So happy to see everybody this morning. If you have a Bible or device or you can even reach in the pocket in front of you in front of the pew, get a copy of the Word of God and turn to Romans chapter 8. Romans chapter 8 is where we're going to start today. Hey, I've seen a lot of new faces today and that excites me so much. And I would love to get to see you or have you see one of our teams.

So when you leave today, going out the doors in the back to my left, your right, the piskies will be standing there. Go by and introduce yourself. They've got a small gift they would love to give to you today. It's a coffee mug. So you'll never forget us.

Just put it right in that. You can even use it as a toothbrush holder. I mean, whatever. Just so you can remember us and I hope, remember the love that you experienced when you came into the room today. Let me tell you what happened.

I'm seven years old. Where I grew up, our church has practiced annual revival. And so did every church around the corner. And so what happened a lot of times is they'd invite our pastor to go preach at their revival and then our church would go with them. Any of you ever experienced that, like growing up?

Or is it just. Maybe that's just where I lived. But we would go and sometimes they would bring the choirs to sing. So I was seven. And like any good seven year old, I sat in my seat and I listened to everything that was said.

Now, actually I remember vividly. I had Hot Wheels and I climbed under that pew and I sat playing with my cars. It was. I mean, I remember it's the only time I ever remember playing with Hot Wheels was that night at that revival meeting. But I was listening and the preacher began to preach about hell and it scared me to death.

So when the invitation was given, I went down. But what didn't happen was I did not get saved.

And what's phenomenal or what's astounding to me is you have a similar thing in your life that I want to ask you a question today. Did somebody tell you what happened when you were saved? If you're saved? If somebody asks you that question today, I'm serious, this is as practical as I can get today. Is this, this one subject we're going to talk about today?

How do you know you're saved? What happened to you when you're saved? Because, see, a lot of people will start responding like this. Well, I just feel Better. That's not justification.

You know that, right? Yesterday I wanted to eat. I was hungry. And then I ate supper and I regretted it. My emotions went from one end of the spectrum to the other.

And woke up this morning still thinking about how bad suffering made me feel. Feelings are subjective. You cannot substantiate salvation by an ecstatic or an emotional experience.

I just feel Jesus in my heart. Really? Like you reached in and felt his arms and his legs. I feel so much better. There's been a weight lifted off my shoulder now.

You know what? That may. That may be a byproduct. Don't get me wrong. Emotions are not bad.

Like you may feel joy and you may feel relief, but that does not substantiate what happens when you're saved. I feel good about my decision. I don't feel guilty anymore. I feel closer to God. I feel my life is so much better other than emotions.

You know what was similar in all those sentences I just read? I.

What happened to you when you were saved? Was He He, He? And I think today, if you're sitting here and you're like me, no one, no one sat me down and said, this is what happened to you the moment that you gave faith, that you believed and grace and faith came together. What happened to you? Too many of us do not know what happens when someone is saved.

And then you have no foundation on which to build your discipleship. You have no foundation on which to build your knowledge of following Christ because you didn't know what happened to you. And I mean, yeah, you could see here and go, well, nobody told me, but I don't know that we can use that as an excuse. Because there's two things upon which my salvation is based. These two things are so vital to your understanding of what happened to you when you were saved.

If you're here today, and I know some of you, you've said to me, I just don't know how I know if I've been saved. I'm going to tell you those two things. And those two things, don't ever forget them when you leave today. The first one, of course, is the word of God. But the moment that faith and grace met, God puts his spirit inside of you.

When you are saved, the Holy Spirit of God comes to dwell inside of believers, and he does something. We use this word called regenerate, rebirth, transformed. Say, I wish. I wish. And I'm not mourning this, but I wish that someone would have said to me, jamie, when you believe God will put his spirit inside of you, that is the new covenant.

You know, if you have a Bible, the first part of the Bible is called the Old Testament. The other word for testament is covenant. And then you get Matthew, Mark, Luke, John, Acts, Romans and so forth. And that's called the new. It's called the new covenant.

