Vandenburg, Leonard: Romans 8 v 1-9

Oops, that's pretty loud. Now, this morning, um, we're gonna look in the book of Romans, and I'm gonna pick up on the book of Revelation another time, but I want to have a few messages on the Romans chapter eight. Romans chapter eight. And I think I'll, I'll, of course, I won't be able to speak on the whole chapter this morning, but I'll continue tonight where we left off. But I, I am going to read the whole chapter because I believe that what the Bible says is more important than anything I can say about it. So, so Romans eight, and we'll start at verse one. There is therefore now no condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus, who do not walk according to the flesh, but according to the Spirit. For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus has made me free from the law of sin and death. For what the law could not do, in that it was weak through the flesh, God did by sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh on account of sin, he condemned sin in the flesh. That the righteous requirement of the law might be fulfilled in us who do not walk according to the flesh, but according to the Spirit. For those who live according to the flesh set their minds on the things of the flesh, but those who live according to the Spirit, the things of the Spirit. For to be carnally minded is death, but to be spiritually minded is life and peace. Because the carnal mind is enmity against God, for it is not subject to the law of God, nor indeed can be. So then, those who are in the flesh cannot please God. But you are not in the flesh, but in the Spirit. If indeed the Spirit of God dwells in you. Now, if anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ, he is not his. And if Christ is in you, the body is dead because of sin, but the Spirit is life because of righteousness. But if the Spirit of him who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, he who raised Christ from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through his spirit who dwells in you. Therefore, brethren, we are debtors, not to the flesh, to live according to the flesh. For if you live according to the flesh, you will die, but if by the spirit you put to death the deeds of the body, you will live. For as many as are led by the spirit of God, these are sons of God. For you did not receive the spirit of bondage again to fear, but you received the spirit of adoption by whom we cry out, Abba, Father. The Spirit himself bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God, and if children, then heirs, heirs of God and joint heirs with Christ. If indeed we suffer with him, that we may also be glorified together. For I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory which shall be revealed in us. For the earnest expectation of the creation eagerly waits for the revealing of the sons of God. For the creation was subjected to futility, not willingly, but because of him who subjected it in hope. Because the creation itself also will be delivered from the bondage of corruption into the glorious liberty of the children of God. For we know that the whole creation groans and labors with birth pangs together until now. Not only that, but we also, who have the first fruits of the Spirit, even we ourselves groan within ourselves, eagerly waiting for the adoption, the redemption of our body. For we were saved in this hope, but hope that is seen is not hope. For why does one still hope for what he sees? But if we hope for what we do not see, we eagerly wait for it with perseverance. Likewise, the Spirit also helps in our weaknesses. For we do not know what we should pray for as we ought, but the Spirit himself makes intercession for us with groanings which cannot be uttered. Now he who searches the hearts knows what the mind of the Spirit is, because he makes intercession for the saints according to the will of God. And we know that all things work together for good to those who love God, to those who are the called according to his purpose. For whom he foreknew, he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son, that he might be the firstborn among many brethren. Moreover, whom he predestined, these he also called. Whom he called, these he also justified, and whom he justified, these he also glorified. What then shall we say to these things? If God is for us, who can be against us? He who did not spare his own son, but delivered him up for us all, how shall he not with him also freely give us all things? Who shall bring a charge against God's elect? It is God who justifies. Who is he who condemns? It is Christ who died, and furthermore is also risen, who is even at the right hand of God, who also makes intercession for us. Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword? As it is written, for your sake we are killed all day long. We are accounted as sheep for the slaughter. Yet in all these things, we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. For I am persuaded that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor things present, nor things to come, nor height, nor depth, nor any other created thing shall be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus, our Lord. We'll ask God's blessing. Father, we thank you for your precious word. We thank you for the marvelous truth in these, in this tremendous chapter, Romans eight. And Father, we pray that you may speak through your word, through your Holy Spirit, in each of our hearts this morning. We pray for those here who are not saved, who are not in Christ, who are still in their sins. And we pray, Father, that you may use your word and speak to them too, and convict them of sin and bring them to yourself, to the Lord Jesus. Father, we pray for this, and we pray that your name may be glorified and that we all may be edified here this morning. We ask you these things and give you thanks in the name of the Lord Jesus. Amen. Now, it's always good to look a little bit at the context, and um, of course, most of us are familiar with Romans, at least a little bit. Now, Romans, the big subject in the Romans is the righteousness of God. It's number- mentioned quite a few times. I used to know how many times, I forgot, and over twenty, I think, I believe it is. But you can basically divide the book, chapter one to seventeen, uh, 1 to it's it's kind of an introduction, the subject of the book. And then verse eighteen of chapter one till chapter three verse twenty is the righteousness of God in pronouncing judgment on sin. The righteousness of God in pronouncing judgment on sin. God is still a righteous God. He hasn't changed. He's holy. He's also love, but he's also a holy God. And then in chapter three verse twenty one to chapter five verse eleven, you find the righteousness of God in justifying the believer in the Lord Jesus Christ. The subject is the forgiveness of sins, justification by faith. Christ died for me. He died for us, to save us from our sins. So the righteousness of God in justifying the believer in the Lord Jesus Christ. But then in chapter five verse twelve to the end of chapter eight, which we read today, we find there the righteousness of God in delivering the believer who is identified with the Lord Jesus. You see, when you first get saved, you find out you have a bigger problem than just the things you did. You actually have a deeper problem. It's not just that you committed sins, but we have the sin nature. We have sin dwelling in us because when we first get saved, we want to live the Christian life, and then we soon find out we fail. We cannot do it in our own strength. And so there's a deeper problem with mankind, with us, with me, and that is the sin nature. And so God not only deals with our sins, but also with our sin, our sin problem. And so he wants to deliver us from that sin problem. And so here we have come to chapter eight, and uh, that's perhaps the highlight, the the climax of this book, especially the last little portion that we read today. And you can basically divide this chapter. I kind of divided it from verse one to eleven. I kind of stayed with the, with the, the way the New King James Version has divided it. Verse one to eleven is the indwelling of the Spirit. That's one keyword in this chapter. It's the Holy Spirit. The Spirit is mentioned twenty one times, and at least seventeen times of those twenty one is very clearly speaking about the Holy Spirit, the Spirit of God. So verses one to eleven, the indwelling of the Spirit. Verses twelve to seventeen, the guidance and witness of the Spirit. Verse eighteen to thirty is the longings of the Spirit, the longings of the Spirit. And then the last section, verse thirty one to verse thirty nine, is the eternal security and assurance we have in the Lord Jesus Christ. Nothing can separate us. And, um, if there's one thing I really want to emphasize this morning, I actually was intending to bring a little illustration, I forgot, so I'll bring it tonight. Um, and that is the fact, I believe, that many Christians are not enjoying enough and not realizing enough, perhaps have not fully experienced enough practically. But that is this fact, what we see in verse one, that there is no condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus, who do not walk according to the flesh, but according to the Spirit. Actually, in Greek, the first word in this verse is no. No therefore condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus. No condemnation. See, I believe that a lot of believers, they have come to chapter five, They have experienced the blessing of chapter five of Romans, which basically says, therefore, having been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ. Now, some of you might not even have experienced that. Maybe you're here this morning and you do not know the Lord Jesus. You've never, you've never realized that, that what is said in the first few chapters, that, that God has pronounced judgment on your sin. The problem is not just that we have done a few bad things and, you know, we just need to be, uh, uh, fit- fitted, you know, fixed up a little bit and go on our way and, you know, maybe go to church a few times and then feel a little better about yourself. That- that's not salvation. You know, the salvation last week, uh, Danny Pattison and I, we were talking to a man, and the man said, you know, you Christians go around and making feeling everybody guilty. Yeah. Well, I said, if I said if some- somebody breaks into your house, you want them to feel guilty about it? Well, yeah. Well, I