Amen. Please take your Bible and stand with me for the reading of God's Word. We're going to start in Romans chapter 8 this morning, verses 5 through 13. Romans 8, 5 through 13, and we'll go to the Lord again in prayer. And Father in heaven, we thank you, Lord, for this day, this time in your church, for the great blessing we have now to open up the word of God and to hear spiritual truth. And Father, we pray that your will would be done through the preaching of the word this morning, that you'd meet every need, that you'd convict the loss, and Father, feed the flock that is in this church today. We love you. We praise you. We pray everything would be done according to your will and for your glory. In Jesus' name we pray, amen. Romans 8, starting in verse 5, the Bible says, 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. 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 quicken 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 you live after the flesh, ye shall die. But if ye through the Spirit do mortify the deeds of the body, ye shall live. Thank you. You may be seated. The Book of Romans can be described by two thoughts. It speaks of man's condition, and we see that throughout the first seven chapters, eight chapters, and then it deals with God's justification. So that's important. So man's condition, he's condemned and he's on the road to hell, but man can be justified through Jesus Christ, our Lord. Now, man by nature is condemned by God because he's a sinner. He's hopeless. And the relation with God by his own righteousness and works is impossible. He can't work his way to heaven. He can't earn heaven. And it's the Lord who provided a way for man to be reconciled to God. And that's what man wants or should want. to be reconciled with God, and that can only be accomplished through the cross of Calvary, the death, burial, and resurrection of the Lord Jesus Christ. Now, a repentant sinner is given a spiritual life, being no longer condemned, and that's very important. He's no longer under the condemnation of God, but rather he has spiritual life. And the Bible goes on and tells us that he's not dead spiritually any longer, he's not in trespass and sin, but rather he's in Christ. And that's the key. I've mentioned that many times before, you've got to be in Christ. And the key to such a life-changing experience is the work of the Holy Spirit. Now, I want to tell you this is very important. Before chapter eight, it's mentioned one time throughout the first seven chapters, the Holy Spirit. But after that, I think it's 20-something times in the book of Romans chapter 8 that God mentions the Holy Spirit of God. And why? Because that's the difference. That's the key. That's the victory. That's the success that we have because of the Spirit of God. Now, the Bible tells us when you get saved, the Spirit of God enters your life. No ifs, ands, or buts about it. You're not going to have any experience. You're not going to feel like, oh, I got the Spirit, or something like that. It doesn't work that way. God's Spirit will enter your life because you received the gift of eternal life. And that's what salvation is, it's a gift. So once the Spirit comes into your life, the whole idea is supernatural. There's a change that takes place in your life. There's no, again, there's no ifs, ands, or buts about it. You're going to change. Therefore, if any man be in Christ, he's a new creature. Old things have passed away. Behold, all things become new. So the work of the Spirit of God to the believer is what the Lord is to creation. Not only did the Lord create the universe, but he sustains it. And so it is with the Holy Spirit, not only does He give us eternal life, a spiritual life, to those who call upon Christ in repentance and faith, but He also sustains, He keeps, He preserves those who trust the Lord. The Bible says in Ephesians 2 and verse 10, great verse of Scripture. And how did it go? We are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus unto good works, which God hath before ordained, that we should walk in them. So it's so important, again, Philippians 1, 6, being confident of the very thing, that he that begun a good work in you will perform until the day of Jesus Christ. Now, verse 5 through 13 reveal to us the great contrast between the unregenerate mind, the natural man, and the heart, and the converted man. So let's look at the first point, the spiritual condition of the unsaved, unconverted mind. Notice in chapter 8, verse 5, the Bible says, for they that are after the flesh do mind the things of the flesh. And the Bible tells us this is the desire of the mind. The man who's in natural state desires the flesh. He's after flesh. So think about all the things about the flesh. I mean, it's endless. All the things that man can