My subject this morning is one
fatal deficiency. Our text is Romans chapter 8
and verse 9. One fatal deficiency. In the last statement of verse
9, the Apostle Paul writes by inspiration and says, Now if
any man have not the Spirit of Christ, he is none of his. fatal deficiency. If any man
have not the Spirit of Christ, he is none of his. Let's back
up to verse 1 and start reading the passage in context. There is therefore now no condemnation
to them which are in Christ Jesus. No curse, no condemnation, no
judgment awaiting them who walk not after the flesh but after
the Spirit. Those who are in Christ are those
who believe on the Son of God. Believing on the Lord Jesus is
walking not after the flesh, but after the Spirit. For the
law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus hath made me free
from the law of sin and death. God giving us life and faith
in Christ Jesus has freed us from all fear of wrath and judgment
and condemnation due to us under the curse of the law by nature.
For what the law could not do in that it was weak through the
flesh. God sending his own son in the likeness of sinful flesh
and for sin condemned sin in the flesh. God sent his son into
this world in our nature. The Lord Jesus Christ in real
humanity He as God-man, the man who is God, bore our sins in
his body on the tree. And when he bore our sins in
his body on the tree, he was cursed of God. Judged of God. Condemned by God for sin. And when he was condemned for
sin, he condemned sin in the flesh. That is to say, he put
away the sins he bore in his body on the tree. All the sins
of his elect, all the sins of every sinner who trusts Christ.
Verse four. God did this that the righteousness
of the law might be fulfilled in us who walk not after the
flesh, but after the spirit. By faith in Christ, we fulfill
the law, offering God His son. As our only hope, our only plea,
our only acceptance with Him, God accepts us in perfect righteousness. For we offer God that which fully
satisfies Him. Verse 5, For they that are after
the flesh do mind the things of the flesh. That is, you who
are not born of God, you live for this world, you are impressed
with the things of this world, you live after the flesh. But
they that are after the Spirit, those who are born of God, they
mind the things of the Spirit. Their hearts are set on heavenly
things, eternal things. For to be carnally minded is
death. To live after the flesh is death.
But to be spiritually minded, To live after the spirit is life
and peace, because the carnal mind is enmity against God. For it is not subject to the
law of God, neither indeed can be. So then, they that are in
the flesh cannot please God. They that are in the flesh cannot
please God. here all the time, you need to
start serving the Lord. No, you need to start believing
Him. They that are in the flesh cannot please God. You who are
without Christ cannot please God. You can do all you can imagine. You can do all the good works
that you approve of and others approve of. You can set yourself
among the prophets, but you can't please God. They that are in
the flesh The natural person, the unregenerate person cannot
please God, be they young or old. But ye are not in the flesh.
What a statement. You who are born of God are not
in the flesh, but in the spirit. If so, be that the spirit of
God dwell in you. But here's the deficiency most
have. a fatal deficiency. Now, if any man have not the
Spirit of Christ, he is none of his. This text doesn't deal with external
rites and ceremonies. It doesn't discuss some point
of doctrine. I spent the first session this
morning dealing with the most essential of all doctrines, limited
atonement. But you can believe a limited
atonement, preach limited atonement, and go to hell believing limited
atonement. Doesn't deal with doctrine. This text isn't talking
about Christian virtue. It's not talking about outward
things, but rather it's talking about the root of the matter. Job said, the root of the matter
is in me. Here the apostle, by inspiration,
sticks the point of the sword right in our hearts. dividing
asunder joints and marrow, dealing with the thoughts and intents
of the heart. If any man have not the Spirit of Christ, he
is none of his. You see, the issue is not, have
I been baptized and accepted in the fellowship of Christ's
Church? The issue is, do I have the Spirit of Christ? The issue
is not, is my doctrine biblical, sound, and true? The issue is,
do I have the spirit of Christ? The issue is not, am I faithful
to the church and faithful in the service of God? The issue
is, do I have the spirit of Christ? The issue is not, do I preach
the gospel? The issue is, do I have the spirit
of Christ? If I have the spirit of Christ,
then I'm born of God, a child of God, a true believer. I belong
to Christ. For as many as are led of the
Spirit of God, they are the sons of God. If I don't have the Spirit
of Christ, no matter what else I have, no matter what I've experienced,
if I have not the Spirit of Christ, I don't belong to God. I'm not
yet born of God. I'm not yet taught of God. If
any man have not the Spirit of Christ, he is none of His. This
is what Paul tells us in our text. Those who are born again,
those who are united to Christ by faith, those who are the heirs
of eternal life have the spirit of Christ. What does that mean? What does that mean? Let me make
five statements and I'll give you my message right here in
this text in these five statements. Number one. You who believe are
not in the flesh, but in the spirit. Now, wait a minute, Brother
Dot. We're sitting here in bodies
of flesh. That's not what Paul's talking
about. He's saying you're not carnal, but spiritual. Your life,
the real you, is no longer dead, but alive to God. You're not
unregenerate, but regenerate. You're the living sons of God.
