Well, it is a pleasure and a privilege in equal measure for me to be here again this morning. Thank your minister for his kind welcome. I hope as we reflect together on the new covenant ministry of the Holy Spirit this morning and throughout the day that our hearts will be encouraged, or to use Benjamin Warfield's words that we may reflect on later, that we will all be enheartened as we consider the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ in the giving of the Holy Spirit. Please turn with me to Romans chapter 8. This morning we're going to be thinking about the leading ministry of the Holy Spirit, verses 13 and 14. And then later on this morning, the witnessing ministry of the Holy Spirit, verses 15 through 17. And then, God willing, this evening, the helping ministry of the Holy Spirit, verses 26 and 27. So the leading of the Spirit, the witness of the Spirit, and the helping ministry of the Holy Spirit. Well, let me read in from the opening words of chapter 8. There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. For the law of the Spirit of life has set you free in Christ Jesus from the law of sin and death. For what God has done, what the law weakened by the flesh could not do. By sending His own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh and for sin, He condemned sin in the flesh. in order that the righteous requirement of the law might be fulfilled in us, who walk not according to the flesh, but according to the Spirit. For those who live according to the flesh set their minds on the things of the flesh, but those who live according to the Spirit set their minds on the things of the Spirit. For to set the mind on the flesh is death, but to set the mind on the Spirit is life and peace. For the mind that is set on the flesh is hostile to God, for it does not submit to God's law. Indeed, it cannot. Those who are in the flesh cannot please God. You, however, are not in the flesh, but in the Spirit, if in fact the Spirit of God dwells in you. Anyone who does not have the Spirit of Christ does not belong to Him. But if Christ is in you, although the body is dead because of sin, the Spirit is life because of righteousness. If the Spirit of Him who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, He who raised Christ Jesus from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through His Spirit who dwells in you. So then, brothers, we are debtors, not to the flesh, to live according to the flesh. For if you live according to the flesh, you will die. But if by the Spirit you put to death the deeds of the body, you will live. For all who are led by the Spirit of God, they and they alone are the sons of God. This is the first Sunday of a new year. And if I were to ask you this morning, what do you think, what do you consider is the greatest hindrance to your growth in grace, in likeness to Jesus Christ in this coming year? What would it be? What do you think most hinders you from becoming the kind of Christian you want to be and that the Lord Jesus Christ saved you to be? What do you think is the greatest hindrance in your life as a Christian? John Owen, the great English Puritan, put it very simply, and I think very profoundly and biblically, our greatest hindrance in the Christian life is not our lack of effort, but our lack of acquaintedness with our privileges. Our greatest hindrance in the Christian life is not our lack of effort, but our lack of acquaintedness with our privileges. And Owen clearly has understood the teaching of the Bible in general and of the New Testament in particular. Let me illustrate it in two ways. If you were to do a grammatical analysis of Paul's letter to the Ephesians, you would discover something quite striking. There are six chapters. In the first three chapters, there is one imperative verb, one command. In the second three chapters, there are 50 imperative verbs, 50 commands. One command in the first three chapters, and 50 commands in the second three chapters. Think of Paul's letter to the Romans. There is one imperative verb in the first five and a half chapters. One command. The first imperative verb we encounter is in chapter 6, verse 11. Now why should that be? Why does Paul so grammatically accent something in the way he writes his letter to the Ephesians? One command in three chapters and then 50 in the next three. And why does Paul, when he writes this letter to the Romans, have but one imperative verb, one command in the first five and a half chapters? It is to remind God's people that the greatest hindrance in the Christian life is not their lack of effort, but their lack of acquaintedness with their privileges. And so when Paul begins these letters, and almost invariably, if not always, but almost invariably, he begins by reminding God's people of the vastness of their privileges through their union with Jesus Christ. He wants them to know that the Gospel is not first about them, but about God. The Gospel in the Christian life is not first about what we are called to do, but what God in Jesus Christ has Himself accomplished. And so you have this remarkable imbalance, if you like, this theological imbalance, where the great weight of the Gospel accents on the great indicatives of the grace of God in Jesus Christ. And it's out of what God has done in Christ for us that we are then enabled and inspired and quickened to live the kind of lives that we