The Spirit and Filling (3)

We have been looking for some weeks now, actually a few months, at what the Bible teaches about the Holy Spirit. And more recently we've been looking at lots of ministries of the Spirit and so forth. More recently we've been talking about the filling of the Spirit. The last two weeks we've been talking about the filling of the Spirit. I believe we'll probably finish that topic tonight, then we'll go on to other issues related to the Spirit. We'll touch on some other ministries of the Spirit next time that the Bible doesn't have a whole lot to say about. Just a verse here or there, like the Holy Spirit praying for us, how He leads us, how He teaches us some of those things. But we'll spend a little bit of time on those. But tonight I hope to finish our topic of the filling of the Spirit. Just to remind you of kind of the big picture we've seen that the Bible teaches there are two different kinds of filling of the Spirit. One of them is that special sovereign filling. And that is when the Holy Spirit comes on a person, gives an immediate infusion of power or enablement, you might say, to do a particular task, a particular ministry that God wants done, something that God is prompting us to do or as part of a ministry of responsibility in the Holy Spirit gives us the power to do that. That is a kind of happens from time to time. It's not a continual thing. It is a special infusion of power when the task is being done, when the power is needed. The second kind of filling is the normal progressive filling. And that's the kind that Ephesians 5, 18 talks about. We're going to get back to that tonight to talk about that a little bit more. But that is the control of the Spirit over our lives, our conduct and character, our thoughts and speech and lifestyle and so forth. It's a progressive growing part of our spiritual maturity. In fact, it's the means that God uses to bring us to spiritual maturity. The filling of the Spirit, his control over our lives as he uses the word to make us more like Christ. So that's more of an ongoing progressive thing, not just a boom, boom, boom, hit and miss or hit, occasionally type of thing that the special sovereign filling is. So we made that distinction between the two different kinds of filling of the Spirit. Before we jump into what we're going to talk about tonight about what the consequences of the Spirit's normal filling are and also the conditions for that. Any question about the distinction between those two kinds of filling? Make sure that's clear. So I'll talk about the consequences of the Spirit's normal filling. So now we're focusing tonight on that normal progressive filling of the Spirit and we're going to be any Ephesians 5. So I hope you have your Bible open there. Remember the command that we saw early on in this part of the study on the filling of the Spirit. Verse 18, do not get drunk on wine which leads to debauchery instead. Be filled with the Spirit. Remember it's continuous action, present tense, continuously be being filled with the Spirit. So it's a normal part of the Christian life. It's to be expected for every Christian because it's command. So like any other command in the Bible, it's for every believer. It's not just for a special task occasionally. This is for every believer and since it's a present tense, continuous type thing, it's a progressive, continual move toward spiritual maturity. So in the immediate context, what Paul does in the next few verses is he really describes what it will look like when you are filled with the Spirit. So what he's going to do is he says, be filled with the Spirit. Now here's what it looks like. Here's what's going to happen in your life. Here are the consequences that will take place if you are filled with the Spirit. Now the reason I know that is because the next several statements are all in the original language that Paul wrote in their part of Cephales. They're not always translated like we would think of them in English that way, but verse 19 is literally speaking the I-N-G indicating its participle. Now my translation in I-V just has speak as though it's command, but the Greek is speaking and then singing and making music in your heart. Verse 20, always giving thanks. Verse 21, submitting all of those are participles. Now a participle is something that supports a main verb or describes a main verb. That's just a part of the grammar of this. But because of that grammar, we know that what he's saying is these actions flow out of the filling of the Spirit. In other words, this is what happens when you're filled with the Spirit. These are the consequences. This is how you know you are filled with the Spirit. Now if being filled with the Spirit leads to ecstatic utterances, speaking and tongues or that kind of thing, if that's the normal product of that, this really would have been a good place for Paul to say that. Because his whole point is to show you what will happen in your life when you're filled with the Spirit. And he doesn't talk about any miraculous sign gifts here at all. What he does talk about is things that flow out of your heart and demonstrate your character. If you are filled with the Spirit, this is what it's going to look like. You're going to have first of