Until a person’s pride is broken and they admit their wickedness and sin, and they are truly grieved and sorrowful for their sins, and so humbled that their self will is surrendered in true humility and meekness, they will not repent. God only blesses the broken sinner who fully surrenders to God and receives His forgiveness. The broken sinner stops his resistance to the will of God. He stops making excuses for doing things his own way. He stops living a life of sin, and Biblically and really follows Jesus.
“For godly sorrow produces repentance leading to salvation, not to be regretted; but the sorrow of the world produces death.” 2 Corinthians 7:10 (NKJV)
What happens to those who really repent?
1/ Remember the Ezekiel prophecy says that three things will happen to the born again. First, you will receive a new heart.
“I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit within you; I will take the heart of stone out of your flesh and give you a heart of flesh. 27 I will put My Spirit within you and cause you to walk in My statutes, and you will keep My judgments and do them.” Ezekiel 36:26-27
What is the evidence of a new heart?
In the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus describes the very first thing that changes when the Holy Spirit enters a person and they are born again with a new, good heart.
1 The first thing the Lord Jesus tells us about this new heart change is found in Matthew 5:6 (NKJV) “Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, For they shall be filled.”
The first supernatural change of the Kingdom of Heaven is a new heart of love gushing out goodness and righteousness. “Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, For they shall be filled.” Matthew 5:6 (NKJV)
Hunger and Thirst
Immediately brand new godly passions surge from the grace the Holy Spirit releases which cause a starving desperate hunger to gnaw inside the new believer. With the evil heart removed the new heart pangs of hunger for God and His goodness. The great desire to please and obey God floods into their soul and forces the Christian to use their mind to read the Bible and pray. Desire always precedes action.
Remember the good heart can produce a lot of good fruit. The evil heart produces NO good fruit. But the harvest is in response to understanding the word of God. As Jesus taught, “The seed that fell on good soil represents those who truly hear and understand God’s word and produce a harvest of thirty, sixty, or even a hundred times as much as had been planted!” Matthew 13:23 (NLT)
So this NEW hunger and thirst is the first evidence of salvation. This is not a natural hunger but the miraculous change of God’s presence inside a new heart. The desire to please God and not rush after sin, the hunger to read God’s Word, and the pull to be with other Christians is the work of the Holy Spirit inside the tender, responsive heart.
God now only blesses the broken and repentant who are literally hungering for righteousness. Even the Greek word translated “hunger” is a weak translation. Instead, this word was used to describe being famished and starving. Also, the Greek word used by Jesus for thirst is also extremely strong and was used to describe a deer panting so deeply in need of water that it was near death.
For they shall be filled – Gorged
But there is far more to this miraculous transformation than just desires. Jesus promises the born-again Christian will be flooded and stuffed with righteousness. We know this from His words in Matthew 5:6, “they will be satisfied.” The Greek is “gorged” a stronger meaning than just satisfied or filled.
So the great news is God floods and floods the souls of those poverty-stricken and starving for God’s forgiveness with righteousness. Again explained later, but God pours out a fountain of life-changing righteousness, and the promise given by Jesus is that He will fill us with righteousness. But, not the way we use the word filled.
This may help you understand. Being from south Florida I know that over the years many people lost or released pet pythons into the wild. Now there are tons of them living in the swamps of the Everglades. I saw video footage on the news that showed a crazy python who was so hungry he caught a huge alligator, squeezed it until it suffocated, then swallowed it. After that, all you could see was the snake’s head, then the entire form of the gator, and a little snake tail.
He was so gorged he could not move, and his shape was changed from a snake to an alligator.
This is how the Greek word is used and helps us see the promise of Jesus. He promises that his Christians will be so gorged with righteousness that they no longer have the old shape of sin. After Christ returned to heaven, the Holy Spirit bloated His first disciples and even bloats us with His goodness that we are no longer recognizable from our old days. Righteousness stretches us way out of shape and our old sinful souls are overwhelmed by God’s goodness. You cannot miss this change!
