A Walk Under the Control of the Spirit

Transcript

GRM 1006
5/25/2008
A Walk under the Control of the Spirit
Romans 7:1-6; 8:1-8
Gil Rugh


We're going to the book of Romans in your Bibles, Romans 8, we're going to stop in chapter 7. We've looked into chapter 6 and we're just going to highlight a few verses in chapter 7 and then we're going to jump to chapter 8. We're talking about the biblical doctrine of sanctification. Romans starts out, the first section on condemnation. We are all under condemnation because of sin. It moves in the next section to justification. God has provided His righteousness through the death and resurrection of His Son Jesus Christ. And all who believe in Christ have the righteousness of God credited to their account so they can be declared forgiven, cleansed. Now Romans 6-8 take us to the realm of what we call sanctification. That is how we live our lives now as God's people. Condemnation, justification, sanctification. Justification is when God declares those who believe in Christ righteous. Sanctification has to do with holiness of life that is now lived as the result of having become the recipient of God's salvation. We noted the word sanctification, the word saint, the word holy all come from the same basic Greek word, which means to be separate or separated. You are holy when you are separated from sin to God. Saints are those who have been separated from their sins to God. Sanctification is living a life separated from sin, serving God. We're talking about how we live our Christian life. Justification and sanctification are distinct, we shouldn't confuse them. Justification has to do with the righteousness that is credited to us when we believed in Christ. Sanctification has to do with the holiness of life that we now live as the result of being made new in Christ. However even though they are distinct, they can never be separated. Justification and sanctification are part of the package of salvation. No one is ever justified who is not also sanctified. And anyone who is truly sanctified is manifesting that they have been justified. So Paul is talking about living our lives as God's people.

In chapter 6 he talked about the fact that we were identified with Christ by the Holy Spirit in His death, in His burial, in His resurrection. That occurred the moment that through the Spirit's work in our hearts we came to understand and believe that Jesus Christ died to pay the penalty for our sin and was raised from the dead in victory. When we believed in Him alone we were identified with Him, we died with Him, we were raised with Him, we were given new life in Him. Now we go on to live our lives as God's people.

When you come to chapter 7 he's going to talk about the Mosaic law. A couple of key words you might find helpful in these chapters. In chapter 6 the key words were sin and death. You remember the word death was used in every verse in Romans 6:2-13. The word sin was used seventeen times in chapter 6. So sin and death were the key emphases in chapter 6, showing how when we died with Christ, that broke the power of sin, the bondage to sin that we had until we entered into life in Christ. In chapter 7 the key word is the law. The word law is used eighteen times in chapter 7. It's all about how we related to the law, particularly the Mosaic law. Then chapter 8 will be about life and the Holy Spirit. The word life is used repeatedly in chapter 8. The word Holy Spirit will be used twenty-one times, or the word Spirit will be used twenty-one times in Romans 8, more times than any other chapter in the Bible. If you have a Bible quiz sometime and the question is, what chapter in the Bible uses Spirit or Holy Spirit more times than any other? It's Romans 8. So together these give the package of explaining our sanctification.

But when you come to chapter 7 and talk about the Mosaic law, we're just going to highlight some matters out of the first 6 verses, he is developing a statement he made in chapter 6. Back in chapter 6 verse 14, for sin shall not be master over you, for you are not under law but under grace. He never developed what he meant by the fact you are not under law but under grace. He went on to develop the fact that sin shall not be master over you. He just stated the fact, the reason is we're not under law but we are under grace. What he does in chapter 7 is give the explanation of what it means when he says we are not under law, but we are under grace. He will find that the connection is clear, how we were free from obligation to the law was we died with Christ, the same way we were freed from sin, an obligation to sin. We died with Christ, our responsibility to the law also was taken care of through our death with Christ.

