Introduction: He’s back! That’s right, his "Airness" Michael Jordan has come out of retirement again and will play basketball for the Washington Wizards of the NBA. Jordan’s return to the sport of which he is without question the best of all time has been a wonderful distraction from all of the other news that has occupied the minds of our nation. It’s good to know that amid all the talk of war and grief that there is something constant-Jordan playing basketball!

Before we award Jordan "player of the year" remember that Jordan is 38 years old. He’ll play on the same team with Kwame Brown, the Wizards Number 1 draft pick who just graduated from High School. He will also be on the court with the likes of Kobe Bryant and Allen Iverson who are much younger. There is no question that if anyone could come back and play at the level that the NBA demands it’s Jordan. We’ll thrill to his 360 dunks, fade away jumper and watch the tongue that always let’s you know he’s in the zone. We’ll be glad for a while. But then the inevitable will happen-he’ll realize that there are some things that you can’t get away from-the effects of growing older! While Michael Jordan has lived by his own rules and defied the odds there are some that even Michael Jordan can’t beat. He may want to turn the clock back, get a new body and start over but he can’t. While Jordan has defied the odds of gravity he can’t beat the odds of aging.

For every one of us there are some laws that we can’t seem to beat. That is true especially for Christians. We want to overcome our sinful nature and habits but it seems like the odds are truly stacked against us. There maybe a hurt that continues to linger in our life and we know that we should be over it but we’re not. It could be a hang-up, just some issue that keeps dragging us back to the same place over and over again. It maybe a habit that is destructive and has us in its grip so much that we feel as though we’re locked away and will never get out. Here is how one person described how they felt about themselves:

"I don't understand myself at all, for I really want to do what is right, but I don't do it. Instead, I do the very thing I hate. I know perfectly well that what I am doing is wrong... But I can't help myself, ...I know I am rotten through and through ... No matter which way I turn, I can't make myself do right. I want to, but I can't. When I want to do good, I don't. And when I try not to do wrong, I do it anyway. ... It seems to be a fact of life that when I want to do what is right, I inevitably do what is wrong. ...Oh, what a miserable person I am! Who will free me from this life..." (Romans 7:15-25 NLT)

Sound familiar? You wonder who could have written so despairingly; so hopeless, so clearly identifying with the way you and I feel about us? You think this person really needs help. Who wrote it? Paul the Apostle in his letter to the Romans, Chapter 7. Paul identified what the group U2 describes being "stuck in a moment and you can’t get out of it". That’s something we all want as Christians: the ability to overcome those sinful habits that keep us from all that we want for ourselves and that God desires us to be. If the words of Paul don’t describe how you have felt at different times in your life then one three things are true: you are not a believer, you have given up any hope of winning against yourself or you are lying.

Today we’re talking about the power to live free. Now how are you going to be free from the chains of your own sinful nature? Most of us would say will power. You know sort of that "Little engine that could" mentality-"I think I can, I think I can". Yet if will power would work you would have overcome the struggle a long time ago. I mean even Michael Jordan can only "will" so much of his performance. So how do you and I gain freedom to live, as God and we want to live? Paul says, "Thank God! The answer is in Jesus Christ our Lord." (Rom.7:25)

Somehow we have this foolish idea that God has saved us and has essentially given us a fire insurance policy for when we die. He’s since left us alone to sort of work out the rest on our own. Then at the same time we have a power, our sin nature, working against us so that every time we seem to be going forward we go backwards. What we need to see is that when Jesus died for us on the cross he did more than just assure us a reservation on the other side. No, he did more so very much more. By his death on the cross He has literally liberated us from the power of our sinful nature that tries to keep dragging us back into those places of defeat and chaining us to our past. "God destroyed sin's control over us by giving his Son as a sacrifice for our sins" (Rom.8:3). Someone had to break the chain!

To help us live in the freedom he has provided for all Christians the only source of power to overcome our sinful habits, hurts and hang-ups-the Holy Spirit. "For the power of the life-giving Spirit has freed you through Christ Jesus from the power of sin that leads to death" (Rom.8:2). Jesus death on the Cross paid the penalty for my sin and changes forever how God sees me. Then by faith when we accept that reality for ourselves He places the Holy Spirit in me enabling me to live as God desires. That’s what Romans 8:1-17 is all about: how to live in the freedom offered to us in the Holy Spirit. In the previous three chapters Paul has mentioned the Holy Spirit 3 times. Yet in the first fourteen verses of Romans 8 he mentions the Holy Spirit fourteen times. Paul is telling us that the ability to live free from sin's power in our life comes only from God's Holy Spirit.