You're not in the flesh, but in the spirit. You still have
the old Adamic nature. You still have the nature of
flesh, but you now live in the spirit. You now live in Jesus
Christ. The indwelling of God, the Holy
Spirit is the distinguishing character of every regenerate
heaven born soul. If you're born of God, if I'm
born of God, The Spirit of God dwells in us. We believe God
because He has sent forth the Spirit of His Son into our hearts,
causing us to lift our hearts to heaven, to look at God in
Christ and say, My Father, Abba Father, so that a man being born
of God, having the Spirit of God in him, believing on the
Lord Jesus, looking to God through Christ, I'm not looking for words to
say. I want you to hear what I'm saying. Looking to God through
Christ. Believing on the Son of God,
no matter what you are, no matter what you have done. Knowing the
evil that you are, knowing the corruption, the sin, the depravity
that's in you. You look to God through Christ.
Trust in Christ as your redemption and your righteousness, your
salvation. And you say, my father, my father said, well, how is that such
a wonderful thing? Do you know what it is to think
about God with terror? Do you know what it is to be
terrified of God so that every thought you have of God only
sinks you in despair? so that you lift your mind to
heaven and you're blushed with shame and you're terrified because
you know that God is holy and you're sinful and God must and
will punish sin and then when God sends his spirit into your
heart crying Abba Father giving you life and faith in Christ
because he from eternity adopted you as his child and now has
made you his child. You lift your heart to heaven
and look God. Square in the face. And you say,
my father, with confidence, it's called faith in Christ. The spirit
of God is in you. Has the spirit of life light
and illumination, the spirit of adoption and faith and intercession. He is your comforter. He is your
assurance. He is the seal of the covenant,
the pledge of resurrection glory. He's in you as the spirit of
Christ. This divine indwelling is our
security and our preservation. It is our pledge of heavenly
glory in and with the Lord Jesus Christ. Because the Spirit of
God dwells in us, we're not in the flesh, but in the Spirit. God lives in us, and we live
in God. The Spirit lives in us, and we
live in the Spirit. Christ lives in us, and we live
in Christ. We know that He is living, because
He's in our souls. Our faith is not just a creed,
it's a person. Our religion is not just a ceremony,
it's a person. Christ dwells in you by His Spirit. Number two, God the Holy Ghost
is here identified for us as the Spirit of Christ. I realize
we live in this day of charismatic confusion. Pentecostal nonsense
when everybody's talking about the Holy Spirit, the Holy Spirit,
the Holy Spirit, and they talk about the gifts of the Spirit
and they talk about signs of the Spirit and all this stuff.
