The sermon by Jason Dohm focuses on Romans 8:1-11, emphasizing the theme of 'No Condemnation' for those in Christ Jesus. It highlights that Romans 8 is a continuation of thought from Romans 7, where Paul discusses the struggle between the flesh and the spirit. The sermon stresses the importance of understanding that believers, though they may still sin, are not condemned because of their faith in Jesus Christ. This is due to the work of Christ, who fulfilled the law and paid the penalty for sin, leaving no condemnation for believers. The Holy Spirit is introduced as the dominant influence in a believer's life, imparting life and righteousness. The sermon also contrasts the two states of existence: living according to the flesh and the Spirit, with the latter leading to life and peace. Emphasizing the permanence of a believer's state in Christ, the sermon encourages believers to live out of their new nature in Christ, with the Holy Spirit as their guide, and to let theology lead to doxology.

Our sermon text is the first 11 verses of Romans 8. Please follow along. There is therefore now no condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus, who do not walk according to the flesh, but according to the Spirit. For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus has made me free from the law of sin and death. For what the law could not do, in that it was weak through the flesh, God did by sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh on account of sin.

He condemned sin in the flesh, that the righteous requirement of the law might be fulfilled in us, who do not walk according to the flesh but according to the Spirit. For those who live according to the flesh set their minds on the things of the flesh but those who live according to the Spirit the things of the Spirit. For to be carnally minded is death but to be spiritually minded is life and peace. Because the carnal mind is enmity against God, for it is not subject to the law of God, nor indeed can be. So then, Those who are in the flesh cannot please God.

But you are not in the flesh, but in the Spirit, if indeed the Spirit of God dwells in you. Now if anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ, he is not his. And if Christ is in you, the body is dead because of sin, but the Spirit is life because of righteousness. But if the Spirit of Him who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, He who raised Christ from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through his Spirit who dwells in you. Let's pray.

Father we ask that you would show your mercy and grace to us in the speaking through Jason. We commit him to you and you to us that we might walk away changed but also filled with joy At the truth of this passage we commit this to you in the name of Jesus who is Christ. Amen Please be seated The title of the sermon this morning is No Condemnation. No Condemnation. Romans 8 is one of the most well known and well loved chapters in your entire Bible.

But the chapter break is definitely uninspired and in some ways is very unhelpful. Meaning, Romans 8.1 is a bad place to start. Why is that? Because chapter 8 is a continuation of the flow of thought from chapter 7. It's not a shift in thought, it's a continuation of thought.

So that chapter break is uninspired and unhelpful in that way. So it's really important that we connect them and keep them together so we actually understand what Paul is saying. There is therefore now no condemnation. What is that word therefore pointing us back to? Commentators fight about that.

But at a minimum, it's the immediate context, which is Paul speaking of the wretchedness of his condition in this body of death. That's what he calls it. Who will save me from what? This body of death. This Continual, irreconcilable war, to put it in the words of our confession.

Continual, irreconcilable war between a spirit that is alive to God and a body that has remaining corruption. That's what chapter 7 was about. Who will save us from this body of death? For Paul, that's not the end of the story. The greater, more permanent truth is that he was delivered, that he is being delivered, that he will be delivered from this body of death through Jesus Christ our Lord.

So who Jesus is and what Jesus has done is the channel of his deliverance, of his rescue from this body of death, this continual, irreconcilable war. Jesus has delivered him, is delivering him, will deliver him from this body of death. So that is the immediate context that forms the basis of this declaration over the believer. No condemnation. So if I only had five minutes to preach this sermon, that would be it.

This is the declaration that God makes over the believer through the Apostle Paul. No condemnation. Let's ask God to help us. Oh God, there might be a more precious phrase in the Bible, but if there is, it escapes me now, no condemnation. As a man who is so aware, so often aware, so thoroughly aware of the condemnation that I deserve, have so richly earned if you are who scripture says you are and I am who scripture says I am.

My conscience tells me all that's true. This is such a wonder that these words could be uttered ever about me. No condemnation. Thank you God. I pray that you would use these two words in this text to make us happy.

In Jesus Christ who delivers us from this body of death. I Pray in Jesus name, Amen. Okay, the first subdivision is one through four. So please follow along as I reread Romans eight, one through four. Paul writes, There is therefore, now no condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus, who do not walk according to the flesh, but according to the Spirit.

For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus has made me free from the law of sin and death. For what the law could not do, and that it was weak through the flesh, God did by sending His own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh. On account of sin, He condemned sin in the flesh. That the righteous requirement of the law might be fulfilled in us who do not walk according to the flesh, but according to the Spirit. In these four verses we have the state of the believer and the basis of that state.

So if you're filling in blanks, state fills in the first blank, basis fills in the second blank. The state of the believer and the basis of that state, or the basis for that state. Let's take this verse by verse. Back to verse 1. There is therefore now no condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus, who do not walk according to the flesh, but according to the Spirit.

Right off the bat here, we're confronted with a critical choice. You have to make a decision. There's this second phrase that demands that you make a choice. Who do not walk according to the flesh, but according to the Spirit. Now that has to be one of two things.

It has to either be a description of those who are in Christ Jesus. If you're in Christ Jesus, this describes you. You don't walk according to the flesh, you walk according to the Spirit. Or it could be an if-then condition. This is true of you.

