Complete in thee, no work of mine may take, dear Lord, thy place of thine. Thy blood hath pardoned, brought for me, and I am now complete in thee. Complete in thee each word supplied, and no good thing to me denied. Since thou hath pardoned, Lord, will be, I ask no more, complete in thee. Ye justified, O blessed thought, And sanctified salvation wrought. Thy blood hath barred and bought for me, And glorified I too shall be. Complete in thee no more shall sin. Thy grace hath conquered rain within. Thy voice shall bid the tempter flee, and I shall stand complete in thee. Dear Savior, when before thy bar All tribes and tongues assembled are, Among thy chosen I shall be. at thy right hand, complete in thee. Yea, justified, O blessed thought, and sanctified salvation wrought, thy blood hath pardoned but for me, and glorified I too shall be. Thy blood hath borne and bought for me, and I am now complete in Thee. That song always gets me. It's beyond my comprehension. I believe it. It's so amazing that nothing needs to be added. Appreciate that song. Turn in your Bibles to Romans chapter 8. Romans chapter 8 is a chapter of no condemnation. and no separation, those that are in Christ Jesus. It starts off with, there is therefore now no condemnation to them that are in Christ Jesus, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit. If you would look at verse 14, For as many as are led by the Spirit of God, they are the sons of God. For ye have not received the spirit of bondage again in fear, but ye have received the spirit of adoption whereby we cry, Abba, Father. The Spirit itself beareth witness with our spirit that we are the children of God, sons we are by God's election and eternal grace have received. We are His sons by adoption and it amazes me that God picked me out of my fallen family in Adam before the world began and determined to save me, give me life, faith in Jesus Christ, being so unworthy I don't deserve any grace at all. I have not merited one ounce of grace. I know who I am. I know where I'm from. And I know that without Jesus Christ, I would have no grace. But I'm in Him. And I believe the promise, there is therefore now no condemnation. I believe Romans 8, the golden chain of redemption. And at the end of that he says, who can lay anything to the charge of God's elect? It is Christ that died. It is God that justifies. Christ that died. Yea, rather who is risen again who is even at the right hand of the Father. Then he gives you every feasible thing that people can think of that would separate you in some way from Christ and the way he ends it up He says, Nay, in all these things we are more than conquerors through Him that loved us. And I am persuaded of the same things He is. For I am persuaded that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor things present, nor things to come, nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature shall be able to separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus. That is my standing, my position, justified and secure in Christ. Now with that said, A big portion of Romans chapter 8 that most people neglect. And that is the work of the Holy Spirit. The leadership of the Holy Spirit. The practical bearing of what Christ for you ought to be with Christ in you. the indwelling of the Holy Spirit of God. Every time I read verse 14, for as many as are led by the Spirit of God, they are the sons of God. I ask myself often, who's leading me? Who's directing me? Now that question, are you led of the spirit or who is leading you to do what you do? That question is of great importance that really lead to other questions that determine the course and the quality of your life. Who is it today that charts your course for daily living? I get convicted as I say that because I'm a big, I'm a lister. I think about things, I list things I'm going to do that day. That's just my plan. I write them down, I cross them off. Sometimes I get convicted, it is the Lord directing these plans? Who's directing your day, your course of daily living? Who do you look for, for advice, for counsel, for instruction on any given day? Whose example are you following? Who prompts you or leads you to make certain decisions in your daily life? Do you care what God thinks? Are you open to being corrected by the Word of God and the conviction of the Holy Spirit when you're wrong? Say, well, I can't ever remember being wrong. There are a lot of people that have a Mary Poppins theology. They think they're practically perfect in every way. And that's certainly not the case. You see, the answers to those questions will reveal whether or not you're being led of the spirit, whether you are born again of the spirit. The answers to these questions are pretty vital because they are going to go a long way in determining the spiritual success or failure in our lives. And I've told you before, I love preaching. I just love preaching. I love preaching messages on Christ, on the work of God, salvation, the coming of the Lord, practical Christian living. But you know there's times that a preacher has to preach things that you may not want to hear. Hard things from time to time. And I've said this, my entire ministry, you need a pastor that tells you what you need to hear. Not one that tells you just what you want to hear. There are plenty of those. who in the last days are tickling ears. If the Holy Spirit of God, the third person of the Holy Trinity, lives in you, dwells in you, abides in you, there will be a distinct and noticeable difference between you and the world of the unsaved. Now you carefully read Romans