Last week we got up to around
verses six, seven, and eight, where the apostle is talking
about the carnal mind, to be carnally minded. Look at verse
six, he says, to be carnally minded is death. Now what is the carnal mind?
That's the fleshly mind, and remember what the flesh means.
When you come to that word flesh in the scripture, look at the
context to see what he's talking about. The flesh means sin. That's what it means here. The
carnal mind, the sinful mind. And what he's talking about is
the carnally minded are those who, they're after the flesh. In other words, their whole lives
are consumed by the flesh. They mind the things of the flesh. In other words, they operate,
they walk, they judge. by the flesh. And what is the
flesh here? The flesh is not just the human
body, the physical body. There's nothing inherently sinful
about our bodies, but the sin within us, the sin within our
hearts, our minds, sinful desires, sinful motives, sinful goals,
sinful thoughts, that's the flesh. And sometimes the flesh just
refers to nothing more than the physical body. Even Christ is
said to have come in the flesh. He was made of the seed of David
according to the flesh, but now he was not sinful at all. He
had no fleshly, carnal, sinful principles or powers or thoughts
within himself. He was the perfect God-man. Had
to be. If there was any imperfection
in him, any sin in him, he would have been disqualified to be
our surety, our substitute, and our redeemer. And even when he
went to the cross, the Bible, when it says that he was made
sin, it was not that he was made to be a sinner or made sinful. He couldn't have been. If he
was made to be a sinner or sinful, he would have been disqualified.
He could not, see, he was a lamb without spot and without blemish.
And I think, let's see, it's either in this bulletin or the
next bullet. Yeah, what did Christ do on the
cross? And I said, on the cross, Christ
offered himself without spot, without blemish unto God. And
that's what that means. Now, how was he made sin? He
was made sin by the legal act of imputation. God put the debt
of our sins upon Christ. He went to the grave. Yes. He
was guilty because he paid the debt He owed the debt the debt
was transferred legally to him It wasn't there was no sin in
it. All right, and yes He was cursed of God really cursed because
the law curses where sin is imputed. Do you understand that? Now if
we're in Christ The law cannot curse us because our sins have
been imputed to Christ and his righteousness is imputed to us.
That's why we can't be cursed. We're not under the curse now
because Christ was made a curse for us and he died. He suffered
all the consequences of our sins charged to him. So to be carnally
minded here is death because to be carnally minded means to
be an unbeliever, unregenerate unbeliever, operating, walking
in sin and sinful powers and principles, and sin deserves
death. But to be spiritually minded
is life in peace. Now, to be spiritually minded
refers to a born-again person, a regenerate person. It's one
who's been justified before God by God's grace through the righteousness
of Christ imputed. And as a result of that, the
spirit has come from Christ to give that sinner life. So to
be spiritually minded is to be born again by the Spirit, it's
to walk by the Spirit, and that means walk by faith, looking
unto Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith. That's what it
means. Doesn't mean that we're no longer sinners, because we're
always sinners. But we're sinners saved by grace. And we look to Christ for righteousness,
for forgiveness, for love, and that's a continual thing. That's
the tenor of our lives and we struggle with the flesh. So he
says in verse seven, because the carnal mind is enmity against
God, it's not subject to the law of God, neither indeed can
be. The carnal mind is in hatred, an enemy of God. Because anyone
who walks and lives by the flesh, whether they're religious or
not, and this is one thing I always like to emphasize when we come
to passages like this. When you're talking about somebody
who's carnal, carnally minded, it doesn't just refer to the
immoral, perverted segment of society. That refers to the most
religious, the most dedicated, and those who appear righteous
unto men, without Christ. Without the grace of God in Christ,
without Christ, it's all carnal. And so don't misunderstand that. Get that in our minds. And it's
enmity against God because the sinner who is seeking salvation
based on his efforts, his deeds, his works, or trying to establish
his own righteousness, has literally, according to the Bible, declared
war on God. God's way is the way of grace
through Christ. There's no other way. And God
has engaged himself, his glory, his reputation, his nature, his
character, to save his people by his grace through the person,
the glorious person, and finished work of his son. So when sinners
seek to be saved based on any other ground, but the blood and
righteousness of Christ, they're calling God a liar. They're dishonoring
God, the God of the Bible. They may have concocted in their
mind a picture of a God who will accept and receive what they
have to offer, but that God's an idol. You need to understand
that. God reveals himself, his true
self, through the person and work of his son. And it goes
on, it says in verse eight, it says, so then they that are in
the flesh cannot please God. Well, what does it take to please
God? It takes perfect righteousness. And that's why he said, this
is my beloved son in whom I am well pleased, hear ye him. Without
faith, it's impossible to please God. Well, what does faith do?
