Victory in the Spirit

It is an exciting time that we're coming up on with the Passover and the Days of Unleavened Bread. I was just thinking, no matter how long you've been on this walk every year, it should be just as transformational every year. Even since the first time that you began to learn God's truth and the meaning behind these holy days, we should always be disciples, we should always be students, and looking to improve and to better ourselves every year. We're going to look at some preparation today. If you'll turn with me to John 17.

Here in John 17, we come to the final events that began that would lead to Jesus Christ's death. But we know Jesus would walk confidently towards those last hours as he would have now defeated Satan the Devil, and he fulfilled his purpose as to why he stepped upon this earth. And so, John 17, he would kneel here, and he would look his eyes up to heaven and say those faithful words, Father, the hour has come. And we're going to read a portion of this final prayer because it reveals something that was extraordinary for the disciples. And it's just as extraordinary for us as we walk now after his departure from us. And so he prayed these words. So look at John 17. We're going to read verses 15 through 19, praying to his father here. Verse 15, I do not pray that you should take them out of this world, but you should keep them from the evil one. They are not of this world, just as I am not of this world. Sanctify them by your truth. Your word is truth. As you have sent me into the world, I have also sent them into the world.

And for their sakes, though, he says, I sanctify myself that they may also be sanctified by the truth. So let's stop there. This is absolutely fascinating. Jesus Christ here was now leaving his own, as it says in verse 15, with an evil one.

An evil one, to say the least. And he knew that Satan is so clever and is so powerful that any human being would be unsuccessful in resisting him without his help and without his father's help. And so, prior to this prayer, he had explained to the disciples that it was absolutely to their benefit and it was to their advantage that he leave. Because then, once he left, he would send a helper.

His Holy Spirit, his power, would come to help them. Because he knew that they would definitely need his help as they faced this great adversary. And so he was explaining that the Holy Spirit would come. It would sanctify them. And as verse 19 says, he came to sanctify himself to then usher in a sanctification of his followers to be set apart, sanctified, so that his power, his Spirit, could come to the disciples.

And they wouldn't have to fear. Even though they were coming against this great and mighty evil one, they wouldn't have to fear because he said, my spirit, he is praying to the Father that he would send it to his disciples to remove them, to set them apart from the evil influence that would try to get into their minds and their hearts.

And so Christ prayed here that not only would they be kept from the evil one, but they would also be sanctified, set apart, so that they could be made good, sanctified, set apart, so they could be made holy through his truth, cleansed from evil, cleansed from the evil one, so they could accomplish righteousness just as he had here on this earth. So for this purpose now, the power of the Holy Spirit became. It was made available, came to dwell in our flesh for this purpose. So think about this. God chose those to whom he would bestow his power upon his spirit, and now they would live in a coexistence with this Holy Spirit.

A physical life, coexisting with this Holy Spirit, now facing an evil one who was looking to corrupt the good from occurring in those individuals. So this is the new reality, the new reality that every Christian faces, a new reality of having a sinful, corruptible, susceptible flesh now coexist with God's perfect and righteous spirit.

And that's what we're going to examine today. We're going to talk about this juxtaposition of God's Holy Spirit as it's living in us in this sinful flesh, because we know that there needs to be a victory. A victory will be had and achieved by only one of them in our life, either this flesh or either God's Spirit living in us. So the title of today's message is, Victory in the Spirit.

Victory in the Spirit. And it is crucial for us to examine this as the Spirit lives in us. With the Spirit in us, we could say that it would be impossible for us to live in simply some kind of surface Christian sort of way. But the reality we know is that it is possible for you and I to fall into what is a form of godliness, a form of Christianity. And the surface Christian is distinguished by allowing sin to remain alive and well with no real progress toward eliminating it.

And so to those who are not progressing and to those who are allowing sin to remain, and while it dwells alongside God's Holy Spirit, what we're about to see is that the Apostle Paul makes it very clear that if you're allowing that to happen, you may think that you're walking in the Spirit. But in actuality, you're not. If you're setting your mind and allowing those things which are of the flesh to remain, you will not be living in the Spirit of Jesus Christ. And Paul attempts to explain this. He now will see, will divide all peoples into two categories, those that are in the flesh and those that are in the Spirit.

And Paul gives no category for anything in between. So turn with me, if you will, to Romans 8. Romans 8. And we're going to pick up here, verses 5-8. So Romans 8, verses 5-8. And we're going to see that Paul explains that you cannot dwell in both. You're either in the flesh or you are in the Spirit. So Romans 8. And let's start off in verse 5.

