Alright brethren, let's turn
to Romans chapter 8. Romans chapter 8, let's read
verse 5. They that are after the flesh
do mind the things of the flesh. But they that are after the Spirit
the things of the Spirit. And here you have two different
kinds of people. They that are after the flesh
and they that are after the Spirit. And you have these two kinds
of people having their minds set on two different things. They that are after the flesh
do mind the things of the flesh. But they that are after the Spirit
do mind the things of the Spirit. Now which one am I? Which one are you? Which do we
have our minds set on? Things of the flesh or things
of the Spirit? I've titled this After the Flesh,
After the Spirit. Those who are after the flesh
mind only fleshly things. That's all their minds are set
on, fleshly things. But those who are after the Spirit
mind things of the Spirit. Which are you? Which am I? What do we have our minds set
on? Let's take each word in this statement and learn what it means.
First of all, let's consider those who are after the flesh.
Verse 5 says, They that are after the flesh do mind the things
of the flesh. Now the word flesh here doesn't
refer to your skin. It means the sin nature. the
nature of sin, the heart of sin, the mind of sin. All who are
born of the flesh are after the flesh. The Lord Jesus said, that
which is born of the flesh is flesh. And that which is born
of the spirit is spirit. Now the first time we're born,
when we're born the first time, every person is born of the flesh. We're born of corrupt seed. And so every person is of the
flesh. We have a corrupt sin nature.
Corrupt seed is corrupt semen. And we're conceived of corrupt
semen from our earthly father. This began with Adam. He passed
it from father to son, and that son passed it from father to
son, all the way down to us. Adam, I've said this to you many
times, Adam was the federal head and representative of all mankind. So when Adam sinned against God
in the garden, all men sinned against God in the garden. We
legally became guilty before God because Adam represented
us. He represented us. What he did,
we did. But not only that, when Adam
transgressed in the garden, Adam died spiritually. God said he
would. And He did. He died spiritually. It means God removed His Holy
Spirit from Adam. And when he removed his spirit
from Adam, Adam's nature became nothing but corruption. That's
all filth, corruption, sin. And when the spirit withdrew,
Adam died spiritually. And dying spiritually, he began
to die physically. That was the beginning of his
physical death in that moment when the spirit was withdrawn
from him. So, when Adam begat a son, The scripture says, it
doesn't say he begat a son after God's image. Adam was created
after God's image. But when he had a son, because
that son was conceived from Adam in the womb, that son was conceived
in sin. So that he was a sinner. He was
sin in his mother's womb. And the scripture says that Adam
begat a son in his own likeness after his image. That's why the
scripture tells us that we have to be born again, created of
God, after his image. We have to be created again.
We have to be created anew. And we have to be created after
the image of God. Because we are born with the
image of Adam. That is what we are born with.
So be sure to get this. Now when we talk here about those
in this verse that are after the flesh, it means every sinner
who has not been born again by the Holy Spirit, by the incorruptible
seed, by the Word of God. They have only the corrupt sin
nature. They have only the flesh. And
so, therefore, they that are after the flesh do mind the things
of the flesh. Now, it says here, they mind
the things of the flesh. Now, this doesn't just refer
merely to the things that we need in this life. There are
some things we have to have in this life. We need things for
our body's health, We need things to improve our minds. We need
things to improve our state of life, homes and food and money
and material things. We need leisure. We need pleasure
to rest our bodies and rejuvenate our bodies. And all of those
things can be sought after lawfully. They can all be sought after
lawfully. So it doesn't merely mean those things when it says
things of the flesh. It means that the carnal man's
motive, That motive is everything with God. Motive is everything. A man could do a good work and
it be a good work. I mean what he is doing could
be a good work. But if his motive is evil, if his motive is sinful,
if he is seeking to justify himself, to sanctify himself, to gain
a reward with God, to gain God's favor, to whatever it is that
he is doing to try to come to God by his work, then that good
work becomes an evil work. His motive is everything. And
the carnal mind's motive is evil. His will and his affections,
they're all sinful. Everything is sinful about the
carnal man. He's in a state of enmity against
God. A constant continual state of
hatred against God. And therefore the fleshly sinner
does all things for self only. That's the only motive, that's
the only reason behind everything He does. God, just like the Lord
said in Genesis, I won't have you turn there because we saw
it just the other day, but He said the thoughts, every thought
of the imagination of His heart is only evil continually. He's in a constant state of sin. And so the fleshly man will not
and he cannot deny himself. Self is his God. Self is the
beginning and end of everything the carnal mind does, the fleshly
man does. There's no spirit of God in the
fleshly sinner's heart. The spirit of God's not there,
therefore the love of God's not there. He's not constrained by
the love of God. He's not constrained by grace.
