Living On A New Level

There are two things that the heart of mankind is yearning and longing for. The first is forgiveness from sin’s penalty and the second is freedom from sin’s power. Those two things are ours in Christ. Those two very things, that is, the cry of the human heart, that my sins be forgiven and that I be free to walk in holiness, they are found only in one place, and that one place is in Jesus Christ. The two aspects of our salvation, justification, God declaring us righteous in Christ, and sanctification, God making us righteous in Christ, are the topics of the eighth chapter in this section of the book of Romans. In verse 1, we saw that there is now therefore no condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus. Then, in verse 4, we saw that what the law could not do in that it was weak through the flesh, God sending His own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh and for sin condemned sin in the flesh. Again, those are the two categories. We are righteous before God, no condemnation, we walk in the Spirit and we do not fulfill the lusts of the flesh, and the righteousness of God’s law is written on the fleshly tablets of our hearts. In Christ, we have sanctification, a new position, and a new life.

There are two sections to this division that we are going to look at tonight, verses 5-13. There are only two main points, so if you’re taking notes I want you to write them down. The first, the key to the Christian life is walking in the Spirit. The points I want to make on walking in the Spirit are first of all in verses 5-8, that the Holy Spirit must control our minds. The second section is, the Holy Spirit must control our bodies. He grows our minds, and you might say our members, if you want to literate it and give it a little fancy twist there, the Holy Spirit must control our minds and our members. First of all our minds, under the influence of the Holy Spirit, follow with me verses 5-8. “For they that are after the flesh do mind the things of the flesh; but they that are after the Spirit the things of the Spirit. 6 For to be carnally minded is death; but to be spiritually minded is life and peace. 7 Because the carnal mind is enmity against God…,” it means it is at war with God, “…for it is not subject to the law of God, neither indeed can be. 8 So then they that are in the flesh cannot please God. 9 But ye are not in the flesh, but in the Spirit, if so be that the Spirit of God dwell in you. Now if any man have not the Spirit of Christ, he is none of his. 10 And if Christ be in you, the body is dead because of sin; but the Spirit is life because of righteousness. 11 But if the Spirit of him that raised up Jesus from the dead dwell in you, he that raised up Christ from the dead shall also quicken…,” my King James Bible has, or make alive, “…your mortal bodies by his Spirit that dwelleth in you. 12 Therefore, brethren, we are debtors, not to the flesh, to live after the flesh. 13 For if ye live after the flesh, ye shall die: but if ye through the Spirit do mortify…,” or put to death, “…the deeds of the body, ye shall live.”

Paul here speaks of our minds being under the control and influence of the Holy Spirit. Go back with me to verse 5 for just a moment. Paul says in the fifth verse, “For they that are after the flesh…,” I want you to notice that title or that term, that description, “…they that are after the flesh.” The question we need to ask is what does he mean by those who are after the flesh? He does not mean those who have a physical body. What other kind of people are there? He’s not talking about people who have a physical body, although it is related to the body because in this physical body we have a sinful nature. I think that the term in the context here is describing the unbeliever. I will admit to you that good Bible teachers disagree and debate as to whether this “they that are in the flesh” is the unregenerate or the unbeliever, the non-Christian, or “they that are in the flesh” is referring to Christians that are carnal.

I do happen to believe that Christians can slip into carnality. Paul wrote to the Corinthians and said, “I couldn’t write unto you as unto spiritual but as unto babes even as to those who are carnal.” There are times that a Christian can manifest carnal traits or behavior patterns. The word “carnal” means fleshly. We get our word carnivorous from it, fleshly. It means that we’re governed by the flesh, which in the case of the Christian is the Adamic nature. You say, “Well, what’s the Adamic nature?” The Adamic nature is that sin principle that we inherit at birth from our forefather, Adam. This is the Biblical teaching that every human being is born in sin, born a sinner, born with a sin nature. The smallest, tiniest newborn child, even your newborn child, Christian parents, is born with a sin nature. Any parent that raised kids does not have a hard time believing that. What’s the first word they learn? “No! Mine!” There you go…proof positive, right? We’re born with this rebellious sinful bent, and it’s what we inherited from Adam. We looked at that in Romans 4 and 5 as we inherited that old man or that old Adamic nature.