There's no condemnation as long as If this can be said of you, you're walking in the Spirit, not in the flesh. It matters a lot what you decide here. It's going to shape your whole view of the passage and what you believe is true of God's disposition towards you. Well, how can we sort this out? How can we know?

Paul makes it clear in the passage. So I want to offer up 9 which is in our text and verse 14 which is in James' text, but we're gonna get a little sneak peek. Sorry James, I'm treading on your turf there. But 9 and 14, I believe, are the interpretive keys. An interpretive key is a part of the passage that serves as a lens by which to see the passage rightly.

If you miss the interpretive key, you get the passage wrong. If you get the interpretive key, it unlocks the passage for you. Nine and 14 are the interpretive keys here. So look at verse nine. But you are not in the flesh, but in the Spirit, if indeed the Spirit of God dwells in you." Now if anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ, he is not his.

Now we'll walk through this later when we get to that part of the text, but the point of that verse is, if you belong to Christ, you have the Spirit. So not coming and going, you have the Spirit, you don't have the Spirit, you have the Spirit, You don't have the spirit. No, no, no. If you belong to Christ, you have the spirit, period, amen. That is what nine teaches.

So this is a lens by which we see the whole text. Now look at 14. For as many as are led by the Spirit of God, these are the sons of God. So how does adoption work? You're adopted, you're not adopted.

You're adopted, you're not adopted. You're adopted, you're not adopted. That's not how adoption works. Adopted, you are adopted, period, amen. If you are a son of God, then you are led by the Spirit of God.

How do we know that? Because the Bible says it's true. Says that's how it works. And God always tells the truth. So I want you to use Verses 9 and 14 for the next however many weeks, we're here, as the interpretive keys that unlocks a right understanding and keeps you away from a wrong understanding of the passage.

Paul is teaching about the state of the believer, and it is a permanent state. The state of a believer is a permanent state. The perseverance of the saints. Once saved, always saved. We believe that's what the Bible teaches and we believe it for good reason, or the preservation of the saints.

I actually probably prefer that as a term, meaning it's not us persevering because we know how to get it done, get her done, but it is the power of God preserving his people to the end. No one can snatch you from his hands. John chapter 10, I believe. Now, we have this state then, I'm arguing, in the Spirit. Does that mean that Paul is saying that he acts according to that state every second of every minute of every hour of every day?

I'm only in the Spirit. I'm always in the Spirit. You can catch me any second, minute, hour, day of my life and you'll find me in the Spirit. Do you remember chapter 7? Do you remember the text that is connected with our text by the word, therefore?

Yeah, I find myself not doing the things that I intend to do, purpose to do, but I find myself not doing the things that I have intended and purposed to do. Yeah, Paul freely concedes, confesses that he is not walking according to that spiritual impulse, according to the Spirit of God every second of every minute of every day. There is this other law at work in his members. That's the nature of this continual, irreconcilable war. The walk of those in Christ Jesus is the believer's pattern of life.

Meaning, any individual snapshot isn't the whole story. So you can find Paul and you can find some snapshots and you'd say, man that is not according to the spirit. And Paul would say, that's true. But just don't think that's the whole story. God is at work in me.

I am making progress. There are snapshots where you can say, that doesn't match my identity, but that also doesn't, the snapshot doesn't change my identity. It describes me in a second minute hour, but it doesn't describe me. It's not my walk. It's just a snapshot.

The walk of those in Christ Jesus is their pattern of life. Those in Christ Jesus all have points of sin in their lives, snapshots, but their pattern of life is a pattern that is becoming conformed to the image of Jesus over time. Not all at once, true. Slower than we'd like, True. We're humiliated at the pace of the progress?

All true. Paul has conceded that in chapter 7. But the snapshot doesn't define our identity. The pattern of life really tells the story. Now the first phrase.

There is therefore now no condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus. Because the believer is delivered from the body of death through Christ Jesus our Lord, connecting it back to the end of chapter 7, Because the believer is delivered from the body of death through Christ Jesus our Lord, connecting it back to the end of chapter 7, because the believer is delivered from this body of death through Jesus, who he is and what he's done, There's no condemnation for the believer. Let me focus on three words. Number one, condemnation. What is condemnation?

You can probably define it. You probably have a sense of it. But I want to say this because it has a connection to the chapters that come before chapter 8 in Romans. Condemnation also is a judicial verdict. Why is that important?

Because Paul has spent chapters talking about justification. What is justification? A judicial verdict. The judge declaring you to be innocent. Justification is by faith.

That declaration comes because of trust in Jesus. But justification is a judicial verdict. The judge saying you're innocent, you are acquitted of the charges laid at your feet, you're free to go. You can go free. Condemnation is the exact opposite of that.

It's the exact opposite judicial verdict. When you get to the end of the trial, it has to be either one or another, justified or condemned, justification or condemnation. You are innocent, you're acquitted of the charges laid at your feet, you're free to go, or you are guilty. You are condemned, you are subject to the penalty. Pay your debt.

At the end of the trial, it has to be A or B. It has to be one or the other. Number two, The first word was condemnation. What is that? That's what that is.

A judicial verdict that is the exact opposite of justification. Number two, no. For those who are in Christ Jesus, there is no condemnation. Not some condemnation, no condemnation. Not any condemnation.

