It's written, "But you shall receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you."
Power for what?
Well?
It's a power to overcome sin!
Why else would we need the Holy Spirit?
It's a power to overcome sin.
But if we receive the baptism of the Spirit, and then don't walk in the Spirit,
well, what then?
Then we aren't set free from the law of sin and death, either.
Then that continually works inside us
and creates a condemnation.
When we read in James 1, we see what the law of sin and death is.
We can read in verse 13. "Let no one say when he is tempted,
'I am tempted by God'; for God cannot be tempted by evil,
nor does He Himself tempt anyone.
But each one is tempted when he is drawn away by his own desires and enticed."
So being tempted isn't sin. It's not your fault that you have a flesh with lusts and desires.
That isn't sin. No, sin first enters when the desire has conceived,
so that I agree with what I'm being tempted to.
That gives birth to sin.
And I'm now set free from this law of sin
by the power that is in the Holy Spirit.
There is a tremendous power there!
And also in the free will that I have in myself,
that I don't want to sin. You have a free will.
What do you want with your life?
You have to ask yourself that question. Is that what you want, to continue sinning?
Well, then do just that—but you will subjected to the law of sin and death!
But there's something there in your will— you don't want that;
and then you can receive power from the Holy Spirit. Walk in the Spirit,
and you won't fulfill the lusts of the flesh!
Then you come into the laws of the Spirit of life
that set you free from the law of sin and death.
As it's written, "Sin lies at the door,
and its desire is for you". But what else is written?
It's written: "You should rule over it!"
That's one of the first things God says to us in the Bible.
We're not supposed to be slaves of this— we are to rule over it!