Realm of the Flesh to Realm of The Spirit

Scripture Reading: Romans 8:1-9

0:02 Now will you follow in your own Bibles as I read from the 8th chapter of the letter to the Romans, Romans chapter 8, verses 1 through 9. There is therefore now no condemnation to them that are in Christ Jesus. For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus made me free from the law of sin and of death. For what the law could not do in that it was weak through the flesh, God, sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh and for sin, condemned sin in the flesh that the ordinance or the requirement of the law might be fulfilled in us.

0:54 who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit. For they that are after the flesh mind the things of the flesh, but they that are after the Spirit the things of the Spirit. For the mind of the flesh is death, but the mind of the Spirit is life and peace. Because the mind of the flesh is enmity against God, for it is not subject to the law of God, neither indeed can it be. And 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 dwelleth in you. To the fallen sons and daughters of Adam, who have at least some understanding of their frightening condition as sinners,

Review and Framing of the Final Study

1:52 No word is more precious than the word Savior. No realities are more dear than those realities bound up in the word salvation. And it is just such realities that form the focal point of our Lord's Day morning meditations under the broad category of the cardinal blessings of salvation in Jesus Christ.

2:22 having examined the teaching of the Scriptures with respect to those blessings that I have called the threshold blessings, calling and regeneration, those mighty works of God's salvation in which dead sinners are quickened to life and actually delivered from the kingdom of darkness and brought into the kingdom of God's dear Son, we have for many weeks now been engaged in a study of those blessings which come to us

2:51 When we are thus called and regenerated and vitally joined to Jesus Christ, we sought to open up the grand truth of justification by faith, that tremendously and vastly complex, but in one sense beautifully simple provision of grace in which sinners who have nothing but guilt before the court of heaven are pronounced righteous before the burning eye of God only for the righteousness of Christ imputed to them and received by faith alone. And as though that blessing were not enough, we went on to examine the great blessing of adoption, in which guilty criminals are not only pardoned and accepted as righteous, but actually brought into the household of God, given the spirit of adoption and conferred

3:47 with the wonderful privileges of sonship. Well now, for several weeks, we've been examining the third of these great blessings that come to every sinner called and regenerated by the grace of God, the blessing of sanctification. And I have set before you a framework within which to try to pull together the various strands of biblical teaching, suggesting that we think of sanctification as a massive mountain of

4:15 God's gracious provision with respect to the problem of the power, the guilt, and the pollution of our sin. And that mountain has three great peaks. Sanctification begun, sanctification continued, sanctification completed. And I have entitled, Sanctification begun, definitive sanctification, using the terminology of Professor Murray, sanctification continued, progressive sanctification,

4:45 sanctification completed, climactic sanctification. Now this morning we come to our final study of that first great mountain peak of sanctifying grace, sanctification begun in this radical cleavage with the power, the dominion, and the pollution of sin. As we've sought to understand this aspect of biblical teaching, I have suggested that there is one strategic passage that stands head and shoulders above every other passage in Scripture with respect to this aspect of sanctifying grace. And that passage, of course, is Romans chapter 6, in which the whole heart of the argument is summed up in verse 2. We who are such as have died to sin, how shall we any longer live therein?

Setting of Romans 8:5-9 in Its Larger Passage

5:40 And then we went on to begin a consideration of several other key passages which teach the same truth, but from a differing perspective. And so we've examined together Colossians 3, 9, and 10, and Ephesians 4, 22 to 24, in which we have the imagery of our putting off of the old man and our putting on of the new. Now this morning, God willing, we'll cover three or four of these other key passages and thereby complete our study on this aspect of God's provision in grace. Now the first of these passages that we'll consider this morning is the one which has been read in your hearing, Romans chapter 8, and in particular verses 5 through 9. Now just a word about the setting of these words.

