Okay, so we are in chapter 8, Romans chapter 8, and we are on our third week of verses 5 through 8. We spent one week on the negatives of the non-Christian, and the second week, this week, will be the positives of the Christian. So, I'll give you all time to turn there if you want to, and then we'll Read our text. Romans chapter 8 starting with verse 5. It says, 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 set their minds on the things of the Spirit. For to set the mind on the flesh is death. But to set the mind on the Spirit is life and peace. For the mind that is set on the flesh is hostile to God. For it does not submit to God's law. Indeed, it cannot. Those who are in the flesh cannot please God." So as we began on last week, we are still looking positively at the Christian as opposed to the non-Christian. And as we have seen, the Christian sets his mind on the things of the Spirit. and he does so because he is now alive. To set the mind on the flesh is death, but to set the mind on the things of the Spirit is life. The Christian is alive. He has life. He has new life in Christ. He is a new creature, a new creation. He is alive from the dead and he now has, lest we forget, a Christian now has powers and abilities that he did not have before. The dead can do nothing. They have no power over anything. No abilities to accomplish anything but death. But the Christian is alive in a spiritual sense and has power to accomplish things now. And so that is where we are. But we need to take notice that Paul does not merely say that the difference between the non-Christian and the Christian is that the non-Christian is dead while the Christian is alive. he has another all-important word he says to set the mind on the flesh is death but to set the mind on the spirit is life and what peace he has that word there that we're gonna look at for a bit life for sure is the antithesis of death okay the exact opposite Paul says life and peace why the addition why choose that word peace when he could have chosen from among so many other words. He's talking about the man who is now living in the realm of the Spirit and we know from Galatians 5 that the fruit of that Spirit is love, joy, and then what? Peace, okay? Why does he not say, to set the mind on the flesh is death, but to set the mind on the Spirit is life and love? Or to set the mind on the Spirit is life and joy? Why speak of peace rather than love and joy? Well, the most likely answer is found in verse 4, where he says, "...in order that the righteous requirements of the law might be fulfilled in us who walk not according to the flesh, but according to the Spirit." There are certain obstacles to this fulfilling of the righteous requirements of the law, and he has been telling us in his description of the non-Christian, this man who lives according to the flesh and sets his mind on the things of the flesh, that this man is spiritually dead. He is hostile to God. He does not submit to God's law. Indeed, he cannot. He can't do it. And thus there is no scenario wherein he can please God, none whatsoever. And so it is absolutely impossible that the righteous requirements of the law could ever be fulfilled in the non-Christian. On the other hand, He says that the righteous requirements of the law can be fulfilled in us. How and why can they be fulfilled in us? Well, that word peace gives us the answer. There is a peculiarity here, as you might have already noticed. Starting in verse 5, Paul gives us the two sides. He gives us both sides of the coin, both the negative and the positive. He says, those that walk according to the flesh set their minds on the things of the flesh. Those that walk according to the spirit set their minds on the things of the spirit. Again, in verse six, he says to set the mind on the flesh is death. That's the negative. But to set the mind on the things of the spirit is life and peace. That's the positive. But in verse seven and eight, he only gives us the negative and makes no mention of the positive. Verse 7, he says, for the mind that is set on the flesh is hostile to God, for it does not submit to God's law. And you might expect him, as he started out, the way he started out, to say, to add that the mind that is set on the spirit does submit to God's law. But he doesn't say that. Then in verse 8, he says, those who are in the flesh cannot please God. Well, then you might expect him to add, but those who are in the spirit can and do please God. But again, he does not say that. Well, why not? I would suggest that it has already been said in that word peace. That he put the word peace here because it is the word that provides us with the complete contrast. Peace supplies us with the positives that are not actually stated in verses seven and eight. So, as we look at that word, peace, we will also be completing our exposition of not only verse 6, but also verses 7 and 8. It was not necessary to write out the positives in verses 7 and 8 because those positives had already been stated. There's another reason why Paul chooses this particular word, peace. Whenever Paul thinks in terms of justification by faith alone, The first thing that comes to his mind