I'd like for you to open your
Bibles to the book of Romans chapter 8. Romans chapter 8. I'll read verse
14 to start off with. Romans 8 and verse 14. For as
many as are led by the Spirit of God, they are the sons of
God. Now, obviously, that's a very
plain verse, isn't it? If you're going to be a child
of God, a son of God, that is a saved sinner, a born-again
sinner, adopted into the family of God, member of His family,
then that means that you're led by the Spirit of God. The title
of this message is The Leading of the Spirit. the leading of
the Spirit. How would you like to know for
certain, based upon God's Word, that you're a child of God, that
you're truly saved, that you're led by the Spirit of God? We've
been looking at that subject through various passages of Scripture,
and we started in Romans chapter 8, we'll continue on through
chapter 11, but you remember back over in 1 John chapter 3
that we studied several weeks back, that issue was brought
forth there too when the Apostle John in making a clear distinction
as he was inspired by the Holy Spirit, he was making a clear
distinction between what he called children of the devil and children
of God when he said in verse 10 of 1 John 3, in this the children
of God are manifest, made known, and the children of the devil.
This is how you tell the difference. And then he, in his context,
he did virtually the same thing that the Holy Spirit is inspiring
the Apostle Paul to do here in Romans chapter eight. He uses
a little bit different language, but it's basically the same truth.
The children of God are indwelt by the Spirit of God, the Holy
Spirit. The Holy Spirit is the third
person of the Holy Trinity. He's a person, He's God, equally
God with the Father and the Son. He has a specific office in the
salvation of sinners and that office is for Him to apply in
each and every one of God's people in each successive generation
life, spiritual life, and give them the things that Christ has
for them, the life of Christ, the faith, faith to come to Christ,
conviction, all of these things we'll look at. But how would
you like to know that you are indwelt by the Spirit of God? Now, the Spirit of God is not
just a feeling. And you cannot gauge the indwelling
or leadership of the Holy Spirit by feeling. Feelings come, feelings
go. Feelings can be deceiving. Emotions. You can't gauge it by emotions.
Nothing wrong with being emotional now. Don't get me wrong. We don't
want to go through life just simply as hard-nosed, unmoved,
stern people with our heads down all the time. When God saves
you, that doesn't mean you have to get a mean look on your face
and scare everybody to death like your judge, jury, and executioner. But you cannot gauge the indwelling
of the Holy Spirit or the leadership of the Holy Spirit by emotions.
And I've heard people do that. Now, that's common today. You
know, I hear people come in and say, I just felt the Spirit in
there. That's not the way it is in the
Scripture now. I don't know what you felt, you know, but whatever
it is, don't gauge that. Don't gauge the presence in the
service. Don't gauge the presence of the
Holy Spirit by what you feel. You may feel good, you may feel
bad, but that doesn't matter. That's not the issue. The Holy
Spirit is a powerful being, sovereign. He's the agent of the new birth,
born again by the Spirit. That's what Christ talked to
Nicodemus about in John chapter three. You must be born again
from above, born of God, born by the Spirit. In 2 Thessalonians
chapter two and verse 13, The Apostle Paul, again, as inspired
by the Holy Spirit, identifies God's elect that way. You want
to know who God's elect are? Well, he says they are those
who are sanctified by the Spirit and belief of the truth. To be
sanctified by the Holy Spirit is to be set apart under the
preaching of the gospel. It says, whereunto he called
you by our gospel to the obtaining of the glory of our Lord Jesus
Christ, 2 Thessalonians 2, verse 14. The Spirit sets God's people
apart under the preaching of the gospel and makes that gospel,
what Romans 1, 16, and 17 calls it, the power of God unto salvation
to everyone that believeth. He gives the gift of faith. He
gives you, if you have ears to hear the word of God, I don't
mean just physically. I'm talking about spiritually.