I believe that he is talking about the non-Christian. He is contrasting the two spheres of life or existence, that of the unbeliever who is governed and controlled and motivated and lives according to the sinful nature, the sinful bent; and the Christian, having now received a new nature from Christ, from the Holy Spirit through regeneration, or being born again, now is living in a new sphere, a new dimension, where now we can walk in the fulness of God’s Spirit. We can live a life that pleases God. We’re going to break this down in this text because he is going to contrast two categories—life in the flesh and live in the Spirit, and the differences between the believer and the unbeliever. I believe the Spirit-filled life is the normal Christian life. We get the idea that a Spirit-filled Christian is like a super Christian. They are like a really on fire Christian. “I’m a Christian, but not one of those super saints. I’m a Christian, but I’m not that spiritual.” The normal Christian life is to be a life in the Spirit. The Christian life is to be supernatural, and it cannot be lived in the energy of the flesh and be controlled by the dictates and the dominance of the flesh. I believe this title “after the flesh” are those who are unbelievers.

What do they live like? Let’s break it down from the text. In verse 5 it says that they, “mind the things of the flesh.” This is why we want to have a mind controlled by the Spirit not by the flesh. What does it mean when it says that they mind the things of the flesh? Well, there’s a hint in Matthew 6:31-2 where Jesus talked about the Gentile world, and there again he uses the term Gentile to refer to the non-Christian world. He describes their whole focus as what are we going to eat, what are we going to drink, and what are we going to wear, and that’s their whole existence. You say, “Well, what’s wrong with that? I like to eat.” “Well, what’s wrong with that I like to go shopping and buy clothes. We need clothes. We need to eat. What’s the big deal with that?” The big deal is, that’s all they think about. All they think about is money, food, pleasure, movies, fun, good times, and they never think about God and the things that please God or the Spirit of God. Remember before you were saved? What did you think about? You say, “Pastor, you don’t wanna know.” Right? Before you were saved, what did you live for? What did you do? What did you do with your time? You say, “I wouldn’t be in church on Wednesday night, that’s for sure!” You were motivated by the things that fed your flesh. Maybe all you thought about was your sex drive, or maybe all you thought about was your eat drive, or maybe all you thought about was your food drive, and maybe you just thought about having a good time and the parties and being cool and making money. We know we need money to live, but we don’t live to make money. We know that if we live to make money that we end up empty, right? Money can’t buy you happiness. You don’t even need the Bible to tell you that. We know that from experience. You’ve never got enough! How ‘bout Solomon? He had everything you could ever want and he said that it’s emptiness! It’s vanity! It’s vexation of spirit! The dude had 700 wives, and you wonder he wanted to commit suicide? Horses and musicians and building projects and pleasures and all the things that money can buy, but he said, “It’s vanity! It’s emptiness! It’s like chasing after the wind!” That’s the unbeliever, the carnal mind, the mind of the flesh. That’s all they think about—the lust of the eyes, the lust of the flesh, and the pride of life.

Secondly, notice that they are characterized by death. In verse 6 it says, “For to be carnally minded is death.” They mind the things of the flesh, and to be minding the things of the flesh leads to death. In what sense does it lead to death? Well, it leads to death right now, spiritually, and you’re dead to spiritual realities. Before you were saved you were like a walking dead person. Paul said in Ephesians 2 that we were dead in trespasses and the sins of the flesh. You were dead spiritually. You were separated from God, and that death brings fear and guilt and hostility and emptiness. It also means eternal death. I think of John 3:16, “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.” Notice that phrase, “never perish.” In John 3:16 we get so focused on the love of God, rightfully so, and the eternal life, notice that little phrase, “shall never perish.” In other words, if you don’t believe in Jesus Christ, you will perish, and you do not have everlasting life. Everlasting life is not just quantity, it’s quality. The moment you are born again, you enter into a new sphere. As birds fly in the air and fish swim in the ocean, Christians live in the Spirit. Remember when you got saved and all of the sudden it’s like, “Wow! The sky is bluer! The trees are greener! Food tastes better!” You got the Christian munchies, you know. Life was just filled with joy! It was a transformation! All of the sudden you begin to think about God and pray and go to church and read your Bible. You’re like, “Whoa! What happened to me?!” What happened to you is you went from death to life. Isn’t that awesome! You went from darkness to life! What an awesome thing! You went from bondage to freedom in Jesus Christ.

