In this sermon, the speaker reflects on the importance of fellowship and the role of the church in a demonized culture. He questions the value of simply having good discussions and fellowship without actively engaging in spiritual warfare. The speaker emphasizes the need to crucify the sinful nature and live by the Spirit, keeping in step with God's guidance. He encourages daily prayer, reading the Bible, and obedience to God as the means to live by the Spirit and overcome the law of sin and death.

We'll turn in our Bibles to Romans. We'll read chapter 8, verses 1 through 8. Romans, chapter 8, verses 1 through 8. And here we go. Therefore there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus, because through Christ Jesus the law of the Spirit of life set me free from the law of sin and death. For what the law was powerless to do in that it was weakened by the sinful nature, God did by sending His own Son in the likeness of sinful man to be a sin offering. And so He condemned sin and sinful man in order that the righteous requirements of the law might be fully met in us who do not live according to the sinful nature, but according to the Spirit. Those who live according to the sinful nature have their minds set on what that nature desires, but those who live in accordance with the Spirit have their minds set on what the Spirit desires. The mind of sinful man is death, but the mind controlled by the Spirit is life and peace. The sinful mind is hostile to God. It does not submit to God's law, nor can it do so. Those controlled by the sinful nature cannot please God. Now you're back to verse 2. Because through Christ Jesus the law of the Spirit of life set me free from the law of sin and death. Now that is not clear to everyone. What is the law of the Spirit of life? Exactly what is that? Is it something written down somewhere? How does it work? Because it's the law of the Spirit of life that sets us free from sin. That's what sets us free from sin. Well, how does it work? The Old Testament law we know, the law of Moses we understand, but this is New Testament law. And how does it work? Well, it takes experience, I think, because we have to recognize in our life what the Holy Spirit is doing. Now when the Holy Spirit works in us, in whatever way He works, and we follow that, and we obey that, that's the law of the Spirit of life. Now, it's hard to describe the Holy Spirit. It's something you have to experience. There's a lot of talk in Pentecostal churches about the Holy Spirit, but some of it is not accurate. The Holy Spirit is not a good feeling. Whenever saints assemble, there are any number of spirits present. There are the spirits, the guardian angels of all the people. There are church spirits. Sometimes Satan is present, and demons, and there's all kinds of things. There are spirits of enthusiasm, adventure, romance, excitement. And all these things are playing in a church. Also, you have the gifts that the Holy Spirit has given. The Holy Spirit is one matter, and the gifts are another. The gifts are under our control. The Holy Spirit is not under our control. We are supposed to be under the control of the Holy Spirit. Well, what is He like, this Holy Spirit? The Holy Spirit is a member of the Godhead. He is a person. We see that when He says, We see a person speaking there. He is God among us. Jesus was God among us, and He left, and now the Holy Spirit is God among us. He is a person. He is not a feeling. He is God. He is to be obeyed. Now, as I say, it takes experience to be able to discern when the Holy Spirit is acting, because we easily are moved by other feelings, and we think it's the Spirit of God, and it isn't. It's some other spirit. And to learn what is the Holy Spirit and what is not is not all that easy. It takes experience, as I said. We have the New Testament writings. The New Testament writings are not the law of the spirit of life. What they are is a guide to us. The New Testament writings are actually the testimony of men who knew the Holy Spirit and were moved by the Holy Spirit. So before we are experienced enough in Christ to recognize the Holy Spirit, to be led by the Holy Spirit, we have the New Testament to guide us, and we are to do exactly what it says. We should be reading the New Testament constantly, reading in the Bible constantly, because there's a lot in the Old Testament that the Holy Spirit uses today. For example, the 23rd Psalm. We use that today. We use the 91st Psalm today, and the Holy Spirit will speak with equal facility, equal power from the Old Testament writings as well as he does from the New Testament writings. So the person that wants to learn the ways of the Lord spends time each day meditating in the Scriptures, maybe some New Testament, some old, maybe just old, maybe just new. But it's not a good idea to let a day go by without meditating in the Scriptures for a period. This is especially important in our day when there's so much electronic communication to sway our minds, the television and the radio and the Internet and DVDs and CDs and whatever else, plus all the hard copy in the newspaper and all the rest of the periodicals and so on. We have a plethora, a plethora, let me explain that. I'm trying to build up the vocabulary of our youngsters here. We have an excess of communication. We don't really need all that, but we have it, and I'm not going to fret about it. But what I'm saying is we need to, therefore, spend time in the Scriptures because these transform