The Spirit of Love Brings Us to Action

Here we are, another Pentecost. As I began to think about that, there was this one scripture that just kept coming to mind that I think is so applicable really to this time of the year. And really, when you think about the challenges that we face in life, it seems every day in that sense, there are the difficulties and the trials that we face. And yet, God has given us a special power by His Spirit that we can succeed in this life. And if you want to turn with me over to 2 Timothy 1, notice verse 7. This is one of those passages that I think, in a way, it says it all to the kind of God that we have, the kind of love that He has for us, and how He doesn't want to leave us without the help that we need. Because He knows through His Son Jesus Christ what life is like. He knows the challenges that we face, and He knows some of the difficulties that we have. And here in 2 Timothy, of course, the Apostle Paul is guiding this young minister, Timothy, and he just reminds him here about the help God has given us. And he says to him, God has not given us a spirit of fear, but of power, and of love, and of a sound mind. So when we consider this, maybe we can think of this as maybe a theme passage for the sermon this afternoon. You think about the spirit that God has given us. He's given us the power of His Holy Spirit. Not only do we have the power to overcome sin, we have the power to love, and to have the kind of mind that God wants us to. And when you think about it, it almost sounds a little corny if you said, I have the spirit of love.

Okay, maybe it's just the way you say it. It sounds kind of corny.

But think about that for a minute. We have been given the spirit of love. It's also the spirit of power and the spirit of a sound mind. And when you think about it in those terms, it's different than most of the rest of the world thinks when it thinks of love. Most people have a tendency to think it's about an emotion. That it's maybe something that's kind of got a mind of its own, maybe kind of whimsical, maybe something outside of our control you just kind of fall into love. It just kind of happens. Sometimes they try to take that and translate that to religion. You talk about love in a lot of religions today, and it's all about emotions. It's all about feelings. But the love that Paul was talking about here to Timothy is quite different than that. Now, if you begin to consider the power and love and sound mind that God's Spirit gives us, I think first of all we need to think of the spirit of love as an action. The spirit of love brings us to action, and that's an important point as we consider the spirit that God has given us. The Bible describes love as a godly action. It's not just an emotion. It's not just a feeling. Now, it builds a spiritual bond. It builds an emotional bond. But God says this love we're to have is also a responsibility. It's our responsibility to love one another.

It doesn't seem all that long ago when we were going through the Passover, and when we read that whole section of Scripture at the end of the book of John, remember Christ said, if you love me, keep my commandments. That love to God was demonstrated in what we do.

In fact, in 1 John 5.2, you can just write that one down. You probably have it in mind. It says, by this we know we love the children of God. When we love God, and we keep His commandments. And the great part about that passage, it says, this is the love of God. Well, you say you love God? Better be in action. It better be in action. It says, keep His commandments. And that's the one that says, and oh, by the way, His commandments aren't burdensome. They're not burdensome. And so when we begin to find what Christ taught, what Paul was telling Timothy, love has to be an action. And we show love to God. Well, how do we show it? How do we show our love to God? Well, we obey Him. We obey Him. We keep His laws. We keep His commandments. And by His Spirit, we can grow in the kind of love that God wants us to have.

In fact, there was an interesting situation as Paul was confronted by the leadership of his day. If you want to turn over to the book of Acts. Acts 5, verse 32. Here, the religious leadership of the day, they were critical of the apostles. But here's Peter explaining the situation, showing that Jesus Christ certainly was the Messiah. He was the Savior that was given by God to all men. And as he's defending this, it's interesting the way that Peter puts this whole scenario into perspective. Notice what he says, Acts 5, verse 32. He says, we're witnesses to these things. We're witnesses to the fact that God gave His Son, Jesus Christ, to die for our sins. He gave us the power of His Holy Spirit that began the church. Gave us the power to overcome sin. Gave us this power to love. Gave us the power to think differently. And so Peter says, we're witnesses to these things. And so also is the Holy Spirit, which God has given to those who do what? To those who obey Him. So we have this intricate connection between loving God and obedience. So you can't really separate love, especially godly love, from doing what God wants us to. So it certainly becomes clear. Having the spirit of love isn't something you just have. You can't just have it. You have to exhibit it. It has to be evident in our lives. It has to show. It has to show in how we love God, how we obey His commandments, and how we love each other. Of course, that's other things that Christ said in the book of John as well. That not only do we love God, we have to love each other as well. And that has to be an important part of this whole thing. If we're going to obey, there has to be a love for God. Of course, if you take that, let's say, how do we take that to the greatest extreme? Now, if you thought about the most difficult way to put this spirit of love into practice, is there anything that would particularly come to mind that would probably be the most difficult thing to do? Well, if I claim to have God's Spirit, I need to be able to fulfill what Christ commanded. And He said something pretty tough, pretty difficult, pretty amazing to think that this is how I'm supposed to think and how I'm supposed to act. How can I put this into action? Because it almost seems too overwhelming to be able to do this. You can find this over in Luke chapter 6, if you'd like to turn over there. Luke 6, 27. Remember when Christ said this?

