How the Righteousness of the Law Gets Fulfilled in Us

Well, good morning. It's good to see you, all of you here today. In excellent worship, being able to worship God together with gospel-centered songs, and we're glorifying the Lord through our worship and we're also being transformed. By our worship as well.

I can't think of a more appropriate introduction than this last song that we sung. in light of what I want us to, talk about this morning, just the prayer request, open our eyes, Lord, we want to see Jesus. That's what it's all about, and I think One of the most profound truths that God has been drilling into my thick. thank you.

Yes, it's, this is, it was this Sunday in July 20 years ago that I came to Cornerstone at the YWCA. In fact, how many of you were in that service? Raise your hand. OK, handful.

The rest we've chased away. but I'd gotten a call. I just graduated from seminary, and, someone from the church called and asked if I could just do pulpit supply for this particular Sunday. And then I was told, depending on how you do, we might ask you back for the whole month of August.

And so they asked me back for August and they said, can you just keep preaching until we find a pastor? And so Cornerstone is still looking for a pastor and And I'm happy to stay as long as you'll, you'll have me. And that was from a sermon, September 8th of 1991, which is the earliest sermon they've been able to find, thankfully. so that was, maybe a couple months after my first Sunday.

this is on cassette. You guys remember those? OK. and I was thinking about it this week.

I was looking back at my sermon notes from my first sermon. the first sentence I said in my first sermon here at Cornerstone, you want to hear it? It was a sermon on Philippians 4:6-7 on prayer and anxiety and so forth, and my sermon began with these words. Someone once said that if Moses were to come down from the mountain again today, the only two tablets he'd be carrying with him would be Prozac.

And with that, my preaching career got launched here at Cornerstone. So it's been uphill from there. Anyway, Romans chapter 8, God is good and, and what a, what a blessing to be a part of this church family and to grow together, and we continue to grow in our understanding of the scripture and more specifically the gospel. we're doing a series through, Romans 567 and 8.

This is a journey to the heart of the gospel. And as we continue in our series through this section of Romans, we come to Romans chapter 8, verse 4. There's some loose ends we're going to need to tie up from, verses 12, and, and 3, but we'll pick up in verse 4 and, try to get through verse 8, although we will leave many loose ends, that we'll have to pick up next week. And if you want to give a title to the message, it will be how the righteousness of the law gets fulfilled in us.

In other words, how God's righteousness, how the righteous requirements of the law successfully get fulfilled and manifested in us. This is a matter of great urgency and concern. And Paul is going to give us some insight into how we can see this become a reality in our lives, even as believers in, in Christ. Let me start off by talking about John Bunyan, the author of Pilgrim's Progress, second only to the Bible.

It is the bestselling book of all time. He lived during the 1600s, but, during his life, like growing up and then into early adulthood, John Bunyan, as he tells his story, he was not, involved in drunkenness and debauchery and, and, and immorality like maybe others would have been, but he was in his own mind, as much of a sinner with the best of them. His number one sin, he says, was heart atheism. Heart atheism and also profanity.

He had an absolutely filthy mouth and a very loose tongue, and when he was angry or wanted to put somebody down, he could cut loose a string of just awful curses and profanities. In fact, on one occasion, he was yelling through a neighbor's window at a lady and hurling a string of profanities at her. And so much so that it caused the woman to tremble. And this woman said to him, You have got to be the ungodliest, most wicked man I know.

And that really sobered him because she herself was one of the most wicked women in the city. And he's like, coming from her, that was really a stunning indictment. And so after that occasion, John Bunyan resolved to clean up his act. He's like, I've got to change my life and do better.

And so he promised himself that he would not be speaking profanity. Anymore. And he began reading his Bible, and it seemed like a remarkable change came over his life, so much so that his friends and those who knew him best were stunned by the change that had overcome him. The way he describes this season of his life is this, he says, I set the commandments before me for my way to Heaven, which commandments I strove to keep.

And as I thought did pretty well, sometimes or did keep pretty well sometimes, I continued to live this way for a year, though I knew not Christ, nor grace, nor faith, nor love, and I was nothing but a poor painted hypocrite. And so he realizes I've got to clean up my act, and he's looking at God's commandments, but he's seeing them as a way to heaven. If I can keep these commandments, if I can obey God, I can then be righteous enough, and God will deem me worthy to enter into heaven.

But nonetheless, his obedience is falling short and it's not perfect, and And he's always troubled and plagued with doubt over am I under God's favor or not?

