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There are only two kinds of people in the world. Paul introduced us to them in verse 4 – those who walk or live their lives according to the flesh and those who walk or live their lives according to the Spirit. Some have taught there are three kinds of people: Christians who walk according to the Spirit, non-Christians who obviously aren’t following Christ, and “carnal Christians” who claim to be Christians and live like unbelievers. This third category is a false and fatal teaching. Professing Christians who consistently act like unbelievers and walk according to the flesh are not Christians. Paul is not describing two kinds of Christians in our text this morning. He is distinguishing the great difference between believers and non-believers. People whose minds are set on the flesh and walk according to the flesh are unbelievers. People whose mind are set on the Spirit of God have been regenerated; they have new spiritual life and walk according to the Spirit. They are true believers. So, ask yourself as we move through this passage, is my mind set on the flesh or on the Spirit? Which mind are you?
Paul’s great contrast between these two minds gives us reason to rejoice in the work of the Spirit in our lives. This contrast also gives understanding of the fallen human mind that has only the flesh. Why has the last two thousand years been a history of persecution of Christians? Why has our own culture become increasingly anti-Christian? The hatred and opposition to biblical Christianity seems to grow stronger every year. Why have governments and even churches gone after Christians to silence them and shut them down? Why did Nero and the Roman emperors throw those early Christians to the lions and burn them? Why did the Roman Catholic Church try to annihilate the Bible-loving Waldensians, burn Jon Huss, slaughter Reformers like Zwingli? Why did Bloody Mary in England have godly Protestant leaders burned at the stake? Why did communist China slaughter Christians and missionaries like John and Betty Stam? Why did Karl Marx hate Christianity? Why is there this strong hatred today toward those who stand for biblical morality and godly values? Where does all this come from? There are two minds in this world – the regenerated mind who loves Christ and submits to Him and the unregenerated mind who hates God and rebels against Him. Let’s see how Paul contrasts these two minds.
THE MIND SET ON THE FLESH – THE UNREGENERATE, NATURAL MIND
Romans 8:5, For those who are according to the flesh set their minds on the things of the flesh….
- The mind set on the flesh thinks the things of the flesh.
Those “according to the flesh” are every unsaved person in this world and throughout history. All the natural man has is the flesh and all they think about, all they set their minds on, are things that please their flesh. They think earthly things, all their thoughts are about this world and their place in it. Their values, desires, objects of pursuit are in this world and are driven by their flesh. That’s all they have.
Things of the flesh include the lusts of the flesh, the lusts of the eyes, and the pride of life. Their mind is bound by their own natural depravity and they have no truly God-honoring thoughts at all. They don’t see God personally in their lives. They don’t love God, His holiness, His beauty. They may be humanly very good and noble people, even religious people, but they are as devoid of the Spirit as the worse sinner. They are outside the life of God. The person who only has the flesh can only think about things of this world. If he thinks about God, it will be in a fleshly way. Things of the flesh includes everything in this life excluded from God. All their concerns and viewpoints – political, social, cultural, academic, religious, art, music, all are without reference to the true God of the Bible. This is called the secular viewpoint. Even when they talk about religion or church, it’s earthly – how big, how much, how beautiful, how spectacular, how nice the people are, but not about God, Christ, the gospel, biblical thinking, or true spiritual growth.
- The mind set on the flesh is death.
Romans 8:6, For the mind set on the flesh is death….
This mind pursues goals, purposes, dreams, bucket lists, but they don’t have the life of God in them and they all end in death. They are spiritually dead toward God and have no true concerns about God’s glory and honor in their lives. These are powerful truths about the fallen human race – whether they are Marxists, capitalists, Chinese or Russians, Europeans or Canadians or Americans – the natural man’s mind is dead toward God, so sadly all their hopes and dreams eventually end up spiritually dead under the eternal condemnation of God. They don’t realize it, but they are born spiritually dead and need to be quickened, made alive by the Spirit. Unless they are born again, they won’t see or enter the kingdom of God. Before God saved me back in the early ‘70s, I read about a spiritus and went to visit him in Philadelphia. Why would I do that? What was the point? I wanted truth – but not from God or the Bible. I thought these guys had some secret knowledge. I wanted a shortcut to God, but all these other ways lead only to death! Every false religion and human scheme is spun out of minds set on the flesh, and they end in death.
- The mind set on the flesh is hostile toward God.
Romans 8:7, because the mind set on the flesh is hostile toward God….