chapter 8 and you'll find just how important the indwelling and leadership of the Holy Spirit of God really is. If you're truly saved, you're no longer to walk after or follow after your old carnal, fleshly, sinful desires and nature. Because you still got it. And so do I. but rather we to be led of the Spirit. We are to walk in the Spirit. In fact, if the Holy Spirit does not live in you and dwell in you, look what verse 9 says, but ye are not in the flesh. Now, He is not talking about your body. The flesh here is talking about the sinful nature you were born with, the Adamic nature that we got from Adam. We are fallen in Adam. He was our representative in the Garden of Eden. When he died, we all died. When guilt was passed upon him, The condemnation went out through all the human race. And you say, well, if I would have been there, there would have been a different story. You're self-righteous. God put the best representative among men, the one he had just freshly created, gave him a free will, and he filed everything up. by the wrong choice. And it plunged the whole human race into sin. When we talk about the flesh, we're not talking about your skin. We're not talking about your body in most cases. We're talking about what's inside of you, those old sinful desires. I've been saved since 1980. This is year number 45. I know you guys don't even think I'm 45 yet. I am. I'm pushing 66. Fact is, for 45 years, I still have, I'm saved by the grace of God. I still have that old nature in my, inside of me. Romans 7 says, Paul said, I do the things that I shouldn't do. And the things I ought to do, I don't do. We're talking about the guy that wrote several epistles. Yeah, most of the New Testament. That was his testimony. But if you don't have the Spirit of God in you, You're not born of God. It says, But ye are not in the flesh, but in the Spirit. If so be that the Spirit of God dwell in you. Now if any man have not the Spirit of Christ, he is none of His. The Holy Spirit is not just an influence. He's not a some kind of a mystical being. We're talking about the third person of the Holy Trinity. God the Father, God the Son, God the Holy Spirit, these three are one. Christ purchased your redemption and along with that purchase on the cross and His giving of His life and rising from the dead, He has also secured the work of the Holy Spirit in your life. If any man have not the Spirit of Christ, he is none of His. One of the ways I know that I'm saved is the Holy Spirit convicts me. when I sin. Now, so the indwelling of the Spirit is absolutely essential to identify a believer's union with Jesus in salvation. And then our text, verses 14 through 16, Believers must be led by the Spirit of God to prove, to give evidence that they are indeed the adopted sons and daughters of God. Have you ever thought about the glory of being a son of God, a child of God? I mean, the family that I was in, Adam, was on the broad road that leads to destruction. God determined to take me out of that family and all the inheritance that was due there, the wages of sin is death. But the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord. God put me in Christ. Christ redeemed me. The Spirit of God regenerated me. He now lives in me. And I am a joint heir with Christ and an heir of God. Everything that the Father has determined, I get it all. All spiritual blessings in heavenly places in Christ Jesus. For me! as fouled up as I have been in my life and not reached perfection, which is what God required. He saved me in spite of me. He's keeping me and His Spirit lives in me to direct, to guide, to provide instruction. You know, the comfort of the Holy Spirit is what gives God's children assurance that they're joint heirs with Christ and will one day be glorified with Him. Listen, Paul knew what it was to be tried, afflicted, shipwrecked, beaten, stoned. I mean, they were throwing big old alley apples at him, big rocks, left him for dead in Lystra. Look what He is able to say in verse 17, And if children, then heirs, heirs of God, and join heirs with Christ, if so be that we suffer with Him, that we may be also glorified together. For I reckon that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory which shall be revealed in us. How amazing is the work of the Spirit, assuring us of these things. And it's the earnest of the Spirit who preserves us. and ensures the ultimate glorification of our body. He says it in verse 22. For we know that the whole creation groaneth and travaileth in pain together until now. And not only they, but ourselves also, which have the firstfruits of the Spirit. Even we ourselves groan within ourselves waiting for the adoption to wit the redemption of our body. For we are saved by hope, but hope that is seen is not hope for what a man seeth. Why doth he yet hope for? The Holy Spirit lives in us. He secured our ultimate glorification, the redemption of our body, the fullness of adoption. when we inherit it all as sons and daughters of God. And you know it's the Holy Spirit, the work of the Holy Spirit that takes our petitions to the throne of grace even when we can't give voice to them. Even when they're just in our heart, we may not have the words To say, have you ever felt that? Have you ever been so troubled about something and you can't really give words to it? But the Holy Spirit, He does. It says in verse 26, likewise the Spirit also helpeth our infirmities. For we know not what we should pray for as we ought, but the Spirit itself maketh intercession for us with groanings which cannot be uttered. And he that searcheth the hearts