Talk about speaking in tongues and prophesying and all those
things, pretending that they have such things as the apostles
possessed. Nobody today has an apostolic
gift. Nobody. The gifts of the apostles
ceased with the last apostle. Those gifts were given to demonstrate
that Jesus of Nazareth is indeed the Christ. To demonstrate, as
Joel said they would demonstrate, that he who is God's Messiah
has come and accomplished redemption. Those pretended gifts today Those
pretended gifts. And I mean to say that everyone
who claims to have apostolic gifts knows better. He's just
faking it. They're pretended. They're put
on. They're a show. And they're signs not of Christ,
but of Antichrist. Read 2 Thessalonians chapter
2. But here the Spirit of God is spoken of as God refers to
Him, the Spirit of Christ. What's he talking about? He's
called the spirit of God in the beginning of verse nine. And
then the last part of the verse, he's called the spirit of Christ.
It's the same thing. We believe in the divine Trinity,
God, the father, God, the son, and God, the Holy Spirit are
one. We worship one God in the Trinity
of his sacred persons. And God, the spirit dwells in
us, the spirit of God. God, the father and God, the
son dwell in us. And this one dwelling in us is
distinctly here, identified as the spirit of Christ. Let me
give you four reasons. Number one, he's called the spirit
of Christ because he peculiarly and especially rested on Christ. Now, keep your bookmark in Romans
chapter eight and turn back to Matthew, Matthew, chapter three. The Holy Spirit had much to do
with the manhood of our Redeemer. His human body was begotten in
his soul, or begotten in the womb of the Virgin by the Spirit
of God, when the power of the highest overshadowed her. Now
look at Matthew. I said Matthew 3, I meant Matthew
1. Matthew chapter 1, verse 18. Now the birth of Jesus Christ
was on this wise. When his mother, Mary, was espoused
to Joseph, before they came together, she was found with child of the
Holy Ghost. Then Joseph, her husband, being a just man, not
willing to make her a public example, was minded to put her
away privately. Joseph looked at her and thought,
oh, what a shameful thing. Here, this woman, I'm fixing
to marry. She's turned up pregnant. It's going to embarrass me and
her family and everybody. But he didn't want to divorce
her. They were engaged, and he knew
everybody would think they had been Immoral in their behavior,
but while he thought on these things verse 20 Behold the angel
of the Lord appeared unto him in a dream saying Joseph thou
son of David Fear not to take unto thee marry thy wife For
that which is conceived in her is of the Holy Ghost Wow How could a man believe anything
like that he believed God And it had been anticipated since
Genesis 3.15 that God would one day send a man, the seed of woman,
not of a man, who is himself God, to crush the serpent's head. And the angel of the Lord spoke
to Joseph and he said, he said, that baby, that baby is conceived
in her by God the Holy Ghost. That holy thing formed in her,
Formed in her by God the Holy Ghost. She shall bring forth
a son and thou shalt call his name Jesus Jehovah our Savior
for he shall save his people from their sins When our Lord
Jesus was baptized, you'll remember John said I saw the Spirit of
God descending and lighting upon him and abiding on him and I
knew this is a I heard God speak from heaven when the dove descended
upon him. This is my beloved son in whom
I am well pleased. The Lord Jesus was led by the
spirit of God into the wilderness to be tempted of the devil. The spirit of God called the
spirit of Christ because he distinctly, particularly lived in the spirit. He was led by the spirit into
the wilderness there to be tempted of the devil. Our Lord's preaching
was preaching in the power of the spirit. He said, the spirit
of the Lord is upon me. He's anointed me to preach the
gospel to the poor. And our Lord Jesus, the anointed
one, had the Holy Ghost upon him without measure throughout
his life while he lived on this earth. so that he was anointed
with the spirit like Aaron was anointed with the holy oil and
the oil ran down over his beard and over his garments down to
the foot of his skirt. So Christ, the holy one is anointed
with the spirit above measure. The Holy Spirit flows from the
head down over all his church so that we are in the spirit. Secondly, he's called the spirit
of Christ because our Lord Jesus gives us his spirit. Turn to
John 20. John 20, yes. John 20. Many people talk today a great
deal about Pentecost and repeat of Pentecost. That was a one-time
act of God. by which God demonstrated publicly
that Jesus Christ, His anointed, the Son of David, was exalted
and seated upon the throne of His kingdom and had power over
all flesh to give eternal life to as many as God had given Him.
