1 00:00:00,000 --> 00:00:06,440 Now, we open the Word of God together to the book of Romans and the eighth chapter as we 2 00:00:06,440 --> 00:00:13,520 look at our text tonight beginning in verse 5. 3 00:00:13,520 --> 00:00:19,040 For those who are according to the flesh set their minds on the things of the flesh, but 4 00:00:19,040 --> 00:00:24,800 those who are according to the Spirit the things of the Spirit. 5 00:00:24,800 --> 00:00:31,880 For the mind set on the flesh is death, but the mind set on the Spirit is life and peace. 6 00:00:31,880 --> 00:00:38,320 Because the mind set on the flesh is hostile toward God, for it does not subject itself 7 00:00:38,320 --> 00:00:42,720 to the law of God, for it is not even able to do so. 8 00:00:42,720 --> 00:00:45,280 Those who are in the flesh cannot please God. 9 00:00:45,280 --> 00:00:50,880 However, you are not in the flesh, but in the Spirit, if indeed the Spirit of God dwells 10 00:00:50,880 --> 00:00:58,040 in you, but if anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ, he does not belong to him. 11 00:00:58,040 --> 00:01:03,880 And if Christ is in you, though the body is dead because of sin, yet the Spirit is alive 12 00:01:03,880 --> 00:01:06,000 because of righteousness. 13 00:01:06,000 --> 00:01:10,920 But if the Spirit of him who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, he who raised 14 00:01:10,920 --> 00:01:17,280 Christ Jesus from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through his Spirit 15 00:01:17,280 --> 00:01:19,840 who indwells you. 16 00:01:19,840 --> 00:01:26,240 We live in a day of what I call creeping universalism. 17 00:01:26,240 --> 00:01:37,320 There is a gradual and subtle acceptance among those who call themselves evangelicals of 18 00:01:37,320 --> 00:01:46,440 the basic idea that ultimately everybody in the world is a child of God, and that someday 19 00:01:46,440 --> 00:01:55,280 everybody is eventually somehow going to be in heaven. 20 00:01:55,280 --> 00:02:04,800 That idea, that creeping universalism, I think comes out of a sense of compromise and a desire 21 00:02:04,800 --> 00:02:11,280 to accommodate the ideas in the theological world these days. 22 00:02:11,280 --> 00:02:13,840 Is that true, though? 23 00:02:13,840 --> 00:02:20,560 Is it true that everyone is a child of God, and someday everyone is going to be in heaven? 24 00:02:20,560 --> 00:02:30,440 Well, in fact, as we look at our text tonight, we see that there is a definite contrast between 25 00:02:30,440 --> 00:02:40,240 those who are genuinely the children of God and those who are not the children of God. 26 00:02:40,240 --> 00:02:46,440 You will notice that there is a new theme in chapter 8 of Romans, if you have been with 27 00:02:46,440 --> 00:02:50,240 us for our study over these past months. 28 00:02:50,240 --> 00:02:52,520 That theme is the Holy Spirit. 29 00:02:52,520 --> 00:02:55,960 He has nearly been absent in the book of Romans. 30 00:02:55,960 --> 00:03:00,920 He certainly inspired these words as Paul wrote them, but he has not showed himself 31 00:03:00,920 --> 00:03:06,560 in the language until you come to chapter 8, where now the Holy Spirit is mentioned 32 00:03:06,560 --> 00:03:07,560 several times. 33 00:03:07,560 --> 00:03:13,400 In fact, in the text that I have read, the word spirit, or nouma in the Greek language, 34 00:03:13,400 --> 00:03:16,240 is used nine times. 35 00:03:16,240 --> 00:03:18,200 Nearly all of them refer to the Holy Spirit. 36 00:03:18,200 --> 00:03:21,000 There is a capital S on spirit. 37 00:03:21,000 --> 00:03:27,680 Only one time does it refer to the human spirit, and that is in verse 10. 38 00:03:27,680 --> 00:03:33,960 Paul concludes this initial paragraph of the book of the chapter, 8th chapter of Romans, 39 00:03:33,960 --> 00:03:38,800 by reminding us of God's purpose in our salvation. 40 00:03:38,800 --> 00:03:47,540 That is, that we might be liberated from our sin, the result being that now the righteousness 41 00:03:47,540 --> 00:03:52,000 of God's law is fulfilled in our lives. 42 00:03:52,000 --> 00:03:59,880 That is, those of us who walk not according to the flesh, but according to the Spirit. 43 00:03:59,880 --> 00:04:07,600 Notice the contrast there between two key words, flesh and spirit. 44 00:04:07,600 --> 00:04:13,720 Those are the two key words in this whole paragraph, flesh and spirit. 45 00:04:13,720 --> 00:04:21,960 There is a distinction in this paragraph between those who are lost and those who are saved, 46 00:04:21,960 --> 00:04:27,560 those who are the children of God and those who are the children of the devil, those who 47 00:04:27,560 --> 00:04:33,000 are unregenerate and those who are regenerate. 