October 4, 2025 - Romans 8:5-8 - "Our Inner Compass"

Romans 8:5-8

"For they that are after the flesh do mind the things of the flesh; but they that are after the Spirit the things of the Spirit. For to be carnally minded is death; but to be spiritually minded is life and peace. Because the carnal mind is enmity against God: for it is not subject to the law of God, neither indeed can be. So then they that are in the flesh cannot please God."

To be in the flesh is to be in a state of spiritual deadness, alienation from God, without the Spirit of God, blinded in mind and heart. The carnal mind is enmity against God. It is death. Men devise means through religion to try to please God, but such is only the pursuit of the works of the flesh. From Adam’s fall in the garden, when fig leaves could not cover nakedness, God made it plain that the wages of sin is death. Innocent blood had to be shed. The skins of slain animals clothed Adam and Eve, pointing forward to the Lamb of God, the Substitute Who must die that sinners might live.

All are born into this world sinners. “By one man sin entered into the world, and death by sin.” We are not sinners because we sin; we sin because we are sinners. The psalmist declared that we come forth from the womb lying. Jeremiah wrote, “The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked: who can know it?” (Jeremiah 17:9). Left to ourselves, there is no desire and no ability to turn to God. It is not subject to the law of God, nor indeed can it be. Even the Apostle Paul confessed in Romans chapter 7, “We know that the law is spiritual: but I am carnal, sold under sin” (Romans 7:14). Not “I was,” but “I am.” He spoke of doing what he hated and not doing the good he would. Why? Because of the law of sin in his members. This is the common lot of all men, whether outside of Christ or regenerated by the Spirit. But for the grace of God, there go I.

What then is the remedy? It is not a greater resolve, nor a change of moral compass, nor taking the wheel of this sin nature and turning it in another direction. Can the Ethiopian change his skin, or the leopard his spots? “Then may ye also do good, that are accustomed to do evil” (Jeremiah 13:23). The answer is no.

The remedy is Christ and Him crucified. The Gospel declares in Titus chapter 3: “Not by works of righteousness which we have done, but according to his mercy he saved us, by the washing of regeneration, and renewing of the Holy Ghost; which he shed on us abundantly through Jesus Christ our Savior; that being justified by his grace, we should be made heirs according to the hope of eternal life” (Titus 3:5–7).

Here is the good news for sinners. He saved us—not attempted, not made possible, but accomplished salvation by His obedience unto death for those that the Father elected before the foundation of the world. He saved us by His mercy, putting our sin to the account of His Son, the LORD Jesus Christ. Grace gives what we do not deserve: righteousness in Him. He is Jesus, the Savior of His people from their sins. He is Christ, the Anointed One, Prophet, Priest, and King. He is our Savior. By His obedience and death, He satisfied God’s law and justice. By His resurrection and ascension, He reigns until the last redeemed sinner is gathered in, and throughout eternity.

The Spirit communicates this salvation to the hearts of those for whom Christ died, washing and renewing, turning hearts from works of the flesh to Christ alone. Even in our groanings, the Spirit makes intercession according to the will of God (Romans 8:26–27).

To be spiritually minded is not perfection, but life and peace—peace because Christ has satisfied the law, life because He has given His Spirit. This is the blessed state of those for whom He died. Is He your Hope?