are called to live in our union with Jesus Christ. And so as Paul begins Ephesians chapter 4, he says, in essence, therefore, considering all that God has done for you in Jesus Christ, you now, here is the first imperative verb in the next three chapters, you now live a life worthy of the calling with which you have been called. And that's why when we come to think about the ministry of the Holy Spirit, We need to understand what Paul is actually saying in the broader context and perspective of his letter to the Romans. Romans 8 has often been described, as many of you will know, as life in the Spirit. It's an exposition, if you like, of life in the Spirit. In the second half of chapter 7, Paul has been highlighting the inevitable and ongoing battle the Christian believer has with sin. This internal struggle. This unending battle. The good that I would, I do not. And the evil that I would not, that is what I end up doing. O wretched man that I am. Paul has been telling these believers that sin's condemning guilt has been forever dealt with through the righteousness and blood of Jesus Christ. He's told them in chapter 6 that sin's reigning power has been forever dealt with because of our union with Jesus Christ in His death and resurrection. But he wants them to understand that sin's troubling presence has not yet been eradicated from our lives. Sin remains to trouble us and humble us. So when we come to chapter 8, you must understand that Paul is not now saying that here we now enter into the highlands of blessedness. Here we can leave behind the struggle. Here we can forget about the good that we would we do not and the evil that we would not. That is what we do. We're now leaving that world of struggle behind us and we're now entering into the life of the Spirit. That is not what Paul is saying. Alexander White was a renowned and in some ways remarkable Presbyterian minister in Scotland at the end of the 19th century, beginning of the 20th century. Every time a new commentary on Paul's letter to the Romans was published, his bookseller would send him a copy, but White had an agreement with him. that if he didn't like what it said, he would send it back and not pay for it. And the first thing that White would do when he got a new commentary in Romans is that he would open it at chapter 7, verse 14. And he would look to see what the commentator said about 7.14-25. What does he say about the good that we would, we do not? The evil that we would not, that's what we do. And if he found a commentator saying, this is where the young, immature Christian is, but when we come to chapter 8, we enter into the blessed life of the Spirit and we leave behind us the struggle and the agony, White would close the volume and send it back to the bookseller. And he would often tell his congregation, as long as you are under my ministry, you will never get out of Romans 7. You will never get out of Romans 7. Because what Paul is describing there is not the life of the immature believer, but the life of the one who delights in the law of the Lord. And so the purpose of Romans 8 is not to say, yes, we're leaving behind the wretched man of Romans 7 and entering into the blessed experience of Romans 8. Not least because he tells us, for example, in verse 18, I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worth comparing to the glory yet to be revealed in us. He tells us that all creation groans together in travail until now, and even we ourselves groan as we wait for the perfect fullness and finality of our redemption in Jesus Christ, the redemption of our bodies. What Paul is doing in Romans 8 is saying to us, yes, there is a battle within dwelling sin. There is a struggle. And at times, the conflict is fierce beyond imagining. But, God has not left you alone to fight the battle. He has not left you alone to struggle on. He has sent the Spirit of His Son into your hearts crying, Abba, Father. And so in these three addresses, I want to consider with you in some little way how the Holy Spirit has come to help us in our continuing, enduring struggle with indwelling sin, with remaining sin, what the Westminster Confession describes as this irreconcilable war. And I want to encourage you Because if we have time, we'll maybe quote a few words of Benjamin Warfield at the end where he says, if you struggle and have this conflict within you, be of good cheer. God is sealing to you the assurance of your sonship in Jesus Christ. So Paul says in verse 14, those who are led by the Spirit of God, they, and you'll notice in the reading I somewhat developed the translation, but I think that's what the language means. They, and they alone, are the sons of God. Those who are led by the Spirit of God, they, and the indication and the implication of the languages. They, and they alone, are the sons of God. If you're not being led by the Spirit of God, you're not one of the adopted children of God. Now what does Paul mean by this phrase, led by the Spirit? The phrase occurs in one other place in the New Testament, Galatians 5, 18. And strikingly, both Here in Romans 8.14 and Galatians 5.18, Paul is speaking here about the identical context. He's not speaking about an inward feeling. The leading of the Spirit isn't some kind of personal prompting. The Spirit led me to say this, to do this, to go here or not go there. That's not what Paul is speaking about here. What