Welcome to the Believers Bible Assembly This is the day that the Lord has made and we're going to

rejoice and be glad in it We have come to a critical point in this teaching series transformed by

the spirit So far we have talked about surrendering to the leading of the spirit which is

the beginning of spiritual transformation We talked about how this continues as we live in his presence because in his

presence is where transformation occurs And the last time we were together we talked about how we must walk how

we must live in the spirit daily But there is a real enemy that we

need to talk about that dwells on the inside of us And listen it's not Satan it's not demons it's

not the world it is the flesh The flesh our old sinful nature the flesh

the part of us that wants to be independent separate from God the flesh that

wants to control everything the flesh that has its self-will the flesh that seeks after self-gratification Because the reality of

the situation is you can attend church faithfully every Sunday on time and still live in the

flesh You can know all the scriptures from Genesis to Revelation and still live in the flesh You can preach

you can sing you can serve on every committee in the church and still be controlled by the flesh

So the question is how do we break the power of the flesh And that's what I want to talk

about today Overcoming the flesh by the power of the spirit Let's get into the

word of God Open your Bibles this morning to Romans chapter 8 and we're gonna take

a look at verses 1 through 2 There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ

Jesus The amplified version says there is now no condemnation no guilty verdict no punishment for

those who are in Christ Jesus who believe in Him as personal Lord and Savior

It says now as born again believers now There is no condemnation no guilty verdict or punishment for those

who are in Christ Jesus those who believe in Him as personal Lord and Savior So let's set

the tone right there Like I just said you can still be led by the flesh and

go to church But there's no condemnation of those who are in Christ Jesus those who

have a personal relationship with Christ Jesus those who have made Jesus Christ their Lord and Savior Verse 2

for the law of the spirit of life has set you free in Christ Jesus from the

law of sin and death So you have the law of the spirit which is

freedom and you have the law of the flesh which is sin and death So what

I want to do is I want to look at key points that's going to help us overcome the

flesh by the power of the spirit because that's the only way you can do

it That's the only way it can be done Number one condemnation is not of God

Can we establish that this morning Condemnation is not of God Now condemnation means being declared guilty and

sentenced for wrongdoing In a spiritual sense it refers to the judgment and the punishment we deserve because of our

sin The amplified version says therefore there is now no condemnation no guilty verdict no punishment for

those who are in Christ who believe in Him and have made Him personal Lord and

Savior This was the punishment that we were supposed to receive because of sin We were

guilty and the sentence for our wrongdoing was eternal separation from God We're supposed to be judged

and punished because of our sin But because we're in Christ Jesus because we have made

Him Lord and Savior there is now no condemnation Right now there is no condemnation for those who

are in Christ Jesus You see God does not want to change us He does not want to transform us

by shaming us No we are transformed We are changed by His Spirit by following

the leading and the guiding of the Spirit By being obedient to the spirit Condemnation drives you away

from God Conviction is one of the Holy Spirit's roles invites you into a relationship

with God through the Spirit John chapter 16 verses 8 to 9 says and when he the Holy

Spirit comes he will convict the world in regard to sin and righteousness and judgment in

regards to sin because they do not believe in me The world is going to be convicted for

eternal judgment and punishment because Jesus said they do not believe in me And when you study the

word convict it implies a legal or judicial process which is the Holy Spirit's role

in revealing truth and exposing sin So the Holy Spirit is going to convict by revealing truth and by

exposing sin But the people who this judgment is coming upon the people who will be punished this conviction

did not lead to transformation or salvation because they did not believe in Christ They did not believe in the

finished work of Christ on the cross so they will be convicted found guilty of eternal judgment

The word world in this text it refers to humanity in its fallen state Humanity that is in

opposition to God So as we break down this text we see that the believer

is not under this condemnation The believer is not found guilty or will receive the punishment

and judgment That's reserved for those who are in opposition to God those who did

not believe in Jesus Christ So as believers you should not live under guilt You should not live under shame

or defeat or condemnation That's not the Holy Spirit It's the trick of the adversary to get

you to think that God is against you when the Bible clearly says that as believers

God is with us and He is in us and He is for us The Holy Spirit never humiliates

us or condemns us The role of the Holy Spirit is to help us To strengthen us and to transform

us So point number 1 God does not condemn us He is with us He is in us He is

for us and he has given us His Holy Spirit to help us Number 2 and

this is important the flesh cannot be defeated by willpower Romans chapter 8 verse 8 says those who are

in the flesh living a life that caters to sinful appetites and impulses cannot please