is peace. We saw that at the beginning of chapter 5. He says, therefore, since we have been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ. He's going to say the exact same thing again in chapter 14 and verse 17. For the kingdom of God is not a matter of eating and drinking, but of righteousness and peace and joy in the Holy Spirit. Righteousness and peace always go together. Peace is the first thing we experience as the result of this righteousness from God, which is in the Lord Jesus Christ. So it is clearly a key word in the New Testament and in our understanding of Paul's teachings, particularly here in our section this morning. Let us also remember that what we discover about peace provides us with a thorough means of examining ourselves and our state and condition as Christians. So to set the mind on the Spirit is life and peace, what is contained in the term peace with God. The righteous requirements of the law can never be fulfilled in any person who is not at peace with God. already told us uh... that about the non-christian in verse seven that the unbeliever is not only spiritually dead but at the same time uh... he uh... he is hostile to god he is an enemy of god his whole understanding of god is quite wrong which is why as we said on last week that we should be very careful when these politicians and these famous people stand up and use god's name in vain because they don't know who it is they're speaking about non-christians are enemies of the one true god so when they use god's name it is not the god that we believe in uh... god is someone whom they hate they may say that they believe in god but according to the scriptures anyone who is not in christ hates god They feel that God is against them. They wish that there were not a God. Obviously, such a man cannot possibly ever please God. Neither can the righteous requirements of the law of God ever be fulfilled in him. The second truth about the non-Christian is that he is not subject to the law of God. He hates the law of God. The world is demonstrating that today. If you all saw in the last couple weeks, we had the biggest thing, for some people it's the biggest thing that ever happened every four years is the RNC. Actually had a lady get up there and have a prayer to the God of all that is and it was not God, okay? and I would say that that tells us that there were no Christians present because I would hope that any of us in a situation like that would have stood up and said no, this doesn't work. Okay, and then we saw the Olympic thing where they took and blasphemed the Last Supper. They hate God. That's as simple as you can put it. see it's even the very idea of law hates discipline and what it defines as freedom is nothing more than license man by his very nature and in the same wants to be his own law he wants to do what he likes to do and that that pleases himself whatever form that takes in the moment and he rebels against every said suggestion of law and discipline and order The natural man is a spiritual anarchist at all times, and it only takes one glance at the world we live in to see abundant proof of such, as the world falls away from God and from religion, as this element of lawlessness and disorder is coming in in every realm of life and leading to the insanities that we are seeing and the confusion that we're seeing and the chaos, okay? The non-Christian mind is not subject to God's law. Indeed, Paul adds, it cannot be. Because he is what he is, because of the evil that is in him, and because of the perversion and the power of sin in him, he cannot even desire to be subject to the law of God, even if he wanted to, which he does not. On the other hand, the Christian has life and peace, and primarily and most importantly, peace with God. This is Paul's portrayal of a man who really has come to a saving knowledge of God. The truth about a Christian is that he is the only one with a true conception of God. That word God is on our money, it's in the Pledge of Allegiance, it's on the lips of many famous people, but that word is open to interpretation. It is the foundation, that word God is the foundation of every religion that exists. But it is only those in Christ that have any concept of who the one true God is. The first call in preaching is always that call to repentance. That was the message of John the Baptist and that was the first call given by Jesus Christ. Repentance meaning to think again about God and yourself and the relationship that exists between you The first call is the call to think again about God, who is God. The worst sin of all is the false thinking about God of which the unregenerate or the natural man is ultimately guilty. If and when they do think of God, it is only as a means to better their status or better their situation or to advance their own kingdoms here on this earth. Believing that God exists only to serve them, The Christian is one who has come to see and to know God, God as He truly is, God as He has revealed Himself, with the result being that he now loves God, knowing that we exist to serve God rather than God existing to serve us. No person can be a Christian without realizing that in spite of his having