Latest / INSIGHT FOR LIVING: Biblical Wisdom For Everyday Living / Let’s Talk about Our Walk │ Msg 35 - Pastor Chuck Swindoll Insight for Living

Transcript

Let’s Talk about Our Walk │ Msg 35 - Pastor Chuck Swindoll Insight for Living · INSIGHT FOR LIVING: Biblical Wisdom For Everyday Living

0:01
Speaker 1: If you have ever traveled in the summer from the
0:05
Speaker 1: flat lands of West Texas and made your way up
0:12
Speaker 1: into the ultimately into the snowcapped mountains of Colorado without
0:20
Speaker 1: realizing it, you have journeyed from Romans chapter seven into
0:28
Speaker 1: Romans chapter eight. It is easy for us to make
0:36
Speaker 1: this colorful with words, but I don't want to do that.
0:43
Speaker 1: I want to allow the reality of that analogy to
0:50
Speaker 1: come to life in your mind. So you'll have to
0:53
Speaker 1: deliberately put out of your mind the anchor, because this
0:57
Speaker 1: stuff's going to go on for a while. Far more
1:00
Speaker 1: important will be what we see in the seventh and
1:03
Speaker 1: the early part of the eighth chapter of Romans. There
1:08
Speaker 1: is no way, there is no way that I can
1:13
Speaker 1: exaggerate the reality of the flesh. And the best way
1:29
Speaker 1: I can think of is to use that analogy of
1:33
Speaker 1: those West Texas miles where everything around you is flat
1:41
Speaker 1: and barren and brown, except for those few places where
1:46
Speaker 1: the crops are growing. If it is in a drought,
1:51
Speaker 1: it is marked by monotony and just the sheer endurance
2:00
Speaker 1: of staying at the wheel of your car until you
2:04
Speaker 1: get on up into New Mexico and then northern part
2:08
Speaker 1: of New Mexico to the Raton Pass that reaches beyond
2:13
Speaker 1: seven thousand feet, and suddenly you discover a new color,
2:19
Speaker 1: and it's green. And ultimately you keep going up through
2:24
Speaker 1: South Colorado and into the central and then finally toward
2:28
Speaker 1: the west, and you get to the rockies, and is
2:33
Speaker 1: there a more beautiful part of our country than the
2:37
Speaker 1: magnificent rockies of the Colorado. And there, if you continue on,
2:44
Speaker 1: you will get to the peaks that are again beyond description.
2:51
Speaker 1: They are magnificent. And you have moved from the realm
2:56
Speaker 1: of the barrenness of the flesh into the beauty and
3:02
Speaker 1: magnificence of the power of the Holy Spirit that takes
3:10
Speaker 1: over and occupies and ultimately preoccupies your mind, taking away
3:20
Speaker 1: the monotony and the barrenness of other days in your life.
3:31
Speaker 1: When you get to that twenty of twenty fourth verse
3:37
Speaker 1: of Romans seven, you have come to the Paul has
3:43
Speaker 1: come to the place in his life where he is,
3:48
Speaker 1: if I'm going to use the word for him, he
3:51
Speaker 1: is absolutely exasperated. He is exasperated with himself. We have
3:59
Speaker 1: all been there. We have found ourselves reaping what we
4:06
Speaker 1: have sown in the flesh and the consequences are well wretched,
4:16
Speaker 1: just wretched. I don't know if you were with us
4:20
Speaker 1: at Sitko when we sang about God's grace, and as
4:26
Speaker 1: we did, because I knew this was coming, it reminded
4:30
Speaker 1: me of where John Newton found that word, amazing grace,
4:37
Speaker 1: How sweet the sound that saved up wretch like me.
4:44
Speaker 1: We rarely used the word today, unfortunately, a wretch like me.
4:52
Speaker 1: You and I are wretches. We do wretched things, We
4:58
Speaker 1: say and think wretched thoughts. And the apostle speaks for
5:06
Speaker 1: us as he, if you will, accompanies us on the
5:11
Speaker 1: journey across the barrenness of life, and we say over
5:17
Speaker 1: and over and over and over and over again, wretched woman,
5:22
Speaker 1: wretched man that I am. We know better, but we
5:27
Speaker 1: still return to that old battle with the flesh. And
5:36
Speaker 1: then as God works within us and begins to break
5:41
Speaker 1: us free from those consequences and comes through in such
5:49
Speaker 1: a marvelous way to refresh us and renew us through
5:54
Speaker 1: his spirit. He he introduces a rush of cool breeze
6:01
Speaker 1: and the freshness of the green and the productivity of life,
6:10
Speaker 1: and it changes everything. Discouragement and despair are pushed aside,
6:21
Speaker 1: and he rescues us and reminds us that he is
6:26
Speaker 1: at work with it us. It's been a long time
6:31
Speaker 1: since we sang the gospel song, written about one hundred
6:35
Speaker 1: and fifty years ago by Fanny Crosby. I blew the
6:40
Speaker 1: dust off of it the other day and made note
6:44
Speaker 1: of one of the verses. Listened to it down in
6:49
Speaker 1: the human heart, crushed by the tempter, feelings lied buried.
6:58
Speaker 1: That grace can restore, touched by a loving heart wakened
7:06
Speaker 1: by kindness. Great chords that are broken will vibrate once more.
