Life in the Spirit

Transcript

GR 2230
02/16/2020
Life in the Spirit
Romans 8:5-8
Gil Rugh

We sang the song “How Great is Our God” which reminded me a number of years ago a man named J. B. Phillips wrote a book, “Your God is Too Small.” Hard for us as believers to comprehend the greatness of our God. What an awesome God we serve! We never will grasp the wonder of His greatness, but we’ll have a much fuller appreciation for it when we are in His presence.

We are in Romans chapter 8. Every chapter of the bible is important, but this is one of the great chapters in the bible. One of the very important chapters for the truth that is set forth here so clearly. These first 8 chapters of Romans, if we could master those, fix them in our mind, and use them as a standard by which we filter so much of what comes to us, it would keep us stable and steadfast. We’re in this area that we call the doctrine of sanctification in Romans 6, 7, and 8. Chapter 8 sort of reaches a pinnacle because it’s about the ministry of the Holy Spirit who has hardly been mentioned. Not because He’s not important, but because Paul has systematically, carefully unfolded the truths regarding our salvation and the gospel that is God’s power to everyone who believes. We come to chapter 8, where he says, “Therefore there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus.” That is one of the great statements. No condemnation! We noted there is an emphasis on that. No condemnation of any kind. It’s a complete cleansing we have received. There’s no cause of judgment coming upon us. None ever will. It’s for those who are in Christ Jesus. Amazing as we started it out by talking about the condemnation, chapter 1, verse18 through chapter 3, verse 20. That God’s provision in Christ, the justification He provided, which brings us to the point that there’s no condemnation when you are in Christ Jesus. So that’s what he’s talking about and the contrast in chapter 8 will be between the two groups; those in Christ Jesus and those who are not in Christ Jesus but are in the flesh. We’ll have interchangeable expressions, in Christ Jesus, in the Spirit, and so on as we walk through this.

Verse 2 said, “For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus has set you free from the law of sin and of death.” And we saw the law of sin and death in chapter 7. Not that there was a problem with the Law, verse 12 of chapter 7, “The Law is holy, and the commandment is holy, righteous, and good. Therefore did that which is good became a cause of evil for me?” It didn’t cause the evil in and of itself, but the reaction from sinful people. There he’s particularly talking about the Jews and their condition, the inability to keep the Law. He set down a perfect standard and then tells imperfect people they have to meet it. They will fail. And the Jews did fail. But we have “…the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus.” That’s true for Jew and Gentile and Paul brought them both together in chapter 1 and in chapter 2, then summarized it in the first part of chapter 3 of Romans. “For the law of the Spirit of life…” and he uses law there, “…the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus…” that governing principle of life. It’s the Spirit who brings life. All that the Law, the Mosaic Law could do was bring death because of the sin resident in the individual. So, you have to be set free. The first part of chapter 7 said you die to the Law. That’s talking particularly to Jews because the Gentiles were never formally under the Mosaic Law even though some Gentiles to this day seem to think that the way to get right with God is to get under the Mosaic Law, try to keep the ten commandments, and so on. So, the distinction.

The Law couldn’t do what needed to be done, verse 3, because it was weak through the flesh, our sinful nature, what we were. God did what had to be done. He sent His Son in the likeness of sinful flesh. He wasn’t sinful. In every way He was true humanity, truly human, but He wasn’t sinful. But every other human being who has been born since Adam and Eve, and their sin, has been sinful. He’s in the likeness of sinful flesh, but He’s not sinful. He’s truly humanity. We talked about that.

So, He could be the offering for sin. Take the place of humanity. God loved the world and gave His son; that’s what happened. But He had to take on Himself the nature of humanity, become a true human. And we referred to the Hebrews chapter 2 where it says Christ did not become an angel. Angels are spirit beings. He did not become an angel. There’s no salvation for angels who sinned, and they sinned. That settled their destiny forever, eternal hell. There is no salvation provided for angels who sinned because Christ did not become an angel. But He did become human so He could take our place because He’s not only truly human, He’s truly God. And His death has an infinite effect. “…He condemned (or judged) sin in the flesh…” That’s what needed to be done. The wages of sin is death. He died to pay that penalty so that when we place our faith in Him, His death is credited to us. As we saw in chapter 6, we are viewed from God’s standpoint as having died with Christ, been buried with Christ, been raised to newness of life. That’s why God can justly declare us righteous. He didn’t go around the penalty. He had the penalty paid, “…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.” You’ll note, the application of the death of Christ is only for those who have believed in Christ. We saw that in chapter 4, particularly with the example of Abraham. It’s always been by faith. Believing God and His promise to provide the forgiveness they need. And that becomes mostly clear and clearest when Christ came. “…so that the requirement of the Law might be fulfilled in us…” Because God credits me with His righteousness. And that’s the standard God requires. You shall be holy for I am holy. It’s the provision of God that I can meet, the standard that is necessary, but it’s been met for me. So, all my failings, all my sins are taken care of in the death of Christ.