There'll never be a repeat of Pentecost, but let us recognize
that our blessed Savior has given us His Spirit. Look at John 20,
verse 19. He's given us his spirit to preach
the gospel, to serve him in this world exactly the same way as
he served God, our Father, in this world. Look at John 20,
verse 19. Then the same day at evening,
being the first day of the week when the doors were shut, where
the disciples were assembled for fear of the Jews, came Jesus
and stood in the midst. The resurrected Christ comes
here among these disciples and stands right in the middle of
them. And he said, Peace be unto you. And when it is so said,
he showed them his hands and his side. Then were the disciples
glad when they saw the Lord. Now watch this. Then said Jesus
to them again, Peace be unto you. As my Father hath sent me,
even so send I you. Now this is not a word spoken
just to preachers. This is the assembled Church
of God. This is the assembled Church of God. I just caught
my son-in-law's face there. If I'm a believer and you're
a believer, the Lord Jesus has sent us into this world as he
was sent of God to be his servant in this world. Now I'm sent to
be a preacher. He's sent to be a contractor.
No, I'm sent to be a missionary and he's sent to be a missionary.
You too. Sent to proclaim the gospel to
sinners. sent to cause men and women everywhere
to know who Christ is, what he accomplished, where he is now,
how he saves sinners. Sent for the in-gathering of
God's elect. Why was Christ sent into this
world, Mark? He was sent to seek and save
that which was lost. That's the reason God sent us
into this world. That's the reason he sent us here. So that we who
are gods have the Spirit of God breathed into us in life. And when He breathed into us,
we are sent of God to serve Him. Read on. Verse 22. And when He
had said this, He breathed on them and said unto them, Receive
ye the Holy Ghost. Now watch this next word. Whosoever
sins you remit, they are remitted unto them. And whosoever sins
you retain, They are retained unto them. What on earth does
that mean? What on earth does that mean?
God has sent us to preach the gospel. I'm here today preaching
the gospel to you. This assembly will send this
message literally around the world in just a few hours, Lord
willing. And we send missionaries to preach
the gospel. And you send your pastor all
over the world to preach the gospel. But what are we doing? We're here preaching the gospel
of God's grace and we're made of God unto all who hear a savor
of life unto life or a savor of death unto death. So that
by the gospel, sins are either remitted or retained upon those
who hear the gospel. And God said that's the way it's
going to be. Oh, what a responsibility. Oh, what a privilege we are sent
of God to fulfill the work of our Lord Jesus Christ as the
servants of God. Number three, the spirit of God
is here called the spirit of Christ because our blessed savior
lived particularly and peculiarly in the power of the spirit. That's
what Paul's talking about here in our text and Romans chapter
eight. Spirit as it's used here is used
in opposition to flesh. And what Paul is telling us is
this. If we belong to Christ, we live in the spirit as he did. If we belong to Christ, if Christ
is in us, if the spirit of God dwells in us, we live in the
spirit as our savior did. How is it that he lived in the
spirit? His life was a life of the Spirit. His teaching was spiritual. His influence was spiritual.
