Hello and welcome to the Middletown Baptist Church Podcast,
where we are proclaiming the truth to the world.
My name is Pastor Josh and I want to thank you for listening to
this podcast.
I hope that this podcast can be a blessing to you and strengthen
you in the word of God.
Now, come along, let's look into the Bible and see what God has
for us here today.
Well, we're going to go ahead and be in Romans chapter 8.
If you have your Bibles this morning, turn there with me.
Romans chapter 8.
We're continuing our study here in Romans 8, looking at the
confidence that we have in God and the confidence in what we have
in our salvation.
The only reason that we have salvation is because of the person
and work of Jesus Christ.
As Lily was singing here this morning.
Thank you, Jesus.
Why do we thank Him?
It's not that just he makes our life better.
It's that he gives us life.
The Bible says for the wages of sin, the payment of sin is death.
The Bible says that we in our good works are really all we have
is filthy rags.
We deserve punishment, we deserve death, we deserve separation.
But because of what Jesus Christ has done for us in his perfect
work on the cross and his conquering death through the resurrection,
that when we trust in him, we no longer are guilty and condemned
in our sins, but we have confidence that he saves us and we
have confidence that he sustains us in our hope.
And here in Romans chapter eight, that's what it's all about.
It's about the confidence that we have in the person and work of
Jesus Christ.
And we saw in verse number one that in faith we are no longer under
condemnation, we are no longer in judgment.
But that's just the start of it.
The Bible says that God gives us power.
That God gives us.
He gives us clarity, he gives us teaching.
He gives us the idea of being a child of God, to be part of the
family of God, to have the same inheritance.
That is explained throughout scripture.
Romans chapter 8, verse 16.
It says the Spirit itself bear witness with our Spirit, that we
are the children of God.
And if children, verse 17, then heirs, heirs of God and joint
heirs with Christ.
And so the Bible says that we are identified with Christ in his
suffering, yes, in the difficulties, yes.
But also in the fact that we are glorified together in him, that
we can know that we have everlasting life.
And then not only that it's a future hope, even though the future
hope is the culmination of our salvation, but we also know that
even here and now, we have the blessing of the presence of God in
our life.
We have the blessing of the power of God in our life.
We have the blessing of the provisions of God in our life.
And so we're going to go and start in verse number 25 here this
morning.
This.
This is where we left off last week.
And if you remember, it said here that when we trust in God, we
are saved by faith.
Or as it says here in verse 24, we are saved by hope in believing
in something that we don't see, in trusting in something that
is the only thing that's trustworthy and that is the person
and work of Jesus Christ.
And we talked about the two chairs up here.
The object of our faith could be something that could fall like
everything in this world.
Materialism, our finances, our health, our good works.
Or we could place our faith and trust in something that never
fails, and that is Jesus Christ and His powerful work on the
cross.
But then he says in verse 25, but if we have hope for what we have
seen, not then do we with patience, wait for it.
So one of the things that God gives us in the indwelling of the
Spirit, and by the way, let me explain again what the indwelling
of the Spirit is.
The Bible says that when we trust in Jesus Christ for our faith,
we are in that case, we are trusting in the work of God and we
are believing in him and he is extending to us salvation.
There's so much that happens with salvation.
There's something called justification.
Justification is the declaration of our righteousness.
God looks at us and no longer does he see the sin on my account.
But what does he see?
He sees the work and the blood of His Son Jesus Christ on our account.
And therefore we are declared innocent.
But that's not where it stops.
And justification, we also have something called sanctification.
We are set aside for a specific use.
We are there to be learning from God and growing in God and serving
him.
And the Bible says that in that process of justification, we
are indwelled by the Spirit, which means the Holy Spirit, the
third Person of the Trinity, doesn't just work in our life, but
the Bible says that he lives within us.
If you go back to verse number nine of Romans 8, it says, but ye
are not in the flesh, but in the Spirit.
If so be that the Spirit of God dwell in you.
There's some teachings out there that say that basically Christians
can feel the presence of God, that the presence of God can come
upon somebody, kind of like what happened in the Old Testament.
But The New Testament teaches that the believer not only can feel
the presence of God or see the presence of God in the working of
the Holy Spirit, but but also be indwelled by the Spirit, meaning
God is living within us.
And the Bible says that we can conform to the world and live in
the flesh and live with sinful desires, or we can die to the flesh,
live in the Spirit, be transformed in the Spirit, and walk
in obedience with God.
And so that's what he's talking about here.
And so he says, what does the Holy Spirit bring us?
Well, he brings us power.
But we also see in verse 24, in verse 25, that he brings us.
The King James here says patience, or we could say endurance.
The Bible says that the Holy Spirit, when He is living in our
life, brings us that endurance to run the race, to run the race
of life with the circumstances that we face, with the trouble that
we face, with maybe the sickness that we have in our life
and whatever the case might be that causes us to doubt or causes
us to quit or causes us to lose confidence.
The Bible says that the Holy Spirit can conquer those things and
give us the confidence to know that he is with us and that we can
keep moving forward and that we can keep serving him and that
we can look to that eternal glory with Him.
And that's what verse 18 was about.
For I reckon that the sufferings of this present time are
not worthy to be compared with the glory which shall be revealed
in us.
So he says, hey, you know what?
You might be going through struggles right now.
You might have gone through trials in your life, but the struggles
that you face now are nothing in comparison to the glory that you
receive when you are with your Savior one day, face to face, to
see the blessing that it is to be a child of God completely.
And so first we see that the Holy Spirit in our life brings us
endurance.