Here are the plain words of Jesus when he later describes this spiritual experience. “Jesus took his stand. He cried out, ‘If anyone thirsts, let him come to me and drink. Rivers of living water will brim and spill out of the depths of anyone who believes in me this way, just as the Scripture says.’ (He said this in regard to the Spirit, whom those who believed in him were about to receive. The Spirit had not yet been given because Jesus had not yet been glorified.)” John 7:37-39 (MSG)
In fact, years later the apostle Paul clarifies this truth by first saying, “And I am certain that God, who began the good work within you, will continue his work until it is finally finished on the day when Christ Jesus returns.” (1:6) And then he adds, “…Work hard to show the results of your salvation, obeying God with deep reverence and fear. 13 For God is working in you, giving you the desire and the power to do what pleases him.” Philippians 2:12-13 (NLT)
This is amazing grace!
Next, the apostle Peter also writes, “Everything that goes into a life of pleasing God has been miraculously given to us by getting to know, personally and intimately, the One who invited us to God. The best invitation we ever received! 4 We were also given absolutely terrific promises to pass on to you—your tickets to participation in the life of God after you turned your back on a world corrupted by lust.” 2 Peter 1:3-4 (MSG)
The miraculous grace of God brings people to repentance and continues to miraculously transform the Christian as the Holy Spirit lives inside their spirit. Peter also makes it clear that “terrific promises” like we find from Ezekiel are the ticket “that enable you to share his divine nature and escape the world’s corruption caused by human desires.” 2 Peter 1:4 (NLT)
How does the tender heart of obedience affect the human spirit?
The divine nature implanted in our spirit releases endless grace inside us from the Holy Spirit. Again grace is the “divine influence upon the heart” but now a tidal wave that floods from the new divine nature of God Almighty dwelling within every Christian. This is what frees the disciple of Jesus from the “corruption” of the old sinful heart.
This is important, you must understand that this is not a fair fight! Your human desires (strong desires for your own will and sin) are overpowered by God’s divine nature. This is why Ezekiel’s promise is your ticket to freedom! The promise is CLEAR! “I will take out your stony, stubborn heart and give you a tender, responsive heart. And I will put my Spirit in you so that you will follow my decrees and be careful to obey my regulations.”
2/ The Ezekiel prophecy also says that you will receive a new spirit.
Later in His ministry, the Lord Jesus prophesied, “He who believes in Me [who adheres to, trusts in, and relies on Me], as the Scripture has said, ‘From his innermost being will flow continually rivers of living water.’ 39 (When he said “living water,” he was speaking of the Spirit, who would be given to everyone believing in him. But the Spirit had not yet been given, because Jesus had not yet entered into his glory.)” John 7:38,39 (AMP)
“He is the Holy Spirit, who leads into all truth. The world cannot receive him, because it isn’t looking for him and doesn’t recognize him. But you know him, because he lives with you now and later will be in you.” (John 14:17 NLT)
And at the prophecy’s fulfillment the promise was repeated by Peter, Acts 2:38-39 (NLT2) “Each of you must repent of your sins, turn to God, and be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ to show that you have received forgiveness for your sins. Then you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. 39 This promise is to you, and to your children, and even to the Gentiles—all who have been called by the Lord our God.”
So first of all, at the point of repentance, the Holy Spirit enters the spirit of the broken sinner. This is what it means to be born again. And now the supernatural transformation begins. That is right, the Almighty God pours Himself into the human spirit.
The Spirit Leads You and Teaches You
“But when the Father sends the Advocate as my representative—that is, the Holy Spirit—he will teach you everything and will remind you of everything I have told you.” (John 14:26 NLT)
The Spirit Fills You With Power
“And now I will send the Holy Spirit, just as my Father promised. But stay here in the city until the Holy Spirit comes and fills you with power from heaven.” (Luke 24:49 NLT)
The Spirit Fills Us With Selfless Love
“Now hope does not disappoint, because the love of God has been poured (gush and flood) out in our hearts by the Holy Spirit who was given to us.” Romans 5:5 (NKJV)
“For the love of Christ controls and urges and impels us…” (2 Corinthians 5:14 AMP)
Everything about this is miraculous! Can you comprehend the fact that the living God lives inside a person’s spirit? This is not a theological theory, but a new reality! The great promise of Ezekiel, “I will put a new spirit in you” is fulfilled in every true Christian. Everything is DIFFERENT! Everything changes!
What will be gushing from your heart by the Holy Spirit?