get involved with and participate in and find pleasure in and so on. But the Lord distinguished people by whether they are saved or lost, whether they belong to him or are without him. There is a clear difference between those saved and those lost. And although there are degrees within each category, for example, some who are lost have high standards of morality, of discipline, of character. Yet one is dead in sins, and it doesn't matter how they appear outwardly. Man is a sinner. And you have to understand, God looks upon the heart of man. And that's the problem. You know, if God couldn't see our hearts, you know, we can get away with things. But God sees who we are. He sees our heart. He sees our soul. And when men are lost and undone, that's it. God sees the heart. So the Bible goes on and says, if you're lost in sin, you're lost in sin. Either you are heaven-bound or hell-bound. Either you're in the kingdom of light or the kingdom of darkness. Either you're a child of God or a child of the devil. There's no gray area with this. Either heaven bound or hell bound. So the apostle states in verse 5 that those who are lost are in the flesh. And they are naturally bent toward and have their minds set upon the flesh. Now, let me give you an example of a moral person who, you know, they're in the flesh. Now, they may have good standards. They may believe certain things about God and God sees me and so on and so forth, but they're not saved. They're in the flesh. So they're going to seek out the world's way of life. And you know that is, you know, you get through high school, you go to college, you get married, you live happily ever after. Well, it doesn't work that way all the time. And that's the problem. Men want to do the thought of, you know, furthering education. He wants to get a good job. And he's not concerned about God's will, not concerned about doing God's will. You follow? That's the way lost men are. It's not that they, it doesn't matter what God calls me, I'm going to do God's will for my life. That's not the way man is. Man is after the way of the world. He's walking in that path. the lust of flesh, lust of the eyes, the pride of life. And so they may believe in God, they may be religious and a moral do-gooder, but they mind the flesh. And most of the term, mind the flesh, means fleshly sins, as immorality, drunkenness, participation, preoccupation to money, pride, vices, etc. And this is included in the mind of the things of the flesh. So, you know, they may be conservative, but they're going to lean towards the flesh. And that's the whole thought here, the mind of the flesh. But it's also whatever the world has in mind on, focus on, worshipping, etc. You know, people get themselves wrapped up in things that just, to me, is looney tunes. You know, how could you believe such a thing? How could you, you know, follow this? So, I don't know if you saw this recently in a newspaper, but there was a do-gooder, and he was riding his bike, trying to get some exercise. It was good, nothing wrong with that. And he finds a snake. This is a true story. I think it was upstate New York. And he wanted to make sure that he didn't get run over. Now let me tell you the difference between me and that guy. I would've ran over, I backed up, I ran over, I backed up, I ran over. And then I would get out of the car, just make sure he's dead. I'm not against snakes. Maybe a little bit. But this guy, he's going to save the earth. He gets off, he kind of kicks the snake a little bit, which, you know, is harmful to the snake. And then next thing you know, he kicks it again, he reaches down to pick up the snake. It was poisonous. He got bit on his finger. I hope that's a good reminder. You know, he's not your friend, but he's going to save the world. People are crazy. Who cares whether a snake makes it or not? He's the one that has to cross the road. I don't. I mean, you know, I look both ways. A snake can't do that. You know, look both ways. I got to tell you this story. There was a guy who was feeding this bull. And they did it throughout the, you know, it was one of those petting zoos and so on and so forth. But people got careless. And they were giving him a Coca-Cola and drinking down Coca-Cola. And he loved it. You know, he was great. And so after a while, Some guy gave him some redneck, gave him, if you're a redneck, forgive me. Sorry. But some guy gave him gasoline. So he drank that thing up, and I mean, he was out of his mind. He was running all over the field, and it was dangerous, you know? He could've hurt someone, and next thing you know, he just dropped and passed out. He ran out of gas. So we see the direction of the mind, verse 6. The Bible says, for to be calling mind is death, but to be spiritual mind is life and peace. And the lost are in