been a rebel against his creator, in spite of all that was true of him in his sin, in spite of all the perversion and foulness and pollution of sin, in spite of the fact that he deserves nothing but hell, God so loved him that he sent his only begotten son into the world to save him. First John 4 and 10, he says, in this is love. Not that we have loved God, but what? That He loved us, and sent His Son to be the propitiation for our sins. The Christian has this knowledge, and realizing this, his conception of God changes. God is no longer one whom he hates. Instead, he is overwhelmed by this love of God, who has done this for him. The enmity and the hostility is gone because he now sees God as he really is. And he loves him. We now know the love that God has for us. We know what he has done for us. And so we are at peace with God. The old hostility is gone. God has put our sins away. The barrier between us has been removed. The veil taken away. And we have entered into this knowledge of God, which gives us our life and our peace. Because of that, we are no longer in trouble with regard to the law of God, as we went over a long time. The mindset on the flesh is hostile to God. The mindset on the flesh does not submit to God's law. Natural man does not believe in the God who makes laws. He instead believes in a God that is a construct of his own heart. The Christian, on the other hand, has a true view of the law. It is no longer true, and we've got to listen to this, okay? It is no longer true to say of him, to say of the Christian, that he is not subject to the law of God. Okay? What is true is, as David tells us, what is true now of the Christian is that he what? the lights in the law of god okay his commandments are not burdensome or grievous to the christian says john says john they're grievous and a heavy burden to the non-christian but his commandments are not a burden at all to those who are christians any person that objects to the statues of statutes of god is not a christian simple as that Never has been. Any person that objects to the demands of the Sermon on the Mount is not a Christian. Simple as that. A Christian knows and feels that that sermon, that Sermon on the Mount, that that sermon is exactly what one would expect from God, that such is the way that all men should live. And if all men lived according to the Sermon on the Mount, we would have paradise on earth once more the commandments are an expression of god's character they were designed for the good of all men so the christian says oh how i love the law of god christian delights in the law of god he sees its glory in its excellence and he desires with all that is in him to keep it that is how this piece is expressed The non-Christian fights and wars against the law of God. The moment that we become Christians, that fight is over and we now have peace. This word peace answers verse 7 step by step. The mindset on the flesh is hostile to God. It won't submit to God's law. Indeed, it cannot do so. But the Christian, you only need to say it once. He can submit to it. He does submit to it. He desires to submit to it. And he goes out of his way to submit to it. He hungers and thirsts after righteousness, desires to keep the commandments which the God that he loves has given. So in all these various ways, this Christian is at peace with God. And because he is at peace with God, There is now this wonderful possibility of the righteous requirements of the law being fulfilled in him. They can be fulfilled now, because he does not walk according to the flesh, but according to the Spirit. Peace with God. Yes, for sure and for certain. But there is another peace, and that is peace within ourselves. Not only on the outside with God, but within as well. Peace within means the end of the old restlessness. Restlessness being the main characteristic of the life of sin. Isaiah says it best, chapter 57 and verse 20. He says, but the wicked are like the tossing sea, for it cannot be quiet, and its waters toss up mire and dirt. There is no peace, says my God, for the wicked." This is the life of the man in sin. The sea in the Bible generally refers to the sea of humanity. All the ex-ethnic nations, all the unbelievers, the world at large as it were, is a reference to non-Christians and is an apt description of them. The book of Revelation tells us that when the final restoration takes place, now I just learned this, so this may be right and this may be wrong, okay? I always wondered what that, Revelation, there was no more sea? Okay, now listen to this. I always wondered what that was a reference to. Revelation tells us that when the final restoration takes place, the grand rebirth and regeneration of all things takes place that there will be no more sea. The constant movement, the utter waste of energy, the uselessness and the churning up of the dirt and the mire and the wreckage is a perfect description of the life of sin. But that comes to an end when one becomes a Christian. Augustine says, thou hast made us for thyself and our hearts are restless until they find their rest in thee. How obvious it is in the world today, all around us, the uncertainty, the unhappiness, the