The epistle of Paul to the Romans and
the 8th chapter.
Romans and chapter 8.
You may or may not remember that, I
know you weren't living then, 1772 a man
by the name of Samuel Taylor Coleridge was
born.
He became one of the outstanding critics of
the day, later, not when he was born,
but later.
And he wrote a lot of things.
One thing that is outstanding in his writings
was a thing called the Ancient Mariner.
And it was acclaimed and disclaimed.
He was born in when?
1772, died in 1834.
But he said this epistle of Paul to
the Romans, in his opinion of course, one
man's opinion isn't everything, he said this is
the most sublime thing that was ever written,
this amazing epistle.
When I first came to America, my first
trip in 1950, there was a book critic
by the name of Wilbur Smith.
A very outstanding, almost a genius, he had
a private library of 25,000 books.
I think I'd like that number too.
Well he said if this is the most
sublime book that has ever been written, the
epistle to the Romans that is, the 8th
chapter is the very peak of all the
revelation.
And it is the most sublime part of
the most sublime book.
I think it was in the 1800s there
was a hymn written, Eternal Light, Eternal Light,
how pure the soul must be.
There's a phrase in that hymn that always
sticks with me.
The writer speaks of the Holy Spirit's energies,
the Holy Spirit's energy.
It was he who moved over chaos in
the beginning, you remember, and out of it
brought cosmos or order.
It was he who moved over men, some
that climbed, one climbed the sycamore tree.
Amos was a herdsman.
David was a king.
These strange characters, different characters were all inspired
by the Holy Spirit of God.
In these days when there's some disregard for
the Old Testament, I want to remind you
again that all, that's A-L-L, scripture
is given by inspiration of God.
And even in this day it's profitable to
us.
The energy of the Holy Ghost breathes all
through Romans as far as I'm concerned.
In fact there are 26 references to the
Holy Spirit in the epistle of Paul to
the Romans.
And if I remember 18 of them are
in this very chapter.
I reminded you before that Romans 7 is
a funeral march.
Romans 8 is a wedding march.
I think if Paul had known it after
he wrote Romans 7 he would have sung,
Out of my bondage, sorrow and night, Jesus
I come.
That's a great hymn.
Out of my sickness into thy health, out
of my poverty into thy wealth, out of
my sin and into thyself, Jesus I come.
God had to continually remind the children of
Israel, Remember thou wast a bondsman.
Never forget or be ashamed of your birthplace.
I don't care if you're born in a
gutter.
I don't care if you're born of a
harlot.
You have life.
Can't be made as much as science tries.
It can destroy it.
In fact it's making an oven now to
roast us all in it.
Can't just decide what temperature but we're trying
to beat the Russians at it.
But life is the most precious thing.
Romans 7, full of darkness and death.
I'll say this and repent afterwards.
I sometimes think that many of the modern
preachers are devil's advocates.
I heard the greatest holiness preacher, greatest expositor
in the world, 50, 60 years ago, 50
years ago.
And he gave a classic sermon on holiness
and then he finished and said, Now look,
I'm not preaching sinless perfection.
But you know in our day we're more
afraid of holiness than we are of sinfulness.
That's a great weakness of the church today.
He finished up by saying, but remember with
all his amazing comprehension of God, the Apostle
Paul finished up saying, Oh wretched man, that's
a lie from hell.
He did not finish there.
There happens to be another chapter after Romans
7 and it's called Romans 8.
To me the Apostle Paul is the best
example of his own theology.
Every preacher should be that.
A man with an experience, this is not
mine, it's good enough to be mine, but
it isn't mine.
A man with an experience is never at
the mercy of a man with an argument.
I had to jump out of a burning
hotel in Chicago in 1951.
You'll be amazed at the advice I got
afterwards, how I should have done it.
I should have jumped and tippled head over
heels coming down.
All the counsel I got after I'd gone
through that horrible experience.
I said, I suppose I should have sat
down and said, Hey, fire department, wait, I'm
drawing a plan now to get out of
this place.
I happen to have some experience, I don't
want to repeat it, I don't want to
tell you about it either.
But you see, this man's life breathes everything
he preached.
He dares to say what few men dare
to say.
What things ye, as followers of readers of
my testimony, what things you have seen and
heard in me doing, the God of peace
be with you.
Ask your preacher on Sunday, dare he say
that?
Dare he say to you, go where I
go, read what I read, do what I
read?
Follow in my footprints, and when you get
to the literacy, I'll be accountable for the
way you've trod, because you've followed me.
You know, when you read this chapter, first
of all, this eighth chapter, there's nothing tremendously
exciting about it, I think.
It doesn't give you any goose lumps, or
whatever you want to call, turkey pimples, or
anything else.
It seems very plain at first.
But, Dr. Sangster of Westminster, a very marvelous
man, used to say, Brother Ravner, we need
to be close readers of the New Testament.
He didn't mean read it closely like this,
you know.
He meant, get down and don't skip it,
don't get through it quickly, meditate on it,
it's a lost art.
The psalmist says, I will meditate in thy
precepts.
Meditation, contemplation, brings revelation.
Look how he begins.
Yes, he's finished there, verse 24 of the
previous chapter, O wretched man that I am,
who shall deliver me from this death?
The law can't do it.
But he answers in the next verse, I
thank God through Jesus Christ my Lord.
With my mind I serve the law of
God, but with my flesh the law of
sin.
What does he mean?
He's sinning?
No, he says, my body, this body of
mine, is going to serve the law of
sin, which is death.
If man hadn't of sin, there would have
been no death.
But he says, this body most likely will
serve the law of death.
Of sin and of death.
He says, there is therefore now no condemnation.
The key verse, let me jump to it.
It's down here in two verses, verse 15
and verse 16.
Ye have not received the spirit of bondage
again unto fear, but ye have received the
spirit of adoption whereby we cry, Father.
That's what it really is.
Father, Father.
That the eternal God who sits on a
throne, the high and lofty one who inhabited
eternity, is my Father.
We reminded ourselves of this last week.
Abraham never called him Father.
Nor did Isaiah.
Nor did the outstanding prophets of the Old
Testament.
But we are permitted by the grace and
mercy of God, because we being God was
contracted to a span, an incomprehensibly made man.
The heavens of heavens cannot contain him, and
yet he's packed into the womb of a
virgin.
