Good. Yeah. Okay, I'm going to cut the music. Alright, good morning everyone.
Welcome. We're going to begin our worship
service by reading from our text. We'll be looking at Romans chapter
8 this morning. And I wanna begin in verse one,
and then we'll read up through our text, which goes to verse
11. So Romans eight, verse one through
11. There is therefore now no condemnation
to them which are in Christ Jesus, who walk not after the flesh,
but after the spirit. for the law of the Spirit of
life in Christ Jesus hath made me free from the law of sin and
death. For what the law, that law of
Moses, could not do in that it was weak through the flesh, God
sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh, and for sin
condemned sin in the flesh." that the righteousness of the
Law might be fulfilled in us who walk not after the flesh,
but after the Spirit. 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. For to be carnally minded is
death, but to be spiritually minded is life and peace. because
the carnal mind is enmity against God. For it is not subject to
the law of God, neither indeed can be. So then they that are
in the flesh cannot please God. But ye are not in the flesh,
but in the Spirit. If so be that the Spirit of God
dwell in you. Now if any man have not the Spirit
of Christ, he is none of his. And if Christ be in you, The
body is dead because of sin, but the Spirit is life because
of righteousness. But if the Spirit of Him that
raised up Jesus from the dead dwell in you, He that raised
up Christ from the dead shall also quicken your mortal bodies
by His Spirit that dwelleth in you." Let's pray, brethren. Our gracious Lord, Father we thank you for your
abundant grace and mercy which you have shown to your people,
given to your people in Christ Jesus. Lord that you don't look
to the sinner, you don't look to the flesh, the dead flesh
to produce living fruits. But you look to your Son, and
you've committed us to your Son, to work all things in us, all
things needful and necessary, all things which glorify your
name, through the praise and honor of your glory and grace. Father, you know what we are
in ourselves. You know what this flesh is,
how weak and worthless this flesh is, and having any ability to
do that which is good or right or pleasing in your sight. Therefore
we thank you, God, for your Son, Jesus Christ, who has accomplished
the righteousness of the law in us and made us acceptable
unto our God. Lord, we pray that you would
bless this hour. Lord, that you would bless your
people Comfort them in the Gospel of Jesus Christ. Feed us with
the precious bread from Heaven. Feed us with the Word of Life. Fill us with Your Spirit. And
give us an understanding of these things, of our salvation by Christ
and in Him alone. Give us an understanding of these
things by Your Spirit. And Lord, deliver us from the
bondage of sin and death and darkness, laboring under the
bondage of sin and death. Lord, deliver us from the works
of the flesh which do that. And Lord, we pray that you would
indeed bless your people scattered throughout this country, separate
as though we may be embodied, Lord, but that you would bless
us together as the body of Christ, that you would bless the hearers
and bless your servants who you've raised up and called to preach
this word and minister this word to your people. We pray that
our Savior, Jesus Christ, would be glorified in this hour and
in us who believe. It's in Christ's name that we
pray and give thanks. Amen. Alright, so, our text is Romans 8, 5-11. The text is Romans 8, 5-11. Now, Paul has declared to us,
beginning back in verse 1, that there is therefore now no condemnation
to them which are in Christ Jesus. And then he qualifies. those
who are in Christ Jesus. He qualifies them as those who
walk, not after the flesh, but after the Spirit. And last week,
we saw how this is the promise of life given to us in Christ
Jesus. This is his work, which he's
worked for his people. And it's not as religion, the
religion of man, the religion of this flesh would teach us. They make that an admonition
to your flesh, so that by your flesh, you put to death the works
of the flesh. And that's contrary to the gospel.
