Come to the waters, whoever is
thirsty. Drink from the fountain, the
narrow and strong. Jesus, the living one, offers
you mercy. Come to the river and pour through
the city. Pour from the palm of the Father
and Son. Jesus, our Savior, says, come
and drink deeply. ? Free from the blue-grey exhaustion
of life ? ? Come to the mountain ? ? With loudly we call you ?
? My one is here, Lord ? ? With loudly we call you ? ? Jesus,
your gracious Son ? Come to the well, Lord, ? Comparative miracle ? ? Stretch
out your hand and look up to the bread ? ? Jesus is such a
compassionate Savior ? ? Draw from the grace that is freely
from you ? Come to the Savior, the God of salvation. God has provided an entrance
in strife. Why will you suffer the law's
condemnation? Tell me if the moon watches over
you. Turn with me to Romans chapter
8. Romans, the 8th chapter. is a distinguishing book. And in it, God distinguishes those that are spoken to, those
that are spoken of. And that is the case here in
verse 14. where we read, for as many as. That's a distinguishing phrase,
as many as. Not every person, but as many
as. They're identified, they're singled
out, there is no whosoever gospel. It's whosoever believeth, whosoever
the Lord shall call. And here it is as many as. And what we find is that's often
the case that's spoken of many times in scripture. such as John
1, where he says, But as many as received him, to them gave
he power to become the sons of God, even to them that believe
on his name. As many as. Also in John 17, as thou hast given him power
over all flesh, that he should give eternal life to as many
as thou hast given him." Father gave to the Son this power, this
authority to give eternal life to a particular people. as many as the Father gave Him. Then in Acts 2 we read this,
For the promise is to you, and to your children, and to all
that are far off, even as many as the Lord our God shall call. That's who the promise is. That's
who the promise is given to, as many as the Lord our God shall
call, mightily, effectually. And then in Acts 4 he says this,
Neither was there any among them that lack, for as many as were
possessors of lands or houses sold them, and they brought the
prices of the things that were sold. Not everybody had what
everybody else had, but as many as had houses and lands, they
gave them. And then he says in Acts 5, And
great fear came upon all the church, and upon as many as heard
these things. Everybody heard them with the
ear, but not all heard them with the ear of faith. As many as
heard these things. And then in Acts 13, it says,
And when the Gentiles heard this, they were glad and glorified
the word of the Lord, and as many as were ordained to eternal
life believed." Who believed? Who believed what was preached?
As many as were ordained to eternal life. And then in Galatians,
Paul says, and as many as walk according to this rule, everything in Christ. everything
by grace, salvation that is of the Lord. As many as walk according
to this rule, peace be on them, and mercy, and upon the Israel
of God. As many as walk according to
this rule, And then in Revelation 13, he
says, or Revelation 3, he says, and as many as I love, I rebuke
and chasten. Be zealous, therefore, and repent. Who does God chasten? He chases
all his children. He chases as many as he loves. And the same is here in verse
14. It says, and as many as are led. They're led. This people that
he's speaking of here, they're led. And led here is to be brought
like one brings a blind man. It's like one leads a person
who is in the dark. It's to be led like a teacher
leads the students in the lessons is to be guided, is to be led
away from something, from danger, from error, and is to be led
to something or to someone, which is the Lord
Jesus Christ. And these who are identified
and distinguished here, as many as are led, they're led by the
Spirit. And if you notice, Spirit here is in capital letters. That means they're led by the
Spirit of God. That means they're led by the
Holy Spirit. All these individuals, without
exception, are a people that are led by the Holy Spirit. turn over in John's Gospel, and
look with me in John chapter 14. John chapter 14, and here in
verse 17, he's called the Spirit of Truth. even the Spirit of truth, whom
the world cannot receive, because it seeth him not, neither knoweth
him, but ye know him, for he dwelleth with you, and shall
be in you." And then he says in verse 26, But the Comforter, He's the Spirit
of Truth, He's called the Comforter, or He is the Divine Paraclete,
that word means one who walks along beside you to lead you. The Comforter, which is the Holy
Ghost, whom the Father will send in my name, He shall teach you,
He shall lead you, in all things, and bring all things to your
remembrance whatsoever I have said unto you." And then in John 16, These are led by the Spirit,
so that in chapter 16 and verse 13, he speaks of Him again. Christ
does. He says, how be it when He, the
Spirit of truth, is come He will guide you into all truth, for
He shall not speak of Himself, but whatsoever He shall hear,
that shall He speak, and He will show you things to come. He shall glorify Me, for He shall receive of Mine
and show it unto you all things that the Father hath are mine. Therefore said I that he shall
take of mine and shall show it unto you." Every one of these, as many as
are led, they're led by the Spirit of God. Listen in John 15. But
