Victory in the Spirit

Good afternoon, everyone. It's good to be here with you.

Maybe one of the most fearsome and chilling parts in the whole Bible is when we read a passage where we're given the intimate thoughts of a demon. This is a passage in which Jesus Christ reveals the actual thoughts of a demon who had now just left a man. Absolutely chilling. Let's read this. Turn with me to Matthew 12.

Matthew 12. We're going to read verses 43 through 45. One of the aspects that we're going to extract here from reading the thoughts of this demon is the understanding that after a cleansing has taken place, after a spiritual cleansing of our spiritual house, if you will, after we have swept of that evil and of that sin, it is inevitable that that evil influence will try to return. So let's see this. Matthew 12, verse 43 through 45. It says, When an unclean spirit goes out of a man, he goes through dry places seeking rest and finds none. And then he says, I will return to my house from which I came. And when he comes, he finds it empty, swept, and put in order. And then he goes and takes with him seven other spirits, more wicked than himself. And they enter and dwell there. And the last state of the man is worse than the first, so it shall be with this wicked generation. Let's stop there. Here Jesus Christ speaks from the viewpoint of a demon who had been evicted from his home. This home being the dwelling place of this man. He had been displaced, and so he travels. He seeks rest, it says. He finds none.

But then demon has this chilling thought, and he says, the demon says, I will return to the house from which I came. And he does so when he comes and he finds it empty, swept, and put in order. He finds the house even more accommodating for him at his return. And so the unclean spirit then goes forth to make his house with this man once again. And not only that, not only has he been invited back into this home, he takes spirits with him, seven spirits with him, more evil than himself, and they make their home with him as well. And so the Scripture declares the last state of the man is certainly worse than the first. God no doubt blessed this man, God cleansed him and cast this demon out of him, yet the demon came back with more demons and tormented him. So what is the understanding here? It is that sin and wickedness, like an evil spirit in a possessed man, when it is driven out, it will inevitably try to return. The demon went out, and after seeking rest, found none. These desolate and dry regions that are mentioned here, those represent uncomfortable habitations. And so the demon looks to return to the home in which he found most comfort in, and he finds this man. So after spiritually cleansing himself here, instead of growing wiser and better, he will become seven times more foolish and miserable and sinful. What a parable! This parable is designed to teach men and women, Christians, of the danger and horrible consequences of relapsing into former sin, and the effect then being worse off than before. And it is as a consequence of not filling the empty space of his home. You see, that's the key part of this passage, is this word, empty. When the demon returned, he found the home empty. An unclean spirit may leave for a time, but will return if he finds that Christ is not there to shut him out. So if we do not fill ourselves and seek and pursue after God's Holy Spirit to be in us, we will not, we will absolutely not, have the power and the strength to keep the evil influence from returning. We can sweep our house with an outward reformation, an outward form, but without having Jesus Christ in this inward way filling us, the evil influence will return. Every house that is void of the transformational power of God's Holy Spirit is then vulnerable to that unclean influence from returning. God will take away our sins. He will cast out the demons, if you will, but he still expects us to pursue and to use the Holy Spirit to keep it from returning. And so when we accept Christ's cleansing blood and accepting that, we are also accepting the responsibility then to use the the Holy Spirit or else the sin comes back and it will be said of us, the last state is worse than the first.

Sin and evil will return and often, and this has been the experience of some of us, it returns with even more incredible force than before. But it is amazing that God does give us the privilege to have his power living in us and to help us in this way. One of the greatest lies of Satan that he broadcasts is that we can do it on our own, in keeping the sin out.

We can't. It's not true. We must have the Spirit. The Spirit gives us the ability to resist the evil influence. We do it together with Jesus Christ and his power. We can have victory over Satan and the demons and the influence only with the power of Jesus Christ conquering victorious spirit with that truly living in us. It's his death and his rising up that gives us the power to then make available to us to fill our home with it.

And it came to dwell in our flesh. Think about this. To those to whom Jesus Christ then applies the cleansing blood of his son, those now live in a coexistence with his spirit, his very spirit, the same spirit that raised him from the dead.

So this is the new reality of a Christian. The reality of having our carnal flesh, this physical home now, co-exist with God's righteous and perfect spirit. And again, if we don't fill our lives with it and pursue it and to look to utilize it, then inevitably we'll return to the old evil way.

Certainly all of us have experienced that. But once you've had your house cleansed of the fleshly sin, you and I must dwell in that spirit of righteousness. And in an attempt to explain this matter, the Apostle Paul divides all peoples up into just two categories. Just two categories. Those that are of the flesh and those of the spirit.

You can either be one who has their house filled with the Holy Spirit or not. Let's see this. Let's turn to Romans 8, if you will. Paul tells us quite clearly that you cannot exist in the flesh and the spirit. Romans 8, and we're going to pick up in verse 5 through 8, we're either pursuing and working with God's spirit or we're not.