said the- the question is not whether you feel guilty, but whether we are guilty. And God says we are guilty. All have sinned and come short of the glory of God. And, and so God, see, this is what we told him. We told him, see, this is the marvelous thing about the gospel. God, in no uncertain terms, says very clearly that you and I are sinners. We are, we have come short of the glory of God. We have not fulfilled the law. We have not fulfilled God's demands. He is very clear. He pronounces judgment on the sinner, not hiding it in any way. But then he also, in a full way, he not only pronounces judgment on the sinner, but he has a provision to save us from our sins, and he has given the Lord Jesus Christ to save us from our sins, and he gives a full and free salvation to anyone who will bow the knee to him in repentance and accept the Lord Jesus Christ by faith. And if you're here today, you're not saved, and the Lord Jesus invites you to come to him, to accept his sacrifice on your behalf, that you might be saved. And if you say, I deserve to die on that cross, but Jesus died for me. And if you do that, if you come to him and accept that for yourself by faith, then God says you have eternal life. You say that's too simple. Well, yes, this might be simple. It wasn't simple for the Lord Jesus. See, the Bible says, except ye be converted and become like little children, ye shall not enter the kingdom of God. This is the problem. People don't want to become like a little child. They want to come up with all their good works and all their so-called wisdom and their smarts and everything else. But God says, you have to come like a little child. Well, most of us here know the Lord Jesus Christ as our Savior, and so I think actually these chapters kind of describe in some ways how a Christian might experience the life after salvation, after he's saved. He, you know, many of us, when we got saved, we really want to serve the Lord. And that- that's what you find in chapter six. You know, we want to be, we have become servants of- of God. And then we get all frustrated because we still find out that we are still sinners, and we try to be very legalistic. A lot of Christians, when they first get saved, are very legalistic. They're very clear-cut, they're they're very straight-laced and very black and white, and and then some things are very black and white, that's true, but they want to serve the Lord in the flesh. And so we... we fail and we fall flat on our faces, as it were. And so then we find that in chapter seven, uh, in chapter six and seven, that we are freed from sin. We're freed from sin because we have died with Christ, and it is, the Christian life is not being lived by putting yourself under the law of God. It doesn't work that way. The only thing the law can do is condemn you. The law says, cursed is everyone who doesn't, um, keep the whole law. I'll curse you, the law says. The law cannot give life. And so then we find this question of despair in chapter seven, verse twenty four. Oh, wretched man that I am, who will deliver me from this body of death? And then Paul says, I thank God through Jesus Christ, our Lord. And then in chapter eight, and this is where we're looking today, there we find then that the key to the Christian life is the Holy Spirit. You see, even after you get saved, you do not have in yourself the possibility or the ability to live for the Lord Jesus Christ, for God, to live an a life that is honoring him. You cannot do it in your own strength. And so the first thing we need to realize is our position as believers in the Lord Jesus Christ. There is no condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus. And when God looks to the Lord Jesus Christ, he sees perfection. He is completely delighted in him. He says, this is my beloved son in whom I'm well pleased. And so if I am in him and God looks to me, he first sees Christ. See, I intended to bring a little illustration, but you have to come back tonight, and I'll, I'll show you soon. And, um, and so then the f- the second part of verse one, it says, who do not walk according to the flesh, but according to the Spirit. That is a description of those who are saved. They normally, Christians normally, walk according to the Spirit, not according to the flesh. People that are not saved walk according to the flesh. People that are saved walk according to the spirit. Now, verse two mentions two laws. Now, the idea here is a principle. The word law here is not the Old Testament law, it's the idea of principle, just like we say the law of gravity. And I heard an illustration one time, and I haven't heard a better e- a better explanation than that illustration, so I'm going to give you that illustration. There's two laws here. One law is the law of the spirit of life in Christ Jesus, and the other law is the law of sin and death. So let's say the principle of the spirit of life in Christ Jesus versus the principle of sin and death. If you take a balloon and you put air in it, the law of that balloon is that it will always sink to the floor, will always go down to the floor. You can throw it up, but the law of gravity will eventually make it go down. That's like the law of sin and death. You see, you, you, you can be here and you're