So chapter 7 opens up, do you not know, brethren, for I'm speaking to those who know the law, that the law has jurisdiction over a person as long as he lives. He's going to go on to talk about the Mosaic law, but the principle of law holds generally in what he is saying here. In other words, you are obligated to pay your taxes. When you die that's done. Somebody who is sentenced to prison for life for a crime, but they are being driven to the prison and they die on the way. That takes care of it, they have no more obligation to the law. So the point is the same, whatever law you are talking about, as a general point. But he's connecting this, as you'll see the discussion, to the Mosaic law.

The married woman is bound by law to her husband while he is living. If her husband dies she is freed from the law concerning the husband. So he's using the analogy here, a picture that he will draw out. Marriage binds you to a spouse and in the biblical law you were bound to that spouse until death does separate you. So then if while her husband is living she is joined to another man, she would be called an adulteress. But if her husband dies she is free from the law, so she is not an adulteress though she is joined to another man. The point is death totally frees you from the obligation to that law. Therefore, my brethren, you also were made to die to the law through the body of Christ. He's talking about the Mosaic law. You remember during Paul's ministry there was a constant struggle that went on. God's plan previously through the Old Testament, from Genesis 12 to Acts 2, God's plan and program centered in the nation Israel. And His work of salvation was carried on in and through the nation Israel. The Word of God, the covenants and so on were made with the nation Israel. A person who wanted to be saved, they converted to Judaism, basically. The Old Testament Mosaic law made provision for Gentiles who wanted to become worshipers of the God of Israel, they became converts to Judaism, became those obligated to the Law. When God established the church, some of the Jews had a hard time with that and Jews didn't want to let go of their privileged position. And so we had the Council at Jerusalem in Acts 15 where the issue had to be dealt with—do Gentiles who believe in Christ also have to be circumcised to keep the Law? The decision was clearly no. Paul is elaborating why Gentiles don't become Jewish, why we're not obligated to the Mosaic law. You were made to die to the law through the body of Christ. In other words when we were identified with Christ in His crucifixion, His death, remember I Peter 2:24, He Himself bore our sins in His body on the tree so that we might die to sin and live to righteousness. He talked about that in chapter 6. Now we find out we not only died to sin, we died to the law. So that you might be joined to another, to Him who was raised from the dead in order that we might bear fruit for God.

So we had to die to the law because in the analogy the law was our old spouse, our old husband. And until we died to the law we weren't free from the obligations to the law. But when we died to Christ that relationship to the law was ended, it was over. All obligations to the Mosaic law were over. But you note, we weren't freed from the Mosaic law so we could now live as we please, to join ourselves to whomever we might desire. It was in order that we might be joined to another, to Him who was raised from the dead. So in other words so we could be joined in relationship to Jesus Christ. Now before that can happen we have to have our obligations to the law taken care of, and the law required a penalty for sin which was death. And so all the demands of the law are fulfilled, and the penalty that we incurred is taken care of because Christ died for our sins, the penalty for our sins in His body on the cross. And so in our death to sin we also died to the law, out obligations to the law and so on.

In order that we might bear fruit for God. We'll talk more about that when we get into Romans 8. Just a side note here. You'll note the law is viewed as a complete unit in the Bible. So we are not under the moral parts of the Mosaic law, nor are we under the ceremonial parts or the civil law. James says in his letter that if you break one part of the law you have broken the whole law. It's popular today, even among Christians, to say well we're not under the civil law, we're not under the ceremonial part of the Mosaic law, but we are under the moral law. The Jews didn't divide the Mosaic laws like that, and the Bible doesn't divide it up like that. I'm not saying it's not helpful as we study it we can say, these have more to do with civil responsibilities, theses are more ceremonial, these are more moral. But the fact is you can't parse them out, separate them out. It is one law. And you break one part of it, you have broken the whole law. So we don't keep the Ten Commandments because they are part of the Mosaic law. We keep nine of the Ten Commandments because they are repeated in the New Testament, under the law of Christ, obligations we have. We do not keep the seventh day and all of its responsibilities. But we don't keep the other nine requirements of the Ten Commandments either, because they are part of the Mosaic law. We keep them because they are part of God's law for us as believers in the New Testament. All of our obligations to the Mosaic law are over. Some people think you are saved by faith in Christ but now you are sanctified and you live the Christian life by keeping the Mosaic law. My relationship to law is over. Just like in the marriage—you don't marry a new spouse when your old one dies and say, now I have to try to keep part of what my old spouse wanted me to do and do that.......... No, that relationship is over. That's the analogy. We are to bear fruit for God. The fruit for God will be produced in a different way. It will be produced by the Holy Spirit dwelling within us, called the fruit of the Spirit in Galatians 5. We'll look into that later.