Verse 4, a key, “…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.” And that’s the continual contrast we need to keep between the believer and the unbeliever. Those who are conducting their lives according to the flesh, the old man, as it was titled in chapter 6, sin which enslaves me, that governs my life. The pattern of our life reveals the master that we serve, either sin and Satan, or God and righteousness as Romans 6 developed it. Here it’s your walk, now your pattern of life. Because if your life hasn’t been changed, you haven’t experienced God’s salvation. The gospel is the power of God for salvation. It’s not possible for a person’s life to be impacted by the power of God, and the conduct of that life has not been changed, because we’ve been changed on the inside. As Peter wrote and he talked about, we become partakers of the divine nature. We haven’t become God or gods, but the character of God is what is expected and required of God. It is now our possession. We want to walk not according to the flesh but according to the Spirit. The Spirit is the dominant person through this opening section of Romans.

Then he is continuing his explanation in verse 5. “For…” so you see that little connecting preposition here. “For those who are according to the flesh…” He’s picking up verse 4, those “…who do not walk according to the flesh but according to the Spirit. For those who are according to the flesh…” Now that means they are conducting their life according to the old man, sin that rules and enslaves them. “…those who are according to the flesh set their minds on the things of the flesh...” That old man, sin nature as we call it, the heart corrupted and desperately wicked, then our mind is set on sinful things. We think about, that what we plan, that’s what we decide to do. That’s the idea. They “…set their minds on the things of the flesh…” There’s no place in their thinking for God and His will. That doesn’t mean they are not religious. That doesn’t mean they are not conforming themselves to certain standards. The Jews did that. Paul said he did as good as you could do in trying to keep the Law, but he couldn’t live the life that was required of God. They set their mind. This is crucial. The activity of the mind and their thinking.

You see we keep coming into the internal part of the person. We used different expressions, the mind, the heart, the old man, the flesh. But from within we are corrupted. I like Jeremiah 17, verse 9, because of its clarity. “The heart is more deceitful than all else and is desperately sick (wicked)...” And we looked at Mark 7, where Jesus said that out of the heart comes all kinds of sin. So, trying to conform the exterior doesn’t solve the problem. It can mask the problem, but the problem is internal. Romans 8:5, “For those who are according to the flesh set their minds on the things of the flesh...” Come back to Romans 1. We saw in Romans 1 beginning in verse 18 down through the chapter, the things that they do. Their worship is corrupted. They don’t stop being religious, because their master, the Devil is a religious being, he’s a spirit being. We talked about, when he tempted Christ, he said to fall down and worship me, and I’ll allow you to rule the kingdoms of the world, because they’ve been given into my hands because of the fall. You see how it manifests itself.

I glanced at the news today and someone running for office was talking about his homosexual relationship in marriage. And the people who are criticizing him are the people who aren’t moral, and don’t appreciate God. Well, that’s the problem of a corrupted mind. I’m not picking him out, except that he’s made himself an example. So, all kinds of sin. Romans 1, verse 25, “For they exchanged the truth of God for a lie...” And the judgement of God, He gives them over to their desires. They pursue degrading passions and then they’re unfolded there. Down in verse 28, “And just as they did not see fit to acknowledge God any longer, God gave them over to a depraved mind...” Now, He didn’t make their mind depraved. But what the sinner does, is exercise his will to reject God. Part of the judgement of God is, He gives him over to further depravity. Pursue you desires, because sin is always destructive. It can look beautiful, it can look attractive, and we always use the example, like of alcohol or drugs, because it becomes so physically evident. You see a man or a woman that was beautiful or attractive, and what do they look like after they’ve been on meth for a while? You say, I’d never even know they were the same person. Well, that gives you a kind of picture of what sin does to a person from within. It just is destroying them. The Devil is not a loving master. He has no love for the people that serve him. His goal is always destruction. And so you see, the things that fill the unbeliever in verse 29, “…being filled with all unrighteousness, wickedness, greed, evil; full of envy, murder, strife, deceit, malice; they are gossips, slanderers, haters of God, insolent, arrogant, boastful, inventors of evil, disobedient to parents, without understanding, untrustworthy, unloving, unmerciful…” And they are guilty! They know in their inner being, as one created in the image of God, these are wrong. But they pursue them, they justify them, and so on. Those are the kinds of things that happens when your mind is set on the flesh, the works of the flesh as explained in Galatians 5:19. And they are those same kinds of things that are in Romans 1.

You’ll note there’s a mixture. I mentioned the example of the political person, because of their visibility. It’s easy to say, well yeah, they don’t do that, I’m not that kind of person. I wouldn’t do that. Sometimes Christians become more like Pharisees than Christians, because then they measure themselves like the Pharisee did, “I thank You Lord, that I’m not a sinner like others.” You realize you saw the mixture we just read. That includes gossips, slanderers, as well as murderers and immorality. You don’t get to pick and choose. Well, if I only do these sins, I’m not depraved like those people. God’s looking at the heart. He says in Jeremiah 17:10, “I, the Lord search the heart. I test the mind…” I know what you’re thinking, I’ve seen that. That’s why Jesus talked about this in the sermon on the mount. Those who thought they were righteous, yet hated a brother, you’re a murderer in your heart. You’re restrained by certain things, but the condition of your heart is just like the worst of them.

