Romans – The Play Part 4

Now, one of the things that distinguished him and perhaps the thing that distinguished him the most was that he had visited that realm. And having visited that realm, he came back and said, Nobody taught me anything. What I got, I got firsthand. Well, I cannot argue with that. Yeah, what he must have learned. What he must have learned, having seen the unseen, having gone there. He’s the one who came back with Romans 8. He’s the guy who came back with the vocabulary he’s going to start throwing at us in our next meeting. I want you to be impressed.

John saw that realm. That realm existed. He saw it – John of Patmos. Are you following me?

There’s another realm, and it’s full of all sorts of things. It’s full of life and light and food to eat. And most of all, it’s full of Spirit, and spirits, and spirituals. And when I say “spirits,” I don’t mean it as individuals—but I mean it is a spirit realm, and there are spiritual beings there.

But perhaps what helps me the most—and what I’m going to convey to you again, even though you’ve heard a message entitled Living by the Highest Life Form—is that there is something else in that realm: a form of life. A life form. Not a form of life in terms of a way of living, but I mean an actual life form. And He brought that life form out of that realm into this realm. He did not bring it in a canister. He did not drag a creature into this realm because that doesn’t fit that realm.

He brought Spirit into this realm. And this Spirit does not belong to this realm. Where was the Spirit located? Inside of Him. What was the Spirit?

“The words which I speak to you are…” —say it— “Spirit and life.” Those words are virtually interchangeable. For God is, say it, “God is Spirit.” And is God a life form? Flesh? Soul?
No… not really. Not really. We’re made in His image, and perhaps there is that element in Him. Maybe He does have a soul, but God is Spirit.

The words I speak to you are Spirit and life. His life form, His nature, is Spirit. And His Spirit is His life form. His Spirit is life, and His life is Spirit. It’s just that simple. And this is what He brought inside Himself—into our realm.

Now, He comes and He visits our realm, and He sees that we move by precise, unalterable, predictable patterns. He notices that there’s a law, a principle of our flesh, just as He notices that there is a law or principle of His own life. The flesh does evil. His Life form does righteousness.

And I took you away from the law, and I took you away—I just destroyed the Christian life for you last Wednesday night, but I can’t leave you there. And here’s what we learned last week: Your human nature is perfectly willing to go along with anything God asks you to do.
Is that not true? Believe it or not, you’ve got a heart for God. It’s this carcass you’re dragging around that’s giving you trouble.

And so, your human nature fights with rules and regulations and things to do and not to do, in order to counterbalance the flesh.

All it does is make you more aware of your flesh. That’s all it does. It increases the knowledge of sin.

I can’t leave you there. I tell you: give up the law. Give up the good deeds and give up the Christian life. Oh, brothers and sisters, you can’t live it. Is there hope for us? He walked into this realm where there was flesh and where there was human life—two distinct things. He addresses both of them. They are distinctive to His mind. And He says, yes, there’s more than hope.