The New Way Of The Spirit

Romans chapter 8 this morning Romans chapter 8 and whenever I announce I'm going to preach on Romans chapter 8 I think about kind of feel like the oh country boy who asked the neighbor down the road out for his first date her first date and he's kind of shy and backward and you know didn't say that half hour complete silence and then finally he broke the silence by saying would you marry me? she said well I'm gonna think about that for a little while another half hour of silence and finally she said you have anything else to say and his response was I think I already said too much well I think about that whenever I think about Romans 8 you want to be careful what you say when you come to Romans 8 and there is so much to be said you don't want to say the wrong thing when you come to Romans 8 if you were to make a list of the great chapters of the Bible and I don't know that that's even legitimate but if you were to make a list of the great chapters of the Bible you would probably include chapters like Genesis 1 maybe Psalm 23 maybe Revelation 21 and 22 you might include several others but probably Romans 8 would be in that list there are lots of ways to approach this chapter it would be easy to form our thoughts in this chapter around the subject of eternal security because this is a great chapter on that subject it would be very easy to center our thoughts on this chapter around the contrast that Paul draws between the old life and the new life and we'll do some of that this morning but that's a great theme of this chapter it would be very easy to draw our thoughts in this chapter and focus them on what means to be in Christ because all the blessings that we have in Christ is a wonderful theme of this chapter but as I approach this chapter I'm immediately mindful of the fact that Paul begins it with the word therefore and because he starts the chapter with the word therefore he obviously means for it to be tied in to what he has just said in fact it fits beautifully into his flow of argument from chapters 6 through 8 man just briefly remind you that this book of Romans is all about a righteousness that comes from God down to us we do not work our way to heaven we do not work up some kind of righteousness present it to God hope it will be enough and get into heaven righteousness is a gift from God being right with God is a gift from him comes down from him and Paul in the first two and a half chapters describes why that righteousness is needed and the subject is sin we need God's righteousness because we're sinners and then he describes for us righteousness given in the next two and a half chapters through chapter 5 where he talks about the righteousness of God that is given to us and we are declared righteous when we place our faith in Christ and the subject there is salvation or justification to be declared righteous and then in chapter 6 Paul shifts over to what it means for righteousness to be growing in our lives for righteousness to be growing that is now that you're saved now that you're declared righteous by God righteousness must be growing in your life and the Christian life is a constant process of growing to be more like the Lord Jesus Christ and in this section the keyword is sanctification which means growth in righteousness process progress in our Christian life of growing to be more like the Lord Jesus now we saw in chapter 6 that Paul talks about what it means to grow in righteousness is based upon what Christ has done for you at the cross and in your salvation God sees you as being dead to the old life and given a new life he sees he sees you as being transferred from an old master of sin to a new master the Lord Jesus Christ and that's the provision that's made for you to grow and to become more righteous based on what happened to you in salvation in chapter 7 Paul backs up and says you know there are some folks who go about this all the wrong way who try to live the Christian life and become more like Christ and grow in righteousness the wrong way some people try by keeping the mosaic law some people try just through self effort and those will always leave you frustrated in fact Paul ends up chapter 7 by saying verse 24 what a wretched man I am after giving his own personal experience of this battle within this struggle to become more righteous and failure and defeat and disappointment and disillusionment he says what a wretched man I am and then he cries out who will rescue me from this body of death and he anticipates the answer that he will fully develop now in chapter 8 thanks be to God verse 25 through Jesus Christ our Lord now Paul has actually anticipated his answer to his question the provision that God has made for us to live in righteousness chapter 6 we go about the wrong way will be defeated in disillusion chapter 7 but now what is the right way what is the right way of victory in chapter 8 he develops the role of the Holy Spirit the Holy Spirit mentioned 19 times in chapter 8 the overwhelming theme of the chapter the presence and power of the Holy Spirit to enable us to have this growth and righteousness this victorial rescind that he's been talking about the last couple of chapters he anticipated that that thought back in chapter 7 and verse 6 if you'll look at it please chapter 7 and verse 6 where he says but now by dying to what once bound us we've been released from the law so that we serve in the new way of the spirit the only time he mentions the Holy Spirit in chapter 7 but he's anticipating thinking ahead