1 00:00:00,000 --> 00:00:06,200 We read about that in Romans 8 verses 12 and 13. 2 00:00:06,200 --> 00:00:07,200 It says, 3 00:00:07,200 --> 00:00:13,080 So then, brethren, we are under obligation, not to the flesh, to live according to the 4 00:00:13,080 --> 00:00:14,840 flesh. 5 00:00:14,840 --> 00:00:18,680 For if you are living according to the flesh, you must die. 6 00:00:18,680 --> 00:00:28,020 But if by the Spirit you are putting to death the deeds of the body, you will live. 7 00:00:28,020 --> 00:00:33,000 The Bible teaches that there are a number of different kinds of obligations that we 8 00:00:33,000 --> 00:00:35,720 have or can have in life. 9 00:00:35,720 --> 00:00:38,600 One is the obligation of money. 10 00:00:38,600 --> 00:00:46,360 In Matthew chapter 18 verse 24, Jesus told a parable about a man who owed another 10,000 11 00:00:46,360 --> 00:00:47,360 talents. 12 00:00:47,360 --> 00:00:52,580 That's one kind of obligation and the kind that I suppose most of us here tonight are 13 00:00:52,580 --> 00:00:55,560 all together too familiar with. 14 00:00:55,560 --> 00:01:00,320 There is another kind of obligation that we might call a debt of commonality. 15 00:01:00,320 --> 00:01:05,440 I think that's what Paul is referring to earlier in Romans in the first chapter when he says, 16 00:01:05,440 --> 00:01:14,560 I am under obligation both to Greeks and to barbarians, both to the wise and the foolish. 17 00:01:14,560 --> 00:01:15,800 What did Paul mean there? 18 00:01:15,800 --> 00:01:21,080 Well, he had something in common with these people, Greeks and barbarians. 19 00:01:21,080 --> 00:01:26,240 Like them, he, a former Jew, was a sinner. 20 00:01:26,240 --> 00:01:31,440 And because of the death that comes upon sinners, he was under obligation to get the message 21 00:01:31,440 --> 00:01:35,020 to all men that they might be saved. 22 00:01:35,020 --> 00:01:41,840 This is the same kind of debt that a person who discovered a cure for cancer would have 23 00:01:41,840 --> 00:01:43,280 to the human race. 24 00:01:43,280 --> 00:01:49,560 A debt of commonality is something that we all face, at least the possibility of it. 25 00:01:49,560 --> 00:01:52,240 And then there is the debt of favor. 26 00:01:52,240 --> 00:01:58,720 I remember back on the farm there used to be the phrase that some of the older farmers 27 00:01:58,720 --> 00:01:59,720 used, much obliged. 28 00:01:59,720 --> 00:02:01,640 Have you ever heard that? 29 00:02:01,640 --> 00:02:02,640 Much obliged. 30 00:02:02,640 --> 00:02:04,960 Well, that's the idea here. 31 00:02:04,960 --> 00:02:11,200 It's the thought that Paul seems to express again in Romans in the 15th chapter when he 32 00:02:11,200 --> 00:02:17,440 says, yes, they were pleased, that is the believers in Macedonia and Achaia. 33 00:02:17,440 --> 00:02:22,520 They were pleased to do so, that is to get together a love offering. 34 00:02:22,520 --> 00:02:28,280 And they are indebted to them, the Jerusalem saints. 35 00:02:28,280 --> 00:02:31,480 He says they are indebted to them. 36 00:02:31,480 --> 00:02:37,580 For if the Gentiles have shared in the Jews spiritual things, they are indebted to minister 37 00:02:37,580 --> 00:02:40,680 to them also in material things. 38 00:02:40,680 --> 00:02:45,080 Paul says here is the debt of a favor. 39 00:02:45,080 --> 00:02:49,960 The Gentiles shared in the blessings of the Jewish Messiah. 40 00:02:49,960 --> 00:02:56,560 And now he says that those Gentiles have an obligation to those Jewish believers in Jerusalem 41 00:02:56,560 --> 00:03:01,480 and they have fulfilled that obligation, he says, in sending a contribution to help them 42 00:03:01,480 --> 00:03:03,280 in their poverty. 43 00:03:03,280 --> 00:03:09,200 And then there is debt in the sense of our verse tonight, Romans chapter 8. 44 00:03:09,200 --> 00:03:10,680 The debt of loyalty. 