I'm glad you all went. I've asked
Brother Ron to lead us in prayer this morning. Thank you for this place, and
for this desire you've given us to make a speech, for you to continue to give us the opportunity,
to give us every opportunity, to want the one true and living God, and to be with us
on this earth. Because our brother Paul, he brings a message from your world, of us all in your
world, Amen. Romans 8, Romans chapter
8. All of God's Word is marvelous,
wonderful. We went through the Gospel of
John, which is just marvelous. The Book of Romans, which is
just wonderful. We've come to chapter 8. Oh, what a chapter this is. I remember we spent a long time
in like John 10, John 14, 16. 21, places like that, and we may
be stuck here for a little while. What a good place to stick. There's not a more comforting
passage for the believer in Romans 8, though some may have read
these verses, and you read this subject title, Walking After
the Spirit, Not After the Flesh. Some of you may hang your head
and feel, but you won't when you hear it, if you're a true
child of God. Promise after promise here in
this chapter, exceeding precious promises, that we, like Simon
Peter said, might be partakers of the divine nature. Promises.
Not if you do this, but promises of what the Holy Spirit hath
done and shall do. You hear me? Don't hang your
head anymore. I don't want to look into the
face of any dejected believer in here this morning. And if
you go away dejected, you didn't hear a thing. And now chapter
7, you remember chapter 7, it talks about two men within, an
old man and a new man, and he cries out, who shall deliver
me? And he answers his own cry, I
thank God through Jesus Christ our Lord. He's the deliverer.
He was sent by God to be the deliverer. And so chapter 8 begins
this way. There is therefore, because Christ
came, because Christ lived, because Christ died, because Christ rose
again, there is therefore, now, right now, not shall be, but
right now, no condemnation. No condemnation to them that
are in Christ Jesus. No. No. In the same chapter,
he says, Who shall lay anything to the charge of God's elect?
It is God that justifies. How does He justify? Faith in Christ. Not works. We've been looking at that for
months. It's not works. Don't hang your head. Look up. Your redemption is certain and
draws nigh. Who is He that condemneth? Christ
died. There's no condemnation. John
chapter 8 is the best illustration, one of the best illustrations
of this no condemnation to them that are in Christ. Now, our
Lord Jesus Christ came to save sinners. What kind of sinners?
The chief. People like the thief on the
cross. You think you're worse than him? I know you feel like
it, but do you really think you're worse than that man? Do you think
you're more hopeless than that man? His last breath. This woman in
John 8 says, Our Lord came, verse 2, to the temple. People sat
down. He taught them. Scribes and Pharisees
brought unto him a woman taking in adultery. They set her in
the midst. They said unto him, Master, this
woman was taken up in the very act. Now Moses and the law commanded
us that such should be stoned. That's all the law said. Isn't
that what we've been looking at? What sayeth thou? Do you know who brought this
woman to Christ? You say it was these Pharisees
and these scribes and these people that wanted to condemn her. No,
it was the Spirit of God. God brought her to Christ. The
only one that could absolve her of all guilt. She's guilty. She's taken the act. Everybody
knows it. She knows it. They know it. And they brought
her to Christ. What sayeth that? No, he don't. It says in verse 6, they said
it was tempting him to have something to accuse him, but he stooped
down and with his finger wrote on the ground. This is the same
God who wrote the Ten Commandments. This is the same one that wrote
the commandment, Thou shalt not commit adultery. Did it. Same one. Same finger. He's writing on the ground. And
it's going to be hard not to get stuck here. But verse 7,
when they continued asking him, he lifted up himself and said
unto them, he stood up and said, He that is without sin among
you, let him cast the first stone. And then he stooped back down
where she was. And rode on the ground. What
was he writing? Someone said maybe dates. Places,
events that only those in private that didn't, only they knew,
no one else knew. And now they, he's writing, and
they begin to high-sail it out. When they heard it, they were
convicted by their own conscience. They went out one by one, beginning
with the eldest, even of the last. And our Lord was left alone
and the woman standing in the midst. I believe He stood up
and lifted her with Him. When He lifted up Himself, saw
none but the woman, just Him and her. Apparently, there were no sinners
in there but her, because they all wanted to condemn her. Our
Lord came for that woman. and had her brought to Him. The
Holy Spirit of God had her brought to Him. And He said, Woman, where
are those thine accusers? Hath no man condemned thee? Where
are your accusers? Where are your witnesses against
you? She looked around. Why, no man, Lord. And our Lord
said unto her, Neither do I condemn thee. Go and sin no more. There is therefore now No condemnation
to them that are in Christ. What does it mean to be in Christ?