The carnal mind produces death and you have no peace with God, which is my third point in verse 7. The carnal mind is at war with God. Look at it with me, “Because the carnal mind is enmity against God for it is not subject to the law of God, neither indeed can be.” Lest I forget, again, I want to point something out from verses 5-13. Notice how each one of these verses start. In verse 5, “For they;” in verse 6, “For to be carnally;” verse 7, “Because the carnal mind; and then verse 8, “So then;” verse 9, “but ye;” and then verse 10, “And if Christ;” verse 11, “But if the Spirit;” verse 12, “Therefore;” and verse 13, “For.” Notice how every one of these verses tonight starts with a word of logic, how he is reasoning and logically bringing out the meaning of the life in the Spirit. The truth is, verses 5-13 are an expansion of verses 1-4. What he says in verses 1 and 4, about no condemnation and now that we’re free we can walk in the Spirit and not fulfill the lusts of the flesh, is all expanded now for us with all these “therefores” and “wherefores,” “buts” and “ifs” in a logical form from verse 5 down to verse 13. To be carnally minded, verse 7, means that you are actually at war with God. Before you were a Christian, the Bible teaches that you were at war with God. You didn’t walk around with an army hat on and a machine gun, you know, with fatigues and you’re fighting against God, but there was a war going on. This is why the Bible says, “There is no peace for the wicked,” says the Lord. The wicked are like the troubled sea, and this is why when you become a Christian, the first thing that you experience is peace with God through Jesus Christ. Remember when you got saved and there was just this amazing peace? You first felt like a weight lifted off your shoulder and then you felt this peace in your heart. It’s such an awesome thing! The peace that passes understanding because you’re no longer at war with God now that you’ve been reconciled through the blood of Jesus Christ. You are no longer at war, but you are at peace with God. And the carnal mind “… it is not subject to the law of God, neither indeed can be.”

Again, notice that in verse 7, that’s the next point. The carnal mind is not only at war with God, but again, the carnal mind is not subject to the law of God. When you were a non-Christian, you didn’t care about praying or witnessing or reading the Bible or going to church—for sure you didn’t want to do that. Now that you’re saved, you want to submit to the law of God. Notice in verse 8, the carnal mind cannot please God. This is a well-known text. It says in verse 8, “So then they that are in the flesh…,” there’s that term, that concept again for the unbeliever, “…cannot please God.” Did you know that there’s nothing you can do to please God, to win favor with God or merit with God outside of being in Christ? You can walk on your knees down an aisle over glass, you can do penance, you can be baptized, you can take communion, you can flog your body, you can sleep on a bed of nails, you name it, you do it, and if you are not regenerated that’s not going to please God. That’s not going to bring joy to the heart of God. The only way for us to please God is for us to repent of our sins, believe in Jesus Christ to be born into His family, become His child, and receive His Holy Spirit dwelling in us. Then, in the power of that Spirit, then and only then, can I pray and live a life that is pleasing to God. There are so many unbelievers that think that they can do something to merit, earn or deserve God’s favor, and it’s clearly not true. There’s nothing you can do to win the favor of God, to please God, and yet people in religions try to do that all the time. They go to confession, pray the rosary, get baptized, go to church. Maybe you come to Revival on Wednesday nights because you think that God claps for you when you do so that when you get to heaven you can say, “God, I sat in Revival every Wednesday night, and I endured the long, boring sermons of John Miller. If anyone deserves to go to heaven, I do. I sat through all his sermons,” and you bring your little log you checked off every week. That won’t get you into heaven. The only way to get into heaven is to take the hand of Jesus Christ. The carnal mind cannot please God.

