Romans 8:1–11Scripture
Two people asked me when I entered today, "Is that your notes?" We wouldn't be here 10 years if that were my notes. So I did not give this to you ahead of time, because I know how you guys are. Half of you are ADD like I am, because we draw people like us around us, and so you'll be focusing on that the entire time, and it will not serve us well. But I do want you to get this, and I'm going to leave it here, and it's collated, I think. So there's seven pages in each section that I need you to take. So I think it's collated, it's like staggered this way, so every seven pages it's staggered. Brook's going to come up and help us make sure we don't give extra pages at the end, but this will be at the end of the service, and here's what I want you to do at the end of the service. You don't all have to come, everybody from your family send a representative down and grab one, and then I want you to take it home and reflect on it. Today during the service I'm just going to mention what these pages are, and then you can take these pages and you can begin to do some research this week, maybe considering how this word is used in Romans, right, and then in the rest of the Bible. And so you guys know that one of the most common words we know in the original language, when it says "love" in the Greek, it doesn't say "love" every time. It's not one word, it's multiple words for love.
How many of you know that to be true? So some things then are lost in translation when we read English translations, because it says
Introduction
"Love," but it might be agape love, it might be phileo love, they're different types of love. All right, and so we know that to be true, but that doesn't necessarily mean that we apply it in our study, meaning that we don't take the extra steps to make sure that we have an understanding of what the word is saying.
For the normal, everyday Sunday attender, it may not be important to you. For believers in God who care about what God has to say, it should be very important to you, and there are resources out there that you can get your hands on that are even free that help you understand what word is being used and what is being said, because if you do not do this work, you can get lost in interpretation, right? You can get it wrong. And so it is the responsibility of each believer to make sure that you do the work. I can't do it for you, your mama can't do it for you, for those of you who are out of the home, your husband can't do it for you and your wife can't do it for you. Man, you must do the work yourself. If you don't know where that is, you don't have to come to me, I'll answer it, I'll give you resources, but you have people in your small group that will help you. If you're not in a small group, sorry for you. That's what community is for. Find a small group. Ask for resources. All right, ask for resources. You can Google it and figure it out in about five seconds, but go to your small group. Okay, anyway, actually, my son, y'all will think this is funny, I can't remember what it was, I'm trying to see if I can remember what it was that he was talking about. What was it?
Anyway, he heard a fact, he heard a fact on something, he mentioned it, and it was an accurate, it was an accurate, true statement. I just happened to know that it was a true statement. But Ashton stated the fact in the middle of a conversation, and then I said, "Well, where did you hear that from?" And he said, "The internet." And I said, "Because you can trust the internet all the time, right?" And then he said, "Idiot," and made fun of me. He actually thought it was hilarious. And he's like, "Good one, Dad, good one." Okay. So I want to, today, really in our small group this week, actually, in fact, we have been doing a little bit of an overview of chapter 8. We've been spending time and doing an overview, and honestly I hate those, because I just like to get down to it and get busy with it, you know what I mean? But I'm realizing through conversation that the overview is essential. Now, today I want you to understand that as we go through chapter 8 in Romans, really the main character of this chapter is the Holy Spirit. If there is anything in the life of the church that creates, I mean, divided conversations, multiple interpretations, multiple ideas of what the Holy Spirit is, it is the Holy Spirit. Of what something is in the Bible, it is the Holy Spirit. Multiple denominations have multiple perspectives, have multiple ideas, and when you come into this chapter and you begin to read it and try to contextualize it and understand what it is saying, you can get to a wrong place really quick. And what happens is you come into this Bible study bringing ideas and concepts and theology you have been indoctrinated in, not that you have established through proper Bible study, but those things that people have told you to be true, and you bring that in, and it begins to affect, and more importantly, in fact, your interpretation. It's a problem.
Point 1Set aside inherited bias and study the text
So it is the work of every person who studies the word of God to understand that we come in with biases, to intentionally consider them, set them down, and let the word of God say what it is trying to say without that being a barrier for us. Are you with me?
And it's hard work, amen. It's hard work. Sometimes you won't even be able to identify what indoctrinated thoughts or ideas that you have, you won't even be able to identify them. That is the benefit of being with a group of believers. We call them small groups, the Bible calls them family. When you are by yourself, you are at risk of not knowing where you're off and out of line with the word. When you're in a group, and we just had a group with our leaders Friday, when you say something, someone in the group that you've built a relationship with will go, "No, I don't think so." You say, "But I say," and this tension, listen, is not a place to create an argument or a conflict between believers. This tension helps us wrestle with the text ourself rather than just adopting what we've been told, and
It is in the tension and the conflict in the conversation that we grow as believers in Christ. Without the tension, no growth.