Why not? Because the penalty has been fully satisfied. The debt has been fully paid. Every bit of it down to the last grain of sand. What's this about a grain of sand?

If your condemnation is the sand on the shore, The condemnation that is left for you because of the work of Christ is not a single grain of sand. I want you to think about it in those terms. You've been to the beach. How many grains of sand are in a handful of sand? Can you count them?

How many thousands in your palm? Now, look to the left down the beach. Look to the right down the beach. Dig. How deep can your children dig when they go to the beach and they make it a project?

Over their height. Now it's in all directions. You haven't dug to the bottom of it. Your condemnation, if it's represented by the sand on the shore, not one grain of sand is left for you because of the person of Jesus Christ and the work of Jesus Christ, not one single grain. There is no condemnation, None left for you.

First word, condemnation. Second word, no. Not one grain of sand left for you. Number three, now. The full free forgiveness of sins is the present possession of all who are in Christ Jesus by faith.

You don't have to wait for it. You exist in it if you are in Christ Jesus by faith. If you have entrusted yourself to the person and work of Jesus Christ, the full pardon, the full free forgiveness of sins is your present possession. Now, Your past sins, there's no condemnation for them. Your present sins, there is no condemnation for them.

Your future sins, there is no condemnation for them. It is your present possession. You have it now. It has been secured for you by one who can keep you. So he can even do the work to pardon your future sins, that is the state of those who are in Christ Jesus by faith.

Now no condemnation. Be okay with me if the rapture happened right now. Let's just go to heaven. Let's go be with the Lord. These are glorious truths.

By the Word, they're glorious truths. Every word is glorious in this. Before we move on, let's look at the other side of the coin. It's only responsible to do so. There is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus.

The opposite is also true. There is now condemnation for those who are outside of Christ Jesus. Both are true. One is the most glorious thought, one is the most terrifying thought. People are living and dying and never feeling afraid by the opposite side of this coin.

Turn to John chapter 3. John 3. The most loved chapter in the Bible might be Romans chapter 8. The most famous verse in the Bible is definitely John 3.16. John 3.16 through 19.

John 3, 16 through 19. I wish we could find that guy who goes to the football games and is with the John 3, 16 sign and get him to add dash through 19. Keep reading people. John 3, 16 through 19. For God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have everlasting life.

For God did not send his son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world through him might be saved." Pause. So that the world through Jesus might Have this verdict rendered, no condemnation. That's why Jesus came into the world, so that people could have this verdict rendered by the judge, no condemnation. 18. He who believes in him is not condemned, but he who does not believe is condemned already because he has not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God.

And this is the condemnation that the light has come into the world and men love darkness rather than light. Because their deeds were evil. His truths are so glorious. Why won't everyone embrace these truths? Because men love darkness, not light.

You See, the problem is so much deeper than just, I have sins. You do have sins, And God is a perfect judge, a righteous judge, an all-knowing judge, so something will have to be done with those sins. But you understand those sins are just symptomatic. That you won't have his savior because you love darkness. He came into the world as light.

Who doesn't want light? A world full of people doesn't want light. A world full of people loves darkness. So They're blind, but the nature of their blind is jamming their eyes shut. They can't see light.

They don't want light. Look at verse 36. We're still in John chapter 3. Verse 36 is actually transitioned to John the Baptist's testimony about Jesus. John 3.36, John the Baptist says, he who believes in the sun has everlasting life, and he who does not believe in the sun shall not see life, but the wrath of God abides on him.

You stand condemned. Your sins cling to you. The anger of God for your sins abides on you, clings to you. But both sides of the coin are true. Those who are in Christ Jesus, there is no condemnation.

But for the other side is also true, for those outside of Christ Jesus, there is now condemnation. It is on you now. You stand condemned Now. You are dead in your sins? Now.

If your life ended now, you would hear the judicial pronouncement of condemnation and you would be separated from God and be tormented forever. That is also true. Back to our text. Now Paul explains this state of no condemnation in verse 2. Let's reread verse 2.

Paul says, For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus has made me free from the law of sin and death. I've been saying, Because it's been necessary to say that Paul uses the word law in two ways. Number one, the way we always think of it. Do this, don't do that. It's a law.

The speed limit is 55. That's a law. Two, the second usage of it is a principle that exerts influence. Like what? Like gravity.

The law of gravity. It's not a do-don't-do. It's explaining this principle that exerts an influence on everything that gets dropped, on everything that has mass. Here at the beginning of this verse, clearly law is not talking about do-don't-do. That would make no sense.

Clearly it's talking about a principle that exerts influence like gravity. In this case, Paul is describing two competing influences, both exerting influence. And there's a clear winner. So we have one principal exerting influence, like gravity in one direction, and another principal exerting influence in exactly the opposite direction, but one is the clear winner. The influence of the Spirit of Life sets the believer free from the influence of sin and death.

Jesus saves us from this body of death. And he does it through his work being brought to bear by the Holy Spirit imparting life. And then continuing to exert his influence in the believer. So the start of life, the Spirit comes and applies Jesus' work to you and Then he continues to exert his influence in you. We've spent a bunch of the sermon time talking about what that looks like as we progress through the passage.