The New Testament. God entered into a covenant with you and with me through the blood of Jesus Christ. And he saves us. Based on that covenant, we believe the word of truth. And God rebirths me.

I've got new parents, I've got a new home, I've got a new way of life, unless the Holy Spirit is not living inside of me. Billy Graham said this, talking about sometimes the way that we substantiate a true experience. He said, I believe that earnest and honest seekers for the salvation of God have unrest and uncertainty when they think they must have some kind of emotion to make conversion a true experience.

I remember a lady telling me one time in a former long time ago church, a little kid came down to receive Christ. And they were down there a very long time. When they got up, they said, well, I've been saved. And this person said, I don't believe that. I went, why?

Well, they weren't crying. I went, what does that matter? How many of you have cried in the last seven days? Don't answer that. Some of us don't cry a lot, but that doesn't mean that we didn't feel something.

But feeling does not substantiate my experience. The word of God and the indwelling Holy Spirit are those things that mark me. In fact, he goes on to say, Billy Graham says, if you are seeking salvation as presented through scripture, the word of God, you will want to know what kind of experience the Bible says you should have. It's perceiving the indwelling of the Holy Spirit. In fact, Billy Graham called it our sixth sense, not a sci fi movie.

But it's not emotion.

We, when we are saved, get a very special gift. And it's got two sides to it on one side's eternal life. Y' all like that side, right? Y' all like the eternal side? Man, I can't wait.

Can you. Can you not wait to get to heaven? I can't really wait to get to heaven. The older that you get, the sweeter heaven becomes. But it was already sweet enough because Jesus Christ is there.

But you know what the other side of that coin has? It's the Holy Spirit. We've already looked at Ephesians 1:13. It says in him, having also listened to the message of truth and the gospel of salvation. And having believed, you were sealed in him with the Holy Spirit of promise.

Where does that come from? Ezekiel 36, 26 and 27. He says, moreover, I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit inside of you. I will remove the heart of stone from your flesh and give you a heart of flesh. Verse 27, the mark, the agency of salvation.

I will put my spirit within you and cause you to walk in my statutes. And you will be careful to observe my commandments. God has always wanted a people that reflected his heart, that reflected his righteousness, that reflected his holiness. And because of sin, no human being can do so. Remember I told you a few weeks ago that you and I are bankrupt when it comes to righteousness.

Yet we cannot be in the presence of God without righteousness. So Jesus Christ, the perfect sacrifice, sinless son of God, came and put on what flesh? And he died on a cross in the flesh to put to death our flesh. So I'm not ruled by the flesh anymore. I'm ruled by the spirit.

I don't follow a list of rules that were never going to produce righteousness. I follow the sinless Son of God by the Holy Spirit, who. Who indwells me and gives me power. He gives me direction. He gives me hope.

That is what happens when you are saved. You give faith and grace and faith meet, and the Spirit of God comes to live inside of me. You are wholly possessed. As Peter said. You are now partakers of the divine.

I think about back to the Future. You now have a flux capacitor inside of your heart generating 1.21 gigawatts.

Did you say Doc Brown go 1.21 gigawatts. I mean, it's inside of you. You got a nuclear reactor, but yet all we're doing is playing with a flashlight. God's got power beyond measure living inside of you. And what squashes it?

I'm still living in my flesh, still following my flesh. See, we've been talking about the good news. We've been talking about the gospel. And you know it's good news because God loves us. The very cause, the motivation that God sent his son was that he loved the world so much that he sent him, that whoever would believe in him will not.

What? Perish. And then we talked about that problem that sin leads us to death. The wages of sin is death. But the free gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ, our Lord.

That's good news, isn't it? Because the solution is, is that He Sent his son. He sent him to die on the cross. But wait, there's more. Because on Easter's Sunday.

Sorry, Randy. On the Sunday we celebrate Easter. That's a little better. Jesus was raised from the dead, folks. He's not dead.