Here’s the contrast, verse 5. “…but they that are after the Spirit the things of the Spirit.” They that are after the flesh, their minds are on the things of the flesh, but they that are after the Spirit, their heart, their mind, their inner being, their thought life is focused and centered on the things that are spiritual and the things of God. Who are they that are after the Spirit? The answer is pretty obvious, they are Christians. I do believe that within the category of Christians, you have Spirit-filled Christians and Christians that aren’t Spirit filled. I don’t believe that being Spirit-filled is necessarily getting one experience of the Holy Spirit and that seals it for life. I believe that we, every day, ongoingly, continually must surrender and yield our minds, our emotions, our wills and our bodies to the control and to the power of the Holy Spirit, and we must walk in obedience to His Word. It doesn’t do any good to say, “Well, 10 years ago I got filled with the Spirit, but it all drained out. It done drained out a long time ago, and I’m walking on empty.” I hate to put gas in my car. I don’t like to stop. I don’t like the mess. I don’t like the time, so I’ll just go with that little red warning light on for days. My wife will say, “Don’t you think you should get gas?” “Ah, no. The light’s been on only a few days now.” I believe as Christians that we need every day to be filled a fresh. I believe that fresh filling is a surrendering of my will to God. I believe we should get up every morning and say, “Lord, I’m yours. My hands belong to You. My mind belongs to You. My time belongs to You. Everything I am belongs to You. Lord, lead me, guide me, fill me, use me today.” That’s what it means to walk in the Spirit and not fulfill the deeds of the flesh.

So, what are they like? Well, it says in verse 5, that they mind the things of the Spirit. I remember when I got saved I began to read the Bible because I wanted to. I couldn’t get enough of it. One of the indications you’ve been born again is you begin to read the Bible and like it. You read the Bible and understand it, and then the Bible begins to change you and transform your life. I’ll never forget those early days when I first got saved. I was reading the Living Bible because I didn’t know how to read that well, and it spoke to me. I read the Kenneth Taylor Living Bible, and I read it and read it and read it and read it. I cried, and I read, and I cried. I just could not get enough of the Word of God! All these years later, I’m still reading it and loving it and studying and hungering for the Word of God. You ask, “Well, how do you know you’re saved?” Well, do you hunger for God’s Word? Delight in the Word of God? Jesus said, “If you’re My disciples you’ll continue in My Word.” Do you like to pray? I never prayed…until I got saved. I prayed to get saved, and once I got saved, I prayed and I prayed and I prayed and I prayed. I remember when I first got saved I used to just stop and think, “I can’t believe I’m praying. I can’t believe I’m reading the Bible. I can’t believe I’m talking to God,” and I’m shedding tears and I sense His presence and, “This is really happening. This is just amazing!” Then, something really freaky happened to me. I started going to church. I was still living at home, I’m 19. I just got out of high school. A year out of high school I got saved. My parents went to church, and I went to church as a young boy but I stopped going. They stopped making me and stopped pressuring me, and I would hear them leave on Sunday for church. I felt bad about that, but I got saved and my parents knew that I was converted that Sunday when I came out and said, “Can I go to church with you?” I think it just completely blew them away. I said, “Can I go to church with you today?” “Well, sure! Come on let’s go!” I was a hippie. I had a big beard and long hair, and I went to this tiny little Pentecostal church of about 60 people and everyone was over 75. I walked in and they thought Jesus came. They knew who I was. They were praying for me. My parents were praying for me at that church, and everyone was praying for me. “Praise God! John Miller is converted!” “John Miller got saved!” “John Miller’s come to church!” It was just so cool to be a part of that fellowship. I remember being there when I was unsaved, and I hated it. I didn’t like it. I wanted to escape. I wanted to run, and now I couldn’t get enough! I wanted to be there every time the doors were open.

How do you know you’re saved? You read your Bible, you pray and you come to church, and especially on Wednesday nights. If you come on Wednesday night, you’re born again! You’re walking in the Spirit, right? It’s the life of the Spirit that takes over where your mind begins to think about the things of God and the will of God and serving God. Also, it says in verse 6, that they have life and peace. Go back to verse 6 with me. “For to be carnally minded is death…,” but here’s the contrast, “to be spiritually minded is life and peace.” What we sow is what we reap. If you plant carrots, what comes up? Carrots. If you plant corn, what comes up? Corn. I studied all week to figure that out. If you sow the flesh, you reap death. If you sow to the Spirit, you reap life everlasting. What you sow to is what you’re going to reap. Now we have the mind of the Spirit and we’re sowing to the Spirit, and we have life and peace. We have eternal life and we have peace with God. Then, notice in verse 5, “but they that are after the Spirit…,” the inference is there that now we can please God, for “they that are in the flesh cannot please God,” so the reverse would be true, they that are in the Spirit can please God. Again, that to me was an important thing. When I got saved I wanted to please God. I had been living to please myself, now I wanted to live to please God. I had been living to do what I wanted to do, now I wanted to live in a way that pleased God and brought joy to the heart of God. We need to have a mind that is controlled not by the flesh, but by the Spirit. It happens when we are saved. We leave the old life, we come into the new life, but even now that we are saved, we need to be filled with the Spirit, we need to read the Word, we need to pray, and we need to yield to the Holy Spirit. We need to be connected and involved with other believers and a part of a church so that we can encourage one another in our walk with the Lord.