48 00:04:33,000 --> 00:04:39,080 That contrast focuses on these key words, flesh and spirit. 49 00:04:39,080 --> 00:04:46,240 I want you to see this distinction as it is drawn out in five specific contrasts. 50 00:04:46,240 --> 00:04:49,640 Contrast number one is a contrast in position. 51 00:04:49,640 --> 00:04:56,200 If you're taking notes, that's the first key word to notice, a contrast in position. 52 00:04:56,200 --> 00:05:00,720 The Bible says that there are only two kinds of people in the world, those who are born 53 00:05:00,720 --> 00:05:05,320 once and those who are born twice. 54 00:05:05,320 --> 00:05:08,320 That is seen in this contrast of position. 55 00:05:08,320 --> 00:05:13,520 Look in the last, or rather actually the middle part of our paragraph where it says in verse 56 00:05:13,520 --> 00:05:19,800 eight, those who are in the flesh cannot please God. 57 00:05:19,800 --> 00:05:26,160 You are not in the flesh, but in the Spirit, if indeed the Spirit of God dwells in you. 58 00:05:26,160 --> 00:05:29,360 So there is the contrast of position. 59 00:05:29,360 --> 00:05:36,880 There are those in the world tonight and in this room, undoubtedly, who are in the flesh. 60 00:05:36,880 --> 00:05:41,280 Then there are others who are in the Spirit. 61 00:05:41,280 --> 00:05:43,640 What is the difference? 62 00:05:43,640 --> 00:05:48,360 Those who are in the flesh, according to the Bible, are those who are without spiritual 63 00:05:48,360 --> 00:05:50,520 regeneration. 64 00:05:50,520 --> 00:05:54,800 They have no life of God within them. 65 00:05:54,800 --> 00:05:57,760 In the flesh is the way they're described. 66 00:05:57,760 --> 00:06:02,040 The word flesh is used in several ways in the New Testament. 67 00:06:02,040 --> 00:06:07,560 The context makes it clear as to which way it's intended to be understood. 68 00:06:07,560 --> 00:06:13,120 It is used in the sense of one's own physical body, the body of flesh and blood that we 69 00:06:13,120 --> 00:06:14,120 live in. 70 00:06:14,120 --> 00:06:18,120 It's used in the sense of ancestry. 71 00:06:18,120 --> 00:06:25,000 Jesus Christ was the son of David according to the flesh, his human ancestry. 72 00:06:25,000 --> 00:06:27,960 It's used in the sense here. 73 00:06:27,960 --> 00:06:32,560 That is, that unredeemed humanness. 74 00:06:32,560 --> 00:06:36,080 It is that part where sin dwells. 75 00:06:36,080 --> 00:06:41,640 It's used here of the essence of life apart from God. 76 00:06:41,640 --> 00:06:48,760 It is existence on the material level where there is no life of the Spirit. 77 00:06:48,760 --> 00:06:55,120 Melanchthon said it is the entire nature of man without the Holy Spirit. 78 00:06:55,120 --> 00:06:57,480 That's the flesh. 79 00:06:57,480 --> 00:07:03,280 The flesh is the natural man's identification before God. 80 00:07:03,280 --> 00:07:05,120 He's in the flesh. 81 00:07:05,120 --> 00:07:08,920 There's nothing spiritual about him. 82 00:07:08,920 --> 00:07:12,160 That is his position in the eyes of God. 83 00:07:12,160 --> 00:07:16,440 And frankly, he is the last to suspect it. 84 00:07:16,440 --> 00:07:21,160 He is the last to suspect that he is lost. 85 00:07:21,160 --> 00:07:26,600 His mind is darkened to that truth because he cannot receive the things of the Spirit 86 00:07:26,600 --> 00:07:28,160 of God. 87 00:07:28,160 --> 00:07:35,600 He believes himself to be religious, to somehow someday be acceptable with God when he gets 88 00:07:35,600 --> 00:07:38,280 there to heaven. 89 00:07:38,280 --> 00:07:43,240 He pictures the gate of heaven as though St. Peter is standing outside it and surely St. 90 00:07:43,240 --> 00:07:45,240 Peter will let him in. 91 00:07:45,240 --> 00:07:50,040 He does not suspect the awful condition that he's in. 92 00:07:50,040 --> 00:07:56,680 The fact is that he is lost and on his way to hell because in his position before God 93 00:07:56,680 --> 00:08:00,120 he's in the flesh, unregenerated. 94 00:08:00,120 --> 00:08:02,240 But then there are those who are in the Spirit. 95 00:08:02,240 --> 00:08:05,760 This is the regenerated person. 96 00:08:05,760 --> 00:08:12,000 The one who has experienced the reality of chapter 8 verse 2, in whom now the Spirit 97 00:08:12,000 --> 00:08:16,560 of life in Christ Jesus is operating. 98 00:08:16,560 --> 00:08:22,960 One who has trusted Christ, who has found the source of life in Christ and in the Holy 99 00:08:22,960 --> 00:08:24,680 Spirit. 100 00:08:24,680 --> 00:08:31,680 Jesus said that which is born of the flesh is flesh and that which is born of the Spirit 101 00:08:31,680 --> 00:08:32,800 is spirit. 