It must have been absolutely astounding to the disciples at that time. But notice what He said. Luke 6, 27. He says, But I say to you who hear. Of course, we've got the opportunity. God's opened our ears. He's opened our minds to understand. We can hear. And so what does He say to us?

Love your enemies. Do good to those who hate you. Bless those who curse you. And pray for those who spitefully use you.

That's the kind of action I'm supposed to have. That's pretty tough. I mean, it would have been one thing if He just said, Love your enemies. Okay, well, maybe that means I could pray for them once in a while. But He adds to that. Do good to those who hate you. Yeah, that's what He says. Bless those who curse you. Pray for those who spitefully use you. And so humanly, we step back and we go, No way. That's impossible. I can't possibly do that. They hate me. I don't want anything to do with them. They don't like me. Well, I don't like them. They're going to treat me that way. Well, forget them. I don't want anything to do with them. I don't care about them. They don't even like me. So why should I? That's the normal everyday human response. But with the spirit of love that God gives us, it changes the game, doesn't it? It changes the whole thing. With the spirit of love, it is possible to do this. And boy, it sure shows you godly love is not a feeling.

It's not just a feeling. Now, certainly it can be a motion that binds us to God and binds us to others. So I don't want to characterize it in the wrong way. But it goes way beyond that, doesn't it? Because emotionally speaking, they hate me. I hate them. That's normal. So we've got to go beyond just the emotion. We've got to go beyond the feelings to recognize the power of God's Spirit is the power to love those who don't even like me, those who consider me an enemy, those who treat me wrong, that I'm supposed to be able to treat them in a godly way. And of course, we we ultimately have the example. I mean, think about the death of Christ. As he is dying, with his dying breath, what does he say? He says, Father, forgive them. They don't know what they're doing. The ultimate example of loving your enemy. He died for his enemies. He died for those who crucified him. He died for us when we were his enemies. And so he showed love is an action. It goes way beyond just the emotional side of things. So when we talk about the kind of love we're supposed to have, this godly love, it's way more than just a feeling. And so you think of the apostle of love wasn't just the apostle of warm, fuzzy feelings. You know, the apostle John talked a lot about love. And one of the things that he said brings this point right home. If you want to turn over to 1 John chapter 3, get near the end of your Bible, 1 John chapter 3 verse 18. He had always summarized this whole concept of the spirit of love. Notice what he says here. He's writing to God's people. He's writing to the church. And he's reminding them. Of course, by this time John is an old man, probably 90 years old or so by the time he wrote these three general letters, the first, second, third John. Notice what he writes here, 1 John 3, 18. He says, My little children. And I suppose when you're in your 90s, you can say that to about anybody. Little children. Let us not love in word or in tongue, but indeed and in truth.

So he definitely connects this whole idea that love is more than just a nice word. It's action. It's putting these truths into action. So indeed and in truth. And so if we're going to practice the kind of love that God's called us to, to demonstrate that we have God's Holy Spirit, God's given us that spirit of love, then it's got to turn into what we do. Not only obeying God, keeping His commandments, but loving each other, loving our enemies, doing good to those who hate us. That means I've got to submit to His Spirit because that's not going to come automatically. So I've got to practice it. I've got to put it into use. And then we strengthen that bond that we have with God. We strengthen that bond that we have with each other as members of His body. And by doing that, then we can exhibit the kind of love He wants to, to those that don't love us, that don't care about us. And maybe one of the challenges that we have with this is it's, well, if we remember the way Christ said it back in John 14, did He say, you know, I think this might be a nice idea if you would kind of think about maybe loving one another.