It looks to Christ. It believes in Christ. It pleads
his blood alone, his righteousness alone. That's what faith does.
And that's how it pleases God, because it lifts up, it exalts
Christ, and not the sinner. A sinner seeking salvation by
his works is exalting himself. He cannot please God. And remember
back up there it says he's not subject to the law of God. He
may be trying to keep the law. He may be doing his best to adhere
to the precepts of the law. And he may be one of those fellas
who beats himself all day long because he fails. But the point
is, is he fails. You know when you become subject
to the law of God? When you see Christ and believe
in him. Because Christ is the end of the law for righteousness
to everyone that believe it. And until you see Christ, till
the Holy Spirit comes to show us our sinfulness and our depravity
and show us there's no other hope, but the grace of God, sovereign
grace. In Christ, we have never been
submitted to the law. The law demands the perfection
of righteousness that can only be found in the person and work
of Christ. To seek it anywhere else is to
rebel against the law, to break the law. So the carnal mind is
not subject to the law of God, neither it can be. But look at
verse nine now. He says, but you are not in the
flesh, but in the spirit, if so be that the spirit of God
dwell in you. Now Paul had stated that those
who walk after the flesh, those who mind the things of the flesh,
who are in the flesh cannot please God. He's talking about unbelievers. That describes all unregenerate
unbelievers. But here he turns to those who
have been born again by the Spirit, who have been sovereignly, powerfully,
invincibly called by the Spirit to faith in Christ and repentance
of dead works. And he says, you're not in the
flesh. Now what he's talking about is
the believer's state. All right? Remember we talked
about our standing and our state. Our standing before God. Do you
know that if you're a believer today, that God chose you before
the foundation of the world in Christ? And you walked around,
you know, somebody says, well, people walking around like this.
You walked around in your life as an unbeliever, but you were
always chosen of God. You were always loved of God.
Jeremiah, he loved me with an everlasting love. We didn't deserve
it. We didn't deserve to be chosen.
We didn't deserve to be loved. And we certainly didn't earn
it. But that was our standing in Christ. And then justified
before God. That is, Christ was always been
my surety. For a good part of my life, I
didn't know him and didn't believe him and rebelled against him.
And I was in false religion. But one day, and I don't know,
I can't point to the exact date, but I know there was a time that
God sent the Spirit to bring me under the preaching of the
gospel. And under that message of grace,
he gave me spiritual life. I was born again by the Spirit.
He called me to Christ. He showed me my sin. He convicted
me. and brought me to Christ as the
only one who could save me from my sins, the true Christ of the
Bible. And what happened? My standing
did not change, but my state did. I was an unbeliever, but
God made me a believer. I was unwilling to come to the
true Christ, but God made me willing in the day of his power.
I was spiritually dead in trespasses and sins. I was the natural man
who received not the things of the Spirit of God, but my state
changed. My standing didn't now. I was
always been in Christ, but my state did. And now I'm the spiritual
person. That's who he's talking, you're
not in the flesh. If he says you're in the spirit, Your state
before God, you're a regenerated, called believer in Christ, a
sinner saved by grace. If so, be the Spirit of God dwell
in you. Now how does the Spirit of God
dwell in his people? Well, the Spirit of God is the
third person of the triune Godhead. He's omnipresent. He's everywhere
and he indwells his people by imparting, if you want to talk
about impartation, here's what's impart, the life of Christ. Some of the old writers used
to say the resurrection life of Christ is given to his people
because life comes from him and it's based upon the righteousness
that he alone established and which is imputed to us. That's
the source of life. And he does it by his word. He
imparts His Word. He brings His Word to our minds
and our hearts. And He blesses us to believe
that Word. That's what happens. And you're
in the Spirit. If so, be the Spirit of God dwell
in you. So how do you know if the Spirit of God is dwelling
in you? It's not by feeling. It's not by emotions. Remember
the old poem, feelings come, feelings go. Feelings can be
deceiving. And what's the rest of it? I
have nothing but the Word of God that's the only thing worth
believing. I paraphrase that, but that's what it is. And here's
what you have to ask yourself the question. Do I believe the
Gospel? The true Gospel? Do I believe
the Word of God? Or do I rebel against it? Somebody
will tell, I've preached before, and somebody tell me, I don't
believe what you preach. Well, is what I preach the word
of God? Is it based upon the scriptures? If it is, then your
problem's not with me, your problem's with the Lord. If I'm preaching
the word of God, and that's why you have to connect, you have
to connect everything I say, you have to check everything
I say with the word of God. You don't ever take the word
of a man because of his reputation. It's always, if they speak not
according to this word, Isaiah said, there's no light in them.