But it's the beginning of life. So the Holy Spirit here is called the Spirit of life. He gives you life, the life that was bought for you by the person of work of Jesus Christ. He applies it to save. And then he continues to exert his influence in the believer.

And it is an influence of life, not death. The unbeliever is dominated and enslaved by the influence exerted by sin and death. Yes? Yes. By the indwelling corrupted nature received by being born in Adam.

You're born in Adam, you have this indwelling corrupted nature. Adam brought the corruption in. You're a son of Adam, a daughter of Adam, so you inherited this corrupted nature, so you're dominated and enslaved by the influence exerted by sin and death. It is a principle exerting influence on you, and you can't escape it. It dominates you and has enslaved you.

For the believer, the Holy Spirit has come and imparted the life purchased by the work of Jesus Christ, satisfying the penalty of sin and breaking the power of sin. We keep saying this over and over. It does both. It satisfies the penalty for sin. Praise God, there's no condemnation, but it also breaks the power of sin.

He is the Holy Spirit of life. The penalty of sin. The sand on the shore. Not one grain left for you, yes, but also the power of sin broken. Both of those things are true and a consequence of the work of the cross.

The law couldn't do that. Jesus' work could do that, but the law couldn't do that. Why? Because it was weak through the flesh. The corruption of our nature in Adam made God's holy, just, Good law simply an instrument of condemnation.

The original intent behind the law was holiness, goodness, justice, but because of this corruption in the flesh which we've inherited, it simply becomes an instrument of condemnation. It's a scorekeeper and the score is not pretty. Matthew Henry says this, the law could neither justify nor sanctify, neither free us from guilt nor the power of sin. As a covenant of works, it left us as it found us. That's exactly it.

That's exactly what Paul is saying here. Could the law justify us? No. It's just keeping score and the score is not pretty. Could the law sanctify us?

Could the law make you more like Christ? No, it's powerless because of these corruptions. It can't free us from guilt. It can't free us from the power of sin. It's just a covenant of works, and it found us as sinners.

It kept the score, and it left us as it found us because it had no power to do anything else. Was God content to leave us like that? Obviously not. I don't think we'd be here today, I don't think we'd be meeting today if God had been content to leave us like that. God did what the law could not do by sending His own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh.

Jesus did come in the flesh. The Word became flesh and dwelt among us. John 1 verse 14. And it was like my sinful flesh, your sinful flesh. It appeared like our sinful flesh, Only his flesh was not subject to the corruption that Adam introduced into our race.

Because he is the Son of God, with that nature, and the Son of Man, without the corruption. The law was not weak through the flesh in Jesus. The law is weak through our flesh and powerless. Is the law the problem? No.

Paul has spent a chapter saying the law is not the problem, and vindicating the law against these false charges brought against it. The law is not the problem. We're the problem. Our indwelling corruptions are the problem. The law was not weak through the flesh in Jesus.

He fulfilled the law on our behalf. But the law is weak through the flesh in us because we were born in Adam and we still have remaining corruptions being in this body of death. Jesus was sent by his father, why? To deal with our sin. He came on account of sin.

Why did Jesus come into the world? To set a good example? He does set a good example, but that's not why he came. He came on account of sin, to deal with sin so that sinners could be saved. And by Jesus living a perfectly sinless life and then dying on the cross as a substitute for sinners, God condemned sin in the flesh.

So there's no condemnation for the believer because God condemned sin in the flesh through Jesus' work. God cannot and does not overlook human sin. He condemns it. What does God do with sin? He condemns it.

Jesus took all of that condemnation, every grain of sand on the seashore, He took all of that condemnation for His people and left them with this declaration from His perfectly righteous Father, No condemnation. He took all the condemnation. God condemned sin in the flesh by sending his Son to the cross on account of sin. What is the result? Verse 4, Paul tells us what is the result.

That the righteous requirement of the law might be fulfilled in us who do not walk according to the flesh, but according to the Spirit. Remember chapter 6 verse 4? I hope so. We've been reciting it every Sunday. Therefore we were buried with Him, with Jesus, through baptism into death, that just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we also should walk in newness of life." He bought us newness of life.

He died. And in his death, we can walk in newness of life. Here's a quote from Rob Ventura who in the quote quotes James Edwards who in the quote quotes Augustine. So Guess this is me quoting Rob Ventura quoting James Edwards quoting Augustine. Sorry, that's what you're stuck with.

James Edwards says this in Rob Ventura's commentary. Commentary. Paul does not say that one must keep the law in order to be saved, but that one must be saved in order to keep the law. Augustine understood Paul correctly, quote, the law is given that grace might be sought. Grace is given that the law might be fulfilled.

These are easily misunderstood, so let's take both James Edward's quote and Augustine's quote. None of this is salvation by law keeping. Okay, none of this equals that. That's not what Robin Tur is trying to say, or James Edwards is trying to say, or Augustine is trying to say, at all. Quite the opposite actually.

James Edwards says, Paul does not say that one must keep the law in order to be saved. Keep the law and you can be saved. Paul's not saying that. But that one must be saved in order to keep the law. Not for salvation, but being saved is a starting point for law keeping.

Until you're saved, It is impossible to actually keep the law in God's eyes. You do all sorts of things which are externally compliant, so I would say you're keeping the law. God says no, No. This unregenerate heart, even with the outward conformity, the outward compliance, the outward shell, the outward branding of the good that you do, that is not keeping the law. The law is spiritual.

