(Disclaimer: This transcript is auto-generated and may contain mistakes.)

Okay, so we're in Romans chapter 6. What this is starting off with here is really chapter 6, 7, and 8 is going into what the Bible calls the new man and old man, or the old man versus the new man, the flesh versus the spirit. This is a doctrine that a lot of people don't understand, and I feel like if they would just understand this doctrine, a lot of Bible would make sense to them. You think of verses like, Whosoever is born of God doth not commit sin, for his seed remaineth in him, and he cannot sin because he is born of God. And we know that whosoever is born of God sinneth not. There's verses in the Bible that are very confusing if you don't understand this doctrine of the flesh and the spirit, the old man versus the new man. And a lot of stuff as far as Christians are going to do right, or Christians are always going to do this, or this is the fruit of a Christian, and all these different things, or a Christian doesn't ever want to do wrong, a lot of this stuff is answered in these three chapters and just kind of debunks all that stuff that people think and don't understand. So if you understand this right here, when we're going into this, is that your soul and spirit is saved, is perfect, and it's been made perfect through the blood of Christ, but your flesh is not yet. And that's where we'll get into chapter eight, and I don't want to get into that, that's more of the resurrection, and we get into the redemption of the body, and we'll talk about that a little bit, but that's what we have to understand is that there's the old man and new man and we both have them with us right now. Every single person that's saved has the old man with them, that's the flesh. They also have the new man with them, and that's the saved soul, the spirit that's saved. And so this is what this goes through, and so chapters six, seven, and eight are continuous and they're talking about this subject, and so we'll be going through verses. So if I'm going into chapter seven and chapter eight, that's why, because it's all talking about this subject. And there's so much in those other chapters, so don't worry, I'm not stealing my thunder from those chapters, there's plenty to preach in that, especially chapter eight. Chapter eight's a packed chapter, so it's probably better that I preach some of this stuff in chapter eight now, so then when we get to chapter eight, we've already covered a lot of it. So starting off there in verse one, it says, what shall we say then? Shall we continue in sin that grace may abound, God forbid? How shall we that are dead to sin live any longer therein? Now you've got to understand why he's even bringing up this question, because in the chapter before, it says, moreover, in verse 20, moreover the law entered that the offense might abound, but where sin abounded, grace did much more abound. So it's basically saying, where sin abounds, grace is going to cover that, grace takes care of it all. It doesn't matter how much sin there is in the world, grace can cover it. Why grace is sufficient for the, he says, the Paul and 2 Corinthians. So what's interesting about this is, is this not what we get out of soul winning all the time? That when you preach salvation by faith alone, is this not what they say that, well, shouldn't we sin that grace should abound? Aren't you giving people a license to sin? And he's saying, God forbid, and that's exactly what we tell people, right? Is the fact that yes, you can, but God forbid that you should do that after you get saved. And so that's why it's getting into this, because yes, a person is saved spiritually, nothing can take that away from them, but there is condemnation in the flesh. There is a wage for the sin in your flesh, and that's death, and that's punishment, that's corruption, that's all these different things. And so we'll get into that, but it's interesting that there's nothing new under the sun, my friends. There's something that Paul had to deal with, because he just got done preaching the last three chapters that it's by faith alone, not by works at all, but to him that worketh not but believeth on him that justifieth the ungodliest, faith is counted for righteousness. When you preach that, that's what people are going to say to you, is that, well, shouldn't we just sin then so that grace would abound? It'd be kind of like when Jesus said, remember to the Pharisee and to the woman, and he asked that Pharisee, he said, Simon, I have something to ask of you, and I'm paraphrasing, but he says, you know, and he tells this story about someone that sinned a lot and someone that sinned little, and he said, which one's going to love him more? The one that's been forgiven most, right? So that logic, right, this is what people do, is the fact that, well, you've been forgiven for a lot, therefore you should sin more so that you'll love him more, right? You know, it's that type of logic, the stupid logic that people have, you know, that, well, grace will abound and grace will be that much more precious and that much more powerful if I just keep sinning, and he's saying, God forbid that we should do that. So it's dumb, right, but people think that, and so, obviously, we're not given a license to sin, we condemn sin, we know that God's not mocked, for whatsoever it may and so that shall we also reap, so he's basically saying, how should we continue in sin, you know, that grace should abound, you know, why should we do that? If we're dead to sin, why should we live any longer therein? And so, and he's talking about spiritually, we're dead to sin spiritually. And so, but we get into how it likens this, what happened to us when we got saved. And so we get into verse three there, where it says that we're baptized into Jesus Christ. So in verse three there it says, know ye not that so many of us, as we're baptized into Jesus Christ, were baptized into his death, therefore we are buried with him by baptism into death, that like as Christ was raised up from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we also should walk in newness of life. So notice it says that we're baptized into Jesus Christ, it doesn't say we're baptized into water here. Now water baptism, this is a great place to get how we picture this baptism is through water baptism, that we're buried with him. That's why we actually dunk people under water and we don't sprinkle them. Because what are we picturing? Immersion of death to life, right? We're not talking about just sprinkling somebody with water. The only sprinkling that we should be talking about in the Bible is the sprinkling in the blood of Jesus Christ, and that's in the Bible, not sprinkling water on babies. And so, but right here it says that we're baptized into Jesus Christ, and we are baptized into his death. Now this doesn't happen physically, who here when they got saved was literally baptized in Jesus' death physically? No one was, right? So this is spiritually, but you know this will happen physically as well. That's why we bury people. And it talks about that with the resurrection that you bury the bare grain, right, and that's the body that you bury into the ground. It's a picture of the resurrection as far as death, burial, and resurrection, as far as the body's going to be that way. But when we got saved, we were baptized into Christ. Other verses that talk about this is Galatians chapter 3, notice we're going back to Galatians because Galatians and Romans are parallel passages. And so Galatians chapter 3 and verse 27, and even in 26 it's saying you're all the children of God by faith in Christ Jesus. Then it goes into this in verse 27, Galatians 3, 27, it says, For as many of you as have been baptized into Christ have put on