I invite you this morning to
turn back with me to the passage I read a few moments ago in Romans
chapter 8. If you will, just hold your Bibles
open, and I'm going to refer some to Romans 7 and Romans 8. It is my prayer to God and my
strong desire to sit before you in the plainest of terms the
Word of God and the Gospel of Jesus Christ our Lord. This is
what I study for. This is why I read and why I
listen to men preach the Gospel. And if you leave here today,
I want you to leave here at least knowing in your head what it
is that I had to say. What did he preach on today?
I don't know, he lost me. I don't want you to go home and
say that, not on any day. Now my subject this morning is
in the form of a question, what is it to be led of God? I used to hear that so much in
religion, the Lord led me to do this or do that or say this
or say that or go here or something else. There's a work performed
in men and women, outside of themselves. There's a work performed
in men and women that enables them to believe, as Paul said
in Hebrew, to the saving of the soul. They're going to believe,
and they're going to believe, and they're going to keep on
believing. Paul said, we're not of them which draw back to perdition. If any man draw back, God said,
my soul shall have no pleasure in him. But Paul said, we're
not of them who draw back to perdition, but of them that believe
to the saving of the soul. Now, if that's the case, there's
been an inward work of God in us. This inward work is called
by many names. Conversion. Conversion. He uses that word in the scripture. When you're converted, strengthen
your brother. Another term. Regeneration. Faith. Sanctification. And on and on it goes. But here
in our text, he's calling this work, he's referring back to
this work as being led of the Spirit of God. Being led of the
Spirit of God. The word led in false religion
refers to an impulse or a feeling. Some inward desire to do or say
something. I feel led of the Lord to do
this. But what does it mean as the
Holy Ghost moves the pen of his writer here in the book of Romans
and uses that word lead. That's what I want. What does
God mean when he says lead? I know what religion says. I
grew up in it. I'm exposed to it every day.
I listen to men talk. Well, the illusion here is to
that of a loving father leading his children or a shepherd leading
his flock. being led of God. David wrote
in Psalm 23, 3, He leadeth me in paths of righteousness. He leadeth me beside the still
waters. God leads his dear children along. In Isaiah 63, he describes the
exodus of Israel out of Egypt, the deliverance of Israel. as
being led by the right hand of Moses, God's servant. God led
them. He didn't appear to them in a
dream or appear to them in some spiritual fashion. He appeared
to them in the form of a servant. My servant Moses took them by
the hand and led them out of Egypt. Our Lord said this, all that
the Father hath given me shall come to me, and him that cometh
to me I will in no wise cast out. And the Jews began to murmur. Of course, of the statement he
said just before this, I'm the bread come down from heaven.
He said he's the bread. He's God's bread. And he said, don't murmur, don't
murmur. No man can come to me except
the Father which sent me draw him, and I'll raise him up at
the last day. As it is written, as it is written,
they shall all be taught of God. How's he gonna lead you? He's
gonna teach you. How's he gonna teach you? Through
his service. Very certain. They shall all be taught of God.
There is, in this being led, a drawing and a teaching and
a revelation of truth. If God's going to lead you, He's
going to teach you the truth. Well, let me ask this question.
Why do I need to be led of God? I don't have a mind. Why do I
need to be led of God? There are churches everywhere,
go all up and down the road. He said the heavens declare the
glory of God and the earth showeth his handiwork. Men and women
have a conscience. Providence manifests the wrath
of God against sin, storms and earthquakes and disasters of
all kinds. Disease and sickness of all kinds
give witness to the curse of God on mankind. Isn't that sufficient
to compel a man to believe? No, it's not. It leaves him without
excuse, but it's not sufficient to compel him to believe. Israel
experienced all these things in Egypt and nobody left. You ever think about that? All
these millions of Jews down in Egypt, they may have outnumbered
the Egyptians. I don't really know. But none
of them left. None of them said enough is enough
and left. Why? Why don't men leave? Why don't men believe? Why don't men come to Christ?
Why don't they do that? Why must they be led of God? Because of their ignorance of
God. and therefore their unbelief.
Paul prayed for the salvation of his kinsmen, the Jews, because
they being ignorant of the righteousness of God. Well, the Jews had more
light than anybody else on earth, but they were ignorant of the
righteousness of God. He said, you search the Scriptures,
for in them you think you have eternal life. You think you can
go in there and figure it all out, put it together like a puzzle.
