I Want to Please God — Shane Idleman

So, let me just read Romans 8, but before I do that I want to give just a brief introduction. The title of the message is, I Want to Please God. I want to please God, and I don't know about you, but do you want to please God?

Okay, good, everybody should be shaking their head. If not, you probably found the wrong church, and you might want to get up during the bathroom break and just quietly exit, but we all want to please God.

The Law Cannot Save and the Flesh Cannot Please God

Romans 8 says, those who are in the flesh cannot please God. So those who are in the flesh cannot please God. It's impossible. In the context of Romans 8, if you were to read Romans 5, 6, 7, I would encourage you to do that.

The context is that the law cannot save. The law of God cannot save us. That was the dilemma of having the law. It cannot save us. We're in trouble, hence the need for Christ. So Paul then goes on to say, O wretched man that I am, who will deliver me from this body of sin and death?

I struggle, and there's an ongoing struggle, and we all know it, right? There's a struggle between the flesh and the spirit. The flesh wants something that the spirit does not want, and the spirit wants something that the flesh doesn't want, and there's this struggle.

So Paul says, O wretched man that I am, who is going to deliver me from this body of sin and death? For with the mind I serve the law of God, but with the flesh, the law of sin. So that's the context of what is going on.

But also, many use this verse as an excuse to yield to sin. So when Paul, they quote Paul, O wretched man that I am, who will deliver me from this body of sin? See, Paul had a struggle, and see, that's my excuse to sin.

But that's really not the point of the verse. The point of the verse is Paul saying that he's a wretched man, he's got this war in between, but with the mind, I serve the law of God. With the mind, there's victory.

There's victory in Christ. We walk in victory. So it's a victory verse, not a verse to just say, oh well, forget it. This struggle's too hard. Have you ever done that? You try dieting for a week, and then a week into this, you just say, forget it.

This is too hard. Or people give up on Christianity. This is just too hard. And really, I think the reason why it's too hard sometimes is they have a whole bunch of rules, and it feels like they've got to follow this rule, and they can't go out this boundary, they've got to follow this rule.

And really, the Christian life is freedom in Christ. There's freedom to walk in what God has called us to do. But yes, there's guardrails, but those protect us. They don't prevent us from enjoying life, as I said many times before.

No Condemnation for Those in Christ

So Romans 8, there is therefore no condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus. Thank God for that verse. There's no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus, who do not walk according to the flesh, but according to the Spirit.

For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus has made me free from the law of sin and death. For what the law could not do, in that it was weak through the flesh, God did by sending His own Son, in the likeness of sinful flesh, on account of sin.

He condemned sin in the flesh, that the righteous requirement of the law might be fulfilled in us, who do not walk according to the flesh, but according to the Spirit. Paul's really wanting to get that point across, isn't he?

Those who do not walk according to the flesh. And interestingly enough, this has caused some people, I remember Chuck Smith teaching on this, he even suggested that maybe this part was not in the original manuscript, where it says, who do not walk according to the flesh.

So let me read that again. There is therefore no condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus. And that's, they say, you should just leave it at that. Because we don't have a works-based salvation. It shouldn't be, there is no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus, if you don't walk according to the flesh.

There's no if there, because it's been done at the cross. But I don't really, I don't read the same thing, I guess, that he did into this. What I'm reading into this is, there's therefore no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus.

How do you know if you're in Christ Jesus? You don't walk according to the flesh. So it's really showing genuine salvation. It's not saying, there's no condemnation, but make sure you walk in the flesh, and adding a work.

He's just saying, if you're under Christ, you're not gonna walk in the flesh. Now I'm gonna qualify that, hopefully, pretty soon, because there's a big difference between, and I've explained this many times before, sometimes I say, I have to say this again.

Like, yeah, I have to say this again, it's a whole new group of people, usually, from a year ago, or whenever we talked about this. But there's a difference between a lifestyle and a struggle. There's therefore no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus.

If you're walking in the flesh, which means, if sin is a lifestyle for me, I'm walking in the flesh. That's a lot different than somebody who struggles with something. There's no condemnation in that person, but if somebody's made sin a lifestyle, that's why Paul said, don't you know that drunkards, or thieves, or covetousness, or adulterers, or homosexuals, or, boom, boom, you feel, don't you know that they will not inherit the kingdom of God?