all a worshipful Spirit. A worshipful Spirit. Look at verse 19. Speak or speaking to one another with Psalms, hymns and spiritual songs. If you are filled with the Spirit, one of the results of that will be a worshipful Spirit. You will be speaking to one another and that's corporate nail. That's in the body. That's not individual. You get to the individual in a minute. But this is in the corporate body. You will have a love for worship and you'll have a worshipful Spirit about you when you are gathered with God's people. You will be speaking to one another. You'll be using music to communicate in the context of corporate worship to one another with the truths of the Christian faith. He says the kinds of music you use are Psalms, hymns and spiritual songs. Those are evidently three different kinds of musical vehicles that communicate what we are to speak to one another on. The hymns, typically that word means songs that reflect praise to God. They are songs that the first word is Psalms. Let me go back to that one. Psalms really are scriptures put to music, obviously referring to the book of Psalms. We might extend that beyond the Psalms in the early church, the hymnal was the book of Psalms. But even today, if someone takes a verse of scripture and puts it to music, that is a Psalm. It is scripture being sung. That's why he says we speak to one another. We teach one another. We admonish one another. We encourage one another. All of those things we do when we sing Psalms, when we sing scripture. But then hymns are any songs that give praise to God and elevate hymn. Now we have an artificial distinction that we make today between hymns and praise and worship courses or praise and worship songs. That's an artificial distinction that we make in the English language. And by hymns, what we mean is old songs. Old songs in the hymnal. Well, it's not at all what this means. It's not at all what this is talking about. A hymn is any song that is focused on praise to God. That's what this word means. So a contemporary praise and worship song that is focused on praise to God in biblical terms is a hymn. Okay. So then the third kind of music is spiritual songs. Any song that has spiritual content and since it's it's kind of put not in contrast to but in addition to hymns, most people take spiritual songs as being any any gospel song that has more of a testimony feel to it. It's not necessarily directed to God in praise, but it is a song that expresses by way of testimony what God has done for me. Since I have been redeemed, he keeps me singing. You know, those kinds of songs that that tell by way of testimony, this is what God's done for me and I want to sing it in praise. That's a spiritual song. So scripture put to music songs that are directed to God in worship and songs that give personal testimony. There's no distinction in the Bible between old and new traditional or contemporary. There's just lyrics. That's all that's important in the Bible. Are the songs biblical? Are they addressed to God or do they give a personal testimony that is consistent with scripture? That's what God's concerned about. So when you are filled with the spirit, you have a worshipful spirit that wants to communicate the truths of the Bible in music that wants to give praise directly to God and wants to sing out your testimony to the Lord. That's an evidence of the filling of the spirit. Now when someone comes to church and never utters any music. I realize that some of you feel like I can't sing and I'll make everybody around me sick. But if you don't have a song that you want to give to God, then there's something wrong. There's something wrong. The filling of the spirit leads to a worshipful spirit. I don't know any other way to get around this. That's exactly what this is saying. So a love of worship and even the corporate worship, the worship of being together because we're speaking these to one another. That's an evidence of the filling of the spirit. I think when the spirit of God is in control of your life, you want to be with other believers and you want to express worship to God in the context of being with other believers. That's what this is saying. Evidence of the spirit of God. Now this is not some kind of speaking intungs or a miraculous sign gift. This may sound kind of mundane, but this is an evidence that the Holy Spirit's in control of your life. Okay, comments, questions there. Anything about that when you want to pursue further spells it out right here. Different kinds of musical expressions of worship are an evidence of the work of the spirit of God. Definitely is a part of worship. And by the way, sometimes you'll hear people talk about the preliminaries in a service, music in the offering and announcements and all that. No, the announcements may be considered preliminaries, but a lot of times people talk about the other parts of a service other than the preaching being the preliminaries. In other words, get all that stuff out of the way and get to the real part of the service and that's the preaching. I kind of like that being a preacher, but and I do believe the focus of worship is on the word of God and the proclamation of the word of God and teaching the word of God and so forth. But music, giving all