7:17
Speaker 1: Love the way she writes that, And of course the
7:19
Speaker 1: chorus is rescue the perishing, care for the dying. Jesus
7:25
Speaker 1: is merciful. Jesus will save Spurgeon when he brings us
7:33
Speaker 1: out of Romans seven into Romans eight, calls his message
7:39
Speaker 1: the monster dragged into the light. I love that we
7:45
Speaker 1: are monstrous in our wretchedness. We who are Christians operating
7:53
Speaker 1: in the flesh, look exactly like we looked when we
7:57
Speaker 1: were lost. We sound like that, we react like that,
8:02
Speaker 1: we respond like that, We think like that, and never
8:08
Speaker 1: try to diminish the reality of it. Sometime our despair
8:16
Speaker 1: and I took Sarah's words literally when she said I
8:23
Speaker 1: just didn't know if I could make it. Who hasn't
8:27
Speaker 1: been there. We know the Savior, We walked with the Savior.
8:32
Speaker 1: We love the Savior, but crushed in our spirit, we
8:38
Speaker 1: think we cannot go on. But we do, and as
8:46
Speaker 1: we do, we are reminded again of God's goodness to us,
8:52
Speaker 1: God's faithfulness. James Dobson years and years ago wrote a
8:58
Speaker 1: book Hide or See, and in it he tells a
9:04
Speaker 1: moving story that I occasionally go back and read again.
9:11
Speaker 1: Listen to it, man, I'll be glad when that stops,
9:15
Speaker 1: won't you. I was recently invited to conduct a lecture
9:21
Speaker 1: series for faculty and students at a seminary. It seemed
9:27
Speaker 1: appropriate that I talked to these future ministers about the
9:32
Speaker 1: subject of inferiority, since they would soon be dealing with
9:37
Speaker 1: many such problems in their own congregations. During the course
9:43
Speaker 1: of my first address, I relayed a story of Danny.
9:50
Speaker 1: Danny was a distressed high school student whose grief over
9:55
Speaker 1: his inadequacy became intolerable and eventually turned to anger. After
10:03
Speaker 1: I'd spoken that day, I received the following anonymous letter,
10:09
Speaker 1: Dear doctor Dobson, I'm one of the dannies you spoke
10:14
Speaker 1: of in chapel today. Believe me, for I have experienced
10:19
Speaker 1: this as long as I can remember. It is a
10:23
Speaker 1: miserable way to live. Thank God, these things don't have
10:32
Speaker 1: three anchors, do they. That's two. So yes, I'm a
10:36
Speaker 1: student at this seminary, but that doesn't make the problem
10:39
Speaker 1: any less acute. Through the years, particularly the last five,
10:45
Speaker 1: I have periodically gained a revived hope that somehow this
10:52
Speaker 1: problem can be overcome, go away or something. Then, to
10:57
Speaker 1: my great disappointment, it is still very much a part
11:02
Speaker 1: of me. That's when I lose hope of ever conquering it.
11:08
Speaker 1: I want to be a minister of the gospel and
11:11
Speaker 1: feel that this is God's will. At the same time,
11:15
Speaker 1: I'm aware of the paralyzing effect this problem has upon me.
11:22
Speaker 1: I wish I could talk with you, even for a
11:24
Speaker 1: short time. However, I realize your busy schedule. At any rate,
11:29
Speaker 1: Thank you for coming to the seminary. Signed a troubled seminary.
11:38
Speaker 1: Since this broken young man had not identified himself publicly,
11:42
Speaker 1: I read and discussed his letter with the student body
11:46
Speaker 1: the following morning. Many of the three hundred young men
11:51
Speaker 1: who were present seemed moved by his words. For some,
11:58
Speaker 1: it undoubtedly reflected their own predicament. Following my lecture that morning,
12:04
Speaker 1: this troubled seminarian came and introduced himself to me. He
12:09
Speaker 1: stood there with tears streaming down his cheeks as he
12:15
Speaker 1: spoke of his problems that he had experienced since early childhood. Later,
12:22
Speaker 1: an administrator of the seminary told me that the young
12:26
Speaker 1: man was the last member of the student body whom
12:30
Speaker 1: he would have expected to feel this way. As I
12:35
Speaker 1: have observed so many times, this sense of inferiority is
12:40
Speaker 1: the best kept secret of the year. It's harbored deep
12:44
Speaker 1: inside where it gnaws on the soul. Sitting in the
12:51
Speaker 1: audience that same day was another student with the same
12:57
Speaker 1: kind of problem. However, he did not write me a letter.
13:03
Speaker 1: He never identified himself in any way. But three weeks
13:07
Speaker 1: after I left the school, he hanged himself in the
13:12
Speaker 1: basement of his apartment. One of the four men with
13:16
Speaker 1: whom he lived called me long distance to inform me
13:20
Speaker 1: of the tragedy. He stated, deeply shaken that the dead
13:27
Speaker 1: students roommates were so unaware of the problem. He hanged
13:33
Speaker 1: there five days before he was missed sent and I
13:42
Speaker 1: attended a funeral not long ago in Dallas, where a
13:47
Speaker 1: well known Christian gentleman who had helped so many people
13:53
Speaker 1: in his practice, was being memorialized. He had hanged himself
14:03
Speaker 1: in their summer home, miles away from his family and friends.
14:11
Speaker 1: He had put a note on the door that said,
14:14
Speaker 1: do not come in, call the sheriff. They called the sheriff.
14:22
Speaker 1: They found him dead, hanging in that house. Ladies and gentlemen,
14:34
Speaker 1: I realized Romans eight is waiting to be enjoyed, and
14:41
Speaker 1: and we will. In fact, we will spend the rest
14:44
Speaker 1: of our time in chapter eight. But I am not
14:49
Speaker 1: one to rush to the end of the book, where
14:53
Speaker 1: the answers are found and the victory is there before
14:58
Speaker 1: we lay sufficiently the black backdrop of the flesh. Chapter
15:11
Speaker 1: seven lays it down for us. I think, when you
15:18
Speaker 1: see it in all its ugliness and recall the impact
15:24
Speaker 1: it makes on others around you, not to mention the
15:28
Speaker 1: grief it brings to your God because you choose to
15:32
Speaker 1: operate there rather than in the power of the Spirit.