For while we were in the flesh the sinful passions which were aroused by the law were at work in the members of our body to bear fruit for death. You see the contrast. The end of verse 4, fruit for God; the end of verse 5, fruit for death. And this was the outcome of the Mosaic law. Because of our sin. When he says in verse 5, while we were in the flesh, he's not talking about in our physical bodies because Paul was still in his physical body when he wrote this. The Romans who were reading this were still in their physical bodies. He means something more than a physical body, he means the physical body controlled and dominated by sin, the old man as he talks about in Romans 6. What happened was the sinful passions were aroused by the law. In other words the law gave commandments, do this and don't do this. All that happened was in my sinful condition, when a holy righteous God said don't do this, all of a sudden the fallen man, the old man, my sinful passions were stirred up. I would really like to do that. The very fact the law told me what I should do and shouldn't do made me want to do the opposite. That's what he's talking about when he says the sinful passions which were aroused by the law were at work in the members of my body to bear fruit for death, because being exposed to the law of God just made me want to rebel. Look at the history of the nation Israel, it's a history of rebellion.

But now we have been released from the law. Note that. We have been released from the law, having died to that which we were bound, so that we might serve in newness of the Spirit and not in oldness of the letter. That word translated release, we talked about it in chapter 6. The verb is katargeo. Back up to chapter 6 verse 6, knowing that our old self, our old man, was crucified with Him in order that our body of sin might be katargeo, done away with, released is the word we have in chapter 7. In other words its authority and power over us was ended so that we would no longer be slaves to sin. Now the same thing has happened with regard to the Mosaic Law.

Come back to chapter 7. We have been released from the law. All obligations, responsibility, accountability to the Mosaic Law would be over. We've been set free. Having died to that to which we were bound. How did that obligation end? Death. That's the marriage analogy that he drew out.

So that we might serve in newness of the Spirit. In other words in the context of the new life that the Spirit has produced in us. Remember we died with Christ, we were buried with Him in chapter 6, we were raised with Him to newness of life. We have a new life. And so it's now what the Spirit of God produces in us as we walk in obedience to Him that is the characteristic of our new life. Not in oldness of the letter. We need to be careful here. People take a verse like this and think when you're applying the details of scripture they say, the Spirit gives life but the letter kills. We serve in the newness of the Spirit, not in the oldness of the letter. He's not talking about don't be too meticulous in your study of scripture. The letter is in reference to the Mosaic Law. What happened when Moses went up on Mt. Sinai and was given the law by God? He was given that summary on the tablets of stone, the Ten Commandments. They were engraved by the hand of God in letters. So you have the Ten Commandments engraved in letters in stone. It represented the law. So it was called the letter. So we serve in the newness that has been produced by the Spirit and is being produced by the Spirit, not in the oldness. You don't go back now and try to live your life, now I'm saved, now I can live under the Mosaic Law, now I can keep the law. We want you clear on this. I was reading a commentary, generally it is a good commentary, and they have tried to explain that what it really means is now we are free to obey the law and keep the law. What? Now I'm married to another, I go back and join myself to the old corpse? I mean, that relationship is over to the Mosaic Law. There are commandments given to us to be carried out in the power of the Spirit, and some of those will be the same set of commandments given in the law, like nine of the Ten Commandments are repeated for us. But we do them because they are repeated in the New Testament, part of our new covenant relationship, not under the old covenant. Be careful about that kind of terminology. We are responsible to the moral requirements of the Mosaic Law. That's why I don't get particularly worked up whether they post the Ten Commandments in public buildings. I don't want to confuse people about the gospel, about the issues involved. We are in a new relationship.