He's a slave to his nature. He can only do what his nature
dictates he must do. He has to do what his nature
dictates he do. That's all he can do. And he
has no faith in his heart, no faith in God, no faith in the
Lord Jesus Christ, without which it's impossible to please God. In the natural born state, the
carnal man can only mind fleshly things. That's all he can mind. The fleshly mind is totally contrary
to the true and living God. It's totally opposite to God.
Now turn to 1 John chapter 2. 1 John chapter 2. And look at verse 15. Here is
what the carnal man's mind is set on, the fleshly man, the
fleshly sinner, the natural born sinner. Verse 15 says, Love not
the world, neither the things that are in the world. If any
man love the world, the love of the Father is not in him.
In fact, let me read what James says about that. Over in James
4, he says this. He says, He says, Know ye not that the friendship
of the world is enmity with God? The friendship of the world is
enmity with God. Whosoever therefore will be a
friend of the world is the enemy of God. Whoever is the friend
of the world is the enemy of God. Now he says here, Love not
the world. 1 John 2.15 Love not the world,
neither the things that are in the world. If any man love the
world, the love of the Father is not in him. The love of the
Father is not in him. For all that is in the world.
Now here is what the fleshly man's mind is set on. The lust
of the flesh. Whatever the flesh is lusting
after. and the lust of the eyes. Whatever he sees with his eyes. It's all carnal. You got to see
it to want it. And that's all he lusts after
is what he can see. That's why he doesn't long after
spiritual things. He can't see spiritual things.
The lust of the eyes and the pride of life. This life is nothing
but pride. Everything we do is about pride.
That's what it's about in this world. And that's all the fleshly
man is seeking, the pride of life. But this is not of the
Father, but it is of the world. And the world passes away, and
the lust thereof. All these things that the fleshly
man has his mindset on are all passing away. But he that doeth
the will of God abideth forever. Now, let me say this one more
time. I'm trying to put it as plainly
as I can put it. Everything that God hates, everything that the
true and living God, the holy God hates, the carnal fleshly
man loves. The fleshly carnal man judges
it to be good. God hates it. He judges it to
be good. God hates it, but the fleshly
man seeks it and savors it. And then everything that God
loves, Everything that holy God loves, the fleshly man hates
it. He hates it. He judges it to
be bad and he avoids it. He avoids it. Now, this is so
without him even trying to do it. He doesn't have to work this
up in himself. This is so without him even trying
to do this whatsoever. It's natural to the fleshly carnal
mind and it can't be otherwise. It cannot be otherwise. So, read
it again. They that are after the flesh
do mind the things of the flesh. Now, Senator, does this describe
you? What is your mind set on? Let's be honest with ourselves. What is our mind set on? What is our heart set on? Is it set on fleshly things?
Or is it set on the things of God? Here is a question. What can the fleshly sinner do
to change his state? What can he do to change this
state he is born in? He can do nothing. There is absolutely
nothing a man can do to change this state into which he is born.
