Are You Walking?

The Word of God from Romans chapter 8, verses 5 through 9, and then 12 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.

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.

Verse 12, 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 mortify 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. The victory that we have through Jesus Christ. King Solomon was a wise man.

It would be interesting to have King Solomon on one of our TV talk shows because he could talk about anything. He could talk about trees and flowers and animals and insects. He was the author of thousands of proverbs and songs.

He knew about building programs. He understood the pleasures of life. He could talk about women.

He could talk about things religious. In the strange book that he wrote that we call Ecclesiastes, Solomon makes a statement that is most interesting. He says this, Ecclesiastes 10, verse 7, I have seen servants upon horses and princes walking as servants upon the earth.

I can imagine Solomon being in his study one day and looking out the window, and there he sees going down the road a prince who is walking, leading a horse. On the horse is the prince's servant. Inspired by the Spirit of God, Solomon wrote, I have seen servants upon horses and princes walking as servants upon the earth.

Now, what does that mean? It means that there are some people who are being mastered by their servants. The servant is supposed to be leading the horse, and the prince is supposed to be riding the horse. But something went wrong, and the servant is the ruler, and the ruler is the servant.

This is what Paul is discussing in Romans 8. Paul is saying to you and me, God has given to us many servants. Your body is a servant, but, oh, if your body becomes a master, watch out. Your mind is a servant, but, oh, if the flesh starts getting a hold of your mind, watch out.

Money is a great servant and a terrible master. The appetites of the body are servants. Hunger serves me and says, you'd better put some fuel in the furnace.

Thirst serves me and says, you're getting dehydrated, you'd better get some liquid in your body. All of these have been given to us as servants, and Solomon says the reason things are in the mess they are in is because our servants have become our masters, and we who ought to be the masters have become the servants. This is what Paul is talking about in Romans 8, the tragedy of being mastered by our servants.

The theme of Romans 8 fits in beautifully with this season because it's freedom. In verses 1–4, Paul says we are free from judgment, no condemnation. In 5–17, he says we are free from defeat, no obligation to the flesh.

In 18–30, he says we are free from disappointment, no frustration. We know all things are working together for good. In 31–39, he says we are free from fear, no worry about the future, there is no separation.

With these four freedoms presented to us in Jesus Christ, there is no reason why any one of us should be defeated or discouraged. There is no condemnation, we have the righteousness of God, and there is no defeat, no obligation, we have the Spirit of God, and there is no frustration, we have the glory of God, and there is no separation, we have the love of God. If I look back and worry about my sins, God says, no condemnation, you are in Christ Jesus.

If I look within and get concerned about this nature of mine, he says, no obligation, I can give you victory. If I look around at circumstances and get worried, he says, no frustration, you've got my glory, I know what's going on. If I look ahead and get afraid about the future, he says, look, there's no separation.

I love you, I always will love you, walk into the future without any fear. Now let's focus on these verses that are talking about the flesh and the Spirit. The thing we're trying to get across today is simply this, that you and I can pay our spiritual debt to the Holy Spirit and have victory in our lives.

That's the whole meaning of verse 12. Therefore, brethren, he's writing to Christians, we are debtors, not to the flesh. We owe nothing to this old nature, because all the old nature ever did for us was bring sin and shame and trouble and heartache and guilt.

Therefore, brethren, we are debtors, not to the flesh, to live after the flesh. Therefore, we are debtors to the Holy Spirit. He says over in verse 9, if any man have not the Spirit of Christ, he's none of his.

How do we know we're saved today? Because of the Holy Spirit of God who lives within. That's the only way we know for sure we're saved. God's Spirit bears witness with our spirit that we are the children of God.

This raises the question, how do you and I pay our debt to the Holy Spirit? What he's saying simply is, if you pay your debt to the Holy Spirit, you'll live in the Spirit and you won't live in the flesh. To live in the flesh means enmity with God, it means losing your peace. To live in the flesh means breaking your fellowship with God, you lose your power and your joy.

And to live in the flesh could mean discipline and death. How then can you and I fulfill, pay our debt to the Holy Spirit? By presenting to him every day four gifts. My dear Christian friend, there are four gifts that you possess that every day should be given to the Holy Spirit.

He gives them to us here in Romans chapter 8. He's going to summarize them later on in the book of Romans. This morning when you awakened, God was there. He'd been watching over you all night.

And you wake up, what is the very first gift that we should present to him? He tells us in verse 13, the body. This is the very first gift that we present to the Holy Spirit in paying our spiritual obligation to him. We simply give to him our body.