sin. And notice Paul says, to be calling mind is death. Not dying, but death. That's the fact. A man needs to understand that. Be caught in mind, it's not that you're going to die, you're dead. The direction of the lost mind is not towards God. Not towards the God of the Bible, but towards the flesh. And what is spiritually dead is the direction of the carnal mind. So man, it reasons things out, which is not the best. Better off doing what the Bible says, whether it fits your reason or not. Rebellion, reveling, religion. Religion is what Cardinal Wayne loves. Why? Because he's helping God to get to heaven. But there's resistance, rebellion, there's reformation, there's self-righteousness, and reputation, and revenge. And this is the carnal mind. This way it was established. But notice the Bible says the devotion of the mind, and we pick up here in verse 7 through 9. Because the carnal mind is enmity against God, for it's not subject. The law of God neither can be. And this is important. Man is not subject to love God when he's lost. How can he be? He's at enmity with God. He's against God. So we see here that this is man. And the Bible goes on to say in verse 8, for they that are in the flesh cannot please God. So you say, well, priest, I come to church, I tithe, I try to participate, I do what I can as a lost person. They that are in the flesh cannot please God. Nothing you can do. Then verse 9, but you're not in the flesh, but in the Spirit. If so, be the Spirit of God dwell in you. Now, if any man have not the Spirit of Christ, he's none of his. So that's the key. You don't belong to God. And that's the devotion of the mind. Man's sinful nature is dominated by his depravity. It's spiritual suicide. He opposes himself to his own damnation. We call it friendly fire. He shoots himself in the foot. It's homicidal spiritually. His influence is no good spiritually or others. is deicidal spiritual. If it was man power to annihilate the very being of God of the Bible, they would. They'd get rid of God, they'd get rid of him. So what proof do we have of such an accusation? When God sent his son Jesus to the earth, the Lord said, he that is not with me is against me. And man by nature is at enmity with God. And we're lost and are against God. John 15 verse 23, he that hated me hated my father also. Verse 18, if the world hates you, you know that it hated me before it hated you. Notice in what John chapter 3 and verse 19. Let's turn there, please. John chapter 3 and verse 19. And the Bible says in verse 19 and 20, and this is the condemnation that light has come into the world and men love darkness rather than light because their deeds were evil. Why is it a dark and a bar? Because evil goes on there. Oh no, they want to set the tone. Yeah, darkness. Verse 24, everyone that doeth evil hateth the light, neither cometh to the light, lest his deeds should be reproved. Men hate the light. They don't want to come to Christ because it'll be revealed what they are, as if you're hiding that from God. I mean, that's crazy. You can't hide anything from God. God knows the whole story. So, again, back in Romans chapter 8 and verse 7, the Bible says, for he is not subject to the law of God, neither indeed can be. So he's not subject. Lost men may have their religion, they may have their rules, they may have their rituals, they may have their rights, they may have their restraints, but do not have a relationship with the Lord. and they have not subject themselves to the rule of Lordship of Christ. They say, well, I have this man rule over us. That's how man looks at that. So let's just stop right here and let's just talk. So what's going to happen? As you get older, you realize that you're getting closer to death. If you just normally live out your life, And then what happens? Well, I guess we'll find out when we die. No, no, no, no, no, no, no. That's not how it works. God's not there with a big scale, good works, bad works, either his righteousness or no righteousness. And his righteousness was received through the Holy Spirit of God. So we have to realize that we either saved or lost. So what's going to happen? Where are you going to go? I don't know. I don't know where I'm going to go. Yes, you do. Where are you going to go? That's a sobering thought. The Bible says neither need can be. A lost man might try to live according to scriptures, but he can't. It's not in their nature. See, that's a key. The nature of man. That's why when you're born again by the Spirit of God, there's a supernatural change that takes place in your life. Now, some men, what they do, they add to their lives, and they sit and listen to the preaching. They, oh, I got to make sure I do that. Oh, I got to add that to my life. Year after year after year. And what they've done is reform