That's contrary to what Paul is saying. He's telling us that
those that are in Christ walk after the Spirit. And so religion,
the evil and the darkness, the wicked teaching of religion,
is that they mean that there's no condemnation to them. who
prove themselves worthy by their works in the flesh, by putting
to death some works in the flesh by the power and strength of
their flesh, so that by their flesh they make themselves worthy
of no condemnation. And that's not what the Lord
reveals to us in this word through Jesus Christ. Once we make it
something that our flesh must do, you're no longer walking in the
Spirit if you ever did walk in the Spirit. You're now walking
by the flesh. And it doesn't matter what religious
activity you slap on it or say that you're doing. It's still
by the flesh. So, as Paul's been revealing
to us and teaching by the Spirit that salvation is either by grace
or salvation is by works, the works of man. So, the truth is,
what we're to see is that the salvation of grace wherein we
walk, our walk is after the Spirit, according to the grace of God
in us. It's a work of grace done in
the sinner by God the Holy Spirit. Now remember, the law of Moses
could not deliver us from what we read in verse 2 about the
law of sin and death. Only Christ Jesus delivers a
sinner from the law, the condemnation that is upon us under the law
of sin and death. What's this law that he's speaking
of? Well, if you look in your margin,
it probably would have you go to Romans 7, verses 24 and 25,
and those are good. They are helpful. But I want
to give you another verse in Romans 5, verse 12. Look at Romans
5, verse 12. Here's the law of sin and death,
which is upon every man by nature in Adam. Wherefore, as by one
man, Adam, sin entered into the world, and death by sin. And so death passed upon all
men, for that all have sinned." You see that? We were in Adam. When Adam was in the garden,
all his seed was yet in his body. And when he sinned, we all sinned
in him. when he sinned, his seed became
corrupt and defiled, sinful, polluted, so that all his seed
from his body is corrupt and dead in trespasses and sins. And so we come forth dead in
trespasses and sins under the law of sin and death. All right, so that Romans 8,
3, Therefore, for what the law, that law of Moses, could not
do, it couldn't deliver us from the law of sin and death, in
that it was weak through the flesh, God sending his own Son
in the likeness of sinful flesh and for sin condemned sin in
the flesh. so that Christ Jesus himself
and only Christ Jesus destroyed the power of sin and the power,
its dominion of sin over us through that law of sin and death which
was reigning over his people. Christ destroyed that law of
sin and death for his people so that we won't be subject,
we're no longer subject to that condemnation which is upon the
sons and daughters of Adam, yet in their sins, who have no part
in Christ. Why? Verse 4, that the righteousness
of the law Which boils down to this, the law of faith and love
might be fulfilled in us who walk not after the flesh but
after the spirit. So that brethren, we will never
fulfill the law of faith and love looking to the law of Moses. We're not. Not before Christ,
not after Christ. We're never going to fulfill
that law of faith and love looking to studying and laboring under
the law of Moses. Why? Because that law of Moses
was given to Adam's seed. It was given to his seed to reveal
sin in us. To show us that in Adam, We're
corrupt, defiled, dead sinners, unable to work a righteousness
for ourselves. So that now those who look to
Moses are walking in the flesh of Adam. They're subjecting themselves
to Adam's condemnation. They're trying to work a righteousness
in their flesh according to their reading and interpretation of
the law of Moses. It doesn't matter how much you
whittle it down, whether you cut out the ceremonial law and
the civil law and just look at the moral law, you're still working
in that which was given to Adam's seed, and all it's going to do
is reveal sin in us, if we understand it correctly. But looking to
Christ by the power and the work, the glory of the Spirit of God. That is a work of grace done
in you. That's the only way that a believer
will ever fulfill the law of faith and love. That's the spirit
of the law. It's the only way. In Christ,
that's how we love and walk and live and have our being. It's
in Christ. So that if we're trying to fulfill
the law of faith and love, looking to Moses' law, claiming that,
oh, it doesn't justify us but it's our sanctification. That's
how we sanctify ourselves. If that's what you're still looking
to, then I would highly recommend that you stop right here and
go back to the beginning of this message and listen to it again
and again and write it down until you understand, praying that
you understand how that we're only delivered by the Lord Jesus
Christ. Only he can save a sinner. Our
looking to the law of Moses isn't gonna save us or improve this
dead, corrupt flesh. Now, once you come back to this
point, this morning I wanna show you, I wanna continue with you
in Romans chapter eight, describing further to us the difference
between a walk in the flesh and a walk in the spirit. And our
title is The Promise of a Gracious Walk. The Promise of a Gracious
Walk. And we'll have two divisions.