not saved. You can try to, to live your life for God, but if you do not have the spirit of God, if you're, if you're not a Christian, you do not have that life principle in you, the Holy Spirit, to make you able to rise for God. You just don't have it. You need to be born again by the Spirit of God. Now you take that balloon, and you take the air out, and you put helium into it. Now the com- now that balloon has a completely different principle. That balloon will naturally want to rise. Oh, you can be tied down. If you have that balloon on the floor with air, you can actually take that balloon of helium, with helium, set it beside it, and tie it down, and it will look just like the same, and so- like the the b- the balloon with air. And sometimes a believer practically can look the same like an unbeliever. That can happen. But if he's, if he is loosed of all the sins that bind him down and all the sh- the things that keep him away from the Lord, the natural principle in his life is that he will rise. And so it is with the Christian life. And so you need to be saved in order to be able to be ruled by that principle in your life, the spirit, the law of the spirit of life in Christ Jesus. There's something in us as believers that makes us want to live for the Lord. Yes, we have failings. Yes, we, we, we, we are not what we should be. We can always do better practically, but I believe it's very important to realize the position we have in the Lord Jesus Christ. Our position in Christ does not depend on our works. Just like salvation is free, and it's a gift, not of works, lest any man should boast. So it is with the Christian life. Living the Christian life is through the Spirit of God. Only the Lord Jesus can live the Christian life in me. You look at Galatians two verse twenty and you'll see that. Then it says in verse three, um, and that's, uh, perhaps a bit of a difficult verse, but I'll try to go through it. I don't have to get finished to a certain verse, you know, I'm just going to stop wherever I, when the clock hits twelve, that's it, and I'll just continue the next time, so I, I don't have to feel rushed, you know? Um, for what the law could not do, what is it what the law could not do? He couldn't make us free. The law could not deliver me from this body of death. That is really what is said in chapter seven. That's the question, the rhetorical question. Who will deliver me from this body of death? Well, not the law. That's very obvious from chapter seven. The law could not give me deliverance from sin. But what the law could not do, in that it was weak through the flesh. Well, you say the law is not weak. No, the law is strong. The law is good, is holy, is perfect. Why then is the w- law weak? It is weak because it demands works of obedience, and it's weak because of, of us. It's like saying, if you have another illustration, if you have a bird that is, um, trapped by a cat. No, if you have a mouse that is trapped by a cat, a mouse that is trapped by a cat, and let's say you could speak to the mouse and you say, fly away. That's a strong statement. That's what the law says to us. Fly away. But that's no message to a mouse because mice can't fly. So you need to be a mouse to be able, you need to be a bird to be able to fly away, but a mi- a mouse can't fly. And so it's a strong statement to say, fly away, but it is weak because of the weakness of the mouse. The mouse cannot fly away. And so it is here. For what the law could not do, in that it was weak through the flesh. God did. Isn't that amazing? God did. You know, God could have left us in our sins, and he could have sent us to hell. Romans could have stopped at chapter three. bang, and God would have, would have been perfectly righteous. Perfectly righteous. But God didn't leave us here. God did, by sending his own son. You ever think about it? That God sent his own son for you, for me. He did it that he might save you and me. And how did he send him? He could have sent him as a king. He could have sent him as a, as a s- you know, something like an angel. No, he didn't do that. God sent his own son in the likeness of sinful flesh. He came as close to us as would be possible. Sin apart. Notice the words, it says, in the likeness of sinful flesh. It doesn't say God did by sending his own son in sinful flesh. You have to read your Bible carefully. It says in the likeness of sinful flesh. His body looked like our body. If you had seen him, it says in Isaiah, he has no form or comeliness that we should have desired him. The Lord Jesus, he's often depicted with a halo above his head in, in paintings, but that's not what it was. He had moral perfection, and people needed to watch him for a while, and they would see if they had an eye of faith that he was morally perfect. But his body was like ours, sin apart, having nothing to do with sin. Now, it is not only that the Lord Jesus did not sin. I think any Orthodox Christian is very clear on this, that from the scriptures that the Lord Jesus did not sin. He knew no sin, and in him is no sin. But it goes a little further than this. See, I've understand that there are a number of believers that think the Lord Jesus could have sinned. Let me just say this. If the Lord Jesus could have sinned, he would have been no