Romans chapter 8. Now the whole of this subject has been taught
in the first seven chapters of the book. Whenever something
strikes you in the scriptures, it's a good idea to pause Read
that passage that's striking to you and then go back and catch
back up. Just read through, just scan
through everything that you've just read and come back up and
read it one more time. Because in these epistles, Paul
is teaching. And he's laying down doctrinal
principles. He's teaching. He's building
one thing on another. Another thing on another. And
he keeps using that word for, and therefore, and so on. He's
building. He's building. So keep that in
mind as I read this. Romans chapter 8 beginning with
verse 13. For if you live, and I'm going
to make some comments here as I go through this. For if you
live after the flesh, if you live after the flesh. If the tenor of your life and
behavior is after the flesh, in other places he words it like
this, fulfilling the desires of the flesh and of the mind. Fulfilling its desires, satisfying
its passions, indulging in its pleasures. If you live After
the flesh, ye shall die. Now he's not talking here about
physical death. You're going to die anyway. Believer
or unbeliever, you're going to die physically. These all died
in faith. That's what the Lord said. Adam lived so many years and
he died. And his successor lived so many years, and he died. And
we're going to live so many years, and we're going to die. That's
not talking about physical death here. This is talking about the
second death. This is talking about everlasting
punishment and separation from God. But, he said, if you through
the Spirit, you can't do this in the flesh, This has to be
done through the Spirit of the Living God. If I don't get anything
else across to you in this whole message, let that go into your
heart as deep as it can. If you through the Spirit, through
Him, through His strength, through His presence, through His influence,
through His teaching, If you through the Spirit do mortify
the deeds of the body, what on earth does that mean? Huh? We could write a book on that,
couldn't we? Mortifying the deeds of the body. What in the world
is he talking about? That means to rightly judge and
to see these deeds, these passions, these pleasures worthy of death. That's what that means. to see
them in their true light, to see this flesh for what it is,
and justify God in the condemnation of it. If we, through the Spirit,
and that's the only way you can know it, the only way you can
do it, the only way you can see it, do mortify the deeds of the
body, ye shall live. As many as are led by the Spirit
of God, led to do what? Mortify the deeds
of the body. As many as are led by the Spirit
of God, they are the sons of God. For you have not received
the spirit of bondage again to fear, but you have received the
spirit of adoption, whereby we cry, Abba, Father. the Spirit
Himself bearing witness with our spirit that we are the children
of God. And if children, then heirs. Heirs of God and joined heirs
with Christ, if so be that we suffer with Him, that we may
be also glorified together. I hear a lot of things as I minister
the gospel to men. What does a man have to hear?
I hear that all the time. What do you have to know? What
do you have to hear? How much do you have to hear?
When does a man hear? Where does this hearing come
from? I hear these questions as I minister the gospel to men. How can I know if I'm a true
believer? Well, here is my message to you
this morning. The Spirit of Sonship. The Spirit of Sonship. The Spirit
of the Living God evidences in you that you are sons of God. And there is nothing, as far
as I am concerned, more misunderstood and more misrepresented to men
than the work of the Holy Spirit of God. The other day I heard
a knock on the door. And I opened the door and went
out on the porch and there was a very charismatic young man
at my door and had two or three young people there with him and
he was inviting me out to church. As soon as I stepped out the
door, he went into his sales pitch and he was going 90 miles
a minute. You know that little church down
here? and where it was and all about it, and he closed his doors.
In less than two minutes, he gave me the whole history of
Taylor, Arkansas, and told me that he'd come out, and he's
opening up this thing, and he's having meetings in the afternoon,
and he don't want to interfere with none of the other churches
that are around and so on. And I finally, when he took a
breath, I said, wait a minute, hold on. I said, I'm a preacher
myself, and I already pastor a church here. I already pastored
a church. And he said, oh, he said, that's
great. He said, I don't want to take
you from your work, and I don't want to rob any of your folks
from you or any of these other churches. But he really did,
because he wouldn't be having meetings in a time when they
could come. Nobody has meetings at 2 o'clock
in the afternoon on Sunday, but he does. But here's what he told me. You
and I both know that no one church is going to win all the souls
that are here to Jesus. You might get upset, but I didn't
tell him nothing. And he turned around and left. I went back in the house, but
I thought as I sat there about that statement I'm not trying
to win souls for Jesus. Are you? Is that what you think
pastors do, preachers do, win souls for Jesus? I'm looking
for the redeemed of God. That's what I'm doing. I'm hunting
for God's elect. Nobody else is going to be saved.
