Sunday 06/12/16
Series: Living in the Kingdom Pt. 37
Message – …by My Spirit – Overcoming sin in the flesh I
Living in the Kingdom…by My Spirit says the Lord
The Holy Spirit works in us both the will and to do according to God’s good pleasure. (His work, is a work of GRACE) In other words, the Holy Spirit leads us into truth and guides us into Christ by influencing our hearts to desire Him and obey Him.
Focus Text – Zec 4:6-10,
“So he answered and said to me: “This is the word of the LORD to Zerubbabel: ‘Not by might nor by power, but by My Spirit,’ Says the LORD of hosts. ‘Who are you, O great mountain? Before Zerubbabel you shall become a plain! And he shall bring forth the capstone With shouts of “Grace, grace to it!” ‘ ” Moreover the word of the LORD came to me, saying: “The hands of Zerubbabel Have laid the foundation of this temple; His hands shall also finish it. Then you will know That the LORD of hosts has sent Me to you. For who has despised the day of small things? For these seven rejoice to see The plumb line in the hand of Zerubbabel. They are the eyes of the LORD, Which scan to and fro throughout the whole earth.”
Passage commentary from Guzik –
Who are you, O great mountain? Before Zerubbabel you shall become a plain! The work of rebuilding the temple was so massive it seemed like a great mountain. Here God promises that by His Spirit, that great mountain will be leveled into a plain.
- In this case, the great mountain may have literally been the mountainous pile of rubble at the temple site. That rubble would be removed and the work carried on unto completion.
He shall bring forth the capstone with shouts of “Grace, grace to it!” God assures Zerubbabel that not only will the work be finished, but that he (Zerubbabel) – shall finish it, setting the capstone and declaring that it was all a work of grace.
1. When the work is done through human might or power we can take credit for it, but when the work is done by the continual supply of the Spirit, then it is all to the glory of God’s grace.
So even though it was Zerubbabel that did the work, it was actually God working in and through him.
1Cor. 3:9-16,
“For we are God’s fellow workers; you are God’s field, you are God’s building. According to the grace of God which was given to me, as a wise master builder I have laid the foundation, and another builds on it. But let each one take heed how he builds on it. For no other foundation can anyone lay than that which is laid, which is Jesus Christ. Now if anyone builds on this foundation with gold, silver, precious stones, wood, hay, straw, each one’s work will become clear; for the Day will declare it, because it will be revealed by fire; and the fire will test each one’s work, of what sort it is. If anyone’s work which he has built on it endures, he will receive a reward. If anyone’s work is burned, he will suffer loss; but he himself will be saved, yet so as through fire. Do you not know that you are the temple of God and that the Spirit of God dwells in you?”
So prophetically we have an illustration of a Temple which lay in ruins, a mountainous heap of rubble – and God speaks, “Not by might, nor by power, but by My Spirit” – You will co-operate with me in the rebuilding of the temple and when the final stone is laid all that will be able to be said is that is was a work of grace!
James 1:22-27 says,
“But be doers of the word and NOT hearers only – DECIEVING YOURSELVES. For if anyone is a hearer of the word and not a doer, he is like a man observing his natural face in a mirror; for he observes himself, goes away, and immediately forgets what kind of man he was. But he who looks into the perfect law of liberty and continues in it, and is not a forgetful hearer but a doer of the work, this one will be blessed in what he does. If anyone among you thinks he is religious, and does not bridle his tongue but deceives his own heart, this one’s religion is useless. Pure and undefiled religion before God and the Father is this: to visit orphans and widows in their trouble, and to keep oneself unspotted from the world.”
Now, in the body of last weeks message we touched on the fact that satan wants you to live according to the flesh and he encourages this behavior in you by attempting to get you to focus on yourself.
- “I’m the worst Christian ever!”
- “No one struggles with sin like I do.”
- “How could I possibly claim to love Jesus when I give in to this sin SO often.”
- “I must not love God at all.”
- “I wonder if I am truly saved, because NO Christian could struggle with sin as much as I do.”
What did Paul say about this? He said our sin was “COMMON TO MAN”!
1 Cor. 10:13,
“No temptation has overtaken you except such as is common to man; but God is faithful, who will not allow you to be tempted beyond what you are able, but with the temptation will also make the way of escape, that you may be able to bear it.”
What did James tell us…
James 5:16,
“Confess your faults to one another; Pray for one another that you may be healed. The effectual fervent prayer of a righteous man avails MUCH.”
One truth we have looked at for weeks now that we NEED to become more aware of is that the Holy Spirit dwells within us.