of those things are not just preliminaries to kind of get out of the way quickly so we can get to the real course here. That's a very important part of worship. All of it is worship as part of why we gather. And so, yeah, good point, John. This is this is biblical worship. Okay, a second second consequence of the spirit's filling is a joyful spirit. A joyful spirit at the end of verse 19. Let's read the whole verse speaking to one another with songs, hymns and spiritual songs singing and making music in your heart to the Lord. Now, this is not this is not corporate worship. This is not music in the context of a worship service. This is a description of the joy that bubbles up in your own heart. And by the way, I do understand this is probably the way that some of you should make music. It's just in your heart. Yeah. Some of you some of you need to make this your life verse singing and making music in my heart. That's what I'm going to do. But the really important part is not the music. It's not that you're singing. The important part of this is that it it evidences joy in your heart. You have a joyful spirit. There is a song in your heart and you are lifting up the Lord in your heart. You're singing and making music in your heart. It's the joy in the heart. That's the real issue here. So part of the evidence of the control of the spirit is a joyful spirit that that bubbles up with joy to the Lord for how good he is and is singing and making music in the heart. Now, please don't misunderstand this as being a bubbly personality. That's something totally different. There are some people who have an outgoing personality and they're just kind of happy by nature. And there are other people who are more studious and serious and you know that kind of thing. That that's not at all what this is talking about. It's talking about the status of the heart. Do you have a joyful countenance in your heart toward the Lord? You are our cognizant of the wonderful blessings he's given you and you are thankful for them and you're joyful toward him. Okay. Second consequence of the Holy Spirit's filling is a joyful, a joyful spirit. Comments or questions there? Yes. The command and scripture about music is to make a joyful noise in the book of Psalms. So if you can't carry a tune in a bucket, you can make a noise and it can be a joyful one. That's exactly right. Okay. The third consequence of the spirit's filling or evidence of it in our lives is a thankful spirit. And this really kind of follows on the heels of a joyful spirit. But verse 20 says always giving thanks to God the Father for everything in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ. This is a thankful spirit, a grateful attitude. It is the absence of complaining, self-pity, critical spirit. Whenever we are guilty of those things, we are not evidencing the control of the Spirit. Because when the Spirit's in control of our lives, we have a thankful spirit. And notice how he says this, always giving thanks. That's tough. And it always giving thanks. I think all of us can give thanks sometimes. Always giving thanks. Well, this just demonstrates that none of us are always under the control of the spirit. Are we? Because I don't know that any of us always give thanks. Okay. But always giving thanks to God the Father for everything. There's a verse in 1 Thessalonians 5 that says giving thanks in everything. And I've heard that passage preached before that the Bible never says to give thanks for everything, but in every situation. Well, right here it says give thanks for everything. But I think in the sense that we give thanks for everything that God sends or allows in our lives because we know he's in control and he will work all things together for good to accomplish his purpose for us to be more like Christ. It's not that I'm happy that I'm suffering or I'm happy that I, you know, whatever, whatever's happening in your life. It's not that you're happy for that. It's that you're thankful that God has allowed that in your life because of what he'll do with it and do through it. So we can be thankful for for everything in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ. So a thankful spirit that the the opposite of a complaining, self-pitying, critical spirit is a thankful spirit. Questions, comments. Tommy? It's a good way to look at it no matter what's going on. God is always there and he's always working through whatever is in our lives and so we can thank him for everything. So a worshipful spirit, joyful spirit, thankful spirit, and then notice this next one, a submissive spirit, submissive spirit, evidence of the spirit's control. Verse 21, submit again, it's a participle submitting to one another out of reverence for Christ. This is a general attitude toward one another that is characteristic of the person who is being controlled by the spirit. And it doesn't mean that you are so compliant that anybody can run over you on any issue. It is a spirit of, I like the way Paul talks about it, his qualifications for church leaders in 1st Timothy 3. He says that a church leader cannot be the old King James word is pugnacious or one who strikes out at others, one who fights, one who has that kind of personality that just wants to fight everybody. He