It says, For those who live according to the flesh set their minds on the things of the flesh, but those who 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 is 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. So if you are living according to the flesh and your mind is set upon those things of the flesh, you are carnal. And to be continuing to live your life in that way, it says the carnal mind is death. You are not a Christian in the vital sense of the Word. You are in the flesh. You are hostile toward God. You are not subject to His Word. And you cannot please Him. And so we take those words in and as we think about sin's current position in our lives. Okay. But Paul does not end with that understanding alone. There is another aspect for those to whom God has chosen to be destined for a different path, a different way of living, those whom Christ prayed for in the garden. While Paul is absolute and unwavering about what he wrote about those who are living in the flesh, he is just as absolute and unwavering about what he writes next here. So clearly hear these words. Verse 9, he's speaking to you. Verse 9, it says, But you, you are not in the flesh, but in the Spirit. If indeed the Spirit of God dwells in you, now if anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ, he is not his. I absolutely love verse 9 there because Paul now turns his attention to those to whom God has chosen. And he says, you, however, you don't have to be like those I just described. Your mind doesn't not have to be hostile toward God. You don't have to be like those who cannot submit to God's law. That doesn't have to be your path. That doesn't have to be your destiny. You don't have to be like those who are controlled by the flesh who cannot please God. He says, you're different. You are not in the flesh, but in the Spirit. If indeed the Spirit of God dwells in you. So God has chosen you to be his. And if you are his and you have been baptized and you have had hands laid upon you and you've received the Spirit of Jesus Christ from his Father, you have automatically been put into a different position with regards to the sin in your life. And this is what he's describing. It's a new reality that exists within the life of a true Christian. Paul writes about this understanding over and over again, where he says, you were once in darkness, but now you are children of light.

And it's the incredible transformation that's brought about when the Spirit enters into you, when that Helper comes to you. Jesus Christ wants his own to know what Paul says here. You no longer have to live in the flesh. You have a new existence available to you. A new identity, a new opportunity, a new status, and a new position with regards to how you view your life in the flesh. It's a new reality that occurs when you receive the Spirit. And so we are to live life in this new reality. Do not live as if you are still in the flesh, because that's no longer who you are. You are no longer in debt to the flesh, and no longer in debt to that type of thinking and that type of behavior. Stay here. Let's go down to verses 12 through 14. Romans 8, verse 12 through 14. Paul is looking to make this crystal clear. He says, verse 12, Therefore, brethren, we are debtors, but not to the flesh, to live according to the flesh. 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. For as many are led by the Spirit of God, these are the sons of God.

So you no longer have to be debtors to the flesh, to live according to the flesh. Even though you have lived with sin's demand to be repaid through sinful deeds, what he's saying here is that has now changed. You no longer have to feel the burden of that debt. If you live in the Spirit, verse 13, you can actually put to death the deeds of the sinful flesh. It's absolutely fascinating what Paul is explaining here. Go back a few chapters. Go to Romans 6, verse 5 through 7 here. Romans 6, 5 through 7. The deeds of sin no longer have to rule over you. You don't have to fill in debt to that previous way of life. So, Romans 6, verse 5, he tells us how this is so.

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 been freed from sin. So that's our old self buried with Jesus Christ. So, verse 8 through 12. Now, if we died with Christ, we believe that we should also live with him, knowing that Christ has been raised from the dead, dies no more. Death no longer has dominion over him. For death that he died, he died once to sin, he died to sin once for all. But the life he lives, he lives to God. 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 mortal body that you should obey it in its lusts. Let's stop there. If you live by the Spirit, this is your new reality. Verse 11 said, You also reckon yourself to be dead indeed to sin.