It means to be bound in Him. It means to be put in Him by
God. Of God are you in Him, in Christ. Who of God is made unto us. Wisdom, righteousness, sanctification,
redemption. It's to be like Noah and his family, bound in that
ark. Did they put themselves in that
ark? No. And you don't put yourselves
in Christ. You don't put yourself in the Kingdom of God. But God
did. He puts His people. It is to be found in Him. Covered
by Him. Saved by Him. In His covenant. In His mind. In His heart. Your
name written on the palms of His hand when He went to Calvary's
tree. Your name's on His breastplate,
that great high priest. Your name's on His shoulder,
bearing your sin. To Calvary's tree. It's to be
in Him. In His mind. In His heart. found
in him. There is therefore now no condemnation
to them which are in Christ Jesus." Who? Read on. Chapter 8, verse 1. Walk not
after the flesh, but after the Spirit. Walk not after the flesh,
but after the Spirit. Do you think that woman caught
in the act of adultery that was so freely forgiven that the Lord
showed such mercy Such compassion on her. Do you
think she went back to that life of adultery? No. I think right
then and there she was born again a new creature. Was she tempted? Oh yes. Did
she sin? Oh yes. Who is without sin? Who doesn't sin? But did she
wallow in it and remain in it like she had been? No. No. She's born again. She's born
of the Spirit. We sing that song, born of the Spirit and washed
in His blood. A new creature. The fear of the Lord is in her.
There is forgiveness with thee, David Rupp. There is forgiveness. If the Lord should mark iniquities,
who shall stand? Butts. I'm going to preach on
those butts. Brother Mike brought it up, and
I wrote down yesterday morning about 25 butts. And we're going to look at them
real soon. But, who shall stand but there is
forgiveness that thou mayest be feared? Fear of the Lord. And so, the fear of the Lord
gives a desire to walk with the Lord and serve Him and be like
Him. And Scripture says you have to
be quickened, who are dead. Dead in sin. To walk after the
Spirit means to be led by it, to walk after. It means somebody's
in front of you. Somebody's up in front of you.
When our Lord came to His disciples, He said, follow me. What did
they do? They followed Him. They walked
after Him. And I told you the story in Bunyan's
book, The Holy War, how the people were so in love with Him. admired the Lord, the Emmanuel
that saved them, that they wanted to walk just like Him. They wanted
to follow Him. Led by the Spirit. Walk after
Him. Follow Him. Now, there's no child of God
that feels spiritual. Not one single child of God feels
like a spiritual person. Not one single child of God feels
like they walk right. Not one. There's not one single
honest believer. And there's no other kind of
believer but the honest. In this room, or any church, any believer
who feels like they walk by the Spirit. But every one of them
does. If not, they're not God's people.
That's what this says here. Look it down in verse... Fourteen,
as many as are led by the Spirit of God, they are the sons of
God. Alright, let me see if I can't
help us all on this. It says that the Spirit takes
the things of Christ and shows them unto us. What things? His
redemption. His work on Calvary's tree. His
law work. The finished work of the Lord
Jesus Christ on our behalf. And His love, His mercy, His
grace, His compassion, His goodness, His holiness, His righteousness.