Am I going to go to heaven or not? And this cloud of doubt followed him everywhere he went. And so about a year into this season, he encountered two women that, were outdoors, they were just talking with each other, fellowshipping with one another about the glories and the blessings and the pleasures of a relationship with Jesus Christ. And he listened to them and he's like, man, I'm struggling to get to heaven.

These women seem very confident. They're resting and I'm struggling. They're confident and I'm plagued with doubt. He says regarding these women, he said, I saw as if they, these two women were on the sunny side of some high mountain.

They're refreshing themselves in the pleasant beams of the sun, while I was shivering in the cold, afflicted with frost, snow, and dark clouds. They're resting in Christ and His accomplished work for them, whereas he is laboring to get to heaven through his deeds. He realized that his problem. primarily that kept him from being able to fulfill the righteous commands of the law was his indwelling sin.

He said, my inward and original pollution was my plague and affliction that I saw at a dreadful rate, always putting forth itself within me. And by reason of that, I was more loathsome in my own eyes than a toad. And I thought I was so in God's eyes too. So much for his attempt.

To be righteous and present himself. to God and be acceptable to Him. Well, many, many months went by, perhaps even years, and where he labored under this mindset and this struggle, and, somebody had given him a copy of Martin Luther's commentary on the Book of Galatians. And he started reading that.

imagine you're witnessing to someone and rather than giving them a gospel tract, you say, Hey, here's a commentary by Martin Luther on the book of Galatians. Read this, it'll help. Imagine standing on a street corner and passing out commentaries by Martin Luther on the book of Galatians, but nonetheless, he came across this and he began reading it and as he tells the story, he wasn't even, nearly through the book before he began to really get the gospel, he began to realize it's not about me.

It's not about what I do.

It's all about Jesus Christ and what he has done for me. He has borne the punishment that I deserve for my sins. And he has perfectly satisfied the righteous demands of the law. And so Christ is my righteousness.

And there is nothing left over for me to do to earn or maintain God's favor. And as he read the book of Galatians and Luther's commentary on that epistle, he came to faith in Jesus Christ, and the change that was accomplished in his heart was profound. Upon believing in Jesus and finding rest in him. He says, I became happy and wished I might die quickly and go to be with him who had made his soul an offering for my sins.

I felt love to him as hot as fire. You see the difference now, now that he's resting in the accomplished work of Christ, that doesn't make him apathetic. Now there's a burning love in his heart for God, and righteousness, even practically began springing forth from John Bunyan's life, as he rested. in the righteousness of Jesus.

In one doubtful moment that he had after this, two statements came to his mind that he felt were from the Lord. Statement number 1, the blood of Jesus Christ cleanses us from all sin. And number 2, thy righteousness, John Bunyan is in heaven. And he responded to those affirmations by looking to the right hand of God and saying, there at God's right hand is my righteousness.

My righteousness is Jesus Christ himself. And his heart became on fire with love for God. And out of that love began springing forth deeds of righteousness, because he was saved, not in order to be saved, because he was believing in God's grace, not in order to obtain God's grace. This is the great irony of the gospel.

Tollen Chavidian in his book Surprised by Grace says this, the irony of the gospel of gospel-based sanctification is that those who end up obeying more are those who increasingly realize that their standing with God is not based on obedience, but Christ, the people who actually end up performing better are those who understand that their relationship with God doesn't depend on their performance for Jesus, but Jesus' performance for us. Amen. That's the journey John Bunyan went on, and I bring that up at the beginning this morning because this is the journey that Paul the apostle is trying to take us on as well.

He's modeling for us something of this journey.

In the second half of Romans, Paul has expressed a lot of similar sentiments to what John Bunyan expressed in his journey. Paul in the second half of Romans 7 is looking at the law. He's like, I love the law, I delight in the law. I rejoice in the law, the law is good.

The law is spiritual. And he also expresses, I, I want to do the law, I want to do the good that the law commands me to do. He found the law's commandments attractive. And he thought, well, I, I, I want to do this, and this is doable.

And so he set about to doing it. But he found that he could not live up to the righteous requirements of the law. In fact, he confesses in more than one place, the good that I want to do, I don't do, and the evil I hate, I do. That's another way of basically saying this.

Paul is saying, what I'm observing is that the righteousness of the law is not being fulfilled in me. I am failing in perfectly fulfilling the righteous requirements of the law. He looks for a reason, and he says, I find then a law that sin is present in me, that's waging war against my effort to obey the law of God. O wretched man that I am, who will deliver me?

And he then begins to look to Christ. We've drawn a lot of lessons from Romans 7. Let me just throw two of them at you. that perhaps we've not focused so much on.

