You Are Not in the Flesh

Let's turn to the Word of God. Romans chapter 8, Romans chapter 8. Let me read the text and then we'll begin. Romans 8 begins, therefore there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. For the law of the spirit of life in Christ Jesus is set you free from the law of sin and death. For what the law could not do, weak as it was through the flesh, God did sending his own son in the likeness of sinful flesh and as an offering for sin, he condemned sin in the flesh so that the requirement of the law or the righteousness of the law might be fulfilled in us who do not walk according to the flesh but according to the spirit. For those who are according to the flesh set their minds on the things of the flesh but those who are according to the spirit that things of the spirit.

For the mindset of the flesh is death but the mindset of the spirit is life and peace because the mindset of the flesh is hostile toward God for it does not subject itself to the law of God for it's not even able to do so and those who are in the flesh cannot please God. However you are not in the flesh but in the spirit if indeed the spirit of God dwells in you but if anyone does not have the spirit of Christ he does not belong to him. If Christ is in you though the body is dead because of sin yet the spirit is alive or life because of righteousness but if the spirit of him who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you he who raised Christ Jesus from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through his spirit who dwells in you.

This morning we're going to look at what God has done in order to accomplish the work of sanctification in your life to make you holy people. There's never been a time in the history of the church when there has been a greater need for holiness in the lives of God's people. The church can do a lot of things and accomplish a lot of things I was listening to I was reading an interview of a pastor of supposedly purportedly the largest church in America 25,000 people attend this church and one of the interesting things they were comparing church to sporting events and how mega churches draw such huge crowds and they're so entertaining that there's really a competition going on there and so they were asking him about the secret to success and he said one of the things he said was sin is not on the menu we emphasize the positive we want to build people up not tear them down.

Now the problem with that is if sin is not on the menu then of course the cross is not on the menu because you cannot understand the cross apart from understanding the problem of sin if sin is not on the menu forgiveness is not on the menu because true forgiveness only comes when we recognize the nature of sin. What we have been challenged to be and to do in the word of God what God has promised us in regards to his ongoing work in our lives as followers of Jesus Christ includes becoming victorious in a growing way over sin experiencing what the Bible calls sanctification which begins the moment we rest our faith in Christ God sets us apart sanctifies us for himself but in this process of living for Christ he continues to work deeply in our hearts now it's confusing at times because sometimes what God does is he stops us in our tracks at times when our holiness is simply self-produced and let's great failure come into our lives so that we can come to see what we really need is something much much deeper the work of a holy God in the heart of his people in this passage we're going to look at today versus 9 through 11 we see here the conditions that God has created in our lives as followers of Jesus Christ in order to accomplish the work of sanctification now there are four conditional sentences in this this through these three verses I'm wondering if anybody knows what a conditional sentence is a conditional sentence is an if clause within a then clause for example there are different kinds of conditional sentences a third-class conditional sentence is a sentence that assumes that there this probably will happen in the future like someone's hoping that very bonds is going to break you know the record they say well if they pitched a bonds then he's going to hit it out of the park other people more realistic or after a game where they've walked in four times say if they had pitched to him he would have hit it out of the park that that is a second-class condition in other words the if clause assumes that it's not true there's one other kind I have all that to build up to this the kind of conditional sentence that is in these verses is what's called a first-class condition it is a can the if clause condition is assumed to be true if I say to you if Jesus comes back he's going to raise his people from the dead that's a first-class condition I could substitute the word since I could say since Jesus is coming back he is going to raise the dead that's the kind of sentences that you have here in verses 9 through 11 you actually have four conditional sentences but three main ones and I want us to take a look at those because that's how the passage hangs together the first is if indeed the spirit of God dwells in you and all of these are given in a way that assumes the reality of this as Paul speaks to believers he is basically saying since it is absolutely true the spirit of God dwells in you secondly in verse 10 if Christ is in you since Christ is in you then this is true and third since the spirit of him who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you those are the three main conditional clauses there's a there's a fourth one it comes in verse 9 if anyone does