Name some things people have been able to do because they were possessed by demons?
- Extraordinary strength
- Break thick chains of iron
- Perform lying wonders…
If someone is demon possessed, where do these demons reside? In their body (Luke 11:24-26)
In the same way people can be demon possessed, we are Holy Spirit possessed. This is true of EVERY true son and daughter of God. This has NOTHING to do with giftedness or gifts. It has nothing to do with being “Filled” with the Spirit and it has NOTHING to do with the baptism of the Holy Spirit & tongues. It is part of our birthright in Christ!!!!
HE IS OUR AID, our HELPER, our paráklētos;.
Turn to John 14:16,
“ And I will pray the Father, and He will give you another Helper, that He may abide with you forever”
HELPER – paráklētos; It refers to an aid of any kind. Greek writers, used this word to describe legal advisors, pleaders, proxies, or advocates, Those who come forward on behalf of and as the representative of another.
Christ designated the Holy Spirit as our Paraclete in John_14:16, and calls Him állos “another”, which means another of equal quality. Therefore, the Holy Spirit is designated by Jesus Christ as equal with Himself.
This new Paraclete, the Holy Spirit, was to witness concerning Jesus Christ (Joh_14:26; Joh_16:7, Joh_16:14) and to glorify Him.
He was to essentially take over Christ’s office in the world when He left. Remember Christ’s words, “When I leave I will send you another comforter, Who will remain with you FOREVER.”
The Holy Spirit acts as Christ’s substitute on earth.
So, lets talk about Jesus. What role did He play in the lives of His disciples?
- Teacher
- Friend
- Master (Lord) – the One they obeyed
- Revelation of the Father
- Spiritual guide – The One who came along side them to aid them in living lives well pleasing to God.
- …etc.
Our problem has been Romans 7:16
“(16) If, then, I do what I will not to do, I agree with the law that it is good.” <- We cannot live here!
WE HAVE BEEN CONDITIONED TO FAIL – We expect it!
(where is our hope then? IN THE FLESH)
What did we determine last week was the NET result is of this conditioning?
- We lower our respect for God.
- We alter the meanings of His words (or avoid them altogether) – changing God’s true image
- We gravitate towards mediocrity.
What does our helper do to cause us to overcome?
“ (9) But 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.
(10) And if Christ is in you, the body is dead because of sin, but the Spirit is life because of righteousness.
(11) But if the Spirit of Him who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, He who raised Christ from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through His Spirit who dwells in you.
(12) Therefore, brethren, we are debtors—not to the flesh, to live according to the flesh.
(13) For if you live according to the (dictates of the) flesh you will die; but if by the Spirit you put to death the deeds of the body, you will live.
(14) For as many as are led by the Spirit of God, these are sons of God.”
When Christ WHO IS OUR LIFE…etc. Christ IS our union with God. – The enemy is against this union – it represents Christ’s rule and his reign – His KINGDOM!
We have been set free from Sin
Rom. 6:15-23,
“(15) What then? Shall we sin because we are not under law but under grace? Certainly not!
(16) Do you not know that to whom you present yourselves slaves to obey, you are that one’s slaves whom you obey, whether of sin leading to death, or of obedience leading to righteousness?
(17) But God be thanked that though you were slaves of sin, yet you obeyed from the heart that form of doctrine to which you were delivered.
(18) And having been set free from sin, you became slaves of righteousness.
(19) I speak in human terms because of the weakness of your flesh. For just as you presented your members as slaves of uncleanness, and of lawlessness leading to more lawlessness, so now present your members as slaves of righteousness for holiness.
(20) For when you were slaves of sin, you were free in regard to righteousness.
(21) What fruit did you have then in the things of which you are now ashamed? For the end of those things is death.
(22) But now having been set free from sin, and having become slaves of God, you have your fruit to holiness, and the end, everlasting life.
(23) For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.”
We are overcomers through trust
1Jn. 5:1-5,
“(1) Whoever believes that Jesus is the Christ is born of God, and everyone who loves Him who begot also loves him who is begotten of Him.
(2) By this we know that we love the children of God, when we love God and keep His commandments.
(3) For this is the love of God, that we keep His commandments. And His commandments are not burdensome.
(4) For whatever is born of God overcomes the world. And this is the victory that has overcome the world—our faith.
(5) Who is he who overcomes the world, but he who believes that Jesus is the Son of God?”
We will pick up here after a short review next week….Blessings!
VIDEO COMING SOON
I hope this teaching will challenge you and encourage you to place your trust in the Lord Jesus Christ as Savior and Lord.
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Blessings!