to what he's going to talk about chapter 8 the new way of the spirit chapter 8 now he develops this new way of the spirit what does it mean to live a new life what does it mean to grow in righteousness and to become more like Christ that is the thrust of this chapter Paul will focus upon what the Holy Spirit does to enable us to experience this new life and that's what we're going to see chapter 8 what the Holy Spirit does to enable us to experience to live out this new life that he's been talking about in the first seven chapters what does the spirit do first of all the Holy Spirit gives us new freedom he gives us new freedom look at verse 1 therefore there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus stop right there Paul says first of all the Holy Spirit gives us freedom from the penalty of sin freedom from the penalty of sin there's no condemnation to those who are in Christ those who are in Christ or those who have recognized that they're lost sinners under the judgment of God deserving of an eternal separation from God in the lake of fire where sinners were lost and were headed to hell and and those who are in Christ or those who recognize that and then they realize that Jesus came to pay for my sin and he died for my sin on the cross and I placed my faith in him my confidence in what he did for me on the cross to get me to heaven those people who trusted Christ to deliver them from the penalty of sin and to give them a home in heaven are those who are in Christ and Paul makes this promise if you're in Christ if you've trusted him as your Savior there is no condemnation to you that means you will never you will never experience the penalty for your sin though this is a very strong word the word condemnation here it's only found three times in the whole New Testament all of them in the book of Romans it's found twice in chapter five verses 16 and 18 and then once here in verse one of chapter eight there are other words translated in our English versions condemnation throughout the New Testament but this word is an intensive word a strong word the strongest word for condemnation it's talking about the ultimate judgment eternal punishment eternal separation from God in the lake of fire the the absolute final judgment for your sin and what Paul is promising us here is as a believer we will never we will never experience that penalty for our sin now even in a Baptist church that's enough to say amen that's enough to say hallelujah because that is the most glorious fruit you can ever imagine that you will never be punished for your sin your sin has been completely taken care of by Jesus Christ and you will never face this ultimate penalty the Holy Spirit because we are in Christ has delivered us from the penalty of sin but he's also delivered us from the power of sin and this is the real emphasis of Paul in these next few verses he's delivered us from the power of sin in his flow of argument in these chapters the real point that he's making is is if if the Holy Spirit if God can do the first deliver us from the penalty of sin then surely he can also deliver us from the power of sin over us now that we're in Christ and that's what verses two and four talk about the fact that the Holy Spirit's presence gives us the assurance that we can have victory over the power of sin we no longer have to live under its dominion notice the statement that he makes in verse two because through Christ Jesus the law of the Spirit of life set me free from the law of sin and death now he's picking up this concept of some laws that he introduced back in chapter seven and so forced to really grasp the fullness of what he's talking about we've got to get our laws straight here we've got to understand four different kinds of laws that Paul's talking about in this whole passage going back to chapter seven verse 22 he first of all talks about the law of God he says for in my inner being I delight in God's law probably speaking of God's holy requirements given in the Old Testament may be speaking of the mosaic law but regardless of that he's speaking of God's requirements that are given in his law his word and Paul says that's the first kind of law God's law and he says in in my mind I delight I delight to do that I want to do what God requires but he introduces to us a second law in verse 23 which is the law of the mind look at it verse 23 chapter seven but I see another law at work in my members of my body waging war here it is waging war against the law of my mind now the law of my mind and here Paul begins to use the word just of a principle something that is a constant like the law of gravity the law of gravity is a principle that God has built into creation that keeps our feet firmly planted on earth the law of gravity that we always live by well that's the kind of ways using this term law now it's a principle of the mind and what he's saying in verse 23 is there is a principle in me in my mind that I want to do what God wants me to do he's already said in verse 22 in my heart I really want to I delight in doing God's law so for the Christian for the believer there's a principle in you that your mind wants to do what God tells you to do that's the law of your mind the third law that Paul mentions is the law of sin in my members verse 23 let's try to keep these straight verse 23 says but I see another law verse 23 he's talking about God's law now I see another law at work in the members of my body waging war against the law of my mind and making the prisoner of here it is the law of