But I want us to go to verse number 26, because the Holy Spirit
brings us more than just endurance.
It says in verse 26, likewise, the Spirit also helpeth our infirmities.
That word infirmities means weakness or struggles.
The Bible says that the Holy Spirit not only gives us strength,
but also helps us or comforts us in the time of our weakness.
Now we saw going back that in verse 23, at this point in time in
our Christian walk, we are just receiving the first fruits of
the Spirit.
We looked last week in Ephesians how the Holy Spirit is
our down payment, our earnest.
Essentially, it's this.
We don't know completely what It'll be like to be with our Savior.
But the taste of that is when the Holy Spirit guides our life,
convicts us, teaches us, comforts us.
And so in verse 26, he says, just as the Holy Spirit has given
you endurance, so the Holy Spirit will give you encouragement.
He says, for we know not what we should pray for, for as we ought,
meaning this, there are times in our life when we are going through
our trials and weaknesses and as it says here, infirmities that
we don't even necessarily know where to turn.
We don't even know what specifically to ask for.
There's going to be a time in our life where we reach that roadblock
that we like.
We say, I don't know what I need, I don't know where to turn.
I don't know what decision to make.
It's okay to recognize in our life that we are confounded by the
things of this world.
It's actually, I believe, necessary for a Christian to come
to a place in our life where we recognize that we don't know what's
best for us, that we don't understand really where we might
need to go in this situation.
But the Bible says that we have a God who cares for us, and
as it says here, but the Spirit itself maketh intercession
for us with groanings which cannot be uttered.
What does that mean?
That means that God knows what's best for us even when we don't
know what's best.
God is in our lives so much to say that he cares for us even in
the moments where we have lack of faith, where we have struggles,
where we have doubts.
It says here that he knows what's best for us and even when
we don't know how to properly pray.
Now, this is not an excuse to quit praying.
This is not an excuse to say, well, you know what?
I don't know what I need to pray for, so I don't need to pray.
That's not what this is saying.
But what this is saying here in verse 26 is that even sometimes
when we pray incorrectly, even sometimes when we think we know what's
best or we might not even know what to do, the Bible says that the
Holy Spirit, who is indwelling our life, knows what's best and is
making intercession for us with groanings which cannot be uttered.
What does that mean?
That means that.
That means he is saying things that we cannot even understand, that
we cannot even know.
Why?
Because we.
We know that God is bigger than us.
He's eternal.
He's all powerful.
He's all knowing.
And there's gonna be times in our life where we just need to release
what we think is our control and say, lord, I don't know what
to pray.
I don't know what to do.
I don't know where to turn, but I know what's best for me, and
that is to follow you and for the Holy Spirit to guide and for
the Holy Spirit to comfort.
And so it's comforting to know that I am not in control.
It's comforting to know that I recognize my limitations.
If my confidence is in myself, eventually I am going to fail.
Eventually, I am going to be limited.
And so what the Bible says here is that our prayer life is not
limited by our problems, by our struggles, by our lack of wisdom,
by our inconsiderate nature, sometimes with our selfishness, because
sometimes we pray selfishly, and there's nothing wrong with that.
But sometimes what happens is, is that ultimately, sometimes our
selfishness and our prayers can be seen by following our will
instead of following God's will.
We see that over and over again in Scripture that God wants
us not to just pray for our desires and our wants and our needs,
even though there is a time and a place to pray for our needs
and our provisions.
But also it's to pray for God's will in our life, to say, lord,
I don't know what you want me to do, but whatever your will is,
give me the strength and the comfort and the power to walk in
your will, in your way.
And so what we see that, even see that in the garden, right?
Remember when Jesus was in the garden of Gethsemane and he was coming
to a place in his life where he knew he was going to be giving
himself as a sacrifice.
And he asked the Father, lord, if there be another way, I'm in this.
I'm ready.
I'm going to follow you.
But if there's another way, please let that come right now.
But then remember how he ends that prayer.
Nevertheless, I will be done.
And that's really the heart of our Christian life, is to say, lord,
I don't know what's best for me.
I'm at the end of my rope, Lord, I don't know what to do.
And even in the book of James, if you go with me to James chapter
one, I want you to see a couple of things here in James chapter
one, because there is something to do when we don't know
what to do.
We don't just quit a lot of people when we get to that point
where we don't know the next step and we don't know what to ask
God for.
There's a lot of times what happens is people will just quit
or people will turn away.
They will recoil from God, they will turn away from the Word,
they will turn away from church, they will turn away from
prayer, they will turn away from fellowship, they'll turn away
from everything.
And what does James say?
James says the complete opposite.
When you come to that place where you lack wisdom, when you come
to that place where you where you're struggling in discernment,
what do you do?
Well, it says in verse number five of James 1, if any of you lack
wisdom, let him ask of God that giveth to all men liberally
and abradeth not.
And it shall be given him, meaning this.
Go to God, cling to him more, whether you know the direction or
not, go to him because he's going to be the one that gives us,
as it says here, the wisdom.
And that he's not willing to hold it back.
He gives it to all men liberally and abradeth not means
he doesn't hold it over our heads.
He doesn't condemn us for asking questions.
And it says, and it shall be given him.
But we do it in a specific way.
Verse 6.
But let him ask in faith, nothing wavering.
For he that wavereth is like a wave of the sea, driven with the
wind and toss.
For let not a man think that he shall receive anything of the
Lord.
A double minded man is unstable in all of his ways.
And so he says we are to ask in faith, saying this, lord, I believe
that you have what's best for me in my life and I trust you.
