A Matter of Life and Death

We have been looking together at Romans chapter 8, and I'd like us to turn there, and I'll be reading verses 5 through 17. 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.

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, neither indeed can be.

So then they that are in the flesh cannot please God. 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. And if Christ be in you, the body is dead because of sin, but the Spirit is life because of righteousness. 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 give life to your mortal bodies by his Spirit that dwelleth in you.

Therefore, brethren, we are debtors not to the flesh to live after the flesh. For if ye live after the flesh ye shall die. But if ye through the Spirit do put to death the deeds of the body, ye shall live.

For as many as are led by the Spirit of God, they are the sons of God. For ye have not received the spirit of bondage again to fear, but ye have received the spirit of adoption whereby we cry, Abba, Father. The Spirit himself beareth witness with our spirit that we are the children of God.

And if children, then heirs—heirs of God and joint-heirs with Christ. If so be that we suffer with him, that we may be also glorified together. Paul is talking here about three levels of life.

And may the Lord help us to live on the highest level. What life does to us depends a great deal on what life finds in us. There isn't a person here today who at some time or another, and possibly this past week, has not had the painful experience of defeat.

We didn't do something that we should have done, or we did something that we shouldn't have done. And like most human beings, we know how to get out of it. We can blame our circumstances, or we can blame other people.

If you know enough Freudian psychology, you can blame your great-grandfather. But in our honest moments, when we look at ourselves, we realize that the real problem is on the inside. It's not the people about us or the circumstances around us.

It's the nature within us, isn't that right? We have a little thing down inside that the Bible calls flesh. And Paul is writing about this matter of flesh. By flesh he does not mean the body.

Your body is not sinful. Your body is neutral. I reach in my pocket and I pull out a pen.

This pen is neutral. With this pen I could write a check and help a missionary, or with this pen I could write a mean letter and break somebody's heart. It's not the pen's fault.

It's the hand and the heart using the pen. Your body is neutral. Either flesh is going to control the body, or the Spirit is going to control the body, the Holy Spirit.

And this is the thing Paul is writing about in Romans 8, verses 5 through 17. He is saying to me that the cause of my problems is this old nature that I was born with, that I inherited, and that you inherited. This thing the Bible calls the old man, or the flesh, or the old nature.

Now this raises the interesting question, what in the world are we going to do about this problem on the inside? We carry it around with us? We can move from Chicago to San Francisco and take the problem with us? What are we going to do about it? Book of Romans deals with this matter, and Romans 8 in particular, because Romans 8 is saying to us that the Holy Spirit who lives within can make us adequate for whatever may come to us. That's what he's saying. We have reviewed Romans chapter 8, and I've pointed out to you the four freedoms that are in this chapter.

In verses 1 through 4, the believer, the one who has trusted Jesus Christ, is free from judgment, no condemnation. That's a marvelous thing, to be able to look back and know that your sins and your iniquities he'll remember no more. The cleansing stream I see, I see, I plunge, and oh, it cleanseth me.

What stream is this? It's that fountain that the Lord Jesus Christ opened in Calvary to wash away sin. In verses 5 through 17, he says there's no defeat. We're free from defeat, no obligation to live to the flesh.

In verses 18 through 30, he says you're free from discouragement. You don't have to worry about circumstances around you, because God is guiding in every detail of life. Finally, in verses 31 through 39, he says you have freedom from fear.

You can look ahead and not be afraid, because God loves you and Christ is interceding for you. It's a marvelous thing to be a Christian. This chapter begins by saying you can look back, there's no condemnation, you have the righteousness of God.

It continues and says you can look within and there's no obligation. You don't have to live for the flesh because you have the Spirit of God. You can look around and there's no frustration about circumstances because you have the glory of God.

God is working everything out toward his glory, and you can look ahead and there's no separation because you have the love of God. I feel sorry for people who aren't saved. I don't know what they live for or what they live on or how they put up with the problems of life when they don't have the Lord Jesus Christ.

Focusing on chapter 8, verses 5 through 17, Paul is saying to us that the secret of victory over the flesh is the Holy Spirit of God. We must have a right relationship to the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit is a person.

The Holy Spirit is not an impersonal force like electricity or steam power or atomic energy. The Holy Spirit is a person, and when you trust Christ as your Savior, the Holy Spirit moves in. Oh, may I put it in this simple way? Becoming a Christian is not imitation, it's incarnation.