Christ. There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither bond nor free, there is neither male nor female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus. So we talked about this in Colossians, and I don't want to go there for sake of time when we were in the Old Testament, New Testament about how baptism and circumcision are all physical pictures of what actually happens when we get saved. We know that not by works of righteousness, which we have done, but according to this, mercy saved us by the washing and regeneration and renewing of the Holy Ghost. What happens when you get saved? Is it because you've been washed by water or washed by the renewing and regeneration of the Holy Ghost? So it's a spiritual baptism that takes place the moment you believe and your soul is thoroughly purged from all sins. And so it's a baptism that takes place when you get saved, and it spiritually happens where you're buried, your soul, so to speak, is buried with Christ and it's raised with Christ when you get saved. And so all that sin is dropped off, like when Christ went down into hell and paid for our sins and he rose up with no sin on him, right? He's going to appear the second time without sin unto salvation, it says, but the first time he buried sins of the whole world. So now he's not dealing with sin. And so when we're raised with Christ, we're raised sinless with him, we're raised with his righteousness. That happens spiritually, it hasn't happened physically yet. So that will happen physically, eventually. And so 1 Corinthians 12 talks about it too, 1 Corinthians 12, 13, and we know that 1 Corinthians 12 is talking about the gifts of the Spirit, so it's a lot about the Spirit and what's going on with the Spirit. But 1 Corinthians 12 and verse 13, it says, for by one Spirit are we all baptized into one body, whether we be Jews or Gentiles, whether we be bond or free, and have been all made to drink into one Spirit. So we're all baptized into Christ once we get saved, and obviously this is likened in the physical, right? Because what's in Acts, what were you supposed to do to be a member of the church? To be baptized, right? Physically with water, to be into the physical body, right? And so there's always a spiritual and physical representation, so this body obviously is just talking about being saved, but you could also liken this to the church, like the physical churches that people are in, and how you'd physically get baptized to be a part of that body of Christ. This is a body of Christ right here. And so, but, anyway, so this is really just talking about what Christ did and how when we get saved, we're with him in that. And so we'll get into a little more with that, because it goes a little further with that in the next verse, where we're dead with him, but we're crucified with him, okay? So in Romans chapter six and verse five, it says, for if we have been planted together in the likeness of his death, we shall be also in the likeness of his resurrection. So our soul, our spirit, is already in that state. Does that make sense? Like our soul, when we die physically, we're asked from the body but present with the Lord, we're already in that perfect state as far as sinless and perfected, but our bodies aren't. So either we're gonna die and Christ is gonna resurrect our bodies when he comes back, or we'll be here when he comes back and we'll be changed in the moment in the twinkling of an eye at the resurrection, at the last trump. And so, but it says here that we're in the likeness of his resurrection, knowing this that our old man is crucified with him, that the body of sin might be destroyed, that henceforth we should not serve sin. So our old man in this sense is talking about our soul, our old man of our soul is crucified with Christ and raised in the newness of life. Now our old man in the flesh is gonna be eventually, but not yet, and that's what this whole, these three chapters are talking about is that we still are dealing with the flesh. We still have the flesh. And so we're still fighting with the flesh, we're warring against the flesh, and we have to decide to either yield ourselves to our sinful members of the flesh or yield ourselves to the Spirit. And so that's a daily battle, my friends. And so we gotta understand that we still have that old man in the flesh with us, but spiritually we have the new man now. So we didn't have that before we were saved, we didn't have this new man to put on. It talks about you put on Christ. So putting on the new man is also like the putting on Christ. And so this will help you really understand, if you can understand this doctrine, when you read 1 John, it'll really help you understand what it's talking about, especially when it's talking about the manifestation of the sons of God, abiding in Christ, when you're abiding in Christ, and when you're, basically, you're a son of God spiritually. You're a child of God spiritually. But it's only manifested when you're walking in the Spirit, does that make sense? If you're walking in the flesh, you're not walking as a child of God. But when you're walking in the Spirit, now you're still a child of God inwardly, right? You still have Christ dwelling in you, and you are a child of God spiritually, but that's not being manifested until you walk in the Spirit. So if someone gets saved but they never walk in the Spirit, it's not manifesting the sons of God, if that makes sense. So when you look at 1 John, that's why it's really a book about walking in the Spirit compared to walking in the flesh. And so if you're walking in, you know, that's what, we'll get into that, maybe we'll do a study on that eventually, but if you can get this down on the fact that walking in the Spirit is different than being saved. Walking in the Spirit is something that we have to choose to do and choose to put on the new man and put off the old man. And so, Galatians chapter 5 talks about this as well, and it's interesting because Galatians chapter 5 is also talking about walking in the Spirit and not in the flesh. It talks about the works of the flesh and it talks about the fruit of the Spirit, and it's this dichotomy where, you know, the Spirit is warring against the flesh, and the flesh lusts against the Spirit, and the Spirit is against the flesh, and these are contrary to one to the other so that you cannot do the things that you would. So we know what this chapter is talking about. Verse 24, it says, and they that are Christ's have crucified the flesh with the affections and lusts. If we live in the Spirit, let us also walk in the Spirit. Notice there's a difference between living in the Spirit and walking in the Spirit. So whenever you see walking in the Spirit or walking in Christ, know that that's not talking about salvation, that's talking about you actually putting on the new man and walking, you know, as children of light, doing what you need to be doing, walking as Christians. But that's different than being a Christian, that's different than being saved. Being saved is just living in the Spirit. We live in the Spirit, but also walk in the Spirit. So there's two different things going on there and people try to link those together and say that, well, if you're not walking in the Spirit, then you're not saved. And that's where they get into all this false doctrine about perseverance of the saints, that we need to be fruit inspectors and we need to like look at all the fruit that people are doing as far as are they living right, are they drinking, are they doing this, are they getting into sin. No, that has nothing to do with salvation. Living in the Spirit is different than walking in the Spirit. And so that's what these chapters are really talking about is the fact that, hey, you can either walk in the flesh