"Therefore, brothers and sisters, we have an obligation – but it is not to the sinful nature, to live according to it. For if you live according to the sinful nature, you will die; but if by the Spirit you put to death the misdeeds of the body, you will live. For those who are led by the Spirit of God are children of God."

         During the season of Easter we tried to focus on the practical consequences of the resurrection of Jesus on our lives. So today, on Pentecost, we want to ask what it is that the Holy Spirit does in our lives and how we are to use the Holy Spirit. One basic issue that Paul deals with in Romans is the problem we inherit from Adam. Adam sinned and it led to death, and we follow in the pattern he set, despite our best efforts. Adam set a pattern for our lives, called "the sinful nature" or literally "the flesh."

In the death and resurrection of Christ, there is a great victory. Through the obedience of one man, we are set free from the old nature and made new. But we live in a tension. Karl Barth wrote about "the new man, which I am not, but which, nevertheless, dwells in me."

         The old pattern of life is called by Paul "the flesh," translated "sinful nature" in the NIV. "Flesh" has become a misleading word because of what it has come to mean in contemporary English usage. We often think of it as a sexual term, meaning here "sexual immorality," and that is far too narrow a definition. Or, we contrast flesh and spirit, as if the fact we have physical bodies is the problem. It is not the fact that we have a body, that we have bones and muscles and emotions and will that is the problem.

         The word "flesh" used here by Paul means a way of thinking. Leon Morris writes that it means "to live with one's horizon bounded by the concerns of this life." Douglas Moo writes, "What the Apostle seems to mean is a condition, natural to people, in which God and the spiritual realm are left out of account." And Karl Barth points to the problem by stating "we were compelled to live passionately within the possibilities of the flesh." All of these definitions point to a limited life, a life without God.

         So there is the pattern of life, this way of thinking, that comes very naturally to us, that takes us away from God, and that enslaves us and leads us to death. We think we can correct it by following the law. That should work, our rational minds tell us. But Paul's experience was just the opposite. He followed the law meticulously and sin sprang to life and put him on the road to death.

         It is rather Christ and his obedience even to death that brings life to us.

Romans 5:18: "Consequently, just as the result of one trespass was condemnation for all people, so also one righteous act resulted in justification and life for all."

Through faith in the work of Christ it is possible to talk of the death of sin and freedom from the slavery to sin. But we are not left there. The world we live in is far too slippery and deceptive. The Holy Spirit is given to us to guide us, control us, and lead us through life. Leon Morris writes,

"The work of the Spirit is not an option or an extra for the advanced Christian. Being led by the Spirit is a mark of all God's people."

         But what does it mean to be led by the Spirit? Is that an experience that we constantly seek and that becomes part of our daily life? Pal Achtemeier writes, "To be led by God's Spirit therefore means to have changed our future from death to life, to have changed our relationship to God from rebellion to obedience, and to have changed our status from rebellious enemy to beloved child."

         I shared an example in Sunday School this morning. Greg Asimakoupoulos writes about a little project his church did, in which they stood outside a post office and handed out sheets of 2-cent stamps on the day the price of stamps jumped to 41 cents. One man took a sheet from him, and then asked for a recommendation of a place for lunch. Greg told him his favorite spot, and then headed back to the church office, for he had much work to do there.

         But inside, he felt an urge to go have lunch with the man. After some struggle, he did. And the man welcomed him to his table and then talked to him about his disillusionment with Christianity and also his upcoming cancer surgery. When Greg discovered that this man's surgeon was the same one that his own father had a few years earlier, he was able to encourage the man. Greg concludes, "What started out as a gift of 40 cents' worth of stamps ended up in a divine appointment with man who is at a point in his life where he really wants to be convinced that a personal God cares for him." So the Holy Spirit leads us, nudges us to do God's will, often through quiet direction. We must become good listeners of the Spirit.

         But the gift of the Holy Spirit is not just a quiet voice nudging us, leading us, guiding us along. The Spirit is also given to us as a power to be used against sin.

         Verse 13: ". . .if by the Spirit you put to death the misdeeds of the body, you will live. . ."

That indicates an active use of the Spirit in our lives. We do not simply wait for the Spirit to nudge us; we make use of the Spirit in us when we are in danger.

         I think the evangelical church today is trying to defeat the power of sin by law. We have convinced ourselves that all we really need is good behavior and good intentions and then sin will not be a problem for us. As a result we waste a lot of energy trying to try harder to be perfect Christians, and that inevitably means we focus on the outward image, the public image. We do not defeat our sin, we merely hide it. We need to stop doing that, and recapture the language of surrender to Christ and using the Holy Spirit as a power to defeat sin.

         Alcoholics Anonymous is right, and has given us a valuable insight when they say that you cannot defeat the power of alcoholic addiction with good intentions, sincerity and promises to do better next time. You need to surrender, and then you need a higher power than your own thinking.

         Leon Morris writes, "It is what the Spirit does in us that enables us to render the service to which we are called." We have a problem with pride that makes us think we can handle sin on our own, and that pride leads us to feel defeated. We need to surrender to the power of the Holy Spirit.

         Paul then connects power to identity.

         Verse 14, "Because those who are led by the Spirit of God are sons of God." Power by itself is not enough. We need an identity. We need to know who we are in Christ. We need to know we are children of God.

         Paul uses here the language of adoption. Verse 15: "You received the spirit of sonship." Or, it can be translated, "You received the spirit of adoption."

That is the Greek word the Romans used to describe their legal practice of adoption. The Jews did not have this legal custom of adoption. But in Greek culture it was important. A family would adopt a child, and I think it was always a boy, and grant him full legal rights of natural sonship. So we have been adopted by God, given full standing before him, and given the right to call him Father.

         Then Paul changes the word in verse 16, and says "we are God's children." He is including everyone, male and female, as he talks about this new relationship and identity we have that is confirmed by the Holy Spirit in us. The spirit speaks inwardly to us, "You are God's children, and you are heirs of the glory of Christ."

         Once I was in Mexico City, and I was taken to Chapultepec Park, a place rich in Mexican history. There were many busloads of Mexican school children coming there on a field trip, and the children from each school had their own distinctive uniform. If one had strayed away or gotten left behind, it would have been pretty easy to find the group to which they belonged. So the children came to a place where they were taught their story, their identity as Mexican citizens, and each was wearing a brightly colored uniform that gave them a sense of belonging.

         Paul says it is our identity in Christ and the internal marking with the spirit that gives us a sense of who we are, our belonging to God. This identity removes our fear, "for you did not receive a spirit that makes you a slave again to fear, but you received the Spirit of sonship." Paul knows that fear leads people back into the thinking of "flesh," of the sinful nature, and that it is fear of suffering, a self-protecting fear that leads us to focus on the world and forget God. But the Holy Spirit gives us an internal Christ identity that removes our fear, even our fear of suffering, so that we can clearly see the will of God and do it.

         Finally, in verse 26 we are assured that when we are weak, the Spirit in us is praying for us. And in verse 28, we know that God works for the good of those who love him.

         Amen.