6:37 In the unfolding of that gospel which is the power of God unto salvation, salvation which secures not only the justification but the sanctification of all of its recipients, the apostle has just described the recipients of this gospel in its power in the rich language of the previous verses, verses that were read in your hearings. Concerning all those who are the recipients of this salvation, Paul says these four things in the first four verses. He says, first of all, that there is no condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus. Having just come through that description in chapter 7, in which the believer is pictured as epitomized in the experience of the Apostle Paul as

7:30 engaged in this continual struggle with remaining sin, the believer is pictured as one who grows under this tremendous pressure of conflict and struggle, yet of this same person, the apostle says, because he is in Christ, there is no condemnation. Furthermore, he describes all believers in the language of verse 2, as those who have received the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus. And that Spirit has become a law in the sense of a principle of operation. The law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus hath made me free from the law of sin and of death. Everyone who is described in verse 1 as no longer under condemnation is described in verse 2

8:26 as no longer under the law of sin and of death, but has been a recipient of the Spirit of life, which has become a principle of life. Thirdly, they are described as those in whom the requirements of the law are now fulfilled. Verse 4, that the ordinance or the requirement of the law might be fulfilled in us.

8:53 And the us is, again, a reference to the same group of people. No condemnation, recipients of the Spirit of life in Christ. They are those who are now committed to a life of fulfilling the righteous requirements of the law. And then they are described finally at the end of verse 4 in this language. They walk negatively, not after the flesh, but after the Spirit.

9:20 Now, these are not four different categories of Christians. They are four descriptions of every true Christian. Now, having mentioned at the end of verse 4 this aspect of the characteristic of a true Christian, he does not walk after the flesh but after the Spirit, as he so often does, the apostle then expands that idea that at least through verse 9 and probably more likely through verse 11. And it is that expansion of the description that will form the focal point of our study for the next few minutes. Now notice the two categories which launch the apostle into this section. He describes all men as falling into one of two categories. Those who walk after the flesh,

10:18 and those who walk after the Spirit. Now, the flesh in this context means nothing more or less than human nature conditioned and controlled and directed by sin. That's what the flesh is. And, of course, all men by nature walk after the flesh. That is, they live as creatures conditioned, dominated by sin.

10:48 But then he mentions another category, all true believers who walk after the Spirit. And to be after the Spirit is to be in the realm in which the Spirit conditions and patterns our life, or our lives are conditioned and patterned by the Holy Spirit. Now, having mentioned the two categories...

The Extended Contrast: Flesh and Spirit

11:13 He then opens up this extended contrast between those who are after the flesh and those who are after the Spirit. Now notice the characteristic of those who are after the flesh. Verse 5. They that are after the flesh mind the things of the flesh. Verse 6. For the mind of the flesh is death. Verse 7.

11:38 Because the mind of the flesh is enmity against God, for it is not subject to the law of God, neither indeed can it be. And they that are in the flesh cannot please God. Now here's the first set of descriptions in the contrast. Those that are after the flesh are described in this way. They are preoccupied with the things of the flesh. They that are after the flesh do mind the things of the flesh.

12:08 being dominated by sin and under the control of sin, their lifestyle is conditioned by that dominance and by the fleshy and carnal appetites and passions and perspectives that grow out of that realm of flesh. Furthermore, Paul describes them as existing in a living death. Verse 6, "...for the mind of the flesh...

12:35 is death. He doesn't say it leads to death or it results in death. That would be true. He's already stated that in chapter 6. The wages of sin is death. He'll go on later on to say, they that live after the flesh must die. That's the truth. But here he's saying, the mind of the flesh is death. In other words, to have your human nature under the dominion and control of sin,

13:02 To have your lifestyle conditioned and controlled by the patterns dictated by sin is to exist in a living death. And that's why Paul can describe all unregenerate men in that very category in Ephesians 2. You hath He made alive who were dead in your trespasses and in your sins. So to be after the flesh is to be preoccupied with the things of the flesh. Secondly, it is to exist in a living death. Thirdly, it is to be in a state of total depravity. Look at verse 7. The mind of the flesh, now notice, does not say has an area or two or three or twenty or fifty or a hundred which is or which are at enmity with God. The mind of the flesh is

13:58 enmity with God. The very essence of this fleshiness is enmity towards God. It is not subject to the law of God, neither indeed can it be. So then they that are in the flesh cannot please God. And in that statement we have both an affirmation of man's total depravity in his fleshiness and and also his total inability. It cannot be subject to God's law. He can in no way gain the approbation and the approval of God. They that are in the flesh cannot please God. Now, that's not a pretty description. But it is not a description conjured up by gloomy, morose, overly subjective, puritanic mentalities.

14:55 These are the words of the Holy Ghost describing you and me in our state of fleshiness. Now, by contrast, there are those, bless God, who are after the Spirit. Now, how are they described? Well, look at the same passage. They are described as the ones who are preoccupied with the things of the Spirit. Verse 5.