not have the spirit of Christ and we'll look at that in a second it has importance but it's not one of the main clauses and notice how in this in these in these clauses what we have is an introduction to the fact that the triune Godhead is involved in the sanctifying process in your life the father the son and the Holy Spirit that first expression the spirit of God is one of the basic titles of the Holy Spirit he is the spirit of God the second title that's used of him is the spirit of Christ he is referred to as a spirit of Christ emphasizing his relationship to the son and finally is called the spirit of him who raised Jesus from the dead which is the father so you have the spirit the son and the father we've seen this over and over again in the book of Romans in fact we saw chapter six is primarily focused on your relationship to the father chapter seven focused primarily on your relationship to the son and chapter eight focus primarily on your relationship to the spirit we get later on in chapter eight we're going to see that constantly the father son and spirit are at work in our lives to bring about sanctification in our hearts the father son and Holy Spirit are engaged involved in the work of sanctification in your life the father planned it the son provided it in the cross and the Holy Spirit applies it as he works in your life and in fact if you notice that third in verse 10 when it says if Christ is in you flows out of the second statement if the spirit of Christ is in you then Christ is in you and why would he say that well look back at John 14 at Jesus in the last night that he had with his disciples as he was teaching them in John chapter 14 John 14 verse 15 if you love me you will keep my commandments I will ask the father verse 16 and he will give you another helper and he will be with you another one who's going to come alongside of you like I have been alongside of you and he will be with you forever that is the spirit of truth whom the world cannot receive because it does not see him or know him but you know him because he abides with you you have seen the Holy Spirit in action in my life Jesus is saying but he's going to be in you I will not leave you as orphans notice what Jesus says Jesus says to his disciples I will not leave you as orphans I will come to you how is that through the Holy Spirit that he ascending the spirit comes and indwells a believer and the spirit coming and indwelling the believer results in the father and the son and the spirit indwelling the believer he is going to come he's going to dwell in believers and the father and the son therefore are going to be within the life of the follower of Jesus Christ doing this work but Paul emphasizes the fact that the Spirit of God the Holy Spirit is the agent of Jesus Christ he is the agent of Jesus Christ he is the one who mediates the presence and the fullness of Christ makes them realized in the life of the believer it is true the spirit coming to live within if you don't have the Holy Spirit then Christ is not in you in fact look at Ephesians chapter 3 in Ephesians chapter 3 verse 16 Ephesians 3 notice what Paul says he's praying for these Ephesian believers and he would pray the same for us and he says that God would grant you according to the riches of his glory to be strengthened with power through his spirit in the inner man he's praying that the Holy Spirit would empower them in the inner man the spirit that lives within them would strengthen them with power and he says why verse 17 so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith so that you would be aware of the presence of Jesus Christ what if I was to tell you that nothing you do in the kingdom of God has one bit of significance unless you do it out of an overflow of knowing Jesus Christ what if I was to tell you that to preach the Bible is absolutely meaningless if it is not an overflow of knowing Jesus Christ what if everything in the Christian life flows out of this relationship this growing deepening relationship knowing Jesus Christ and that God has provided that for you in the person in presence of the Holy Spirit the Spirit comes and he applies the work of Jesus Christ he applies the cross he causes the cross to come to bear upon your life that is his work and he will not cease until it is completed in fact the Spirit continually applies the cross work of Jesus Christ every day in your life now I want to drive this home because I want you to see the significance of it listen to these words of Paul and Ephesians chapter 1 blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenlies and Christ Jesus according that is to this measure this is how he's blessed us according as he has chosen us in him before the foundation of the world to become holy and blameless before him think of those words that God shows you that you would become holy and blameless before him most of you that are married know what it's like to be in a very close relationship where you go through periods of time where you are not blameless before your spouse that there's some kind of rift you've offended them in some way and until it's made right you are not holy and blameless before them but we serve a God who is absolutely holy think about who you are and what you are and he says my purpose in choosing you before the foundation of the world was so that you would come to be holy and blameless before me and then he goes on to say in love he predestined us to adoption as sons what does that mean it means that he is laid out a plan by which he is going to conform you and sanctify you so that one of these days in the future as Paul says later on in Romans