our minds. They might be renewed by the transforming of your mind. Our mind is transformed as we read the Scripture. Now, the Scriptures also try the spirits. If a spirit speaks to us and claims to be the Holy Spirit and it counsels us something that is clearly against the Scripture, then we know that spirit is not of God, even though it says Jesus Christ has come in the flesh. Even though it says Jesus is Lord, we see that the demons were able to recognize Christ and proclaim Christ. The woman that followed Paul said, These men are servants of the Most High God who show us the way of salvation. Well, she was absolutely right, but it was a demon who was speaking. The Greek calls it the spirit of Python. It was a serpent that was speaking, saying, These men are servants of the Most High God who show us the way of salvation. Well, we would listen to that, you know, and we'd say, Well, that's got to be God. I mean, she's saying the truth. I mean, these men are showing us the way of salvation. They are the servants of the Most High God. We see the demons in the case of Jesus saying, We know who you are, the Holy One of God. So they professed that Christ was the Holy One of God. I'm accenting this because in the old days of Pentecost, the way we tested the spirits was by saying, Did Jesus Christ come in the flesh? Or we would say, Is Jesus Lord? And that was a way we had of testing the spirits. Well, I'm here to tell you that spiritual wickedness has increased to the point that we can't trust that anymore. We can't trust that anymore. So it seems like the Lord is drawing near his church. He seems to be more present now than he was when I began as a Christian a half century ago. He seems his presence. I think it's a scripture that says the judge stands at the door. And by the way, it's the judge that stands at the door. And his presence is very real. And many of us, among us, speak in prophecy. We have words or we have personal prophecy or we journal or whatever else. We're becoming ever more familiar with listening to what we hope is the Lord's voice. Well, I can tell you that it was nothing like this when I went to Bible school. Nothing. I don't recall anyone in a Bible school that had what we call a word. There were messages in tongues and interpretation. There wasn't even prophecy. But now all these things are abundant. And thank God that answers the prayer of Moses. I wish all your people were prophets. But at the same time, there's a tremendous danger in it because people, they back maybe, you know, with so much accuracy. And then all of a sudden, Satan takes advantage of that. He counterfeits what you've been listening to. And all of a sudden, he gives you something and it doesn't. He says this is going to happen or that's going to happen and it doesn't happen. And then your whole faith is shaken and you figure, well, none of it ever was of God. So this learning to move by the spirit and hear the spirit is a tricky business. I'm here to tell you. And you can easily get into deception with it, which will make you indecisive and waiting for voices. And the Lord moved me here and the Lord moved me there. And the Lord told me that if I spoke to this girl, she would love me. And then you spoke to the girl and she ran for her life. Then, oh, yes, this happens among Christian young people, let me tell you. And they can't figure, well, I thought it was God. Well, maybe the girl was disobedient or God knows. There's been many times in churches where people have gone and laid hands and said, you're supposed to marry so and so. Can you believe this would actually happen? And of course, the people are somewhat superstitious. And then it brings them right into bondage. Well, the spirit said, I have to marry this person. I have to marry this person. And they do get married on that basis. And this does happen. It really does happen. Well, when Pentecost started up in the middle of the 19th century, the man that was mainly moved in the British Isles became so, so trusting in tongues and interpretation that finally Satan used that, tore down his church and he died in ignominy because he didn't have the experience or the teaching or the eldership that, no, that you don't. Prophecy is not given for direction. Prophecy is not given for direction. Prophecy is to edify, to exhort and to build up. But you get your direction from presenting your body a living sacrifice. That's how you prove the will of God. If I had a nickel for all the prophecies I've heard go over people that haven't come to pass, I'd be a lot better off than I am financially because it happens. And I remember one lady prophesying in a church. I see dollars floating down, dollars floating down. Well, even I, as young as I was, I knew that wasn't the Lord. But this is the way that Pentecost has been. We just haven't had the savvy to know what is God and what isn't God. And people chase their tail like my dog Bear because they don't understand the difference between the Holy Spirit and all this phenomena that operates. The Holy Spirit is not like that. The Holy Spirit is God. He is august. He is sovereign, a person. And he doesn't speak all that often. Now, the Holy Spirit is our leader. As many as are led by the Spirit of God, they are the sons of God. And not the children of God, but the sons of God. The Greek makes a distinction. And the more adult we are, the more we are able to discriminate, to know when it's the Holy Spirit and when it's a church spirit. Now, there's been several