And that applies to pretty much everybody that struggles with something. But that's why Paul says, do not practice these things. If a person says, yep, I enjoy this sinful lifestyle, I don't care what God's word says, I'm going to practice this, that tells me they're not walking with Christ.

They're walking in the flesh. But somebody who's walking in the spirit says, Lord, I want to please you, and this sin just tripped me up this week. I lied, or I deceived, and I struck, Lord, would you help me with this?

And that's different than a person blatantly walking in that sin. And as we all know, condemnation is a death sentence. Condemnation is a death sentence, and the fulfillment of that sentence. So this is the part of the Bible that nobody likes, in case you weren't aware of that.

They like the good stuff, but this is the stuff they don't like, that the wages of sin is death, that God set in motion thousands of years ago, for those who believe in a young earth, I'll say billions of years ago for those who don't, but I'm going to talk about that hopefully a little bit Monday.

But God set in motion truth, and the wages of sin is death. There's no way around it. You can't twist it, you can't take this out, you can't remove this, you can't try this. No, the wages of sin is death, condemnation.

And what condemnation is, it's a death sentence and the fulfillment of it. So people are under the condemnation of God. Do I like that? Not really. I'm being honest with you, I would have chose that path, but I'm not God, and He knows a lot more than I do, and He's a much better judge than I am.

He's just, He's fair, He's righteous, all those things. But humankind is under the condemnation of God. But the only way to get out of that is through a relationship with Jesus Christ. So that's why He says there's no condemnation for those who are in Christ.

Well, Shane, how do I know if I'm in Christ? You walk according to the Spirit. And even the fact that there's a struggle is a good thing. It tells you there's a battle going on. If somebody doesn't have a struggle, and they're on the enemy side, you might want to reconsider where your heart is at.

Freedom in Christ and Genuine Conversion

Christ set us free, and those who are set free will walk as free men. That's my point. If Jesus Christ has set a person free, they will walk as a free person, right? They will walk in that freedom. When a person's not, they might have all the bells and whistles, they might have the bumper sticker on their car, and they might walk a certain way.

I mean, you can even teach a monkey about the things and put on a little hat and do funny things, but put them back out in the jungle, what's going to happen? He's going to be a monkey. Why? Because that's what He is.

So you can dress a Christian up temporarily, but at some point, the heart is going to come out. And that's why I often say when a vessel's struck, what's inside comes out. And a person comes, they'll take communion, they'll listen, and they'll show up for church, but their heart hasn't been changed.

But Christ will set those free who truly have their minds focused on Him. So of course, the question comes up, which way do you walk? Which way does a person walk? Are they free or are they bound? Those are the two options.

Either a person walks in Christ, has to struggle, but they're free, or they're bound in sin. And this person usually knows they have religion and not a relationship. They're bound. They're bound in sin, but I want to put on a Christian hat, and maybe that will change me.

That doesn't change you. And that's one of my concerns for, say, younger adults, is a lot of times, and I was one, of course, many years ago, but you think you can just ride your parents' coattails. You know, I was raised in a Christian home, and I was taught the Bible, and no, you have to come to a point on your own where you acknowledge what Jesus has done, and you say, Mom, Dad, I'm under the condemnation of God, and I need Jesus.

It's a wonderful thing, and baptism takes place, and we see that quite often. A .W. Tozer said, the church is notorious, see, I knew I got this from somebody. The church is notorious in using outside pressure to make a sinner act like a Christian.

You can teach anybody to do almost anything, baptize them, confirm them, and feed them in the Lord's Supper, instruct them in the faith, and after a while, he begins to act like a Christian. But see, he's not a Christian because an inward change, an inward renewal hasn't ever happened.

And that's why you'll see a lot of times, especially in America, because in China, in the persecuted church, or in Iran, in Pakistan, you see those churches being blown up, nine times out of ten, those are true believers.

They know what's at stake. They know why they're there. They're not playing church, really. When you have to go to a 4 a .m. worship service on Friday in a cave, you're not playing church. But in America, we have a lot of wheat and tare growing together.

And I have a passion for those people. I see them all the time. They come, and you can ask them, you know, are you a Christian? Oh yeah, I've been a Christian all my life. Oh, okay, well, when did you repent?

And when did you believe? And when did you, well, you know, back when I was young, I always had a sensing of God, and they'll keep avoiding that question. You know, my mom believed in God, I've seen great miracles by God, I've just been a Christian all my life.