The law is spiritual. So Paul's not saying, keep the law and be saved. He's saying, be saved, now keep the law. You can start obeying now that you have a heart that is right in God's eyes. Because He did that work in you, and now He can do works through you that are actual obedience to the law that you were completely unable to do until the nanosecond in which you were born again.

Now Augustine. Augustine said, the law is given that grace might be sought. Is that true? Absolutely. Galatians chapter 3, the law is a tutor to bring us to Christ.

The law doesn't tell us how to be saved, it tells us that we're not saved to send us running to Jesus to be saved. The law is given that grace might be sought. Oh God, if this is really the standard, there can't be any hope in my law keeping because I've already violated a thousand times today. So I come seeking grace. The law is given that grace might be sought.

Grace is given. Okay, God says, okay, you've come to me for unmerited favor. I give it to you. Grace is given that the law might be fulfilled. Now you can walk with me.

Now you can start to be like my son. Think like my son. Talk like my son. Act like my son. Love me like my son, worship me like my son.

Before we move to the next subsection, I should notice Paul's introduction of the Holy Spirit as the dominant influence in the life of the believer. So this is what he's doing. He's introducing you to the Holy Spirit as what? As the dominant influence in the life of the believer. By influence, I'm not trying to depersonalize the Holy Spirit.

I'm just saying, he, the person of the Holy Spirit, exerts influence. Previously in Romans, there's practically nothing about the Holy Spirit. There's two just kind of sideways glances at the Spirit. In chapter 8, there's almost 20 mentions. So 1 through 7, almost nothing.

Chapter 8 alone, almost 20 mentions of the Spirit. The Spirit is introduced as the dominant influence in the life of the believer. Now, does the flesh with its remaining corruption still have influence in the life of the believer? Remember chapter 7? It was just Last week.

Yes. The flesh with its remaining corruption still has influence, still exerts influence in the life of the believer. Is the flesh the dominant influence? No. No, says Paul.

The flesh is no longer the dominant influence in the life of those who are in Christ Jesus. Oh boy, 42 minutes, huh? Okay, verses 5 through 8. Listen faster. Verses 5 through 8.

For those who live according to the flesh, set their minds on the things of the flesh. For those who live according to the Spirit, the things of the Spirit. For to be carnally minded is death, but to be spiritually minded is life and peace. Because the carnal mind is enmity against God. For it is not subject to the law of God, nor indeed can be.

So then, those who are in the flesh cannot please God." In these verses you have the two states identified and explained. State number one, state number two. What about state number three? There is no state number three. The Bible only gives us two states.

There is no middle ground. There is in Adam. There is in Christ. There is spiritually alive. There is spiritually dead.

There is in the spirit. There is in the flesh. Now, here's a statement that I hope will be helpful. This whole passage, the whole thing, is a tracing out of in Adam and in Christ. Traces it through.

So remember verse 9, remember verse 14 that sets these not as if then conditions but as as states that you exist in and there are only two states and you don't toggle back and forth. Once you've toggled to in Christ, you are in Christ. Why? Because you're good at staying in Christ? No.

Because Christ has laid His hands upon you and claimed you for Himself, and He just doesn't let go of people that He's claimed for Himself. Period. Amen. Did I just amen myself? I think I did.

The other way to think of the passage, in my opinion, is wrong, is to think in terms of momentary condition. So if you come to verses 5 through 8, and you're thinking of this as momentary conditions, it becomes this moment I'm thinking about fleshly things, the next moment I'm setting my mind on the things of the spirit, and then I lose my way, I'm thinking on fleshly things, and I'm thinking on things of the spirit, so I'm in a never ending cycle of back and forth on spiritual minded, fleshly minded. Is there a sense in which that's true? Yes, there is a sense in which that's true. That's not what Paul is talking about here.

To me, verses 9 and 14 give us the interpretive key to unlock this passage for us and keeps us away from understanding this passage as a momentary condition, fleshly minded, spiritual minded, fleshly minded, spiritual minded, back and forth, endlessly. These interpretive keys require us to understand the passage as our state under our family head, either in Adam or in Christ. It is describing that state in which we exist, one or the other, so we know what to nurture and what to starve. Paul is helping us understand. Nurture this, starve that.

A second thing that is helpful to know. You see the words throughout 5 through 8, actually throughout the whole passage, you see the words flesh and carnal and carnally. All of those are translations of the identical Greek word. So there are different English words, but just know if we knew Greek, we would only be seeing a single Greek word. Flesh, sarx, that's the Greek word.

Carnal, sarx. Carnally, sarx. It's all the same Greek word being translated. And The use of it here essentially means in Adam. Flesh.

As you were born. With the nature that you were born with. Okay, look again at verse 5. Verse 5. For those who live according to the flesh set their minds on the things of the flesh, but those who live according to the Spirit, the things of the Spirit.

But Paul begins by describing those who live out of the nature they were born with. So this living according to the flesh, it is living out of the nature you were born with in Adam. What did Jesus say in John 3, 6? So John 3 is the, you must be born again passage. What did he say in John 3, 6?

That which is born of flesh is flesh. You were born in Adam, you were born with that nature. That's what you are and you can't be anything other than that. You're born of the flesh, you are flesh. And that which is born of the Spirit, is Spirit.