to where that word of Christ, that word of salvation by God's
grace in Christ is life to you, nourishment spiritually. You
can't live without it. You can't live without physical
food, can you? Well, you can't live without spiritual food if
the Holy Spirit indwells you. If you're being led of the Spirit,
if you've been made alive, quickened by the Spirit, that's another
term used. You hath he quickened who were
dead in trespasses and sin. Go try to feed somebody, make
the best meal you can make and take it over to the morgue and
try to feed a dead person with it. They're not gonna eat it,
because they're dead. And it's the same way with the
gospel message and the Word of God. God's people who are quickened
by the Holy Spirit, who are indwelt by the Holy Spirit, who are led
by the Spirit, who are energized, motivated, and guided by the
Spirit, they must feed upon the Word of God as it is in Christ. And if you can take it or leave
it, what does that tell you? If you can live without it, Doesn't
matter, does it? What does that tell you? Verse
14 again, for as many as are led by the Spirit of God, they
are the sons of God. I want to know if I'm one of
those sons. How about you? We'll look back
up in verse 8. Let's look at the context here
again. He says, so then they that are in the flesh cannot
please God. We talked about that last week,
but just to go over it again, once he's talking about they
that are in the flesh, he's talking about one who has not been quickened
by the Spirit, an unregenerate person, an unbeliever. One who
is not indwelt by the Holy Spirit. One who is not led by the Spirit. That's to be in the flesh. That's
all men and women by nature's fallen in Adam, dead in trespasses
and sins, spiritually dead. They're in the flesh. And they
cannot please God. What is the flesh there? He's
not talking about this body now. He talks about that later on.
He talks about our mortal bodies, that's the bodies that'll die.
But the flesh here, now listen to me, we can talk about a lot
of things about the flesh. Last week I told you, you can
talk about the dregs of society, the out and out rebels, the immoral,
perverted people, criminals, Now, they're living and walking
after the flesh. You can talk about people who
live for materialism. Get all you can get. Like the
reporter that asked Howard Hughes one time, he said, Mr. Hughes,
why do you want so much land? Why are you buying all this land?
And Hughes said, well, I don't want that much, just whatever's
next to mine. And that's what he lived for.
I gotta own this, I gotta have this property. That's how I'm
identified. That's living after the flesh.
Now there's nothing sinful about own property, don't get me wrong,
but if that's your life, if that's your identity, if that's your
honor, that's living after the flesh. But what's Paul talking
about here in Romans 8? Now listen to what he says in
verse 8. Listen to this now. He says, so then they that are
in the flesh cannot what? You know who he's talking about
here in this specific context? He's talking about people who
are trying to please God. That's what he's saying. They're
trying to please God, but they're trying to do it in the flesh,
and not as they are quickened by, led by, and dwelt by the
Holy Spirit. What is it to try to please God
according to the flesh? He's talking about people trying
to please God by their works. trying to gain salvation by their
works. Let me prove that to you in the
book of Romans. Let's stay in the book of Romans
on this. The Jews, for example, the self-righteous, religious,
moral, dedicated, zealous, unbelieving Jews had three things that they
boasted of as recommending them unto God. And let me, before
I say this now, ask yourself this question. What do you believe
recommends you unto God? What do you really think recommends
you unto God? You know what a recommendation
is, don't you? If you apply for a job, you need a recommendation,
somebody to recommend your qualities, your character, so that you can
impress a potential employee, right? Well, what do people by
nature think recommends them unto God? We'll get them what
they want from God. We'll get them an audience with
God. Well, the self-righteous Jews had three things. Number
one was their physical connection with Abraham. We're Abraham,
see? That ought to impress God. He ought to be impressed. If
he hears that I'm a physical Jew, then that ought to just
open the door for me. That's trying to please God according
to the flesh. Look back at Romans 4. Look back at Romans 4, verse
1. Now, it was their physical connection
with who that they thought recommended them with Abraham. Because Abraham
was a friend of God. That's what the Bible says, isn't
it? So if I'm physically connected with him, that ought to make
me a friend of God. Well, look at verse 1 of Romans 4. He says,
What shall we say then that Abraham our father, as pertaining to
the flesh, hath found? What did Abraham, as pertaining
to the flesh, what recommended Abraham to God? He says in verse
two, for if Abraham were justified, what is it to be justified? It's
to be saved, it's to be not guilty, it's to be counted righteous
before God. Now, what's Paul doing here?
He says, well, what can we say of Abraham concerning his justification
before God? God accepted Abraham now. There's
no doubt about that. Abraham was a child of God. He
was, listen, Abraham was quickened by the Spirit and dwelt by the
Spirit and led by the Spirit. So now what are we gonna say
about Abraham? Well, for if Abraham were justified by works, he hath
whereof to glory. That word glory there means to
boast. He's got a reason to boast. But not before God. Now we're not talking about how
Abraham appeared before men here. We're not talking about how we
appear before men or what other men say about us. We're talking
about before God. So he says in verse three, for
what saith the scripture? Now here's the key to it all.