With that we jump to chapter 8. Really what happens in Paul's line of development, remember we had chapter 6 verse 14, sin shall not be master over you, for you are not under law but under grace. In chapter 7 he now goes back and picks the point up, you are not under law but under grace and explains what it means to not be under law, why you're not under law. And that's what all of chapter 7 is about. We're going to jump here because what happens with chapter 8 verse 1 he goes back to chapter 7 verse 6. Chapter 8 opens up, there is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. For the law of the spirit of life in Christ Jesus has set you free from the law of sin and death. So verse 6 of chapter 7, we have been released from the law, having died to that by which we were bound so that we serve in newness of the Spirit and not in oldness of the letter. Now he's picking up on that point to show how we serve in the newness of the Spirit, not in the oldness of the letter. Doesn't mean the rest of chapter 7 is not important, but that's an elaboration on the relationship of the law, the part the law plays. And he makes clear the law was good. Down in verse 12, the law, then, is holy, the commandment is holy and righteous. There is nothing wrong with the law, the problem with the law was it didn't empower and enable me to keep it. It told me what I had to do and what I must not do. But in slavery to sin men always disobeyed it.

So with chapter 8 he's picking up what it means in verse 6, that being released from the law, I'm now to serve in newness of the Spirit. Because basically in Romans he has mentioned Spirit five times so far through the first seven chapters. And not all of those uses of Spirit refer to the Holy Spirit. But now he's going to zero in and talk about the ministry of the Holy Spirit and our sanctification, which is walk under the control of the Holy Spirit. Twenty-one times we're going to have Spirit mentioned in chapter 8. It's the chapter on life. If chapter 6 was about death, chapter 8 is about life. I don't recall how many times the word life is used, we may come across it as we move along here. So you see the contrast—chapter 6 explains the part death plays, now the life. We died with Christ, now we're raised with Christ. And death was the consequence of sin, now the new life we have in Christ is what is developed in chapter 8.

Crucial section. Sadly many believers are confused on the biblical doctrine of sanctification and there have been more ideas come up on the doctrine of sanctification than you can count. That's been true on justification as well. There should be no confusion. That's what Paul is unfolding here. When he says there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. This word condemnation has been used twice earlier in Romans. In fact I think this is the only other uses of it in the New Testament, this particular word.

Come back to chapter 5 verse 16. He's contrasting Christ and Adam. Adam in the Garden of Eden sinned and he brought sin upon all of his descendants, the whole human race. Jesus Christ came into the human race and by one act of obedience He provided righteousness for all. So we read in verse 16, the gift is not like that which came through the one who sinned, the gift of life that we get in Christ—forgiveness. It's not like what we got in Adam, the one who sinned. For on the one hand the judgment arose from one transgression resulting in condemnation. There is our word, condemnation. Chapter 8 verse 1 says there is no condemnation; chapter 5 verse 16 says that when Adam sinned he brought condemnation. On the other hand the free gift arose from many transgressions resulting in justification. So of all the sins of all mankind, Jeus Christ came and by one act of obedience He paid the penalty for sin, so that all who believe in Him can experience this cleansing. Adam, by one act of sin, brought the condemnation that is a result of sin, upon all men.

Down in verse 18, so then as through one transgression there resulted condemnation to all men, even so through one act of righteousness there resulted justification and life to all men. The condemnation that came upon us, the wages of sin is death. And we were identified with Adam as our representative, when he sinned. So all of us have been born into sin, every human being, every descendant of Adam has been born a sinner. In sin did my mother conceive me, David says. So that's what we're talking about in chapter 8 verse 1, there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ. All have sinned and the condemnation for sin that came upon me in Adam has been dealt with. Spiritual death, physical death, eternal death, the condemnation of hell, it's all taken care of. There is no condemnation, and that's an emphatic no, as the structure of the verse here says. No condemnation of any kind, absolutely no condemnation. The penalty for my sin has been totally and completely taken care of in Jesus Christ. Now note, there is no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. We were all born in Adam, but you have to place your faith in Jesus Christ and be born again, born from above. And when that happens, all condemnation has been taken care of. Why? He paid the penalty for my sin. We are viewed as identified with Him, when He died (remember that's Romans 6).