moves of refreshing over the last 20 or 30 years. And people are afraid to touch it. And then all kinds of excesses happen. And people begin to follow this. And then they begin to pray. Then they have the idea they can pray down the Holy Spirit, and then direct the Holy Spirit, and then sing to the Holy Spirit, and then worship the Holy Spirit. And all of this is wrong. It's totally unscriptural. The Holy Spirit never, never presents himself in that way. He always points to Jesus. It is not scriptural to pray to the Holy Spirit. It is not scriptural to sing to the Holy Spirit. And I know we do once in a while. And I'm not trying to put us in a Procrustean bed that we're afraid of moving here. A Procrustean bed is a bed that doesn't fit. Okay. Your feet stick out. You have to stretch the person to fit the blanket. Okay. So I'm not trying to put you in a box here. I know some of our older hymns pray to the sweet Holy Spirit and all that. But we are past that day. You see, we're coming into an age of moral horrors that our young people are going to have to survive in. And the old traditions that are not scriptural will go by the way. We have to know what the Bible says. There's something about the written word that is like concrete and steel. It's just set there. And it doesn't change with the times or with culture or folk mores or with our feelings or anything. The Scripture is there. Okay. Now, the Holy Spirit will always move in terms of the Scripture. We don't move the Spirit with the Scripture. In fact, we don't ever try to move the Spirit. That's wrong. If you want more of the Holy Spirit, pray to Jesus and ask Him. You don't pray to the Holy Spirit. You pray to Jesus and ask Him. He is the Lord. There is no basis for praying to the Holy Spirit. And then again in Acts it says God gives the Holy Spirit to those who obey Him. And so if you want more of the Holy Spirit, obey God. And the more you obey God, the more you will have. Because the Holy Spirit is like Eliezer of old. He's come with singleness of mind. Praise the Lord. Here comes Meda. Praise the Lord, Meda. That's the source of the whole Bormann tribe. All right. I tell you, she can take you back. She knows more about the history of the United States than they do in college. I'll tell you that right now. All right. The Spirit, what I'm talking about is the law of the Spirit of life has set me free from the law of sin and death. We have a law of sin and death that operates in our body. What it is, is the sin nature working together with the law of Moses. These two working together bring death to us. Because the sin nature causes us to do something and the law of Moses says that sin and down we go. And the only thing that can overcome that, that can break that thing, is the law of the Spirit of life, which is the Spirit of God. Now, the fact that the Spirit there is called the law tells us that we do have a law as Christians. Now, this is not commonly known. It is often preached that there are no laws that govern Christians, no law but the law of love, which is a bunch of marshmallows. It doesn't work because it's saying the carnal nature, you ought to be more loving. And the carnal nature says, oh, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. But he's not a loving creature. He's a very self-centered creature. The carnal nature, his idea of love is that somebody makes you feel good. Furthermore, the carnal nature is unable to distinguish between lust and love. The Holy Spirit has no problem distinguishing between lust and love, but the carnal nature can't tell. It's all one big mess of confusion. So saying there's no law but the law of love is so much mouthwash. And it's best not to repeat it because it's not scriptural. We do have a law, and that law is the law of the spirit of life in Christ Jesus. It's the law that will govern us under certain conditions. Well, I've mentioned one, which is what? Wake up, wake up, wake up, which is what? That we do what? That we obey God. That's in Acts. The Lord gives the spirit to those who obey him. Also, in Luke, I believe it is, the Lord told us to ask for the Holy Spirit. Ask for the Holy Spirit. Ask Jesus for the Holy Spirit. Don't try to command the Holy Spirit. Ask Jesus for the Holy Spirit. He's the one who sheds forth the spirit from the Father. And the spirit here in the world, for one reason only, is extremely single-minded. And what is that? That's right. I gave you a hint when I said Eliezer. He's come to prepare a bride, a counterpart, a body for the Lord Jesus Christ. And he's like Eliezer. He says, don't ask me to wait around here. I'm not interested in your house or anything else. I've been commissioned by Abraham to get a bride. If you let her go, fine. If not, tell me, I'll go somewhere else. That's Eliezer. He wasn't even a Jew. He was a Damascene. He was from Damascus. All right. And so what did they do? They went to Rebecca. And what did they ask her? You want to go or don't you? Well, Rebecca was sick and tired of having to pick up her socks. So she says, anything but living with my mother. I'll go. Well, that's one of the great romances of the history of the world is Rebecca. I'm sure she didn't think all those things. That was inert ingredients. Now, that's what Jesus said. And see, the Holy Spirit, all he wants to know is, will you go? He's not here to entertain you with bracelets and nose jewels. First thing he did with Rebecca was he put a ring on her nose. He probably had a reason for that. Now, those