sin at work within my members now this is a principle a constant of life that operates in your bodily members that pulls you away from your desire to do the law of God okay this is the sinful nature it's the law of sin in my members it's the sinful nature that all of us have that pulls us away from that principle in our minds that wants to do God's law that wants to obey God's law so we got these three laws working the law of God the law of my mind which really wants to do the word of God and the law of God but then there's this other law this principle in me the sin nature which keeps pulling me away from that and then the fourth law this is the key one for our passage today chapter eight verse two the law of the spirit of life this is the principle and presence of the Holy Spirit the Holy Spirit sets you free it's what he says in verse two the law the spirit of life set me free from the law of sin and death the Holy Spirit's presence in your life sets you free from that third law the law of sin in your members set you free from the sin nature and it's dominion over you it is the presence of the Holy Spirit which gives us both the motivation the want to and the power the strength to overcome that pull of the sinful nature against our desire to do the law of God see that's Paul's package here putting these four laws together it's the Holy Spirit that gives us the motivation and the strength to do what God wants us to do and not to give into that pull of the sinful nature away from God's word when I was living in Indiana back in the 80s I was pastoring in a small town called south Whitley I was town about 1500 and in our town there was a factory it was the major factory in town and it was a factory that made nuts and bolts for the automobile industry it was called grip co but affectionately in town it was known as the nut house and and so we had a number of guys in our church and ladies that worked at the nut house and one of them offered to take me on a tour through the nut house one day and and of course you couldn't do it while it was in full operation so we chose a day when it was shut down I believe it may have been a saturday or sometime when it was not working a shift maybe when it was not working I don't remember but anyway it took me through grip co and it was very impressive the machinery was absolutely impressive I mean great big machines that press out these nuts and bolts of different sizes that thread the bolts and that cover them with some kind of chemical rosin that will enable them to work correctly it was just amazing factory and all the machines were tremendous you know but none of them were working nobody was operating operating them the power to them was not cut on they were just there in place and so no nuts or bolts were being made now back in chapter six God has told us about the machinery that has been put into place to give us victory over sin it's the fact that when you were saved you were considered by God to have died with Christ and to be raised with him to live a new life you've changed masters all the machinery is in place you've got what it takes inside to live in victory over sin but you need a power source that cranks up that machinery gives you the motivation to cut it on and gives you the strength to do what that machinery is placed there to do and that inward power is the Holy Spirit and so the Holy Spirit sets you free from that law in your members that pulls you away from the law of your mind that wants to do the law of God that's the power of the Holy Spirit to release you from the power of sin now in verses three and four he further describes how that victory takes place he's just laying it all out here for us look at verse three for what the law was powerless to do in that it was weakened by the sinful nature God did by sending his own son in the likeness of sinful man to be a sin offering and so he condemns in in the sinful man in order that the righteous requirements of the law might be fully met in us who do not live according to the sinful nature but according to the spirit now we've often noted and Peter is our real source for this in second Peter chapter three we've often noted that Paul's writing sometimes gets a little difficult and it's hard to wait through the sentences the long sentences and all the qualifiers and everything that he's saying Peter felt that way too and that's one of the most comforting verses of scripture to me Peter talks about in second Peter three how difficult some of Paul's writings are to understand well this may be one of those sentences one of those passages so let me focus our thoughts upon three keys to victory that Paul mentions in these three verses the first is that victory does not come through the law he talks about the failure of the law to produce this growing righteousness in us verse two he's a three for what the law was powerless to do okay the law could not produce this freedom from the power of sin that he's talked about in verse two the law couldn't do that why because the law was inadequate because it was not good no no we've already seen that in chapter seven the law is good he says in verse three in that it was weakened by the simple nature the problem is us the problem is our simple nature which is not capable of fulfilling or obeying completely the law of God so the problems in us so therefore keeping the law is not the way to get more righteous so the failure of the law righteousness is not through the law secondly Paul says that this victory over sin is made possible by Christ's