What does the Bible say? You can run off and get a preacher
to say anything you want him to say, but what does the Bible
say? Well, he says Abraham believed
God and it was counted unto him for righteousness. Abraham believed
God. Well, what does that mean? Well, what did God promise Abraham? He promised a lot of things to
Abraham, but basically in the context of what Paul's talking
about, and you can read it back up in chapter 3 too, what God
promised Abraham was salvation by grace through a promised future
Messiah. God promised to save Abraham
by grace, not by works. God promised to make Abraham
righteous by grace through the Messiah, the Lord Jesus Christ.
And do you know that's what Christ preached in John chapter 8 when
he spoke about Abraham? He said, Abraham, your father
rejoiced to see my day and he saw it and he was what? He didn't
get mad like the Jews did, like the unbelieving Jews did. He
got glad. Abraham knew he was a sinner
who needed salvation by the blood of a substitute. That's why he,
listen, Abraham, Abraham dared not call upon the name of the
Lord or seek to worship or commune with God without a sacrifice. People say, well, whosoever shall
call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved. Well, how do
you call upon his name? Go back and look at Abraham when
he called upon his name in Genesis chapter 12. What's the first
thing Abraham did before he called upon the name? He built an altar.
And what was the altar? As the place where the sacrifice,
where the blood was shed. He knew that he was a sinner. who could not be saved by his
works, by his flesh, by the best his flesh could do and offer
and attempt, but he needed the blood of a substitute to wash
away his sins. Come, let us reason together.
I mentioned this in our Sunday school, in Isaiah 118. Come, let us reason together.
Though your sins be as white as snow, white as wool, though
they be red as crimson, they shall be white as wool. That's the way God does it. So
when it says here in verse 3, for what saith the scripture,
Abraham believed God. Abraham believed God's promise
to save him based upon the righteousness of another, the promised Messiah,
the Lord Jesus Christ. And it, what was it? What was
counted? It was imputed to him for righteousness. Abraham's sins were charged to
Christ and Christ's righteousness was charged to Abraham. So he
says in verse four, now to him that worketh is the reward not
reckoned or accounted of grace, but of debt. Now, if you have
to work for it, it's not grace friend, it's debt, legal debt. In other words, something God
owes you. But the only thing God owes us
is death. The wages of sin is death. So this matter of righteousness,
this matter of justification, this matter of salvation is not
what we work for and God owes us. It's what God gives freely
through his son. So he says in verse five, but
to him that worketh not, but believeth on him that justifieth
the ungodly, his faith is counted for righteousness. What was Abraham's
faith? He believed in the Lord Jesus Christ as his righteousness,
as his sin bearer, sin offering. He believed that God was just
and faithful to forgive him of all his sins through the blood
of Christ. So when they look back and say, well, my physical
connection with Abraham recommends me unto God, that's trying to
please God in the flesh. And you cannot please God in
the flesh. They that are in the flesh cannot do it. The second
thing that the unbelieving Jews boasted of as recommending them
unto God was their circumcision. We be circumcised. We're not
uncircumcised. We're not idolaters. Turn to
Romans chapter 2 and verse 28. Paul writes here again, by inspiration
of the Spirit, as all the scripture is, he says, for he's not a Jew
which is one outwardly, neither is that circumcision which is
outward in the flesh, but he is a Jew which is one inwardly,
and circumcision is that of the heart in the Spirit. and not
in the letter whose praise is not of man but of God." What's
he talking about? Spiritual circumcision. Talking
about the new birth there. You see, physical circumcision
will not recommend you unto God. It was required under that physical
covenant for the Jews, the males, but it was never given by God
as a means of salvation or recommendation unto himself, it was a type of
something else that we need. Circumcision of the heart. The
work of the Holy Spirit in bringing us to conviction of sin and driving
us to Christ for righteousness. So physical circumcision wouldn't
do it. They that are in the flesh cannot please God. The third
thing that they thought recommended them unto God was their obedience
to the law of Moses. Turn to Romans 5, look back at
Romans 5, look at verse 20. Now it already said in Romans
3, 19 that the law brought in all of us guilty. So then, by
deeds of law shall no flesh be justified. He'd already said
that, Romans 3, 19 and 20. Look at verse 20 of Romans 5.