Maybe we ought to consider that kind of love. Is that how He said it? No. He didn't say, well, if you ever have the time, try to do these things. Yeah, He didn't do that. What did He do?

It was a command. And I think that's an important thing to recognize. Not only do we recognize love has to be an action, but it's not just a nice idea. We are commanded to love. We're commanded to love. Maybe we ought to look at that last statement, I think the preeminent one, when it came to His instructions to the disciples. We did read it in Passover, but let's turn there. John 13, 34. This is a new commandment that He gave. It wasn't a new idea. It wasn't a new suggestion. It's not a suggestion. A commandment. This is a direct order. This is a direct order from Jesus Christ. And so not only is love an action, but the spirit of love is something we're commanded to do. John 13, 34. A new commandment I give you that you love one another. Of course, it doesn't stop there because Christ wasn't one just to give orders and not expect to do it Himself. And so He set the tone. He set the example. He showed the way. He said, I am the way, the truth, and the life. We have a question on how we should act. Well, look at the example of Jesus Christ. So that's exactly what He said. Love one another as I have loved you, that you also love one another. And so this is that word for love, the agape love, or agapeo. This is the kind of love that Jesus Christ exhibited. And He did it over and over and over again. In fact, you might just write down Galatians 5.14. Galatians 5.14, we show how did Christ love.

And this is how He did it. It says, the law is fulfilled in one word.

Guess what that one word is? Yeah, it's love. It's that godly love. And we're going to talk about that in a moment. What does that mean, agape, this godly love? It says, adding to that in Galatians 5, love your neighbor as yourself. Love your neighbor as yourself. Love one another, as Christ said, as I have loved you. And so this isn't something that was done away, but with the power of God's Spirit, when that first Pentecost came, it's what makes it possible to practice the kind of love that Christ demonstrated. Without God's Spirit, it wasn't going to be possible. The church would be like ancient Israel just struggling along. But instead, God poured out His Spirit on Pentecost. When He called us, He's opened our minds to His truth. And at baptism, He gave us His Holy Spirit. So it's what makes it possible to practice the kind of love that Jesus Christ commanded. And why do you think He did that? Why do you think He gave us this gift of the Spirit?

They'll probably for a lot of different reasons. But in this context, what came to my mind is, this isn't natural. This isn't normal. You know, for normal, everyday human beings, who loves their enemy? Who prays for those who hate them? That's not natural. And I think that's a third thing to keep in mind, that this doesn't come normally to us. That with the gift of His Spirit, now we do have power. We have the power to overcome our normal, everyday human way of thinking. That carnal way of thinking. And it's interesting if you've got an old King James translation, you probably noticed the word for love is sometimes substituted with a different word. In fact, in our hymnal, we will often sing, if I have not charity, then I am as nothing. Well, that word for charity is that word for love. If I don't have love, don't have the godly love. And the reason the King James translates in charity is because it's really associated with grace. And the word for grace is charis. Charis is grace. And this charity, this love, is connected to grace. And grace, of course, is God's favor. He gives us the gift, the free gift of His love, His mercy, His spirit. And because of the gift God has given us, we can love.