he wants these Christians in Rome to understand, and what the Holy Spirit wants the Church of God throughout the ages to understand, is that the leading of the Spirit is moral and transformational with a God-ordained goal. It's moral and transformational with a God-ordained goal. And the God-ordained goal is essentially twofold. The Holy Spirit has come, Jesus says in John 16, to bring glory to me. The Gospel is not first about you or about me, it's about the glory of Jesus Christ. The great grand design of God in saving sinners was not to save sinners, but to bring glory to His Son. We are God's proximate purpose. The Lord Jesus is God's ultimate purpose. He will come, said Jesus, and bring glory to me. And how will He do that? Well, Paul will later write in Romans 8 verse 29, those whom he foreknew he also predestined. To what purpose? To conform us to the likeness of his Son in order that he might be the firstborn among many brothers. God's predestinating purpose is to conform redeemed, blood-bought sinners to the likeness of His Son in order that He might be the firstborn, the preeminent one among many brothers. And this is what the Holy Spirit has come to do. And we need to understand the ministry of the Spirit. in that grander, cosmic purpose of God. He has come, yes, to help us in our struggle with indwelling sin in terms of His leading, His witnessing, and His helping, but that's all to a grander end. That Jesus Christ might be glorified. So let's think a bit more clearly, hopefully, regarding these words of Paul. Those who are led by the Spirit of God, they are the sons of God. First thing, very briefly, Paul is speaking about a reality that belongs to every Christian without exception. Every believer, without exception, is both indwelled by the Spirit and led by the Spirit. That's what Paul is saying. His language is unambiguous. If you do not possess the Spirit, you don't possess Christ. And then in verse 14, if you're not being led by the Spirit, you're not one of the sons of God, the adopted children of the living God. Because only those who are being led by the Spirit, they and they alone are the sons of God. Paul is reminding these Christians in Rome that they have a glorious, blood-bought privilege. the privilege of being indwelled by the Spirit of the risen Jesus Christ. And the privilege of that Spirit who indwells them, leading them through the vagaries and the vicissitudes and the difficulties and the trials and the troubles of this life, internal as well as external. The leading of the Holy Spirit is a privilege that every child of God has. The youngest Christian, the most gifted, the least gifted, the stumbling Christian, the consistent Christian, the inconsistent Christian, all are being led by the Spirit. Because if you're not being led by the Spirit, you're not a Christian. It's those who are led by the Spirit They and they alone are the sons of God. The second thing to notice, just in a preliminary way here, is that the leading of the Spirit is continuous, not occasional or episodic. The tense of the verb that Paul uses here is a present continuous. Those who are being led by the Spirit. Whose life and lifestyle is being led and directed by the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit isn't an occasional helper. He doesn't come on episodic moments. He is there moment by moment to lead us. to lead us. Now the idea behind being led is one of control. A Christian, in other words, is someone who is no longer self-controlled, but who is spirit-controlled. That's the whole force of verses 5 through 8. We don't have time to unpack them, but read them. The Holy Spirit has come to control us. To be in the flesh is to be dominated and controlled by our fallen nature. But in Jesus Christ, we have become new creations. We belong to a new order. We have received a new nature. We don't have two natures. We have a new nature, tragically, that still sins. But we don't still have a fallen nature. We are new creations. We have a new nature because of our union with Jesus Christ, but because of the presence and remaining reality of indwelling sin, that new nature sins. That's our contradiction and tragedy. But in Jesus Christ, we are no longer in the flesh. It says, Paul, we are in the spirit. There are only two categories of people in the world. There are only two categories of people in this church this morning. We are either in the flesh, controlled and dominated by our fallen nature and behind our fallen nature by Satan. Or we are in the Spirit. We are now rescued from that dominion of darkness and brought into the kingdom of the Son of God's love. We are in the Spirit. We are pneumatic men and women. That's our identity. That's our identity. We are pneumatic men and women. We are in the Spirit. The leading of the Spirit is continuous, not occasional or episodic. But thirdly, we now need to ask, just in the time remaining, what exactly is this leading of the Spirit that is the birthright of every Christian? What exactly is it? What does it mean to be led by the Spirit? Well, look carefully at what Paul writes here. Verse 13. If you live according to the flesh, you will die. That is, if you live according to the dictates, the determinations, the controlling power of your fallen nature, you will die. But if by the Spirit you put to death the deeds, by that he means the misdeeds of the body, you will