♪♪♪ <i> female announcer:
What if one chapter</i> <i> could change your life?</i> <i> What if there was one passage
of Scripture that allowed you</i> <i> to leave the past behind you,</i> <i> to look beyond
your present challenges,</i> <i> and provided the hope
for a brighter tomorrow?</i> <i> Turning the page
to these powerful words</i> <i> can turn a page in your life,
giving you the confidence</i> <i> you need for every step
you take.</i> <i>Words that contain God's desire
to breathe a new life into you</i> <i> through a divine promise
just waiting to be claimed.</i> <i>A promise that you will never be
abandoned, never be alone,</i> <i> and always be cared for.</i> <i> A promise that you are chosen
and called by God.</i> <i> How would your life change
if you knew</i> <i> you could endure every trial?</i> <i> That nothing could stand
in your way,</i> <i> knowing there's nothing
God wouldn't do for you?</i> <i> Is it too hard to believe
that such an arrangement</i> <i> of simple words
composed beautifully,</i> <i> authored divinely,
nearly 2000 years ago,</i> <i> could be so great?</i> <i> What is this chapter?</i> <i> Romans VIII,
the greatest chapter</i> <i> in the Bible.</i> Dr. David Jeremiah:
Hello, I'm David Jeremiah. Today, I am taking you
back to your school days. Do you remember having an essay
assignment to compare and contrast two different
people or views or periods of history? We gain a better picture
of two things when we can compare
and contrast them with each other. And that's what Paul does
in verses 5 through 11 of Romans chapter 8, a chapter of the Bible
that can change your life. We're on the second message
of a series called "Romans VIII: The Greatest Chapter
in the Bible." And today, we'll follow Paul
as he compares and contrasts the flesh,
our old human nature, with the spirit,
our new life empowered by the Holy Spirit. I hope you'll join me
for today's message as we explore the perils
of the flesh contrasted with the power
of the spirit in "The Spirit and the Flesh,"
here on "Turning Point." <i>male announcer: The act
of writing out Scripture by hand</i> <i> is a powerful practice.</i> <i> In fact, it is a command
directly from God.</i> <i> God understood how writing
with your hand</i> <i> imprints the words
on your mind</i> <i> and that's why Dr. Jeremiah</i> <i> has created
"The Written Word Journal."</i> <i> Use "The Written Word Journal"</i> <i>to write Paul's wonderfully rich
letter to the Romans,</i> <i> word for word.</i> <i>As you do, record your thoughts,
reflections, notes, and prayers</i> <i> on the adjacent page,
charting your personal journey</i> <i> with God
through the book of Romans.</i> <i> "The Written Word Journal"
is yours when you give a gift</i> <i> of any amount in support
of this program.</i> <i>And if you give $60 or more,
Dr. Jeremiah will also send you</i> <i> his current teaching series,</i> <i> "Romans VIII,"
on CD or DVD,</i> <i> along with a correlating
Study Guide.</i> <i> Or if you give generously
to the ministry,</i> <i> you will receive
"The Written Word Journal,"</i> <i> and a genuine leather
Jeremiah Study Bible</i> <i> in the New King James
Version.</i> <i> Contact "Turning Point" today.</i> <i> female announcer: Thank you
for watching "Turning Point."</i> <i> Now, here is Dr. Jeremiah
with his message,</i> <i> "The Spirit and the Flesh."</i> Dr. Jeremiah: Romans 7,
which comes before the chapter we're studying, is all about
what happens when we try to live life
ourselves. Interestingly enough,
the whole chapter's full of words like, "I,"
and "Me," and "My." And then you come
to Romans chapter 8 and there's a huge change
because in Romans 8 those words kind
of go away and the Holy Spirit shows up in Romans chapter 8,
19 times. And throughout the epistle,
Paul has always relied on this little teaching thing
he's going to do: contrast. For instance, some places
he talks about Adam and Christ, some place he talks
about slavery and freedom, some places he talks
about death and life. But here in this chapter, he's gonna talk
about the difference between the flesh
and the spirit. And he's gonna teach us
that how we respond to the Christian life
with regard to these two things, the mental way
that we go after this will determine everything
about us as Christians going forward. Now let me read the first three
verses of our text which begins in verse 5
of chapter 8, and I wanna talk
with you as I read these verses about the mind
of the Spirit in you. Please notice the words
that I have set aside and color coded
so you'll understand the emphasis that Paul
has in these few verses. He said,
"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,"
or fleshly, "minded is death, but to be spiritually minded
is life and peace. Because the fleshly 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." Four times in these verses, the apostle Paul
uses the word "mind" to contrast two different ways