were great ornaments in those days. I don't find that particularly attractive myself. But only they did in those days were highly set by. So he promptly adorned her with a nose jewel and everything. And, of course, when her brother saw that, he said, come in, come in. I'll be loved. That thing's got to be worth 15 grand. Come in. That's the way the churches are with the gifts of the spirit. Come in. Come in. Well, he's not here to give. He's here to take. And what he's after is the bride. And it's put to you. Will you go? And you say, yes, I'll go. And that's all he cares about. And off he goes with you on the camel. And he's not interested in fooling around or playing footsie with her relatives or anything else. He's not interested in our church religion. He's interested in one thing. A counterpart for the Word, for the Son of God, for the Lord. He's interested in that. And that's all he's interested in. And he'll give you. He came with so much jewels and everything. They couldn't have spent the interest. That's nothing. Abraham's got so much more than that. That isn't even anything. Just give me the bride. And that's what the Holy Spirit is saying today. And he's not sentimental. Jesus is sentimental. See, Jesus is a human. And he came. He suffered. He was tired. He understands what it's like to be mocked and despised. The Holy Spirit doesn't understand any of this. He's not sentimental. Jesus is touched with the feeling of our infirmities. The Holy Spirit is in touch with the feeling of our infirmities. The Holy Spirit is different from Jesus. He was not offered for our sins. Christ was offered for our sins through the Spirit. But the Spirit is not the bridegroom. He is not our Lord. Our Lord is Jesus. And the Spirit is a person that has come in place of the law of Moses so that we are not without law. People argue about the Ten Commandments. They say, well, are we supposed to keep the Sabbath? Well, we know we're not saved by the law but by grace. Well, but then how about adultery? I don't know. I thought about that. That's the Ten Commandments. You mean we're not under that law? Well, if we're under the law of adultery and the Ten Commandments, then we better not work on Saturday. Well, now, you're getting technical. No. I'm just trying to think clearly. How many like to think clearly? How many abominate having things in your brain that are not reconciled, that you're content to let there in two compartments and they don't agree? There's so much of that. All right. Now, the truth is, no, we're not under the Ten Commandments. Well, then can we commit adultery? No. Why? Because the law of the Spirit of life. And in the New Testament, we're told that if we commit adultery, we can't enter the kingdom. And the Spirit always speaks in those terms. He gave that word to Paul. The Spirit said to Paul, if you commit adultery, you can't enter the kingdom. Paul wrote it down. We don't know this Holy Spirit as well as Paul did, but we can read what the Spirit said through Paul. That's how it works. And it's a law that governs us. And the whole New Testament governs us. But we can't obey it except as the Spirit gives us the wisdom and the power to do it. And He doesn't lay it all on us at once. He just takes something that is going to make us more suited for the bridegroom, more of a helpmeet for Jesus, and He says, well, I better work on this part because I didn't want to get along with the Son of God. So He works on that one thing. And there it is in the Bible. And you've read it, and you've read it, and you never even saw it. And all of a sudden, boom. Did you ever ride down a street maybe 10,000 times, and there's a shoemaker on there, and you never saw it? And then one of the heels falls off your shoe. And you walk down, you go down that same street, boom, there's a shoemaker. Did you ever have that happen to you? The things you never saw until you needed it. And that's the way the Bible works. That's why you have to read it every day. You just kind of read it and ruminate on it. You know, what is a ruminant? Do you know? Do you know? Joseph, you ought to know what a ruminant is. It's an animal that chews its cud. Well, what is it doing? It gets a mouthful of grass and it chews on it. It greys. It greys in the Word. You may not understand everything you read, but you're greys in it. And all of a sudden, boom, out comes a shoemaker. And you know that the Holy Spirit is talking to you. See, if you hadn't read your Bible and said, I can't understand the things that I read because it's boring, I can't understand it. I'll listen to some Christian rock. What you do is you greys in it. You greys in it, you know. And you just kind of sniff around and keep yourself in attitude of prayer. And the Lord will, the Holy Spirit will pick out something that will make you more suited for Jesus. And it becomes real to you. And if it challenges you and it convicts you of sin, then pray about it. Ask the Spirit to take it out. That's how you follow the Spirit. That's how you follow the law of the Spirit of life. You have to be, I think, fairly mature in the Lord before you can sense the Holy Spirit. And distinguish the Holy Spirit from other spirits. And even then it's hard. Even then it's difficult. Because Satan can emulate every feeling you've ever had that was from the Lord. He can duplicate it and you cannot tell the difference. The only thing that puts you on notice is the Bible. Now hear me, I'm telling you something that will stand on the