When you become a Christian, it's not by imitating the Lord Jesus, no, it's by incarnating the Lord Jesus, by receiving his life within in the person of the Holy Spirit. In these verses, Paul describes for us three possible relationships to the Holy Spirit. I'm wondering today what your relationship is to the Holy Spirit.

Relationship number one, the lowest relationship possible, is in verses 5 through 8, you have not the Spirit. The man he's talking about in verses 5 through 8 is the man who has not the Holy Spirit. And of course it says over here in verse 9, if any man have not the Spirit of Christ, he's none of his.

So here is the lowest possible level. Here is the lowest possible relationship. You have not the Spirit.

Now there are many people who interpret verses 5 through 8 as describing two kinds of Christians, but that's not what he's talking about. He's not saying that there is a spiritual Christian and there is a carnal Christian. He talks about that later on.

What he's saying in verses 5 through 8 is this. Here are two men. One is saved, he has the Holy Spirit.

The other is unsaved, he does not have the Holy Spirit. Now to look at these two men from the outside, you might not tell much difference. In fact it's possible that the fellow who does not have the Holy Spirit is better educated, richer, more successful as far as the world is concerned.

But God doesn't look at the outward appearance, God looks at the heart. And here stand these two men. Here is a Christian, he has the Holy Spirit.

Here is an unsaved man, he has not the Holy Spirit. And God X-rays these two men. And God says there's a contrast between these two men.

And he gives us these contrasts in verses 5 through 8. He says to begin with, this man who is lost, he is in the flesh. This man who is saved, he is in the Spirit. That means they live in two different atmospheres of life.

They are as different as night and day. You see, when you trust Jesus Christ as your Savior, the Holy Spirit comes to live within you. And when the Holy Spirit comes to live within you, he moves you into a whole new atmosphere, a whole new sphere of living.

Picture, if you will, a little country girl who is out working in the fields. And she is just a poor little country girl. And along comes a wealthy prince, and he falls in love with her, and he marries her.

And she is moved into a whole new atmosphere of living, from toiling to giving orders, from poverty to riches, from necessity to luxury. That's what Paul is saying here. He's saying if you don't have the Holy Spirit, you are living in the realm of the flesh.

Now, what is the flesh? It's the old nature you were born with. It's that thing that wants to drag you down into the deeds you don't want to do. Back in Galatians chapter 5, Paul talks about the works of the flesh.

And he names some of them. He names some of the awful sensual sins like fornication and adultery and dirty appetites. And he names some of the social sins like variance and arguing and strife and debates and family quarrels.

Flesh. Now, here's the first contrast. Having not the Spirit, what does that mean? It means you live in the sphere of flesh.

Whatever you do, you do by the energy of flesh. You don't have divine power to accomplish the things of life. There's a second contrast that he gives us here in verse 6. He says, look, if you're living in the flesh, you're carnally minded.

That's what you think about. And this leads to death. But if you're living in the Spirit, if you're saved, you are spiritually minded.

And this leads to life. Contrast number one, flesh, spirit. Contrast number two, death, life.

Now, it comes as a shock to some people to realize you can have a living death. There are people listening to my voice right now who are physically alive, spiritually dead. Now, my friend, you may be more alive physically than some of the saints of God who are here.

We have some dear saints of God here who are just living on borrowed time. That's all right. The Lord is the one who's taking care of it.

And you may look at them and say, he's saved. Look at me. We're not talking about physical life.

We're talking about spiritual life. Physical life lasts 70 years, 80 years, possibly more. Spiritual life lasts forever and ever and ever in glory.

And Paul is saying to me and to you, if you don't have the Holy Spirit, it means flesh and it means death. The wages of sin is death. Now, he gives us a third contrast in verses 6 and 7. He says, if you don't have the Holy Spirit, you're at war with God.

Notice, please, because the carnal mind, the fleshly mind, is enmity against God. In other words, the mind of the unsaved person living in the realm of flesh, leading to death, is at war with God. He does not think the way God thinks.

The prophet Isaiah said this. God looked down from heaven. He said, look, my thoughts are not your thoughts.

My ways are not your ways. Why? As high as the heavens are above the earth, my thoughts are far beyond your thoughts. God doesn't think the way men think.

You see, men have the idea that if you do good, you go to heaven. If you do bad, you go to hell. Men have the idea that if you do the best you can, you'll somehow make it.

God says, my thoughts aren't your thoughts. Nobody can do the best he can and nobody can make it on his own. You've got to be saved.