How do you explain it?
You can't.
Any more than you can explain how eternal
life was put to death on the cross.
There is therefore now no condemnation.
Let me go back, I'm sorry.
Verse 15.
Ye have not received the spirit of bondage
again, but the spirit of adoption whereby we
cry, Abba, Father, or Father, Father.
The spirit itself.
That's a terrible translation.
The spirit isn't it, it's him.
He's a person.
And I remind you again that the Trinity
is not composed in this way.
The Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost.
The Holy Spirit is not, N.O.T.,
a junior partner in the Godhead.
He's equal with the Father, equal with the
Son.
Every mass...
Let me say this.
The Holy Spirit is totally incapable of doing
anything small.
You say, but, well, my salvation wasn't dramatic.
I've never been a prostitute.
I've never been a thief.
Come on.
It took the mercy of God, the blood
of Christ, and the power of the Holy
Ghost to redeem you, and regenerate you.
You're the product of the triune God.
It didn't happen just because you knelt down
and said, I'm a lousy rotten sinner and
I deserve hell.
No, no, no.
Agencies have been working before ever you could
say that.
It used to be, years ago...
Yes, years ago.
Years ago, preachers used to preach about prevenient
grace.
Do you know what that means?
It means all the times God interfered in
your life when you were ready to slip
into hell, and he rescued you like that.
When you're going to do a somersault into
destruction, and there came an unseen hand and
an unseen power and restrained you.
It might have been called fear.
It might have been some other thing.
But prevenient grace was there.
You did not make the first move to
God.
He made the first move to you.
The Spirit himself beareth witness with our spirit.
Notice that.
You might say to me, did you see
Sonny James in the meeting?
I say, yeah.
No, I didn't.
I saw the shell he lives in.
Nobody's ever seen him, not even his wife.
Which may be good, but anyhow.
All I've seen is the house in which
you live.
You are a spirit.
God is a spirit.
And as an old hymn says, spirit to
spirit thou dost speak.
You've not received the spirit of bondage.
The Spirit himself beareth witness with our spirit,
not our emotions, not our thinking, not our
intellect.
I am a spirit capable only of being
touched by God on the level of the
Spirit.
You can put my body to death.
You can't put my spirit to death.
The Spirit beareth witness.
How does he beareth witness?
Well, this first verse says, there is therefore
now no condemnation.
Oh, if you were Methodist, I'd have you
sing that great old hymn of Charles Wesley's,
And can it be that I should go?
How many of you know that?
Wonderful.
What a pity it isn't in our book.
These Baptists are only 200 years behind.
They'll catch up some of these days.
Don't frown on me now.
Because I've got the advantage, I can point
you out, see.
But that's when Wesley wrote that.
And can it be that I should gain
an interest in the Saviour's blood?
Died he for me who caused his pain?
For me who him to death pursued?
Amazing love, how can it be that thou,
my God, shouldst die for me?
The second standard says, no condemnation though I
dread.
You see, I never have joy bows or
much excitement in it.
Well, that's not the point.
I remember slipping into a meeting after I
preached at a meeting in Ireland.
I went in, and as I went in,
the schoolmaster of the district, very fine Christian
was there, and he waved, I said, Hi.
When the altar call was given, his daughter,
a very bright 15-year-old, rosy-cheeked,
blue-eyed Irish girl, went down to the
altar.
He said, Would you please help my daughter
when she comes back?
I will if I can.
She went up to the altar last week
when this man called.
Oh, so when she came up, I said,
Come on, let's go here.
Your daddy wants me to talk with you.
What happened tonight?
Tell me this.
What happened last week?
You went up to the altar last week.
Why?
I was tormented with guilt.
I was weighed down with condemnation.
I was haunted with memories.
What happened?
Well, I went to the front.
They told me what to do.
What happened?
Nothing.
I got up in the morning.
I was just the same.
Felt my guilt.
First I disappointed God.
She went down the list again.
And then I said, What happened tonight?
She said, Well, I just went up to
the front and I said the same thing
again.
What happened?
Nothing.
Are you sure?
Well, I don't feel any excitement.
We used to sing a hymn, You shall
have the joy bells ringing in your heart.
No joy bells ringing in my heart, she
said.
But that's not the point.
What's the point?
You said that when you went up to
that altar last week and this week, you
were bored down with condemnation and guilt and
haunted with memories, afraid of exposure, what your
daddy and mummy would think.
Did you really pray sincerely, God be merciful
to me, a sinner?
Did you really say, I believe Jesus died
for my sins, even mine, as John Wesley
said?
He prayed that at a quarter to nine
on the 24th of May, 1738.
And he said, I believe at that moment,
self-righteous man, brilliant scholar, impeccable morality.
I believe at that moment, I passed from
death unto life.
His brother too had a colossal intellect.
His brother too was an outstanding teacher.
And he wrote this verse.
Remember, he has no hideous crime record.
He never polluted some woman's life.
He never stole.
He was impeccable in his morality.
But he wrote this lovely verse again.
In the same hymn, Man, can it be
that I should gain?
And he says, No condemnation is a second
stanza.
And then he says, Long, long, my imprisoned
spirit lay fast bound in sin.
And here's a man, you can put your
finger on him.
You couldn't fault him in anything in his
life.
He was a perfect scholar, a perfect gentleman,
a man of unclouded revelation of God as
far as he knew.
But there came a moment when he said,
Long, my imprisoned spirit lay fast bound in
sin and nature's night.
Thine eye diffused a quickening ray.
I woke, the dungeon flamed with light.
My chains fell off.
What chains?
Not chains of depravity in the sense we
think.
The chains of fear.
The chains of false religion.
The chains of false teaching.
I said to that girl, Well, just wait
a minute.
Please don't run away.
You said last week that you felt condemnation
lashing you, conscience was burning in you, fear
was on you.
Yeah, I felt as big a criminal as
anybody on God's earth.
Do you feel it now?
A little, face it.
No.
Mr. Regner, I don't feel guilty.
I don't feel lashed with guilt.
I don't feel a burden crushing me.
Well, you've got the witness of the spirit.
Why?
Because if he doesn't witness with condemnation, he
witnesses with joy.
He witnesses with peace.
You don't need much witness of the spirit
if your bell's battling in your ear all
day, do you?