Nobody else. He's going to save His elect.
And somebody told Henry, he said, well, if you really believe that,
why don't you just preach to the elect? He said, if somebody
put a number on them, I would. Somebody put a tag on them saying
I'm elect, that's the only ones I'd preach to. I'm on the trail
of God's elect. I'm looking for them, hunting
for them. I've got good news for them if
I can find them. Where are they at? They're in
the world. In the world. Now, it's not the
only thing preachers do. I'm also here to warn men. But
I just thought about it. I'm not a soul winner. Soul winners
are false prophets. Soul winners are out here telling
men and women that Christ died for everybody. Christ didn't
die for everybody. He died for those given to Him
by the Father. That's what it says. His grace
is sovereign grace. Sovereign grace. I'll have mercy
upon whom I will. Soul winners are not really interested
in souls. That's a misgiving. When you
call them soul winners, they're not trying to win your soul.
They're not interested in your soul. They're interested in numbers.
And soul winners know nothing about salvation. Once they get
the soul into the church, they've got no message. They've got nothing
to tell him. They don't know anything at all
about salvation. They only know about decision.
They try to get them. They get them in the church,
and then they try to get them down the aisle. And now you got them
down the aisle. Now what? Now what are you going
to do with them? Well, I'm going to get them to
make a decision. OK? Thor Winters know nothing about
spiritual life. They only know about making proselytes. They come from sea and land,
our Lord said, to make one proselyte just like them. And when they've
made him, they've made him twofold more the child of hell than they
were. That's what the scripture said. I'm not a soul winner. I'm a preacher. And I'm never
told to go out and impress men to make decisions or to exercise
their so-called free will and join some denomination. What
I am told to do is go out into all the world and preach the
gospel and then try to get them down an aisle. No, I ain't what
he said. Preach the gospel. And then what? He that believeth. Not he that I make believe. He
that believeth. He that believeth and is baptized
shall be saved. He that has ears to hear. Ain't
that what our Lord said? Let him hear. And then when that bunch of ragtag
Jews come out and said what they had to say to him, our Lord bowed
His head and said, I thank Thee, O Lord my Father. He said, Lord of heaven and earth,
that Thou hast hid these things from the wise and prudent men
revealed among the babes. Even so, Father, for so it seemed
good in Thy sight. And then He turned to His disciples,
and He said, blessed are Your eyes, for they see, and Your
ears, for they hear. I'm not a soul winner. I didn't
go to Wichita Falls to win souls for Jesus. I went over there
to preach the gospel. It may be a curse. Could very
well be a curse on them that heard it. Could be. I pray that
it's not. But it could be. Here's what I'm saying. I've
got no power to do anything for anyone, including myself. I can't
do anything about this. We're born in sin. I can't change
that. I have a nature of sin. I can't
do anything about that. I've got no power to do anything. But I know where the power is.
Paul said, I'm not ashamed. He said, I'm fixing to come to
Rome and preach to you people, and I'm not ashamed of what I've
got to say. I'm not ashamed of the gospel,
for it is, now listen to me, the power of God unto salvation. I ain't got no power. I tell you, we're sinners. By
one man, sin entered into the world, and death by sin, and
so death passed upon all men. Here's the evidence. All of sin.