You search the scriptures because in them you think you have eternal
life. And they are they that testify
of me, but you won't come to me. You'll come to a philosophy,
you'll come to an idea, you'll come to a concept, you'll come
to who knows what, but you're not going to come to me. Ignorance and unbelief. We're
all, back in the 60s, we were ignorant of the atomic bomb.
There was a real threat of atomic warfare back then. I mean, it
was 90 miles off the coast. There was a real threat, but
we were so ignorant of it that we went down to the basement
and built a little masonry shelter and we were going to get in there
and that was going to save us from the atomic bomb. But it's the
same thing in religion, isn't it? We're ignorant of God. We're ignorant of His judgment.
We're ignorant of His power. And we go build our little hideouts
and get in and say, well, we'll be safe. We'll be safe. Let her rip. Oh, my soul. Ignorance and unbelief. In our text in Romans 8-2, he
said, for the law of the Spirit of Life in Christ
Jesus hath made me free from the law of sin and death." What
is the law of sin and death? We read these things, we walk
away and quote these things, but do we really know what they
mean? When he's talking to you about the law of sin and death,
he said, the law of the Spirit of Life in Christ Jesus hath
set me free. from the law of sin and death. Well, what is it? Well, first
of all, sin is a nature. We're ignorant of sin. We don't
know what it is. We want to talk about it, and
maybe you've read this in the Bible, and you come to agree
with it, but you still don't understand what it means. Sin
is a nature. It's a nature. We were by nature,
Ephesians 2, we were by nature before our quickening, children
of wrath by nature. We were by nature children of
wrath even as others. By nature. And because sin is our nature,
it cannot be resisted. I'm going to tell you what I'm
talking about. When the natural man thinks about
sin, What's he think about? He thinks about something out
there coming in here. Isn't that how we look at sin? If I do this, I'm going to be
a sinner. If I eat this, I'm going to be
polluted. If I go here, we always look. When you're thinking about sin,
you're always looking out here about something coming in here. Our Lord, Him and His disciples,
they just started eating. They didn't wash their hands.
Boy, that was a no-no. Them Pharisees just... And He
said, let me tell you something. It's not what enters the mouth
that defiles the man. It's not what's coming into him,
Winston. It's what's coming out of him.
It's already in there. Out of the heart, he said, proceed
evil thoughts. Well, how'd they get in there?
They've always been in there. You're born with it. Out of the
heart, proceed evil thoughts. Murderers. Murderers. Adulterers. Fornications. Theists. False
witness. Blasphemies. These are the things
that defile a man. Sin is a nature. It's a nature. And because sin is a nature,
sin is normal. to man. Is he not? He doesn't detect it. He doesn't
see anything wrong with it. You cannot resist what you cannot
detect. Paul calls it in Romans 7 verse
24, a body of death. Oh, wretched man that I used
to be. Oh, wretched man that I am, who
shall deliver me from the body of this death? Well, was Paul
a rowdy man? No. Was he a womanizer? Was he a
bank robber? Was he an extortioner? No, sir. In Philippians 3.6, he said,
as touching the righteousness which is in the law, he was blameless.
Then why is he saying, O wretched man, that I am? Because he discovered
his sin is what he is. Not what he does. He does what
he does because of what he is. He's a sinner. In Romans 7, verse
18, he said, I know. How did he know? God showed it
to him. That's how he knew. I know that in my flesh dwelleth
no good thing." Huh? That's hard to swallow that.
No good thing. Nothing. But where do we look
for the good thing? In here. But it ain't in there. And so you just keep looking
and keep looking and keep looking and you're frustrated and you're
never going to find it. That's a black hole there. You remember the rich young welder?
When he came up to the Lord, he said, good master. That's
religious talk. That's religious language. They
speak a language all around. Good brother. And he came to
the Lord, he said, good master. And old Christ put the brakes
on him right there, didn't he? Why callest thou me good? Thou
art none good but God. Oh. Oh. I'm bored of anything and everything
that constitutes goodness. And to prove my point, when I
attempt to teach this doctrine to natural men, they weigh it
in the scales of human understanding. Well, my soul, if I'm a wretched
man, if everything I know, I'm ignorant, I know that, I'm without
God, So along comes a man and he's telling me the truth and
I'm going to weigh what he says by what I am? I'm going to go
into this library and look for... Nay, but old man, who art thou
that replies against God? I look within to evaluate what
this man's preaching to me. 1 Corinthians 2.14 said, But
the natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God.
