Ben Brinkerhoff - Class 4: Exhortation - Set Thy Mind on the Things of the Spirit (Romans 8:5-11)

Automatically transcribed. Accuracy is good but not perfect, and words are sometimes wrong. Trust the audio over the text.

1. 0:00

   Well, good morning. A little bit more awkward on Sunday morning, isn’t it? Good morning, my dear brother and sisters. This is the 4th class this weekend. In some ways I think unfortunately it’s the most difficult say that because you know, it really took me, it really took me a long time to get my head around the subject we’re going to.

2. 0:28

   Addressed this morning. And sometimes you think to yourself as as clear as God’s where it is that sometimes that he hasn’t made my mind very clear. And so I struggle to impart to you some of the things which I think are in the word of God here. But fortunately, it’s not about me, it’s not about you.

3. 0:49

   We’re just going to read God’s words together and try to gain some spiritual lesson from them. And I hope. But leaves you with something meaningful and helpful this morning is you prepare to partake of the bread and the wine. And as you recall from last night that we left on a little bit of a cliffhanger.

4. 1:10

   And I guess we did that on purpose, not because we did, because Paul did. And the end of verse four of Romans chapter 8. Paul. Leaves us with these words. He talks about these wonderful blessings that we have in Christ Jesus. Aren’t they wonderful and. And and the blessings include this idea that there’s no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. And we discussed just what a beautiful idea that is, and how when all we see is the mercies of Christ that separate us even from death itself, that that those words are so precious to us.

5. 1:46

   And and yet these wonderful blessings seem to contend to have some. Hanging on on what it means to be in Christ Jesus. And and Paul leaves with this word in verse four. And the word is that this blessing, as wonderful as it is, is for those who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit. And as you recall, I had you cut out your pencils, and I had you underline the word who, because that’s kind of a rather important word, wouldn’t you say? Given that we all want to participate in these blessings. And so and so Paul, I think, I think Paul recognizes for himself that there’s a tension in that word. There’s a tension in that statement. Who walk after the spirit?

6. 2:36

   Well, who are these that walk after the spirit? How do I do that? What does that mean? And so Paul’s going to dedicate himself in the next 5 to 6 verses. And really trying to explain for us what does it mean who are these people who walk after the Spirit? And he feels the tension in that statement. So to resolve the tension for for himself and for us, he explains what he means.

7. 3:02

   And starting in Romans 8 and verse five and six and I’m going to read now the out of the Rs. V for those who live. According to the flesh, they set their minds on the things of the flesh. But those who live? According to the Spirit. To set their minds on the things of the Spirit. To set the mind on the flesh is death, but to set the mind on the Spirit is life and it’s peace. Now the King James just has the word mind, but the RSV really uses that word, set thy mind, and that’s important. We’ll get back to that in a second, but it seems to me that if we’re going to understand anything about Romans chapter 8 and verses 5 through 11, we really have to get our minds. Around these words spirit and flesh and and and the word mind itself.

8. 3:52

   And what do we what do we make of these words? Not that we want to define them because Scripture to find some force, but but you know those words can mean different things to different people in this audience and so we have to get to a common maybe a common understanding what Paul’s really talking about when he uses these words.

9. 4:08

   So so to begin with what does the word mind mean? Well, following the The Revised Standard Version, the mind is something that can be set. That’s quite important because it relates to your thoughts. Basically things that have this obvious element of choice to them. Now, now, that may be in contrast to something like feelings. Actually, you can’t set your feelings very often, you just have them.

10. 4:32

    You don’t choose your feelings. Those who might be afraid of something, like heights, they don’t choose to be afraid of heights. They don’t want to be afraid of heights. They just are. So feelings can often not be set. But your mind, whatever the mind is in these verses, there’s this obvious element of choice of these words, and that matters.

11. 4:54

    So our mind is something here which we have some control over. You can control what you think about and what actions you take, but then what is flesh? The first thing we observe about flesh, it really isn’t something material, is it? Flesh doesn’t refer to the skin and the muscle and the bones in our hands and our arms, and but it refers to the way the flesh expresses itself, its desires and its wants.

12. 5:22

    The attitude of the flesh. And that was our focus from yesterday. But what is the spirit? Seems quite important, doesn’t it? Because this word spirit comes up 22 times in this chapter. The word spirit comes up 22 times. Brother Stevens, would you think it’s quite important that we figure out what that word means? I reckon, yeah.