You've got to come through Jesus Christ, my son. But the unsaved man who is living in flesh, the unsaved man who is living in death, his mind is at war with God. But notice what it says about the believer.

To be carnally minded is death, but to be spiritually minded is life and peace. Isn't it marvelous to have peace of mind? Now, this contrast is so obvious nobody can miss it. Flesh, spirit.

Death, life. War, peace. I meet people all week long who are at war with God.

I don't know if they think they're going to win or not. I meet people who are bitter against God. Why did this happen to me? Why was I born this way? Why would this come to my home? I meet people who are fighting God.

What a tragedy it is to be living in flesh, to be living in death, and to be at war with God. How much better it is to be living in the Spirit, to be living in life, and to have peace with God. The fourth contrast is in verse 8. So then they that are in the flesh cannot please God.

I don't care what they do. They cannot please God. The spirit, we please God.

The flesh, we cannot please God. My friend, as you read through the Bible, you will find that God takes human nature and He stamps human nature with the negative. Whatever God says about flesh is negative.

They that are in the flesh cannot please God. I know that in me, that is, in my flesh dwelleth no good thing. Jesus said it is the spirit that gives life.

The flesh profits nothing. Now, you see, all of our world is built upon the glorifying of flesh, the trying to change flesh, the building up of flesh. Everything in this world is built on flesh.

That's why we Christians have such a rough time, because when we got saved, God moved us into a whole new sphere of existence, spirit. And the world's at war with God. We're at peace with God.

The world cannot please God. We seek to please Him through the Holy Spirit working in our lives. Now, my friend, if you are on this level, I would beseech you, give your heart to Jesus Christ and move to the next level, move into the second relationship.

The lowest relationship, the lowest level, you have not the spirit. The next level, you have the spirit. Notice what he says in verses 9 through 11.

But ye, ye Christians, 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's none of his. And if Christ be in you, the body is dead because of sin, but the spirit, and there it should be a small s. He's contrasting the outer man, the body, with the inner man, the spirit, where the Holy Spirit dwells.

And if Christ be in you, the body is dead because of sin, but the spirit is life because of righteousness. Now, here's the next level. Here's the second relationship.

You have the Holy Spirit. This is the mark of the Christian. Now, you ask the average person, how can you tell whether somebody is really saved? Oh, if he keeps the Ten Commandments.

Well, that leaves David out because he committed adultery. That leaves Abraham out because he lied about his wife. That leaves Moses out because he murdered a man.

That leaves Peter out because he bore false witness. Well, if he does the Sermon on the Mount, ever meet anybody who has. What is the mark of the believer? The Holy Spirit.

If any man have not the spirit of Christ, he's none of his. When you trust the Lord Jesus as your Savior, the Holy Spirit comes in. He's the seal.

He seals the transaction. Tis done, the great transaction's done. I am my Lord's and he is mine, sealed by the Spirit of God until the day of redemption.

And he gives us life. You see, whereas once I was living in the flesh, when I received the Holy Spirit, I move into a whole new sphere of living, the Spirit. Whereas once I was at war with God, now I'm at peace with God.

He gives me his Spirit within and the fruit of that Spirit is love and joy and peace. And so you move into a new relationship to the Holy Spirit. You have the Holy Spirit.

This is what he talks about in verses 9 through 11. Now, your body doesn't change. He says that.

He says your body is still subject to death. When you were born into this world and began to breathe, you began to die. Your body is subject to death, but that doesn't make any difference.

The Holy Spirit of God lives within and the Spirit is life. God's Spirit is witnessing with our spirit over in verse 16 that we are the children of God. And so though the old nature, so that the old man, so this old body of ours is decaying, it makes no difference.

Because one day he's going to raise us up from the dead. He's talking in verse 11 about the resurrection of the human body. His argument is beautiful.

If when you are dead, the Holy Spirit can raise you from the dead, and he will, how much more, now that you are alive, he can work in your life to give you the power that you need. Isn't that a beautiful argument? He's saying to me, the Holy Spirit who raised Jesus from the dead lives within you. Now, if he could do that, he can do anything.

This is why, once again, I feel sorry for people who aren't saved. They're trying to make it on their own. You know, unsaved people fight the same battles we Christians fight, but they have no weapons to fight with.

Unsaved people carry the same burdens we Christians carry. They carry an extra burden too, that awful burden of sin and guilt. But they carry these same burdens that we carry, but they have no power with which to carry them.