chapter 8 we are going to experience the future tense of adoption the redemption of our bodies now there was God is up to something in your life he is transforming you into the image of his son he is making you like Christ and he is so committed to this that he has sent the spirit to reside within you and through the spirit the father son and holy spirit reside in the heart of the believer in order to sanctify you and set you apart and make you like Christ that's the condition of the people of God we have the spirit of God dwelling in us we have Christ in us we have the spirit of him who raised Jesus from the dead dwelling in us and then notice the then clause what's called the apodosis here is the then clauses and notice what they are first if indeed the spirit of God dwells in you then we are not in the flesh but in the spirit we are not in the flesh but in the spirit in fact he goes on to say in verse 10 that in verse 9 rather he goes on to say in that verse that in fact whoever does not have the spirit of Christ does not belong to Christ now what's the implication of that the spirit of Christ dwelling in the believer is the mark of Christ's ownership of your life if you don't have the Holy Spirit you don't belong to Jesus Christ that's what Paul says this verse is very clear it is impossible for a person to be a Christian and not have the Holy Spirit residing in their life the spirit of God is the mark of the ownership of Jesus Christ over your life if he's in chapter 1 verse 13 says that we have been sealed into Christ through the spirit of God he is the seal he is the one living in you that marks you apart as only as being owned by Jesus Christ God's gone to a lot of effort in order to conform you to the image of his son so to say that a person doesn't yet have the Holy Spirit to say well you need to seek the spirit you need to get the spirit so that you can you can start being sanctified is to say to that person you're not a Christian yet you need to come to Christ now let me just take one moment you know like three minutes to explain because this will come up turn to Acts chapter 19 verses like this in the book of Acts is what confuses people about the idea of there being Christians who don't have the Holy Spirit in Acts 19 Paul runs into some people at Ephesus this is of course after the resurrection this is after the spirit's been poured out this is after Paul has come to faith in Christ this is during his missionary journeys and Paul runs into these disciples he calls him found some disciples there and he said to them did you receive the Holy Spirit when you believed and they said no we have not even heard there is whether there is a Holy Spirit and he said into what then were you baptized and they said into John's baptism that is the baptism of John which was a preparation for the coming of Messiah now why is it that these people are called disciples but they don't have the Holy Spirit well simply because they have not yet entered into the new covenant you've got this period of time in which as the gospel goes out you have people out there who believe the preaching of the of John the Baptist they believe that the Messiah was coming but they had not yet heard that he had come and so Paul tells them that he had come and Paul tells them that that Christ had poured out the spirit and so they receive the spirit that is not teaching against this truth that Paul is explaining in Romans 8 that every single believer has been given the Holy Spirit because God is committed to sanctifying you to making you holy to transforming you into the image of Jesus Christ in character now notice a second then clause in verse in verse 10 although the body is dead because of sin the spirit is life because of righteousness in other words because Christ is in you although the body is dead because of sin the spirit is life because of righteousness the NET translation says if Christ is in you though the body is dead because of sin the spirit capital S is your life and we'll explain what's going on there then the third then clause is found in verse 11 he who raised Christ Jesus from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies your bodies that are subject to death through his spirit who dwells in you let's look at each one of these step by step first here we have in these three statements God's provision for sanctification God is committed to sanctifying every believer to conforming you to the image of Christ and there are no exceptions to the rule that's why he says if you don't have Christ living in you the source of the sanctification then you don't belong to Jesus Christ first of all notice what God has done for us is he has given us freedom we are not in the flesh but in the spirit we are not in the flesh but in the spirit this is true of every single believer in Jesus Christ being in the flesh as we have seen in this text is in a state of bondage held captive to the law of sin and death this Paul describes it in other words I am not free to serve God because I am bound by the law of sin and death when I was in the flesh now the way that this word flesh was most commonly used among the Greeks the time Paul writes this is that they use this expression to refer to the whole man as he was conditioned in his bodily existence as a human being on the earth and in a sense it wasn't bad it was just to say you're just a human being living on the earth Paul takes this expression the flesh being in the flesh in this condition of being in the flesh and he uses it to describe man in his fallenness to refer to the flesh is to refer to man separated from God and under bondage to sin in other words