of thinking. "It all starts in your mind,"
says Paul. "Those who are of the flesh
think about fleshly things, and those who are of the Spirit,
think about things that please God." In the first few parts
of this passage, he actually uses a term
which is really interesting. He said, "They set their minds." It's a Greek word that refers
to the basic orientation of your whole system. It's your bent in life. It's your thought patterns
of the mind. I wrote down another word
in the margin of my notes. It's your grid. It's how you open your mind
up to things and that's a word
we all understand because of computers. It's the grid, it's how you look
at things. How you look at things
is everything, isn't it? It's how you interpret them,
how you come at them. What is your bent in life? And Paul says,
"You need to set your grid on spiritual things
so that you look at life through a lens
that isn't just what's going on in the world around you. Now, Paul is not simply saying
that people are either fleshly or spiritual
because of how they think. No, he is saying instead
that people think about fleshly or spiritual things
because of who they are. You get to make a choice. You get to set the grid. You get to determine
the ramifications of how you're gonna think
about life and how you're gonna go
through life. This is the message
that Jesus tried to give to Nicodemus one day. Remember he said to Nicodemus, "That which is born
of the flesh is flesh, and that which is born
of the Spirit is spirit." The fleshly mindset,
according to this passage of Scripture,
doesn't mean that people who have that mindset
are some sort of criminals or gross or vicious people. How many of you know
the flesh can be very educated? The way you think about life
if you don't think about godly things
you can still be refined and cultured. I know a lot of really refined,
cultured people who wouldn't know Jesus
from a swear word. But I wanna help you understand
what the word "flesh" means. I told you it's not the skin
that's hanging on your bones. I mean,
that's a certain kind of flesh but that's not
what Paul's talking about. I found a little way
to remember what the flesh is and if I share this with you,
it will probably help you remember and understand it. So up on the screen you have
the word "flesh," F-L-E-S-H. Here's the little deal:
take your pen and scratch out letter "H." You got it? The letter "H," let's say
that stands for Him. Now, spell the word backwards
and what does it spell? S-E-L-F. Flesh is yourself without Him. Someone told me one time
that your flesh is who you were
before you got saved. That's a pretty good statement. You say, "You mean it's possible
for me as a Christian to go back and live my life
the way I used to live before I got saved
and live in the flesh?" Absolutely,
and all of us have done it, have we not? So flesh isn't what's hanging
on your bones. Flesh is self-centeredness. Flesh is living your life
without God. You can be a Christian,
listen to me, and a practical atheist,
did you know that? You can be a Christian
and live your life and you're still a Christian
but you've put God over here. Maybe you've put him
on a time warp and you're gonna get to him
when you get to be 80. But you can be a Christian
and not live like a Christian. You can be a Christian and live
a self-centered, fleshly life. Oh, how easy it is for us,
even as Christians, when we fall in love
with the Lord Jesus Christ because of what he's done for us
on the cross and paid the penalty for our sin
and nothing more important to us in all the world
when we first get saved, but to love him and thank him
and then all of a sudden, we get caught up
in what's going on around us
and, pretty soon, it's about us. Now, that's the first mindset, but notice Paul
doesn't stay there very long. He goes on in Romans 8
to tell us about the spiritual mindset
and that's what I wanna talk to you about
'cause this is pretty exciting. He says in verses 5 and 6:
"But those who live according to the Spirit,"
in other words, they set their minds
on the things of the Spirit, "are spiritually minded
and they have life and peace." In other words, Christians should think
differently. They dwell on the things
of the Spirit. In verse 6, Paul zeros in
on two particular descriptions of the spiritually minded
person. He says they're full of life,
and they're full of peace. Now, I know that some people
think if you're really walking with the Lord
and you're walking in the Spirit, you're gonna be
sort of sober and sad and, you know,
not enjoying life. No, the Bible says
if you have the Holy Spirit at the center
and you're walking in the Spirit,
you're full of life. The most exciting people I know
are the people that I know are walking
with the Lord and they're excited
because every day's an adventure
and you don't know what's gonna happen next and you just can't wait to see
what God's up to in your life because you're walking
in the Spirit. The Christian is a person
