December 30, 2012
Morning Worship
Text: Romans 8:1-17
Subject: New Years Resolutions
Title: It’s Time for a Change
It’s that time of the year. You know what I’m talking about. It’s the time when we all have to stop and evaluate our lives and try to come to some reasonable decision about what we can change for the next year to make our lives better. I’m talking about New Years resolutions. You know – those things we talk about for months and commit to for days. Have you ever wondered why we do that? Why do we make resolutions and then not keep them? It is possibly because we set goals that are simply out of our reach to obtain or are too difficult for us to accomplish.
So why don’t we change the way we think and make resolutions that we know we can keep?
This year, I resolve to...
- Gain weight. At least 30 pounds.
- Stop exercising. Waste of time.
- Procrastinate more. Starting tomorrow.
- Take a vacation to someplace important: like, to see the largest ball of twine.
- Not jump off a cliff just because everyone else did.
- Not have eight children at once.
- Not eat cloned meat.
- Create loose ends.
- Get further in debt.
- Not believe politicians.
- Not drive a motorized vehicle across thin ice.
- Not swim with piranhas or sharks.
- Wait around for opportunity to find me.
- Focus on the faults of others.
- Mope about my faults.
- Never make New Year's resolutions again.
Seriously, I believe that when we make resolutions that we have every intention of keeping them. I want to share with you today from Romans Chapter 8 to help you see that as a bible believing, tongue talking, Spirit – filled child of the Living God you can make choices in your life that will help you make changes that can be for life.
Read Romans 8:1-17
I believe this is God's Word…
I believe it is for me…
I accept it as mine…
And I appropriate it to my life today…
Change comes through a life in the Spirit.
I. A CHOICE BETWEEN TWO DIMENSIONS… I think that before you even consider a resolution for the New Year you must stop and ask yourself a question, “Why is this something that is important?” There are two sources of the voices you hear speaking to you in your inner man. 1) The voice of self and self is distinguished by two voices – your own voice and the voice of your enemy influencing your natural man. Neither of these voices is under the control of the Spirit. 2) Is the voice of the Holy Spirit? 1Therefore, there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus, 2because through Christ Jesus the law of the Spirit of life set me free from the law of sin and death. In your life you will be led by something. Your choice is this - will you be led by the natural man or by the Spirit? …The law of the Spirit of life set me free from the law of sin and death… The Law of the Spirit is the activity of the Holy Spirit in believers. He leads you, teaches you, guides you into all truth, He reveals the secret things of God to you. Now, concerning you resolutions – if your resolution is a change in your life that has been prompted by the Holy Spirit you can walk by faith believing that if He has called you to these changes, then He will enable you to do it. On the other hand, if you are being led by the natural man to make changes (the law of sin and death) those changes may be just to please yourself. The only way to know if the changes you are being led to make are from God is to weigh them against the truth of the scriptures. I’m going to spend more time in the word… That’s the Spirit. I’m going to get more involved in ministry… Spirit. I’m going to do whatever it takes to make me happy for a change… flesh! Satan! Especially if the things that you choose to make yourself happy conflict with God's Word. Those things may satisfy for a time, but it is the law of sin and death at work in you. 3For 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 condemned sin in sinful man, 4in 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.
II. A CONTRAST IN TWO DIMENSIONS… In the next verses Paul contrasts the natural and the spiritual. 5Those who live according to the sinful nature have their minds set on what that nature desires; but those who live in accordance with the Spirit have their minds set on what the Spirit desires. There are two kinds of people in church today – believers and unbelievers. Now I’m not talking about saved and unsaved. I’m talking about born again and Spirit filled Christians. There are some who just believe every word the bible says and there are some who say they believe, but the way they act and the things that come out of their mouths tell us something different. They only believe if the Word does not conflict with their personal experiences. But if you have to rely on experience to dictate whether or not God's Word is true, then that tells me that you have your mind set on what the sinful nature desires. “Sinful nature” is not just what is in a person that desires to do evil. The sinful nature is that in a man that says, “I think I have God figured out and even though the bible says such and such, I don’t think I can trust God to do that… I’ll do it my way.” but those who live in accordance with the Spirit have their minds set on what the Spirit desires. What is it that the Spirit desires? To bring glory to Jesus… to reveal His word to you… to use you in the gifts… to increase the hunger of the word in you… And if you are walking in the Spirit then your desire will be for more of the things that the Spirit wants in your life. 1 Corinthians 2:9-12, However, as it is written: “No eye has seen, no ear has heard, no mind has conceived what God has prepared for those who love him” 10but God has revealed it to us by his Spirit. The Spirit searches all things, even the deep things of God. 11For who among men knows the thoughts of a man except the man’s spirit within him? In the same way no one knows the thoughts of God except the Spirit of God. 12We have not received the spirit of the world but the Spirit who is from God, that we may understand what God has freely given us. Look again at verse 5. I want you to pay close attention to something there. In both your natural man and the Spirit man, it is the mind that dictates what you are going to chase after. That is why Paul wrote to the church in Rome to be transformed by the renewing of their minds… Stop thinking like a sinner and start thinking like God. Stop looking at things through the filter of your natural experience and begin to see them with the eyes of faith by the Spirit. Ephesians 1:15-19, 15For this reason, ever since I heard about your faith in the Lord Jesus and your love for all the saints, 16I have not stopped giving thanks for you, remembering you in my prayers. 17I keep asking that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the glorious Father, may give you the Spirit of wisdom and revelation, so that you may know him better. 18I pray also that the eyes of your heart may be enlightened in order that you may know the hope to which he has called you, the riches of his glorious inheritance in the saints, 19and his incomparably great power for us who believe. That power is like the working of his mighty strength…