15:36
Speaker 1: I think when we do that, it will it will
15:40
Speaker 1: motivate us, if nothing else, to stay in the realm
15:43
Speaker 1: of the Spirit. And to walk in the light of
15:46
Speaker 1: the spirit, rather than yield to the temptations of the flesh. So,
15:53
Speaker 1: for a quick review verse fifteen of Romans seven, that
15:59
Speaker 1: which I am doing I do not understand. So in
16:03
Speaker 1: the flesh we are confused. We give a confusing message.
16:09
Speaker 1: We convey a convoluted reality to those who watch us
16:15
Speaker 1: and live with us, and are impacted by us. He says,
16:20
Speaker 1: I am, I do not understand, for I am not
16:26
Speaker 1: practicing what I would like to do, but rather I'm
16:30
Speaker 1: doing the very thing I hate. Look at eighteen. I
16:34
Speaker 1: know I know that nothing good dwells in me. So
16:40
Speaker 1: not only does he say, in the flesh I'm confused,
16:43
Speaker 1: he says, I realize I am imperfect. I am imperfect.
16:49
Speaker 1: I do the very thing I hate, and even though
16:52
Speaker 1: I hate it, I repeatedly do it. Verse twenty two.
16:57
Speaker 1: I'm in a battle, joyfully concur with the law of
17:01
Speaker 1: God in the inner man. But I see the different
17:04
Speaker 1: law in the members of my body, waging war. Look
17:09
Speaker 1: at that. Let it say what it says, waging war
17:15
Speaker 1: against the law of my mind. I know better here,
17:19
Speaker 1: but I do wrong there. And this battle, this fight
17:24
Speaker 1: for the right, goes on like this horrible years of
17:30
Speaker 1: a civil war, as brothers killed brothers and fathers killed sons.
17:37
Speaker 1: This horrible inner war goes on and on and on.
17:44
Speaker 1: And I am trapped Verse twenty four. Who will set
17:49
Speaker 1: me free from this body of death? And what does
17:57
Speaker 1: he feel? I am finished? The word is condemned. What happens,
18:07
Speaker 1: Guilt comes, shame accompanies it, disappointment with ourselves, depression over
18:17
Speaker 1: the fact that we are We are rebelling against what
18:23
Speaker 1: we know to be right, even though we have within
18:27
Speaker 1: us the power to overcome it. Written across this seventh
18:35
Speaker 1: chapter are feelings of a tired man, if you will,
18:42
Speaker 1: he is exhausted, He is weary of allowing that to occur.
18:51
Speaker 1: I'm tired, wretched man. I feel hopeless. Who will deliver me?
18:59
Speaker 1: I'm trapped? Who will set me free? I'm condemned in
19:05
Speaker 1: this body of death? Verse twenty five. And here forget
19:14
Speaker 1: the chapter break. I wish there were no chapter break
19:17
Speaker 1: until the end of the eighth chapter. Let it flow
19:21
Speaker 1: right along. Forgetting the words chapter eight. Look at verse
19:25
Speaker 1: twenty five. Thanks be to God through Jesus Christ, our Lord.
19:35
Speaker 1: Thanks be to God through Jesus Christ, our Lord. I
19:39
Speaker 1: think what has happened is he has come to the
19:42
Speaker 1: Raton Pass in the drive and he sees there is
19:46
Speaker 1: a there is another climate, there is another refreshing journey ahead.
19:55
Speaker 1: And I thank God for relief, for the the cool
20:00
Speaker 1: breezes that the spirit brings on my heart and barren soul.
20:08
Speaker 1: Thanks be to God through Jesus Christ. So then, on
20:14
Speaker 1: the one hand, I myself, with my mind, am serving
20:18
Speaker 1: the law of God. But on the other hand, with
20:21
Speaker 1: my flesh the law of sin. You see, Paul is
20:30
Speaker 1: bringing us to reality. First of all, only God can
20:36
Speaker 1: bring relief to a soul this wretch. You know that.
20:42
Speaker 2: That's why we're saying, great is thy faithfulness, because you
20:50
Speaker 2: God will come to my rescue when I have made
20:54
Speaker 2: such a mess of things.
20:57
Speaker 1: Only you can bring me the relief I need. It's
21:01
Speaker 1: implied I cannot do it by myself. My mind desires perfection.
21:09
Speaker 1: I can't do that. My flesh desires expression, and its
21:15
Speaker 1: constantly producing sinfulness. Even though I have come to the Cross,
21:22
Speaker 1: even though the Savior lives in my heart, in my life,
21:26
Speaker 1: in my soul and spirit, there is still this old
21:31
Speaker 1: nature that craves to be satisfied. That explains why a
21:41
Speaker 1: man who could help so many others in a moment,
21:46
Speaker 1: a rash moment of decision, would hang himself. That explains
21:52
Speaker 1: why a pastor who for years can preach the great
21:57
Speaker 1: news of Jesus Christ and tumble and fall into a
22:03
Speaker 1: moral tail spin that ruins his reputation and rapes the
22:11
Speaker 1: whole communities trust in him and in his life. How
22:19
Speaker 1: on earth could a man do such a thing? You ask,
22:24
Speaker 1: because he's wretched, because the flesh won that war. And
22:31
Speaker 1: before you allow yourself five seconds of judgment against anyone else,
22:38
Speaker 1: realize you have the same potential within yourself. You have
22:45
Speaker 1: the same nature. So no better in one than in another.