who's been made alive by God's Spirit
and, because of that, spiritual matters
now make sense to them. Before you became a Christian,
you were dead in sin. Now you're alive
to a whole new world of reality
and you're at peace with yourself as never before. That's one of the most
commonly stated results of becoming a Christian:
"I found peace. I got rid of my guilt. I realized that God is not mad
at me, that God loves me, and I've made peace with God." "There is therefore now
no condemnation to those who are
in Christ Jesus," remember that? On more than one occasion,
Jesus described this life that I'm talking about. On one occasion he said
that "he had come to give us this life, and to give it to us
more abundantly." That's life. In John 17:3 in his high
priestly prayer, Jesus said, "This is eternal life, that they
may know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ
whom you have sent." That's what it means
to be alive. That's what it means
to truly live. The Bible says: "Therefore,
having been justified by faith, we have peace with God
through our Lord Jesus Christ." Romans 14:17 says this:
"The kingdom of God," now listen to this. What is the kingdom of God? What does it mean
to be a Christian? "The kingdom of God
is righteousness and peace and joy in the Holy Spirit." You're a Christian so you can't
enjoy the things of the world 'cause the Holy Spirit's
gonna make you miserable, right? Right? You act like
you've never been there. And if you're a Christian,
and you're over here, you can't really fully
devote yourself to Jesus Christ 'cause you've got all the world
pulling at you over here. So what Paul is saying
is when you get both feet on the same side of the fence
and you get your grid correct and you begin
to think spiritually about life, that doesn't mean
that you don't have joy. Let me tell you this. If you are a Christian
and you know you're going to heaven,
and you know your sins are all forgiven
and you're not guilty before God, how can
you not be full of joy? How can you not walk every day
just excited to see what God's gonna do next? Jesus says when you get
the Holy Spirit in your heart and we're gonna talk about that
in a moment, he brings peace. I've been ruminating
in history a little bit these last days. I guess you do that
when you hit these special birthdays. Thinking about life and--
almost exactly at this particular time,
25 years ago, I was diagnosed with lymphoma,
a type of cancer that, at the time, had a very poor
survival rate. Shortly after my diagnosis,
I went to the Mayo Clinic and I was operated on
immediately. The surgery was called
a laparotomy and, really, what it was
is they cut me open from stem to stern, like a fish. After my surgery, I was taken
to another floor to recover, and I remember this
like it happened yesterday. On this particular floor,
the patient rooms were in a circle
and the nurses' station and desk for staff
were in the middle. And as soon it was possible,
the doctors told me that I should get up
and try to walk. So knowing this was an important
part of my recovery, I pushed myself
to do a full lap around the nurses' station,
starting at my room and passing every other
patient's room until my room came up again
and then I went back in and got in bed. My goal that first day
was one lap, that's all I wanted, one lap. And that was pretty challenging. And I was barely able
to finish it. So the next day, I decided,
"I'm gonna go two laps today." My plan was to do one more
each day than I'd done the day before,
so I set out walking slowly around the circle. By a strange coincidence, the doctor
who had performed my surgery was dictating his notes
about me when I shuffled by his desk. All I remember hearing him say
was, "A pastor from California who has stage IV
large-cell lymphoma cancer." Now, that might not seem
important to you but nobody had told me
I had stage IV cancer. I had cancer,
but I didn't know I had stage IV cancer. l wasn't even sure
what that was but I know it was worse
than stage III. Somehow, I completed
those two laps and got back to my room. And I remember sitting there
feeling really scared and overwhelmed. But then, that feeling
completely left me and it was replaced by another. I realized, "I'm not in control
of my life." I told myself that. But the Spirit of God
is in control of me. And a sense of what
I can only describe as peace began to come over my heart. I'm gonna let God do his work,
and I'll do mine. My only thought was, "Well,
tomorrow, I'm doing three laps. I don't know
what you're doing, God, but I'm doing three laps
tomorrow, right?" If things are bad
on the outside, listen to me, but the Holy Spirit
is in charge of the inside, he will give you peace, and the Bible says it's peace
that passes all understanding. Isn't that true? And you know,
you can't understand it unless you've been there
and you can't tell somebody, "Oh, I've been
where you've been. I know."