wants to push everybody. The opposite of that is a submissive spirit. Now obviously we submit first of all to God and his purpose and plan, which means we are willing to submit our desires, our way, our agendas for the good of the body, submit to one another for the good of the body. Whenever I push my way and want my way or I don't do something because it's not what I like, I'm not submitting what my personal preferences are for the good of the body of Christ. So we are to have this submissive spirit to one another. Why out of reverence for Christ, this is a part of our worship to the Lord, our reverence for him. So anytime I'm pushing what I want, anytime I'm pushing my way or anytime I will not do something because I don't like it, that is a sign of a non submissive spirit. Okay, and so we're to submit to one another in that sense. Okay, comments or questions about that. I have a little bit more, I want to say about that, but anything about that particular command. Okay, now what Paul does next is he takes that, that one and develops it further in the context of relationships. And all the way through chapter six and verse nine, he deals with what this submitting to one another out of reverence for Christ looks like in relationships. And first of all he talks about husband, wife relationships, submitting to one another. There is such a thing as a mutual submission, which does not blur the gender distinctions and gender roles that the Bible talks about. But there is a mutual submission that applies to marriage. The first one is wives are to submit to their husbands as to the Lord, the husband's leadership. But then husbands verse 25 are to love their wives as Christ loved the church. And the whole essence of that love is a sacrificial love, which means you set aside your own personal preferences, your own agendas and your own needs for the welfare and benefit blessing of another person. That's what agape love is. That's what this kind of love really is. And so it is submitting my way, my desires, my agenda to what's best for the other person. That's the way we're to love our wives. So in that sense, it's like a mutual submission to one another. And then he talks about the relationship between parents and children. Children are to obey their parents and honor their parents, be in submission to their parents. But then he talks about fathers as representative of parents, not exasperating their children, bringing them up in the training and instruction of the Lord. In other words, not lording it over your children to the point that you're abusive in your approach, either physically or verbally or emotionally or in any way, but that you nourish them. You bring them up. You encourage them in training and instruction in the Lord. So it again is doing what's best for your child, not beating them down, but bringing them up. And again, kind of a mutual submission there. And then he talks about slaves and masters and how slaves in the context of that cultural setting, which was so endemic in the Roman Empire that the writers of Scripture taught new believers how to live in that context and not overthrow Rome. So that's not going to happen. So live in that context. Slaves are to obey their masters as though they were serving Christ. But then masters, he says, verse nine, treat your slaves in the same way back to verse eight. The Lord will reward everyone for whatever good he does, whether he's slave or free. So you to treat your slaves in the same way, do not threaten them. Don't show favoritism. You know that you're serving your master. So you treat them with grace and kindness and so forth. So really what what the writers of Scripture did is they took the sting out of a cultural institution that was not going to be overthrown by rallies and protests and trying to change laws. It did not work that way in the Roman Empire. So this was not a democracy. And so you're not going to change that. You're not going to change Caesar. So believers need to learn to live under that less than ideal situation. And you do that by mutual submission. When you submit to each other, when you look out for what's best for the other, then there is no oppressiveness in the relationship, whether it be husband, wife, parent child or master slave. Or as we apply that text to us today, employer, employee relationships. Okay. So that's how he develops that concept of a submissive spirit. All right. Comments or questions there before we look at the last one. No, it does not mean that what Kishti is saying just being mutually submissive does not mean that there's not a leadership role. No. In fact, he establishes the leadership role by virtue of dealing with these children or to obey their parents. Wives are to be submissive to their husbands because as Christ is the head of the church, he says, so are men ahead of their wives and same with masters and slaves. So yeah, there is a there is a leadership headship relationship there. But the leader is to carry out his position and responsibility in a submissive fashion. So husbands are the head of the family, but they are to treat their wives like Christ would treat the church with unselfish sacrificial love. So yes, there is there is an order here just as there is an order in the Trinity. You