He takes Christ and Him crucified and shows you that He died for
you, for your sin, that just convicts you of your sin, that
makes you so thankful for Christ and Him crucified. And then you
see His beauty, His glory, His character, and you want to be
just like Him. And the Spirit takes those things
and shows them unto you, and you look to Him for salvation,
and you look at Him and say, I want to be like that. You want to be like that. I want
to walk like He walks. I want to talk like He talks.
I want to act like He acts. I want to forgive like He forgives.
I want to love like He loves. I want to be merciful like the
Lord. I want to serve Him and other people. I want to give.
I want to be merciful. There was a time when none of
those things were in you. There was a time when you gave
no thought to Jesus Christ. That was me. There was a time
when I saw no beauty in Him that I should desire. I was after
this world. That's all I thought about. I
was dead and trespassed and sinned. The world was in my heart and
I was in the world and loving every minute of it. But God, through the preaching of the
gospel, Christ in Him crucified, and the Spirit of God moves on
this dead sinner, and takes the things of Christ. Isn't he beautiful? Isn't he wonderful? Ooh, this
world's ugly. I'm ugly. I want to get in behind Him.
I want to follow Him. Is that you? Yes, that's you. Look at verse 2. Now, the law
of the Spirit of the life in Christ, that's the rule of the
Holy Spirit. Notice the Spirit is mentioned,
I counted it if I'm not wrong, 18 times in this chapter. This is the chapter that speaks
of the Holy Spirit and what he does, his work, mostly. But the spirit of life in Christ,
the rule, the law, God's set forth commandment, the spirit
of life in Christ Jesus, hath made me free from the law of
sin and death. And we've already looked at that,
how Christ is free from the law. He's free from the penalty of
the law, the guilt of it. and the law of sin and death,
the reigning, ruling power of sin and death. There was a time
when we had absolute reign and rule, and we loved to have it
so. Follow that. After that, that's to walk after
the flesh. That's what you're after. That's
what you pursue. That's what you want more than
anything else. Don't want God. I want this flesh. Amen. Not to say that the flesh doesn't
have any pull. Not to say that we don't sometimes
go after those things, but the Spirit of God won't let you. He won't let you stay after those
things. Now, you get free from that reigning,
ruling power of sin and death. There was a time when nobody
could get you to come and sit and listen to this. It's like
torture. Now, It's where you want to be. It's what you want
to do. It's who you want to hear and
who you want to be with, right? Who did that? You decide that.
I didn't decide that. I was dead set against it. That's the Spirit of God moving.
Alright, verse 3. The Law, Ten Commandments, The
law could not do, and it was weak through the flesh. God sent
in His own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh, and for sin,
a sacrifice of sin. He condemned sin in the flesh.
Oh, that's a wonderful verse there. God sent His Son, the
fullness of time. God sent His Son, made of the
woman, made under the law to redeem them that were under the
law. Redeem us from the curse, but be made a curse for us. He
was made in the likeness of sinful flesh, a man just like us, tempted
in all points like as we are, but he had no sin. And for sin, he condemned sin
into flesh. We can't live without sin. We've got flesh to continue with.
Well, he had flesh, but no sin. Why did he do that? To show us
how? Well, no. No. Substitute. This is the second Adam. In Adam
all die, but in Christ all are made alive. That's what it means
to be in Christ. Do you know what that means?
Do you love it? Do you want to be found in Christ? Not having your own righteousness,
which is of the law, but that righteousness which is by faith
of the Lord Jesus Christ. Do you know what that means?
Do you want to be found in Him? Then you're in Him. Who taught
you that? Who showed you that? Religion
doesn't show you that. The Holy Spirit does. You've
been led by the Spirit. You're being taught of His Spirit.