They set their minds on these things. They may be very religious, but all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the boastful pride of Life is what their minds are set on. And they are world oriented, world focused. That’s where we are constantly dealing in scripture where God’s people are to be different. We are set apart by Him, and we’re to be apart from the world. When we get to Romans 12, as he begins to pull things together and apply them to our conduct more in detail, he’ll say, “…do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing (making new) of your mind.” That process is going on as we’re growing in the new life we have in Christ. Back in Romans 8:5, “For those who are according to the flesh set their minds on the things of the flesh…” That’s where their mind is, that’s where their heart is, that’s what they are about. We shouldn’t be taken aback. I must say, as I look and see what’s happened in our country in my short lifetime, I’m amazed where we’ve come to. Well, we weren’t that bad back years ago! But, you know, God’s blessings, which we call His common grace, everything goes to pot. It just deteriorates. Unregenerate people can’t hold it together. Even when there’s good things, the blessings of God. A country like ours is prosperous. It’s like we’ve got to manifest more depravity, make it more acceptable, to be more closed to biblical truth. So, even the kindness of God and His patience, which we saw starting in Romans 2, just further condemns. Because the more gracious God is, the more He withholds judgement. And the more we determine that we’re in charge and we pursue what we want, their minds set on the on the flesh.

“…but those who are according to the Spirit…” the last part of verse 5 in Romans 8, set their minds on “…the things of the Spirit.” You see the changes taken place on the inside. Our decisions are different, our desires are different, what we want to do is different. I shared with you, my theology professor in seminary would put it, when God saves you, He changes your “wanter.” It was a dumb way to say it, but it stuck in my mind, and that’s why he said it. What you want to do is different. That doesn’t mean, as a believer I don’t sin. But when I sin, it’s not really what I want to do. It can’t become my life anymore. I can’t live there. It’s not me. The unbeliever can wallow in the mire. You, as a believer, get some mud on you, but I can’t live this way. If I can, then I need to examine my heart. Was it ever changed? Because that’s what he’s saying, they set their mind on the things of the Spirit.

Now, we’re encouraged to be doing that, because the pressure of the world is always trying to draw us away. They are thinking, this way. Make you think, become more self-centered, more about me. Then I lose my perspective on God, His work, what He’s about, and loving Him and loving others. My life gets a mess. So, we set our minds on the things of the Spirit, not on the things of the flesh. And there are many things we could say here. I should say some of them. Come over to Galatians 5. We just mentioned that. I don’t want to assume everything, because the review and the seeing it again is good. Paul’s drawing the same kind of contrast in Galatians. Remember we studied Galatians and said, Galatians is like a condensed outline of the book of Romans, where Paul covers the same material, but it’s in a much briefer pattern. Chapter 5, verse 13, “For you were called to freedom, brethren; only do not turn your freedom into an opportunity for the flesh, but through love serve one another.” When you come down in verse 22, the fruit of the Spirit is given, what setting our minds on things of the Spirit wants to produce in our life. And it’s love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, that’s it.

We were set free, not so I could become more oriented about me. But so that now the character of God becomes manifest. Galatians chapter 5, verse 16, said, “…walk by the Spirit, and you will not carry out the desire of the flesh.” That’s what now happened. We have life in the Spirit. He is to be the one controlling us. No longer the old man, no longer the selfish desires of sin and its transitory pleasures. Allow the Spirit to control you. You won’t carry out the desires of the flesh, because there’s a battle going on. Verse 17, “For the flesh sets its desire against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh; for these are in opposition to one another...” And then we noted this, “…so that you may not do the things that you please.” That’s what Paul was talking about in Romans 7. Somebody trying to live the godly life, which had never been transformed on the inside, you can’t pursue those. That’s the condition Paul said he was in as a Jew under the Law. I could have a desire to please God, a desire to fulfil the Law, but I couldn’t do it. Why? Because the flesh is embattled against the Spirit. They are opposed to one another. You are either in the realm of the flesh or you are in the realm of the Spirit. There are two realms, two controls. Unbelievers like to think, they’re in control. They are not. Either the flesh, which all that involves, the Devil, our sinful desires, or the Spirit, with God in control. Those are the two realms.

So, it’s not personal desire. And ultimately my desires are self-centered. Paul’s desires were selfish and self-centered and contrary to God, even when he thought he was trying to please God. Because what was he doing? He was executing God’s people. That’s why he wrote to Timothy and said, I was the chief of sinners. You don’t get any worse than me, I persecuted the Church of God. And in doing it, I thought, I’m really all out zealous for God. That’s the confusion of the unbeliever, in his most religious condition, he is most rebellious against God. There’s that war going on, the flesh and the spirit. And until, by faith in Christ, you were transferred from the realm of the flesh to the realm of the spirit, you’re only in one domain. If you’re led by the Spirit, you are not under the Law. Now here’s the deeds of the flesh. So, that’s what we just referred to. These are the kinds of things that the people who are in the flesh set their minds on. And there’s all kinds of sin. You see them all mixed together, immorality to idolatry to strife to jealousy to dissensions to factions to drunkenness. And just things like these. None of these are complete lists. These are vice lists, as we call them in the New Testament, but they give you an idea of what sinful things are.

Those are the things you don’t want in your life. They shouldn’t be part of your life as a believer. When they do pop up there, be careful. We’ll talk about this some when we are in Titus, as well. It’s hard for us as believers not to become…, I don’t want to put it and get myself in theological trouble, but we don’t want to become Pharisaical. It disturbs me in the years of my pastorate, that how many times people have come, and they are experts in someone else’s sin. But they’ve got that log that Jesus talked about in their own eyes. You know that the sin that ought to concern me the most is mine. I’ve not done any of what the world has done that we would look at as the “biggies.” But if I know jealousy is in my heart, then there is jealousy. When you’re in sin as a believer, you know it. You’re not functioning right. You’re not thinking right. Your attitude toward that person is not biblical and you know it. But since, I’m keeping it within, I’m careful. I’m careful about it, because I know you’re watching. Then I think I’m not as sinful as somebody that’s sin is more open. Like the politician I mentioned is very open in his sin. Whew, I wouldn’t even want to sit next to him in a seat. He is done something. I feel defiled when I’m at work next to those. And there’s things you hear, and you don’t even want that in your mind. But I want to be careful. And then it infiltrates in the church.

