We're going to be looking this morning, continuing on with New Life in the Spirit. Alan started that last week and I'm gonna be honest with you this whole chapter I think is one of the one of the trophies of the New Testament all scriptures given by inspiration of God don't get me wrong and and I love all of scripture, but the the profundity of Romans 8 I'm I just don't know see how it compares with other chapters in the Bible. It's just it's it's it's Beauty, it's profound. It's it's powerful. It touches almost everything that touches us and And today we're looking at the setting of our minds as essentially the theme of what's going on, but we're carrying on with this idea of new life in the spirit. So, when I was a teenager, there was a video game that I loved. Some of you can relate to this, some of you can't. And that's fine. It's since been turned into a television series. It's called Halo. The main character's name is Master Chief. Now, I'm not going to bore you with a lot of details, but he's a bit of like a super soldier called a Spartan. And without spoiling anything too much, Master Chief has this AI tech planted in his head. And the AI called Cortana, more or less, has a voice and relays vital information to him. Cortana helps Master Chief know and understand things that he couldn't possibly understand on his own. But Cortana can also control Master Chief's body at times. Just AI tech can control the soldier's body. The only catch is that he has to be dead in order for her to do it. Now, I'm hearing all kinds of parallels, things like that. Whenever I watch movies, I try to keep my little gospel cap on and just, like, think of different parallels. And of course, we can see in stories and narratives that a lot of times people, whether it's redemption stories, whether it's stories of victory, stories of love, we're essentially borrowing from gospel truths, aren't we? But I'm gonna be honest with you, as much as analogies like these can create what we believe to be a parallel that reminds us of the work of the Spirit in our lives, the analogy comes well short. When a person is born again, they don't just receive the Holy Spirit as a companion. They receive an entirely new nature. The old nature of the flesh is still there, and it pokes its ugly head up from time to time. Of course it does, yes. But the new nature, the indwelling Holy Spirit, now resides in us and has become very part of who we are. And though the flesh and the Spirit may battle it out, sometimes on a daily basis like, the flesh is no match for the powerful Spirit of God. And we come to Romans 8. Last week was verses 1 to 4. We began looking at the new life in the Spirit. So how does last week, how does last week fit into this week? How does last week fit into verses 5 to 8 of this week? So according to verses 1 and 2, The truest reality of who I am is not being a slave to the tyranny of sin. The truest reality of who I am is being set free to serve Christ, my good and loving master. According to verses three and four, the truest part of who I am as a born again believer is not sinful flesh, but the imputed righteousness of Christ. According to verse four, the truest part of who we are as born again believers is not fleshly, but spiritual. And we come into verse five with that context in mind. And in verse five, we see this is kind of split into two verses, five to eight. The first is the captive mind, the captive mind. And we see the beginning of verse number five and the beginning of verse number six, number one, the captive mind. And in verse number five starts this way. It says, for those who live according to the flesh, set their minds on the things of the flesh. So there's this phrase, those who live, right? Those who live, that word live speaks of a natural manner of life. So that's what we're talking about. Those who live and walk and go about their day, their manner of life. Those who live what? According to the flesh. What's the state of those who live every day under the control and tyranny of the flesh? It goes on to say, they set their minds on the things of the flesh. When the flesh is in control, the mind is fixed on feeding the flesh. Untempered like. The manner of life of one who has been not born again is a self-serving, entitled, negligent life when you strip everything away. And what are the fruits of living a life controlled by the flesh? Look at the beginning of verse six. For to be carnally minded is what? It's death. We all need to hear this this morning. We're bringing this up on the screen. There was nothing life giving about the flesh. There's nothing life-giving about the flesh. The flesh does not build. It destroys. The flesh does not cultivate a loving family life. It tears down families with selfish entitlement. It doesn't produce a healthy community. It produces corrupted, corroding communities. The flesh takes the mind captive and enslaves. which creates a lifestyle of bondage and abuse. There's nothing life-giving about the flesh. A life that has lived in slavery to sin only leads to death. Verses seven and eight. 