15:24 But they that are after the Spirit, the things, the verb to mind or the words to mind, are understood and must be supplied in our thinking. For as surely as they that are after the flesh, mind, think the things of the flesh, they that are after the Spirit, the things of the Spirit. So you have a direct contrast. The evidence of a man's being in the flesh is that he minds the things of the flesh. The evidence of a man being in the spirit is that he minds the things of the spirit. In other words, these are not descriptions of a positional relationship. They are a description of actual experience in the life history and lifestyle of those who are being described.

16:13 Furthermore, they are described as being in the realm of life and peace in contrast to death. The mind of the flesh is death, verse 6, but the mind of the Spirit not results in or shall issue in, but is right now life and peace. Life, of course, in its richest biblical connotation of eternal life in communion with God. Peace, that is, peace with God in contrast to enmity towards God.

16:41 And of course, flowing out of that, as we were instructed in chapter 5, the very peace of God as one of the fruits of peace with God. Then implied, though not explicitly stated, is the contrast of verse 7. You see, if Paul is using this contrast, those in the flesh, those in the spirit, there's a strong implication that he will assume in our thinking we'll draw the antithesis, the contrast from verse 7.

17:10 The mind of the flesh is enmity against God. What is the mind of the Spirit? It is the mind of submission to God. Is the mind of the flesh one in which there can be no subjection to the law of God? Then the mind of the Spirit is, as we read in verse 4, a disposition which delights to fulfill the righteous requirements of the law.

17:38 Paul is the one who said in chapter 7, I delight after the law of God with my inward man, just the opposite of the mind of the flesh. And if it is true that they that are in the flesh cannot please God, it is wonderfully true that those who are in the Spirit are under the approbation and the smile of God.

17:59 Now that element of the contrast is only implied, but it is strongly implied, and every strand of it is explicitly taught elsewhere in the Word of God in general, and even more particularly in Paul's letter to the Romans. Now there's the extended contrast. Do you see it? Do you feel something of that black and white, that either-or contrast after the flesh, after the spirit?

The Searching Conclusion of Verse 9

18:25 Now then, from all of this, the apostle draws a very searching conclusion in verse 9. Now notice the language. But, having drawn this extended contrast between the two realms and those who live in them, but ye, that is you believers at Rome, are not in the flesh, but in the Spirit, if so be that the Spirit of God dwell in you.

18:56 Now the first thing the apostle asserts in this text is simply this. If the Spirit indwells, he does so as the liberator from the dominion of the flesh. You see it? You see it in verse 9? Ye are not in the flesh, but in the Spirit, if so be that the Spirit of God dwell in you. In other words, Paul is saying,

19:22 If you have received the Spirit and all who are justified and adopted receive the Spirit, you have received Him as the Spirit who has liberated you from the realm of sin, the realm of the flesh. I'm sorry, not the realm of sin, but in the language of this text, the realm of the flesh. Ye are not in the flesh if you possess the Spirit. Now we must not water down We must not bleed of its vigor the obvious teaching of the first part of this verse. Ye are not in the flesh, but in the Spirit. If so be that the Spirit of God dwell in you. If the Spirit indwells us, he does so as the liberator from the dominion of the flesh. And then the second great truth of this text, And if any man hath not the Spirit of Christ, he is none of his.

20:21 If the Spirit does not indwell us as the liberator from the dominion of the flesh, we are strangers to grace and salvation. Do you see it? But if any man hath not the Spirit of Christ, he is none of his. Have not the Spirit of Christ in what sense? In the sense of the teaching of this passage.

20:47 the Spirit of Christ as the liberator from the realm of the flesh. Not the Spirit of Christ as some advanced category of Christian experience. Not the Spirit of Christ manifested in some highly developed realm of Christian grace and experience. But the Spirit of Christ as the agent effect

21:16 a fundamental liberation from the realm of flesh and a fundamental transformation into the realm of the Spirit. Now, why do I emphasize that? Well, for the simple reason that our ears have been inundated with all kinds of teaching which flatly contradict the obvious teaching of this passage. And there are different Many theories of the Christian life, there are books written and sermons preached which assume that there are various levels of Christian experience and along the way you will somewhere pass out of the realm of fleshiness and into the realm of the Spirit, but it's only a matter of growth or of crisis within growth. This is not the teaching of this passage. It is another way

Holding the Tension with Chapter 7 and Mortification

22:16 of stating the great doctrine that we have in hand these Lord's Day mornings, the doctrine of definitive sanctification, that on the threshold of the Christian's life and experience in Christ, there is a radical cleavage with the power and the dominion and the pollution of sin. The cleavage described in chapter 6 as having died to sin. Described in Colossians 3 and Ephesians 4 as putting off the old man and having put on the new. Is here described in this language in the spirit and not in the flesh. Now let me say in summary before we pass on. That this teaching does not negate the reality of the conflict described in chapter 7 verses 15 to 25.