22:55
Speaker 1: And so we feel condemned, no wonder. Chapter eight starts
23:02
Speaker 1: with the words no condemnation. Now Here here the snowpeaks
23:12
Speaker 1: of Greece begin to come into view. The very first
23:23
Speaker 1: concern is that God will forever erase me, remove me,
23:30
Speaker 1: and abandon in the midst of this wretchedness. So his
23:39
Speaker 1: opening line is no condemnation. In the original language, the
23:47
Speaker 1: chapter begins with that same word, no condemnation. One expositor
23:55
Speaker 1: writes this, The Greek is almost startling in its declaration.
24:01
Speaker 1: The negative is much stronger than the ordinary word used
24:05
Speaker 1: for no or not, and it appears at the beginning
24:10
Speaker 1: of the sentence for the sake of emphasis. No condemnation. No,
24:16
Speaker 1: don't tell yourself you are condemned. No, don't say another
24:21
Speaker 1: is condemned, meaning ruined, eternally removed. Salvation is gone, and
24:28
Speaker 1: all of the blessings are over. He is he is
24:34
Speaker 1: disowned by his God. No, no, no, no no. Philip's paraphrase,
24:41
Speaker 1: no condemnation now hangs over the head of those who
24:45
Speaker 1: are in Christ Jesus. Now the chapter as a whole
24:50
Speaker 1: emphasizes our security in Christ. And I want all of
24:55
Speaker 1: you to hear that, because some of you are in
24:58
Speaker 1: churches where this doctrine isn't appropriately taught. This chapter emphasizes
25:07
Speaker 1: the security of the believer. Look at how it starts
25:11
Speaker 1: no condemnation. Look at how it closes. Go toward the
25:17
Speaker 1: end in that great section which says no separation verse
25:25
Speaker 1: thirty five. Who will separate us from the love of Christ?
25:29
Speaker 1: That's the same one who wrote wretched man that I am.
25:32
Speaker 1: But he gets over here at the end of this section,
25:35
Speaker 1: which is the climax. And if you love music, chapter
25:38
Speaker 1: eight is like a grand crescendo, which I would call
25:41
Speaker 1: a long arrowhead that gets larger and larger and larger,
25:46
Speaker 1: and the maximum triple fortissimo. The ultimate emphasis is on
25:54
Speaker 1: no separation, height, depth of angels, principalities, our things present,
26:01
Speaker 1: things come, things to come. Nothing will separate us from
26:06
Speaker 1: the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.
26:09
Speaker 1: And he closes there's no reason for dread or calamity
26:14
Speaker 1: or fear of the adversary that will steal our souls
26:19
Speaker 1: from heaven. It's not going to happen. You feel hopeless
26:24
Speaker 1: in the midst of your wretchedness. The good news is
26:28
Speaker 1: the spirit of God is there and is available. And
26:32
Speaker 1: so that's why I love the word now there. Sometime
26:36
Speaker 1: we overlook those little words because they seem just so
26:39
Speaker 1: tiny that we could get to the big words that
26:42
Speaker 1: are the more important ones. Don't miss now there is therefore, now,
26:48
Speaker 1: right now. God's provision for the believer is not just
26:54
Speaker 1: awaiting us in heaven. It is right now. You hear
26:59
Speaker 1: what saying earlier, no condemnation. Now I dread Wesley's telling
27:07
Speaker 1: us something. God is able not only to raise the dead,
27:12
Speaker 1: He's able to raise the dread. He removes the dread
27:16
Speaker 1: when the Spirit of God takes over and breaks us
27:21
Speaker 1: loose and frees us from the work of the flesh,
27:25
Speaker 1: so that we're able to enjoy the depth and beauty
27:28
Speaker 1: of that river that never will run dry. To many
27:33
Speaker 1: a Christian, the Holy Spirit is an end and he's
27:38
Speaker 1: a ghost. He is neither. The Holy Spirit is a person,
27:46
Speaker 1: is a member of the god Head. Just as you
27:50
Speaker 1: have a heavenly Father, just as you have a magnificent Savior,
27:55
Speaker 1: you have the power of the very presence of God,
28:00
Speaker 1: God living and at work within you. You may feel trapped,
28:04
Speaker 1: but the verses say, the law of the Spirit of
28:07
Speaker 1: life in Christ has set you free from the law
28:11
Speaker 1: of sin and death. And you realize that is all
28:19
Speaker 1: within you. And it is a magnificent switch, a change
28:26
Speaker 1: that gives you a power you do not normally have
28:29
Speaker 1: in yourself. And that's what this magnificent section is all about.
28:34
Speaker 1: The Spirit's empowerment. He does for us what we cannot
28:38
Speaker 1: do for ourselves. He does through us what we cannot
28:42
Speaker 1: pull off. Even with the best intentions. Are the most
28:46
Speaker 1: sincere of New Year's resolutions. We cannot do it on
28:50
Speaker 1: our own. But the Spirit of God can, and does
28:53
Speaker 1: He fulfills it in us and through us. Look at
28:58
Speaker 1: verse three. What the law law could not do, weak
29:02
Speaker 1: as it was, through the flesh, God did, sending his
29:08
Speaker 1: own son in the likeness of sinful flesh, and as
29:12
Speaker 1: an offering for sin condemned sin in the flesh. Now
29:17
Speaker 1: watch closely in order that the requirement of the law,
29:22
Speaker 1: which is a righteousness that you and I don't have
29:24
Speaker 1: in ourselves, but the requirement of the law might be
29:28
Speaker 1: fulfilled in us, not by us. In us we who
29:36
Speaker 1: do not walk according to the flesh, but according to
29:41
Speaker 1: the spirit. So let me. Let me summarize some truths
29:46
Speaker 1: that are that are worth writing down, and will sort
29:49
Speaker 1: of give them to you with bullet points one, two, three, here,
29:54
Speaker 1: and then a few more in a moment. Here's the
29:57
Speaker 1: believer before God. Number one, we are eternally secure in Christ.