I just want to state these and move on, that if you learn nothing else from the second half of Romans 7, learn this, that if the orientation of your life as a nonbeliever, or even as a believer, if the orientation of your life and your sanctification is centered around the law only, which is the case in the second half of Romans 7. Because we find the word law showing up again and again. That's clearly Paul's focus in the second half of Romans 7. And the Spirit is nowhere mentioned in those verses.

But he begins to show up abundantly in Romans 8. So whether you're a Christian or non-Christian, if the orientation of your life or your sanctification is centered around the law only, then Romans 7:14-25 will be the sum total of your experience. It'll be the sum of your experience. You will never move beyond the confessions that are found in these verses.

We also learned that if we bring our best to the table, even as a believer, apart from the Spirit, we bring our best intentions, our noblest passions, our noblest desires, and we summon our willpower, and we link all of that with the law of God. All of those things together are not powerful enough to overcome the law of sin. Within us, and to bring about the fulfillment of righteousness in us. We can observe that in Romans 7:14 to 25, but that leaves us with the question, how then does the righteousness of the law get fulfilled in us, who are believers in Jesus?

How does it get fulfilled in us? Maybe you're not a believer in Christ. Maybe you're not a Christian, at this point, and you're here and you're seeking and you're asking questions. And, and that's a valid question for you to ask, how does the righteousness of God, the righteousness of God's law, get fulfilled in me?

So we're going to answer this by, offering 4 pieces of counsel, biblical counsel that's rooted in this text of scripture, 4 pieces of counsel to help you and I to experience the fulfilling of the righteousness of the law in, our lives. OK, let's jump right into this council number one. would be this, if you wish to see the righteousness of the law fulfilled in your life, then number one, simply receive and rest in the perfect righteousness that has been fulfilled for you already in Christ.

If you want the righteousness of God's law, fulfilled in your life, you must begin by receiving.

And then if you've already received, you must begin by resting in the perfect righteousness that has already been fulfilled for you in Christ. Let's go back to Romans 8:1. And there's a couple of loose ends we got to tie up. look what he says in verse 1.

There is therefore now no condemnation. In other words, not a single condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. Now notice if you're here today and you're like trying to clean up your act and you've been doing real well, you've been maybe coming to church, hanging out with Christian friends, and it's, it's been a while since you've done some of the things that you felt really bad about. listen, this passage does not say there is no condemnation for those who've cleaned up their act, or there is no condemnation for those who have made significant improvements.

There's no condemnation for those who are maybe obeying the law a little better than other people around them. No, there's not a single condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. This is an exclusive privilege of those who see their bankruptcy, their inability to save themselves. They, they realize they need a savior outside of themselves, and that is Jesus.

And they run to Jesus and get into Jesus as their strong tower, their refuge, and their shelter. And only those who flee to Jesus and find shelter in Him, can it be said. There is not a single guilty verdict from the God of heaven against them. In spite of all the sins they've committed, they may have committed millions of sins throughout their lifetime, and their past life may be an absolute mess.

And even now as a believer, you may look at them and say, what a mess. But still, if they are in Christ, there is no condemnation against them. Verse 2, for the law of the spirit of life in Christ Jesus has set you free from the law of sin and death. Now, when you see law connected to the Spirit of life in Christ, let me give you some words to think about.

Think of the word power. Think of the word will, W I L L. Think of the word operations. Think of the word force.

What he's saying is the sheer force of the will and the power and the operations of the Spirit of God in Christ Jesus has accomplished something for those that are in Christ. And that is the Spirit of God has set us who are believers in Jesus, free from the law of sin and death. Now notice the way this is worded on the screen, sin and death, sin, hyphen and hyphen death, sin and death. That helps me in my understanding of this passage because I think Paul is not so much simply referring to the law of sin, nor is he so much referring to the law of death.

He's referring to the law of sin and death. You can almost think of sin and death as one word. It's the law of sin and death. It's that law that up until 2000 years ago in human history was unrevocable.

It's that law that Basically said you sin, you die. It's that law that says the wages of sin is death. It's that law that God expressed in the garden telling Adam and Eve that the day you eat of this fruit that I am prohibiting, the day you eat thereof, you shall certainly die. It's that law that Ezekiel gives expression to when he says the soul that sins, it shall die.

You sin, you die, you sin, and what inevitably follows is death, which means inward death, physical death, separation from God, and eternal separation from God. And the eternal experience of God's wrath. That's the law of sin and death. No one was able to break apart that law.

There was no law in operation that could overrule that law. No one could come in between sin and death and break that law apart. But God did. Look at verse 3.

