10) And if Christ be in you,
the body is dead because of sin; but the Spirit is life because of
righteousness.
11) But if the Spirit of him
that raised up Jesus from the dead dwell in you, he that raised
up Christ from the dead shall also quicken your mortal bodies by his Spirit
that dwelleth in you.
12) Therefore, brethren, we
are debtors, not to the flesh, to live after the flesh.
13) For if ye live after the
flesh, ye shall die: but if ye through the Spirit do mortify the deeds of the
body, ye shall live.
14) For as many as are led by
the Spirit of God, they are the sons of God.
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W |
hen
an individual does not understand what he reads in the scripture, doing what
scripture says can seem impossible. Therefore, he rationalizes that it must
mean something other than what it says. This pitfall could be avoided if Man
would carefully read the beginning of the epistles. Since they are addressed to
those sanctified unto Jesus Christ (the saints), it stands to reason that one
who is not saved, will not understand them.
Too
often, salvation is dealt with like it is any other occurrence, as opposed to
the miraculous happening that it is. This being true, it is understandable that
one might not then take advantage of the supernatural guidance the infilling of
the Holy Ghost brings with it.
Much
has been said of the "enmity" that exists between the carnal mind and
the will of God. That "mind of the flesh"
consumes itself with thoughts of self, thereby placing its possessor at odds
with God, because He is "self-less." That self-consumption also makes
it impossible for one to submit himself to God. We should see, then, that since
we were created for God's use, we must be "born again" in order to be
able to destroy the mind of the flesh. Without the infilling of the Holy Spirit
and baptism in Jesus' name, the human mind will never change.
In
that there are saints who do not understand the necessity of gaining a new mind
after salvation, as well as many other doctrinal concepts, it is no surprise
that many of the unsaved feel no need to get saved. Everyone deserves a chance
to be saved, but if those with the truth refuse to be heard, those in need are led to believe by false doctrine that they have
done all that God requires.
For
anyone to believe that he has met God's requirements, he must meet the
requirements of scripture. It clearly dictates that baptism in the name of
Jesus and the infilling of the Holy Spirit is necessary for salvation. So, in
that we already know that one without these two experiences cannot change his
natural mind, and one with a natural mind cannot enter heaven, then one will be
unable to enter heaven without these experiences.
It
must be kept ever before us that the Holy Ghost is the only means by which our
life's situation will change and the only way for it to be changed is by the
Lord being able to direct our lives.
More important than the church to which
we belong is that we belong to the Church. In that the beginning of God's Church was heralded by its
members being filled with the Holy Spirit, so then must all aspiring members,
today, gain entry the same way.
One
cannot belong to God without being led by Him. And one can be led by Him only
through the Holy Spirit. The concept is much like driving a car. How so? In
order to control where it goes and what it does, it must have a steering wheel.
In like manner, without the "steering device" of the Holy Ghost, we
are unable to go down the right path. Man is capable of being what God wants
when He is able to control Him.
So
you say you want to be successful? It takes the leading of the Spirit.