It’s All in Your Mind

1 J J l 1 efforts. Have you ever known anyone like this? The person who is saved is acting out of character. He reverts to his former life and efforts. He acts as if he does not know Christ. Are there times when you act and think like you don't know Christ? Did you lose your salvation? Positively not! You became a carnal-minded Christian. You stepped down from the spirit to the flesh. Romans 7:14 declares, "(1,o,. IN. Imo.a,. llwl lJu I.am . u Api.,il.aal.- lml ;;J. am m.r.naJ., uud. u.n.du . Jin. 11 Who is the I in this verse? It is the Apostle Paul. Paul says he experienced a time when he was carnal. Someplace after the Damascus Road experience, Paul became a carnal-minded Christian. We are told that the word translated carnal comes from two original Greek words. The first of these is tied to the word material. Romans 8:6 might look like this, "For to be [materially] minded is death." Romans 7:14 would say, "For I am [material]." Ifyou have read the chapter on the "Doubtful Mind" you are aware that this thought 'fits. Materialism in a Christian will lead to an an)lious, doubtful mind. The second of these Greek words is ethical. Now, this does not fit as easily into our thoughts. Based on these two words, a carnal Christian is one who has descended from his high place of privilege to fight and live by material means, a means which is perfectly ethical according to popular standards. This is the definition we need to learn and study and we will see how a carnally minded Christian operates. The believer who becomes or stays carnally minded is always reasoning that his conduct and desire are right. What causes him to believe this? Because his desire always coincides with that which is popular with the world. When one born by the grace of God descends from high to low and puts all of his thinking on a material plane, and says that the means of that thinking is perfectly ethical according to the standards of the world in which he lives, he is a carnally minded Christian. And Paul says, «1 am carnal." Based on material and ethical, I mind the flesh. I give myself to the flesh and I do not care for that which is spiritual. A carnal Christian is not a spiritual Christian. He has the same faith, the same position, the same privileges, but he always thinks on the material, ethical, or popular level. Not only did Paul say that he was carnal, but also that he was. "u,/d lllUll/l .tin." As you think of the word under think of the word beneath or as you find in other verses in the New Testament, the word subjective or subjection. Paul says that a carnal Christian is sold or weighted down by sin. He is subject to sin. You can see why a carnal Christian would be miserable. A camal Christian, through his mind, finds his flesh subject to sin. In his book on Romans, Roy Laurin says, "As a camal Christian, I automatically relieve myself of the protection and power of a victorious spiritual life; not protection from eternity. for the Christian has this; nor protection from hell, for he has this in Christ, but protection from a life which would be the opposite from condemning one's self. A Christian who consistently walks after the flesh is a Christian who has lost the protection of a Spirit-ti.lied life. Such a believer will be constantly under·the bondage of sin even though he is in Christ." A carnal-minded Christian will sin. In fact, a carnally minded Christian has to sin. For to be carnally minded is death, animosity toward God, an inability to face or please God. Beginning with Romans 7:15, Paul perfectly described the thinking of a carnal Christian. What he wants and knows to do, he doesn't; and what he doesn't want to do, he does. Paul 31