All of sin. Sin is so natural to the flesh,
Job said, that we drink iniquity like water. That's how much thought
we take about it. Sin is so common to the flesh
that we live a life of sin and call it normal. Well, I'm not
no sinner. I'm just, huh? We call it normal. Call it normal. I'm not a sinner. Now down there
at that bar, that's a bunch of sinners down there, but now I'm
just normal. Sin is so much a part of us. We'll hold our perversions. in
the light of God's truth and try our best to defend them. The first guy who ever told me
anything at all about the gospel, I stood there hanging on a bunch
of perversions that I'd never even read in the word of God
and argued with him. This man has been listening to
the Gospel for 20 years. He's been reading his Bible,
probably read it through 15 or 20 times. And I'm up there, I
just made a profession of faith, let some soul winner talk me
down the aisle, cried a little bit, went home, got religious,
started going to church, and now I'm up here trying to win
him, make a proselyte out of him. And I'm standing there trying
to defend my perversions in the light of God's truth. and thought
I was doing good. That's sin. That's what sin is. The Bible tells us that man at
his best state, now you think about that, at his best state
is altogether vanity. He tells us that in this flesh
Paul told them that back in Romans chapter 7. He said, in this flesh. He said, we know this. Do we? Dwelleth no good thing. Boy, that bust a bubble, don't
it? Huh? No good thing. The Word of God
tells us that we are all as an unclean thing and all our righteousnesses
are as filthy rags. David said, we go astray as soon
as we be born, speaking lies. I'm telling you, man in his fallen
nature is locked up in the prison house of sin. He's shackled with
chains of darkness, held in bondage by his own nature. He's under
the curse of God. Paul back there in Romans chapter
1, he said, here's where the Gospel starts. Here's where the
Gospel begins. The wrath of God is revealed
from heaven against all unrighteousness and ungodliness of men who hold
the truth in unrighteousness. That wrath of God is revealed
from heaven. How's that? How does he do that?
Look with me over here in John chapter 3. Let me show you something here
in John chapter 3. Look at the very last verse of
John chapter 3. He that believeth on the Son
hath everlasting life, and he that believeth not the Son shall
not see life, but the wrath of God abideth on him. How does God reveal His wrath
from heaven against this ungodliness and unrighteousness of men? It's
that they hold the truth in unrighteousness. They hear the truth. They hear
it. You read it to them. I've just
showed you this verse of Scripture. I've read it to you, and you
read it for yourself. Unbelievers manifest the wrath
of God on them. The wrath of God. And I could
go on and on and on. Over there in Ephesians chapter
2, He said, And you that were dead in trespasses and sin, you
hath equipped who were dead in trespasses and sin, wherein in
time past you walked according to the course of this world,
according to the prince of the power of the air. All your behavior, all your conversation
in time past was according to the lust of the flesh, fulfilling
the desires of the flesh and of the mind. And then, now listen
to what he says, and you were by nature the child of wrath,
even as others. Just living, just normal, just
normal. No, you child of wrath. Child
of wrath. Unconcerned, disinterested in
the gospel, disinterested in God and His Word. In this flesh
dwelleth no good thing. He's so blinded by the deceit
of false religion and his twisted, depraved heart that he lives
out his days unafraid, undisturbed, and unmoved by the Word of God.
There's nothing I can do for him. Nothing. Nothing I can do
for him. Well, preacher, are you saying
that he's beyond all hope? No, sir. I'm saying he's beyond
human hope. and human help. That's what I'm
saying. I can't do anything for you.