But sometimes when the enemy comes, but you
know there deep down in your heart that
there is no condemnation.
No condemnation, now I dread.
Look at verse 34.
I like the who...
Excuse me.
I thought you were coughing for me there.
Okay.
9 verse 33.
Who shall lay anything to the charge of
God's elect?
It is God that justifies.
Who is he that condemneth?
It is Christ that died, who is even
at the right hand of God the Father,
making intercession.
Verse 35.
Who shall separate us from...
It's as though he says, Come on, who?
Come on, where are you?
Come on, bring your condemnation.
No condemnation, now I dread.
Why not?
Who is he that condemneth?
It is Christ that died.
Can anybody contest, whether they're men or demons
or theologians, can you contest the substitutionary death
of Jesus Christ?
It is Christ that died, who is at
the right hand of the Father, making intercession
or supplication.
Can anybody contest his supplication?
He's at the right hand of God.
Can anybody contest his sovereignty?
He has broken the power of sin.
Nobody can contest him.
He made one perfect offering once at the
end of the age, when billions of sins
were on him.
I tried to preach a couple of weeks
ago about the contrast between the Christ on
the back of a donkey going down the
streets of Jerusalem with two or three thousand
people scorning, ridiculing.
No doubt the Romans used to see an
emperor go down the road with his slaves
or his captives chained to the wheel of
his...
Here's a man on a donkey.
Good night.
Is he starting a kingdom?
The church has made a lot of that
on Palm Sunday.
But we've made very little of the man
on the donkey when he comes on a
white horse charging through the skies.
When without saying a word he faces two
hundred million people, he has no sword in
his right hand because he has seven stars.
And yet what is in the ninth of
Revelation, right after the marriage supper you get
the bloodiest battle that's ever been, the battle
of Armageddon.
Blood is going to flow.
It's from the ground up to the bridles
of the horses and it's two hundred miles
in length.
You talk about a holocaust.
That's a super, super, super holocaust.
Jesus Christ with authority and power.
We've lost sight of that.
Do you know why we're not impressing the
world?
Because our God is too small and the
church is too paralyzed.
They're not concerned to go to art galleries
and see what Rubens or Raphael or somebody
else painted three centuries ago and now they'll
pit yourself for ten million dollars.
How can you have a dead service if
a living Christ is in it?
Come on!
I get angry when young people say our
church is about as exciting as a Tupperware
party.
Well, join Amway.
Here he is, the Christ of God.
His substitution cannot be contested.
His supplication cannot be contested.
His sovereignty cannot be contested.
Isaac wrote among his great hymns, wrote one,
Jesus shall reign wherever the sun doth its
successive journeys run.
His kingdom stretch from shore to shore till
moon shall wax and wane no more.
Blessings abound where'er he reigns the prisoner
leaps to lose his chains the weary find
eternal rest and all the sons of want
are blessed.
Where he displays his healing power death and
the curse are known no more.
In him the tribes of Adam bore small
blessings and their fathers were...
You know, there are people who've gone to
graves today never heard the name of Jesus
Christ two thousand years after he was here
on earth.
I'm haunted by the five...
almost five billion at least in excess of
four billion people that never heard the name
of Jesus yet.
They're most likely to hear the name of
rock and roll stars and hear the name
of Jesus Christ.
Chapter 8 again, verse 1 There is therefore
now no condemnation.
And not one of you can even squeak
a hallelujah for that.
What a miserable crowd.
Hmm?
When we went to the Methodist church I
used to love to watch an old man
wasn't too old sitting across here across the
aisle a big hefty guy he had a
very great job he was a garbage collector
but you know what he'd been rescued from
the verge of hell and I felt sorry
when we had a strange preacher and they
sang and can it be because he was
in for trouble.
As soon as they stopped singing the old
boy there would raise a hand it looked
as big as a shovel to me and
he put his hand up like this and
he'd bawl out about ten keys out of
order Long my imprisoned spirit lay fast bound
in sin and nature's night Thine eye diffused
a quickening ray I walked the dungeon's great
flame and he'd get those big hands Oh
boy, like an earthquake.
I got scared when he got there.
My chains fell off.
My heart was free I rose and I
went forth and I followed him and he
did.
You know we think we haven't been saved
from much we didn't have a rotten record
a rotten past.
Brother, if you knew how many hearts beat
your way away from eternity when he intercepted
you on the road to destruction it may
take eternity to open our eyes.
There is therefore no condemnation for those of
us who walk not after the flesh but
after the spirit for the law of the
spirit of life in Christ Jesus has made
me free from the law of sin and
death.
That's why it says in verse 15 you've
not received the spirit of bondage again unto
fear but we have received the spirit of
adoption.
How many of you tonight are adopted?
I don't mean spiritually.
Thank you.
Oh, I got some information there.
I mean adopted.
There's been a row in England this week
over a princess who was discovered now she's
in the royal family she's been adopted her
parents were criminals in the German SS army
or something and boy is she embarrassed she's
found out she was adopted.
We have received the spirit of adoption whereby
we cry and we were outside the covenant
of God but now we can cry Abba
Father because he's brought us in.
We have some schools in England they're called
public schools one of them is called Eaton
at Eaton you have to get your child's
it's only a boy's school of course pardon
me but the day your child is born
you have to register that child to go
to that school it's a school for royalty
mostly princes, rich people those private schools are
called public schools I don't know why any
more than when you finish a school period
you call it the commencement how in the
world can it be commencement when it's the
end of the thing tell me after but
this public school this little boy went to
a public school he always had more money
than anybody else they used to take big
boxes we called them tuck boxes filled with
candy and fruits and all kinds of stuff
this little fellow always had enough that when
other boys would run out he'd say here,
here, here, here give them a quarter give
them an apple give them candy one day
a little boy came up to him and
says listen you're snobbish just because your daddy
owns a mill and he owns half of
the town and a chauffeur drives you to
school in a Rolls Royce you know better
than we are I've got something to tell
you too the man you call daddy isn't
your daddy you say that again I give
you a bloody nose he won't alter it
he's not your daddy when he got home
he dashed straight out of the car went
into his daddy's library daddy says come son
you're home for Christmas do you know what
I've got for you?