13. 5:43

    He agrees. So even our presiding brother thinks that’s the case. So. And the spirit again is it’s one of those Bible words, is it not? And it’s it’s a word that’s commonly used in the Bible and it’s also commonly used today, but it’s used in different contexts now. So what does the what does the spirit mean? Now, unfortunately, we can’t look out the window because all we see is this Gray, foggy stuff. And that’s killing me because it’s hurting my point. But if we were to look out the window, we were to see the trees and we’d see the trees moving.

14. 6:20

    But what’s causing those trees to move? Well, the wind would be causing the trees to move, of course, but can you see the wind? So what the spirit is? Is a spirit stood for things in the Bible that have power where the evidence or the effect of the power can be seen, but which the agent of the power cannot be seen.

15. 6:50

    And that I don’t know if that clarified anything. So let me say it again. Spirit stands for things that have power. Where we can see the effect, we just can’t see the agent. And if you see the wind blowing as a tree, you see the effect of the wind on the tree, because the tree moves and see you see the tree moving, but you don’t see what’s making the tree move. And so the ancients called Wind spirit. What else has power that can’t be seen well in a live person, for example, now if I had a dead person and a live person, right? That’d be pretty spooky, wouldn’t it? But if I had a dead person and an alive person right here in the floor in front of me?

16. 7:30

    They look awfully similar, wouldn’t they? I mean the dead person, the live person, they they both have hands and feet and and faces and hair, and they’d have all many of the same parts, In fact, all the same parts. In fact, they’d be made of the same stuff. They’d be made of the hydrogen and the carbon and the and the oxygen, and it had all the same parts and and they’d be made of the same things. But there’d be one difference between the two if I told the live person to.

17. 8:00

    This delay, there very still will be. The difference is that you’d see in that live person the chests go up and down, up and down. It’d be the only noticeable difference between the two, perhaps, and that live person would be breathing, and that thing can be thought of as breath and alive people breathe. They can’t see the air they breathe, but without the air it’s obvious that they die.

18. 8:29

    And so the ancients called breath that invisible thing that seems to make alive people alive. Without it, people die. They call that spirit. It’s also clear that a lot people can think, no, no one can see your thoughts. I mean I can look in in the audience and I see some blank stares.

19. 8:52

    I see some people that look confused and. I can see some people that look bored and some people that look amused. So I can maybe maybe try to read your thoughts from your from your, from your face. But I could be getting this totally wrong. So I can’t see your thoughts per se.

20. 9:09

    But thoughts are quite powerful, aren’t they? I mean, how motivating are your thoughts? They can think your thoughts can take you in any any one of many different directions is based on thoughts, but they can’t be seen. But they’re very powerful. And so the ancients called. Thoughts, Spirit. And there’s other examples for that.

21. 9:30

    For example, angels. The work of the angels is somewhat obvious. We see the angels working in our lives and and doing things that may be on retrospect are quite clear. But the time they aren’t. And the Bible we see the work of the angels. They are always seen when they’re working sometimes, but not often and and most often they’re not seen at all, but they’re still working. So.

22. 9:51

    So we see the effect of the angels work, we don’t see the angels themselves. And so the angels are called spirit. They’re calling ministering spirits. But let’s get even more subtle, shall we? What about words? So you can’t see the words as they travel from my mouth through this microphone up into the projection system.

23. 10:13

    And they the sound waves bounce off the different molecules in the air until they hit your eardrum. You can’t see any of those things. You can’t see, and I can’t see. But words, words are really powerful, aren’t they? You know, I’ll tell you how powerful words are. I fell in love with my wife because she talked to me. Not that she was the only one who had talked to me, but we talked about things that I’m not going to talk to you about as it should be.

24. 10:52

    And. Because we spoke and we talked so intimately that that’s why I fell in love with her. And many of us who are married will recognize that the reason we fell in love, whatever that in love thing is, was probably not because of how nice looking the person was. It’s probably because of the quality and the depth of our discussions. Of the words that passed between us. And they weren’t just words, they were invisible, but somehow they went inside of us to invoke within us. Such a deep and powerful feeling. Of love.

25. 11:30

    It’s words. And with my wife and I, she being in New Zealand and me being in the United States, we didn’t even have Skype at the time. In fact, for the first month or so, I didn’t know what she looked like. I was quite happy when I found out. In fact, I called my dad right away and said, and she’s pretty too dad.