and how does sin control us it controls us through passions it controls us through lusts it controls us so that we do its works it controls us so that we come into bondage to its practices we experience addiction to sin is what the Bible says so we were in bondage to the flesh Paul says before you came to Christ you were in the flesh that was your sphere of existence but something has happened we have been taken out of the flesh as a sphere of existence it doesn't mean the flesh has been taken out of us it doesn't mean that you no longer have sin residing in you right can I hear a name end yes sin still resides and you doesn't it but you are no longer in the flesh you're no longer in that domain we are no longer in the flesh but in the spirit the law of the spirit of life in Christ Jesus has set us free from the law of sin and death there's been a change of realm in fact he puts it this way you are no longer in flesh but in spirit brand new drastic change a new realm of existence Paul describes it in Colossians one is being taken out of the kingdom of darkness and transferred into the kingdom of his dear son it includes a change of allegiance we are no longer bound by the allegiance to sin it it includes a change of law no longer control by the law of sin and death but now control by the law of the spirit of life in Christ Jesus a change of beliefs we have the mind of the spirit we see things differently you don't have to convince a believer you don't have to convince someone in whom the Holy Spirit dwells over and over again that the Bible has authority over their lives you have to do that to a person who doesn't have the spirit the spirit comes to dwell he convinces the heart when we walk in the spirit he convinces the heart that this is the word of God it's confirmed to us as we come to it and God speaks to us through it and the spirit opens our eyes to it and we see it as truth and it's a change of values we begin to value things differently I saw this study this past week about this phenomena in Western culture now of everyone indulging in luxury items this is a new phenomenon the last few decades used to be that very wealthy people would buy very fancy things you know luxurious items like very expensive watches and telephones and all these kinds of things but now everybody does it the difference is that wealthy people simply use all this money that they have to acquire these things where poor people go into debt in order to have luxury items and they have this interesting little thing they did a they did a survey and they asked people this question would you choose to make $100,000 a year when everyone else is making the average income is $85,000 or would you choose to make $110,000 a year when everyone else was making $185,000 a year guess what people chose they would rather make $100,000 if everybody else was only making $85 is that amazing you see the value system that we have you know pride has to do with me wanting to be better than everybody else it isn't just me wanting to be as good as you pride is what I want to be better than you what the Spirit of God does what the Spirit of Jesus does in the heart of believer he gives you a new set of values so that things no longer become your identity they become tools in your hands to accomplish the work of Jesus Christ in the world now this is really a strange thing but term with me to Galatians chapter 5 there's a parallel passage and notice what Paul does here what he says in Galatians chapter 5 notice in verse 13 in verse 1 he says it was for freedom that Christ said it's free and then he says it again in verse 13 for you were called to freedom brother only do not turn your freedom now when they heard that expression this is how they interpret it this would be like words coming to those who were in bondage you were slaves and you have been set free that's the idea of this expression you have been you were called to freedom you were called out of slavery into freedom he's been talking to them about the slavery of putting themselves under the law he says brothers you have been called to freedom only do not turn your freedom into an opportunity for the flesh but through love be a slave to one another that's what that means the word serve here is just the word the verb for being a slave now notice that do not turn your freedom into an opportunity for the flesh but through love become a slave to one another for the whole law is fulfilled in one word in the statement you shall love your neighbor as yourself speaking here about the freedom that comes to the spirit when you are in the spirit this is the freedom that's being described here and it's really ironic because Paul has been urging these Galatians not to become slaves to the law but now he encourages them to become slaves to one another to serve one another but this is this slavery is not like the other kind of slavery this is a unique kind of slavery this is a paradox it is the Christian form of being free you will never be free the freeest person that I happen to know right now very closely is is Mary and Bill when you read her emails what you get is the expression of a free heart a heart set free when you serve others when you give your life when you take the role of a servant and the lives of other people you experience the kind of freedom that God has called you to in Christ Jesus slavery to the law and slavery to sin are evil and bad and horrible things to go through slavery to sin is involuntary and it's a terrible experience a man is born in the sin we're told in in Psalm chapter 51 and we can't escape it according to Romans 7 unless the living God through the