I've got you the pony you wanted and
I've got what's wrong?
he said look at me straight are you
my daddy?
what?
are you my father?
when the boy got back to school the
other little urchin was there to jump on
him and he said did you ask your
daddy?
yeah well is he your father?
no no he's not you're laughing when I
told you you said you'd give me a
bloody nose what are you laughing about?
well he said he took me to the
window of the library and he showed me
he said you see that town over there
I own about three quarters of it you
know the big castle that you go to
in summer?
well that belongs to me too and that
yacht that we sail on that belongs to
me too and not only that but I've
got millions and millions of pounds in the
bank I've got thousands of acres of land
I am one of the richest men outside
of the royal family you're not my daddy?
no what happened?
one day when the night when the bombers
came to Liverpool your parents were killed and
it's literally true they used to go around
with trucks or vans after the air raids
and pick up children that were terrified and
bleeding and wounded and they didn't know who
they belonged to and the kids didn't know
very often anyhow he said we went to
they took me to a big home for
boys one day my daddy and mummy he
my foster daddy if you want they went
to that place and said we want a
boy and the matron said well we have
500 to choose from he said then they
reduced it to 15 then they reduced it
to 5 and my daddy said let's take
5 we can afford them my mother said
who can manage them?
so they decided not to have anybody but
me they chose me my daddy said all
that I've told you is all yours I've
changed your name I've changed your station in
life I've given you more than you could
conceive as a little boy and you tell
your friend this when you go back to
school but what else did he say?
he told me to tell you that when
they wanted a boy they had 500 to
choose from but when you were born your
folks had to have you whether they wanted
you or not do you think I'm going
to be worried what this world says about
my simple trusting of a Galilean merchant who
died for my sins and nobody's sure about
it listen I've passed from death unto life
he's changed my name he's changed my destiny
he's got a mansion laid up for me
he's got eternal life laid up for me
he's got the most glorious company the world
could ever dream of I'm going to be
the marriage supper of the lamb and you
know what else?
I'll have to change my sex I'm going
to be part of the bride but there's
no sex in soul there's no sex in
soul listen don't waste your sympathy I'm the
child of a king I'm belong to a
royal priesthood and a holy nation I can
call the maker of right now my dear
street wife's garden is gorgeous I said to
her tonight darling you've done a great job
the roses are gorgeous they look so wonderful
and we have a beautiful plant spread out
like this not quite like that but anyway
spread out it's called bougainvillea there's a lot
of it grows over in the Bahamas glorious
colors red and bluish tangerine white magnificent all
that when I see it I think of
a word of Isaac Watts when he said
he made the stars those heavenly flames he
counts their numbers calls their names his wisdom's
vast and knows no bounds he put the
color in all of them he shaped all
of them and that mighty God the everlasting
father the prince of peace is my God
I can talk with him on an eye
to eye one to one level when I
want in my closet I can turn back
the pages of history and all I can
say when I turn them back is great
is thy faithfulness to individuals to colonies of
people to nations of people great is thy
faithfulness the spirit bears witness not always with
joy bells but with peace and boy I
need peace more than I need joy bells
it's the most elusive thing in the world
in our last hundred years there have been
1800 peace pacts between the nations and we're
further from peace now than we were when
we started why?
there's no answer Jean-Paul Sartre the great
French critic says this the present generation thank
you the present generation of people he says
we've come to an impasse for the nations
of the world at this given moment of
time that brilliant philosopher says there's no way
out well there isn't why did we wake
up to that long ago?
it's a problem nobody can solve can God
solve it?
no he can't he has solved it we've
got every answer we need in the Sermon
on the Mount because the one basic problem
that humanity has is we can't get on
with each other it's a problem of human
relationships man and wife children and parents churches
fellowships all except last days but anyhow blessed
are the peacemakers now it's blessed are the
pacemakers blessed are the meek we think it's
blessed are the weak meekness is the strongest
thing Jesus is the only person ever tried
to found a kingdom on meekness his first
call to men was come unto me for
I am meek the main part of his
message the Sermon on the Mount is meekness
Paul writes about the gentleness and meekness of
Jesus Christ but gentleness today means softness and
meekness means weakness but meekness Jesus was the
meekest man that ever lived but twice he
cleansed the temple wouldn't you have gone in
a temple the second time after you cleaned
it out once and raised everybody's madness against
you but he did it that's why when
he was on his way to what we
call the triumphal entry into Jerusalem he was
not going to cleanse the temple again why
didn't they kill him?
he was defenseless except they had a wall
of angels around about him nobody could get
through blessed are the meek do you remember
there's a record of Moses he was the
meekest man in all the earth mercy needed
it with a sister like he had maybe
that's why the Lord's making you meek or
getting you ready for a wife Moses the
meekest man in all but when he came
down from the mountain and they were making
a golden cup he was angry he was
mad with them Jesus was the meekest man
look what a pity we can't get on
TV and blast this into the ears of
the people you have one of two options
right now to submit to the blood of
the lamb or wait and meet the wrath
of the lamb and there's no creature on
earth I'm told which is more fierce than
a ram that has got maddened it's totally
impossible to get hold of it and do
anything with it it can get away from
a man or a team of men right
now God in his sovereignty in his mercy
is still giving us some protection I don't
think it's going to last long within five
years we'll have collapses in America we never
dreamed of and right now there is a
day of mercy a day of grace God
is a God of mercy but he's angry
with the wicked every day stick that on
your bumper sticker they'll burn your car verse
2 says the law of the spirit of
life in Christ Jesus had made me free
free from the law of sin and death
ok verse 3 for what the law could
not do in that it was weak through
the flesh God sending his own son in
the likeness of sinful flesh and for sin
condemned sin in the flesh that the righteousness
of the law may be fulfilled not destroyed
he comes and gives me power to keep
the law impeccably folk are crazy they say
the old testament isn't for today well that's
a fine thing to give the world isn't
it they want to commit adultery they want
to lie they want to cheat tell them
now that the ten commandments are obsolete forget
it Jesus says I came not to destroy
the law but to fulfill we have to
keep the moral law as long as there
are men on earth the ceremonial law is
not ours we don't have to go through
all the rituals of ceremonial law thank God
God sending his own son in the likeness
of sinful flesh and for sin get that
for a minute God sending his own son
so the son was sent in the likeness
of sinful flesh so the son was seen
first he was sent then he was seen
in the likeness of sinful flesh he was
a sent one he was a seen one
in the likeness of flesh and for sin
he was a substitute one he condemned sin
in the flesh he was a sinless one
the righteousness of the law might be fulfilled
in us who walk not after the flesh
but after the spirit verse 8 or
verse 7 the carnal mind is enmity against
God it is subject to the law of
God neither can it be carnality is not
subject to the law of God there is
no law of God that will cancel carnality
in your life he doesn't curb it or
control it he cleanses it he removes it
the carnal mind is enmity against God it
is not subject you can put all the
laws you like come on you know you
drive down the road there I-20 does
everybody keep the speed limit?