Nothing. He can't change his flesh. Job 25 verse 4 says, How then
can man be justified with God? Or how can he be clean that is
born of a woman? Job 14, verse 4 says, Who can
bring a clean thing out of an unclean? Not one. And I know
what folks will say. Folks will say, Well then, why
does God find fault with me? If I can't change the way I am,
why does He find fault with me? Because we sinned in our head. Because we transgressed against
God in our head. That's why. That's why. And because we've transgressed
against God. That's what our nature is. That's
what we've done. That's why. If you had a whole
group of men, and they're following this one leader, and he's worked
out this whole plan, and he goes in and robs a bank, and they
all rob a bank, and they all get caught, and they're guilty,
and all of them are guilty. And there's no way they can justify
themselves. There's no way they can change
their state. They're guilty. for the law of
the land. They're guilty. They can't do
anything. It would be foolish for them all to then say, well,
if we're all guilty and we can't change it, why do they find fault
with us? Because you're guilty. That's
why. Well, it's no different. If all men are fallen in sin
and all men can't change their state, so then all men are going
to say, well, why then does he find fault with me if I can't
change my state? Because you're guilty. That's
why. Guilty. Not only can a fleshly
man not do anything to change his condition, he don't want
to change his condition. Look at 1 Corinthians 2. 1 Corinthians
chapter 2. He doesn't want to change his
condition. I preach and I... I try to do what the Lord told
Jeremiah to do. He said, don't. He said, ignore
the faces. Just preach the gospel. But you
can tell when you're preaching. You can somewhat get an idea
of who delights to hear what they're hearing and who just
hates it or just doesn't have any interest whatsoever. Why
is that? Here you are, you're hearing
the things of God. If God gives you a new heart,
this is how He's going to do it. He's going to do it through
this Gospel. And yet folks hear this and just don't care. Why? Look here, 1 Corinthians 2.14,
The natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God,
for they are foolishness unto him. Neither can he know them,
because they are spiritually discerned. Christ said this. He said, I have come in my Father's
name and you receive me not. God came down. God came and walked
this earth. God in human flesh walked this
earth. Evidently God. By the miracles
He did. No man ever did works like Christ
did. No man ever had God speak from
heaven and say, this is my beloved Son in whom I am well pleased.
evidently the Son of God. And yet men would not receive
Him. He said, I've come in my Father's
name and you receive me not. And He said, if another shall
come in his own name, him you will receive. Here I am preaching
in the name of God. Here I am preaching to you the
Word of God. I'm showing you in the Scripture
what God says in His Word. But the natural man doesn't receive
it. But here comes some yahoo down the pike in his own name
with some thing that he's come up with, some novel thing, telling
you how you can have peace and riches and health and wealth
and prosperity and men will just latch on to it. But just the things of God, they
just turn a blind eye and a deaf ear to and a hard heart to and
say, I don't want anything to do with that. Christ said, How
can you believe which receive honor one of another and seek
not that honor that cometh from God only? How can you believe
when you have your heart set to latch on to every new thing
that comes along from every Tom, Dick and Harry that comes along
but yet won't hear God speak and receive that which God alone
can give? Those that are after the flesh
can become religious though. You know a fleshly man can become
guilty. He can feel guilty in his conscience.
He can be afraid of hell. Nobody wants to go to hell. You
don't have to be an imbecile to want to go to hell. Everybody
wants to go to heaven. And a fleshly man can decide
at some point in his life and say, okay, it's time now to make
a decision for Christ. And so he's baptized and he joins
the church and he can even go to church services consistently. Show up and go. He can do all
that stuff, but while he's in his flesh, while he's still the
natural man he is, even his religion is nothing but the lust of his
flesh. It's nothing but him satisfying
his own fleshly lust, his own fleshly will, his own fleshly
affections and worshipping the God of his own fleshly imagination. That's all it is. He can desire
God's gifts, but he can't make himself desire the giver. He can't bow to the true and
living God. He can say he's a sinner. Anybody can say he's a sinner.
but he cannot hit his face before God with his heart just broken
within him and confess that all he is is a God-hating rebel worthy
of death. He can't do that. He just can't
do that. He can't turn his mind, or he
can turn his mind from an outward fleshly sin. He can turn away
from that. He can adopt a new way of life.
but he can't change his motives. He cannot make himself say, I
can't do anything to please God. I cannot do anything whatsoever
to justify myself and sanctify myself and redeem myself and
make myself acceptable with God. He cannot make himself turn from
that thought and from that motive and from seeking a reward and
trying to make God indebted to Him. He cannot turn Himself from
that motive. He cannot. He can't give Himself
a new heart. That's what I'm saying. His fleshly
will is going to be what it always is and His fleshly affections
will be what it always is. He cannot mortify the deeds of
His flesh. He's captive to His flesh. He's
absolutely captive and he can't free himself whatsoever. He cannot
make himself seek God first. He can't make God first in his
heart. He just can't do it. That's why
God the Holy Spirit says here in Romans 8, look at verse 6.