Pastor Shawn Gray · 8:13
How many of you know that to be able to grow your muscles, you have to have tension on your muscles? When you don't have tension on your muscles, they don't grow. How many of you know that the way a muscle grows is through micro tears? It hurts.
Conversations with people when they disagree with you and they call you in line and they say something different, it hurts, are we, but it's okay, because it is necessary for growth. Listen,
You will never know anything if you think you know everything.
Pastor Shawn Gray · 9:04
It is in putting yourself out there and understanding that learning happens by asking questions, and you can learn something. If you know everything, know this: you don't know everything.
I know this: the things you think you know, you don't really know, and God is trying to teach us. So we need to equip ourselves, we need to be a part of the family, we need to sit in the pocket of tension, and we need to grow as believers in Christ, and we need to do it and bear the pain of it, because
Knowing him is greater than any discomfort we might feel here on earth.
Pastor Shawn Gray · 9:52
It's important. So sin, actually,
Point 2One English word can carry many meanings
There are in the Bible, there are some people say 33 words, there are 23 words for sin.
So whenever you read the word "sin" in the Bible, it might be one of those 23 words. Why am I telling you this?
As we go into this chapter, we have got to begin to consider what it is Paul is saying, and to properly consider what he is saying, we have to know what type of sin he's talking about. Are you with me? You ain't got to know, we have to understand. Listen, and there is this issue, and I talk with our group, there is this issue that in chapter 6 of Romans he talks about fruit, but he ain't talking about the fruit of the Spirit. One of the places we go wrong, and I just feel like it's important to stop here, and I'm going to read Scripture today, to stop here and understand that if you just, every time we hear "fruit" we go out and go, "The fruits of the Spirit are love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, gentleness, and self-control," and then we suck it into the Scripture we're reading and we apply it that way.
The problem is in Romans chapter 6, Paul isn't using fruit that way. He's not using fruit that way. So
It is the job of the person reading the Bible to figure out what is he saying, and to define that term in that verse the way the writer intended to use it.
Pastor Shawn Gray · 11:25
How many of you know that you can sit in a group, in a conversation, and somebody can choose a word, and oftentimes you don't interpret that word the way they interpret that word, and things get lost in conversation?
This is what happens in the Bible times a thousand, because we don't have this opportunity to sit there and say, "What do you mean when you say this? This is what I'm thinking. What do you mean?" And we have to do the hard work of understanding what someone means, what do they mean when they say that word.
That's how we study the word. So if there are 23 different uses of sin, and we read in Romans every time it says "sin,"
It one way, and we apply it one way, that's a problem. For instance, let me give you for instance: when we think of sin, we think of willful transgression, or missing the mark. That's one way to see it. Matter of fact, it's not the biggest use of sin, it's one of the smallest uses.
When Paul says, "When I do what I don't want to do, it is not I that do it," notice who he identifies with. He identifies with the new man. He does not identify with the old man. Believers, take note, a lot of our conversation has been identifying with the old man. We identify with the new man. The old man is dead. Notice what he says: it's not I that do it, because he's new. Who is it that does it? "But it is sin that dwells in me" that does it. If you interpret sin always as willful transgression against God or you missing the mark, how can sin do something without you being involved?
So what is he talking about when he says sin has a mind of its own and does what it pleases and does not involve my will?
What is he talking about? Not the sin, you know, not the sin that you interpret every time you hear "sin," that it's missing the mark and it's a willful transgression.
Again, it gets gone. That's not the sin he's talking about. So what sin is he talking about? The sin nature. We're born with an evil disposition against God. Thank you. Actually, thank you. Are you with me? We're born with a natural proclivity for evil.
It's natural. We want to do wrong. You don't have to teach your kids to say no, they love to say it. You don't have to teach your kids to disobey, they love to disobey. What is that? That's the sin that's in them that's doing that. It is not an issue of the will, it is the nature, the sinful nature we're born into. That's what he's talking about. Those are two different sins, and if you interpret it wrong, you don't understand what he's saying, and you begin to then get to chapter 8 and you go, "I just gotta make better choices and the Holy Spirit's going to empower me to do it."
That's not what he's saying. It's not what he's saying at all. So good luck. That's something for you, just get a perspective on sin. All right, first of all, one more point of clarification before we go on and we read Romans 8:1–11. I'm going to do an overview, and then we're going to go back and we're going to do it verse by verse, not this week but later. First thing I want you to write down:
Point 3The battle in Romans 8 is not yours
The battle and the conflict that Paul is talking about does not involve you.