So the word of God, what does the word of God say? I'll tell
you what, I have sat before people who claim to believe the gospel,
who claim to believe the doctrines of grace, and who were having
particular problems with something, and I've read to them scripture
And it just did not affect them at all. I might as well recite that Mary
had a little lamb. They ignored it. There's something
wrong there, isn't there? So this is what he's talking
about. You're not in the flesh. You're not an unbeliever. You're
not in that state of spiritual death now. You've been raised
from the dead. You've been delivered there.
If so, be the spirit of God dwell in you. How do we know that?
By the word of God. The spirit is the spirit of truth.
He's the spirit of conviction. He convicts us of sin and of
righteousness and of judgment. And he says in verse nine, now,
if any man have not the spirit of Christ, he is none of his.
If you don't have the spirit of Christ, you don't belong to
him. And how do you know if you don't have the Spirit? Well,
how do you react towards the preaching of the cross, the preaching
of righteousness, the preaching of the gospel? It's foolishness
to them that believe not, but it's the very power and wisdom
of God to those who are saved. The natural man receiveth not
the things of the Spirit of God, neither can he know them, they're
spiritually discerned, but the spiritual man, the born-again
person, He receives it, and he receives it by the Spirit of
God. Now look at verse nine. He says, and if Christ be in
you. Now, does Christ dwell within
his people? Yes, how? Well, he's already
told us. He dwells within his people by
his Spirit and his Word. Now, just to get a little bit
technical, think about it this way. Who is Jesus Christ? He's the second person of the
Trinity, the Son of God, without beginning, without end. He's
the word that was made flesh, not sinful flesh, but human. He's the word that was made flesh
and dwelt among us. He's God manifest in the flesh.
Where is Jesus Christ at this point in time? Well, you know,
he spoke of this way. He said, where two or three are
gathered in my name, there I'll be in the midst of it. He's in
the midst of us. But to get technical, where is Jesus Christ right now?
What does the Bible say? He's seated at the right hand
of the Father, ever living to make intercession for us. And
he sent his spirit forth. That's what he told his disciples,
another comforter will come. So yes, he does dwell within
his people, but that doesn't mean the God man is running around
inside of me somewhere. That's silly. How does he dwell
within his people? By his spirit and by his word. And he's here. where his word
is preached. So if Christ be in you, look
at verse 10, the body is dead because of sin. Now what is the
body here that's dead? Well, what's dying? What is it
about us that's still under the sentence of death? It's the flesh. Some people wanna say, well,
the sinful nature. Well, I believe particularly
what he's talking about here is our physical bodies. Because you see, believers still
die physically. We still suffer the consequences
of sin in our physical bodies. How do you know that? Well, look
at all of us. We ain't what we used to be.
Pains, sickness. Wrinkles, gray hair, all that
stuff. Young people, they think they're
still going to live forever, but you're not. And we've seen some cut down
in the prime of youth. That's something we have to face.
We have to face physical death. The body is dead because of sin.
But does that mean that we won't live forever? Does that mean
that we are not spiritually alive? No, look at verse 10. The spirit
is life. The spirit of God that dwells
in us is life. Why? Where did that life come
from? Because of righteousness. That's because of Christ. You
see, I'm convinced if people would get it in their heads that
anytime they see the word righteousness for the most part in the Bible,
if they'd substitute the word Christ, they'd understand what
it means. because he is my righteousness. He's the one who worked it out.