work it's made possible by Christ's work there you have it in verse three what the law was powerless to do and that it was weakened by the simple nature now notice God did by sending his own son in the likeness of sinful man very beautifully Paul states that he doesn't say that he came as a sinful man that would make Christ a sinner and he doesn't say he came in the likeness of man which would mean he really wasn't man just kind of looked like man by the way that was the first error in the early church about the doctrine of Christ denying his humanity not his deity but Paul doesn't say that Paul says very beautifully under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit he came in the likeness of sinful flesh he had a real human body he was a real man but only like us in our simple humanity he did not inherit simpleness as a part of his nature so he guards very carefully the person of Christ even by the way says it but the purpose for him coming in the likeness of sinful man notice was to be a sin offering that's talking about his death on the cross he laid down his own life as the offering the sacrifice for our sins and when he did that in the verse three he condemned sin in sinful man in the context the whole train of thought he's been weaving into this since chapter six what he's saying is that he broke the power of our sin nature and it's dominion over us that's the machinery that's been put in place back in chapter six that we talked about Christ's death on the cross condemns sin in sinful man breaks the power of the sin nature makes it possible for us to have victory so this victory is made possible through Christ's work on the cross but there's a third element here that's important this victory is applied to us through the Holy Spirit by the spirits work so it is applied by the spirits work verse four in order that the righteous requirements of the law might be fully met in us in other words what God expects the holy standards that he was getting it through his law they can be met in us please notice it doesn't say by us that's chapter seven trying real hard to do better it's in us God does a work in us to produce this righteousness and notice I says at the end of verse four who do not live according to the sinful nature but according to the spirit it is the Holy Spirit who takes what Christ did on the cross all the machinery that's put in place there to give us victory over sin and he becomes the power that puts it into force that cracks up the machinery that gives us the motivation to live for Christ and deliver righteousness and the strength the ability the power to do it that comes from the Holy Spirit so the Holy Spirit gives us new freedom he gives us freedom not only from the penalty of sin but from the very power of sin here's what Paul's saying in a nutshell when you got saved you not only were declared righteous and given a home in heaven you were given the gift of the Holy Spirit the Holy Spirit came to in dwell you to maintain an abiding presence with you he will be with you the rest of your life and because he is there in the life and the heart of a believer he gives you the desire the motivation and the strength to grow in righteousness it's what he's there for and so you have the resources you have the power you have the ability to do this the Holy Spirit gives us new freedom from the power of sin but Paul's not done with the Holy Spirit's work in us not only does he give us new freedom he also gives us a new mindset a new mindset I wanted to explain what I mean by this Paul will develop the concept of two different mindsets in verses five through eleven but I want to explain the choice of the word mindset and what I'm talking about there that may or may not be a familiar word to you but it probably is the best word to describe a whole bunch of concepts that could come to mind here what we mean by mindset is your outlook on life what we mean by mindset is the direction in life that you're taking it's really talking about what motivates you what what drives you it's talking about who you really are on the inside how you view life you could use the word worldview here it's how you see life and it's how you believe life is to be lived it's how you look at what's right and what's wrong and how you're to live we're talking about your life style all of those terms outlook direction motivation lifestyle worldview the inward view all of that probably can best be brought under the term your mindset because this kind of outlook on life this new direction in life begins with the transformation of your mind that takes place in salvation and so it is a new mindset it is a new way of looking at life and a new way of living life now what Paul will do in these next few verses is he will draw the distinction between an old mindset outlook on life direction all that worldview of the unbeliever and the mindset of the believer and he will show us how Christ through his work on the cross and through the presence of the Holy Spirit has transformed us from that old mindset to the new mindset now please understand he's not talking about two different kinds of Christians in this passage it will become clear as we move through the passage especially in verse nine and don't look there yet you'll get ahead of me but especially verse now to be clear that he's talking about unbelievers and believers he's talking about an old mindset and a new mindset the use of the word in some translations carnal has thrown some people off and they think Paul's talking about two