102 00:08:32,800 --> 00:08:40,360 His contrast is further seen back in verse 5 where it says those who are according to 103 00:08:40,360 --> 00:08:47,480 the flesh and those who are according to the Spirit. 104 00:08:47,480 --> 00:08:55,000 Literally it says here those according to the flesh being, those according to the Spirit 105 00:08:55,000 --> 00:08:56,000 being. 106 00:08:56,000 --> 00:09:03,320 In other words, it's a matter of one's life's essence. 107 00:09:03,320 --> 00:09:09,600 There are those tonight whose being, whose very essence of meaning and life is in the 108 00:09:09,600 --> 00:09:13,000 flesh. 109 00:09:13,000 --> 00:09:18,920 Then there are those whose very life, whose very essence is in the Spirit. 110 00:09:18,920 --> 00:09:22,840 That is the contrast of position. 111 00:09:22,840 --> 00:09:28,520 Are you tonight still in the flesh because you've only been born once? 112 00:09:28,520 --> 00:09:32,720 That which is born of the flesh is flesh, Jesus said. 113 00:09:32,720 --> 00:09:38,400 Your need tonight is to be born of the Spirit of God, to be born again, born twice, because 114 00:09:38,400 --> 00:09:44,920 then you are born of the Spirit and you are in the Spirit. 115 00:09:44,920 --> 00:09:51,320 Well, that position leads to direction, the direction of life. 116 00:09:51,320 --> 00:09:53,000 That's the contrast. 117 00:09:53,000 --> 00:09:58,320 Going back now to verses 4 and 5 again, he speaks about those who walk according to the 118 00:09:58,320 --> 00:10:03,400 flesh, who set their minds on the things of the flesh. 119 00:10:03,400 --> 00:10:06,360 Do you see that? 120 00:10:06,360 --> 00:10:12,160 In contrast, he points to those who walk according to the Spirit and who set their minds on the 121 00:10:12,160 --> 00:10:16,040 things of the Spirit. 122 00:10:16,040 --> 00:10:24,240 The being, the essence of a person affects the direction of his life, what interests 123 00:10:24,240 --> 00:10:27,360 him, what motivates him. 124 00:10:27,360 --> 00:10:38,160 Those who are according to the flesh pursue, set their heart on, set their mind on the 125 00:10:38,160 --> 00:10:40,560 things of the flesh. 126 00:10:40,560 --> 00:10:49,760 Their preoccupation of life is with sensual, earthly, material things. 127 00:10:49,760 --> 00:10:52,920 That's the goal of their activities. 128 00:10:52,920 --> 00:10:57,000 This frankly is the man of the 80s. 129 00:10:57,000 --> 00:11:00,280 This is the man of our modern, contemporary culture. 130 00:11:00,280 --> 00:11:06,320 Of course, it's been true in every age, but never has it been perhaps so exposed in Western 131 00:11:06,320 --> 00:11:15,040 civilization as today, people who are fine, upstanding citizens, who are intelligent, 132 00:11:15,040 --> 00:11:23,200 who are scientific, who are cultured, who are refined, who are religious. 133 00:11:23,200 --> 00:11:29,320 They're not necessarily gross, immoral, dirty people. 134 00:11:29,320 --> 00:11:34,640 We're talking now about as well the person who is the member of the school board, pardon 135 00:11:34,640 --> 00:11:37,240 me, member of the school board. 136 00:11:37,240 --> 00:11:44,440 The person who is part of the philanthropic societies in our culture, who belongs to the 137 00:11:44,440 --> 00:11:47,040 community clubs. 138 00:11:47,040 --> 00:11:51,760 Here's the nice person who is without God. 139 00:11:51,760 --> 00:11:55,440 This person walks according to the flesh. 140 00:11:55,440 --> 00:12:00,100 It may not be a life of crime and immorality. 141 00:12:00,100 --> 00:12:08,500 It may be even that the life is given to serve others, but the fact is that those actions 142 00:12:08,500 --> 00:12:14,480 proceed from the flesh, which is alienated from God. 143 00:12:14,480 --> 00:12:27,800 But in contrast to that direction of life, which is what, 95% of our neighbors, we're 144 00:12:27,800 --> 00:12:33,040 talking now about your neighbors, about your neighborhood, about the place where you work, 145 00:12:33,040 --> 00:12:36,240 most of you. 146 00:12:36,240 --> 00:12:41,080 The people there walk, they conduct themselves, they behave themselves according to the flesh 147 00:12:41,080 --> 00:12:44,360 because that is the reality of their life. 148 00:12:44,360 --> 00:12:51,880 In contrast to that are those who because they are according to the spirit, walk according 149 00:12:51,880 --> 00:12:56,300 to the spirit, and they set their minds on the things of the spirit. 150 00:12:56,300 --> 00:13:02,760 You see, the Christian lives in another dimension, another realm of reality, another world. 151 00:13:02,760 --> 00:13:06,760 His motives are different, his objectives are different. 