He says, to be carnally minded is death. It's death. And then he says in verse 7,
because the carnal mind is enmity against God. It hates God. It's not subject to the law of
God. Not subject to God's law. It won't hear the law of Mount
Sinai speak to him and say he's guilty and that he's shut his
mouth. He won't bow to that. He thinks
he can come to God by the law. Nor can he hear any other aspect
of God's Word. He can't hear what this Word
is saying. And it says, and neither indeed can he be. He can't be
subject to it. So then, look at verse 8, they
that are in the flesh cannot please God. Now, this is why
the fact that all mankind is born this way, this is why the
Lord Jesus Christ said this. Look at John 3. This is why when
He was speaking in Nicodemus, this is why He made this statement,
John 3, 3. Jesus answered and said unto
him, Verily, verily, I say unto thee, Except a man be born again,
he cannot see the kingdom of God. Look at verse 6. That which
is born of the flesh is flesh, and that which is born of the
Spirit is spirit. Marvel not that I said unto thee, You must
be born again. Now the Lord Jesus Christ is
not suggesting here that there's something a man can do in order
to be born again. That's not what He's suggesting.
There was a famous evangelist one time that wrote a book called
How to be Born Again. That's free willism. That's works
religion when you tell a man how to be born again. That's
not what the Lord Jesus was doing. In fact, look here, when Nicodemus
said this, when he said in verse 4, he said, Can a man enter a
second time into his mother's womb and be born? Even with his
smart aleck remark, you can see that he was minding the things
of the flesh. All he could think about, all Nicodemus could hear
when he heard Christ speaking was, How can I make myself be
born again? That's all he had his mindset
on. So he couldn't hear Christ. He couldn't hear there was foolishness
to him what Christ was saying. That's all a natural man can
think. But look at John 3, 5. Jesus
answered, Verily, verily, I say unto thee, Except a man be born
of water and of the Spirit, Except he be born of God's grace. That's
what's spoken of as water in the Scripture. Of His grace.
Except he be born of God's Word. That's spoken of as water in
the Scripture. And of God the Holy Spirit. Except he be born
of God. He can't enter the Kingdom of
God. Christ has declared God must
do this. He must do the work. And He says
here that God does this work irresistibly and God alone does
it in verse 8. He said the wind blows where
it lifts it. and you hear the sound thereof, but can't tell
whence it cometh and whither it goeth. So is everyone that's
born of the Spirit. Now, since this is the state
of every sinner, they're God-hating rebels and have their minds set
on the flesh and they can't do otherwise, and they must be born
of God to change this, to make a new state, to bring them into
a new state, Therefore, that tells us, brethren, there's nothing
in the sinner to merit this. There's absolutely nothing in
the sinner to make God have to give you life. Nothing. There's
nothing that indebts God to us whatsoever. And yet the scripture
says, without faith it's impossible to please God. They that come
to God must believe that He is and that He is a rewarder of
them that seek Him. But they that are in the flesh
cannot please God. If God had chosen to leave every
sinner in this state, could He have not done with His own what
He will? Sure he could have. He wouldn't have been unjust
to do it. If God left us all in this state of flesh, we would
all one day face God in the judgment and be justly condemned because
we all sinned against God. But thanks be to God, God graciously,
He graciously chose to give life to some of Adam's fallen race.
He did. That's what grace is. Grace is
God giving you what you don't deserve. You can't merit it. It's God
giving it. And He's chosen to do it through
what we're doing right here. Through the means of gospel preaching. Preaching that declares the three
R's. Ruin by the fall. Redemption by the blood. And
regeneration by the Holy Spirit. This is the message through which
God is going to save His people. Now the first thing God's going
to do is He's going to bring us to know we're sinners. He's
going to bring us to know that we are flesh and all we mind
is flesh and that we cannot do otherwise. He's going to bring
us to confess what we are. Has God started doing that to
anybody here? Has God made you see this? Has
God made you understand what you are? and made you have a
broken heart and made you see that you are at the mercy of
God? Because we are. We are at the
mercy of God. We cannot whatsoever save ourselves. We have to have God to save us.
Alright, that's the fleshly man. Let's look now at this spiritual
man. Verse 5 says, But they that are
after the Spirit do mind the things of the Spirit. And those
who are after the Spirit were originally in the same sinful
God-hating state as these other sinners were, as all sinners
were. You're familiar with Ephesians 2. I don't have to read it to
you. But he says, You hath he quickened who were dead in sin.