more than Adam before the fall. Because Adam, before the fall, before Genesis three, he had the ability to sin because he could make choices, and he al- and he had the ability to not sin. So if the Lord Jesus was able to sin, he would be no more than innocent Adam. And that means that he could never save us. The Lord Jesus is more than innocent Adam. Yes, he sure was innocent. The Lord Jesus is God manifest in the flesh. So if you say that the Lord Jesus could have sinned, then you're actually saying that God could have sinned. And of course, that's not possible. The Lord Jesus came in the likeness of sinful flesh. He came as close to us as is possible, but he never sinned. He was conceived by the Holy Spirit. Therefore also that one that shall be born of you shall be called the Son of God. The Lord Jesus was the eternal Son because he was the e- from all eternity. But he was also the eternal, he was also the Son of God in his, at his birth, in his incarnation, because he was conceived of the Holy Spirit. Perfectly man, perfectly human, all in one person. You cannot divide it. You cannot say, well, he could sin as a man, but he couldn't sin as God. The Bible doesn't make those divisions of, uh, of the person of the Lord Jesus. Yes, there is a distinction, but you cannot divide the two natures of the Lord Jesus. And so it's very important to be clear about this, that the Lord Jesus, the perfect sin offering. Yes, he was tempted, but this is another subject. I don't want to get into this. I'm actually doing a little study on this, but, um, the Lord Jesus is that perfect sin offering. He could not sin, and he did not sin. And so then it says on in, um, verse three, God did by sending his own son in the likeness of sinful flesh on account of sin or for sin, that is, that he might become the sin offering. It was for sin, to deal with sin, that the Lord Jesus came. That's why he came, that he might become the sin offering. When it comes to taking away our sins, the di- the things that we did, we can learn lessons from the offerings from the Old Testament, and we see there the Lord Jesus as the trespass offering. Leviticus six. And, but when it comes to the sin problem, the sin nature, then the Lord Jesus for us is the sin offering. If you want to do a little study on that, you can, and you find it all in the first few chapters of Leviticus. And so sins are being punished in the Lord, were punished in the Lord Jesus, but sin, without the S on the end, is condemned in the flesh, that is condemned, was condemned in the flesh of the Lord Jesus. He came as close to us as possible, without becoming in any way contaminated with sin, so that he might be able to become the sin offering for us. And then we notice that in verse four, that it says that the righteous requirement of the law might be fulfilled in us who do not walk according to the flesh, but according to the Spirit. Now this can kinda, this might arrest your mind a little bit, because suddenly we find here again about the fulfillment of the law. Because if you read chapter seven, it says, well, you know, there's, you can't keep the law, and it's impossible to live the Christian life wi- by doing the law and living under the law. But now again, we, it it talks about the fulfillment of the law in us. Does that mean that we now have to be back in the law? No. It doesn't say that the law might be fulfilled by us. It says in us. That is, you see, the Bible says love in chapter thirteen of Romans, love is the fulfillment of the law. See, what the Spirit of God who dwells in us believers does, like we read in Galatians five, for the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, long suffering, kindness, goodness, faith, uh, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control. Against such there is no law. This is what the Spirit of God wants to do in us. He wants to produce these virtues in us. And when you do that, you're actually fulfilling the law. That is, we are not fulfilling the law, but the law is being fulfilled in us. Fulfilled in us. But it is not by being put under a bondage of the law. See, I, I believe that the word law has different meanings in scripture. In here, the word law, as for example in chapter seven, has more of a negative meaning. That is, it is a system that demands works of obedience. Obedience to law. Do this, and if you don't do it, I'll curse you. That's what the law says. And it demands it as a basis for justification. Well, we have learned that that is impossible because we are unable to meet those standards, and therefore the law condemns us. But the word law, to a Jew, meant a lot more than that. The law, the word law in the Old Testament in Hebrew is with the word Torah, and it means instruction. For example, if you read Psalm one nineteen, it's all about the law, about the in the word of God. So there's also a positive meaning of the word law. It is really God's revelation of his will for the born-again believer. Essentially, it is the commandment of love. Essentially, the commandment of love. The law could be, the Lord Jesus was asked, what is the first and greatest commandment? You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your mind, with all your strength. This is the first and greatest commandment, and