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Free From Ourselves

In this second sermon from series on Romans 8 he talks about being free from the chains of the sinful nature.

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Do you realize that 341 million people live both in the United States and Canada together? And of these 341 million people, over 80% of them live in major metropolitan regions of both countries. And do you realize that the vast majority of these 341 million people they do not claim to be born-again, or even claim to be evangelical? In fact, in America alone, only 34% of the people in America would say, and they would claim, which doesn’t mean they are, but they would claim I have been born again. And I can assure you that that percentile is much less in the country called Canada.

Now while the demographics of what we would categorize as being North America, as they are ever changing and quite diverse, the true reality is that each one of these people that comprise this group of people that comprise this growing population of 341 million plus people are either people with Christ, or they are people without Christ. They are people who have discovered life in the Lord Jesus, or they are people who have never discovered life in Jesus Christ.

In fact in a moment I want to read together from the scripture of Romans chapter number 8. And in a moment I’m going to read in verse 5 through verse 11. But while you are discovering that passage of the scripture, let me share with you today that what we are about to read discusses everyone who lives in a selected group of 2 countries known as North America.

Paul is talking about people and their lives before Jesus Christ, and Paul is talking about people and their lives after Jesus Christ. The Bible says beginning in Romans chapter 8 the following words beginning in verse number 5. “For the mind, for the mind,” [PASTOR CLEARS HIS THROAT] Excuse me. “For those whose lives are according to the flesh, think about the things of the flesh, but those whose lives are according to the Spirit, about the things of the Spirit.” Look at verse 6. “For the mindset of the flesh is death. But the mindset of the Spirit is life and peace. For the mindset of the flesh is hostile to God because it does not submit itself to God’s law, for it is unable to do so. Those whose lives are in the flesh are unable to please God. You, however, are not in the flesh, but in the Spirit since the Spirit of God lives in you. But if anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ, he does not belong to Him. Now if Christ is in you, the body is dead because of sin, but the Spirit is alive because of righteousness. And if the Spirit of Him who raised Jesus from the dead lives in you, then He who raised Christ from the dead will also bring your mortal bodies to life through His Spirit who lives in you.”

When you look at this passage of scripture today, this passage talks about so, so many, many things. But let me assure you that it talks about the way you think. In fact it talks about what we would categorize as your mind. That’s why it talks about and uses the word mind, or mindset.

The passage also talks about how you live. In fact when it talks about how you live, that’s talking about your will because you see your soul is made up of your mind and your will.

But it’s also made up of your emotion, which this passage also talks about how you feel. So when you look at Romans 8 verse 5 through 11, it is a passage that talks about how you think, that’s your mind, how you live, that’s your will, and how you feel, that is what we would categorize as your emotions.

Now while we will come back to that in a moment in a very unique way, I want us to understand that many times in a passage of scripture we are able to understand it, or we’re able to interpret it when we think about the contrast that is used in the passage. Let me illustrate for you. The passage uses the word flesh. The word flesh is the Greek word “sarkos” in the Greek language, and it’s referring to our sinful nature. It is referring to our depraved state.

Let me assure every one of you today that this flesh is not getting any better. This flesh is worsening by the moment. This flesh is decaying. And one of the lost doctrines in the church of America today is the doctrine of sin. Let me assure you today that we are all sinners. And this scripture is talking about the flesh. It is talking about our sinfulness, our depraved state of the flesh.

But in contrast, it talks about the Spirit. Well the spirit is, is coming from that word “pneuma” in the Greek language, and it is referring to God’s Holy Spirit, to God’s Holy Spirit. So on one hand He’s talking about the Spirit, the pneuma, on the other hand he’s talking about the flesh, the sarkos, which is the depraved state of our humanness. In other words, our humanness is not getting any better at all.

So the Bible here is talking about how the Spirit is in contrast to the flesh. And the Spirit is in contrast to the body because what you must understand is it’s the Spirit that gives life and peace, not the body, and not the flesh. In fact I can assure you today this body is not leading you to life; this body has been dying since it was born. And so has your body. And in the whole process of that, there is a decaying of the, of the human heart that goes on continually in all of our lives.

So the flesh and the body can never give us life and peace. But I want you to notice something, while Romans 8 talks about the flesh and the Spirit, it is not talking about the flesh and the Spirit in the same way that Paul talks about it over in what we would call the book of Galatians in chapter number 5. In fact in Galatians chapter 5 he talks about this war that goes on in the life of the believer. Paul here is not using it in the same regard. In Galatians 5 he is saying that once you give your life to Christ, there is a war that goes on in you, and that war is constant between the flesh and between the Spirit.