But when did you, did you ever repent of your sin, and, you know, what the Bible says, confess that he's your Lord and he's your Savior, and oh my goodness, I've been a, you know, I've just been raised in a Christian, and they avoid that question.

Challenging Darkness With Repentance

And it's when you bring out the difficult things like this, that's when people squirm. That's when they, oh, you know, light and darkness, because the darkness can hide in the light as long as the darkness isn't challenged.

But when the darkness is challenged, that's when, that's when they get exposed and things happen, you hear of demonic influence, and actually, for those of you who are at the service Sunday in Leona Valley, I believe that's what happened.

Right at the end of the service, I'm telling people prayer, repentance, and what happens front row, seizure. On the floor, get paramedics, get the fire department, everything. And ironically, a week ago, I talked to her, and she's not a believer, she's seeking.

And what happens right at this final message on Easter and repentance, and just, I just hate this. Now, it could be, I don't know, people are asking me, and I, I mean, I don't know, but I wouldn't, it would not be beyond the scope of reality for Satan to, that'd be a demonic type of influence, a manifestation that, that, because the dark, you can only sit there so long, and the light penetrate.

I've had it, it happened at Grace Fest when I spoke at a prayer rally. Somebody was there, they just got up, and they just, they just, people were holding her down, they were praying for her because that, the light's exposed.

That's what people sometimes want to get, where's my car keys, I have to get out of here. I was playing church for many years until this guy came to town. And that's what darkness does not like, that.

And I've seen it, I'll talk with people, it happened Sunday again. He was leaving, might not be able to choose this video to be on our website in case these people watch this, but he was actually, on that call of repentance and faith, he was going down the balcony, going out the back exit, getting ready to leave.

Well, here I come on the side wanting to pray for people, and I go to the back corner, and guess what happens? He said, oh, do you need a prayer for something? And no, he did not need a prayer at all.

He needed to tell me just how much he did not like the sermon, how can God, God loves everyone, and just for five minutes, I'm like, oh, this is going to take a while. So I gave him the number of the church, said, let's get lunch this week, I'd love to sit down, I'd explain all these questions, and he hasn't called yet.

But you can, but why, he was just, he was getting out of dodge, he didn't want to sit there and, I mean, they're just upset, they're, he just so, like, why are you so upset? Well, God's not like that.

Why? Why? Because they know, they know that they don't have that relationship, so darkness hates the light. Why did Jesus say if the world hated me, they'll hate you? If they persecute me, they're going to persecute you.

Now, obviously, we don't look for that, it'll find you. So I have a concern sometimes for people, or pastors, or churches that never offend anybody ever. No, we shouldn't, but if you never offend, what, what are you, what are you preaching?

I mean, you can only talk about God's love and grace and mercy so long, you can only paint so many houses and have community outreaches and help the homeless so long before some point you're going to have to get into repentance and the need for Christ and salvation and hell and damnation, and you have, you have to, you have to.

Preaching the Whole Counsel of Truth

And I don't know if some of you, if you've been on Christian Post or the Charisma News, a lot of the websites picked up an article I wrote, not bashing Joel Osteen, but just talking about, because he recently went on, again, went on TV, said, no, no, I'm just an encourager.

I don't talk about any of the hell stuff and damnation, and I don't talk about any of that stuff. Okay, wait a minute here, that's a motivational speaker. That's a motivational speaker, and you should see the threads, you know, just everybody says, ah, he's a false teacher, he's a false prophet.

I don't know the guy. I would say he's a motivational speaker, and if you keep avoiding all the difficult things, I don't really think you're encouraging people to the best you think you are, because the single mom at home hooked on painkillers, it's angry outbursts at her children.

You can't just tell her to think happy, positive thoughts. You've got to tell her to repent, and that's where the encouragement comes. So you see, that's the dilemma, and that's what's happening in our church.

People say, why are you bashing him? I'm not bashing him, but if he's going to go on TV and say, no, I don't talk about those difficult things, I have to say, yeah, we need to talk about those difficult things from time to time.

Of course, you can encourage and build up. I just did that twice yesterday and today. Somebody who'd been hooked on drugs and this, and encourage, God can move, fall forward, God can do, and you build them up, but you don't avoid all the other stuff that can help.

And the bottom line is, I think a lot of times we just don't want to offend people. We want to be a cheerleader, not a coach, because coaches aren't always popular. Was Vince Lombardi popular, or just Notre Dame's and Lou Holtz?