Or in other words, humanly, you don't have it. Humanly, you can't do the... Well, okay, we can have, well, like we celebrate this weekend, we can have motherly love. Motherly love, you love your children, you love your babies. It's just one of the things human mothers do. And of course, there's love between husbands and wives and brothers and sisters. But that's a limited kind of love. It only goes so far. The kind of love God wants us to have is this love that is connected to charity, which is connected to grace. If you look at Colossians chapter 3, notice verse 14. Colossians chapter 3 verse 14, after going through a whole list of different things, Paul writes to the church in Colossae. And he makes a pretty remarkable statement here. Colossians 3, 14, I think is this reminder that godly love doesn't come naturally. That we have to be given the gift of His Spirit so we can exhibit it. So in Colossians 3, 14, he says, above all these things, they're going through a whole list of attributes and characteristics we need to have. What does he say? Put on love. Old King James says, put on charity, which is the bond of perfection, the bond of perfectness. And so here we see God's Spirit allows us and enables us to have a godly love, a love that's not normal. It's a love that extends to everyone, even those who don't like us, even those who work against us, even those who hate us. And so this kind of love that he's given through his Spirit isn't relegated to, well, if you're really rich, then you can have it. Or if you're really important, then you can have it. Or if you're really important, then you can have this. Well, if you're of a certain race, then you can... No, it's nothing. None of those types of things. Because this kind of love is the kind of love he gives to his entire church, to his whole family, so that now we can love those who you normally think they're unlovable. Who could love them? They're so terrible and awful. How could anybody ever love them? They're the unworthy. They're unloving to us.

And then even take it to the next level, to an enemy. And so when you think about that kind of love, through the power of God's Spirit, that is nothing less than, I mean, in a sense, the heart of God, the essence of God himself, is infused into us by his Spirit. You know, sometimes it's described God's Spirit. It connects with our Spirit, the human Spirit that we have. And by the power of God's Spirit with our human Spirit, it changes us. It changes us. And so now we can do the unnatural. We can love when normally we wouldn't love, because God himself, through the power of the Spirit, is in us. Christ is living in us and through us. And that's a big thing. That is a powerful thing. I should have had you hold your place there in 1 John. But look at 1 John 4.

It says it a couple times in 1 John 4. First in verse 8 and then in verse 16. 1 John 4, 8, and then verse 16 says a similar type of thing.

Notice the way the Apostle John wrote it. How important this characteristic is.

John noted and made a strong point of it. He who does not love. How important is it that I actually pray for those who persecute me? How important is it that I love my enemies? How important is it that I don't mistreat others who mistreat me? Well, he says he who does not love does not know God.

That's a big statement. If we don't do these things, if we don't start to live that commandment that Christ gave us, even though it's not natural, he says we're not really loving God. We don't know God if we don't exhibit those things. And he says God is love. In other words, God has shown it because we're told Christ died for us while we were yet sinners. And of course, sinners are enemies of God, aren't they? Yeah, when we were enemies of God, Christ died for before the world. Christ was already slain for the enemies of God. And so when we recognize this very point, this brings it home. In fact, in Romans chapter 5, Paul also talked about this. Romans 5.5. Here we begin to see how it's possible, even though it's not natural.

For us, with God's Spirit, these things are certainly possible. In fact, we can keep the command that Christ gave us that we can love one another as he loves us. It is possible. Notice what Romans chapter 5 verse 5 says here. In fact, this whole section from chapter 5, 6, and 7, even into chapter 8, says so much about our normal human everyday way of thinking. Talks about our carnal minds and how we are absolutely opposed to God without his Spirit.

But with God's Spirit, it's a whole different story. And so notice verse 5. Romans chapter 5.5, says, Hope does not disappoint because the love of God has been poured out in our hearts by the Holy Spirit who was given to us. So God's given us that essence of who he is, and it's infused with our human spirit. And of course, what does that do? It changes us. It changes our outlook, changes our perspective. In fact, if you look at verse 5 again, this is the way the expanded Bible says this translation. Verse 5, it says, This hope will never disappoint us. This will never let us down, never put us to shame, never dishonor us. Why? Because love is in action. Why? Because we've been commanded. Not something that is impossible to accomplish, even though it's unnatural. Because God's given us His Spirit and called us. It is possible. It won't let us down. Why? Because it says, God has poured out His love to our heart. He's flooded us, some translations say, flooded us with the love by His Spirit. He gave us His love through the Holy Spirit, and He's given it to us. And so, boy, it sure makes the point. We can't work it up ourselves. It's not by our own human efforts. It's not just by wishing it so. It has to come from God. And then we got to get ourselves out of the way so it can shine through.

We can't stand in the way, and we have to recognize and yield ourselves to God's Spirit. Because when that initial thought comes that, oh, they don't like me, and I don't, okay, I got to get a handle on that. I've got to yield to God's Spirit. That means I've got to put it into practice, and I've got to exercise it. And when we recognize it's not us, it's God's Spirit working in us, then it's a whole different story. And so we don't have to be fearful of those who hate us. We don't have to be worried that this is some calling that I can't possibly fulfill.