Why? Their foolishness to him. He
weighed them according to human reasoning, and they were foolishness. Sin is a nature, and therefore
it is a prison. Christ said He was anointed by
the Spirit to preach deliverance to the captives. They're captive. in their nature. Sin is a nature. It's what we are. And therefore,
it's a fixed principle. It's a law. It's a law. And it's in us. And an awakening
of grace causes one to see themselves as they are in the sight of God.
It leaves a man desperate. He's not a man that wants to
come up to you and start theologically discussing sin and, you know,
He's desperate. You think that leper came to
Christ and said, now let's talk about this? No. No, he was a
leper. He knew what he was. If you will,
he said, you can make me clean. That's all I need know. Oh, my soul. When a man's awakened
by grace, he sees himself as he is. in the sight of God and
it leaves a man desperate, helpless, hopeless before God. Totally,
100% at the mercy of God. Save me or I perish. Sin is a
nature. Secondly, sin is a state of being.
Paul said the sinner's dead in sins. He's dead in sins. You hath he quickened who were
dead in trespasses and sins. He says in 1 Corinthians 15,
Romans chapter 5, he said sin entered and death passed. By
one man sin entered into the world and death by sin and so
death passed upon all men. Sin entered, death passed. He
says this over in 2 Corinthians 5, if one died for all, then
all were dead. Pretty good reasoning, ain't
it? He says this in Colossians 3,
you are dead and your life is hid with Christ in God. You're
dead. Is that how you evaluate yourself?
Is that how you see yourself? Dead? The sinner does when he's
enlightened by God. Sin is a state of being. One
of them said, my father died. He said, let the dead bury the
dead. And then thirdly, sin is a force.
He said sin reigns under death. It reigns. I hear this all the
time. If I wanted to, if I wanted to,
let me ask you something. Do you want to? No. That's what
I'm talking about. There's no want to. There's no
willing to. Sin reigns under death. A strong
man, our Lord said, armed keepeth his palace, and his goods are
at peace. You can't disturb him. You can't
disturb him. Not apart from the Spirit of
God. Paul preached with the Spirit of God, and Felix trembled before
him. But I tell you, without the Spirit,
you could have preached the same message, and that man wouldn't
have done anything. Sin hath reigned unto death.
It's a strong man armed. He rules over his house. He dictates
policy. He makes the rules. He orders
the conduct. And he's going to continue to
rule until one stronger than him overtakes him and foils his
house. Look here in verse 5 of Romans
8. He said, For they that are after
the flesh do mind the things of the flesh. What things? What does he mind? If a man's
in the flesh, what does he mind? Everything that the flesh desires. Its goals, its desires, its motives,
its affections, its lust, its reasoning. He clings to his own
understanding. He looks to himself for all the
answers. They that are after the flesh
do mind the things of the flesh. Listen to this, verse 6. For to be carnally minded, to
be left to your natural reasoning, that's what he's talking about.
To be carnally minded is death. Why? Because the carnal mind
is enmity against God. Our Lord said, if the light that
be in you be darkness. What's he talking about there?
Well, he's talking about those things that you believed so strongly
when you was in religion. You believed you had a free will,
didn't you? You believed God loved everybody. If the light that be in you is
darkness, he ain't talking about this other stuff, he's not talking
about immorality, not talking about all those things that you
did and you know that you did and that's what you're calling
sin. He's talking about the light
that's in you. If that be darkness, then how
great is that darkness? If there's no light at all, how
great is that darkness? If all your concepts of God and
goodness are wrong, if everything I think I know is wrong, how
great is that darkness? And that's what he's talking
about. To be carnally minded is death because, verse 7, the
carnal mind is enmity against God, it's hostile, it's violently
opposed, it's unwilling to submit. I can't count the times I've
preached this gospel to men. and they slammed a book down
or just got up and went like that and walked out the back
door. Violently opposed to it. It's not subject to the law.
You can't tell them anything. You can't reason with them. You
can't reform them. You can't do anything with them.
The Jews had every advantage over the heathen, didn't they? They had the prophets, they had
the truth, they had the miracles. Even the Son of God came into
this world as a Jew. They had every advantage. Paul
said, what then? Are we better than those heathens
out there that have been dancing around the totem pole? No, you
know why? Why? Because I have before proved
both Jew and Gentile are all under sin. Under sin. So what's all this mean? Where
are you going with all this? What's it mean? Romans 8, 8. So then, if everything I've told
you here this morning is so, so then, they that are in the
flesh, now listen, cannot please God. I don't care what you do. I don't care what you sacrifice. You cannot Without faith, it's
impossible to please God. That's what the Scripture says.