insecurity that defines the lives of the non-Christian. The life of sin is a life of dissatisfaction. The life of sin cannot satisfy. It never satisfies. There has to be more and more and more. And it is still all, as Solomon said, it is still all vanity. A lot of people live apart from Christ never gives them satisfaction. They spend large sums of money and vast amounts of time chasing that satisfaction, but it is never realized. All their efforts are in vain. The children of Israel could never be satisfied. Solomon himself could never be satisfied. Always seeking more stuff, more pleasures, more accomplishments, In search of final and full satisfaction, but unable to find it. Vanity of vanities, all is vanity. But when you become a Christian, that tragic situation and that restlessness comes to an end. The Christian now has life and peace. He rests in the truth. The Christian is a person who has finally arrived. through preacher teacher doesn't wait till he is in the pulpit to find out truth okay he's there because he has found it otherwise it would be the blind leading the blind and then what happens they both fall into the ditch okay the christian is not a man who is seeking for the truth okay we do seek knowledge but we already have the truth uh... or that has been found by the truth either way he's found it 1 Corinthians 2, 10-16. He says, These things God has revealed to us through the Spirit. For the Spirit searches everything, even the depths of God. For who knows a person's thoughts except the spirit of that person which is in him? So also no one comprehends the thoughts of God except the Spirit of God. Now we have received not the spirit of the world, but the Spirit who is from God, that we might understand the things freely given us by God. And we impart this in words not taught by human wisdom, but taught by the Spirit, interpreting spiritual truths to those who are spiritual. The natural person does not accept the things of the Spirit of God, for they are folly to him, and he is not able to understand them because they are spiritually discerned. The spiritual person judges all things, but is himself to be judged by no one. For who has understood the mind of the Lord so as to instruct him? But we have the mind of Christ." Jesus Christ is the light of the world. He has opened our eyes so that we can see that light. Jesus himself tells us in Matthew 11, he says, I thank you, Father, Lord of heaven and earth. that you have hidden these things from the wise and the understanding and revealed them to little children by the way that's us, little children, all you people that think you're old, you're little children, all right? Children of God, the Father has revealed truth to his children and God's children shall not walk in darkness but shall have the light of life. This is true of every Christian. christian is the only one who truly understands life those living for pleasure in the things of this world in the knowledge in the philosophies that it offers those people do not understand life they didn't even admit to the fact for the most part that they do not understand life they do not understand death christian is different christian is one who has peace both in life and in death christian understands the meaning of life here in this world we know that believers are just pilgrims and foreigners while living here but that we are children but that we are children of god in an alien land and we are traveling home to our father okay that's what that's only reason we're just on our way through here The world wants to deny you that kind of peace. It doesn't want you to have that kind of peace. And so they inundate you with the troubles and the state of this world and offer this man or this plan or this philosophy or this ideal as our only hope to solve the state of this world. And far too many fall for it. We should not fall for it. We are fools to fall for it. We have the Bible and the Bible tells us that this world, all of it, is governed by sin and evil and the devil. Believing that any man or any group of people or any plan or philosophy harvested from the governance of sin and evil and the devil could in any way offer us anything is nonsense. world has all this world has already been judged and it is passing away but we who do the will of God live forever. Despite all the wars and rumors of wars, despite all the bad news that we're bombarded with day after day, the Christian has an inner tranquility. The Christian has life and peace. Renaissance living in the eye of the hurricane. In the eye of the hurricane there is a calm that surpasses all understanding. I imagine y'all have seen the satellite images and the planes that fly into the eye of the hurricane. While everything around is nothing but destruction, everything turning and twisting violently and round and round, but not at the center The sinner is fixed and calm and at peace. And so it is with us who are Christians. That is the reason that Paul is able to say in another place, he says, be anxious about nothing. About what? Nothing, okay? Nothing is an all-inclusive term, right? There are no exceptions. Be anxious about nothing. This is not the most