The first will be longer. We'll spend the majority of our
time here as in the walk, a walk in the flesh, and then we'll
look at, we'll close with a walk in the spirit. All right, so
a walk in the flesh. After declaring to believers
that we are free of condemnation in Christ, Paul, we saw, qualifies
those that are in Christ Those that have this promise of a gracious
walk through the power, through the Spirit of Christ, His power
and dominion in them. And it reminds us in verse five
why it must be by the Spirit. And he tells us, 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." Now, there
is a sense when Paul speaks of walking in the flesh and being
carnally minded, there is a sense in which that does take in those
sins of the flesh that we readily accept and call sinful. The wicked
deeds that men and women do in their flesh. It does take in
to that, right? But turn over to 1 Corinthians
3, because we see this in 1 Corinthians 3, and we'll begin in verse one. Paul says, and I, brethren, I
could not speak unto you as unto spiritual But as unto carnal,
even as unto babes in Christ, I have fed you with milk and
not with meat, for hitherto ye were not able to bear it, neither
yet now are ye able. For ye are yet carnal, for whereas
there is among you envying strife and divisions, are ye not carnal
and walk as men? What do you mean, Paul? Well,
while one saith, I am of Paul, and another, I am of Apollos. Are ye not carnal? And he's pointing out that you're
looking to these servants, these tools in the hand of God, these
that are sent to minister the gospel to you, as though we are
called by God to follow great orators. as though we're called,
as though that's our salvation, to follow these men, these particular
men, and to choose sides. But Paul says, who then is Paul? And who is Apollos? But ministers
by whom ye believed. God sent them and used them to
preach the gospel to the Corinthians, and these believers, some heard
and believed under Paul, some heard, and didn't believe until
they heard Apollos, or were strengthened further when Apollos came and
preached to them. And he says, even as the Lord
gave to every man, right? It's according as God distributed
to every man, those to whom he gave them and sent them to preach
this word. And he says, I've planted, Apollos
came and he watered, but God gave the increase. Our spiritual
fruit, our spiritual life can never be attributed to another
man. It can never be attributed to
ourselves. It can never be attributed to
the flesh. It's God that gives the increase. It's God that sends
the word, sends the watering of the word, and it's God who
determines the increase and the bounty and the fruit that shall
result from that ministration of the Word. And so they were
looking at earthly things as though these earthly things saved
them. Do you see that? They're looking
at those things and they weren't seeing or recognizing or remembering
that it's God himself who saves us and not we ourselves. It's according to his increase. And so It was that type of foolishness,
it was that type of carnal understanding about our salvation which actually
led to those fruits of darkness, those wicked sins in the flesh,
right? The envying, and the strife,
and the divisions. You see that? So it began there
with a false understanding of their salvation and their righteousness
is being found in Christ. Not in who they're listening
to, but in Christ. And then those seeds of bitterness
sprung out and we saw those rotten fruits. And so that was the fruit
showing. That fruit that was witnessed
showed that they were walking in the flesh. And so, much preaching
today, if you ever listen to other sermons from other preachers
in other churches and congregations, their preaching is focused on
plucking rotten fruit from a dead tree. They're all about pointing
out the fruit, and the reality is that the ax needs to be laid
to the root. Don't have any confidence in
the flesh. don't appeal to and preach to
the flesh, we edify and declare Christ, who ministers his word
to the spirit, whereby we bear fruit, because the increase is
of God. And so that's an example of carnality,
where men were trusting the flesh to work their righteousness,
rather than the spirit to work righteousness in ourselves. So
in our text, I want us to notice that Paul isn't speaking here
and isn't addressing common sins of man's flesh, right? That's
not what he's going after. He's not just talking about trimming
off the rotten fruit and the things that this sin produces.