45 00:03:10,680 --> 00:03:17,560 It is debt that is due to a supreme sacrifice on behalf of one. 46 00:03:17,560 --> 00:03:23,920 This is the kind of debt, for example, that a nation owes to the widows of those who have 47 00:03:23,920 --> 00:03:29,080 given their lives in war for that nation. 48 00:03:29,080 --> 00:03:33,240 It is a moral debt, a debt of loyalty. 49 00:03:33,240 --> 00:03:39,280 What the apostle says here is that you and I who have trusted Jesus Christ are under 50 00:03:39,280 --> 00:03:42,280 obligation. 51 00:03:42,280 --> 00:03:46,280 He says number one, we are not under obligation to the flesh. 52 00:03:46,280 --> 00:03:52,680 But number two, implied, we are under obligation to the Holy Spirit. 53 00:03:52,680 --> 00:03:55,220 Those are the two points I want to talk about tonight. 54 00:03:55,220 --> 00:03:59,640 The believer's obligation, number one, is not to the flesh. 55 00:03:59,640 --> 00:04:03,740 It is to the Holy Spirit. 56 00:04:03,740 --> 00:04:05,600 What is the flesh? 57 00:04:05,600 --> 00:04:10,680 We've talked about this before, but let me remind you that the flesh in biblical terms 58 00:04:10,680 --> 00:04:14,520 in this context refers to an unredeemed humanness. 59 00:04:14,520 --> 00:04:19,600 It is the mortal body with its powers, drives, and opportunities. 60 00:04:19,600 --> 00:04:27,280 It is that part of me where even though I'm a Christian, sin operates still. 61 00:04:27,280 --> 00:04:28,280 The flesh. 62 00:04:28,280 --> 00:04:34,560 And he says that I as a believer am not under obligation any longer to that part of me called 63 00:04:34,560 --> 00:04:36,360 the flesh. 64 00:04:36,360 --> 00:04:39,720 Once I was in bondage to the flesh. 65 00:04:39,720 --> 00:04:44,360 That's when I was, as he says earlier in this chapter, in the flesh. 66 00:04:44,360 --> 00:04:46,240 That is unsaved. 67 00:04:46,240 --> 00:04:48,760 I was unregenerate. 68 00:04:48,760 --> 00:04:57,720 Sin operated as a sovereign in me, making me a slave, subjecting me to its desires for 69 00:04:57,720 --> 00:04:59,160 me. 70 00:04:59,160 --> 00:05:06,240 Let me list for you a number of passages that talk about that slavery to sin that those 71 00:05:06,240 --> 00:05:08,400 who are still in the flesh have. 72 00:05:08,400 --> 00:05:10,760 Ephesians 2 verses 1 to 3. 73 00:05:10,760 --> 00:05:15,620 We don't have time to read these tonight, but I want you to refer to them if you wish 74 00:05:15,620 --> 00:05:17,320 to follow up on this message. 75 00:05:17,320 --> 00:05:21,680 Ephesians 4, 17 to 19. 76 00:05:21,680 --> 00:05:26,000 He gives there a further description of life in the flesh. 77 00:05:26,000 --> 00:05:35,320 Titus 3, 3 says that we were enslaved to the flesh in its lust, its sensuality. 78 00:05:35,320 --> 00:05:38,380 First Peter 1 verse 14. 79 00:05:38,380 --> 00:05:42,280 Chapter 4 again, verses 1 to 3 of 1 Peter. 80 00:05:42,280 --> 00:05:46,680 Then here in Romans chapter 6, verse 6 and again in verse 12. 81 00:05:46,680 --> 00:05:49,520 What he says basically in all of these texts is the same. 82 00:05:49,520 --> 00:05:58,160 I was under obligation to the flesh before I was saved, because sin operated in the flesh 83 00:05:58,160 --> 00:06:03,000 as a sovereign over me. 84 00:06:03,000 --> 00:06:09,480 But a dramatic, dramatic transformation took place at my salvation. 85 00:06:09,480 --> 00:06:13,040 He points to that in the conjunction that begins verse 12. 86 00:06:13,040 --> 00:06:20,560 He says, so then, or therefore, brethren, we are under obligation not to the flesh 87 00:06:20,560 --> 00:06:22,920 at this point. 88 00:06:22,920 --> 00:06:28,760 Now that conjunction refers back to what he's talked about in the previous verses. 89 00:06:28,760 --> 00:06:33,240 He spoke about our being saved now, no longer in the flesh, but we're in the Spirit, we're 90 00:06:33,240 --> 00:06:35,340 in Christ. 91 00:06:35,340 --> 00:06:40,640 Now because I am in Christ, there is a new principle that is at work in me, which he 92 00:06:40,640 --> 00:06:43,400 describes earlier in verse 2. 93 00:06:43,400 --> 00:06:48,880 It is the principle of the spirit of life in Christ Jesus. 