or you can walk in the Spirit and there's going to be consequences for walking in the flesh. And walking in the Spirit, there's going to be rewards. And it says, you know, be not deceived, God is not mocked, for what shall our man sow it that shall he also reap? But he that soweth to the flesh shall of it, or he that soweth to his flesh shall of the flesh reap corruption, but he that soweth to the Spirit shall of the Spirit reap life everlasting. The same idea is talked about in Romans here, that if you walk in the Spirit, it's only going to bring forth death, pain, suffering, corruption. But if you walk in the Spirit, that's where you're going to take hold of eternal life. That's where you're going to reap the rewards and you're basically living as if you're living in the resurrected state. Does that make sense? Paul said that, and I'm getting off on the tangents, this isn't in my notes, but in Philippians 3, this is something that's not in the corner in the New Testament. This is something that's talked about a lot. Paul said that I may win Christ and be found in him not having mine own righteousness which is of the law, but that which is through the faith of Christ, the righteousness which is of God by faith, that I may know him and the power of his resurrection and the fellowship of his sufferings if by any means I might attain unto the resurrection of the dead. What's he talking about? Is he talking about being saved? No, he's talking about trying to walk in the Spirit as if he is in the resurrected state. When we're in our resurrected state, we're not going to sin anymore, we're going to be walking in the Spirit all the time. So he's trying to attain to that, but he says, not as though I'd already attained, either we're already perfect, but I follow after it if I'm apprehended for which also I'm apprehended of Christ Jesus. It talks about, basically he's saying I'm not perfect and I haven't attained to that, but that's what I'm striving for. I press toward the mark for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus. He's trying to be that perfect man, he's trying to be that resurrected state by just starving the flesh, dying daily, and walking in the Spirit. In Galatians chapter 2, verse 20, we usually go to verse 21 where it says, I do not frustrate the grace of God for righteousness come by the law, then Christ is dead in vain. Right before that, it says in verse 20 there, Galatians 2, 20, it says, I am crucified with Christ nevertheless I live, yet not I, but Christ liveth in me in the life which I now live in the flesh, I live by the faith of the Son of God who loved me and gave himself for me. I love this verse because I don't know what it is about this verse, by the faith of the Son of God who loved me and gave himself for me. It's like these verses, there's certain verses that just really get me. There's one in 1 Peter where it talks about casting all your care upon him for he careth for you. I don't know what it is about that verse, but I'm like, ah, man. You just feel the love of God that he has for you. I don't know why that verse just really gets me, but this is another one that gets me. He loved me and gave himself for me. I don't know if it's because it's the me, because a lot of times in the Bible it's talking about he loved you and loved us, but when you read it, he loved me particularly. So anyway, that's a side note. I'm crucified with Christ nevertheless I live, why? Because Christ liveth in me. Our soul was crucified with Christ, but now Christ is living inside of us. We have the Holy Ghost inside of us and we're sealed unto the day of redemption. We're perfect. We're holy. We're sinless. Whosoever is born of God doth not commit sin, for a seed remaineth in him. Who's that? Jesus. For a seed remaineth in him and he cannot sin because he is born of God. So there's a lot in that, but as we go on here, go to 2 Corinthians chapter 5. This is what this really gets into. If you understand these chapters, it'll really help you understand a lot of these verses that people take and use to try to say that a Christian has to do good works or they're going to show good works or they're going to do this and that because that's what saved people do. This is the verse that they go to, 2 Corinthians 5 and verse 17. It says, Therefore, if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature. Notice the present tense, he is a new creature. Old things are passed away. Behold all things, underline all, all things are become new. Notice all that's present tense. Now what they try to apply to this is that when someone gets saved, some things are going to change. Now did it say some things are going to change or all things? All. So that's what you got to, take the Bible literally my friends, every jot and tittle, every line, everything, every precept, every line, everything is important, all that means something and you can't just say, well it says all but it's probably just, you know, if you get some of it in there, you're okay. You're either all become new, all things are become new or that's lying. So you can't just say, well, a Christian, some things are going to change, some things are going to become new, no it's all things. So how do you reconcile? It's just like how you reconcile the fact that whosoever is born of God doth not commit sin. Either someone that gets saved and they never sin again, ever, or this person, they get saved and all things are become new, meaning everything is good, you're perfect, or this is talking about the soul and you still have the flesh that you're dealing with and that's what it's talking about. You're a new creature in the new man, in the inner man and that's what you'll see a lot is this term inner man, inward man and we're going to go through those verses and so go to Ephesians chapter 4, Ephesians chapter 4. So we notice the old man was crucified, we're going to put on the new man as we'll see this, put off the old man, put on the new man. So what you've got to understand is that, and I know I'm being repetitive but I want you to understand this, is that our flesh is the old man. Our soul is the new man. Our spirit is the new man, so our soul and spirit are very close together. Dividing them asunder is like dividing the joints of marrow. That's how close they are. So when I'm talking about spiritually, I'm talking about the soul and spirit as one there, that's the new man. And then the body, the flesh, is the old man. And so in Ephesians chapter 4 and verse 20 it says, But ye have not so learned Christ, if so be, that ye have heard him, and have been taught by him, as the truth is in Jesus, that ye put off concerning the former conversation the old man, which is corrupt, according to deceitful lusts, and be renewed in the spirit of your mind, and that ye put on the new man, which after God is created in righteousness and true holiness. Remember, this is created in God, it's the new man. But notice he's talking to Christians here. He's not talking about people getting saved, he's not talking to the lost, he's talking to Christians saying, put off the old man and put on the new man. So this is obviously something that you're doing as a saved person. This isn't talking about getting saved and putting off the old man and getting on the new man, this is talking about, this is a daily thing. Paul, he died daily. He's constantly, basically, and it talks about this in many places where he's, that he wouldn't be a castaway and he puts under his body and brings it into subjection, right? And so that's what he's talking about is putting off the old man, putting on the new man, walking in the spirit, not walking in the flesh. So in Colossians chapter 3, kind of the same thing said, and again, Ephesians and Colossians are parallel books, so you