Would you turn with me in your
Bible to Romans chapter eight, please? Romans chapter eight. In every man and woman, every
sinner, there are two distinctions. There are two differentiations
in each of us, two divisions in our existence. What am I talking
about? I'm talking about the things
of the flesh and the things of the spirit. There are the natural,
physical things that we see, and then there are the supernatural,
spiritual things that we don't see. There are things that are
temporal, meaning temporary, and there are things that are
eternal, which mean forever. The law of God deals with the
works of the flesh, and the grace of God deals with the gifts of
the Spirit. Our Lord said in John chapter
three, verse six, He said, that which is born of the flesh is
flesh. It certainly is. By natural birth,
we're born of natural parents. We inherited their fallen nature
of sin. And the sin nature is traced
all the way back to Adam. In our fallen and in our dead
state, we cannot discern spiritual things. The natural man receiveth
not the things of the Spirit of God." Can't see them, can't
understand them. We cannot inherit the kingdom
of God in the flesh. By nature, we're weak and we're
frail. By nature, we are unclean and
corrupt. Job asked, who can bring a clean
thing out of an unclean? And certainly none of us can.
Therefore, it's a necessity, the Lord told Nicodemus to be
born again. born of the Spirit, given a new
nature, made a new creation in the Lord Jesus Christ. You must
be born again. It's an absolute necessity. That
which is born of the flesh is flesh, no doubt. And that which
is born of the Spirit is Spirit, regenerated and made new by the
Spirit of God. made a new creation by the grace
of God in Christ, made to enter into the kingdom of God, made
clean, made righteous, made holy and just by Jesus Christ. And
that is the gospel. That's the good news for sinners.
It's the only way that a sinner can be saved. You cannot be saved
after the flesh. The only way that we can inherit
eternal life is that if God divinely intervenes in our lives and gives
us a new heart, makes us a new creature, and that's by being
made the righteousness of God and the Lord Jesus Christ by
His sacrifice and His substitution. And that's what our Lord said.
He said, this is life eternal, that they might know thee, the
only true God and Jesus Christ whom thou has sent, John 17 three.
He said it's the Spirit, meaning the Holy Spirit that quicken
it, makes it alive. We've got to be made alive. The
flesh profiteth nothing. Did you hear that? That's what
the Lord said. This flesh profits nothing. Christ said the words that I
speak unto you, they are spirit and they are life. Two distinctions. and spirit. Now, when we read
about this flesh in the scriptures, it's referring to these corrupt
bodies of ours, these bodies that are sold under sin. The
word spirit means breath of life. Do you remember when God created
man? Genesis chapter two, verse seven. And the Lord God formed man out
of the dust of the ground and he breathed into his nostrils
the breath of life. He breathed his spirit into man. That's what that means. And man
became, what? A living soul. Adam became a
breathing, living creature. And brothers and sisters, if
God does not breathe into us the breath of life, we'll remain
in this flesh and we'll die in our sin. It's crucial that we
know something about these two distinctions and divisions within
ourselves. The Bible talks a great deal
about flesh and the Spirit. And I don't suppose there's any
passage of Scripture in all the Bible that refers to the flesh
and the Spirit more clearly and more directly than we have here
in Romans chapter 8. Look at verse 1. I want to just
go through these first 16 verses and just make some comments.
And I pray and hope that God might be pleased to reveal something
to us. I want to walk in the spirit,
not in the flesh. I want to mind the things of
the spirit, not the things of the flesh. Now, verse one, Paul
writes, there is therefore now no condemnation. Boy, isn't that
a blessed thought. no condemnation to them which
are in Christ Jesus, who walk not after the flesh, but after
the Spirit. Now, why is there therefore now
no condemnation to them that are in Christ Jesus? Well, we
need to look back to the previous chapter, the end of chapter seven,
to see why. Paul in verse 18 said this, he
said, for I know that in me, that is in my flesh dwelleth
no good thing, for to will or to do good is present with me,
but how to perform that which is good I find not. In verse
19 of chapter 7, he said, for the good that I would, I do not,
but the evil, which I would not that I do. In other words, I
want to do good, but I don't. I don't want to do evil, but
I do. You know anything about that?
Have you experienced that? In verse 21, he said, when I
would do good, evil is present with me. You know anything about
that? Then in verse 23, Paul wrote,
but I see another law in my members, warring, warring against the
law of my mind and bringing me into captivity to the law of
sin, which is in my members, in this flesh, in this body. In verse 24, Paul confesses,
O wretched man that I am, who shall deliver me from the body
of this death? In this flesh, there's nothing
but death. And then in verse 25, Paul tells
us why there is now no condemnation to those that are in Christ.