But over in Romans 8 that’s not what he’s talking about. In Romans 8 he’s talking about a clear distinction. He is talking about 2 kinds of lives, he’s talking about 2 kinds of people, he’s talking about 2 kinds of thinking, he’s talking about 2 different kinds of lifestyles. I believe he’s referring to a life without Christ, and I believe he’s referring to a life with Jesus Christ.

In fact, let me give you one other insight into the passage today, and the passage here talks about and uses the word think in some translations, or it uses the word mindset in other translations. It comes from the Greek word “froneo” if you were to have a Greek Bible in front of you, a Greek New Testament in front of you, and, and it means to set your mind on, or to having a mindset on. Have you ever seen somebody that is just mindset, I mean their mind is set on something? And the moment their mind is set on that, they begin to pursue it? I mean they pursue it and let nothing keep them from it. That’s what Romans 8 is talking about. Romans 8 is saying that when person is of the flesh, their mindset, it is set on the flesh. They will do anything to fulfill the, the, the lust of the flesh. They will do anything to do whatever it takes to satisfy the flesh.

At the same time he says if a person knows Jesus as Lord, then that person has a mindset on the Spirit, and they want to do everything they can to pursue the God of heaven, Jesus Christ the King of Kings, and pursue Him as Lord of their life. Well the Word here says in Romans 8 we will pursue one or the other. We will pursue the flesh, or we will pursue the Spirit. So ask you today, which one are you pursuing?

Last week we talked about how our battle cry is what we call the theme of Romans 8 here over the next several weeks together, and it is the battle cry, “We Are Free.” I want to remind every one of you today that according to Romans 8 you are free. We talked about it last week from Romans chapter 8 the first 4 verses about how we’re free from our condemnation. There was a moment, there was a time when we come to know Christ everything’s changed. We’ve entered into a new era, and no longer are we condemned, but we have been set free. And now that we are set free, not only from condemnation, today I want to go a whole different level deeper, and I want to talk about how to be “Free From Ourselves.”

What does this passage teach us about being free from ourselves? Maybe you’ve never thought about it like this, but, but do you realize what your biggest problem is in your life? It’s you. I mean that’s the biggest problem you’ve got. You say, “Oh no, Ronnie, you don’t know what my problems are.” No I can assure you the biggest problem you have in your life is you. The biggest problem I face is me. I mean I fight me everyday, and you fight you everyday, because you see there is within the life of those of us who know Christ, there is a war that goes on. And that war goes on everyday about what we’re going to do, and how we’re going to live, rather we’re going to choose right, or we’re going to choose wrong.

But this passage today talks about how we can experience ultimate freedom from ourselves. Now how does that happen? Well before I get there today, let’s just deal with the passage. In verses 5 through 8, here’s what this passage talks about. It talks about:

1. Your life before Jesus Christ. Your life before Jesus Christ. A few

moments ago I talked about the extreme lostness of North America. I can show you how extreme it is by talking about various lifestyles and various beliefs. But you know what? The passage teaches us that before we give our lives to Christ, we think differently, and we live differently, and we feel differently. What I’m awful amazed of is how critical the church becomes of the world. Those of us that have met Jesus Christ, how critical we become of the world, and we act like we’re so surprised by the actions of those that do not know Christ.

Listen friend, they’re acting like they’re acting because they’re lost. They are following their will. They are following their emotion. They’re following their mindset, just like you did, and just like I did before Christ came into our lives that is if you know Christ in a personal way.

You see the passage tells us so many things about a life before Christ. in fact it says that a life before Christ:

(1) It’s all about you. It talks about it. It talks about it how it’s all about you. Verse number 5 talks about that flesh thinking. Verse number 5 talks about that sinful choice thinking. And what that means is that we have set our minds on ourselves. I mean, listen man, we are committed to ourselves. And I promise you, if you know the Lord, you’re still very committed to yourself. And that’s why you’ve got issues. And I’ve got issues periodically. And so what we must understand is before we come to Christ, all of our choices, they surround, and make themselves determined by us. It’s about us. It’s about me. It’s about what I want. And it’s all about me. Well that’s what a life without Christ is. A life without Christ is all about you.

But the scripture also says, a life without Christ:

(2) Is unable to please God. Oh I tell you what, that’s a powerful Word in verse number 8. Look at verse number 8. In fact, verse number 8 is very clear, you can’t get much clearer. It says those whose lives are in the flesh are unable to please God. In other words, this type of life and thinking never pleases the Lord. When it’s not about Jesus, it never pleases the Lord. When it’s all about us, it’s always about us, and we’re not able to please the Lord.