You know, I've been made fun of by other preachers for preaching
righteousness so much, and I thought about that. You know, we were
talking about it last week. I said, you know what the first
words that our Lord said when he began his public ministry,
and I'm not talking about the first words that he said, period,
as God-man, because we don't have a lot of that recorded.
We do have recorded where he told his mother and father, he
said, I must be about my father's business. But when he began his
public ministry, you remember what the first words that he
said was? You come to John the Baptist. He said, baptize me,
John. And John said, oh, I'm not worthy.
What did he say? What did the Lord say? Anybody
know? Suffer it to be so for us to fulfill what? To fulfill
righteousness. That was his first message. He's
going to fulfill righteousness. And he went on and on and talk
about it. The gospel is the preaching of the righteousness of God.
That's preaching Christ. That's what it is. It's the gospel. And so even though we're dying
physically, we're alive spiritually. Why? Because of righteousness.
because Christ died in our place to satisfy the justice of God's
law and bring forth an everlasting righteousness of infinite value
whereby God could be just and justify the ungodly. That's it. So his righteousness imputed
is the ground of my standing before God, the ground of my
justification. But his righteousness imputed
is also the source and the power of spiritual life. That's why
the spirit comes and gives life. Sin demands death. If we were
still under God, if we were condemned or condemned to death, there
would be no life. Sin demands death, but righteousness
demands life. Where sin is imputed, death will
come, eternal death. Where righteousness is imputed,
eternal life comes. So look at verse 11. He says,
but if the spirit of him that raised up Jesus from the dead,
now that tells you what this righteousness is. Why was Christ
raised up from the dead? Because he finished the work.
He put away our sins. He paid the penalty. He satisfied
justice. He made propitiation. You can
go on and on. He purged our sins away. He brought
in everlasting righteousness. And that same spirit that raised
up Jesus, it was the spirit of God who was instrumental in the
resurrection of our savior. And that same spirit dwells within
his people, gives us spiritual life. In other words, you could
say literally raises us from the dead because we're spiritually
dead. And then the spirit of God resurrects us in the new
birth. And if he dwells in you, he that
raised up Christ from the dead shall also quicken, that means
to give life, quicken your moral bodies by his spirit that dwelleth
in you. That's talking about the last
resurrection. The same spirit that raised up
Christ from the dead, you can read it over in 1 Corinthians
15, basically the whole chapter. That's the same spirit that God's
going to send, that Christ is going to send when he comes again
to resurrect all of his people to be united to him and live
with him forever and ever and ever. So that's the certainty
of the indwelling presence of Christ. That's the certainty
of the life-giving spirit dwelling within us, that's the certainty
of the word. The word is, in the Bible, it's
called the word of life. How is it the word of life? Because
there's so many people who hear this word and they don't have
life. They walk away unaffected. They don't believe it. It's the
word of life as it is empowered by Christ through the spirit
to bring about spiritual life, spiritual resurrection, and bring
us as the people of God to believe in the Lord Jesus Christ and
to rest in him for salvation. So this if here, look at verse
11 again. He talks about if in verse 10,
and if Christ be in you, and if the spirit of him that raised
up Jesus from, what's he talking about then? He's certainly not
talking, you couldn't look at these verses responsibly and
claim, well now he's put a big if there that if you do your
part. No, this is not a conditional if at all. If Christ be in you,
that's not telling me to do something in order to make Christ come
inside of me. If the spirit of him that raised
up Jesus from the dead dwell in you. What's it tell me? It's
talking about the evidence of being born again, the evidence
of a right state and a right standing before God that comes
by his grace through Jesus Christ. So this verse is not conditioned,
uh, conditional as if to say that we must meet certain conditions
or certain qualifications in order to earn this blessing.
It's an evidential if, it's evidence, meaning that Christ in dwelling
presence by his spirit and his word gives evidence that we're
sure to be resurrected in the last day. Glorified with him. And I conclude the lesson with
quoting here, or citing here Ephesians 1.14, which says, God
the Holy Spirit is the earnest, that means the guarantee, of
our inheritance until the redemption of the purchased possession unto
the praise of his glory." There's the guarantee. We know. We know
whom we have believed and we're persuaded that he's able to keep
that which we have committed unto him against that day. And
what have we committed unto him? Our whole salvation.