day of horrors. Lessons that were hard learned. Okay? You have an experience with the Lord and you feel so good and it was the Holy Spirit. And right away, Satan will come and imitate that thing and lead you down the primrose path. Where do we see that in the Bible? Who do men say that I am? And loudmouth spoke up. You're the Messiah, the Son of God. Flesh and blood has not revealed this to you, Peter. So when we get a couple of verses later, Jesus is saying, well, as Son of God I am. But I've got to go up to Jerusalem and die there. And so out comes Peter again. No, no, no. You shouldn't do that, Lord. What did Jesus say? Get behind me, Satan. One moment he's got a revelation from God. Next moment he's got a revelation from Satan. See how it works? That's why you can't trust voices. You can't trust feelings. We do appreciate all the prophecy and the words because it says despise not prophesying for one thing. And God doesn't give these gifts for no purpose. But it's learning to use them that is so difficult. The same thing is true of preaching. It's learning to use the gift that you have. That requires a lifetime of obedience to God. Daily prayer, daily reading in the Bible. Making mistakes and profiting from them. Sometimes the greatest lessons I've ever learned in driving, hear me all you 15-year-olds. The greatest lesson I've ever learned in driving is backing up. Because the only two accidents I've ever had was backing up. And boy, I tell you, I've got a limber neck because I don't back up. I don't even trust the mirrors because that's where I've had my accidents, is backing up. When I backed into a pole. Well, the same way is true. Sometimes a lesson is so important to learn that you just have to learn it the hard way. And then you don't forget it. Okay? Amen? Everybody's thinking so hard. Yeah, that's good. All right, now. The Holy Spirit. All right, we're talking about how the law of the spirit of life sets us free from the law of sin that operates in us. And he does it because he has the wisdom and power to overcome sin, which was not available to the Jews under Moses. It was not available to them. They did not have the law of the spirit of life. They had the law of Moses. Now, let's see how this works. Let's say we're ruminating, we're browsing, we're grazing. Grazing. In the Bible, something sticks out to us. Maybe it is about immorality. And we have thought that the Holy Spirit has said to us, well, you can do this immoral thing, but others can't because you're special. Believe me, this is how it works. You're special. So don't tell anybody because that would spoil it. And you know, you're just going around happy as if you had good sense. And your conscience is clear and everything. You're doing this immoral thing. This is the way it works. OK. And then all of a sudden, something happens. Either you do something which is so blatantly wrong, you know that can't be God. Or someone comes and shakes their finger under your nose. Or you're reading the Word and something leaks out at you and you say, this is contrary to the Word. This can't be right. Somehow you begin to doubt. And Jessie Penn Lewis, she never said anything else worthwhile. She did say this. She said, encourage your doubts. When you begin to doubt and experience, it's probably the beginning of light. Boy, I've proved that through the years. So, you may think God has said something to you. You may have held that for 15 years. And all of a sudden, something happens and you doubt it. Encourage it. Just say, go right to the Lord and say, Lord, was this really you? And get right on it. And if it's the Lord, it'll stay parked on your front lawn like a truck. You can kick the tires. Because you can never insult God by testing the spirits. And the reason that is so is because it tells you to test the spirits in 1 John. Because that is written. That gives you an idea of the power of the Word. You can never insult God by testing the spirits. You can test them 15 or 20 times and not insult God. As long as you're not doing it to try to get out of something. If you're genuinely afraid of being deceived, genuinely afraid, you can ask God. And I must do this 10 times a day. At least. The minute I begin to feel the prophetic utterance within my spirit, the minute, no matter how strong it comes, I say, Lord, is this you? Cleanse my heart and mind in Christ Jesus. I don't want to hear anything that's not you. You never have to worry. Sometimes spirits will come on me like, well, you can't do that. Because here you are resisting God and so on and so on. But see, the Word says, test the spirits. God will never be insulted when you test the spirits. I'm talking about learning about how the law of the spirit of life gives you the victory over your sinful nature. All right, so you're doing something immoral and you thought, sure, it was the Lord. And you may have thought this for a long period of time. And Satan plays you along. He doesn't let you do anything that is objectively wrong because he knows you're too much of a Christian to bite on that. So he waits, but he gets you along and he gets you along until finally, if your heart is right with God and you're really sincere before God, the Lord will do something to happen to bring it to your attention. Then what do you do? Well, if restitution has to be made, you make restitution. If not, and it's not good to go around telling people you're sorry about things until the Lord is leading you to do that, because you can do more