Jesus described the result of spiritual birth as “Rivers of living water will flow from (your) heart.” The Greek used here is a gushing flood. But what exactly will be gushing from your heart by the Holy Spirit?
Again remember the born-again Christian is flooded and stuffed with righteousness. Now he has a good heart, not an evil heart.
Now one of the first things we discover is that righteousness floods from the Holy Spirit lifting the normal Christian to live life in such a way that they easily do far MORE than fulfill the law of God.
“For I tell you, unless your righteousness (your uprightness and your right standing with God) is more than that of the scribes and Pharisees, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven.” Matthew 5:20 (AMP)
You must understand this righteousness is not just an applied righteousness from God like a coat, but the real righteousness from within that transforms your behavior. You cannot live like the Pharisees and just believe you are more righteous because of Jesus. He makes this abundantly clear through the next whole section of His talk.
He compared the lifestyle demanded by the Law that the Pharisees taught to the FAR MORE righteous lifestyle of the new heart and new spirit that He provides through the Holy Spirit.
In fact, the very Greek word that is translated more or exceed is not the same as we use in English. It is superabounding and it means not just a little more, but it is the difference between having billions of dollars and everyone else having zero. Jesus is not saying Christians have two cents worth of righteousness instead of zero like the Pharisees, but the Pharisees have zero and true Christians have billions.
The Lord makes it clear in Matthew 5, the superabounding flood of righteousness, mercy, purity, and peacemaking gushing out of the Holy Spirit alters the way a Christian thinks, acts, and feels about others.
The ABUNDANTLY MORE RIGHTEOUSNESS of the Spirit drives Christians to such extremes that they show so much mercy that murder is not even an option. Instead of revenge, they forgive, reconcile with their enemies, and settle their differences even when it is the hardest thing they ever had to do in their lives. Nothing stops them from restoring relationships. If the Christian has offended or wrongfully gained from another they let nothing stop them from doing the right thing by paying the last penny back without the threats of the law. The narrow road follower of Jesus shows mercy and forgiveness and works hard to restore any relationship back to where it was before an offense was committed.
The righteous Christian does the right thing, the will of God, because they are flooded by the Spirit of God.
2 The second supernatural change is a new heart gorged with mercy. “God blesses those who are merciful, for they will be shown mercy.” Matthew 5:7 (NLT)
Again Jesus later clarifies what he means, for example in Matthew 9:10-13 (NLT) he encounters the resistance of the rabbis, “Later, Matthew invited Jesus and his disciples to his home as dinner guests, along with many tax collectors and other disreputable sinners. But when the Pharisees saw this, they asked his disciples, ‘Why does your teacher eat with such scum?’ When Jesus heard this, he said, ‘Healthy people don’t need a doctor—sick people do.’ Then he added, ‘Now go and learn the meaning of this Scripture: ‘I want you to show mercy, not offer sacrifices.’ For I have come to call not those who think they are righteous, but those who know they are sinners.’”
The kind of mercy that pours from the heart of God is the kind that rushes to the side of people all messed up with sin. They have ruined their lives and they are not acceptable sinners but repulsive people. Jesus did not join them in their sin, but he helped them in spite of their sin. Like a doctor, he diagnosed their spiritual sickness, and did not approve of the disease of sin, but instead offered forgiveness and healed them.
All outward religious practice void of this extreme form of mercy is empty religion. Everyone needs forgiveness and salvation. Jesus has a heart that gushes out mercy and compassion to those trapped in darkness.
The heart of our Lord was constantly expressed through his encounters with the Jewish rabbis. In Matthew 23:23 (NLT) he confronts them about what is the priority of God. “What sorrow awaits you teachers of religious law and you Pharisees. Hypocrites! For you are careful to tithe even the tiniest income from your herb gardens, but you ignore the more important aspects of the law—justice (righteousness), mercy, and faith. You should tithe, yes, but do not neglect the more important things.”
God blesses those who give mercy because when you are born again, the Holy Spirit floods you with mercy for the hurting, lonely, broken sinners of this world! Our new hearts driven by God himself powerfully influences us by altering our priorities. The important things to God become the important things to us. God causes us to fulfill HIS WILL. It is a miracle!
