Gospel: Power

[00:00:01] And Lord, we pray that you would bless us today as we just strive to know you and experience the power of your spirit at work in us. Help us to see the truth and the beauty of the gospel, Lord. Help us to see Christ and to worship him, Lord, with all of our heart. And Father, we pray that your spirit would just lead us to the truths that you want us to understand, that the life that you want us to live and the future that you have prepared for us. [00:00:33] So bless us in all this. [00:00:35] In Jesus name, amen. [00:00:39] Well, good morning, church. It's good to see you today. It's good to see so many of you on such a beautiful morning. [00:00:46] I feel like you just added a jewel to your heavenly crown today by coming here. So that is awesome. But today we are continuing our sermon series in the book of Romans and we've been talking about this idea of the gospel, the good news of Jesus and that that is the central message of Christianity and how it changes us, how it transforms us. And today we're gonna continue that. But what I'm gonna talk about today, I was reminded of a story that I heard from this guy years ago, kind of this well known figure, and he was given like a public speech and he was talking about his childhood. And he grew up in a, in a very wealthy family. His dad was a really wealthy businessman. And his dad said that, hey, I want to give you some like maturing experiences, you know, as you get out of high school and before you go, you know, into the workforce and live your own life and that kind of thing. So because his dad was wealthy, he said, I'm going to send you all around the world to travel and to see it and to get some culture and experience. [00:01:56] And he said, and you're gonna go and you're gonna go alone. And the only kind of real rule is whenever, like you get into a problem or maybe you get lost or a flight gets canceled or any kind of stuff that can happen when you're doing a trip like that. He said, the only rule is figure it out and don't call me. [00:02:20] And that was his figure it out and don't call me. [00:02:25] And ever since I heard that, that just always makes me laugh. And I've said that now many times since I've heard it. And no one seems to appreciate it when I say it to him, you know, but his dad was saying, look, I want you to tap into your resources, figure it out. And this is gonna kind of be a growing experience. And you know, he went and did this trip and, you know, he made it through. I don't know what kind of psychological damage he incurred on the way, but I just always thought that was funny. You don't find as much humor in it as I do. That's okay. But I think so many times in life, it can sort of feel like we are operating that way. You know, we have to figure it out, and there's no one we can really go to for help. Sometimes one of the real painful things in life is when you just feel like you're in over your head and you're alone. [00:03:21] When you feel like, man, there's a battle that you're fighting and you're doing the best you can, but it's just crushing you. And you feel like, man, is anyone with me? Is there anywhere I can go? [00:03:34] And sometimes in our relationship with God, sometimes we can feel that way. Or sometimes maybe we can think God acts that way. That sort of God looks at us and he kind of says that same thing. Figure it out and don't call me. [00:03:51] But what I want to show you today is that is not at all how God relates to us or wants us to understand our relationship with Him. In fact, we're going to see that it is actually the exact opposite. [00:04:06] That part of the goodness of. Of the gospel is that God lives within you, to help you and to guide you and to do things for you that you could never do for yourself in the most significant ways. And so today we're gonna look at that, and it's gonna come out of Romans chapter 8. We're gonna kind of backtrack a little bit to chapter eight. We were at chapter 12 last week, but this is, like, by far one of the greatest chapters in all of Scripture. And it is all about how God's spirit is at work within us and how that's all connected to the message and the work of Jesus. So I'm gonna pick up at verse 14, Romans 8. 14. Here's what it says. [00:04:56] For all who are led by the Spirit of God are sons of God or daughters of God as well. That's sort of assumed. For you did not receive the spirit of slavery to fall back into fear. But you, Spirit, you have received the spirit of adoption as sons by whom we cry. Abba, Father. Now, that word, abba is an Aramaic word that was a popular language around the time of Jesus. But abba literally just means daddy. [00:05:31] It's the idea of a little kid calling out. [00:05:35] So it's very personal, it's very intimate. It's very informal. [00:05:40] And so Paul says, we can relate to God like a little kid relates to their dad crying out, abba, Father, the Spirit himself bears witness with our Spirit, that we are children of God. [00:05:54] And if children, then heirs. Heirs of God, fellow heirs with Christ, provided we suffer with him in order that we may also be glorified with Him. [00:06:07] Now, these verses are so powerful and rich. And what Paul is showing us is he's