Y' all know there's a tomb with Muhammad in it and Buddha. There's no other religion that knows that their savior lives, but we do. And if the spirit. This is Romans 8:16, if you want a memory verse for today. There it is.

The same spirit that raised God from the dead. Excuse me. 8:11. Raised Jesus from the dead. Now lives inside of you and inside of me.

And the only thing holding back that power for living is me. As long as I submit to my flesh cannot live the purposed life that God intends for me. What happened to me? When I was saved, I received the Holy Spirit and it regenerated me. It rebirthed me.

It changed me.

What about you? From this day forward, if anybody comes up to you and says, what happened to you when you were saved? You say, God filled me with the Holy Spirit. Not I. I, I, me, me, me. I felt.

I. I sensed. No, those things may be true. I mean, I had joy when I was saved. Did you? I mean, if you got saved and you went like Eeyore, like.

Well, I guess I'm a little better than I was.

Man. There's fire living inside of you, man. What do we do with that? Well, we let it out. We let it out.

We live to. To glorify our God, to cause us to obey his command. He's given us the ability. He's given us the power. He's given us the direction.

Man, I. Just as he says in Galatians 2:20, I'm crucified with Christ. And it's no longer I that live, but Christ lives in me. I may not ever get to Romans 8 today. Why don't y' all go ahead and stand?

I want to read just one verse for the sake of time. I do want you to look at verse number 11, David. I know that might mess up the order. I just want you to look at verse 11, and then we'll walk through those paragraphs in just a moment. But it says, but if the spirit of him who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, if is a condition, right?

If the spirit of him who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, then this is what is true. He who raised Christ. Jesus Christ from the dead will give life to your mortal bodies through His Spirit who dwells in you. And all of God's people said amen. Wow, that gives me hope for living.

Does it? You go ahead and have a seat. Let me just keep on preaching here. Point number one, the Holy Spirit regenerates us, meaning that now we are holy and spiritually made new. I am not just a refurbished version of myself.

I wanted to buy a pair of AirPods to go on my trip in a few weeks. So I pulled up on the Internet and I found some for $150. Like, hey, that's good. And they were refurbished. I went, no, it's not.

I got a refurbished phone from AT&T1 time. It lasted a year before it died. But God's not looking to refurbish you. God's not looking to slap some paint on you. Any of you ever had a car painted that had rust on it?

My uncle had a sweet 70s model Monte Carlo and he spent all this money to get it painted. But you know what the guy didn't do? He didn't do good Bondo work. And that rust came back after about a year and started bubbling up underneath the paint. God's not looking to slap new paint on you.

He came to make us new. We are new creatures in Christ. The old is gone and the new has come. Well, why is it new? Because I don't know what happened to you when you got saved, but when I got saved, God filled me with his Holy Spirit.

And that made me absolutely other than this world. I want to live that way. You see, when we really begin to embrace. Look at this. First John, chapter two, verse number 24, says, the one who keeps the commandments, his commandments, abides in him and he in that person.

We know this, that he abides in us. Do you want Jesus to abide in you? You know John 15, you know, I'm the vine, you're the branches. Whoever abide in me bears fruit. There's a condition.

There is a condition. Listen to it. We know this, that he abides in us by the Spirit whom he has given. You can't abide in Christ without the Holy Spirit. You can't dwell with Jesus without the Holy Spirit.

You can't live for Jesus without the Holy Spirit. Your flesh will not allow it. Your flesh is a two year old spoiled rotten brat kicking and screaming. Every time you do something thou shalt do, your flesh does not want any part of it. You know what your flesh like?

Your flesh loves. Good. I remember Deion Sanders one time making a statement. He said it didn't matter how they scored, did he look good doing it. That's the way a lot of Christians live.

Like, I just want to look good doing it. Did you see me do that? I'm going to knock this stand over before it's over. Like, seriously, guys, it's like. It's not about you.