Here’s the second main point, verses 9-13, that is, the Holy Spirit must control our members. He must control our minds, but I believe that when we surrender to Him and He controls our minds then He begins to control our members. A Christian is a person that has the Holy Spirit dwelling in them. I want to say some very basic, elementary things, but they are very important and essential. This is foundational for the life in the Spirit. A Christian is a person that has the Holy Spirit. I want you to look at verse 9. “But ye…,” here’s the first real big heavy contrast intended by Paul. “But ye…,” as opposed to those that are in the flesh, you as God’s children. We are going to see that we’re His adopted sons and daughters next Wednesday night. He says, “But ye are not in the flesh, but in the Spirit, if so be that the Spirit of God dwell in you. Now if any man have not the Spirit of Christ, he is none of his.” Some debate as to whether the Spirit of Christ is the Holy Spirit. I believe in context that it is the Holy Spirit, but here He’s given the title the Spirit of Christ because He leads us to Christ and He forms Christ in us. It’s the same. The Spirit of Christ is the Holy Spirit.

I want you to note some important fundamental things, that is, every Christian has the Holy Spirit dwelling in them. If you do not have the Holy Spirit, verse 9, you are not a Christian. You are not a child of God. Some people will get confused. They’ll say, “Well, did you receive the Holy Spirit when you became a Christian?” If you didn’t receive the Holy Spirit, then you did not get saved. I understand they may be thinking, “Were you filled with the Spirit or were you baptized with the Holy Spirit?” Sometimes our terms lead to confusion, and again, like I said, this is super basic and elementary, but super fundamental. Don’t ever let anyone tell you that you can be a Christian and not have the Holy Spirit. If you are a Christian, you have the Holy Spirit. If you don’t have the Holy Spirit, then you are not a Christian, right? All Christians have the Holy Spirit living in them. He is indwelling them.

The big question is not do you go to church? Are you baptized? Have you taken communion? Do you read the Bible? Do you pray? The question is do you have the Holy Spirit? How do you know if you have the Holy Spirit? When a person has the Spirit of God they have an interest in and a desire for the things of God. That’s why when you get saved you begin to read and enjoy and like the Bible because the Bible was given by inspiration of whom? The Holy Spirit. The same Holy Spirit that lives in you is the One who inspired the human authors to write the things they wrote. All scripture is given by inspiration of God. It’s the Holy Spirit that inspires scripture. The Holy Spirit that lives in you is thirsting, hungering and longing for God’s Word. If somebody comes to me and says, “I have a friend and they’ve accepted Jesus,” and “I think they’re saved but they don’t read their Bible, or they don’t wanna read their Bible. They don’t wanna come to church. They don’t pray, and they’re just not interested in the things of God.” I have to at least question that they were born again. I have to at least question they were born again. I run into so many well-meaning Christians that want so much a husband or a wife or a child or a parent or a friend…they want them to be saved, so the least indication, “Oh! They’re coming to church!” or “They’re reading the Bible with me.” The question is have they showed any indication that the Spirit of God has changed their heart?

People will come to me for counseling all the time. They’ll share their problem or struggle with me. I say, “Are you reading your Bible?” “Uhhhh, I don’t really read the Bible.” “What do you want me to tell you?” You need to make sure that you’re saved and, having been saved, God is going to give you a hunger for the Word. It’s possible that there are times in our lives as Christians that we may lose our appetite, and I think a lot of times it is because we feed on other things. We feed on other things. Have you ever tried to eat a bunch before dinner is served? When dinner is served it’s like, “Uh, I’m not hungry,” well, because you snacked before dinner. So, if we feed on the flesh, is it any wonder that we’re not going to want to feed on God’s Word? The Holy Spirit also calls us together with other people of like minds. He calls us together with Christians. You can be saved and be a Christian and not going to a church, but you’re not going to be a growing Christian. You’re not going to be a Spirit-filled Christian. You’re not going to be a Christian that is reaching your highest potential if you’re living separate from other believers.