Moreover, the law entered that the offense, offense against
God, might abound. In other words, the law was given
to expose our sinfulness, their sinfulness, not their goodness. Anybody who looked at that law
of Moses and said, well now, if I just do my best to keep
it, even though I might not keep it perfectly, that's good enough
and God ought to accept that, you haven't seen the purpose
of the law. The law entered that the offense might abound. And
the picture there of the language is like drowning in a sea of
sin that you cannot save yourself from. But he says, but where
sin abounded, grace did much more abound, that as sin hath
reigned unto death, even so might grace reign through righteousness
unto eternal life by Jesus Christ our Lord. The law was given as
a schoolmaster to drive them to Christ, not to drive them
to themselves in trying to keep the law to be saved. They that
are in the flesh cannot please God. By deeds of law shall no
flesh be justified. That's what Paul's talking about
here in Romans chapter eight. So, look at it, Romans 8, look
at verse 9. He says, but ye are not in the
flesh. Now, who's he talking to there?
He's talking to born-again people. He's talking to believers. He's
talking about sinners who've been convicted of their sin to
know the impossibility of salvation, of righteousness and eternal
life and glory based upon their best efforts to keep the law.
The Spirit of God will never lead a person, a sinner, to seek
salvation by their deeds. He doesn't do that. If you have
a spirit who's leading you to seek salvation and righteousness
by your efforts to keep the law or to perform religious duties,
and you take comfort in that, You're not being filled and led
by the Holy Spirit. It's another spirit. It's an
evil spirit. It's a legal spirit. But you're not in the flesh,
he says. You've been born again by the Spirit. You're filled
with the Spirit. You're led by the Spirit. He
says, if so, be the Spirit of God dwell in you. And then he
says, now, if any man have not the Spirit of Christ, he is none
of his. If you don't have the Spirit of God dwell in you, If
you don't have the Spirit of Christ, that's one and the same
person, the third person of the church, he's called the Spirit
of God, he is God, he's called the Spirit of Christ. He comes
forth from Christ to apply and give life to his people and he
points sinners to Christ for all of salvation and righteousness
before God. We sing that hymn, Christ liveth
in me. Yes, he does. How? By His Spirit
and by His Word. That's how He indwells us. Let
me show you something. Look over in John chapter 16.
Let me show you the Spirit's work in this. This is something
that will really help you understand the nature and work of the Holy
Spirit as far as the Scripture will take us. John 16 and verse
7. Here's Christ speaking to His
disciples. And he's telling them, he's starting
to tell them about what's going to happen. How he's going to
go to Jerusalem, how he's going to be arrested, how he's going
to die, suffer and bleed and die and be raised again the third
day. This is what they call the upper
room discourses. This began in John 13, because
after John 12, Christ, His public ministry to the public in general
stopped, and here He is in the upper room just speaking to His
disciples. Now, there were more than the
12 here now. You understand there are 12 apostles, but there were
more disciples. But here He's speaking to His
disciples. And look at verse 7 of John 16. Well, look at verse six first.
He says, but because I have said these things unto you, sorrow
hath filled your heart. They were sorrowful because they
knew what was gonna happen. He's telling them things that
they didn't, they knew the truth of it, but the experience of
it was something as hard to take. Their master, the one they love,
was going away. But listen to what he says in
verse seven. He says, nevertheless, I tell you the truth. It is expedient
for you And I go away. Now that word expedient means
necessary. It's necessary for you that I
go away. Did you hear that? Wasn't necessary
for him personally, but it was necessary for his people that
he go away. Well, where was he going? Was
he taking a trip, something? Yeah. I tell you, he's going
to the cross to die, to be buried, to be raised again, the third
day, and then he was going to his father to be seated at the
Rhine in New York. What he's saying is, it's necessary
for you that I go do this work. Somebody's got to die for the
sins of the sheep. The good shepherd gives his life
for the sheep. Law and justice must be satisfied. Sin's got to be dealt with. God's
not going to just forget it, ignore it, or look over it. God
is a just God. He must punish sin. And what
He's telling, either I'll go do it for you or you've got to
spend an eternity in damnation for your sins. So it's necessary
for you that I go away. Righteousness must be established.
God must be just when He justifies the ungodly. And these are all
the things that the Spirit of God testifies to in the preaching
of the gospel. And he says, it's expedient for
you that I go away. If I go not away, now listen
to this, if I go not away, the Comforter will not come unto
you. That's the Holy Spirit. But if I depart, I will send
him unto you. What's he telling him? The work of the Holy Spirit
is the product, the fruit, the effect of the work of Christ.
You see that? If I don't go away, Christ says,
the comforter won't come. The comforter there is an advocate.