Notice the two opposing forces, and notice how you're not placed in them. There are two opposing forces that are in conflict with one another: the Spirit on the one side and sin and the flesh. That's the forces. That is the forces.
You're not in there. So then if you jump into the battle and you begin to try to involve yourself in a conflict that is in a spiritual realm, do you really think you're going to help? Listen, I know you want to, you want to do like the whole WWE tag team thing, and you're like, "Holy Spirit, tag me in, man," and the Holy Spirit's like, "No, thanks." So, "Holy Spirit, tag me in, man, I can help you out," and the Holy Spirit intercedes with groanings and says, "Please help that idiot, he thinks he can help, she thinks she can help."
I want you to go back and I want you, in your own time, to read chapter 6 and read chapter 7. Do it. Do it this week. And I want you to see how many times in the conflict that happens that he mentions you. You get it in there, it's not in there yet. That's what we talk about in our small groups. We don't get it, we're missing the whole point. We are missing the whole point.
God is trying to show you through Christ what he has done for you, that he has made you new, that he has given you rest, that he has done so, and the Spirit in you is waging war against that broken part of you.
You've been made alive in Christ, and any remnant of sin in the flesh of man, the Holy Spirit is beating out of you. Your job is to thank him.
Pastor Shawn Gray · 18:23
You enter his courts with thanksgiving, not through fighting.
Pastor Shawn Gray · 18:47
Ladies and gentlemen, we can talk about the power of the Holy Spirit, but notice it's his power, not yours. Stop taking the things of God and trying to wield it in the flesh.
Stop trying to take the power assigned to the Spirit and use it for your personal glorification on earth. I know I'm yelling a lot today.
I got a problem, and my problem is that we are not being responsible enough with his word, and we are trying to fashion it into something that makes us comfortable with us. It's a problem.
It's not your battle.
Pastor Shawn Gray · 19:41
Nowhere are we called to wage war in the flesh. "Well, Shawn," this is what a smarty-pants would say, some of you are already saying it, so I'm talking about you, "Well, Shawn, it says that we are to put on the full armor of God." Why are we going to pull on the full armor of God?
You know what the armor of God is?
Every part of that armor is Jesus. You know how you do battle?
Pastor Shawn Gray · 20:14
You let Jesus do the battle. Go look it up. Go look up every part of that armor, battle, every single one of those are Christ. In other words, he's saying put on Christ, put on Christ, put on Christ, put on Christ, put on Christ. That's five times. This one, every part. In other words, he's saying,
It's not about your strength, it's not about your tools, it's not about your weapons. Your weapon is Jesus Christ. He fights the battles.
Pastor Shawn Gray · 20:51
It is he that you hide behind, it is he that protects, it is he that is the word of God. All right, it's important. It's not your battle. Now let's read Romans 8:1–11 for a review. "There is therefore," you need to go back to 7, last verse, to see what is the "therefore." "There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus." We should all be saying amen to that.
"For the law of the Spirit of life has set you free." Ladies and gentlemen, you have been set free. It's important. Now notice here, I said a few months back, I said we have to be able to see what is for us currently and what is for us eschatologically. When we say eschatologically, we mean an eternity, at the end of time, when we enter into eternity. Notice it has set you free.
So he's not necessarily talking about glorification, he's talking about sanctification, he's talking about salvation. We have been set free, we are being set free, and we will be set free. Which set free is this? You have been set free. "Sets you free in Christ Jesus from the law of sin and death." So he is giving a parallel between being a slave to sin and a slave to Christ, or the Spirit. He's saying you have already been set free and now you are his. "For God has done what the law, weakened by the flesh, could not do.
By sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh and for sin, he condemned sin in the flesh." Oh baby, I can't wait to talk about that next week.
It's big time. "In order that the righteous requirement of the law might be fulfilled in us, who walk not according to the flesh but according to the Spirit." Now, this is a problem verse. I don't have time to go into it today. This is a massive problem verse for people theologically, because we interpret this wrong. Do some homework this week. You have two weeks before we get there, but get in all thy ways, get an understanding about this verse, because he is not saying here that if you walk according to the flesh, it is not contingent upon what you do.