He says, no, that's not the case at all. That with the help of God and by the power of His Spirit, we can exhibit godly love. And that godly love is the kind of love that is a sacrificial love, a love that isn't a normal kind of love. It's a godly one. It's a godly one. In fact, John described it a little bit more. Go back to 1 John 4 once again. 1 John 4, it kind of connects with what we started with back in 2 Timothy. Remember 2 Timothy said, God hasn't given us a spirit of fear, but a power and love of the sound mind.

John, in a similar way, says a similar type of thing here. Notice what he records for us. He says there's no fear in love, but perfect love casts out fear. And of course, that's what we've been called to. That love gets rid of fear. Fear involves torment, but he who fears has not been made perfect in love. And of course, we're brought back to God's love. We love Him because He first loved us. So with our confidence and our faith in God, we can be unwavering. He says He's never going to leave us. He's never going to forsake us. He's given us the power of His Spirit so we can exhibit this kind of love. Well, we can trust Him then. We can love Him in return. And we can have the kind of confidence that He wants us to. We can have the confidence that, well, maybe I haven't always acted this way in the past. Maybe I don't naturally think this way. But when I recognize this is the way God wants me to begin to look at life, I can look to God and say, yes, He does love me. He does care about me. I can love Him and I can begin to exhibit that kind of love to others.

And so then I'm leading with the Spirit of love and it changes the way I am.

But if I'm going to do that, something really important has to happen.

That means I have to fully yield to Him. And that's sometimes the hard part.

Because I don't know about you, but I get in the way. I get in my own way. And if I'm going to have this kind of love, I've got to submit to God. I've got to surrender and say, it can't be me. Because humanly, I can't do it. And I've got to accept the fact that I've got to allow God to lead in my life and completely get myself out of the way. So that I have a changed mind. I have a changed heart. And when I can begin to do that, I think that is such a change. In fact, one of the passages that is so amazing to me is a particular passage that's in John 3.30. Just write it down. I'll give you just a little background on John 3.30. It's an amazing section of Scripture. Because in John 3, it's that section of Scripture where Jesus Christ is coming to the beginning of His ministry. And of course, somebody prepared the way for that ministry. Remember who that was? It was John the Baptist. He prepared the way for Christ. Well, by the time we get to that part of the story, John's thrown in prison. And the disciples of Christ are beginning to baptize more people. And they come to John. John's disciples come to Him and say, those disciples of Christ, they're baptizing more people than we baptize. What's the deal with that?

John says a remarkable thing in John 3.30. You know what he says? He says, He must increase, and I must decrease. And you might just think, well, yeah, okay. John's ministry is overdone. He's prepared the way and that's it. Now it's time for Christ to be on the scene.

Yeah, I think that's a part of the meaning there. But think about that in the greater context. I think it applies to every one of us. He must increase. I must decrease. My thinking must decrease. My attitude must decrease. My love that I would normally have, I got to get that out of the way and let His love come through. That's what's got to increase. And so with the power of God's Spirit, I've got to get myself out of the way and submit to that Spirit so I can love, so I can begin to have His perspective. Because without it, then I'm still increasing. That can't be because that part's human. That part is the works of the flesh. That's not the fruit of the Spirit. And so I've got to get myself out of the way and allow God's Spirit to lead me and guide me so I can count on His strength. Get rid of the, maybe the most critical thing, maybe the next step in all this. If I'm going to surrender and submit myself to Him and really fully yield to Him, what's probably the most important thing that's got to change?

Boy, the way I think. That's got to decrease. My thinking, my normal, everyday human way of reasoning and thinking, that's got to change. And so our thinking has to be impacted by the Spirit of God. If you remember what Paul said to Timothy, it's a spirit of power, love. And you remember that third thing it said? A sound mind. A sound mind. And that word for sound there, if you look that up in the Greek, it means a healthy mind. Healthy thinking. See, when we have God's Spirit, we don't have unhealthy thinking. A sound mind. It's not unsound. Now it's godly thinking. And so when we have the Spirit of God, it should change our thoughts. That now we have power over our thinking so that we can control our thinking. And it's got to change. We can't have the normal, everyday way of reasoning and thinking things through. That's not going to be God's way. That's described over in the book of Romans. Take a look at Romans 12. Verse 2.