But I tell you this, I have a gospel that can. And I have a God who
can. He can. We could learn what our
Lord told His disciples who asked Him that question. Who then can
be saved? And He said, with men it's impossible. You talk about something that
shut the door of every church in this country, if they believe
that, they close the doors. With men, it is impossible. Now listen to this, Romans 8,
5, For they that are after the flesh, born under its curse,
held under its bondage, influenced by its power, shaped under its
ignorance, they that are After the flesh, they do mind the things
of the flesh. They can't help but mind the
things of the flesh. Verse 6, for to be carnally minded,
to be minded in union with them, to be of the same mind, a worldly
mind, worldly principles, to be carnally minded is death. If it weren't for the intervention
of God, it'd all be gloom and doom. There'd be no need to preach,
no need to send missionaries, and no need to pray, no need
to witness, no need to write books and bulletins. He said,
here's the condemnation. Here's the condemnation. You
know, when people say, well, you know, if you want people
to come to your church and listen, you don't need to offend people
like that. Let me show you something right
here. Here's a man, here's a perfect man. He looked at his enemies,
at his enemies, and they said, which of you accuseth me of sin? Couldn't a one of them say a
word? Which of you accuseth me of sin? And if you can't accuse
me of sin, why won't you give me a hearing? Why won't you listen
to what I'm saying? Here's a perfect man. This man
went about his entire life with not even a pillar to lay his
head on. He had not one possession in
this world. This man went about constantly. He gave himself to the ministry. He went about doing good. Everywhere
He went, He did good. He did nothing but good. Here is the condemnation, light,
perfect light, the light of God, the light of God's mercy and
grace, the express image of His person, the brightness of the
Father's glory. Light came into the world, and
men love darkness rather than light. There is the condemnation. There is the sin. That is what
sin is. Salvation is of the Lord. And
I mean all of it from beginning to end. The old prophet said,
if God hadn't reserved a remnant, we'd be like Sodom and Gomorrah.
But He did. And He did it according to the
election of grace. He reserved a remnant long before
the fall of man back in the Council Halls of Eternity, God purposed
to manifest the glory of His person in the salvation of a
people through the redemption accomplished by His Son. And
according to that purpose, He determined to bless them and
did bless them in His Council from all eternity with all spiritual
blessings in Christ. Christ became their head and
representative. He became the surety of God's
everlasting covenant of grace. He became the surety of all God's
promises to you. He became their substitute. He
became their prophet, their priest, and their king. And in Ephesians
1, 5, it said He predestinated us unto the adoption of children
by Jesus Christ to Himself according to the good pleasure of His will.
And all those he chose to bless in Christ and predestinated to
adoption by Christ, he also made accepted in the blood. How did he make them accepted?
By taking their place as a representative and federal head and substitute
before the holy law of God. He satisfied God's justice. He
paid our ransom and redeemed every man, woman, and child that
God gave Him in eternal election. In Romans 4, verse 25, it said,
He was delivered for our offenses and raised again for our justification. And then He went out yonder there
with His disciples. up on a high mountain, it says. And he stepped off that mountain
onto a cloud with the holy angels and ascended up into glory. And
there, his work being accepted and declared by his resurrection,
God seated him at his own right hand. And from that throne in
glory, he guarantees that all the benefits of his accomplished
redemption is going to go to who they are supposed to go to.
And to that end, He poured out His Spirit upon the church. And that's what that Spirit,
that's what the Spirit of adoption, that's what the Holy Spirit in
our day is doing. It's taking the accomplished
redemption of Christ. It's taking the things of Christ
and showing them unto us. And when we see His glory and
see His majesty and see His power, then we'll despise what we are. We'll despise what we are. And
even in this flesh, through the Spirit of God, there's going
to be a new law in you. And what that law does is condemn
the flesh. It condemns it all the time. It knows that it can't do anything
to satisfy God. The only thing that satisfies
God is Him who's seated at His own right hand. And by faith,
there's my righteousness. There's my hope. There's my glory. There's everything that I have
any hope in is seated at the right hand of God. And down here,
everything I do, I have to repent of. I'll have to go home this
afternoon and repent over this message, because I could have
said it better. I could have said it clearer.
I could have studied it more. I could have added a few things
or held a few things back. I'll have to repent over there.
I've got to repent over my prayers. Do you know that under the law,
they had a sacrifice for the sin of the tabernacle? For the sin of those who labored
in the tabernacle had to offer an offering for it. He's appointed preaching as the
means whereby the Spirit of God will accomplish this work. And
he not only calls men through the preaching of the gospel.