The walk in the flesh is contingent upon what he does. You can read that wrong. Do some homework. Verse 5: "For those who live according to the flesh set their minds on the things of the flesh." Now pause. Pause. What is hard about Paul is he uses words differently throughout his books. So in chapter 7 he can be talking about the flesh, and he can literally be talking about our carnal, fleshly body, our skin, our bones, our ligaments, our flesh. We are wrapped in this thing that's still dying. Are you with me? When he says "flesh" in chapter 8, and you can do some work on this, you'll find it, when he says "flesh" in chapter 8, when he says "spirit" in chapter 8, when he talks about setting your mind on the Spirit and setting your mind on the flesh, he is not talking about the same flesh that he's talking about in chapter 7. He shifted. What makes it hard is he's using, according to the English, the same word. How many of you know there are many words for sin? But what he's referring to, and you can go check me, you have to dig a little bit, right, get resources, don't Google it, there's crazy people out there act like they're professionals, all right, don't just Google it, find resources. When he talks about the flesh here, he's talking about realms. So you have a spiritual realm and you have a fleshly realm. Everything that happens to you when you become a new creation is in a realm, or it's spiritual. Do you know that battles and conflict happen in the spiritual realms? Are you with me? What it says, we do not battle against flesh and blood, but against powers, principalities, and powers of the air. What is he talking about? There is a spiritual realm.
All right, that's important. That's what he's referring to here. I don't have time to go in detail. When we go back, I will break this down in detail. That's what's going on. It's important that you know that, because it affects the interpretation. "For those who live according to the flesh." Now, he's talking about a type of realm, living according to the flesh. "Set their minds on the things of the flesh." Some of you have already, in the review, gone, "I just got to set my mind better."
That's not what he's saying. I'm going to tell you why. Some of us have actually thought, and I'm not like guilting you this morning, I'm just saying this is how we learn, it's how we grow, some of us actually said, "I'm a Christian, I'm a believer, but my mind is set on the flesh,"
Because we read "set your mind on" and we think about what we're going to do in our strength, and then we begin to, because we see ourselves focusing on things we shouldn't, then we begin to go try to fix that.
Chapter 8 is about the Holy Spirit doing that in you. It's not about you doing that in you.
Pastor Shawn Gray · 27:32
Point 4Mind on the flesh versus mind on the Spirit
All right, now so listen, so I'm going to explain it, I'm going to break it down. So everybody say "set your mind on the Spirit." Now say "set your mind on the flesh."
Guess what? You don't have to find a commentary to see what the difference is between these two. He says it right here, and notice that our conversations have been, "Well, I'm a Christian but I set my mind on the flesh a lot." According to this, that's not possible. Right here in this verse, in the verse that you read and studied, and then the conversation was, "As a Christian, I set my mind on the flesh." Well, you're going to look here and you're going to see that's impossible. That's impossible if you're a believer. It's impossible. Watch this. "For those who live according to the flesh set their minds on the things of the flesh, but those who live according to the Spirit set their minds on the things of the Spirit. For to set the mind on the flesh is death." What are dead people? We are dead in our trespasses and sins. Are new believers dead? That's the first hint. It gets more bold, it gets more blunt. Just check this out, it's crazy. It's crazy when you read the Bible, like you realize that you just don't get it, right? Let's check this out. "To set the mind on the flesh is death, but to set the mind on the Spirit is life and peace." It's showing the parallel between these two worlds: someone depraved, dead in sin, and someone alive in Christ. And the way in the term he uses to describe those who are alive in Christ and those who are dead in sin, those sinners before you were saved and after you were saved, he could have said that, but he chose to say those who set their mind on the flesh and those who set their mind on the Spirit instead of saying those who are dead in sin and those who are alive in Christ. That's his terminology. So apply his terminology properly. Then it goes on, it's crazy: "For the mind that is set on the flesh is hostile to God, for it does not submit to God's law." Listen to this: "it cannot."
Is that a Christian? It can't.
Be careful, little mouth, what you say. We have a responsibility to let the text do the talking and the text define the terms, and it's evident we're not doing that well. So what do we do? We just feel bad about it by ourselves and we just, "I quit"?
No, we go, "Wow, he was right there all along. It defined it right there all along. I'm not dead. I am capable, by the Holy Spirit, to do what God wants me to do, and the Holy Spirit empowers me to it. Matter of fact, it makes me long to do it." He is redefining those who are lost in sin and depraved and dead in sin versus those who are alive in Christ. They can't do the law, don't want to do the law, are rebels against the law. But those who set their mind on the Spirit, those who are saved, those who are made new, they can and they want to. That's what he's talking about. Don't assign it wrong.
"For the mind that is set on the flesh is hostile to God, it does not submit to God's law; indeed, it cannot. Those who are in the flesh cannot please God.
You, however, are not in the flesh but in the Spirit, if in fact the Spirit of God dwells in you. Anyone who does not have the Spirit of God does not belong to him." But if Christ is in you, notice that there is black and white conversation, there's black and white lingo. If you have the Spirit, you belong to him. If you don't, you don't. If you have the Spirit, you can obey the law, you want to. If you don't, you don't, you can't, you won't. Notice the black and white. Don't make it gray. Don't interpret it to be something else so you can get busy joining the conflict. Be thankful for what he's doing and has done in your life and will do in glorification.