3 The third supernatural change is a new heart glowing with purity. “God blesses those whose hearts are pure, for they will see God.” Matthew 5:8 (NLT)
Our Lord makes it clear the spirit of holiness is pumped into the new creature in Christ. Later Jesus explained to Nicodemus, “I tell you the truth, unless you are born again, you cannot see the Kingdom of God.” John 3:3 (NLT) Putting the two together shows us the “pure in heart” are the born again who can only see heaven.
The Pharisees were full of corruption and defilement, but remember they were the best the Jewish religion could produce under the law. In contrast, the new Holy Spirit filled Christians became so gorged with righteousness that their pure lives outshined the only spiritual leaders the disciples knew before they met Jesus.
Many years later Paul agreed and tries to explain this incredible change. First, he described the amazing change brought by the Holy Spirit. “So, my dear brothers and sisters, this is the point: You died to the power of the law when you died with Christ. And now you are united with the one who was raised from the dead. As a result, we can produce a harvest of good deeds for God.” Romans 7:4 (NLT)
Notice your past before salvation: controlled by the old nature, sinful desires, and sinful deeds. “When we were controlled by our old nature, sinful desires were at work within us, and the law aroused these evil desires that produced a harvest of sinful deeds, resulting in death.” Romans 7:5 (NLT) Again think of Christ’s words of a good heart verses an evil heart and the only fruit they each can only produce.
Now notice the present state of a believer released and free from the law’s power of guilt and living by the rushing flood of the righteousness of the Holy Spirit inside us. “But now we have been released from the law, for we died to it and are no longer captive to its power. Now we can serve God, not in the old way of obeying the letter of the law, but in the new way of living in the Spirit.” Romans 7:6 (NLT)
Next, he describes the way of life the Pharisees experienced without being born again. “I love God’s law with all my heart. But there is another power within me that is at war with my mind. This power makes me a slave to the sin that is still within me. Oh, what a miserable person I am! Who will free me from this life that is dominated by sin and death? Thank God! The answer is in Jesus Christ our Lord. So you see how it is: In my mind I really want to obey God’s law, but because of my sinful nature I am a slave to sin.” Romans 7:22-25 (NLT)
Paul wrote to another church, “When you follow the desires of your sinful nature, the results are very clear: sexual immorality, impurity, lustful pleasures, idolatry, sorcery, hostility, quarreling, jealousy, outbursts of anger, selfish ambition, dissension, division, envy, drunkenness, wild parties, and other sins like these. Let me tell you again, as I have before, that anyone living that sort of life will not inherit the Kingdom of God.” Galatians 5:19-21 (NLT)
Despite their best efforts, the old way of Jewish life that the disciples were taught to live by, left them stuck in impurity, and their lives proved it. Hell awaits everyone who lives this life.
But Paul continues by contrasting the new way of life that Jesus brought through the miracle of a new heart and new spirit. Let’s read it, “But the Holy Spirit produces this kind of fruit in our lives: love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control. There is no law against these things! Those who belong to Christ Jesus have nailed the passions and desires of their sinful nature to his cross and crucified them there.” Galatians 5:19-24 (NLT)
Paul made it abundantly clear without Jesus you are an impure slave to sin, but in Christ, you are set free! Not perfect, but free to live a life of righteousness flooding your soul resulting in “a harvest of good deeds for God.”
This is not spiritual idealism, but the drastic change of life from the Holy Spirit supernaturally flooding the soul of the born again believer. And reread that last scripture, He is not saying Christians ought to, or are supposed to or hope to live this way some day. As clearly as he stated hell waits for those who live in sin, heaven waits for the pure-hearted saints who LIVE THE NEW WAY of Jesus! The Holy Spirit produces, submerges, and saturates the hearts of the saints with the fruit of the Spirit. And again I quote Paul, “…the love of Christ controls and urges and impels us…”
4 The fourth supernatural change is a new heart pouring out peace. “God blesses those who work for peace, for they will be called the children of God.” Matthew 5:9 (NLT)
In selfishness, Americans see this statement as personal rest and quietness. But the Lord Jesus reveals the fourth life altering change of a born again saint by explaining that just like he was a peacemaker, he makes his disciples peacemakers. Like Father, like Son. Christ came to make peace with God’s enemies by legally paying the full price for all men’s crimes against God.