Paul says, for what the law could not do, weak as it was through the flesh, God did. So the law could not do this, the law could not free us from the law of sin and death. And the law was weak through the flesh, and that's a part of Paul's way of saying the law couldn't do it and we couldn't do it. The law could not accomplish it in human flesh, which we are in because of our weakness and our inward corruption.

The law was powerless to free us from the law of sin and death. All the law could do was reinforce it. For what the law could not do, weak as it was through the flesh, God did, sending His own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh. In other words, he sent Christ in actual human flesh.

And then Paul says, in the likeness of sinful human flesh, meaning Christ was fully human, a physical being and human flesh and yet without sin. He took upon our humanity. But he was not fallen as we are, yet without sin. The Bible tells us He sent His Son into the world as a human being, as the God man, and sent Him to the cross, and on the cross our sins were placed upon Christ, and the judgment of God that we deserve for our sins fell upon Jesus, became absorbed in Jesus, and the net result is that our sins got condemned and we didn't.

Our sins got condemned, and we didn't. And so this law of sin and death that no one could ever create the separation between sin and death. God has done this. God, the Father, God the Son, God the Holy Spirit has accomplished this.

Jesus Christ inserted himself in between sin and death. He inserted himself in between sin and death. Our sins were placed upon him, and he absorbed in his person the death and the judgment that we deserve to where now we don't operate by the law of sin and death. What we do is we've committed a lifetime of sins, but we don't die eternally.

We've committed many sins and created a lot of mess, those of us that are in Christ Jesus, and we still stumble in many ways, we've sinned, but we don't die eternally. We've sinned, but we live forever. We've sinned We're not separated from God. We've sinned, but we're not under God's wrath.

The law of sin and death that the human race operated under has been overpowered by a greater power that we can call the gospel. God the Father, God the Son, God the Holy Spirit, working. with each other to bring about these events in human history, to bring us to a moment where when we came to Jesus by faith, we were declared not guilty. And the condemnation of our sin, the death that we deserved, was lifted because it fell upon Jesus.

Now look at what he says next. Why did God do this? Why did he do this? Why did he do what Paul records in verses 12, and 3?

Paul says, so that the righteousness of the law might be fulfilled in us. So that, why did God do this? Why did the Spirit set us free from the law of sin and death? Why did God send His Son, as a human being to bear our judgment upon Himself so that our sin would be condemned in the, in the flesh?

Why did God do this? God would say, here's one of the reasons I did it, so that the righteousness of my law, Would actually get fulfilled in you, the one that I am saving. Those who walk not according to the flesh but according to the spirit. Now put your thinking caps on for a couple minutes here guys, and let's ponder this word so that the righteousness of the law, some translations say the righteousness of the law, some translations say the requirement of the law.

Translation would be righteous requirement of the law. This is the same root word that is translated justification or righteousness, but it's a slightly modified form of it, and it speaks of a righteous requirement. in Romans 2:26, Paul speaks of the man who keeps the righteous requirements of the law. Every command, as it were, amounts to a righteous requirement of the law.

I have no other gods before me. Thou shalt not steal. commit adultery. Each of those commands amount to a righteous requirement.

You could sum it all up that basically, the righteous requirement of the law is total and perfect lifelong obedience. That's what the law absolutely requires. And it demands death for those who do not perfectly obey, which is all of us. We see the same form of the word in Romans 5:18, where Paul says, So then as through one transgression, which is the sin of Adam, there resulted condemn.

nation to all men, even so through the one act of righteousness, that act of Jesus at the cross and fulfilling the righteous requirement of the law, there resulted righteousness or justification of life to all men. The way you need to see this is that when Christ was on the when he was on earth, he obeyed every provision in the law. He obeyed everything. By the way, let me ask you something.

If you really want to get to know the earthly life of Jesus, where should you go in the Bible? What? Gospels. OK, good.

Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John. can I suggest one other place you can go? If you want to really understand the earthly life of Jesus, go to the Old Testament law, because that was his lifestyle. He obeyed everything.

Absolutely everything, every command you see, every provision that you find in the Old Testament law, you're basically reading a description of the life of Jesus because he absolutely perfectly obeyed everything in his deeds, and his attitudes, in his thoughts, and in His words and throughout his 33 years on earth, all of that obedience served to contribute to him being a perfect and spotless guilt offering at the cross. One moment of failure or disobedience would have rendered him an unfit offering.

As a savior for our sins, and even when he surrendered Himself to death on the cross, that was the ultimate act of righteousness. The essence of the law is love God with all your heart, soul, strength, and mind, and love your neighbor as yourself.