important election of our lives, folks. Just like the last one was not the most important of our lives, just like the next one will not be the most important of our lives. The most important election of the Christian occurred before the foundation of the world, when the spotless, sinless Lamb of God was slain on our behalf. Philippians 4, 6, and 7. Do not be anxious about anything. But in everything, by prayer and supplication, with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known to God. And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus." The mindset on the flesh is death, but the mindset on the spirit is life. And not only life, thank God it is also peace. Peace in knowing that we are protected and guarded by the love of God and of Jesus Christ and by this knowledge of the truth. Then there is an inner harmony in the personality of the Christian. We've seen the restlessness of the non-Christian. We've experienced the restlessness of the non-Christian. That is ultimately due to the fact that there is a kind of double-mindedness in his very nature. There is a confusion in the very heart of his existence. He is suffering from a division in his personality. On the one hand, he has a sense of right and wrong. Paul tells us that everybody is born with that sense of right and wrong. On the other hand, there is this influence of evil and sin. He is divided in his very core and confusion reigns over his life. But that is no longer true of a Christian. Does this mean that the Christian is perfect? By no means. But the point that we have been seeking to establish since we began the fifth chapter of this book, this split personality no longer exists in the Christian. The Christian knows that he himself is already saved. We still have to fight against sin. Sin still remains in this mortal body, still remains in his flesh. But it is not a central problem. It is not a struggle within his personality. It is a fight against the sin that remains in the flesh, which is a very different thing. The struggle is not at the heart of his personality, because there he has found peace and rest. He knows that he is saved, and eternally so. And nothing can ever cancel out that work of God. You and I are already seated in the heavenly places with Jesus Christ. So this struggle is only in our body, this dying body, this mortal body. That's where the struggle is. And we know that our struggle is soon to be put to an end. Our heart is no longer divided. It is no longer tossed about. The Christian heart has been made whole. And it has been won by Christ. Even if we fall into sin, which we will, does not mean that our heart is once again divided. That is just the remnant of the old nature. It is not of the heart. There's no longer any division there. Christian also has peace with others. The whole of chapter 14 will tell us. But in case we don't live long enough to make it there, I'm going to briefly touch on it here. in the church in rome awesome as it was so paul's at this time he'd be bragged on okay in this church in rome awesome as it was there was still disputing going on over certain days and observations of the east and what food to eat or not eat and so paul rebukes them for that and he informs them that the kingdom of god is not made in drink but righteousness and peace and joy in the holy spirit righteousness and peace and joy found only in those who are in the holy spirit he says that you must learn to understand one another so those of you that have a hard time doing that with me you just got told that you have to uh... when there is a weaker brother do not despise him or set him aside rather you as his fellow christians should feel sorry for him and do what help him bear one another's burdens and so fulfilled the law of christ christian has peace with his brethren now come back to a another negative statement which paul from Paul regarding the non-Christian. The man who walks according to the flesh and has his mind set on the things of the flesh, he says in verse 8, those who are in the flesh cannot please God at all, ever. End of story. The exact opposite is true of the Christian. The Christian can please God, christian does please god christian is forever at peace with god righteous work righteous requirements of the law are being fulfilled in those please god meaning not only that as we all know god looks down on us we already know that god looks down on us and when he looks at us what he sees is us closed with the righteousness of christ okay and that we are because of that we are pleasing in his side not only that but it also means that we are now able to serve him we are able to keep his commandments we are now capable of pleasing him capable we are capable of bringing glory to him the lost man cannot please god but we can please God. The people of God do please God. Jesus says the same thing in Matthew chapter 5 verse 16. Everybody's got this one by heart. Let your light so shine before others so that they may see your good works and give glory to your Father who is in heaven. Okay? Christ is the light. Christ is in us. We are capable and responsible to let that light shine before others. all day, every day, so that those others might see the works that Christ is doing through us, not for us to receive the praise of men, but so that the Father in heaven might receive the glory that he deserves. 