For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus has set you free from the law of sin and death. Now there is the use of the law relating to the Spirit. For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ. This refers to the power and authority of the Holy Spirit. And God has ordained that for all who believe in Christ, the Spirit of God will identify them with Christ in His death and in His resurrection to new life. So that is the authority and power of the Spirit who gives life to all who believe in Jesus Christ. That has set you free from the law of sin and death. Now note here, here is where you see that justification and sanctification are inseparably linked together. They are distinct, but they are inseparably linked, as John Calvin made the point that you must distinguish between justification and sanctification but you must not separate justification and sanctification. Because this is the law that will govern our lives. It's not the Mosaic Law, we were set free from the law of sin and death. When I lived under the Mosaic Law, condemnation was declared and as sinners we were declared guilty. And the wages of sin is death. Paul summarized that in chapter 6 verse 23.

But the law of the Spirit of life in Christ has set you free from the law of sin and death. For what the law could not do, weak as it was through the flesh, God did, sending His own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh. As an offering for sin He condemned sin in the flesh so that the requirement of the law might be fulfilled in us who do not walk according to the flesh but according to the Spirit. Again we didn't go through all of chapter 7, but the point is clear and he made it already in the verses we looked at in the first part of chapter 7. The law was weak through the flesh. Nothing wrong with the law, it was God's word and God's commands, But men were sinful, enslaved to sin, controlled by sin, doomed by sin. So the law couldn't change it. You could tell him what was right, what was required. Like, all you have to do is jump up and touch the moon with your right hand. How am I going to do that? Well you have to get it done, do it now. I can't. God's requirement was holiness, be holy for I am holy. I'm sinful, I'm condemned. You understand no one was ever saved by keeping the law. The law was never a means of salvation. People always were saved by God's grace through faith. In Romans 4 Paul took them back to Abraham. In Genesis 15:6 where the Bible tells us Abraham believed God and it was credited to Abraham as righteousness. Well Paul makes the point, that's 500 years before the Mosaic Law was given. Keeping the law was never the requirement for salvation.

There shouldn't be confusion on that. Sadly, people today, 2000 years after Christ think they're going to go to heaven because they keep the Ten Commandments. No one ever, ever, ever was saved by keeping the Ten Commandments. The law was never a way of salvation. Nothing was ever wrong with the law, but no one could ever be saved by keeping the Law. It was required that men believe God, believe the revelation God had given. And through that came salvation by God's grace. The law was given to govern Israel's conduct for a period of time, but then its purpose was fulfilled when Christ came. So the Mosaic Law is not to govern the conduct of a believer. Doesn't mean we don't learn things from the Mosaic Law, but we don't live under obligation to the Mosaic Law as our law.

So what the law could not do, weak as it was through the flesh, God did, sending His own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh. Note it doesn't say in sinful flesh, that word likeness is crucial here. He was completely human but He was not sinful, He was without sin. And sin is not a necessary part of humanity. Adam and Eve were created without sin, at a yet future time we will be without sin. He came to deal with sin. Our Bibles have inserted as an offering for sin, __________ for sin, to deal with sin. He did that by His death on the cross. He condemned, He judged sin in the flesh, He paid the penalty that was required for our sin with His physical death so that the requirement of the law might be fulfilled in us. The requirement, and that word translated requirement incidentally, is the same word translated righteousness. So that the righteousness of the law might be fulfilled. What the law required that the penalty be paid, and effect the righteousness of Christ as the One who perfectly kept the law and then paid the penalty for those who did not, His righteousness, His payment is credited to my account.

