God's purpose in creation and redemption is for believers to bring pleasure to Him through a life controlled by the Holy Spirit. This involves understanding and resisting the three enemies: the world, the flesh, and the devil. The sermon emphasizes that being filled with the Spirit means being controlled by the Word of God, leading to a life that outwardly manifests Christ's presence, much like an orchard produces fruit, rather than a noisy factory. Believers are called to present their bodies as living sacrifices, yielding their members as instruments of righteousness to God, thereby making the invisible God known to the visible world.
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will of God. Now let's pray together. Our Father, as we bow in thy presence tonight, in these next few moments, all give us to see the purpose for which we were created, and especially the purpose for which we have been redeemed. We thank you, O God, that we can appropriate what thy divine power has provided. All work in us by your grace, that which is well pleasing in thy sight. That we may do that which brings pleasure to your heart as we live day by day among men.
And we'll thank you in Jesus' name. Amen. You will notice we who have been born of God, we now possess all things that pertain unto life and godliness. If you have not been born of God, you possess none of this. The difference between the non-Christian and the Christian, as we have seen, is the Holy Spirit has come to indwell us. And we possess all things that pertain unto life and godliness because of our eternal union with Jesus Christ and the Holy Spirit who indwells every believer.
And if a person does not have the Holy Spirit, He is not His. Now in the passages we read tonight, we are commanded to be filled with the Holy Spirit. Be being filled is a tense of the verb in Ephesians chapter five, verse eighteen. Now notice it is necessary to be filled with the Holy Spirit to wait on table. Acts chapter six, where they chose deacons. The scripture says, Look ye out from among you seven men of honest report full of the Holy Spirit. And a person who is filled with the Holy Spirit is a person who is filled with the Word of God.
As we read in the parallel passage in Colossians tonight, let the Word of Christ dwell in you richly and the Same truths that follow be not drunk with wine or in his excess, but be filled with a spirit, automatically follow. For the Spirit of God and the Word of God always work together in relation to the child of God. The Spirit of God never operates contrary to the Word of God. Never. For he is the author of Scripture. And he never leads contrary to the Word of God.
And when somebody tells you, well, now I was led of the Lord to do this, and what they do is contrary to Scripture, I'll tell you something, they're not led of God. They're led of their own selfish desire and their own way to have their own, to do their own thing. The Spirit of God always works according to the Word of God. Now notice. This is where we're going now. The Lord Jesus has decreed that the life of godliness, the life of God of lightness, be lived in two very dirty places and in the midst of a subtle and deceitful enemy, a deadly enemy.
That's where we live a life of God lightness. hard to see down there. That's where we live a life of God likeness in two very dirty places. And we're going to notice them tonight. Let us consider this. You see, here we have the child of God. Be filled with a spirit. That spirit who came and he indwells every child of God. For if any man are not the Spirit of Christ, he is none of his. But man is a tripartite being, spirit, soul, body.
And to be filled with the Spirit means that we are yielded to the Spirit. And a better word is to be controlled by the Holy Spirit. So to be controlled by the Holy Spirit is basically to be controlled by the Word of God. That's how you can tell a man who is filled with a spirit. He is controlled by the word of God that dwells in him richly. So in Romans six, verse thirteen, we are told to yield our members to Christ as members of unrighteousness. You see, and in Acts chapter six and verse three and in five, verse ten, Seven men of honest report full of the Holy Spirit.
And the filling of the Holy Spirit is a continuous thing. In chapter five, the disciples were again filled with the Holy Spirit. To be filled with the Spirit. We are commanded to do this. In other words, from the Spirit of man, instead of being controlled by the soul, We have been quickened spiritually, made alive in Christ Jesus, and that part of us should be in control. The Spirit of God controlling the spirit of man, the soul of man, and the body of man.
That's what it means in Romans chapter twelve. I beseech you, therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that ye present your body a living body. sacrifice. That's what it means. However, this Christian life, friends, is lived in three dirty places. Two dirty places and in the midst of a deadly enemy. So here we have the spirit-filled life. You notice the arrows from the spirit all the way to the body. Spirit-filled. But here we are, and there are three against us. We have the devil on the one hand.
We have the world on the other hand. And we have the flesh within. And you'll notice the flesh is attached to the soul and to the body. A soulish man is a fleshly man. And the body is controlled by the appetite of the flesh. So we begin tonight about these three places. Where God expects us and these people to bring pleasure to him. He created us in order that we might bring him pleasure. But man believed the lie of Satan. And instead of becoming godly, we became ungodly. It's only by being related to Adam the second.
