We are dead in sins, our wills are in bondage to sin and self, and therefore not free,

not free to choose anything at all, and not free to choose the spiritual good.

It requires a sovereign initiative and act of God.

If God has sovereignly acted in your life in that way, if He has given you a new heart,

you know that He's also given you a new mindset. You look at life differently than before,

and the Apostle Paul pates a dramatic picture of that reality in Romans chapter 8. It is a stark

contrast between the attitudes and lifestyles of the people who are spiritually dead and those who

are spiritually alive. Here's Dr. Derek Thomas.

We continue in our studies of Romans 8, and we're going to look at verses 5, 6, and 7, beginning

at verse 5, those who live according to the flesh set their minds on the things of the flesh.

But those who live according to the spirit set their minds on the things of the spirit.

For to set the mind on the flesh is death, but to set the mind on the spirit is life and peace.

For the mind that is set on the flesh is hostile to God, for it does not submit to God's law,

indeed it cannot. And the question that's being asked here as a consequence of where this chapter

began with a statement that we are no longer condemned, being justified by faith, we have

peace with God, and there is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus.

The question now arises, and Paul has already hinted at it by referring to the law of the

spirit of life, having set us free in Jesus Christ from the law of sin and death. And in verse four, suggested that the purposes

of redemption in our life is that the fruit of the spirit, obedience to the law, might manifest itself

in our lives. It's very important to get the order right. Paul isn't saying,

if you do certain things, you will live. He's saying the opposite. Because you live,

you will now do certain things. As a basis of what God has done in you, he now brings forth the fruit of the spirit.

...