He said, I thank God through Jesus Christ our Lord. Friends,
there's no condemnation to them that are in Christ Jesus. That's the only place there's
no condemnation. To those who are in Christ right
now, there is no condemnation. Now, that means that there once
was. If there's no condemnation to those who are in Christ, that
means that there still is condemnation to those who are not in Jesus
Christ. Now, who are these that have
no condemnation? He tells us there in verse 1,
they are those who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit.
This lack of condemnation is not because they walk after the
Spirit and don't walk after the flesh. That's not the reason
for it. The reason they have no condemnation
is because they are in Christ Jesus. The Lord Jesus Christ
has put their sin away. That's why there's no condemnation.
A believer's walking in the Spirit and not in the flesh is the result. It's not the cause of their being
in Christ. You know, that is crucial to
know and understand. Salvation is not by any work
of righteousness that we do or that we don't do. Now, I want
you to listen to me. This is a matter of life and
death. Salvation is of the Lord. Not of us and the Lord. Not of
us loaning God our will and letting God have His way. Salvation is
of the Lord 100%. Salvation is in Christ Jesus. Our walk is the result of being
in Christ. Our walk is the proof of being
in Christ. Verse 2 confirms this in Romans
8 by saying, for the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus
hath made me free from the law of sin and death. That's good
news. That's the gospel. The gospel
of Christ, the covenant of grace in Christ has forever freed the
believer from the law of sin and death or the covenant of
worms. How? Because every single requirement
of the law and the justice of God was and is met in the Lord
Jesus Christ. We call it substitution. Christ
doing for me what I couldn't do for myself. Christ standing
in my place and perfectly keeping the law of God every single jot
and tittle. It has to be perfect to be accepted
and the only way that we can perfectly keep the law of God
is that if Christ keeps it forth. I have got to be found in Him.
The law of the spirit of life in Christ is that righteousness
of God manifested, which comes without the law. Romans 3 21. You see, the law of the spirit
of life is that manifested righteousness that was witnessed by the old
covenant law and the old Testament prophets. What did the old covenant
law and the old Testament prophets witness? They witnessed Christ. We've done enough study in the
Old Testament to see that it's all about Him. The Old Testament
is all about the Lord Jesus Christ. That's why in Luke chapter 24,
it says, and beginning at Moses, being the first five books of
the Old Testament, called the Law of Moses, and in all the
prophets, the Old Testament writings of God's prophets, He, Christ,
expounded unto them in all the scriptures, the things concerning
what? concerning Himself. It's about
Him. In Luke chapter 24, same chapter,
verse 44, the Lord said, These are the words which I spake unto
you while I was yet with you, that all things must be fulfilled
which were written in the law of Moses, and in the prophets,
and in the Psalms, concerning Me. In Romans 1, verse 1, the
apostle wrote, Paul, a servant of Jesus Christ, called to be
an apostle, separated to the gospel of God, which he had promised
to for by his prophets in the Holy Scriptures, being the Old
Testament, concerning his son, Jesus Christ our Lord, which
was made of the seed of David, according to the flesh, and declared
to be the Son of God with power, according to the spirit of holiness,
by the resurrection from the dead. Christ was made according
to the flesh and of the seed of David. Why? That we might
have life in the Spirit. He became flesh so that we might
have spiritual life. Christ became flesh and blood
and He died the just for the unjust. That being us in our
flesh. that He might bring us to God.
That's the only way that I can be brought to God. In, by, and
through Him. Look at verse three. For what
the old covenant law could not do, in that it was weak. Why
was it weak? Weak through the flesh. God sending
His own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh, and for sin, condemned
sin in the flesh. Now the one who sent Christ is
God. God who wrote and gave us the
law, that law that we offended, that law that we couldn't keep.
This is the God whom we sinned against. This is the God who
is righteous, pure, and holy, and this is the God who requires
the perfect keeping of the law. How then are sinners saved? By
God sending His Son. Now this is the amazing thing. And this is what I want you to
think about this morning. God sent His Son as a servant. Let that soak in for a minute.