152 00:13:06,760 --> 00:13:16,280 Now, it's possible for a Christian to revert and for at least a period of time in his life 153 00:13:16,280 --> 00:13:21,240 to live according to the direction of his flesh. 154 00:13:21,240 --> 00:13:26,840 It's possible for a genuine Christian to be carnal, if it weren't, Paul wouldn't have 155 00:13:26,840 --> 00:13:30,280 called the Corinthian Christians carnal Christians. 156 00:13:30,280 --> 00:13:40,040 But what a tragic way to live, what a contradiction to one's existence to be alive by the spirit 157 00:13:40,040 --> 00:13:50,280 and then to live dominated by that old self, that unredeemed part of us called the flesh. 158 00:13:50,280 --> 00:13:55,760 That's why Paul writes even to the Colossians and he exhorts them and says, set your mind 159 00:13:55,760 --> 00:13:59,920 on things above, not on things on the earth. 160 00:13:59,920 --> 00:14:01,920 Why does he say that to them? 161 00:14:01,920 --> 00:14:07,720 Because it's so easy for all of us, even we are saved, to set our mind, that is to focus 162 00:14:07,720 --> 00:14:12,440 our lives on the things here below. 163 00:14:12,440 --> 00:14:21,400 So he says, set your minds, focus, not on things horizontal, things vertical, on things 164 00:14:21,400 --> 00:14:23,720 above. 165 00:14:23,720 --> 00:14:26,240 Contrast of direction. 166 00:14:26,240 --> 00:14:33,480 Now we come to our third contrast, it is the contrast of condition in verse 6. 167 00:14:33,480 --> 00:14:42,320 The mind set on the flesh is death, but the mind set on the spirit is life. 168 00:14:42,320 --> 00:14:47,000 Here is the contrast of the condition of a person, it's death and life. 169 00:14:47,000 --> 00:14:50,320 And it could not be a greater contrast. 170 00:14:50,320 --> 00:14:52,200 What does he mean by death? 171 00:14:52,200 --> 00:14:56,480 The mind set on the flesh is death. 172 00:14:56,480 --> 00:15:00,800 He's talking here about something that's present. 173 00:15:00,800 --> 00:15:09,040 It's a present condition, just as Romans 6.23 says, the wages of sin not will be death, 174 00:15:09,040 --> 00:15:13,800 but is death right now. 175 00:15:13,800 --> 00:15:20,880 Death is the result of the walk and the direction of the life. 176 00:15:20,880 --> 00:15:25,440 Because of a person's position in the flesh, he walks according to the flesh, that's the 177 00:15:25,440 --> 00:15:27,040 direction of his life. 178 00:15:27,040 --> 00:15:33,000 And that direction of his life determines the condition he lives in, it's death. 179 00:15:33,000 --> 00:15:39,680 Right now, every moment, the unsaved person lives in the condition of death, alienation 180 00:15:39,680 --> 00:15:40,920 from God. 181 00:15:40,920 --> 00:15:46,640 But that has a definite ethical result. 182 00:15:46,640 --> 00:15:54,760 The Amplified Bible says it's death that comprises all the miseries arising from sin, 183 00:15:54,760 --> 00:15:59,240 both here and hereafter. 184 00:15:59,240 --> 00:16:05,440 Mark Evington Wood, in his commentary, Life by the Spirit, puts it this way, so then those 185 00:16:05,440 --> 00:16:12,880 who make the flesh their ambition are even at this moment, this present moment, entombed 186 00:16:12,880 --> 00:16:13,880 in death. 187 00:16:13,880 --> 00:16:17,640 That's a thought, isn't it? 188 00:16:17,640 --> 00:16:22,160 They are not really alive at all, they are simply going through the motions. 189 00:16:22,160 --> 00:16:27,160 How different is the viewpoint of God's Word from the viewpoint of the world? 190 00:16:27,160 --> 00:16:33,040 Those who are absorbed in the flesh, imagine that they have found life. 191 00:16:33,040 --> 00:16:36,120 They are seeing life, they think. 192 00:16:36,120 --> 00:16:40,560 They are making the most of life, they are sampling the spice of life. 193 00:16:40,560 --> 00:16:47,440 But God pronounces them dead, dead through trespasses and sins, Ephesians 2, 1. 194 00:16:47,440 --> 00:16:52,400 They are sowing the seeds of final destruction. 195 00:16:52,400 --> 00:16:58,240 Paul tells Timothy, she who is self-indulgent is dead even while she lives. 196 00:16:58,240 --> 00:17:07,360 My friend, that is the condition of the one who is in the flesh, dead while he lives. 197 00:17:07,360 --> 00:17:10,680 The opposite of that is the one who is in the Spirit. 198 00:17:10,680 --> 00:17:14,520 The mind set on the Spirit, it says, is life. 199 00:17:14,520 --> 00:17:21,880 This word life again refers to a present condition, not just heaven by and by, it's wonderful. 200 00:17:21,880 --> 00:17:25,520 And is filled with hope as that is. 201 00:17:25,520 --> 00:17:28,640 He is talking about life here and now. 202 00:17:28,640 --> 00:17:34,880 The mind set on the Spirit is life, he says, is a quality of living. 