live, now notice this, for, now Paul's connectives are profoundly significant, for, it's the Greek word gar, as a consequence of this, all who are led by the Spirit of God, they are the sons of God. Verse 14 sends us back to verse 13, four. And what Paul is saying is simply this. The mark of the leading of the Spirit is that we are seeking with the help of the Spirit to put to death the sin that yet remains within us. Mortification of sin, the killing of sin, the doing battle with sin. is what the leading of the Spirit is all about. For those who are led by the Spirit to put to death the misdeeds of the body, to wage war against sin that yet remains, they show themselves to be the sons of God, the adopted children of God. It is the great leading ministry of the Holy Spirit to come and help us wage war. Relentless, unremitting war against sin. And as John Owen put it so pithily, if you be not killing sin, sin will be killing you. He who tramples not over the bellies of his lusts every day will be overwhelmed by them. We never reach a point where we say, I've killed that sin to death, it will never trouble me again. If you think that, Satan is halfway to deceiving you and bringing you once again under the power of that sin. We never, this side of glory, can sit back and cruise to glory. Every day, we are to engage in hand-to-hand combat with remaining sin, the Spirit helping us. If you, says Paul, if you by the Spirit put to death the deeds of the body, you will live for all who are led by the Spirit of God. They are the sons of God. The Spirit leads us to kill sin. And one of the pristine primary hallmarks of a child of God is that every day of their lives they're at war with remaining sin. You see, from our perspective, the life of faith is fighting the good fight of faith. That's from our perspective. But from God's perspective, it is the Holy Spirit leading us in this battle as our commander-in-chief. We are incapable of killing in dwelling sin. absolutely, utterly incapable. We are no match for sin and behind sin, it's hideous master Satan. That's why the Spirit has come. If you buy the Spirit, the Spirit comes to enable us. It is we who are to do the killing. But it is the Holy Spirit who indwells us to help us. and to say, as it were, together, we can do it. You see, the leading of the Spirit isn't a mystical experience. It is essentially a moral, spiritual endeavor. I don't mean by that there isn't profundity and mystery to the ministry of the Spirit. But that profundity and mystery, if you like, is like an iceberg. Seven-eighths of it is hidden beneath the surface and belongs to the infinities and the immensities of God. But the little that we see above the surface is the Spirit who indwells us, enabling us. Think of one or two biblical examples. Joseph finds himself in the household of Potiphar. Life has been a tragedy. An unremitting tragedy for Joseph. Sold into slavery. Abandoned by his family. Far from home. And then, life seems to take an upturn for Joseph. And Potiphar's wife seeks to seduce him. He's far from home. sold into slavery. He's been in prison, but now life seems to be smiling somewhat upon him. You could almost imagine the voices saying, Joseph, snatch at life while you can. And Joseph replies, how could I do such a thing and sin against God? That's the Holy Spirit. coming to this man in this moment of great need. And reminding him of who he really was. To whom he belonged. I'm not my own. I've been bought with a price. How could I do such a thing? I'd sin against God. The God who has come in covenant mercy to me and to mine. How could I do such a thing? And we live in an age of sensual, sexual temptations that are like an unremitting avalanche. And young men and women in particular are just overwhelmed it would seem. Not least by the social media and the ensnaring, sinister, godless, wicked power of the internet. The Holy Spirit has come to help us. And if by the Spirit we put to death. He helps us to put to death every sensual sexual temptation. Or think of Peter and John, confronted by the Sanhedrin in Acts 4 and 5. Told that if they continued to speak any more in the name of Jesus, they would suffer the consequences. And Peter eventually replies, we must obey God rather than man. Now, where did he get this courage from? Did he pluck it out of the air? He had so recently succumbed before the questioning of a servant girl. The Holy Spirit came to help him and enable him to resist the temptation to cowardice. And if by the Spirit you put to death the deeds of the body, you will live. If we are not seeking to kill remaining sin, we give no evidence that we belong to Jesus Christ. We give no evidence that the Holy Spirit indwells us. That we are actually in the Spirit. And no longer in the flesh. Because that's the two alternatives. We are either in the one or in the other. And if we are in the Spirit, we cannot but, poorly it may be, seek to do battle with the sin that the Savior died to set me free from. Fourth, and I'll hurry on, this bleeding of the Spirit will be opposed by the world, the flesh, and the devil. And that's the link between the latter half of chapter 7 and chapter 8. This battle within dwelling sin, this irreconcilable war, is because the world, the flesh, and the devil will do all it can, this unholy trinity, to bring dishonor and disgrace to Jesus Christ through our life. Satan is not