And when you give me that direction, when you open that door,
when you close that door, I'm going to trust that that's a gift
from you.
If you go farther.
In James, chapter one, verse 17, it says, Every good gift and
every perfect gift is from above.
It's from God, and cometh down from the Father of lights, with whom
is no variableness, neither shadow of turning.
Meaning this God is consistently good in every way.
Every good gift that we have, every good thing that we have comes
from God, doesn't come from me.
It doesn't come from my talent, it doesn't come from my good
looks, it doesn't come from where I was born, it doesn't come
from how much money I have in my bank account.
The good gifts come from God directly.
And we come to Thanksgiving season and we think about all These
things in our life that we have and we can assess, well, that
was because of me, or that was because of this person, or that's
because of here, that's because of.
Of that.
But at the end of the day, if we are believers in Jesus Christ,
what do we have to do?
Every good thing that we have comes from God.
And we have to see those gifts as an opportunity to turn that around
and thank God and, and to give him praise.
And sometimes we think of all the things that go in our will to
be, the good things, like, oh, God gave me a raise at work.
Praise God.
He's a good God.
That's a gift.
And so sometimes we think of, of the good news that we hear, the
doctors as well.
That's a gift from God.
He healed me.
But what we see here is that sometimes God's answer is not what
we're expecting, but at the same time, it's a gift from God.
Why?
Because it's God's work in our life.
It's God's plan for our life.
And sometimes we don't see trials as a gift.
But what the Bible actually says is that if God allows a trial
to happen, it's something that he extends to us in our life as a
place of growth that is a gift of from God, whether we like it or
not.
Even so, conviction.
We're going to look at a passage of Scripture a little bit
later that the Bible says that the Holy Spirit comes to the world
to convict them in sin.
Most of us don't see conviction as a gift.
That's something that we hate.
We don't want to be told that we're wrong.
We don't want to change.
But actually, the Bible says that that is a gift from God.
And so what I want us to think about here this morning is instead
of just thinking of all the things that make sense to us as gifts
from God, it's the Holy Spirit working in our life.
That's the gift.
The fact that the Holy Spirit speaks to us, the fact that the Holy
Spirit comforts us, the fact that the Holy Spirit encourages us,
the fact that the Holy Spirit empowers us and gives us endurance,
these are all gifts from God.
And so what we can see here in this case is that the Bible tells
us that we need to see the blessings of God in a.
In a more spiritual, more biblical perspective.
He speaks later on in the Book of James, he speaks of this idea
of counting it all.
Joy.
When we fall into diverse temptations.
Now, how can we count it?
Joy when we fall into temptation.
Why?
Because we know that this is an opportunity for us to grow in
the Lord.
And so go back with me to Romans, because that's really where
our main text is this morning.
He says, look, there's going to be a time and a place that we
need to recognize our infirmities, our weaknesses.
Is, you know, in our culture today, weakness is seen as something
that is negative.
That's something that we need to avoid.
We need to do everything that we can to show that we are not weak
to those around us.
And I understand why we think that, but the Bible actually tells
us something different.
That when we are weak, think about 2 Corinthians, chapter 12,
when we recognize our weakness and when we recognize how God is
the only answer to our weakness.
That is when God can be made strong in our life.
That is when the testimony is the loudest, when we can't explain
how God has done this in our life, other than God's worked a miracle
in my life, that's a testimony of God's work.
If I can explain all the good things in my life by my hard work,
who's getting the credit for that?
God's got to get the credit for everything that we have in our
life.
If, like, I, I look and like people, wow, you know, your, your
kids did this, or, you know, you.
You have this in your life, or you're, you're driving a nice car,
you have a nice home, or, you know, whatever it is, whatever someone
gives you praise for, you did a good job at work.
The Christian reaction, the biblical Christian reaction should
be, well, that's coming from the Lord.
That's not me.
That's a blessing from him.
And so when we see here, it says, likewise, the Spirit also helpeth
us in our infirmities because we don't know what we should pray
for sometimes, but the Spirit does.
And the Spirit makes intercession for us.
This is an amazing thing.
This is.
This is the fact that we as Christians can come to God even if
we don't know what's best for us in some cases, and he will give
us what's best for us.
Hebrews chapter 4, verse 16 tells us that because of the relationship
that we have with God through Jesus Christ, as the Bible says,
our high priest, we can, as it says in verse 16, let us therefore
come boldly or confidently unto the throne of grace.
This is.
This means I can come before God.
Why?
That we may obtain mercy and find grace to help in time of need.
Meaning when we are struggling, when we are in time of
need.
What do we need?
Well, we don't need more man, man's wisdom in our life.
We don't need more praise for ourselves.
We need God's mercy and grace to find help in time of need.
How do we find mercy and grace?
We go to him.
James 4 says, Draw nigh to God and he will draw nigh to you.
So the point is, is this.
In times of trials, in times of infirmities and times of weakness
and times of limitation, we go to him and say, lord, I don't know
necessarily what my next step is, Lord, I don't know how you're
going to work this out in my life, but I trust you, I love you,
and I know that you love me completely.
Therefore, I'm going to release what I feel is my control.
Even though we all know at some points in our life we have recognized
how we've lost control.
And sometimes we think we're in control and we've lost control.
What the Bible says is that when we relinquish what we think
is our control over to the Lord, we're trusting in the One who
is already controlling our life, whether we know it or not.
And we can walk in obedience with him in the Spirit, to know him
and to grow in confidence in Him.
And so it says verse 27 in Romans 8.
And he that searches the hearts knoweth what is the mind of
the Spirit.