30:05
Speaker 1: That is verse one. We are eternally secure in Christ.
30:13
Speaker 1: You who have cut your teeth on a theology that
30:16
Speaker 1: is weak, a theology that has not been honed from
30:21
Speaker 1: the teaching of the New Testament letters are probably weak
30:25
Speaker 1: on this subject. And you live your life fearful that
30:30
Speaker 1: you may drift so far that you have become a castaway.
30:37
Speaker 1: This chapter is saying impossible. Let the words no condemnation
30:43
Speaker 1: stick to your brain. We are eternally secure in Christ. Second,
30:50
Speaker 1: we are internally free. We are internally free. The law
30:57
Speaker 1: of the spirit of life has set me free from
31:00
Speaker 1: the law of sin. I don't have to sin. I'm
31:06
Speaker 1: not obligated every day of my life to fulfill the flesh.
31:11
Speaker 1: As a matter of fact, quite the contrary, we are
31:15
Speaker 1: freed from sin's domination, which means we are freed from
31:19
Speaker 1: the fear of death and dying. May God deal gently
31:25
Speaker 1: yet firmly with all of you who live in the
31:28
Speaker 1: fear of death and dying. I meet folks like that
31:33
Speaker 1: all the time, and my heart goes out to you.
31:38
Speaker 1: I see them on airplanes, and some of.
31:41
Speaker 3: You do, and and you know.
31:43
Speaker 1: What, They can hardly enjoy the flight for fear of
31:50
Speaker 1: a crash. That one lady was going through her beads,
31:54
Speaker 1: and just as quick as she could go through that
31:56
Speaker 1: she was as sincere as she could be, and just
31:59
Speaker 1: just couldn't even look up, as if the beads are
32:04
Speaker 1: gonna somehow superstitiously protect her from destruction. You don't need beads.
32:16
Speaker 1: You need Christ. And when Christ is in control of
32:20
Speaker 1: your thinking, you can relax. You can you can enjoy
32:25
Speaker 1: whatever flight. It's okay, when when when it's time, when
32:30
Speaker 1: it's time for you to go, believe me, you'll have
32:33
Speaker 1: no trouble taking you. You'll go. If it's this flight
32:38
Speaker 1: that's going down, trust me, no bowl full of beads
32:42
Speaker 1: or strain full of beads is going to keep you
32:45
Speaker 1: from going down. God's in control, and you're freed from
32:50
Speaker 1: the superstitions and the and and the fears that accompany
32:54
Speaker 1: death and dying. Uh. Christ has come. He may have
32:59
Speaker 1: left the building, but he had left your soul. He
33:03
Speaker 1: is living within you. And you know, it's like the
33:07
Speaker 1: disciples thinking we're going to go down in this boat,
33:12
Speaker 1: and they forgot they've got the one who makes life
33:17
Speaker 1: possible in the boat with them. So we are internally free. Third,
33:24
Speaker 1: we are positionally righteous. We are already declared righteous. You
33:31
Speaker 1: don't have to work up righteousness. I forget who it was,
33:38
Speaker 1: but yesterday at Taku Lodge, I think it was Laura
33:41
Speaker 1: Young said to me she saw a cute cartoon, one
33:45
Speaker 1: of those you know, brilliant cartoonists that can say it
33:48
Speaker 1: so well and here were all these people just miserably
33:54
Speaker 1: sitting there staring at one another. I think they were
33:58
Speaker 1: near the gates of hell, if not already there. And
34:03
Speaker 1: one of them said to the other that we just
34:05
Speaker 1: found out Sunday nights don't count. I think it's a
34:09
Speaker 1: good way to put it, as if, as if, oh
34:12
Speaker 1: I've got to be there Sunday night, or you know
34:14
Speaker 1: I won't be righteous. Please get past that. What a
34:22
Speaker 1: what a grip to live your life in. Jesus didn't
34:28
Speaker 1: go to Sunday night services, So it's okay. Jesus probably
34:34
Speaker 1: wouldn't come to all these meetings. It's okay. Some of
34:41
Speaker 1: us just lived so long trying to work up righteousness.
34:49
Speaker 3: You are righteous.
34:52
Speaker 1: I love the words of Lewis Ferry Chaffer, who founded
34:54
Speaker 1: our school Dot Seminary. He wrote, nearer, still, nearer and
34:58
Speaker 1: nearer I cannot be for in the person of his son,
35:02
Speaker 1: I am.
35:02
Speaker 3: As near as he not great.
35:06
Speaker 1: Here's the word righteous, righteous, more righteous, more righteous, I
35:10
Speaker 1: cannot be for in the person of his son, I
35:14
Speaker 1: am as righteous as he. It's called justification. Don't go
35:21
Speaker 1: to bed tonight laboring over all the stuff of your
35:27
Speaker 1: life that you've blown He forgives you. He sees you
35:34
Speaker 1: as righteous, and when you are taken from this life,
35:40
Speaker 1: you will be escorted into his presence, because precious in
35:44
Speaker 1: the sight of the Lord is the death of his
35:46
Speaker 1: godly ones, and because of justification, and you are considered
35:51
Speaker 1: godly ones. So interwoven in these verses, now there is
36:01
Speaker 1: the contrast between the flesh and the spirit. You're not
36:05
Speaker 1: gonna let that go yet. He's gonna work that out
36:08
Speaker 1: so that by the time we get to the end
36:10
Speaker 1: of this chapter we will see ourselves in all the
36:13
Speaker 1: glory of justification. But now watch it unfold. There's life
36:19
Speaker 1: lived according to the flesh, which is the fallen, egocentric
36:23
Speaker 1: human nature, and the sin dominated self still within us.