don't blush I see you're blushing well that's
alright you shouldn't do it you can legislate
you cannot legislate righteousness in this nation there
was a tremendous try years ago when I
was a young man to legislate the drink
business prohibition came in did it stop it?
not on your life it made the Kennedys
multimillionaires we're told Al Capone was paying a
quarter of a million in tithes every week
to the Roman church because he was running
the underworld of liquor in Chicago you cannot
legislate carnality the carnal mind is enmity against
that's a terrible word it is not subject
to the law of God neither indeed can
be so then they that are in the
flesh cannot please God oh that's an escape
hatch for us isn't it?
they that are in the flesh as long
as I'm in this flesh that's not what
it says it's talking about your fleshly nature
which is quoted there in Galatians 5 the
works of the flesh all the horrid things
the temper, the pride all those things if
you're in the flesh you cannot please God
well that's a breather isn't it?
till you come to the next verse where
it says but you're not in the flesh
now what do you do?
you're not in the flesh sin shall not
have dominion over you the law of the
spirit of life in Christ Jesus hath raised
me from the dead ye are not in
the flesh but in the spirit if so
be the spirit of God dwelleth in you
I tell you this is spirit, spirit, spirit
all the way through 26 times in the
book and 18 times in this one chapter
it's the law the spirit of life in
Christ Jesus when Paul says O wretched man
that I am who should deliver me from
the body of this death he says I
thank God through Jesus Christ our Lord I
do not like flying in airplanes somebody came
to me and said the Lord told me
to buy you a Learjet for 3 million
dollars I know he doesn't know the Lord
because the Lord knows I don't like planes
but I'm still fascinated when I see a
plane with 400 people on and 400 of
800 pieces of baggage and all the gasoline
weight and the thing goes like that no,
up it goes if I took a piece
of paper and let go of it it
won't go up even if I tell it
to it would go down a feather comes
on the breeze it goes up for a
second then it goes down you can talk
about depravity as being human gravity if you
like there's something in us that pulls us
down that the Lord the spirit of life
in Christ Jesus why does that jet go
on like that because it has a greater
thrust you notice I remember once being outside
of Chicago airport there no it wasn't it
was Dallas as a matter of fact and
through the sky I could see a track
of planes coming in a long way off
a little by little but you know when
they got about a mile a half a
mile from the airport suddenly they put all
the blast on and the exhaust let out
pouring black smoke why?
he wants to stop how does it stop?
puts the power on why?
because the slower he goes the bigger the
pull of gravity is and any pilot will
tell you it's much harder to bring a
plane down than to get it up in
the sky you've got to keep a perfect
balance with it as soon as he slows
those engines that gravity pulls like that and
he has to thrust he has to watch
that control that he has there to see
he's got perfect balance there is no answer
to the sin question except in the cross
not in going to the cross but getting
on the cross not Christ being crucified for
me but me being crucified with Christ and
when that happens the law of the spirit
of life in Christ Jesus has made me
free from the law of sin and of
death I said there's nothing very volcanic in
this chapter mercy there is so explosive you
say but I've got a bad temperament maybe
you have a woman told me one day
she said Mr Raymond I love having my
devotions I love services I love singing but
I'm temperamental I said excuse me you said
you're temperamental I said is it your temper
or your mental no she said I think
it's something I was born with maybe it
was but it doesn't have to stay with
you they that are in the flesh cannot
please God says verse verse 9 says now
look at this majestic thing here you're not
in the flesh but in the spirit if
so be listen the spirit of God dwells
in you that's verse 9 verse 10 if
Christ be in you verse 11 it's the
spirit of him that raised up Jesus from
the dead dwelling in you come on you've
got the spirit of God the spirit of
the Son and the spirit of the Holy
Ghost dwelling in you put them all together
you think this is what Paul is talking
about verses 8, 9 and 10 I put
it at the bottom of my Bible here
verses 8, 9 and 10 equal the fullness
of God Paul says in Ephesians 3.19
that you may be filled with the fullness
of God if you have the residency of
God the Father by his spirit and the
residency of the Son and the residency of
the Holy Ghost there's not much room left
for anything else is there are you telling
me that God the Father in his holiness
God the Son in his holiness God the
Holy Ghost in his holiness are prepared to
coexist with that vile temper of yours coexist
in that little shrine of your heart when
you're secretly lusting and dominating for something which
is altogether against his holiness at the end
of Ephesians there's a statement that I think
one of the greatest in the Bible it
says it begins in Ephesians 2 by saying
that we are in subject to the devil
the world and dominion of the devil but
it finishes by saying ye ye ye who's
ye ye folk who read it you are
the habitation of God by the spirit if
you knew there was some drug or somebody
who could cure you of every possibility of
getting defiled by disease would you go to
them there's a fountain filled with blood Cowper
wrote in the days of Wesley and sinners
plunge beneath that flood lose all their guilty
stains a dying thief rejoiced to see that
fountain in his day and there have I
not may I but there have I though
vile as he in the sight of God
washed all my sins away you cannot be
pure and impure at the same time you
cannot be calm and spiritual at the same
time because this very scripture says the carnal
mind is enmity against God and it says
in Romans 7 to be carnally minded is
death get rid of this bunkum about the
carnal Christian forget it if you're carnal you're
not saved to be carnally minded is death
who's dead the sinner is dead in trespasses
and in sin he's not just bad he's
dead he doesn't need help he needs life
Jesus did not come into the world to
make bad men good essentially he came into
the world to make dead men live out
of my bondage sorrow is that sure isn't
it out of my sickness into thy health
out of my poverty into thy out of
my sin because you see you go through
oh I mustn't preach I'm going to preach
this a week on Sunday I'm going to
preach on Romans 8 we're opening the new
building by the way in Van a week
on Sunday and while I remember because I
forget this coming Tuesday and Wednesday I have
to preach at Jimmy Swaggart's college somebody says
shall we pray for you I said no
pray for him I know the word God
has given me all I need is power
to deliver it I got two mornings to
preach to a thousand or more students and