Meaning this.
God is the one who knows our hearts.
Sometimes our heart can deceive us.
Sometimes we can think that we have what's best for our lives.
But at the end of the day, it's not what's best for us.
And so God, who knows our hearts, knows what's best for us.
And he is the one that, as it says here, is the mind of the Spirit.
And because he maketh intercession for the saints according
to the will of God.
Meaning this, we as Christians, when we follow the Spirit,
can know that we are following the will of God.
Why?
Because the Spirit is never going to contradict the Father, just
as Jesus never contradicted the Father as he was here on this
earth.
Jesus always obeyed the will of the Father, therefore the Spirit
will always obey the will of the Father.
Therefore, when we are following the Spirit in our life
and, and trusting in the Spirit and walking in the Spirit
and obeying the word of God, then we know that as we follow him,
we will be following the will of God.
And I hope that all of us have a deep desire to follow the will
of God.
In our lives.
But sometimes we don't know what the will of God is.
Sometimes it's very clear what the will of God is when it comes
to whether it's sin or not sin.
Am I doing something wrong or is it just, I'm shorting out here.
No one knows.
Okay, sorry for that distraction.
But, but the reality is, is this.
Sometimes when it comes to the word of God, we know that it's not
God's will for us to lie.
We know that it's not God's will for us to murder.
We know it's not God's will for us to steal.
And we can find that through the word of God.
And so a lot of times people are praying for things like, lord,
should I, should I take this money?
That's not mine.
You don't need to pray about that.
The will of God is found in the word of God.
But there, there's other things in our life that are not so
cut and dry when it comes to circumstantial decisions that we
make that might lead to avenues of sin.
For example.
For example, when I read the Bible, I did not find in the Bible,
josh Massaro, you should marry Alicia.
Okay, I didn't see that.
I looked.
I was, I was asking God for his will.
But at the end of the day, there are certain things that we
have to read by way of principle in the word of God and
then seek after the will of God through prayer and through study
and through godly counsel that God leads our heart with confidence
and confirmation and conviction towards the decision that
we make in our life.
Now I am confident to know that it is God's will for me as I've
already married my wife, to stay married to my wife and to live
a con convicted life towards following the Lord together with
her.
But what the Bible tells us is that there's a lot of people that
will make wrong decisions on the front end of things.
Meaning like, I'm going to just decide to make a decision, move
here, do this, spend this, marry this person, go, go to this
place and without any consideration for the will of God
and then follow up with that by saying, lord, work in my life.
And the problem is, is that many times we abuse the grace of
God.
The reality is, is that God can make any bad decision good.
He can take ashes and turn them to beauty.
But if we as Christians want to follow God in a more close, more,
more authentic way, before we make decisions, we need to bathe
in.
In prayer.
We need to ask God for his wisdom.
We need to ask God for His patience.
We need to ask God for His grace, and we need to ask God for
His protection when we're making decisions in our life.
So God wants us to find that comfort in Him.
And so he says at the end of verse 27, hey, why do we trust the
Spirit?
Well, number one, he knows what's best for us.
Number two, he knows the will of God, and therefore we follow him
in those decisions that we make.
Now, for a Christian who is not, or an unsaved person for that
matter, who has not exercised this spiritual discipline, it's basically
sounding like you're crazy right now.
Like someone comes and talks to you.
How do you know?
Like, is there writing in the sky?
Well, that's something that we have to build as believers.
You have to build that communication line with the Lord.
It has to be something that you build in your relationship on
the day to day.
If, if, if someone walked in for the first time today to our church
and I looked at them and I tried to pretend like I knew them
for 20 years, that would be weird.
Like, if I'm trying to guess what they like or trying to guess
what they want, there's no way that I could ever understand that.
But if I spend time with someone, if I spent hours with them,
if I, if I talk with them and I share my deepest heart with them
and they share their heart with me, I'm going to be a lot more
inclined to understand what that person wants, how that person
reacts, how that person responds.
And that's the same thing for us as Christians.
We can't expect to say that we know the will of God if we're not
spending any time with him, if we're not trusting in him, if we're
not relying on his grace and presence in our life.
And so In Romans chapter 8, he reminds us that, hey, even when we
are in our weakest point, the Holy Spirit knows what's best for
us.
And so instead of trying to manipulate God's word or manipulate
some work of God in our life and basically say this, Lord, I'm
going to do this.
And so just bless it.
No, we wait on the Lord and we give ourselves over to him to know
that he is there for us even when we are broken, even when we
are at that place where we don't even know what to pray for.
But I want to take you to another passage where we actually
started here this morning.
And that's In John chapter 14, Jesus reminds us that, hey, you know
what?
I am going to Send you a comforter.
That.
That word comforter, it actually has multiple meanings.
It actually is a more complex word than just comforter.
The word comforter there means comforter, but also encourager or
exhorter.
What's an exhorter?
An exhorter is someone who comes alongside of somebody and encourages
them and challenges them, doesn't push them as much as they
come alongside of them.
And so the Bible says in John, chapter 14, verse 16, Jesus is.
Remember, he's about to leave.
He just talked about how he's going to go and prepare a place for
his followers and that he's going to come again.
But he says, as I leave, verse 16, I will pray the Father, I will
ask the Father, and he shall give you another comforter or exhorter.
Or.
Or we could say it in a way of the one who would encourage.
So he says, I will ask the Father, and he shall give you another
comforter that he may abide with you forever.
This speaks of this idea of the Holy Spirit not just being with
us for a moment, but to continuously be with us.