Or Adam the last. Do we become godlike by the Spirit of God coming to indwell us? But in order that we live in the world to the pleasure of the Lord, you see, we've got to understand the enemies that are against us. And friends, the world is against us. The world is never a friend to grace. The flesh is against us. For the Word of God says the flesh lusteth against the spirit and the spirit against the flesh. The devil is against us. We have three enemies, friends, and they're real. Make no mistake about it.
They're very real. Look at the world. What is the world? How do you define it? The world is that system that looms as a mighty prince who is able to bestow great rewards or inflict great punishment. That's the world. You see, and people run to the world. Why? It can bestow rewards or it can inflict punishment. And that's how the world looms. And the Apostle Paul in the sixth chapter of the Galatians, he says, But God forbid that I should glory save in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ.
Why did he say that? He says in the previous verses, If I yet preached circumcision. You see, I can go along with a crowd and please the crowd by preaching circumcision and put them back under the law. And I can be rewarded for it. But he said, I'm not looking for a reward from the world. God forbid that I should glory save in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ by whom the world is crucified unto me and I to the world. Oh, the world looms as a great prince. And whenever I think of that pen, I'm reminded of a girl that I dated when I was in high school.
A friend of hers died that was very popular in her senior year in school. And this popular girl was quite beautiful. I never knew her. But her dying words was, my prince charming is coming for me. And her idea was all the world, what the world had to offer. And she was looking for her prince charming. Paul said, the prince that I enjoy is the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ by whom the world is crucified unto me.
And I'm crucified to the world. Someone told a great preacher one time, you preach like that, don't you know the world's against you? He said, yes, and I'm against the world. And that must be a rarity to you. The world. But we need to continue on our thinking about the world. See, Galatians six, fourteen is a passage that I've been quoting. But first John chapter two and verse fifteen says, Love not the world. Neither the things that are in the world. For if any man loved the world, the love of the Father is not in him.
For all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh and the lust of the eye, and the pride of life is not of the Father, but is of the world. And the world passeth away. There are two things, friends, in that passage. that describe the world. Two things. There is the Father and there is the love of the Father. And fellowship with the Father. And what is the world? That world is that system that hinders the love of the Father by being enjoined by me.
And anything, friend, that keeps me from the Father's love or from the Father's will is wrong no matter who says it's right we have an idea today for people run to this person and that person and ask them what they think what do you think about this when are we going to learn to stand on our own feet before God I could care less what somebody else thinks if I have the word of God for something All we sing, take the world, but give me Jesus.
All its joys are but a name. If the word of God is clear, we don't need the word. What somebody else says or what somebody else does. The love of the world. But notice, here's a thing that's important. By the gospel. Spirit-filled men and women reach out into the world. that kingdom of darkness where Satan rules the world and we pluck men and women by the gospel from its grasp and set them free in Christ Jesus Colossians chapter one twelve and thirteen or thirteen or twelve and thirteen say to us who have delivered us from the power of darkness and have translated us into the kingdom of his dear son all friends This is what spirit-filled men and women are filled with.
They're filled with the gospel. And by proclaiming the gospel, we bring pleasure to God. We announce the redemptive work of Christ, and we set men and women free in Christ Jesus. The world is against us. The world is against us. We are against the world. But now let us notice the flesh. That flesh which is attached to us. What is the flesh? And I have a definition that I took out of Unger's Bible dictionary. Notice the flesh is mere human nature.
The earthly nature of man apart from divine influence. Therefore prone to sin and opposed to God. That flesh. Now we pamper the flesh. We pamper it. Now we're supposed to be crucified to it, but we pamper it. And I can give you an illustration. Suppose I say something to you that doesn't shoot you, and even though you know it's right, what I tell you. You see, you're going to, or the old flesh is going to get ruffled up a little bit. And instead of taking your place before God and saying, that's exactly right.
you're going to pamper the flesh and get angry at me. That's how human nature is. And the flesh is opposed to God. God has condemned the flesh. And there's no need to try to find something salvable, salvageable in that which God has already condemned. God has condemned sin in the flesh. according to Romans chapter eight. But furthermore, accordingly, it includes in the soul. You see, that which is self-conscious, whatever is weak, low, debased, tending to ungodliness and vice.
That's the definition in Unger's Bible dictionary. But oh, notice this. Romans eight, verse five. They that are after the flesh do mind the things of the flesh. For they that are after the Spirit, the things of the Spirit. And by virtue of the fact that we have been born of God, we have obtained all things that pertain unto life and godliness. So we are not after the things of the flesh. We're after the things of the Spirit. Romans eight, nine says, but ye are not in the flesh, but in the Spirit. Now that's a great text. You see, I'm not in the flesh.