26. 11:49

    But I didn’t know what she looked like at 1st and and so it was merely words. It was all words. In fact, sometimes they weren’t even spoken. Sometimes I just read them through an e-mail. But but how powerful are words? They’re invisible. But wouldn’t you admit that they’re so powerful and you think about it? Words have the power to save us

27. 12:16

    words. Words can give us life. If you hear the gospel message, those invisible words which passed from the page, or for someone’s lips into your ears, and you heard them, and you believed them, and you knew them, and you confessed them then, although no one can see it. And although no one can point to the place where it’s recorded, your name is now in the book of life because of words, because you believe those words, because you knew those words. So words in and of themselves are incredibly powerful things, and I can’t see within you necessarily whether you believe. Can’t see whether you know, but you know in, in and of yourself. If the word of God has power within you because it changes you, because you’re different.

28. 13:31

    Why are you different? Because you’ve heard some words and because you believe them. And words become learning, and learning becomes faith and faith. Supported by continue learning and renewing grows into love and works and God provides that believer life.

29. 13:55

    And I hope that making this association between words and spirit and learning in fact demystifies this concept of spirit for us, because spirit itself can be a very mysterious word, can it? I mean, people talk about the Spirit. What does it mean to have the Spirit? And sometimes we wonder, can I participate in that? Do I have the?

30. 14:19

    Spirit is the spirit. Working in me, is it? I don’t know. You ask yourself that question. And and and the spirit. The word seems so mysterious,

31. 14:35

    and I want to demystify this word. I never want spirit to be mysterious. For you again. Because this doesn’t have to be God doesn’t want it to be mysterious for you. He wants you to understand it. He wants you to know that you have it. I want you to ask yourself the question, Am I any different as a person because of what Jesus taught me? And if so, would you deny that you have spirit? Would you deny that the words of Christ are spirit? Would you deny that you’ve come to know Jesus Christ, and that Spirit has power in you to do things for which you would never do of yourself?

32. 15:21

    Nor do you have any inclination except that which has been taught to you. So you’re different, and so you have Spirit, and never deny it and never forget it.

33. 15:40

    In first John chapter 4 and verse six we read we are of God. He that knoweth God heareth us. He that knoweth God heareth us. He that is not of God heareth not us. Hereby know we. The Spirit of truth. So how do we know the spirit of truth?

34. 16:09

    Because of what you hear. Because of what you know. Because of what you confess. So spirit indicates and this is the word. This is how John Carter in his book on the Romans, which is a fantastic book, this is how he summarizes this word Spirit. Spirit indicates a mental and a moral development through hearing, learning, and faith in the Gospel. Which has its ultimate source in God, who is Spirit and who’s revealed it through His power, which is also called Spirit. I think it’s a really good definition. Now you think about Spirit and learning, and we think about the gospel, don’t we?

35. 17:01

    The gospel, which is the Spirit word of God, Which is. The way that God is revealed to us is truth in the gospel. And see how Paul speaks about the gospel. In the first chapter of Romans in verse 16, Paul says it’s about the gospel. There Paul says I’m not ashamed of this gospel because, and this is the word, what I want you to pay attention to, it’s quite interesting.

36. 17:22

    I’m not ashamed of the gospel. It’s the power of God to salvation, everyone that has faith. Why don’t you say the Holy Spirit, The spirit was working out. The salvation was working out. Salvation in us was, was, was God through his power, His spirit is working out within us and is calling people still to be saved, to know him, to confess him that God is doing this through his spirit. But Paul here says I’m not ashamed of the gospel, it’s the power of God.

37. 18:03

    So closely associated are these things and tell me, does God have any power? Does God’s Spirit have any power to save except through the gospel? Can God save someone who has never has any knowledge, or never comes to any knowledge of the gospel? Can God choose to save someone out there and choose to save them but never they come to a knowledge of the gospel.

38. 18:28

    He would not and he does not. So how can God save through his spirit except through words? I suppose he could, but he doesn’t. So the gospel itself, Paul says, is the power of God. It what gives God’s spirit power. And God’s spirit is using the gospel as its means of saving. And we can understand that the Gospels taught. We can understand the Gospels learned. We can understand the Gospels believed through the work of God.