Factions are part of the sin that are evidences of the flesh, look at verse 20. The end of the verse, “…disputes, dissensions, factions...” I’m Baptist background. I know about factions. You have a zillion different factions of Baptists! We have it. It happens, but we don’t consider that because I had good reason to be doing what I’m doing. I don’t consider myself factious because the people who disagreed with me are the factious people. And suddenly, my sin is papered over. I don’t want to go to introspective in the wrong sense. But when I get locked into somebody else, first I want to talk about how are you so self-righteous? Every area of your life the way it ought to be? What are your thoughts you have about other people? Your attitudes? So, this is the contrast he’s drawing. Now the difference is, as believers, I can lead a perfect, sinless life. I don’t. Don’t go away and say, Gil said he was sinless because you might talk to my wife. But I can. You can. Because the Spirit is in you. Just let the Spirit lead you every moment of every day. And you will. Now we aren’t yet perfected but that’s not an excuse for my sin. You think I’m going to stand at the bema seat and tell God, well, You know Lord, You didn’t expect perfection, did You? I wasn’t glorified yet. It’s not my fault. Well, I gave you the Holy Spirit who is here with Me as a member of the triune God. He was totally sufficient for you not to have been jealous, to you not to have caused faction, for you not to slander someone. Well, I didn’t murder. We want to be careful here. We’re into two realms. The exciting thing is, he’s telling us we’ve been made new. We have the Spirit.

Come back to Romans 8. There are other passages, but we have enough on what the flesh is like, what the Spirit produces. When we don’t, we don’t want to. If I have a problem with somebody, I’m unhappy with them, I want to think some bad things about them. I get a certain pleasure in that. In mulling over in my mind why they deserve to be treated badly, and they have unsettled my life, or they have caused some problem. Wait a minute. I need to stop! So, this is what he’s dealing with here. Verse 6, “For the mind set on the flesh is death, but the mind set on the Spirit is life and peace...” Those are the only two realms. You see how hard and fast it is. There’s no excuse, middle ground here. Now I realize some people claim to be believers and have enough that you don’t know. That’s what Jesus talked about was wheat and tares. I can’t make the ultimate decision. I can’t see a heart. I can tell what I can see. I can tell someone I’m concerned, and I have. You claim to be a believer, but the pattern of your life doesn’t support that. But I can’t see the heart. Are they bouncing around where they shouldn’t as a believer? I don’t know. What I can say, I would examine myself to see if I was in the faith. I don’t want to create doubt, but I want to be sure where I am in all of this.

“…but the mind set on the Spirit is life and peace...” It started out in Romans 5:1, “Therefore, having been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ…” And we have peace with God, then the peace of God stands guard at our hearts and minds in Christ Jesus. But it has to start out with the peace of God. A person says I’m not happy, I’m miserable. Well, let’s back up. Have you established a right relationship with God through faith in Him? Because “…having been justified by faith, we have peace with God…” and now I’m in position to have the peace of God stand guard on my heart and mind through Christ Jesus. Philippians 4, in that section there. They go together. First though, people who don’t have peace with God don’t have peace in their heart. And that’s why we have turmoil in the world; always battling, struggling, conflicting, it’s endless. But we have peace. The peace of God is the foundational peace that we talk about, but out of that flows what? The fruit of the Spirit, which is love, joy, peace, a settled heart.

“…but the mind set on the Spirit is life and peace...” True life. I’ve come that you might have life and you might have it more abundantly. Real life that’s bubbling from the inside because the Spirit is within. And out of your innermost being will flow rivers of living water. This He spoke of the Spirit that would be given to indwell believers. That’s what we have here. Then in verse 7, the contrast, “…because the mind set on the flesh is hostile toward God…” That’s the realm the unbeliever lives in. Keep in mind, this whole section is dividing the contrast between the believer and the unbeliever. I say that because we don’t want to make excuses for ourselves. You may have grown up in this church. You may have been baptized in this church. I don’t know. But where am I? “…the mind set on the flesh is hostile toward God…” This is the realm I’m in or this is the realm I’m in. Some of us were talking at lunch. The bible deals with it in a hard and fast way. This is the way it is, period. So, I don’t want to excuse myself into false thinking. I also don’t want to be so introspective that I’m no good for anything. But Paul does tell the Corinthians, that they had a lot of problems. He told them you ought to examine yourselves to see if you are in the faith. If this is an ongoing, unending situation, maybe it is time for the right kind of self-inspection. Measuring myself according to the Word. I’ve shared this, go to the fruit of the Spirit. Get there and say, Lord, love. Am I characterized by an unselfish love for you and for God’s people? That’s what the love is in 1 Corinthians 13. Love doesn’t seek its own, it’s not all about me, those kinds of things. Joy. Do I have joy in my heart? Can I really say that? Peace? You know if I examine myself and I’m not there, that’s the kind of examination. I’m not just trying to figure out feelings. I need to do a true test on myself.