203 00:17:34,880 --> 00:17:37,520 It's a blessed life, it's the fullness of life. 204 00:17:37,520 --> 00:17:43,840 Jesus said, I am come that they might have life and have it more abundantly. 205 00:17:43,840 --> 00:17:46,820 That is the life he is talking about. 206 00:17:46,820 --> 00:17:51,160 What is the condition in which you live today, honestly? 207 00:17:51,160 --> 00:17:55,920 Are you one who walks about, you go through the routine, you are a sincere person, a kind 208 00:17:55,920 --> 00:18:01,720 person, but because you have never trusted Jesus Christ as your Savior. 209 00:18:01,720 --> 00:18:08,000 Are you one who is entombed already while you live? 210 00:18:08,000 --> 00:18:13,400 The mind set on the flesh is death. 211 00:18:13,400 --> 00:18:17,880 How deceptive sin is, it makes us think we found something, it makes us think we found 212 00:18:17,880 --> 00:18:19,600 life. 213 00:18:19,600 --> 00:18:25,800 How I pity Shirley MacLaine and those who are following her as a guru and who are a 214 00:18:25,800 --> 00:18:28,560 whole part of that New Age movement. 215 00:18:28,560 --> 00:18:35,280 You know they think through some kind of self-discovery, they have tapped into the God within. 216 00:18:35,280 --> 00:18:38,920 And they are so deceived. 217 00:18:38,920 --> 00:18:46,720 And you know God is everywhere and we are God and it's a lie. 218 00:18:46,720 --> 00:18:53,400 But they think they found something, but the fact is they are entombed in death. 219 00:18:53,400 --> 00:19:00,020 Because what they have found is outside of Jesus Christ who is the life. 220 00:19:00,020 --> 00:19:02,440 The contrast of condition. 221 00:19:02,440 --> 00:19:06,060 Then there is the contrast of relation. 222 00:19:06,060 --> 00:19:08,760 Verses 6 through 8. 223 00:19:08,760 --> 00:19:15,960 He speaks about the mind of the flesh and he says in verse 7, it is hostile toward God. 224 00:19:15,960 --> 00:19:20,920 That's the relation toward God. 225 00:19:20,920 --> 00:19:22,360 Hostile. 226 00:19:22,360 --> 00:19:28,320 The mind of the one who is in the flesh is at war with God. 227 00:19:28,320 --> 00:19:29,720 He is in rebellion. 228 00:19:29,720 --> 00:19:33,000 He is in resistance. 229 00:19:33,000 --> 00:19:38,600 And the thought that somehow he must humble himself, that he must somehow repent of his 230 00:19:38,600 --> 00:19:43,040 sin, that somehow he must come through the narrow gate of faith in Jesus Christ, all 231 00:19:43,040 --> 00:19:46,840 of that turns him off. 232 00:19:46,840 --> 00:19:52,960 That kind of teaching just makes him angry inside because he doesn't like God telling 233 00:19:52,960 --> 00:19:54,800 him what he must do. 234 00:19:54,800 --> 00:19:57,560 He wants to do it his own way. 235 00:19:57,560 --> 00:19:59,800 That's the American way, isn't it? 236 00:19:59,800 --> 00:20:04,680 Yes, but it's not God's way. 237 00:20:04,680 --> 00:20:09,960 The mind that is set on the flesh is hostile, is at war with God. 238 00:20:09,960 --> 00:20:15,600 It says it does not subject itself to the law of God. 239 00:20:15,600 --> 00:20:19,720 Subject here is a military term. 240 00:20:19,720 --> 00:20:26,200 To subject means to line up, as the commanding officer says. 241 00:20:26,200 --> 00:20:30,920 It means to be united under the authority of the commander. 242 00:20:30,920 --> 00:20:40,280 The thought is here that the one who is unsaved has a whole mindset that is AWOL. 243 00:20:40,280 --> 00:20:45,760 It will not line up with the line God says to be on. 244 00:20:45,760 --> 00:20:55,400 God says this is the way, and this mindset says that is the way. 245 00:20:55,400 --> 00:21:03,000 How opposite this is to General Charles George Gordon, a military officer in the United States 246 00:21:03,000 --> 00:21:05,320 who every day would begin his day. 247 00:21:05,320 --> 00:21:11,060 He would get out of bed and the very first thing he would do would be to salute his commanding 248 00:21:11,060 --> 00:21:17,960 officer Jesus Christ, putting himself in line, subjecting himself the very first moment of 249 00:21:17,960 --> 00:21:18,960 the day. 250 00:21:18,960 --> 00:21:25,680 God goes on to say here that this mind in the flesh is not able to subject itself to 251 00:21:25,680 --> 00:21:26,680 God. 252 00:21:26,680 --> 00:21:32,480 It's the inevitable outcome of his warped perverted sense of God. 253 00:21:32,480 --> 00:21:40,080 It is simply not in him, says Skevington Wood, to love God or to recognize God's claim or 254 00:21:40,080 --> 00:21:43,280 submit to his wise and beneficent law. 255 00:21:43,280 --> 00:21:52,560 He goes on to say, those who are in the flesh cannot please God. 256 00:21:52,560 --> 00:21:59,440 Be good, turn over a new leaf, try harder, go through the rituals of the church, all 257 00:21:59,440 --> 00:22:06,720 of those things that seem to the flesh to be pleasing to God. 258 00:22:06,720 --> 00:22:11,020 But because he's in the flesh, he cannot please God. 259 00:22:11,020 --> 00:22:19,000 Or he does not please God, because to please God he must be in the Spirit. 