showing us how God's Spirit is at work in all of us. How in this life and when we trust our lives to Jesus, we are never alone after that. [00:06:30] That when Jesus begins to make sense in our hearts and in our lives, and we commit our lives to him and we strive to follow Him. What Paul is showing us here is that after and through that, we are living now from a completely different place. We're living through the power of God's Spirit who is at work within us in these unbelievable ways. And then I want to show you some of that work and maybe help us to maybe appreciate it more, to partner with it and to find strength in it. Now, in these verses, Paul just kind of shows us three really helpful things. That number one, the Spirit leads us, the Spirit loves us, and the Spirit liberates us. And those are three things I want to talk about today. So let's talk about the first one. He says, the Spirit leads us. All who are led by the Spirit are sons of God. [00:07:31] See, when we give our lives to Jesus, what Paul is saying is, now God is a trinity. Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. [00:07:42] And I know you have no questions at all about the Trinity and that kind of thing, but what Paul is talking about here is the Spirit as the Holy Spirit, the third Person of the Trinity. And Paul's saying, he lives in you. And not only lives in you, but he now is the leader of your life. [00:08:05] That when I give my life to Christ, I'm also handing over the keys of my life, and I'm putting them in the hands of His Spirit, who is a much better driver than you and me. You with me on this? I know you're like, well, I'm a great driver. Okay, sure you are. [00:08:28] But what he's saying is that the Spirit now leads us. I remember years ago, my uncle. Anybody have like a crazy uncle in their family? Yeah, most of us. You know, it's just kind of a rite of passage. And if you're like, no, I don't think there's one in my family. [00:08:45] You're the one. That's what that means. Yeah. You're like, I Can't. I don't know. I can't none come to mind. It's you. [00:08:51] But my uncle is crazy. [00:08:55] He's never gotten married, he's never had kids. He's an awesome dude, but he's a little bit wild, you know. Just has always been that way. [00:09:04] And, like, years ago, him and his buddy bought like a huge cigarette boat. You know, like, massive boat, huge engines, you know, just totally. Again, not the most responsible deal. But that's not really what he's concerned about in life, you know. And so he bought this and he came up to Cleveland area and he took, you know, myself and my dad and some others out on a boat ride. And it was one of the days where Lake Erie had a little chop to it. It wasn't super calm. [00:09:34] And these guys were driving this boat. Like, I thought I was gonna die, you know. I mean, this thing was fast. It was powerful. There was no finesse in their driving. Like, literally, you know, all of us, you could tell we had, like, death grips on anything we could grab, bouncing all around. [00:09:53] It was miserable. They would look back. Now, on this particular boat, my uncle and his friend, they had these seats that like, basically completely hold you in. No one else had those seats. [00:10:06] And they, like, look back. So I'd be like, yeah, and we're all, like, crying, you know, and it was. It was miserable. And literally, like, I was afraid. And finally my dad, who is actually. My dad's really good at driving boats. He's kind of had them all his life and stuff. He's like, hey, can I. Can I take over here? [00:10:27] And they let him. And all of a sudden, it went from a death ride, you know, to actually somewhat enjoyable because someone else was driving. [00:10:39] Now, here's what Paul is saying to us today. He's saying that that's what the gospel does to our life. See, before Christ, we're driving and we're a little bit crazy. [00:10:49] We're just bouncing all around. [00:10:52] But Paul says, but now God's spirit is leading you. And God's spirit is in the driver's seat. And God's spirit is guiding us towards who God wants us to be and towards understanding what this all means and how it shapes and changes our lives. [00:11:13] And Paul says he's a much better leader for each and every one of us. In fact, if you look at all of this, Romans, chapter eight, how the Spirit leads and guides us is kind of in two ways. One. One is the spirit wants us to understand some fundamental things about what Christ has done for us. And what God is doing in our lives. And secondly, he wants us to. To partner with some of those things. But, but let me just show some of them to you. And Romans 8:1, he says, There is now therefore no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. [00:11:54] I never get sick of hearing that verse. [00:11:56] And what Paul's saying is, the Spirit wants to lead you into that reality. [00:12:05] He wants you to know, to be so confident in the work of Christ that your life isn't crippled by the shame of your past. [00:12:18] But you can live in the freedom of his forgiveness and love. [00:12:23] These are the things the Spirit wants to lead us in. Now there's a ton more. The next one, he says that he also wants to know we're covered in the