Tag Archives: Holy Spirit

May 1, 2012

Letting The Spirit Have His Way With Us

By Terrie van Baarsel

Sermon Notes, Pastor Milton Vincent
April 28, 2012-Cornerstone Fellowship Bible Church

We have studied and exposited Romans 5-8 over the past year and a half.  Now, what then shall we do in response to the Gospel truths, promises, and realities we have learned?

“The Gospel is like a caged lion. It does not need to be defended, it just needs to be let out of its cage.” -Spurgeon

Comparing Romans 7 and 8:

Romans 7: The words, I, my, me are used 47 times. The word “law” is used a total of 22 times. 19 times in reference to the OT law, and 3 times in reference to the law of sin.

If you revolve around the law the best you are ever going to get is “I do not do the good I want, but the evil I do not want is what I keep on doing.” (Rom. 7:19)

Romans 8: The Spirit is mentioned 20 times.
What Paul longs for (life in the Spirit) is found in Romans 8.

SIX THINGS THE SPIRIT DOES WITH REGARD TO US WHO ARE GOD’S CHILDREN

1. He liberates us from the law of sin and death. (Rom. 8:1-2)
-There is NO condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus.
-The law of sin and death has been broken.
-The law that says you are a slave to sin is broken.

As much as we hate sin, for many years it has been our home and it’s comfortable. When stresses come, it’s easy to retreat back into sin. (Example given: Russell Moore’s adoption of an orphan from a Russian orphanage. The orphan was offered a better life, free from the stench and squalor of the orphanage, yet cries and reaches back toward orphanage when taken away.) The Holy Spirit beckons us to a life of freedom, better by far than our old bondage.

2. He inhabits us, making us His home. (Rom. 8:9-11)
-The Holy Spirit dwells in us.
-Not just that the Holy Spirit is present, but He makes us His home.
-The word “dwell” means not just as a guest or a tenant, but as an owner. We belong to him.
-He has ownership rights to do what He wants for our good and His Glory.

3. He enlivens our spirits by making vivid to us the reality of our justification. (Rom. 8:10)
-At our conversion, God decides to forever think of us as forgiven of our sins, past, present and future.
-He forever thinks of us as having the righteousness of Jesus.
-His thoughts toward us are forever governed by this verdict of “righteous”.
-The Spirit actualizes the reality of our justification and makes it vivid in our souls.

Paul uses half of chapter 3, all of chapter 4, and all of chapter 5 in Romans, 57 verses (!) to teach believing people about the reality of their Justification. Why? The Holy Spirit put it in Paul to reveal the doctrine of Justification because He wants it to be real to us.

-Doctrine of Justification mortifies idols, fills us with inner joy and a desire to obey.
-Let the Holy Spirit take us deeper into the doctrine of Justification. Be a student of this doctrine and its realities.
-Our Justification is a one-time occurrence, but the realities of it can be enjoyed and expanded upon.

4. He empowers us to kill sin. (Rom. 8:13)
-God did not give us the Holy Spirit so that we could coddle sin and live a life of sin management.
-It is by the power of the Holy Spirit we kill sin.
-Romans 7 could represent what it’s like to try to kill sin apart from the Spirit.

KILL SIN:
Don’t let it be conceived. (Js. 1:14-15)
If conceived, kill it before its birth.
If born, mortify it with confession and repentance.
When tempted, don’t think compromise, toleration or coddling. Think MURDER (of sin).
Kill it by confessing it and running to the cross.
Christians need a “Holy Mean Streak” when it comes to sin.
Develop an attitude against sin.

5. He leads us in the ways of sonship. (Rom. 8:14-16)
-Lead by Spirit = Sons of God.
-He coaches and leads into living a life appropriate as a son or daughter of God.
-We are more than just a subject or a slave (although we are that, too), but also a child of God living in the full privileges as sons and daughters of God.
-Don’t be timid or afraid. Trust the Holy Spirit to lead us closer in Father and child relationship.
-By the Holy Spirit we cry out, “Abba! Father! Daddy!”
-The Holy Spirit brings us to the Father in our joy, celebration, worship, grief, mourning or pain.
-The Holy Spirit also mediates the response of the Father toward us. (v. 16)

6. He helps us with our weakness and intercedes for us. (Rom. 8:26-27)
-He is not put off or repulsed by us in our ignorance and weakness, but attracted to it.
-He moves toward us in our weakness and helps us by interceding on our behalf.
-He comes alongside and is not satisfied until we get what we need.
-The Holy Spirit prays and the Father agrees with His prayer for our weakness.

Inside the prayer of the Holy Spirit, your deepest need meets God’s perfect will. Let the Spirit have His way and there’s no telling what God will do!

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January 30, 2012

Things We Can Know in Our Weakness

By Terrie van Baarsel

Sermon Notes, Pastor Milton Vincent
Cornerstone Fellowship Bible Church, January 22, 2012

Romans 8:26-28

What do we know to be true in our weakest moments? In times of weakness and bewilderment, what you hold to be true tells much about your spiritual condition. The focus of this morning’s message is not so much what we know when things are going well, but what we know is true in the midst of suffering, ignorance and weakness.