the second is like unto it, you shall love your neighbor as yourself. That is the whole law summed up in two little statements. So love is the fulfillment of the law, and this is what the Holy Spirit wants to do in our lives. He wants to glorify God. If we were able to keep the law, which we're not, we would glorify God. But we are not able, so the Holy Spirit is dwelling in us, and he wants to produce fruit in us, the fruit of the Spirit, and that is really the same as what the, the law is asking us to do. And so we are not under the law, we're under grace. But the law is really, in some ways, it's the Lord Jesus himself, because the Lord Jesus is the word. He is the true Torah, the instruction. He is the expression of God himself. The expression of God himself. Think of these words in Psalm forty. I delight to do thy will, O my God. Thy law is within my heart. Your law is within my heart. Oh, how I love thy law. Psalm 119. So the law is not just a negative do's and don'ts and thou shalt and thou shalt not. That is certainly the one side of the law, but the other side is, it's the positive revelation of God, of his will, essentially being revealed in the Lord Jesus Christ. Now just turn back to Romans three and I'll, I'll just show you, uh, from a few verses, actually, uh, some of these verses were read this morning by, uh, Dave Boisvert. And you'll see immediately, um, some different aspects of the law. Verse nineteen, it says, now we know that whatever the law says. What's that? That's the Old Testament. So in some ways, the law is the Old Testament. It says to those who are under the law, that is, under the jurisdiction of the covenant agreement of God with Israel. Just like we say we're under the law of Canada. We're subject to the law of Canada. So that Israel was under the jurisdiction of the Mosaic law, of the law given through Moses. That every mouth may be stopped and all the world may become guilty before God. Verse twenty, Therefore, by the deeds of the law, and here it's the way we're more familiar with, by the commandments, by the, um, um, by the rules and regulations that the Mosaic code requires, by those rules and regulations, no one will be justified in his sight, for by the law, it's the same meaning, by the same rules and regulations, is the knowledge of sin. It's all different aspects of that Mosaic law. Then notice in verse twenty one. but now the righteousness of God apart from the law, that is, just like we say when you go to the United States, you're outside the law of Canada, you're outside the boundaries of the law. So apart from the boundaries of that what the law, um, of the law of God. And then it says, apart from that law, the righteousness of God is revealed, being witnessed by the law and the prophets. And here the word law, the law and the prophets, is always understood as the first five books of the Bible. The Pentateuch, the books of Moses, Genesis to Deuteronomy, and then the prophets. It's like Isaiah, Jeremiah, and so on, and then you have another part which is also mentioned in Luke twenty four, the law, the Psalms, and the prophets. That's how the Jews divide the Old Testament. And so the word law can have different meanings. We also saw that in verse two, there the word law has nothing to do with the Mosaic law. It's the principle. It's like the law of gravity. And so you, when you read the word law, you have to look at the context in, in which you find it. A text without context is a pretext. Every text has a context, and it's very important to read the Bible in its context. Now, then in verse, um, four again, it says the similar statement as in verse one, who do not le- walk according to the flesh, but according to the spirit. For those who live according to the flesh set their minds on the things of the flesh. That's really the life of the unbeliever. The unbeliever sets his mind on the things of the flesh. The unbeliever gets out of bed in the morning, and he never thinks, how can I glorify God today? That's not how he thinks. And some believers don't think like that either. And I often don't think like that either. Because my, I still have the flesh. And so, but if we walk according to the spirit, this is how we generally will want to live. We want to glorify God. But an unbeliever sets his mind on the things of the flesh. How I can be number one today, how I can see myself praised, and how I can make some more money and so on, and it's all about himself. Yeah, that's, that's the way of the world. But those who live according to the Spirit, that's Christians, the things of the Spirit. We s- we find a description in this chapter. This is the Christian life, according to God's mind, and that is the description of the unbeliever. One person lives according to the Spirit, the other person lives according to the flesh. Verse six says, for to be carnally minded is death. See, that way of the unbeliever le- leads to death, for the wages of sin is death. And I want to say this. If you're a Christian and you decide to go on a pathway leading away from God, and you know it's disobedience against God, that end of that road is not a happy end. Not saying if you're saved that you will end in hell. No. But you can, you can sin, and you can repent of your sin, but you'll still have