God, who created the heavens and the earth, who spoke them
into existence, came to earth as a servant. God sent His Son
out of love for His people. That's why Christ came. Christ
didn't come against His will. He willingly came to save His
people from their sin. That's why Paul said this is
a faithful saying and worthy of all acceptation that Christ
Jesus came in the world to save sinners. Are you a sinner? That
ought to be the best news you ever heard. He willingly came
into the world to save sinners. Christ was sent in the likeness
of sinful flesh. Yes, He was born of a sinful
woman. Yes, a virgin, but a sinner.
But His Father was a perfect God, and Christ was subject to
the infirmities of human nature. But He Himself was without sin. He was numbered with the transgressors,
but He wasn't a transgressor. Scripture says he was made to
be sin, Lew, but he knew no sin. He was made to be sin that we
might be made the righteousness of God in Him. God laid on Jesus
Christ the sins of His chosen people. And Christ was answerable
to the law and the justice of God. And Him being a perfect
man condemned sin in the flesh. The law cannot save. because
we're unable to keep up. The law in and of itself is not
weak. That's not what he meant when
he said that. It's weak through the flesh,
and that being our flesh that's weak. The law is weak because
of us. The law cannot save because we
cannot keep it. That's why God sent His Son,
to keep the law for His chosen people, to satisfy justice in
their room instead. Justice found our sin on Christ,
and justice charged Him with our sin. The law of God condemned
him because of our sin. And Christ paid the debt of our
sin, and the sinner's pardon was procured, and the chosen
sinner's sin was put away. The strictness of God's justice
was honored. God remained just and became
the justifier of those that believe, look, and trust in the Lord Jesus
Christ. And when our Lord hung on the
cross, He said, it is finished. God said, that's enough. And
sin was condemned in the flesh by the sacrifice of God Himself. In Christ's death, we see the
evil of sin. We see the strictness of God's
justice. We see the grace of the Redeemer. And it's all according to verse
four, that the righteousness of the law might be fulfilled
in us. And again, it says, who walk
not after the flesh, but after the Spirit. Now I wanna walk
after the Spirit. Not many preachers today are
telling people what it is to walk in the Spirit. It's because
they don't know. So what does it mean to not walk
after the flesh, but to walk after the Spirit? I want to know.
I want you to know. Because it's a matter of life
and death that we do know. The righteousness of the law
is fulfilled and fully satisfied for us by what Christ has done
for us as our substitute, as our sacrifice. Being in Christ,
we honor the law and the justice of God. I honored the law and
satisfied God's justice in Christ I did. His finished work for
me is what I'm trusting in. I never forget somebody asked
me, knowing that I believed in the doctrines of grace, asked
me one time, said, do you believe in salvation by works? I said,
I most certainly do. And they gasped. I believe in
His finished work, the work He did for me. We are perfect before
God, and it's not because we walk not after the flesh, and
it's not because we walk after the Spirit. We walk after the
Spirit in perfect holiness as the result of Christ's sacrifice
for us. This is the most wonderful news
a sinner could ever tell. Salvation is not, it's never
been, or will it ever be by works of righteousness that we do.
I don't know how people can brag on what they're doing for God.
We've never done anything for God. Remember, we're talking
about the difference of walking after the flesh and walking after
the Spirit. And now we're going to see the
seriousness of this matter. Paul here tells us the difference
of walking after the flesh and walking after the Spirit. Look
at verse 5. For 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." You see, the unsaved man and woman
is concerned, and they're anxious, and they're taken up with the
things of this world. You and I once were. Some of
us still are. The things of the flesh, the
things of the world, they give mind to the natural, the physical,
the fleshly things. That's their main concern. They're
concerned with the material, not with the spiritual. That's
not the case with the child of God. They give mind to their
relationship with Christ. They give mind to their relationship
with His people. They grow in the grace and in
the knowledge of the Lord. That's their concern. They grow
in love for those whom they are like-minded. They grow in concern
for the furtherance of the gospel. There's not a believer living
on earth today that does not want an unbeliever to hear the
gospel. It's the gospel that saves us.
The preaching of the gospel is what God uses as the means to
save sinners. The child of God minds spiritual
and eternal things. Verse six tells us why this is
such an urgent matter. For to be carnally, fleshly minded,
that's what the word means, is death. Not just physical death,
eternal death. But to be spiritually minded
is life and peace. Steve, I want to experience life
and peace. To be fleshly minded is nothing
but death. To be fleshly minded, nothing
but death, physical death, eternal death. To be spiritually minded
is life and peace, peace in this world and life forever in the
next. Paul did not say that there's
no condemnation to them that have no flesh in them. Paul said
there is now no condemnation to those who walk not after the
flesh. We live in this flesh. We live
in this body of death, as Paul called it. And it's true that
in our flesh dwells no good thing. And no good thing means no good
thing. There's no good thing that dwells
in our flesh. The flesh is not our guide. Christ
is. We'll follow after Him. A believer
doesn't follow the desires of the flesh. We do not mind them.