He's going to the root of it. He's going to the fact that we
cannot save ourselves. He's talking about the source
of our righteousness. And so our righteousness is accomplished
in us through the Spirit's work and not the works of the flesh.
And as it says in Romans 8, 4, that the righteousness of the
law, that law of faith and love might be fulfilled in us who
walk, not after the flesh, but after the Spirit. And so Paul's
laboring to declare the true spiritual righteousness that
the believer has apart from religious fleshly works that we do in ourselves. And it's for this truth, right
here, declaring that salvation is of the Lord, that it's his
work in us. It's for that very truth that
the Jews crucified the Son of God. They crucified Christ because
when he came in the flesh, he exposed their dead religion. He showed them and declared to
them the truth that they were trusting in their works of the
flesh and they weren't trusting that God is the one who saves
us and is gracious to us. They were trusting in their practices
under the law. They were doing things prescribed
in the law, and yet they had no righteousness in the eyes
of God. They had no footing of righteousness
before God. And in the height, actually,
when you look at man's religious his righteousness and his religious
service, the height of man's religion is seen when he crucified
the Son of God. That's what man's religion produces. They crucify, they hate and despise
and reject and kill the Son of God. That's the religion of our
flesh. That's what we produce in ourselves. It produces hatred and a rebellion
against and it persecutes spiritual righteousness. It hates it, it
despises that which is of the Lord, because it's of the flesh.
And so Paul gives us a number of examples in the scriptures
of both Jews and the Gentiles of what he means here in Romans
8 5, when he says, they that are after the flesh do mind the
things of the flesh. Turn over to Philippians 3. Philippians
3, we'll begin in verse 5. and work
down to verse seven, Paul here is speaking of himself. He says,
I was circumcised the eighth day. I was eight days old, I
was circumcised of the stock of Israel, of the tribe of Benjamin,
and Hebrew of the Hebrews, as touching the law, a Pharisee. I was in the strictest sect of
the Jews, a Pharisee. Concerning zeal, persecuting
the church, touching the righteousness which is in the law, Lameless. So prior to the Spirit's work,
Paul trusted in his religion. It was what he was born into. It's what religious people today
would call his faith. That was Paul's faith. That was
his hope. That was his hope of righteousness,
to stand accepted by God. It's what he was raised up in.
And yet Paul, being taught by the Spirit, was brought to confess,
I counted all those things loss for the excellency of Christ. Those things are a hot steaming
pile of dung to me. They count as nothing. I don't
look to them or trust them or bring them up before God because
they're all things of the flesh. They count for nothing. If anything,
they would condemn me. They don't help me, they condemn
me, and they bury me further from the truth. And so, that's
not what a person's brought up in, and what they have practiced,
that isn't going to help us. We don't trust in those things. And then, in the same chapter,
if you look up at verse two, Philippians three, verse two, He warned the brethren, he said,
beware of dogs, beware of evil workers, beware of the concision. All three describe religious
men. Religious men, good men, faithful
men to their faith, faithful men to their practice and their
religion. These were men who cut the flesh,
who carved things out of the flesh by the works of the flesh
to improve the flesh, to make it more presentable, to God. And this is exactly what men
and women do in religion today. They have their hope and trust
in their faith. There are those that we know
that trust in their confession, their act of faith, what they've
done for the Lord. Their hope is that by their own
free will, that they accepted Jesus Christ as their Lord and
Savior. They're not trusting Christ.
They're trusting some work which they themselves did for themselves. And they'll fight and defend
that. And they'll hate you for speaking against that. because
they think it's truth, and it's nothing more than one of the
sickest, most foul, disgusting doctrines to come out of hell.
It's not the truth. Men are not saved by their own
free will. We're not saved by the flesh.