when the Comforter is come, whom I shall send unto you from the
Father, even the Spirit of truth which proceedeth from the Father,
he shall testify of me. This is not the spirit that is
in man, the natural spirit, but it is the spirit of God. And here in this text, these
that are led by the spirit are set in contrast to those that
are led by the flesh. They're led by the flesh. And all men walk naturally by
what is here called the flesh. Now we're all at all times in
the flesh, insofar as in this sinful flesh. But these that
are spoken to are led by the Spirit in a directly contrary
way to those that are led by the flesh. You see, the natural mind receives
not the things of God. It's said not to be subject to
the law of God and can't be. That's what God says, it can't
be because we must be led by the Spirit of truth. As many as are led by the Spirit,
they are always led outside of themselves to the Lord Jesus
Christ. Because flesh is feeling And
it is natural logic that men go to. It's what we want to believe. It's what we think is right. It's what, when we hear others
speak the same thing, we feel like that's right. Because we're in the flesh. And everyone not led by the Spirit. is going in that direction, is
thinking those things, is believing those things, because, as he
tells us several times, there's a way that seems right to a man. That's the flesh. But he says the end thereof is
the way of death. Always the way of death. And he begins this chapter in
Romans 8 by showing in the first verse of this chapter exactly
what the great difference is. He says in verse 1, There is
therefore now no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus. And that verse actually ends
right there. That's the statement that Paul
begins this chapter with, although it's not a chapter as he wrote
it. But this is the statement of
statements here in the book of Romans, simply that there is
no condemnation to them that are in Christ Jesus. And they are distinguished by
the addition of the translators, taking something a little bit
farther down in the text, but adding it here, and it's true,
who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit. There is therefore no condemnation
to them that are in the Lord Jesus Christ. So in order to
describe what walking in the flesh is, It is simply seeking
to please God, seeking to establish a righteousness before God, seeking
to be accepted by God on the basis of something we do. And it's our natural way of thinking. It's the walking after the flesh
that we do all our lives until the Spirit of God shows us differently. It's what we're taught as children. Don't you want to go to heaven?
You better be a good girl. Don't you want God to bless you?
You better do this, that, or the other. Don't you want God
to be favorable to you, to smile on you, to love you, to do all
these things for you? Well, you better do something. You better be something. So here we have all of these
things, all of this law-keeping, all of these Rituals that are
set forth for people to do, all these ceremonies, all these things
in religion, when religion comes along and shows them to us and
points them out to us and prescribes them to us and gives us a recipe
for happiness or joy or something, we do that naturally. Because we naturally think. that we can, by doing something,
please God. And with most of us, the case
is we believe we can do something, even though we're not doing it
right now, we're planning on doing it. We're planning on doing
something that will please God and cause Him to accept us. And the only thing that will
set a person free from that false notion, from that error that
is so ingrained to us and preached to us and taught to us, the only
thing that can bring us from that is the work of God's Spirit
showing us something. Verse 2. For the law of the Spirit
of life in Christ Jesus hath made us free from the law of
sin and death." Now, we know what the law of sin and death
is. It's God's law absolutely set before us for our obedience. It can do nothing at any time
except condemn us and bring His wrath on us. It always brings
into bondage. I don't care if it's when a man
says, we ought to live by the Ten Commandments, or I don't
care if it's what he says, we need to be baptized, or we need
to do this or that. It is all the same thing. It
is God's law, can do nothing but condemn us. So he says, the law of the spirit
of life. in Christ Jesus. That's something
different now. This is the only thing that can
set us free when the Holy Spirit leads us to it, reveals it to
us, and causes us to believe it. It is simply the gospel, the truth. You see, He's the
Spirit of truth. The only thing that can deliver
us from all our errors and all our blindness and all our darkness
is when the Spirit of truth leads us into the truth of the gospel
of Christ crucified. That's the gospel of grace. Look
down in verse 3. He says, For what the law could
not do, in that it was weak through the flesh, not the law itself,
but our flesh is weak. We're unable to keep God's law,
perfect as it is, holy as it is. We're unable in any way or
by any principle of doing, we're unable to keep it. But he said, God sending his
own son. in the likeness of sinful flesh,
and for sin condemns sin in the flesh." He was sent in the likeness of
sinful flesh, not sinful flesh. But being sent in the likeness