III. UNDER THE CONTROL OF THE SPIRIT… 9You, however, are controlled not by the sinful nature 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. Who is the Spirit of Christ? Paul is talking about the Holy Spirit. If the Holy Spirit is not in you, you aren’t saved. And if you are controlled by the sinful nature – what seems right in the natural – then you need to stop and do a little self - examination. Question: How was the Word of God transmitted to the prophets and kings and apostles who wrote the bible? It was through the inspiration of the Holy Spirit. So if the Holy Spirit is in you and He is the one who wrote the scriptures, how is it that born again believers deny so many of the promises of God as being for now? 10But if Christ is in you, your body is dead because of sin, yet your spirit is alive because of righteousness. When you are born again is your body born again? No your spirit man is. If your body were born again then there would be no need for a resurrection body. your body is dead because of sin… yet your spirit is alive because of righteousness. Verse 11, 11And 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. That is the promise of a resurrection body. But while on earth you are the body of Christ. And since you are His body, Ephesians 1:22-23 tell us, 22And God placed all things under his feet and appointed him to be head over everything for the church, 23which is his body, the fullness of him who fills everything in every way. The Spirit is in you and you have everything you need to make the conscious decision to be under His control. Romans 8:32, He who did not spare his own Son, but gave him up for us all—how will he not also, along with him, graciously give us all things?
IV. THE OBLIGATION OF EVERY BVELIEVER… 12Therefore, brothers, we have an obligation—but it is not to the sinful nature, to live according to it. Let’s stop right there to reiterate what Paul has said once again. The sinful nature is not just the propensity to commit immoral acts. The sinful nature also works inwardly, convincing your mind to agree with things that are not scriptural. 13For if you live according to the sinful nature, you will die… The word translated “die” means “to die off”. It makes me wonder if this is not only referring to individuals dying spiritually, but to the church as well. If the church continues to operate in a way that seems right in the natural sense, it will die off. 2 Timothy 3:1-5, 1But mark this: There will be terrible times in the last days. 2People will be lovers of themselves, lovers of money, boastful, proud, abusive, disobedient to their parents, ungrateful, unholy, 3without love, unforgiving, slanderous, without self-control, brutal, not lovers of the good, 4treacherous, rash, conceited, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God—5having a form of godliness but denying its power. Have nothing to do with them. Is it any wonder that Jesus questioned whether He would find “faith” on the earth when He returns? …but if by the Spirit you put to death the misdeeds of the body, you will live… Let’s go back to the idea of being transformed by the renewing of your mind… How does that happen? You have to put to death the misdeeds of the body. And you do that in the power of the Spirit. 14because those who are led by the Spirit of God are sons of God. You know, this is the very precept that you need to live your life by. You need to learn to hear the voice of God in your inner man – be led by the Spirit – and then act on it. That is where the great difficulty comes in. Many Christians will hear that inner voice give a command or a gentle leading and pass it off as your own mind, when it really is God. Oh, I don’t need to be obedient to that. It was just my own thoughts that I heard. Until you make up your mind that you are going to do what the Spirit is saying in your heart, you will never become tuned in to His voice. The truth is that for many when the Holy Spirit speaks into their lives a need for change in a specific area (isn’t that what resolutions are all about?) they reject that voice because it is contrary to what they want. 15For you did not receive a spirit that makes you a slave again to fear, but you received the Spirit of sonship. And by him we cry, “Abba, Father.” Look at verse 16. The Spirit himself testifies with our spirit that we are God’s children. This is the best way to make a resolution that can stand the test of time. The Spirit of God will testify with your spirit… The word “testify” means, to testify jointly, that is, corroborate by (concurrent) evidence:—testify unto, (also) bear witness (with). Look at the differences between these two statements. 1) I am going to lose weight and work out so I can look good… 2) I am going to lose weight and work out because my body is a temple of God’s Spirit and I want His Spirit to have a healthy temple to dwell in. In the first the natural man is making a resolution and there is nothing there for the Spirit to agree with. But in the second statement, He will testify jointly with your spirit man that this is the right thing to do. 17Now if we are children, then we are heirs—heirs of God and co-heirs with Christ, if indeed we share in his sufferings in order that we may also share in his glory.
Your resolutions – are they made to please you or to please God? That is the question you need to ask yourself. You can say you want to draw closer to God, but for what purpose? To make you feel better about your relationship with Him, or to make yourself more available to Him?
That is the real choice you must make – Will you please self or God?
Will you walk according to the natural man or by the Spirit?
This is from Ligonier Ministries. Four principles in making a resolution.
1. Resolve Sensibly - Our resolutions must be in accord with the Word of God.
2. Resolve Dependently - Every resolution must be made in dependence on God.
3. Resolve Humbly - We should approach God in humble reliance, seeking not merely the blessings but the one who blesses.
Resolve For Christ’s Sake - We cannot resolve to do anything with a presumptuous attitude before God.
