The Work of the Holy Spirit - Life of Paul Part 61

William Friedkin gave an interview, and in this interview he was asked the question, do you personally believe in a real and literal devil. And here's what he said and I quote that I believe in the existence of good and evil and in the constant struggle between these two forces in all of us."

The post whether you believe in a literal devil or not. And by the way I do what you do or not, I doubt there's anyone here today who would argue with Mr. Friedkin's comment that there is a constant total war going on inside each one of us here today total war between good and evil, righteousness and unrighteousness, morality and immorality, decency and corruption obedience to God and disobedience to God. Below 32 years ago when I gave my life to Christ. I'll save you the trouble on 54, when I gave my life to Christ. I had the struggle going on inside of me and I thought wow, now that I've come to Christ. This is wonderful this trouble going to go away and as you know is a follower of Christ that didn't happen because instead of the struggle going away when we become followers of Jesus.

Not only does it stay but often intensifies that this is what we want to talk about today we want to talk about. First of all why as followers of Jesus Christ.

Do we have this battle inside of us and secondly how can we win it more often than we do.

Well remember lucrative reviewed in our last message from the life of Paul. We talked about the person in the work of the Holy Spirit that we learned in that message that the Holy Spirit is a person. He is not an inanimate force is not a gift.

And we also learned in that message that the Holy Spirit is not only a person but he's God coequal with God the father and God the son, the Lord Jesus and then that message we look at 10 different jobs 10 different ministries that the Holy Spirit carries on today in the 21st-century and I don't have time to review all of those but I invite you to go get the tape.

Go get the CD in our bookstore now today what I want to do is cover one more job one more ministry of the Holy Spirit in our lives and that is his role in helping us live the Christian life is role in helping us when this tug-of-war inside of us more consistently than were waiting at right now and so that's the plan for today.1st, let's cover the initial question and that is why we have this tug-of-war. What is the problem.

What Galatians 5 or I ask you to turn, tells us what the problem is verse 17 for our sinful nature craves what is contrary to God's spirit and verse 17 the spirit calls us to live in a way that is contrary to our sinful nature. These two forces are in conflict with one another so that we do not do what we want to do here in Galatians 5 the Bible is talking to us as followers of Christ and telling us that just because were believers. That doesn't mean that our sinful human nature disappears. No, no, as followers of Christ our sinful human nature is still alive and well with all of his passions is not as unruly as ever in our life. This is why as followers of Jesus Christ.

We all want to eat too much sleep, too much, drink too much and spend too much. This is why we all want to talk too much gossip too much. This is why we all will feel like a week. We want to disrespect authority and have our own way too much. This is why we all speed on the Beltway too much because our sinful human nature is alive and well, maybe you heard the story about the man was suddenly itself arrived one day depicted up there with his doctor, Dr. Pitts of Surrey said I got bad news and worse news for you is that the bad news is that you're just a come back and you only have 24 hours to live for the worse news is often try to call you since yesterday.

Now I got bad news and worse news for you here today my friend. The bad news is that I impose human nature is still alive in us as followers of Christ. The worse news is that these passions are stronger than you and I are far too strong for us to ever be able to control them or subdue them in our own power and in our own human strength that Paul wrote about this. The struggle in Romans chapter 7. Listen to what he said he said and I quote for what I want to do. I do not do, but what I don't want to do. I do not have the desire to do what is right, but I cannot carry it out for what I do is not the good I want to do. Rather, if the evil I do not want to do that is what I keep doing. Paul went on the say so. I find this law at work in me that when I want to do good, evil is right there with people in my interbeing.

I delight in God's law want to do what God wants me to do, but I see another law at work in my body, waging war against the law of my mind and making me a prisoner of the sinful nature that lives in my body. What a wretched man I am Paul says hello can deliver me from all of this deference for the vast majority of Christ followers in our world today. This is our life story. We want to do what's right. We try to do what's right.

We want to obey God but the passions of our sinful nature are so strong that if I try to spit on a forest fire and we lose and we lose and we lose and so often we find ourselves feeling like the apostle Paul. O wretched man, wretched woman that I am we get discouraged we get defeated.

When we begin sinking if were not careful to do a cycle of self recrimination and self-condemnation and guilt when we read a verse like John 10 in the Bible where Jesus says John 1010 I've come to give new life and give it to you abundantly. Everything I don't always talking about the Jesus is obviously not talk about me and and we were not careful can begin to doubt our relationship with God because they start asking questions like that upon the Christian then how come I can't live the Christian life. So maybe I'm really not even aggressive is the longest as this is really good. No, not now.