work of Jesus Christ and through the power of the Holy Spirit sets us free slavery to the law when you put yourself under law it's a choice and it's foolish and it's burdensome but slavery to one another Paul says is voluntary no one can make you do that I can't order you to be a slave to one another this is the appeal of the gospel it's not the orders of people in charge saying do you you must now become a slave the Apostle Peter tells people in first Peter chapter 5 everyone in the church put on the apron of a slave and he says that that apron of a slave is humility you know humility is humility is when I when out of my perspective and my relationship with you is I am your servant loneliness of mine Paul says this is where freedom is why do some Christians feel so much in bondage because they haven't experienced the freedom on a practical daily basis that Christ has called them to and this freedom comes through slavery slavery to one another is voluntary and it is a source of deep overwhelming joy and second Corinthians day when Paul talks about the Macedonians who were so poor they could barely make it and he says but because of this overflow of joy and their desire to serve others they gave to meet the needs of the saints back in around Jerusalem and that's something you see they experience an overflow of joy a kind of freedom that only comes in this way we are have been delivered Christians have been delivered through the presence and power of the Holy Spirit from the necessity of serving sin which is serving our selves John Piper has this great line he says because of the gospel the teenage Christian doesn't have to stand before the mirror like the rest of the world and say yes your majesty you're free not to serve yourself that's exactly what Paul says in second Corinthians chapter five he died for all nor those that those who live should no longer live for themselves that's freedom that's absolute freedom and if you can hear the testimony of person after person after person who's come into that kind of freedom who experiences and lives in that freedom they will all tell you this is freedom quarry ten boom used to say hold everything loosely discover the freedom of being a servant to the servants of the servant of God so we have we have freedom now God has put you in a position where you're free you're free the reason that the New Testament does not teach tithing but rather grace giving is not just because it's a better fundraising approach it teaches grace giving because it's the nature of the gospel that you can give all you want you can give yourself away and according to second Corinthians eight nine and ten eight and nine no matter how much you give away in the power of the spirit God will always supply more of yourself you'll always be putting more in you that you can put that he can pour out of you into the lives of other people remember what Jesus said in John chapter seven when he John seven yes John seven when during the feast of tabernacles and he said if anyone's thirsty come to me and drink he who is believing in me out of his belly out of out of his belly will flow rivers of living water you get it it isn't just that the spirit has come to satisfy you he has come to make your life an overflowing well of grace that spills out all over other people the happiest you've ever been I can say this to every one of you who are Christians the happiest you have ever been in your Christian life is when you have been giving yourself away when you've been serving other people for the glory of Jesus Christ it is always true secondly we have life sorry about that number that's a typo there we have freedom verse 10 we have life notices though the body is dead because of sin yet the spirit is should be is life because of righteousness notice carefully the body's dead the body's dead now this pictures a corpse being commanded to act and it simply lays there the picture of somebody standing over a grave and commanding of a body to act to do something to follow your orders you haven't trouble filling some spot in your company you need to hire somebody you can't find anybody to hire go down to the graveyard and just command one of those bodies to come to work for you he says the body is dead now he's referring of course back to chapter 7 verse 24 when he says oh wretched man that I am who will deliver me from the body of this death my problem is I have this desire to please God but it's as though my body won't obey the commands the body is the way in which we express what's really on in our hearts and he said because of the fall the body has become a body of death and instrument of sin it doesn't respond to the commands of God it's not even able to do so and here's how God cured it he didn't give you a new body yet now he's going to in the future but he hasn't given you one yet as we can all clearly see as we look around the room he hasn't given us a new body these things too what he says you were dead in your trespasses and sins but someone has come to reside in you who has the power who has the power to do something about the deadness of your body remember John 11 when Jesus stood at the tomb of Lazarus and he said roll back the stone and then he commanded Lazarus and in the command itself in this word of command went out the power of Jesus Christ and filled that dead body with life and so Paul says even though your body is dead the spirit is life now one of the confusing things about this most your translation say the spirit is alive and has a little a small ass implying that your body is dead but the spirit that's in you is alive now there's truth to that because that's the