Verse number 7, the words before it, says that this kind of thinking is hostile towards God. In fact, you know one of the real themes of our generation is self-gratification. Self-gratification means what? It means that I’m going to satisfy myself, and gratify myself regardless. I mean that’s one reason the country’s in the economic turmoil that it’s in today is because of self-gratification.

But in the whole process of that self-gratification, we need to understand that self-gratification is against God. Self-gratification is hostile toward the things of God. It is a life that refuses to surrender to God, and it’s a life that refuses to submit to the will of God in life. But a life before Christ is all about you. It’s unable to please God.

But a life without Christ is also:

(3) Is leading to eternal death, the Bible says. Verse number 6 is very clear. It says the mindset on the flesh is what? It’s death. In other words, when your mind is set on gratifying yourself, your mind is set on yourself, your mind is set on what it takes to fulfill the flesh, the Bible is very clear. It says it leads to one point. It leads to death.

Now the rest of the passage says in that one selected verse that you don’t have the Holy Spirit. Therefore one thing is death is your destiny. You see, I, I, I tell you what I’ve learned. Our culture just does not get it. I mean, you know, it shouldn’t get it. it shouldn’t surprise us because our culture’s lost without Christ. Now in the, in the, in the movies, a show called Dancing With the Stars, and I’m not a Dancing With the Stars watcher. Let me make that really, really clear. Every time I see it, that means I turn the channel. But in Dancing With the Stars, participant Debbie Mazar, she praise the human strength. And the human spirit that Patrick Swayze demonstrated in his fight against cancer.

In fact, after his death, she said this, she said, “I know that he is dancing with Michael Jackson in heaven watching this.” That’s what she said. Now let me make it real clear, my deal is not what Debbie said, my deal is not Debbie, and my deal is not Patrick, and my deal is not Michael, that’s not what I’m talking about. That’s not what I’m addressing. They will all stand before God in accountability just like I will stand before God in accountability. Here is my point. My point is our culture, and most people just do not get it.

You see we don’t get it because the flesh is lost. We are lost. We are hopeless. We cannot do anything, anything, anything to save ourselves, and therefore, we begin to make all kinds of statements, having rationalized all kinds of thought processes to make us think that there’s something other than God’s way to go to heaven. And there’s not another way to God except through His Son Jesus Christ.

You see a life without Christ is a life about us. It’s a life that’s unable to please God, and it is a life, listen to me, that is leading to eternal death. I want to say to every one of you today, whether you’re watching by television, whether you’re watching by the internet today, whether you’re in this room here today in our Pinnacle Hills campus, or even at our Springdale campus, I want to make it very clear to you today, that if you don’t know Christ, that’s your life. Unable to please God. All about yourself. And it’s leading you to eternal death.

But that is not God’s will for you. God wants you to have a moment in your life when everything changes. In fact if you would for a moment let’s let this side of the auditorium represent the flesh, a mindset on the flesh. That means, choir, ya’ll, sorry about it, but ya’ll are here. Don’t get up please. A mindset on the flesh. And over here would be a mindset on the Spirit. But right here represents a moment. And the moment is when you had an opportunity and you said yes to embracing Jesus Christ as your Lord and your Savior, and you demonstrated faith alone in Christ alone for your salvation, and in that moment that is right here, change began to occur. Now follow me now. Listen.

Let me tell you what began to happen the moment you had that moment with Jesus. You began to think differently. You began to live differently. And you began to feel differently about everything in life. You say well I’m not really sure that really happened to me. We’re going to talk about that in a moment. But you see what we must understand is over here the flesh, that’s a natural life, and, and what it does is it is not only in conflict with what’s over here, but that natural life becomes a supernatural life the moment you are right here. We call that conversion. We call it when Christ came into your life. and some of you might be a little uncomfortable and say well I don’t know if anything supernatural’s ever happened to me. let me just make it real clear, if you have never been changed by Jesus, that shows you don’t understand the supernatural. But I want to assure you without a supernatural encounter with Jesus Christ, you cannot go to heaven, and you cannot be changed. So you do believe in it if it’s ever happened to you.

But not only does the passage talk about your life before Christ, your life talks, this passage talks about:

2. Your life after Jesus Christ. And I love to talk about this. In fact verse

9 through 11 talks about what a life is like, what a person is like once they meet Jesus Christ. You see after Jesus enters into your life, according to verse 9 through 11 you all of a sudden begin to think differently, live differently, and feel differently. Now why is that? let me answer that.