He says, In time past you walked according to the course of the
world, according to the prince of the power of air, the spirit
that now works in the children of disobedience. He said, among
whom also we all had our conduct in time past in the lust of our
flesh, of our flesh, fulfilling the desires of our mind, of our
fleshly mind. We were by nature the children
of wrath even as others. But God who is rich in mercy,
for his great love wherewith he loved us, even when we were
dead, quickened us together with Christ. For by grace are ye saved. And then again in Titus 3, we
saw it just this past Sunday. In Titus 3 he said, we ourselves
were sometimes foolish and disobedient. Deceived, serving different lusts
and pleasures, living in malice and envy, hateful and hating
one another. That's what we are. We were flesh and we didn't mind
anything but the flesh. But after that, God, the kindness
and love of God our Savior toward man appeared. Not by works of
righteousness which we've done, but according to His mercy He
saved us. by the washing of regeneration
and the renewing of the Holy Ghost, which He shed on us abundantly
through Jesus Christ, that we should be made heirs according
to the hope of eternal life. There's two scriptures, two scriptures
that declares everybody God saved, everybody God gives spiritual
life were sinners just like everybody else. And both those scriptures
say He didn't do it because of our works, He didn't do it because
of our merit, He did it by His grace alone. God did it by His
grace alone. And therefore, when we're born
again of God, all by God, by His grace, that's when we become
after the Spirit. We're made after the Spirit then. That's what I tell you. They
that are after the Spirit. It means that now we have an
inner man, a new man, a new nature created of the Holy Spirit. We've
been born of the Holy Spirit. We've been conceived of incorruptible
seed. by the grace of God, by the Spirit
of God, by the Word of God. Look at 1 Peter 1.23. Being born again a second time,
born anew, not of corruptible seed, that's how we were born
the first time, but of incorruptible. That means it cannot ever be
corrupted. By the word of God, which liveth
and abideth forever. For all flesh, this is all we
were, all flesh is grass. And all the glory of man is the
flower of grass. The grass withereth and the flower
thereof falleth away. But the word of the Lord endureth
forever, and this is the word which by the gospel is preached
unto you. Now this is why in the very next
chapter he says, Now lay aside the flesh, everything that pertains
to the flesh, lay that aside, and as newborn babies desire
the sincere milk of the word that you may grow thereby, if
so be you've tasted that the Lord is gracious. With both of
my children, It may not be this way with all children. I only
have two. I don't know about all others,
but I do know about these two. They had to be made to taste
the milk whenever they were born. But once they were made to taste
that milk, they didn't have to be begged to taste that milk
anymore. They tasted that milk. And once they tasted that milk,
when they were hungry, they were latched on. and went to drink
in the milk. And I will tell you something,
when a man's been born of God and born of the Spirit of God
and he's tasted that the Lord is gracious, he doesn't have
to be talked in to desiring the sincere milk of the Word. He
doesn't have to be coerced into seeking this Word, reading this
Word, hearing this Word, seeking God in the Word. He does not
have to be guilted into the Word. He desires the Word. He minds
the things of God. because he is seeking after God. He desires God. The Holy Spirit,
when He gives us life, God begins to teach us. He begins to teach
us what great price He had to pay in order to give you life. He teaches us that He sent His
only begotten Son. He gave His Son. God gave His
Son that He might give us life. He gave His Son. And His Son
came to this earth and was made of a woman. This is what God
teaches us. These are the things of God that
God begins to teach us when we're born of God and become walking
after the Spirit. He teaches us Christ came to
where we are and Christ was made of a woman. He had to be formed,
a body had to be formed of the Holy Ghost in the womb of a virgin
so that He could assume that body and come forth the God-man. Man and God in one body because
He couldn't be born of Adam or He'd have been a sinner like
us. He had to be conceived of the Holy Ghost of incorruptible
seed. And come forth holy. And He had to be made under the
law because He's representing all His people. He's walking
as the representative man, the last Adam, the head and representative
of His people. And He's fulfilling all righteousness
for God and His people. And then He took the sin of His
people. And then He took the justice
that His people deserve. And on that cross, For God and
for His people, Christ fulfilled the active precepts of the law. The law summed up in this. Love
God and your neighbor as yourself. And that's what Christ did actively
on that cross by His obedience unto death. And He did it while
He was also, by the fact that He also was justifying His people
of all our sins. There you got the precept and
the penalty of the law being fulfilled all at one time by
the Lord Jesus Christ's obedience unto death on the cross. That's
the righteousness of God. There never been a more selfless
act performed by anybody at any time ever and there never will
be. Because that's the glory of God. That's the righteousness
of God. That's the righteousness of the
law. And Christ himself fulfilled it completely. And this is what
He makes us to know when He comes and He gives us a new heart and
begins to teach us that when Christ's cry is finished, the
debt I owe was paid in full. Paid in full. Now, God's not
only just, God is the one who justified me. He's the justifier. To declare, I say at this time,
His righteousness, that He might be just and the justifier of
him that believeth in Jesus. He's just and the justifier.