They were coaches. They were bringing out, because really the word encourage is to bring out of you something that's already in you, to put in courage, to put in a motivation, and to encourage. And many times, the best way to encourage a person is to help them get back on track with God.

So that's what I'm wondering, back to him preaching to thousands, millions of people, and you wonder how many people is he preaching to that are addicted to drugs, addicted to different things, and they're hooked to porn, and they go, yeah, that's true, I'm ahead, not the tail, I'm above and not beneath, I'm more than a conqueror, and gosh darn it, thank you Lord, and nothing changes.

And they continue on, see, that would hurt me, that would hurt my, I would feel sad for those people, that they just keep, they can never get off this rollercoaster because they're always being encouraged and never challenged.

And the word of God is a perfect mixture, because you have to have both. You have to have both. That's what Paul said, preach the difficult truths, and preach the glorious ones. Preach heaven, but preach hell.

Preach the new life, but don't forget about the cross. Preach mercy, but don't forget about repentance. Preach holiness, but don't forget about love. I mean, it's the totality of the truth that really changes the heart.

Inward Transformation and Returning After Failure

So a person is not a Christian unless there's an inward change compelling him to live for Christ. See, that's important because you can have outward change, I call that reformation, but there has to be inner change that's compelling a person to live for Christ.

Not perfectly, but when you fall off the horse, you want to get back on the horse. That's the difference. When you, okay devil, you got me last week and you got me last month, but that's over, I'm getting, and your heart's set towards God.

There's an inward, it's like a magnet. I mean, if you know a person who's a genuine believer, you can't stay in sin very long without being miserable. Just miserable. You can't hold on to a sinful lifestyle and be joyous and happy and come to church.

That's why I think a lot of people come to church with frowns. And they're not pleasant to be around because they're caught in besetting sin. The prodigal son was not happy when he was eating with the swine.

When he was living with the pigs, he was not happy. And that's what happens. I know myself, if I've, you know, me and Morgan have maybe not said the right things and kind of left mad, and I'm not going to forgive this person.

I can't believe they did that. And I just hold on to that. You do not want to be around me. You do not want to hear me preach. You do not. So you have to get all that stuff out. And you can't stay in this habit of habitual sin and be joyful.

The Bible says hard is the way of the transgressor. So this is just a healthy thing. Verse three, for what the law could not do in that it was weak through the flesh, God did by sending His Son in the likeness of sinful flesh on account of sin.

Now in case you don't know what that means, go listen to the last two weeks. That's what that means, that God sent His Son, took the place of our sin. Many of you remember what I read from Johnny Erickson Tata.

That is absolutely true, that God, that He took on every sin ever committed, and He took that on and abolished the law. Basically, the law was asking us to do what we cannot do. The law said you must do this, this, this, this, and I can't.

And Paul will go on to say it's a schoolmaster. It shows you your need for Christ. So the purpose of the law, the Jews should have said, this is impossible. Was Abraham saved by following the law? He was saved by faith, because he believed in God, God counted it to him as righteousness.

Noah believed in God. Noah, being warned by God, moved with fear, moved with reverence, and he built an ark. The saving, so it's that faith, we see that faith in action throughout. You can't do all these things and be in right standing with God.

So in a nutshell, there's not five points to this sermon on how to please God. There's one way to please God, and it's right here. That's what he just said. I'm getting to it in a minute. Those who are in the flesh cannot please God.

But the encouragement there is in the flesh. That's a lifestyle, that's weeks or months or years of just staying in the flesh. You cannot please God by staying in the flesh. So our thought life is what pleases God.

And then people say, wait a minute, hold on, what about our actions? Well, as we all know, where did the action start? Come on, this isn't, you know, right, right here. This is where the action started.

Walking in the Spirit Through Endurance

I talk about this all the time, but it fits right into Romans 8. Now, on that note, don't condemn yourself because there is a struggle. That's normal. See, I don't want people to leave here, oh my God, I'm just condemning myself, condemning myself.

The struggle is normal. Romans 8 is really about victory. If you look at it from Paul's viewpoint, Paul's not writing from a position of defeat, he's writing from a position of victory. That's why he says, wretched man that I am, who will deliver me from this body of sin and death?

Nothing will, but with the mind I serve the law. Thank God that Christ Jesus, through him, I can serve Christ. Now, there is therefore no condemnation for those who are in Christ who do not walk according to the flesh, but walk according to the Spirit.