You see, I see you there. I know you do. But I'm not in it. I'm in the spirit. Let me explain that. When Israel was redeemed from Egyptian bondage and they crossed the Red Sea, were they still in Egypt? No. They were on the other side. My next question, you have already figured it out. The fellow in the front row did. I could see it in his eyes. It was Egypt in them. That's the problem. By virtue of the fact that I'm born of God. I'm not in the flesh. The problem is the flesh still remains in me. And I live in the midst of a dirty enemy.
And I have to fight him every day. He never quit. And he can play religion, by the way. The flesh will try to mimic in me today what the Spirit of God did in me yesterday. The flesh is a great mimicker. It has learned to mimic the Spirit. You know the flesh will preach. Or it loves to preach. You can get enamored with the sound of your own voice. flesh loves to sing. Oh, the flesh will sing all right.
The flesh will play the piano. I saw Jane give me a look, you see. The flesh will play the piano. He'll do it. The flesh is opposed to that which is of God. And I want to tell you, when I get to the place where I realize that that old, edemic, fleshly nature in me will mimic what the Spirit of God wrote in me yesterday. It calls me to go to God for fresh resources day by day.
I can't live on yesterday's manner. I have to have that which is fresh from God today. Yesterday's manna will smell pretty bad today. I need that which is fresh and that which is of God. Oh, what a blessing to continuously go to God and let the Word of Christ dwell in us richly. Oh, we're not in the flesh, beloved. We're in the Spirit. But sad to say, the flesh still remains in us. That brings us to the devil.
The devil. And the word of God has a number of things to say about the devil. Number one is the accuser of the brethren. And the verse for that is not Revelation twenty-ten. The verse for that is Revelation twelve verse ten. And he's a great deceiver. And the verse for that is Revelation chapter twenty verse ten. Notice the fact that Satan is the accuser of the brethren. He accuses us day and night before God. When he came before God, we read in the book of Job, he opened his mouth and he accused Job of being a paid lover. He just serves you because you treat him nicely.
Oh, what a vicious man. What a vicious being, not a man. Furthermore, he's a great deceiver. He deceived Mother Eve. That's his first activity in the Bible. His last activity in the Bible is deceiving the nations. Revelation chapter twenty and verse ten. First Peter chapter five verse eight tells me that he's a roaring lion. He goeth about seeking whom he may devour. Why was I created? I was created to bring pleasure to God. But instead of bringing pleasure to God in my natural state, I was only ungodly all the while.
But when He saved me by divine grace, and now I'm indwelt with the Spirit, He commands me to be filled with the Spirit in order that in the world, a world that is opposed to God, with a flesh within that is opposed to God and with Satan with us who is continuously seeking to nullify my witness it is here that he asks us to bear witness for him now what should the attitude of believers be in the face of these three enemies Well, number one, the world.
What should our attitude be? Well, don't love it. That's very clear in Scripture. Love not the world. Don't love the world. Reckon it crucified to you and you crucified to it. What does it mean to be crucified to the world? To be dead to the law? Well, if I'm driving down the street with a hearse, And I'm doing eighty miles an hour in the thirty-five mile an hour zone with a herd. And there's a dead man in the back, in the casket. You see, I'm stopped by a policeman. I say, give the ticket to the dead man.
He'll never give it to him. Why not? He's dead to everything around him. And friends, if I'm dead to that which the world represents, The world represents that which is opposed to God and is opposed to his ways. God's word says, love not the world. What about the flesh? What about the flesh? Romans thirteen, fourteen says, But put ye on the Lord Jesus Christ and make no provision for the flesh to fulfill the desire, the lusts thereof. Put ye on the Lord Jesus Christ.
That's a great text. That is a great text. I'll never forget being called to a home one night on South Mevin Street. And this woman was an alcoholic. She claimed to be saved. And of course, she was pretty well inebriated when I went there. And I say, well, since you can't drive, how do you get the stuff? The Bible says, if you're a child of God, this is what Scripture says. Put ye on the Lord Jesus Christ and make no provision for the flesh. And the reason you're in the condition you are is you made full provision for it. You've made provision for the flesh.