This is for reflecting what he has done, what he is doing, and what he will do. This is not for you to reflect on what you have done, what you are doing, and what you will do.
Pastor Shawn Gray · 32:41
The gospel is not about you.
I don't know how many times I got to say it. It's not about you. People hate it. That's why all the chairs aren't filled in here, people hate that kind of preaching.
That's why Jesus would heal people, do many miracles, and feed them, and then he'd preach the gospel about the kingdom and they would all leave.
All right. "But if Christ is in you, although the body is dead because of sin, the Spirit is life because of righteousness." That was a little Southern. "If the Spirit of him who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, he who raised Christ from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through his Spirit who dwells in you." That's good news. Now, before we go into this in detail next week and begin to go through this, verses 1 through 3 or 1 through 4, I want to talk about what this Scripture is really zeroing in on, because I want to dispel some myths, some ideas, some ideologies, some theologies concerning the Holy Spirit. I'm going to be bold about it, I'm going to be blunt about it, I'm going to use Scripture concerning it. There are a lot of things regarding gifts that people have conflicts about. It is not my intention today to have a conversation about what gifts are still in operation and what gifts are not, but one thing I will speak clearly on is what the Bible says regarding the work of the Holy Spirit in the life of the believer, because it's clear.
It's clear, and I will speak boldly on those things regardless of offense of man that might rise up. Here we go, brace yourself.
The Holy Spirit, first, it's not an "it," it's not an "of that," it's a "he." Notice it is not a "she."
Just thought that would be an extra little thing I'd throw in there for a bonus, because the Bible says it's a "he," and for all you woke people up in here today, you cannot demand people to respect pronouns of your friends and your family, and when the Bible, or the word of God, clearly says a pronoun he expects to be called, you will call him what he pleases. So even for the woke people that want us to respect pronouns, thank you don't get to get out of having a problem with the Holy Spirit defining himself as "he." He gets to define it, not you. That's good. That's a good preacher. I mean, I just want to, that's good preaching. Thank you. It is amazing to me how we will honor sinful man more than God. We will give more liberties to men more than God. We will change the nature of God for our comfort, but we will allow man to set whatever nature for themself they please. Are you with me? It's a problem.
And let me tell you, the woke people need to get woke in the Spirit, if you know what I mean. It's a problem. It's a problem. All right, everybody take it, Brett, are you okay? You guys okay? Okay. We either talk about the Spirit as if he is the only Trinity member, or we don't talk as if he is a "he" in the Trinity, or we don't talk about what he does at all.
Listen,
The problem in the church today is we either talk about the Spirit as if he's the only Trinity member that matters, or we don't talk about the Holy Spirit at all.
Pastor Shawn Gray · 37:16
Can you see the theological circles, the denominational circles there, right? Both are ditches. Notice here I'm not just ridiculing one ditch, I'm ridiculing the ditches on both sides of the equation. The Bible holds the middle road here.
We have a responsibility to not ignore the Holy Spirit, and we have a responsibility to not only value the Holy Spirit and disregard the rest of the Godhead.
Another thing is that we have a tendency to sort of reduce the work of the Holy Spirit to that of signs and wonders. No, man, this is dangerous territory, right?
People get real prickly when I talk about this. Just hang on with me though. Some hold the position that either you are a signs and wonders person or you are not a Holy Spirit person at all. They will say that church over there, they don't even have the Holy Spirit because those signs don't follow them who believe. Do some research on that verse. It's dangerous.
You're called to inspect fruit. You were not called to inspect whether somebody has the Holy Spirit or not, you inspect fruit. Notice that fruit is not a sign or wonder. You're not called to inspect whether somebody has the Spirit based on signs and wonders, you're called to inspect fruit.
Are you with me? Notice what the Bible prioritizes.
He doesn't prioritize signs and wonders, he prioritizes sanctification and fruit.
Pastor Shawn Gray · 39:28
That's what chapter 8 is about, so don't get it convoluted up in here.
When you're reading chapter 8, don't begin to try to suck in and pull in and magnetize signs and wonders and inject it into chapter 8 for your good pleasure. That is not what's going on here. This is about sanctification. This isn't about, are you with me? All right.
That's not the case. So the Holy Spirit is very active in the salvation process, amen. His work is crucial in both regeneration and sanctification. The role of the Spirit is to transfer us from the realm of the flesh to the realm of the Spirit.
He does this by way of justification and sanctification.
Let's look at Romans 8:9. Maybe.