Romans 8, let's read verses 5 through 8 here. It says, For those who live according to the flesh set their minds on the things of the flesh, but those that live according to the spirit the things of the spirit. For to be carnally minded is death, but to be spiritually minded is life and peace. Because the carnal mind is enmity against God, for it's not subject to the law of God, nor can it be. So then, those who are in the flesh cannot please God. Let's stop there. If you are living according to the flesh, if your mind is set on those things, this says your carnal, the evil will return.

There's no doubt about it. If you have that carnal mind, quite clearly it's death. You are not a Christian in the vital sense of the word. You're in the flesh. You're hostile towards God. You're not able to please Him. You're not subject to His word, this says. So we take those words in, let them rest on you a little bit. And as we think about sin's current position in our lives, but Paul does not end there alone with that perspective. There's another aspect with regards to individuals to whom God has chosen for a different path, for a different destiny. And this is what we're going to hone in today.

There are those that have an opportunity to fill their house with the Holy Spirit. And to those who are successful in doing so, they will have success over sin. The title of today's message is Victory in the Spirit. Victory in the Spirit. While Paul is absolute and unwavering in what we just read, let's see his next words here, because he's just as absolute and he's just as unwavering in these next words. Verse 9. Verse 9. But you, you are not in the flesh, but in the Spirit, if indeed the Spirit of God dwells in you. Now anyone who doesn't have the Spirit of Christ, he is not his. I absolutely love that verse. Paul turns to his chosen there, those to whom God has made this available to have a different path.

And he says, but you, you're different. You don't have to be like those to whom I just described. Your mind, it does not have to be hostile toward God. You don't have to be like those who cannot submit to God's law. You don't have to be like those who can't please him. You don't have to be controlled by the flesh. You don't have to be vulnerable to sin's return over and over again. No, you're different. You, you're not in the flesh, but in the Spirit, if indeed God's Spirit lives in you.

If you have been baptized and you have applied, been ahead, applied to your life, Jesus Christ cleansing blood, and you've received that Spirit, you have automatically here been put into a different position with regards to sin. You can now look to have Jesus Christ fill your house with the power that will not allow sin to return. This is what he's describing here. It's a new reality. It's a new reality that the Christian lives in.

It's in. It's brought about by the incredible transformation of God's Holy Spirit. Jesus Christ wants his own to know just this. You don't have to live in the flesh. You have a new existence available to you, a new identity, a new opportunity, a new status, a new position, and a new way in which you walk in the flesh, the new reality once you've received the Holy Spirit. And so we are to live life in this new reality.

Do not live as if your house is empty, because that's not you. That's not who you are. That's not who you are now in the flesh. You are no longer in debt to the flesh. You are no longer in debt to that previous way of thinking. You're no longer in debt to that previous behavior. That has all changed. Turn with me, if you will, actually go down to verse 12 through 14 here. Paul wants to make this crystal clear. Verse 12 through 14.

Therefore, he says, brethren, 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 you live according to the Spirit, you put the death, the deeds of the body, you will live. For as many are led by the Spirit of God, these are the sons of God. You are no longer debtors to the flesh to live according to the flesh, even though you have lived so long in your life with sin showing back up at that door, knocking, banging, demanding to be repaid through the means of sinful deeds.

Even though you've lived that way for so long, he's saying that has now changed. You no longer have to feel the burden of that debt. If indeed you live by the Spirit, verse 13, you can actually put to death those deeds of sinful flesh. You can fill your home. There's no room. There's no room for those things anymore because your home is filled with the Spirit. It's absolutely fascinating here how Paul explains this. Go back a chapter or two here. Go to Romans chapter 6, in verse 5-7. Romans 6, the deeds of sin leading to death no longer rule over you. We don't have to feel that power. Romans 6, verse 5-7. This tells us how. This tells us why that is the case.

For if we have been united together in the likeness of his death, certainly we should also be in the likeness of his resurrection, knowing this, that our old man was crucified with him, that the body of sin might be done away with, that we should no longer be slaves to sin, for he who has died has freed us from that. He's freed us from that power of that sin.

With the power of Jesus Christ, of his death and his rising up, that time is over. Verse 8-12. Now, if we died with Christ, we believe that we should also live with him, knowing that Christ, having been raised from the dead, dies no more. Death no longer has dominion over him, but the death that he died, he died once to sin for all. But the life that he lives, he lives to God. Look at verse 11. Likewise, you also reckon yourself to be dead indeed to sin, but alive to God in Christ Jesus our Lord. Therefore, do not let sin reign in your immortal body, that you should obey its lusts. Let's stop there. Ah, that is a new reality.

You also, he says, reckon yourself in this way. The method by which Jesus Christ solved the condition of us being in debt to the flesh and to sin's power is to bring us into the death with him. So verse 5 said, united together in the likeness of his death.