“…because the mind set on the flesh is hostile toward God...” That’s what the problem is. Note how this gets more serious. “…for it does not subject itself to the law of God, for it is not even able to do so…” This is the problem. The unbeliever is in a relentless, constant war against God. A resisting of His will. And sometimes it’s worse when you are in a church where the Word is taught because you know what? I’m always battling this. I’m not comfortable. I’m not content. Why? Has God failed in your situation? He talks about what the Spirit does in a life and what new life in Christ is, and is like, but it’s not true of me. When I’ve talked to people like this I say, well, either God’s a liar or you are. And we know God’s not. Those who have their mind set on the flesh, they are people hostile toward God. God is their enemy. No matter what they think, they have reasons why they don’t do what He desires, why the fruit of the Spirit is not being produced in their life. Well, if you were married to the person I’m married to, you wouldn’t have much fruit of the Spirit in your life either. If you had my job and had to deal with what I deal with… We have all kinds of reasons and excuses why my environment, my friends or lack of them, my family, they’re my problem. They’re not my problem because when God works on me, He does it from the inside out. He changes my heart.

That’s why Paul can be in prison writing a letter about joy and saying, I’ve learned to be content in whatever situation I am in. If I am poor, I’m content. If I’m rich, I’m content. If I’m out of prison, I’m content. If I’m in prison, I’m content. Because my contentment isn’t caused by circumstances. It’s from within. That’s a beautiful way to live our life in this miserable world. And we have a better condition in our miserable world than many people do, but inner contentment is not the result. We have more people on drugs to try to resolve and bring contentment than other places. We’ve got to drink. What’s going on? Why are we unhappy? Well, the world says we ought to be about us and everything is not the way I would like it to be. But remember what we studied in Ecclesiastes? For God’s people, I realize my life is like God wants it to be. And these difficult people are in my life because God has brought them into my life for a purpose. And other people never frustrate God’s plan for me. Yeah, but they don’t treat me fairly. But that can’t frustrate God’s plan for me either. They crucified the Lord of glory, but that did not frustrate God’s plan for Him. They stoned Stephen to death, but that did not frustrate God’s plan for him. They will execute the apostle Paul, but that did not frustrate God’s plan for him. This is the day the Lord has made. It is a day of blessing and I enjoy it. I can live for the Lord today and nobody can keep me from doing that, because no matter what happens in my life I’m living for the Lord in that situation. If you’re hostile toward God, life is pushing a wheelbarrow of concrete uphill all the time. You know, just when I think I’m hitting a bright spot, the cloud comes over.

“…because the mind set on the flesh is hostile toward God; for it does not subject itself to the law of God.” This is not the Mosaic Law, because we’ve already talked about you die to that, but the rule of God in the life. You’re always fighting against Him having His way, which starts with you bowing and recognizing I need His salvation. “…for it does not subject itself…” and I want you to note this last statement, “…it is not even able to do so...” That’s why I say we don’t try to get the unbeliever to clean up his life. You can’t work backwards, clean up your life, try to keep the ten commandments, be the best husband, be the best wife, be the best parent, do your best at your job, work back here, and then you’ll be ready to trust in what God provides for you. No! They’re not able. This is the futility of we’re going to do social programs, social justice, and all these things. They deny the truth of Scripture. We can’t get people to do what God would have them do. They are not subject to the law of God and they are not able to be submissive to God. They are God’s enemy. They are hostile toward Him. Well, if they’re not able, they’re not responsible, right? Right? No! They do not subject themselves.

Like I said, when God changes you, He changes your desires. For an example, you know I am not able to swim across the ocean. I used to like to swim, but I’m not able to swim across the ocean. I wasn’t able then, but you know what? I never wanted to. That’s what He’s saying here. They are not able, and they don’t want to. You say, oh, I think they would want to. That’s why you share the gospel with them. Go out, make your mind up. This coming week I’m going to share the gospel with ten people because I know when they hear the love of God and what He’s done for them, they’re going to want to believe it. Find out the response we get. Some of you go door-to-door through our city. Oh, I’m glad you came to my door. I’ve been hoping someone would come. People are hostile toward God. All I’m here to tell you about is the love of God. It reaches out to you. God sent me here to tell you. He loves you. He had His Son die for you. He wants to give you a new life. He wants to heal you within from the disease of sin, to make you new. You probably find the door may close. Why? They are hostile toward God. They do not subject themselves to the law of God. They don’t want to, and they’re not able to, so that’s why the gospel is the only help.

That’s why Paul went to Corinth and what did he say? When I came to Corinth, “…I determined to know nothing among you except Jesus Christ, and Him crucified.” I know that’s the only thing that is going to help you. I don’t care whether you are a Jew or a Gentile, he started out that letter. I know what the Jews want. I know what the Gentiles want. I’m here to give you what you need, Jesus Christ and Him crucified. How does the church keep getting drawn off here? Well, if we do these things, these people will then desire. They’re hostile toward God. They don’t subject themselves to His rule and they’re not able. They’re not able, so we do not want to imply they could. “…and those who are in the flesh cannot please God.” That’s where we were in Romans 3. There’s none that does good. Not even one. Well, I know some good people. I know some good people as well. Good on this level. They’re easy to be with. They’ve done nice things for me. They make good neighbors, but they’re not doing it out of a heart of submissiveness to God, to be pleasing to Him. Try it. Those good people, those friendly people, your neighbors, and you say I appreciate you being such a good neighbor. And you’ve helped me in projects and that. I’d like to share something with you that’s so important. One reason we don’t do it is, we’re afraid. What? It’ll harm our friendship. And that’s true! It might. Now you’ve come out in the open as a child of God, speaking to a child of the devil. We decide if I don’t say anything, it’ll probably be better.