So the righteousness of the law is fulfilled in us. Note it does not say we fulfilled the righteous requirement of the law. The righteous requirement of the law is fulfilled in us. How is it fulfilled? It's fulfilled by the work of Christ and His righteousness credited to our account. So I receive His righteousness, He took my sins in His body on the cross, paid my penalty, which was required, and gave me His righteousness. That's what's required. That's the tragedy. People think they're going to work their way to heaven, they're going to do good. Understand the seriousness of the situation, that God had to send His Son to do what we could not do for ourselves.

Now important connection here in verse 4, so that the requirement of the law might be fulfilled in us, note this, who do not walk according to the flesh but according to the Spirit. Now there we have sanctification in we're living our lives, how we walk. We've seen this word numerous times as we've worked in different places in the New Testament. The walk denotes the pattern of life. We walk, not according to the flesh, not under the control of our sinful desires and passions to which we were once enslaved and by which we were once controlled. But we walk now according to the Spirit. You see that the connection with our sanctification and our justification is inseparable, it's part of the package of salvation. The requirement of the law is fulfilled in the ones who walk, not this way, but this way. There is an inseparable connection. You say, what about people who have trusted Christ and thus been justified, but are still walking according to the flesh? What about it? There are no such people, because the requirement of the law if fulfilled in those who do not walk according to the flesh. So you see we've created an unbiblical, artificial, not possible scenario because we get uncomfortable, because we think there are a lot of people who profess to be believers who evidently have never truly been saved, if you put it that way. I mean the requirement of the law is fulfilled in those who do not walk according to the flesh but according to the Spirit. Isn't that what it says? For those who are according to the flesh set their minds on the things of the flesh, those who are according to the Spirit the things of the Spirit. The mind set on the flesh is death, the mind set on the Spirit is life and peace. The mind set on the flesh is hostile toward God, it does not subject itself to the law of God, it is not even able to do so. But those who are in the flesh cannot please God. I want you to understand we're not talking about two kinds of Christians here. I remember at a stage in my life I was being taught that these are distinguishing between fleshly Christians and non fleshly Christians, carnal Christians and those Christians who are not carnal. That's not what he's distinguishing between, he's distinguishing between those who are truly Christians and those who are not Christians, those who have experienced the power of the Spirit in setting them free and making them new and those who did not. Because if the fulfillment of the law, you shall be holy for I am holy, if you fall short of the glory of God, as all do, you're condemned, you're under the law. The law's requirement has not been fulfilled in you, you're doomed to hell. The fulfillment, the requirement of the law is being fulfilled in those who don't walk according to the flesh but according to the Spirit. That's why I say you can't turn this around, sanctification can never precede justification. But true justification always results in sanctification. There is no such thing as a person who has been justified by faith in Christ who is not also sanctified, and thus now walking according to the Spirit. I mean, everything Paul has said would be meaningless. Well I died with Christ, but it didn't really set me free from sin. I mean, where are we. And if you died with Christ you're set free from sin; if you died with Christ you're set free from the law, its obligations, its requirements, its penalty. The requirement of the law is fulfilled in those who do not walk according to the flesh but according to the Spirit. I don't want to overemphasize this but don't get confused on this. This is a serious matter.

Look what he says here, we'll summarize these verses, then we'll conclude this next week. For those who are according to the flesh set their minds on the things of the flesh, those who are according to the Spirit the things of the Spirit. There are only two realms—you either live in the realm of the flesh or you live in the realm of the Spirit. Those who are under the control of the flesh, still enslaved to their sin, controlled by the old man (Romans 6), they set their minds on the things of the flesh. We look around at the world and say, look at the terrible things. What is happening? What do you expect from those who are according to the flesh, those who are still enslaved to sin? What do you expect them to love, to think about, to be consumed with in their lives? One of the clearest evidences that Christians haven't grasped this is the moralism that begins to overtake the church today. We're going to help people clean up their lives, we're going to lift them from poverty to whatever, we're going to ............... Not that poverty is sin, but we think all these external things are going to .......... What? If we could deal with drunkenness, if we could deal with abortion, if we could deal with the greed, if we could deal with ........... Yes, that all needs to be dealt with. You know how you deal with it? Only one way, the Savior. It is a denial of biblical Christianity for us to go out on moral crusades. Those who are according to the flesh set their minds on the things of the flesh. That doesn't mean every unregenerate person does every unregenerate thing he can do.