It's about him and what he wants to do inside of you. And we need to be based scripturally. So if you notice, just like every message in this series, it is a fire hydrant of water. I'm not gonna read every verse today. I want you to read it, I want you to study it.

I come up with a. I want you to berean it. I want you to dig deep and look at what the word of God is saying to you. John 1:13. We who were born, reborn, not of blood, or the will of the flesh, or the will of man, but of God. It is a work of God.

You cannot save yourself. You cannot regenerate yourself. You can't look at the Creator and say, you know, I'd really rather be more of a large mouth bowl than a smallmouth. And God, if you could. I really don't want to be the one pouring water.

I want to be the one holding bread. Like, we don't go to the Creator and tell him how to make us. We trust the sovereign Creator to make us into the image he wants, which we know by scripture is the image of His Son. That's God's plan for your life. And you can't do it on your own.

So he wants to change you. He wants to regenerate you. He says in Titus 3, verse 5 that we are not saved by the basis of deeds which we have done in righteousness. Why? Remember those little points I gave you?

We are righteously bankrupt. We have none. He gives us more than we ever could need of his righteousness. And it does something by the washing of regeneration and renewing of the Holy Spirit, which is based on upon the word of God. The two foundations of the reason you know you're saved is the truth of God and the Holy Spirit.

Gordon Fee, who is a scholar, says this washing here is a metaphor for spiritual cleansing and or spirit baptism rather than just water baptism. Because there is a some of our friends who believe believe that you're not saved unless you're baptized. Well, that's not true. How'd that work out for the thief?

I just need to let that one sit there.

It's spiritual, it's not mystical. I mean, does that water need to be 70% chlorinated? I mean, Fred, what's the Jordan river look like? Worse than Lake Lanier. And I've gotten sick in Lake Lanier.

I wiped out on a wakeboard one time, and that shot water up my nose. I was sick for three weeks. That's some nasty water. You telling me that the Jordan water cleansed somebody? It was the Holy Spirit.

See? Remember John the Baptist was preaching and he told them. He said, I baptize you with water. But there's someone coming after me whose sandals I'm not worthy to lace. He will baptize you with fire and the Holy Spirit.

Why fire? Cause he didn't want to just kind of wash something off your skin. He wanted to burn it off. You go to the skin doctor and you got one of those little growths. I don't know if you ever get them.

I do. And I go in there and I said, just go ahead and get that stuff you freeze with. I want it off. He can scrub it all day long. It's not going to come off.

Even if he scrubs it, it's going to make me bleed. But he somehow. He burned that thing away. That's exactly what we need in our lives. He wants to burn away the flesh.

That leads me to sin, that leads me to death. We studied 1 Peter 1:3, where it said, according to his great mercy, the Father has caused us to be born again. And I believe the reason Peter said, our God and Father is cause to be reborn. To be born twice means that someone has fathered me. God, the Father, my daddy.

Now, Jesus has brought us into his family. He's the supply, and the spirit is the agent by which this takes place. If you Skip down to first Peter 1:23, it says this. For you have not been born again of seed which is perishable, but that which is imperishable through the living and enduring word of God. God.

So here's a definition of regeneration. Regeneration is the work of God by the Holy Spirit, according to God's will to impart new life to the one who believes the Gospel.

We have new parents. We have new purpose. We have a new future. Because if you have been saved, you have been regenerated, you've been reborn, and you have received the Holy Spirit. We know he abides in us by the Spirit whom He has given.

Ladies and gentlemen, is that true for you? Is there evidence in your life of something other than this world working. Working against the flesh that's set to destroy us? Are you mad enough? You know, sometimes we get mad at ourselves because we don't do things perfectly or we mess up.

Why don't we get mad at the flesh and say, flesh, you're in timeout and the spirit is in charge. Is that true for you? Because when you get to Romans, chapter eight, you got to think about chapter seven, Chapter seven, Paul makes the argument, you're dead to the law. You're dead to the lists. You know why?