No, you don't. You don't know
what I've been through 'cause you haven't been through
what I've been through. And I don't know what
you've been through, but I know this:
when you go through something like that, that actually pulls
at the very fabric of your life, if the Holy Spirit
is in your heart, and you're walking
with the Lord, he will give you peace
and it will be something like you can't even explain
to someone else. And if you try to tell
a non-Christian about it, they'll just look at you
like you're weird, you know? So it's how you think
about things, it's your mindset,
it's setting your mind. Now, let me talk with you
just a few moments about the measure of the Spirit. Because in verses 9 to 11,
this is what Paul says. He says, "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." Now, beginning with this verse, Paul shifts
from the third person to the second person. It's interesting. He's gonna talk directly
to his readers instead of about them. He's going to exhort them
to acknowledge the Spirit in their lives
and he begins by telling them that the Holy Spirit
inhabits us. Verse 9: "But you are not
in the flesh but in the Spirit, if indeed the Spirit of God
dwells in you. Now," listen to this,
"if anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ,
he's none of his." Now, I grew up in a culture
where a lot of preachers preached that when you become
a Christian you get Christ but then you've got
to have a second work of grace to get the Holy Spirit. You ever hear that? Some people say,
"Well, have you been baptized in the Spirit?" Yes, I have. Every one of us
has been baptized in the Spirit
because the Word of God says when you become
a Christian, Spirit baptism happens automatically,
imperceptibly, in your life. To be baptized in the Spirit
means you become a part of the body of Christ. So let me just settle
this once and for all and then I'm gonna read
this verse again. You cannot be a Christian
and not have the Holy Spirit. It's impossible. Listen to what Paul said:
"Now if anyone does not have the Spirit
of Christ, that person is not His." You're not a Christian. If you're a Christian,
you have the Holy Spirit. Every Christian
has the Holy Spirit. Are you a Christian?
Yes. Do you have Christ?
Yes. Do you have the Holy Spirit?
Absolutely. Don't let anybody come
and tell you that if you're a Christian
you need to go get the Holy Spirit 'cause,
listen to me, I wrote a book one time about
this, a little pamphlet, and it was called this:
"Is the Holy Spirit Original or Optional Equipment?" He's original equipment, amen? So you got the Holy Spirit. He dwells in you. The acid test
of being a Christian is the indwelling presence
of the Holy Spirit. And Paul says
that you can be certain of your salvation if,
indeed, the Spirit of God dwells in you,
and the word "dwell" is a wonderful word
which means he's at home in you. So the first thing
he wants you to know is that the Holy Spirit
inhabits you. You may not even know that
and let me tell you, if you don't know
the Holy Spirit is in you, you will never call upon him
to help you. Have you ever prayed
in the morning, "Holy Spirit, this is gonna be
a really tough day. I'm not sure how I'm gonna
get through this day, but I know you're with me,
so guide me and direct me and help me through this day. Holy Spirit, help me." Not only does the Holy Spirit
inhabit you but Paul says
he invigorates you. Verse 10:
"And if Christ is in you, the body is dead
because of sin, but the Spirit is life
because of righteousness." Paul does not deny the effect
of our fallen nature. We all have a fallen nature. We're Christians
but we didn't get rid of the old nature
when we became Christians. We just got the new nature. There's a more powerful agent
working within us. It's called the Holy Spirit. And while, outwardly,
it may appear as if sin is having its decaying effect,
there's another force at work. I love this verse
in 2 Corinthians because it puts
all of this in perspective. It tells us where we
should put our emphasis. Here's 2 Corinthians 4:16:
"The outward man is perishing, but the inward man,"
the Spirit, "is being renewed every day." The Bible reminds us
that even though we have been redeemed
from the power of the flesh, we can still live
fleshly lives if we don't yield to the power
of the Holy Spirit. We must let him control
our lives or we will fall back into old patterns
of sin and the flesh. You see the Bible
is so clear about this: that we have to make a choice. We're Christians. Now we know because
of what Paul has said that we are Christians
who have the Holy Spirit living in us. Here's the difference
in Christians. Some people have the Holy Spirit
as a resident in their life, and some people
have the Holy Spirit as the president of their life. Which are you? Notice, third thing
and this is truly interesting. The Holy Spirit insures you. The Holy Spirit
is your insurance policy, and the Bible actually says
he is the downpayment that God gives you that one day you're gonna spend eternity
with him. He is your earnest. He's your earnest money. You know what that is? When you go buy something,
you give 'em a downpayment that says I'm gonna bring