The Spirit of Truth. He takes the faith. Christ said
when He has come, the Spirit of Truth, He'll take the things
of mine and show them unto you. He'll not speak of Himself. Holy
Spirit filled Christianity, so-called today, holiness, Pentecostal
holiness, they talk more about the Spirit of God than they do
Jesus Christ and crucify Him. But the Holy Spirit, Christ says,
shall not talk of Himself. He takes the things of Christ
and shows them. A spirit-filled people are a
people filled with faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. Filled with
love for the Lord Jesus Christ. Filled with wonder and praise
and thanksgiving to Christ in Him crucified. Filled with desire
for Him. The Holy Spirit. Even the Father
bears witness to the Son. Alright, look at verse 4. That the righteousness of the
law, our Lord came to, 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. It doesn't say by us. Does it say by us? In us. Those that are in Christ have
fulfilled the law of Christ, of God. Those that are found
in Christ, I've given you that illustration before of a woman
with a child in her belly, that wherever she goes, whatever she
does, the baby does it. Right? Her works are its works.
Whoever accepts her, accepts the baby. Right? Well, that's
what it means to be found in Christ. We're accepted in the
beloved. Explain it more, preacher. I
can't. But you know, you know. That's
all your hope. That's the hope of every sinner.
We found in Him. Religious people, they don't
know that. They don't understand that. It just doesn't make sense,
but the Spirit of God teaches young people that. We're either going to be judged
in that great day in Jesus Christ or beside Him. And you don't
want to stand beside Him to be judged by God, because you've
come far short. But in Him we're covered in that
ark. Read on. All right. Who won't? Now that's the plan.
Now, you know, it's saying this more as a matter of fact than,
now you need to do this. You know that. It's not saying,
now if you do this, you will be. No, no. It's already said. that the righteous fulfill, and
the fact of the matter is, they walk before the Spirit. Like the Sermon on the Mount,
when our Lord gave us the attitude, that He said, blessed are the
poor. The poor are blessed. They're
already poor. Now, we need to be poor. We need to mourn. We
need to be moved. We need to be peacemaker, don't
we? But God's people are. Blessed
are. The reason they are poor is because
God has blessed them. The reason they mourn over their
sin is because the Holy Spirit has convicted them of their sin.
They are blessed. They are meek. You show me a
proud believer. He is not a believer. They are
meek. They are peacemakers. Knowing
that Christ made peace with an angry God for them, they are
peacemakers. No such thing as that. a rebel
against God and God's Kingdom, to walk not after the flesh,
but after the Spirit. Verse 5, they that are after
the flesh do mind the things of the flesh. Those are people
that are after the flesh. That's what they go after. One
time some men came to see the Lord, and He said, what seek
ye? They came to Him. He said to
him, what seek ye? And they said, Master, where
dwellest thou? Lord, teacher, where do you live? We've come to seek you. Come
and seek. And they followed him from that
day forth. Carnally minded, though, is to
go after the things of this world, to have all of your enjoyment,
Pleasure, all your pursuits after the things of this world. Mindful,
only mindful of, pursuing, wanting, desiring the things of this world. That's no better than an animal.
An animal thinks of three things. Eating, drinking, and sex. Right? Isn't it so? Isn't that what
most people in the world think about? Look around. We were just at
Walmart yesterday. And you look around and people,
I'm telling you this generation looks no better than beasts,
animals, it's awful. And I was thinking to myself,
these people probably never give God a thought. Probably never give God a thought. And I know because that was me. I can't preach for ten minutes
without saying, but God. Do you get tired of hearing that? But God, that's my salvation. That was me. But God, the Holy
Spirit. God and the Holy Spirit. Why
me? You know, our Lord said, you
know, man's life consists not in the abundance of things he
possesses. But most people think it is. Most people think of someone
living the good life, that he's got lots of stuff, lots of things.
Our Lord said, no. You lose your soul. If that's
your treasure, you're going to lose your soul. He said the kingdom
of God is not in meat and drink, but in righteousness. Listen. See if these things appeal to
you. Righteousness. There's a kingdom where He dwelleth.