Back up to Romans 1. Paul has talked about sin and condemnation, starting in chapter 1 verse 18. Here are those who are according to the flesh. They worship other gods. Verse 21, they don't honor God, they don't give Him thanks, they're empty in their speculations, their heart is darkened, they worship the creation and not the Creator. Therefore God has given them over to pursue the things they want to pursue. They don't want Him, so He is allowing them to do what they want to do. And so what do they pursue? Lust, impurity. Verse 26, degrading passions, sexual degradation. Verse 28, a depraved mind which pursues the things which are contrary to the will of God. Look at these examples. Verse 29, they are filled with all unrighteousness, wickedness, greed, evil, envy, murder, strife, deceit, malice, gossip, slander, haters of God, insolent, arrogant, boastful, inventors of evil, disobedient to parents, without understanding, untrustworthy, unloving, unmerciful. And you know all those who do these kinds of things are worthy of death, verse 32. We think we'll go out here, pick up a couple of these things. If we could stop them from being too arrogant and boastful, we have to help people be more humble. What have you done? Nothing. So you get a drunk to stop being a drunk. There are benefits to that, of course. Doesn't get them any closer to God. We're going to help people, the thing now is to raise money and get people feeling like they're doing things, we're going to help people in poverty, we're going to help people who need ............. I'm not against helping people, it's not the ministry entrusted to the church in that sense. We're going to get them out of poverty so they'll do better in their life. Well Jesus said, it's harder for a rich man to get into heaven than it is for a camel to go through the eye of the needle. Why do I want to make it harder for them to get to heaven? Let's bring the gospel to him in his poverty. Better that he die in poverty and spend eternity in glory, than to become rich with splendor and be like the rich man that Jesus said, you fool, tonight your soul will be required of you. Then whose will these things be.

You see, we begin to get confused on what is the very foundation of biblical Christianity. Turn over to Galatians 5. Now please don't go out and say, Gil Rugh said you never do anything nice or kind to anybody, but you just give them the gospel. It's find to do something nice and kind, we ought to be loving and kind and do good to all men as we have opportunity, especially those of the household of faith. But understand, I'm not moving them toward the Lord in doing that. Galatians 5:19, now the deeds of the flesh are evident which are immorality, impurity, sensuality, idolatry, sorcery, enmity, strife, jealousy, outbursts of anger, disputes, dissensions, factions, envying, drunkenness, carousing, things like these. Paul said I'm not making a complete list for you, this gives you the idea of the kinds of things that the flesh produces in a life. And I want you to know, nobody is going to go into the kingdom who does these things.

Now come back to Romans 8. You could not have any stronger contrast in verses 5-8 between the child of God and the child of the devil. Those who live serving the flesh under the control of the flesh are lost. Not saying that because we look down on them, because we were all just like them. Ephesians 2, we were dead in our trespasses and sins. Paul warns Titus to tell people, be careful about being proud and forgetting that at one time they, too, were just as lost in their sin. But we want to be clear with the gospel. I used to go to the city mission regularly. I'd sit down with them, I didn't try to tell them why they ought to quit drinking. I'd say your drunkenness has brought terrible misery on your life but you know something? Your real problem is not your drunkenness because you could stop drinking, clean up your life and do well from here out and die and spend eternity in hell. Because drunkenness is just one manifestation of your fallen, sinful condition. And until that is dealt with you can have no relationship with the living God. And they only way you can deal with that condition is to recognize you are a sinner and place your faith in Jesus Christ. What do I do if I help drunks quit drinking? Everybody says, they have such a good work. Their church is so good they help people stop drinking, their church is such a good church they help the poor, their church is such a good church they (fill in the blank).