Paul goes to great lengths to explain this, so we must read portions of his letters. First, he says, “For God in all his fullness was pleased to live in Christ, and through him, God reconciled everything to himself. He made peace with everything in heaven and on earth by means of Christ’s blood on the cross. This includes you who were once far away from God. You were his enemies, separated from him by your evil thoughts and actions. Yet now he has reconciled you to himself through the death of Christ in his physical body. As a result, he has brought you into his own presence, and you are holy and blameless as you stand before him without a single fault.” Colossians 1:19-22 (NLT)
Then Paul explains what Jesus meant in Matthew 5:9 and how it relates to all of us. He says, “And all of this is a gift from God, who brought us back to himself through Christ. And God has given us this task of reconciling people to him. For God was in Christ, reconciling the world to himself, no longer counting people’s sins against them. And he gave us this wonderful message of reconciliation. So we are Christ’s ambassadors; God is making his appeal through us. We speak for Christ when we plead, ‘Come back to God!’” 2 Corinthians 5:18-20 (NLT)
God does not leave us to decide how we live out this life but gives further instruction through James. Contrasting the way everybody in the world thinks because of the Satanic darkness he says, “But the wisdom from above is first of all pure. It is also peace loving, gentle at all times, and willing to yield to others. It is full of mercy and good deeds. It shows no favoritism and is always sincere. And those who are peacemakers will plant seeds of peace and reap a harvest of righteousness.” James 3:17-18 (NLT)
Righteousness, righteousness and an abundant harvest of righteousness pours from the lives of the church that God fills with His Holy Spirit. As James explains, this flood fully unites the four foundational blessings God gives to the newly born again and ends with a mighty harvest of overwhelming amounts of more righteousness flowing from God’s people.
Did you notice James connects all four blessings together that Jesus revealed in Matthew 5?
1/ righteousness
2/ mercy
3/ purity
4/ peace
Paul declares, “…What counts is whether we have been transformed into a new creation. May God’s peace and mercy be upon all who live by this principle; they are the new people of God.” Galatians 6:15-16 (NLT)
God blesses the fully repentant person, yes the new people of God by giving them a new heart and spirit. This fully transforms them by pouring through their souls: righteousness, mercy, purity, and peace. The force of the Holy Spirit within drives and controls the church creating a new breed of people with a new way of life.
All four of these blessings from God reveal your new identity in Christ. What is your new identity? The non-optional character change that grips your whole being, changing your focus and direction for the rest of your life. As you mature spiritually, you are like Jesus, following His every move and command!
So did Jesus mean this is the new transformed way of life that he introduced in Matthew 5? Yes! He immediately warns the disciples that the world will hate them and oppose them for being SO RIGHTEOUS IN THEIR LIFESTYLE. “God blesses those who are persecuted for doing right, for the Kingdom of Heaven is theirs.” Matthew 5:10 (NLT) This narrow way of life will tick off the ungodly because they will feel guilty for their sins and feel condemned just being around this supernatural lifestyle.
The contrast cannot be any clearer, our God expects us to get push-back for just obeying Him.
3/ The Ezekiel prophecy also says that “you will keep My judgments and do them.”
Notice also, He does not say that you should, ought to, or are supposed to obey God’s commands. No, it says, “…you will follow my decrees and be careful to obey my regulations.”
How does the Holy Spirit affect the human spirit?
“Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; old things have passed away; behold, all things have become new.” (2 Corinthians 5:17) And God’s Word guarantees “The Spirit Himself bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God…” (Romans 8:16 NKJV)
How does He “bear witness with our spirit” so that we know we are Christians? Well, remember, a witness in a courtroom gives testimony and evidence. So when the Holy Spirit invades your spirit He brings life-changing evidence!
A born again person is someone who has a direct connection with Almighty God by receiving the Holy Spirit inside their human spirit through faith in Jesus Christ. They are new creatures by the revolutionary change that takes place inside them when the Holy Spirit enters their spirit, and this permanent transformation establishes them as adopted children of God.
Past: Under God’s Wrath and Slaves to Sin vs Your Present: Free from Sin’s Power
Romans 5:6-10 (NKJV)
“For when we were still without strength, in due time Christ died for the ungodly. 7 For scarcely for a righteous man will one die; yet perhaps for a good man someone would even dare to die. 8 But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us. 9 Much more then, having now been justified by His blood, we shall be saved from wrath through Him. 10 For if when we were enemies we were reconciled to God through the death of His Son, much more, having been reconciled, we shall be saved by His life. 11 And not only that, but we also rejoice in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have now received the reconciliation.”