Point 5Every believer has the Spirit, with no second blessing
"You, however, are not in the flesh but in the Spirit, if in fact the Spirit of God dwells in you. Anyone who does not have the Spirit of Christ does not belong to him." I'm going to talk about a problem happening in our biblical interpretation of the Spirit, that is, you won't see it as pivotal to this text, but it will be pivotal. All right, and wrong theological understanding or denominational adaptation to a belief that you've been indoctrinated in will prevent you from seeing truth here. I'm going to be very clear because Paul is very clear here in verse 9: "You, however, are not in the flesh, but you are in the Spirit." There is a theological position that you can be saved but not filled with the Spirit. Paul says, "You, however, are not in the flesh but in the Spirit." Period. Actually, it's a comma, but notice it doesn't say partly in the flesh. Notice he didn't say, "Well, most of the Spirit's in you but his arms and legs are hanging out." Notice he didn't say that. No, notice not that. You have to understand that biblically you cannot get away from the fact that the Holy Spirit is essential in justification, not just sanctification. There are denominations that talk about a second touch, a second blessing, that it is that we are justified without the Spirit being in us. Paul says that is unequivocally false. It's clear right there. It's clear all over the Bible, and interpreting that wrong. Listen, and some people will say, there are Christians out there who believe in spiritless Christians and spirit-filled Christians. That's where the idea of the second touch, the second blessing, comes from. In other words, you are saved and then there's a second blessing.
This position holds to the notion that the second blessing is when you receive the Holy Spirit. They even have a saying, I grew up in it: "saved, sanctified, and filled with the Holy Ghost," and those are three different works. This position holds the notion the second blessing is when you receive the Holy Spirit, as though those, saved, sanctified, and filled with the Holy Ghost, are three mutually exclusive occurrences in the life of a believer. Nowhere in the Bible does it support that.
Nowhere. There is no sanctification without the filling of the Holy Spirit. In fact, there is no justification without the Spirit of God. He completely obliterates that, Paul does, in verse 9. Any idea of a second blessing, any idea of a Christian not having the Holy Spirit yet. You cannot be a Christian without having all of the Holy Spirit. It is put in you to the fullness, sealed up at salvation.
And people have the audacity to call this blasphemy. "Full Gospel," as if the real gospel's the wrong one. That's blasphemy. "Shawn, okay, we just all get along."
I'm not here to make us all get along. I'm here to preach the truth, because that is the only thing that sets you free. Are you with me?
Not a half truth. "We will worship the God." And so you're, are you saying, are you saying then, are you saying that you can be saved but you can't worship the God then that you believed in, had faith in, and were saved by? You can't worship him in spirit yet because you don't have the Spirit yet, because you have to get the second touch to get the Spirit. So you live as a Christian for who knows how long and you're never worshiping him in spirit. You're definitely not worshiping him in truth. So who are you worshiping? Are you with me? It's a problem.
And there are many people in this room, don't think it's lost on me. Listen, I'm not trying to be hateful, I'm concerned.
I'm concerned because we have sacrificed the gospel on the altar of indoctrination. I'm concerned because I've been responsible for this, tough thing. I'm concerned because I've taught my children wrong.
There are some today that will want to fight me over this. Listen, I don't think you will. I think there are some who will want to fight me.
I just want to cry because I've been guilty of it too. Are you with me today? But instead of fighting for a cause that we've adopted because we have failed to study the Bible, let's just go, "I want to know him and the fullness of his sufferings and the fullness of who he is and the fullness of his word." This idea of the full gospel, you finally will have a second touch of the Holy Spirit, but not at salvation. This idea is that some Christians are without the Spirit and some are with the Spirit, or some have more of the Spirit than others, so then we elevate leaders in the church who look more anointed. That is Gnosticism.
It's how cults are run, where only one person can talk to God and he speaks on behalf of all men, because how could we ever understand his word? You need somebody special who can understand it. Ladies and gentlemen,
The veil was rent in two and all of us can come before the Father, and we can hear him when we read the word of God,
Pastor Shawn Gray · 48:09
and we are given understanding, and it's not about revelation, we have the revelation in our hands. He illuminates it that we might have an understanding, and you don't need your pastor to do it for you, because you have been saved and the Holy Spirit teaches us all things. It's important. I know you might have grown up in a heritage that taught one thing, but listen, we've got to listen to the word. If you listen, there are some who believe, listen, there are some who say that the evidence of the Holy Spirit, I'm going to say it, is speaking in tongues. I'm going to use one thing, we'll talk about that, this is a sign. Listen, I'm not coming against tongues, so just calm down. I saw people go like twitching. But they will say, "I'm not talking about tongues as a gift, I'm talking about tongues as evidence that you've received the Spirit."