23:09 The same apostle who writes out of the agony of his own experience in the present tense. Not in the past, as though this were some crisis through which he passed and is no longer his own experience. No, no.

23:31 The apostle who writes of the agony of the conflict with indwelling sin and with remaining corruption in chapter 7, verses 15 through 25, is the apostle who says, ye are not in the flesh, but in the spirit. If so be that the spirit of God has his home in you. Furthermore, this teaching does not cancel or negate the necessity of the duty of that he goes on to outline in verse 12, So then, brethren, we are debtors not to the flesh to live after the flesh. If ye live after the flesh, ye must die. If ye by the Spirit put to death the deeds of the body, that's a duty of present and continuous mortification. And the apostle is not in any way inferring that we are so delivered from the realm of the flesh and so brought into the realm of the Spirit that there is no longer the conflict of chapter 7.

24:26 nor the duty of mortification that he leads on to in chapter 8, but sandwiched between those two realities, is this tremendous statement, ye are not in the flesh, but in the Spirit. So there is no contradiction in the apostle's mind between the struggle and the agony that comes from the reality of indwelling sin on the one hand, the necessity and performance of the duty of mortification on the other hand, and...

Application: Evidence of Being in the Spirit

24:55 this blessed reality of definitive sanctification, not in the flesh, but in the Spirit. Now let me ask you as you sit here this morning, do you know anything of that radical, powerful, efficacious work of the Spirit? Not in terms of giving you a marvelous, glowing, inward, ecstatic elevation of

25:25 spirit, but in terms of this ethical, moral, religious teaching. They that are after the flesh do mind the things of the flesh. How do men manifest that they are under the dominion of the flesh? They manifest it by the whole pattern of life. They think fleshy thoughts about themselves. They pride themselves that though they're not all they should be, they're not as bad as some others are.

25:54 They think fleshy thoughts about God. They think fleshy thoughts about sin, about the world to come, about forgiveness, about life, about death, about heaven, about hell. The whole of their life is under the dominion of flesh. That is, sin dominates in thought, in attitude, in will. They are not subject to the law of God, neither indeed can they be.

26:20 What is the prime evidence that a man, a woman, a boy, or girl has been brought into the realm of the Spirit? It is, according to this passage, that he minds the things of the Spirit. That is, his perspectives are perspectives shaped by the thinking of the Spirit as contained in the Scriptures. He thinks about God in terms of what God's revealed about himself. He thinks about his own sin in terms of the teaching of the Word of God.

26:49 He thinks about forgiveness and heaven and hell and life and death. His whole mind, his whole perspective is shaped and molded by the Spirit. Now in the midst of that, he may or may not have some very elevated feelings along the way. He may or may not have some very glorious experiences too sacred even to talk about to others as Paul himself had as an apostle said, I heard things it's unlawful for me to utter. But when you come down to the bottom line, when all the ecstasy of those seasons of unusual joy and spiritual vigor, when all that is gone or lifted or dissipated and you come down to the bottom line, this is the issue.

27:37 Are you in the realm of the Spirit? Is your life conditioned and controlled by the Spirit in terms of the Spirit speaking in, with, and by the Word of the living God? If you're a Christian, you are no longer in the flesh, but in the Spirit. Now, do you see the richness of the cumulative testimony of Scripture?

Cumulative Witness and Transition to Galatians 5

28:04 we to think of this definitive sanctification that comes to us on the threshold of our Christian experience? We are to think of it in terms of dying to sin. In union with Christ, we have died with Him. We have risen to newness of life in Him. We are to think of that in terms of having undressed, taken off the old man, And in Christ we have put on the new man, which is being renewed unto knowledge after the image of him that created him. Now we're to add to it this third category of perspective. Definitive sanctification is to be understood in terms of this transformation out of the realm of flesh and into the realm of the spirit. Now add to it the perspectives of Galatians chapter 5 and verse.