Because they were never intended to bring life. They were always intended to highlight sin in our life. All of the practices. When you read the Torah, the first five books of the Old Testament, Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, Deuteronomy, you know, you get bogged down in Leviticus by all the rules and the rituals of sacrifice, which, by the way, if you noticed, he tells them how to sacrifice before he gives them all the rules. You know why?

Because he knew they'd fall. Deuteronomy, chapter 30, verse number 6. When he says, I'll bring you back from banishment because you're going to mess up. But when I bring you back, I'm going to do a new work. I'm going to circumcise your heart.

How? What happened to you when you were saved? You received the Holy Spirit. That's the work of regeneration. And so Paul, when he's in this, in chapter seven, he begins to talk about, well, the law actually is good.

Like you would think it's bad because it's bringing death, it's highlighting sin, but it's actually good, he said, because I wouldn't have known I shouldn't covet till the law said I shouldn't covet. But then my flesh steps in. The big bully steps in and he makes me want to covet, but I don't want to covet because I. Over here is the spirit saying, no, and over here is the flesh saying, yeah. And he says he's going back and forth in his mind to do the things he doesn't want to do and the things that he does want to do, he doesn't want to.

I get confused too, but I love that at the end of it, he says, oh, wretched man that I am, who will set me free from this body of death? You know who sets you free? The Holy Spirit. Romans 8:1. Therefore, as Fred reminds us constantly, that therefore is there for a reason.

Because of all that stuff, the law is good. It shows us our need. The Spirit comes to give us new purpose and new life. So then he says this. Therefore, there is now, not later, not before now, no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus.

So here's what the Spirit does in our life. The Spirit frees us. Did you catch that? He frees us from the condemnation of sin revealed by the law. Pick up with me in verse number two of Romans 8.

For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ. Jesus Christ has set you free from the law of sin and death because it's not built upon your flesh, it's built upon his spirit. We're changing the pronouns there. It's going from I, I, I, me, me, me, to him, him, him. Verse 3.

For what the law could not do, weak as it was through the flesh, God sent his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh as an offering for sin, condemning sin in the flesh. This is the reason why Jesus had to come and put on flesh. Because he had to die in the flesh. Yes, because nothing else could be sacrificed but flesh. But he did it because in dying he died to flesh and in dying to flesh, He.

He now gives us the power to die to our own flesh so that the requirement of the law might be fulfilled in us. What did we do? Did we do anything to fulfill the law? We die. No, no, no, no, no.

You don't miss this. We die. I told you a few weeks ago, you're going to die one way or another. You're either going to die to sin or you're going to die for sin. Have you died to sin?

Which means you're dying to your flesh. And we don't walk according to the flesh, he says, but according to the spirit. If you want to get out of the tennis match that is the flesh and the spirit, then you've got to commit yourself to walk in the spirit. Why? He's freed us from the weight of the condemnation.

It's like going to a gym. Let's say if I put a. A weight bench up here and I put a thousand pounds on here. Now, there might be a couple of you studs in this room that could probably bench press that. I'm pretty convinced that there's two men in this room right now that could probably bench press me.

But a thousand pounds, I want you. Just imagine a thousand pounds doesn't seem possible, does it? I remember one time I had a weight set at home and I was by myself. Don't ever do it by yourself, because this is what happens. I. I came down and I had that bar sitting on my chest and I went to try to get it up and it ain't moving, and it stayed on my chest and started sinking a little bit more.

That is the Weight of condemnation in your life, you can't get it off of you. You need a spotter. And the Spirit of God comes, grabs that bar and he don't just put it back on the rack, he throws it off of you.

Why?

Brothers, sisters, children of God, why do we still walk under the condemnation of sin and death when Jesus has set us free, let us walk in freedom. That's how Satan works. He gets you to question who you are. He gets you to question what you've done. Well, I must be just a sorry excuse for a Christian.

Folks, there's only one kind of Christian. Let me just put this to bed. The one who is saved. There are no PhDs in Christianity. Let me tell you what the Spirit does in your life.