36:29
Speaker 1: The old nature's still there. And there is the person
36:32
Speaker 1: of the Holy Spirit who resides within us, third member
36:36
Speaker 1: of the Trinity living within us. Think of that He
36:42
Speaker 1: never leaves you. He is faithful, he is full of
36:49
Speaker 1: comfort and forgiveness. So Paul's emphasis now is between the
36:54
Speaker 1: flesh and the spirit. Okay, you're ready for another little
36:57
Speaker 1: bullet point list. Here we go. When we walk according
36:59
Speaker 1: to the flesh results in verse five a fleshly mindset.
37:07
Speaker 1: Look at it for those who are, if you will,
37:10
Speaker 1: living according to the flesh. They set their minds on
37:13
Speaker 1: the things of the flesh. So there's a fleshy mindset,
37:18
Speaker 1: a mental orientation towards self, towards sinfulness, dominating impulses that
37:25
Speaker 1: drive us to self serving desires. There's a fleshy mindset
37:31
Speaker 1: when we walk according to the flesh. Verse six. Mindset
37:35
Speaker 1: on the flesh is death. I call it a death
37:39
Speaker 1: like existence. We enter a deathlike existence. It's empty, it's futile,
37:46
Speaker 1: it's full of frustration. It is plagued by shame and guilt.
37:52
Speaker 1: Oh I hope I brought this with me. Oh I did.
37:56
Speaker 1: Malcolm Muggerage. Malcolm Muggerage in his Journey toward Christ describes emptiness.
38:04
Speaker 1: So well listen. These are the words of Ozgennis in
38:08
Speaker 1: his book Long Journey Home as he gets us a
38:11
Speaker 1: little vignette snapshot of Muggridge. Even World War II, with
38:15
Speaker 1: all its demands for sacrifice and heroism, seemed to offer
38:19
Speaker 1: mugg Reage no chance of redemption. He was turned down
38:24
Speaker 1: on his first attempt to enlist, and finally was accepted
38:27
Speaker 1: as a spy in the British Secret Service and found
38:31
Speaker 1: himself far from the glamorous action depicted in espionage novels.
38:37
Speaker 1: He was stuck in Mozambique monitoring the German disruption of
38:43
Speaker 1: Allied shipping board. Listless and desolate, he wrote home to
38:50
Speaker 1: his wife Kitty March nineteen forty three. Much of the
38:54
Speaker 1: time I spend wishing iver did, wondering why I'm doing
38:59
Speaker 1: what I have to do, putting up my own faint
39:02
Speaker 1: struggle with the tedium of time. One night, as Muggeridge
39:08
Speaker 1: wrote later, the absurdity, the futility, the degradation struck home.
39:14
Speaker 1: You're gonna hear the flesh here, listen. I lay on
39:18
Speaker 1: my bed, full of stale liquor and despair, alone in
39:23
Speaker 1: the house, and as it seemed, utterly alone, not just
39:27
Speaker 1: in Mozambique, but in Africa, in the world, alone in
39:32
Speaker 1: the universe, alone in eternity, with no glimmer of light
39:38
Speaker 1: in the prevailing blackness, no human voice I could hope
39:41
Speaker 1: to hear, or human heart I could hope to reach,
39:45
Speaker 1: No God to whom I could turn, or savior to
39:49
Speaker 1: take my hand. Cheated by his position of war's only solace, death,
39:55
Speaker 1: he said, came into my mind that the was after
40:00
Speaker 1: all one death, I could still procure my own. I
40:07
Speaker 1: decided to kill myself, choosing to do so by drowning.
40:13
Speaker 1: Muggeridge drove six miles out of town undressed, left his
40:18
Speaker 1: clothes on the beach, waded out into the dark, cold water,
40:23
Speaker 1: and started swimming. It felt easy, It was settled quickly.
40:30
Speaker 1: He was out of the sight of the beach and
40:33
Speaker 1: could see only the lights from the distant town. But
40:36
Speaker 1: all of a sudden he began to tremble, and then,
40:39
Speaker 1: without thinking or deciding, he began to swim back to shore.
40:44
Speaker 1: His eyes fixed on the glow from Peter's cafe and
40:49
Speaker 1: the Costa Dassle. They were lights of the world. They
40:54
Speaker 1: were the lights of my home, my Habitat long I
41:01
Speaker 1: must reach them. There followed an overwhelming joy such as
41:07
Speaker 1: I had never experienced before, even an ecstasy in words
41:15
Speaker 1: that echo Plato's parable of the Cave, Muggerage wrote, in
41:20
Speaker 1: a tiny dungeon of the ego chained and manacled, I
41:26
Speaker 1: had glimpsed a glimmer of light coming through a barred
41:31
Speaker 1: window high above me. Having seen that glimmer, he was
41:37
Speaker 1: now absorbed with the quest to understand it. What Muggerage
41:41
Speaker 1: had acted on suddenly and intuitively a bid for life
41:46
Speaker 1: and purpose. He now had to find a reason for
41:51
Speaker 1: and this led him ultimately to coming to Christ. The
41:56
Speaker 1: flesh won't lead you there. But in the midst of
41:59
Speaker 1: the flesh battle, you realize the darkness of the world
42:03
Speaker 1: about you and within you. And you know verse seven,
42:07
Speaker 1: verse eight, you have no ability on your own to
42:11
Speaker 1: change it. The mind is set on the flesh, is
42:14
Speaker 1: hostile toward God, does not subject itself to the law
42:18
Speaker 1: of God. In fact, it is not able to do so.