94 00:06:48,880 --> 00:06:56,760 That principle sets me free from the law of sin and death that once enslaved me. 95 00:06:56,760 --> 00:06:59,800 A new principle works within me. 96 00:06:59,800 --> 00:07:02,600 I have a new position. 97 00:07:02,600 --> 00:07:08,600 Verse 9 says, you are not in the flesh, but in the Spirit, if indeed the Spirit of God 98 00:07:08,600 --> 00:07:11,200 dwells in you, if you're a Christian. 99 00:07:11,200 --> 00:07:17,960 I have a new position now, identifying me with Jesus Christ, those who were baptized 100 00:07:17,960 --> 00:07:24,320 this afternoon, pictured by what they went through, their identification with Christ 101 00:07:24,320 --> 00:07:28,640 in his death, burial, and resurrection. 102 00:07:28,640 --> 00:07:31,920 You and I in Jesus Christ have a new position. 103 00:07:31,920 --> 00:07:37,440 We are in him, no longer in the flesh, no longer in sin. 104 00:07:37,440 --> 00:07:40,320 And then there is a new person. 105 00:07:40,320 --> 00:07:45,800 This transformation has brought about a new person who indwells me, and that person is 106 00:07:45,800 --> 00:07:51,420 Jesus Christ himself, as he explains in verses 9, 10, and 11. 107 00:07:51,420 --> 00:07:56,600 So this transformation, this new dramatic thing that God has done in me and in you when 108 00:07:56,600 --> 00:08:02,920 we were saved, brings about a new principle, a new position, a new person. 109 00:08:02,920 --> 00:08:06,400 Therefore we are not under obligation to the flesh any longer. 110 00:08:06,400 --> 00:08:13,880 It is unreasonable, unthinkable to imagine that I have a further obligation, any loyalty 111 00:08:13,880 --> 00:08:16,080 to my flesh. 112 00:08:16,080 --> 00:08:20,740 It is that flesh which still is in me, though I'm not in it. 113 00:08:20,740 --> 00:08:26,160 It is that flesh that is in me that causes my problems. 114 00:08:26,160 --> 00:08:28,520 It's what gives me trouble in my Christian life. 115 00:08:28,520 --> 00:08:32,440 It brings misery upon me. 116 00:08:32,440 --> 00:08:35,680 I have no obligation anymore to it. 117 00:08:35,680 --> 00:08:40,400 That flesh and death go together, as he explains here. 118 00:08:40,400 --> 00:08:45,800 He says if you are living according to the flesh, verse 13, you must die. 119 00:08:45,800 --> 00:08:50,840 Now is he saying there that if we live according to the flesh that we're going to lose our 120 00:08:50,840 --> 00:08:51,840 salvation? 121 00:08:51,840 --> 00:08:53,000 Of course not. 122 00:08:53,000 --> 00:08:58,160 That would be entirely in contradiction to other portions of the word. 123 00:08:58,160 --> 00:09:01,880 Death seems to be a metaphor here in this context. 124 00:09:01,880 --> 00:09:07,800 He says if you are living according to the flesh, you are about to die, is literally 125 00:09:07,800 --> 00:09:08,800 what he says. 126 00:09:08,800 --> 00:09:16,320 The idea is the loss, the separation from joy and the abundant life, the reward. 127 00:09:16,320 --> 00:09:22,560 And there may be also an implication here of the possibility of an early physical death 128 00:09:22,560 --> 00:09:29,800 as well if I persist in living according to the flesh as a believer. 129 00:09:29,800 --> 00:09:35,880 His main point is this, I am under obligation but it is not to the flesh. 130 00:09:35,880 --> 00:09:37,840 The flesh has done me no good. 131 00:09:37,840 --> 00:09:40,400 It has given me only trouble. 132 00:09:40,400 --> 00:09:43,680 I am now released from its domination. 133 00:09:43,680 --> 00:09:45,960 I am no longer indebted. 134 00:09:45,960 --> 00:09:49,680 I have no loyalty to it anymore. 135 00:09:49,680 --> 00:09:56,080 Therefore I should not live according to what the flesh tries to get me to do. 136 00:09:56,080 --> 00:10:00,200 But he says I do have an obligation to the spirit. 