29:00 In the light of the time, this will be the last passage we'll be able to consider, and I'll simply mention the others, and you can meditate upon them at your leisure. Galatians chapter 5, and beginning with verse 16. The apostle in this great epistle has been vigorously defending the truth of salvation by grace,

Galatians 5 Setting and the Two Realms

29:28 A salvation conceived of as liberty from all of the trappings of the Mosaic system. Liberty from the curse of the law, from the law as a covenant, from the ceremonies and rituals of the law. Then in chapter 5, in verse 1, he starts an exhortation with these words. For freedom did Christ set us free. Stand fast, therefore, and be not entangled again in a yoke of bondage.

29:56 And then he fleshes out that exhortation for them to stand fast in their liberty all the way down through verse 12. Now in verse 13 he begins a two-pronged exhortation to the effect that they will not, or admonishing them not to abuse their liberty, not to treat it lightly. And he does so in two ways.

30:23 First of all, he says, don't abuse your liberty, but properly use it in a life of loving service which fulfills the law, verses 13 through 15. And then by a life in the Spirit against which there is no law, verses 16 to 25. So do you get something of the flow of the apostles' argument? He teaches them the truth of their liberty in Christ.

30:51 particularly in those first four chapters. Now he says, since you are free, stand in your freedom. And then he opens up that exhortation through verse 12. But now he says, wait a minute now. Don't abuse your freedom. And the only sure antidote to the abuse of your liberty is this. By loving service, fulfill the demands of the law in your relationship to each other. And by a life in the Spirit, live freely.

31:19 in such a manner as not to bring upon yourself the condemnation of the law. Because, he says, a life in the Spirit is characterized by those things which no law of God ever condemns. Now it's in the midst of developing that second strand of his exhortation against the abuse of liberty that we have the words of verse 16 and following. But I say, walk in the Spirit, And ye shall not fulfill the lust of the flesh. For the flesh lusteth against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh. And these are contrary the one to the other, so that you may not do the things that ye would. But, if ye are led by the Spirit, ye are not under the law. Now, very briefly, do you catch the flow of what he is saying?

32:10 He gives the exhortation in verse 16, Do walk by the Spirit, and you will not fulfill the lust of the flesh. Then we have Romans 7, 15 to 25, in capsule form in verse 17. In the midst of this walk in the Spirit, there is going to be warfare and conflict. And without going into a precise exposition of the verse, suffice it to say, He describes this warfare as the ordinary, normal experience of the people of God. He doesn't say, walk in the Spirit, and ye shall not fulfill the lust of the flesh in such a way as to negate all future conflict. No. Walk in the Spirit, but even in fulfillment of that admonition, expect conflict and warfare. Now, having dealt with these two realms, walk in the Spirit,

33:04 So that you may not fulfill the lust of the flesh. He then describes those two realms. Beginning in verse 19. You have a description of the works of the flesh. And then he lists them. And I'll not go through that sordid list. Except to summarize it by saying. He describes ungodliness. Impiety. He describes licentiousness. He describes lack of self-control.

33:30 He describes viciousness in human relationships. Those are the broad categories. And then he concludes the category by saying this. Notice the solemnity at the end of verse 21. Of which I forewarn you, even as I did forewarn you, that they who practice such things shall not inherit the kingdom of God. Having described the works of the flesh,

33:58 He goes on to give a solemn reminder that when He preached or wrote to them in the past, He warned them then, as He warns them again, that the end of this lifestyle is death. They who practice such things, in other words, the dominion of any one or all of these things in any man, is evidence that he is under the impulse of fleshly dominion. The works of the flesh are manifest. Where flesh is in control, these things are manifested. But now there's the contrast beginning with verse 22. But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, meekness, self-control. Against such, there is no law. There is no law in all of God's law that will condemn

34:53 And reveal as sin any one of these graces. There is no law against such things. Now having described the two realms. Flesh and spirit. Notice his concluding statement in verse 24. And they that are of Christ Jesus. Have crucified the flesh. With the passions and the lusts thereof.

Galatians 5:24 — Crucified the Flesh

35:22 How well I can remember in my early days as a Christian, sitting in meetings where the so-called deeper life teaching was being propounded. And this was one of the favorite passages, at least parts of it. And the fruit of the Spirit was held up before us as a noble ideal, as one to which we should aspire. But when you came to the bottom line, it really was optional.