different kinds of believers he's not he's talking about what it means to have a mindset a worldview a direction a motivation in life that is driven by the sinful nature is true of an unsafe person and to be transformed into the kind of mindset motivation direction in life that is true of one who has the Holy Spirit one who now has that new motivation in life given by the Holy Spirit there's a transformation a radical transformation that takes place in your life because the Holy Spirit comes to live in you and that's the transformation he's talking about Harry Ironside was a great Bible teacher back in the early half of the 20th century he began his ministry in the Salvation Army he was in the brethren movement for a while and then for 18 years from 1930 to 1948 he pastored Moody Church in Chicago he was a great Bible teacher he wrote 60 books a lot of which are still very popular today commentaries on different books of the Bible and insights on doctrines of the Bible just a great Bible teacher he was speaking one time at a Salvation Army event in San Francisco and he gave his testimony about how he had come to no Christ and Salvation Army administered to him greatly in his early years and when he finished his his testimonies talking sat down someone in a few moments handed him a little slip of paper it was actually a business card and the name on the front of that business card was the name of a very well-known businessman in San Francisco who was a well-known agnostic in other words he he believed that you could not know for sure that God even existed and on the back of that business card he had written the challenge to Dr. Ironside he said I challenge you to a public debate and I will pay all the expenses for it in a moment when there was a break in a in the service Dr. Ironside took the podium again and said I've received this challenge didn't tell who it was but just gave the nature of the challenge to a debate on the existence of God and he said I accept that challenge to this debate on one condition that the person who has issued this challenge produce at that debate one man and one woman whose lives have been wrecked by some vice that has come into their lives they have lost their reputation in the community they have lost their family but they have been restored to that reputation that good standing in the community and they've been restored to their family by their newfound faith in agnosticism and he said I promise you I can produce a hundred people who have been transformed by the gospel of Jesus Christ in the presence of the Holy Spirit in their lives with that a man rose from the audience and found his way out the back door it was the agnostic because he knew he could not produce a single person whose life had been transformed for the good by a lack of belief in God you see it is Christ and He's work on the cross making possible the presence of the Holy Spirit in our lives that transforms us from the old life to the new life from an old mindset to a new mindset so let's see how Paul describes these two mindsets what are they like very quickly five descriptions of each one as he moves us through verses five through eleven notice the the sinful nature mindset the inaviyah uses the word sinful nature it may be the best way to describe the word which Paul uses here which is sometimes translated flesh it's in a moral context here probably talking about our sinful nature here's the sinful nature mindset characteristic number one is a sinful direction verse five a sinful direction those who live according to the sinful nature have their minds set on what that nature desires okay a person who has his whole mind set on a particular course of life a direction in life this person's mind is oriented towards sin doesn't mean they always sin doesn't mean they do the worst kinds of sin but it means their mind is oriented towards sin away from God the dominating impulses in this person's life is against the things of God and so a sinful direction in life is the is the characterization of this simple nature mindset second characteristic is an empty life an empty life verse six the mind of the sinful man is death now the mind of the simple man is death what is he talking about here I believe that throughout this context primarily we'll see it again in verse 13 Paul uses the contrast between death and life much like the writer of proverbs does he's not speaking as much of literal death physically or spiritually as he is what proverbs calls the way of death and the way of life the writer proverbs contrasts two different kinds of lifestyle and that's exactly what Paul's talking about here two different kinds of lifestyle the writer proverbs describes them as the way of death the way of sin and the way of life the way of submission to God now the way of sin leads to physical death obviously that sin brought physical death into the world through Adam it also leads ultimately to spiritual death but the way of death is a lifestyle that is empty that lacks fulfillment purpose and direction and leaves you empty and it always leads toward death it always leads down it always involves you in more entanglement and slavery descent I think that's what Paul's talking about here an empty life no real answers just like the agnostic who could say I can't produce one person whose life has been transformed by my philosophy empty life third characteristic of the simple nature mindset mindset is hostility toward God look at it in verse seven hostility toward God the simple mind is hostile to God the