The Truest Thing About You is What God Says is True

 Identity: The truest thing about you is what God says is true

God says that we have received the permanent and transforming gift of the Holy Spirit

• The Father planned salvation, the Son accomplished salvation and the Holy Spirit applies and empowers salvation
  • Every believer has been baptized, indwelt, sealed, regenerated and adopted into God’s family by the Spirit
  • The Holy Spirit’s presence in our lives is the sign and the seal of the New Covenant
  • The Holy Spirit has come to transform our lives, make us more like Christ and empower us to be servants and witnesses for Jesus

 
Romans 8:1-16, 26-27 (NLT)
8 So now there is no condemnation for those who belong to Christ Jesus. ² And because you belong to him, the power of the life-giving Spirit has freed you from the power of sin that leads to death. ³ The law of Moses was unable to save us because of the weakness of our sinful nature. So God did what the law could not do. He sent his own Son in a body like the bodies we sinners have. And in that body God declared an end to sin’s control over us by giving his Son as a sacrifice for our sins. ⁴ He did this so that the just requirement of the law would be fully satisfied for us, who no longer follow our sinful nature but instead follow the Spirit.
⁵ Those who are dominated by the sinful nature think about sinful things, but those who are controlled by the Holy Spirit think about things that please the Spirit. ⁶ So letting your sinful nature control your mind leads to death. But letting the Spirit control your mind leads to life and peace. ⁷ For the sinful nature is always hostile to God. It never did obey God’s laws, and it never will. ⁸ That’s why those who are still under the control of their sinful nature can never please God.
⁹ But you are not controlled by your sinful nature. You are controlled by the Spirit if you have the Spirit of God living in you. (And remember that those who do not have the Spirit of Christ living in them do not belong to him at all.) ¹⁰ And Christ lives within you, so even though your body will die because of sin, the Spirit gives you life because you have been made right with God. ¹¹ The Spirit of God, who raised Jesus from the dead, lives in you. And just as God raised Christ Jesus from the dead, he will give life to your mortal bodies by this same Spirit living within you.
¹² Therefore, dear brothers and sisters, you have no obligation to do what your sinful nature urges you to do. ¹³ For if you live by its dictates, you will die. But if through the power of the Spirit you put to death the deeds of your sinful nature, you will live. ¹⁴ For all who are led by the Spirit of God are children of God.
¹⁵ So you have not received a spirit that makes you fearful slaves. Instead, you received God’s Spirit when he adopted you as his own children. Now we call him, “Abba, Father.” ¹⁶ For his Spirit joins with our spirit to affirm that we are God’s children…²⁶ And the Holy Spirit helps us in our weakness. For example, we don’t know what God wants us to pray for. But the Holy Spirit prays for us with groanings that cannot be expressed in words. ²⁷ And the Father who knows all hearts knows what the Spirit is saying, for the Spirit pleads for us believers in harmony with God’s own will.
 
1.    The law of the Spirit of life has set us free from the law of sin and death
² For the law of the Spirit of life has set you free in Christ Jesus from the law of sin and death. (ESV)

1. A.   The Holy Spirit is described with the title “the Spirit of life”
2. B.   The Holy Spirit produces a new way of living
   1. C.   Example of a jet’s engines superceding  the law of gravity
   2. D.   The Holy Spirit’s indwelling presence sets us free from the control of sin and from the consequence of sin-death
   3. E.   Our freedom was a past tense completed action so it is true right now

 
2.    The righteous requirements of the law are fulfilled in us who walk according to the Spirit
⁴ in order that the righteous requirement of the law might be fulfilled in us, who walk not according to the flesh but according to the Spirit. (ESV)

1. God’s righteousness expressed in the Law had a quantitative nature to it
2. That righteous attainment and standard is imparted to every believer by virtue of their faith in Christ and new position in the Spirit
3. This is not indication potentiality but purpose
4. This is true for those who are walking in the Spirit; both positionally and experientially
5. The Spirit empowers us to live righteously
6. We are righteous by God’s imputation and we live righteously because the Holy Spirit empowers and transforms us
7. G.  Example of pushing a car verses sitting behind the wheel, turning on the key, putting it in drive and stepping on the gas. The power in the Christian life to be holy comes from the Holy Spirit not from ourselves

 
3.    We are in the Spirit and the Spirit of God dwells in us
⁹ You, however, are not in the flesh but in the Spirit, if in fact the Spirit of God dwells in you. Anyone who does not have the Spirit of Christ does not belong to him. (ESV)