137 00:10:00,200 --> 00:10:05,480 Now that's implied, Paul doesn't finish his sentence actually, but that's what he's 138 00:10:05,480 --> 00:10:07,240 saying here. 139 00:10:07,240 --> 00:10:13,000 He says look to the work in you which the spirit has done. 140 00:10:13,000 --> 00:10:17,160 He says in verse 2, he has set you free. 141 00:10:17,160 --> 00:10:20,420 He says in verse 9, he indwells you. 142 00:10:20,420 --> 00:10:25,880 He says in verse 11 that one day he will affect even my physical resurrection. 143 00:10:25,880 --> 00:10:30,160 He's going to say in verse 14 the spirit guides me as a son of God. 144 00:10:30,160 --> 00:10:36,360 In verse 16 he says the spirit bears witness with my spirit that I am genuinely saved. 145 00:10:36,360 --> 00:10:42,800 And in verse 26 he says the spirit intercedes within me. 146 00:10:42,800 --> 00:10:48,560 Now he says in light of that, because of the spirit's work on your behalf, because you're 147 00:10:48,560 --> 00:10:54,040 in Jesus Christ, you are obligated to the spirit. 148 00:10:54,040 --> 00:10:58,880 What am I to do as one who is indebted to the Holy Spirit? 149 00:10:58,880 --> 00:11:02,080 There's no question about that. 150 00:11:02,080 --> 00:11:10,160 He says by the spirit put to death the deeds of the body and you will live. 151 00:11:10,160 --> 00:11:14,140 Put to death the deeds of the body, he says. 152 00:11:14,140 --> 00:11:17,920 Does that mean that my body is sinful? 153 00:11:17,920 --> 00:11:20,240 No. 154 00:11:20,240 --> 00:11:25,120 Nor are the natural desires that God has given me in my body. 155 00:11:25,120 --> 00:11:26,760 It's appetites. 156 00:11:26,760 --> 00:11:30,280 Those are not inherently sinful. 157 00:11:30,280 --> 00:11:32,700 He's not saying here put to death your body. 158 00:11:32,700 --> 00:11:36,740 He talks about the deeds of the body. 159 00:11:36,740 --> 00:11:44,680 He's talking about what sin operating within my body seeks to use. 160 00:11:44,680 --> 00:11:51,080 You see, sin even uses those natural and good desires and appetites that God gives to me 161 00:11:51,080 --> 00:11:53,160 and perverts them. 162 00:11:53,160 --> 00:12:00,720 Sin seeks to use those good appetites to fulfill its evil intent and desire in me. 163 00:12:00,720 --> 00:12:08,960 So he's saying put to death the activities, the works, the expressions of sin in your 164 00:12:08,960 --> 00:12:11,400 body. 165 00:12:11,400 --> 00:12:18,760 Those solicitations to evil that arise within you from within your mortal body which if 166 00:12:18,760 --> 00:12:26,800 obeyed result in the weakness of your inner man. 167 00:12:26,800 --> 00:12:29,520 He says put them to death. 168 00:12:29,520 --> 00:12:32,280 Notice he does not say put them in their place. 169 00:12:32,280 --> 00:12:34,200 He says put them to death. 170 00:12:34,200 --> 00:12:36,420 He does not say to us rectify them. 171 00:12:36,420 --> 00:12:38,600 He says mortify them. 172 00:12:38,600 --> 00:12:45,800 He says kill them, murder them, execute them. 173 00:12:45,800 --> 00:12:55,800 That is my response to what God has done for me in sanctification. 174 00:12:55,800 --> 00:12:58,960 There are those who say well sanctification is all God's work. 175 00:12:58,960 --> 00:13:04,400 Bless God it is his work but it's not entirely that way. 176 00:13:04,400 --> 00:13:07,920 There are those who say well sanctification is what I have to do. 177 00:13:07,920 --> 00:13:11,400 Well yes but it's not just all that either. 178 00:13:11,400 --> 00:13:13,560 It's a cross between the two. 179 00:13:13,560 --> 00:13:21,280 God has done all that he can do and now it's up to me to respond. 180 00:13:21,280 --> 00:13:26,400 My responsibility is to put to death and that's in the present tense here. 181 00:13:26,400 --> 00:13:35,160 It means to continually put to death those expressions of sin that arise within the appetites 182 00:13:35,160 --> 00:13:38,080 of my body. 183 00:13:38,080 --> 00:13:41,480 Let me again give you some scriptures to follow up on in your own study. 184 00:13:41,480 --> 00:13:44,840 Romans 13, 14. 185 00:13:44,840 --> 00:13:52,440 He says put on the Lord Jesus Christ and you will not fulfill the lusts, the sensual desires 186 00:13:52,440 --> 00:13:55,160 of your flesh. 