And in Christ going to the cross, He epitomized both of those elements. His love for his father was so great that he was willing to obey his father and go to the cross. In fact, he even says, so that the world may know that I love the Father, let's go. He would say, part of what I want you to see by my willingness to go to the cross is that I love my father, and also it is the ultimate expression of love for one's fellow man, laying down his life to the point of death.

To bring salvation to those who were unable to save themselves. It was within his power to do it, and he did it. He fulfilled the law throughout his life and then in an ultimate way in his surrender to death on the cross. And so as Adam sinned, it says in verse 18, and then condemnation resulted for all men, even so through that one act of righteousness, and in a way Christ's whole life was one act of righteousness and all of his acts of righteousness.

Went into that critical moment when he gave Himself as a sacrifice on the cross, and through that one act of righteousness, what results is a righteousness of life to all men. In other words, the very righteousness of Jesus throughout his life and in his death that he displayed gets credited to our account. And God now looks upon us as if we did what Jesus did. In fact, the record books of heaven, as it were, would perhaps look something like this.

You can just imagine your name if you're a believer in Jesus, and the righteous requirement of the law is perfect obedience. And by your name, there's a check mark and it says fulfilled. God views you as having fulfilled the law of God. So you don't have to labor to fulfill the law of God.

It can't make that demand of you, because the record books of heaven show that you've already fulfilled it because you have been incorporated into Jesus Christ. Amen. in fact, Sometimes it's good to go through the 10 Commandments and evaluate ourselves and maybe how we're doing and are we falling short, but I would also recommend go through the 10 Commandments and enjoy the fact that total obedience to each one of them is credited to your account. God looks upon you as having perfectly obeyed every one of them.

No gods before me. Good night. I can think of millions of moments where I put other things before God. No idols, don't take God's name in vain.

Keep the Sabbath, honor your parents. Never murder in your deeds or in your thoughts through hatred and And anger. Never commit adultery in your deeds and in your thoughts. Never steal.

Never lie. Never covet. We can go through those 10 commandments and enjoy the fact that the record book of heaven. shows That we fully, total obedience to every one of these commandments, and every other commandment in the law is credited to us.

And God now views us. As righteous with the righteousness of Jesus. Paul, do we believe this, guys? Do we really believe this?

This is a real challenge to believe. Paul tells us in Corinthians that Christ who knew no sin became sin for us so that we might become the righteousness of God in him. How many of you would feel confident enough to stand in front of a mirror tomorrow morning and look at yourself and say, I am the righteousness of God. How many of us could say that?

That sounds like crazy. That sounds almost blasphemous. But you are the righteousness of God in Christ, because his perfect righteousness is credited to you. Now please don't respond.

We're going to get to number 2 and 3 and then very quickly look at number 4, but, what I hope none of you are doing is, all right, this is the whole justification thing. I think I already knew all of that, but Milton, I thought you were going to tell us how to practically, see the righteousness of God fulfilled in us, and that's what I'm interested in. I think I know about this justification stuff, but I want to move on from there. Tell me about how to have actual righteousness in my life being manifested from day to day.

Well, one theologian, GC Berkauer, would say that's a mistake. To say, alright, I already know about my imputed righteousness. Now tell me about how I can see actual righteousness displayed. They are two separate things, but it's a mistake to move on.

In fact, actual righteousness is not manifested in your life unless you first are seeing and resting in and rejoicing in this imputed righteousness. Timothy Keller says it well. He says we do not move on. We do not move on from our imputed righteousness that we're talking about here.

to then only focus on actual righteousness. We don't move on. We never move on. In fact, any particular flaw in our actual righteousness stems from a corresponding failure to orient ourselves toward our imputed righteousness.

Sanctification happens to the degree that we feed on or orient ourselves or have commerce with the pardon, the righteousness, and the new status we now have in Christ imputed through faith. What I found in my own life, and I think what's borne out in Scripture is that as Christian people put the doctrine of justification in front of their face and live in the good of that, do commerce with it, rejoice and exult in it. They catch themselves getting sanctified. They catch themselves.

Experiencing the fulfilling practically of the righteousness of the law being manifested in their lives. In fact, one theologian says it this way Sanctification. is simply the art of getting used to your justification. It's that simple.

It's just, it's just getting used to getting acclimated to, coming to understand your justification, which represents in part your new identity in Christ, just, just getting used to that and then beginning to live in the good of that, rejoicing in that, being amazed and startled by that. And in that startling, in that exulting in the good of this salvation, sanctification quite naturally begins to emerge as a byproduct of rejoicing in the good of the very thing we're talking about here.