35:48 And the assumption was that most Christians were living after the pattern of verses 19 through 21. The last part of 21 was never emphasized and expounded honestly. They who do such things, it does not say, shall lose a few rewards, will be second-rate citizens when they enter the kingdom. It says they shall not inherit the kingdom.

36:13 And furthermore, when the fruit of the Spirit was opened up, it was opened up as a desirable option, a commendable option, but an option nonetheless. Whereas Paul concludes his description of these two realms with this tremendously powerful statement, they that are of Christ Jesus, that is, those who are the possession of Christ, His by right of purchase, His in the bond of faith from the human side. His by the bond of the Spirit from the divine perspective. Those who are of Christ, that is those whom He owns as His own, and those who have any scriptural right to claim Him as their own. Now look at the language. It doesn't say they ought to crucify the flesh with the passions and lust. They may crucify. They shall eventually, it says they...

37:12 the flesh with the affections and the lusts thereof. And the form of the verb speaks of decisive, once-for-all definitive activity. They have crucified the flesh. Now, once again, it does not negate what he stated in verse 17, the reality of the struggle.

37:37 the flesh lusteth against the Spirit, the Spirit against the flesh. These two are contrary the one to the other. Where? In the heart of a believer. The unbeliever doesn't have the Spirit to lust against the flesh. So it's the believer who is of Christ Jesus, who has crucified the flesh with the affections and lust, who has the struggle. It doesn't negate the reality of the struggle. Furthermore, It doesn't negate the possibility of what he described in the immediately preceding context. Verse 14. I'm sorry, verse 15. But if ye bite and devour one another, it's possible for Christians to bite and devour one another. He goes on to say in chapter 6, Even if a man be overtaken in any trespass, it's possible for one who has crucified the flesh with the affections and lust thereof to bite and devour his brethren. Yes, it's possible.

38:34 Possible to be overtaken in a trespass. Yes. You see the balance of the Word of God. But in the midst of the description of the reality of the conflict, the frightening possibility of such sins as are described in verse 13, described in verse 1 of chapter 6, the apostle is nonetheless bold to say those that are of Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh, with the affections and the lusts thereof. And what is he teaching us? He is teaching us precisely the same truth that we have seen in the other passages, that on the threshold of the Christian's experience, there is a fundamental, radical breach with that realm itself.

39:23 which manifests itself in those things described in verses 19 to 21. And he lets us know that the list is not complete. He concludes it by saying, and such like. There is this mighty work of God the Spirit bringing us in the language of this passage. And don't confuse it with Romans 6. There passive verbs are used. We have been united with Him in the likeness of His death.

39:53 There has been an action of another upon us. This is described as our action. We have crucified the flesh with the affections and the lusts thereof. And how did we do it? We did it in the resolve of true repentance. For true repentance is saying from the heart, I will that my fleshiness and all of its manifestations exist.

40:21 shall be nailed to the cross on which the Savior died for those sins. And in the resolve of true repentance, and in the resolve of a heart that has been made new in the language of the ancient prophet, a new heart given in which there is grief and remorse for sin, in which there is shame and loathing for our past patterns,

40:51 In the conscience, consciousness of the power of grace operating in that heart, there is that attitude of the putting to death of the flesh with the passions and the lusts thereof. And so what we have in this passage is just another facet of this wonderful truth of God's mighty work in definitive sanctification,

The True Israel as New Creation

41:21 And Paul later on in chapter 6 of this very letter, let's just look at it for a moment. As he's dealing with these Judaizers who are going around obsessed with circumcision, wanting to glory in the flesh of every man whom they can take to the local rabbi and chalk him up as another number. He says, they glory in your flesh. That's all they're concerned about. Verse 13,

41:47 They desire to have you circumcised that they make glory in your flesh, but far be it from me to glory, save in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, through which the world hath been crucified unto me and I unto the world. For neither is circumcision anything nor uncircumcision, but a new creation. And as many as shall walk by this rule, peace be upon them and mercy even upon the Israel of God. Do you see the rich lines of truth that are drawn together here? Having described believers as those who have crucified the flesh with the affections and lusts thereof, he now says that the cross of Christ became the instrument upon which the world was crucified to Paul and Paul to the world.