You say, Pastor, that doesn't sound very spiritual. No, but it's very practical. When you first awaken in the morning and you open your eyes and you just say, Gracious God, here is my body, did you ever read in the book of Romans what your body was like before God got a hold of it? You can turn back to chapter 3. It's not hard to find.

Verse 10, there's none righteous, no, not one. There's none that understandeth. There's none that seeketh after God.

They are all gone out of the way. They are together become unprofitable. There is none that doeth good, no, not one.

Now he says, let me describe for you your spiritual condition. Their throat is an open sepulcher. That means that the stench of death comes out.

With their tongues they have used deceit, lying. The poison of asps is under their lips, out to kill, whose mouth is full of cursing and bitterness. Then he goes to the other end of our spiritual anatomy.

Their feet are swift to shed blood. Destruction and misery are in their ways, and the way of peace they have not known. There is no fear of God before their eyes, the throat, the lips, the mouth, the tongue, the feet, the eyes.

Here's a life devoted to sin. You can't tell an unsafe person and convince him that this is true. He will say, I don't do any of those things.

You can't accuse me of that. And yet God in heaven, looking down upon the unsaved, says, this is what I see. You aren't living a life of truth, it's lying.

It's not a life of service, it's selfishness. No matter how good, how moral, how upstanding, how sacrificing we may be, apart from Jesus Christ, we cannot please God. That's the way your body was and my body was before we were saved.

And then the Holy Spirit came along. When you trusted Jesus Christ as your Savior and the Holy Spirit moved in, everything changed. Your body became his temple.

When God looks down upon you today and he sees your body, he says, uh-huh, that body is my temple. The Holy Spirit of God, having moved into your body, makes it a temple. Before that, it was a trash heap.

Before that, it was not anything to be used to glorify God. But after the Holy Spirit moves in, your body becomes his temple. If your body is his temple, can't you give it back to him and wake up and say, Holy Spirit of God, my body is your temple.

You've saved my body. Here, I'm giving it to you. Your body is not only God's temple, your body is God's tool.

God has to work through your arms and your hands and your lips and your ears and your feet. God uses clay, tools, to get his work done. Paul talks about this back in Romans 6 when he says in verse 13, Neither yield ye your members, the parts of your body, as instruments of unrighteousness unto sin, but yield yourselves unto God, as those that are alive from the dead, and your members as instruments of righteousness unto God.

If Luke was going to write the gospel of Luke, he had to give God his hand. If Paul was going to go to Ephesus to start a church, he had to give God his feet. Throughout the word of God, God uses the members of the human body to accomplish eternal purposes.

We say, Lord, my body is your temple. I give it to you. My body is your tool.

I yield it to you. Interestingly enough, over in 2 Corinthians 4 and verse 7, Paul says, your body is God's treasury. We have this treasure of eternal life in earthen vessels.

I remember walking through the Tower of London and seeing the crown jewels of the British Empire, an unbelievably gorgeous display of jewelry, and yet you and I have within us a treasure that is far greater. We have this treasure of the gospel of eternal life in these earthen vessels. My body is God's treasury, and only God can invest this life to bring the right dividends.

I say, God, take my body. It's your temple. It's your tool.

It's your treasury. Did you also know that your body is God's testing ground? In 1 Corinthians 9 and verse 27, Paul says, I keep my body under subjection, lest, after having preached to others, I myself should become a castaway. That doesn't mean he was going to lose his salvation.

It meant he was going to lose his reward. The word means disqualified. The Olympics are going to be going on, and some people are going to be disqualified.

They didn't keep the rules. Paul is saying, my body is God's testing ground. What I do with my body determines what God is going to do with me.

That's what happened to Samson. Samson broke the rules, and he was disqualified. So, your body is God's tool, and God's temple, and God's treasury, and God's testing ground.

Is it not logical and reasonable to just yield the body to the Holy Spirit first thing in the morning, and you know how God knows whether or not you really mean it? You get up out of bed. One of the worst things we can do is pamper the body. Now, there are times when it's good to sleep in.

There are times when your disposition is improved by sleeping a little longer. But a disciplined Christian who wants to get victory over the flesh will say, I am not going to pamper my body. I'm a soldier of the cross.

I am going to get up, and Lord, here is my body. I present it to you. Now, when we do this, several things can happen.

In verse 13, he says, If ye live after the flesh to satisfy the appetites of the old nature, ye shall die. But if ye through the Spirit do mortify the deeds of the body, ye shall live. Now, the body and the flesh are two different things.