His goals, his aims, his ambitions were spiritual. He minded not
earthly things, but heavenly things. He set his heart not
on earthly things, but heavenly things. Oh, God, give us grace. As he walked in the spirit to
walk in the spirit, living unto God. Oh, God, give me grace to live
unto God. Not for myself. Not for my pleasure,
not for earthly ambition, not for earthly gain, but to live
under God. Set your minds, set your affection,
set your heart on things above, not on things on the earth. Set
your heart on Christ and eternity, not on time and vanity. And before the Holy Spirit is
called the spirit of Christ, because he gives life to his
entire mystical body by his spirit. The Lord Jesus, who obtained
eternal redemption for us, seated on the throne of heaven, praised
the father to send the comforter to his own. He praised the father
to give his spirit to all his redeemed and the spirit of God. comes upon each of God's elect
and brings us into union with Christ and bringing us into union
with Christ brings us into union with one another so that there
is one body and one spirit even as you're called in one hope
of your calling. Now, let's go back to our text.
Romans 8 verse 9. I want you to see third that
every true believer has the spirit of Christ dwelling in him. We're
either in the flesh or in the spirit. There's no middle ground.
If I'm in the flesh, I live after the flesh. If I'm in the spirit,
I live after the spirit. Look at Romans 8 5. They that
are in the flesh do bind the things of the flesh, but they
that are in the spirit are after the spirit, the things of the
spirit. Verse 14, as many as are led by the spirit of God,
they are the sons of God. Who are God's children in this
world? Those men and women. Whose lives are directed by God,
the Holy Ghost. All who are born again. All who
have faith in Christ. All who are true believers have
the spirit of God dwelling in them as this gift of the spirit
is not something reserved for select special few. It is the
gift of God reserved for all his elect and all Christians
live in the spirit. This is indispensable to the
life of true faith. The work of the Holy Spirit in
us. The work of the Holy Spirit in
us is as necessary for our salvation as the work of God the Father
in election and predestination, and as necessary as the work
of God the Son in redemption and in the fulfillment of all
righteousness on our behalf. Without the Spirit of God, we
cannot have life. It is the Spirit that quickeneth,
the flesh profiteth nothing. I've been praying for this assembly. And I've been praying for you,
that God will be pleased to give you life by His Spirit. I recognize that no matter how
diligent I am in preparation, and no matter how articulate
I am in preaching, I can't move you toward God. I can't cause you to believe
God. We persuade men to be reconciled
to God, but I can't persuade you. It's the spirit that quickeneth,
the flesh profiteth nothing. So that if all you hear is the voice of this man, your
being here today will profit you nothing spiritually. Oh, but if God will send His
Spirit to you, reveal His Son in you, calls
you to hear His Word today, I'll tell you what you'll do. You'll
believe God. You'll repent of your sins. You'll
trust the Lord Jesus Christ. You'll leave this place calling
God your Father with confident faith in Jesus Christ the Lord. Unless God, the Holy Spirit works
through us by his word, our labors and our preaching will all be
vanity. This book right here. I reverence this book. Merle,
this is the word of God. But it's a sealed book under
God, the Holy Spirit. opens the book to us and opens
our hearts to the book. It's a sealed book. You read
passages like we read earlier in 1 Samuel 10 about Saul and
you read just historic facts. But when God opens the word,
it speaks to you. Gives you understanding and God
has a message in his word for you. You come here and I I'm
66 years old. We'll be in June. And I've been
preaching for a long time. And I'm more convinced than ever.
I'm more convinced than ever. That everything I do is meaningless. Except it be blessed of God the
Spirit to those for whom it is done. In other words, as our
Lord Jesus said to Nicodemus, You must be born again. Except
a man be born of flesh and of spirit, he cannot see the kingdom
of God. Except a man be born again, he
cannot enter into the kingdom of God. You can't begin to understand
anything about God until you're born again. You can't see the
things of God unless you're born again. You can't enter into the
kingdom of God unless God gives you his spirit, the spirit of
Christ. By the new birth, we've entered
into a new realm of life. We become citizens of a spiritual
world and we've been made new creatures in Christ. And yet,
even now, as we live in this world, this life in the spirit, must
be constantly actuated, activated, enlivened, revived, refreshed
by God the Spirit in us. I wrote here in my notes, if
we're born of God and the Spirit of God dwells in us, then God
is real to us. Christ is real to us. Truth is
real to us. But sometimes that's just not
so. Sometimes just not so. And it seems that nothing is
real to us. Deadness steals over us. Even
as it did Peter when he stood in Pilate's judgment hall and
cursed and denied the Lord. What are you saying, preacher?