Righteousness. No sin. No sin. Only this. The world
doesn't want to tell you. Well, I do. That's where I want
to be. Righteousness. Peace. Peace. The peace, joy in the Holy Ghost. What's that mean? Joy in the
Lord Jesus Christ. 1 Peter said, Whom having not seen,
you love, and rejoice with joy unspeakable. Sometimes, you know, tell me,
here's an honest question. If by grace sometimes you hear
the gospel and hear God's Word and it enters into your heart with great joy and rejoicing,
do you not find these things to be the most enjoyable things
in this life? Do you? You can't fake this. You're either the bride of Christ
or you're not. And if you're the bride of Christ, You love
Him supremely more than anybody or anything, and there's nothing
you enjoy more than to hear about Him. That's what Peter said to us,
his people. He said, you rejoice with joy
unspeakable, full of glory. I have a deep concern for those
who don't glory in Christ, in the gospel. Those who don't joy
and rejoice. Verse 6 says, now to be carnally
minded is death. The minding of the flesh, that's
all a person thinks about. They're dead. But to be spiritually
minded is life and peace. Now, spiritually
minded, you've got all these tree-huggers. I'm a tree-hugger. I hug trees. I love trees. What
will I call them? All these new age people that
think of themselves as spiritual. I love that word, don't you?
Oh, he's a spiritual person. He's spicy is what he is. A spiritual person is a person
who's taken up with Jesus Christ, who's taken up with the kingdom
of God, who's taken up with eternal matters, the things of God, not
the things down here. To be spiritually minded is to
have the mind of Christ. To carnally mind, that's death. The carnal mind, verse 7, is
enmity against God. It is not subject to the law
of God. The natural mind, the carnal
mind, the fleshly way of thinking doesn't like authority. The law of God cannot
be. Those that are in the flesh cannot
please God. They can't do it. And that sure
goes with all this fleshly religion. But you're not in the flesh,
verse 9, but in the Spirit. Doesn't he say that as a matter
of fact? He doesn't say you ought to do it. Do it. You're not in the flesh, but
you're in the Spirit. He's talking to the saints. We started this
whole thing out by showing us who he's striving to. To the
saints, called to be saints. Beloved of God. You're not in
the flesh. I don't understand. Yeah, you
do. God's people understand. You've
got this flesh. I want to be done with this. I want out of
this. But in the Spirit, if so be,
just a fact of the matter, if so be that the Spirit of God
dwelleth, and if He does, not that any man have not the Spirit
of Christ, he's not a head, he's not a head. You notice what he's
called? The Spirit of Christ. And if Christ be in you, See,
this is all about Christ. If Christ be in you, not the
doctrine or not religion, but if Christ be in you, a love for
Him, faith in Him, trust and hope in Him, a desire for Him
and to be like Him, the body is dead because of sin. That
is, Christ was crucified. We just looked at that. Reckon
yourself dead. What does that mean? Crucify.
Crucify with pride. God, that old man is dead. He's been punished. But the Spirit
is alive because of righteousness. Who's? His. He's the Redeemer. He's the Savior. It's not you and Him. If I said anything yet to discourage
anybody, it's all about what Christ has done and what the
Holy Spirit does for His people. But now, if the Spirit of Him
that raised up Jesus from the dead dwell in you, and He that
raised up Christ from the dead, He'll quicken your mortal bodies
by His Spirit. The same Spirit is going to quicken
your mortal bodies. Read on. I want you to read something. by His Spirit. Brethren, so we're
debtors not to the flesh, to live after the flesh. We, for
years, we've lived in the flesh, for the flesh, thought of nothing
but the flesh. God was not in our thoughts at
all. But God, now, the Spirit of God, through the preacher
of the gospel, this new creature is created, and God is in all
our thoughts. And Christ, we desire Him. We
look to Him, we believe on Him, in Him, and there's this new
man who wants done with this flesh. He wants done with this
flesh. And before, whereas we wanted
nothing more than to feed this flesh, now we just want it gone. We want it dead, put away. Is that right? We owe a great debt to our God
for the gratitude and service. We served our flesh all those
years. Servants of sin. Servants of
unrighteousness. That's what He said in chapter
6, didn't He? So now, ye, O dear Lord, here
I am. Mind, body, soul, strength, take
me. Make me like Christ. I want to
be not a servant of sin, but a servant of righteousness. That's
you. That's not of yourself. That's
the Spirit of God. You're led by the Spirit. You're led by the Spirit. I didn't
bring up one single touch not, taste not, handle not practice.