We are saved by Jesus Christ and him alone. And then we see
how there's others who say, well, I know that it's not by free
will that we're saved, but I hold to TULIP. Total depravity, unconditional
election, limited atonement, irresistible grace, and perseverance
or preservation of the saints. They know their system of theology,
and a man or woman being trained up in that can have great confidence
that they are one of the chosen, elect children of God because
they know their system of theology. And they can speak to their system
of theology, in quote, verses to support their system of doctrine. And they trust that, so that
because they know this and can tell others and can defend it
to others and preach it to others and beat up others and put down
others, or even if they say it nicely, and compassionately. Those that trust in the fact
that they know this set of truths, as opposed to that false set
of doctrine that other men hold, they think that because they
know those things, that that is their salvation. And the flesh
can take that, the flesh can accept that, thinking that, well,
because I know this and I've made this my confession, therefore
I'm a child of God. You see how that's also of the
flesh. That's not resting in Christ
and what he's done for his people. That's resting in what you know,
what system of theology you've attached yourself to and that
you confess. Either way, it's all a work of
the flesh. The question is, is Christ my
Savior? Do I know Him? Does He know me?
Did He die and shed His blood for me? Lord, have mercy on me. Help me, the sinner. Have you been brought to see
that you're a sinner? Have you been brought to see
that you and I have no hope? You personally have no hope but
Jesus Christ. Oh, the hope that He shed His
blood for you, that He died for you. And all those who cry out
to Him for mercy, who have no other hope, and see what I'm
saying, who are brought to see, Lord, I'm nothing. I've trusted
in nothing but works of the flesh my whole life. But don't look
at that. Look to Christ, because that's
why God provided him. That's why God sent him, in the
likeness of sinful flesh, to deliver us from the sin and the
condemnation of that law of sin and death. trust him, rest him,
believe in him. Now, and Paul actually continues
there in Philippians 3.3 saying, for we, we that hope in Christ,
we are the circumcision which worship God in the spirit and
rejoice in Christ Jesus and have no confidence in this filthy,
conniving Jacob flesh. We're little connivers, we're
little scheming things of flesh that cannot save ourselves. And
we trust sooner in darkness than in the God of light. But he,
by his mercy and grace, saves us and delivers us from that.
Now, we continue to have religious people, just like there were
those among Paul, around Paul, and found in the Greek philosophers,
where today, continue to preach their philosophy. They continue
to preach their salvation by works, through abstaining things
in the flesh. Over in Colossians 2, verse 21
through 23, this is what they said, touch not, don't touch
that. Taste not that, handle not those
things over there. Which, Paul said, they're all
to perish with the user. You're so focused on the flesh,
And this is after the commandments and doctrines of men. And he
said, these things have indeed a show of wisdom. They appear
to be good, right? And we hear things when a preacher
stands up and is just focusing on the sins that you need to
stop doing and cut out of your life. And he never seems to speak
much about Christ at all and how it's his work and power that
does it in the sinner. and he puts all that focus and
emphasis on you and your flesh and what you need to do. Oh,
it sounds wise, it sounds powerful and moving, and oh, we think,
wow, that man is speaking by the spirit of God. And he says
it has a show of wisdom in will worship, right, how to whip up
and motivate your flesh to try and put to death the things in
the flesh. It sounds good, and it sounds like it's humility
and neglecting of the body, but it's not to any honor to the
satisfying of the flesh, meaning your flesh, just like my flesh,
is still gonna have the lusts of the flesh in it. And when
you think you've overcome those things, the Lord is able to show
you just how you've not overcome those things. and this flesh
is still dead, weak, and corrupt, and cannot deliver itself. So, using man-made doctrines
and laws to control the flesh will not save us. If Moses' law,
if we couldn't look to Moses' law to control and subdue this
flesh and to rid the flesh of the guilt of sin and the lusts
and the filth that are in our flesh, if we couldn't do it by
Moses' law, what makes us think that we're gonna be able to do