I'm thoroughly depressed. Now I really probably glad I got here this morning so you could subtract me well knowing that it I got good news coming: I got to the good news for you. If you're in this situation.

Actually, the first piece of good news is this that is followers of Christ, God's love for us is not based on our performance. Good or bad. The whole point of Paul goes on to stress in Romans chapter 8 and he concludes that chapter with this wonderful affirmation. Verse 38 for I am convinced that neither death nor life, nor angels nor demons, nor things present, nor things to come, nor height, nor depth, nor any other thing in creation, including our own poor performance can separate us from the love of God that is in Jesus Christ our Lord. Followers of Jesus Christ we sometimes lose this performance tug-of-war going on inside of us. Yes we do when we lose it does not diminish or change God's law throughout one, the answer is no, not at all you know, I've raised three boys. My youngest thousand 18 and when I was raising on their performance hasn't always been what I wish it would, in fact, even to this day. Sometimes their performance is not what I wish it would be sometime. Now the question is when they perform in a way that I'm not happy with that change my love for them.

No, not at all (I don't love my boys because they behave right.

I love them because their mom. My love for them is based on our relationship. It is not based on their performance and what the Bible tells us that that's exactly the way God love followers of Jesus Christ's love for us is based on our relationship with him through Jesus Christ not on our performance man take a moment Savior here. You never trusted Christ the real and personal way. Maybe you've never been loved like this in your whole life.

Maybe you've never had a human being. Love you for out of relationship instead of performance, but I'm here to tell you that God be all the God of the universe offers to love you like this. How cool is that you have the God of the universe. Love you like this and and friends you can have this relationship with God, but you can only have it. Through Jesus Christ, that the only place God offers us, relationship, hope you think about what I have one other good piece of news for us, and that this that is followers of Jesus Christ.

God is provided a means for us to get on top of this battle inside of us and end and and we learn, remember, we learned that in our last message that we give our lives to Christ. The Holy Spirit actually takes up residence inside of us. First Corinthians 619, don't you know that your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit who is in you, whom you have from God now is followers of Christ. You and I may not have the power to subdue our sinful passions. But the Holy Spirit who lives inside of the does have the power to control these passions so that they don't overwhelm us so that we don't become their prisoners you save a lot of this is really true. If this is really true, then how come so many followers of Jesus Christ that I see how come there living such defeated laws. That's a great question. You say yeah come on living such defeated but that's a great question in the beginning the answer. The answer is because most of us were taught to live the Christian life incorrectly. Most of us were taught to live the Christian experience wrong not want to put you thinking Okay, to Share Something with You Here That I Want. I Want to Think about. They May Challenge a Little Bit This Lady Information You Never Heard before. Most of Us Were Taught Incorrectly How to Live the Christian Life.

That's Why It's Not Working. Listen, the Bible Says Galatians 516.

If We Live by the Spirit. We Will Not Gratify. We Will Not Carry out the Desires of Our Sinful Nature.

The Bible Says Right Here That the Correct Way to Live the Christian Experience Is Delivered by the Spirit. The Problem Is Most of Us Were Taught to Live the Christian Life Differently. Most of Us Were Taught to Live It by Human Effort.

Most of Us Were Taught to Live It by Human Religious Works. Most of Us When We Came to Christ Were Given the Navigators Wheel or Something Similar, and We Were Told to Bible Study through Prayer, through Witnessing and Do Fellowship You Do These Four Things, and the Result Will Be a Vibrant Christian Life. And so We Ran out and We Did Bible Study and Prayer, and Witnessing and Fellowship and We Didn't Get a Vibrant Christian Life and Look around at All These Other People Who Walk in the Church's Violent and They Seem to Be Live in an Abundant Christian Life like This. And so We Figured Something Must Be Wrong with Friends Is Nothing Wrong with You.

Those People If There Living at This Way They Don't Have an Abundant Christian Experience, Either.

It's All a Fraud Disable What Was I Don't Understand What's the Problem Friends Is No Problem with Bible Study Witnessing Prayer and Fellowship. These Are Wonderful Things We Should Be Doing Them (These Should Be the Overflow. These Should Be the Result. These Should Be the out Pouring of the Spirit Filled Life, Not Because of the Spirit Filled Life. The Bible Doesn't Say That We Are to Live by the Bible. We Are to Live by Prayer, We Delude Bible Witnessing and Were Delivered by Fellowship.

