Romans – The Play Part 5

Now then, if one follows—sets his mind on—the things of the flesh, two things come out of it. Now, I wonder if you can find both of them. You’ve got to be a little careful here. Two things come out. What’s the first one? Death. Can you find the other one? Alright. I’m going to take it. That’s great. Vicki, good. You had to look at another verse to find it. But there are two things listed for both of them. The mind set on the flesh produces death and war. Death and war. Death and war with God.

Now, the mind that is set on the Spirit—the outcome is the opposite of death—life. And peace. This really excites me. I don’t know if it excites you or not. What excites me about this is that this brother Paul is talking to new Christians, and everything we’ve just said right here—whether you understand it or not—puts a lie to our whole twentieth-century mindset of the Christian faith. Where is the appeal here to go get a college education in a good Christian school? Where is the appeal to learn a great deal about God? Where is the appeal to live a good life? Where is the appeal to dress a certain way, to talk a certain way, to look a certain way, to smile and light your candle that the world might see? I mean, none of that is here. Now, there’s nothing wrong with that. That’s from the New Testament, but it has taken on a certain connotation: Christian, upper-middle-class, well-educated, living a good, prosperous, well-being life that people can see and appreciate. Know a lot, study a lot, and be able to give a rational statement for your faith.

Here’s Paul saying several things: you can know the flesh by two things—death and war. You can know the realm of the Spirit by two things: peace and life. How dumb of Paul. Paul, don’t you realize that we ought to know at least 500 verses of Scripture? You can know by death and war. Now, are you going to study about all the attributes of death and all the attributes of hostility and enmity? Are you going to learn all the 15 ways to recognize peace and the 275 ways to recognize life? Isn’t this beautiful? Life and peace. Death and war.

Well, I’m just going to go back and look at this all over again. Let’s just look at it. Verse 7: “Because the man set on the flesh is at war with God, for it is not able to subject itself to the law of God. It does not subject itself to the law of God because it cannot subject itself to the law of God.’ So, I want you to understand something very clearly here: the unregenerated man who lives in his flesh simply cannot fulfill God’s law. And I want you to know something else: you, walking in your flesh, cannot fulfill God’s law. God’s law cannot be fulfilled by you. But I want you to just look at how this goes: “For those who are in the flesh cannot please God.” If you’re in the flesh, you cannot please God. However, you are not in the flesh, but you are in the Spirit. And suddenly you’re hit with an absolutely cataclysmic declaration: you are in the Spirit.

Wow, I’ve been trying to speak in tongues to get in the Spirit. I have been trying to rejoice to be in the Spirit. But here I am told that because I have put my faith in one who raises the dead, I am in Spirit. I am in Spirit. I have to believe that—that I am a believer. I am there as the Spirit, and I’m in Him. That I really am in Him. Now, this has been talking about the mind, saints, and it has been wisely said: What you think you are will largely determine what you are. So, if you really think you’re in the flesh, you’re probably going to walk in the flesh. And if you really think that you’re a lousy person, you’re probably going to be a lousy person. But if you really believe you are in the Spirit, this could very well affect your life considerably.

Now I have to ask you: are you in the Spirit? Are you in the Spirit? Are you in the Spirit? Huh? Oh, we have an inferiority complex back here. Let’s have a nice…. Yeah. Let me find another. Are you in the Spirit? Are you in the Spirit? Yes. Bruce, are you in the Spirit? You really are in the Spirit.

Now then, brothers and sisters, that means that you are in a realm that is not of this earth. That you are actually in the unseen realm, and you are in something very divine. The Spirit is divine. I don’t think anybody would challenge that. The Spirit is divine. You’re inside something divine. You’re in something that doesn’t belong to this realm. I mean, this just gets better and better. You are in Spirit. Say it: I am in Spirit. Did you say it? No. I don’t think she said it. We’re going to try again. Let’s all watch her.

I am in Spirit. Now then – I want you to know one of the most incredible things in this world. You won’t believe this. It’s right there in the Bible. How do you know you’re in the Spirit? And how do you get in the Spirit? In His Spirit. In the Spirit. Now this is the most ridiculous—the answer is the most ridiculous thing in the world. It is the most contrary thing you will ever hear. How do you get in the Spirit? How do you know you’re in the Spirit? Well, read it. Somebody just read what it says next, and it will tell you: “If indeed the Spirit of God dwells in you.”

Isn’t this insane? If I drink water, you would think me mad if I said, “I am now in water. I am enveloped in water. Water has surrounded me.” That’s insane.

“Water is in you, Gene.” Not according to God. If the Spirit of the living God has come into me, then I have been plunged into that Spirit. If my spirit has been made alive in Christ—if the Spirit has come and joined with my spirit—if the Spirit, the Holy Spirit, if God’s Spirit has come and lived in me, then something miraculous has happened. Something divine has happened. I’ve been picked up by God and plunged into His Spirit, into the realm of His Spirit, into a place. I am not only in His Spirit, but I am in a realm—His Spirit—so great that I can walk around inside of it. It is a realm.

Now this gets clear. Now, I think you’re having a little less trouble with this. It is the Spirit of God in you. Amen. Amen. Is the Spirit of God in you? Is the Lord’s Spirit in you?

Yeah. Is the Spirit of the Lord in you? Alright, good. Is the Spirit of the Lord in you? Isn’t it wonderful that that’s all you have to worry about? On the day that you, like Abraham, believe, the Spirit made your spirit alive, justified you, sanctified you—and then God, without you even realizing it, picked you up and plunged you into His Spirit. You are in the Spirit, if the Spirit of Him who raised the dead dwells in you. Does His Spirit dwell in you? Then you dwell in the Spirit.