can definitely see a lot of the same things written in those. But Colossians 3 and verse 9, it says, lie not one to another, seeing that ye have put off the old man with his deeds, and have put on the new man, which is renewed in knowledge after the image of him that created him, where there is neither Greek nor Jew, circumcision or uncircumcision, barbarian, Scythian, bond nor free, but Christ is all and in all. Does that not sound familiar to what we read about in the very beginning of the chapter here where when we're baptizing the Christ, we put on Christ? And so, this is all connected, this new man being baptized, being saved, right? You have this new man once you get saved, once you're washed by the regeneration or renewing of the Holy Ghost, you've become a new man. You've been created as a new man spiritually, and eventually our flesh will be too. That's what we're waiting for is the redemption of the body, the manifestation of the sons of God to wit the redemption of the body. And so that's what we wait for, that's our hope, is that one day we won't have to deal with this flesh anymore. And so, 2 Corinthians 4, you don't have to turn all of these, but I just want you to see that this isn't something that's just mentioned once or something. But 2 Corinthians 4 and verse 16, it says, for which cause we faint not, but though our outward man perish, yet the inward man is renewed day by day. So it's the inward man, the outward man, and that just gives you another way of looking at it. The old man, new man, the outward man, the inward man. And Romans chapter 7, and obviously we'll be getting into Romans chapter 7 next week, but Romans chapter 7 verse 22, and this really, I mean, really just nails down what we're talking about here. So at the end of chapter 7 of Romans, it says, for I delight, in verse 22, for I delight in the law of God after the inward man, but I see another law in my members, warring against the law of my mind, and bringing me into captivity to the law of sin which is in my members. O wretched man that I am, who shall deliver me from the body of this death? I thank God through Jesus Christ our Lord, so then with the mind I myself serve the law of God, but with the flesh, the law of sin. See the difference there? The mind and the spirit, the inward man, that's what's obeying, that's what's going after the law. That's what's delighting after the law of God, but not the flesh. The flesh is going after the law of sin. Your flesh, all it wants to do is sin. That's all it wants to do, and your spirit is the only thing stopping you from just giving in to all those fleshly desires. I think about this on a different level than that. Think about dieting. I hate dieting because it's not fun, right? It's not fun to diet, but what are you doing when you diet? You're starving the flesh. You're starving those desires that you have, but what does that take? Willpower. That takes internal willpower to say, no, I'm not going to do it. I'm not going to eat that donut, even though it looks delicious, but the one thing you'll notice if you've ever dieted and gone on it for a little period of time is that the more you diet, and this goes with fasting too, the longer you go, the less those desires are coming at you, meaning that when you starve that flesh, your flesh starts, it's not as enticing anymore. It's kind of weird how that works, but you basically starve it, starve it, starve it, starve it, starve it, and then your flesh just gets used to not having it. Same thing goes with sweets and all that stuff. When I would do the Atkins diet or the low carb where you're going into ketosis and all this stuff, there comes a point where you're eating meat and cheese so much you don't have any sugar, that when you have sugar, it's almost too much. You're just like, I can't handle this. This isn't something good to do, but I drink diet soda sometimes or once a day or something like that, and I cannot drink a regular Coke anymore. If you handed me a regular, any kind of cola or anything that has all that sugar in it, it would make me want to throw up. What that is though, but it wasn't always like that. I used to drink that all the time when I was a kid, didn't think anything of it, but when you starve your flesh from that, then when it comes back, it's not the same. I'm sure I could get back into it if I kept drinking it, drinking it, drinking it, and just get used to it again, and then I'm back into liking it. Not that that's what I want to do, but what I'm saying is that you need to starve the flesh and you need the light after the law of God and the inward man. Your flesh, all it wants to do is sin, but your inward man needs to take control, take the reins of that flesh. I just want you to get the crux of what we're dealing with in this chapter. We'll keep going here in Romans chapter six, Romans chapter six verse seven. The soul was crucified with Christ and is raised and our body is still simple until it dies or is raised again or changed. That's the big thing to understand in this chapter is those two elements, the old man, new man, the flesh, the spirit. Verse seven there says, for he that is dead is freed from sin. Now if we be dead with Christ, we believe that we shall also live with him, knowing that Christ being raised from the dead, dieth no more, death hath no more dominion over sin. For in that he died, he died unto sin once, but in that he liveth, he liveth unto God. Likewise reckon ye also yourselves to be dead indeed unto sin, but alive unto God through Jesus Christ our Lord. Let not sin therefore reign in your mortal body, that ye should obey it in the lust thereof. Neither yield ye your members as instruments of unrighteousness unto sin, but yield yourselves unto God as those that are alive from the dead and your members as instruments of righteousness unto God. This is exactly what we're talking about. We're talking about reigning in the body, reigning in the body with your spirit. You have Jesus, you have the Holy Ghost inside of you to help you reign that in. We have that inward man and the spirit's refreshing us from day to day and this is the Word of God. This is the seed that's in us, the Word of God that liveth and abideth forever. By that, by that continual feeding, and here's the thing, you feed the flesh, the flesh is going to be more hungry. You feed the spirit and starve the flesh, it's going to win the battle. So what you need to do is just famish, your flesh needs to be famished, you need to starve that beast. Starve that old man of all the things, all the pleasures that would keep you away from God's will. And here's the thing, I'm not against eating good stuff, right? We're going to have this harvest party, we're going to have some good food. My friends, I'm excited about it. I'm always excited about good food. So it's nothing wrong with eating good things and having good time, right? But when it starts going against God's laws, that's where you got to nip it in the bud or you basically say no, no more. And so if there's anything that's keeping you from your Bible reading, keeping you from doing what you need to do for God, you need to just starve that so that you can reign in the flesh. The more you feed that spirit, it's easier you're going to take out that flesh. You need to make that spirit strong. And so that's where you need to be reading the Bible, reading, reading, reading, reading. And when you have the Word of God in you and that seed inside of you, which is the Word of God, then it's going to be a lot easier to deal with the flesh. But when you're just feeding your flesh, think about this as far as like watching TV compared to reading the Bible. When you watch the TV, you're just feeding your flesh, feeding your flesh, feeding your flesh, and you get