righteousness of Jesus Christ. And these are the verses attached to it if you want to look them up. [00:12:36] But just think about this. Someone said it this way, and I thought it was so good. [00:12:40] If you imagine God the Father looking at God the Son, Jesus Christ, and you imagine the Father just looking and just saying. And just looking with perfect love in his eyes, just perfect love. [00:12:59] The guy said, now imagine you step in front of Jesus. [00:13:03] And so now he was looking at Jesus, now he's looking at you. He's. He said, God's face doesn't change. [00:13:12] He doesn't be like, you get me? [00:13:15] He doesn't grimace. He's not like, change the channel, church. Cause he looks at you the way that he looks at Christ. [00:13:28] He treats you the way he treats Christ. [00:13:32] Not cause you're like Christ, but because you're in Christ. You with me on this. And spirit wants you to know that. Here's another one that we're. That in the Spirit that we're walking with God, we're actively putting to death what Paul says, the deeds of the body. [00:13:48] That I'm looking at my life and I'm allowing God to call the shots in my life and say, this is what needs to go, this is what needs to stay. [00:13:59] This is what is in your life that is not honoring to me. And this is what is. And so let's keep moving in that direction that the Spirit is showing me and empowering me and help me, helping me to live a transformed life. Here's the next one that we can cry out to God and relate to him as a son or daughter. [00:14:22] So powerful. I'm gonna talk about that more in a minute. But, but, but God wants that, that beautiful childlike relationship with you and with me where we feel that freedom and confidence to go to him. He goes on more that we can experience a sense of knowing that we belong to God. Paul says his spirit bears witness with our spirit, that we are children of God. Paul says the Spirit wants you to not just know these things intellectually, but to feel them in your bones and in your soul. [00:15:01] He goes on that we accept that suffering will lead us into glory, that when life is tough, and it will be, all of this isn't a get out of jail difficulty card. [00:15:12] Life is. God never promises that he's gonna smooth out every obstacle in our life, but he says, no, but all of those I will use ultimately for your good and my glory. [00:15:26] And you can trust that I am working even in the darkest days of your life. [00:15:32] And the Spirit helps us to know that, that we long for God's final redemption. And on and on these goes. I pulled out like 10. There's probably way more. But all I want you to see is that God's spirit wants to lead us into these ideas, into these truths, into these being a foundation of how we understand and live our life. And as we live from these places, church, it really does change us. He says, and the Spirit wants to do this. [00:16:07] He wants us to know the fullness of God's love for us. [00:16:13] He says, I don't want you to fall back into the mindset of fear and slavery, but I want to lead you in to this sense of adoption where we cry out, abba Father, now think about this for a second. If you're married or if you have kids, do you want your spouse or your kids to doubt your love for them in any way? [00:16:45] You don't want an ounce of that in their heart, right? Is that fair? [00:16:49] Like, you want them to be so confident in your love that on their worst day, where they made the biggest mistake ever, that they would know they can still go to mom and dad because it's not a deal breaker with me. Amen. [00:17:08] Like, you don't want any little space where they're doubting, does mom and dad really love me? [00:17:16] Are they really for you? Don't none of us want that at all. Now, here's what Paul's saying. God doesn't want that for you. [00:17:24] He doesn't want any ounce of doubt in your heart that wakes up and says, man, does he really love me? [00:17:34] Have I blown it? [00:17:38] Is this really his heart for me? Through Christ? And what Paul says is the Spirit wants us to know this love so much that we cry out like a little kid cries out to their dad. Abba Father, just this week we got a Baby monitor in our room. My son Teddy, he's 2 years old, so still gotta have that atrocious thing with the noisemaker and, you know, hear him rustling around. And he kinda. I don't know, he kind of had a bad week this week. I don't know if he wasn't feeling good or whatever. [00:18:16] And one night this week is like the middle of the night. Like, I heard just this most pathetic voice coming through. [00:18:24] Daddy, help. [00:18:26] It was on the monitor. Yeah. Daddy. Daddy, help. And it was like, just so pathetic like that, you know, and he'd say, mommy, help. [00:18:35] And it was the middle of the night, you know, and I heard that. And, you know, what I wanted to do in that moment was actually help him. [00:18:47] Like, you know, and so I was like, ally, can you go see what he needs? [00:18:51] Cause that's Church. You have a perfectly heavenly father. I'm not. [00:19:02] And so she did, you know, and it was. [00:19:05] It still moved my heart, just didn't move my body. [00:19:16] I wish I could tell you I was making that