And God teaches us these things when we're born of the Spirit.
And so, He makes us to mind the things of the Spirit. What are
the things of the Spirit? Look at 1 Corinthians 2. 1 Corinthians
2 and verse 9. As it is written, 1 Corinthians
2, 9. As it is written, I hath not
seen nor ear heard, neither have entered into the heart of man
the things. The things. Our text says that
he that is after the Spirit walks, minds the things of the Spirit.
It's not entered into the heart of man the things which God hath
prepared for them that love Him. The reason we love Him is because
God prepared these things for us and brought them to us and
made us put His love in our heart constraining us to love Him.
And it says here, But God hath revealed them, these things,
unto us by His Spirit. For the Spirit searcheth all
things, yea, the deep things of God. For what man knoweth
the things of a man, save the spirit of the man which is in
him? Even so the things of God knoweth no man but the Spirit
of God. Now we have received not the
spirit of the world, but the Spirit which is of God. The Spirit
which is of God, that we might know the things that are freely
given to us of God. Now, when all you had your mind
set on was was music, and food, and money, and business, and
all these different things. And now God has made you to be
alive, made you to see what great things He's done for you, made
you to see how ruined you were, and He made you to see what Christ
has done, and He showed you the things that God has freely given
to you. Now, what do you think your mind
is going to be sitting on? You're going to be set on the things
of God. They that are after the Spirit do mind the things of
the Spirit. The things we're talking about
right here, right now. Grace. Grace. Why is it called sovereign grace?
Because God chooses whom He will. God's sovereign to choose whom
He will and pass by whom He will. Why do we call it free grace? Because we didn't merit it. Sovereign
and free grace. This is what we mind. We have
our mind set on these things. Redemption accomplished by the
blood of the Lord Jesus Christ fully, finally, freely, forever. That's what we have our mind
set on. Regeneration by the Holy Spirit who keeps us and grows
us. These are the things we have
our mind set on. I've not been talking about anything
new here tonight. I've been sitting here talking
about things that you know well. But you know the script, preaching
of the gospel is not to declare new things. Don't ever try to
be novel and new preaching the gospel. Preaching of the gospel
is this, put them in remembrance. That's preaching of the gospel.
Put them in remembrance. Paul told Timothy, he said, If
thou put the brethren in remembrance of these things, thou shalt be
a good minister of Jesus Christ, nourished up in the words of
faith and of good doctrine whereunto thou hast attained. Paul told
the Philippians, he said, to write the same things to you
again is not grievous to me. And for you, it's safe. Why,
how can you just keep saying the same things over and over?
You know what the flesh needs? Merle Haggard said it. My hat don't hang on the same
nail too long. I can't stand to hear the same
old song. They got to have something new. Always something new. But
this is what the scripture says. It's of the Lord's mercies that
we're not consumed because His compassions fail not. They're
new every morning. He's newly given us compassion
and grace, newly every day. And He makes it new in our hearts
because He's great and He's faithful. And once we've been born and
taught, then we can't get enough of hearing and of reading these
things which God has freely given us and continues to freely give
us for Christ's sake. We can't get enough of drawing
near to His throne of grace. We can't get enough of seeking
to please God in all things. And you grow in that more and
more and more. This is what I know. I know this by experience. I
was a baby. When God saved me. God saved
me, He made me a baby in Christ. Weak, stumbling, falling, erring
baby. With a lot of flesh. But He kept
me. And He made it so that my flesh
could not have its way with me. So that I couldn't be carried
away in my flesh. As hard as I tried to. And this is the one consistency.
He always gave me a heart to seek this Word, to search this
Word, to hear His Gospel preached and seek His Word. I've got boxes full of cassette
tapes and notebooks full of writings where this was the one constant. Always seeking His face in His
Gospel. Always. Desiring Him. What's
the first thought that enters your mind when you wake up in
the morning? Those that after the flesh wake up thinking, what
can I do for my flesh today? What are the fleshy things I
got to do today? But the believer, sooner or later, he is going
to mind the things of the Spirit. He may not wake up immediately,
he will sooner or later though. When bad happens, where does
your mind go? Those that are after the flesh, think of fleshly
things. Fleshly ways to fix it. And the
believers got a lot of flesh left. That's all. Our old man
is ugly and as sinful as he ever was. That old nature is still
with us. It hadn't been fixed, modified,
anything done to it. It's what it is. But God doesn't
let it dominate anymore. He doesn't rule us anymore. And
whenever bad happens, We thank God for the bad. Our minds are
set on God. We needed the bad to happen.