And so when Jesus says that he's never going to leave us nor
forsake us, this is the avenue in which that happens, the presence
of God in our life.
Now we need to stop there, and we need to recognize that there is
a difference between the indwelling of the Spirit and the
filling of the Spirit.
Indwelling of the Spirit means this.
As a Christian, the Holy Spirit lives within me.
I can't stop that from happening.
If I trusted in Jesus, the Holy Spirit lives within me.
But there's also something called the filling of the Spirit.
The filling of the Spirit is essentially this being able to tap
into the obedience of God and walking in fellowship with God and
allowing the Holy Spirit to guide us.
That means to be filled with the Spirit.
So, so if, for example, if I'm sitting here and I say, okay, I'm
a Christian, the Holy Spirit's indwelling me.
The pastor preaches a message.
I know that I should change, but I'm not going to change because
I know that I want to do this.
That's.
You're indwelled by the Spirit, but you're not being filled
by the Spirit.
Being filled with the Spirit would be this.
The Lord is speaking to my heart about a specific matter of
Scripture.
The Lord is speaking to my heart in a specific matter of things
I need to change in my life.
I'm going to change that in my life, no matter if I want to do it
or not.
I'm going to be guided by the Spirit.
He's the one that's going to be in control.
By the way, the Bible says, be not drunk with wine, whereas in excess,
but be filled with the Spirit.
And that means this.
We can either be controlled by a substance, or we can be controlled
by our flesh, or we can be controlled by the Spirit.
We know that someone who is under the inebriation of some type
of substance isn't making decisions, at least not in the proper
mindset.
They're making decisions based on the substance that they have taken.
The Bible says, in contrast to that, being filled with the Spirit
is allowing the Spirit to make the decision for us.
Whether it's something that's going to benefit me or not materially,
I'm going to follow the Spirit.
And so he says in verse 17, the reason why I'm always saying
according to Scripture is because he says, even verse 17, even
the spirit of truth, meaning the Spirit will always be aligned
with the truth of God.
The Spirit will never contradict the Word of God.
And so a lot of times people will say, well, I feel like the Holy
Spirit called me to do that to that person in sin.
No, the Holy Spirit will never lead you to do something contrary
to his word.
The Holy Spirit is always going to be aligned with the Word
of God.
Why?
Because the Bible says all scripture is given by inspiration
of God.
We believe that people were moved by the Holy Spirit and indwelled
and led by the Holy Spirit to write the Word of God.
So the Holy Spirit is not going to contradict himself.
So it says, even the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive.
By the way, the world, the unsaved world, is what it's saying
here.
People that are not believers in Jesus Christ and are not indwelled
by the Spirit cannot experience what we're talking about
here this morning.
This is something unique to someone who is trusted in Jesus Christ.
The world cannot receive.
Why?
Because it seeth him not.
The world might want to replicate what the church does.
Actually, people with maybe you've even been a part of this.
Maybe either you or someone else that you have been familiar
with have come into church and watched what other people are doing
and said, hey, you know what?
I want to have what they have, but I just don't feel it.
So what I'm going to do is I'm just going to fake it.
I'm going to get excited when they get excited.
I'm going to use the words that they say when they say them.
I'm Going to nod my head, I'm going to bow my head, I'm going to
kneel at this point.
But the Bible says here is that the only way that we can experience
the true work of God is through the indwelling of the Spirit
and faith in Jesus Christ.
So the world or the church cannot replicate what is happening
here unless it is an authentic indwelling of the Spirit through
salvation.
This cannot be found elsewhere.
This cannot be found anywhere in the world other than an indwelled
believer's heart.
And so it says, because it seeth him not, neither knoweth him,
but ye know him.
Meaning if you're a believer, you know him.
There's a personal relationship.
Why?
For he dwelleth with you and shall be in you.
And then here's the verse, here's the promise that is being
kept when the Holy Spirit indwells us.
He says, I will not leave you comfortless.
I will come to you.
Really, the biggest blessing that we have in this context is that
the Lord does not leave us alone.
The Lord does not leave us hopeless.
The Lord does not leave us in our sin.
The Lord does not leave us in our infirmities and our weaknesses.
So he says, I will not leave you comfortless.
There's an exhorter here.
The exhorter is the Holy Spirit.
I want to go farther ahead here.
There's a lot more that we could talk about in this, but for
the sake of time, I want you to go to verse chapter number 16,
verse 7.
Jesus is about to say more about the comforter.
He's already talked about how the comforter is going to bring comfort.
He's going to bring conviction.
He's going to bring teaching.
He's going to guide us into all truth.
But we see here something amazing, and this is something that
even I to some degree struggle with.
Because what Jesus is about to say is counterintuitive.
Because we would all think this usually, that if Jesus was just
here, like, if we could see him, I would never doubt, I would
be, I would be.
I would always obey if I just saw Jesus right in front of me.
And we think sometimes, like, why did the disciples struggle?
I mean, Jesus was performing miracles right in front of them.
I mean, Jesus was teaching them face to face.
What if our discipleship leader was Jesus?
Like, we would say, that's the greatest thing ever.
Well, look what he says in John 16.
7.
He says, nevertheless, I tell you the truth, it is expedient or
better, more beneficial for you that I go away.
He's talking to his Disciples here He says, for if I go not away,
the comforter will not come unto you.
But if I depart, I will send him unto you.
And when he is calm, he will prove or convict the world of sin
and of righteousness and of judgment.
Of sin, because they believe not on me of righteousness, because
I go to my Father and ye see me no more of judgment, because the
Prince of the world is judged.