So you must be born again. And until you're born again, you are flesh and nothing more than flesh but when you are born again you are you you have become spiritually alive. Unless you are born again you live out of the nature you were born with. And a key indicator of that unsaved state is what your mind is set on. So, don't we need to know how to parse these things?

Which is which? How do I know? Paul is telling us a key indicator of that unsaved state born and Living out of the nature that you were born with is what your mind is set on. It's set on the things of the flesh. When you are born again, you become spiritually alive and begin living out of a new nature.

And a key indicator of that saved state of being in Christ is your mind being set on the things of the Spirit. So we're actually being given tools here to help us diagnose these things. Who am I? What am I? Who is the head of my family?

This is about fundamental life orientation. Fundamental life orientation. And it displays itself in the preoccupation of your mind. Right? Your fundamental life orientation is on display in the preoccupation of your mind.

What are your thoughts preoccupied with? What dominates your thoughts? What do you think about? What do you like to think about? What do your thoughts gravitate towards?

We all have these things. We're thinking nothing in particular and our thoughts just gravitate. Well, what are those things? This is a diagnostic tool to tell us what is our fundamental life orientation, which tells us who's the head of our race. This is why Paul says in Colossians 3 verse 2, set your mind on things above, not on things on the earth.

Be spiritually minded, not fleshly minded. This is more Become what you are material. You've heard me use this phrase now a bunch of times and I'm guessing I'm not done. Because it's so pervasive in Paul's teaching. Become what you are.

You have a new identity in Jesus Christ and it is a fixed identity but your life hasn't fully caught up with it yet. Is that anyone else's experience or is it just me? That's my experience. I do believe what the Bible says about faith in Jesus and I know I trust Jesus so I know this is my new identity because God can't lie about the things that he said but I don't think my life is fully caught up yet. I'm making progress over time.

Listen to Rob Ventura on a mind set on the things of the Spirit. He says, it means to be taken up with the things that the Spirit of God is taken up with. Such things include but are not limited to the Word of God which the Spirit inspired, the Son of God whom the Spirit came to glorify, the Gospel of God which the Spirit makes real to every heart whom he regenerates. To be spiritually minded is to mind spiritual things. It's a good way to say it.

To be spiritually minded is to mind spiritual things. It is to have one's heart on the things of God, to have holy affections. So within our diagnostic tool, Rob Ventura gives us some more diagnostic tools to help us understand whether we're being spiritually minded or not. He says well the Spirit inspired Scripture. So if Scripture is a preoccupation of your mind, that's a good sign.

The Spirit came to glorify Jesus Christ. So, if you can't get your mind off Jesus, That's a really good sign. The Spirit makes the Gospel real to believers. That's how you become a believer. So if your mind gravitates towards the Gospel, that's a good sign.

All That's very true. It is to have one's heart on the things of God to have holy affections right on. Then in verse six, Paul traces out each state to the end. So look again at verse 6. He's going to trace out both of these states.

For to be carnally minded is death, but to be spiritually minded is life and peace. There, take the mind of the flesh, remember flesh, carnal, carnaly, all the same Greek words. Take the mind of the flesh and go all the way down the track to the end. Death. Take the spiritual mind, take it all the way down the track to the end.

Life and peace. To be in this state where your mind operates out of the nature you were born with is death. Born spiritually dead, then dying a physical death, then being subjected to the second death, which is hell. But to be in the state where your mind operates out of The new nature in Christ is life and peace. You were dead in sins and transgressions, but now you're alive.

And you're living out of the new nature. You were at war with God, But now God has made peace by the blood of his son. And so you have peace with God. You can live out of this new nature. Friends, the mind that operates out of the nature you were born with is hostility against God.

It is enmity against God. Those are synonyms. Enmity, we hardly ever use enmity, so I'm bringing a synonym to the table. Hostility. It is hostility against God to operate out of the nature you were born with.

You were born with a nature that is hostility against God. Listen to what Matthew Poole thinks. I think this is such an interesting and helpful observation. Matthew Poole says, he does not say it is an enemy, but in the abstract, it is enmity, which heightens the sense. An enemy may be reconciled, but enmity cannot be reconciled.

As black may be made white, but Blackness cannot. I need to think about that for a minute. Black can be made white, okay? You put a drop of black into an ocean of white, and it just disappears. It's swallowed up in white.

But can blackness be made white? Blackness is a definition. Blackness will never be white. A drop of black can be diluted into white. Peace can be made between enemies.

But to say is hostility is like saying that blackness can be made white. No, no, no. Blackness is not white, the opposite of white by definition. So this gets back to the real problem. Now that we have a few sins against God, we haven't done what we ought to against God, that is true and that is a problem.

But the real problem is that living out of the nature you were born with, you are hostility against God. You can say you are hostile towards God, but Paul is going way beyond that and saying you are hostility against God. That's not something that can be changed. That is definitional by term. This is why you must be born again, and this is why we can't be telling people be nicer Be kinder Do these things don't do these things you'll be right with God no no the problem is living out of the nature that you were born with, you are hostility against God.

You have to become something completely different. You must become a new creation. Such a mind is not subject to the law of God. Such a mind cannot be subject to the law of God. The implication Paul draws from this is that those whose fundamental life orientation is defined by the nature they were born with cannot please God.