Where's that in the Bible? Where's that?
Hold on. God gives us the Holy Spirit to conform us into the image of Christ so that we might really be sanctified. That's what the Bible says. And yet some say that what we should really be hoping for and looking after is not to be conformed to the image of Christ, not to be transformed into the image of Christ, but what we really should, our hearts should really long for, is speaking in a language that no one can understand, including you.
I'm nervous, I sweat a lot, I'm sweating a lot. It's a problem. "If you don't have the Spirit," they say, "you don't belong to him."
If you don't have the Spirit, I'm just telling you, if you don't have the Spirit, you don't belong to him. That's what Paul says. If you don't have the Spirit, you haven't been born again. If you don't have the Spirit, you are not a Christian.
There's no such thing as a halfway Christian, and there's no such thing as having half the Spirit,
Pastor Shawn Gray · 50:44
and if you think the Spirit is something you have to get after you are justified, you don't understand justification at all. And there's a bigger problem here: if you believe in a spiritless justification, you believe, ladies and gentlemen, I'll be very clear, in an unbiblical justification.
You can't do anything apart from the Spirit. The Spirit's work in the life of a believer is about so much more. Its work is to transfer you from the realm of the flesh, which Paul's talking about, to the realm of the Spirit. Ephesians 1:11–14, look it up, we're almost done.
It says, "In him we have obtained an inheritance," praise God, amen, "having been predestined according to the purpose of him who works all things according to the counsel of his will,"
Notice whose will it is, whose will, his will, "so that we who were the first to hope in Christ might be to the praise of his glory.
In him you also, when you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation, and believed in him, you were sealed with the promised Holy Spirit."
Notice what happened to justification. What happened to justification when you were saved? Notice what happened here. What happened to you? You were sealed with what? Where's the second touch? What of that? Verse 14, who is this? "The guarantee of our inheritance until we acquire possession of it, to the praise of his glory." Galatians 5:24 says this: "And those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires."
Listen to Paul when he writes to the Galatians, just listen to this. He is irritated, like Paul's going off. He's going off to the church in Galatia, like he's losing his mind. He starts here, and those, Galatians 5:24, he didn't start here, but let's start here: "And those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires." Notice here, some of us go, "Oh, I gotta crucify my flesh, because look, it says Paul says it, and those who belong to Christ Jesus, they have crucified the flesh." First of all, it doesn't say "they," it just says those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh with its passions, but it's them, right? So he's applying it to them, right? Well, let's go back to Galatians 3, because Galatians 3:3 sets precedent for everything he says in Galatians. So don't cherry-pick a Scripture and not put it in context, because here's what is going on with the Galatians. He said, "Are you foolish?" That's what he said. He said, I didn't ask you that, are you, no, he didn't even say, "Foolish are you?" So foolish, "having begun by the Spirit, are you now being perfected by the flesh?" What's wrong with you? Are you with me?
Context is king. And if you go to 5:24, so that you can tell your kids they best start crucifying their flesh, you're going to do it for them. You might want to go back to 3:3 and understand that how he starts something, he finishes something, and if he starts the work by the Spirit, he will finish it by the Spirit, because he ain't schizophrenic. And so he tells them, "I will do the work.
I'm not going to tag you in. You've been tagged in since the foundation of the earth, and I've had to send road tar down from the sky to kill off people, I've had to flood the earth to kill all people, because you losers can't do it, and you've been tagged in for thousands of years, and tagging you in don't work, so now I got a plan, that by his Spirit," says the Lord, "will he do these things." And now we are alive, and we will stay alive because we are in him. Look back at, look back at 8: 4 through 9. You look back at it, you look at it says those who set their mind on the flesh are dead, those who set their mind on the Spirit are alive. And then he defines it not by what we do with our mind but who we are in, and how who we are in has transformed already our mind. Some of you are going, "What about that Scripture, John? What about that Scripture that says, I got to look it up, hold on, let me look it up.
Oh, Romans 12:2. "Do not be conformed to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind." This is Paul doing this again, so we get it all wrong. When you get it, "do not be conformed," notice, before you were in Christ, when you were lost, you were only conformed by the pattern of this world.
You were dead, you were totally conformed by the world. You're like, "Also, we now, we need to renew our mind every day."
Where does it say that? Doesn't get context. Why don't you read before it and after it? Do that. But I don't think you need to do that here.