of sinful flesh, and for sin, for the sins of his people, he
condemned sin in the flesh by dying. When God imputed all the
sins of his people to the Lord Jesus Christ, there was but one
thing for God's justice and wrath to do, and that was to put him
to death. You see, Christ established righteousness
for those who are led by the Spirit. He brought in that everlasting
righteousness. He gives righteousness, as Paul
says in Romans 5, He gives it as a gift, and we are made the
righteousness of God in Him. Look at verse 4, that the righteousness
of the law, the righteousness that the law demands might be
fulfilled in us who walk not after the flesh but after the
spirit. And I don't know how many translators
or how many commentators and how many preachers take this
very thing What it says here, that the righteousness of the
law might be fulfilled in us who walk not after the flesh,
but after the Spirit. And they say the Spirit of God
enables us to walk in such a way as to fulfill that righteousness. No. No. The Spirit of God directing us,
by God's grace we may do this, we may improve, we may make progress
somehow, I don't know how, but we absolutely will never, even
by the Spirit's leading in this flesh, fulfill righteousness. Not as we grow. not as we progress,
not as we ever are in this body apart from Jesus Christ. And so when the Spirit of God
These, as many as, when they are led by the Spirit of God,
they're led away from that principle, they're led away from a law of
obedience, they're led away from any kind of self-righteous doing,
and they're led to a righteousness that is already possessed. The Lord Jesus Christ. Then he says in verse 5, with great plainness, just great
plainness, he said, for they that are after the flesh do mind
the things of the flesh. All these preachers. Their message
is on the family. It's on the home. It's on the
relationships of people. It's all about living the Christian
life. Why? Because they walk after
the flesh. They mind the things of the flesh. They're more concerned about
whether you drink a glass of wine or whether you know the
Lord Jesus Christ. They're more concerned about
whether you smoke or whether or not you've been made clean
by the blood of Christ. Why? How do we know that? Because
that's what they preach. That's what they emphasize. He
said, 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. What is the things of the Spirit?
The things of Christ. The truth. Christ Himself said, when He's
come, when I send Him, when I send Him as the Comforter, as the
Guide, He'll lead you in all things. He'll testify of me. He'll talk about me. He'll reveal
to you me and what I've done, what I've accomplished, the work
of righteousness that I've done. You'll be able to rest in Him. So verse 6, this is plain. For to be carnally minded is
death. Oh, I know what, we know what
the carnal mind is. That's the guy that thinks evil
thoughts when he sees a woman, or the woman who thinks evil
thoughts when she sees a man, or something like that, isn't
it? No. What he's saying here is to be
fleshly minded, to walk after the flesh, to follow these things
that are natural to us is death. But to be spiritually minded,
well, we know what that is, don't we? That's when we appear holier
than thou to people. That's when nobody can say anything
without us quoting a verse of Scripture. That's when we can
just appear to tell how many, how wonderful we lived and how
much we loved God. No, that's not what it means
to be spiritually minded. To be spiritually minded is to
trust and always look to the Lord Jesus Christ for everything. If the Spirit is directing my
mind, if the Spirit of God indwells me, if the Spirit of God leads
me, He's always leading me to the Lord Jesus Christ. So he says to be spiritually
minded is life and peace. Why? Because the Spirit of God
always leads to Christ. Who is our life? He says, because
the carnal mind is enmity against God, for it is not subject to
the law of God, neither indeed can be. You talk about mission
impossible. Mission impossible. is for the
natural mind, the carnal mind, the mind we're born with, the
sinful mind, the adamic mind that we're born with to harness
it, to corral it, to bring it to righteousness. That's why these preachers don't
know they're just fighting a losing battle because they've already
lost themselves. They're not ever going to whip
everybody into shape. It's kind of like putting your
fingers in the holes in the dike. You get one over here, you finally
get that straightened out, and the next one over here is this
way, and it's because we are sinners. So he sums it up right here in
verse 8. So then they that are in the flesh cannot please God."
Now if he was just talking about flesh, body, and all that, it'd be hopeless. But he's talking
about those who live by this principle, who believe and who
trust in this principle that salvation is by some creature,
conduct, or doing, If they do that, there's no way to please
God. Because the only thing that will
please Him is perfection. The only thing that will please
God is absolute holiness, absolute perfect righteousness. They that are in the flesh, cannot
please God." But then he says, but. That's one of the wonderful things
in Scripture when God says, but. He talks about how men are and
what men can't do and what sinners they are and how they're dead.
But then he says, but. But you are not in the flesh."