They have to make the same decisions that we have to make, but they have no wisdom and guidance for making them. I feel sorry for anybody hearing my voice who's never trusted the Savior. You're living on that lowest relationship.

You have not the Spirit. Oh, please move to that second relationship. You have the Spirit.

But there's a third relationship, and Paul talks about this in verses 12 through 17. And this is the highest relationship of all. It's a terrible thing to be on that low level.

You have not the Spirit. It's a wonderful thing to be on that next level. You have the Spirit.

It's even more wonderful to move to that third relationship. The Spirit has you. And this is what he's talking about in verses 12 through 17.

He's saying you're saved. Therefore, brethren, we are debtors not to the flesh, to live after the flesh. Oh, when we were unsaved, that's the way we lived.

But now we've been delivered from that, from flesh to spirit, from death to life, from war to peace, from displeasing God to pleasing God. Therefore, because you have moved into this relationship, move one step higher. It's not enough to say, I have the Spirit.

Many people brag about that. It's more wonderful to say, the Spirit has me. That's the difference between the baptism of the Spirit and the fullness of the Spirit.

The baptism of the Spirit, which happens at conversion only once, means I belong to his body. The fullness of the Spirit means my body belongs to him. The baptism of the Spirit means I have the Spirit.

The fullness of the Spirit means the Spirit has me. And that's the greatest relationship possible. Did you notice what he tells you about the Holy Spirit in verses 12 through 17? Is the Holy Spirit doing these things for you? For if ye live after the flesh, ye shall die.

By the way, that's even true of saved people. If a Christian decides to descend into the low level instead of ascend to the high level, he'll die. Samson died.

Ananias and Sapphira died. It'll kill your joy. It'll kill your power.

It'll kill your testimony. It's an awful thing for a person who says, I have the Spirit, to descend to that level that he used to live in when he said, I didn't have the Spirit. Paul is saying here a Christian can't live any way he pleases.

He must live the way God wants him to live, or God has to discipline him. If ye live after the flesh, ye shall die. But if ye through the Spirit do put to death the deeds of the body, you shall live.

Here is one of the great ministries of the Holy Spirit. He's the Spirit of death. He's also the Spirit of life.

Back in verse 2, the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus has made me free. That's a marvelous thing. He's the Spirit of life.

He wants to reproduce the life of Jesus in us. I am crucified with Christ. Nevertheless, I live, yet not I, but Christ liveth in me, and he lives in me that he might live through me.

He's the Spirit of life, but he's also the Spirit of death. He gives us the power to say no to the flesh. Each of us faces temptations.

They may not be temptations to deep, godless lust. They may be. We are tempted to pamper this body.

We are tempted to please this body. The Holy Spirit of God says I can put to death those deeds of the body. You've got a habit you want to overcome.

Let me take care of it. You have a temptation that you're facing. Let me take care of it.

Let me mortify. That's the word in our authorized translation, mortify, put to death. It's the word that we use for mortician.

The Holy Spirit of God does not embalm us. The Holy Spirit of God enables us. And you're facing that temptation, and the flesh says to you, do it, do it.

And you say, Holy Spirit of God, put that thing to death. And you know what? He does it. That's the difference between living on the low level, where the flesh controls everything, and living on the higher level, where the Spirit controls.

He's the Spirit of life. He reproduces Jesus Christ in us. He's the Spirit of death.

He puts to death the deeds of the body. He's the Spirit of adoption. Verse 15, you have not received the spirit of bondage again to fear.

That reminds me of what Paul wrote to Timothy. God has not given us the spirit of fear, but of power and of love and of a sound mind. You've not received the spirit of bondage again to fear, but you have received the spirit of adoption, whereby we cry, Abba, Father.

Now, no baby ever looked up one minute after being born and said, Father, that would be an amazing thing. Children grow into these things. What is the spirit of adoption? It's a beautiful thing.

Adoption in the Bible does not tell you how to get into God's family. You get into God's family by regeneration, by being born again. The only way to get into God's family is by being born again, by the Spirit of God, through the Word of God, by trusting the Son of God.

But the instant you are born into God's family, you are adopted. That means God gives you the position, not of a baby, but of an adult son. Now, you've got to treat a baby like a baby, but God doesn't treat his children like babies.

He treats them like adult sons. And he says, the instant you're born into my family, I adopt you and give you adult status. You can talk.

You can look up and say, Papa. That's what that word, Abba, means. Papa, Father, you can talk.