7. Because the carnal mind is enmity against God, for it is not subject to the law of God, nor indeed can be. Now that word enmity, that might be a foreign word to some of you, but essentially enmity is hostility, a reason for opposition. So we're asking the question, why is the carnal mind enmity against God? Why can the carnal mind not be subject to the law of God? I want you to hold your place, please, in Romans 8 and turn to Galatians chapter 3 and verse number 10. We've said before, I think Alan said last week, that Galatians is the perfect companion for Romans. It really is. It's just almost like a, not even a sequel, like a companion of Romans in many ways. And chapter three, verse 10 speaks into this enmity, why there's enmity in relation to the law of God and all of that. It says this in verse number 10 of Galatians three, for as many as are of the works of the law are under the curse. for it is written, what is the curse? Cursed is everyone who does not continue in all things which are written in the book of the law to do them. Alan said last week, and we've said multiple times in this sermon series, that the function of the law is to show us how perfect and holy and spotless God and His character is. And when we see the perfect, spotless nature of God in comparison to us, what do we see about ourselves? We're anything but that. And someone says, what does it mean that God is holy? I think that's the best way I can communicate it, is that God is every good thing that I'm not. God is every good thing that I could never be. And when we see ourselves in the law, it shows us, when we see God in the law, it shows us ourselves in the law. And what are we? We are cursed. We're cursed. We could never attain. As we saw in Romans 3, all have come short of the glory of God because all have sinned. We come short of God's standards. We come short of having the right to enter into his perfect presence. How much of a curse accompanies the flesh? We're back in Romans chapter 8 now. Verse number 8 answers that question. So then those who are in the flesh cannot please God. Those who are in the flesh cannot please God. In growth groups last week, we looked at the works of the flesh and the fruit of the spirit. For those of you there, well done on getting through that study last week. And we looked at all of the words and kind of broke it down and like to kind of do a form of that again, because it really connects in well with what we're looking at here. So let's freshen up on the works of the flesh. OK, Galatians chapter five and verses 19 to 21. And just put a little pen in Galatians five, because we're going to come back and do verses 22 to 25 here in just a minute. But we're also going to come back to Romans, so just between the two again, it's a companion, so we'll make it that way. Galatians 5, 19 to 21. So I want to break down these words as we come through, and I'm not going to spend an immense amount of time looking at each of these words, but I just want to put in perspective, put in perspective about how much the curse accompanies the flesh. Now, the works of the flesh, according to verse number 19 of Galatians 5, are evident, which are adultery, that's disloyalty, infidelity, Fornication, that's sexual idolatry. Uncleanness, that's all kinds of lust. Lewdness, that's the willingness to walk in open shame. Idolatry, which is the worship of false gods or graven images made with hands. There's sorcery, which we don't really need to expound on. Hatred, to wish harm or judgment on someone. Contentions, that's fighting with word, whether true or false. Jealousies, Prideful entitlement that despises when others benefit. Outbursts of wrath. Outward violence, essentially is what we're dealing with. Selfish ambitions, that's plans to harm someone or their reputation. Dissensions, that's attempts to cause division, especially in spiritual matters. Heresies, that's perversion of biblical truth or doctrine. Envy is being obsessed with the success of others in an unhealthy way. murders, that's the destruction of the life which God has authored. And then drunkenness, that's excess in drinking alcohol to lose control to substances. Then there's the word revelries, which is kind of like modern equivalent of partying or losing control in that way, allowing something like the drink, like the drug to take over and become a lifestyle. So again, there is nothing life-giving or pleasing about living a life in the flesh. There's nothing life-giving. There's nothing pleasing. A life that would see the mind taken captive by a bad, harsh master is anything but pleasing to God. So let this be a twofold warning this morning before we move on. Number one, to the unbeliever. The flesh has taken your mind captive. The set of your mind determines the manner of your life. The flesh will destroy your life and ultimately sin will lead ultimately to the ultimate death, which is eternal separation from God. It's what the word death means is separation. And there's a second death coming someday, one from which