Daddy, Fix it!

Text: Romans 8:12-17
Focus: Overcoming Sin
Function: The Holy Spirit gives us real power to be free from sin.
Form: expository

Intro:

It is great when your children are young and dad is their hero. I had a dad who could fix anything. He used to say, “it was designed and engineered by men, and I am a man, so I guess that means I can fix it.”

Of course, the wise man also realizes the limits of his potential, tools and experience and knows when to read the directions or hire a professional.

I remember every time one of the kids’ toys would break, they would bring it to me for daddy to fix.

My son was playing with this large blow-up balloon that was fairly heavy for a balloon, but was sold as a ball. But it proved to be as fragile as a balloon. As it wore out, it burst. He brought the pieces to me to fix. And I learned that there are some things that only God can fix.
The neat thing about growing up is when your children are more adept, agile and better at fixing things than you are.

But I got to tell you, the joy in being able to fix the toy was great. It was great to see the light come back on in the children’s eyes when you saved the day.

It was great when my dad did that for me, and it was great when I could do it for my children.

Daddy, fix it. It was a common cry.

And, it is the cry of this scripture.

He talks about living either led by the Spirit of God, where God is in control, or being led by our own desires and will.

(SHOW) Living by the flesh is living in such a way that we have to fight sin all by ourselves…
…The Holy Spirit is at work in us to set us free.

Sometimes it is hard to be free, because we have to surrender.

Listen, sin is SIN. It destroys both us, our relationships with others and more importantly, our relationship with God.

The world will tell you that we are merely animals, with an animal nature that cannot be controlled and we are victims of it, caught up and controlled by our passions.

The world will tell us that we are slaves to our own lusts.

But we aren’t. Look at the first part of our text: (SHOW) So then, brothers and sisters, we are debtors, not to the flesh, to live according to the flesh

We are debtors to God who purchased our lives with His own blood.

And living for our own desires is death. Look again: (SHOW) — for if you live according to the flesh, you will die;

That thinking that we have to follow our temptations to do the wrong thing is death to us. We are not enslaved by sin anymore.

There is freedom in Christ: (SHOW) …but if by the Spirit you put to death the deeds of the body, you will live

We are not under any obligation to have to obey our sinful desires

As a matter of fact, it is impossible for us to even manage them.

We can’t do it.

Think of the symbolization when we are baptized.

(SHOW) Baptism symbolizes the overcoming power of God.

When we go under the water, we symbolize burial. We symbolize a death to living merely for ourselves.

But no minister of God ever drowns a victim. Immediately, they bring that person back out of the water.

The coming out of the water symbolizes our resurrection. It symbolizes a new, more powerful, more authentic life. It symbolizes a life lived as a son or daughter of God with a whole new purpose for being.

And I think about the faith in that.

(SHOW a crucifix and a cross without an icon of Jesus on it)

This is my “dress cross” for Sunday morning. I have an everyday cross. It is a cross, but the silhouette of where Jesus hung on the cross is there. I don’t know if the artist decided it was a modern form of a crucifix. A crucifix is a cross with an image of Jesus still on the cross.

Many believers refuse to wear one because Jesus is no longer on the cross.

He rose from the dead.

It could be a modern art crucifix, or it could symbolize that He was there, which is a very important concept in our faith. And it also symbolizes that He is no longer there.

I like crucifixes because they remind me of the terrible price Jesus paid. When we have bread and cup communion, we are also remembering the crucifixion.

But the one, the crucifixion is meaningless without the resurrection.

If Jesus merely died for our sins, and didn’t rise from the dead, then the only real meaning of our faith is that we are shameful people whom God really must hate.
If Jesus didn’t rise from the dead, we are still stuck in shame.

And (SHOW) Shame is not from God.

Shame is that sense of worthlessness. I am not talking about humility, but hopelessness.

Shame is demonic –straight from the pit of hell because it crushes the spirit and keeps us from hope.

God is not the author of shame.

I mentioned on Easter about my minister friend who refuses to believe that Jesus died for him because it wouldn’t be fair that one man should die on behalf of another.

Never mind the fact that you are good people and would probably give your life to save someone else.

My friend would be correct if Jesus was just a man. He would be correct of Jesus wasn’t God. He would be correct of Jesus hadn’t raised Himself from the dead.

If Jesus was merely a man, then the noble thing for us to do would be to take our own punishment.
But He wasn’t just a man.

(SHOW) The fact is, a miracle happened when Jesus rose from the dead.

So, here is the thing. The man side of Jesus, the GOD/MAN died for us. We have faith in that. In one sense, we believe in noble character and could picture ourselves risking our lives to save another. We could picture ourselves pushing a child out of the path of an oncoming bus. So, we can picture Jesus’ self-sacrifice.