The Spirit of God is a very important part of the world. Paul says it a little bit differently here, but he certainly makes the same point.

That this spirit of love helps us to change the way that we think. So Romans 12 too, he puts it this way, don't be conformed to this world. Well, you don't have to do anything to be conformed to this world. You can do nothing. And you're automatic. You might say, well, I'm not doing all the terrible things they're doing out there. Yeah, but just the way we think and reason and work through situations in our life, it's normally not godly. If we just do it by our own power, it's not. So he says, don't think that way. But instead, he says, be transformed by the renewing of your mind that you may prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God. And so what we see here is it's by his spirit that God's spirit makes it possible to prove God's way even to ourselves. That when I get out of the way and let God's spirit lead, I think differently. I act differently. My actions are differently. My thinking is different. And so it's all about changing the way that I think. And the amazing part of that whole concept, changing the way we think, if we were considering that idea, especially in the Greek world, we went back to the time of the Apostle Paul when he wrote much in Greek. Guess what word that changing the way you think would define?

Changing the way you think is repentance.

Repentance in the Greek literally means that, to change the way we think.

Because if we change the way we think, we change our actions. And yeah, we could say, well, I'm going the wrong way, and then I turn around 180 degrees and go the other way. Yeah, that's a nice perception of what repentance is. But what is it that caused you to change directions? What's your thinking? It's when I recognize I've been going the wrong way, and I have to do just the opposite. I've got to turn God's way. Well, I have to change my thinking. If I change my thinking, I'm going to change my actions. And so this whole concept is, repent. Repent. Be transformed by the renewing of your mind. So we're proving God's way to ourselves. In fact, just over in 1 Corinthians 2, just over a couple pages from the book of Romans, beginning of 1 Corinthians, notice the way that Paul put it here. 1 Corinthians 2.4.

Here he puts it together for us. 1 Corinthians 2.4, Paul says, My speech and preaching were not with persuasive words of human wisdom. So it wasn't that Paul was just a great orator. Wow, what an amazing speech that he gives. No, it wasn't that. Notice he says, it was in demonstration of the Spirit and of power. So that takes us back to number one, our actions. It was in actions, the demonstration, and power, things that we can't do ourselves. God does in us and through us. So he says that your faith should not be in the wisdom of men, but in the power of God. I mean, with our own way of thinking, even as God calls us, we can only get so far without His Spirit. We can only get to a certain level without His Spirit. We hit a wall and we can't get beyond that wall without God's Spirit. And so Paul reminds us of that. Look at verse 7. He says, We speak the wisdom of God in a mystery, the hidden wisdom of God ordained before the ages of our for our glory, which none of the rulers of this age knew, for if they'd known, they wouldn't have crucified the Lord of glory. But it's written, Eye has not seen nor ear heard, nor have entered into the heart of man the things which God has prepared for those who love Him. So he brings love back into this. It almost sounds like, well, who in the world can know any of these things? Eye hasn't seen, ear hasn't heard, or entered into the heart of man. Yeah, that's the normal, natural, everyday man.

But if you begin to read the next sentence, guess what? By God's Spirit, we can know these things. So we can have a changed heart. We can have a changed mind. And by the power of God's Spirit, it normally will prompt us. God's Spirit nudges us and urges us to recognize, where are we falling short so we can get lined up again?

And yes, it may mean regret over what's happened or the conduct that we've been having. And then we change. We repent before God and He forgives us. And we change the way that we think. And so here in Corinthians, we see, yeah, it's focusing on our mind. It's focusing on the way that our minds work. And so if we're going to change our ways, we have to change our thinking. We have to change our thinking. And that's the challenge.

Oftentimes, it seems we find ourselves in a bad place. I made a terrible mistake. I need to repent before God. And so we ask for God's forgiveness. And that's a very good thing. But the challenge is, if I don't get to the heart of the matter, what tends to happen?