story, but I think you get my point, right? Church, maybe it's lost now. [00:19:30] Yeah, but Church, your heavenly Father, his heart is moved by you crying and calling out to him. [00:19:42] He cares. He hears. [00:19:44] He wants us to. [00:19:46] To live and experience that reality. [00:19:51] Paul says that the Spirit wants us to see the unique relationship that we have. [00:19:59] Right in my life. There's only, you know, three people in my life that can call out to me that way. Emmy, Abby, and Teddy. But Paul says, but we all get to call out to God that way because Jesus Christ has made us his sons and his daughters. Now, just notice this language in these verses. He says, we have been adopted as sons and daughters. And I don't want you to miss that because we kind of say, well, you know, we're all children of God. [00:20:31] Well, we're all God's creation, but we become children of God through Jesus Christ, through adoption. You see what Paul. And so what Paul is saying, ultimately saying, look, this privilege that we have, it comes from Christ. [00:20:51] Don't misunderstand it. [00:20:54] This intimacy, this freedom, it's not because of who we are, but it's because of what Christ has done and how it makes us sons and daughters of God. You with me on this? And so at the center of it is the work and person of Jesus Christ. And the Spirit says, I want you to see that. I want you to know that. I want you to experience the power of it. And then he says this. And the Spirit liberates us. [00:21:20] He says. He bears witness. We're children of God. If children, then heirs of God and fellow heirs with Christ. Look at this. Provided we suffer with him that we might also be glorified with Him. [00:21:37] See, Paul says, look, God loves us. Christ died for us. The Spirit's at work in us. But it doesn't mean there's still not going to be a lot of pain and difficulty in this life. [00:21:50] Jesus said. He said, look, in this world you'll have many troubles. [00:21:57] He doesn't dance around at all. He says, yeah, there's gonna be pain, there's gonna be difficulty. He says, but take heart. [00:22:05] I've overcome this world. [00:22:08] And what the Spirit does is the Spirit helps us to see that we can go through the pain and difficulty in this life with a future hope that will guard us and sustain us in life's darkest days. You with me? So what Paul said, he's saying, look, there's a future glory that you're not going to be able to connect all the dots now or understand all of it now. But there will be a day where all of this pain will just serve not to crush you and destroy you, but. But to enhance the glory that God has for you. You with me on this. [00:22:53] And the Spirit liberates us to be able to live our lives that way. [00:23:00] I love Teddy Roosevelt. I think he's cool. Named my son after him. So big fan. And Teddy Roosevelt, he kind of had this really funny saying, but this one time he broke his arm on, like, this fox hunt. And another, you know, one of his friends was like, you know, Teddy, I'm sorry that you broke your arm. That's a bummer. And Teddy Roosevelt said, I'm always glad to pay the piper when I've had a good dance. [00:23:28] Isn't that a great line? [00:23:30] What he's saying is, he's. [00:23:32] Another time he was riding his horse in New York and the horse flung him over and his face was all busted up. And, you know, he's all kind of bruised and bloody, and he had to go to, like, some official event. And again, you know, you know, someone said, oh, you know, what happened to you? He's like, got flung off my horse. And again, the guy's like, sorry. He's like, no, I'm always glad to pay the piper, because if that's the price that I have to pay to live an active and meaningful life, it's worth it to me. [00:24:03] I think that's a great perspective. Although sometimes, you know, the piper gets expensive. Amen. [00:24:10] Can we bring these prices down a little bit? [00:24:13] What took me 10 years ago. A week to heal. Takes me a year now, you know, and it's not looking any better in the future. [00:24:22] The piper's price always goes up anyway. [00:24:25] But what Teddy Roosevelt is saying is. He's saying, look, there is some pain that is worth it because of what it opens up to you in your life. Do you see what he's saying there and what Paul is saying? He said, look, the Spirit helps us to see that if Christ walked through suffering and pain, if Christ went through betrayal and beating and mocking and death and a cross, we can expect we're going to go through some pain to following him. But at the end of the day, it's worth it to follow him through it because of the future that he has for you and me now. I think there are times in this world where there's no way we can connect those dots in our mind. [00:25:19] And that's why we need the Spirit to confirm these things to us. You with me, there's some pain in life that there's no one that can give us an explanation that makes sense. [00:25:33] It's like, well, this happened for this reason and that reason so many times. We're not going to be able to get that explanation. But you see, what Paul is doing is what he's showing us is that the Spirit helps us to trust God's future plan, even when it does