knoweth what is the mind of the Spirit, because he maketh intercession for the saints according to the will of God." The Holy Spirit miraculously takes what's in our heart and brings it before the throne. I've prayed many times without ever saying a word. As a child of God, bound for heaven, you must never underestimate the importance of being led by the Holy Spirit each and every day of your life. Now this thought being led by the spirit is one that was at one time completely foreign in my mind, in my life. If somebody would have asked me are you led by the spirit before I was saved, I would have said I don't even know what you're talking about. I was a heathen. Now not everybody is a heathen. A lot of people are raised in church. They know a lot. We went to church occasionally, but I didn't know nothing. I couldn't have told you the four gospel writers if you would have asked me what were the four gospels. I doubt if I could have named three commandments out of the ten. I didn't know much about the Bible. But the fact is, when a person is unsaved, lost, unregenerate, without Christ, however you want to describe it, alienated from God, in rebellion, in unbelief, the fact is they are not led by the Spirit. I was not. Otherwise, I wouldn't have done A lot of stuff I did. But every lost person, every one of us were born into a state of rebellion against God, a state of sin against His law, against His Word. The wicked are estranged from the womb, speaking lies as soon as they be born. Psalm 58, 3. Because they got a sinful nature. David said, and sin did my mother conceive me. We're all born with a fleshly nature, that sinful nature that we inherit from our parents. The origins of that fleshly nature that we're born with goes all the way back to our first set of parents, Adam and Eve, in the Garden of Eden. The Bible says, Wherefore, as by one man sin entered the world, and death by sin, so that death hath passed upon all men, for that all have sinned. That's our case. We weren't led of the Spirit. Here's what is horrific about not having the Holy Spirit. not being born of God, not being redeemed by the blood, living in unbelief. You do stupid stuff that's sinful against God. And I did too. Look at how terrible this is. Romans chapter 8. Eyeball this with me. Romans 8 verse 6 says for to be carnally minded is death Separation from God But to be spiritually minded is life and peace Which which one you want to what category you want to be in? Death or life and peace Now that I'm saved, oh, give me the life and peace. Give me Christ. Give me the peace that passes all understanding. But when I was saved, I was in death, I was in darkness, and I loved to have it so. Notice what it says. Because the carnal mind, the fleshly mind, the unregenerate mind, The Adamic nature mind is enmity against God. That word enmity means extreme hostility and hatred. That's the condition of the man that does not have the Holy Spirit who is dwelling in the flesh. And see, that's the only nature you were born with. Let's go on. Because the carnal mind is enmity against God, for it is not subject to the law of God, neither indeed can be. And here's the kicker, verse 8. So then they that are in the flesh cannot please God. No ability whatsoever to please God or honor God in that natural condition without being born again, without having faith in Christ. You say, well, I do a lot of things that are good. You know what? They're good. Yeah, they may be good when you compare them to me. You may be a lot better than I am. You could probably say I'm gooder than Tom Ross. I have no doubt about that. But the fact of the matter is your good works don't save you. Let me be real frank. What you have is not enough. You're not good enough to be saved. That's why we need Christ. It's a fact. The sin nature has corrupted how we think, how we feel, what we desire, and how we respond to God. And that's why lost people don't make right decisions in the spiritual realm. I never appeal to people and say, God's done all He's done. I've done all I can do. It's all up to you. I don't believe that. Not for a minute. Because I know if it's all left up to you, you're going to continue on in this sinful deadness and darkness. In fact, Romans 3 says it, there is none that seeketh after God. They're all gone out of the way. They're together become unprofitable. There is none good, no not one. What a stinging rebuke. to the humanist view of self-esteem, and I'm the best, and look in the mirror and say, I love you. You're good. You're wonderful. You know what? That's how we think. But it doesn't mean as much to God. How does God think of you? I know how He thought of me. I'm a sinner. Now I can look in the mirror and I don't have self-esteem. I have self-worth because I belong to Jesus. I'm a child of the King. His Spirit dwells in me. He gave His blood to ransom me. He's given me an inheritance that's undefiled and that will never fade away. This is what I have in Christ and in the Spirit who dwells in me. So all the worth is not in the reflection I see, it's in Jesus. And I glory in that. The sad thing is that those who are led only by their fleshly sinful condition, they're actually trapped. They're trapped because the darkness and the deadness and the sinfulness, that's their entire frame of reference. That's who they are. And this is the condemnation that light has come into the world, but men love darkness. rather than light, because their deeds were evil. And everyone that doeth evil hateth the light, neither cometh to the light, lest his deeds should be reproved." What makes it even