The Holy Spirit comes to convict the lost and those who need Christ. One of the first things that comes into your heart when the Holy Spirit enters you, is you begin to have a burden for, a concern for, and a love for people who are lost. You want them to have what you have, right? When you got saved, didn’t you wanna tell everybody? That Jesus could forgive them and save them and, “Man! This is awesome! You need Jesus Christ!” If you find that you have no desire or interest to share the gospel with other people then perhaps you need to ask yourself, “Do I have the Spirit of God living in me?” The Holy Spirit is the spirit of intercession, and when you have the Holy Spirit guess what else happens to you? You pray for other people, you are caring about other people, you have love for other people, and you intercede in prayer.

You might also add that the Holy Spirit causes us to sing songs of worship and praise and joy. Ephesians 5:18 is a classic passage where Paul commands Christians to be filled with the Spirit. He says this, “And be not drunk with wine, wherein is excess; but…,” contrast, “…be filled with the Spirit.” The first thing it goes on to say that will happen when you’re filled with the Holy Spirit, “Speaking to yourselves in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody in your heart to the Lord.” There you have it. A Spirit-filled Christian is a singing Christian. I know when I say that forcefully some of you say, “Well, I don’t really like to sing. You’re making me feel bad, Pastor John.” Sorry, I’m not trying to make you feel bad. I didn’t pray all day, “Lord, help me to say things that make people feel bad.” Do you know what happened to me? I’ll just share what happened to me. When I got saved? I started singing! I started singing! When I told my mom and dad I wanted to go to church, guess what I did when I got to church? I opened that hymnal and I sang from my heart to the Lord. It was like, “Wow! I know I’m saved!”

A.W. Tozer says the two most important books in the life of the Christian are the Bible and a hymnal. We’ve kind of lost, in the contemporary church today, sadly, we’ve lost hymnals, and the songs are so rich and so full of doctrine and such great content. I’m thankful that I did grow up in church listening to all the hymns sung my whole life, and they’re ingrained in my mind. The other day I just broke forth in some beautiful hymns, and I was singing and worshipping the Lord. What an awesome thing that is! Do you know when the Holy Spirit is in your heart, you know what a life in the Spirit is? You have a song in your heart. You sing in the shower, which is a good place to sing, your voice kinda sounds good in there. It echoes around, and you can use the nozzle as a microphone. You sing in the car, sing on a walk, sing on a bike ride, sing to the Lord, worshipping the Lord. Someone said, “Joy is the flag flown high from the castle of my heart when the King is in residence there.” Not only do you know you have the Holy Spirit, but you know the Holy Spirit has you when there’s a song in your heart. You show me a singing church, I’ll show you a Spirit-filled church. You show me a church that doesn’t like to sing, and they just sit there…how can you say the Holy Spirit’s in you? If the Holy Spirit is in you then you’re going to be singing one to another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, and you’re going to be singing making melody in your hearts to the Lord. What an awesome thing that is!

As I pointed out, He’s called the Spirit of Christ. Notice in verse 10, it’s the Holy Spirit that brings Christ to us. It’s the Holy Spirit that produces Christlikeness in us and through us, but now after affirming that we have the Holy Spirit in us, the distinguishing mark of the Christian, Paul goes on to give us two consequences of this indwelling. I want you to notice verses 10-11. Verse 10 starts with, “And if,” and verse 11 starts with, “But if.” These are two consequences of the Spirit-filled life. Look at verse 10. “And if Christ be in you, the body is dead because of sin; but the Spirit is life because of righteousness.” So that old sinful nature is dead. It is katargeo, it’s rendered inoperative, Romans 6. It’s put out of business. So the outward man is perishing, but the inward man is being renewed day by day. Our bodies are still unredeemed. There is no guarantee in the Bible that as a Christian, having the Holy Spirit, that you will have perfect health until you get a new body. We’re going to see that in just a second. Remember, salvation has a past, present, and future tense. I’ve been saved, I’m being saved, I will be saved. I’m justified, sanctified, glorified. Until you’re glorified, you will not have a perfect body. I know some of you guys that go to the gym think you have a bad bod. You just wait. Time is not on your side. If you don’t believe me, go home tonight and find a picture of yourself from 30 years ago. Look at it and weep. One day, we’re going to be resurrected, and we’re going to get new bodies, but right now, according to the flesh, he says in verse 10, “…the body is dead because of sin; but the Spirit is life because of righteousness.” That’s imputed righteousness that’s given to us by faith in Jesus Christ. And then, notice in verse 11, “But if the Spirit of him that raised up Jesus from the dead…,” so the Holy Spirit is the person of the Godhead who raised Jesus from the dead, if He “…dwell in you, he that raised up Christ from the dead shall also quicken…,” or make alive, “…your mortal bodies…,” and here it is your physical body, “…by his Spirit that dwelleth in you.”