themselves. That's what they've done. So it's so important we repent and not reform. Romans 7 verse 18, the Bible tells us in verse 18, For I know that in me that is in my flesh dwelleth no good thing, for the will is present with me, but how to perform that which is good I find not. So we see that man, by nature, cannot please God. There's nothing in them pleasing or acceptable to God. God is not moved by human sentiments. You know, oh, he's a handsome guy. Oh, she's a cute girl. She's a beautiful woman. He's a real, you know, sharp man. God's not moved by those things. We move by it. But man is not. But God is not. And that's important to understand. Very important. So nothing spiritual and good, nothing righteous, nothing central to God, nothing. What about my morality? Nothing. What about my baptism? Nothing. What about my church attendance? Nothing. What about my dress standards? Nothing. What about my moral standards? Nothing. What about my good works? Nothing. What about my tithe and offering to the church and missions? Nothing. What about helping my fellow man? Nothing. My question is, how can the lost be well-pleased with God when they have refused salvation through His Son? His Son's sacrifice, His gift of salvation, the blood atonement, the resurrection, God's righteousness, and faith in Christ. Let's take our Bibles, please, and go back to 1 John, Chapter 5. 1 John, Chapter 5. And notice with me, please, 1 John 5, we pick up here in verse 9. The Bible says, if we see the witness of men, the wisdom of God is greater. For this is the witness of God, which he hath testified of his Son. He that believeth on the Son of God hath the witness in himself, speaking of the Holy Spirit. He that believeth not God hath made him a liar. because you believe in not the record that God gave us on. So let's just stop here for a second. If you don't believe what God says is true, you're calling God a liar. There are things that you can say about maybe religion and churches preachers and so on, but you don't make accusations like that against God. God's word is true. It's so important to believe that and not doubt God. I've read this book for 48 years. I don't find any errors in it. I've looked for them, can't find this book is the word of God. Amen. And you can trust it with your life. Trust it with your eternity. Notice if you would, verse 11, and this is the record that God had given us eternal life, and this life is in the son. So again, the issue is eternal life is in Christ. And what do you have to do with Christ? You have to receive him. So he said in verse 12, he that hath the son hath life, and he that hath not the son of God hath not life. These things have been written unto you that believe on the name of the Son of God, that you may know that you have eternal life. So the key is this, that we know we have eternal life. I believe with all my heart, you're going to know whether you're saved or not. If you sit down and examine yourself, look at your life in comparison to the scriptures, am I doing the will of God? Am I practicing the will of God? You know, these things are very important. And the will of God's not hard to find. So I think it's important that we understand that we must do the will of God. And again, the will of God is not going to get you into heaven, but the will of God is what you do after you get saved. And that's very important. So the Bible says these things are written that you may believe on the name of Son of God, that you may know that you have eternal life. So let me ask you, do you know that you're saved? Do you know that you have eternal life? And honestly, no one can see into your heart, only you know. Do you know it? Do you know it? And if not, why not? You go to a gospel preaching church, we preach the death, burial and resurrection of Christ. We try to exalt the Lord in all we sing and do. How do you not know that you're saved? If you're not saved, you need to be saved. The Lord's coming back soon. Donald Trump's going to make our country rich. Hold the phone, Joan. It's not going to work that way. All right? The Lord's come back. It's imminent. The Bible says arrogant pride of man by not taking God as word Thus calling him a liar, the unsaved cannot please God because they don't exercise faith. And the Bible said, Ephesians, I'm sorry, Hebrews chapter 11 verse 6, without faith, it's impossible, impossible to please God. Romans chapter 14 verse 23, whatsoever is not of faith is sin. And the unsaved cannot please God because they're not accepted, they have not accepted his salvation. And the issue is they don't love the Lord Jesus Christ. And the Bible clearly states in 1 Corinthians chapter 16, verse 22, if any man love not the Lord Jesus Christ, let him be anathema anathema. In other words, let him be accursed. I