So that's where the freedom is. That's where the victory is found. So I can tell, see, this is an interesting thing, too. We've had many discussions I've had with others, but technically, it's possible to walk in the Spirit, I mean, your whole life, and just walk, but it's possible, but it's not feasible because there's too much sin involved in the way.

Even though the ability to walk in the Spirit, I can make right choices all day long, but we fall short because that sinful nature pulls us away from God. So the ability is there. Moses, I like what L. Morris said, he was a commentator on this passage.

Moses' law had right, but not might. Sin's law has might, but not right. And the law of the Spirit has both right and might. So let me break that down for you real quick. Moses' law had the right, had the right.

Here's the 10 commandments of God. You have to do this, but it did not have the might. It did not have the strength for man to save himself. But sin has the might. You're under the condemnation, but it doesn't have the right to lead us astray because we're under God's covering now as children of God.

So as a spirit, you have right to be in right relationship with God, and you have might. You have the power to walk into that victory. So this should be really encouraging, and that's what you can encourage somebody caught in sin.

You never have to discourage. You can encourage them by saying, listen, here's how you get back on the right track. You remove that, and you begin to feed your mind, begin to walk in the Spirit. Good reminder as well, walking in the Spirit is not easy.

It's like walking up Mount Whitney. For those of you who are prepared, I've never done it. I don't have any desire to walk up Mount Whitney. The highest, what is it, the highest mountain in maybe the United States, I think.

But so people think, oh, walking in the Spirit, no, it's not a nice peaceful walk. It's like the Pilgrim's Progress. You're walking, and then the enemy's shooting fiery darts, and then the flesh wants to sit down and sleep, and the world's, oh, look at that, and the world's pulling.

It's not a comfortable walk. It's a very difficult walk, but it can be done. If we encourage people to keep walking, that's why the Bible... Does the Bible ever talk about endurance? Often. Developing patience and endurance.

Those who endure to the end. Endurance, it's part of the walk. I wish it was an easy walk. Then verse 5, for those who live according to the flesh, so if you want to know how to do this, for those who live according to the flesh, they set their minds on the things of the flesh.

Setting the Mind on Godly Things

But those who walk according to the Spirit set their minds on the things of the Spirit. Listen, this is not rocket science. This is not, here's 20 things you need. Very simple. If you want to walk according to the flesh, set your mind on the things of the world.

If you want to walk according to the Spirit, set your mind on the things of the Spirit. Very easy. What's that old saying? It's simple, but not easy. I mean, there's your choices. I mean, it's right there.

You can set your mind on the things of God or set your mind on the things of the world. Now, the word set there, if we had time, you can look it up in the Greek language and what it means. It's, well, you know, like setting.

Have you ever broken a bone? Hopefully not. Are you kids? What do you have to do to that bone? And when you set it, what are you really doing? You're not growing it back. You're setting it back so it can grow back healthy.

People think, well, okay, I set it, I fix it. You didn't fix it. You just positioned it now to where it can grow healthy. And talk to a doctor and ask them, what happens if you don't set the bone? Nerve damage.

Bone damage. Not use of the arm anymore because you're not setting it. You're allowing it to... So that's what he's saying. You've got to set your mind in a healthy spot with God so you're able to grow and thrive spiritually.

You're setting your mind horizontally with God. You're setting your mind on that. I mean, think about this. This is so simple. I sit here and go, I don't want... We know this, right? You get home, you're going to put on worship music or the Fast and Furious series?

Hello? Worship music or Fifty Shades of Garbage? Encouraging things or the evening news? I mean, I can go through Netflix and I'll say, flesh, flesh, flesh, flesh, flesh. Oh, spirit maybe. Flesh, flesh, flesh, flesh, flesh.

I mean, everything. The whole world's catered to the flesh. So we make a choice. Let me think here. What is that one? I know it's rated R, but it surely looks good. And then two hours later, we're like, oh, I'm just so depressed.

And so this, and what happened? Oh, the world's falling apart, and Obamacare, and Obama this, and Trump this. And oh, God, what's happening? We're a mess. Why are we a mess? Because we set our minds on things that are not godly and encouraging.

And people get mad at me when I say this, but I don't think you should be on the news very often. Murder, mayhem, and chaos. What's Chicken Little? The world is... I mean, I get scared if I watch that, and that usually doesn't happen very easy.