42:22
Speaker 1: Those who are in the flesh cannot please God. Now
42:27
Speaker 1: in the midst of this, and I know it's a
42:28
Speaker 1: dark subject, there is light that shines. Look at the contrast.
42:34
Speaker 1: If you will go back through the verses, you will
42:36
Speaker 1: see these bullet points now that describe the spirit filled life.
42:41
Speaker 1: Verse five. Those who are according to the flesh set
42:45
Speaker 1: their minds on the things of the flesh. But there's
42:49
Speaker 1: the contrast. Those who are according to the Spirit set
42:53
Speaker 1: their minds on the things of the Spirit. So the
42:55
Speaker 1: spirit of God produces a spiritual mindset. And what a
42:59
Speaker 1: different that is. The Holy Spirit doing his work within us,
43:03
Speaker 1: creates within us a hunger for righteousness, an interest in
43:06
Speaker 1: spiritual truth, a desire not to swim further out, but
43:11
Speaker 1: to swim back. In the spiritual mindset. Verse six, there
43:17
Speaker 1: is a vitality of life and inner peace. The mind
43:21
Speaker 1: set on the flesh is death. But look at the contrast,
43:24
Speaker 1: the mind set on the spirit is life and peace.
43:28
Speaker 1: There's a vitality of life. There is a there is
43:31
Speaker 1: an inner peace that comes from the spirit. Verse nine,
43:35
Speaker 1: there is the transforming presence of the undwelling spirit. You
43:40
Speaker 1: are not in the flesh, but in the spirit, if indeed,
43:43
Speaker 1: the Spirit of God dwells in you. If anyone does
43:45
Speaker 1: not have the Spirit of Christ, he does not belong
43:48
Speaker 1: to him. But by having the Spirit of Christ, there
43:51
Speaker 1: is this transforming presence that comes. And then the divine
43:54
Speaker 1: life if Christ is in you. Though the body is
43:57
Speaker 1: dead because of sin, yet the spirit is a lie
44:00
Speaker 1: because of righteousness. And then the transforming power that accompanies that.
44:06
Speaker 1: Let me wrap all of this up by giving you
44:10
Speaker 1: three practical statements that sort of say it all. And
44:15
Speaker 1: I close with a story you'll never forget. When I
44:18
Speaker 1: read it, I just thought that's one. It's going to
44:19
Speaker 1: go with me the rest of my life. Here's the first.
44:23
Speaker 1: A life lived without Christ leads to emptiness. Some of
44:30
Speaker 1: you have never trusted in the Lord Jesus Christ as
44:33
Speaker 1: your savior. You could take a cruise five times a year,
44:37
Speaker 1: you can travel around the world, you can meet with
44:41
Speaker 1: people that you admire, you can attend church frequently. But
44:46
Speaker 1: without Christ, your life will remain empty. That keeps us hopeless.
44:52
Speaker 1: It intensifies our desperation. You must come on your own
45:00
Speaker 1: to the Cross. You personally must acknowledge that the Savior
45:06
Speaker 1: died for you, and the faith of your wife or
45:10
Speaker 1: husband will not get you in the faith and confidence
45:15
Speaker 1: and impact of your pastor will not help you a bit.
45:20
Speaker 1: You on your own, personally, privately need to come to
45:24
Speaker 1: Christ to handle this emptiness that will keep you hopeless
45:28
Speaker 1: and desperate. So that's first. A life lived without Christ
45:33
Speaker 1: keeps us hopeless and that makes us empty. Here's the second.
45:37
Speaker 1: A life lived in the energy of the flesh centers
45:41
Speaker 1: on self. A life lived in the energy of the
45:45
Speaker 1: flesh centers on self. It's all about me, and that
45:52
Speaker 1: keeps us proud, and that leaves us miserable. Remember you
45:57
Speaker 1: use the word wretched, wretched man literally. A life lived
46:02
Speaker 1: in the energy of the flesh centers on self. You
46:08
Speaker 1: will discover that you can you can detect the carnal
46:12
Speaker 1: life at work by how much life revolves around you,
46:15
Speaker 1: your comfort, your desire, your plans, your importance, your petty greed,
46:23
Speaker 1: your degrees, your accomplishments. Paul said, I came to the
46:28
Speaker 1: place in my life where all of that was as refuse.
46:33
Speaker 1: I had no ground to stand on when I realized
46:36
Speaker 1: God becoming first in my life. Now that's the third year.
46:41
Speaker 1: A life lived with the spirit and control reminds us
46:48
Speaker 1: of grace. It reminds us of grace, and that keeps
46:54
Speaker 1: us humble, and it sets us free. It keeps us humble,
47:03
Speaker 1: and it sets us free. I have many things I
47:14
Speaker 1: would love to say, but perhaps among the most important
47:18
Speaker 1: is the value of authentic humility in the believer's life.
47:28
Speaker 1: May God help you get past your own importance. And
47:34
Speaker 1: I know I'm speaking today to some of you that
47:36
Speaker 1: haven't made financially many if you have accomplished remarkable things
47:41
Speaker 1: in your years on this earth, get past all of that.