I'm saying that our life living in this world, our life is utterly
dependent upon the grace of God given us by his spirit. Fourth, Paul shows us that there
are some things which are characteristic of the spirit of Christ dwelling
in us. If I had the spirit of Christ dwelling in me, There
are some things that I'm certain are so. Number one, all who have
the Spirit of Christ own and acknowledge that Christ is Lord.
No man can call Jesus Lord, but by the Spirit of God. I call
on you to believe on the Son of God. I call on you to trust
the Lord Jesus Christ. I urge you to do so. And I know
what the problem is. I know what the problem is. If
you don't believe on the son of God, I know the reason. If
you don't trust Christ Jesus, I know the reason. If you refuse
to believe on the son of God, I know the reason. You simply
will not bow to him. You still want to control your
life. You still want to be master of your own life. You want to
Determine things for yourself. This is what I plan. This is
what I want to do. This is where I'm going. This
is what I'm going to make of myself. I'll reserve to myself how I
want to live what I want to do. Those who are born of the Spirit
of God bow to the throne of the sovereign
Christ. and begging to rule. Begging to rule. You see, those who are born of
God are broken by grace. My dear friend, Brother Bob Lips,
who was with us here for many years, is in glory now. I was
at his farm one day. They raised horses. And he's
talking about gentling a horse. And I didn't have any idea what
he was talking about. All I'd ever seen was how fellows in the westerns
throw a saddle on a bronc and get a rope around his, a bridle
in his mouth and a rope in their hand and they ride him until
they break him. He said, oh no, you don't want to break him.
You don't want to break him. You want to gentle him. You want to leave,
you want to leave that wild streak in him, but you want to gentle
him so you can somehow control him a little bit. Not so with
God. God almighty throws his saddle
of grace on the wild ass's coat and he'll ride you to the ground
or he'll never save you by his grace. Those who are born of
God, those who have the spirit of God, bow to Christ the Lord. Second, every person who has
the spirit of God is led by the spirit of God, led by the word,
as the Spirit teaches us through the Word. Led by divine providence,
but led by the gracious influence of God the Spirit in his heart. Led in a way that nobody can
understand because you can't explain it. I'll give you an
example. Shelby and I were engaged. Got
engaged my last year of high school. And I graduated from
high school and started college where she was going to college
in Winston-Salem. I started in June, started even
before we got out of our school year had finished. Started summer
school, took 12 hours at first semester summer school. And just
about the end of July, first of August, I said to Shabelle,
I'm going to go to school in Springfield, Missouri this year.
And she said, what? I said, I'm just convinced this
is what God had me to do. How do you know? I don't know.
I just know it is. I just know it is. And I bought an airline
ticket to fly out to Springfield, Missouri. And I arrived before
I was accepted. And they weren't expecting me. And I had to go find a place
to sleep that night. But went knowing this is what
God would have me to do. I can look back at it now and
see many reasons for that, but knowing this is what God had
me to do. I came here to Danville. You
called me as your pastor 35 years ago this week. And the first time I was here,
I may have told you this, may not have, but the first day I
was here, I called Shelby. I'd been pastoring for nine years
in Lookout, West Virginia. I hadn't been pastoring. I'd
been preaching there, had the name of pastor. And nobody pastors
a bunch of rebels. And I hope the folks that look
out hear it. They've never had a pastor. They've had fellows
who did what they were told to do. But for nine years, I put
up with that stuff. And I was sick to my ears with
it, just sick of fussing and fighting all the time. And I
called Shelby that afternoon after the service was over. And
I said, these folks want me to come down here and be their pastor.
If they call me, we're coming. This is where God had me to be.