39. 19:13

    And it becomes the power of God, and it becomes that which in someone has the ability to save. You know, in Elpas Israel, Doctor Thomas puts it like this. He says where the truth takes possession of the sentiments, where the truth takes possession of the sentiments. Setting them like that word, setting, setting them to work, and so forming the thoughts, it becomes a law of God to them, which the Apostle Paul styles the law of his mind. And because it is written there through the hearing of the law and the testimony which came to the prophets. Through the spirit he terms it the law of the spirit inscribed on the fleshly tables of the heart, and the law of the spirit of life, because while obeyed confers a right to life. So Paul says set your mind on things of the spirit and the spirit he’s think he’s speaking about. Is that spiritual self which is fed by the word of God, the gospel through which God exercises his power to save, and through which God and Christ dwell in us and and and we can understand this because we go to another verse in the Old Testament.

40. 20:37

    It seems totally clear to us, does it not? In in Isaiah chapter 57 and verse 15 we read that God dwells in a high in a holy place, but also with him. Who is of a humble spirit, of a contrite heart? And for some reason that’s really not confusing to us, is it? We can understand that like that. If you, if you see one of a humble and a contrite heart because of the word of God working in them, you said you know what God God’s dwelling in that person, that they’re not of a humble and a contrite heart.

41. 21:23

    Nearly, because they were born that way. But because they have yielded themselves up to God and that God chooses to dwell with that person. And that’s not hard to understand, is it? We can understand that. And and actually this is the meaning of Spirit. And every time it’s found in verses 5 through 11, it’s the same meaning every time.

42. 21:47

    And so I think you actually know what Spirit means. I actually think you can look inside yourself right now, and I think you can find within yourself that which is fed by the inspired truth of God. I think you can find inside of yourself where your faith is. I think you can find within yourself where the love of God is.

43. 22:08

    I think you can find within yourself the part that’s humble, the part that’s kind, where you’ve learned Christ, the part that doesn’t seek self. Seeks the benefit of your brother and sisters. The part that rejoices in what is good. The part that rejoices in the will of the Lord. The inner man fed by the Word that loves the Word. And this is where God and Christ dwell within you. This is the right Spirit that David asks God to restore within him.

44. 22:48

    This is the humble. And contrite mind where God dwells, I think you know it if you can find it within yourself. I think you know when it’s fed. I think you know when it’s weakened. I think you know that defeat it is to is to have life and to weaken it is to find death.

45. 23:12

    And it’s not hard to understand. And strange as it sounds, even those with this spirit, as amazing as the spirit is, they still struggle with the flesh. See, the flesh doesn’t go away. Even if you have the spirit, this flesh doesn’t go away and and beyond it not going away. As if that isn’t bad enough.

46. 23:34

    It’s just not satisfied. And I remember finding great comfort, tremendous comfort. In these words which don’t really appear to be that comfortable in Romans 8 and verse 7. And these words are there where we read because the carnal mind is enmity, enmity against God, for it is not subject to the law of God.

47. 24:07

    Neither indeed can be. You know, I remember back in the first study, right? And I talked about the fact that I was in the missionary. Field. And I was in the the Persian Gulf, and that sounds like it should be scary, but it wasn’t that scary. But. Things were things were quite hard for my wife and I I remember struggling with my feelings and money was really tight and I was defrauded and I had some money stolen which I. Thankfully got back, but only by working with a local lawyer and I remember my wife struggling to get medical care and she had diabetes and she was pregnant.

48. 24:55

    I remember worrying about the health of my child and we didn’t have an easy way to cook hot food. And I just felt this pressure inside of me and I I just felt this pressure and actually I kind of felt like I wanted to give up and it was a very, very selfish feeling.

49. 25:14

    I remember feeling bad that had the feeling. And how. How awful is that? Not only do you have this bad feeling, you feel bad that you have the bad feeling, right? I thought to myself, I’m doing the Lord’s work. Shouldn’t this be joy? Should not be rejoicing and doing the Lord’s work? And sometimes you may have this, sometimes you may not feel good coming to the meeting on Sunday. Sometimes you may not feel good pulling at your Bible to do readings.

50. 25:42

    Sometimes you may not feel good calling in at the hospital on this new couple with it, with the twin children, you think, oh, I just have so many things to do. I don’t have time to do this. It doesn’t feel like a joy. You’re not rejoicing and you feel bad that you feel bad and you think to yourself, like, shouldn’t I feel joy?