idea of a clenched fist in the face of God defiant of God defiant of his standards of living and righteousness given in his word fighting against everything God in the Bible stands for that's the direction of the simple nature mindset fourth characteristic of rebellious lifestyle verse seven the simple mind is hostile to God and I notice the next words it does not submit to God's law a refusal to submit to God's standards of righteousness God's standard of living God's standard of right and wrong what he says in his word a refusal to submit a defiance toward God a rebellious lifestyle and again this may be a next door neighbor who's a very good neighbor maybe someone who's a very productive worker it may be someone who's a very kind church-going person but in the heart in the outlook on life life is lived for me and what I believe is right what I believe is wrong that's where our culture is that's why people in this culture cannot stand the thought that we Christians believe there are absolute rights and wrongs and that we believe when the Bible says that homosexuality is sin that lifestyle is a sinful deviant lifestyle that God abhors they can't believe that they say you're some kind of antiquated prude from out of the dark ages no we just believe in God's standards in the Bible that's why the culture cannot grasp and cannot stomach the thought that the taking of an unborn human life abortion is murder when the Bible makes it very clear it is you see our whole culture is defiant and hostile toward God and rebellious toward him that is the characteristic of the simple nature lifestyle we should expect that from our culture and when you cry out why don't people see this why don't people understand it that's the reason why and it's capped off with this fifth description Paul says the fifth description of a simple nature mindset is spiritual inability spiritual inability verse seven the simple mind is hostile to God it does not submit the God's law now notice this nor can it do so those controlled by the simple nature cannot please God a spiritual inability cannot grasp the principles of right and wrong from the word of God cannot see it because they're not saved they don't have the enlightenment of the Holy Spirit they don't know him they don't have that new mindset and so they cannot please God cannot see what the Bible teaches that is the description of the simple nature mindset of the unsaved persons general direction in life not everybody lives it out to the fullest just like none of us lives the righteous spiritual mindset out to the fullest but this is the direction of a mindset that has yet to be born again yet to be saved well then what is the spiritual mindset the mindset of the person who has the Holy Spirit and that's what I mean by spiritual here that's the way Paul describes it in verse nine has the Holy Spirit person who saved here's the spiritual mindset in contrast verse five you have a righteous direction in life verse five those who live according to the simple nature have their mindset on what that nature desires but those who live in accordance with the spirit have their mindset on what the spirit desires in other words now that we have the Holy Spirit within us we've been given a new bent a new direction in life a new purpose and motivation and our mind is now oriented toward righteousness the dominating impulses of our life is toward the things of God doesn't mean again that you always do what God wants you to and is pleasing to him doesn't mean you're perfect yet remember this is a growth process but it does it does mean you have a new direction a new desire a new want to a new motivation to do what God wants you to do that's a characteristic of the spiritual mindset the mindset of the person who is in the spirit who knows Christ second characteristic is a full life in contrast to an empty life there's a full life verse six the mind of simple man is death but the mind controlled by the spirit is life and peace and again he's talking about the way of life here the fulfilled life the purpose full life the abundant life the life of joy and peace that you can find in Christ fulfilled contented in Christ because you know him full life purpose for living that's the spiritual mindset third characteristic the presence of God look at verse nine after he's described that those who are in the sinful nature mindset can't please God can't understand God's law verse nine he says you however are controlled not by the sinful nature in other words you're not back under that slavery and dominion like we described in chapter six you've been delivered from that you're saved but he says but by the spirit if the spirit of God lives in you and if anyone does not have the spirit of Christ he does not belong to Christ what he's saying is if you belong to Christ if you have trusted Christ as your savior you have the Holy Spirit you don't need to pray for him you don't need to ask for him he's there the moment you trust Christ the Holy Spirit takes up residence with you and maintains an abiding continuing presence with you so you have the spirit of Christ if you don't have the Holy Spirit motivating you to live right justly convicting when convicting you when you don't giving you a desire to do what God wants you to do if you don't have the spirit of God and you then he says you don't belong to Christ you're not saved and he says once you have the spirit of God you're not controlled by the sinful nature you're controlled by the Holy Spirit you have this new presence of God in