The reason is because:

(1) The Holy Spirit lives in you. That’s why. The Holy Spirit lives in you. You see everything has changed. Over here it was all about you, but over here someone interrupted your life here, and He entered your life according to verse number 9. And after Jesus enters your life, you’re no longer in the flesh, the Bible says, but you are now in the Spirit. Why is that? One reason alone, the Spirit lives in you.

Now here’s my question to you this morning. What distinguishes a person without Christ and with Christ? What distinguishes that person? Well, you need to go to the scripture. What does the Bible say? Look at the last of verse number 9. It says, “But if anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ, he does not belong to Him.” So what is the answer? What distinguishes a person without Christ and with Christ? I’ll tell you what it is. The Holy Spirit lives in the life of an authentic Christ-follower. The Holy Spirit lives in your life. Oh dear friend, listen, the Bible is very clear in verse 9. If a person does not have the Holy Spirit living in them, then they are not of Christ.

So I ask you today, is the Holy Spirit living in you? What we must understand is that this moment of change, that’s what happened. Now there all kind of people that teach all kinds of things about when you get the Holy Spirit. But I want to challenge you to go to the Word of God, and what the Word of God says. The Word of God says one thing about that. The Bible says the moment you come to Christ, you are baptized in the Holy Spirit according to 1 Corinthians 12. Into the body of Jesus Christ, at that moment of conversion. You don’t get Him later. Listen, you can barely handle what you’ve got at salvation much more anything later.

I want to challenge you today that the issue here is you understanding that you’ve got all of Jesus, all of the Spirit of God in the day you came to faith in Jesus Christ. Now here’s the real threat before us today. The threat is this. Listen carefully. You can be churched, but not changed. You can go to church, but never have change. If the Spirit has not come to live in your life, ladies and gentlemen, students, then you may be a part of a church, but you could never be changed by the Jesus Christ, you’ve never been changed by Christ. I promise you this happens all the time all across the American church.

The old preacher from years ago named Vance Havner, he said it this way, listen to his words. He said, “The devil’s main business is getting people to join a church without getting saved.” How true that is! The devil’s main business is getting people to join a church without getting saved. I want to challenge you today to really evaluate your life. I mean are you really saved? You see our church is not any different than anybody else’s church out here in the world today. We don’t understand why this happens. We can counsel people until we’re blue in the face. We can try to break it down with them, and we can go as deep as we can go with our people trying to show them, and insure that they meet Christ, but I can assure you there are people all over the rows of our own church who have never been truly saved! Now that is not our will. We believe in what we call regenerate church membership, meaning that a person cannot join our church until they have been changed by the grace of Jesus Christ! But you know what? I cannot insure that because I do not know their heart. And I do not know their life. Even as deep as we would go, we can only go so far. But I promise you in a church like ours, many will bank on churchmanship when they stand before God but they’ve never been changed, but they’ve been deceived. They’ve joined a church, and they have not truly been saved!

You see your life after Jesus Christ, something occurs, and that the Holy Spirit comes to live within you, and you know what happens when He comes to live within you? Now follow me. You begin to think differently, live differently, and feel differently. I said begin, and the moment of conversion is when that beginning point happens, and you begin to go this way in your life. and it’s not easy. That’s when that flesh versus the Spirit all of a sudden is fighting you, and you are all of a sudden in this war that goes on every day in your life.

But I love to talk about this next thing that happens. Here’s what the scripture teaches us in verse number 10. Your life after Jesus Christ, you know what happens?

(2) You come alive. That’s right. You come alive. Verse 10 says that you are dead to the flesh. You’re dead to the body. And you’re dead to sin because Christ lives in you. And the Spirit of God, listen to this, according to the scripture, the Spirit of God brings you alive! And oh that moment you begin to think differently, and you begin to live differently, and you begin to feel differently because the righteousness of Jesus Christ has been injected into your life, and all of a sudden everything changes in your life! And supernatural life begins to happen through you and in you all because you have now come alive!

You see ladies and gentlemen, you’ve really got to get this. When, when, when you trust in Jesus, if you’ve trusted Jesus and Him alone for your salvation, if you have had that moment, that time, that conversion experience, the Holy Spirit came to live within your spirit. That’s right, into your spirit. And the moment He came to live within your spirit, listen to this. Look. He has joined together with your spirit and nothing can pry Him away from you. Nothing you do that can take Him away. Oh you can try to push Him away with your choices. You can grieve Him by your lifestyle. You can quench the flowing power of His Spirit. In fact the scripture says you can extinguish His Spirit, or attempt to in your life, but the moment you come to Christ you are united with Jesus completely. If you want to know where you’re whole, you’re whole in your spirit.