desensitized to sin, you get desensitized to all the wickedness that's in the world because you're just seeing it constantly. It just becomes commonplace. But when you're reading the Bible and then you don't watch the TV, when you're reading the Bible and you read Genesis 19 and you read Judges 19 and you read these passages, and I'm just going to park it on the queers for a second, but when you read about who these people are and what they do to people, that they're predators, that they're coming after your children, then when you turn on, you know, the Big Bang Theory or something like that, and you see these little queer fags running around on there, it's not funny to you. You actually can't stand it, but then you'll have other Christians that are laughing at it and think it's hilarious, and especially a show that's called the Big Bang Theory that has like, I don't know if they're queers on the show, but they're queers in real life I think, or at least some of them are or something like that. And so these people hate God, and they're on the show making fun of Christians, making fun of creation by the name of the show, and you know, I've only seen like a couple clips of this show, but it looks perverted, it looks queer, but anyway, but if you're reading the Bible and you're reading all this stuff about who these people really are and what God thinks about it and what God's going to do to it eventually and what God's going to do to the whole earth when you read Revelation, now if you were to just see that, you're out just watching, and you see that, you're going to be like, you're going to be disgusted. Why is this wickedness on here? And so other people are looking at you like, are you crazy? But you have the word of God inside of you, you have the Holy Ghost, you have, when you have the word of God inside of you, that's where the Spirit's going to fill you. And so when you have that just dwelling inside you, you're thinking about it, you can't help but speak the things which you've seen and heard, my friends, and when you're watching the TV and watching all this stuff that's gratifying the flesh, you can't help but speak the things you've seen and heard on the TV. So you can usually tell who's in their Bible and who's watching the television all the time. Who's in their Bible, who's doing the work of God, and who's doing the things of the world just by how they talk and what's on their mind and what are they thinking about. We talked about this just with language and how you use language. I was talking to Brother Jeff, there's certain things, like if I was just with me and him, if he said something really bad about the queers or someone like, some serial killer and used all kinds of language, like hard language that we would not want to hear around your children, I wouldn't care. I'd be like, hey man, yeah, let him die to death, stone him with stones. And just whatever he said, I wouldn't care. But what you gotta understand is that if you use that kind of language that you don't want to be in public with, then it's gonna come out. You can't help but speak, and you get accustomed to doing things. And so what you need to do is get accustomed to reading your Bible. Get accustomed to going to church. We've been talking about this and the fact that we don't make a choice, I'm not like, well, should I go to church tonight? No, I'm the pastor now, so I better be here, there's gonna be a problem. But as a church member, that was something that Holly and I, there wasn't, are we going to church tonight? No, we're going unless we're deathly ill or we can't make it, for some reason. So it wasn't a matter of do I feel like going to church tonight, no, we just went, and therefore it was easy after that point because it wasn't a choice we're making. It's just something we did. Reading your Bible is just something I do. Make it be something that is just second nature. Second nature that it's, you don't even have to think about it. It opens to the point, I'll go a day and I'll write a few chapters or whatever, and I'm just like, man, I feel like I haven't eaten enough. You just get that point where you have these days where you're just eating a lot, and I'm talking about reading the Bible, where you're just like, I need more. I need more. I feel hungry. And you just feel more hungry for the word of God and you just need it. But you're not going to be like that if you're just completely starving the Spirit and eating the things of the flesh. Does that make sense? Because you're going to be hungry in some area, but you've got to choose the right area to be hungry in. And so it doesn't happen overnight, but I promise you, you read through this Bible and you keep reading, it's going to come to a point where you're just like, I need more. I need more. I need more. The Bible, through the Bible, as far as audio and all that stuff, I mean, over 40, maybe 50 times. But you know that I actually want to read it more than I did when I first read it through. That I actually feel like I need to know more now. The more you read it, the more you realize you don't know. Does that make sense? The more I learn stuff, the more I'm like, man, I don't know that as well as I should. I'm always thinking, man, that book, I've read that book like 20 times, but I feel like I don't know it that well. And you're just hungry and waiting to get more. But that's how you starve the flesh and you just start feeding the Spirit. You need to feed the Spirit. So one thing I want to really cover here. Go to verse 14. And this is something big in this new evangelical movement, because you've got the side where they're against eternal security, so they're like, you know, you're giving people a license to sin. But now you've got this new evangelical crowd that says, don't judge me, bro. Don't judge me. I want to go out and drink some wine. I want to go out and do this. I want to wear these tight jeans. Don't judge me for what I'm doing in my life. That's not, I'm not under, I'm not under the law, brother. Don't put me under the law. I'm under grace. Now, this is where they get this from, but they do greatly err not knowing the scriptures, my friends, because this is not saying that you're saved, therefore you can do whatever you want now. And it's funny because at the beginning of the chapter, he says, should we continue in sin that grace should abound? God forbid. So it's interesting that he's saying this and he even goes on to this and even continues with this. It says in verse 14, for sin shall not have dominion over you. For ye are not under the law but under grace. Now he's answering these evangelicals in this next verse. What then? Shall we sin because we are not under the law but under grace? God forbid. What is sin? Sin is the transgression of the law. That's the definition of sin according to 1 John chapter 2. So what they say is that, well, we're not under the law, brother. We're not under the law. You are under the law in the flesh. And that's where they do greatly err is that the fact that we are not under the law spiritually. We are under grace. But physically speaking, you are under the law because under the law, our body is still under the curse. Our body, if it wasn't, then we wouldn't die. If it wasn't, we wouldn't have sin. So that's what he's getting into is that no, our members are obedient to the law of sin. And so if you break the law physically, if you go out and commit murder, you go out and commit adultery, you go out and steal and lie and covet and do all these different things that are in the law, you go out and do that, yes, spiritually, you're saved and sinless, but your body is going to suffer the consequences for that. And that's what this is teaching is that you can say you're not under the law all you want, but