“My memory is nearly gone, but I remember two things–that I am a great sinner and that Christ is a great savior.”
-John Newton

See also Job 19:13-26; Psalm 56:1-9

FIVE THINGS PAUL KNEW TO BE TRUE IN THE MIDST OF HIS WEAKNESS AND IGNORANCE

1. That the Spirit helps us in our weakness. (Rom. 8:26)
-The Holy Spirit is not put off or disgusted or irritated by our weakness, but rather He is attracted to our weakness.

2. That the Spirit intercedes for us. (Rom. 8:26)
-You are always covered with perfect, flawless prayer.
-The Holy Spirit prays with perfect understanding and articulates perfectly what you need to the Father.
-Be blessed by the Holy Spirit’s intercession for you!

3. That God knows the mind of the Spirit. (Rom. 8:27)
-Know=as in knowing approvingly, not just knowing in the omniscient sense.
-The Father approves of the prayers that the Holy Spirit prays for us.
-The Father’s response to the Holy Spirit’s prayer is, yes, that is exactly the prayer I want to hear for this child of mine.

Romans 8:28 is telling us how the Father answers the prayers that the Holy Spirit prays for us:
And we know that for those who love God all things work together for good, for those who are called according to His purpose.

4. That God is working all things “into” good for those who are His people. (Rom. 8:28)
-God is always doing something in direct answer to the prayers of the Holy Spirit for us.
-God uses all circumstances in our lives, good and bad, as part of His design to work good for us.
-In all things and in everything God is busy working for our good.
-Does NOT mean that all circumstances are good. We are not calling evil, good. Rather, we are saying that there is no evil that God cannot use for good.
-Does NOT mean that God works everything for good according to what WE think is good.
-In His infinite intelligence and wisdom, He allows circumstances into our lives and weaves them together for good.
-A good example of this is the story of Joseph. …you meant evil against me, but God meant it for good… (Gen 50:20)
-Consider the example of Christ’s death on the cross. God takes this massive evil against His Son and combines it with Christ’s obedience and weaves it into the best thing that has ever happened in human history resulting in the salvation of many.
-If you believe the Gospel, it should help you to believe that God works everything for good.

Believe Romans 8:28 in every situation and know that whatever God allows in His good Providence, He will work for good in the lives of His children.

For this light and momentary affliction is preparing for us an eternal weight of glory beyond all comparison.
2 Cor 4:17

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August 24, 2011

A Matter of Life and Death

By Terrie van Baarsel

Sermon notes 8-21-11: Pastor Milton Vincent, Cornerstone Fellowship Bible Church

So then brothers, 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 by the Spirit you put to death the deeds of the body, you will live. For all who are led by the Spirit of God are sons of God.  Romans 8:12-14

FIVE TRUTHS THAT SPIRIT-INDWELT CHRISTIANS OUGHT TO TAKE TO HEART

1. We are indebted to the Spirit, to live our lives according to the Spirit (v. 12). 
We are under obligation not to the flesh, but to the Spirit (inferred).
Walk in love and freedom. Love, because God’s love has been poured into our hearts through His Holy Spirit (Rom 5:5). Freedom, because we have been set free from sin and works (Rom 8:2).

2. We are no longer indebted to the flesh, to live our lives according to the flesh (v. 12).
We owe the flesh NOTHING! We are under no obligation to give heed to the flesh. Don’t measure how much you have grown spiritually by the temptations you face, but measure spiritual growth by how you respond to temptation.

3. If we are living our lives according to the flesh, we are heading straight toward death (v. 13).
Literally in Greek: you are about to die. The mind set on the flesh is death (Rom 8:7). Death is separation, hostility, insubordination and powerlessness. There are many layers of death.

-Inward separation (between you and what you know is right).
-Separation from the enjoyment of fellowship with God.
-Separation from others (deceiving others, hiding your true self, dying in relationship to others).
-Powerlessness. Powerless to see God. Powerless to hear and understand His Word. (Matt. 5:8)
-Eternal separation from God. Those who continually live their lives according to the flesh show themselves to be lost having never really enjoyed a true conversion/salvation.

A true believer will not want to experience death on any level!

4. If we are killing personal sin through the Spirit, we will truly live (v. 13; also see Col. 3:5).
How to kill sin:
-Don’t let sin be born. Kill it at first though. (James 1:14-15)
-If you have given birth to sin, mortify it through confession and repentance. RUN to Christ. God is delighted to forgive.
-When tempted to sin, don’t think compromise, toleration, or coddling…think MURDER (of sin).
-Cut sin at the root. Remove stumbling blocks.
-Don’t think that to kill sin means to kill the desire for it.
-Set your mind on things of the Spirit and feast on Christ. Don’t obsess on what we can’t do, but turn from sin and feast on the goodness of God’s Grace.

Sin may be pleasant at first and make you think you are its best friend. But, sin’s goal is nothing less than your complete destruction.

5. If we are allowing ourselves to be led by the Spirit, we show thereby that we are sons of God (v. 14).
Because this is what sons of God do! (More on this next week?)

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