not make any sense to us in the moment. [00:25:54] The Spirit helps us to say, all right, look, Lord, I'm surrendering this all to you. I trust where you're going and what you're doing, even though I cannot make sense of it right now in the moment and church, I think that gives us a totally different approach to the challenges of this world. [00:26:17] I just heard this week we've been able to use laporte Methodist Church on the weeknights for classes and stuff. [00:26:26] And their pastor there is a guy named Pastor Baker, and he's been. Man, he's been such a friend to our church. [00:26:33] We're there several nights a week. They're offering it to us, not charging us anything, letting our motley crew come in and out of there. [00:26:44] And I just think God's Kingdom is an awesome place. Church. You guys hear the bad stories, but they're just so open handed, so generous, praying for us, cheering us on. But I was talking to him because I saw him this week and he was telling me, he said, man, I had something really cool happen in the last couple weeks. He said, woman that works with him, her husband got just some really, really aggressive Cancer. And he's been doing treatments. [00:27:15] And he recently went to the doctor and had that doctor point where the doctor said, all right, there's no more treatments we can do. [00:27:25] And this is going to keep growing, and it's going to take your life. And you're, you know, I don't know exactly how long, but it's going to be sooner than later, you know. And so he said that that guy then just kind of came in after that appointment, and he said he was just a wreck. [00:27:44] And, you know, just processing that and coming to those terms and realizing that, and he said he was just like, just kind of fell apart in front of him, he said. But then he said something happened. [00:27:57] And he opened his Bible and he just began to, like, read through some of it. [00:28:04] He said sort of his demeanor began to change where he was falling apart. Now he's, like, coming back together. [00:28:11] And he said. And they started singing hymns of praise and worship to God. They said all of a sudden, it, like, took over the room. They said for, like, 20 minutes. We were singing hymns of praise and trust to God. [00:28:31] Right after he got that news. [00:28:34] Church, this is what Paul is talking about. [00:28:38] The Spirit was liberating him in such a powerful way. Say, man, as horrible, as painful as this is, I still have hope because of who my God is. [00:28:53] And literally facing death, he could go and worship. I heard that story. I was like, man, I want to be like that. [00:29:03] So inspiring to me. [00:29:05] And I think today, Church, what I would just like us to do is each in our own hearts to just take a moment and to give thanks and glory to God in our own lives. [00:29:18] Now, I know you're probably facing some tough things, maybe not quite to that level, but probably all of us are facing discouraging things, difficult things, painful things. And in our heart, you know, there's always this pull to say, man, what is God doing? Where is God at? What is going on? And I just. I just want to give us a moment today to open our hearts to God's spirit and say, you know what? I'm going to go down a different road. [00:29:49] And I want to just give thanks to you. [00:29:52] I want to remember. Maybe some of us just need to. We need to remember we're not in all this alone. [00:29:59] And, man, the help that we have is the greatest help that you could ever ask for is God himself, His spirit within you and me. And today I just want to end. And I just want each of us to just give thanks to God. Give. And especially if this season is especially difficult, I think it's even more important that we do it because the spirit wants us to hold on and to live from this hope that is really ours. Let's pray. Father, would you bless us with the gift of these realities being made real to us? [00:30:49] Father, maybe some of us today are just coming in this room and we feel alone. [00:30:56] Maybe we wonder, do I belong? [00:31:00] Do I belong anywhere? [00:31:03] Lord, help us to see we belong to you. [00:31:08] Help us to see, Lord, by the power of your spirit, through the work of Jesus Christ, that we are yours. [00:31:18] Help us see the hope that we have today, Lord. [00:31:23] Life is tough, it's heavy. [00:31:28] But, Lord, it won't be outweighed by the glory that awaits us. Lord, help us to have a taste of that, to be able to grab hold of it just in a personal way today. [00:31:42] Father, we acknowledge this is the work of your spirit. [00:31:47] So we just open our hearts to you. We invite you in. [00:31:51] Lead us into these things, Father. [00:31:54] Let them not be words, but something we experience at the deeper parts of our soul. [00:32:01] And Father, could we just. [00:32:03] From an authentic and real place, as we sing this last song, as we just have these moments together, could we just give you thanks, we give you praise. [00:32:14] Could we just acknowledge there is no more beautiful name than the name of Jesus Christ. [00:32:21] It is our joy to worship and to honor and to serve him. [00:32:25] Help us in all this. In Jesus name, Amen.