“…and those who are in the flesh cannot please God.” It doesn’t matter if they get up and go to church or mass or synagogue or whatever they do, every day. And those in some places like India on certain holidays, they beat themselves bloody. They can’t please God. All they can do is offend Him. They are His enemies. That’s a terrible position to be in. Come over to Ephesians 2. We’ve not supported this with a lot of scripture. Most of you are familiar with scriptures that would coordinate with this. Ephesians 2 opens, “and you were dead in your trespasses and sins…” That is spiritually dead. You were cut off from God, from a relationship with Him. As the Old Testament says, for those who reject God’s word even their prayers are an abomination to Him, something He hates. “…in which you formerly walked according to the course of this world…” This is a reminder to believers. “…we too all formerly lived in the lusts of our flesh, indulging the desires of the flesh and of the mind, and were by nature children of wrath…” That’s what you were by birth and by choice, “…even as the rest.” That’s why we talked about that we want to be careful that we as believers may think I never was perfect, but I never got into some of those things. You were just like the rest from God’s eyes. He was looking in your heart. “But God, being rich in mercy…” That was the change.

Verse 2, “…you formerly walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air…” That’s where we were. You see we were dominated by the world. We were dominated by the devil. We were his slaves. It’s “…the spirit that is now working in the sons of disobedience.” But it’s God’s grace that brought us to where we are. “…we too all formerly lived in the lusts of our flesh, indulging the desires of the flesh and of the mind, and were by nature children of wrath…” You read these descriptions. How does the church get confused? The only thing that could change is what? Verse 8, “For by grace you have been saved through faith; and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God; not as a result of works…” Why should the church be trying to clean up? Well, if we deal with social justice, if we bring some social equality, if we deal with poverty, then the world will see what? They don’t see anything. They’re hostile toward God. They’re the slaves of the devil. This is where we begin to lose our grip on the truth and we say, well, you know there’s some logic to that. The world sees us as nice good people. What was the flaw in Christ? He healed them. He fed them. And they crucified Him. Jesus said you’re my slaves. Don’t expect any better treatment than the Master gets. How do we slide into these things, generation after generation? Because somehow the word of God gets cold in our hearts and whatever. The only thing that can change a life is the power of God that brings salvation. That’s what he’s talking about here, back in Romans chapter 8, “…and those who are in the flesh cannot please God.” That’s it. So, I am promoting a lie when I imply to them that if you stop your immorality, if you break off that “marriage” in that homosexual relationship, God will be much happier with you. That’s a lie! We talk about the open display of sin and its vileness, that’s true. But not because we are better. It ought to impress us that they need the Savior that I have. Without God’s grace where would we be? Paul said it’s by the grace of God that “I am what I am.” I didn’t clean up my life. God cleaned me up and now I lead a cleaned-up life. That’s the change.

Let’s have a word of prayer then we’ll have time for discussion. Thank You, Lord, for the riches of Your word, the wonder of our salvation. Lord, as those who have enjoyed this salvation for many years it is often easy for us to grow lax, somewhat indifferent, casual. Lord may these rich truths grip our hearts and minds. Stir us with a passion to live for You and honor You in the smallest details of life. Thank You for the Spirit who dwells in us. We have life. We have abundant life. We can live this life wherever we are, in whatever situation, because it is produced by You from within. May we give You honor and praise all the time. We pray in Christ’s name, amen.