others that will come will you pray Wednesday
and Thursday that God will do something you
look a bit surprised ok but that's what
it's all about anyhow trying to think of
a hymn Wesley wrote I think Jesus thine
all victorious love shed in my heart abroad
then shall my feet no longer rove rooted
and fixed in God my steadfast soul what
does Paul pray that ye may be steadfast
and unmovable is that a poetic dream you
say you preach sinless perfection don't preach anything
of the kind never heard a man preach
it in my life you make it sound
as though it's impossible to sin no that's
not it at all I'm not saying it's
impossible to sin I'm saying it's possible not
to sin the scripture says we're kept by
the power of God through faith and to
salvation oh those boys have been up on
the moon there and apparently they had some
oh no they get to the moon they
got half way up there they're coming back
I have a bundle of papers in my
office at least I had it unless I
gave my grandchildren when the Apollo 15 went
up to the moon they took some pictures
there and they took a little Bible and
they sent me one of them from the
what do you call it now NASA it
says on it this little Bible that was
taken this was taken on to the moon
by a member of the crew of Apollo
15 I have this thing in my office
they sent me a lot of pictures and
they said one of them said the most
amazing thing we've got used to looking up
at the moon and it has no props
on it just a ball up in the
sky but he said when we got up
there we saw the world hanging like that
looks strange to see the world I just
left no props on it no pedestal just
there just swung in space isn't that amazing
my dear sweet wife lived in Melbourne Australia
for some years I went and preached around
Australia and you know on the stir of
the world Australia is down here and the
ocean is there you think that isn't wonderful
you try a handful of water on the
bottom of a bucket and get it to
stick you can't get it to stick and
yet God hangs the world upon nothing it
took us billions of dollars to find that
out Job said that thousands of years ago
boy aren't politicians dumb he hangs the world
upon nothing this paper is thin I've used
this illustration before maybe I caught a fish
over in the Bahamas in the sea of
course I remember it was about 34 inches
long and it weighed 34 pounds we took
it back to the house and we gave
it to the cook she goes precious black
woman I think she could cook a shoe
and make it tender I'm glad she didn't
of course but then they gave me some
fish and said would you like that fish?
no no taste what?
did you put some salt on it?
no why should I put salt on it?
it's been swimming in the saltiest water in
the world for the last 25 years and
the skin is only as thick as this
and yet that fish can live in that
atmosphere year after year for a generation or
a decade another decade and the salt doesn't
go through that little thin skin but you
tell me that God can hang the world
on nothing and keep a fish in the
ocean for 25 or 125 years and the
salt doesn't get in but he can't keep
me from sinning in a lousy world like
this that the blood can't protect me that
the promises of God can't protect me that
the Holy Ghost can't protect me well go
home and dream we're so used to a
crippled church we'll be embarrassed if we see
the church start moving in the Holy Ghost
the spirit of him that raised up Jesus
from the dead he shall also it says
he shall quicken your mortal bodies you know
I'm learning to claim this a bit more
not for when I die but every day
that I live let me go over to
another verse here before I finish likewise the
spirit the mighty Holy Ghost verse 26 healtheth
our infirmities the Holy Ghost what's your infirmity?
it's nothing about a physical infirmity talking about
some spiritual weakness the spirit also healtheth our
infirmities so he deals with our weakness I
recognize my infirmity and claim on him and
he comes and makes up that I have
a deficiency my infirmity we know not what
we should pray for as we are so
he deals with our ignorance he
makes intercession for us according to the will
of God so he makes up for our
insufficiency he deals with my weakness he deals
with my ignorance he deals with my insufficiency
you wonder that we sing Wesley's hymn Jesus
lover of my soul bow oh Christ I
want to tell you something God has no
afterthoughts Calvary was not an afterthought God hasn't
defined a solution to the day in which
I live the church has to rediscover it
we've got the answer to all sin to
murder and lying and incest and lust and
all the diabolical things of hell have all
been answered in Jesus Christ the average church
you go up and down the same thing
every Sunday the Lord died for your sins
sing a lovely hymn they don't know anything
about being emancipated all they want is forgiveness
how many people want their fetters broken their
lying spirit their lustful spirit their deceitful spirit
their spirit of temper their spirit of pride
their spirit of uncleanness God does not have
to find an answer the blood of Jesus
Christ God's Son is adequate but I have
to go and submit myself to him verse
26 says the spirit itself or himself maketh
intercession for us verse 34 it is Christ
that died yea he is risen again who
is at the right hand of God who
maketh intercession for us so in verse 26
you have intercession in verse 27 you have
intercession in verse 34 you have intercession now
there's an awful lot said about predestination do
you know what people do they amputate it
oh you were predestinated to be I had
a man in my office recently and he
was so strong on predestination oh well God
knew the moment you were born and he
charted your course he knew the moment you
died I said you're telling me that last
year that God supervised the flushing of a
thousand fetuses or a million fetuses down the
john come on man you say he was
a foreordained of God that child when it
came from the womb God knew it would
be shoved down in a toilet and flushed
away or something will be put in its
mother and the little thing could be torn
up in its mother's womb is that your
God sure we predestinated to what this verse
29 who he did foreknow also he predestinated
to be conformed to the image of his
son that's predestination I'm predestined to be holy
I'm predestined to be pure I'm predestined to
walk in the light as he walked in
the light as he was so are we
when we get to heaven no no sir
as he was so are we in this
world we're trying to put it all off
till we get to the other side I'm
told a popular preacher in town says there's
no victory till you die shut the place
up and become a Mohammedan they can preach
that the big stumbling block in the world
tonight is not poverty and all these it's
all capsuled in one little word S.I
.N it explains every wrecked home every wrecked
life the failure of every government system and
every other system the law of the spirit
of life I love that phrase so the
spirit bears witness to my life he bears
witness because I have no condemnation he bears
witness why because I have the spirit of