We follow the Lord Jesus Christ. We mind the things of the Spirit.
We walk and we follow after those things. And that's what brings
us peace. And that's what brings us life.
We mind spiritual things, the things of the Spirit. We walk
in a spiritual manner, not religious. Two different things. I'll never
forget when the Lord first revealed the gospel to me. I had one friend
of mine tell another friend of mine, and that friend called
me, and he said, you know, so-and-so told me that you got religious. That's an insult to a spiritually
minded man or woman. Being religious is the opposite
of being spiritual, really, when you think about it. You know,
the Pharisees and the scribes, they were religious. Man, they
were religious, weren't They wore their fancy robes and garb,
and they stuffed their sleeves full of prayers. It looked like
they was wearing football shoulder pads. And they walked down the
street, and everybody went, wow, there's a spiritual man. No, he's religious. Two different
things. To be spiritually minded is life
and peace. They didn't have any. Peace in
this world, eternal life in the name. The Pharisees and scribes
were religious. The Lord Jesus Christ was spiritual. Christ did always mind the things
of the spirit. The religious Pharisees and scribes
were the opposite of Christ. They were fleshly minded. They
minded the things of the flesh. They sought the approval of man. They sought the glory of man.
They wanted God's glory. The child of God says, not unto
us, O Lord, not unto us, but unto thy name be glory. And this
is why to be carnally fleshly minded is death. Look at verse seven, because
the carnal, the fleshly mind is enmity against God. It's not subject to the law of
God and neither indeed can be. No matter how hard you try, no
matter how long you try, your flesh can never submit to the
glorious gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ. Can't do it. Now, I told
you before that that word enmity is a strong word. It means hostile. Have you ever seen anybody hostile?
Not pretty, is it? Hostile toward God. That's what
we are by nature. That's what it is to be carnally
minded, actively and adversely opposed to God. You will not
have this man to rule over you. Carnal fleshly mind hates God. It hates God without a cause,
without reason. Carnally and fleshly minded people
are not subject to the law of God. They're not in subjection
to God's law, and neither indeed can they be. They will not be
submissive to God. They will not be submissive to
the will of God. They won't be submissive to the
way of God. They won't be submissive to the
providence of God. They will not believe the gospel
of God, and neither indeed can they. Augustine once said, how
can snow be made warm? How can snow be made warm? Only
by making it to cease to be snow. The natural carnal fleshly mind
cannot be mended. It can't be modified. It can
only be destroyed. It has to cease being flesh. Apart from God's intervening
grace without the power and the Spirit of God, unless written
upon our heart by the finger of God Himself, our flesh will
never change. And neither indeed can it. By
nature in this flesh we're dead in trespasses and sin. We've
got to be given life. So then we must conclude according
to verse eight, so then they that are in the flesh cannot
please God. The only way a sinner can please
God is in Christ. No other way. Absolutely none. Loved by Him with an everlasting
love. Chosen by Him before the foundation
of the world. God's people are accepted and
well-pleasing in God's sight because they are in Christ. That's the only reason. In the
flesh, there is none that can please God. Zero, zip, none. Why can none in and of themselves
please God? Because there's none righteous.
There's none that doeth good. There's none that seeketh after
God. How many? None. Outside of Christ, there's
nothing we can do, nothing that we can think, nothing that we
can say that would be pleasing to God. In verse nine, Paul speaking
directly to the heart of the child of God says this, And I
say this to you this morning who are in Christ, but you are
not in the flesh, but in the spirit. How do we know that? Paul tells us, if so be that
the spirit of God dwell in you. And now if any man, woman had
not the spirit of Christ, he is none of his. Not being in
the flesh does not mean that we're not human. I know men and
women who have never taken serious the gospel because they say,
I can't ever be what God needs me to be. Not being in the flesh
does not mean that we're not human. We still possess passions
and the appetites and the desires of the old nature. All of us
do. But we're no longer under their rule or under their dominion. Christ is now the dominant influence
in the believers' lives. To be in the Spirit is to be
ruled and to be influenced and to be controlled by the Spirit
of God. walking in the Spirit only gets
better and better and better. Look at verse 10. And if Christ
be in you, the body is dead because of sin, but what a glorious word,
but the Spirit is life because of righteousness. This flesh,
this body of death and all that pertains to it is subject to
death because of sin. But if we walk in the Spirit,
when we're vitally united to Christ, and if you're trusting
in Christ, you are. You're one with Him. We enjoy
eternal life because of His righteousness, which has been given to us. The
very righteousness of God in Christ is mine. And it's yours
if you're in the Lord Jesus. And here comes more good news,
more and more gospel. That's what we need, isn't it?