1 Peter 2, 9, But you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for his own possession. so that you may proclaim the excellencies of him who called you out of darkness into his marvelous light." So we are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for his own possession that have a purpose. What is that purpose? That you may proclaim the excellencies of him who called you out of darkness into his marvelous light. A Christian is not only declared just, he is also meant to proclaim the excellencies of God, not only in word but in deed, to display the awesome power of God in his life. God receives no glory from those who claim his name yet still walk in the darkness that they were called out of. He receives only derision when those who claim his name live such lives that it causes the world around them to blaspheme the name of God. Remember what happened to the children of Israel? You have caused everybody around you, because of the way you're acting, because of the way you're living, you've caused all of these nations to blaspheme the name of God. God receives glory when the change in us is so marvelous, so awe-inspiring, that it is obvious that only the mighty hand of God could have wrought it. So how do we proclaim this excellence? Peter tells us in verses 11 and 12 of that same chapter, chapter two. He says, beloved, I urge you as sojourners and exiles to abstain from the passions of the flesh, which wage war against your soul. Keep your conduct among the Gentiles honorable, so that when they speak against you as evil doers, They may see your good deeds and glorify God on the day of visitation. God delights in his people who live that style of life. That means that they are abstaining from the passions of the flesh, that they are keeping their conduct honorable. God delights in his people who live that style of life. God is glorified and will be glorified by his people who live that style of life. That seems so elementary at a glance. But how many people do you actually know, even among your Christian friends, that day in and day out abstain from the passions of their flesh? We are given new life and new power and new strength and a commandment to do just that. Consider as well Hebrews 11, 16. But as it is, they desire a better country, that is, a heavenly one. This is a description of Abraham and the other heroes of the faith, who at God's command left their country and their friends and their family and all of it. Remember Jesus said, except a man give up everything. That's what they were doing. Gave up everything. like Abraham, went out, not even knowing where he was going. These heroes, the writer says of these men who were so remarkably obedient to God's commandments and exhortations, he says of them, he says, therefore, God is not ashamed to be called their God, for he has prepared for them a city. God is not ashamed to be called the God of such people. because they keep his commandments because they delight in his commandments they were willing to give up everything and take up their crosses daily and follow wherever God would lead because the righteous requirements of the law are being fulfilled in them they're showing the results of the power of God working in them showing the evidence of being under the reign of grace God looks at these and he says, these are my people. So we conclude by saying that while those in the flesh cannot please God, those that are in the spirit, those that are in Christ, those that are governed by the law of the spirit of life in Christ Jesus and have been set free from the law of sin and death, these can please God and these are pleasing God and these must please God. But the law of sin and death could not enable them to do, namely to show that the righteous requirements of the law were being fulfilled in them. The law of the spirit of life in Christ Jesus is doing and accomplishing. The Christian is one who is justified, who is in the process of being sanctified. He's already sanctified in Christ in the ultimate sense, but he is progressively and increasingly being sanctified in experience. He will finally be entirely sanctified. He will be faultless and blameless. He will be without spot or wrinkle or any such thing. He will be holy and without blame, standing in the presence of God. The righteous requirements of the law are being fulfilled in all those who walk not according to the flesh, but according to the Spirit. Let's pray. God, I thank you so much for your plan, for your work, for the work of your Son, for the work of the Holy Spirit in my life and the lives of each person here that belongs to you. I thank you that we are evidence of your power. Give us grace that we might be better evidence of your power. The world might look at us and say that only the hand of God could do that. Lord, I pray that you'd be with us, lead us, guide us, protect us. Be with us through the remainder of this service this morning. That every word and every deed might be for your glory, in Christ's name.