51. 26:00

    Should I feel joy in this? And I was feeling guilty about these things. I didn’t understand why I had to struggle against myself. And I came across these verses and Romans. And in my struggle, as I came across these verses and Romans, I found tremendous relief. Do you know why? Because there’s a part of me, and there’s a part of you that will never be converted.

52. 26:38

    You’ll never make it want to do the will of God. It will always be selfish. It will always be rebellious. And Paul calls that thing within you the carnal mind. He says that it’s enmity with God and in me. I could feel the carnal mind. And at that time I realized. I simply need to accept there was a part of me that would always want to rebel. And by focusing on it and by feeling guilty about it, I was just giving it life.

53. 27:21

    I was making it stronger. See, I was letting it convince me that I was a fraud, that I was worthless. Look how Paul puts it. In Romans 7, verse 25, thanks be to God through Jesus Christ our Lord. So then I have myself serve the law of God with my mind. But look at this a little bit after that.

54. 27:43

    But with my flesh I serve the law of sin. And Paul realized the the inevitability of this, that the flesh would not be converted. It would always rebel. It wouldn’t always want to do its own thing. It would always be selfish. It’s not convertible. That’s why Jesus destroyed it. That’s why he destroyed it, because his enmity with God and he took that which of the himself was enmity with God and it was nailed to the cross.

55. 28:24

    So there is within you, and there is within me that which is an enmity with God and will never be converted. And Paul’s point is so beautiful in its simplicity. You see, our struggle is not trying to convert the carnal mind. You’re not going to convert it. It’s not convertible. We can’t.

56. 28:46

    So what is our struggle? Our struggle then, is choosing to set our mind. On the Spirit, and that we can do. And so Paul has done, is he’s lifted the struggle from that which is inevitable, which is that you want to rebel. That’s inevitable. Everybody here wants to rebel. And so he’s lifted the struggle from that which is inevitable. And he said no, no, no, it’s not about that which is inevitable. With my flesh.

57. 29:20

    I want to serve the law of sin. He said, You know what? It’s not about that. It’s about that which you have choice over, and you choose to set your mind on the things of the Spirit, or you choose to set your mind on the things of the flesh. And so that is not inevitable.

58. 29:43

    Desiring sin is inevitable. The carnal mind within you is inevitable. It will not be converted. But what’s not inevitable is what you choose to set your mind on. So. It’s really not about how you feel.

59. 30:05

    It’s not not about doing what you want. It’s not a matter of following the spirit because it feels good, or doing what feels good, or hoping that mission work feels good, or hoping that speaking to contacts feels good. It’s really not about what feels good, it’s about what doings, what about doing what’s. Right.

60. 30:28

    About. Choosing to set your mind on things of the spirit which is not inevitable, which is your area. Of choice, but how? How do we do it? How do we set our mind on things of the Spirit? So how can you possibly hope to put your mind on things of the Spirit if you don’t know the things of the Spirit? As a teenager, teenager I wondered if we’d always had to do Bible classes all the time during Cy, C’s and and lectures and Sunday School and always reopen the Bible, the Bible, the Bible, the Bible.

61. 31:07

    You know, I wonder if it was just a matter of our elders who wanting to torture teenagers or something, you know, and actually what our elders were doing.

62. 31:20

    Is there a trying to get as much of this in my mind as they possibly could? There’s something in here the fun and games can never give you something here. So much more precious, so much more meaningful. And it’s not that there’s words. Those words mean nothing if not believed, but they’re they’re hoping that if you believe them, that they can give you a gift. Which is so much more meaningful than any fun and game not ever could be.

63. 31:56

    It’s a hope the scripture has learned, believed and acted upon that it will feed that part in you and which God wants to dwell. Now listen to Paul and turn over to the book of Ephesians. We’re going to look at Ephesians in chapter 4. We’re going to look at verses 17 through 24, and as we’re reading it, what I’d like you to do is try to identify all the places in this section of scripture where Paul is talking about understanding or learning or hearing or knowledge or teaching, understanding, learning, knowledge, teaching, hearing, these types of words, I want you to ask yourself. Do all of these words have anything to do with spirit? Anything at all to do with spirit, Anything at all to do with that inner man, the inner man where God dwells? All right, so let’s start at first. You know, I’ll read out of the King James Version. I have the new King James Version in front of me, but I think most of us probably has had King James versions. So we’ll read out of the King James. We’ll start at verse 17.