your life through the Holy Spirit that convicts you that motivates you that gives you a new purpose that comforts you the presence of God in your life fourth characteristic of the spiritual mindset inner strength inner strength verse 10 but if Christ is in you your body is dead because of sin yet your spirit is alive because of righteousness now what Paul means by that is there's a difference between the body dying and an inward spiritual strength that you can still have most most writers and commentators believe that Paul is contrasting the fact that even though we are believers we're still going to die the body is still going to die because sin's been introduced into the world but you have an inward strength spiritual strength that goes the other direction in other words the body's going down but you have a spiritual strength that can continue to increase and grow stronger you have an inward strength now that you're saved let's face it just because we're saved doesn't mean that we're not going to die physically unless of course Jesus comes back first but we all live in the same physical body that unsafe people live in we all have a body that the older it gets the less of it that works right the more of it that hurts and it starts decaying heading down toward the grave we all live in that kind of body we're gonna die but we in the midst of that slow continual physical deterioration in the midst of that we can have an inward spiritual strength that the unsafe person doesn't have and Paul talks about that distinction in 2nd Corinthians chapter 4 and verse 16 notice this verse on the screen therefore we do not lose heart though outwardly we are wasting away yet inwardly we are being renewed day by day so yeah there's a slow continual process of physical deterioration wasting away Paul says but there's also and can be because of the Holy Spirit's presence this new inner spiritual strength that can grow stronger the older you are in Christ inner strength characteristic of the spiritual mindset the last one is an anticipation of the future verse 11 an anticipation of the future and if the spirit of him who raised Jesus from the dead is living in you he who raised Christ from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through his spirit who lives in you you see one of the things we are guaranteed because we are in Christ and because the Holy Spirit is in us one of the things we are guaranteed is a future resurrection of this slowly deteriorating body if it does make it to death before Jesus comes back it will be raised again the resurrection to new life that's part of the promise of being in Christ and the Holy Spirit being in us we have been transformed and we have an anticipation of the future that an unbeliever can never have an unbeliever has nothing to look forward to after death the believer has everything to look forward to after death an anticipation of the resurrection a new body being with Christ that's everything to look forward to that's the transformation that occurs when when Christ comes into your life as Savior when the Holy Spirit takes up residence in your life and when you're saved this transformation from the old mindset to the new mindset from the simple nature mindset to the spiritual mindset takes place and pause just describing how we've been transformed from the old one to the new one God has taken that which was headed for destruction and changed it into something of beauty by his spirit and Tony O'Strativarius was a violin maker lived in Italy from 1644 to 1737 he was the maker of the best violin in his day and still the best today if you're really into music particularly classical music you know that the Strativarius violin is still the most highly prized violin today because of the richness and fullness of its sound it's just unlike any other violin made and violinists and major orchestras prize being able to get a hold of a Strativarius well Antonio Strativarius was a very poor man and could not do like many of his contemporaries who use the finest wood available Strativarius would go down into the harbor of the bay in the town where he lived in Italy and get old driftwood out of the bay and he would take it back to a shop he would let it dry out he would clean it up and then he would make his violins from that old discarded wood it wasn't until a couple of centuries later that scientists began to examine the Strativarius violins to find out why is there sound so much richer than any other violin and what they found was it was because of the kind of wood that was used evidently that old water logged wood that was out in the bay had been intruded by microbes little small parasites that burrowed the way into the wood making cavities in the wood and so there are resonating chambers throughout Strativarius violins that are not found in any other kind of violin a man who took what was discarded by everybody else only fit for what most people thought was the refuge pile the garbage heap and made the most beautiful instruments in the world from it that's exactly the kind of transformation that God does with us he takes people who are headed downward in sin who are becoming more disillusioned who are becoming less and less people of purpose and fulfillment in life in agony because of sin and the bondage to sin increasingly growing that way seemingly fit for nothing but the garbage heap and he takes that discarded piece of humanity and saves that person and fills that person with the presence of the Holy Spirit and gives new purpose and direction in