42:36 He regarded the world, that system, under the control of sin and the devil, under the seething pressure of passions and lust. He saw it in such a light as to regard it put to death as a common outcast upon a cross. The world, he says, is crucified unto me, and there's mutuality. I unto the world. When I, as it were, was extricated from the jaws of this world system, The world then regarded me with all the love and favor with which they regard a carcass on a cross. I was crucified unto the world. Then he goes on to say this was the effect of a new creation and it's not peculiar to me. He said this is the experience of every single one who is part of what? The true Israel of God.

43:25 The true Israel is to be found not by this one who's had circumcision and that one who circumcised then submits to all the trappings of Mosaic ceremony. He says, no, the Israel of God are those who've experienced inward circumcision. And what is that inward circumcision? It's being made a new creation in Christ. And what is it to be made a new creation in Christ? It's to experience definitive sanctification.

43:55 So the witness of the Word of God gathers momentum as we pull it together. A Christian is described as one who's died to sin, one who's put off the old man, put on the new, no longer in the flesh but in the Spirit. Now he's described as the one who's crucified the flesh with the passions and the lusts thereof. To this we could add the testimony of 1 Peter 2.24, 1 John 3.9-10,

Four Conclusions Drawn from the Cumulative Testimony

44:23 But time will not permit it. I want to conclude this morning by trying to draw all of this home to a very practical conclusion and to press it upon your conscience. I trust you have felt something of the cumulative weight of these passages we've examined for three, four Lord's Day mornings. And if you have, then you have come to these conclusions with me, I trust. Number one,

44:50 That there is a radical breach with sin on the threshold of all true Christian experience. There is a radical breach with sin on the threshold of all true Christian experience. Now notice I did not say all men must know precisely when they pass over that threshold. The Bible doesn't say so. I will never say so.

45:18 I am not pressing for an unusual, dramatic, memorable conversion experience. I would have no grounds in Scripture to press that upon your conscience. But I would be less than true to your soul if I did not press this upon your conscience. If you have not died to sin in union with Christ, if you have not put off the old man and put on the new, If you've not been brought out of the realm of the flesh into the realm of the Spirit, if you've not crucified the flesh with the affections and lusts thereof, you have no biblical grounds to say that you belong to Christ. Would you debate that conclusion with this evidence before you? I hope you've come to that conclusion. These passages force us to it. The second thing we say by way of conclusion is this.

46:12 This radical breach with sin is rooted in Christ's death and resurrection. When Paul treats the subject of our death to sin, he makes it abundantly plain that it is our death to sin in union with Christ and His death, His burial, and His resurrection. If we have become planted together with Him in His death, We shall also be like Him in His resurrection. This to me is the wonderful, wonderful, devotional, warm element of this teaching. That this is not a matter of someone who under the impulse of a nagging conscience that merely dreads the wrath to come.

47:03 And in the strength of nothing more but the resolution that flows from a nagging conscience is determined that he's going to be done with his old man and put on the new... No, no. This all grows out of a saving sight and a saving embrace of Christ crucified. It's when we see with the eye of faith through the Scriptures Christ dying in our place and realize that it was our sins that put him there.

47:33 We not only see in the immolated form of the Son of God a ray of hope that if He was punished for my sins, I may be justly released, but I see something of the nature of the sin which caused His agony, and the sin that was so glamorous and beautiful becomes ugly and odious and loathsome. And it's in that psychology of a mind illuminated by the Spirit through the Word, to see not only the mystery of divine substitution, but something of the ugliness of sin, that this definitive sanctification occurs, this radical breach with sin, is rooted in Christ's death and resurrection, not only in the psychology, if I may use that term without profaning holy things, the psychology of how we view sin, but in the mystery of

48:30 of our union with Him. I cannot explain it, but the Bible teaches it that I was in Him in eternity when God marked me out in Christ before the foundation of the world. All the people of God who were in Him in the mystery of sovereign, eternal electing grace, they were in Him when He marched up to Golgotha, when He underwent the pangs and the agony of that frightening death. And he died not only for sin, but to sin. Sin exhausted all of its claims upon him. And he took it, as it were, with him into Joseph's tomb. And when he came forth, he left it there. And I was in him and with him. And when I am vitally joined to him by faith in a way I cannot explain, but the Bible teaches it, the virtue and the power of his once-for-all redemptive accomplishment

49:26 becomes operative in me and in my own experience in union with Christ. I experience the power of that death and of that resurrection. The third conclusion we draw from these texts is that the virtue of Christ's death and resurrection become ours by union with Him. I've already alluded to that. It's the great teaching of all of these passages That it is in Christ Jesus that we put off the old man and put on the new. It is in Christ Jesus that we die to sin and rise to newness of life. It is in union with Christ Jesus that we are given the Spirit. So Paul moves very easily in Romans 8 from speaking of the Spirit of God, the Holy Spirit, to the Spirit of Christ. And union with Christ is effected by the indwelling of the Spirit.