Here you have amazing insight into our own culture. The natural, unregenerate man or woman is born with a nature that hates God. This is why people don’t bow their hearts to Christ. They don’t like the true God of the Bible. And you see this in the bigger picture – the flood, the tower of Babel, Sodom and Gomorrah. The Age of Enlightenment was man’s effort to reason their way to truth without God or the Bible. Think of the great minds of the last few centuries like Karl Marx, Charles Darwin, Sigmund Freud, Friedrich Nietzsche who advanced anti-god philosophy through the western world. The mind set on the flesh is hostile toward God! The new atheism of Richard Dawkins, Samuel Harris and others aren’t content to reject belief in God, but “are hostile toward those who hold religious views.” Today there are armies of new atheists populating school boards, professorships, corporations, news media – the hostility is palpable.
- The mind set on the flesh is rebellious against the will of God.
Romans 8:7, because the mind set on the flesh … does not subject itself to the law of God…
The lost man in his heart doesn’t like God telling him what to do. He’s Frank Sinatra in varying degrees, “I did it my way.” This is post-Christianity – I make up my own rules. This natural man who insists he has the right to live by his own rules will settle for anything but the truth. In fact, today he or she calls God’s Law evil and hateful. A school district in Utah just recently banned the Bible because it is “violent and vulgar.” They want a God they can be comfortable with. They’ll settle for any man-made religion, no matter how bizarre. GotQuestions.org describes a post-Christian society as one that “moves from assuming Christian values to ignoring them, to resenting them, to repressing them, and eventually to persecuting them. What was once Christian and is now post-Christian will eventually become anti-Christian.”
- The mind set on the flesh cannot submit to God or please God.
Romans 8:7-8, because the mind set on the flesh is hostile toward God; for it does not subject itself to the law of God, for it is not even able to do so, 8 and those who are in the flesh cannot please God.
These verses teach us two things. First, they teach why there is so much resistance and hatred in the world to God’s authority and righteous standards. This is why we have no illusions of seeing this world coming under global submission to the Lordship of Christ. God could regenerate every human being, but there’s not a speck of promise that He’s going to do that. Have you read the book of Revelation? When Christ returns, He will crush a world-wide rebellion against Him and His people.
Secondly, these verses also teach that the natural man is totally unable to come to Christ or to please God in his own power. Remember when you asked your teacher, “Can I use the restroom?” What did she say? “I don’t know, can you?” You meant to ask permission, not if you had the power. With this mind of the flesh, it’s a “can” issue. And God says right here the natural man cannot come to Christ unless God gives him a new heart! We call it total inability and the bondage of the will. God must do a great and sovereign work of regeneration in the heart of a person for him or her to have the mind of the Spirit! This teaches that regeneration must precede faith. Before a man or woman can turn to Christ, the Spirit of God must take out that hard heart that is hostile toward God and give them a new heart that is receptive to God’s truth. Jesus put it like this:
John 6:44, “No one can come to Me unless the Father who sent Me draws him; and I will raise him up on the last day.
The mind set on and controlled by the flesh is hostile, rebellious, and unable to please God. But thank God, there’s good news!
THE MIND SET ON THE SPIRIT – THE REGENERATE, SPIRITUAL MIND
Romans 8:5b, but those who are according to the Spirit, the things of the Spirit.
- You have a concern for spiritual things – “the things of the Spirit.”
The big difference between the Christian and everyone else is that the Spirit has come into your life. You are no longer just the flesh. The Spirit has freed you from the bondage of the flesh. You are now walking in the Spirit and therefore have a mind that is guided and controlled by the Spirit of God.
It is impossible to come to Christ without the Spirit. The Spirit regenerates you – gives you that new life, brings you conviction of sin, makes you aware of your need of forgiveness, and opens your eyes to Christ. You can’t do anything to please God without the Spirit! Paul calls the entire gospel ministry the ministry of the Spirit in 2 Corinthians 3.
If you have come to Christ, you have the Spirit! You can count on that. God’s Word tells us He lives in you. Your body is His temple! It is His influence in your life that has brought all the change into your life. Thank God, the third person of the triune God is doing His work right now
in your life! And God says if you have the Spirit, your mind will be set on spiritual things. What are the concerns of those ruled by the Spirit? There are many, of course. Let me just point out three.
#1 Jesus Christ. The Spirit’s whole purpose is to shine His light on Christ. Paul illustrates this when he says “To live is Christ!” What do Christians think about? What motivates them? It is Christ! Not just religion, but the glorious revelation of Jesus Christ. Many of us saw Virgil Walker’s twitter video of the Oklahoma University softball players. Their testimony was so good, including, “We’re fixing our eyes on Christ!” That’s the things of the Spirit.
#2 The Word of God. The Spirit gave us the Word and you can’t separate them. The things of the Spirit are all the wonderful truths, all the blessings, all the responsibilities, all the revelation of God from Genesis to Revelation. The Christian has a desire to honor what God honors, to hate what God hates. And he wants to hear the Word of God! This is certainly one of the first things the Spirit does – He opens your eyes, ears, and heart to the Word. Before the Bible was absolutely dry as dust. You got nothing out of it. Now it is God’s personal love letter to you!