The Holy Spirit is an advocate of sorts. But he's not going
to come and he's not going to do his work of comfort. How does
he comfort God's people? He drives a sinner to Christ
for comfort, for peace, for assurance, for salvation. He won't drive
you anywhere else. He won't lead you, take you, appoint you, drive
you anywhere else. but Christ and His blood and
righteousness. Listen, if you're driven anywhere
else and find comfort, mark it down, it's not the Holy Spirit.
It's not. You say, well, I take comfort
in the fact that I was baptized when I was 12. That's not the
Spirit of God speaking to you. That's self or mom or daddy or
some preachers, but it's not the Spirit of God, the Spirit
of Christ. The issue for you and for me
is are you looking to Him, resting in Him for all salvation, for
all life, for all righteousness, for all glory today? Do you have His glory in mind
today? Do you value Christ in the glory
of His person as God-man and the power of His finished work
today? Do you feast upon His word today? You say, well, I've got to deal
with the past. That's what God the Son incarnate
did on the cross. He deals with the past, he deals
with the present, and he deals with the future on the cross. Paul said, forget those things
which are behind and press toward the mark of the prize of the
high calling that's in Christ Jesus. The comforter will not come unless
Christ dies. It's the death of Christ that
brings life to dead sinners. And he says in verse 8 of John
16, it says, when he has come, he will reprove. That word reprove
is convince or convict. Now, have you ever heard the
term conviction? Holy Spirit conviction. All right. It's a biblical term. Here it
is. He will convict. You know what conviction is?
If you get charged of a crime and you go to court and they
convict you, that's legal conviction. You know, in another sense, it's
holding a conviction. I'm convicted. I'm convinced
that something is either true or not true. Well, he says the
Holy Spirit, he will convict the world of sin and of righteousness
and of judgment. Three things there. Now, this
is key now. Do I have the Holy Spirit indwelling?
Has He quickened me? Is He indwelling me? Do I have
His indwelling presence? Is He leading me? Well, if He
is, He's convicted you of sin and of righteousness and of judgment.
What does that mean? Verse 9, of sin because they
believe not in me. What He's talking about there,
some people say, well, He's talking about the sin of unbelief. Well,
that's true, but it's more than that. It's this. It's like Paul was saying over
there in verse 9 of chapter 8. Without faith, he says, those
that are in the flesh cannot please God. Hebrews chapter 11,
I believe it's verse 6 or 7, I can't remember, but it says
without faith it's impossible to please God. Now what is faith?
It's looking to Christ, resting in Christ. That's what faith
is. It's not just believing. It's
believing in Christ. And believing Christ. Looking
unto Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith. resting in him
for all life. His blood is my only forgiveness. His righteousness is my only
acceptance before God. My hope is built on nothing less
than Jesus' blood and righteousness. I dare not trust the sweetest
frame, but wholly lean on Jesus' name. On Christ the solid rock
I stand. All other ground is sinking sand.
Now, without believing in Christ, the Holy Spirit, here's His message
to you. All you are in the sight of God
is sin and all you do is sin. Sin, listen, sin is not just
in what we do. Sin is what we are. That's our
state before God. Because without Christ and without
faith in Him, it's all nothing. It's all less than nothing. Paul
called it dumb. He said, I count it all but dumb
for the excellence of the knowledge of God in Christ Jesus my Lord.
And then he says he's going to, in verse 10, he's going to convince
of righteousness because I go to my father and you see me no
more. How did Christ go to his father? He went to his father
as the victorious savior and redeemer of his people. That's
how he went. He went to his father as one
who completed the work. You know how I know that? Because
the scripture symbolizes it in this way. When he went to his
father, what did he do? He did something that no high
priest or no priest under the old covenant could ever do. What'd
he do? Anybody know? Say it. He sat down. You know why he
sat down? Work was done. Work was accomplished. He finished it. He said in John
19, 30, it is finished. The veil in the temple was torn
in two from top to bottom. He did something that no other
priest could do. You know why? Because he's able
to save to the uttermost them that come unto the Father by
him. He satisfied the justice of God against all my sins. They were charged to him, imputed
him. He was made sin and he drank damnation dry. He paid my debt
in full. Nothing left to be paid to God.