You can walk. Nowhere in the Bible does it say now when you've been saved for three years, you start walking. Oh, no, you can walk.

You can talk. You can work. You can witness.

You can even reproduce. I've known spiritual babies to be 10 minutes old and go out and reproduce and win other people to Christ. You see, we have a tendency to say, well, I'm just a little baby.

I've only been saved 32 years. And we make an excuse. We excuse ourselves for living on the low level.

And God says, there's no excuse. I'm treating you like an adult son. You can read.

You can hear. You can talk. You can walk.

You can sign checks. All of my wealth is available to you. Now, get with it.

You'll start growing spiritually if you'll just lay hold of all that I've done for you. And the Holy Spirit does this. The Holy Spirit hands you the bank book and says, here, here's a book I wrote for you to tell you how to be a good Christian.

Well, I can't understand. Oh, I'll teach you. Isn't that marvelous? The Holy Spirit of God, who's the spirit of adoption, helps us to live like adult sons.

That's the high level. That's that high relationship where we say, the Holy Spirit has me. This means that the Holy Spirit leads us.

Verse 14, as many as are led by the spirit of God, they are the sons of God. Verse 15, he frees us. He takes away fear.

Verse 16, he bears witness to us. That's a marvelous thing. Throughout the day to have the Holy Spirit bear witness.

It's a marvelous thing. I have been flying and going to meetings, and the spirit of God has witnessed to me about somebody on the plane. And I've had the privilege of sharing Christ with them, sometimes going through a hospital corridor or a big ward.

The spirit of God has witnessed to me, and I've stepped aside to share with somebody. It's a glorious thing to walk through each day with the Holy Spirit leading you and witnessing to you and freeing you and taking away your fears. Verse 17 says, the Holy Spirit enriches us.

He makes us the heirs of God. Oh, my friend, the difference between the second relationship and the third relationship is as radically different as between the first and the second. That lowest relationship, you have not the spirit.

That means death. It means flash. It means war.

It means not pleasing God. It means judgment. How do you get out of that relationship into the second? One, trusting Jesus Christ.

When you receive Christ as your Savior, the spirit of Christ comes in, and that moves you to that second relationship. You have the spirit, but Paul would plead with us to move into that third relationship. The spirit has you so that he can lead you and witness to you and take away your fears and free you and enrich you and empower you and bring heaven down to you until that day comes when you go to heaven.

That's an exciting way to live, to be walking in the Holy Spirit of God. Now, my friend, the secret is in relationship, and the secret of relationship is honesty. A husband and wife, if they are dishonest with each other, break the relationship.

The secret of relationship to the Holy Spirit is honesty. Oh, some of us may need to say to the Holy Spirit of God, Holy Spirit, I have been sinning. I have been disobeying.

He knows it already. The secret of relationship is honesty and yielding. If a husband and wife don't yield to each other, the relationship is broken.

The Holy Spirit wants me to yield. He wants to take my body. He wants to take your body.

He wants to work in us and work through us. My friend, do you know what this relationship is? Have you moved from level number two, you have the spirit, to level number three, the spirit has you? Well, you say that can't happen to me. Yes, it can.

Yes, it can. If we are honest with the Lord, surrender to him, and by faith receive, he will lift us to that higher level. Instead of walking like everybody else, we will be walking on the high places and enjoying the heavenly blessings.

Burdens, yes, but strength to bear them. Problems, of course, but wisdom to solve them. Conflicts, more than ever, but strength to win the victory.

This is the difference, and the difference is the Holy Spirit. Does the Holy Spirit have you? That's why later on in this book Paul says, I beseech you, therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God that you present your bodies, a living sacrifice wholly acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service. Be not conformed to this world, that's flesh, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind that you may prove in your day-by-day experience what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God.

This can be your experience, my friend, if we surrender. Heavenly Father, how grateful we are for the Holy Spirit that he deigns to dwell in us, cleanse us, O Lord, make us fit dwellings for the Spirit. May there be no areas in our temple that are closed to him.

O God, may the Holy Spirit have the key to every door in our lives. I pray for those today, Father, who don't have the Holy Spirit, who have never been born again, who live in this horrible atmosphere of flesh and death and war and judgment. O Lord, may they trust Christ today and be born into the family of God.

And I pray that you'll help those of us who are Christians to move into and stay in this highest of all relationships where the Spirit of God has us. This is our prayer in Jesus' name.