187 00:13:55,160 --> 00:13:59,040 First Corinthians 9 verses 24 to 29. 188 00:13:59,040 --> 00:14:08,640 Paul said that even as an apostle he had to gain mastery over his body, his physical body 189 00:14:08,640 --> 00:14:17,360 lest sin using its desires and appetites should put him on the shelf for God. 190 00:14:17,360 --> 00:14:21,040 Colossians 3, 5 says something very similar to this. 191 00:14:21,040 --> 00:14:28,040 First Thessalonians 4 verses 3 to 5 and 1 Peter 2, 11. 192 00:14:28,040 --> 00:14:40,000 I am under obligation to the Holy Spirit because of what he has done for me to execute the 193 00:14:40,000 --> 00:14:46,000 sinful expressions that arise within my body. 194 00:14:46,000 --> 00:14:53,320 Notice that my responsibility is not left up merely to my resolve, my determination 195 00:14:53,320 --> 00:14:55,000 to do this. 196 00:14:55,000 --> 00:15:02,840 If it were frankly speaking out of my own experience I don't get very far. 197 00:15:02,840 --> 00:15:05,800 That's why those three words are so critical. 198 00:15:05,800 --> 00:15:15,300 If by the Spirit you are putting to death the deeds of the body. 199 00:15:15,300 --> 00:15:23,320 It is my resolve, it is an act of my will, but it is the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus 200 00:15:23,320 --> 00:15:29,920 who must strengthen me, strengthen you so that we can follow through on that decision. 201 00:15:29,920 --> 00:15:38,160 In a sense the Spirit of life becomes the Spirit of death as he enables us to put to 202 00:15:38,160 --> 00:15:42,600 death the deeds of the body. 203 00:15:42,600 --> 00:15:48,720 This cooperation with the Holy Spirit is my obligation to him. 204 00:15:48,720 --> 00:15:55,840 He says the result of that obedience in my life is that I will live. 205 00:15:55,840 --> 00:16:02,680 He says if you by the Spirit are putting to death the deeds of the body you will live. 206 00:16:02,680 --> 00:16:06,640 You will really have life he says. 207 00:16:06,640 --> 00:16:10,960 No sin seeks to yet fulfill its evil in you. 208 00:16:10,960 --> 00:16:12,720 Put it to death. 209 00:16:12,720 --> 00:16:18,200 Sin will say to you if you experience this you will really enjoy life. 210 00:16:18,200 --> 00:16:23,080 If you go after this you will get out of life a real gusto. 211 00:16:23,080 --> 00:16:27,360 You will get the most. 212 00:16:27,360 --> 00:16:34,520 The word of God says if we recognize the source of that as being sin and put it to death then 213 00:16:34,520 --> 00:16:38,960 by the Spirit then we will know true life. 214 00:16:38,960 --> 00:16:43,760 Life is not to be found in self-actualization and self-realization. 215 00:16:43,760 --> 00:16:51,640 It's not to be found in self-fulfillment and living out our pleasures but real life is 216 00:16:51,640 --> 00:16:59,960 found in yielding to the Spirit of God enabling him to work in us to put to death the deeds 217 00:16:59,960 --> 00:17:01,960 of the body. 218 00:17:01,960 --> 00:17:07,040 That is my obligation to the Holy Spirit. 219 00:17:07,040 --> 00:17:10,440 What are some practical applications of this? 220 00:17:10,440 --> 00:17:13,040 How is it that I cooperate with the Holy Spirit? 221 00:17:13,040 --> 00:17:17,320 Let me just suggest two or three things and we'll stop. 222 00:17:17,320 --> 00:17:25,280 If I am serious about putting to death the deeds of the body that is the expressions 223 00:17:25,280 --> 00:17:31,720 of sin within my body then there are some things I need to do. 224 00:17:31,720 --> 00:17:38,200 Number one I need to watch my companionship. 225 00:17:38,200 --> 00:17:40,720 Those that we run around with influence us. 226 00:17:40,720 --> 00:17:46,680 I want you young people, you young men and women in school to hear me. 227 00:17:46,680 --> 00:17:50,200 Junior high, senior high, listen. 