The law of God cannot demand any more payment from me because
Christ paid it all. Now, if the Holy Spirit has quickened
you, He indwells you, and He's leading you, and guiding you,
and motivating you, that's exactly what He's convicted you of. The law can demand no obedience
from me as to attaining righteousness. Christ is my righteousness. That's
the righteousness of God revealed in the Gospel. For Christ is
the end, the finishing, the fulfillment of the law for righteousness.
everyone that believe and then look here in verse 11 he convicts
of judgment because the prince of this world is judged now who's
the prince of this world that's the devil what is the devil he's
the accuser of the brethren he constantly accuses God's people
though why does the Holy Spirit convict us of judgment Well,
when was the prince of this world judged? Well, Christ said it
in John chapter 12. He said, now is the judgment of this world. Now is the prince of this world
cast out. What was the now he was speaking
of? He was speaking of his death on the cross. What kind of judgment
is he speaking of here? Not the final judgment. He's
talking of the judgment of all of God's people. all of his church,
all of his sheep, all of his elect, as they were judged fully
and completely and finally for all their sins in the person
of Christ on the cross. I've already been judged in Christ. And when Satan accuses me, all
I have to do is say, who shall lay anything to the charge of
God's elect? It's God that justifies. Who
can condemn me? It's Christ that died. Yea, rather
is risen again, and is what? Seated at the right hand of the
Father. Revelation chapter 12 says, when
Satan, that great accuser of the brethren, when he launches
his arrows of accusation against God's people, what do they do?
They plead what? The blood of the Lamb. That's
what the Holy Spirit convicts us of. Look back at Romans 8. You see that? Now he says, in
verse 10, He says in Romans 8 verse 2, and if Christ be in you, and
Christ is in his people, he dwells there by his spirit and by his
word. If Christ be in you, the body
is dead because of sin. Now there he's talking about
our mortal body. That's why verse 11 proves that. He's talking
about this physical body that's died. Now listen to me. There's nothing sinful about
this physical body. Christ had a physical body, remember? And He had no sin, knew no sin. Sin is what dwells in the heart. And that sin, those evil desires,
evil motives, evil thoughts, those take this physical body
and use them for evil purposes. Just like I told you last week,
you can take this hand and use it to choke somebody to death
in anger, or you can take it and use it to pick up a Bible
to read. There's no perfection in that.
Our perfection is in Christ. If the Holy Spirit's quickened
you and dwells in you and leads you and guides you, He'll tell
you that through the Word of God. All right? But this body
is feeling the consequences, the effects of sin. It's called
death. It's dying. So he says, if Christ
be in you, the body is dead because of sin. Now the reason that we're
getting old and dying and we'll die physically is because of
sin. You can't get around that. It
was never God's purpose that we dwell forever and ever and
ever in these dying bodies. We'll have a new body. But he
says this, look here, but the Spirit, that's the Holy Spirit,
is life because of righteousness. Now it's not that the Holy Spirit
is life because he makes you righteous within yourself. The Holy Spirit is life because
of righteousness which Christ accomplished on Calvary. That's what he was saying in
John 16. It's from Christ that life comes
by the Spirit. Because sin demands death, but
what demands life? Righteousness. Righteousness. Where am I going to find righteousness?
In Christ. But where else? So he says in
verse 11, but if the spirit of him that raised up Jesus from
the dead dwell in you, the Holy Spirit, he that raised up Christ
from the dead shall also quicken, make alive your mortal bodies
by his spirit that dwelleth in you. That is, we're gonna be
raised again in a new resurrected body, a spiritual body by the
spirit of God, the same spirit who raised Christ from the dead.
So he says in verse 12, therefore brethren, we're debtors not to
the flesh to live after the flesh. We don't owe anything to the
flesh, to ourselves. When it comes to salvation, I
don't owe anything to my, I can't take credit for anything. I can't
say I owe myself anything. I don't owe myself any glory,
any praise, any credit. I'm not a debtor to the flesh
to live after the flesh. Verse 13, for if you live after
the flesh, you shall die. If you seek salvation by the
flesh or the things of the flesh, you know what you're gonna get?
Death, it's eternal death there. But if you through the spirit
do mortify the deeds of the body, you shall live. Now the mortification,
that means to put to death. The mortification that he's talking
about here, and I'll deal with this more next week, but what
he's talking about here is repentance from dead works. We put all our
deeds to death when we realize that the only thing we can attain
by them is death. Nail them to the cross, he said
in Galatians chapter 5. They're dumb. Paul said, I no
longer believe they can recommend me unto God. They're death. They're
dead. They're dead works. What do you do? How do you know
that? Look to Christ. And you shall live for as many
as are led by the Spirit of God, they are the sons of God.