That part is easyto understand. But here is the mystery if this scripture, the second part is hard for us to understand:

When He rose from the Dead, the Holy Spirit delivered Him from death. God did a miracle.

When I studied theology I learned that because of Jesus death for me, I shouldn’t sin because He did so much to set me free. Because He died to overcome sin, I shouldn’t treat His sacrifice lightly by continuing to sin and making a mockery. I learned that every time I sinned, it was just like I was driving extra nails into His hands and feet.

We don't stop sinning to save ourselves -Jesus already did that. Repentance is turning our lives over to God.

I believe in that. But I always had this terrible fear that the second part of my faith wasn’t working.

He died to forgive us, He rose to set us free from sin.

If He rose to set us free from sin, and I believe in it, just as I believe He died to forgive us. Then why do I still sin?

IS my faith only half of what it should be?

But consider this, my friends. Everyone of us could die for our own sins. In this state, if one commits a capital crime and with malice and deliberate planning murders another, that person could very well get the death penalty.

But listen, not one of us can raise ourselves from the dead.

It is impossible. You can’t do it. God did the impossible. And it is the same with deliverance from sinful behavior.

That is thy mystery of this passage: Only God could raise Himself from the dead, only God can deliver us from sin.

It takes a miracle to be free.

If it were possible to put to death the deeds of the flesh by our own will, then Jesus would not have died for us.

God did what we can’t do.
If you are still trying to overcome sin by your own effort, you will fail. As a matter of fact, you will die trying.

IF we are trying to do it ourselves, we will die.

We do it in faith, in fellowship with God, drawn into His very presence by the Holy Spirit, being held in His arms like a child comforted by Dad or mom, then we are promised a victorious Christian life.

(SHOW) Putting to death the misdeeds of the body is achieved by being “led by the Spirit.”

WE CAN’T DO THIS OURSELVES.
Here is where Christian ministry without faith in, or understanding of, the work of the Holy Spirit fails.
For example, we read the scripture (SHOW) Ephesians 5:18a: “Do not be drunk with wine, for this is excess…”

And we end it there. And, we decide who is and who isn’t a good Christian based on whether or not they drink wine at all, when the scripture clearly points to the sin of excess, and excess in anything is implied, not just the abuse of alcohol. And, (SHOW) We leave out the most important part of the scripture, (Ephesians 5:18b) …but be filled with the Holy Spirit.

You understand that merely trying to stop something by our own effort leads to failure.

But living in relationship with God brings spiritual growth and success.

Notice that there are things that are assumed in this passage:

First: (SHOW) Without the Spirit of Christ in us, sin will control us.
Chapter 7, sin, without the Spirit of Christ in us will control us. We become slaves of our own desires.

Second: (SHOW) The war over sin has been won.
There is NO CONDEMNATION FOR THOSE IN CHRIST JESUS, FOR THE LAW OF THE SPIRIT OF LIFE IN CHRIST JESUS HAS SET US FREE FROM THE LAW OF SIN AND DEATH.

Third: Even though the war is over, (SHOW) the battles are still being fought.
• The ones who give into the struggle will suffer death.
• He is talking of either spiritual or physical death.
• We are under obligation to the law of love, not the law of sin and condemnation.
• We are under the law, not the law of sin and condemnation, but the law of love.
Fourth: (SHOW) The Holy Spirit is our motivating force.
• It motivates us toward Love for God and others.
• It motivates away from sin.
• We are no longer motivated only to sin.
• Yet we still sin, we choose not to forgive, we choose to live in excess, we choose to judge, we choose to gossip and listen to gossip. Too often we choose self over others or God.
• So where is the victory?
• The victory is won when we rest in grace.
• When we consider ourselves dead to sin.

Fifth: The (SHOW) victory comes in relationship with God.
• The Holy Spirit calls us sons and daughters of God.
• It is in relationship with this power that is supernatural and beyond ours that we have victory.

Sixth and most importantly: (SHOW) The Spirit of God puts to death the misdeeds of the body.
• Do you want to be a more spiritual person?
• Then don’t fight sin by your effort.
• Get involved in your Christian duty to be a light and a blessing to the world.
• When God’s Spirit, which is likened to a river of living water flows through you, the problem with temptation and sin fades because you are connected with the Father.

When this scripture says if you are living in the flesh you will die, it includes fighting against sin in our own effort.
If you fight against sin by your own effort, you will fail.

If you work FOR good in the power of the Holy Spirit, you will succeed.

Don’t be afraid of your failures. Learn from them. Next time, make up your mind to do well.

There is truth to the statement that idle minds/hands are the devils’ playground.

Except I put it in the positive, if we are doing good, and enjoying the closeness that brings us to God, we won’t have time or a desire to do wrong.

And it is important to realize that Daddy does fix the sin problem when we are being led by the Holy Spirit.