If God leads you to yourself, you'll self-destruct. Why? Romans 3.16, destruction and
misery are in your ways. It's in your ways. He says in
Isaiah, they call evil good and good evil. Isaiah 5.20. Call evil good and good evil. Nothing more evil and deadly
to the souls of men than false religion, yet deceived men call
it good. Nothing is more beneficial to
your soul than a servant of God preaching the truth to you, but
they call that evil. You see what I'm saying? They
put darkness for light and light for darkness. What are you getting at, preacher?
What are you trying to do? I'm trying to set before you
the true condition of your soul. I'm trying to take the blanket
off. I'm trying to uncover it so you can see it in the Word
of God. I'm trying to set before you
the present state of your soul before God, and I'm doing the
best I know how to show you how serious and how desperate your
situation is. Rich or poor, successful or unsuccessful,
moral or immoral, educated or uneducated, they that are in
the flesh cannot please God. If God don't intervene, you'll
go on in your carnal fleshly ways. That which is flesh is
flesh. You'll just keep on. He'll serve
the flesh, mind the flesh. You'll reason some philosophy
of life out. of whatever influence you're
under, and you're going to find something appealing to you, and
then you're going to settle into it. You'll join the Methodist
Church, and somebody will say, well, we got a job for you. We
got a job for you. We're going to make you a deacon.
And you'll just settle right in. You'll settle right in. You'll
be as satisfied as you can be. You'll sit there and just bellow
out the words and when they're called upon you'll stand up and
pray and you'll do all these things. You're going to settle
into it until one day you wake up in judgment and find yourself
crying with the multitude. Wait a minute! I preached in your name. Huh? Now the man down at the bar sitting
there getting drunk every night, the womanizer, the extortioner,
he can't say that. Well, who's going to say that? That religious man who didn't
know God. Have not we preached in thy name?
Have not we cast out devils in thy name? Have not we done many
wonderful works in thy name? Depart from me, you workers of
iniquity. I never knew you. I never knew
you. So what then is our hope? Actually, our hope is in the
purpose and will of God to save sinners for the glory of His
name. This is a faithful saying Paul
wrote, worthy of all acceptation, that Christ Jesus came into this
world to save sinners. What kind of sinners? The kind
that I've been describing to you. He came into this world
to save sinners. Now listen to what Paul said.
This is not just something he's saying to sound religious. Of whom I am chief. Who's the
chief of sinners? The chief of religion. That's
the chief of sinners. Religion's not a step up, it's
a step down. Our Lord said, I came not to
call the righteous, but sinners to repentance. God has purposed
to save and made eternal provision for chosen sinners, appointed
for them a federal head and representative, one to stand for his elect as
Adam was the beginning and root of mankind, even so Christ is
the head of the body of the church who is the beginning. I have
a beginning in him. Without Him there's no provision,
there's no hope, there's no possibility of life. He is the beginning.
He's the firstborn from the dead. And Paul tells us here in Romans
7 and 8 that we have the mind of Christ. Who shall deliver
me from the body of this death? I thank God through Jesus Christ
our Lord. So then with the mind I serve
the law of God. How do I do that? My faith in
Christ who honored and exalted the law. In Christ who is my
righteousness. I serve the law of God. You can't
serve the law any better than that. And if there is in us any hope
at all, it is Christ in us, the hope of glory. He tells us in
Ephesians 4.23 to be renewed in the spirit of your mind and
put on the new man. What new man? Christ! That man
which after God is created in righteousness and true holiness.
And when the Holy Spirit of God causes a man comes to a man,
here's what he does. He enlightens that man to Christ. When God leads a man, how do
I know God's leading me? He leads me to Christ. If you're
not being led to Christ, you're not being led of God. Not just
so. There's nothing else out there
except Christ. No other hope. When he comes
to a man and enlightens that man to Christ, oh, here's what
he said, all God's sheep are led into the unity of the faith
and of the knowledge of the Son of God unto a perfect man, unto
the measure of the fullness of the stature That's the hope. That's the hope. Romans 8 and 9. But ye are not
in the flesh, but in the Spirit, if so be the Spirit of God dwell
in you. Now listen. Now if any man had
not the Spirit of Christ, the Spirit of Christ, he's none of
this. And if Christ be in you, how
is he in me? By faith. By faith. Then the body is dead because
of sin, but the spirit is alive because of righteousness. If
God has given me life, how did he do it? Christ in me. He doesn't come along and reform
the flesh. The flesh is always going to
be flesh. I don't care how long you've
been saved. Paul was a saved man. Nobody can doubt that. He
wrote half the New Testament. And he said, when I would do
good, evil is present in me. The good that I would, I don't
do. The evil that I wouldn't do, that's what I do. You mean
this is a godly man saying that? Yeah, he is. Well, who's going
to deliver him then? I thank God through Jesus Christ.