228 00:17:50,200 --> 00:17:57,800 The friends that you choose will influence your life. 229 00:17:57,800 --> 00:18:05,560 The kind of people you choose to be around will inevitably have an impact upon you. 230 00:18:05,560 --> 00:18:14,480 I have known some very sincere well-meaning young people who have for whatever true motive 231 00:18:14,480 --> 00:18:24,840 decided to forsake their Christian friends and to run solely with a crowd that was worldly. 232 00:18:24,840 --> 00:18:33,120 They felt in their hearts, I trust sincerely, that they would have an influence on them 233 00:18:33,120 --> 00:18:38,920 and that they could somehow lift those people from the kinds of things they desired to do, 234 00:18:38,920 --> 00:18:43,080 the kind of people they wanted to be. 235 00:18:43,080 --> 00:18:49,240 Very frankly I have yet to see that work. 236 00:18:49,240 --> 00:18:54,080 Inevitably the worldly crowd will impact the Christian young person. 237 00:18:54,080 --> 00:19:01,560 Now you say are you trying to tell us not to have friends or people that we know who 238 00:19:01,560 --> 00:19:02,560 are like that? 239 00:19:02,560 --> 00:19:04,120 I'm not saying that at all. 240 00:19:04,120 --> 00:19:09,260 I am saying though be careful who your companions are. 241 00:19:09,260 --> 00:19:14,960 Be careful whose lives are really influencing you because of the amount of time you spend 242 00:19:14,960 --> 00:19:18,400 with them. 243 00:19:18,400 --> 00:19:23,720 The Word of God says, and it picks up here actually a proverb from the Greek culture, 244 00:19:23,720 --> 00:19:26,360 but it legitimizes it. 245 00:19:26,360 --> 00:19:34,840 It says bad company corrupts good morals, 1 Corinthians 15 and verse 33. 246 00:19:34,840 --> 00:19:41,440 Be careful of the company that you keep, those that you allow to make an influence upon you. 247 00:19:41,440 --> 00:19:43,240 Watch your companionship. 248 00:19:43,240 --> 00:19:51,840 If you are serious about this matter of your obligation to the Holy Spirit, here is a practical 249 00:19:51,840 --> 00:19:57,840 application for your life, and it's not just teenagers, it's all of us. 250 00:19:57,840 --> 00:20:07,200 The second application is this, be careful not to make provision for your flesh to fulfill 251 00:20:07,200 --> 00:20:09,720 itself. 252 00:20:09,720 --> 00:20:15,720 I refer again to Romans 13 and 14 where it says put on the Lord Jesus Christ and you 253 00:20:15,720 --> 00:20:22,360 will not make no provision for the flesh to fulfill its lust, it says. 254 00:20:22,360 --> 00:20:27,600 Make no provision for the flesh. 255 00:20:27,600 --> 00:20:37,200 You know it's possible for you and me to do that, to plan ahead, to think how we might 256 00:20:37,200 --> 00:20:43,120 be able to fulfill our desires. 257 00:20:43,120 --> 00:20:51,760 We scheme, now we almost do that subconsciously, but the fact is we choose to do it. 258 00:20:51,760 --> 00:21:01,320 We make provision that we might fulfill those appetites within us in an ungodly manner. 259 00:21:01,320 --> 00:21:08,000 That's why it's important that we guard our minds, that we not play with sin. 260 00:21:08,000 --> 00:21:14,880 What the flesh enjoys doing is to remind us of a previous experience of sin that did produce 261 00:21:14,880 --> 00:21:21,600 pleasure however wrong and temporary it may have been. 262 00:21:21,600 --> 00:21:29,040 Almost like a piece of candy, you put it in your mouth and you kind of suck on it and 263 00:21:29,040 --> 00:21:33,240 it tastes good, it creates appetite. 264 00:21:33,240 --> 00:21:42,960 So the flesh puts into your mind memories and it tends to wipe out for you the downside 265 00:21:42,960 --> 00:21:47,640 of it and it gives you only the pleasure side. 266 00:21:47,640 --> 00:21:52,160 You begin to think about that and it begins to create appetite and desire for something 267 00:21:52,160 --> 00:21:55,440 like that again. 268 00:21:55,440 --> 00:22:01,520 Before you know it, you begin to make provision that you might do that. 269 00:22:01,520 --> 00:22:05,640 The Word of God says that we are to be careful to guard our minds. 