Alright, you ready? Y' all ready? You got a ball glove? Ready to catch this? The first evidence of the Spirit in your life is conviction of sin.

The second thing he does is he bears witness of Jesus Christ, therefore leading us where he wants us to go. Third thing in that, you know, not necessarily in sequence, but I would say priority is the fruit of the spirit. Galatians 5, 22, 23. For the fruit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self control. Against such there is no law.

And then the last one is manifestation and giftedness. I'm going to offend some people. Sorry, online. This is how a lot of people live with that. They focus on the manifestations and the giftedness and don't care anything about their sin.

You may speak in tongues, but if sin is in your life, this is out of whack. So no offense, I'm not trying to offend anybody. I'm trying to get your life in order. You should have conviction of sin first before you ever worry about what's coming out of your hands and your feet. Now wait a minute.

But what if you get stuck there? That's why he sets us free. I can't get to the fruit and the manifestation until I know the Spirit has regenerated my life. Give me new life, give me new direction and set me forth. You're looking for evidence.

What's the evidence? That you have been saved. The Spirit of God lives in me. Convicting me of sin, showing me the way of Christ producing his fruit. And yes, then he gifts me to do things that I can't naturally do.

But I need to keep it in check because there's a lot of people who practice manifestations for the sake of their flesh. Wait a minute, let's keep going. Let me just keep let's just keep digging and meddling. The Holy Spirit point whatever leads us from living in the flesh but living to please God. From living in the flesh, but to living to please God.

The Bible says in Hebrews 11:6, the only way we can please God is faith. For without faith, it is impossible to please him. For he who comes to God must believe that he is and that he is a rewarder of those who seek him. That's not bad news. That is absolutely good news.

The only way, Genesis 15:6, that it said that Abraham received righteousness was because he believed. He entrusted his life to the promise that God put before him, that he would make him a great father of a nation and multiply his descendants, giving him land. The promise he's given to you and me is that if I would trust and believe in Jesus Christ, the Son of God, who came from heaven and put on flesh and died for my sins so my sin could be forgiven, and was raised again to give me life if I would believe, entrust my life to him. Faith and grace come together. And at that moment he gives me the Holy Spirit.

And it's not sitting there just to look pretty. It's not a trophy to put on a case. It's an agent of change and transformation. Pick up with me in verse number five. For those who are according to the flesh, set their minds on the things of the flesh.

But those who are according to the spirit, the things of the spirit. We have to let the Spirit change our thinking. And if my thinking is focused on the glorifying of my flesh or the indulgence of my flesh, that does not equal spiritual, he says, for the mindset on the flesh is what death. When we live according to our flesh, it brings death into our lives. When other people live according to the flesh, it brings death into our lives.

Aren't you glad we're going to a place where we'll die no more? But while we're here, the Holy Spirit's a little taste of what heaven's going to be. No, warrant. Heaven isn't too far away. Y' all know that song?

It's right here. It's not Jesus that lives in my heart. It's the Holy Spirit. He's the mark of that new covenant. He goes on in verse number seven.

Because the mind set on the flesh is what, hostile toward God. For it does not subject itself to the law of God. It's not able to do so. So if you're doing the works of the flesh, thinking you're pleasing God, you're lying to yourself because Paul just said, your flesh cannot do it. Your flesh only is looking to please yourself.

So Paul would write in Galatians 5:16, but I say, therefore, walk by the spirit, and you will not carry out the desire of the flesh. So my question to us today is, how are you walking? Are you letting the Holy Spirit lead you in your life? I remember taking some students to Whitewater years ago, and I don't mean to brag or anything, but I'm pretty good with navigation. No one laughed.

I'm just taking my word for it. As I've gotten older, I've made a few mistakes, but back then I knew 75, 285, 85. And I knew at that time that there was a varsity north of the perimeter, not the one next to Georgia Tech, because some of you would never go to that varsity because you might get cooties from Georgia Tech. So we're driving, and one of the. One of the students kind of like backslash youth leaders said, hey, I got this new navigation thing.

