Thoughts of the Flesh and Thoughts of the Spirit (Romans 8:1-6)
Romans 8:1. No condemnation means you cannot say that person has sin. This sin is a sin we committed against God, and within Christ, God regards us as sinless, why? Because in Romans 8:2. We shared this Word in the pulpit message. If you think about this Word very carefully, you’ll receive a lot of grace. If you’re not within the law of the Spirit Who gives life, you have no choice but to be under the law of sin and death.
When we think about it, all of us have been born into the law of sin and death. Do you know how scary this is? Ever since you were born, you were under the law of sin and death. Even your success is under the law of sin and death, but we don’t know this and think, “I just need to succeed,” but first and foremost, we must come out of this law of sin and death. No matter how diligently you live or how kind you are, you are under the law of sin and death.
Curses follow from the law of sin and death, no matter how diligently you live, it’s a curse. Even if you live your very best, you’re dead before God, you have no life. People say, “Live a nice and successful life,” but that’s a curse. The very first thing is, you need to come out of this, but how? Within Jesus Christ. You cannot do this with your own strength. You cannot come out of this law with your kindness. Jesus Christ has to die on the cross and receive this curse instead of us, then what happens? We have the law of life in the Spirit.
How do we change into the law of the Spirit with this life? Is it our own efforts? No. Our kindness? No, that’s not it. Only through Christ Jesus, that’s when we can be under this life. Meditate on this Word and receive spiritual strength. Study well or not, it doesn’t matter; we are under the law of the spirit who gives life. It doesn’t matter if it’s good or bad, but you can’t think like that. You’re probably going to think, “I need to do well.”
If I do well, then I do well; if not, then I don’t do well, but what does that matter? There are many people who don’t do well. But the important thing is that this isn’t the main priority, but we must be under the law of the spirit who gives life. We live a life, saving others even though we do well or poorly.
What is the law? There are two people who studied the law, what is law? We can’t come out of this law. Everyone is subject to the law. Raise your hand if you are not subject to the laws of America. There’s nobody, that’s what the law is. We can only change the law through Jesus Christ into the law of the spirit who gives life. Even if you do well or if you do great, your studies will save. If you’re handsome like me, you can be someone who can save.
I get deceived after the message very often. If people say, “I received a lot of grace,” I get happy. When people don’t say anything, I feel like a failure. But it doesn’t matter if I do thing well or not. It doesn’t matter if I did this well or not. If the Word is correctly proclaimed, the Holy Spirit will work. That’s why anyone is able to share the gospel. You might be centered on yourself, “If I don’t explain this well, they won’t accept.” You’re under the law of the spirit who gives life, so the Holy Spirit will work and people will come to life.
Some will receive, others won’t, but what kind of methods do we have? You can email it, or you can apply your own life as a story, but what is the standard? It is that this person will accept the gospel because of you. Satan constantly deceives you, “Will they really accept if I say this?” But the Holy Spirit ultimately works. If you continuously pray for the other person, the Holy Spirit will work. During that time, when you think about it, you can send them the message, and that’s relaying the gospel. Acceptance has nothing to do with you; you just relay the gospel to your friends.
This becomes an answer to those who are destined to receive the gospel. May you experience this. In worship, you receive grace from God, may you relay this so people accept. Think about how to relay the gospel in a way that is applicable to the other person, or you can send them a YouTube link to the message. Or, you can elaborate a little bit in the introduction and send it to someone. Or as you talk about someone else’s life, you can talk about the six states of the unbeliever, but they may think, “This is my story.
Satan constantly deceives us, “Will they really listen to my words?” but it’s actually the Word of God. “I can’t relay it like a pastor,” but it doesn’t matter, God will work. When the time schedule comes, it will hit them. That is why, make a plan so all the people around you will hear or see the gospel. If there’s a good movie you watched, you’d encourage your friends to watch it, too. If your friends are suffering, you can relay this to them. When you pray, the Holy Spirit will work. When you study to relay this gospel to someone else, the Holy Spirit will work because God has called you to do this.
This seems like nothing much but it’s actually a lot. If you study without knowing the meaning of this, the Holy Spirit will not work upon your studies, because the thoughts of the flesh are death. Think about the Word of God, that is the thought of the Spirit, then you will receive life and peace. Life means you come alive; what is peace? It’s the peace that’s the opposite of depression. “Isn’t depression a disease of the heart?” I responded, “It’s a mental illness.” “How can I be healed from that?” “By the joy of Christ.” “You can be healed by joy?” “Think about it, when you have joy, you’re not depressed. When you have joy in Christ, you have no reason to be depressed.