mean, think about who Jesus is. He's the second person of the Godhead. He's the blessed son of God. He went about doing good. He was kind, merciful, always had the right words at the right time. Most of all, he gave his life for you, for me. And then people say, I hate Christ. I don't get it. I mean, just a noble mindset with a legion. I mean, I wasn't saved. I was a heathen. But when I heard about Christ and what he did for me, what he provided for me, I wanted him. I wanted him as my Lord and Savior. So the second thing we see today is a spiritual change of the regenerated mind. The desire of the regenerated mind, the Bible says, are things of the Spirit. Minding or setting their minds to spiritual things. Notice verse 5, for they that are in the flesh cannot do not mind the things of the flesh. I'm sorry. They that are in the flesh do mind the things of the flesh, but they that are in the spirit, the things of the spirit. And one of the first things I noticed after I got saved was my desire was different, was perfect. But my desire, I wanted to know about the Word of God. I wanted to know about how God was working my life. I wanted to go to church. I wanted to go, and I easily went three times a week. Sunday and then Wednesday night. Very seldom did I miss. I wanted to be there. Why? Because I heard the truth. And the Spirit of God came to my heart and changed my life. Again, speaking of basic orientation, the beat, the thoughts of the mind, rather than one's intelligence. The desire of the true convert, the one who has received the Holy Spirit, is on the things of the Spirit. Their minds, the presence of God, their salvation in Christ, the presence of sin, the New Testament Baptist Church, God's Word, prayer and praise and prophecy, and the blessed hope of our Lord's return, being Spirit-filled, witnessing, giving, serving, etc. That's how my life was changed. I didn't conform to the Baptist Church. I was born again by the Spirit of God. And God did the work of my life that only He could do. So the desire of the regenerate mind is to be found in Him, not having my own righteousness. That's what Paul said. Paul said, I may be found in Him. Why? There's a new law of the Spirit of God. There's a new Lord, and there's a new life, spiritual life. And once I feasted on the dead, the dying, the temporal, but now I'm feasting on Christ. I have new life and I desired it. In verse five, the Bible goes on and says, for they that are in the flesh do mind the things of the flesh, but they that are after the Spirit, the things of the Spirit. So there's a desire of the regenerate mind. Verse six, For to be carnally minded is death, but to be spiritually minded is life and peace. And this is the direction of the regenerated mind. Life and peace. Spiritual life. Peace with God. The peace of God. Let's turn over to Colossians chapter 3, please. Colossians chapter 3. And notice with me, if you would, Colossians 3, and we look at verse 1. The Bible says in verse 1, if you then be risen with Christ, what good is God saying this word here? He says, seek those things which are above. That's the key. If you've been risen, your life is converted, seek those things which are above, where Christ sitteth on the right hand of God. Set your affection on what? On things that are not on the earth. For you're dead and your life is hid with Christ and God. When Christ, who has our lives, shall appear, then shall they also appear with Him in glory. Those are verse five. mortified therefore the members were upon the earth, fornication, uncleanness, inordinate affection, evil concupiscence, and covetousness, which is idolatry. You know the Bible says at the end of first John, my little children flee idolatry. God doesn't want us to be idol worshipers. That's why we don't bow down before statues or crosses or anything else. We don't have them in our auditorium. Why? God's not, he's against idolatry. We want to please the Lord. So the thought is this, you know, our affection should change. And again, we should not, we should seek out the spiritual life, peace with God and the peace of God. And God promises that. Notice verse 9, if you would. You're not in the flesh, but in the Spirit. So be the Spirit of God dwelling in you. Now men have not the Spirit of Christ. He's none of his. So the devotion of the regenerate mind, because the Holy Spirit dwells in him, he, as oxygen is to man, so is the Holy Spirit to the regenerate mind. You can't have a regenerate mind without the Holy Spirit. It's just like oxygen to a person. And the Holy Spirit will lead us to worship, to serve, to mature, to develop spiritually. And then we see number three, the spiritual caution to regenerate mind. And there has been a change, go to verse Ten, please. The Bible says, and Christ being you, the body