And it was a Garmin, I think. He's like, I can tell us where we're going to go. And he put in varsity. Well, guess what it did. It routed him to Atlanta.

I said, no, we're going north, not south. And they were all convinced because it's his little fancy little box that he knew better. So guess what happened. It led us on 85 south, and we got stuck in traffic, and I said, told you so. If you listen to me, I was taking you where we needed to go.

A lot of times in your life, the Spirit's going, mcfly, hello, this way. But I don't know. I want to go this way. I know better. If I do this, this will make me feel good.

Don't be like waterboy. I like school. I like football. And I'm going to keep doing it because it makes me feel good. That's the way a lot of Christians live.

Stop substantiating your salvation experience by your feelings, because when it doesn't work anymore, those feelings of elation will turn to feelings of depression. In fact, I found a really neat book that I'm going to read. I bought it on Kindle by Martyn Lloyd Jones, called Spiritual Depression. How many of you today possibly sitting in this room, are spiritually depressed? One of the reasons is because you're letting emotions lead you, not the spirit of God.

I don't know what point number this is. The Holy Spirit empowers us to live eternally now, now, not later, not at the end. It's the mark now. It's the mark now. I mean, if Christ is in you, he said, though the body is dead because of sin, yet the Spirit is alive because of righteousness.

So then where do you think the Spirit's going to thrive if it's alive in righteousness? When I allow the Spirit of God to live through my life. John 10:10. The thief comes to steal, kill and destroy. But Jesus said I came, that they would have life and have it more abundantly.

He's not wanting Christians just to live the life and get to the end and then just have eternity. We have a part of it now. By the Holy Spirit of God, he gives us empowerment. The Spirit who raised Jesus from the dead lives in you. Can you just think of that for a moment?

But you don't know what I'm going through in life. I don't. But if 1.21 gigawatts is in there, he's giving you something that if he's not going to take it away, he's going to lead you through it.

But I got to listen to where he's leading me, and I got to step out from under the condemnation that the flesh wants to bring upon me.

Last one there says the Holy Spirit marks us as having part in God's new covenant. Let me reread Ephesians 1:13. In him, you also, having listened to the message of truth, the gospel of your salvation, having also believed you were sealed in him with the Holy Spirit of promise, a pledge of our inheritance to come. See, in the old covenant, in the Abrahamic covenant, the circumcision was the mark. But now we have a circumcision of the heart, and he dwells inside of us.

See, I want to know I'm saved. Don't you? But I can't substantiate that with me, because if it could be substantiated with me, then I don't need Jesus. I don't need the Holy Spirit. I can live this life by myself.

And I remember coming to that point. See, I told you I went to an altar when I was seven years old. Nothing happened. You know how I know nothing happened? Because when I turned 12 years old, I walked away from the church.

I worked every Sunday. And yeah, I could give you my list, my laundry list of trash and things that were in my life. But at 20 years old on April 11, 1995, Jesus Christ saved me. You know how I know? Because I received the Holy Spirit.

See, I've got two birthdays. Do you? I'VE got two birthdays. Laura makes cheesecakes on my birthday every year, and I talked her into cheesecakes yesterday for pie day. What she doesn't know is she's going to make some on April 10th for April 11th.

Some of you don't know when you were saved. Wait a minute. Whoa, whoa. You may not know the date, the time, the hour, and the place, but is the spirit working inside your life? That's the evidence.

If you can't remember the day of the week, it doesn't matter. What matters is, are you walking in him now? Walk in the Spirit and you and you'll deny the works of the flesh. Second Corinthians 1, 21, 22 says, now he who established us with you in Christ and anointed us is God, who sealed us and gave us the Spirit in our hearts as a pledge. And that mark is just a taste of what to come.