A cat acts like a cat because it has a cat's nature. If my cat ever came walking in and barked at me, I would be frightened. Because cats don't bark.

Cats meow. If my cat ever chased a car, I would be alarmed because cats don't do that. A dog acts like a dog.

It has a dog's nature. A sinner acts like a sinner. He has a sinner's nature.

This old nature I was born with wants to control my body. The new nature I was born again with wants to control my body. And I have to decide which of these two will control this body.

And if I yield my body to the Holy Spirit, two things will happen. Number one, he will enable me to live for Christ. And number two, he will help me put to death the deeds of the body.

When the appetites of the flesh want to drag me down, the Holy Spirit will be there to lift me up. That's what the fullness of the Holy Spirit is all about. But the Holy Spirit is not going to fill a person who has not yielded his body to him.

And so the first gift, your body. Have you ever given the Lord your body? Are you careful where your body goes and what your body listens to and what your body sees? I recommend that first thing in the morning when you wake up, just give God your body. Now, that's just the beginning.

There's a second gift that the Lord wants. Give him your mind. Give him your mind.

Over in verses five through nine, he's talked a great deal about the mind. He says those that are after the flesh do mind the things of the flesh. To be carnally minded is death.

To be spiritually minded is life and peace. The carnal mind is enmity against God. It's not subject to the law of God.

You see, he's saying here that just as the flesh wants to control my body, so the flesh wants to control my mind. Now, why does the flesh want to control my mind? Because my mind controls my body. I am not a great follower of these pseudo-psychological religious approaches to life.

But there's a great truth to be found even in the midst of some of the lies, and it's this. Proverbs says, as he thinketh, so he is. Now, thinking can't change everything.

I could meditate and think and not turn this organ into a piano. I can meditate and think and not change the color of my eyes. But when it comes to the inner man, thinking has a tremendous control.

You see, the flesh, the old nature wants to get a hold of my mind, because if I think carnal thoughts, I will then use my body to perform carnal deeds. And God wants my mind. By the way, the best test of a person's spirituality is what does he think about when he doesn't have to think? The dishes are done, the house is all straightened out, you've got some time to yourself.

What do you think about? Or you're lying in bed at night and you haven't quite gotten to that place of sleep yet. What do you think about? Unfortunately, there are some people whose minds descend into the gutter. And the imagination plays upon the TV screen of their mind lurid things.

And there's a secret self down inside that is satisfied with that kind of corruption. There are other people who, when they are freewheeling, their minds soar to the heavens. Since ye then are risen with Christ, seek those things which are above, where Christ sitteth on the right hand of God.

Set your affection, your attention on things above, not on things of the earth. And God wants your mind. You see, it's possible for a Christian to be carnally minded.

Paul wrote to the Corinthians and said, I can't deal with you as mature people. I've got to deal with you as babies. You're carnally minded.

A child thinks of self. A child thinks of the physical. He says you Corinthians ought to be growing up and being spiritually minded.

Now, we have the idea that when a person is spiritually minded, he's impractical. He's a mystic. Nothing wrong with being mystical.

A mystic only believes that there is an invisible world of the spirit behind the visible world. And we have no problem with that. But there are some people who are so spiritually minded, as Mr. Moody used to say, they're no earthly good.

A spiritually minded person thinks straight. A spiritually minded person can see where things are going. A spiritually minded person has perception and perspective.

I was in Youth for Christ for a number of years. We used to have a quiz program. We would challenge the high school students to memorize scripture.

We'd quiz them. We found case after case. We found instance after instance where a student who was getting C's, when he started spending time in the word of God, cleaning up his mind, started getting A's.

This happened over and over again. High school principals would come to us and say, we don't totally agree with your religion, but man, are you helping these kids be better students? You know why? The Holy Spirit of God was controlling their minds. Do you ever have a day when you didn't pray, didn't read the word, didn't talk to God, you tried to muddle your way through that day, and you couldn't think straight, and everything you turned on went off, everything you turned off came on, and you wanted to go east, you ended up going west.

You know what I'm talking about. There are people who live every day with a muddled mind. God says, I don't want my children to walk around with muddled minds.

Gift number two, give to God your mind. Even the Apostle Peter occasionally had a carnal mind. Jesus said, I'm going to Jerusalem to die.

And Peter said, be it far from you, Lord. Jesus said, get behind me, Satan. You're not thinking like God, you're thinking like a man.