Now how does he do this? It is like the way an airplane flies. If you go to an airport to board a plane the minute you get on board a certain law is in effect. That law is the law of gravity. I can research the structure, design, materials and other features of that plane but it will not fly simply based on my research. I can go outside and shout at the plane commanding it to fly but it will not fly. I can complain to the manufacturer, FAA, the airline or any other human but it will not fly. The law of gravity keeps the plane exactly where it is and there is nothing that can be done on my part to change that. But if the pilot begins the procedures to start the engines, the engines respond and the plane begins to move. As the plane travels down the runway it goes faster and faster and then lifts itself off the ground. What happened? Another law took over the law of gravity and that is the law of aerodynamics. Principles like thrust, lift, weight and design all work together to cause the plane to fly.

That is exactly what happens to believers. The law or power of our sin nature binds us. The only way we can be free from doing what that law or power dictates is if another law overrides it. The law or power of the Holy Spirit overrides the power of our sin nature thereby making it possible for us to obey what God desires.

This is not something that happens though without my involvement. Someone has to be the one to start the engine of the plane. The law of gravity doesn’t replace the law of aerodynamics by itself. In the same way God’s Spirit responds to our desire or willingness for him to control our life. The power is there we must be the ones to allow his power to be active in us.

What specific problems or issues does the presence of God’s Spirit help me overcome? There are five that I find in the verses for our study today. The Holy Spirit frees me from always feeling that I can't measure up to God’s standards, I can't overcome my sinful habits (character defects). I fail so much I'm not sure I'm even a Christian, I'll never be any different and the feeling that I wish I knew God loved me – all spells DEFEAT!!

Maybe you had a parent who struggled with the issue of accepting you so you grew up never believing that you measured up to their standard. That may be how you see God. Perhaps like a parent, employer, professor or spouse who’s never satisfied. You never measure up so you live your life not in freedom but in bondage to their standards. You think I’ll never please Him so why try. As a result you continue in the same struggles with your sinful habits and the cycle of guilt and shame they produce.

What you need to understand is that God has already declared that you measure up to his standard not because of what you have done or ever could do. We measure up because of what Jesus did for us on the cross. But God put into effect a different plan to save us. He sent his own Son in a human body like ours, except that ours are sinful. God destroyed sin's control over us by giving his Son as a sacrifice for our sins. (Rom.8:3) He then has given you His "life-giving Spirit" in order to break that cycle by accepting that what God says about you is true--you are his and he will never, ever condemn you! Feeling condemned, that I can’t measure up to God’s standard doesn’t belong in a Christian’s thinking. Through the power of the Holy Spirit I can know that because of Christ I am not condemned by God.

David Seamands tells the story of the alchemist who sold villagers a special powder that he claimed would turn water into gold provided that when they mixed it, they never thought of red monkeys. Well, of course, no one ever got the gold; because you can't tell yourself to stop thinking about red monkeys or you'll just keep thinking about red monkeys. It doesn't work to say, "Well, I'm just not going to think about those things. I'm going to put all of that out of my mind."

Why doesn’t it work to just say, "I’ll not think about those things?" Because we have created ruts in our mind that control us and defeat us. It’s all about "mind control". Either our sinful nature is in control of our mind or the Holy Spirit is in control. If my sinful nature is in control then I am doomed to constantly repeat my own failures. The way to win the battle is to yield the control of your mind to God’s Spirit within you. How do you do that? By putting God’s Word to work in your mind replacing the old way of thinking. Rock group Sister Hazel says, "If you want to be somebody else, if you are tired of fighting battles with yourself, if you want to be somebody else--change your mind!"(Sister Hazel, "Change Your Mind") As long as you are in charge of the way you think then you are going to repeat the same cycle over and over! Through the power of the Holy Spirit I am free from his sinful habits that defeat me.

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 are not Christians at all.) [10] Since Christ lives within you, even though your body will die because of sin, your spirit is alive because you have been made right with God. [11] The Spirit of God, who raised Jesus from the dead, lives in you. And just as he raised Christ from the dead, he will give life to your mortal body by this same Spirit living within you.

One of the things that has had Americans concerned is the economy. That concern of late has been reflected in the stock market. Those who are especially concerned are those who are counting on their investments for their retirement. The fear is if what they have invested will be there when they need it. Have you ever worried that somehow you would die and having believed all your life that you were a Christian and you would go to heaven and then God rejects you? Somehow you didn’t read the fine print in the contract and you’re "toast"?