Is life difficult? You’re joyful in Christ, then that suffering disappears. Does someone think there is no happiness in life? There is life and peace. What kind of thoughts do you have? The thoughts of the Spirit or the thoughts of the flesh? Joseph had the thoughts of the spirit, and when he prayed with the power of the Holy Spirit, that’s when God gave him the filling of the Holy Spirit. That’s why he was able to save Egypt and the world. I pray you may believe that, in America, when you have the thoughts of the spirit, you may save.
This is not hard. Studying is not hard, it’s not hard to just think. It’s hard because you’re trying to have your own thoughts, but if you have God’s thoughts, it’s easy, and you can come to life, then the studies you do will be used preciously by God. This is something that can’t be done by going to Harvard; that’s why God chose you to do this work.
Such people must receive the Spirit of God. You can only come to life when you have the thoughts of the Spirit. “I feel lonely,” this is an opportunity for me to have the thoughts of the Spirit as God wants, but instead, if you fill your mind with thoughts of dogs or animals, it’s not going to work. It doesn’t matter if you study well or not, or have money or not. You can study well, too, but who are thinking the thoughts of the Spirit. That’s what Daniel did. This is why talent specialty, and uniqueness followed as God gives power.
In Korea, I went to the place I lived 49 years ago. I remembered everything that had been there. My younger brother said, “You’re very smart.” I found my old friend from 49 years ago. There was someone who lived in this building, but she was connected to this grandma and the grandma connected us. He doesn’t remember me but I remember him and his hairstyle. When we’re younger, we sometimes have a cowlick, “Aren’t you that kid with the cowlick?” He started laughing. I said, “You don’t know me very well but I know you very well. Your father was like this and that,” and he said, “That’s correct.” “You lived next to this person and I lived next to that person.” I showed the Kakao photo and I knew him from 1st to 3rd grade. God allowed me to remember everything, so I pray to relay the gospel to him. I didn’t intend to go, but my younger brother said, “Let’s go with mom,” but that’s not important. It’s important to have the thoughts of the Spirit.
Depending on your thoughts, they can lead to life or death. Thoughts where I want to succeed will prevent you from seeing this. But when you have the thoughts of the Spirit and the Word of God, then you can save, and that’s life and peace. This is happiness because you have peace, you’re happy, and because you come to life, you become different. I met another friend, “You have a lot of wrinkles, but why? I have thoughts of the Spirit. So even though I have these wrinkles, they disappear.” I looked at my friend’s face and we’re the same age but we look so different physically.
In the morning, I do 100 pushups because of world evangelization. Originally I wanted to do it to be fit, that’s the thoughts of the flesh, but it changed by the law of the spirit for world evangelization. God changed my thoughts, so just think of God’s word and the blessings. Later on, you’ll sit at the seat of the summit. Don’t misunderstand, Joseph didn’t think, “How shall I do this?” Instead, he had the thoughts of the spirit. Who are blessed? It’s not the people who are trying to make it on their own, but they rely on the thoughts of the Spirit. You must have this time of meditation. If you can’t do 5 minutes, do one minute, just think of the Word of God, and that’s the way to save.
When I do this a long time, my thoughts are rejuvenated, that’s how God allows it. I receive concentration and I’m able to study with a lot of concentration. I just have this kind of strength, may you enjoy this blessing. No other way to study; it is within this. Just think about doing this every single day for 5 minutes, then what will happen later on? It leads to no competition, you have no competitors. People who have the thoughts of the Spirit every day will have no competition later on, that’s Joseph, David, Daniel, and the Early Church. They did this for 40 days and just changed. They did this in the Early Church for 10 days and then changed. Daniel prayed 3 times a day, every single day, and he changed. Even though Jesus is God, he did Early Morning prayer, every single day.
You have your sermon notes, so look over it and the Holy Spirit will work in you and you can come to life. It’s easy. But because you’re not thinking the thoughts of the Spirit and you’re thinking thoughts of Christ, of liberation from the law of sin and death. You don’t do much but the Holy Spirit guides you. It’s not what you do, it’s what God does, and as you sit in worship, God works. Satan makes it so that you don’t know this blessing, then there’s nothing you can do.
Enjoy this blessing.
Prayer
God, we thank You for sending Jesus Christ so we can be under the law of the Spirit of life. You have given us the Word that the thoughts of the flesh are death and the thoughts of the spirit are life. In the name of Jesus Christ we pray, amen.