260 00:22:19,000 --> 00:22:21,720 He must receive Jesus Christ. 261 00:22:21,720 --> 00:22:30,360 And that brings us to the mind of the Spirit, which it says here in verse 6 is peace. 262 00:22:30,360 --> 00:22:34,400 Here's the relation of the believer to God. 263 00:22:34,400 --> 00:22:37,600 It's peace, not hostility. 264 00:22:37,600 --> 00:22:38,920 He's no longer at war. 265 00:22:38,920 --> 00:22:42,800 He has surrendered to the divine conqueror. 266 00:22:42,800 --> 00:22:51,440 Therefore, having been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus 267 00:22:51,440 --> 00:22:53,080 Christ. 268 00:22:53,080 --> 00:22:55,760 The unsaved person cannot know this. 269 00:22:55,760 --> 00:23:02,320 The one who's trying to make it on his own can never be at peace with God until he comes 270 00:23:02,320 --> 00:23:08,800 to God God's way by faith in Jesus Christ. 271 00:23:08,800 --> 00:23:13,880 The implication is here that he is at peace with God because the righteousness of God 272 00:23:13,880 --> 00:23:15,240 is in his life. 273 00:23:15,240 --> 00:23:18,000 Not that he's perfect. 274 00:23:18,000 --> 00:23:19,000 He's not. 275 00:23:19,000 --> 00:23:22,480 But the fact is that when God looks at him, God sees him. 276 00:23:22,480 --> 00:23:27,000 He sees him identified with his son who is perfect. 277 00:23:27,000 --> 00:23:29,600 And God accepts him for Christ's sake. 278 00:23:29,600 --> 00:23:32,200 Therefore, there's peace. 279 00:23:32,200 --> 00:23:33,200 Peace with God. 280 00:23:33,200 --> 00:23:40,720 And finally, there's the contrast of possession, verses 9 through 11. 281 00:23:40,720 --> 00:23:44,280 What does the unsaved man possess? 282 00:23:44,280 --> 00:23:51,760 Nothing of the Spirit of God. 283 00:23:51,760 --> 00:23:57,560 He says in the last part of verse 9, if anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ, he does 284 00:23:57,560 --> 00:24:00,780 not belong to him. 285 00:24:00,780 --> 00:24:05,400 The one who is in the flesh does not have the Holy Spirit. 286 00:24:05,400 --> 00:24:10,960 Therefore, he does not have Jesus Christ as his Savior. 287 00:24:10,960 --> 00:24:19,760 And he's on his way to an eternity of ruin, of perishing, and fires of hell. 288 00:24:19,760 --> 00:24:22,580 That's his inheritance. 289 00:24:22,580 --> 00:24:24,280 That's what he possesses. 290 00:24:24,280 --> 00:24:26,440 Awful possession. 291 00:24:26,440 --> 00:24:31,840 But in contrast to that is the believer who enjoys really a double possession. 292 00:24:31,840 --> 00:24:38,080 These verses, it says that the believer has the Spirit, and the Spirit has him. 293 00:24:38,080 --> 00:24:42,020 That's the double possession. 294 00:24:42,020 --> 00:24:47,960 To have the Spirit of Christ dwelling within us is to have Jesus Christ dwelling within 295 00:24:47,960 --> 00:24:48,960 us. 296 00:24:48,960 --> 00:24:50,500 Notice that it says that. 297 00:24:50,500 --> 00:24:53,480 Verse 10 says, if Christ is in you. 298 00:24:53,480 --> 00:25:00,460 Verse 11 says, if the Spirit of him who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you. 299 00:25:00,460 --> 00:25:07,280 The if in both of those verses, by the way, is not conditional, but it's really understood. 300 00:25:07,280 --> 00:25:14,400 It's a first class condition, which really means since Christ is in you, since the Spirit 301 00:25:14,400 --> 00:25:20,840 of him who raised Jesus from the dead is in you. 302 00:25:20,840 --> 00:25:26,520 The double possession is that I have the Spirit of God, and the Spirit of God has me. 303 00:25:26,520 --> 00:25:28,000 And Christ is at home. 304 00:25:28,000 --> 00:25:30,420 He dwells within. 305 00:25:30,420 --> 00:25:31,520 He is the occupant. 306 00:25:31,520 --> 00:25:37,040 He is the resident of me and of you who belong to him. 307 00:25:37,040 --> 00:25:39,700 What an amazing thought that is. 308 00:25:39,700 --> 00:25:48,520 That the God who dwells in unapproachable light, as Paul says in 1 Timothy 6, 16, dwells in 309 00:25:48,520 --> 00:25:52,200 you and in me. 310 00:25:52,200 --> 00:25:59,840 And he says that the possession of the Spirit includes a future for our physical bodies. 