your body is still under the law. And so that's where they do greatly err. And so in Galatians chapter 5, notice what it says about this, being not under the law. And remember, Galatians 5 is talking about the Spirit in the flesh, walking in the Spirit, not walking in the flesh. Galatians 5, 16, so I know we're kind of flipping back and forth between Romans and Galatians, but Galatians 5, 16 says this, This I say then, walk in the Spirit, and you shall not fulfill the lust of the flesh. For the flesh lusts against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh, and these are contrary the one to the other, so that you cannot do the things that you would. And this is perfect when we get into Romans 7, so we'll probably go back to that verse next week. But if ye be led of the Spirit, ye are not under the law. Does that say if you're saved, meaning like your whole body and spirit is not under the law? It says if ye be led of the Spirit. Now notice what it says in Romans chapter 8 and verse 12. So if ye be led of the Spirit, ye are not under the law. It doesn't say that if ye are living by the Spirit, ye are not under the law. And we'll get into this further, but go to Romans chapter 8 and verse 12. Romans chapter 8 and verse 12. Romans 8 verse 12, it says, Therefore, brethren, we are deaders not to the flesh, to live after the flesh. For if ye live after the flesh, ye shall what? Die. But if ye through the Spirit do mortify the deeds of the body, ye shall live. For as many as are led by the Spirit of God, they are the sons of God. So here's the thing, our soul is a child of God. Our soul and spirit is a child of God, not our flesh yet. Our flesh will be, and go down to verse 21 in that same chapter and we'll see what it says about that. Now notice what it says in verse 21, Because the creature itself also shall be delivered – has it been delivered yet? Not yet – from the bondage of corruption into the glorious liberty of the children of God. And it will clarify what this creature is that it's talking about. For we know that the whole creation groaneth and travaileth and painted together until now, verse 23, and not only they, but ourselves also, which had the firstfruits of the Spirit, even we ourselves groan within ourselves, waiting for the adoption to wit the redemption of our body. So what are we waiting for? The redemption of the body, which means that our body will also be a child of God. Does that make sense? Right now we have an old man, this old man, this old sinful flesh, that's not a child of God. Our soul is, but that is under the law. The old man is still under the law, but we're waiting for that to be delivered as well. We're waiting for that. We're patiently waiting for that. That's our hope that we're looking forward to, is that our body will be redeemed also. Now we have the earnest of the Spirit, we have the firstfruits of the Spirit, and if you remember in Galatians, Galatians chapter 4, it talks about how he has sent the Spirit of his Son into our hearts, crying, Abba, Father, and that we might have the adoption of sons. So spiritually we have the adoption of sons. What are we waiting for? We're waiting for the adoption to wit the redemption of the body. So when we get saved, we're adopted sons of God by faith in Christ Jesus, but it's not until the resurrection that our body is delivered into the glorious slavery of the children of God. Does that make sense? So as many as are led by the Spirit of God, these are the children of God, and as many as are led by the Spirit of God, ye are not under the law. Meaning that if you're walking in the Spirit, that's why it talks about in Galatians that against such there is no law. Meaning that if you're walking in the Spirit, there is no law against you. There is no condemnation to you because you are in the Spirit, and there is no condemnation if you're in the Spirit because you're sinless. But you had the flesh, and if you're walking in the flesh, ye are under the law. You're under the curse of the law and under the law of sin. I hope all this makes sense tonight that this is what this is talking about. The old man, new man, the outward man, the inward man. The inward man and the new man are not under the law, they're under grace. But the old man is under the law, and it's not under grace yet. We're waiting for it. We're waiting for that redemption to wit the redemption of the body or the adoption. Romans 6, 16, so it kind of just still is talking about this, but these evangelical Christians out there that are, don't put me under the law, don't put me in bondage, brother. It's a cop out, my friends. It's a cop out to not want to do what God tells you to do. First of all, they don't understand the difference between cardinal ordinances and moral law. We still have the moral law, my friends. We covered all this in our series on Sunday night, but we still have the moral law, and that is not going to be abolished. That hasn't been fulfilled. You can't fulfill moral law. It's still wrong, and yes, I can judge you because it says to judge righteous judgment. I'll call a spade a spade. If someone's committing fornication, if someone's drinking and being an alcoholic, if someone's being a pervert, I'll call it out because I had the perfect law of liberty, and I'm not judging the law because the law has already said what's wrong, and I'm judging you because what you are doing is contrary to the law of God. Their flesh, if they are saved, these evangelicals, usually they're not saved. Usually they're tongue talkers or they believe you've got to repent of your sins or all this other stuff. If they are saved, they will suffer the consequences for what their actions are. They want to be an alcoholic. They can ruin their marriage. They want to wear the tight, trendy jeans and talk about how they have them and their wife are 50-50 and all this stuff, and I'll watch their marriages fail because they don't want to follow the Bible. All these evangelicals and all these people that are up in there in rock bands and all this stuff, their lives are going to be a failure because they are not following the Bible. They're not following the example of the Bible, and if their marriages don't fail and their kids don't go to the devil, it will be a miracle, but they're not going to have rewards in heaven for what they do because they're constantly walking in the flesh. All they're going to reap is corruption, and so they can do that all they want, whatever you want to do. He that is unjust, let him be unjust still, my friends, and so they can do what they want to do, but the Bible says, shall we continue in sin that grace should abound? Shall we sin because we are not under the law but under grace? God forbid. Did we make void the law through faith? God forbid. Yeah, we established the law. We established the law. We're not under the law. We're not under the curse anymore spiritually. We established the law. Hey, now we can keep the law. Now we have the Spirit of God inside us, and we can walk in the new man and try to strive to be at that resurrected state like Paul was saying, that I might attain unto the resurrection of the dead, to press toward that mark for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus. That's what we should be doing, not trying to go back to the old ways and just say, well, we're covered. Yeah, technically, spiritually, you're still going to heaven. I believe in eternal security, but what's that going to get you in the end? When you get up to heaven and you have nothing to show to Christ for what you did on this earth, then you wasted your life. Verse 16 of Romans 6, it says, know ye not that to whom ye yield yourselves servants to obey his servants you are to whom you obey, whether of sin unto death or of obedience