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Learn more about Leading the Way at ltw.org or call a ministry representative at 866-626-4356. The New Testament pages of Romans outline Christian theology that the church has been built on for centuries. Many consider it difficult to grasp and apply life in 2024. But up next, Dr. Yusef unpacks it. He makes it practical in these mixed up times in which we live. So stand by as he reveals practical reasons the Holy Spirit has been given to believers. Listen with me now as Dr. Michael Yusef takes you to Romans chapter 8. Romans chapter 8 tells us that apart from the power of the Holy Spirit of God, we can never, never live an obedient life. The scripture is very clear.
Listen to me. Surrender to the control of the Holy Spirit gives you freedom from the control of sin. Surrender to the power of the Holy Spirit will keep you from the pitfalls of the old nature.
Surrender to the Holy Spirit and surrendering of your will to his will will help you overcome the enemy's traps every time. Look at verse 1. Therefore, there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. Now that verse always gives me chills.
Always gives me chills every time I read it. You see, the believer is no longer under condemnation. A believer is no longer under divine condemnation. But listen carefully, please, because here is where some believers get confused.
Confusion number one. They confuse divine judgment, which that we escape from forever and for eternity with divine discipline. Hebrews 12 says the indication that God loves you is that he disciplines you. Confusion number two is a confusion between deliverance from divine judgment with divine accountability in which we will be accountable for all the stewardship. Beloved hear me right, believers never, never, never, never will go to hell.
Did you get that? Say Amen. But they will be held accountable for their stewardship, for the gifts, for the time, for life, for everything that is given to us. And that is why the believer should seek to obey God with all of his heart. Oh, having said that, I understand that every one of us might fumble and stumble along the way, but we immediately, because of that divine nature, we dust ourselves off and clean ourselves sometimes even with our own tears and get back on the road. Now here's the good news.
Here's the good news. The Lord knows that obedience to him can never take place through our own feeble efforts. He knew that. We saw in the last message that no matter how much you try to gin up your efforts, it will let you down. And that is why Jesus said in John's gospel, when I go to the Father, I send you the paraclete. I send you the comforter.
Why? Because Jesus knew that we are no match to the triple power of the fallen nature and the fallen world and the fallen angels. Which is the devil. The Holy Spirit is God's gift to every believer who surrenders his or her life to the Lord as Savior and Savior and Lord. In Romans 8, the apostle Paul gives us three reasons why the Holy Spirit is given to us as a gift. Follow with me, please.
This is very important. It could transform your life from effort and hard work to total surrender. Three reasons as to why the Holy Spirit has been given as a gift to the believers. First, Jesus gives us the Holy Spirit as a gift to indwell us so that we might live in liberty and freedom, not slaves. The spirit-led believer, which should be every believer, the spirit-led believer is like a seagull. The gull, when it gets ready to take flight from a steep hill or a cliff, first it gets gripped with the law of gravity. But as soon as it starts spreading its wings, another law takes over.
It's the law of aerodynamics, which allow the gull to effortlessly to effortlessly soar. The Holy Spirit is going to lift you up and you'll soar above all sin, above your circumstances, above your fear, above your anxiety, about whatever is troubling you. Beloved, that is why God gave us his Spirit.
It's his breath. It's God's Spirit. God the Holy Spirit fights for you. God the Holy Spirit defends you. God the Holy Spirit shields you. God the Holy Spirit empowers you. And that's exactly what John is saying in 1 John 4.4. That's exactly what he meant when he said, greater is he is in you than he is in the world. Greater, can you say it with me, greater is he who's in you than he is in the world.
Somebody might say, well Michael, how do I know that when I'm operating the law of gravity or the law of aerodynamics? Great question. I'm glad you asked it. I want to tell you three questions you need to ask yourself and we'll answer that question. First question, what is the thing that preoccupies my mind the most? Question number two, what ambitions that drive me and energizes me?
Question number three, how do I spend my time and my energy? Beloved, the answer to these questions should tell you if the Holy Spirit is in his rightful place in your life or not. Now some believers after operating with the law of aerodynamics, they fall back and operating on the law of gravity. Why?
You're going to find there are two reasons. I know them true in my life and I know if you think carefully it will be true in your life. Either the Holy Spirit is being grieved inside of you by continuously living without regard to him in sin or by quenching him by ignoring his teaching in his book, the Bible.
Here's what I know about the Holy Spirit. He is very refined gentleman. Listen carefully. He's a very refined gentleman.
He grieves easily and he's quenched easily. Not only that, but he has to be invited. He has to be welcomed on a regular basis, not just to say I did it and that's fine. No. That's fine.
No. And that is why his presence in your life will make the world of difference between living in victory and living in defeat. So the first reason the Lord gives us the Holy Spirit, his spirit to dwell in us is to ensure our liberty, to ensure our victory over sin, over fear, over temptations, over circumstances.