The method by which Jesus Christ solved our condition of being in debt to the flesh is actually to bring us into the death with him. As verse 5 said, United together in the likeness of his death. So you can now look upon yourselves today in this spiritual position as being dead to sin. In other words, as being dead to the appeal and the power of sin and the power of the flesh. Paul is not saying that there's not a war going on. In fact, he's probably most famous for his description of the battle that occurred in him, that raged in him between the flesh and his own flesh and the Spirit of God living in him. There's absolutely a war going on in every Christian. But the Christian can now approach this war from the viewpoint that the flesh has already been conquered. Sin's dominion over you has already been defeated. The Christian life now, after Jesus Christ came and after he brought us into the death with him and after he rose and we feel the power of his life, the Christian life is not to be marked by defeat after defeat at the hands of sin. We are not supposed to continually live vulnerable, continually be defeated in this battle against sin. Jesus Christ's sacrifice changed everything, absolutely changed everything, and it changed the posture of the Christian now when it comes to sin. There's no doubt that we take hits in this battle, but we need to understand what Paul is establishing here, and that is through God and Jesus Christ our Lord, he has had victory. And that victory now has opened up the ability for us to live in that spirit of victory. It changed everything. And so the sin remains, but it does not rain. That's what verse 12 says there. The sin, it remains, but it does not rain. Does that make sense? So once we are His and once we're walking in the spirit, then Paul states with full authority here that we're able to make significant progress in this battle. He's not only reduced sin's power and control over us, but now he's also added his victorious spirit, his victorious power to us in the spiritual warfare. Therefore, we can approach sin from that vantage point of the victory that he has already gained. And we need that confidence. We absolutely need that confidence for us to make progress. We never have that confidence turn into arrogance because we know that our progress, as we make progress, is sourced from the power of his sacrifice. Not our own power, but we need his power. We need his strength because we still must choose whether we're going to walk in the spirit or not. We know that walking in the spirit is a very unnatural thing for us to do. We've experienced that in our own lives. And Scripture points out that we are naturally predisposed to a sinful nature. But rejection of that sin is absolutely necessary in walking in the spirit. If rejection of the sin wasn't necessary, then we could ask, well, what did Christ save us from? It's absolutely necessary. And we must have absolute determination in rejecting that sin. And it's a continual, uncompromising war that takes place once Jesus Christ has has come to live in us. So we don't say that we don't experience temptation. We do. It exists in our lives. We say, I face temptation, but I'm going to suppress those urges. I'm not going to say that there isn't a battle, but I know that there is a way to victory now in this battle. Turn with me to 1 Corinthians 10 and verse 13. Paul explains this in this letter to the Corinthians, what we're speaking about. And it's so interesting. Really, it's really a major theme throughout all of Paul's writings. The world has twisted his writings, but when you see what the length in all his letters, this is what it is.

So 1 Corinthians 10 and verse 13, it says, No temptation has ever overtaken you except such that it's common. It's natural. It's man's predisposition. But God is faithful, who will not allow you to be tempted beyond what you're able.

But with the temptation, he will also make a way of escape that you may be able to bear it. It's one of the most powerful, encouraging promises in really all the Bible for all true followers of Jesus Christ who face sin's attempt to make them something that they're not. With Christ, we have the victory. And with Christ, we know we have the power to escape sin's temptations. No matter what it is, no matter what stranglehold it's had on you, there is no sin that's too great. Paul wrote this to the Romans when he wrote that to the Romans, but that's not you. This is what he's referring to here. No child of God is left alone in this battle. You have the power living in you, the power that has already accomplished victory. And so if you're walking in the Spirit, you are given the power to break any death grip that sin has on you. So the Christian doesn't have to cringe. When that temptation hits, whatever it is, whatever particular weakness that each of us have individually, when it hits, we don't have to feel, oh, here I go again. It's the same thing, and I'm going to have to give into it. I'm too weak to resist. That is just Satan giving you weak spiritual needs. But you know better. It's like Paul said, that's not you. Who are you?

Once Jesus Christ has come to live in you, who are you?

You're not just in the flesh. You're not carnally minded, unable to be subject to his law. You're not unable to please him. That's not you. So we take a look at our sin facing us today, and then we can assume a victorious position with regards to it. Know that if you're walking in the Spirit, you have the power to overcome. And we have to have this understanding embedded in us, that Jesus Christ makes a way of escape for every sin. Every sin. He will help you bear up under it. So when we walk in the Spirit, the temptation is not removed. He can't remove the alternative to his way without also destroying the same free will. But God does something just as effective for all those that are his. He gives the power to say no to sin, and the power to say yes to righteousness. And I think that's something that all of us need to learn, myself included. It's such a precious understanding. We must realize and realize today that we can be dead to that power of the sin that's been with us. Do you accept that? We must all accept that it's an essential truth if we're going to make any progress toward putting away the sin. And it doesn't matter how long you've been walking this walk. Jesus Christ wants us to have a desire to keep refining ourselves, keep looking, keep searching, and then draw upon that power to make the change that we need to make. You haven't been chosen to be hopelessly imprisoned to sin. With Christ, the old man, the old woman is dead, and reckon yourself dead today, and you've risen up to a new way of living. Christ was crucified and resurrected, and God the Father said, my plan is finished. My children can come back to me because I freely forgive them. I remove the guilt. Sin can no longer stand in the way between me having a relationship with my daughter, with my son. It would be a great tragedy if we had this incredible task before us, and then we weren't left with any help, but that's not the case. The Spirit of God provides us with the ability to fulfill what's necessary. The Spirit of God provides us with the ability to fulfill what's necessary. And when we walk in the Spirit, the desires are experienced, but they're not indulged. So I hope that's a good foundation for us as we're now going to briefly look at the works of the flesh which are listed as we will find in one of Paul's other writings in the Galatians. If you'll turn to Galatians 5, I told you it's a common theme of all of Paul's writings. It just really invades all of his writings, this foundation. So Galatians 5, we're going to look to examine in ourselves the specific works of the flesh that are mentioned.