270 00:22:05,640 --> 00:22:08,160 Philippians 4.8 emphasizes that. 271 00:22:08,160 --> 00:22:12,200 Be careful what you think about. 272 00:22:12,200 --> 00:22:13,960 Preoccupy your mind with Christ. 273 00:22:13,960 --> 00:22:20,240 He says put on the Lord Jesus Christ. 274 00:22:20,240 --> 00:22:23,320 Put Him into your mind. 275 00:22:23,320 --> 00:22:25,760 Preoccupy yourself with Him. 276 00:22:25,760 --> 00:22:32,280 And when you sense your mind wandering and you sense the flesh creating its evil desire 277 00:22:32,280 --> 00:22:39,160 within you and you sense yourself being drawn and enticed in that direction, immediately 278 00:22:39,160 --> 00:22:42,520 recognize it and put it to death. 279 00:22:42,520 --> 00:22:44,640 Execute it at that point. 280 00:22:44,640 --> 00:22:50,280 If you're serious about your obligation to the Holy Spirit, that's something you must 281 00:22:50,280 --> 00:22:52,240 work at and that's true with all of us. 282 00:22:52,240 --> 00:22:56,640 It doesn't just happen automatically and forever and never a problem again. 283 00:22:56,640 --> 00:23:03,640 It's something that continually we must do and deal with, all of us. 284 00:23:03,640 --> 00:23:10,720 Then I would urge you thirdly to recognize the ultimate impact of sin in your life. 285 00:23:10,720 --> 00:23:15,500 What happens when I do obey the flesh? 286 00:23:15,500 --> 00:23:20,200 What happens when I do make provision for it and I fulfill its lust? 287 00:23:20,200 --> 00:23:27,280 Whatever that may be, a lust of gossip or sexual desire or covetousness. 288 00:23:27,280 --> 00:23:29,640 Whatever that may be, I make provision for it. 289 00:23:29,640 --> 00:23:30,640 What happens? 290 00:23:30,640 --> 00:23:38,200 Well, as a Christian, the Holy Spirit immediately creates guilt within me and I don't feel so 291 00:23:38,200 --> 00:23:41,120 good. 292 00:23:41,120 --> 00:23:44,160 And I know I've done wrong. 293 00:23:44,160 --> 00:23:51,440 God does that wonderfully to remind us that we need to acknowledge our sin to Him. 294 00:23:51,440 --> 00:23:54,320 We need to deal with that, keep short accounts. 295 00:23:54,320 --> 00:23:59,320 But that's not the ultimate impact of sin, what it does to me. 296 00:23:59,320 --> 00:24:07,240 I need to recognize that the ultimate impact of my fleshly expressions is not upon me nor 297 00:24:07,240 --> 00:24:09,160 is it upon others. 298 00:24:09,160 --> 00:24:13,520 It can affect others, as all of us know. 299 00:24:13,520 --> 00:24:20,920 When you and I get in the flesh, there are times when people better get out of our way. 300 00:24:20,920 --> 00:24:23,600 And we hurt them. 301 00:24:23,600 --> 00:24:25,520 We're sorry about it later. 302 00:24:25,520 --> 00:24:27,520 They're sorry about it. 303 00:24:27,520 --> 00:24:30,200 We apologize, hopefully. 304 00:24:30,200 --> 00:24:32,360 We make up. 305 00:24:32,360 --> 00:24:34,960 But even that is not the ultimate impact of sin. 306 00:24:34,960 --> 00:24:39,840 You see, the ultimate impact of sin is against God. 307 00:24:39,840 --> 00:24:44,160 As David said, against thee and the only of I sin. 308 00:24:44,160 --> 00:24:48,600 Now, there were others involved in his sin too who were impacted. 309 00:24:48,600 --> 00:24:54,600 But he was recognizing that in the final sense, it is God who is impacted by our sin. 310 00:24:54,600 --> 00:25:02,380 That's why he tells us in Ephesians, and grieve not the Holy Spirit of God, by whom you are 311 00:25:02,380 --> 00:25:07,120 sealed under the day of redemption. 312 00:25:07,120 --> 00:25:12,240 Realize that the ultimate impact of sin is the sorrow that it creates in the heart of 313 00:25:12,240 --> 00:25:16,920 the very Holy Spirit who has done all of these things for you that we've listed earlier in 314 00:25:16,920 --> 00:25:18,920 the message. 