Martyn Lloyd-Jones tells about William Wilberforce and William Pitt the Younger, who was a Prime Minister at one time in England. Wilberforce came to Christ and tried to win Pitt to Christ. He invited Pitt to hear Richard Cecil, a great preacher of the day. Pitt agreed and as they listened Wilberforce was exhilarated by the message and was sure his friend was too. As they left, however, Pitt turned to Wilberforce and said, “You know, Wilberforce, I haven’t the slightest idea of what that man was talking about.” There you have it – one man with the mind of the Spirit, the other with the mind of the flesh who could only think fleshly things.
#3 God’s people. Normal, healthy Christians enjoy fellowship with God’s people. There is something wonderful about meeting with other Christians. I know, some are really weird and you may avoid them, but normal, Bible believing, Christ-loving people are part of the things of the Spirit!
Things of the Spirit include much more, but the main difference is that believers have hearts for God and His work in this world. Rather than being consumed with this world, they are far more concerned about the things of God. They may struggle with their priorities, but they are very aware and very concerned about pleasing God, keeping godly priorities, and wanting their lives to count for Christ.
- You know the life and peace that only God can give.
Romans 8:6b, The mind set on the Spirit is life and peace.
You were dead in your transgressions and sins, but now you have a new life you didn’t have before. You have a new attitude and new perspective. You see the world with new eyes. When evangelist D. L. Moody described his conversion experience, he said: “I was in a new world. The next morning the sun shone brighter and the birds sang sweeter.” (Wiersbe)
I can attest to this new perspective. You see birds and babies and sunsets and all of God’s creation with new eyes! You now know the Creator of all things! Those little feet and toes of babies are so beautiful. They are fearfully and wonderfully designed by God Almighty! Hymns you learned as a child take on new meaning: “Holy, holy, holy, Lord God Almighty!” Jesus said, “I came that they might have life and life more abundantly.” This is life in an overflowing, surplus way – life enough for any need! Only Christ brings this. Stonewall Jackson wrote, “I love to see and contemplate Him in everything. The Christian’s recognition of God in all His works greatly enhances his enjoyment.”
Even when there is conflict with your flesh, the Spirit is in you and influences your thinking and gives you peace. Psalm 119:165, “Great peace have those who love thy law!”
Isaiah 26:3, “You wilt keep him in perfect peace whose mind is stayed on thee!”
Look at the lost world. They are agitated, going after this and that cause, sometimes life
breaks down, structures are shaken, broken. Look at the violent protests in city after city fighting over race or gender or abortion or even climate. Isaiah 57:20-21, “But the wicked are like the tossing sea, For it cannot be quiet, And its waters toss up refuse and mud. ‘There is no peace,’ says my God, ‘for the wicked.’”
But Christ brings peace. In John 14:27 He said, “My peace I give to you, not as the world gives you.” Christ’s peace is that assurance that all is well between you and God.
- The Spirit of God takes up His residence in your life.
Romans 8:9, However, you are not in the flesh but in the Spirit, if indeed the Spirit of God dwells in you. But if anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ, he does not belong to Him.
Every believer has the Spirit. There is no Christian without the Spirit. “Or do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit who is in you, whom you have from God, and that you are not your own?” (1 Corinthians 6:19). The Spirit of God called you and moved right into your life never to leave again!
- You are alive with God’s righteousness.
Romans 8:10, If Christ is in you, though the body is dead because of sin, yet the spirit is alive because of righteousness.
Even though your body is still under the curse of sin and will die, your spirit, your inner being is alive because of Christ’s imputed righteousness and the imparted righteousness in sanctification.
- The Spirit of God guarantees the resurrection of your mortal body.
Romans 8:11, But 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 His Spirit who dwells in you.
“But if…” means it’s true. The Spirit somehow identifies and is connected with your mortal, dying body! How glorious that will be when God completes this saving work which He began in you at some point in your life. This verse assures us we will maintain our identity in the resurrection! You’ll be recycled into a much better eternal model, but you’ll still be you. If you were conceived with xx chromosomes, you’ll be resurrected as a woman! If you were conceived with xy chromosomes, you’ll be resurrected as a man. There’ll be no non-binary resurrected bodies. Men will be men and women will be women. And we’ll recognize each other!
Notice your coming resurrection is through the three persons of the Godhead. “Holy, holy, holy, merciful and mighty, God in three Persons, blessed trinity!”
SO WHAT?
There are two minds and only two among all the people in this world. The mind of the flesh is a lost person desperately in need of Christ. The mind of the Spirit is a person who has God the Holy Spirit working in his or her life. What about you? Which mind are you? Do you walk in and think about the things of the flesh or do you walk in and think about the things of the Spirit, of Christ, the Word of God, the fellowship of God’s people? Only Christ can bring you the mind of the Spirit.