Did you know that the Holy Spirit’s presence in the life of the believer, in your physical body, is a guarantee of your resurrection. It’s a guarantee of your salvation, it’s a guarantee of your future resurrection, and it’s a foretaste of your inheritance. The Holy Spirit is the downpayment of what is going to come, that is, the glory that’s yours in heaven. So, if you were born again, and the Holy Spirit lives in you, that’s a guarantee that you’re going to go to heaven, that’s a guarantee that you’re going to have a new body, that’s a guarantee that you’re going to be resurrected from the dead. I mean that’s a reason for shouting, “Hallelujah! God’s going to give me a new body just like Christ was risen from the dead.”

He closes in verses 12-13 by summarizing, again, that there is no obligation on the believer’s part to obey the dictates of the flesh. “Therefore…,” here’s the conclusion, “…we are debtors, not to the flesh, to live after the flesh.” What is Paul saying? He’s saying that you don’t owe the flesh anything. We’re not obligated to fulfill the lusts, the desires, or the dictates of the flesh. And then notice verse 13 in closing. He says, “For if ye live after the flesh, ye shall die: but if ye through the Spirit do mortify…,” or put to death, “…the deeds of the body, ye shall live.” Remember in Romans 6 we believed, we know, and we reckon. That’s what it means to put to death the deeds of the body. It means to reckon that your old sinful life was crucified with Christ, it was buried and then you came out of the grave, and now you walk in newness of life. It’s that same concept of being identified with Christ. Not only am I justified, but now I have sanctification. My old life is dead, and it’s gone and I can walk in newness of life. Two things, my mind is controlled by the Spirit and my body, or flesh, of sin is mortified. It’s put to death. It’s rendered inoperative. Notice the contrast, in the flesh or in the Spirit. Death or life? War with God or peace with God? Pleasing self or pleasing God? Again, Jesus said it like this. He said, “If you seek to find your life you will lose it, but if you lose your life for My sake and the gospel you will…,” what? Find it.

If you’re here tonight, you’re here right now and you’re not a Christian, you’re in the flesh, and you will follow the dictates of the flesh. What do I want? What do I need? What’s good for me? What makes me feel good? How do I want to live? What pleases me? What makes me happy? What satisfies me? But, if you’re a Christian, you’ve died to self and you have mortified the deeds of the flesh, and now you live a life that lives to be pleasing to God. What does God want? How can I honor Him in my thoughts, words, my actions, my deeds? My life is no longer mine. My body is the temple of the Holy Spirit. I belong to God. I want to glorify God in my body which is His.

Are you saved? Do you have the Holy Spirit? Then, walk in the Spirit and you’ll not fulfill the deeds of the flesh. But, if you’re not a Christian, there’s nothing that you can do to please God. God loves you, and He sent His Son to die on the cross for you. When Jesus was baptized, the Father said, “This is My beloved Son in whom My soul is delighting, in whom I am well pleased.” Then, He went to the cross and died for you. He paid for your sins. He was buried and rose again from the dead. If you’ll come to Jesus tonight, you say, “Jesus, I need You to forgive me. I need You to come into my heart and make me Your child. I want the Holy Spirit. I want that peace. I want that joy. I wanna come out of a life of selfishness and sin and fear and guilt and shame and darkness, and I want to come into the light. I want to walk in the liberty, I want to be free from sin’s penalty, and I want to be free from sin’s power. I want to have the prospect and the hope of one day that when I die I will be with You in heaven.” If you’re not a Christian tonight, Jesus can come into your heart. He can forgive your sins, and He can give you eternal life. Let’s bow our heads in a word of prayer.