adoption boy I wouldn't like to wake up
tomorrow morning and feeling I wasn't in the
kingdom would you would that be haram oh
you're big enough you're six foot four you
feel secure I wouldn't in this world I
can wake up in the night and sing
with confidence we now draw nigh and father
Abba father cry the spirit answers to the
blood and tells me I'm born of God
this is Dutch to you if you're not
born of the spirit he can't bear witness
you're a child of God if he has
to witness to condemnation to guilt to sin
my dear wife wrote something to me last
week it's very interesting a man had taken
the place of his brother in jail a
man went along and he said your brother
was sentenced to five years wasn't he yes
and you said you'd take it yes what
are you doing he said I've taken his
penalty but I can't take his guilt I've
taken the punishment he still bears the guilt
but Jesus took the punishment and the guilt
no condemnation I dread it's possible for me
to live as close to God on earth
as I would if I were in heaven
thy kingdom come thy will be done in
earth I am earth I came out of
the earth I'm of the earth earthy Jesus
Christ made it possible this must be right
because Spurgeon said it and he wasn't Pentecostal
what did Spurgeon say a little faith will
get you to heaven a little more faith
will bring heaven to you you know your
children you parents your children should be able
to look on you as though you'd stepped
out of heaven and getting out of bed
in the morning with a bad temper or
something you should walk before them every day
and children say my mother is the holiest
woman on earth I've a letter on my
desk now it was written in 1724 by
the daughter of what's his name I've forgotten
oh good I told this before Jonathan Edwards
she says my daddy is a gravelled voice
rough looking man and he's fierce in the
pulpit that he is a lamb when he's
home but my mummy she's nine years of
age boy she's got a vocabulary an awesome
vocabulary when my mummy comes out of her
prayer chamber in the morning she said she
needs a veil over her face you think
children don't know your ambition shouldn't be to
be a successful missionary first of all or
a successful minister your ambition should be know
that now you're conformed as far as God
can do it he'll keep doing it conformed
to the image of his son the gentleness
and meekness of the Lord Jesus Christ give
me a couple of minutes here verse 13
says if ye live up to the flesh
ye shall die but if through the spirit
you do mortify the deeds of the body
now come on your experience of God ten
years ago isn't good enough tonight you were
filled with a spirit maybe you've been leaking
the question is not when you were filled
the question is are you filled?
are you filled with the love of God?
are you filled with the knowledge of God?
are you filled with the will of God?
if ye live up to the flesh ye
shall die but if through the spirit you
mortify the deeds of the body remember that
great phrase of Paul in one Corinthians man
when he says I keep my body under
you've got to have rest for your mortal
body you can have rest but don't be
lazy there's a big difference you've got to
eat for your mortal body but don't be
a glutton keep your body under control it's
the temple of the Holy Ghost be ambitious
but don't be covetous you see it's a
partnership I have with God and you have
with God it's not all God's business it's
mine as well let us lay aside every...
what's the weight in your life?
what's the thing that destroys your prayer life?
what's the thing that destroys your devotion?
racquetball?
I had a man a brilliant man in
the British Navy one of the high officers
and he lost his anointing do you know
how?
ridiculous stamp collecting he could read his Bible
in Greek he was a marvelous teacher but
he got occupied with stamps he spent a
fortune in stamps he had racks and racks
of books they were all he said one
day I'll sell you my British Colonials for
twelve hundred pounds that was about fifty thousand
dollars at that time just one section of
his stamps his wife said he used to
say when he came home from the Admiralty
he'd get his Bible out he would talk
he'd explain this in the Greek and something
else but now he said it wasn't TV
collecting stamps collecting stamps he had more than
anybody else he had some prize stamps remember
again it's a simple thing but it's true
the good is the enemy of the best
the devil doesn't want you to get drunk
or dissipated he wants to get your life
attached to something else as long as he
can draw you away from holiness and draw
you away from holy contemplation and draw you
away from meditation and draw you away from
obedience he doesn't care how he does it
the simpler the trick is more devastating if
he through the spirit do mortify the deeds
of the bed deeds of the body he
shall live as many as are led by
the spirit of God they are the sons
of God how do I know the spirit
bears witness because he leads me that's why
I don't have to tell you but I
have to have an inward obedience and that
inward obedience will soon show up verse 22
we know that the whole creation groaneth this
groaning comes in three times verses 26 and
28 we know that the whole creation groaneth
and travelleth in pain together until now not
only they but ourselves also have the first
fruits of the spirit well brother if you
got the first fruits what are the final
fruits going to be if we've got a
peace that passeth out understanding if we've got
a joy unspeakable a faith unshakable and a
will unbreakable dear Lord what's the ultimate going
to be if I can have these in
my mortal flesh what's it going to be
when I get a glorified body that's the
last thing in this verse even we ourselves
groan within ourselves waiting for the adoption to
wit the redemption of the body I skip
one great verse there verse 17 if we're
children we're heirs of God and joined heirs
with Jesus Christ you know Jesus Christ wants
to share all the riches of redemption with
me I think of a family in England
they had a lot Ireland actually they had
a lot of money they were very highly
respected great social standing great crowds of pedigree
cattle and everything you can imagine and when
the family was up everybody respected their children
but something went wrong in the family and
their prosperity turned to adversity and the esteem
people had for them went the very opposite
way now the children were all lifted with
father and mother people sneered at the children
oh your old dad couldn't do this your
old dad didn't do that remember the time
when you were the most respected people in
the whole community and now you're the most
despised what happened the son shared the glory
of his father socially and financially when they
were very wealthy and then when the thing
turned the other way he had to bear
the shame let me look at this just
a second another
thing I want to quote here from Romans
8 you could say there that we're heirs
of God there's the dignity but wait a
minute if children and heirs heirs of God
and joint heirs with Jesus Christ if so
be what?