315 00:25:18,920 --> 00:25:22,560 He has caused to grieve and to sorrow within you. 316 00:25:22,560 --> 00:25:29,640 If you and I are serious about our obligation to the Holy Spirit, we have to think about 317 00:25:29,640 --> 00:25:38,680 that, how God, the Holy Spirit, feels when we are disobedient to his Lordship in our 318 00:25:38,680 --> 00:25:42,360 lives and we obey sin. 319 00:25:42,360 --> 00:25:50,080 Dr. Martin Lloyd-Jones said, the most terrible aspect of falling into sin is not so much 320 00:25:50,080 --> 00:25:58,480 that I have failed, or that I have fallen, or that I am miserable, or that I need release, 321 00:25:58,480 --> 00:26:06,040 but that I have failed God and misrepresented him, and that men and women in the world will 322 00:26:06,040 --> 00:26:12,620 know nothing about his praise, his glory, his virtues, his excellencies. 323 00:26:12,620 --> 00:26:19,840 They will say that to be a Christian makes no difference, that Christians are like themselves 324 00:26:19,840 --> 00:26:22,400 after all. 325 00:26:22,400 --> 00:26:35,320 Dr. William Newell said, a holy life without a controlled body is an absolute contradiction. 326 00:26:35,320 --> 00:26:41,840 Please understand that our bodies are not inherently sinful, but they are mortal bodies 327 00:26:41,840 --> 00:26:48,880 that are impacted by sin that yet operates within us as believers. 328 00:26:48,880 --> 00:26:53,880 We can allow sin to be the sovereign, and we can present the members of our body to 329 00:26:53,880 --> 00:26:57,080 sin as its servants. 330 00:26:57,080 --> 00:27:03,320 We can do that, tragic isn't it, that we all do. 331 00:27:03,320 --> 00:27:08,800 How we need to confess that to the Lord and acknowledge it to him and claim his forgiveness. 332 00:27:08,800 --> 00:27:15,760 But beloved, the real obligation we have is to the Holy Spirit. 333 00:27:15,760 --> 00:27:24,440 We might yield to his Lordship, that he might put to death those expressions of sin that 334 00:27:24,440 --> 00:27:36,880 attempt to come forth from my body so that my life is holy, clean, and obedient. 335 00:27:36,880 --> 00:27:41,320 Before you go to sleep tonight, if you have a hymnal at home, I want to encourage you 336 00:27:41,320 --> 00:27:47,920 to read through those words again and meditate on them, for William Longstaff has said so 337 00:27:47,920 --> 00:27:51,480 much and so few words there. 338 00:27:51,480 --> 00:27:55,240 Would you bow with me in prayer? 339 00:27:55,240 --> 00:28:04,880 Lord remind us that this matter of holiness, our obligation to the Holy Spirit is life 340 00:28:04,880 --> 00:28:14,680 long and that there are some things that we must do if we are serious about putting to 341 00:28:14,680 --> 00:28:25,080 death the deeds of sin in our bodies by the power of the Holy Spirit. 342 00:28:25,080 --> 00:28:31,200 Many if not most of us have to acknowledge tonight, indeed all of us, that there are 343 00:28:31,200 --> 00:28:37,680 times we do not cooperate with the Holy Spirit and there are times we make provision for 344 00:28:37,680 --> 00:28:42,000 the flesh. 345 00:28:42,000 --> 00:28:48,340 Thank you for your faithful Holy Spirit who convicts us and reminds us of our need of 346 00:28:48,340 --> 00:28:51,600 acknowledging that sin. 347 00:28:51,600 --> 00:28:54,880 Thank you for restoring us when we do that. 348 00:28:54,880 --> 00:29:02,640 To walk with you, the Lord I pray that we will this week do some of the things that 349 00:29:02,640 --> 00:29:07,560 are written in this hymn, things that we have suggested tonight in the message, each of 350 00:29:07,560 --> 00:29:17,440 us, so that we might grow, that we might become more like the Lord Jesus, that we might fulfill 351 00:29:17,440 --> 00:29:27,760 that debt, that debt of loyalty we have to the Holy Spirit who has done so much for us 352 00:29:27,760 --> 00:29:30,920 and who indwells us. 353 00:29:30,920 --> 00:29:35,640 And to that end we pray your blessing upon us as we go and may the Spirit of God seal 354 00:29:35,640 --> 00:29:40,720 this to our lives and bring forth fruit in us from it. 355 00:29:40,720 --> 00:29:42,360 Amen. 356 00:29:42,360 --> 00:29:47,400 Good night.