And it says, verse 13.
How be it?
When the Spirit of truth has come, he will guide you into all
truth.
For he shall not speak of himself, but whosoever he shall hear
that shall he speak.
And he shall show you things to come.
So let's stop there.
What does he say?
What is Jesus saying?
He says that it was better that he would physically leave so
that the Holy Spirit could come and indwell them and guide them
and comfort them and strengthen them and encourage them.
Now, why would that be the case?
Well, remember in.
In that time when Jesus was there on his earthly ministry, he
limited himself physically.
We know that.
We know that Jesus had the capabilities of being everywhere,
all at once, to be all powerful.
But we know in Philippians chapter two, it says that he humbled
himself and took the form of a servant.
So in that case, Jesus could have been here with Peter.
But let's say John was in another town.
John wouldn't able.
He wouldn't be able in that very moment to see physically Jesus
in front of him.
So he would feel alone.
The beauty that we have in the Holy Spirit is that all of us, no
matter where we are, no matter how much struggle we're facing, no
matter how much persecution we have against us, that we all can
have the same presence of God in our life.
No matter if we're here all in this room, or we're a thousand miles
away from each other, it doesn't matter.
God is with us.
And therefore he can hear us.
And he hears our prayers and he hears our groanings and our.
And our desires and our needs.
And so what he's saying here is this.
The gift of the Spirit is a wonderful gift.
It's a perfect gift.
Why?
Because it really is the.
Is the culmination of God saying through Jesus here that he
would not leave us comfortless, that he would be with
us.
He would never leave us nor forsake us.
And so we as Christians often don't think about the gift of the
Spirit indwelling us in the here and now.
But it is a gift to know that God hears us, to know that we can
come to him in times of need, and we can find mercy and grace,
it is there as a gift to know that we can come to him and that
even if we don't know what we need for our life, we don't even
know how to ask it, that he knows what's best for us.
And so here in the book of Romans, Romans 8, he just simply
says this.
He says, the Spirit's there to help you.
The Spirit's there to encourage you.
And some of us here this morning, we need some encouragement.
I don't know about you, but there's times in my life where I
wake up in the morning even though I know that God loves me,
even though I know that he saved me.
But I'm discouraged because of something that's happened in my life.
And the Bible says that he comforts us.
I want you to see one last passage of Scripture.
Then we're going to be done.
Because the comfort that is given to us is again, not there for
us, just to be comforted and stay the same.
The comfort is there to change us.
The comfort is there to guide us, to comfort others.
Because I've told you this before, and I will keep telling you
this, that when God extends love to us, it's not for us just
to receive.
He extends love to us so that we love others.
He doesn't just extend forgiveness to us so that we receive
his forgiveness and we're thankful for his forgiveness.
If we are thankful for his forgiveness, we are willing to forgive
others.
He doesn't just extend grace for us to hold grace.
It's so that we extend grace.
And so I want you to see Second Corinthians, chapter 1, verse
3.
He speaks of a name for God that I just love.
And it is the God of all comfort or the God of all encouragement.
And we can see here, he says, blessed be God.
This is verse three of Second Corinthians, chapter one.
Blessed be God, even the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ.
The God or the Father of mercies and the God of all comfort.
And it says here, who comforteth us or encourages us in
all our tribulation.
I love the word there.
All because it's not just when he's comfortable with helping us.
It's not just when we come to Him.
No, it says that if we are a child of God, he comforts us in all
of our tribulation.
And then it doesn't stop there.
It says, for we may be able that we may be able to comfort them
which are in any trouble by the comfort wherewith we ourselves
are comforted of God.
Meaning this.
We receive the comfort of God through the indwelling of the Spirit.
And then it's our goal, it's our purpose to share that comfort
with others around us so that they can know the comfort of God,
so that they can understand who the comforter is, so that they
can understand the encouragement of God.
And so Romans chapter eight tells us that, yes, we have no more
condemnation.
Yes, we're empowered by the Holy Spirit.
Yes, we have endurance in the Holy Spirit.
And also here this morning, we have encouragement in the Holy Spirit.
I know that even in Romans chapter 12.
Later on, we're going to talk about the spiritual gifts.
One of the spiritual gifts is the gift of encouragement.
There are some people within the church that are spiritually gifted
to be encouraged.
Others are not.
Now, that doesn't mean that the people that aren't supernaturally
gifted just turn away from encouragement.
Like, well, I'm not gifted in encouragement, so I don't need to
encourage people.
No, that just means that there are going to be some people that
are more naturally or supernaturally gifted in that area,
and then all of us who are not naturally gifted in that area need
to grow in that area of encouragement to others.
Folks, I struggle with that.
Just, just to be completely honest with you, I grew up in.
In a.
In a society specifically with certain people that I was at school
with and things of that nature is if you were doing the right thing,
you didn't hear anything.
No news is good news, right?
Like, if you're doing good, it's when you were doing bad and
you heard from them, it's like, okay, that's when I'm doing
bad.
Right?
So encouragement wasn't a real big thing.
It was like, just do your job.
Right?
And so for sometimes in my life, I feel like I overlook people
that are doing the right thing because I'm focused on, man, I got
to fix this and I got to fix that.
But at the end of the day, I think all of us as Christians need
to dive deeper into our hearts and say, how can I look to encourage
a fellow brother and sister in Christ?
The Holy Spirit's encouraged me today.
So therefore, how can I encourage other people?
Well, there's different ways that we can do that, but there's.
There's acts of service, there's acts of kindness, there's
words of kindness, there's sacrifice, there's.