interested in you and Iota, or in me. He is interested in bringing disgrace and dishonor to the blessed Savior who redeemed us by His precious blood. And that's why this is no easy thing. We'd never cruise to glory Fight the good fight of the faith. This was the pattern of the Spirit-led life, that of our Lord Jesus Christ. The whole of His life was a life of conflict. Satan did not have a landing ground in Him as He has with us. But we are told in Scripture that He learned obedience through the things He suffered. Satan assailed Him from the very moment of His birth and then at His public inauguration of His ministry. If you are the Son of God, turn these stones into bread. And then relentlessly through His life, even on the cross, if you are the Son of God, come down from the cross. The whole of our Savior's life was a conflict, a hand-to-hand conflict with the Prince of Darkness. And that's why in the beautiful Servant Song of Isaiah, the first of the Servant Songs, Isaiah 42, what are we told about the servant of the Lord who would come? I will put my spirit upon him. Jesus Christ needed, in his holy humanity, the help of the Holy Spirit. not to conflict and to do battle with indwelling sin, for He was holy, harmless, undefiled, separate from sinners. But nonetheless, in our humanity, He had to do conflict with the Prince of Darkness in our place and for our sake. And He needed the help of the Holy Spirit. Even in the Garden of Gethsemane, He needed help from heaven to enable Him to stand, and having done all, to continue standing. So what can we learn from this text? Just very briefly, let me try and sum it up. Number one, a true Christian is engaged in an unending conflict with indwelling sin. Secondly, a true Christian is not only engaged in this unending conflict, he or she battles in the midst of this unending conflict. Brothers and sisters, the Christian life is a battle. It's a struggle. I sometimes think if someone said to me, why should I become a Christian? I should just forget about all the books I've ever read and simply say, because if you do, you'll enter into the battle that the Lord Jesus Christ, the Son of God, initiated. I wonder if you know these words from Isaac Watts. I've been thinking a little bit about them. You'll know one or two of the lines, perhaps. Am I a soldier of the cross, a follower of the Lamb? And shall I fear to own His cause or blush to speak His name? Must I be carried to the skies on flowery beds of yeas while others fought to win the prize and sailed through bloody seas? Are there no foes for me to face? Must I not stem the flood? Is this vile world a friend to grace? To help me unto God, sure I must fight. If I would reign, increase my courage, Lord, I'll bear the toil, endure the pain, supported by Thy Word. when that illustrious day shall rise, and all Thy armies shine in robes of victory through the skies, the glory shall be Thine." And finally, this leading of the Spirit does not mean a Christian will not fail or fall, and even fail or fall badly. The Holy Spirit never leads a Christian to sin. When we sin, we do so by our own choice and will. We can resist the Spirit. We can amazingly grieve the Spirit of God. You know, brothers and sisters, we are walking contradictions. That's what a Christian is, this side of glory. Every moment we live, we are walking contradictions. Can anyone stand up here this morning and say, I would never say the good that I would, I do not. The evil that I would not, that I do. We are walking contradictions. But even then, the Holy Spirit does not abandon us. Because He has come to lead us all the way to glory. And He will. Let me close then just with some words of Benjamin Warfield. Better him than me. This is what Warfield says. This declaration, if by the Spirit you put to death the deeds of the body, you will live. This declaration that frightens us is not written to frighten, but to console and enhearten. It stands here for the express purpose of comforting those who would despair at the sight of their sin. Is there a conflict of sin and holiness in you? asks Paul. This very fact, that there is conflict in you, is the charter of your salvation. Where the Holy Spirit is not, Their conflict is not. So rather than be disheartened and think, what kind of a Christian am I? I struggle. I battle. And sometimes the next day seems worse than the day before. Lord, who will deliver me from this body of death? Thanks be to God who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ. The day will come when the struggle will be over. The battles will be no more. But until that day, God does not carry us to glory on flowery beds of leaves. He carries us to glory as he has carried the saints all through the ages, bloodied maybe, even broken, but led by the Spirit, who, because He is the Spirit of Jesus Christ, will not leave behind one for whom the Savior shed His precious blood. Let us pray. Father in heaven, we bless you this morning that the Holy Spirit has come to lead us safely to glory. Help us to live in step with the Spirit, to live in harmony with the Spirit. and every day to call upon the Spirit within us to help us to do battle with the sin that yet remains until the day comes when all the battles are gone, the struggles are over, and we enter into the joy of our eternal rest. And we ask it through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.