Now you’ve got 3 issues after that however. It’s called your mind, your will, and your emotion. And you begin going on this journey towards Christ-likeness, and I mean that’s when the flesh and the Spirit begin to fight.

D.L. Moody was used of God greatly years and years ago. Moody’s life was changed radically as a businessman in this City of Chicago. In fact, from that he created a university, a school named after him of course, and all of those matters in relationship to the ministry there of the Moody Church. But beyond that, Moody also, some believed, held America in one hand, and England in the other, and literally took the gospel to those nations in his day. But when Moody came to Christ, he talked about that coming to Christ with the following words, and I want you to hear these words. He said, “I was in a new world.” In other words, one day I was here, but the day I gave my life to Christ, I was in a new world. “The next morning the sun shone brighter and the birds sang sweeter…and the old elms waved their branches for joy, and all nature was at peace.” You know what D.L. Moody was saying? He was saying the moment he came to Jesus, he came alive! Everything changed! His eyes changed what he saw! His heart changed what he wanted to do! His will was transformed because everything changed, and he became emotional about things he had never been emotional about before.

You see ladies and gentlemen what you must understand, teenagers you hear me, what you must understand is that Jesus, whatever He touches, and whoever He touches, He always brings change. And I’ll tell you sadly, and I say this with all the deepest grief in my heart, we have got to get beyond being churched, and enter into being changed. We must understand that God’s will is for us to enter this life of change, and to continually walk towards that life of change. Because why? Because He says:

(3) You will live forever. Verse 11 talks about we will live forever.

Listen to this. He says that the same supernatural Spirit that raised Jesus from the dead, think about that, the same supernatural Spirit that raised Jesus from the dead, he says now lives in you. wow. And the same Spirit that raised Jesus from the dead will one day interrupt every cemetery where people are that know Christ, and every ocean that people have been placed into who know Christ, and God will take every one of those bodies and will raise them into newness of life, those who have met the Lord.

All of that because the same Holy Spirit does that. He will take your mortal body that is on its way to death, and will die one day, and He will raise it up to life! And the scripture says you will eternally live in heaven with Jesus because of one thing, there was a moment, there was a time, there was an experience when you began to live differently, think differently, and even feel differently in your life.

On Saturday evening, October the 16th, 19 hundred and 71, I exchanged a very natural life for a supernatural life. 38 years ago on the 16th of this month I became not only churched, but I became changed. And while instant change did not occur immediately, over a period of time things began to change and alter. Oh in that instant moment I knew something had happened. In that instant moment of conversion I knew one thing. I knew that I was in a new world! That’s what I knew! And I knew that life began to raise itself in me that I had never experienced before! And on that night, and following, I began to think differently, live differently, and feel differently about everything. And sure I struggle with Galatians 5 at times, just like you do, and just like I still do today with the mind and the Spirit and the mind of God going against. It’s like a war that goes on in me about what I need to do about this choice or that choice.

But I want to ask you today when you supposedly gave your life to Christ, when you supposedly began to follow Jesus, let me ask you today, did you come alive? Did you come alive? If some of you came alive, you might do well to notify your face and your life about it. I ask you today did you begin to think differently? Did you begin to live differently? Did you begin to feel differently about everything? Or could it be that you’re just churched, and you’re not changed? Could it be that you’re like what Havner said years ago, a great truth for all of us? You joined a church without getting saved? God help us!

But you see you’ve got to look at it one of two ways. A life without Christ, it’s all about you. it’s not able to please God at all, and it leads to eternal death. But a life with Christ I tell you the Holy Spirit lives in you, you come alive, and you will live forever. Folks those are 2 distinct lifestyles, 2 distinct moments, 2 distinct people, and I want to urge you today to take a real clear look at your life, and a real open look at your life, and ask yourself which one am I? Which one is my mind set on? Which one is my will set on? Which one is my emotion set on? Is it about over here? All about me? Always about me? Or is it that I have been so changed by Jesus I’m on a pathway now to becoming more like Jesus everyday in my life?

You see what I have changed, and what, what you will exchange is a natural life for a supernatural life. And you see what it really boils down to is one thing, will you come to Jesus? That’s really what it boils down to. Just like Matt sang a moment ago, will you come to Jesus? And I don’t know what your past is like, and I don’t know what all that means about your religious tradition, but what I do know is what the Bible says, and the Bible is King. The Bible’s authority. And the Bible says He is the way. He is the truth. And He is the life. And there is no other way but through Him. Period. And I pray today you’ll come to Him, and the moment you do, I can assure you, you will come alive, and you will begin to think differently, live differently, and feel differently than you ever have before in your life.

I want us to pray together as our heads our bowed, and our eyes are closed all over the room today…

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