I said, how did you get the stuff? You're responsible for that. You're responsible for it? How did you get it? Well, she said, I have a taxi bring it for me. Boy, salt I never even would have thought of getting somebody else to sin in order that you can have your own way in opposition to God. The flesh. You see, the Bible says in the prophecy of Habakkuk, cursed be the man that giveth his neighbor drink. So when I go to get on to board an airplane and they say to me, which section do you want?
Smoking or non-smoking? I say non-drinking. None drinking. And they look at me as the one from Mars. You see, the first thing they do when they get you up in an airplane is they come around and give it to you or try to. Try to sell it to you. You see, I pity those poor stewardesses. I really do. They don't know what they're doing. Cursed is everyone who giveth his neighbor a drink. That's what the scripture says.
Oh, the flesh. But then what about the devil? The word of God says, resist him. whom resist Peter says first Peter chapter five verse nine James four seven says submit yourselves to God then resist the devil and he will flee from you but the submitting to God must precede submitting yourself to Satan one more thing one more thing What is God's purpose in creation? That I might bring pleasure to God.
What is God's purpose in redemption? Restoring what I lost through sin in Adam, and I have the Holy Spirit within. Now, not only am I told to live a spirit-controlled life by being filled with a spirit, you see, but as I'm spirit-filled from my body, Romans I beseech you, therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that you present your body a living sacrifice. My body is the means of communicating to the world. How can I communicate to the world about me? My body has to be yielded to Christ.
And it's only as I'm spirit-filled, filled with the Spirit, that I'm able to communicate the invisible God. to the visible world around me. God says, I want your body. The world says, I want your body. The devil says, I want your body. The Romans six deals with the members of our what? Our bodies. I want your body is what the world says. I want your body is what the devil says. and the flesh, the soul of man, says, I want your body.
But God says, I bought it. I bought it. First Corinthians chapter six, verse nineteen, God, the Spirit of God says, Watch, know ye not that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit, which you have of God, and you're not your own. you have been bought for the price. Therefore glorify God in your body and in your spirit, which is God's. It's only as I'm yielded to the Spirit of God that I'm able to make known the invisible God.
to the visible world and be effective. And we communicate with our body. Are you yielded to him? I beseech you, therefore, by the mercies of God that you present your spirit. No, he's got that. Your body. your body yield your members the scripture says in Romans chapter six as instruments of righteousness unto God how can I bring pleasure to God I recognize his purpose in creation I was created to bring pleasure to him but through sin the image of God has been defaced I'm ungodly.
And even though a person may appear to be religious, unless they have the Spirit of God, they are not a believer. It's the Spirit of God who makes a difference. For it is only the Spirit of God who can fill us that we radiate from our bodies the person of Jesus Christ. and make known to the world the invisible God by a faithful, holy witness to Christ.
This is Christmas time. We're all well aware of that, aren't we? Now in most homes there's a tree. Some people have difficulties putting them up. Some have to do it more than once. But Christmas trees are pretty things, aren't they? You can put it up and you can call your neighbors in and say, look at my tree. My, they're pretty. A lot of things are hanging on them, but it's dead. It's dead. Everything that's on it has been put on from the outside.
On the other hand, This summer there was a tree in my yard called an apple tree. It had a lot of things hanging on it called apples. You know I didn't hang a one on them on there. Those apples on that tree manifested the hidden life of the tree. And you want to know something? I didn't put any of them on. They came from the inside. And if I'm going to bear testimony to God, the life has to flow from the inside.
Did you ever think of the difference between an orchard and a factory? A factory is a noisy place. But you can sit in an orchard and there's no noise. And yet there's food sharing. What's the difference between a factory and an orchard? In a factory man is producing something. Make a lot of noise. In an orchard, God is producing something. And it's cloth. Are you like a factory or are you like an orchard?
sweetly producing the fruit of the Spirit that's manifest to the world and shows for our union with Jesus Christ. If any man have not the Spirit of Christ, he's none of his. We can be a lot of things, friends, and go to hell. But you can never go to hell if the Spirit of God has taken up residence in your life through faith in Jesus Christ for all. And if he has, then your body should be yielded to him.
I beseech you, therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God that you present your No need to talk about being sold out to God. That's a term I don't use. You know why? I'm already bought. I'm not for sale. Are you bought? I'm not for sale. Are you His? Oh, friends. Oh, that we might realize the purpose for which we were created. that we might bring forth truth unto God, bring pleasure to Him.
Let's pray together. Our Father, we thank you tonight that faith can take what grace provides and all what you have done with it. Oh, what a blessing. What a delight to be your own. What a delight to be bought with a price. and to realize it. Take the word now, blessed to every heart, for Jesus' sake. Amen.