If you want the righteousness of God to be manifested in your life. Then in a practical way, number 1, you need to receive and then rest in the perfect righteousness that has on the day of your conversion been perfectly fulfilled in you in Christ.

There's a second thing to do though, and don't leave 1 aside, bring #1 with you and we'll see how you're actually bringing number 1 with you into 23, and 4. A second thing to do if you want to see the righteousness of the law practically being manifested in your life is stop walking according to the flesh. Stop walking according to the flesh. Paul says, so that the righteousness of the law might be fulfilled in us who walk not according to the flesh but according to, the spirit, by the way, that expression, the righteousness of the law might be fulfilled in us.

Most commentators nowadays take that as an expression, speaking of sanctification, so that the practical righteousness of the law might practically be fulfilled in us. But there are some like Douglas Smoo, John Calvin. and, and others who would say Paul is speaking about justification at the beginning of verse 4. And then there's some like Matthew Henry, who would say Paul is speaking about justification at the beginning of verse 4 and sanctification.

As he continues with his thinking, it unfolds in a way that we also see an element in which righteousness practically gets displayed in our lives. But how does it happen? It happens in part as we stop walking according to the flesh. Now if we're going to stop walking according to the flesh, then we have to know what the flesh is, right, because a lot of times the flesh is dictating the way we walk, but we don't recognize the flesh as the flesh, and sometimes the flesh sounds really good and spiritual, and we're walking according to it thinking we're doing the right thing, but in fact we're simply following the flesh.

What is the flesh? Let's define it this way the flesh is that part of us. In our fallen nature that rebels, rebels against God in a variety of ways. Sometimes it will rebel against the commandments of God.

So there are times where you might look at God's word and it's like, Well, God's word says I shouldn't do this. But what, it feels so right to do it. And so I'm going to do what feels right. The Bible says that sexual immorality is wrong and therefore premarital sexual activity is wrong, but nonetheless, it feels really right and I'm going, everyone else is doing it and so I'm going to do this.

When you do that, you're operating according to the flesh. You're disagreeing with your flesh is rebelling against the commandments of God and creating its own law, and you're following that new law that your flesh is creating. That's part of what it means to walk according to the flesh. But also the flesh will manifest itself in another way.

Maybe the flesh will A pretend agreement with the commandments of God. But the flesh in you will rebel against the verdict of God's law that says you're cursed. That you are cursed because of disobedience to the law, that you're under condemnation. There are people who might look at God's law and they like the commandments that they see, but they disagree with the verdict of God that they are condemned for their acts of disobedience to the law of God.

And that their righteousness could never commend them before God as a result of their state of being condemned. There are people who disagree with that, and they're like, No, I, I can do this. I can do this. And if I, if I behave well enough and keep these commands well enough, then I can commend myself before God.

And I think when I stand before God on Judgment Day, he's going to be pretty impressed with what he sees, and he'll declare me righteous, or at least righteous enough and let me into heaven. You ever met someone like that? They're everywhere. And they're not so much disagreeing with the commandments of God, they're disagreeing with the verdict of God.

And so you might have a person over here who's abstaining from all this bad stuff, and they're giving to charity and, and living this religious life of obedience to the law. And then there's someone over here who's just plunging into debauchery and drunkenness. Both of them are walking according to the flesh. They're the same.

This person's walking according to the flesh, which disagrees with the commandments of God, and this person over here is walking according to their flesh that rebels against the verdict of God. Also, our flesh rebels against the provision of a savior by God. There's something inherently offensive to our flesh that we would need a savior outside of ourselves. The mentality today is that, yeah, I've got a problem, but it's my environment, it's people outside of me that's my problem and my solution.

It is to look within. I can find my solution and I can find my way by looking within and following my heart. The message of scripture is, no, your problem is within and you need a solution that originates from outside of you, and that's Jesus. And also our flesh is horribly offended by the grace of the gospel, horribly offended, constantly is raising its ugly head in rebellion against the grace of the gospel.

If you're a believer in Jesus, you are under God's favor all day, every day, good days and bad days, waking and sleeping solely because of the work of Jesus. It has nothing to do with your performance at all. But what? That flesh inside of you rebels against that.

That flesh inside of you tries to persuade you that what, God likes you, because you're doing well. Or God is angry with you. He's wrathful against you. You've fallen out of His favor because you've not done well today.