harm than good. The main thing is to get it right with God and say, Lord, I was deceived. I thought I was really on a roll and come to find out I was deceived. And so you confess this thing as sin, you denounce it, you renounce it, and you tell God never again will this thing touch my spirit. And you do it with vigor and you do it fiercely. Sometimes you have to really come down on the thing because the spirit realm is waiting to see if you mean business or if Satan can coax you back into something by flattering you or making you feel good or some cure or another that you trust. I tell you, this is a chancy business, this stuff of being led of the spirit. Well, I told you to begin with, it takes experience, it takes a lot of mistakes, learning from your mistakes. You do well to attend every service that you possibly can because God will speak, sometimes just out of the spirit realm to you in the assembly of the saints, sometimes through a saint, sometimes through the preacher. That's why assembling is important. And I watch people and they're careless about church attending. I think, okay, Lord, I've told them, I've told them, I've told them. People know I don't beg people to come to church because of numbers. That's not my style. But I do warn the saints that if you don't, he's going to take you right down the primrose path and you're not going to be able to feel any difference. You still get up in the morning and praise the Lord and everything's right. But you didn't do what God said because God said, forsake not the assembling of yourselves together. And that's iron, iron. That isn't like, well, if I feel like it or, well, it doesn't seem to make any difference. No, it won't make any difference. And Satan will see to it that it doesn't make any difference. You see how strong the word is? The word says, forsake not the assembling of yourselves together. I noticed yesterday, we must have had five people at the men's prayer. It was a wonderful fellowship and I wouldn't have traded it for the world. But I went in my office and I said, Lord, am I doing something wrong here? Why are there only five men here? Six men, whoever it was, seven, something like that. And I felt the Lord said, your job is to just keep the doors open, put the bread on the table. But it's also my job to tell you that it's very easy in our colorful culture to get yourself so tired out or so distracted that, well, you know, what's the men getting together? Well, we had a good fellowship here and we had prayer and good discussions and it was wonderful. What were you doing? Was it really worthwhile? I'm sure it was good, but was it the best? You know, you're up against a demon, a demonized culture in America at this time. It isn't like it used to be. And you see, Satan does not have power. He works by deception. He plays with your mind. And his power was broken on the cross. He plays with your mind. And so that's the reason for daily prayer and daily reading the Bible and for gathering together with the saints. Andrew said to me one time, we ought to gather together seven days a week, and that's true. But at this time, it seems to be a bit impractical. We may not be up for it yet, but I think the day is coming. We ought to force it. But I think the day is coming when the demonic will be so strong and the persecution will be so strong and our environment will be so vile that will be the only way we can survive. So we have to be careful about this church attendance business because of what the Word says. Now, what I'm talking about is how the law of the Spirit of life overcomes the law of sin that works in our body. And it overcomes as the Holy Spirit, as we do the things that God has said in His Word, we keep ourselves open to the Lord, and when we're reproved of our behavior, we don't blow it off. We get with it. We don't say everybody's doing it. We get with it. If it's against the Word, it's wrong. This Word here is not our law. Our law is the Holy Spirit. But this is what He works with until we're so experienced in God that we can tell when the Holy Spirit is talking to us. And until that time, this is all we got. And the Spirit never speaks contrary to the New Testament or the Old Testament because He gave it. He gave it. He gave it for our admonition. He gave it for our instruction. So that's how we are set free from the law of sin and death. Before we get through it, we're going into communion in not too long, but I want you to look at a couple of scriptures. Let's look at Galatians chapter 5, verses 16 through 25. Now remember, we are looking at words that the Holy Spirit spoke to the Apostle Paul. So this is the same as the Holy Spirit speaking to you. You say, I don't know what the Holy Spirit would say. Well, look at Galatians 5, chapter 5, verses 16 through 25. And you will see what the Holy Spirit is saying to you today and saying to me today. So I say, live by the Spirit. Now how do we do that? By praying each day. By reading our Bible each day. By gathering with the saints. By obeying God. That's how we live, by the Spirit. Our culture is a very, very fleshly culture. And we have to resist it. I beseech you, therefore, brothers, by the mercies of God, that you present your body a living sacrifice. That you may prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God. Be not conformed to this world. Be transformed by the renewing of your mind. See, that's what the Holy Spirit is saying to us. If he were right here, God, and I'm not sure he has a