Without the Spirit, You Cannot Please God
From the sermon, Life Through the Spirit, Romans 8:5-17
In Romans 8:5–17, Paul contrasts life according to the flesh with life according to the Spirit. The issue is not merely outward behavior, religious activity, or visible morality. The deeper question is whether a person has been made alive by the Spirit of God through salvation in Jesus Christ.
In this sermon short, Pastor Ben Smith explains that pleasing God begins with the heart, not merely with action. A person may appear religious, disciplined, generous, or self-sacrificing, yet still remain unable to please God apart from the indwelling Spirit. Without the Spirit of the living God, external righteousness cannot make a person acceptable before God.
This message calls listeners to examine the difference between religious effort and true spiritual life. Church attendance, moral effort, and doing the right things cannot replace salvation. The Christian life begins when a sinner is saved through believing faith and is filled with the Spirit of God.
The hope of the gospel is that God does not merely call us to try harder. He gives life through Christ and fills His people with His Spirit so that they may truly belong to Him and live in a way that pleases Him.