He's the agent that works salvation. He's the mark to know that I'm saved. You know why that's good news? Because it's good news. Because I'm secure in Christ.

Not in myself, not in myself. I'm secure in Christ. I remember I watched a video recently of Adrian Rogers, and he said there was a pastor preaching, and someone was in the crowd that knew him in his old life, and they started writing down all his old sins. They passed it to the front to that preacher to read, that laundry list of junk. You got a laundry list of junk?

That old stuff? You know what I did with that list? I took a lighter and I burned it, because that's not me anymore. I remember witnessing to a lady in Ecuador, and one of the guys that was standing with us was from the leadership of the church. And we're standing there as we're witnessing this lady, and she kind of had a Samaritan woman moment because she looked at this guy and said, you used to drink in the streets with my husband.

And he dropped his head and he looked up, he said, I'm not that man no more. That's how I know I'm secure in Christ, because he filled me with his Holy Spirit. Have you received the Holy Spirit? Paul met some men outside of Ephesus in Acts, chapter 19. And he asked them, did you receive the Spirit when you believed?

And they were like, we have never even heard of such a spirit. They were baptized into John for repentance, and then Paul had them baptized in faith, in Christ. And it said they received the Holy Spirit. When I'm trapped, I need to Recall. The Spirit frees me when I'm lost.

I need to require that the Spirit leads me. When I'm struggling, I he empowers me. And when I'm rejected by this world, he accepts me. I want you to bow your heads and listen to these statements. Thank you for letting me go a little bit longer.

I feel like this series has been like drinking water out of a fire hydrant. But I'm challenging you. Go home. This is your homework. Go home and read these verses.

If you need a to do from today's sermon, there's your to do. Go home and study these passages. I'm going to give you four areas that I'm going to invite you to come and pray about if you're here today. Number one is condemnation. Do you feel the weight of condemnation?

So the simple question is, have you turned from sin or are you pursuing sin? There is no black and white. You either is saved, you isn't saved, and if you are saved, John said to produce fruit of repentance. How's that look for you? Number two, Leading.

Are you at peace with God? It may be that you're not walking in the path that God has called you to walk. So why not ask him today? God, show me where you want me to go, how you want me to walk. Number three, who's winning in your life?

Who's winning in your life? Not to sound political, I hate sometimes that people take phrases and throw it in the public square. But I would like to see what winning looks like in the spiritual lives of the church and the number of people that might hear the gospel as a result of people taking serious the Spirit's work in their life. And security. Do you have security to get today in the word of God, in the spirit of God, have you been basing your security of being saved on yourself or on what he's done?

So as we open this altar today, if you don't know Jesus Christ, Randy's up here, Fred's up here, I'm up here. Come and just tell us, hey, I'm not saved. I just really don't believe I'm saved. Can we have a moment to talk with you about that? If today you're saying, I'm not sure, come and as an old pastor told me, come and work that out.

Each of us must work out our own salvation with fear and trembling. He's not saying earn it, but nobody can tell you you're saved. No priest can pronounce that over you. You're responsible to work that out in the Spirit of God between you and him. So today.

So today. And if you're here and you're like, man, I just. I'd like to talk to somebody one on one. There's a QR code on the notes. Part of that, of that study guide you receive coming in.

If you'll scan that and just say, I have a question, I have a prayer request, or I just need to talk to somebody. Fill that out. It immediately comes to my phone. I'll be honest, it comes to me. We'll get in touch with you, Father, as we sing.

We worship you today, Father. Speak to our hearts. And I want people to have confidence so that they can live in the power of the spirit. So, Lord, today, maybe somebody in this room for the first time has heard this good news that not only are they receiving eternal life, that eternal life came because they received the Holy Spirit. So help us, Lord, to learn to walk in that.

And it's somebody here today is like, you know what? I'm just lost. Would you give them the confidence either now to come talk to somebody or to reach out to somebody? They don't have to stay lost, Lord. Work in their lives.

In Jesus name, Amen. Would you stand with us as we sing?