Father.
The Inescapable Alternative
The Inescapable Alternative
14 For all who are led by the Spirit of God are children of God.
At some point, every human being will answer for that choice. Again, God’s mark on His children is the indwelling of Holy Spirit. Those who decide not to follow Jesus Christ have made a choice and do not have God’s mark upon them. God did not choose for them. Those people have sadly chosen the alternative, the losing team.
26 “Look, today I am giving you the choice between a blessing and a curse!
Moses wrote the book of Deuteronomy as a recap of Israels history. Deuteronomy was to be passed on to the next generation. Deuteronomy was written around 1400 BC. About 1400 years before Jesus was born.
Jesus quoted Psalms and Deuteronomy more than any other books of the Old Testament. Do you see what God said to Moses, to all of Israel, to all the world? It is your choice. Choose the blessing or the curse.
For us, following Holy Spirit is the blessing. Following the world, our flesh, or anything else is a self created curse.
15 “Now listen! Today I am giving you a choice between life and death, between prosperity and disaster.
I am not sure that God could make it any clearer for every generation. Choose God, the winning team, and you will know life and prosperity. Choose the world, idols, and the flesh, you will know death and disaster.
Jesus made the choice very clear in this parable:
24 “Anyone who listens to my teaching and follows it is wise, like a person who builds a house on solid rock.
25 Though the rain comes in torrents and the floodwaters rise and the winds beat against that house, it won’t collapse because it is built on bedrock.
26 But anyone who hears my teaching and doesn’t obey it is foolish, like a person who builds a house on sand.
27 When the rains and floods come and the winds beat against that house, it will collapse with a mighty crash.”
Jesus Christ presents the same choice. When we build our lives on the Word of God, and when the storms rage, we will be better than okay! Build that house on the shifting sand of this world, on our own desires, or pop culture, and that house will crumble.
Jesus calls these people “foolish.” Remember that word, moros, foolish? It is where we get the word moron from. It means idiot or stupid.
Blessed Assurance
Blessed Assurance
15 So you have not received a spirit that makes you fearful slaves. Instead, you received God’s Spirit when he adopted you as his own children. Now we call him, “Abba, Father.”
Notice the lowercase “s” on spirit. Anything in scripture presented outside of Holy Spirit, which is always capitalized, is presented this way. Paul is telling us that we are not to make ourselves slaves to the law, to the “spirit of fear” and oppression by trying to live up to rules that some believe are required for salvation.
The word fearful in the Greek is phobos. Today’s term, phobia, is based on this word. The way Paul uses it here is to mean fearful, terrified, or panicked.
Sadly, there are many who will teach today that after receiving Christ as Lord and savior, that salvation is His Grace + these rules. This creates phobos or fear and anxiety in the individual. Not what Paul was teaching.
Now, I do not do this as a way of creating conflict, but I have asked a few people with this thought process: “what are you going to do to out-give God?” “What are you going to do to one-up Jesus Christ?”
It is true that the striving, the changes, the development of the fruit of the Spirit is the proof of and the natural occurrence of an individual sold out and a slave unto Christ.
Upon receiving Christ, God adopted you and gave you Holy Spirit. Adoption in the Greek-Roman world was a big deal. Paul is telling you and me that we are given full legal standing in the Kingdom of Glory, equal heirs with Jesus Christ.
That is what gives us the right to call God, the creator of the universe, the Alpha and the Omega, Abba Father.
Abba is an Aramaic word. It means Father. The way it was used was with a bit of emotional inflection. Picture a small child, filled with joy as they run to their father yelling “Abba, Abba!” Abba is a very personal word that expresses the intimate spiritual relationship between the believer and God.
Praying in the Spirit
Praying in the Spirit
26 And the Holy Spirit helps us in our weakness. For example, we don’t know what God wants us to pray for. But the Holy Spirit prays for us with groanings that cannot be expressed in words.
27 And the Father who knows all hearts knows what the Spirit is saying, for the Spirit pleads for us believers in harmony with God’s own will.
Have you ever felt lost in prayer? Not even sure what to pray? Not sure what you are praying?Every believer has been there and will be there again, multiple times.
We are limited. We know that we go to the Father in prayer through the Son and by the Spirit. God knows the very heart and the hurts of those who we pray for. He also knows the hearts of those who are praying.
Most of us, at some point, will ask ourselves going into prayer or while we are praying “Am I praying right?” “Am I praying for what this person needs, for what I need?” “Am I praying in the will of God?” “Did I get everything in there?”
Guess what: If you are praying through the Son and by the Spirit, you are praying right. Even if no words escape your lips, Holy Spirit brings what sometimes we struggle with in prayer to the Father, clear as a bell.
Some people pray quietly while others pray out loud. Both are communion with the Father. Both are equally effective. Both give the one praying quiet time with God.
The other thing prayer does is it gives us a time of reflection. Time to cut through the clutter and focus on our needs and the needs of others. I have learned a great deal about others praying with them. This allows a time of intercessory prayer.
We are limited. We have finite minds. Do you believe that you truly know what every person needs, or even what you need? God knows. The mere fact that we pray to the Father for others touches the very heart of God.
If you are concerned that you missed something in prayer, don’t worry, God did not miss it. It is almost like we are saying sometimes “God, I forgot to tell you that this is happening.” God is not going to say “Oh, thank me you told me, I would have missed that!” God loves that we commune with Him, and that we are seeking Him in prayer.
The Spirit brings all of your prayers to the Father. The prayers driving down the road, the prayers when we are on our knees, and the brief moments we call upon His name. I want to leave you with this verse tonight:
16 Confess your sins to each other and pray for each other so that you may be healed. The earnest prayer of a righteous person has great power and produces wonderful results.
Continue to pray and pray fervently in the Spirit. We learn about our brothers and sisters when we confess and pray with and for each-other. We also learn about ourselves. We have witnessed prayer bring emotional healing, spiritual healing, and physical healing. At times, God brings revelation in prayer through Holy Spirit.Your prayers are powerful. God hears our prayers. Pray in the Spirit. God bless you tonight. Lets pray.