There's love.
There's all these different things that can encourage other people.
But it's getting to know somebody like like for example, let's
say for, let's say for my wife, okay, I want to give her a
good gift for Christmas, okay, I want to encourage her with a good
gift.
So you know what?
I'm going to get her, I'm going to get her what I want.
I'm going to go buy a hundred dollar gift card to Cabela's and
I'm going to give that to her.
She's going to look at that Cabela's gift card and go, why can
I get a Cabela's?
There's nothing there for me, right?
Because that's selfishly looking like, okay, I'm going to
comfort people the way that I want to comfort people.
But the terms are this.
I need to find the, the, the way that the individual that is,
I'm trying to encourage.
What, what do they need to hear?
Because like, let's say someone's living in sin, let's say
someone's living in open sin and we go up to them and go, hey,
keep up the good work in Jesus Christ.
That's not encouraging them, that's actually hurting them.
Well, you're doing a good job, God loves you.
And so just, you know, keep doing what you're doing.
That, that would not be the gift of encouragement in that moment.
That actually would be harboring in that person's life sin.
And therefore you're, you're extending that problem in their life.
So for some people, encouragement will be coming alongside
and challenging them because that's that word exhortation.
Exhortation is challenging them in the truth.
So for some people, maybe it's, hey, can I help you with this?
Like, is this something like, maybe we can do a Bible study together
on this.
Maybe I can pray for you.
And for other people, we want to encourage them in what they're
doing, right for the Lord.
And so ultimately what we see here in Romans is this.
He says, look, you have the greatest encourager in the Holy Spirit.
But at the same time, you that have been encouraged need to look
out in the opportunity to walk in the will of God and encourage
others.
Because we're going to see next, next time we come back Romans
8:28.
And most of you know Romans 8:28.
Most of you have had Romans 8:28 quoted, well, this is really
the greatest encouragement that we can give someone.
Even though there's a time and a place to share this verse.
And the reality of it is, is this.
And we know all things work together for good, then that to them
that love God, not to Everyone to them that love God to them are
called according to his purpose.
And so the greatest encouragement to somebody is, hey,
I know.
Because sometimes what happens is, is that we try to encourage people
by ignoring the problem that they're in.
Like, hey, so they're, like, broken today.
Maybe they lost a loved one.
We walk up to them and go, well, it's okay.
Everything's gonna be okay.
Time heals all wounds.
Everything works together for good.
That's not the most gracious way to deal with someone in that
time.
But at the end of the day, we walk alongside of people.
And ultimately what the goal is is to point people to the fact
that ultimately, through everything that we go through in
our life, God will be glorified because of his power through
our lives.
And so though I'm going through a difficult time right now,
that can be to the glory of God.
Maybe there's a time of loss.
Time of loss initially could be something that's painful, but
at the end, that loss can be brought back to the glory of God.
The.
The infirmity, the pain that I'm in, the weakness that I'm in.
Folks, there are times in my life where, just to be completely
honest with you, I used to see that some of my weaknesses were just
devastating in my life.
And I would stress about it, and I would pray that God would take
away that weakness.
And I would say, God, you know, please, if you want me to serve
you better, please take this away from me.
But there was a huge reality check for me at one point in my life.
It was this.
That God allows those infirmities to be in my life, to.
For me to recognize that I need him and that I see that infirmity,
that weakness, not as my weakness, but as an opportunity for
God to be made strong through my life.
And so I encourage you not to look at your life and go, well, I've
got all these weaknesses, and so therefore, I just need to, like,
work harder.
No, in those weaknesses, turn them over to God and allow him to
lift you up, to allow him to carry you through that.
Folks, we have so many reasons to be joyful as Christians.
We have so many reasons to be joyful.
But at the end of the day, sometimes certain circumstances can
steal our joy, and then we aren't who we need to be in Christ.
And so what we need to understand as believers, what I need
to understand as a believer is this.
If I have Jesus, I have it all.
If I have salvation, I have it all.
And what I need to do as a Christian is everything that I go
through.
See it through that lens.
See it through the worldview of a person who has been redeemed.
So I got bad news, okay?
It's not.
It's not hopelessness.
Now if I've got bad news as a Christian, I see it through the lens
of, what's God going to do through this?
How is this going to glorify God?
How can I trust in him more?
It's how we.
It's.
It's our perception.
Like, if I'm driving, some of you, this won't resonate for you,
but if I'm driving by a field, okay, this is just me.
If I'm driving by any field in any area, I'm looking for animals,
deer, okay?
My wife's like, you can't find like your keys, but you can spot
a deer like 500 yards across the field in the evening.
And I can tell you how many points are on it, okay?
Amen.
Why?
Because I have a lens of my interest in my worldview, right?
That's when I'm focused on, in that case, probably somewhat too
much as a Christian.
Sometimes we're looking in the world with the wrong lens.
Our lenses are our selfish lenses that say, why am I not king?
Why?
Why am I not the focus?
Why am I not pain free?
Why am I forgotten about?
And when we see things from that lens and it's all about us,
we're a lot more likely to get to a place of bitterness and ingratitude
and anger and turn away from walking in the will of God.
But when we see the things of this world through the lens of, I'm
a saved, redeemed, born again believer who does not deserve anything,
and God has given me this, and this is just an opportunity for God
work, then that's when I can come to God and say, lord, I don't
know what you're going to do.
You may or may not take me out of this.
Think about all those martyrs that went and were killed.
Did God forget about these martyrs?
Did God forget about Peter?
As church tradition tells us that he was crucified upside down?