no one will come back. But the good news is that Christ took your death and your condemnation in His own sinless body. He took your death, your separation, your condemnation when He died on the cross. So beware of the unfiltered flesh that would take captive your mind. So it's a warning to the unbeliever. There's a warning to the believer as well. Though our minds are no longer captive to the flesh, Christ has set us free. That's what Romans 7 was mainly about. Beautiful truths. We still live with the flesh present. Though we hunger and thirst for righteousness, our faltering hearts and the presence of sin may make the destructive products of the flesh a real possibility at any moment of weakness. Whilst the flesh takes captive the unbelieving mind, the Holy Spirit is in the business of liberating. The Holy Spirit is in the business of breaking chains. And that brings us to the second point, the liberated mind. And now we see at the end of verse five, at the end of verse six, look at the second half of verse number five. It says, but those who live according to the Spirit set their minds on the things of the Spirit. Christ, through the Holy Spirit, has set me free to do what I was made to do. follow him. I couldn't do that before. I was a slave to sin. I was a slave. My mind was taken captive by the flesh. Before salvation, when my mind was captive to the flesh, I could not follow him. I couldn't. But Christ through the spirit liberated me from the slavery to sin and has created the possibility and power to serve and follow him. Glory to God for that. But Christ through the Spirit set me free. He enables me to set my mind on the things of the Spirit. He enables me to follow Him. Let's revisit Galatians chapter five for a moment. And again, I just wanna follow up on a bit of what we looked at in Galatians five. But verses 22 to 25, we'll just read this. And we'll do something similar with these verses that we did with the previous verses, right? Galatians 5 verse number 22 says, but the fruit of the Spirit is love. That's the proactive care for one's soul. There's joy, which is a divine delight that only God can give us. It's different from happiness. Joy can't be taken away from you, Jesus said. There's peace that's calm delight. There's long suffering that's to graciously wait when you must wait. There's kindness, and that's a form of moral excellence. There's goodness, that's to be virtuous, a contributing member of society. There's faithfulness, that's one possessing a virtuous conviction. There's gentleness, which is general humility and selflessness. And there's self-control. That's to be sober minded and in control of one's emotions and choices. What a contrast between verses 19 and 21 and verses 22 to 25. A bad master gives us verses 19 to 21. A good master gives us verses 22 to 25. Christ has set us free to follow and obey Him. And the only way we can follow and obey Him is if we do so in the power and awareness of the Holy Spirit. You can't do it on your own. Only the Holy Spirit can do that. Reading on, look at verse number six. We're back in Romans eight now, which I think we'll stay in for the remainder of the service. So good news for your flipping. Verse six of Romans chapter eight, for to be carnally minded is death, but to be spiritually minded is, what a contrast, life and peace. Isn't that beautiful? Just to finish the contrast, Paul, under the Spirit's inspiration, mentions life and peace. The products of the fleshly mind, if you remember, were in verse 6, death, and in verse 7, enmity. But the end of verse 6 is beautiful. It gives us the good news. To be spiritually minded is not death and enmity. It's what? Life and peace. Christ took our sin and consequently our death. He became my substitute on the cross. When Jesus was on the cross, it was like Matt Green was on the cross. I deserved to be on the cross and Jesus died on the cross in my place. As Alan said last week, those in Christ have already received the death penalty because Christ took the death penalty for us. And if we're in Christ, his death was our death. Beautiful truth, isn't it? Wonderful to know. Rather than enmity, he extends peace. Rather than death, he extends life. And this life and this peace are things that I can experience when I turn from my sins to Christ for forgiveness and make him my Lord. So I want you to notice this. I'll bring this up on the screen. The mind is liberated in the power and awareness of the Holy Spirit. This mind that is liberated and the power and awareness of the Holy Spirit leads to a life giving reality. There's perpetual death, the types of things mentioned in the works of the flesh in Galatians 5, 19 to 21. It's all death. It's all corruptive. It's all corrosive things. Death accompanies the flesh. And when we operate in the flesh, death-like things accompany constantly. When we operate in the spirit, there's this life-giving reality that we can step into. And there are testimonies right, left and center in our church about healing. The restorative nature of the life lived