Week 31 - Free Weekend Program for Street & Vulnerable children

Text : Romans 8:6-10

Theme - Living in the Spirit:A Path to Life & Peace.

Verse 6 “For to be carnally minded is death, but to be spiritually minded is life and peace.“

A carnal mind is a mind that is under the control and influence of sin and relies on personal efforts to make themselves righteous. It is guided by worldly wisdom and seeks after sinful pleasures and the pursuit of morality and civility like the worldly wise man we saw in the movie “pilgrim’s progress. For example, such a person may say, “I know the easy way out, how to achieve happiness, I can deceive, steal, or lie if necessary. On the other hand, I can fast, give to charity and feel righteous, nothing wrong with that. God is saying that a mindset like that will only lead to death.

A spiritual mind is a mind filled with the gospel and is led by the Holy Spirit, he seeks God through prayer and attention to his word, relying on Christ and trusting in His grace for all things - physical and spiritual; the result is life and peace. The flesh is not eradicated when we are saved, when we come to Christ; It no longer can ultimately dominate or destroy us, but it can still greatly influence us. We saw that in Romans 7, the struggle we experience as believers, but through Christ we have continuous victory over the flesh - over our old nature.

God is saying to us, it’s actually a warning, He says “To be carnally minded is death, but to be spiritual minded is life and peace.”

Verse 7. “Because the carnal mind is enmity against God; for it is not subject to the law of God, nor indeed can be.”

A carnal mind is a mind that is entrenched in sin, separated from God, and spiritually dead. It dwells in darkness, lacking the understanding to recognize its own sinfulness or comprehend the impending judgment. In contrast, a Christian, like the character in “Pilgrim’s Progress,” carries the burden of sin and guilt and fears the impending judgment.

A sinner is an enemy of God, boasting in their own abilities, blind to their own sins, and indifferent to God’s law. They are completely depraved and spiritually dead, unable to change unless awakened by God. Some may deny the existence of God, as seen in Romans 1, while others may rely on their own goodness, as depicted in Romans 2. This is not a desirable place to be in. If your heart still remains hardened, then, pray to God for help so that, like the character Christian, you can recognize your sinfulness and seek refuge in Christ.

Verse 8 “So then, those who are in the flesh cannot please God.”

God is never pleased with sin, He judges the least intent of sin - evil desire to the fullest for all eternity, but Christ death on the cross has satisfied God’s justice for all our sins, those whom He chose and everyone is commanded to come! To put Faith in Christ as they hear the Gospel; God is pleased with the perfect sacrifice of Christ on the cross and all who put faith in Christ are saved from the wrath of God over sin.

I love this quote by R C Sproul, it says “It has been said that God hates the sin and loves the sinner. But it’s the sinner God sends to hell not just the sin.”

Don’t forget, it’s God who sent His son to pay the price for our sin, Romans 8:3 this is His love to us. 1 John 4:10, But those who disregard or scorn at the work of Christ, clinging rather to their flesh - to their sin and self effort, cannot please God, flesh will only produce more sin, if God give us up as written in Romans 1, we can only become worst, more depraved.

Only redeeming mercy can help. Also, remember Romans 3:20 “ by the deeds of the law, no one will be justified.” God is pleased with all who put their Faith in Christ. Only believe! Faith in Christ is all you need, depend on Him.

Verse 9 “You, however, are not in the realm of the flesh but are in the realm of the Spirit, if indeed the Spirit of God lives in you. And if anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ, they do not belong to Christ.”

Some of us have come to faith in Christ, we heard the gospel, have seen our sins and our helplessness and are trusting in Christ; we depend on the Holy Spirit and we see changes in ourselves (fruits) because the Holy Spirit is at work in us.

These changes - fruit of repentance, fruits of righteousness may be small but they are there, if truly the Holy Spirit lives in us, because we are married to Him who was raised from the dead, so we can bring forth fruit to God.

Without Faith, we cannot see fruit, and without fruit of repentance - change, the Spirit of Christ is not in us and if He is not in us, it means we don’t belong to Christ. This is a fearful thing. I pray the Lord will open your eyes, first, to see your sins and second, to run to Christ.

Verse 10. “But if Christ is in you, then even though your body is subject to death because of sin, the Spirit gives life because of righteousness.”

This calls for joy and rejoicing! Christ is in us by faith because we believe. Though our body is subject to decay and will die one day because of sin; our soul will live forever with Christ in paradise because God has given us eternal life; we have ever-lasting righteousness by the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit makes us righteous by faith, it is the Gift of God to all who believe in Christ Jesus.

For example, My dress is not me, when I go home, I will take it off for laundry and it goes to the wardrobe afterwards; same with my body, when I die, they will put the body in a casket - coffin but my soul will go home to be with Christ, my new husband in paradise.

A glorious reality awaits us - the celestial city. Think about this as often as possible, keep your mind on it. May God bless you richly.