Did God forget about these people?
No, but.
But he allows certain things to happen.
Now, why does he let certain people get persecuted and other people
not?
We don't know the mind of God, but at the end of the day, we know
that sometimes God doesn't take that thorn away.
We know that through Paul, right?
He says, lord, I've got the thorn in my flesh.
I can minister for you so much better if you could just take the
thorn away.
But no, God reminded Paul that these, these, these words and I want
you to think about this this morning, then we're going to be done.
God says the Paul, my grace is sufficient.
His grace is sufficient.
But if, Lord, if you just gave me this much more money, if you just
gave me this much thing, I could be.
I could be a lot more efficient for you, Lord, I could
do a lot more for you if you just took this away from me, if you
just took this person away, or if you just allowed this to come
to pass, if you just gave me this right.
We, we could always want more and more and more.
If we just boil it down and say, lord, your grace is sufficient.
However you answer this prayer, I'm going to give you the
glory for that.
That's amazing.
That's peace.
That's a peace of God that passeth all understanding.
So next week we're going to come back and we're going to look
at Romans, chapter 8, verse 28, and we're going to talk about
what it means for God to work all things together for good.
It doesn't mean that God is the author of evil, which some people
actually believe.
It doesn't mean that all the bad things that happen to me, God's
just torturing me as a Christian.
That's not what that's talking about.
We're going to talk more about what that means, that God can work
all things together for good.
And that's something that I hope that you can come back for.
So if you're able to stand with me, every head bowed, every
eye closed, I know that it was a sermon about the Spirit.
But here this morning, what I would challenge you with is this
really a few questions.
I want to simplify them as best as I can.
Number one, do you in faith, trust in Jesus Christ as your savior
and can say, I know that I have the Holy Spirit indwelling now.
Some of us might say, well, you know what?
Right now, Pastor, I don't feel it.
I don't feel the presence of God in my life.
Well, sometimes it's not about a feeling.
It's about what you have trusted in.
The blessing is, is that sometimes God does give us that confirmation.
I can tell you one of the first times I was preaching in front
of a group of people, I experienced what it meant to have
the presence of God, the Holy Spirit guiding my words.
And that was an amazing experience.
But I'm going to tell you that I don't always feel that experience
of God working So directly in my life, but at the end it's what
do I trust in?
Do I trust in Jesus as my Savior?
If so, the Holy Spirit indwells me.
So first question, does the Holy Spirit indwell?
But number two, it might be not a question of the Holy Spirit
indwelling you, but number two, does the Holy Spirit fill you?
Are you allowing the Holy Spirit to guide your life?
Are you filled with the Holy Spirit?
Are you obeying the Holy Spirit?
Are you even seeking the Holy Spirit in the decisions that you're
making in your life?
Are you asking the Lord for wisdom?
Are you asking the Lord for guidance?
Are you asking the Lord for conviction?
Are you asking the Lord for teaching?
Folks, there's sometimes in our life where maybe it's just me,
but I'll read the Bible and I'll say, I have no clue what that
means.
We don't just turn the Bible over and throw it away.
What do we do?
We ask God to give us clarity and understanding and teaching.
And so maybe that's something that we need to grow in just the
guidance of the Spirit in our life, the obedience to the Spirit.
But the number three.
I want you to think about this.
If you can say I have felt the comfort of the Holy Spirit.
He's helped me in times of loss.
He's comforted me and encouraged me in times of sin and
brokenness.
He's encouraged me and lifted me up out of the miry pit, out of
the clay, and he's lifted me up onto solid ground.
Fantastic.
Praise God for that.
Are you thankful for that?
And then do you also extend that type of comfort to those around
you?
Are you looking to be an exhorter to those around you by what
you say and by what you do and by how you serve and by how you love?
If you trusted in Jesus Christ as your Savior, you are now called
to the ministry of exhortation, whether you know it
or not.
And so are we willing to exhort one another here this morning?
So those have been posed to you here today.
If you need Jesus Christ as your Savior, we'll have some folks
up here, we'll have some men and some ladies that can show you
in the word of God what it means to know him and be indwelled
by the Spirit.
But if you have done that here this morning, maybe years ago, we
can show you in the word of God what it means to walk in obedience.
And then number three, if you have been walking in the Spirit,
but the spiritual life has been all about you, maybe it's time
to say I want to look outward.
How can I encourage those around me?
That being the case here this morning, God's given you an opportunity
here to respond to the preaching of His Word.
So let's do that here today.
Lord, I pray that you'd be in this time of invitation, working
hearts and lives.
We thank you for your love and your comfort.
Thankful that you didn't leave us comfortless, but that you sent
your son to die on the cross for our sins.
You sent the Holy Spirit to come and indwell us and to guide
us into all truth.
We thank you for the comfort.
We thank you for the conviction.
We thank you for the teaching.
We thank you for the guidance that only the Holy Spirit brings
us in our life.
And so we just ask in this time if there's someone who needs
you as Savior, that today can be the day of salvation, that other
Christians can see the ministry of exhortation and follow
that as the example that's been given to us in your so we ask
all these things in Jesus name.
Amen.
Thank you again for listening to the Middletown Baptist Church
Podcast.
I hope that this sermon has been a blessing for you.
You would like to find out more information about our church
or this sermon, you can find us at iddletownbaptistchurch.org
or find us on Facebook or YouTube.
You can also email me directly at Josh Massaroiddletownbaptistchurch
dot com if you've enjoyed this podcast.
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Thank you so much.
God Bless.
Have a wonderful day.