50:20 And the final conclusion we draw from these texts is that this radical breach with sin is to condition all our future dealings with sin. Isn't it interesting, and I never saw it so clearly as in preparation for these messages, that almost, well, not almost, every one of these pivotal passages on definitive sanctification is surrounded with instruction concerning progressive sanctification.

50:49 All of these statements are nestled right in the midst of practical instruction about progressive sanctification. Why? Well, if for no other reason, to show us that in all of the struggle, in all of the agony, in all of the problems, in all of the vacillation of progressive sanctification, we must constantly take our bearings from this grand reality of definitive sanctification.

51:17 We must, as we considered two weeks ago, constantly seek to be what we are. We must think of ourselves in terms of what grace has made us. And, oh, dear fellow believers, I plead with you to meditate upon these passages, to pray them in, and to ask God by the Holy Spirit to make real in your own consciousness the reality of what you are as one God. who has come to that first peak of God's sanctifying grace, this definitive sanctification, this radical breach with sin. And it's in that perspective that we must move on in our study. And in that perspective, we must carry on the warfare and the struggle, the privileges and duties of our progressive sanctification. And I say to those of you who perhaps wonder why it is

Pastoral Application and Final Appeal

52:16 That after so many years of professing to be a Christian, when you face it honestly, there really has been no progress in your so-called Christian life. Now, I'm not talking about the man who so grows in grace that part of the progress is a greater understanding of his sin and with it a deeper humiliation for his sin and a greater grief over his sin so that at times...

52:45 He feels nothing but his sin. You remember it was Whitefield who after being a Christian, I forgot how many years, he said, this day, was it on his 50th birthday, I have begun to begin to be a Christian. Well, if Whitefield could say that, what hope is there for us? Now, I'm not speaking of that legitimate sense of a growing awareness of my undoneness and the rest which is part of growth.

53:11 But I'm talking in terms of those things that can be measured by the overall pattern of your life. The realm of flesh is a description of you. The works of the flesh continue to be manifested as the pattern of your life. My friend, your problem is not that you need a second work of grace or a deeper work of grace. What you need is grace. Sanctifying grace.

53:39 Grace that will bring you to the place where you repudiate your attachment to and love of sin. In which you crucify the flesh with the affections and the lust thereof. In which in union with Christ you are put to death with Him and raised with Him in newness of life. Oh my friend, could it be, could it be that for some of you this is the fundamental problem.

54:07 Now I know the danger of even asking that question. It's the dear sensitive soul who has the root of the matter in him that will ask that question until he drives himself over the brink into despair. And I've tried to guard you from that. And if you're determined to twist the word to your own destruction, I must give you that opportunity by seeking to press on the consciences of those who need this question pressed on their consciences.

54:37 Do you know anything of putting off and putting on? If not, I urge you to accept the dictate or the dictum of the Word of God. They that are in the flesh cannot please God. They that are Christ have crucified the flesh. May God grant that in honesty with the Word of God in your own soul, you'll give yourself no rest until in Christ.

55:06 You too experience this radical breach with sin. Let us pray. Our Father, we are once again filled with amazement when we think of the manifold provisions of grace for needy sinners. We pray that your Holy Spirit would take the word opened and applied this morning, and make it effectual to our sanctification, make it effectual to the salvation of some who are yet in the flesh, who have never passed into that realm of the Spirit, because they have never come in true repentance and faith, seeking mercy and forgiveness in your beloved Son,

56:01 Our Father, use the word proclaimed to accomplish that great and vast spectrum of good in the hearts of the listeners. We despair that such could ever be accomplished if this were the work of men. But we thank you. It is your work to take your own word and to make it effectual in the hearts of men. Be pleased to do so for the praise of your beloved Son.

56:28 May your own presence be our portion as we leave this place, as we further sanctify this day in obedience to your command. May it be a day of rich profit to all of us. And may your name be praised.