it by any other system of theology and any other man-made law or
practice? It's not going to happen. That
kind of hope is fleshly incarnate. Alright, so Romans 8, 6. And
to be like that is to be carnally minded, and to be carnally minded
is death. It's spiritual death, no matter
how religious it appears or makes itself appear to be. So, looking
to control your flesh, making it your work, a focus that you
need to do for yourselves. If you're to have no condemnation,
if you're to be free from the guilt of sin, that's going to
lead you to trouble and unrest and to be tortured in mind and
in heart and in thought over your deeds and your thoughts
because this flesh is still corrupt and weak and so you'll be troubled
by that. or you'll be such an arrogant
jerk that no one's going to want to be around you because you're
going to be condemning everybody else because they're not living
up to your standard now of what you think you're able to live
up to. But those looking to Christ for righteousness, trusting Him
for all their hope, all their security, all their standing
before the Father, these are given and granted peace with
God. That's to be spiritually minded,
which is life and peace. As the Lord had Isaiah, write
this down, Isaiah 26, 3, thou wilt keep him in perfect peace,
whose mind is stayed on thee, for he trusteth in thee. Not stayed on Moses, not stayed
on his sanctified walk of what he's doing better and improving
upon and putting away by the power and work of his flesh,
but he trusts in and his mind is stayed upon the salvation
of God through his son, Jesus Christ. So trusting Christ, that
He is your righteousness, because He is. He is the hope of our
salvation and the hope of our standing before the Father. That
His death has successfully accomplished the putting away of our sin. And that by Him and Him alone,
we are delivered from condemnation, which is resting upon the sons
and daughters, Yed and Adam, who trust in their works, who
have no care or thought about God, or if they do, that are
still trusting in their works, Christ and Christ alone has delivered
us from that. Look to Him. Trust Him. Confess
Christ in believers' baptism. Follow Him. Look to Him and rest
in Him alone. and because believers are baptized,
right? We hear his call and we're baptized,
and that's what Paul was speaking of in Romans 6, 4. And then he
says in Romans 6, 5, 4, if we have been planted together in
the likeness of his death, which is pictured in believers' baptism,
we shall be also in the likeness of his resurrection. knowing
this, that our old man is crucified with Christ, that the body of
sin might be destroyed, right? That rule and reign, that authority,
that dominion, that laboring under fear, and threat of punishment
under the bondage of the devil, under the bondage of this flesh
and the inability of this flesh to work righteousness and being
frightened and afraid so that when we sin, we try to fix it
and do better next time. He delivered us from that body
of sin and death. He delivered us from that fear
and that condemnation because we'll never, ever get it right
in this flesh. And so he destroyed that body
of sin, that henceforth we should not serve sin. When we try to
labor and work a righteousness for ourselves because of sin,
and to fix it in ourselves by something we do, we are serving
sin. You're still serving sin. You're
still afraid and serving the devil and that body of sin because
you're trying to work righteousness for yourselves. rather than Christ. But we're dead in Christ, and
he that is dead is freed from sin, freed from that bondage,
freed from that prison of death, right? And so that's the walk
in the Spirit, knowing, not to go on sinning however so ever
we please, but knowing that our acceptance with God is in Christ,
and that Christ has delivered us from that. And He sets our
hearts and our minds upon Him and upon Christ, believing that
He has delivered us from that death and that the life we now
live with the fruits that we now bear are born in us by His
Spirit. And we look to Him for that.
We look to Him, trusting and seeking Him, Lord, use me. Turn my heart from loving this
dead, filthy, corrupt world and the sins and lusts in this flesh
to leave your son and to love him, to love my brethren, to
believe him and walk in faith and love and in charity toward
our brethren. Alright, that's the walk in the
Spirit, trusting in Christ. But the religion of this flesh,
it finds little hope in Christ. Little hope in Christ. So it
just slaps a little Christian name on certain things and claims
that they're of Christ and that they're of the Spirit. But it's
all man-made religion. And that's what he trusts in.