Carnal mind. Mount of Transfiguration, Moses and Elijah come down. Jesus is glorified.

Peter wakes up, didn't even know what was going on. He says, oh, let's build three tabernacles. God says, this is my beloved son.

Listen to him. In the garden, Jesus says to Peter, watch and pray. Peter said, I don't have to do that.

I'm Peter. You don't know who you're talking to. I'm strong.

He goes to sleep, wakes up, they're arresting Jesus. Peter pulls out his sword, almost kills a man. Jesus says, put your sword up.

You see, it's possible for a Christian, if his mind is not yielded to the Holy Spirit, to have his mind controlled by the flesh. And the devil likes nothing better than a carnally minded Christian, especially if he can get him into a church office someplace directing the affairs of God's people. Gift number one, Lord, my body.

The Holy Spirit takes the body and uses it to glorify God. Gift number two, the mind. Now, how do you give God your mind? Well, you give him your body by getting up.

You give him your mind by reaching for your Bible and opening your Bible and saying, Lord, speak to me. You see, it's the word of God that transforms the mind. Now you are clean through the word which I have spoken unto you.

And as you open the word of God and you read the word of God, and then you think about the word of God, then you meditate on the word of God, and you memorize the word of God. The word of God gets into your mind and it cleanses the mind and it transforms the mind. It's a marvelous thing to watch a new Christian grow mentally.

When he's first born, he doesn't quite understand all these things. And then he starts to read the word, memorize it, meditate. He gets discernment, perception.

He starts to grow and see and understand. Are you having that experience? Or is your mind controlled by the flesh and you're living in defeat? You see, God saved you that you might be riding and not walking. Are you mastering your servants or are your servants mastering you? Now, there's a third gift that he wants from us.

And that's found in verse 14. For as many as are led by the Spirit of God, they are the sons of God. He wants your will.

You see, we can't tell it in the English. But when the Roman Christians got this letter from Paul in Greek, they read verse 14, for as many as are led by the Spirit of God. And they knew from that verb, Paul wrote, as many as are willingly led.

Now, you can lead people two different ways. You can lead them by force, like taking a dirty little child to his Saturday night bath. Or you can lead them willingly.

And that's what Paul is saying. He said, give God your body, give God your mind, give God your will. You see, the Christian life is built on the will.

It's not built on feelings. It's built on the will. Salvation is a matter of the will.

Whosoever will, let him take of the water of life freely. How oft would I have gathered ye, but ye would not. The Christian life is not a matter of feeling or intellect.

They are a part of it. It's basically a matter of will. Obedience comes from the will.

You see, my mind controls my body, and my will controls my mind. You think about what you want to think about. Or you say, Pastor, sometimes things jump into my mind that I don't want to think about.

The Lord knows about that. The fiery darts of the wicked one, by faith, put them out. Don't cultivate them.

Don't feed them. But basically, we think about what we will to think about. And so God says, I want you to give me your will.

Now, how do you give God your will? Through prayer. You see, you wake up, and you say, Lord, here's my body. And you get up.

You reach for your Bible, and you say, Lord, here's my mind. I'm giving it to you. Now transform my mind through the word, and you read the word.

And then you say, now, Lord, I'm going to pray. And as you pray, you give him your will. You say, now, Father, here's what I have to do today.

And I don't enjoy this, and I wish I didn't have to do that. But I want your will to be done. It's a marvelous thing to begin your day praying and surrendering your will to him so you aren't fighting with God all day long.

Oh, I have to do this. I have to do that. Now, I confess to you, there are times when there are things I have to do I don't enjoy.

But the Lord gives you the strength to do what he wants you to do when your will is yielded to him, and his will is worked out in your life. Do you ever give God your will? Is there anything in your life or my life that is out of his will? If it is, you better give it up. F.B. Meyer often told the story of his own dedication to the Lord.

The Lord came to him one day and said, I want to use you for my glory. I want you to give me all of the keys to your life. And so F.B. Meyer said, by faith, I reached into my spiritual pocket, and I handed to him all the keys of my life.

But I kept one back. I said, Lord, there's one little area here that you don't really need. I can take care of this.

He said, I want all of them, or I'll take none of them. And Meyer said, I'm going to keep that. And the Lord began to walk away, and Meyer realized that he'd missed the blessing of God.

And he cried out and said, Lord, I am not willing to give it to you, but I'm willing to be made willing. And Jesus said, all right, I'll make you willing. And he did, and he surrendered the last key, and F.B. Meyer became one of God's great servants to his glory.