More and more of Christ and His gospel. More about Jesus, what
I know, more of His grace to others show, more of His saving
fullness see, more of His love that died for me. Verse 11, but
if the spirit of him that raised up Jesus from the dead dwell
in you, he that raised up Christ from the dead, now watch this,
shall also quicken, make alive your mortal bodies by his spirit
that dwelleth in you. This body of ours is dying. I just had another birthday a
few days ago and I looked in the mirror and I thought, Who
is that old man? This body is dying. Sin has brought
about affliction. Sin has brought about disease.
Sin has brought on disease and soon death. But if the Spirit
of God dwells in you by grace through faith, physical death's
not the end. For he, God, that raised Christ
from the dead, shall also quicken our mortal bodies. That's what
these are, just mortal bodies, Tom. He's gonna quicken our mortal
bodies from the grave. How? By the Spirit that dwells
in us. I wanna walk in the Spirit. Verse
12, therefore, brethren, we are debtors, not to the flesh, to
live after the flesh. No, sir. Therefore, brethren,
That word, therefore, as you know, means we've got to look
back to what Paul has previously said. And Paul tells us that
a believer is not a debtor to the flesh because to be fleshly
minded is a sign of being absent from the Spirit of Christ. And
though we are free to the condemnation of the law, we're not free from
the obedience to God. For to whom much is forgiven,
there is much love. Love for Christ is our motivation
to holiness. Love for Christ is our incentive
to obey God. I never wanted to be displeasing
to my father. I loved him. When I got old enough
and had enough sense to realize it, I knew that he was my provider. He's the one that fed me and
clothed me and put a roof over my head, and I loved him for
it. We're not debtors to the flesh
to live after the flesh. No, no, no. We're debtors to
God who loved us and gave himself for us. Look at verse 13. For if you live after the flesh,
you shall die. But if you live through the spirit,
do mortify the deeds of the body and you shall live. That's pretty
simple, isn't it? Pretty plain. Those who lived
after the flesh, well, they're already dead. We're born dead.
We're born condemned. Nothing but eternal death and
judgment and condemnation awaits those born in the flesh. This is the condemnation. The
light has come into the world and men love darkness rather
than light. Why? Because their deeds are
evil. But a sinner who's received the grace of God and the Lord
Jesus Christ cannot live after the flesh. He or she does not
love sin and the world because they're full of love for Christ.
If you're full of love for Christ, there's no room for love of anything
else. Oh, fill me up, Lord, with the
love of Christ. And the reason is because the
Spirit of God that lives in us. The believer's course of life
consists of denying the flesh and walking after the Spirit.
And we live in Christ now and we shall live with Christ forever.
Look at verse 14. For as many as are led by the
Spirit of God, they are the sons of God. Not will be, they are
the sons of God. Those that are led by the Spirit
of God. And this is the evidence that we have our union with the
Lord Jesus. We're regenerated by the Holy
Spirit. We're baptized into Christ by
the Holy Spirit. We're taught by the Holy Spirit.
We pray, we worship, and we praise God led by His Spirit. If we
walk after the Spirit, we don't have anything to fear. Nothing. Verse 15, for you've not received
the spirit of bondage again to fear, but you've received the
spirit of adoption whereby we cry, Abba, Father. We call upon
the name of the Lord. We come boldly in this throne
of grace to find help in time of need. Why? We've got confidence
and assurance. He's our father. He's our daddy. I don't mean that at all disrespectfully. I mean it in the utmost respect
and reverence. He loves me. Have a father. Daddy, daddy, help me, daddy. And lastly, we walk in and after
the Spirit of God. Look at verse 16. The Spirit
itself beareth witness with our spirit that we are the children
of God. How do I know I'm a child of
God? I just know. His spirit bears witness with
my spirit that I am one of his children. May God be pleased
to make us his for his own glory, for our good, and for Christ's
sake.