So you better do some good things to earn your way back into God's favor. You guys know how the flesh works. Please understand that to walk according to the flesh is not just go do immorality. It involves that, but even religiosity, and even believers that are on this performance treadmill seeking to commend themselves before God and trying to earn or to maintain God's gracious favor and to maintain their favored status before God, they're operating according to the flesh, just as much as someone that may be plunging in to Other sins.

It's interesting. You don't need to turn here, but like in Galatians 5, Paul says, now the works of the flesh or the deeds of the flesh are these, and he starts giving the list, and it's the list we would all expect immorality, impurity, sensuality, idolatry, sorcery, enmity, strife, jealousy, outbursts of anger, and so on and so forth. And so obviously Paul's saying don't walk according to the flesh that would prompt you to do any of these things. But what's interesting is that a couple chapters prior in Galatians 3, Paul is speaking to the Galatians who were getting sucked into a lie, and that lie is, yes, you believed in Jesus, and that's great as far as it goes, but you're not really fully under God's favor yet.

You need to add to belief in Jesus. You need to add circumcision. And if you get circumcised, then you will truly be saved and be under God's favor. And what does Paul say to them?

He says in Galatians 3, What? You who began by the Spirit, will you now be made perfect by the flesh? See, those that were trying to add works to the saving work of Christ for them were being just as fleshly, just as fleshly as those that may have been plunging headlong into sin. Paul would say, if you practically want to see the righteousness of the law displayed, manifested, In your life from day to day.

Number 1, simply receive rest in the perfect righteousness that has been already fulfilled for you in Christ. And then #2, stop walking according to the flesh. And then number 3, walk instead according to the spirit. Walk instead according to the Spirit.

He says, so that the righteousness of the law might be fulfilled in us who walk not according to the flesh but according to the spirit. I know what some of you are probably thinking. You're probably thinking, walk according to the Spirit. I know what that means.

I've got to do what the Spirit tells me to do. I've got to obey the commands of the Holy Spirit. So he's going to give me commands, and I've got to obey those commands, and that's what it means to walk according to the Spirit. Well, perhaps it does involve obeying the commands of the Holy Spirit, but it's just intriguing that you don't find that language anywhere in the book of Romans.

In fact, what have we just heard? Here's the only thing we've heard about the Holy Spirit up to this point of Romans. Here's the only thing we've heard, verse 2 of Romans 8, that the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus has set us free from the law of sin and death. So the Spirit has freed us from the law of sin and death.

And so to walk according to the Spirit must mean, at least in part, to learn to walk. According to that liberation, that freedom that the Spirit has accomplished, that's not oppressive, that's not law, it's, it's the Spirit teaching us to now walk the walk of freedom. The only other thing we heard about the spirit of any substance in Romans is in Romans 5:5, where we learned that the love of God is poured out in our hearts by the Holy Spirit who's given to us. So God gives us the Holy Spirit.

You can look at the Holy Spirit and say he's mine. I've been trying to let that sink into my head this week. The Spirit is mine. He belongs to me.

He's been given to me. And God says he's yours now and I can, the Spirit of God within me is mine. What all does that mean? He's mine.

He belongs to me. All that the Spirit is and all that He offers is mine in Christ. And what we learn in Romans 5:5 is that the love of God is poured out in our hearts, the Spirit is mediating the love of God, reaching into the heart of God, and pulling out deposits of God's love, and then coming into our heart in the deepest recesses of our being and is pouring out the love of God in our hearts. So to walk according to the Spirit must mean not only walking in the liberation the Spirit has accomplished, but also walking in this love, learning to enjoy this love, just learning to enjoy being loved by God, learning to enjoy.

Having the Spirit given as a gift. Even in Romans 8, we're going to learn many things about the Holy Spirit that the Spirit does for us. Look at the Spirit that we're supposed to walk according to. Verse 2, he liberates us from sin and death.

Verse 9 and 11, he dwells inside of us. Verse 11, he will in a future day give life to our mortal bodies at the resurrection. Verse 13, he enables us to kill sin. To mortify sin.

Verse 14, he leads us. Verse 16, he speaks love and hope to our spirits. The Spirit speaks to our spirit that we are children of God, B heirs of eternal glory in heaven. And when the Spirit talks to us, he's like, You are God's child.

You are God's child, and you are bound for glory. And none of that can be altered. He speaks love and speaks hope tenderly to our spirits. Verse 26, we learned that the Spirit helps our weaknesses.

I love that. Paul doesn't say the Spirit is put off by our weaknesses. The Spirit is disgusted with our weaknesses. How can you have weaknesses after all I've done for you?