It's good for me that I've been afflicted, that I might learn
thy statutes. Whether it's good or bad, we know it came from
God's hand. And it's to wean us from this world. It's to keep
us right where we need to be at the feet of Christ Jesus our
Savior, minding the things of the Spirit. That's where we need
to be. What's the last thought on your mind before you fall
asleep at night? The fleshly man is thinking of
what fleshly things he is going to do tomorrow or didn't get
done today. The spiritual man is thinking
God. He is thinking God. Who receives the glory for this?
Not me and not you. God does. The Spirit of God entered
in. The Spirit of God gave us life.
The Spirit of God keeps turning us to Christ and won't let us
turn from Christ. He gets all the glory. When we're
lukewarm, you know what? It hurts us now. It mourns us now because Christ
was zealous when He came and served for His people. He was
zealous when He served for us and put away our sin. Whenever
we see our sin, it makes us to mourn now because Christ Jesus
the Lord paid. He came and bled because of my
sin. I don't want to sin. But that's
all because of the Spirit of God that we have that now. We
didn't have that before. Now we mind the things of the
Spirit. Now we mind the things of the
Spirit. But this is the truth. You're not in the flesh, but
in the Spirit. If so, be the Spirit of God dwelling
in you. You're in a constant continual state of grace now. That can't be changed. Now, let's
read it again. They that are after the flesh
do mind the things of the flesh. Sinner, do you find that true
of you? Can you be honest about it? If
you can, it might be God's given you life and beginning to teach
you because only a sinner saved by God's grace can be honest
about that. Every believer here will tell
you, I seek the flesh way more than I wish I did. But they that are after the Spirit,
the things of the Spirit. If you can say you're born of
God, who's to be glorified? God. If you can say, I truly
do seek the things of the Spirit of God. I want to be like Christ.
I want to honor Him. I want to exalt Him. I want to
glorify Him. It's just as reasonable to me
to present my body, a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable
to God, when I consider all the things that Christ has done for
me. That's reasonable to me. Is it reasonable to you? Well,
then who gets the glory for making that reasonable to you? God does.
God does. And now believer, this is true.
We've been flesh and we've been born of the Spirit now. We've
been after the flesh and now we're after the Spirit. And we
can say this is true. To be carnally minded is death. Is it? Is it? Paul said over
there in Romans 6, he said, now what joy do you have in those
things which you're ashamed of? When you were the servants of
sin, you were free from righteousness. But now, aren't you ashamed of
those things? And he says here, to be calmly minded is death.
It ends in death and that's all it is, is death. But here's the
truth, to be spiritually minded is life and peace. Can't you
say that? We have life and we have peace. Because God has given us the
mind of Christ. It will never be taken away.
So, mind the things of the Spirit. Mind the things of the Spirit.
Read Colossians 3. Go home and read Colossians chapter
3. Before you go to bed, read that. Mind the things of the
Spirit. Serve God with everything He
has made you. Serve God with everything that
He has given you. Because this is what Christ said
and this is true. No man can serve two masters.
We can't serve mammon and serve God. We can't serve the flesh
and serve the spirit. It can't be done. We can't walk
after the flesh and walk after the spirit. And Christ said this,
Where your treasure is, that's where your heart will be. Wherever
your treasure is, that's where your heart will be. You can't
fake that. It's either going to be on Christ
or it's going to be on this world. Amen. Let's stand together, brethren. God and Father, we thank you
that you came to us bound in our sin, slaves in our sin, and
gave us spiritual life. That you did it through the blood
of your dear Son, making us just and righteous in Him. Lord, we
pray that you would ever grow us inwardly that we might truly,
truly mind the things of the Spirit. Make us to mortify the
deeds of the flesh and make us truly seek those things which
are above. Lord, we pray for those sinners
yet dead in their sins that you might be pleased by your grace
to liberate one of your lost sheep. Forgive us of our sins,
Father. We ask it in Christ's name. Amen.