THE LIFE-GIVING SPIRIT

Roma 8:5-13  For they that are after the flesh do mind the things of the flesh; but they that are after the Spirit the things of the Spirit. For to be carnally minded is death; but to be spiritually minded is life and peace. Because the carnal mind is enmity against God: for it is not subject to the law of God, neither indeed can be. So then they that are in the flesh cannot please God. But ye are not in the flesh, but in the Spirit, if so be that the Spirit of God dwell in you. Now if any man have not the Spirit of Christ, he is none of his. And if Christ be in you, the body is dead because of sin; but the Spirit is life because of righteousness. But if the Spirit of him that raised up Jesus from the dead dwell in you, he that raised up Christ from the dead shall also quicken your mortal bodies by his Spirit that dwelleth in you. Therefore, brethren, we are debtors, not to the flesh, to live after the flesh. For if ye live after the flesh, ye shall die: but if ye through the Spirit do mortify the deeds of the body, ye shall live.

• That is what it is all about when you come to basics.
• Ever since Eden, it has been the same.
• Tree of Life and death from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil.
• We have got to get to the place where we are living after the Spirit.
• If we live after the flesh we shall die.
• If we live after the Spirit we shall live.
• What does Paul mean to live after the flesh or Spirit?

Let us go back and work our way down to this GOAL of every person... to live.

We have been speaking about two trees and their fruits lately.

• These two fruit are streamed throughout the entire Bible.
• A way of death and a way of Life.
• Fruit from the tree of death slew Adam.
• But God said eating the fruit of Life would make him live forever.
• In our text we see that the Spirit is Life.

We must mortify the deeds of our bodies.

• Deeds of the body are works of the flesh.
• Those who live after the flesh do these things.
• We must not commit works of the flesh.
• We must mortify them.
• Here they are:

Gala 5:19-21  Now the works of the flesh are manifest, which are these; Adultery, fornication, uncleanness, lasciviousness, Idolatry, witchcraft, hatred, variance, emulations, wrath, strife, seditions, heresies, Envyings, murders, drunkenness, revellings, and such like: of the which I tell you before, as I have also told you in time past, that they which do such things shall not inherit the kingdom of God.

Those who do these things will not live but die.

• And the way we mortify the deeds of the body is THROUGH THE SPIRIT.
• YOU NEED THE HOLY GHOST!

Roma 8:9  But ye are not in the flesh, but in the Spirit, if so be that the Spirit of God dwell in you. Now if any man have not the Spirit of Christ, he is none of his.

Roma 8:16  The Spirit itself beareth witness with our spirit, that we are the children of God:

If you are sinning constantly and you have the Spirit of God, it is because you do not know how to have the Spirit of God work for you to QUICKEN YOU.

• Without the Spirit you are completely at a loss to overcome sin.

People in the flesh cannot please God.

• So you need the Spirit.
• We read of carnal mindedness
• And we read of spiritual mindedness.
• One leads to death and the other to life.
• What is it to be carnally minded? Spiritually minded?

To think spiritually.

• There is a way to think.
• The way you think about others affects the way you treat them.
• Think about everything from the standpoint of SPIRITUAL TRUTH.
• We can look at people carnally or look at them spiritually.

2Cor 5:16-17  Wherefore henceforth know we no man after the flesh: yea, though we have known Christ after the flesh, yet now henceforth know we him no more. Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new.

We must realize that living after the flesh will cause us to look at others after the flesh.

• We must look at each other after the Spirit.
• And Paul says that all things are become new.
• Paul said that he looked at people after the Spirit.
• He would not know anyone any longer in the manner "after the flesh."
• For one thing, Paul also says that we are not look at each other through filters of racial differences.

2Cor 5:15  And that he died for all, that they which live should not henceforth live unto themselves, but unto him which died for them, and rose again.

He died for all.

• And Paul said that Jesus did not prefer some people above others.
• No matter what their backgrounds or their problems, Jesus died for them all.
• Before you ever committed any sin, God did not care what kind of sin you would commit, as though only the better people can be blessed.
• Because Jesus died for your sins before you even committed them tells us that He is not prejudiced.
• And He doesn't care what level of life you live.
• He simply concentrated only on your soul.
• INCORPORATE THAT KIND OF THINKING INTO YOUR THINKING.

The new man is created new.

• We are to act upon new laws and new principles.
• All things are new.
• We do not just correct a bad heart, but actually receive a NEW HEART.
• We need to look at each other in that light.
• Believers who become patriotic to a certain political party and who stand for their citizenship in their country as opposed to the citizenship of believers in other countries need to realize that they are all no longer separated by the OLD, but are all made NEW and are ONE PEOPLE.

There is thinking that is after the Spirit and thinking that is after the knowledge of good and evil.

• The knowledge of good and evil is fleshly.
• We need to think spiritually.
• Forget about a perspective according to what is right and wrong, but rather acording to life.

Roma 8:10  And if Christ be in you, the body is dead because of sin; but the Spirit is life because of righteousness.

If we have the Holy Ghost, we have died.

• We need to think this way.
• Our old ways are gone now.
• We are not supposed to live after the knowledge of good and evil any more.
• The SPIRIT is LIFE.
• A new way of living and thinking.
• A new way of treating people, based upon LIFE and not good and evil.
• Many People are so critical.
• They are so judgmental.

People who look at sins and criticize the people are living after the flesh.