Come back to Romans 8, we'll just read through these and we'll picking up here in our next study. Those who are according to the Spirit set their minds on the things of the spirit. God makes you new. The mind set on the flesh is death, the mind set on the Spirit is life and peace. Those who have their minds set on the flesh are lost people, under the penalty for their sin which is death. Those who have their minds set on the Spirit, the things of the Spirit, the work of the Spirit in a life, the new life they have in Christ, they have life and peace. Because the mind set on the flesh is hostile toward God. It does not subject itself to the law of God, it is not able. What a lie for us who know the living God, know the gospel of Christ to go and try to tell lost people they ought to quit sinning. You understand they are not able to please God. They cannot subject themselves to the law of God. Those who are in the flesh, verse 8, cannot please God. Understand that. They cannot please God.

I think abortion, a tragic sin, it is a mark on our nation. You understand that people who go on a crusade against abortion are no more pleasing to God than those who commit abortion? Now don't take that out of the context in which I said it. It is sin. You understand, we think unbelievers please God when they do certain good things. You understand those who are in the flesh. Who is in the flesh? Every single unsaved person. They only way to not be in the flesh, you have died with Christ, been made new in Christ and now be living in the Spirit. You understand the person in the flesh cannot please God. So he quits being a drunk, God must be pleased. He doesn't do anything to please God, nothing. You see how moralism is a denial of the gospel? We think we have left the door open just a crack and some bright hope here because at least they quit drinking, at least they quit taking drugs, at least they decided not to leave their wife and kids, at least ........... Those things may all have benefits in the short term, but you understand none of it is done to please God. They cannot please God. I don't want to give them the idea they can. I'm minimizing their sin. I may tell a person who is an unregenerate person, maybe I know them from work, maybe a neighbor. He's thinking of leaving his wife and kids and I say, that will only make your life more difficult, it would be a terrible thing to do to your wife and children. But I do want you to understand that you could decide to stay with your wife and children. You have a problem far more serious than the problem you are dealing with in this one area. God says your real problem is sin. You could decide to stay with your wife and children and be a wonderful husband and father, but that wouldn't solve the problem you have with the living God. You are hostile toward God, verse 7, you don't subject yourself to God. Your real problem is sin. This is just one little small manifestation of your sin, your problem is much greater than this. You have sin that is permeating your body. It might manifest itself in one little spot on your forehead or something, but the real tragedy is it permeates your body. Removing the spot won't help.

We want to be careful we bring the gospel. I'm not saying it wouldn't be beneficial. I'm glad for people who aren't drunks. Makes life for all of us easier. I wish drunks never drove. But you understand giving up drinking doesn't please God because those who are in the flesh can't please God. Sometimes we as believers lose sight of what the real issue is—it's sin, sin. Not just individual sins, these are just manifestations. That's why the Spirit through Paul could throw out that whole list in Romans 1, in Galatians 5, and we don't even touch the surface of it all. And yet which one of those are you going to select out? Doesn't matter. You know good kids who aren't disobedient to their parents are going to hell, just like bad kids who are disobedient to their parents. That's just one little area that goes on.

So the beautiful thing about the work of Christ is He has made provision for the cleansing from the penalty for sin and living a life now free from the power of sin. We will pick up from here to wrap this up on sanctification. It's on the work of the Holy Spirit, what He is producing in the life, and only Him. That's why we now live lives that manifest the beauty of the character of our God. That's the wonder of our salvation. There is no condemnation of any kind to those who are in Christ Jesus.

Let's pray together. Thank you, Lord, for the power of the gospel of Jesus Christ, your power that works in mighty ways in the heart and mind and life of that person who bows in faith, trusting Jesus Christ alone as their Savior. New life, freedom from sin, freedom from the law and its penalties, life and life everlasting. Thank you for your grace, thank you for your love, thank you for your work that is ongoing in the lives of those that have entered into life in Christ. We praise you in Christ's name, amen.