“For those who are according to the flesh set their minds on the things of the flesh, but those who are according to the Spirit, the things of the Spirit. For the mind set on the flesh is death, but the mind set on the Spirit is life and peace, because the mind set on the flesh is hostile toward God; for it does not subject itself to the law of God, for it is not even able to do so, and those who are in the flesh cannot please God. (Romans 8:5-8 NASB1995)

Faith in Jesus Christ is not lip service only, as some people would have you to believe. We who have trusted in Jesus Christ to be Lord and Savior of our lives, if our faith is biblical faith, we have been crucified with Christ in death to sin, and raised with Christ to walk in newness of life in him, no longer to live as slaves to sin, but as servants of God and of his righteousness in walks of obedience to our Lord’s commands in surrender to the will of God for our lives. Our old lives of sin were put to death so we will now live for Christ.

So, as followers of Jesus Christ, we are to be his sheep who listen to him, who adhere to his teachings, and who walk in obedience to his commands, by the grace of God. We are no longer to be those who are living according to our sinful flesh, according to sinful desires. Our minds are no longer to be set on the flesh and on fleshly and worldly desires, but our minds are to be on God and on his righteousness and holiness, and on living to please him in all that we do, according to his will and purpose which he has for our lives.

Yet, there are many people professing faith in Jesus Christ who are being convinced that all their sins are forgiven, and eternal life with God is now guaranteed them, and that nothing can take that away from them, but regardless of how they live. For they are being taught John 10:28-30 absent of verse 27, and Ephesians 2:8-9, absent of verse 10, and Romans 10:9, absent of the whole of the teachings on salvation in the book of Romans. For many Scriptures are being deliberately taught out of context to teach lies.

And so it appears that we have this large population of professing Christians whose lives have never been crucified with Christ in death to sin and raised with Christ to walk in newness of life in him, no longer to live as slaves to sin but as servants of righteousness in obedience to God’s commandments. And they are those who are still living according to the flesh, and not according to the Spirit, whose minds are set on the things of the flesh rather than on the things of God and of His Spirit in walks of surrender to the will of God.

But what they are not being taught is that if sin is our practice, our habit, and not walks of obedience to our Lord in holy living, the Scriptures teach we will die in our sins and we will not inherit eternal life with God, regardless of what our lips professed by way of professions of faith in Jesus Christ. And this is not saying that we will never sin again (1 John 2:1-2) or even that we could not fall back into sin and need to repent and to be brought back into fellowship with God (Revelation 2:1-29; Revelation 3:1-22; Galatians 6:1).

But if our minds are set on the flesh, and if we live according to the flesh, and if our minds are not set on the Spirit, and thus we do not live according to the Spirit, it will result in us dying in our sins and not having eternal life with God. For what does it say here? Because the mind set on the flesh is hostile toward God; for it does not subject itself to the law of God, and those who are in the flesh cannot please God because they are living according to the flesh and not according to the Spirit in walks of obedience to our Lord.

[Matthew 7:13-14,21-23; Luke 9:23-26; John 10:27-30; Acts 26:18; Romans 1:18-32; Romans 2:5-10; Romans 3:23; Romans 6:1-23; Romans 8:1-14; 1 Corinthians 10:1-22; Galatians 5:16-24; Ephesians 2:8-10; Ephesians 4:17-32; Ephesians 5:3-6; Titus 2:11-14; Hebrews 3:1-19; Hebrews 4:1-13; Hebrews 10:19-39; Hebrews 12:1-2; 1 Peter 2:24; 1 John 1:1-10; 1 John 2:3-6; 1 John 3:4-10; Revelation 2:1-29; Revelation 3:1-22]

Refiner’s Fire

By Brian Doerksen

Purify my heart,
let me be as gold and precious silver.
Purify my heart,
let me be as gold, pure gold.

Purify my heart,
cleanse me from within
and make me holy.
Purify my heart,
cleanse me from my sin, deep within.

Refiner’s fire,
my heart’s one desire
is to be holy;
set apart for You, Lord.
I choose to be holy;
set apart for You, my Master,
ready to do Your will.

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