• They are thinking carnally.
• I want to think as Jesus thinks.
• It is a very spiritual reality that says your sins can be forgotten as though you never committed them.
• I want to treat you in a manner with that in mind.
• I want to treat you as though your mistakes that you make should not even bother me to cause me to criticize you, because Jesus' blood will remove them instantly as soon as you call on Him about them.
• If all God's people took out all the knowledge of good and evil from within them, they would love each other DESPITE their faults.

If every Spirit filled christian would treat each other and everyone else as people who make mistakes, but can have those mistakes removed forever by the blood of Jesus, then we would be thinking after the Spirit.

• We would not judge one another.
• Judging is thinking after the knowledge of good and evil.
• Judges determine what is right and wrong.
• Jesus said to not judge one another.

Remember that God cast Adam out of the Garden because he did not have LIFE in him but knowledge of good and evil.

THE SERPENT LIKES EVERYONE IN GOD'S FAMILY TO EAT KNOWLEDGE OF GOOD AND EVIL.

The way you live your christian life tells if you are based upon LIFE or the KNOWLEDGE OF GOOD AND EVIL.

• "LIFERS" are the ones who realize they cannot do OUTWARD things to save themselves.
• "JUDGES" are the ones who think of things to DO in order to be better christians.
• They fill their minds with religious laws, and never understand GRACE.

• So GRACE makes you LOOK PAST the problem in the other person.

• The eyes of the cherubims on the Ark of the covenant were fixed on the place of MERCY where the BLOOD of the Lamb was sprinkled.
• This shows our concentration on things.
• We base everything based upon the fact that the BLOOD OF JESUS can cleanse any sin.
• We treat people that way.
• We required MERCY.

THIS IS GOLDEN.

• Deep inside that Tabernacle that took the people of Israel to the Promised Land was a GOLDEN piece with eyes of creatures looking at the MERCY SEAT where the BLOOD WAS SPRINKLED.
• That is what God deems as GOLDEN.
• Jesus shed His blood in MERCY of GOD to save us and forgive us.

CONCERNING GOD

We are not to think after the flesh in anything concerning God.

• Some are too ritualistic.
• They think that the way they FLESHLY do a thing makes God happy.
• They are so very FLESHLY pious and FLESHLY traditional.
• They believe that a FLESHLY  "act" makes God happy.
• They are wrong!
• What makes God happy is what is done inside your heart.
• What is important is not how you FLESHLY look when you worship, and what proper manner you perform your raising of the hands and praying, but what is important is what goes on in your INWARD thinking when you pray and how humble inside you are.
• How much you INWARDLY love people, and then OUTWARDLY show it.
• God sees the heart, and that is where He concentrates His attention when He sees you.
• He is not interested in WHAT you do but WHY you do it.

God will work on you spiritually.

• You may feel like weeping when you worship.
• Do it.
• He will deal with you in your heart.
• Express what you feel to Him.
• He is quickening you from the inside out.
• Making you alive.
• Get around spiritual people of God.
• Get around those who plainly are seen to love others and not treat others bad.

Worship God regardless of how you fleshly feel.

• God is a Spirit, and you do not have to feel Him.
• It is fleshly thinking to FEEL God.
• He is here all the time.
• So when you are ready to enter a spiritual time set aside each day, worship HIM when you feel nothing.
• Think spiritually.
• He is Spirit, and I may not see, hear, feel Him.
• But He is still here.

Pray when you come to church.

• Clear your mind from all carnal fleshly thoughts.
• Clear away arguments of the day.
• Ask God to quicken you by His Spirit.

• YOU CAN BE SPIRITUALLY MINDED.
• You can behave spiritually to all things.
• It is according to how you think.

SATAN DWELLS IN CORRUPT COMMUNICATION
 

Ephe 4:27  Neither give place to the devil.

Ephe 4:29  Let no corrupt communication proceed out of your mouth, but that which is good to the use of edifying, that it may minister grace unto the hearers.

GOD DWELLS IN PRAISES
 

Psal 22:3  But thou art holy, O thou that inhabitest the praises of Israel.

• Not your will power or your exertion of self power.
• We see our dilemma in committing works of the flesh.
• We see that they who do these things will not enter glory.
• And we wonder how to win.
• PAUL SAID "THROUGH THE SPIRIT" WE PUT TO DEATH THOSE ACTS.

Roma 8:11-12  But if the Spirit of him that raised up Jesus from the dead dwell in you, he that raised up Christ from the dead shall also quicken your mortal bodies by his Spirit that dwelleth in you. Therefore, brethren, we are debtors, not to the flesh, to live after the flesh.

We do not have to live after the flesh any longer because the same Spirit that raised Christ from the dead shall quicken our mortal bodies.

• The reason I do not have to live after the flesh, and commit the works of the flesh is because the same Spirit that raised Christ from the dead dwells in me and it will quicken my mortal body.
• Therefore, this is not speaking about the rapture, but about me living, right now, "not to the flesh."
• It is speaking about our present lives.
• Our bodies are mortal right now.
• They are weak.
• But God's Spirit is given to us so that we can be quickened or enlivened.

Roma 8:13  For if ye live after the flesh, ye shall die: but if ye through the Spirit do mortify the deeds of the body, ye shall live.

Acts 1:8  But ye shall receive power, when the Holy Spirit is come upon you: and ye shall be my witnesses both in Jerusalem, and in all Judaea and Samaria, and unto the uttermost part of the earth.

You will be witnesses of Jesus with this power.

• A sinful defeated life does not witness anything about Jesus to anyone.
• We need to tap into this power to be witnesses.