Secondly, the Spirit of God is given to us as a guarantee. He guarantees our adoption papers. He witnesses our adoption papers.
He seals our adoption papers. That's what Paul is saying here. Look at Romans 8 again. Beloved, this is one of the greatest privileges for believers. It really is.
Just focus on it with me, okay. In the first seven chapters of Romans, the Holy Spirit is mentioned once. You know, chapter 8 is nearly 20 times the Holy Spirit is mentioned. Through the power of the Holy Spirit, the physical world was created. Through the power of the Holy Spirit, the physical world is being sustained. Through the power of the Holy Spirit, every believer reborn of Christ is created.
You've been recreated when you come to Christ by the power of the Holy Spirit. And by the power of the Holy Spirit, he sustains you to be able to live in obedience. Don't ever forget the Holy Spirit is a person. He's a member of the Godhead.
He's equal to the Father and the Son. I cannot understand the stupidity that goes on in some churches where they totally ignore the Holy Spirit. Here's the breath of God. Here's the breath of Jesus. Now I know there's some confused people, and I met some of them and some of them in ministry who refer to the Holy Spirit as it.
And one person, I debated, I opened the Greek text and I showed him it's in the masculine pronoun. But there is just an influence, impersonal power that emanates from God. This is rampant in some churches. Beloved, this is a heresy. He is equal member of the Holy Trinity of God.
Look at verses 5 to 11 of Romans 8. Every genuine believer is indwelt of the Holy Spirit. But you have to constantly welcome him. He's indwelt you. But you constantly, he has to be welcomed. Why?
Why? Why every believer is indwelt of the Holy Spirit? Because you cannot be adopted by God's family without taking the power of your adopted Father. And that power is the power of the Holy Spirit, is in his spirit. And that is why Jesus said to his disciples before he has set into heaven, he said you have to wait, wait until you receive the Holy Spirit. And when you receive the Holy Spirit, you receive power.
It come upon you. A mere religious person cannot be led of the Holy Spirit, cannot be led of the Holy Spirit. Oh, listen to me, they may be moral people, they may be generous people, they may be conscientious people, they may be active in their churches, they may exhibit many of the commendable traits, but they are not led by the Spirit. Only the Holy Spirit of God, who is the adoptive agency, can sign your papers that are required to give you his power. Someone may ask, oh Michael, how does the Holy Spirit work in sealing our adoption papers? Well first, he reveals the truth of his word, the Scripture. Don't ever forget that behind every person who is involved in the Scripture and the writing of the Scripture, there is the Holy Spirit behind the scene authoring his own word, the Scripture. He reveals the truth that's in his word so as to illuminate our minds, even a dull mind like mine. Without the power of the Holy Spirit opening the word, his word to me, I would not understand it.
Paul told the Ephesians in chapter 1 verse 18, he said he prays for them that the eyes of their hearts may be enlightened in order that they might know the hope to which Christ has called them. Then also the Holy Spirit seals and confirms our adoption papers is by freeing us from the spirit of slavery. Look at verse 15, for you did not receive the Spirit that makes you a slave again to fear, but you received the spirit of sonship and daughtership.
Sonship, and by that we cry, Daddy, Abba. Here's what Paul is saying, sin brings slavery and fear, but the gracious work of the Holy Spirit continues to deliver his children from both the slavery of sin and fear. But you know what, I need to stop here particularly for the young people because sometimes you need to read the Scripture and you need always say and ask yourself to whom he's writing. Now we are blessed by it, to have it in our hands, to apply it, but always remember that there was a reason and every time any whether Peter or Paul or any or James or Jude or any of them, they always wrote writing to certain people and that many of them would take something that is cultural, that is known in the culture of the day, and then they use it as an example in order to help them understand it in their own Christian life.
Don't ever forget that, it's very important. It is absolutely significant to understand the adoption system in the Roman Empire. He's writing to the Romans, they're living in Roman society, living by Roman law, and you need to understand what Romans people did when it came to adoption. Now in Roman culture, the father of the household was an absolute dictator of the house.
I mean he was in total authority. An adopted child in Rome had more prestige and more privilege than the natural son. It wasn't the same in the Jewish culture, but it was in the Roman culture and they understood that the adopted son has more prestige and more honor than the natural son.
You say, how come? Well, if a father becomes disappointed with his natural son, whatever the reason is, if he becomes disappointed, he will go out and search diligently for a boy to adopt. The adopted son would have to have the characteristics that were lacking in his natural son. If upon the father's death the adopted boy had proved himself worthy, then he would inherit the father's title and becomes a progenitor of the family name.
But wait, there's more, there's more. All of the debts, all of the financial obligations of the adopted son are paid for, they disappeared, they're completely eradicated, as if they never existed. That's what justification, we're justified, that's what happens. God says all of your sins, all of your offenses, as if never existed. Ah, but for the transaction to be binding in the courts, seven, seven reputable witnesses have to sign off on this adoption paper.