Romans 6:6-7 (NLT)
6 We know that our old sinful selves were crucified with Christ so that sin might lose its power in our lives. We are no longer slaves to sin. 7 For when we died with Christ we were set free from the power of sin.
Past: Sin ruled because Law could not free you, Present: live in freedom empowered by God’s grace
Romans 6:12-14 (NLT)
12 Do not let sin control the way you live; do not give in to sinful desires.
13 Do not let any part of your body become an instrument of evil to serve sin. Instead, give yourselves completely to God, for you were dead, but now you have new life. So use your whole body as an instrument to do what is right for the glory of God.
14 Sin is no longer your master, for you no longer live under the requirements of the law. Instead, you live under the freedom of God’s grace.
Past: enslaved to endless sinning, Present: slaves to wholehearted obedience
Romans 6:17-18 (NLT)
17 Thank God! Once you were slaves of sin, but now you wholeheartedly obey this teaching we have given you.
18 Now you are free from your slavery to sin, and you have become slaves to righteous living.
Past: Law with knowledge of God’s will but without the power to obey God, Present: united with Christ through conversion producing good deeds
Romans 7:4-6 (NLT)
4 So, my dear brothers and sisters, this is the point: You died to the power of the law when you died with Christ. And now you are united with the one who was raised from the dead. As a result, we can produce a harvest of good deeds for God.
Past: controlled by the old nature, sinful desires, and sinful deeds,
5 When we were controlled by our old nature, sinful desires were at work within us, and the law aroused these evil desires that produced a harvest of sinful deeds, resulting in death.
Present: Released and free from the law’s power of guilt, we have the supernatural power to serve God in a new of living by the rushing flood of righteousness of the Holy Spirit inside us.
6 But now we have been released from the law, for we died to it and are no longer captive to its power. Now we can serve God, not in the old way of obeying the letter of the law, but in the new way of living in the Spirit.
Past: I want to obey but enslaved to sin by human (sinful) nature
Romans 7:14-24 (NLT)
“So the trouble is not with the law, for it is spiritual and good. The trouble is with me, for I am all too human, a slave to sin. 15 I don’t really understand myself, for I want to do what is right, but I don’t do it. Instead, I do what I hate. 16 But if I know that what I am doing is wrong, this shows that I agree that the law is good. 17 So I am not the one doing wrong; it is sin living in me that does it.”
“And I know that nothing good lives in me, that is, in my sinful nature. I want to do what is right, but I can’t. 19 I want to do what is good, but I don’t. I don’t want to do what is wrong, but I do it anyway. 20 But if I do what I don’t want to do, I am not really the one doing wrong; it is sin living in me that does it.
21 I have discovered this principle of life—that when I want to do what is right, I inevitably do what is wrong. 22 I love God’s law with all my heart. 23 But there is another power within me that is at war with my mind. This power makes me a slave to the sin that is still within me. 24 Oh, what a miserable person I am! Who will free me from this life that is dominated by sin and death?
Romans 7:25 (NLT)
25 Thank God! The answer is in Jesus Christ our Lord. So you see how it is: In my mind I really want to obey God’s law, but because of my sinful nature I am a slave to sin.
Present: No condemnation because we belong to Jesus and the power of the Holy Spirit frees us from the control of sin
Romans 8:1-3 (NLT)
1 So now there is no condemnation for those who belong to Christ Jesus.
2 And because you belong to him, the power of the life-giving Spirit has freed you from the power of sin that leads to death.
3 The law of Moses was unable to save us because of the weakness of our sinful nature. So God did what the law could not do. He sent his own Son in a body like the bodies we sinners have. And in that body God declared an end to sin’s control over us by giving his Son as a sacrifice for our sins.
Present: No longer follow our sinful nature but instead follow the Spirit
Romans 8:3b-4 (NLT)
… And in that body God declared an end to sin’s control over us by giving his Son as a sacrifice for our sins.
4 He did this so that the just requirement of the law would be fully satisfied for us, who no longer follow our sinful nature but instead follow the Spirit.