I don't think you'll find too many arguments about that. Maybe, might be some. He calls
men through the preaching of the gospel, but he not only calls
them, but he matures them. and sustains them by faith cometh
by hearing, hearing by the Word of God. Paul said, he that ascended
up on high, that's the one I'm telling you about, he also gave
gifts to the church. He gave apostles and prophets
and missionaries and evangelists and pastor teachers. Why did
he give them? Just to call men? That ain't
what he says. He says in Ephesians 4.13, He
gave them till we all come in the unity of the faith and of
the knowledge of the Son of God unto a perfect man, unto the
measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ. That's why
He gave them. Now I said all that to say this.
This is the mind of Christ. It's the mind of Christ. And
in Romans 7.24, Paul looking at himself and talking about
these two eyes. This old flesh is a person, but
I'm a new creature in Christ. There's a new man in me. And
this new man wars with the old man, and back and forth. Neither
one can go to the full end. of what it would desire. I can't
be as holy as that new man would have me to be, that wants to
be. I can't be as sinful as that old man would have me to be.
These struggle one with the other. Talks about the old Galatians.
But neither one, neither one. Now he said, oh wretched man
that I am, who's going to deliver me from the body of this death? He said, I thank God through
Christ Jesus our Lord. Now, Romans 8-1, there is therefore
now no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus. Now listen
to this, who walk not after the flesh. Huh? They quit walking after the flesh.
They condemned the things of the flesh. They're walking after
the Spirit. They're walking after the things
of Christ. They're walking after faith.
After all those things of Christ, that's what they want. That's
what they desire. That's what blesses their heart. That's what makes them smile.
That's what gives sunshine to the soul. They don't walk after the flesh,
but after the Spirit. Verse 6, to be carnally minded
is death, but to be spiritually minded, that's another story. That's life and peace. The Spirit of God is the Spirit
of adoption. He says over in Galatians, He
said, because we are sons, God has sent forth the Spirit of
His Son into our hearts, crying, Abba, Father. He leads us to
Christ. He empowers the words of the
preacher. He effectually works in the hearts
of believers. He bears witness in their hearts
that they are the sons of God. The work and witness of the Holy
Ghost is not manifested in these supernatural gifts and tongues
and all this kind of faith healing and all this stuff. It is manifested
in the faith of God's elect. Let me show you something over
in 1 Thessalonians chapter 1. I am saying that the Holy Spirit's
work is known in our day by effectively working in the hearts of chosen
sinners, bringing them to faith in Christ. That's what he does.
I can't do it. You can't do it. I don't care
how well learned you are, you can't sit down one-on-one with
somebody and bring them to Christ. The Spirit of God has to do that. Watch this here, 1 Thessalonians
1, 4. Paul said, knowing, brethren beloved, your election of God.
For our gospel came not unto you in word only, but in power,
and in the what? Holy Ghost. Well, how on earth
do you know that? Because they believed. Then look across the page there
at chapter 2, verse 13. For this cause also, thank we
God, without ceasing. Because when you receive the
word of God which you heard of us, you receive it not as the
word of men, but as it is in truth, the word of God, which
effectually worketh also in you that believe." That believe. It don't work in the hearts of
unbelievers. It works in the hearts of those who believe.
That is the work. What must we do to work the works
of God? This is the work of God, that
you believe on Him whom He has sent. That's the work. That's the work of God. The mind
of Christ is the mind of the Spirit, and the witness of the
Spirit is the gospel of God's sovereign grace in Christ. The
Spirit Himself, Romans 8, 16, beareth witness with our spirit
that we're the children of God. How does He do that? Does He
whisper in your ear? Is that why the preacher is up
here preaching and then the Spirit whispers in your ear, you know,
you're my son? Huh? That how He does it? How on earth does He do that?