64. 33:14

    This I say therefore, and testify in the Lord, that ye henceforth walk not as other Gentiles walk in the vanity of their mind, having the understanding darkened, being alienated from the life of God through the ignorance that is in them because of the blindness of their heart. Who, being past feeling, have given themselves over to lasciviousness, to work all uncleanness with greediness.

65. 33:56

    There’s 20 But ye have not so learned Christ, if so be 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, Paul says here. To be renewed in the spirit of your mind now in Colossians, in chapter 3 and verse 10, and what is really a very parallel passage, Paul puts it this way and put on the new man, which is renewed in knowledge after the image of him that created him. Do you understand?

66. 35:08

    We’re not torturing you teenagers. Isn’t about torture. There’s some hope, perhaps optimism may play a part that that the words they do something to your mind and that they renew you, and that they create a place within you where Christ and God will dwell and that you’ll change. That’s what we’re trying to do.

67. 35:44

    That’s why every time we get together, we focus on the word. But how would you react to Paul’s words? How would you react to Paul’s words that there’s something inside of you, this carnal mind that you have and I have, that’s simply never going to be converted? Now I responded by reading those words in a time when I was.

68. 36:08

    In a very, very stressful situation, By saying that makes me feel so much better. But I think there also could be another reaction on the opposite side, which says there’s something in me that can never be converted. I almost feel hopeless. I almost feel hopeless. I mean, I’m going to struggle with this my whole life.

69. 36:35

    There’s this famous story about Harry Tennant. And and Harry was giving a class for teenagers at a Bible school. And he asked the teenagers essentially about their desire to sin and how that desire to sin would change as they aged. And the teenagers basically told them, told him that when they got older, they wouldn’t want to sin anymore.

70. 36:57

    And so he went out to the class, The next class he’s given to the adults, he says adults. Good news. The teenagers have all concluded that you don’t want to sin and all the adults. Laughed. But that’s what the teenagers thought, that when I got older, I wouldn’t want to sin anymore. And and actually what I’m telling you is that you’re going to want to sin until you die.

71. 37:20

    There’s a part of you which will never be converted. And I guess on the extreme end that might be hopeless for some people. And and I think Paul was thinking maybe people are going to respond the wrong way to these words. And So what he says in the next several verses is just meant to. To make his readers feel more comfortable about what he just said.

72. 37:40

    And so he says in verses 9 through 11 he says, but you’re not in the flesh, but in the Spirit. He says, listen, this is hopeless. You have this Carl mind that’s never going to be converted. But guess what? You don’t just have the Carl mind. You also have the Spirit. Now, for people without the Spirit, this is truly hopeless.

73. 38:02

    For people without the Spirit, this is truly hopeless. But he says, listen, it’s not for you. Because you don’t just have the carnal mind, you have something more than the carnal mind. You actually have the Spirit. And so he says in verse 9. But you are not in the flesh but in the spirit, if indeed the Spirit of God dwells in you.

74. 38:19

    Now if anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ, he is not his. But if Christ is in you, the body is dead because of sin, but the Spirit is the wife because of righteousness. It’s quite a passage. To this. But in summary, simply saying that that you don’t need to be concerned if you have the knowledge of Christ and believe his word, that gospel which has power to save and will save you.

75. 38:47

    That you don’t have to lose hope. Because you’re not just in the carnal mind, you actually have the spirit too and that spirit within you will work out your salvation. So don’t lose hope. Of course we read these verses and say is Christ in me? What does that mean? We don’t, we don’t read them with the intention that Paul wanted to be read because we’re getting worked worked up over over whether Christ is in us.

76. 39:14

    And we ask ourselves the question, is Christ in me? And some of you might be sitting there right now going, I don’t know, is Christ in me? I don’t know. And you ask yourself the question, well, what’s that supposed to feel? Like. What does it feel like for the chairman if Christ is in you?

77. 39:37

    Bit of a tough one. That’s the issue. He thinks it feels great. But what? What brother chairman, if the brother sisters out there don’t feel great, does that mean they don’t have Christ in them? And that’s the question. So that’s that’s the conflict, You know, what do we do then? What do we do if we don’t feel good? I think that’s where we get ourselves tripped up. Because we think that having Christ in us is supposed to be a feeling.

78. 40:10

    We think that’s supposed to feel good and warm and happy and enthusiastic. And here I was on mission work. I didn’t feel warm or happy or enthusiastic. Does that mean the work was bad, the work was flawed? Does that mean Christ had abandoned me? It wasn’t in me anymore. And I think that sometimes we can think having Christ in us means we don’t have to have any hard choices anymore because everything is just so clear and right and wrong and everything is just so obvious.