It Says We Are to Live by the Spirit, and Friends. The Bible Is Not the Source of Power in the Christian Life. The Holy Spirit Prayer Is Not the Source of Power in the Christian Life.

The Spirit Is Just Listen to Many Followers of Christ Talk When They're Going to a Struggling Time in the Christian Life.

Listen to What They Say. They Say Man I'm Really Struggling to My Christian Life I Got to Read the Bible More.

I Got to Pray More and I Got to Fellowship More and We May Not Realize It but Were Really Saying. When We Say That Is That We Are Relying on These Religious Works As Good As They Are Significantly Abundant Christian Life. Instead of Relying on the Holy Spirit Himself. Now There Are Thousands of Believers Every Single Day and Many of You in This Audience for Spending Hours Every Week Doing Bible Study, Prayer, Witnessing and Fellowship with the Same Time or Living Spiritually Bankrupt, Defeated, and Desolate Christian Lives, and These People Are Waiting for God to Call Some, Wiffleball Storm from Heaven That Will Suddenly Transform All of This Religious Effort into the Abundant Christian Experience and It Never Happens.

You Know Why Can't Happen.

Friends Listen God Will Never Honor a System That Depends on Human Performance Instead of Depending on the Holy Spirit Himself. Let Me Repeat That God Will Never Honor System That Depends on Human Religious Performance Instead of Depending on God Himself.

Christian Life Is a Supernatural Life into the Life That Is Marked by Supernatural Love, Joy, Peace, Patience, Gentleness, Goodness We Don't Produce Any Supernatural Qualities, Bible Study, Prayer, Witnessing and Fellowship.

These Supernatural Qualities. The Spirit of God Himself Has To Produce in Our Life or They Don't End up There and This Is Why That a Brand-New Follower of Jesus Christ, That Person May Not Be Mature Spiritually yet, but That Person to Be Spiritual Right Away Because Spirituality Is Simply the Result of Letting the Spirit of God.

Phyllis and Flow Out Of Our Life Every Moment of Every Day and You Can Have That Day One That You Know Jesus Christ You Know When I Was a Brand-New Follower of Christ. The Very First Year I Was a Believer, I Live between 1500 People to Christ Personally That You I Mean It Was Unbelievable How God Used Me That Year and the Spiritual Power That God Allows to Come Out Of My Life and Then I Went to Seminary and They Taught Me in Seminary When You Can't Possibly Have That, Christian Life. They Said to Me Because You Don't Know Great You Can't Possibly Affect, Christian Life. You Don't Know Hebrew You to Possibly Affect Our Christian Life. You Don't Know Any Theology at All.

You Have That, Christian Life, and so No One Probably Will Be the One I Know and It Took Me 10 Years to Recover from Believing and Suddenly 10 Years Later I Discovered Just What God Speaks English Feel You Don't Really Know and That Is a Brand-New Follower of Christ. I Could Have That, Christian Experience, Because the Spirit of God Was Moving and Flowing about Life One Trust in Greek and Hebrew Theology for the Abundant Life. I Was Trusting God the Holy Spirit and Were Salon Is Great on the Bus, but How Do You Do This on the Handles on This for Me Naked so I Can Grab a Hold of It.

Okay. In Closing, When We Do That How Do We Actually Make This Work in Everyday Living. Okay Looking.

Galatians Chapter 2 Verse 20 Calls Going to Tell Us He Said I Have Been Crucified with Christ and It Is No Longer I Who Live, but Christ in the Person of the Holy Spirit Who Lives in the Life That I Now Live in This Body, I Live by Faith in the Son of God Who Loved Me and Gave Himself for Me. Paul Said, How Do We Do It We Live by Faith Not Listed.

Fate Means Trusting God to Do for Us What We Cannot Do for Ourselves and Folks Think Now How Is Your Christian Experience Begin. It Began by Faith.

When You Trusted the Blood of Jesus Shed on the Cross to Do for You Which You Could Not Do for Yourself to Forgive Your Sin to Reconcile You to God to Bring You in the Relationship of Almighty God. All Right You Began Your Christian Experience by Faith.

How's Your Christian Experience That Is Stable on Its Head Would Be Going to Heaven, You're Right, You Know, Do You Know Where Heaven Is. Do You Know How to Get There, but You've Been down the AAA Got a Trip to Get to Heaven Know You Say They Don't Know Where It Is More Important. You Don't Even How You Planning to Get You to Walk Planning on God to Send an Angel or Come Get Me Himself and Thinking There That's Right You're Waiting for God to Do Something for You. You Can't Do for Yourself. Your Christian Life and by Faith. Now If I Christian Life Starts by Faith That If It Ends by Faith Explained to Me Why Would God Change Systems in the Middle of the Answer Is He Doesn't. And That's What Galatians 2 Says the Life That I'm Not. I Now Live My Christian Life.