He's talking about two realms: the realm of a dead person whose mind is set on sin, and the mind of a transformed, renewed person whose mind is set on Christ. He's showing a picture, and this mind that is renewed, duh, renewed, has been renewed. I'm really, I didn't even take anything weird this morning, like I'm not passing a kidney stone, it's just all natural today. It's crazy. I'm not watching this back, I'm sweating out this shirt, I'm telling you, it's crazy. It's crazy how do we, why do we keep turning it back to ourselves? Why? You're missing it, you don't get it. Do you know what he's done for you? Why?
The gospel frees you from you.
Pastor Shawn Gray · 59:00
I mean, what in the world? Laughs.
Parents, do you have a duty to preach the gospel to your kids and not burden them with the fight they were never called to fight? Pastors have that duty. Husbands, you have that duty.
He's saying you began by the Spirit, now you're going and trying to be sanctified by the works of the flesh. That does not make sense. You don't belong to that realm anymore.
We talked about tongues, let's talk about healing. Let me just real quick talk about healing, I'm being really quick. Listen, we've gone over, listen, we begin to use the Holy Spirit to either try to receive healing or try to pray for healing by laying on hands of other people, so if I believe enough in the flesh and you're going to get it, or if they believe enough that they're going to get it. And notice when healing becomes an indicating mark of someone that's filled with the Spirit, notice when it becomes a healing indicating mark, and notice when it does it, and when someone doesn't receive healing, what is said? "You just didn't have faith." Where's that in the Bible? I thought God gave faith. You're saved by faith, that no man can boast, and God gives it. What? So God gave broken faith, and you're blaming some broken faith that person doesn't even have, and you're trying to do it to uphold what you believe is the second touch by healing through the Holy Spirit? You're what? In the world, does God heal? Yes.
Yes. Does God heal when we pray? Yes. Does he tell people to bring people before the elders and heal? Yes. He also tells us to pray, not "thy will be done" but "your will be done," and notice even as Jesus prays, what his wants are in direct opposition to what God does.
How dare you think you're better than Christ? How dare you say your faith is greater than his? What are we doing?
And if you think that this isn't a part of this text, you got nothing coming. People will interpret this, that's just two things, with those in mind, that's not what he's talking about, ladies and gentlemen. He's talking about sanctification. Last verse, and I'm done, for the third time: "But if Christ is in you, although the body is dead because of sin, the Spirit is alive because of righteousness. If the Spirit of him who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, he who raised Christ Jesus from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through the Spirit who dwells in you." Who is the Holy Spirit that dwells in you? He is the one who raised Jesus from the dead. That's who he is. I hear people say this: "No matter how hard I try, I can't seem to overcome."
You know your problem? You've been trying. And when you put your hands on, God takes his hands off. And what you need to do is you need to tag in the Holy Spirit. This is a stupid example.
You need to get out of the ring, because whatever the Holy Spirit can do is much greater than what you can do,
Pastor Shawn Gray · 1:03:19
and the problem is you try to do it in your own strength, and you will never do it in your own strength. Time has told us that, an eternity will echo that. And I came here today to tell you only the Holy Spirit raises people from the dead, and he's already raised you from the dead in the spirit realm. It's already been accomplished, and he's working it out in time.
It's important. Some people say, in closing, for the fourth closing, some people say Jesus ate with sinners, and you have something in your mind when you hear "sinners." Jesus ate with sinners, you indict them, you judge them, you think, "Those filthy, nasty sinners,"
Or some of you might go, "Thank goodness he ate with sinners, I'm glad he ate with me one day when I was a sinner, now I'm perfect."
First John says those who say the word "without sin" are a liar and they're not his. We have all kinds of interpretations when we hear "Jesus ate with sinners." We think about all kinds of things, but I came here today to tell you the point of Romans 8 is to help you understand you have all sinned and fallen short of the glory of God, and if not for Christ, then of course Jesus ate with sinners. Every single person he shared a meal with, spoke with, had an interaction with, was a sinner. Wherever he was, Jesus was the only one there that wasn't a sinner. In all mankind, past, present, and future, till eternity, Jesus is the only one who has not sinned. So are you. Romans 8 is showing us our hope because of that, and you will never lean into the hope if you think you're peering in through the window at other people who are sinners, when you think you're better than them.
59:50
47:38
1:07:10
59:54
43:23
58:38
1:01:23
1:01:52
55:00
59:37
1:06:11
56:45
48:39
1:05:37
53:34
53:13
46:18
46:48
51:37
46:49
46:49
52:24
38:25
49:40
46:46
56:32
49:07
52:26
57:06
53:13
53:25
43:54
53:31
55:11
1:05:02
52:46
56:50
49:24
1:00:47
57:40
1:00:38
1:05:48Now playing
1:01:52
58:42
49:08
55:21
1:07:01
43:50