A Compelling Testimony: Maintaining a Disciplined Walk, Christlike Character, and Godly Relationships as God's Servant

Ses s i on 7: F l esh i ng Out a Compe l l i ng Tes t imony : Di sc i p l i n i ng Our Di sc i p l i nes 315

the law might be fulfilled in us, who walk not according to the flesh but according to the Spirit.

b. Only the Holy Spirit can give life, John 6.63 – It is the Spirit who gives life; the flesh is of no avail. The words that I have spoken to you are spirit and life.

c. The person without the Spirit is still in death, and does not belong to Christ, Rom. 8.9 – 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.

2. He has sealed us and dwells within us to provide the power for righteousness we could not achieve in our own strength.

a. We have been sealed with the promised Spirit of God, according to the prophetic word, Eph. 1.13-14 – In him you also, when you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation, and believed in him, were sealed with the promised Holy Spirit, [14] who is the guarantee of our inheritance until we acquire possession of it, to the praise of his glory. b. We are not to grieve the Spirit through our disobedience, who sealed us for the Lord’s Day to come, Eph. 4.30 – And do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God, by whom you were sealed for the day of redemption.

3. The Spirit of God makes it possible for us to live a life holy and pleasing to the Lord: discipline, therefore, must always be seen as the open door for the Spirit to continue his work of sanctification in us .