I find I do the same thing all over again. Same thing. Here I am. I'm right there, back in the same ditch all over again. Well, why is that? Well, I recognize it was sin. But if I didn't rethink the problem, then I'm going to do it all over again. And when I repent, I rethink the situation. How did I get there?

You see, if I never go back to think of how did I end up in that ditch, I might be driving down the road and end up in the same ditch all over again. And so I've got to find out, well, what is it that caused me to act that way, to say those things? And if I get to the heart of the matter, then I can change. Because when that happens again, now I see it coming. Now I see that the temptation of the thought, because I've reasoned through this.

And I've asked God to open my mind to show me I don't want to go that way again. So help me to recognize it before I get there, so that I can stop that progression of sin. So it doesn't go from desire to lust, to all the way to sin, and then that sin, if unrepentant, leads to death. So that way I can stop the temptation. But if I don't recognize that, if I don't recognize what is it that brought me to that sin, when the temptation comes, well, it'll just normally follow that progression all over again.

But see, that's where we've got to have that Christ-like thinking, because He was tempted like all of us. But that whatever it was, that instantaneous thought or idea or concept or whatever it was, it never led Him to sin. Because He was able to short-circuit that way of thinking before it even took ground, before it even got going. And that's where we've got to go. But if I never consider how I got into that bad place, I'll probably end up there all over again.

So I've got to work my way back to that point of, oh, that's where I stepped off the path and started down the wrong direction. And when I do that, I think that is real repentance, then. That's that renewing of our mind. And that's where God does reveal these things.

Well, look at verse 10 here. Yeah, these things. How is it possible? Well, we can change the way we think, because He's revealed this to us through His Holy Spirit. And these things are hidden from others. They don't get it, because they haven't been called. They haven't received God's Spirit. But with His Spirit, we can then understand things that are hidden from others.

In fact, He talks about that a little bit later, this mystery. And these are truths that are hidden from people until God opens their minds. In fact, look at verse 16. He says, Who has known the mind of the Lord that He may instruct Him? Who has known the mind? Well, that that's supposed to be us.

And so Paul kind of answers a question there, doesn't he? Who has known the mind of the Lord that He may instruct Him? Well, it's us. We have the mind of Christ.

And so if we're led by the Spirit, and we submit to that Spirit, we have the mind of Christ. So we have His thinking. We have the capabilities of thinking like Christ does. We have the capabilities of having emotions and feelings like Christ did. We can have His very mind. And guess what kind of mind that is? That's a sound mind. That's like the mind Paul told Timothy about. We've been given the Spirit of power, of love, and of a sound mind. So we can have a healthy spiritual mind through the power of God's Spirit. And so these right actions will flow from right motivations, this pure heart that he talked about here. And then it's translated into the right actions. And so God's given us that ability then. We can either entertain thoughts and wrong ways of thinking, or we can reject them and take control of them and have the power over them. And so God gives us that ability through His Holy Spirit to think different. To think different from the way we used to think. To think different than those in the world around us. And He's given us the means to accomplish that and have success. We can have success in doing this very thing. But giving us the power to do it, it also comes with the choice of whether we actually do it or not. Right? Because we still have the choice. So we either then choose to have that healthy, strong spiritual mind, or we just go with our own thinking. So God's given us that choice. And we can either submit ourselves to it His way, which of course is the way of love. It is the way of eternal life. Or we follow our forefathers with Adam and Eve's way of thinking.

