Sermon Tone Analysis

Sermon Series for Romans 8

Title: "You CanDo It!" – The Possibility of Following Christ Perfectly!

Review last week's sermon in a sentence - Living the Spirit-Filled Life!

Review last week's passage – Romans 8:9-11

Main Idea - The Life You’ve Longed For Is Found Only in the Spirit.

You Are IN the Spirit

You Are Alive IN the Spirit!

You Are Powerful IN the Spirit

ENGAGE

What do you think is the most important relationship in this life?

Family!

But there is even a more precious relationship than our blood - its the relationship we have with Jesus because of His shed blood!

ENCOUNTER

Main Idea - How You Can Know You Are A Child of God!

Paul gives us in these verses three markers that clearly show if someone is a follower of Christ or not.

And the first one is rather graphic!

1.

A Child of God Kills the Flesh (vs.

12-13)

We Owe the Flesh Nothing! (vs.

12)

As you think about your former life.

The life you lived prior to being a Christian, did your flesh (your sinful nature) ever do you any favors?

Did your sinful nature actually help you.

Did your flesh give you anything of value?

The answer is NO! No! it did not.

What did your sinful nature, your flesh give you?

Death!

So this begs the question, do we owe the death giving flesh anything?

And the answer is NO!

This is Paul’s point.

We owe no debt to our old flesh.

Nothing!

Nada! Zip!

And because the flesh has never done us any good and only brought us the promise of physical death as well as spiritual death, we have no reason “to live according to the flesh.”

In other words Christians are under no obligation to follow the desires of the “insidious enemy within.”

You can say no to sin!

You can and must put off or put to death the old sinful person.

otherwise, there is something you need to hear from Paul...

A Stark Warning (vs.

13a)

Talk about being blunt!

If you “live according to the flesh you will die.”

NLT - For if you live by its dictates, you will die.”

If you consistently live by your emotions and feelings to the exclusion of obeying the Word of Christ, YOU WILL DIE! Paul is promising spiritual death for those live by the desires of the flesh.

But wait one minute, I prayed a prayer when I was 8 years old and so I’m saved no matter what, right?

It depends.

Was it a genuine, heartfelt confession of your sin and entrusting your soul to the safekeeping of God? Was there change that took place after this prayer.

Do you desire the activities of God? Are you grieved when you sin? Do you exude in a growing way the fruit of the Spirit?

Do you hunger and thirst for the Word of God?

And most importantly, do you love the Jesus of the bible?

If these things are so then there is evidence of saving faith in your life.

If your prayer was simply motivated by your desire to not go to Hell and there is no desire for the things of God, you don’t want to be with God’s people at church, prayer is rare or non existent, when you sin there is no godly grief, you are not convicted by the Holy Spirit, there has been no change in your life, you are just as angry, worried, anxious, you gossip, slander, you are sexually deviant, as you have ever been, you have no desire to read, study, learn and meditate on the Holy Scriptures, why would you think you are a born-again Christian?

If I’ve just described you, you need to repent and beg Christ to save you because you, my friend are on your way to hell and your only hope is Jesus!

This is Paul’s stark warning!

Don’t ignore his words!

But there is Hope!

A Spiritual Promise (vs.

13b)

You have been given a powerful tool in your toolbox for the Christian life.

Do you see what that tool is?

That tool is none other than the Holy Spirit of God.

And do you see what Paul promises in verse thirteen?

He says “you will live.”

But please notice something crucial.

Paul says something you need to understand...

“by the SPIRIT you put to death the deeds of the body, you will live.”

It’s not by your will!

It’s not by your power!

Its not by your determination.

It is by the POWER of the HOLY SPIRIT within you that you are not only willing but able to KILL the FLESH!

Remember, it is the POWER OF THE HOLY SPIRIT that changes your WANT TO! That’s not you, that is God working in you!

And this is the ONLY way you will grow into the image of Christ.

Illustrate - Trevor, Broom, and a Bat.What do these things have to do with each other?

Murder...

Apply - So, are the desires of the flesh growing weaker because the Spirit of God is empowering you to put to death the deeds of the flesh?

That’s a really good sign.

One thing you can do to expedite this process is to pray to God to increase your distaste for sin and increase your desire to be holy.

Also, remember the stark warning.

If what I said earlier characterized the whole of your life, you need Christ!

Review - How You Can Know You Are A Child of God!

1.

A Child of God Kills the Flesh

Transition - but there is something even more interesting...

2. A Child of God Is No Slave to Fear (vs.

14-15)

God Leads You (vs.

14)

What does it mean to be led by the Spirit of God?

Promptings are legit.

Illumination of the Spirit

Divine enablement to obey the Spirit’s revealed will through His Holy Word.

And if you are led by the Spirit in this way, what does Paul say about you?

That you are a son/daughter of God Himself!

Hopeful Truth!

But there is another amazing truth...

Fear No Longer Enslaves You (vs.

15a)

Oh, fear shows up every now and then for the Christian, but we are no longer characterized by it.

Look at verse 15...

We sing this song - but it is all too easy for us to revert back to old patterns of fear.

We are not a people of fear but a people of faith!

What didn’t we received when we became followers of Jesus?

A spirit of slavery.

Slavery to what?

Sin