more complicated is that we're blinded by Satan. If our gospel we hid, it is hid to them that are lost. in whom the God of this world, Satan, hath blinded the minds of them which believe not, lest the light of the glorious gospel of Christ should shine unto them." You talk about the serious consequences of being in the flesh, not being born of the Spirit, not having the Spirit dwell in you, not knowing Christ as Savior, blinded, can't see. I lived my life that way. I saw what I wanted to see. What makes it even worse is we were led about by the God of this world, by Satan. Read Ephesians 2, 1 through 3. The Bible says that when we were dead and trespassing and sinned, before we were quickened, we walked according to the course of this world, this world system that's opposed to God. According to the prince of the power of the air, that's Satan, the spirit that now worketh in the children of disobedience. Think about this now! Before I was born of God, I was being led about by Satan and sin, my sin. I was falling prey. I was his captive. You say, but what, where are you getting all this? It's in 2 Timothy chapter 2, in the word of God. It says, those that are saved, the ministers of the gospel and those that are shared. You've got to be long-suffering and compassionate toward the lost. Because they're in sin and they've been taken captive by the will of Satan. And they're led about by that spirit of disobedience. The deplorable condition that I just described applies to every single person in the human race. We're all sinners. We were all at one time like the children of wrath in captivity of sin and Satan in agreement with a world that is diametrically opposed to God, and that's why we made horrible decisions. It's reality. The sad thing is if something doesn't change, if God doesn't intervene in a person's life by giving them spiritual life, enabling them to repent and believe the gospel, they'll die in their sins because of their own willful rebellion against God. The wages of sin is death. And they'll spend an eternity in the lake which burneth with fire and brimstone, regretting their will for rebellion while suffering the torments of the wrath of God." I wonder how many preachers actually preach like this anymore. They're not being honest with people. How can a person who's dead in sin and bondage to Satan, rebellion rebellious against God, and willfully rejecting the truth. How in the world can they ever be changed? What happened to me? November 1980, what happened to me? How in the world did I go from being such a puke a sinful, wicked man, that if you would have sold me then, you would have said, that guy's going to hell and he deserves every bit of it. He'll never be saved. Just saying, Lord, I looked at Gregory and I want to be saved right now. Where'd that come from? God. God changed me. It's a great change. I was blinded, He opened my eyes. I was covered, polluted in sin, He took them away and forgave me of them all. I was unwilling, He made me willing. I was unholy, He gave me a nature that's holy like His nature. I was defiled. Jesus went to the cross and was defiled with my sin so that I could have His righteousness. You see, a lost sinner only knows what he knows. That's the realm of spiritual darkness and inability. But when God changes you, it's a miracle of grace. God the Holy Spirit gives us the new birth. He creates in us a new nature. The day that I was saved, and I believe this of everybody that has ever been saved, God changes their will so much that they want to know Jesus more than anything else in the world. God does that. And it's so wonderful. Well, I got through my first point. I'm going to finish this up probably tonight. I may do it next Sunday morning, surprise all the fathers. But I want to know today. I want you to ask yourself. And we're going to answer this question in this message. Are you led by the Spirit? How do you know? What are the clear indications? Man, I feel like preaching in another hour. Oh, everybody's heart just dropped. Don't worry, Debbie. Don't worry, you're pretty little head. I'm closing right there for now. I pray, I trust that you're being led in the spirit today and every day. Let's all stand. you ♪ To God with glory great thanks we have done ♪ ♪ So lovely the world that He gave us His Son ♪ ♪ We're filled with His life and not open for sin ♪ ♪ Let hope with the life bring that we may know Him ♪ Praise the Lord, let the earth hear His voice. Praise the Lord, praise the Lord, let the people rejoice. O come to the Father, through Jesus the Son, and give Him the glory, great King Seattle. ♪ O earth, with redemption the purchase of blood ♪ ♪ To every believer the promise of God ♪ ♪ The final surrender he truly believes ♪ ♪ That moment from Jesus a pardon receives ♪ Praise the Lord. Praise the Lord. Let the earth hear His voice. Praise the Lord. Praise the Lord. Stop the piano and sing it out! Great things He hath taught us Great things He hath done and great are rejoicing through Jesus the Son. But greater and higher and greater will be our wonder of transformation. ♪ And Jesus we sing ♪ ♪ Praise the Lord, praise the Lord ♪ ♪ Let the earth hear his voice ♪ ♪ Praise the Lord, praise the Lord ♪ ♪ Let the people rejoice ♪ ♪ O come to the Father ♪ ♪ Through Jesus the Son ♪ And give him the glory, great things he hath done. Now, if you're singing that right, you almost kind of lose your head. Your head muscles are all tightened up. Wow, we have everybody excited with Overnight. We're winners. We're winners in Jesus Christ. You know that? We're morbid copper. Brother Joe, you disagree.