79. 40:48

    And we don’t worry about it making bad decisions or doing bad things because we have Christ in us and it just feels good all the time. And yes. Having Christ in us can bring us great contentment. There’s no doubt that is scriptural.

80. 41:09

    But you’ll never get there focusing on feeling good. Isn’t that the great irony of it? You’ll never get contentment. Trying to get contentment, you’ll never feel good trying to feel good.

81. 41:28

    And you think after all Paul is said about the motions of the flesh and the mind of the Spirit, that having Christ in us is merely replacing a bad feeling with a good feeling has nothing to do with feelings. Now turn over to John 6, where we learn a bit more about what Christ in us really means.

82. 42:06

    And after Christ fed the 5000, it might be an understatement to say that people are enthusiastic, enthusiastic. They wanted to take him by force and make him king. Why not? God said in Genesis chapter 3, verse 19 that by the sweat of your face you’re going to make bread. But this man has pulled it out of the basket. How great is that?

83. 42:26

    Who wouldn’t want to make that person king? Of course they want to make him king. And they’re very enthusiastic, I mean. They’re pumped up. They’re full of juice. Like all that evangelical stuff like Hallelujah, Wonderful. You know, like that’s how they felt. They felt good. They felt really good.

84. 42:44

    And Christ retreats to a Quiet Place to pray because John had just been executed. And when John was executed, did that feel good? When John was putting his head against the platter, they feel good.

85. 43:07

    Was Christ not in him when he did that? And Christ moves away to a quiet place to pray, to gain some strength, and they find him the next day on the other side of the sea, and they’re just as excited as they were the day before. And Christ says to them. And he proves them with his words.

86. 43:34

    Says you feel really good. You feel really good. You want to make me king? You want to make me king? You really do. Well, just listen to what I have to say, he says. You want to make me king because you ate bread. You.

87. 43:55

    Want to make me king because I gave you a free meal? They said no, no, we want to make you king because of you. This isn’t about free meal. You’re the one.

88. 44:08

    Jesus says in John 6, verse 54, whoever eats my flesh and drinks my blood has eternal life, and I’ll raise him up at the last day. For my flesh is food indeed, my blood is drink indeed, and this is the important bit. He who eats my flesh and drinks my blood abides in me and I and him. Well, that’s interesting because that’s where we’re trying to find out about what does it mean that Christ twelves in you? What does that really mean?

89. 44:45

    We’re fortunate because here Jesus is really talking about that very thing, and he’s saying that He eats my flesh and drinks my blood abides in me and I and him. So what does he mean by that? He goes on to say, as the living Father sent me, and I live because of the Father, so he who feeds on me will live because of me.

90. 45:04

    Jesus says that he abides and saves those and eat his flesh and drink his blood. So we should look at this language and say, does this language at all invoke any discussion of the Spirit? Because if it does, we’re probably on safe ground thinking that really these are talking about very similar things that Paul is talking about in Romans chapter 8 might be very similar to what Jesus is talking about here in John Six. We can understand what it means that Christ dwells in us. And we move on over 60, And we read their the minions, his disciples.

91. 45:34

    When they heard this, they said, this is a hard saying. Who can understand it? And when Jesus knew in himself that his disciples complained about this, his disciples, By the way, these are his disciples. These are not just randoms that had a free meal, right? I want to be clear about that. These are, these are his disciples, he said to them. Does this offend you?

92. 46:00

    What they need. You should see the Son of man ascend where he was before. It’s the spirit who gives life, the flesh prophets, nothing. The words I speak to you are spirit and their life. So what is the spirit?

93. 46:22

    It’s very simple brother, sisters. It’s the words of Jesus that give life. And isn’t that the exact point that Paul’s making about the spirit of Romans? He’s saying the Spirit gives life, that you have this carnal mind, but the Spirit working in you is going to give life. And he says Romans 8 verse 11.

94. 46:42

    But if the spirit of him who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, he who raised Christ and the dead will give life to your mortal bodies through his spirit who dwells in you. So the Spirit gives life.