I'm like, unbelievable. ISIS now, with nuclear capabilities, and beheadings, and they're blowing up churches, it's like, Lord, set your mind on this. We're not supposed to fear... Well, people say, well, shouldn't we know what's going on?

Yeah, you kind of know what's going on, but I don't need to know what's going on everywhere. Holly, what's going on in the Yellow Valley that's going to affect me? Is them all shut down? Because I know you start to...

So we know how to set our minds on that, and I know I really shouldn't watch this, but... And we get into this, like, all right, here's another one. I know I shouldn't call that person, but... We set our mind...

Oh, there's a lot of laughs on that one. You know the person who's not encouraging, they're discouraging. Did you see what Trump tried this week? Did you see what Hillary said? Did you see those trails up in the sky?

Those are chemtrails, and they're seeding the atmosphere with iodine, and it's falling on us, and we're breathing it, and we're all going to die with cancer. And we're gone here pretty soon, and did you know that they're trying to...

Now, martial law, Obama's going to declare martial law, and then there's no election, and you do have enough ammunition, they shut down all the gun stores. And what's happening, like, I'll talk to you later.

Oh, my goodness. I am a mess. I'm a wreck. That's... But see, we don't see it, folks. That's what's happening. I've never seen more scared Christians in my life. I've never have. We're paralyzed. We're paralyzed to the point of not being able to accomplish anything, because the human mind, you're not supposed to feed on that.

You're supposed to feed on things that are pure, and noble, and godly, and upright, and have a good report. Paul told the church in Philippi, whatever things are pure. So, try it. I know it's difficult, but try it.

Because that's the only way you're going to find true joy and peace, is to set your mind on the things of God. And it's hard sometimes. I know I get up, you know, I get up pretty early sometimes. And I'll get up and just, okay, worship music, or better check my email, and text, and Facebook, make sure the world's not falling apart.

You know, and then you get on, you know, I've got two minutes. Oh, golly. Oh, what's happening? We've got this person's dying, and this person's dead. And now, 14 holistic doctors have died in the last year, and they found a cancer treatment in the world.

And it's, you know, all this negative, negative, negative, negative. And then it's hard to get back on track. And I would just encourage you, stop it. And I know when I talk about this, the majority of the people aren't going to stop it.

They're going to continue in setting their mind on the things of the flesh. So that's why there's a broken relationship with God. That's why we're not pleasing God. We're setting our minds on the things of the world.

And that's what's lining up. So that's really how you please God, is what you set your mind on. For those who live according to the flesh set their minds on the things of the flesh. But those who live according to the spirit, the things of the spirit.

For to be carnally minded is death, but to be spiritually minded is life and peace. If you want life and peace, be spiritually minded. Focus on the things of the spirit. Because the carnal mind is enmity against God.

For it is not subject to the law of God, nor indeed can it be. So then, those who are in the flesh cannot please God. In a nutshell, I guess I should have just said this at the beginning and just went into a big long worship set.

Carnality, Spiritual Health, and the Holy Spirit

Your mental diet determines how healthy you are spiritually. You want to know how healthy you are spiritually, show me your mental diet. Ongoing, ongoing, what are we putting in? We have to be very careful.

Now, I want to talk about briefly this word carnality because it's used two different ways. Unbelievers, a person who does not believe in God, they are dead spiritually. We all know that. And if you're one of those people, I want to encourage you, you don't have to stay there.

You don't have to stay dead to the things of God. So an unbeliever dead to the things of God is often called carnal. They're carnal. That means basically against God. However, Paul also calls Christians carnal.

Things that make you go, huh? Well, there's a solution. Carnal Christians are not yet dead. They're sick and they're dying spiritually. So here's the difference. In an unbeliever, the carnal nature is ruling and reigning in their life.

They're dead to the things of God. The carnal nature is their master. But in a carnal Christian, carnal influence is ruling and reigning in the heart. So you can have a Christian, but they'll be carnal because they're allowing their carnal nature to rule and reign.

That's why they fly off the handle. That's why they can't get along with anybody. That's why they're angry all the time. That's why they're hooked to this and addicted to that. That's why they have no time for God because the carnal, although they're a Christian, the carnal nature is ruling and reigning.

So it's a big difference, but it's the same thing. With the unbeliever, the carnal nature is condemning them to death because they've never repented of that nature and it's their master. But in a Christian, you can become very carnal and that carnal nature is influencing you to the point to where...