What If All Say I Live by Faith I Go Out Of My House Every Day. Paul Said Consciously Depending on the Holy Spirit to Do for Me That Day. What I Cannot Do for Myself Mainly to Give Me the Resources I Need Moment by Moment to Keep My Simple Human Nature and Its Fashions under Control so That I Can Do What I Really Want to Do That Day and That If I Can Obey God. There's a Little Prospect That I Use.

It Really Helped Me. If WHYY and Here's Here's What the Acrostic Stands for Number One, W Stands for Willingness That If I Walked Out Of My House Every Morning like a Dog You Know What I Want to Obey You Today I Want to Do What Pleases You. Today I Am Willing H Helplessness but God I'm Completely Helpless.

I Needed Left to Myself.

Today I'm Going to Lose the Battle to My Passions All Day Long, Look the Wrong Place, Say the Wrong Thing God the Wrong Way. I Know It's Going to Happen and so While Ideal Business, God, I'm Going in the World Today Not Dependent on My Own Strength but I'm Going in. Depending on You to Give Me the Supernatural Resources I Need.

I'm Willing but I'm Helpless so I'm Yielding God You Live the Christian Life through Me, and Together Will Obey God.

Today You Would Be Together Now Works Here A Few Years Ago I Was in New York up for Two Weeks in the Summer.As Part of the Law of the Summer Witnessing Campaign Which Is for Jesus on the Table and We Go out on the Streets for Times A Day Two Hours for Each Time so Eight Hours Total Day and We Are Standing Various Places We Go to the Subway Stations Greenwich Village, the Long Island Railroad Wall Street Battery Park in Staten Island Ferry Wherever and We Hand out Tracks and We Wear White T-Shirts, Yellow, Red, Blue Letters across the Front and the Back Jews for Jesus, Not New York City Wearing a T-Shirt like That of I Think the Big Old Bull's-Eye Right in the Middle of Your Chest and Where to Sign around Her Neck That Says Please Use Me and the New Yorkers Are Very Obliging to Do That and Let Me Just Tell You What I Was up There for Those Two Weeks I Got Cursed out by a Lady and I Heard Words Out Of This Lady I've Never Heard in My Life.

The Lady I Got Spit on You Doing All the Years I Built Roads in All the Years I Hung out with Drug Pushers and Heroin Addicts. Nobody Ever Spit on Me.

I Got Spit on Several Times in New York City. I Got Ridiculed I Got the Final… Physically Assaulted. I Was Threatened I Was Cursed out As I Already Mentioned, I Had Things Thrown at Me. I Was Standing at Wall Street One Day and I Have Done This Little Man Come from a Blind Thought of Never Installing Common I Turned Back around and with His Hand Slightly so Hard to Face. He Knocked Me over. Then I Had Little Jewish Lady Who Decided She Wanted to Fight Me for the Tracks and I Was in the Struggle with the Goal Jewish Lady and She Was. I'm Telling You Would Apply to the Finished with the Goal Jewish Lady That Was Right outside Macy's. There, I'm Telling You It Was Unbelievable. Now, after Two Weeks and Do It If I Want to Tell You That I Was Able in Every Case, to Return Love and Kindness and Graciousness to These People That Everyday.

I Was Able to Go out There and Be Calm in the Middle of All This Chaos That Everyday. I Was Able to Go out There and Be Bold for Jesus and Let Me Tell You Why Because I Started Everyday by Saying God. You Know What I'm in over My Head Out Of Your Day on Streets of New York City to Walk on Your Trust in Myself to Have Stamina and Strength Today and Talk to the Holy Spirit to Give Me Supernatural Stamina and Strength within You Walk out Here Today and Try to Be Bold in the Energy of My Flesh for Jesus Contrast of the Holy Spirit Today to Give Me Supernatural Boldness on the Streets of New York City and God. I'm Not Good to Go out There and Try to Be Nice and Kind and Loving and Gracious to These People in the Energy of Our Quest, Because I Won't Be That Way. I'm Trusting You to Give Me Supernatural Love These People That You Radiate through My Life and Friends.

