The mind of the flesh is death, but the mind of the Spirit is life and peace,For the mind of the flesh is death, but the mind of the Spirit is life and peace;For to be carnally minded is death; but to be spiritually minded is life and peace.For the mind of the flesh is death; but the mind of the Spirit is life and peace:
7 sermons cite this verse
… set their minds on the things of the Spirit. The mindset, fronima, of the flesh is death. But the mindset, fronima, of the Spirit is life and peace. Why? Why is the phronema of the flesh death? For the mindset of the flesh is hostile to God. it does not submit to God's law. Why not? It cannot. Why can't it? Those who are in the flesh cannot please God. That's just the heaviest verse in the Bible. cannot. You preach to people who are absolutely enslaved. They cannot please God. They are hostile to God by nature. that's why we need justification, that's why we need the Holy Spirit, this is all an explanation for, why did God go to the lengths, of killing his son, good night, the most glorious being in the universe, dies, and pours out the Holy Spirit so that we might fulfill the law. What is wrong with us? Fronema is wrong with us. We have a phronema of the flesh. phronema of the spirit is what we need because the phronema of the flesh is just anti-God and your people are going to say you need to be patiently teaching over the years about their condition because they won't believe it they're going to say I'm not hostile to God my unbelieving kid isn't hostile to God he's not interested you did. …
… Is it yours or somebody else's? What does it mean to upgrade our anxiety and consider somebody else's? We live in a world that worships self. We're in a world in the mind of the flesh. And what we're going to contradict right now is very practically the mind of the flesh and the mind of the spirit. The mind of the flesh is what you're born into the world with. The mind of the flesh is telling you, trust yourself, look out for yourself, discover yourself, find yourself, defend yourself, indulge yourself. And it's all about self-promotion, self-protection, self-fulfillment, self-gratification, and being true to yourself. And we live in a world that idolizes self-care. I have searched the scriptures. I cannot find anything in the text that talks about self-care. What I do read in the text, that Jesus said, if anyone would come after me, he must pick up his cross daily, deny himself, and follow me. How do you see it differently? I like self-care. I mean, get your protein, get your workout. …
… And then he makes it clear. The mind of the flesh is death, but to set the mind on the spirit is life and peace. Young people, the inward transformation of our minds is the only effective safeguard, the only effective safeguard against outward conformity to the spirit of the age. It is a transformation that is from within that changes what is without. it is a new life that produces a new lifestyle when Paul writes remember to the Philippians he says work out your own salvation with fear and trembling for it is God who is at work in you both to will and to do of his good pleasure I wonder when's the last time perhaps on your own just as you read your Bible in the morning and you thought along these lines you said the words of an old song Spirit of the living God fall afresh on me Spirit of the living God fall afresh on me break me melt me mold me fill me Spirit of the living God fall afresh on me. …
… Look at Romans 8.5. To be carnally minded is death, but to be spiritually minded is life and peace. Because the carnal mind is enmity against God. It cannot be subject to the law of God. but to be spiritually minded is life and peace. By default, you're born into this world with a sin nature. Until this statement, Nicodemus thought he was going to go to heaven. He thought because of being born a Jew of the seed of Abraham, and then because he did everything that was right that you could possibly do in the way of religion. In Matthew chapter 3 verse 7, we see John the Baptist, he's out baptizing, and as he's baptizing, a bunch of Pharisees and Sadducees come to the baptism. So he's down there baptizing, and he looks up, and he sees them, and he goes, could you imagine? We have a baptism coming up. Could you imagine? I'm out there baptizing, and I see some people coming down the stairs, and I stop, and I go, brood of vipers! …
… You can look that up. Romans chapter eight, verses five to nine, where the apostle Paul talks about, hey, your mind can be set on things. You're not an animal. Animals just respond to stimuli. Humans have this amazing capacity to think, I'm gonna put my thoughts on that. I'm gonna put my mind, I'm gonna set my mind somewhere. and your mind is going to, as you drive through university, all the advertisements all around town, you got the billboards, you got stuff on your phone, the ads are popping up. You can endure all sorts of stimuli coming at you if you have set your mind on an enduring, solid, powerful place, mainly the voice of Jesus in his word. You become ready for the day when you've set your mind and you reset your mind. Now, I know you can't only think about heavenly things all day. Now, you live on earth, you've got a calling here as a student and in your ministry, but in meditation, you can set your mind on the things of God. …
… I'm trapped into it I want him in my life anybody here tonight because you're after the spirit For to be carnally minded, the word carnal means to be meaty minded. Carnivorous, carnality, carnivorous. The root word is meat. For to be carnally minded, to be meaty minded is death. So the enemy wants you to be meaty minded because it will always lead to death. but to be spiritually minded is life and peace. So if you are carnally minded and you switch and start being spiritually minded as a man thinketh in his heart, so is he, you automatically get life and peace. You don't have to fake peace. You don't have to chant for peace. You don't have to cry for peace. You don't have to yell for peace. If you get spiritually minded, peace will just come over your soul. If you start talking to yourself in spiritual words and make a melody in your heart to God, peace will come over your soul. If you're nervous, nature, and you start worshiping God, peace will come over your soul. …
… to banish unbelief and resistance. The mind of the flesh is hostile to God. It does not submit to God's law. Indeed, it cannot. And those who are in the flesh cannot please God. So I pray that miracles would be wrought in transforming the mind of the flesh into the mind of the spirit. Guard me from error and make things plain, I pray. in Jesus name amen so my definition of providence is God's purposeful sovereignty the word is not used in the ESV and therefore you can't say I'm using a biblical definition because it has no biblical use and definitions are based on use. I'm distinguishing it from sovereignty because sovereignty is God's authority and power to do what he wills. And that doesn't tell you what he wills or why he wills it. And providence does, at least in my definition. So purposeful sovereignty means that providence is God's sovereignty going somewhere with an ultimate purpose and extending in a certain degree into people's lives and the universe. So answering those two questions is what we're about tonight. How far does it extend and what's he up to in the universe? Why did he make it? Why does he run it the way he does? Here's Westminster Catechism question 11. What are God's works of providence? Answer. God's works of providence are his most holy, wise, powerful, preserving and governing, preserving and governing all his creatures and all their actions. So the words holy and wise connotes he's going somewhere, he's doing a …