311 00:25:59,840 --> 00:26:06,240 He says right now in verse 10 that the body is dead because of sin. 312 00:26:06,240 --> 00:26:11,080 That is, sin still works even in the body of the believer. 313 00:26:11,080 --> 00:26:15,460 He talked about that in chapter 7, remember? 314 00:26:15,460 --> 00:26:17,680 Our physical bodies right now are dead. 315 00:26:17,680 --> 00:26:19,560 That is, death works in them. 316 00:26:19,560 --> 00:26:27,480 Death dominates these physical bodies, and that's the direction we're headed in physically. 317 00:26:27,480 --> 00:26:30,280 But he says that's not the end. 318 00:26:30,280 --> 00:26:35,840 He says since the Spirit of him who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, he who 319 00:26:35,840 --> 00:26:42,920 raised Christ Jesus from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through his 320 00:26:42,920 --> 00:26:47,600 Spirit who indwells you. 321 00:26:47,600 --> 00:26:52,640 These bodies in which death works now will someday know life. 322 00:26:52,640 --> 00:26:57,600 The Holy Spirit will give us a new body like Christ. 323 00:26:57,600 --> 00:27:01,840 I look forward to that body, don't you? 324 00:27:01,840 --> 00:27:06,560 My brother-in-law and sister-in-law are here visiting with us for this week. 325 00:27:06,560 --> 00:27:08,640 He's been bemoaning the fact about how old he's getting. 326 00:27:08,640 --> 00:27:09,640 I agree with him. 327 00:27:09,640 --> 00:27:12,440 He is getting old. 328 00:27:12,440 --> 00:27:19,240 His body is wearing out, but I recognize the symptoms. 329 00:27:19,240 --> 00:27:22,280 Some of you who are young say, oh, it'll never happen to me. 330 00:27:22,280 --> 00:27:26,280 You wait around a while, you'll find out. 331 00:27:26,280 --> 00:27:33,320 Death works in these bodies, but these bodies will be raised. 332 00:27:33,320 --> 00:27:38,440 Not just like they are now, but like Jesus' body. 333 00:27:38,440 --> 00:27:45,520 The same God who raised him from the grave 2,000 years ago by the same power will raise 334 00:27:45,520 --> 00:27:51,720 us with a body just like Christ's which is fit for all of eternity. 335 00:27:51,720 --> 00:27:57,340 Oh, what a wonderful hope we have in the resurrection of the body. 336 00:27:57,340 --> 00:27:59,600 This body is subject to death. 337 00:27:59,600 --> 00:28:05,240 That body will never, ever be subject to death. 338 00:28:05,240 --> 00:28:06,240 What a possession. 339 00:28:06,240 --> 00:28:08,840 And what a contrast. 340 00:28:08,840 --> 00:28:11,740 The unsaved has no possession. 341 00:28:11,740 --> 00:28:16,980 Even the body he lives in now will one day be stripped from him. 342 00:28:16,980 --> 00:28:21,560 And to be resurrected in it one day only then again to experience what the Bible calls the 343 00:28:21,560 --> 00:28:28,320 second death which is to be cast into the lake of fire forever and forever. 344 00:28:28,320 --> 00:28:30,440 What a horrible thought. 345 00:28:30,440 --> 00:28:32,560 But what a just thought. 346 00:28:32,560 --> 00:28:42,800 For that is the recompense of a holy God to sin and to sinners who refuse him. 347 00:28:42,800 --> 00:28:45,720 For those of us who know Christ, what a possession. 348 00:28:45,720 --> 00:28:49,800 Now and forever in Jesus Christ. 349 00:28:49,800 --> 00:28:54,000 So hey, how do I get from the one to the other? 350 00:28:54,000 --> 00:28:56,240 How do I get from the flesh to the spirit? 351 00:28:56,240 --> 00:28:58,320 The answer is very simple. 352 00:28:58,320 --> 00:29:05,040 That which is born of the flesh is flesh and that which is born of the spirit is spirit. 353 00:29:05,040 --> 00:29:06,520 You need to be born again. 354 00:29:06,520 --> 00:29:09,880 So how do you do that? 355 00:29:09,880 --> 00:29:13,400 Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and you shall be saved. 356 00:29:13,400 --> 00:29:15,500 It's that simple. 357 00:29:15,500 --> 00:29:19,880 The gospel is that Jesus Christ came into this world, he died for your sins, he was 358 00:29:19,880 --> 00:29:21,440 buried, he rose again. 359 00:29:21,440 --> 00:29:23,320 That's the good news. 360 00:29:23,320 --> 00:29:29,840 God has done everything and the only thing possible to save you from your sin, from your 361 00:29:29,840 --> 00:29:34,520 flesh, from the direction of your life, from the condition you live in and from your eternal 362 00:29:34,520 --> 00:29:36,060 destiny. 363 00:29:36,060 --> 00:29:38,480 God has done it all to save you. 364 00:29:38,480 --> 00:29:43,840 But now you must personally appropriate that and receive it by faith. 365 00:29:43,840 --> 00:29:45,600 Will you do that tonight? 