in the Holy Spirit. There are testimonies all over the shop in this room right here. There are those who were once in prison now following Christ and freedom. There are those whose marriages were once on the rocks now built up and restored. Those hearts once broken, now mended. And we could go on and on with many different testimonies. But the point is this, the Holy Spirit is in the business of liberating and giving life and peace. If you know the Holy Spirit, what a treasure you have. If the Holy Spirit indwells you, that's your nature. He's given you his nature. Indulge in that. So what's this for in 2024? That's the question. Because we know what Paul was speaking into then, maybe it looked differently. I'm going to tell you, listen, this applies to us just as much in 2024 as it did in the first century. Number one, what's this for? We sometimes get this wrong. We sometimes get this wrong. As we said earlier, the flesh is still present and active, isn't it? If you don't believe that, you've not really lived. The old man is always near. We read in chapter 7 about Paul's struggle with the flesh. Remember where he said, I can't seem to do the things I know I should do or keep from doing the things I shouldn't. The struggle of trying to operate in the flesh and this wretched man that he saw in himself. And though we don't yearn for them, we may have Roman seven days. We have a Roman seven week from time to time. And in rare occasions that we desperately don't want this to be the case, we may go through a Roman seven season. But take heart, friends. The liberation of Romans eight is just around the corner. Do you know Christ as your savior? I just want you to think I know because I know this is coming. I know Romans 8 is coming in your life, though you may be in a season of Romans 7. And I know this because the third person of the Trinity, the Holy Spirit who moved on the face of the waters at creation, that same Holy Spirit is present and powerful and active in your life. Will God overcome? Yes. Is God greater than Satan? Yes. Is Christ greater than our sin? Yes. Is the Holy Spirit greater than the flesh? Yes. Romans 8 and the liberation of the Spirit is life and peace. Life and peace are present and waiting for us to yield to the Spirit's powerful work. What's this for in 2024? Here's the second thing. Even though we sometimes get this wrong, think of all that we miss out on when we yield to the flesh and not to the Spirit. Think of all that we miss out on. Next week, Alan is going to look a bit more at the life-giving nature of the Spirit. Man, love, joy, peace, faith, gentleness, goodness, kindness, meekness. self-control. Think of all that we miss out on whenever we yield to the flesh and not to the Spirit. There's this wonderful realities we looked at a few weeks ago of heaven on earth when we yield to the Spirit's work in our hearts. Because Jesus said, pray your kingdom come, your will be done on earth as it is in heaven. One day there's a day coming in heaven when he's going to take away the sin curse and all that there's going to be. It's love, joy, peace, long-suffering, meekness, gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness, self-control. It's all that there will be someday in the kingdom. And when we miss out on living in the Spirit and really yielding to the Spirit on a day-to-day basis, what are we missing? We're missing this beautiful life and peace the Spirit wants to give us. This isn't meant to shame anyone who's made a mistake. I've just told you, we all mess this up. We all mess this up from time to time. But just given what we've looked at today, think of all of the beautiful, Christ-exalting life that could be lived in the power and awareness of the Holy Spirit. Think of how you could do that in your life. Think about what He could do in our community, in this family right here, if we yielded to the Spirit and not to the flesh. A gospel community. Those experiencing the fruits of the gospel every day. It would change our relationships. It would change our status in the community. It would change our friendships. It would change family life. It would change it all. And God has given us a way for that to happen. He's given us this new life in the Spirit. May God bless these doctrines. Lord, thank you for your Word. Thank you for loving us. You're so loving. You're so caring. You're so kind. You're so patient. Everything that we see in the fruit of the Spirit, we know that those are just attributes and characteristics of Christ. So as we yield to the Holy Spirit, we know that you're going to make us more like Jesus. So help us, God, at times in this week when we know that we can't go on, that we can't resist temptation, that it's not in us, help us to tap into your power. Just to yield to the work of the Holy Spirit and not the work of the flesh, please. We love you and thank you for setting us free. You've liberated us to create this opportunity. We praise you for that. We pray that you would save the lost. And you would stir the saved, please. In Jesus name. Amen.