to live with the consequences of what you did. Very serious thing. No matter if everybody else does wrong, you and I should still do what is right. It doesn't matter if everybody else does wrong, everybody goes left, and the right is the way, is the right way, then we should go right. There's no, if somebody else is doing wrong, it's not excuse for us to do what is wrong. We gotta do what is right. The Lord Jesus lived in a world that was completely away from God. He was the only one that completely did the will of God. He always did what was right, even if it cost him his life. And so we find then, because the carnal mind is enmity against God. Wow. That's hard to accept, eh? It's one thing to accept that we have sinned, it's another thing to accept that our minds, our carnal mind as unbelievers, is hostile against God. That's a hard pill to swallow for a lot of people. Why? Because it is not subject to the law of God, and it cannot be. It's something not possible, that's very clear. And then this statement, and I want you to understand this today. So then, those who are in the flesh cannot please God. An unbeliever, he can do good works, he can do, uh, like many good things, at least in the eyes of man, he can do, uh, give all his money away, he can do, be a friendly person, as most, a lot of unbelievers are very, very friendly people. But in the sight of God, you cannot please God. See, we measure good works by what it, by the response of other people. But when it comes to the book of Romans, it's a question of you bu- of your relationship before God. It is not before other people. It's a question of where you stand before God. And God says that he is holy, and he cannot look on one sin. And so, it says here, those who are in the flesh cannot please God. There is nothing you can do to save yourselves, to please God, to score brownie points with God, to, to make it so that God will just, oh man, Johnny down, look what he did there. I'll just, just give him a check mark. He'll get a few brownie points. It's not gonna happen. God, you're se- you're separated from God through sin, and you cannot please God if you're in the flesh. You need to be saved. Well, verse nine says, but you are not in the flesh, but in the spirit. That is, you believers are not in the flesh, but if in the spirit, if indeed or since the spirit of God dwells in you. Now, if anyone does not have the spirit of Christ, he is not. Wow. So there's two kinds of people here today. We can say it in different words, but I'm going to say this way. There's people that have the Holy Spirit indwelling in them. Those are Christians, those are saved. And there are those who do not have the Holy Spirit, and they are not saved, they're unbelievers. Just, uh, for one v- just one verse in Ephesians one. You don't have to look it up if you don't want to, but... Ephesians one verse thirteen says, in him, that is in Christ, you also trusted after you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation, in whom also, having believed, you were sealed with the Holy Spirit of promise. So you receive the Holy Spirit when you believe. And also Galatians three verse two says, did you receive the Spirit of God by the works of the law or by the hearing of faith? And the answer is very obvious in the context. You receive the Holy Spirit by the hearing of faith. And so, if you're here, you're saved, and then you have the Holy Spirit, and that's a tremendous blessing. Do we ever think about it? Now, the Holy Spirit is not to gl- here to glorify himself, he's to glorify the Lord Jesus. And we'll look a bit further in that tonight, what that actually means. And so, um, it says then in verse ten, and if Christ is in you, the body is dead because of sin, but the spirit is life because of righteousness. Now my time is up, I'll just stop here, so we'll start tonight at verse ten. and uh, someday we'll finish it at the end of the chapter, so. Let us pray. Father, we thank you for the Lord Jesus. We thank you, Father, that he came so close to us that he, he died for us, that he became the sin offering, that he, he, he emptied himself, he, Father, he, he left the, the glory of heaven, and he was born in poverty, and he rubbed shoulders with people that didn't like him, and people that were sinners, and people that were seeking his life to kill him. But Father, we thank you that in spite of all that, he still did what was good. And Father, he went, going to the cross, he fulfilled your will. He, he glorified you in every step. Father, we pray for someone here today who perhaps is not saved. We pray that they too may realize that you love them, but that you are also a righteous God, and that you have found a righteous basis to justify sinners in the work of the Lord Jesus. Father, we pray that you may work here and use your word today, and that we as believers may, um... realize what our position is in the Lord Jesus, and that we may walk according to the f- to the Spirit, practically in our lives every day, have a, have a true desire to honor and glorify you. Father, we pray that you may also give us insight in your word, that we may understand your word, and that we may apply it in our lives. Father, we ask you these things and give you thanks in the name of the Lord Jesus.