No, the Spirit actually observes our weaknesses and moves toward them and helps our weaknesses. And one of the ways he helps is he prays with us, and prays for us with groanings that are too deep for our words. To be able to express. We don't even know the full depth of our need and our weaknesses and all the layers of that, but the Spirit sees them and he's interceding.

He's praying for us. With, with groanings, he is passionately concerned for our well-being and for God's glory in our lives. And so this is the way Paul speaks about the Spirit. And he's like, hey, if you're in Christ, here's what I would suggest, just start walking according to that spirit.

who has freed you, who pours out God's love, who gives himself to you, who dwells in you, gives life, who enables you to mortify sin, who wants to lead you in the ways of God, who speaks love and hope to your spirit, who helps you in your weaknesses, and even prays with you and for you while you pray, when you kneel to pray, as it were, the Spirit kneels and prays with you. Passionately concerned, walk according, not according to the flesh that rebels against grace, that finds grace offensive, that rebels against the commandments of God and the verdict of God and the provision of a savior from God, and the grace of God, but instead start walking according to the Spirit.

And then lastly, and we just have time to touch on this. And that is that if you want to see the righteousness of God manifested practically in your life, occupy your mind with the things of the Spirit, not.

The flesh. Occupy your mind with the things of the spirit, not the flesh. Paul says, for those who are according to the flesh, set their minds on the things of the flesh. Those who are according to the Spirit, set their minds on the things of the Spirit.

Notice the language there, verse 5, set their minds, verse 6A, mindset, verse 6B, mindset, verse 7, mind set. Christianity is a religion of the mind, and we are to set our minds on The things of the spirit. This word means to set one's heart or mind on something, to make something the absorbing object of thought, interest, affection, and purpose. Just let me close by saying this.

What I really don't want is for anyone to go, oh man, all right, so we're justified in Christ. That's great. That was done for us. But now I have to stop walking according to the flesh.

I got to start thinking about walking according to the spirit. I got to now be preoccupied with and set my mind on the things of the Spirit. That just, Pastor Milton, that sounds like a lot of work. I'm exhausted just thinking about having to be focused on the spirit and the things of the spirit and walking according to the spirit.

Think of it this way. Let me just leave this with you. Imagine that I came to you this morning and I said to you, I want you to know that I have deposited several million dollars into your bank account. And I also had many more millions to spare, and I have invested that, diversified that in a variety of ways, and I have transferred all of that over into your name.

You are now unimaginably wealthy. You're welcome. And you, you are now free to live in the good of that. And if I then said to you, walk now, live your life according to what I have provided for you, and set your mind on these things, go read your bank statement.

This whole portfolio that I'm giving to you, study this, set your mind on these things, be absorbed in these things. Would any of you go, That just sounds so exhausting. No, I wouldn't even need to tell you to do that. You would be delighted to do so.

Multiply that by infinity, and that's what God has done for us. That's what the Spirit of God has done for us in Christ. And Paul says, if you, if you want to really live in the good of this and see the righteousness of the law, really just coming out in your life, rejoice in the fulfillment of the law in Christ, stop walking according to the flesh, walk instead according to the Spirit who's liberated you and loves you in all of these ways, and begin today to occupy your mind.

With the things of the spirit, not the stuff of the flesh.

Someone told me after the first service that our approach ought to be that we're so consumed with the things of the Spirit, which is another way of saying the gospel and gospel truths, gospel blessings, gospel promises, gospel provision, that we're so occupied mentally with those things that when the flesh comes calling, it gets a busy signal. I think that's well said. May God give us the grace to do this. Let's bow our heads together.

If you're here today, you've never put your trust in Christ. You're You're in the right place and we've got great news for you. There is a God who would be pleasured to save you, if you would see your need for a savior and flee to Jesus. And if you I would like to talk with us about this, please come up afterwards.

It would be, it would make my day to be able to talk with you, pray with you, to help you in your understanding of these things. For those of us that are believers, I know there are many in this room that our minds have been set on a variety of things other than the things of the spirit. We need to be done with lesser things, the things of the flesh. The stuff of this world and focus our minds on the glories of the spirit, the gospel blessings that are ours.

We need to allow our minds to be transformed and renewed. And we might learn to walk according to this newfound freedom and love, and blessing, and relationship, and grace and purpose and power that is found. In the gospel God help us. Help us as believers to live this way.

If we truly believed these things and truly lived in the good of them, we could not help but speak to others of the things that we are seeing and hearing in Christ. No one could shut us up. And may this be. Our story as we live in it and speak it to others.

Lord, we thank you for this opportunity to give of our offerings to you, receive these funds and do much with them for the glory of Jesus. We ask these things in the name of Jesus, and all God's people said, And