effect of regeneration right when you were born again your spirit came alive you became alive to God but that's not what he's talking about here if you notice real close he's referring here to the Holy Spirit who lives within you as being the source of life if you look in your margin if you have a new American standard it translates it that way because it doesn't say the spirit is alive it says the spirit is life in other words the source of life the Holy Spirit that has come to live within you or as the NET says the spirit is your life the Holy Spirit that has come to dwell in the believer it's the source of life so even though our body is dead and we feel at times like there's no way I could ever fulfill the will of God as long as I'm in this body and God says you have the source of life residing in you and this source of life is able to animate a body which is dead apart from the Holy Spirit to do the work and will of God and in fact he tells you right here it's because of righteousness because of righteousness what does he mean by that because of the work of Jesus Christ on the cross the spirit has come and the spirit resides in the believer and the spirit animates the believer's body to actually use your body which is really referring to your whole person your humanity your mind and your will and your emotions and all that you are now this is important I want to tell you there's a lot of Christians and I hear this from time to time it drives me out of my mind almost not a long trip but let me tell you something when a Christian tells you I can't obey God because I've prayed and prayed and prayed and I've asked God to give me the desire to do the right thing and he just doesn't do it that is the lie of the flesh the spirit of God is dwelling in the believer are you telling me that God doesn't have the power to energize you to obey his will he doesn't have the power residing in you in the person of the Holy Spirit to empower you to do the right thing don't blame it on God I'm amazed at what we want to blame on God God didn't come through for me I wanted to do what was right but he just wouldn't give me the ability to do what's right have you ever thought that shame on you what an absurdity that the omnipotent God the God who had the power to speak this universe into existence doesn't have the ability to empower you to obey his word isn't that absurd please believe that that's absurd you believe it's absurd don't you God has put resident inside of you the spirit of God the third person of the Trinity to empower even this dead body of yours who's not even which is not even used to obeying God he has put the spirit in you to empower you to obey him now what's wonderful about this look again at Galatians 5 and notice this this is great he says to them verse 15 after telling them that the way true freedom comes is by serving one another in love this is how you experience the freedom that God has purchased for you and given to you and he says but if you were to bite into power one another take care that you are not consumed by one another but I say walk by the spirit and you will not carry out the desire of the flesh desire the flesh is to get my own way and you're in my way James chapter 4 is James says why are there wars and skirmishes and battles in the church and he tells you because everybody wants their own way it's because of pleasures in your heart I want my way you're not doing it the way I want you to you're not treating my child the way I want you to treat my child you're not running this ministry the way I want it to be run that's the flesh just own it for what it is the reason we have wars and battles in the church is because of our desires that wage war in our bodies and I want to tell you there's a more powerful power residing in you and that is the Holy Spirit and so he says this is what I'm telling you walk in the spirit and you will not absolutely will not very strong negative it's a double negative in the Greek language which translates into you shall absolutely not under any circumstances carry out the desire of the flesh if you will walk in the spirit then notices for the flesh sets its desire against the spirit and the spirit against the flesh for these are in opposition to one another so that you may not do the things that you please but if you're led by the spirit you're not under the law if you're led by the spirit you're not under the law what does he mean by that if you're not if you walk by the spirit you can do anything you want there's no law against anything you do no that's not what he's saying because in the next few verses he tells you what the works of the flesh are and they are against the law what does he mean you're not under the law he means this when the Holy Spirit is at work in your heart when you are walking in the spirit when you're responding to the spirit that God has placed within you the desires that he produces within you keeps you from breaking the law you more than fulfill the law do you know there's a law in the books it says I can't beat my wife up you think that's why I don't beat her up maybe because I can't she's pretty tough but why do you think I don't it's because of my love for her you don't even have to give me that law I'm not under that law because the spirit of God produces in my heart a love for my wife see and let me read you the article it's called the article is the title is them's the breaks German drivers face new speed limits talking about the Autobahn the Autobahn somewhere between Berlin and and we my we are at a hundred and twenty four miles an hour k herselman is passing cars as if they were potted plants on