life a whole new mindset in life that's the radical transformation that takes place the Holy Spirit has given us a new mindset and that's how we can have victory over sin we have the Holy Spirit who's given us a whole new mindset direction focus outlook ability to live like God wants us to live it's a new mindset but quickly there's one other thing Paul says just so that we don't get off track here because it's very easy whenever we talk about this kind of positional thing that has happened to all of us it's very easy for us to think well this is just automatic then and automatically ought to be growing in righteousness and getting victory over sin and why is it not happening because Paul reminds us the Holy Spirit has also given us a new obligation a new obligation victory in your life even though all the machinery is in place chapter six although the power source is in place to give you the power and the motivation to live this way it's not automatic to follow the analogy there's a sense in which you need to flip the switch and here's how you do it two things you're obligated to do verse 12 and 13 therefore brothers we have an obligation but it is not to the simple nature to live according to it for if you live according to the simple nature you will die but if by the spirit you put to death the misdeeds of the body you will live now the key to understanding our obligations right there in the middle of verse 13 toward the end of verse 13 but if by the spirit you put to death the misdeeds of the body two obligations we have number one put to death the deeds of the simple nature okay we've already seen your simple nature's judged in Christ in God's eyes you are not the person you were you've been given a new mindset now but the simple nature is still present and it's still crying out to you no no don't go that way go this way go my way do your thing follow this temptation and you have an obligation a responsibility every day that you live yes every moment that we live we have a responsibility not to give in to put to death the deeds the deeds the works of the simple nature we have a responsibility to say no to deny that a foothold in our lives to resist that sin which is in us now catch this he says it is by the spirit that you do that the Holy Spirit is there to give you the power the ability to do that you're not doing it on your own so here comes the second part of the obligation and that is you have an obligation to yield to the spirit which then gives you who gives you the power to say no to the simple nature you see how it works the Holy Spirit is in you when you say yes to him he gives you the strength to say no to sin how do you say yes to the Holy Spirit do you just wake up for a moment and say yes Lord yes you're will and to your way well you might want to sing that little song but really what you're saying here is I am going to say I'm every in every part of my life yielding myself to what the spirit wants me to be and do and that's found in the word I'm yielding to him not going to choose my own way today when I'm tempted to do that I'm going to yield to the spirit of God change my mind set to yielding to him giving control to him and it means confessing all known sin in your life right now because if there's some unconfessed sin in your life right now the Bible speaks of that as grieving the Holy Spirit you cannot have his power in your life to overcome sin as long as you're hiding some sin in your life that you've not confessed to God so you've got to come clean before God about sin and then yield yourself unreservantly to the Holy Spirit and what he wants you to be as you do that moment by moment the Holy Spirit will take control and energize this new mindset in you which gives you the motivation and the power to grow in righteousness that's how the Christian life is designed to work and that's what Paul's telling us in these chapters that's how we grow in righteousness and closing I want to ask you this question which summarizes it all as far as what do I walk away with what am I supposed to do here's the question to whom are you yielding control of your life to whom are you yielding control of your life as a believer the sinful nature or the Holy Spirit you still have the sinful nature in you and all you've been given a new mindset in salvation the presence of the Holy Spirit with you you still have that sinful nature and if you so choose you can still give in to its pull so the obligation the responsibility is with you to say no to the deeds of the sinful nature and say yes in yieldedness to the Holy Spirit to whom are you yielding control of your life that's the question every one of us needs to answer Father we thank you that you've given us a clear path to living a righteous lifestyle you've told us how it works and you've told us what our responsibility is you've told us what your provision for us is thank you that you've given us new life in Christ and a new mindset new direction that is empowered by the Holy Spirit and we pray that every day we live we will yield to the spirit and say no to the deeds of the sinful flesh the sinful nature so that we can live a growing life that is pleasing to you a life that is growing in righteousness father I pray that every one of us would seriously evaluate specific areas of our lives where we are not doing that where we're not saying no to sin and we're not saying yes to the spirit and I pray that we would make sure that we're giving the control of our lives over to the Spirit of God in Jesus name we pray amen