47:51
Speaker 1: Listen to this story. Marian Anderson, the magnificent contralto who
47:57
Speaker 1: deserved in one worldwide acclaim never for got her rugged
48:01
Speaker 1: and simple roots. In spite of her powerful voice and
48:06
Speaker 1: vast fame, she remained a model of humility. A newspaper
48:13
Speaker 1: reporter interviewing Miss Anderson once asked, can you name the
48:17
Speaker 1: greatest moment in your life? She had had so many
48:22
Speaker 1: big moments. Those in the room that day thought her
48:25
Speaker 1: choice would be difficult. For example, there was the night
48:29
Speaker 1: when Arturo Toscanini announced a voice like hers comes once.
48:35
Speaker 3: In a century.
48:38
Speaker 1: But she didn't name that night or that day. Back
48:42
Speaker 1: in nineteen fifty five, when she became the first African
48:45
Speaker 1: American to sing with the Metropolitan Opera Company in New York,
48:50
Speaker 1: or the following year when her autobiography, My Lord, What
48:54
Speaker 1: a Morning became a New York Times bestseller, she named
48:57
Speaker 1: neither one. In nineteen fifty eight, she was chosen to
49:02
Speaker 1: be a United States delegate to the United Nations. She
49:06
Speaker 1: didn't even mention that then. Before all of that, there
49:10
Speaker 1: was a memorable time she had been invited to the
49:13
Speaker 1: White House to do a private concert for the President
49:16
Speaker 1: of the United States, the First Lady, the Queen of England,
49:20
Speaker 1: and her royal husband. She never mentioned that. In nineteen
49:24
Speaker 1: sixty three, she was awarded the coveted Presidential Medal of Freedom.
49:29
Speaker 1: Didn't mention that. To top it all off, there was
49:33
Speaker 1: that Easter Sunday in Washington which he stood beneath the
49:36
Speaker 1: statue of Abraham Lincoln sang for a crowd of seventy
49:40
Speaker 1: five thousand, which included Cabinet members, the Supreme Court justices,
49:46
Speaker 1: and most of the members of Congress. What a difficult choice.
49:52
Speaker 1: So which of the magnificent moments did Marian Anderson choose?
49:56
Speaker 1: None of the above? Miss Anderson Small, the reporter bowed
50:03
Speaker 1: her head quietly and told him the greatest moment of
50:08
Speaker 1: her life came on the day she went back home
50:11
Speaker 1: to the place of her simple roots and told her
50:14
Speaker 1: mama she wouldn't.
50:15
Speaker 3: Have to take in washing anymore.
50:20
Speaker 1: That's a great story, oh man, true humility. What would
50:31
Speaker 1: you name the greatest moment of your life? The most
50:39
Speaker 1: significant moment you can recall? Does it take you back
50:46
Speaker 1: to your roots? Prophets said that we are to remember
50:52
Speaker 1: the quarry from which we have been dug. Some old
50:59
Speaker 1: testaments suggest a better word is the pit from which
51:04
Speaker 1: we have been taken. We're all.
51:10
Speaker 3: From a pit.
51:14
Speaker 1: By the grace of God, we are lifted to the mount.
51:21
Speaker 3: By His grace, and there we receive righteousness is forgiveness.
51:30
Speaker 3: We are the recipients of His faithfulness, because nothing in
51:35
Speaker 3: our flesh can create any of it. Grace, grace.
51:47
Speaker 1: Like us to bow our heads together.
51:49
Speaker 3: And.
51:53
Speaker 1: Just very briefly here there's never been a time in
51:58
Speaker 1: your life when you've trusted in the Oh, what a
52:03
Speaker 1: what a perfect moment. Here we are on the seas together,
52:07
Speaker 1: and evening will be lovely and we'll enjoy another meal
52:14
Speaker 1: Sarah's concert. But if you're without Christ, sleep will flee
52:22
Speaker 1: from you, because you could die tonight, and you will
52:30
Speaker 1: slip into an eternity without God. If Christ is hot
52:36
Speaker 1: in your life, I urge you to come to him.
52:46
Speaker 1: Perhaps you've made habits of cardinality a regular part of
52:50
Speaker 1: your existence. You make it your family, miserable, life revolves
52:55
Speaker 1: around you, ego centered, selfish, proud. Wouldn't this be a
53:03
Speaker 1: great night for you to say, Spirit of the Living God,
53:09
Speaker 1: fall afresh and anew on me, transform me, humble me,
53:18
Speaker 1: and begin to use me as your servant and so
53:24
Speaker 1: our father. Again. We are cast upon you in full
53:28
Speaker 1: and complete dependence. We rely on you, not only to
53:34
Speaker 1: keep us safely in your care, but to bring us
53:38
Speaker 1: from earth to Heaven, and you will do that by
53:42
Speaker 1: your grace. Forgive us, Lord, for the wasted days and
53:48
Speaker 1: even months of our lives, operating in the energy of
53:53
Speaker 1: the flesh, feeling self important, hoping our name would be,
54:02
Speaker 1: wanting to make an impression and leave a grand image. Lord,
54:08
Speaker 1: deliver us from the cesspool of our selfishness, so that
54:15
Speaker 1: we might become for you objects of righteousness, true spirit,
54:23
Speaker 1: controlled righteousness, mark by doing what is right, loving kindness,
54:32
Speaker 1: walking humbly with our God, our Savior's name.
54:36
Speaker 3: We pray everybody said Amen.
54:42
Speaker 4: The preceding message, Let's talk about our Walk, was copyrighted
54:47
Speaker 4: in two thousand and eight, and the sound recording was
54:49
Speaker 4: copyrighted in twenty fifteen by Charles R. Swindall, Inc. All
54:53
Speaker 4: rights are reserved worldwide.