And what we will see pretty quickly is that the same understanding that he wrote in Romans and 1 Corinthians now carries over to the Galatians here. So Galatians 5, let's read verses 16-18.

He says, 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 were contrary to one another. So that you don't do the things that you wish. But if you are led by the Spirit, you are not under the law. So he says here that by living by the Spirit, by doing so, you're not going to gratify the desires of the sinful nature. You're not going to fulfill the wishes of the flesh. So he says here again, live by the Spirit, and if you do so, you will not gratify the desires of the simple nature. There is absolutely a way out to whatever sin comes.

That's okay. That's happened to me recently, so I understand. But what's interesting here is that in verse 16, there's an admonishment here for us to walk. He says in verse 16, I say then, walk. And that in and of itself indicates that there is still a choice. We still have control over these things. Certainly the Spirit of God works in us, but we have to be determined and active in that Spirit. So this list of the works of the flesh that we're about to read, it is acts of the flesh. It is actions, attitudes that must absolutely be rejected. It's not my intention to spend too much time here on these things, but it is part of our personal examination here before the Passover. And before we get to these works of the flesh, it's important to remind ourselves of what Jesus Christ came to do. He came and said, I didn't come to destroy the law, but to fulfill it, to magnify it, to raise it to a higher level. And so murder can be carried out in the heart, and adultery can be performed in the heart, just to mention a few. So keep that in mind of the higher expectation, the higher level of righteousness that we are to be striving for. So, verses 19 through 21, these are the works of the flesh. They're evident. They're obvious. So here we go. Verse 19. Now the works of the flesh are evident, which are adultery, fornication, uncleanness, lewdness, idolatry, sorcery, hatred, contentions, jealousies, outbursts of wrath, selfish ambitions, dissensions, heresies, envy, murders, drunkenness, revelries, and the like. Now here are these words. Actually, these are the words of the flesh. So the initial works listed here are adultery, fornication, uncleanness, and lewdness. These first four, we could say, are sins of sensuality, sexual immorality. One of the words used here is pornia, P-O-R-N-A-I, from which we get the word pornography. It's a clear statement here. It's regarding illicit sexual activity, thoughts of, acts of, premarital sex. Paul is absolute in what he's mentioning here. It's categorically, God says, these are sins of the flesh that will lead you to spiritual death.

We know a quick look around the world that uncleanness in this way, in the world, there is a stench that no doubt reaches high up into the heavens with regards to sexual immorality. So we must absolutely protect our minds and protect our bodies from this immorality. Let me read you just a passage of Scripture. You don't need to turn there. This is from Matthew 5, verses 27-30. Listen, with regards to these works of the flesh, the seriousness that we need to look at them. This is Matthew 5, verses 27-30. You've heard it, that it was said to those of old, You shall not commit adultery. But I say to you whosoever looks at a woman, and less for her, has already committed adultery with her in his heart. If your right hand causes you to sin, pluck it out and cast it out from you. For it is more profitable for you that one of your members perish than your whole body be cast into hell. And if your right hand causes you to sin, cut it off and cast it from you. For it's more profitable for you that one of your members perish than your whole body be cast into hell. Perhaps nowhere in Scripture is more clear that this is really speaking of the seriousness of the inwardness of Christ's teachings. In a sense where sin begins with many of these things and where change needs to occur, this identifies that there's a problem residing in the eyes and in the hands of touch. Christ carries the impurity of the lustful acts to the first touch, the first look of the eyes, the first inception of that desire. And so a Christian must amputate, in a way, the desire of that sin so that it never becomes an act, an action. So we think upon good things. We move our mind to good things when we're tempted and not use our eyes or touch to awaken any desire to be stimulated. And the world is deliberately designed so that so many things will spark in us this work of the flesh, so we must be very careful and diligent on those matters. So going back to Galatians 5, the next works of the flesh here that are mentioned are idolatry and sorcery. We know Satan is very subtle in how in the beginning stages of idolatry we can find ourselves where God is not the top priority in our life. Idolatchers find themselves not making God their top priority. And so we must look at ourselves daily and say, is this me? Is this me? Can I truthfully say that God is my top priority? Sorcery. This one might be one that we move by very quickly to assume that there's not a problem here with this work of the flesh, but we know this represents a huge part of society.