95. 46:57

    It’s the words of Christ. It’s his teaching, His precepts, the knowledge without which we cannot please God, because we wouldn’t know what it was like to be what what God’s like. We wouldn’t know what his character’s like. We wouldn’t know what his teaching is, what he what he wants us to know and to believe. But it’s not just knowledge, okay. It’s not just knowledge.

96. 47:20

    It’s just words. You hear all sorts of words. Words all day long. It’s not just knowledge. It’s not just words, is it? And we read that from that time many of his disciples went back and walked with him no more. So I ask you then, if the Spirit are Jesus words? Did the Spirit give warm feelings?

97. 47:48

    What did the Spirit feel like? What did Jesus words? Life giving though they were? What do they feel like? I’ll tell you what they offended they brought up within his disciples negative and strange and bad feelings.

98. 48:08

    So I’m going to say this now, and I really mean this very, very clearly. I don’t know how to say it more clearly. So to say as clearly as I can, The Spirit is not about your feelings, so get rid of that concept. It’s not about feeling warm and happy and secure and comfortable and lovely and safe all the time. Most often it isn’t about making the easy choice that feels right.

99. 48:34

    It’s about making the difficult choice that’s right no matter how it feels. And the spirit within you is going to allow you to make that choice because you now know what right is. Now know what God’s right and wrong is, what God’s good and evil is, and you’re going to feel within yourself your own good and evil come into conflict with God’s good and evil. So what’s going to allow you then within yourself, when you feel you’re good and evil, come into conflict with God’s? What’s going to allow you to submit yourself to God’s good and evil?

100. 49:13

     What’s going to allow you to yield yourself to him? It’s going to be the Spirit. It might not feel good. And then Jesus said to the 12, Do you also want to go away?

101. 49:32

     But Simon Peter answered him, Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life also we have come to. To believe and know that you are the Christ and so you understand then it’s not just in the knowing. The knowing doesn’t do you very much good. I know some things about economics.

102. 49:57

     I studied them in school. They’re not going to give me anything in the in the Kingdom. It’s not going to help it. I know it. It’s not just about knowing.

103. 50:08

     And if you think that that we’re up here just a pound scripture into your into your mind so we can all be smarter, you’re wrong. It’s not just so, you know. Now knowing is necessary. But Peter didn’t just know. He knew and believed. And he says, we have come to believe and know that you are the Christ.

104. 50:36

     And so he actually, he completes this perfect, this perfect circle. It’s not just knowing, it’s believing. And it’s not just believing, it’s confessing. And I reckon that as Peter saw his friends leave Christ, all those disciples leave Christ, that it hurt, that didn’t feel good at all, that he was really sad. But Christ had the words of eternal life. Where else was he to go?

105. 51:24

     And So what we see then here with Peter is we see that Peter has a spirit. He has a spirit of Christ. That’s what allowed him to say that he has Christ in him.

106. 51:39

     He realizes, despite the confusion, despite the other set of weapons, despite the difficulty of the words, that Christ is life and Peter believed him. And in that action the words became belief, and that belief drove decision, and that decision led to life.

107. 51:55

     And brothers and sisters and young people, we have the words of Christ, we have the same ones Peter heard, and they dwell in us, and we know them, and we can recite them or familiar with them. So when do they become eternal life in us? When do these words become eternal life in us? When do they become spirit?

108. 52:15

     When does the invisible agent of the Word working within me? When does it display power? When does the Word become powerful? When we believe, and when that belief leads us to confess God’s righteousness and to yield ourselves. To his version of good and evil, and to make difficult choices, Not easy ones, difficult ones, and certainly not choices. Always feel good at the time, But which, if you make them, bring great contentment.

109. 52:59

     And each Sunday we do take him in, and the bread and the wine, but just. Just like our flesh is just carbon and oxygen and hydrogen, so is this bread.

110. 53:14

     I guess in and of itself it’s a loaf of bread, but it’s not for you. Do you know why it’s not just bread for you? Because you believe so. It’s more than just bread. It is Christ in you. It is you renewing yourself, and it is in you. Proclaiming the Lord Jesus and his death till he come.

111. 53:43

     And so as we take this bread and this wine, we pass it from hand to hand. What do we think of ourselves? We don’t think of ourselves at all. Suppose we think of the Lord Jesus, we think of ourselves only in relation to Him, and we make a decision once again to be like Him, to crucify our flesh. Our desires and our passions and we choose to proclaim the Lord’s death.

112. 54:12

     And we ask ourselves a very important question. Is Christ alive in me? And am I dead to myself?