unto righteousness? This is giving that dichotomy. If you obey your flesh, you're servants to that. You're a servant to sin. Now, you're saved spiritually, but you are physically, as you're walking here in this life, a servant to sin if you just obey those lusts and you yield yourselves, your members to that. Notice you're yielding yourselves members. You're allowing it to happen. This is like, and I think of this verse in Matthew 6, 24, it says, no man can serve two masters for either he will hate the one and love the other, or else he will hold to the one and despise the other. He cannot serve God and mammon. You have to choose, my friends, are you going to serve God with your inner man, with your new man, with the Spirit, or are you going to serve the flesh and sin and the old man? Choose ye this day whom you will serve. As for me and my house, we will serve the Lord. So you have to make that choice, but that's a daily choice. That's a choice you're making constantly to say, hey, you know what, I'm going to serve God today. I'm going to serve God. I'm going to serve God. I'm going to do this. That's a choice you have to make, and so we need to keep making that choice. Keep starving that flesh. Verse 17 there, in Romans 6, verse 17, it says, but God be thanked that ye were the servants of sin, but ye have obeyed from the heart that form of doctrine which was delivered to you. Being then made free from sin, ye became the servants of righteousness. I speak after the manner of men because of the infirmity of your flesh. For as ye have yielded your members' servants to uncleanness and to iniquity unto iniquity, even so now yield your members' servants to righteousness unto holiness. For when ye were the servants of sin, ye were free from righteousness. Notice the same thing we're talking about, yielding your members and being the servants and all this of righteousness compared to servants of uncleanness. It's basically just saying, hey, we've been made free from sin spiritually, let's use that. What were you doing before you got saved as far as what kind of fruit had you in that? Fruit is just a product of something, my friends, and we'll do a whole study on this eventually because people are talking about, you need to be bearing fruit. Do you even understand what that means? That means do the work. It doesn't. How about the fruit of your works the Bible talks about, the fruit of your labor? The works of your works? That doesn't make sense. The fruit is a product of something. What are you bringing forth? What are you bringing forth by sinning, death, corruption, wickedness, all this other stuff that's going to happen in your life, disease? Think about all the things that could happen if you do things, a ruined life, a divorce, children that are on their way to hell because you don't discipline them and don't follow the Bible. I'm just giving you examples of that, but if you feed the Spirit and you walk in the Spirit, what are you going to do? You can reap life everlasting if you're winning people to Christ. He that win his souls is wise. To prove the righteousness of the tree of life, he that win his souls is wise. You could take hold of eternal life. That's what I think Paul was trying to do. He's trying to attain it to the resurrection. He's trying to take hold of that. He's trying to starve the flesh so much that he is living as if he is in his resurrected state. He's taking hold of that eternal life and living for the eternal and not for the temporal. This chapter is a great chapter to just show that. As we get into chapter seven, it just completely destroys this whole idea that a Christian never is carnal and that a Christian never does wrong or a Christian's not going to continue in sin and all this stuff. It just destroys this, especially since it's Paul who is one of the best Christians ever. It just destroys that whole notion. In verse 21 there, it says, What fruit had ye then in those things where of ye are now ashamed? For the end of those things is death. Remember, the end of that is death and corruption and all this stuff. But now, being made free from sin and become servants to God, ye have your fruit unto holiness and the end everlasting life. For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord. Just as much as the wage of sin is death spiritually, the wage of sin is death physically too. As a Christian, we're not worried about that death spiritually, but you have things in the physical realm to deal with. Now, when we go into Romans chapter eight, notice this, Romans chapter eight verse one. It says, this is a famous verse in the Bible, but now think about this. Now knowing that walking in the Spirit and walking in the flesh is not talking about being saved or lost, it's talking about your choice whether to live for God or live in the flesh. There is therefore now no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus who walked not after the flesh but after the Spirit. So who has no condemnation? Just a saved person that lives in sin too? Or is it a saved person that's walking after the Spirit, therefore there's no condemnation for that person, spiritually or physically? Does that make sense? Now spiritually, obviously, there's no condemnation, right? You're passed from death into life, you shall not go into condemnation. We know that's true spiritually, but this is talking about a Christian physically has no condemnation to them who walk not after the flesh but after the Spirit. So when we go through chapter eight, that's what we'll see is that there's this difference between walking after the Spirit and walking after the flesh. Verse 12, we've already read this, but it says, 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. So this isn't talking about, you know, if you mortify the deeds of the flesh, then you won't go to hell. You know, you'll go to heaven, you'll have eternal life. That's not what it's talking about. It's talking about physically here. I mean, there's plenty of verses in the Bible that talk about this, about the physical death. The soul that sinneth, it shall die, and it's talking about a physical death. And James chapter one, it talks about sin when it hath conceived bringeth forth sin and sin when it is finished bringeth forth death. And it says in James chapter five verse 19, brethren, brethren, let me note that, brethren, if any of you do err from the truth and one convert him, let him know that he which converteth the sinner from the error of his way shall save a soul from death and shall hide a multitude of sins. Soul a lot of times in the Bible just mean self. You know, where it says, there's a verse in the Bible where it talks about what shall man profit if he gain the whole world and lose his own soul. Well, in Luke it says what shall profit man if he gain the whole world and lose himself. So soul is a lot of times just accustomed to who you are, like yourself, right? So it's talking about basically you're going to save this person from death. You could say it that way or save him from death. Because there is a sin unto death, I do not say that he shall pray for it. So we need to have that fear of God in us as Christians that God can still judge us. He can still bring down condemnation in our life. He's not mocked. If we sow to the flesh, we'll reap corruption. Whom the Lord loveth, he chastens and discourages every son whom he receiveth. And some he punished with death, some he punished with others that, you know, the Bible talks about the chastening. Some are sick, some are sleeping, you know, meaning death. And so as saved people, we need to remember that, that hey, if you want to be outside the condemnation of God, you need to be walking in the Spirit. Now obviously spiritually we're outside the condemnation of God, you