And has a hope that, well, because I do these things, and I'm fairly
consistent in them, I must be saved. I must be a Christian.
But that's trusting in those things, not believing Christ. And this is why such never find
peace with God, right? And you that do believe, and
you believe the gospel, and you have such peace with God and
hope in Christ, the Christ that you now believe, you see others
that are religious, and you go and you think, I'm gonna tell
them. this good news that I've heard, and what a comfort Christ
is. I'm gonna go tell them. And you
go and you speak it to them, only to receive back from them
hatred, and a rejection of the Christ you preach, and a despising
of those things that bring you such joy, right? And when you preach how that
God saves sinners, in Christ, Christ alone, according to His
grace, upon His people, whom He loved from all eternity, that
He chose a people according to His sovereign good pleasure,
as He wills, and put them in Christ, entrusted them to Christ,
ensuring their salvation. When you preach and declare salvation
by grace to sinners, those who have not the Spirit of God will
hate it and reject it, and they'll reject your Savior. Why? Because verse 7 tells us, because
the carnal mind is enmity against God, for it is not subject to
the law of God, neither indeed can be. Because man by nature
is offended by a God who saves by grace rather than by his own
works and what he's doing. Especially if he thinks he's
doing pretty good in his religious service and works. He hates that
God. He doesn't want to hear about
a God who saves helpless sinners who can't save themselves. because
he doesn't see himself as a helpless sinner. And so, to justify his
works and keep up his religious charade, man has to reject the
truth of God, and then he'll seek out teachers that'll tickle
his itching ears, that'll tell him the things that he wants
to hear. We've been going through Isaiah, and in Isaiah 30, we
saw recently in verses 10 and 11, which this is what the Jews
were saying, they said to their seers, see not. And to the prophets,
prophesy not unto us right things, speak unto us smooth things,
prophesy deceits, tell us lies, get you out of the way, turn
aside out of the path, cause the Holy One of Israel to cease
from before us. We want a God that's patting
us on the back, patting us on our heads and telling us what
a good job we've done and how pleased he is with us and how
proud he is of our hard labor and service for him. But man
has to reject the truth of God, right? He has to reject this
because he has no hope. He won't believe God. He has
no hope or faith in God. And so God tells us that they
that are in the flesh, cannot please God. They never will,
because they never believe what God is saying, unless it's on
their terms, unless they can make it a work in the hope of
their salvation, because they did it, because they confessed
Christ, because they did something for God. If they can do that,
they'll receive just about anything. But when you tell them, no, even
your confession, is a fruit of the Spirit. Give God the glory.
Rejoice in Christ Jesus. Have no confidence in the flesh.
They don't understand that. They don't know what you're talking
about. That's why they hear of Christ, push Him aside, and get
right on to doing what they need to start doing in the flesh,
and how they can make themselves more pleasing to God. So, as
long as we labor and trust in the flesh, we'll never have a
footing of righteousness before God. because it's in the flesh,
and they that are in the flesh cannot please God, because it's
automatically a rejection of the righteousness God provided
in his son, Jesus Christ. There's no resting in what he's
done. We're saying, well, that's nice, but I don't need that.
What about my works? Isn't that good? Isn't that better?