Not one. As many as are led by the Spirit. Verse 13, if you through the
Spirit do mortify the members, you can't mortify your members. You know what I'm saying? Without Him, I can do nothing.
But what does it say? But with Him. By Him. Through Him. All the way. You
know, there's a grieving of the Spirit. God's people are led
by the Spirit. 1 Corinthians 15. Go over there.
I want to show you. There's a grieving of the Spirit,
there's a quenching of the Spirit. No, the Spirit is sovereign,
like God the Father, like God the Son. You can't put out the
Spirit. You can't prevent the Spirit. Religion says that. Nobody moves
to disturb the Spirit. How weak is it? But to quench the Spirit means
people in the spirit of worship and praise and joy, and you start
talking about the world. It just douses it. To grieve
the Spirit. Do your children grieve you when
they act badly? Don't do what you say. Do they
grieve you? They shouldn't do that. Grieve the Spirit. God
is angry with the wicked every day. He's not grieving over sinners. God's not grieving over sinners.
His people who are sinners, they grieve Him. He's not going to leave them
there. He's not going to chase them.
He doesn't chase them to work. He punishes them. But His people,
He chases them. They grieve Him. Why? That we might be partakers of
His holiness. Alright, 1 Corinthians 15. Now
it says the same spirit will quicken our mortal bodies. Our mortal bodies. 1 Corinthians
15. It says this. Verse 51. Behold, I show you a mystery.
We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed in a moment. In the twinkling of an eye, the
last trumpet shall sound, and the dead shall be raised. incorruptible. We shall be changed. Changed. For this corruptible must put
on incorruption, and this mortal must put on immortality. And
when this corruptible, this body, is put on incorruption, and this
mortal shall put on immortality, then shall be brought to pass
the saying that is written in death. is swallowed up in victory. Oh, death, where is thy sting? Oh, grave, where is thy victory?
The sting of death is sin. The strength of sin is the law. What can we do about it? Nothing. But thanks be to God who giveth
us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ. Therefore, my beloved,
Brethren, be ye steadfast, unmovable, always abounding in the work
of the Lord. For as much as you know, your labor is not in vain,
but in the Lord. These words that Moses said to
the people of God, these are not vain words. This is your
life. This is your life. Christ is
our life. Do you know that? Do you believe
that? Do you love that? Then you're
led by the Spirit of God. You're in the Spirit. Okay. How is it? Is it doing
right now? Stand over there and tell me. It's a buzz. so so so Christ's song. We are the world's largest nation. Alright everyone, this all turned
to number 39. Number 39, let's all stand. Number
39. This is my father's world And
to my listening ears All nature sings and round me rings The
music of the spears This is my father's world of rocks and trees, of skies
and seas, and the wondrous song. This is my Father's world, The
morning light, the lily white, declares their Maker's praise. In all that's fair. In the rustling grass, I hear
Him now. He speaks to me everywhere. This is my Father's world. That though the wrong seems oft
so strong, God is the ruler, yes. This is my Father's will. has been won. Jesus who died has been satisfied,
and earth and heaven be one. Baby seated. Let's all turn to
number 318. 318. I need Thee every hour, O gracious
Lord. No tender voice like Thine can
be heard. Every hour I need Thee, O bless
me now, my Savior, I come to Thee. I need Thee every hour,
stay Thou nearby. Temptations lose their power
when Thou I need thee, oh, I need thee. Every hour I need thee. Oh, bless
me now, my Savior. I come to thee. I need thee every
hour. Enjoy your pain Come quickly
and abide For life is vain I need thee, oh I need thee Every hour
I need thee Oh, bless me now, my Savior,
I come to Thee. I need Thee every hour, Most
Holy One. Oh, make me, by and deed, Every hour I need Thee, O bless
me now, my Savior, I come to Thee.