God Holler at at that in your Bibles Those who are in the flesh meaning they

live a life that caters to sinful appetites and impulses These people who live this

way cannot please God We do not defeat the flesh by trying harder This is a reoccurring theme in this

teaching series You cannot overcome the flesh by willpower You can't overcome the flesh by saying

I'm not going to do it again I'll do better I'll try not to do

it No no that's your will trying to overpower the sinful flesh It's not going

to work You don't overcome the flesh by feeling guilty And listen to this You don't overcome the flesh

by religious performances and activities on Sunday Because a lot of people think they've been living like the

devil all week long I'm gonna get into the church I'm gonna run I'm gonna dance

I'm gonna shout and that's going to overcome the flesh No after the service is over you're going to go

right back and submit and succumb to your fleshly desires So the bottom line is the flesh cannot fix

the flesh Let me say that again The flesh cannot fix the flesh You cannot break the power of

sin by trying to fight sin in your own power You can only break the power of sin by yielding

to the transforming power of the Holy Spirit So many people they're trying to defeat the flesh with

the flesh No you can't do that And if you're trying to defeat the flesh with willpower that's

flesh because it's your will trying to overpower sin flesh it can't be done Sin is broken by yielding

to the transforming power of the Holy Spirit and that leads me to my third point The Holy

Spirit breaks the power of the flesh Only the Holy Spirit can do that Let's look at

Romans 8:13 It says if by the Spirit you put to death the deeds of the

body you will live Notice it does not say by self-discipline Notice it does not

say by self-will It says by the spirit So it's only by the spirit that you can put the death

the deeds of the flesh the deeds of the body and when you do that

you will live in the freedom of the spirit You will live in the freedom in

your walk and relationship with Jesus Christ Let me talk to you about the Holy Spirit The Holy

Spirit wants to replace that sinful nature those sinful desires with godly desires He wants to change

what you desire Because those worldly desires are leading you down a path that leads to death The Bible says

that the wages of sin is death eternal separation from God But what God wants to

do through the Holy Spirit he wants to change what you desire It says if you desire the things

of the flesh you're going to die but if you desire the things of the spirit you're going to

live The spirit wants to change what you desire He wants to change your appetite He wants to change those

things that you are attracted to He wants to change those lustful desires that you have

He wants to change your thought patterns That's why Romans chapter 12 verse 2 says That we

have to not be conformed to the world and it's lustful desires it's attraction it's appetites

it's thought patterns but being what transformed And that's the spirit's role is to transform us to move

us away from those sinful things those sinful desires that are going to lead to death not going to lead

to the abundant life that Jesus Christ requires us to have The reason why a

lot of believers are not living the life that Christ requires is because they're not

submitted they're not yielded to the Holy Spirit's leading The Holy Spirit is trying to lead you

away from those things that's going to cloud your relationship with Jesus Christ but you still want these things you

still desire these things There's still an attraction an appeal to your flesh The Holy Spirit

wants to break the power of the flesh over your life by refocusing your desires those things that you're attracted

to your thought patterns your emotional response to things True transformation is about changing your desires and that's what God

wants to do through his spirit And the more you feed your spirit the less the flesh and the

desires of the flesh will appeal to you How do you feed your spirit You feed

your spirit with the word and the more you're in the word the more you're into

his presence And the more that you're in the word the more that you're in his presence the less of

the flesh and it desires you want The formula is real simple We have to

follow the leading of the spirit and not the flesh The spirit role is to

move you away from the things of the flesh to the things that's going to produce life to the things

that will produce fruit in your life That's the Holy Spirit's role We have to yield we have to

submit our desires to what the Holy Spirit desires for us We're talking about how

to overcome the power of the flesh over your life with the Spirit And number 4

and this is the key part of the message this morning you must choose what you set

your mind on We just said the more you feed your spirit in his presence the less of the

flesh you will desire Therefore you must choose what you set your mind on Romans chapter 8 verse 5

says those who live according to the flesh set their mind on the things of the flesh But those who

live in accordance with the spirit have their mind set on what the spirit desires We are

too focused on the flesh Everything in the world is focused on fleshly desires I see it I

want it I get it We are too focused on the flesh making more money status position

being famous Everything in the world is focused on fleshly desires and the reason for

that is because the mind is set on the things of the flesh If your mind

is steady on things of the flesh that's what you're going to desire The text says but those who live

in accordance with the spirit that's you and I we have set our minds on what the spirit desires