So understand what he's saying here. Salvation is the beginning of actually fulfilling the law. You are made able to fulfill the law. Until salvation, until being in Christ, you cannot please God. But I was nice to people before I was born again.

Yes, you did all sorts of things that had an external alignment with the law of God, but you were not pleasing God. They cannot please God. Because even their Good deeds, in air quotes, proceed from a mind that is hostility against God. So they can outwardly conform to what is right and good in ways that are often very pleasing to us. We observe from the outside and we say, good deed, well done.

And sometimes enormously helpful to mankind. If somebody gives a billion dollars to reduce and eliminate malaria in Africa, I think we should be happy about that. I'm not saying we shouldn't be. I think these things can be done enormously helpful to mankind, very pleasing to us, but God sees right through it into a mind that is simply sustaining himself or herself in rebellion against God. God sees right through it.

These unbelievers are saying, hey, can we get a little air conditioning on the way to hell? Be nice to have some AC on this bus to hell. So we do all sorts of things in our unbelief to sustain ourselves and make the ride more comfortable, but have no illusions about where that ride ends. No matter how helpful a little AC on the bus is. Listen to Charles Spurgeon.

Charles Spurgeon says, some of you suppose because you have never been guilty of any vice, because you have not indulged in any great transgression, that therefore you do not require the work of regeneration in your hearts. You will be mightily mistaken if you continue under that delusion until the last great day. For to be carnally minded even though that carnal mind is in a body that is dressed in silks and satins, to be carnally minded is death even though it be whitewashed till it looks like a spiritual one. To be carnally minded, even though you sow the carnal mind with a few good garden seeds of the flower of morality, will still be nothing but damnation to you at the last. That's it.

Before we move on, let me Press this with you. What is your mind saying about your fundamental life orientation? Paul gave us diagnostic tools, so use them. What is your fundamental life orientation, What is your mind saying about your fundamental life orientations? What do you think about?

What do your thoughts gravitate towards? What do you like to think about? Are you born again or are you just fooling yourself and us too? And don't get me wrong Remember chapter 7 I still remember chapter 7 I don't want to talk anybody out of the assurance of a genuine salvation, And I know there are tender consciences who hear me say that, and they're really born again, and they say, I'm not born again. Remember what we've been saying, the more sanctified you are, the less sanctified you feel.

So We've got to hold all these truths together, or we'll go crazy and make each other crazy. I don't want to go crazy and I don't want to make you crazy. I am not here for that. You don't need help. I don't need help.

None of us need help. So tender consciences will take this, oh my mind is so often on earthly things, I must not be born again. No, no, no. What is your fundamental life orientation? Now your thoughts are guiding you that, but be aware, the more sanctified you are, the less sanctified you feel, so we have to hold these things together.

But being born again changes you at the most fundamental level. And you can't go back. It's impossible for you to go back. So if that is, if Me saying that is totally disconnected from your experience. I'm saying, oh there's trouble here.

Examine yourself to see whether you're in the faith. Work out your salvation with fear and trembling. To the tender conscience, I would say, simple faith brings you into salvation. To the hardened conscience I would say stop fooling yourself. Verses 9 through 11.

I'm on page 6 of 6, so we're okay. It's going to go fast from here on out. Verses 9 through 11, Paul concludes this section, But you are not in the flesh, but in the Spirit, if indeed the Spirit of God dwells in you. Now if anyone does not have the spirit of Christ, He is not His. And if Christ is in you, the body is dead because of sin, but the spirit is life because of righteousness.

But if the spirit of Him who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, He who raised Christ from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through his Spirit who dwells in you." In these verses we have the certain implications of belonging to Jesus Christ. So if you're filling in the blank, belonging fills in the blank. The certain implications of belonging to Jesus. The second phrase of verse 9 is enormously helpful because it's definitional. It actually defines the terms.

It defines what is true. If anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ, he is not his. He is not God's. If you do not have the Holy Spirit, so Jesus promised to send the Holy Spirit and then he kept that promise. So he's here called the Spirit of Christ.

If you do not have the Holy Spirit, You do not belong to Jesus. And if you belong to Jesus, you do have the Holy Spirit. You are indwelt by the Holy Spirit. If you belong to Jesus, you are not in the flesh, but in the Spirit. These things are definitional.

This is telling you what is. It is defining the limits of truth. If you belong to Jesus, your fundamental life orientation is no longer out of the nature you were born in. It is out of the new nature. You are no longer in the flesh.

You are in the Spirit. And if this is true of you, your body is dead because of sin. I'm going to add a word. Your body is still dead because of sin. The new incorruptible body is still future state.

But the Holy Spirit is life because of righteousness. The Holy Spirit imparts the life purchased by Jesus. He imputes Jesus' righteousness to you, making you spiritually alive when before that moment you were spiritually dead. Right up until that moment you were totally spiritually dead. Not sick, not half alive, you were spiritually dead.

And in that moment, The Holy Spirit applied Jesus' work to you and you became spiritually alive. If this is true of you, you have the grave emptying Spirit of God dwelling in you and the promise of the bodily resurrection, you will be raised with an incorruptible body. This continual, irreconcilable war is only that up to the point. And then no further. And then the war is over.