form. I don't know that much about the Spirit. I know he is a person. I know he is God. But if he were standing here on the platform, this is what he would say. Don't be conformed to this world. That's what he would say. I don't care what we feel like. That's what he says. And in Galatians 5, verse 16, the Spirit says to us, So I say, live by the Spirit. He's saying, live by me. Live by me, speaking through Paul. And if you do, you won't gratify the desires of your sinful nature. Because I am the law of the Spirit of life, and I will give you the strength and the wisdom so that you don't fall into the ways of the flesh. Does that make sense to you? Okay. For the sinful nature desires what is contrary to the Spirit. Your nature, my nature, is at war against the Spirit of God. There's a warfare going on there, constantly. And you blow the whistle. You're the one that decides who wins. And boy, I mean, you've got to be on it 24 hours a day. No joke. For the sinful nature desires what is contrary to the Spirit. The Spirit, what is contrary to the sinful nature. That's what he's saying to us this morning. They are in conflict with each other so that you do not do what you want. Sounds like Romans 7. But if you are led by the Spirit, you are not under the law. The only way you can escape the law of Moses is being led by the Spirit of God. God will not have people who are not under law. He will not have lawless people. Either you're under the law of the Spirit or you're under the law of Moses. There's nothing in between. God will not have people who are not under law. God always works in terms of law. God is a judge. And He works in terms of law. Not how we feel. Just in terms of His law. Well, at one time, all we had was the law of Moses. Before that was the law of conscience. When God spoke to Noah and Abraham and others, He appealed to their conscience. Walk before Me and be perfect, He said to Abraham. Well, he didn't have the law of Moses. What law did he have? How did he know how to be perfect? His conscience. Romans, the first chapter, tells us that nature speaks to us of the glory of God. That's all that people had was conscience and nature before the Ten Commandments. Well, then the law came and made sin manifest. Now, God has given us another law. But it's the law of the Spirit. If we don't live by the law of the Spirit, we go back under the law of Moses. Because God will not have us without law. God will not have lawless children. I think that would make sense to us. But if you are led by the Spirit, you are not under the law. Paul here is always talking about the law because he was raised as a Pharisee. He's referring to the law of Moses. The acts of the sinful nature are obvious. Sexual immorality, impurity and debauchery. You know if you do these things, you know that you're sinning against God. It doesn't matter how you feel. Or if everybody's doing it, you know that it's not. That the Holy Spirit has said, you can't enter the kingdom. All right, idolatry. We've got a lot of idols in America and the main one is money. That's our idol. It's ridiculous to put on coins in God we trust. I hope as they change the currency, they'll put on it in money that we trust. I don't like this gray. I mean, call it like it is. If we trust in money, then put on the coins in money we trust. People know what they're dealing with. Otherwise, you keep with such a mental snip, they don't know up from down or sideways. It's all one big confusion. Is America a Christian nation or isn't it? You know, we go on like this. Well, it's time to fish or cut bait, I'll tell you. We've got all kinds of idols that we worship. Lust and money and violence and goes on and on. And witchcraft, idolatry and witchcraft are connected together. You remember what he said? And disobedience is a sin of witchcraft. Hatred and discord, jealousy. When you're jealous of somebody, you don't have to wait for a feeling. The Holy Spirit told you. And he's not, as I said, sentimental. He's not into your fleshly weaknesses. He's God. He's not Jesus. He's not touched with the feeling of your infirmities. So he tells you, don't have anything to do with jealousy. Don't do it because you won't inherit the kingdom. That's the Holy Spirit talking. Fits of rage. Sometimes people feel perfectly at ease blowing their stack. When you blow your stack, you are sinning against God and you will not inherit the kingdom unless you change. You cannot do that. I don't care how you feel about it. My job is to preach the word, right? That's what you want, right? Or rather, I tell you fairy stories. The Holy Spirit says, fits of rage. I can't control myself. Well, then what do you do? What do you do if you can't control yourself? Confess it to God as sin. Don't beat around the bush. All right, I've gotten away with it this long. Everybody's doing it, or that's me, or that's the way my nature is. Why you don't rationalize and defend the devil. Both of them having fun up here. I don't know how you're doing over there. You don't justify the devil. And fits of rage come from hell. They don't come from heaven. You'll never get rid of it until you make up your mind it belongs in the lake of fire. You have to judge it. You are God's judge. You judge it. You say, Father, the word, the Holy Spirit through the word, speaking through Paul, told me this thing is wrong. And then you confess it as sin. You denounce it. Renounce it. Draw near to God for forgiveness and cleansing. And when it starts, when you feel it