I had a question, let me start it. If you have a question raise your hand. This fits with what I was talking about. Question – Do you find the social gospel being driven by those who are of covenant persuasion or is there no connection? I think the connection with the covenant theology and others is when you move away from consistent, literal interpretation of scripture, you will move into areas that are not where the church ought to be. So, what happens with covenant theology and I read a book this week by a non-dispensationalist talking about government and so on, the danger is sometimes the principles that they talk about. You know, conservatives as we’ve talked about. Sometimes we equate conservative politics or conservative views on things with being biblical, but when you move away from literal interpretation, the theologian in this is not dispensational. So, he’s always using passages out of context if you had a literal interpretation. And much of the social action, social justice comes from the Old Testament. That’s where they go and quote the verses about God wants justice. But he’s writing to the nation Israel. They are an elect nation and the people within it were to claim God as their God and have their faith in Him. They didn’t, so God condemns them. But the Mosaic Law was something of their constitution. It governed the civil life, the religious life, this was supposed to be a theocracy. Well, there ought to be justice meted out. The poor should be taken care of. Those principles are there. And human government does that to an extent. But those aren’t passages instructing the church how to conduct itself. That was how God’s nation Israel should conduct themselves. There are some good principles there. There are some principles you wouldn’t use! They stoned a person for breaking the Sabbath. Would we do that? If you had a child that was rebellious and wouldn’t obey you, you took them to the elders, and he was stoned. That took care of disobedience. So, some of these things they selectively pick out. Well, we don’t do the ceremonial things, but the moral things we carry over. It was a moral issue when children disobeyed their parents. It was a moral issue when they picked up stones on the Sabbath and God says you keep it holy and you don’t do that. But because they don’t take a literal interpretation, they’re constantly mixing it. That’s the problem with covenant theology and for those who wouldn’t consider themselves, I’m using covenant in the broad sense. Anybody who is not dispensational is covenantal to one degree or another. Because if you are literal in your interpretation you will be dispensational. You will see a distinction between Israel and the church and so on. So, it leads to an involvement in social things. And then once you’ve wed social things to the gospel, you’ve committed the sin of Galatians, and I’ve read you accounts of that. When that gets into evangelicalism, let me use that as a broad term, it will soon totally replace the gospel. Now we have that teaching, there’s two legs or two parts to a scissors, all their pictures. The social action and the message of Christ crucified and raised. They are both part of the gospel and without both you don’t have a complete gospel. That’s the same thing as the error of the Judaizers. Well, you have to have the death and resurrection of Christ, but you have to have the Mosaic Law. Whenever you say the death and resurrection of Christ is not a complete gospel, anything you add is anathema. And then you end up with where pure liberalism is. All they have is social action. So yeah, it comes out of bad hermeneutics, covenant theology and its various forms, amillennialism, post-millennialism, covenantal premillennialism. They’re all progress dispensationalism which I don’t consider true dispensationalism. But it is coming out of the dispensational seminaries like Dallas these days. And they have more and more writings on social action and social involvement. It just goes with the deterioration of the hermeneutics. They changed the literal hermeneutics to literal, grammatical, theological, literary; complementary hermeneutics is what they call it. But we’ve moved away from strict literal interpretation. Now I get the journals and that, and they write those articles on social action, social justice. Yeah, bad hermeneutics.


Ok, I happened to bring a theological journal I was reading. It’s interesting. It’s a ‘Master’s Journal.’ It was good. I just got around to reading it this week and they had an article in there on Romans 7. He is good, not perfect because he’s to where I was, and we are. But he argues against that being a Christian, so I was happy to see that in Romans 7 that Paul is a believer struggling to keep the Law. He thinks it’s Paul as a Jew. Now where I would differ with him, he says that that’s about believing Jews trying to keep the Law. But the problem with that is Paul identifies with them and Paul never was a believing Jew trying to keep the Law. His testimony is clear. When he trusted Christ then he was free from the Law. But they don’t go into all the arguments for their position, but he presents seven or so arguments why it could not be a Christian, a New Testament, New Covenant Christian. I like that part of it, but I didn’t totally agree with the rest. I haven’t been about to chase down a more extensive use of the arguments. They reference another theological journal but I’m two years from having that journal, so I’ll have to look elsewhere to dig it out. Other people hold what we held. I mentioned some Christians are really upset, some of my pastor friends I think thought I was abandoning the faith when I said Paul was not a believer in Romans 7.


Question – last week we talked about Christ and His virgin birth and then as we think through Romans, all in Adam die. So, in your perspective when Christ was born, He did not have a sin nature. Did that happen just as a miracle of God because it can’t happen to Him or how would we explain that Jesus had no sin nature?
Answer – I think the virgin birth has to be the explanation. It doesn’t go into any details, but since He’s conceived of the Holy Spirit, He gets His humanity, but the sin nature is not passed on to Him. That would fit because the sin nature is passed from Adam and that’s what we had in Romans chapter 5. The sin of Adam and the fall did not occur, remember in Genesis 3, until Adam sinned because he’s the head of the race, not Eve. So, His humanity comes from His mother, but the sin nature is not passed on because the conception is caused by the Holy Spirit. Now, how we would go any further in the details in that, I don’t think it’s possible. But it does make clear He is sinless, and the virgin birth was necessary. God could not just have His Son take on Himself. I mean He could have created a new human being. Just as Christ is going to come to earth, You will appear there, and You will be human. But It’s important to be in the line of Adam, as 1 Corinthians calls Him the second Adam and it’s developed at the end. So, I think the answer to that has to be the virgin birth, and He is sinless, and He had no sin of His own. He is the perfect sacrifice, the sinless Lamb of God. That’s what was required, it had to be. An animal could never take the place, but it would take a human. That’s Hebrews 2, He took to Himself humanity so He could pay the penalty for humanity. But He had to be more than just one human man. Because if all He was, was one just human man He could pay the penalty for one sinful man, even if He was a sinless human. But He’s more than man, He’s God. So that His death as a human can have infinite effect and impact. But I think the only answer is the virgin birth, conceived of Christ so the sin nature was not passed on to Him. So, it gets to the peccability and the impeccability of Christ. Peccability, the word for sin. And peccability, those theologians that argue that Christ could have sinned, but He didn’t. Impeccability is, He not only didn’t sin, He couldn’t sin; because He’s only one person, two natures, but one person. Again, we’re in a realm that we believe it. We always like to say, well, here’s an illustration but there’s no illustration. There’s only one virgin birth. There’s only one divine-human, Christ. He’s one person, not two, but He has two natures. He is fully human, and He is fully divine. Okay, I got that, but I don’t understand it. In a way, you can only go so far because of our finiteness. He’s one person. Don’t want to confuse that. It’s not just two individual persons living in one body. It’s One person who is fully human and fully divine, fully God. And so, He can take the place of humanity, but pay the penalty for all humanity by His death. Like I say, if you had a perfect person who never sinned and all he was, was human, he could take the place of one other human. But when Christ died on the cross, He paid the penalty for the world so that everyone could be invited to come and believe in Him. But it wouldn’t be applied until they did believe. So that’s why I think He was impeccable. The temptation of Satan was a real temptation because Satan meant it as real, but I don’t think it was real from the standpoint that there would be no response in Christ to submit. You say, well then if He wasn’t, couldn’t sin, He wasn’t really like me. No, but He was really like Adam before Adam sinned in that sense. Now Adam had the potential to sin, but Christ wouldn’t. But Adam was sinless, Eve was sinless. That’s so important we keep that in mind. There was no sin in the human race until Adam and Eve sinned. I include Eve because she took of the fruit when she shouldn’t, but the responsibility rested with Adam. And then the question comes, well what if Eve ate the apple and Adam didn’t? I don’t know because that’s not a possibility because the plan of God is always complete. That’s the answer I have.