1. We are those who walk in the Spirit because we have the Spirit living in us
   1. 1^st class condition, the Spirit does in facet indwell us
   2. We were regenerated, baptized, indwelt, adopted and sealed at the moment of our salvation
   3. The Spirit, whom Jesus called the Helper is with us and in us 24/7 all the time, everywhere
   4. In the OT, the Spirit came on people but did not indwell them, after Pentecost the Holy Spirit permanently indwells believers the moment they receive Christ
   5. F.    Example having a camera in your phone; when you want to take a picture you don’t need to find a camera, you already have one in your phone.of needing a camera, one is in my phone. When we need the help of the Holy Spirit, He is already in us!
   6. Have you ever needed help, do you need help, do you think you might need help in the future? The Spirit is there because He is here, in us
   7. Because we have the Spirit we belong to Christ

 
4.    The Spirit of Him who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in us and He will give resurrection life to our mortal bodies
¹⁰ But if Christ is in you, although the body is dead because of sin, the Spirit is life because of righteousness. ¹¹ If the Spirit of him who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, he who raised Christ Jesus from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through his Spirit who dwells in you. (ESV)

1. The Spirit is life and He is the Spirit of Him who raised Jesus from the dead
2. 1^st class condition, assumes the reality of the condition, “Since the Spirit…”
3. The greatest demonstration of God’s power-Eph. 1:18-21
4. He will give life to our bodies through the Spirit
5. Where does He give life: our bodies
6. When does He give life: at the physical resurrection but the context is now!
7. What kind of life does the Spirit give: resurrection life
8. The Spirit gives us love when we feel no love, courage when we are afraid, power to resist sin when we feel weak, guidance wisdom when we are confused, compassion when we are unfeeling, enablement to obey God’s Word by faith when are feelings are not in line with obedience.
9. The hope of resurrection life is ours right now because the Spirit produces this life in us
10. Example of your IPad running on battery and then going dead. When you plug it in to your charger, new power from the outside energizes it. We have received new resurrection power from the Holy Spirit.

 
5.    We have received the Spirit of adoption as sons and we cry, “Abba, Father”
¹⁴ For all who are led by the Spirit of God are sons of God. ¹⁵ For you did not receive the spirit of slavery to fall back into fear, but you have received the Spirit of adoption as sons, by whom we cry, “Abba! Father!” (ESV)

1. We are sons of God because we have the Spirit in us and leading us
2. The Spirit doesn’t enslave us but adopts us as sons
3. Both men and women are sons of God
4. We have intimacy to cry Abba-Father
5. Example of my girls calling me “Daddy”
6. The devil wants to deceive us into thinking God is mad at us, doesn’t care about us, is too busy for us but the truth is He lives inside of us, we are His heirs and we have intimacy with Him as our Father and Daddy

 
6.    The Spirit bears witness with our spirit that we are God’s children
¹⁶ The Spirit himself bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God (ESV)

1. The Holy Spirt speaks to us, bears witness to the fact that we are God’s children
2. As sons and heirs we are in His family
3. It is the Spirit who affirms and confirms this truth
4. He wants us to know what is true about us
5. Example of using Ancestry.com and finding out about your family. The Holy Spirit reveals to us that we are in God’s family.

 
7.    The Spirit helps our weakness,intercedes for us and helps us pray
²⁶ Likewise the Spirit helps us in our weakness. For we do not know what to pray for as we ought, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us with groanings too deep for words. ²⁷ And he who searches hearts knows what is the mind of the Spirit, because the Spirit intercedes for the saints according to the will of God. (ESV)

1. The Spirit helps our weaknesses generally but specifically in prayer
2. Greek word, Sunantilambano: together with against to take up; rendering help alongside with where it is needed to someone already working; we are weak in prayer but we are trying, the Spirit comes along, helps where we need it and our prayers are interceded to the Father
3. Example of Nickel package in football; an extra defensive back is added to the defensive in order to stop the pass. Help is needed in the backfield so that is where it is applied.
4. The Spirit intercedes for us even when we don’t know what to pray for
5. The Spirit knows our longings and desires and He knows God’s will
6. The Spirit will pray in and through us so that God hears our longings

 
Conclusion

• God says we have received the permanent and transforming gift of the Holy Spirit
• He lives inside us
• He will never leave us
• The Spirit has been sent by Jesus to be our Helper, to produce Christ’s resurrection life within us and to empower us to boldly live as Christ’s witnesses

 
Believe what God says is true and ask for the help and empowering of the Holy Spirit who lives inside you!