Paul is not saying that the war is not raging. In fact, he's probably most famous for his description of that war between the flesh and God's spirit. We're certainly battling. The demons are real. There's absolutely a war going on. But the Christian can now approach this war from the viewpoint that the flesh has already been conquered. Think about this. The Christian's life is not to be marked by defeat at the hands of sin over and over and over again. We're not supposed to be living that way. Once Jesus Christ's Spirit has come to live in us, continually vulnerable, continually defeated in this battle against sin, Jesus Christ's sacrifice and his rising up, it changed everything. It changed the posture of a true Christian when it comes to sin. There's no doubt a war going on. We suffer great hits in this battle. There's no doubt. But we understand what Paul is establishing here. He says, through God and our Lord Jesus Christ has had victory and has opened up the ability for us to live in that spirit of victory.

And so once we're walking in the flesh here, the sin will be with us. It might be right outside that door. It'll be knocking. It'll exist. It'll remain. But it doesn't rain. It doesn't rain in our lives. We don't find ourselves practicing the same old sin.

So once we are walking in the spirit, Paul states, with full authority that we're able to make progress, significant progress, with God's Holy Spirit and with this battle against sin every year. He's not only reduced sin's control over us, but he's given us his spirit to give us the strength and in this battle. And so we come to this battle by the very virtue of this union with Jesus Christ. Therefore, we approach the sin in our lives from the vantage point of the victory that he has already attained. We need this confidence, don't we? We certainly need that confidence in this battle. We never allow that confidence to be replaced by arrogance. We know that the power by which we enter into this battle, that power is sourced from Jesus Christ himself. It's not our own power, but we still have a choice. We still have to choose not to open that door when sin knocks, and it is a powerful draw. When you hear that knock, it is a powerful draw. When that familiar sin comes, oh man, it is so hard. It almost feels impossible not to open that door. It just fills you. You've experienced it. It's whatever sin you've been struggling with. When that anger rages, when the urge to the wrong attitude hits you, makes you want to then execute it with poor behavior, it is powerful.

Because we know that walking in the Spirit, it's a very unnatural thing to do. Living in the flesh, we know that we're predisposed to sinful nature, but we have to reject it. Because if rejection of sin wasn't necessary, then what did Jesus Christ die for?

We must be absolute in our determination in rejecting the sin. This is the continual and uncompromising war that takes place, that we go to battle to do it every day. We don't say that we don't experience temptation. No, we experience it. It does exist in our lives. But the Christian says, I face that temptation, but I'm going to suppress those things in my life. I'm not going to say that I don't know that there's a battle, but rather I know there's a victory in this battle. Turn with me to 1 Corinthians 10 verse 13. It really is. This is the major theme of all of Paul's writings. Paul explains this in his letters to the Corinthians here.

This is a powerful scripture. 1 Corinthians 10 and verse 13. It says, no temptation has ever overtaken you except that it's common to man. We're predisposed to it. But God is faithful, who will not allow you to be tempted beyond what you are able, but with the temptation will also make a way of escape so that you will be able to bear it. One of the most powerful, encouraging promises in all the Bible for all true followers that face sin's attempt to make us someone we're not. What is this saying? With Christ, we have the victory.

Every sin that you're faced with, there is a way of escape. It's guaranteed. That's God's promise to us. Paul wrote, when he wrote, but that's not you, this is what he's speaking of. God makes it clear that no child of his is going to be left alone in this battle against sin. This understanding is one of the first steps to help us overcome sin. We have to accept this, that Jesus Christ, he's given us the ability to break any chain, no matter how long it's been.

That's been honest. It doesn't matter if you have scars. I know that some of you have scars since childhood, since childhood at the hands of sin. And it has scarred you, and it has knocked you down, and it's still with you.

Such evil you've received at the hands of sin. But that past evil, it can no longer make you feel helpless to resist sin's attack. You're not helpless. The Christian never has to cringe when it hears that knock. Never feel like, man, here it go again.

It's filled me. It's impossible to not resist. I've been controlled by this so long. That's Satan giving you weak spiritual knees. But that's not you any longer. You have a new reality. You exist in a completely different way now. Who are you?

So take a look at sin that's facing you today, and then assume a victorious position with regards to it. Know that you have the power to fill your house with the spirit that has already conquered it. When you walk in the spirit, the temptation is not removed. Satan and his demons, God has allowed them to be here. God can't take away the alternative, the choice to open the door, without also taking away the free will that builds God's character in us. He can't take that away, but he does something just as effective as if he took it away.