Response – that was good. So, I’m on a roll here, so I’m going to ask you another question. Once in a while, I enjoy listening to [Douglas] Bookman and he likes to emphasize, as you know the humanity of Christ. Maybe sometimes he might go a little over the top but my question to you is, when you think about Christ, how much of His foreknowledge or His attributes of deity did He give up? Was He relying on the Holy Spirit to reveal things to Him? Or how does that work because sometimes He knows things, and sometimes He doesn’t, when you go through the Gospels?
Answer – Yeah, and that’s another area it’s hard to sort out. Some of the theologians, John Walvoord, said he believed that all of Christ’s earthly actions were done in the power of the Spirit. Philippians indicates that Christ set aside the independent use of His attributes when He took upon Himself humanity. So, I’m comfortable if He did all He did in the power of the Spirit. And yet there is an element that He is displaying something of His deity on occasion. I wouldn’t have a problem if the Father, because He set aside the independent use of those attributes, if it was God’s will for Him to display one of those attributes He would have done that, but it would not have been independently as He would have acted before the incarnation. But the emphasis seems to be on His use of the Spirit because He grew up. I think that’s why we have almost nothing about the first thirty years of Christ’s life. We have His birth. We have eight days, He is circumcised, and they go to Egypt. But we’ve got about thirty-three years and suddenly, He appears on the scene. He was twelve, but that was just a brief thing. Because there’s nothing to say. He’s growing up as a normal human. It said He went home after that occasion in the temple when He was twelve and was obedient and submissive to His parents. And you know, we can’t grasp, God could never not have His attributes. He would cease to be God, so He would always be omniscient, omnipotent, omnipresent, and yet it talks about Him with the limitation. He set aside the independent use of those, but He couldn’t give them up. He had to be omnipresent, but He chose not to exercise that attribute. How did that function? Yeah, I think during His earthly life, because He doesn’t begin His public ministry until the baptism of John. And what happens? The Holy Spirit descends on Him as a dove. He was not functioning as the Messiah offering the kingdom until He was thirty years of age. Which would fit. He was prophet, priest, and king. The age for a priest to take on his earthly priestly ministry was thirty. That might be the reason that’s identified. So, I think it took the Holy Spirit. Now He had knowledge. He could lecture the leaders in the temple when He was twelve. But we have junior geniuses. Because remember, He had no sin tainting His mind, His brain. He was sinless as a human being, so just in His natural abilities there would be exceptional things. His memory as He had to learn the scriptures growing up, like I say, even now you have an exceptional child who graduates from Harvard at twelve or something. I don’t think it would have necessarily required His deity, but I don’t think there would have been displays of His miracle powers until the Holy Spirit came upon Him.


Response – So when you said that just now –
Answer – All my answers stir up other questions.
Response – So you almost referenced the curse, right? So, are you saying He had no sin nature but how is that different from the curse and how it affects all of us and the world that we live in? So, you know, He being sinless, I mean does that mean His ability to retain knowledge, how would that effect the aging process? So is the curse involved in His life to an eventual like if He didn’t die on the cross…
Answer – Certain things were true of Him because He started out as a baby. He was circumcised at eight days. He was only twelve years old when He was in the temple and that was the striking thing. Here’s a twelve-year-old who seems to have knowledge. But He was a twelve-year-old and as He grew, He had to eat, He slept. He’s sleeping in the boat, so I think He lived in the world as a true human being. But He didn’t have a sin nature that drew Him to sin, that enslaved Him to sin, that controlled Him, that would cause Him to sin. That’s what’s lacking, but not normal experiencing life and what happens normally. It’s not sinful to be a human being. Now sin is part of our humanity now and we’re born with a sin nature but growing up is not sinful. We do sinful things but growing up through the process in and of itself is not sinful. But the impact of sin impacts us. It would have impacted Him so He would have had to eat. He would have had to go to the bathroom. Little things you think, well I don’t like to think about, but He was a normal human being. I would take it He would have had to live like us. Yeah, that whole area, you know we study Christology, that becomes a whole volume. It stretches us the more we study it. It’s like this, one question leads to another and you realize we have a lot to learn. So, we’re still growing.

Let’s pray. Thank You, Lord, for the blessing of the day. Thank You for the riches and challenges of Your Word. And Lord, the more we study, the more we learn, the more we realize we have to learn, and it’s a growing process. And we never want to stop and be satisfied with where we are, because there’s more to learn about You, the wonders of our salvation. Bless the week before us. Use us wherever You put us. In Christ’s name, amen.