He's writing here to believers at Rome. He's saying to God's
people who believe on him, he says, but you are not in the
flesh. Well, preacher, I feel like I
am every day. Yeah, me too. I feel like that I am so polluted
with sin that you can actually almost see me reap with it when
I walk by you. If it could be a smell, I would
just stink. If it could be ugliness, I would
just be ugly to you. And that's what I am in my flesh
that is in my own self. But I'm not in the flesh. Paul says to these believers,
you're not in the flesh. You're not in the flesh in the
sense of this text, in the sense of this context, but you're in
the Spirit. You're led by 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. They say he's got the Spirit
because he feels funny, because he talks funny, because he acts
funny. Because he has all these feelings. But if he has not the Spirit
of Christ. The Spirit of Christ. Somebody told Brother Mahan one
time that all he preached about was Jesus Christ. That's right,
because He's led of the Spirit. And everybody that's led of the
Spirit, everybody who is led into the Spirit of truth is led
to the Lord Jesus Christ. It's what He did. It's who He
is. It's what He actually accomplished,
what glorifies Him, what He did for His people. Everything is Christ. And he says, if Christ be in
you, has he in you? By the Spirit of Christ. The Holy Spirit's the Spirit
of Christ. He says, if Christ be in you, the body is dead because
of sin. We don't expect anything from
it. 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." Any life that we have. any faith that we have. And that's
the evidence of life in these bodies. If we have any faith,
if we have any look into Christ, if we have any hope, it is the
Spirit of God who quickens our mortal bodies. But mainly here,
I believe it has to do with the hour that's coming that He will
quicken our mortal bodies. We'll be like
Christ. So he says in verse 12, therefore
brethren, we are debtors not to the flesh to live after the
flesh. For if you live after the flesh,
you shall die. But if through the spirit you
do mortify the deeds of the body, you shall live. Mortify. I've heard all kinds of word
studies and read all kinds of things like that on this verse
of scripture to make it seem like that we'll be able to live
to perfection or live so much better if we just mortify what
can't be mortified. When do we mortify this body? when we could quit looking to
any performance by it. Anything done by it, anything
done in this body, anything done in the flesh to recommend us
to God. And we're led by the Spirit. to look no longer to ourselves,
to our work, to our experiences, to all the things that men in
blindness and darkness look to when we're led by the Spirit
out of ourselves and into the Lord Jesus Christ. Life is in Him. Righteousness, we're made the
righteousness of God in Him. Peace, He made peace with God
by the blood of His cross. And you can go on and on and
on. The only thing that will please
God is the very one that the Spirit of God leads all the children
of God to trust Him. These believers at Rome had done
just that. They had believed because they
had been quickened by the Spirit of God. They had been given faith. They had been led by the Spirit. Last week, Billy Graham died. And if ever a man denied the
very thing that is said here in this verse and all of the
Bible regarding the Spirit's work, it was him. He was the virtual poster child
for decisional regeneration. You say, what does that mean,
preacher? He said, if you believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, you'll
be born again. That's not what this book says.
This book says, if you are born of the Spirit, if God comes to
you, leads you by His Spirit, gives you life and faith, then
you'll believe. We say, that's just a detail.
It depends on who gets the glory. It's the worst kind of work salvation. You do something and God will
do something. You believe and He'll give you
the new birth. It's God responding, not acting
in sovereign grace to save His people. So then he says, for as many,
for as many as are led by the Spirit of God, they are the sons of God. The ones that are always identified
as the people of God, the elect of God, the children of God.
They're never the ones that this world recognizes as Christians. They said there's never been
a greater Christian than Bitty Graham. That's not what the spirit of
truth teaches. They say, we know he's a Christian
because he goes to church regularly. We know he's a Christian because
she doesn't smoke anymore, or she doesn't drink, or she doesn't
do something like that. We know by that evidence. No. Here's one. As many as are led by the Spirit
of God. They no longer walk after the
flesh. They walk after the Spirit, and
the Spirit always leads them to rest and trust in Christ. Therefore, by that evidence,
they are the sons of God. We cannot stop the body, the
flesh, for being what it is. That which is born of the flesh
is flesh, that which is born of the spirit is spirit. But
the spirit brings us to cease from trusting in ourselves and
leads us to rely solely on the Lord Jesus Christ. We're led
into him and we're led by him in all things, not by the spirit
of the world, not by the spirit of the devil, not by our own
spirits or anything. Because when we're led by the
spirit, he always leads according to
the written word. Or you say, well, if so and so is going to be led by the spirit, they'll
We ought to let them say how they're led. We ought to just
trust them to believe what they say. They're led by the Spirit.