They had a choice as well. So no doubt with God giving us His Spirit, we're also given the choice. Do we go with the old way of doing things? And all too often that's who I am. It's well established. I've been thinking this way my whole way. Or we go with God's way. We go with the way that He wants us to go. And so which is it? Which is it? Of course, we do have a God that is an amazing, loving God who's on our side. He's on our side. One of the interesting things that sometimes we overlook when we read through Paul's letters as he writes to God's churches throughout Asia, he says some interesting things that probably took them by surprise. A lot of them came out of the pagan world. And if you think of the pagan gods that they worshipped, almost all of the time those pagan gods were not seen as loving, merciful beings. Those pagan gods were sometimes against them. And they had to try to appease the gods. Those gods were not on their sides. Those gods were just as happy if terrible tragedies happened to them rather than good things. So when Paul wrote to the churches, those that converted from paganism, it had to be astounding to begin to think we have a God who's on our side. We have a God who loves us. We have a God who wants the best for us. We have a God who has our best interest at heart. And so to those that came out of paganism, that had to be an astounding consideration to imagine that very thing. So oftentimes Paul writes about that very thing just as a good reminder. Don't forget we can do these things. We can have a Christ like mine because we have a God who loves us. And he wants the best for us. He wants to see us succeed. In fact, he looks at us and he sees us as though we already have succeeded. He sees us as his children. He sees us in his family. He wants us there and he looks forward to that time. And so it's a powerful thing when Paul writes about this to the Galatians. Look at Galatians chapter 5 verse 16. Galatians 5 verse 16. He shows us, yes, we've got a God that loves us. He's on our side and he's given us the choice, though. We have free will and he wants us to choose his way. So Galatians 5, 16, Paul writes to the church in Galatia. He writes to us by extension here as well. He says, walk in the Spirit, walk in the Spirit, and you shall not fulfill the lusts of the flesh. Yeah, that walking idea is throughout Paul's writing. This is our way of life. This is the way we do things. This is the path that I'm on. This walking, this path leads straight to the kingdom of God. And I'm walking this way and nothing's going to throw me off that path. So he says, you stay on this path? It's going to be good. This is the way to go. This is the Godly path. This is his way. So walk in the Spirit and you won't get off the path. You won't get off that path. He says, yeah, normally what's working in us, this human nature, says the lust of the flesh lusts against the Spirit. The Spirit against the flesh, and they're contrary to one another, so you don't do the things that you wish. But if you're led by the Spirit, you're not under the law. We're not under that penalty of death. We're not under the death penalty when we submit ourselves to the Spirit of God.

And so that's the calling he's given us. He's given us that calling to exhibit that Spirit of power and of love and of a sound mind. And so as we walk... well, that almost sounds like exercise, doesn't it? Yeah, we do have to exercise ourselves to give that kind of love that we don't normally possess. And so God impresses on us this lesson to show us that he can in us fulfill this great obligation that he's given to us. So we look away from our own self and we look to him, and we can be strengthened with the power of the Spirit. Maybe as we conclude, we could turn to one other passage. We were in Colossians a little earlier. Let's go back to the book of Colossians. Colossians chapter 1. Notice verse 9. Colossians chapter 1 verse 9. Here Paul kind of summarizes this whole aspect that includes the power that God has given us. Kind of gets this whole concept of Pentecost thrown in here as well.

As he writes to the church, he says, For this reason, we also, since the day we heard it, do not cease to pray for you, and to ask that you may be filled with the knowledge of his will in all wisdom and spiritual understanding. Which tells me that's possible. He doesn't want just a little bit of his wisdom and knowledge, but he wants us to be totally filled with us. And of course, if we're filled, we can't help but flow out of us. So he says, be filled with the knowledge of his will with wisdom and spiritual understanding. Verse 10. That you may walk worthy of the Lord. We can fulfill the commandments. We can fulfill that new commandment that Christ gave as well. And what does that lead to? It says, fully pleasing him. Being fruitful, not in just a little bit or once in a while, but it says, fruitful in every good work and increasing in the knowledge of God. Strengthen with all might, according to his glorious power, for all patience and long suffering with joy, giving thanks to the Father, who's qualified us to be partakers of the inheritance of the saints in the light. And that's the goal. That's the goal. And ultimately, who gets the credit? Well, it's not anything I can do. I've got to decrease, right? He's got to increase in me. And so the Father qualifies us. And we can be qualified by exhibiting the kind of love that he wants us to, by submitting to his spirit. We have... what an amazing gift! We've been given, really, the essence of holiness, the essence of happiness, the essence of God. And so we can live. We can live spiritually. It's not us, but Christ in us can. And so let's remember this obligation we've been called to, and this wonderful calling that we've been given. That we've been given the opportunity to have a different way of thinking, so that we can overcome, so that we can love the way that God really wants us to love. And ultimately, we can choose life. And of course, when we do that, then I think we certainly exhibit the fact we are true Christians. And true Christians are those who are led by the Spirit of God.