is dead because of sin, but the spirit is life because of righteousness. But the spirit of him that raised up Jesus from the dead, dwelling in you, he raised up Christ from the dead, shall also quicken your mortal body by his spirit that dwelleth in you. So there's a change. And what's the reason? The Holy Spirit of God. The Holy Spirit of God makes a difference. And what's wrong with some people, they love the church, for the most part, they love the doctrine, but they don't have the Holy Spirit. They don't know the Lord. And it's an effort. It's an effort to try to be spiritual. Again with our change pastor John the Baptist's test, Matthew chapter 3. Very important. Do we have repentance? Do we have faith? Are we trusting in the risen Christ? The Spirit of God will make us to become vastly different than we're going, than we are by nature. Now I'm going to tell you how the difference takes place. When I was in high school, I became the class clown. I was the funniest guy in school. I'm not bragging, it's a fact. And I was also called most congenial. And I was popular, I guess, in high school. And if I could make people laugh, I would do it. I mean, I had fun in biology class because my teacher would give me the camera and the slide, we didn't have videos, the slides and, you know, he gave me the responsibility to change the slides and so on. You know, when he left the room, I just put that thing all over the classroom and it was a lot of fun. You know, we joked about it. And he came back, Mr. Graff, what's everyone laughing about? I was innocent, you know. I didn't do anything wrong. But anyway, the thought is this. I like to have fun. So, but when God saved me, my personality changed a whole lot. My life changed in the sense of I've always been happy-go-lucky. But I'm thankful that I know Christ. My sin got out of my life. I separated from the world unto Christ. See, these type of things that took place. I'm still me, but I'm a little bit more serious concerning the things of God. And I'm serious about, you know, the rapture. I'm serious about eternity and so on. But I'm me. So there is a change that takes place, and I praise the Lord for it. The Spirit of God will make us become vastly different by nature. So we see, first of all, in verse 12, there's a change. The Bible says, therefore, brethren, we are debted not to the flesh, to live after the flesh. So we're obligated not to live after the flesh. but the flesh has not helped us in any way. My flesh has betrayed me. It's caused us condemnation and God's judgment. Our debt is to the Lord and to him alone. And then we see the third thing. There's a caution, verse 13. The Bible says, but if you live in the flesh, you shall die. But if you through the Spirit do mortify the deeds of the flesh, you shall live. So that's the work of sanctification in our life. We're mortifying, or we're mortifying it. And although we are saved, we still have the abiding sin nature. And we must be diligent, sober-minded, to mortify the abiding sin in our lives. And that's essential for a person to be spiritual-minded, to mortify those things, put to death. My life has changed so much over the years. I wish I would change it even more than what I have. But I praise the Lord for what God did, and it's real. I'm telling you, it's real. If you would have known me back in high school, you would have known me as just a cut-up. But I thank the Lord that God saved me, changed me. You know a book I read when I was in high school? I read a book by Joe Namath, I can't wait till tomorrow, I get better looking every day. That was my mentality. I was out there, I read Mad Magazine. But once I got saved, I couldn't get enough of the word of God. And that's where my heart is right now. People say, oh, I want to get, they buy books from me and so on. I really don't read them. I read the Word of God. I've got enough before me to make sure I take the Word of God seriously and make sure that I dwell on it and meditate on it and study it. And this is my book. That's the one I live by. And if you know the Lord, you'll do the same thing. Let's stand to our feet, please, heads about, eyes are closed, no look around. And Father, thank you, Lord, for this time. We thank you, Lord, for the so important that we have the Spirit of God controlling us. And Father, we pray that Spirit of God would manifest Himself in our lives. And if we're truly saved, help us to live for Him, help us to yield ourselves to the Word and to the Spirit. And Father, we pray that we would do your will, regardless of what's happening in our lives. And we pray, Father, you convict the lost today. We pray there'd be no peace in their life until they come to Christ. And I'm praying, Father, for victories today, for your glory and honor. We pray in Jesus' name, amen.