Does He visit you in the night in a vision or out on the job
somewhere? Are you sitting there eating
your lunch and all of a sudden you get this big vision in your
head? Or you have this experience and it's a feeling, it just goes
over you like Warm honey being poured down your back. Boy, you
get this feeling. Is that how He does that? Is that how the Spirit makes
you know that you're a son? Turn with me to Galatians chapter
3 and I'll see if I can show you this. How on earth does the Spirit
bear witness with our spirit that we are sons? Now watch this
here in Galatians 3, verse 26. For ye are all the children of
God by faith in Christ Jesus. There it is. There it is. Well, I was waiting on an experience. It will be an experience. It'll
be one. You'll experience it. You'll
know what it is. For as many of you have been baptized into
Christ, you put on Christ. You're neither Jew nor Greek,
neither bond nor free, neither male nor female. You're all one
in Christ Jesus. And if you be Christ, then are
you Abraham's seed and heirs according to the promise. That's
the spirit of adoption. Christ rules in the heart by
His Spirit affectionately bringing us into subjection to Christ. I was talking to Russell over
in Wichita Falls in the room as we sat there waiting for the
meeting the next morning. And I said, Paul talks over there
in 2 Corinthians, I think it's chapter 10 or somewhere along
in there. He talks about the weapons of our warfare. And he
said they are not carnal. We don't get a banner and go
out and march up and down the road and protest against this
and that. No alcohol. We're going to stay
dry. That's not our weapons. The weapons
of our warfare are not carnal. They're spiritual. Well, what's
that mean? Listen. To the tearing down of
strongholds. You know, at one time, I believed
that that aisle I walked and that old mourner's bench I knelt
down at, you know that was my stronghold. It ain't now. How come? Some of you made professions
of faith when you were 13. That was your stronghold for
years and years. It ain't your stronghold anymore.
What happened? God tore it down. How'd he do
that? Through the gospel. You heard
the gospel and the Spirit of God. They're mighty through God,
he said. Our weapons are mighty through
God. And they tear down strongholds.
What else they do? I used to pray, and I would close
my eyes, and I'd get a vision of that interpretation that some
painter did of Jesus Christ and everybody else adopted. that
I get that vision of Christ in my head. I still can't get it
out. It's still in. But I tell you, when I pray,
I don't have that in my mind. I don't have that in my mind. I see the sovereign Christ. I
see the sovereign Savior. I see him who is the image of
the invisible God. How come? Because he cast down
those imaginations. Huh? That's what has to happen. That's what has to happen. We
have to get a glimpse of Christ and His glory seated on the throne. When you get that, He'll tear
down your stronghold. And He'll cast down your imaginations. And you know what else He does?
Here's another work of the Spirit. Brings every thought into the
subjection of Christ. Every thought. Every thought. Somebody said, now here's the
way. And you say, now wait a minute. And you'll take that thought,
and you'll compare it to the gospel of Christ, and you'll
say, no, that ain't right. That ain't right. I ain't having
that. It'll bring every thought into subjection to Christ. Have
one of them. It'll bring us into obedience,
willing obedience, loving obedience. We'll see the truth. And when
you see the truth, you'll know the lie. You'll know the lie. That's the spirit of adoption.
That's how you know you're sons of God. God gives us light. Light. You remember that old
illustration I gave you about the gray elephant? One man had
a hold of his trunk and another had a hold of his leg and another
had a hold of his tail. And this preacher was saying,
salvation is like a large gray elephant. And these people here,
these preachers, they're all blind and they got a hold. And
they're telling the truth. They're telling what they know.
One of them is describing a tail and one of them got a leg and
one of them got a trunk. They're all saying something
different. He said, that's the way preaching the gospel is.
The preacher said, well, I've got Some problems with that. He said, number one, salvation
ain't got nothing in common with the Lord's gray elephant. And
he said, number two, God's preachers ain't blind. They're not blind. They know what they preach. And
believers ain't blind. They know what they hear. My
sheep hear my voice. Ain't that what he said? They
hear it. They hear it. And I give unto
them eternal life, and they'll never Oh, may God teach us this
lesson over and over as many times as it takes until it takes. Until it takes. That's the Spirit
of God. That's what God does. That's
what I look for when I preach to you. That's what I look for.
For a while you sit there like this. Or like this. And then after a while, You're
sitting there like this, and then after a while, you're smiling.
That's the Spirit of God. That's how God's Spirit works.
I don't pressure men to walk out, join the church. You don't
ever want to join the church up here. It's okay with me. I'm
going to preach to you, and I'm going to wait and see what God
does. And I've already seen it. I've
already seen it over and over.