roadside windowsills in the right lane a Mercedes sedan becomes his latest conquest he could catch up to me if he wanted to says herselman calmly gripping the steering wheel of his sob station wagon he maneuvers behind a car just a few seconds ago was far away the sob's bumper nearly kisses the other cars license plate before the slower vehicle wisely changes lanes the speedometer ticks upward ask Germans what freedom is and they are likely to tell you about letting a two hundred horsepower engine eat up the Autobahn in a country that diligently separates its garbage where pedestrians actually obey crosswalk signals and where daily life is dictated by countless rules and regulations the Autobahn offers Germans a precious ribbon of freedom you know in Montana where you used to be able to drive as fast as you want till the national speed limit the biggest problem they had was people going to slow a person be sailing along their fine and they see a policeman and they slow down and we cause accidents and so they had to encourage people not to do that and when you saw an officer don't slow down keep going now let me tell you something you put either one of the tailor men in one of those situations and because of the desire of their heart they're not under law there you see in other words they're doing what their heart desires go as fast as you want when the spirit of God is at work in the heart of the believer the things that the desires that the spirit produces within you means that you're not under law because you're doing more than the law requires the spirit of God produces desires in fact look at this is the most amazing expression when he says that the flesh sets his desire against the spirit and the spirit against the flesh what that says in fact the King James it puts it this way the flesh lusts against the spirit and the spirit lusts against the flesh what does that mean what does it lust it is an inherent craving at something I want so deeply I can hardly keep myself from seeking to have it or to experience it drives me it's an internal drive I want this so bad he says there are the lusts of the flesh and there are the lusts of the spirit I like to ask you when was the last time that you ask God to let you feel the lusts of the spirit in your life you don't have to ask him to let you feel the lusts of the flesh you all have experienced that this past week but how many of you have consciously experienced the strong desires the lusts of the spirit the spirit driving you to lay down your life for Jesus Christ to love God with all your heart, soul, mind and strength when was the last time you experienced the craving to love God to love this people to give yourself away for the glory of Christ see the spirit produces those kinds of deep desires and when you walk in the spirit and the spirit produces those desires you don't have to worry about breaking the law because you're not under the law you're above the law the truest sense of the word these though you're flying an airplane they say you can't fly below two thousand feet you say I don't want to I want to fly at 20,000 feet that's my desire imagine if the speed limit in the national speed limit was 65 and what that meant was you can't go below 65 all you speed demons would say how will you I love this go as fast as you want just don't get below 65 the spirit of God produces within the heart of the believer as we walk in the spirit he produces these deep down desires to love and to fulfill the law of God by loving our neighbors or self and loving God with all of our heart, soul, mind and strength and Paul says after describing the fruit of the spirit and against such there is no law do you know that there is no law against love there's no law against joy some of you don't know that yet there is no law against joy there is no law against peace do you know there's no law against faithfulness do you know that all of you who are faithful to your spouses there's no law against that in that great to be faithful to the word of God and to be faithful to your commitments there's no law against that that's what the spirit wants to produce in the heart of the believer that's why he resides in you when was the last time you consciously ask him to produce in your heart the less of the spirit you couldn't get enough he says finally the last thing we have hope verse 11 he says that because if the spirit since the spirit of him who raised Jesus from the dead that is the father the spirit of the father the Holy Spirit dwells in us dwells in you then he who raised Christ Jesus from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through his spirit who dwells in you what are mortal bodies the body subject to death under the curse the consequences of sin remember we saw this back in Romans chapter 5 that death reigned over everyone everyone dies we have bodies that are subject to death and some of us are much more aware of it than others our bodies are dying and this we are told because we live in mortal bodies because we live in mortal bodies it produces a kind of slavery why do you think people are spending millions upon millions of dollars trying to keep their bodies from getting old why is that what is that drive look at Hebrews chapter 2 Hebrews 2 look at this Hebrews chapter 2 verse 15 verse 14 says therefore since the children share in flesh and blood he himself likewise also partook of the same that through death he might render powerless him who had the power of death that is the devil and by going to the cross by accomplishing what he's just describing in verse 14 he might free those who through fear of death were subject to slavery all