know, one of my favorite illustrations of the headship and submission in the family is 1 Corinthians 11. Paul says God is the head of Christ. Christ is the head of the man. Man is the head of the woman. Okay. So headship and submission is functions in the home to say same way it doesn't the Trinity where there is mutual respect where there is equality of persons. But there is a definite order of headship and submission even in the Trinity. So yeah, great point because that goes to the root of some of the difficulties we face today in society and those who are trying to overthrow all distinctions. Okay. Good question. Any others? Okay, we're going to move out of Ephesians 5 for just a moment. Go back to Galatians 5. The book before go back to Galatians 5 and we'll see that another consequence of the spirit's filling is a Christlike spirit. And this really kind of summarizes it all when the Holy Spirit is controlling your life, there will be character qualities that are Christlike in their appearance and in their nature. Let's go back to verse 16 to kind of get the context. He says, so I say live by the spirit and you will not gratify the desires of the simple nature. He talks about this battle that takes place between the simple nature, the flesh and the spirit. They're in conflict with each other, verse 17. But if you're led by the spirit, you're not under the law. Okay, so he was talking about living by the spirit, being led by the spirit and then later down in verse 25, living by the spirit and keeping in step with the spirit. All of those statements led by the spirit, living by the spirit, keeping in step or walking by the spirit. All of those are synonyms for the control of the spirit. If you walk in the spirit, it means the Holy Spirit is controlling the way you walk. Okay, the path you walk, the direction of your life. If you live by the spirit, obviously that means your whole life is under his control. If you're led by the spirit, obviously you are under his control. He's doing the leading. So all of those are kind of synonyms for the filling of the spirit or the control of the spirit. So even though the filling of the spirit is not mentioned with that word here, the concept is here. And what he says is this is what it's going to look like in your life when you're filled with the spirit. First of all, he talks about what it looks like if you're filled with the flesh, simple nature versus 19 through 21. It's a pretty ugly list of stuff, of sinful patterns of behavior and thoughts and attitudes. But then look at verse 22, but the fruit of the spirit. In other words, this is what's going to be evident in your life. This is the fruit that is going to be on the branches of your life if you're controlled by the spirit. And it's a ninefold cluster. Love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self control. Those nine, that ninefold cluster of fruit is character. It's godly character. It's Christlike attitudes and behavior that show that the Holy Spirit is in control. There are lots of people who claim great experiences with the Holy Spirit who, if you look at this list, are woefully short. Of these kind of character qualities. And so this is really what it looks like. This is the yardstick of spiritual control, of spirit control. Not some fantastic miraculous evidence. This is what it looks like when you're under control of the spirit. These nine qualities. And the other things we saw in Ephesians. So those are the consequences. That really helps us understand, am I under the control of the spirit? Am I patient with people? Am I loving toward people? Do I have some joy in my life? Am I at peace with what God's doing in my life? To the level that I'm exhibiting those characteristics, that's the level at which the Holy Spirit's in control of my life. If you're like me, you see yourself making real progress in one of them. I'm being more kind than I used to be. And then it's kind of like that. You remember that game? You remember that, don't you? One little head pops up, smack it down, and another one over here pops up. And I really think that the Christian life until we get to heaven is a constant struggle with something popped up over here. I've been given so much attention to this and praying about this and seeking the spiritual control of this area of my life. Now this is popping up over here. And so the growth process is getting all those moles back down in the hole. That's the growth process. All right. Comments or questions about the consequences of spirit's filling? Okay. Quickly. We've got about 10 minutes, 9 minutes. So we're going to do the conditions for the spirits filling. There's six of them. And I want to say this, there is not one scripture that lays down exactly how do I get filled with the spirit? What do I need to do in order to have the spirits control in my life? But scripture as a whole stresses several things that obviously are critical to the control of the spirit because a lack of any of these things will grieve and quench the spirit what he's wanting to do in your life. So it's obvious these things are important and you might be able to even come up with some others. But let me just briefly describe them and we'll see if we have any questions. The first