So with the mind, I serve the law of God. I don't have a righteousness. My righteousness is Christ. I
don't have a sanctification. Christ is my sanctification.
Of God are you in Him who's made unto us wisdom. Righteousness,
sanctification, and redemption. Believers are men and women led
by the Spirit of God to put all their trust in the person of
Christ. All their trust. And then thirdly,
what does all this mean? Where does this knowledge lead
the sinner? Romans 8 verse 12. Therefore brethren, we are debtors
not to the flesh to live after the flesh. What? You mean that man who sees Christ
alone, that man who sees the grace of God revealing them things
to him, he sees salvation in Christ alone? And now he sees
himself for what he is? Well, if you see yourself for
what you are, why do you keep going back for more? You see Paul's reasoning? If
you live after the flesh, you're going to die, but if you through
the Spirit do mortify the deeds of the body, you shall live.
What does he mean, mortify the deeds of the flesh? He's embarrassed
by them. Watch out for a man who who likes
to tell you about his past. Paul said, didn't you have enough
of that? Wasn't there enough shame involved
in that when you did it? You have to keep reliving it. We're embarrassed by it. We're
ashamed of it. We're humiliated by it. It means to look upon this flesh
and the things of the flesh as gangrenes. That's what my strong
concordance is. That word means to look on these
things as gangrenes. A fatal infection, ain't nothing
you can do for it. The only thing you can do for
it is cut off whatever's infected, cut it off. It's the way of death. And the
Holy Spirit of God convinces men of sin, how does He do it? I dare say I've told you everything
I know about sin, only I haven't convinced anybody of anything.
When the Holy Spirit convinces a man of sin, how does He do
it? By his unbelief in Christ. Here's a man, you can find fault
with me, try to find fault with him. Which of you accuseth me of sin? Huh? He did no sin. He thought
no sin. He more ready to save than you
are to be saved. He left the throne of glory and
come down here and was born in a cow stable. Sped on, rejected
a man, despised his whole life long. Why? Because he loved his people.
His very name, Jesus, was given to them for He shall save His
people from their sin. Well, I'm no sinner. Why don't
you believe on Christ then? Huh? Give me a reason. You ain't got one. You ain't
got one. The only reason you don't believe
in Him is because you're a sinner and don't know it. I'll convince
them when the Spirit of God come, He said, I'll convince them of
sin Because they believe not on me. That's what Christ said. He's perfectly loving, kind,
merciful, and tender. Perfectly approachable. Oh, I
just can't approach Him. He's the most approachable person
in the world. Lepers came to Him. They dug
away tiles on the roof and lowered men down. He's the most approachable
person I've ever read about. Perfectly approachable, willing
to receive and save the chief of sinners. And yet he comes
to men in the gospel and they resist him, reject him, and despise
him. Not now. Not now. I've got to get my things in
order. What things? You're going to take that filthy
house and get it in order? There ain't no order in it. And
even if there was, you wouldn't know how to do it. Verse 14. Look back at our text here. Verse
14. For as many as are led by the
Spirit of God, they are the sons of God. He said, For ye have not received
the spirit of bondage again to fear, but you have received the
spirit of adoption, whereby we cry, Abba, Father. His Spirit. We're talking about being led
of God the Spirit. His Spirit beareth witness with our spirit
that we are the children of God. Not by telling us and whispering
in our ears, you're my son. That's not how it's done. But by showing us and convincing
us of the truth in Christ. He brings us to Christ. That's
the only way you know your sonship. You come to Christ. All that
the Father has given me come to me. All of you. We know that the Son of God,
John said, has come and has given to us an understanding that we
may know Him that's true, that we're in Him that's true. This
is the true God and eternal life. To be led of God is to be brought
to faith in Christ, shut up to Christ, trusting in Christ, putting
all my eggs in one basket. How do I know if God's leading
me? He leads me to His Son. in whose hands He's vested all
things. All things in Him. Now what about you and me? Are
we led of God? We are if we trust in His Son.