You get this new, incorruptible body where there are not two laws like the law of gravity at work pulling in opposite directions any longer. This brings us to next week's text and the conclusion that Paul draws. Believer, don't live according to this temporary corrupted body. Live out of your new nature in Christ by the Spirit who is dwelling in you. Yes, James will pick it up from there.

One point I should make before I wrap up. Paul speaks of the Spirit, the Spirit of God, and the Spirit of Christ. Each dwelling in the believer. Christ dwelling in the believer, God dwelling in the believer, and then the Spirit by these different names. Paul, you're making a jumble of the Holy Trinity.

Why do you have to be so hard? As I was looking at this, this is what I'm thinking. Paul, Why are you jumbling up the Holy Trinity like this? Inspired Paul, let me correct you in what you're writing here. That's dangerous turf.

Be careful. I'm trying to be careful. He's no more confusing than Jesus is. So just listen to John 14. Listen to John 14.

John 14, 16, and 17. Jesus says, and I will ask the Father and He will give you another helper that He may abide with you forever. The Spirit of truth whom the world cannot receive, because it neither sees Him nor knows Him, but you know Him and He dwells with you and will be in you." If we go down to verse 23, Jesus answered and said to him, If anyone loves Me, he will keep My word, and My Father will love him, and we will come to him and make our home with him." So in John 14, Jesus, I'll send the Holy Spirit, He'll dwell in you for those who love me, they'll keep my commandments and we, Father, you and I, the Father and the Son, will make our home in Him, dwell in Him. So I submit to you that Paul is no more confusing than Jesus is confusing and that the problem is simply this. We have let down our ropes into an ocean and found that we're out of rope and we haven't hit bottom.

They're not confusing, but God is big. They're not confusing, but God is infinite. And we have these finite brains that keep letting down rope. We get a little more rope, we let it down. If we hit bottom yet, nope, we haven't hit bottom.

More rope, let it down. If we hit bottom yet, I don't think we're going to hit bottom. It's not confusing. This is one of my laments about this is that we haven't had time to sort of develop the doctrine of the Trinity, which is right here in this text. Another lifetime I guess.

Applications, I'll give you three. Quickly. Number one, theology must lead to doxology. Bible truths, divine truths have to take us to praising God. Otherwise, what are we doing here?

Believers, there's no condemnation. If you can make dry, sterile, mechanical classroom material out of that, I don't know how to help you. Your condemnation is like the sand on the shores and God hasn't left a single grain for you. If we can't study this and stand in awe and wonder of what God has done through his son Jesus Christ, I don't know if there's help for us. The theology must lead to doxology.

Number two, believers, become what you are. Become what you are. You are in the Spirit if you belong to Jesus. Now live out of that new nature. Stop living in ways that are consistent with the old nature.

We spend enough time doing that, that's what Peter says. We spend enough time in our old life doing the old things. We have to stop that and become like Christ. Become what you are. You know what to starve.

All those things that are consistent with Adam. You know what to fan the flames of. All these things from the new nature. Yes, they pull in opposite direction. Yes, they are both still exerting influence, but the Spirit of God is the dominant influence in the believer, the clear winner.

Number three. Matthew Henry says this. Shall we put this question to our own hearts? Who dwells? Who rules?

Who keeps house here? Will you put that question to your own heart? Who dwells? Who rules? Who keeps house here?

Where's here? Your heart? John MacArthur wants to pile on. Okay, John, we'll let you pile on. John MacArthur says this, The person who gives No evidence of the presence, power, and fruit of God's Spirit in his life has no legitimate claim to Christ as Savior and Lord.

A person who demonstrates no desire for the things of God, has no inclination to avoid sin, or passion to please God, is not indwelt by the Holy Spirit and thus does not belong to Christ. These are sobering thoughts, but we're wise to confront ourselves with them and just sort through and see what's true of us. God, help us to know what is true of us. I thank you that there is not one grain of condemnation left for those who are in Christ Jesus. Why?

Because he stood condemned. He satisfied your condemnation on behalf of your people, left none remaining. Thank you. Praise you. We praise you.

Oh, let the theology lead to doxology among us in Jesus name, amen. If you belong to Jesus, by trust in Jesus, by trust in only Jesus, and you've been publicly identified as belonging to Him in baptism in the name of the Father Son and Spirit and if you're willing to just reflect on anything that needs to be repented of in this time because Paul commands it. You're willing to do that, participate with us. In the Lord's Supper In the Lord's Supper we take two symbols, bread, symbol of this body of Jesus offered up for us, and wine, a symbol of Jesus's blood being spilled for us. It all boils down to two words, no condemnation.

This is our celebration. Not one grain of sand is left of our condemnation that Jesus has satisfied it all and also broken the power of sin in our lives so we don't have to live like slaves anymore, but we can actually begin fulfilling the law. This is the starting point to actual obedience to God, not just the fake counterfeit version of it, but real obedience to God. We can actually now please God. You have these two things set before us in the passage.

You can now fulfill the law once you're born again, but those who are in the flesh cannot please God, cannot please God. We're brought to think about these things in the Lord's Supper. Let's give thanks for the bread. God thank you for the body of your Son Jesus. Thank you for the blood of your son Jesus.

Without the shedding of blood, there is no remission of sins, no forgiveness. Blood has been shed, perfect blood, divine blood, and yet human blood, to satisfy your condemnation.