their lives you know it isn't really necessary that you become beautiful physically it isn't really necessary because you're going to get a new body and even though these bodies these mortal bodies are perishing the inner man is being renewed day by day we don't have to live in the slavery that fear brings to those who live in mortal bodies the fear of mortality it leads to slavery and what the spirit of God has done what God has done through his spirit is he has promised us that the spirit will give us life now that refers both to the future when you're raised from the dead and it refers to today today today the spirit of God is living it within you to give you life I know that because this is what the scripture's teach listen to the few verses John 663 same exact word it is a spirit who gives life the flesh prophets nothing second Corinthians 3 who also made his adequate as servants of a new covenant not of the letter but of the spirit for the letter kills the law comes to us and it kills us but the spirit gives life Galatians 321 is the law then contrary to the promises of God may it never be for if a law had been given which was able to impart life then righteousness would indeed have been based upon law but it can't we live in mortal bodies that are under the curse of sin apart from the work of Christ and you're all dying I hate to tell you that but you're all dying some of you don't feel it yet all you young whippersnappers you don't feel it yet but you will so we live in the confidence that the spirit gives life to our mortal bodies each day as we walk in the spirit and we have confidence in the future he will give life to our mortal bodies now think about this a second God wants to sanctify you he wants to make you holy he wants you to walk in the spirit and experience his transforming power in your lives and so he's giving you freedom from the bondage of the flesh he's given you life in the person of the spirit who resides within you and he has given you hope by giving you the spirit who's going to raise you from the dead and he's living in you now think of that the one who's going to raise you from the dead is living in you right now so why do I have to be in bondage to my fear of mortality of pain and sickness I assumed I would be dead by now that's all my life I assumed I'd die before I was 60 so I'm past where I thought I'd ever get but you know what you don't have to live in the fear of death and sickness and aches and pains you don't have to you don't have to live held in bondage to that you have the spirit of resurrection living in you you can experience life as Connie O'Donnell as Connie O'Donnell who's in the final stages of ALS and can barely converse and yet she has life because the spirit who's going to raise her from the dead the spirit is going to give her a perfect body is living inside of her right now and so she's free from the bondage of fear she can live with abandon I like to watch the X games it's craziest thing I've ever seen but it's amazing to me how these kids have no fear of pain pain means nothing and you watch I mean it's just it's amazing the things that they do knowing that they're going to experience pain well think of this believer you have the spirit of resurrection living in you and so you don't have to be afraid of death so I've got lead you to the other side of the planet he leads you to a place you go when I'm a little nervous about going there you know you never know what might happen you never know what might happen in New York City or San Francisco maybe Brentwood's a target of the terrorists who knows but you have the spirit of resurrection living in you and so you're free to serve him with wild abandon because the spirit of resurrection resides in you so God has provided all we need to experience sanctification a new freedom a new life a new source of life in the Holy Spirit and a new hope a new hope you see how much God has done in order to produce sanctification in us as the people of God this is an important crucial thing in the mind of God to transform you to make you the kind of person that people could see Jesus Christ in you to make us the kind of people when people get exposed to the Church of Jesus Christ that they could see Jesus Christ in us because of the work of sanctification I don't have to be selfish all my life I don't have to be so centered and egotistical and all turned in on myself living for myself I don't have to be that way I am by nature that way but I don't have to be like that because the work of sanctification is in progress and God has committed to sanctify and change in a powerful way he can say you free from the sin you're in bondage to you right now the spirit that resides in you is able to empower you to break the habits that's eating your heart out he's able to do it let's stand together close and prayer would you pray for one another as I pray pray for us as a church we'd be a holy people or heavenly Father all we can say is thank you that you have done such a glorious work in sending your son and pouring out the spirit upon us to apply his work in our hearts in a deep and ongoing and powerful way we pray oh God that you would allow us this week to experience the lusts of the spirit the strong compelling desires of the spirit to love one another the way Christ has loved us to lay down our lives for each other to love God with all of our heart soul mind and strength to value him more than we value anything in life so walk in the freedom that you've called us into we pray that you'd be at work in our lives and that we would be conscious of it in a deeper way in Christ name amen amen Lord bless you