lift up its head again, resist it. And you'll find that you're following the law of the spirit of life that is setting you free from the law of sin and death. Now, how does that grab you? Has it gotten more clear? All right. Selfish ambition. Man, the churches are filled with selfish ambition. The cure about that is to ask the Lord to help you esteem others better than yourself. You see this in the ministry all the time. Dissensions, factions, saying things that you know. You know one thing according to Ecclesiastes, I think it is. It's either Ecclesiastes or Proverbs. You know what it says? It's an abomination to the Lord as people that go around trying to create division between brothers. And people do that. They know what they're saying is going to cause dissension. And they go ahead and say it anyway. You can't do that. It's an abomination to the Lord. If you say something that's going to cause somebody to feel bad against somebody else, you have sinned against God. And it's an abomination. Thank you. You can't go saying things that will set a person against another person. Even an unsaved person. Your job and my job is not to cause dissension. And especially among Christian people, it's an abomination to the Lord. And it's done. It's done in churches all the time. It just feels good. You know that's how we put ourselves up? By putting somebody else down? That's why we do it, to put ourselves up. That's why we put other people down. How many believe God wants us to put people down? Well, we're thinking clearly this morning. Maybe too clearly. Factions are division. Division. If you're going to say something that causes division, don't say it. Because Satan's right there to help you. He's the accuser of the brothers. And whenever you go to accuse a Christian, you've got so much spiritual help. They come from every corner of hell to assist you. Amen. Hatred, discord, jealousy, fits of rage, selfish ambition, dissension, factions, and envy. It was envy that crucified Christ. That's what the Bible says. Pilate said he knew that it was the chief priests and others, they were envious of Jesus. If you're envious of somebody this morning, get rid of it at the altar. Orgies, we call them parties. Orgies is another name for parties. Parties are for children. Fellowship is for adults. If you still have to have a party, grow up. Have my party. I've got to have a party. Parties are for children. Fellowship is for adults. You wouldn't go out and play in the sandbox with a fire truck, would you? Well, kids do that. There's some things that are for children. There's other things that are for adults. Their toys cost more. Oh, Lord. Oh, what fun. And the like. He put that in. That's a lawyer's term, see? So in case I didn't hit it, everything else resembles this. Inconfident, immaterial, and irrelevance. Make sure we don't miss anything. Those who live like this will not inherit the kingdom. But, but, but, but, but, but, but. It's the goats that but. But will I be saved and go to heaven anyway? I don't know. The issue is the kingdom. You won't inherit the kingdom. But the fruit of the Spirit. Now here, see, the Spirit is telling you, you want to know what I'm like? This is the way I am. This is the way I am. Love. It starts off with love. It's the greatest thing. Greatest thing in God's kingdom. Joy. Not misery. Joy. Peace. Not an uproar all the time. Patience. Gotta have it now. My faith, I gotta have it now. How many know that the word impatience has an imp in it? Kindness. Are you harsh? Well, the Holy Spirit is not harsh. Goodness. As distinguished from badness. Faithfulness. Doing what you say you're going to do. Gentleness. Sometimes people get carried away in the evangelical spirit and are harsh towards sinners. That's not the Holy Spirit. And self-control, which is the root of all of it, because if you don't have self-control, nothing else will work. How many know these are the gifts? This truly is the fruit of the Christian. Isn't it? No? It's not the fruit of the Christian? What is it? Oh, you got it. It will never come out of your nature. Only as the Holy Spirit dwells in you is this going to come out of your nature. You can't get it up out of your damning nature. Well, I'm naturally a faithful person. It'll break down under enough pressure. Against such things, there is no law. There's no law against those. You can have all of them that you want. You can eat as much as you want without getting fat. Those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified. Boy, we've seen that so much in the mind. Crucified. I can't do it like the others do it. They've got a touch to them. I don't know. I had to get some training on it. Crucified. Martha, you could do that. Crucified the sinful nature with its passions and desires. Now, I love this 25th verse. This is neat-o. I mean, this does it. Since we live by the Spirit, let us keep in step with the Spirit. Isn't that neat? Oh, man. That does it all. See the picture there? It's just like Isaiah. Ever notice Isaiah following Andrew? Andrew's legs are longer than Isaiah's. And so, Isaiah has to take five steps to one of Andrew's. So, when Andrew's walking along, Isaiah's going... He's keeping in step with his dad. He has to run to do it, but he keeps in step with his dad. He'd be up higher on the platform leading the whole worship team if we'd let him. Let us not become conceited, provoking and envying one another. Keep in step with the Spirit. Praise the Lord. What a word. Shall we stand?