The more you saturate your mind with the word the more that you're in the presence of the

spirit the less of the flesh you're going to want You're not going to desire these things

no more The more you spend time in the spirit in the word you're going to

find those things have no meaning at all They're worthless All they're going to do is lead me away

from Christ instead of drawing me to Christ We're too focused on the things of

the flesh Now this is what I'm saying this is what I'm not saying I'm not

saying that we shouldn't have any desires but we've got to make sure our desires are in accordance with what

the spirit desires This verse is about refocusing what we set our mind on refocusing what we're feeding our spirit

We need to ask ourselves do a self-evaluation What are you feeding Are you feeding your flesh or are you

feeding your spirit That's the question that we need to ask ourselves each and every day The way

you determine that where you're spending your time what is your time being consumed with Things of

the flesh or things of the spirit Then you ask yourself what are you feeding

your spirit daily The things of the flesh or the things of the spirit If we were

like the Bahrains in Acts chapter 17 verse 11 they spent their time searching the

scripture to see if those things be so As Bible believers that's where our time should be spent In the

word of God because it's the word of God that's going to feed our spirits and when our spirits

are fed the fleshly desires will no longer appeal to you Your mind is either

set on the things of the flesh or the things of the spirit There is

no in between Your mind is either being filled with the things of the flesh

or the things of the spirit There is no in between Your mind is either being filled with gossip

or the gospel Your mind is either being filled with fear or faith Your mind is either being filled

with entertainment or daily encounters with the Holy Spirit Your mind is either being filled with lust or love and

there is a difference Your mind is either being filled with the world or the word And

over these past weeks a lot of Christians' mind has been filled with the things of

the world What's going on in the world consumed with the things of the world where they should have

been consumed with the things of the world You cannot continue to feed your flesh with the

things of the world and expect your fleshly desires to go away The power and the quality of your life

that you live is determined by what you feed your spirit daily That's why you have a

lot of powerless Christians who aren't living the abundant life that Jesus Christ says is

available to us today Because their focus is on the things of the flesh but the power and

the quality of your life you live is determined by what you feed your spirit

daily I want to have everything that Christ says is mine I want to have his peace I

want to have his joy I want to have his contentment These are the things that

I desire but we cannot have them if our minds are set on and we're feeding our

spirit daily with the things of this world that appeals to the flesh If you want

to live the more abundant life you have to set your mind on the things of the spirit You

have to set your mind on what the spirit desires So let me leave you with this

There is something that the Holy Spirit wants to reveal to you right now There's something

in our lives that the Holy Spirit wants us to be aware of The Holy

Spirit wants to bring to our attention where we are in life If we're feeding our lives with the

things of the flesh or feeding our spirit with the things of the Spirit and there's something that the

Holy Spirit is revealing to us right now that we need to get right We need to eliminate out

of our life so that this abundant life can be ours It might be a habit a

fleshly habit It could be a relationship that's broken that needs to be restored It's not your pride

go away that that relationship can be repaired The Holy Spirit is trying to highlight and reveal

to us about that sin First John 1:9 says if we confess our sins He

is faithful and just to forgive us of our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness

But you got to confess the sin A lot of believers are dealing with sin that have not been

confessed Listen your life is not going to move forward one iota until you confess that sin You know

it's a sin The Holy Spirit knows it's a sin and he's just waiting for you now to confess it

and mean it from the heart There's some stinking thinking that the Lord's been trying

for years to get out of your head You're never going to overcome the flesh as long as you're

thinking these thoughts If you're viewing life through these lenses your worldview is critical to living the

more abundant life If your worldview is fleshly if your worldview is worldly that's what you're going to reap

The Holy Spirit wants you to change your worldview change your outlook at life so now that you

can live the more abundant life that's only available through the Spirit There's a behavior there's an attitude that

the Holy Spirit is trying to bring to your attention that's flesh And you're never gonna go forward and just

walk with the Lord until you deal with it and you deal with it through

submission to the Spirit following the leading and the guidance of the Spirit As soon

as you're ready to let go and let God He's going to start leading He's going to

start guiding He's going to start directing you in the path that you need to go The Holy Spirit

is not pointing out these things to you to condemn you We already talked about that There

is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus No he's not doing

that to condemn you He's revealing these things so that you can be free The Bible says he who the

sun sets free is free indeed Too many believers are trying to get free based on their own

human effort self-will no God and he's given us the Holy Spirit to break the

power of the flesh that's in us However we have to surrender every desire every habit

every mindset that is not like Christ We have to surrender it to the power of the

Holy Spirit so he can break it We have to desire to replace those old sinful desires with godly

desires That will lead to the more than abundant life that God wants us to live and we have to

have a new appetite for the things of God and allow the Spirit to transform us from the inside

out breaking the power Of the flesh in our lives He's given us a spirit To help us do that

be blessed