one, there must be an aspiration for his control. In other words, a desire. You must aspire to his control. Have a real desire. That is implied in the command in Ephesians 5, 18. Don't be drunk with wine, but be filled with the spirit. That's a command. So any command that God makes should become our goal. We should aspire to that. We should have a strong desire to see that true in our lives. And so this aspiration that we aspire to the spirit's control, there's got to be that. I mean, if you don't desire to obey any of the commands of God's word, you're not going to do them. Okay, if the desire is not there and thankfully Philippians tells us in chapter 2 verse 13, for it is God who works with you both to will and to do of his good pleasure, both to desire and then to give you the ability to do it, his good pleasure. So God even strengthens our desire and gives us the desire that we need. So the desire has to be there. Okay, the second condition is the acknowledgement of need. The acknowledgement of need. This is what scriptural self-examination is all about. When we get into the Word of God, what we're doing is we're letting the search light of God's word examine our hearts. And the whole purpose of that is for God to show us our need that I cannot please him on my own. Remember what Jesus said in John 15-5 and I think we've got this before, yes on the screen. Jesus said, I'm divine, you're the branches. If you remain in me and I in you, you will bear much fruit. Apart from me, you can do nothing. So it is our connection with Christ which enables us to do anything in the Christian life. Apart from him, we're nothing. We can do nothing. And he has given us the Holy Spirit to help us in all things. Back to chapter 14 of John, and verses 16 and 17. I will ask the Father, He will give you another advocate, counselor, comforter, helper. You remember when we were in John 14, talked about the breadth and depth of that word. He will give you another advocate to help you. He is our helper. Therefore, to help us with whatever we need, because without Christ we can do nothing. We are helpless in ourselves. So the Holy Spirit is God's constant presence, Christ's constant presence in our lives, to help us and be with you forever the Spirit of truth. So there's an acknowledgement of need. Lord, I cannot live to this standard on my own. Without you, I can do nothing. But I think you've given me your Spirit to help me day by day grow in these character qualities in the control of your Spirit. And that should be our constant prayer. We acknowledge our need. I love the shirts. I think Ty's got one of them on the night. That the CR folks, you see them wearing around. I am weak. It says on the back. I am weak. And we all are right. We all are weak. And that's the place where we have to start. Admitting our weakness. That we can't do this on our own. We can't do anything in the Christian life. It's not just about dealing with big issues. I can't do the smallest thing on my own. I need the Spirit's help. Third condition is an abandonment of known sin. A deliberate confession and forsaking of all known sin. Obviously, if I'm holding on to sin, that grieves the Spirit who is holy. He is the Holy Spirit. And God has grieved. The Holy God is grieved whenever we hang on to sin. So that's the familiar verse, verse 1, 1, 9. If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just, and will forgive us our sins, and purify us from all in righteousness. This cleansing, purifying process that enables the Holy Spirit to be fully in control. All the dirt out of the way, the sins out of the way, the Holy Spirit is in control now. That comes about through an abandonment of known sin. Fourthly, an application of the Word of God. An application of the Word of God. I want you to see something. I didn't put this verse on the screen because I want you to look at it. Very quickly, Colossians 3. Colossians 3, verse 16, is very similar to Ephesians 5, 18. And by the way, if you've never done this kind of comparison, sometimes you ought to sit down with Ephesians and Colossians and compare the two. They are very similar in the flow of thought, in the things that Paul addresses. Why? They were written at the same time. From the same imprisonment of Paul to churches that were not all that far apart from each other, at least by modern standards, and Paul addressed the same kinds of issues throughout the books. The first half of Ephesians is doctrinal, so is Colossians. Second half of Ephesians is practical, so is Colossians. And especially in the practical section, Paul deals with pretty much the same things. So Ephesians 5, 18, and the verses we looked at earlier, 19 to 21, look at these verses, and Colossians 3, we're getting in verse 16. Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly. That kind of takes the place of be filled with the Spirit. Because notice what he says next. It's the same kind of evidences. As you teach and admonish one another with all wisdom, and as you sing Psalms, hymns, and spiritual songs, with gratitude in your hearts to God, and whatever you do, whether in word or deed, do it all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God, the Father through him, and then he starts into wives, submit to your husbands, husbands love your wives, children to obey your parents, fathers, do not imbiter your children, slaves to obey your masters, masters to preachers. It's the same flow of thought, same principles that he had in Ephesians. But rather than starting it out with be filled with the Spirit, he starts it out with let the word of Christ dwell in you richly, which indicates to me they are one and the same. Makes sense, doesn't it? The Holy Spirit is the Spirit of truth. Jesus said in John 14, he's the Spirit of truth. Watch truth. John 17, 17, thy word is truth. So the Spirit of God uses the Word of God. So hand in glove, the Word is his sword, the sword of the Spirit, which is the Word of God. So application of the Word of God, we've got to get into the Word and apply it to our lives, and that's the tool the Holy Spirit will use to control us as our thinking changes. Okay, then number five, quickly the abdication of control of yourself. Sorry, I'm a preacher, all these have to begin with a to make them work. So, abdication. You don't need to advocate, don't you need to give up your throne. So what we're talking about here is giving up your throne of controlling yourself, getting off the throne of your own life, and just advocate that rule, and we're talking about a total yieldedness to the Lord that allows the Holy Spirit to have free reign, versus like Romans 6, 13. Do not offer any part of yourself to sin as an instrument of wickedness, but rather offer yourselves to God as those who have been bought from death to life and offer every part of yourself to him as an instrument of righteousness. This is a complete yieldedness. Okay, I'm not going to run my own life, I'm going to offer my life to him as an instrument of righteousness, and then he describes it further in chapter 8 this way. In order that the righteous requirement of the law, another what God expects of us, more of righteous living, might be fully met in us, how, who do not live according to the flesh, but according to the Spirit. Those who live according to the flesh have their minds said on what the flesh desires, again, simple nature, but those who live in accordance with the Spirit have their minds set on what the Spirit desires. The mind governed by the flesh is death, the mind governed by the Spirit is life and peace, so there is a complete yieldedness, even of my mind, to what the Holy Spirit wants to do, through the Word of God, to grow me, teach me, help me to renew my thinking, so that I'm under His control. So, abdication of self-control, I'm not going to control my own life anymore, because when I try to do that, the flesh leads toward sin. Then the last one, appropriation of control, Spirit control by faith. Okay, we appropriate the control of the Spirit of God through faith, and this really comes back to understanding our position in Christ. Romans 6.11 says this very well, in the same way, count yourselves dead to sin, but alive to God in Christ Jesus. In other words, he's saying, if you follow the whole flow of thought in Romans 6, you've got to know what's happened to you in your salvation. What's happened to you, and you need to know and understand this, is that you were crucified with Christ, buried with Him, raised to walk in a new life. Now, count that to be true, except it by faith and start living it. And that's how the control of the Spirit comes. So, in other words, all of the ingredients of growth and developing Godly character are what we're talking about here tonight. As you desire His control, acknowledge your need for His control, confess all known sin, get into the Word to learn how He wants you to live, give up the control of your own life, and appropriate the fact that you're crucified with Christ to walk in a new life, start living that out by faith, then you will open the door for the Spirit of God to control your life so that the results of that are worshipful, joyful, thankful, submissive, Christ-like Spirit. That's how it works. Now, I will be the first to tell you it is much easier to stand up here and talk about this and it is to live it. And I failed this as much as anyone else to live this out. But this is what God's pattern and plan for us is, how we should be living. Okay, any other quick comments or questions before we go? Bob? When you were younger, you could get them all down, right? And yeah, and now it's a little harder. You know, that's a great analogy, Bob, but actually in the Christian life, it ought to be the exact opposite, right? As we get older, we ought to be able to keep more of them down because we're growing in the Lord and when we're young, we're not, we don't have that maturity. I like that. Reversonology. Okay, let's pray. Father, thank you that you've given us your Spirit. Thank you that you've given to us to produce Christ-like character, godliness and maturity. Help us not to get in His way. Help us not to try to control and run our own lives. Help us to realize we are weak. We need you. It's the reason you've given us a helper. And we pray that we will seek to live every day by yielding ourselves to Him, confessing sin, so that we open the way for Him to take complete control. We ask for that for each of our hearts and lives, minds tonight, in Jesus' name. Amen.