It is not uncommon for a Christian to struggle with issues of doubt. Yet one thing we do not need to doubt is if God will accept us into heaven when we die! If we have trusted Christ as Savior then the Holy Spirit comes into our life. This is the same Holy Spirit that caused the body of Jesus to be brought back to life after three days in the grave. If that same Holy Spirit is within us then when I die the ultimate part of me lives on by his power! This is an ironclad guarantee that is not based on your performance but on God’s promise! Because of Christ death making me right with God I have no reason to doubt that God will welcome me when I die!

Kevin Miller writes of staying with some friends and watching their hamster, Hammy, in his little cage. Hammy has a warm nest of cedar shavings to curl up in, a water bottle to drink from, and best of all, a wheel he can run inside of. He has everything a hamster could want or need. But Hammy refuses to run inside his running wheel. Instead, he has come up with what he thinks is a better idea. Hammy climbs up on TOP of the wheel, turns over on his back on the top of the wheel, and stretches out. Gradually the wheel starts to turn, and Hammy's entire body rolls with it, head first. The wheel picks up speed and spins faster and faster until CLUNK! Hammy's head smacks on the bottom of the cage. Hammy gets up, shakes himself, apparently hurt from the unexpected sharp blow on his head.

But what does Hammy do? He climbs back up on top of the wheel, turns over, stretches himself out, and gets ready to clunk his head again. Why? Why would a hamster who has everything he needs disregard the wheel's proper use and do something that only hurts himself? And why, even after that, would he do it again? (Citation: Kevin Miller, vice president of editorial development, Christianity Today, Inc.)

Now why do we do the same things over and over that we know are going to hurt us? Because we have developed a pattern or cycle that reinforces our failure. This isn’t just good psychology it is true theology. We believe that there is nothing we can do to change the way we are so we repeat the cycle of sin, shame, and struggle and are shattered when the same thing comes back. The Holy Spirit is within us to tell us one wonderful truth: I don’t have to repeat my failures! I am not obligated to live that way. He is within me to help me make the small choices that ultimately can change the cycle of failure in my life. All I am asked to do is accept his power and then he begins to do what only he can do.

V. Through the power of the Holy Spirit I can live free from wondering that I really matter to God (Rom.8: 15-17):

Being sometimes a person who is not as clear on dates and events as I should be, I recently became confused about a lunch date for Kathy and I with Ava Duke. Ava was inviting some friends of ours to join us who live in another city. We had already rescheduled once. I thought it was this Sunday and had forgotten a special event already on my calendar. I worried all last weekend about being so thoughtless. I even went over to her house to "grovel" but she wasn’t home. On Tuesday I called and began to profusely apologize and throw myself on her mercy, begging forgiveness. She told me before I told her what the problem was that there is nothing I could do for which she would not forgive me and love me. I then told her about the confusion and she told me I had wasted all the groveling because the date was for next week!

"So you should not be like cowering, fearful slaves. You should behave instead like God's very own children, adopted into his family—calling him Father, dear Father. For his Holy Spirit speaks to us deep in our hearts and tells us that we are God's children" (Rom. 8:15-16). I love this statement. I know when I sin and I fail God I wonder if he could love me and how he could want me as his child. The doubt and uncertainty are a waste of time because his Spirit tells me I’m his. I need to stop groveling and listen to a voice that says, "I don’t care what you did, you are mine!" I have the power in me through God’s Holy Spirit to live free from my sinful nature. That nature tells me God is not satisfied with me, I’ll never overcome my sinful habits, that God won’t accept me, I’ll never break the cycle of my habits and that I really don’t matter to God. He is within me to set me free and empower me to live free!

Conclusion: There’s a commercial that begins with a young girl standing alone in a picturesque meadow. The camera then pans to another part of the field where it shows a gigantic African rhinoceros. The ominous beast begins a lethal charge towards the girl, whose serene and happy face remains unmoved. As the rhinoceros gets closer, the words appear on the screen, "Trust is not being afraid." A split second before the rhino tramples the helpless child, it stops, and the girl, her smile never wavering, reaches up and pets the animal on its massive horn. The final words then appear, "even when you are vulnerable."

That scene is, of course, the result of digital technology. The principle though is real. As a Christian you and face the threat of sin nature that we fear will trample us under its power. God’s Spirit though is within us to say, "Sure you are vulnerable but I have come to set you free. All I need is your trust and the power to be free is yours!" Trust is not being afraid, even when you are vulnerable. That’s the power to live free!

Sunday, October 7, 2001

Dr. Bruce Tippit, Pastor

First Baptist Church

Jonesboro, Arkansas

btippit@fbcjonesboro.org