you can't separate from it if you're going
to share his glory you must share his
suffering now notice what it says if so
be that we suffer with him not for
him there are millions of people suffering for
him in Russia tonight they won't bow the
knee to the government it doesn't mean they're
suffering with him they're suffering for him they
know as Christians they should take this way
if I suffer with him I share his
grief I share his anguish how many people
do you know you call them friends you
could go in your days of joy and
your days of prosperity if your world collapsed
if shame came over your house if your
daughter got into sin or your son or
something would you go freely to them and
say listen this is my condition right now
if I'm going to suffer with him I'm
going to see the world as he sees
it these eyes of mine remember again Revelation
3 he says to a church I counsel
thee to buy of me eye salve and
that was what they exported they exported it
to the world because they didn't have shades
and they go down the roads or across
the deserts like you get snow blindness you
get sand blindness and the Lord says I
counsel thee to buy of me eye salve
he says to the same one I counsel
thee to buy of me clothing and they
were the greatest exporters of wealthy clothing in
the world he says I counsel thee to
buy of me gold they had the greatest
gold exchange in the known world at that
time everything they boasted in God said it's
nothing it's all materialistic it will perish with
the using I counsel thee to buy of
me real eye salve that you may see
and I say I warn you tonight don't
pray that unless you want to see as
God sees isn't there a hymn a verse
of a hymn that says oh take the
dimness of my soul away I don't want
to wake up in heaven and look at
all the things I've missed that I could
have seen I'm prepared to step out of
track and as one of your old sayings
in America is I'm prepared to march to
another drummer the philosophy if you want to
call it of this book is contrary to
everything the world has all its standards all
its values all its goals they're totally wrecked
when you put them under the microscope of
the word of God and the whole thing
about the success of the Holy Spirit is
getting the witness of the Spirit that there's
no condemnation in my life that guilt has
been removed that I can walk triumphant in
his name that I can be like him
in this present evil world if I'm going
to share in his bounty sometimes he witnesses
with groanings that cannot be uttered that's not
according to our idea we thought he'd give
us ecstasy all the way and he'd pull
all the God isn't going to pull down
the mountains he's going to give strength to
get over them he's going to make you
the most popular person on earth he's going
to give you a close relationship with him
that you won't care a hell of beans
about anybody else's opinion or thinking a little
boy says well, I don't care what you
think my daddy changed my name I'm receiving
all his wealth I receive a mansion I
can have that Rolls Royce I can have
the yacht I can have everything he changed
my nature boy, I love to read this
book, do you?
I read about a book of life in
Revelation I believe that book of life has
the name of everybody from Adam right till
the final trumpet blast that's the book of
life the Lamb's book of life is different
the book of life God put on record
when I was born the Lamb's book of
life he put on when I was born
again we've got three wonderful sons when they
were born we had to get their names
registered they were sent to London to Somerset
House that has the names of every Christian
I was going to say no, not every
Christian every English person in the last 200
years oh, I suppose they can microfilm them
now they have stacks and stacks in rooms
millions and millions of copies of birth certificates
the Queen of England has a bunch of
children do you know what?
she has the honour of having her children
in the same book as mine isn't that
something?
there's only one book for the British Empire
my children's names are there the Duke of
Swansea's names Lord Swansea's there then will he
own my worthless name before his father's face
and then the new Jerusalem appoint my solar
place you think I'm going out to the
beggarly elements of the world the junk houses
of this world the rock and roll Christian
rock they call it Christian rot it is
you think I'm embarrassed to be a child
of a king?
every man that's falling in hell at the
final judgement will wish he'd lived a pure
life wish he'd lived a holy life wish
he'd lived an obedient life and it's a
bit too late when the final curtain begins
to fall you today you've been sewing without
knowing it you've been putting threads in your
garment for eternity you've been building your character
we're not going to wear the same things
in heaven in fact all people going to
hell are not going to be punished the
same they're going to be beaten with many
stripes and with few stripes I can't wait
till all the pimps and all the mafia
and the folk that run the underworld that
stand at the judgment seat of Christ and
have to bow their knee and then he
consigns them to everlasting hell I'll shout hallelujah
if you don't I can't wait till the
roll is called I see people from every
kindred and tribe and tongue coming not all
to the be part of the bride not
all to the wedding feast if they've been
obedient because you know well enough there were
ten virgins not five harlots and five virgins
and it was midnight and it was time
to go in and five of them made
it and five didn't where did the five
that didn't go outer darkness work it out
for yourself it's not eternal darkness it's a
temporary punishment because eventually they got into the
marriage supper I'm convinced of that but they
were shut up and they knocked on the
door what did the one inside say I
know you not in the seventh of Matthew
he said to those big multi-billion dollar
evangelists who said we've healed in your name
cast out devils raised to death he says
I never knew you he doesn't say that
to these he says I know you not
their oil was running out their testimony was
weak their prayer life was in rags come
on don't be too kind to yourself don't
assume that Peter is waiting inside the gate
just to clamp a big crown a six
-decker crown with diamonds and rubies forget it
we cannot earn anything for our salvation but
we have to earn everything for our reward
we're only rewarded according to our labors our
faithfulness great is thy faithfulness somebody ought to
add another verse great is my faithfulness the
only thing that rejoices the heart of God
so far as I know is number one
my obedience to him my faithfulness to him
my worship of him I can't make him
rich well there you are I take too
much time still we're going to pray some
pray for us at Jimmy's Faggots I'll be
there Wednesday and Thursday I'll be back for
Friday night though I've asked brother Ray Ray
Dorsey to bring the message either a message
or a report on his recent visit to
India I don't know which but I'll take
the song song part of it which I
enjoy so much and then we'll have the
message so please come I'm not asking you
to take all the time now to pray
for my meeting I'm asking you what time
we have left to pray what's on your
heart maybe it's a burden for this nation
someone told me about four nights ago on
the 700 club one of the greatest economists
in the country said that if and when
all the banks go down in this country
only 2% of the money in the
banks is covered with insurance there'll be some
shocks it's not the collapse that's coming that
troubles me it's the collapse that we have
already that troubles me collapse in morality collapse
in spirituality powerlessness of the church we must
be an embarrassment to God does the spirit
bear witness tonight that you're displeasing him have
you condemnation in your heart have you bitterness
have you got some grudges some jealousy some
pride no wonder your life is hampered puts
cataracts on your eyes buy some ice off
tonight buy obedience buy repentance say Lord I
don't care what it costs take the dimness
of my soul away take the impurity away
through the precious blood take care of my
weakness the weakness in my intercession I don't
doubt the sacrifice of Jesus it's perfect I
don't doubt the power of the Holy Ghost
I just doubt because it's not working in
my life so let's pray for a little
season