know, nothing can separate us from the love of Christ, spiritually. But physically speaking, we can have God's condemnation here in this life because he can chasten us and these things can happen to us. And just the things that we're going to allow things to happen to us because we're not walking in the Spirit. Now one thing I wanted to get into real quick, just wanted a little side note in the fact that it says, for the wages of sin is death. And a lot of times we use this, and I kind of want to just explain this a little bit, and we'll say, see death there isn't just a physical death. And I do believe that's true when it says, for the wages of sin is death. Because in Revelation chapter 20, we usually just go to verse 14 and say, in death and hell were cast in the lake of fire, this is the second death. But in Revelation 20 and verse 13, I believe that if you said that the souls of men right now that are unsaved are in death right now, and I'm going to explain this a little bit because in verse 13 of Revelation 20, it says, and the sea gave up the dead which were in it, and death and hell delivered up the dead which were in them. So where were the dead? In death and hell. Now I believe these words, death and hell, are very close together. It's kind of like soul and spirit are very close together. You think of like that on the pale horse, it says that death was riding upon that horse and hell followed with them. And so death or the dead, where are the dead at? In hell. And the dead are brought up, so they're not alive, but they're still like conscious, right? They don't call them living, they're dead. So where is the dead? Where death's at. And so death is going to be destroyed, the last enemy to be destroyed is death because death is going to be cast in the lake of fire, which is called the second death. Now the reason I believe this is called the second death is because the body is going to be thrown in there as well with the soul. So right now the body, if someone died unsaved right now, their body would go to the grave, it would be dead, and their soul would go to hell and it would be dead. Does that make sense? But when they come to this great white throne judgment, the body and soul are put back together. Does that make sense? And we talked about this with Jesus going to hell, there's no spirit there though. The spirit is where the life's at. Now we have the spirit of God inside of us, that's why we have eternal life and it will never perish and will go on forever because God's eternal. But that spirit is not there, the soul and body are there, but they're dead. It says they're dead. And so when they're cast into the lake of fire, do you see why we call that the second death? Because both their body and soul are going to die in that lake of fire. Now it calls the lake of fire hell because in Matthew 10 verse 28 it says, and fear not them which kill the body but are not able to kill the soul, but rather fear him which is able to destroy both soul and body in hell. So a lot of people are critical about the King James and say, well, they shouldn't use hell when it's talking about the lake of fire. There's two words in the Greek that they're using for hell, like gehenna and Hades. Oh, I just got a splinter. Anyway, we'll get that later. So they'll say, well, they should have used a different word. But here's the thing, you can always understand which one it's talking about as far as whether it's hell beneath us in the heart of the earth or whether it's the lake of fire. We know that what he's talking about with soul and body being destroyed in hell, what's he talking about? The lake of fire, because is anybody's body in hell right now? Besides maybe those that fell into the earth when it opened up, right? So I just wanted you to see that the death and hell, if you said that someone was going to death spiritually, I don't think that would be wrong to say that. Does that make sense? And that's why we see this second death. Now you could just say that the second death is just because their body is being killed again or being destroyed again, but I think this is where the soul and body are going from the grave and from hell and going into this lake of fire and hell is being moved. Does that make sense? So they're both hell. What's underneath us right now, that's hell. The lake of fire is hell. The lake of fire is after the judgment. Hell beneath us right now is before the judgment. Does that make sense? There's going to be a point where they're going to be standing before God and the books are going to be open and they're going to be cast into this lake of fire. So anyway, I just want to give you that little nugget there as far as just death. The wages of sin is death. That is dealing with spiritual and physical. So when we say the wages of sin is death, that is hell. That is hell because we're talking about the spiritual. Most people understand that we're going to die physically. We can explain to them that's because of sin, but that's not what to be scared about. That's not what to fear. Fear not him that killed the body. Fear him that is able to destroy both soul and body in hell. So that's what they should be fearing is hell and being in torment forever and ever. But praise be unto God for his unspeakable gift because it says for the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord. And amen for that. So spiritually speaking, we're the new man. We have the inward man. We have that's passed from death into life that the new creature, all things are become new. Old things are passed away. All things are become new spiritually. I have no sin in my soul. No sin. Who so is born of God doth not commit sin for his seed remains in him and he cannot sin because he is born of God. It says in whose spirit is no guile in Psalm 32, but I still have my flesh. I still have the old man and every single one of us has to decide whether we're going to walk in that flesh or walk in the new man or in the spirit. Walk in the old man or walk in the new man. Walk in the outer man or walk in the inner man. That's the choice we have to make. It's not talking about salvation, it's talking about us as Christians and what we need to do to starve that flesh, to get away from sin, and start living unto righteousness. So this is a great chapter. Chapter 7 goes into the same thing. We're going to get into some really good, I guess a doctrine that a lot of people struggle with with babies and children and what happens to them if they were to die and we'll get into that. Chapter 7, chapter 8, a lot more about the resurrection and different aspects in there too. Chapter 8 is a big chapter, so we've got a lot more to cover in that. But these three chapters, 6, 7, and 8 are great chapters to understand this doctrine. Once you understand that, I think that when you read 1 John 1 and you read these other passages it's all going to click. When you understand, hey, that makes sense that there's no sin, like they don't sin at all because it's talking about the Spirit. And then when another verse says, if we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us. That's how you reconcile that, my friends, is that your flesh has sin but your soul that has no sin. That's how you reconcile it. And so I hope that all makes sense. That's Romans chapter 6. And so we'll end with a word of prayer. Dear Heavenly Father, what we thank you for today, thank you everybody that came out, and Lord just thank you for this church and thank you for your word and thank you for all this clear doctrine in the Bible to help us understand that we're saved spiritually and we're perfect spiritually but that we still have this sinful flesh and that we have to choose to die daily. And Lord we just love you and pray all this in Jesus Christ's name, amen.