Are you holding on to some little key? He wants your will. You say, but I've got my life all planned. It makes no difference.

He wants your will. He's got your life all planned. There's a fourth gift that God wants from us.

We give him our bodies, our mind, our will, our heart. You see, in verses 15 through 17, he's talking about a love relationship between us and the father. It's a great text for Father's Day.

You have received the spirit of adoption whereby you say, Papa. That's what Abba means, Papa. It's a term of endearment.

My father, my loving father, I love you. He wants your heart. Keep thy heart with all diligence, for out of it are the issues of life.

My son, give me thine heart and let thine eyes observe my ways. Daniel purposed in his heart that he would not defile himself. Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart.

He wants our heart. You say, how do I give God my heart? Just by tarrying and worshiping him. You see, what I'm talking about is a discipline of the Christian life.

Awakening in the morning and giving God my body and then reaching for my Bible and giving God my mind and then pausing to pray and giving God my will and then tarrying to worship and love and adore to give him my heart. And you know, my friend, when you've given God your body and your mind and your will and your heart, you've given him everything you have. And when we do this, then the Holy Spirit can move in and he takes your body and uses it for God's glory that Christ might be magnified in my body, whether by life or by death.

And you go through the day not worrying about your body. God worries about it. You give him your mind and he thinks through you and you remember things you should remember and you forget some things you should forget.

And God gives you sanity and sanctity in the mind. The Holy Spirit takes hold of your will and you're able to say no and you're able to say yes. And the Holy Spirit takes hold of your heart and the love of God is shed abroad in your heart by the Holy Spirit.

Romans 5.5. What a marvelous way to live, to go through the day with a disciplined body and a transformed mind, a controlled will, a loving heart, living in an atmosphere of love and faith with the Holy Spirit taking control. And this is how you fulfill your obligation to the Holy Spirit. And this is how we keep from doing the evil things of the flesh.

The Holy Spirit is to us the spirit of adoption. That means that he makes us adult sons. When a baby comes into this world, that baby can't talk, can't walk, doesn't know who he is or who his parents are, and really is in bondage.

He's bound up in a diaper and he's bound up in a kimono and he's bound up in a little crib and he's in bondage. This is not true of the Christian. When you're born into God's family, instantly you are adopted and you can talk.

Abba, Father, can you imagine a baby being born and looking at his father and saying, Hello, Daddy? When you're born into God's family, you know who you are and you know who your father is. You have the spirit of adoption. When you're born into God's family and adopted, you can walk.

You're not in bondage and you can draw upon your spiritual wealth. You're an heir of God and a joint heir with Christ. All of this is through the Holy Spirit when we're yielded to him and we give him our body and our mind and our will and our heart.

It's all summarized in Romans 12, verses 1 and 2. I beseech you—that's the heart. I beseech you, therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that you present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service. And be not conformed to this world, but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, that you may prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God.

There it is—the heart, the body, the mind, the will. Just turn it over to him. Once and for all surrender to him, and then every day come and present ourselves before him.

You say it's asking a great deal. Is it? Is it really asking a great deal? After all, Jesus did for us. His heart was filled with love for us, broken for us.

His mind—let this mind be in you, which was in Christ Jesus. He came down from heaven as a servant. His will? In the garden he prayed, Father, not my will, but thine be done.

You see, he gave his heart for you, and he gave his mind for you, and he gave his will for you, and he gave his body for you. On the cross they nailed his body that he might become sin for us. Oh, if he gave all of this for me that the Holy Spirit might come in, is it asking too much for me to return the debt and give all of this to him? Give him your body, your mind, your will, your heart, and the Holy Spirit will take you and make you and fill you and bless you, and you will be excited, and you will have battles but victories, and you will have burdens but strength, and you'll have insights into God's word and victory and witnessing, and God will use you in a marvelous way for his glory.

Others may not know about it, but you will, and he will. Therefore, brethren, we are debtors not to the flesh to fulfill the desires of the flesh. We are debtors to the Holy Spirit.

Let's pay our debt. Gracious Father, forgive us when the body has been selfishly used for sin, when our minds have indulged in secret sin, when our hearts have been fixed upon the world, when our wills have been stubborn and rebellious. Oh God, forgive us.

Forgive us for ever thinking we could serve without being surrendered. I pray that you'll help each of us today by your grace daily to yield body and mind and will and heart into the hands of the Holy Spirit. Oh Father, that he might take us and free us and fill us and use us for the glory of Jesus, we pray in his name, amen.