He gives us the power to not answer. It's the precious understanding here of what Paul is putting forward. And so we have to realize today that we are dead to the appeal and the power of sin. Today is the day, and we have to accept that. It's really one of the first things, is just accepting that. It's an essential truth. We haven't been destined to walk in this life hopelessly with those demons returning. The power to overcome sin is now available to you. God decided long ago to free, discharge all the sins of the entire world. Christ was crucified and resurrected, and God said, My plan is finished. My children can come back to me now. I don't hold anything against them. Sin can't get in the way any longer. They can come back to me. I have nothing against them. You see, it would be a great tragedy if we cleansed our house every year, only inevitably for that sin to always return and to influence us once again. But that's not the case.

We have something and someone that we can fill our house with that will prevent that. Because the Spirit of God provides us the ability to fulfill what's necessary to make it into eternal life. It's that simple. So we walk in this flesh and we experience temptation, but we don't indulge in it. Turn with me to Galatians 5. This is a familiar scripture, once again, by Paul. Galatians 5, verse 16 through 17.

Galatians 5, verse 16 through 17. Paul says, once again, I say then, walk in the Spirit, and you shall not fulfill the lust of the flesh. For the flesh lusts against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh. And they're really contrary to one another, so that you do not do the things that you wish.

There's many things that we wish here in the flesh. It feels like we have a desire for it. But the Spirit of God helps us to decipher those things. Put them away. Paul says, live by the Spirit, then you'll be able to not gratify the desires of the sinful nature. In other words, there's absolutely for a man and a woman to live in victory, the victory that Jesus Christ has already obtained. But as we saw here, there is an admonishment to walk. That in and of itself tells us that we have a measure over the choices that we make, a measure of control. Certainly a Spirit of God works with us, but we must be determined within that Spirit, making progress with regards to these things.

We're either resolute, and we're either uncompromising towards sin, or we're not. We can't dabble. You can't crack that door open. Whenever we hear that knock at that door, that's the moment that we choose. That's the moment we choose. Am I going to walk in the flesh, or am I going to walk in the Spirit? But no one, we have to know this, no one who continues in sin has either seen him or known him. This is something we can't practice. No matter what they profess, the house is empty. Paul said it. You're either in the flesh or in the Spirit.

We can't proclaim. We can't believe that Jesus Christ came and cleansed us and broke those sin chains. We can't proclaim that and then somehow say, ah, but this sin, this bit sin, he didn't. No, he broke them all, every one of them. So don't let those words leave your lips, because it's not true. That's not you. You live in a new reality now. God's purpose for you is that you wouldn't journey through life, just continually buffeted and defeated by sin. His purpose for you is to live in the victory that Jesus Christ has already attained for you and I. Overcoming these demons, it starts with that understanding. We have a wonderful Helper. So turn with me, if you will, in conclusion to John 14, verse 15 through 31. This is a beautiful passage to conclude with here. It's a really great summary of everything we've spoken about. John 14. We have such a loving God.

That gave us His Son so that we could have this power available to us to fulfill what's necessary. Such a loving God. Let's read about Him here as we conclude. John 14, verse 15 through 31.

If you love me, keep my commandments, and I will pray the Father that He will send you another Helper and that it might abide with you forever, the Spirit of truth whom the world cannot receive because it neither sees Him or knows Him. But you, you know Him, for He dwells with you and will be in you. I will not leave you orphans. I will come to you. A little while longer and the world will not see me no more. But you will see me because I live. You will live also. At the day you will know that I am in my Father and you in me and I in you, He who has my commandments and keeps them, it is He who loves me. And it is He who loves me, who is loved by my Father, and I will love Him and I will manifest myself to Him. Verse 22, Judas, not as scary as said to him, Lord, how will it be that you manifest yourself to us and not to the world? Jesus answered and said to him, If anybody loves me, he will keep my word and my Father will love him and we will come to Him and make our home with Him. He who does not keep my words and the word in which you hear is not mine but the Father who sent me. These things I spoke to you while being present to you, but the Helper, the Holy Spirit whom the Father will send in my name, it will teach you all things and will bring remembrance, all things that I said to you. So peace. This is the ultimate peace that we have when we're buffeted. Since buffeting daily, this is the peace He leaves with us, this understanding. Peace I leave with you, my peace I give to you, not as the world gives do I give to you. Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid. You have heard me say to you, I am going away and coming back to you. If you loved me, if you loved me, you would rejoice because I said I am going to the Father, for my Father is greater than I. Verse 29. And now I have told you before it comes that when it does come to pass, you may believe. I will no longer talk much with you, for the ruler of this world is coming and he has nothing in me, but that the world may know that I love the Father, and as the Father gave me commandment, so I do. Arise, let us go from here.

Arise. That's the admonishment. Arise, you have a loving God who has given you His Son, it has cleansed you, and has given you the power to overcome. It's given you the power to fulfill what's necessary to obtain eternal life. Tap into that power. Let's arise from here and live in the victory, live in the victory of His Spirit.