Past: Dominated by the sinful nature, mind focused on sinful things, hostile to God, never obey God’s laws, never please God
Romans 8:5-8 (NLT)
5 Those who are dominated by the sinful nature think about sinful things, but those who are controlled by the Holy Spirit think about things that please the Spirit.
6 So letting your sinful nature control your mind leads to death. But letting the Spirit control your mind leads to life and peace.
7 For the sinful nature is always hostile to God. It never did obey God’s laws, and it never will.
8 That’s why those who are still under the control of their sinful nature can never please God.
Past: spiritually dead by disobedience and many sins, living a life of constant sin like everyone else, controlled by the devil, driven by the forbidden longings of the sinful nature, refusing to obey God
Ephesians 2:1-3 (NLT)
1 Once you were dead because of your disobedience and your many sins.
2 You used to live in sin, just like the rest of the world, obeying the devil—the commander of the powers in the unseen world. He is the spirit at work in the hearts of those who refuse to obey God.
3 All of us used to live that way, following the passionate desires and inclinations of our sinful nature. By our very nature we were subject to God’s anger, just like everyone else.
Present: Not controlled by the sinful nature, but controlled by the Spirit if He is really inside you
Romans 8:9 (NLT)
9 But you are not controlled by your sinful nature. You are controlled by the Spirit if you have the Spirit of God living in you. (And remember that those who do not have the Spirit of Christ living in them do not belong to him at all.)
Present: Led by the Spirit you kill the deeds of your sinful nature, note: only real Christians have this power
Romans 8:12-14 (NLT)
12 Therefore, dear brothers and sisters, you have no obligation to do what your sinful nature urges you to do.
13 For if you live by its dictates, you will die. But if through the power of the Spirit you put to death the deeds of your sinful nature, you will live.
14 For all who are led by the Spirit of God are children of God.
Like plugging a pinball machine into the electrical wall socket, new spiritual life ignites and activates all kinds of new things once dormant or non-existent in the human spirit without God. Yes, the Holy Spirit activates or gives life to the dead spirit of the sinner. His grace rushes into you and connects you directly to Him which makes you a brand new, supernatural creature.
This grace of God…
1/ surges into the human spirit lighting up the conscience,
2/ establishes and stretches real faith,
3/ starts cravings for fellowship with God and other Christians,
4/ activates spiritual gifts,
5/ initiates a hunger for worship,
6/ kick starts new ideas of creativity to please the Lord,
7/ stirs up new thoughts and ideas for discernment,
8/ excites your heart with pleasure to serve the Lord (enthusiasm),
9/ creates a passion that drives you to glorify God,
10/ grows the fruit of the Spirit in your life,
11/ and enlightens the heart with new wisdom.
All these functions of the human spirit were turned off or fully corrupted because your stubborn evil heart was dead in trespasses and sin, but immediately at salvation, spring to life by His mighty power! This flow of supernatural energy never ceases, because God’s grace has no end. And these new spiritual experiences are the evidence of being a new creature in Christ.
For example, before new birth, the conscience of the human is clouded and dark without God’s presence emblazing the holy standards of His Law upon it. Before salvation, the evil heart cannot produce good fruit. After salvation, the harvest of the good heart produces massive activity in your spirit.
And finally, the great harvest of fruit promised by Jesus grows from each true disciple because the bent of the heart is driven by the love of God. As Paul says in 2 Corinthians 5:14 (AMP) “For the love of Christ controls and urges and impels us…”.
No longer does selfishness and selfish dreams drive the disciple of Jesus because the “love of God has poured into our hearts” and we focus our love and obedience to following Jesus and fulfilling His will. We disciple others because He gave us all that command. We help teach new Christians how to follow Jesus because we love to obey Jesus. The harvest of the fruit of the Spirit is a reality that strengthens us to fulfill God’s will and goals!
Called to die to my goals. Called to live for His goals.
Jesus says in John 15:8-11 (NLT)
8 When you produce much fruit, you are my true disciples. This brings great glory to my Father.
9 “I have loved you even as the Father has loved me. Remain in my love.
10 When you obey my commandments, you remain in my love, just as I obey my Father’s commandments and remain in his love.
11 I have told you these things so that you will be filled with my joy. Yes, your joy will overflow!