the rest of the money at closing? Well, the Holy Spirit
is God's earnest payment in your life. The Holy Spirit
is your insurance that one day you're gonna spend
eternity with the holy God. Most often we think
of God the Father as the one who raised Jesus
from the dead, but in verse 11 we learn
that the Holy Spirit was involved
in that process too. Let me read it again:
"But if the Spirit of him who raised Jesus from the dead
dwells in you," now listen carefully,
"he who raised Christ from the dead will also
give life to your mortal bodies through his Spirit
who dwells in you." Even though we have been made
alive by the Holy Spirit at the time of our salvation,
our bodies are still subject to death and decay,
but the Bible says that a future day
of resurrection awaits us when our mortal bodies
will be clothed with life immortal
and the Holy Spirit who lives within us
will regenerate us by the power of God
to be in our forever, rejuvenated, 100%
made-over bodies, amen? So we will have new life
in our bodies. The Holy Spirit
comes to inhabit us, he comes to invigorate us, and he comes to insure us
that one day we're gonna spend eternity
with the Lord. So back to the beginning. What is your mindset? You see,
we can only be effective in the spiritual realm
sort of in the same way that we become effective
in the physical realm. In the physical realm,
if you don't eat right, if you don't exercise,
if you don't do the right things,
you won't be healthy for long. In the spiritual realm,
if all you get is what you get
when you come on Sunday, you're gonna struggle. You're gonna find that life
is kind of overwhelming you. And when you're fragile,
you need more than what you can get
from your pastor on Sunday. You need
to get some books to read, some Bible commentary, some things
that will build you up. You know, the old adage
is that you've got these two natures
and whichever one you feed is the one
that's gonna dominate in your life. You can either be
spiritually minded or you can be fleshly minded. It's not something
you just decide, it's something you do. Can we just say, "Thank you,
Lord, for your Spirit who's come to live within us
and give us peace and love and hope and guidance
and direction and to guarantee that we're gonna be
with the Lord someday," and allow the Holy Spirit
not just to be the resident in your life
but to be the president in your life. <i> announcer: Dr. Jeremiah
will return in a moment</i> <i> to close today's program
right after this.</i> <i> male announcer: Thank you
for watching "Turning Point."</i> <i> Dr. Jeremiah
would like to offer you</i> <i> "The Written Word Journal:
Romans,"</i> <i> sent to you in appreciation
of your gift of any amount</i> <i> in support
of this program.</i> <i> And for a gift of $60 or more,
Dr. Jeremiah will include</i> <i> his current teaching series,
"Romans VIII:</i> <i> The Greatest Chapter
in the Bible,"</i> <i> on your choice of CD or DVD,
and a correlating Study Guide.</i> <i>Or, if you give a generous gift
of $100 or more</i> <i> in support of the ministry
of "Turning Point,"</i> <i> you'll receive
"The Written Word Journal"</i> <i> and a genuine leather
Jeremiah Study Bible</i> <i> in Dr. Jeremiah's preferred
New King James Version.</i> <i> Thank you for your support
of "Turning Point."</i> <i> Contact us today.</i> <i> female announcer: And now,
with one last word</i> <i> for today's program,
here is Dr. Jeremiah.</i> Dr. Jeremiah:
Before becoming a Christian, every person is a slave
to their sinful human nature. There's only one way
to be set free and that is
through faith in Christ. I want to invite you today
to place your faith in the Lord Jesus Christ
to be born again, to be released from the flesh
and set free to begin a new life
in the Spirit. To help you take that step,
I would like to send you a free booklet called,
"Your Greatest Turning Point." This booklet has helped
thousands of people gain a clear understanding
of how to become a Christian. And we'll also send you our free monthly
devotional magazine called "Turning Points,"
filled with practical articles and daily devotionals. We will gladly send
both of these gifts to you, free of charge,
if you will contact us here at "Turning Point" today. <i> announcer: In addition
to these free study resources,</i> <i>you can connect
with "Turning Point" on the go,</i> <i> anytime, anywhere.</i> <i> Download the newly redesigned
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adventure game</i> <i>that explores the life of Jesus.</i> <i> Available now for free
on the App Store.</i> <i> announcer: Next time,
on "Turning Point."</i> Dr. Jeremiah: Something happens
in us when the Spirit of God comes to live within us. Our sins are gone,
our guilt is gone. We know that we're gonna go
to heaven someday when we die. Everything about life is changed
for one simple reason: that God loved us,
sent his Son to die for us, and in the process gave us his Holy Spirit
to live in our hearts. <i> announcer: Thank you
for being with us today.</i> <i> Join Dr. Jeremiah next time
for his message,</i> <i> "The Ministry
of the Holy Spirit,"</i> <i> here on "Turning Point."</i>