No, you just called God a liar, and you said that his gift of
Christ for the salvation of his people is worthless. You don't
need that. That's a rejection of God and
God's faithfulness as our creator and provider and sustainer. It's
all in Christ. All right, now, let's look at
the last and back end of these verses in verse nine, Romans
8, 9. This is a walk in the spirit
here. This is the grace which is declared
to be resting upon the people of God and Christ. Romans 8,
9. but ye are not in the flesh,
but in the Spirit. If so be that the Spirit of God
dwell in you. Now, if any man have not the
Spirit of Christ, he's none of his. All right, well, do you
know why you are not in the flesh, but in the Spirit? Do you know
why you're not in the flesh, but in the Spirit? Because you
that believe and hope in Christ, having no confidence in the flesh,
have been born anew, born again, not by Adam's corrupt seed, not
by anything done in Adam's corrupt seed in your flesh, but by the
Spirit, according to the will, the glory, and the power of God,
by His Spirit, coming and doing a work in the sinner. apart from
any works that they did, when they were yet dead in trespasses
and sins, when they were yet enemies of God in their own minds
and wicked works, the Spirit of God was merciful and gave
them life by the spiritual seed of Christ, and they were born
again, the Spirit was given to them, whereby in that new creation,
the new man created in us by Christ, apart from anything that
this flesh does or doesn't do, and that new man, we hear what
God has done, we receive that word, believing Christ. We trust him for all our salvation
so that we're made alive unto God by the seed of Christ and
his spirit dwells in us. And he tells us, verse 10, and
if Christ be in you, the body is dead because of sin. So just as before salvation,
so after salvation, this flesh is not improved. This flesh is
not reformed. This flesh isn't now able to
bring forth good fruits or good works. When believers bring forth
good fruit and good works, it's by the Spirit, it's in the Spirit
of the new man whereby we produce these good fruits. This flesh
is yet dead because of sin, but the Spirit is life because of
righteousness, because of Christ our righteousness. Christ's righteousness
is in you, and you that believe, you have satisfied the laws,
demands in Christ, and you now stand faultless before the throne
of God in Christ. Look at verse 11 now. But if
the spirit of him that raised up Jesus from the dead dwell
in you, he that raised up Christ from the dead shall also quicken
your mortal bodies by his spirit that dwelleth in you. In other
words, your body shall be quickened and raised again in the day that
Christ returns to claim his purchased possession. He will raise you
up from your graves, giving you, transforming your body into the
likeness of His sinless body, so that we shall be like Him,
for we shall see Him as He is. And let me close there with that
verse in 1 John 3, verses 2 and 3. 1 John 3, verses 2 and 3.
John tells us, beloved, Now are we the sons of God, and
it doth not yet appear what we shall be. His flesh is still
weak. I still feel the lust of my flesh.
I still do things that I'm ashamed of and would not do, things I
hate and know that I ought not to do them, right? And even if
I don't do them, I still see the thoughts and intents of my
heart that are there, that corruption, that wickedness in the flesh,
but we know that when he shall appear, we shall be like him,
for we shall see him as he is. And every man that hath this
hope in him purifieth himself, even as he is pure." So we purify
ourselves through the faith which the Spirit of God has revealed
in us. It's all of his work. We're purified
looking to Christ. When we look at this flesh, there's
nothing that gives us hope or comfort or assurance. We're not
trusting in the flesh, because the just man shall live by his
faith. So it's not because we see something
in the flesh, We see Jesus, the hope of our righteousness, knowing
that our life is hid with God in Christ. It's hid of Him. It's hid in Him. So we believe
Christ unto righteousness and it's His work. That's our purification. Christ is the one who purifies
us and keeps us and delivers us and bears fruits of righteousness
in us as it pleases Him. And so brethren, that is walking
in the Spirit. I pray the Lord will bless that
word to your hearts and comfort you. You that look to Christ
by His Spirit, be comforted. Don't look to your flesh. Have
no confidence in the flesh. It'll confuse you and make you
troubled to look to the flesh. You look to the Lord Jesus Christ
and believe Him. Amen. All right, let's close
in prayer. Our gracious Lord, we thank you
for your grace and mercy that you show to us abundantly in
your Son, Jesus Christ. Lord, teach us these truths.
Teach us this in the Spirit and have us walk in the Spirit and
not in the works and power and strength of this flesh. Keep
us ever looking to Jesus Christ, our Lord and Savior. Lord, have
mercy upon your people, those that are sick, those that are
struggling or suffering. Help us to know how we can help
and minister and serve one another. And then give us the strength
in your spirit to do it. For it's in Christ's name that
we pray and give thanks, amen.