366 00:29:45,600 --> 00:29:51,560 If you've never done it before, maybe you've been religious, you've been a good person, 367 00:29:51,560 --> 00:29:54,880 but it's all been in the flesh. 368 00:29:54,880 --> 00:29:59,000 Will you trust the Savior tonight? 369 00:29:59,000 --> 00:30:06,600 Receive Jesus Christ and in so doing be born again so that you're in the spirit. 370 00:30:06,600 --> 00:30:10,280 Join us, won't you, in the family of God? 371 00:30:10,280 --> 00:30:15,240 Enjoy with us, won't you, the inheritance that belongs to the sons of God? 372 00:30:15,240 --> 00:30:20,800 Let's bow together. 373 00:30:20,800 --> 00:30:27,880 I wonder if there may be someone here this evening who has never trusted in Jesus Christ 374 00:30:27,880 --> 00:30:30,880 as Savior. 375 00:30:30,880 --> 00:30:40,360 Perhaps a church goer, a good person, but will you recognize that neither going to church 376 00:30:40,360 --> 00:30:43,280 or being good can please God. 377 00:30:43,280 --> 00:30:50,680 The only thing that can please God is that you repent of your sin and trust his Son, 378 00:30:50,680 --> 00:30:53,840 whom he gave for you. 379 00:30:53,840 --> 00:30:59,000 Will you right now exercise faith in your heart? 380 00:30:59,000 --> 00:31:04,400 Will you tell Jesus Christ that you do believe in him, not just as an historical figure, 381 00:31:04,400 --> 00:31:10,920 but as one that you are receiving into your life right now to redeem you, to forgive you, 382 00:31:10,920 --> 00:31:15,480 to give you new life? 383 00:31:15,480 --> 00:31:19,520 Will you commit the saving of your soul to him? 384 00:31:19,520 --> 00:31:21,800 You don't have to come forward to do it. 385 00:31:21,800 --> 00:31:24,720 You can do it right there where you're seated. 386 00:31:24,720 --> 00:31:28,080 For that matter, you can do it beside your bed at home tonight alone. 387 00:31:28,080 --> 00:31:31,040 But oh, I pray that you will do that. 388 00:31:31,040 --> 00:31:36,920 Oh, may God, I pray that these that you're speaking to will make that decision. 389 00:31:36,920 --> 00:31:44,800 Father, open their eyes to see and quicken their hearts to believe on the Son of God. 390 00:31:44,800 --> 00:31:54,880 In whom there is life and apart from whom there is only, only death. 391 00:31:54,880 --> 00:32:00,920 Before I finish praying, I want to just ask those of us who are Christians tonight, my 392 00:32:00,920 --> 00:32:03,400 friend, are you dominated by the flesh? 393 00:32:03,400 --> 00:32:12,600 Oh, you're in the Spirit, but the flesh tonight is controlling you. 394 00:32:12,600 --> 00:32:18,200 Walk in the Spirit and you will not fulfill the lusts of the flesh. 395 00:32:18,200 --> 00:32:22,400 That principle of sin operates within you and it will until that day that we get the 396 00:32:22,400 --> 00:32:27,120 new body or we're with the Lord. 397 00:32:27,120 --> 00:32:36,720 But will you tonight say, Lord Jesus, I give myself to you afresh and I ask the Holy Spirit 398 00:32:36,720 --> 00:32:38,720 to dominate me. 399 00:32:38,720 --> 00:32:43,160 I would be done with the flesh and its death. 400 00:32:43,160 --> 00:32:54,080 I want the Spirit to produce in me the life of Jesus Christ and its abundance. 401 00:32:54,080 --> 00:32:57,000 Would that be your decision? 402 00:32:57,000 --> 00:32:59,920 Don't go on in your misery. 403 00:32:59,920 --> 00:33:05,420 May Christ Lord tonight. 404 00:33:05,420 --> 00:33:11,640 Would you stand together with me please? 405 00:33:11,640 --> 00:33:17,600 Now Father, as we depart from this place, we depart with joy in our hearts. 406 00:33:17,600 --> 00:33:24,500 Is the joy of having been together, having shared together in precious things, having 407 00:33:24,500 --> 00:33:28,280 heard the voice of the Lord through the Word. 408 00:33:28,280 --> 00:33:35,680 We pray that this week as we go about the routine of the assignment you've given us, 409 00:33:35,680 --> 00:33:40,900 we might do that in a way that would please you. 410 00:33:40,900 --> 00:33:44,720 Not in some legalistic sense, but in a life giving sense. 411 00:33:44,720 --> 00:33:50,360 We might walk with you in grace and know the joy of your fellowship daily. 412 00:33:50,360 --> 00:33:55,280 May we intimately worship with you so that when we come together, if you tarry in seven 413 00:33:55,280 --> 00:34:03,040 days, we may do so with our hearts filled so that we may truly worship you together 414 00:34:03,040 --> 00:34:06,040 as a congregation. 415 00:34:06,040 --> 00:34:11,040 To that end, we ask your blessing on us in Jesus' name, amen. 416 00:34:11,040 --> 00:34:25,720 Thanks for coming tonight and God bless you.