I have no question about it. And I've been asked a number
of times in the last 35 years if I'd consider going to be pastor
here, pastor there. No, nowhere. Nowhere. I know I'm where God
would have me to be. And this is where I'm going to
be until you carry me out with my toes turned up. That's the
way it's going to be. How do you know that? As many
as are led by the spirit of God, they're the sons of God. You
seek to know God's will. and you'll do God's will. Trust
in the Lord with all your heart, in all your way of knowledge
here, and He shall direct thy path. Our trouble is we too much
lean to our own understanding. Number three, if you and I have
the Spirit of God, we're taught of the Spirit. We have the mind
of Christ. What Paul said, the mind of Christ,
so that we know all things. We know what this book teaches. We know what it teaches. I'm
often asked, do you know everything in the Bible? No, I don't know
everything in the Bible, but I know everything in the Bible.
I know what the whole message of the book is, and I know what
the whole of the book is intended to teach. Number four, all who
have the Spirit of Christ have the fruit of the Spirit. Love,
joy, Believers love God, they have
joy in God and peace with God. Long-suffering gentleness and
goodness. Believers are men and women who
are taught of God to be long-suffering, gentle and good to one another. Faith, meekness, temperance. Believers are people who are
faithful. They're humbled before God. They
know who they are and whose they are. That's called meekness,
temperance. They're controlled not by circumstances,
but controlled from within. Controlled by the Spirit of God,
by the Spirit of Christ, Christ sitting on His throne in us.
Fifth, those who have the Spirit of Christ are men and women of
prayer. They said of Saul of Tarsus,
Behold, he prayeth. And God's people are men and
women of prayer. I don't mean by that. I don't
mean by that that you know a lot about their prayers. I'm very suspicious of folks
I've read about in history Folks knew a lot about their prayers
and said a lot about their prayers. How did you know? You couldn't
know unless I told you And if I told you wouldn't pray it was
just making a show Believers are many women of prayer they
live Calling on God seeking the Lord
Asking God's direction Asking God to make himself known trusting
God, seeking his will and his glory. Number six. If a person has the spirit of
Christ, he lives in a constant state of warfare in his soul,
the flesh lusting, lusting against the spirit and the spirit against
the flesh. And seven. All who have the spirit
of Christ Trust Christ alone. Clinging to Him. Just to Him. Mother of God, where's your assurance?
Where's your peace? What gives you confidence with
regard to eternity? I know you've had a long life
and you've had a lot of experiences. All of that, all of that, everything yesterday,
all of it, is just meaningless. Just meaningless as far as hope
before God's concerned. I wouldn't take anything for
the life God's given me on this earth with Christ my Redeemer.
I thank God for every moment of it, for every moment of it.
Oh, thank God for it. How good, how faithful he's been. But my hope before God has nothing
to do with what I've experienced these past 45, 46 years, 49 years,
excuse me. Got nothing to do with it, nothing
at all. What's your hope? I trust the Son of God, my only
atonement for sin, my only righteousness with God, my only acceptance
in heaven. All right, look back at our text
again. One last thing. If you're without the spirit
of Christ. You're without Christ. and without life before God.
If any man have not the Spirit of Christ, he is none of His. You may be very religious and
be without the Spirit of Christ. Like Saul, the first king in
Israel, found among the prophets, found among folks worshiping
God, but you don't have the Spirit of Christ. If you don't have
the Spirit of Christ, you're none of His. You're yet without
life, without Christ, without God, without hope. So I urge
you, if you have not the Spirit of Christ, Don't turn a deaf
ear to my words this day, but right now, right where you are,
go to Christ. He said, if you're thirsty, come
to me, and I will give you a well of living water springing up
in you unto eternal life. And this, he said, speaking of
the Spirit of Christ. Come to me and I'll give you
my Spirit. I'll pour my Spirit upon you,
the Spirit of grace and supplication. Come to me and I'll give you
life. Amen.