There's an extreme fascination that's all around us, especially saturated in books and in movies. But we can't live in the flesh on this matter, altering our minds by allowing books and movies that have Satan's stamp of approval on it. And often we might not even think about it. But we must think about these things. And maybe have an idolatry just before this work of the flesh of sorcery is purposeful. Because if we don't have God as our top priority, often these things aren't even spurred to our minds to even consider if it's a work of the flesh or a work of the Spirit. We get caught up in the motion of the world, and we don't pay attention to these things. And so that's why this work of the flesh of idolatry is so important to stay close to God because he makes our senses aware and makes us sensitive to Satan's tactics where we can even have the thought, ah, is this wrong? Maybe I should think about this. Maybe I should pray about it. Again, we can't get caught up in the world's emotion on these matters.

So the third group here refers to human relationships. Let me just read through it again and think of the warning that we read, too, about the kingdom of God and not inheriting it.

Hatred, contentions, jealousies, outbursts of wrath, selfish ambitions, dissensions, heresies, envy, murders, drunkenness, revelries, and alike.

We just we cannot be people that are marked in any way with regards to these works in act and in attitude. Paul finishes all these words again. He says, I've told you beforehand. I told you in time past, and he's almost saying I've told you this over and over again, these seemingly things that you may live with and not feel an urgency to get rid of. He says, of those things, if you are practicing them, those will not inherit the kingdom of God. Such an important list for us to consider. And we're either walking in the Spirit and making progress with regards to this sin, or we're not. We either have a resolute and uncompromising attitude toward this sin, or we don't. The Spirit will incline us away from the flesh, but it certainly doesn't walk for us. The Spirit doesn't turn off that channel. The Spirit doesn't prevent us from that glance. The Spirit doesn't prevent that outburst of anger or that angry thought. But often what it will do, if we're staying close to God and we're praying for a desire for Him to show us, it will give us. It will incline us. It'll bring it to our attention.

And then we can lean on Christ's power to help us to make the right decision and come away from it.

But you know, this list is important because no one who continues to sin has either seen Him or known Him, no matter what they profess. That's 1 John 3.6. Lord, Lord, we prophesied, we cast out demons, we did so many wondrous deeds in Your name.

And Jesus said, I will declare to them, I never knew you.

Depart from me you who practice lawlessness. That's Matthew 7.

Once sin's grip has been broken in our life, once we've received God's Holy Spirit, God judges on the basis of those activities which are habitual and continual.

In a sense, we're practicing them. So we cannot profess that Jesus Christ has snapped all the chains from me, but somehow He never snapped that one. This one that's been with me for so long. We cannot profess that or believe that lie because, as Paul said, but that's not you. That's not you. You have the ability, you have the power to remove sin out of your life. This is the new reality that you live in as a Christian. God's purpose for you is that you wouldn't journey through life continually buffeted, continually defeated by sin. His purpose for you is to have victory that has already been achieved by His Son. So let's conclude now. Going back to Romans, some more of Paul's writings. Romans 13. Romans 13. And we'll read verses 11 through 14.

As we conclude, Romans 13 verses 11, we need to make this Passover like no other. And we need to make our examination of ourselves deeper, more extensive, make that examination like no other time that we've had. This is the year. So this speaks about the pressing need to not sleep on these matters that we've spoken about. So Romans 13 verse 11, he says, And do this knowing the time that now it is high time to awake out of sleep. For now our salvation is nearer than when we first believed. The night is far spent. The day is at hand. Therefore, let us cast off the works of darkness and let us put on the armor of light. Let us walk properly, as in the day, not in revelry, not in drunkenness, not in lewdness or lust, not in strife or envy, but put on the Lord Jesus Christ and make no provision for the flesh to fulfill its lust. So when we take in the symbols of his sacrifice that made all this possible, that put us in this different position this year, we should think about those sins, especially the ones that have had a death grip on us, a spiritual death grip, and just visualize that grip releasing. Visualize it and thank God and thank his Son. Adjust your posture. Realize that you are now in a new position, a new position in relation to the sin in your life, and it's a position of victory.