Why? So the adoptive son could never be challenged in the courts after his father's death. Beloved, the Holy Spirit acts on behalf of the triune God as all of those seven witnesses. And Paul takes a familiar practice in Rome and he says to the believer, it is because of the immeasurable graciousness of God through Jesus, our heavenly father adopted us and he has given us the privilege of crying, daddy, Abba. And the Holy Spirit witnesses the whole procedure. When God adopted us, the Holy Spirit sealed us, he sets us free from all debt. He took away the fear of sin, he took away the fear of death, and he gave us his Holy Spirit who continuously bear witness that our adoption papers have been signed, sealed, and delivered. Now, amen belongs here. No one could challenge these adopted papers, no one, no one can challenge.
Why? What purpose do these adoptive papers serve? Salvation is part of it, forgiveness is part of it, cleansing is part of it, but the ultimate purpose of our adoption is to be progenitors of our daddy's name, to be the progenitors, the inheritance of his glory. And here's some great news, some fantastic news, Satan can never challenge these adoption papers in the courts of heaven because he's forbidden from going there anymore.
Amen. Look, look, look at verse 17, now if our children then we heirs, heirs of God co-heirs with Christ. Now here's another fantastic news, you know in our culture and most cultures when our parents die the kids divide the estate between them, right? They get a piece of it. See, each child gets a fraction of the whole amount, but our inheritance with Jesus does not work this way. Each one of the children of God are going to inherit the whole lot. Everything that Jesus received by divine rights we're going to receive by divine grace. Hallelujah. Let me ask you this, answer to yourself, have you reflected on your inheritance lately? Have you reflected on the glory that we'll receive lately?
I know there's some people waiting for some rich uncle to die so you can hurt a few dollars. No, for me to die is gain. That's the best inheritance of all. The spirit of God assures us of our liberty and victory. Spirit of God guarantees and seals our adoption papers thirdly and finally. The spirit of God turns our groaning into glory.
Look at verse 18. I consider that all our present sufferings not worth comparing with the glory that will be revealed for in us. My beloved friends, what makes you groan today?
I know what makes me groan. What causes you to be in agony? What is weighing your spirit down? God's spirit is telling you today, listen to me, God is saying to you today he can turn your groaning into glory.
You have God's word on it. All of your pain and hurt and disappointment, shattered dreams, all of your dashed hopes and abuses and alienation, all of your rejections and affliction, all of them, all of them like a puff of dust in comparison to the glory that's going to be revealed in us. And Paul said not only the believers groaning but also because of the weight of sin but also the whole universe, the whole earth is groaning because of the curse of sin, the consequences of sin, all the earthquakes and all the hurricanes, all the fires, all the storms, all the signs that the creation is groaning in travail. Since the fall of Adam the earth has been convulsing and groaning under the curse of sin. But the good news is in Matthew 24 8 Jesus said when you see these earthquakes, when you see these natural phenomena that are taking place in very short intervals, you know it's like a woman in childbirth, you know that the baby is getting ready to be born.
The new Jerusalem is in its way. Amen. Amen.
They used to be once a year, now they have every week. Beloved as long as we live in this tent, as long as we live in this flesh, we will groan. We will groan different reasons but we all will groan. We groan from cancer, we groan heart attacks, we groan from kidney failures, we groan from bodily pains, we groan because we are strangers and sojourners in this earth and our daddy, our pose in heaven is waiting for us to be with him one day because our adopted daddy is in heaven.
We are anxious to be with him and that is why we groan, longing for eternity. We groan because of what sin has done to the human body in terms of sickness and disease and disappointments and grief. We groan because of what sin is doing to others in public life, in social life, in political life, in dividing homes. We groan when we see violence in schools and drugs and gangs and and terrorism and denial by our political leaders. We groan when we see young people fail to acknowledge even today and I'm talking about young people who are in churches, they say sin does not exist anymore.
Only mistakes, we all make mistakes. The very reason for which Christ not only came and died on our cross and hung on our cross is now being denied by some church folks. But here's the good news, all of our groaning cannot begin to be compared with the coming inheritance, with the coming glory. Something else that you must understand here is a contrast between the suffering that comes from people, that comes from the earth, comes from this world and the glory that comes from God. Our suffering comes from earth but our glory comes from heaven. Our suffering is short-lived but our glory is forever. Our suffering is limited but our glory is limitless. Our suffering is in this mortal body, corrupt body but our glory will be in a perfected body, glorious body, body like Jesus is after the resurrection.
Suffering is limited but glory is forever. How many needed that reminder? Thank you for joining Dr. Michael Youssef for Leading the Way. And if today's content has brought spiritual questions to mind, won't you consider taking a few minutes to speak with a Leading the Way pastor or counselor? They can be reached by filling out a short contact form at ltw.org slash jesus. Leading the Way with Dr. Michael Youssef is impacting lives with the gospel across six continents in 28 languages. Connect further with audio and video content at ltw.org.
