Prayer: Lord, how we thank You for Your sovereign mercy that we can still meet in this hall tonight! Lord, how we thank You for the good government that took care of the disaster. And we thank You for the effective work of all the fire stations. We thank You even for the kind care for all the suffering ones by the society. Lord, we do pray for all the suffering ones. Lord, take care of their needs. Comfort them. Even turn their heart to You that they may believe in You and trust in You. Lord, use this disaster to bless the entire city. Lord, help us to learn the lessons of the spiritual life. Lord, thank You for tonight. Thank You for such a time that we could be here in peace, enjoying the safety to seek after You and to get into Your leading. Lord, help us, and inspire every word into our being. In Your precious name, amen.
In this message we need to consider once again those items in Romans 8:1-14. We need to see how the items on the positive side are versus the items on the negative side. Of course, the law of the Spirit of life is versus the law of sin and death. One is a negative law, and the other is a positive law. One is in darkness; the other is in light. One is full of death; the other is full of life. One is of sin; the other is of the Spirit. So these two are altogether contrary.
Next we have the Spirit versus sin. We have seen that sin is just Satan dwelling in our flesh. And, of course, the Spirit is a Person dwelling in our spirit. The next items which are versus one another are life and death. The Spirit issues in life, and sin issues in death. Eventually death will go to the lake of fire, and life will be embodied for eternity in the New Jerusalem.
The next items are the mingled spirit, our spirit mingled with the Spirit of God, and our flesh. Our spirit is quite wonderful because the processed Triune God indwells our spirit and mingles with our spirit. Our flesh, however, is very negative. Eventually the Bible tells us that our whole fallen being is the flesh. No flesh can be justified before God. That means all fallen men. The flesh firstly denotes a part of our being. Eventually it denotes our entire being. Our entire fallen being is called the flesh. Our spirit is our regenerated human spirit mingled with the divine Spirit. This is not our fallen, deadened spirit, but our regenerated spirit.
The things of the flesh and the things of the Spirit are also versus one another. Recently I illustrated by showing that some things are of God: Christ, the church, the saints, our experiences of Christ, the Word, the Life-study messages, the meetings, and the gospel. Of course these things are representative; they are illustrations. Actually the things of the Spirit are many.
The mind set on the spirit is versus the mind set on the flesh. These are not two minds, but one mind. But it may be on the flesh, or it may be on the spirit. When it is on the flesh, it is the mind on the flesh. When it is on the spirit, it is the mind on the spirit.
The matter of peace in verse 6 is versus the enmity in verse 7. Peace here is peace with God. In like manner, enmity here refers to enmity with God.
The indwelling Spirit in verse 11 is versus the body which is dead because of sin. The issue of the Spirit of God indwelling us is life, and the issue of sin being in our body is death. So the Spirit of God is versus the body.
The Spirit of Christ is versus the dead. Verse 9 says that if we have the Spirit of Christ, we are of Him. Verse 11 speaks of the Spirit of the One who raised Jesus from among the dead dwelling in us. This means that He who raised Christ from among the dead will also give life to us. By reading verses 9 and 10 carefully, we can see that there is an implication that the Spirit of Christ is versus the dead.
The Spirit of the One is versus the practices of the body. If you cooperate with the practices of the body, you are against the Spirit of the One. But if you are one with the Spirit of the One, surely you will put the practices of the body to death.
The last pair of items which are versus one another are the debtors and the sons of God. Both of these items are persons. If you are the sons of God, you are heirs to inherit all the riches. If you are debtors, you owe something to God and to man. If you live in the negative line, the result is that you will be a debtor. If you live in the positive line, the result is that you will be a son of God, inheriting the riches of God.