The Spirit of God made me do this. No? The Spirit of God will
never lead a person to believe or do anything that is contrary
to this book. That's why the Bible tells us
to try or test the spirits. What is the standard by which
we test it? It's the written word. It's the written word. We're always led by the spirit
in conjunction to his word. We're never led by the spirit
in contradiction to God's word. They are the sons of God. The children of God. And then verses 15 through 17. Look at what this says. I know
this is exactly what it means because of what he continues.
He says, for you have not received the spirit of bondage again to
fear. That's all you can have when
you trust in works and a principle of your own doing and performance.
That's all you can have is bondage and fear. When have I done enough? When have I been good enough?
When have I cleaned up my life good enough? When have I prayed
enough? When have I read enough? It's always that way. But you have received the spirit
of adoption. What's that? That spirit whereby
you know that God in grace has made you one of his children
by grace from eternity and you rest and trust in a new relationship. He's the father, you're the child. But ye have received the Spirit
of adoption, whereby we cry, Abba, Father. The Spirit itself
beareth witness with our spirit that we are the children of God. Now, I'm going to tell you something. If at any time We drift back into that notion
of doing to please God. We'll lose that witness. I mean,
it's just for time for a true believer, but any time that we
drift back to that or look to that or anything of self-righteousness,
we'll lose that witness of the Spirit that we're the children
of God. And we'll never have it again,
except we look to Christ. All His children are led by the
Spirit, and the Spirit always leads them to Christ, to Christ
crucified, to His blood, to His perfect righteousness, to His
life. Everything always leads to Christ. And a strange thing happens. The Spirit bears witness that
we're the children of God, that we are the children of God. And
then he says, and if children, you say I've got nothing. I've got nothing at all to offer
God. I've got nothing that I can give
of myself or in myself. All I've got's Christ. Oh! If children, then heirs, heirs
of God, and joint heirs with Christ, if so be that we suffer
with him, that we may be also glorified together. When Paul says he gave up everything
for Christ, he's not speaking of a loss. He's speaking of a gain. Because you give up really nothing,
and in Christ you get all that God has to give. As children,
then heirs. Not just heirs of some earthly
person, rich person, heirs of God. Heirs of God. So Paul says to the Galatians,
you are the children of God, by faith, by faith in Jesus Christ. You are led by the Spirit, and
if you be led of the Spirit, You are not under the law. Galatians 5, 18, read it, believe it, no matter
what anybody says. If you be led of the Spirit,
you're not under the law. Here comes Mr. Law Preacher like
came to Galatia. So we're saved by grace, we're
saved in Christ, but the law is our rule of life. Or this
part of the law is this and that part of the law. No. Evidently,
those people are not led by the Spirit. For if you are led by
the Spirit, you are not under the law. You're not. The Spirit of God leads us out
of self, leads us out of false religion. Paul describes idolatry in 2
Corinthians 6, and he said, Come ye out from among them, and I'll
be to you a father. You'll be my children. And we'll not have the spirit
of bondage. We'll not have the spirit of
fear. We'll not be living under this
cloud all the time. We'll have real hope. We'll have
real joy. Because we'll have real peace.
Because we'll have real righteousness before God and His Son. As many of us are led by the
Spirit of God. They're the sons of God. Can we believe that? If we're led by the Spirit, we're
not under the law. Can we believe that? Why would
we even entertain another kind of notion? Because that's what
flesh always wants to believe. Always wants. Have you ever had something that you wanted to do, maybe a craft
or a hobby or something that you wanted to do, and you were
always intended to do it, and you always thought you could
do it, but you never did it? Why is that? We say, I didn't have time. No,
you make time for everything else. You see, we always think we can
do something or be something or achieve something. And we're
fed this bunch of junk by men who say, you can do anything
you want to do. That is a absolute lie. Because there are many people
who have tried harder, worked harder, strived harder to do
something than you do. And they haven't done it. And the reason God shows us that
is because he makes us to know everything in his salvation is
a gift. Gift. You say, well, preacher, if you
tell people that, They'll just sin all they want to. God's people,
if they're led by the Spirit, they know they sin more than
they want to. But all the peace. The peace of being led by the
Spirit of God. He always leads us to Christ.
He always leads us to His cross. And he always bears witness there
that we are the sons of God. Our Father, we pray in this hour
that you would honor yourself, save your people, glorify the
Lord Jesus, bear witness to our hearts, Lead us by your spirit. May we be in this number of those who are saved by your
grace through Christ crucified. We pray in his name, his worthiness. Amen.