I'm Here to Tell You at Work. I Did Go out Every Morning Now, the Difference Was How I Went out I Did Go out Every Morning. I Will Not Lose My Temper Will Not Good That I Will Not Know Go out like That I Would Not Say Jesus Is Working to Do It Today Given to Give You Spray and I'm Just Going to Follow You. You Can Live the Christian Life and It Works and When I Came Back from Washing from New York Back to Washington Was Really Interesting, the Holy Spirit, Said to Me Now You No One Member How There New York You Felt like You Were over Your Head Every Single Day. Remember That Was Fun. I Want You to Know You over Your Head Every Single Day in Washington. You Know, It May Not Be As Severe, but You over Your Head Every Day Your Time to Show Patience and Your Children and Drive on the Beltway Correctly in the Kind of People in Return Love for This Treatment of the Sun You over Your Head Right Here and You Need to Bring That Same Kind of Dependence That You Showed New York City Back in without Every Single Day Here. For Many of Us As Followers of Jesus Christ Living like This Is Brand-New Territory.

We Were Taught to Live the Christian Life like This, and for Some of You Maybe Say and Has He Finally Gone over the Edge. You Know, Theologically, Do We Need to Conduct a an Inquisition into This No Friends.

I'm Telling You It's Right Out Of the Bible Is Exactly What Paul Said That We Live the Christian Experience by Faith in the Holy Spirit by Dependence on the Holy Spirit. And If You're Here Today I Want to Give You Little Time to Try. This Is Brand-New for You.

What I Want You to Do This Coming Week and I Want You to Take One Area of Your Life Where You Been Struggling to Obey God, and You Can Lose Just One Area and Don't Go out This Week and Try to Got It out, Don't Go out This Week and Try to Beat It in Your Own Strength Sugarcoated by Wheel Illustration to Get That. Instead I Want to That One Area This Week to Walk out Every Day and Say God I Am over My Head in the Syria Day Left to Myself. I Am Not Going to Obey You Today.

Willingness Lord, I Want to Obey You Today. Helplessness. But God I Can't Yield This You Give Me the Resources so I Can Look the Right Places and Say the Right Things and Return the Right Attitudes and Drive the Right Way You Give Me the Resources and Together You and I Were to Obey God.

And I Want to Tell You That You Have To Pray That Prayer 15 Times A Day 100 Times A Day to Make Reaffirming That It's the Holy Spirit's Resources Are Depending on Not Your Own, and I'm Telling You This Work. You See Friends Christian Life Lived Correctly. It Works in the Way to Live It Correctly Is to Live by Faith Delivered by Depending on the Resources of God to Do for Us What We Can't Do for Ourselves. If You Live the Christian Life the Way the Bible Says to Live.

It Will Work. This Meeting Will Be Similarly Perfect. No Me Will Never Lose a Battle. No Human Nobody Can Live like This. 24 Seven 365 Every Moment of Every Day Just to Human. But Does It Mean That Learning to Live like This in Every Area of Our Life Will Make Us Far More Consistent in Being Able to Obey God and Having Victory over These Areas of Our Life. Absolutely. And That's the Goal. So Any Suggestion of the Price up Brand-New. You Were Taught to Live the Christian Life on the Wheel Illustration Thrown Away.

That's Not the Way You Do This and You Know What You Find Is That When You're Really Living the Christian Experience Away All of the Lived in the Power of the Spirit Bible Study Will Get Better.

Your Witnessing Will Get Better. Your Fellowship Will Get Better. Your Prayer Life Will Get Better Because It's Been Energized by a Spirit Filled Life. It's Not Something You're Trying to Do to Create a Spirit Filled Life.

It'll Change the Way You Live Trusting the Work and I Hope Will Try for Jesus, Thanks for Talking to Us Today about the How to Live the Christian Experience and Thanks for Reminding Us Today Giving Us Hope That Lived Correctly, the Christian Life Works and and I I Am. I'm Sad That so Many of Us, Including Me, for the First 10 Years of My Christian Life Were Taught to Live It Wrong and Lord of Many Times That Produces All Kinds of Self Recrimination and Guilt but Thanks for Reminding Us Today. There Is a Right Way to Do This and We Do It Right. It Will Yield the Abundant Life That Jesus Promised Us Father for Many People Here Who This Is a Brand-New Thing for Them. I Pray That This Would Be a Great Week of Discovery As They Try One Area of Their Life to Depend on the Holy Spirit to Live the Christian Life through Them and Father I Pray It Will Be the Opening the Gateway into a Whole New Approach to the Christian Experience That Will Bring True Joy True Supernatural Victory to People's Lives on a Consistent Basis so More Use What We Learn Here Today to Change Our Lives and We Ask This in Jesus Name, Amen