Sanctifying Power of God
Romans 8:1-17
Intro- Good Morning everyone-
Last week in the Book of Romans we were looking at the difference between condemnation the enemy puts on us and the conviction the Lord uses to draw us closer to Him. We are staying in chapter 8 as our text to see the sanctifying power of God that works in our life.
Prayer- Father today help us to see the difference between our power to correct things in our life and the power of God working in our lives to change things. Help us to be seeking your Spirit to lead us and guide us into living a victorious life. In Jesus Name! Amen.
Turn to Romans 8- We will start at verse 9-17. If it looks familiar it is because it was some of our text from last week.
We have the flesh/ We have the Spirit of God (They are opposites)
We have life/ We have death
We have a spiritual life/ we have spiritual death
We say we understand the differences, but I think we get them mixed up quite often.
We desire more of God, but if the truth be told, we do not know how to do that.
They say that 43% percent of church goers want more of a spiritual life. Most do not know how.
Question- Anybody feel like that today? You want more, not satisfied with where your at...but you don’t know what to do to get to that next level.
Hungry, but you don’t know what your hungry for?
Illustration-
AT&T fired president John Walters after nine months .They paid him a severance package worth 26 million dollars. They said he lacked “leadership”. I not sure who lacked leadership there. They spent 26 million and they have nothing to show for it.
In 2002 – A man walked into a convenience store in Topeka Kansas, took all the money from the register and tied the clerk up. There was not enough money so he worked the counter for three hours until the police caught him...thinking he could get more. I don’t understand that! People do some really dumb things!
If we are going to seek God...then to find answers for what’s going on in our lives...it will be God who will have to give us the answers.
There must be an understanding that there is a difference between flesh and spirit.
God is spirit and all who want to find God must worship God in Spirit and Truth.
Flesh we are in charge
Spirit The lord is in charge
There is a difference between the law (The to do list) and what Jesus Christ did to set us free from the law.
We live in a world that wants to put “Christian” on many things that I see the word of God does not put His approval on.
Steve camp has a song out “Could I be a Christian”
We as Christians ....born again, regenerated, Holy Spirit filled believers do not have to live like Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde
We can live a victorious life on a daily basis- Does that mean we have no troubles...no! But we can by the Holy Spirit live victorious.
We as believers are different, positively different, not I think I see a difference, but radically different!
We don’t act like, we don’t talk like, we don’t think like unbelievers, our minds are steadfast on Christ.
The mission of the church is to bear witness to the life, death, resurrection of Jesus Christ
We are made in the image of Christ as believers
That can only be done by the power of the Holy Spirit working in our lives.
Acts 1:8– “But you shall receive power when the Holy Spirit comes upon you.”
(Greek) Dynamus power... the dynamite power, unending, un-measurable power of the Spirit of God.
What the law could not do, Jesus Christ did on the cross.
When he accented up to heaven, he said I will send you a comforter, I will send you a guide, I will send you the power to live victorious.
I will send my Spirit and He will dwell with you forever! Not just once in a while but every moment of every day because he will dwell inside you.
How did Billy Graham reach all those people for Christ and keep his life pure…The power of the Holy Spirit.
There is a power struggle between life in sin and life through the Spirit.
God is not a respecter of persons- He is not concerned with our claims to fame, our claims to spirituality or just our outward sign of holiness and righteousness.
He is concerned with our hearts and being totally surrendered to him.
We all need help in life, this is not something we can do on our own, we always want to fix us!
We need one another’s prayers, we need each other’s encouragement, but what we need the most comes from outside of this world, it is the Spirit of the living God dwelling inside us.
Ephesians 3:16- “I pray that out of his glorious riches he may strengthen you through his Spirit in your inner being.”
(That is the prayer of the Apostle Paul for the church)
When our life gets tough at work, our family, wherever! We should be asking the lord to strengthen our weak human spirit by his powerful spirit.
How can God do this? Because he is God!
I don’t know how he created the whole earth...but he did!
John 3:16- “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten son, that whosoever believed in him should not perish but have ever lasting life”
Now we are saved and on our way to heaven…There’s more!!!
He wants to cleanse us of the inbred sin, the very thing that kept us from God, take that out of our lives and replace it by filling of the Holy Spirit.
I am a Nazarene by choice!
I believe the word of God is true and that God desires us to be filled.
The bible tells us to be filled Eph. 5:8
The reason I know this is true because it has happened to me!
There is a transformation that takes place. you will never be same again, he will take you to a new level you have never been before.
The doctrine of sanctification can take a sinner from hell and save them, free them from sin and empower them by the Holy Spirit.
The devil does not want the believer to know that because he enjoys slapping them around.
The devil wants us on the defense swatting at him, having him annoy us all the time.
I’m telling you that a Spirit filled believer will be on the offense, slapping the devil out of the way in Jesus Name!
Identifying the things of God and going after them!
How many people live defeated lives–cannot say the power of God is working in them (not just available) working in our lives by the power of God.
****When you are praying for rain...wear a rain coat!
Don’t be checking the weather, looking at the clouds, put a raincoat on and trust God.
We need to be committed to allowing God to transform us!
Illustration- someone said “don’t imagine you can change a man unless he is in diapers.”
We can’t change a person, but the lord can, he can use us to influence others.
Don’t be confused “bad company corrupts good character”
Stay away from the people who can influence you negative.
Can people change from evil to good?
Non -Christian to Christian?
The hope of change can only come from God.
Peter the fisherman became the powerful preacher,
Saul the zealous, persecuted the Jews, became a follower of Christ!
John the hothead, son of thunder became the apostle of love
Change is possible with God! And it begins in our hearts.
2 cor. 5:17- “Therefore, if anybody is in Christ, he is a new creation, the old is gone, the new has come.”
Old is gone...new creation!
Cleansing from the inner sin, holiness is perfected in the instant of entire sanctification
Getting saved
Heart cleansing (heart purity, Christian perfection, 2nd work of Grace) MEANS WE HAVE SURRENDERED ALL TO CHRIST
Filling of the Holy Spirit
Call to consecration/ TO BE SET APART FROM THE WORLD
Therefore there is no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus (LAST WEEK)
V4-“But those who live NOT in accordance to the sinful nature but according to the Spirit.”
V5 “But those who live in accordance with the spirit have their minds set on what the Spirit desires.”
V7- “The sinful mind is hostile to God.”
Therefore we have an obligation- not to the sinful nature...but by living the spirit lead life
The Spirit Himself testifies with our spirit that we are God’s children
We know that we know, that we are children of God, and we can know that we know when he fills us with his Spirit
I’m going to ask you this morning
Are you tired of the same old, same old, I want more.
God I want everything you have to offer, because what I am doing is not working.
Romans 8:26- “In the same way the spirit helps us in our weakness. we do not know what we ought to pray for, but the spirit himself intercedes for us with groins that words cannot express.”
Know the mind of the Spirit, because the spirit intercedes for the saints in accordance with God’s will.
I want victory this morning ...
I’m going to ask you to step out...trust God
I am desiring this morning lord to be filled...cleansed of my sin and filled with your holy spirit
I realize today that I will not be the same from this day forward
The lord is in the transformation business.
How does he do it.
Max Lucado says “The lord is up to the task” he loves to change the faces of his children
I surrender God! I give up you can have all of me!
The void I feel now will be filled by the lord
The crisis period is when we come to Christ as savior!
The second work of grace is that he wants to be lord of your life.
Total surrender ... and he give you the power to live victorious
Who is ready to make that commitment!
Offer yourself to God! Offer your body as a living sacrifice.
When did the apostle Paul surrender? When he had a Damascus road experience!
