ADDRESSES ON ROMANS
to the return of the Lord. Surely it seems as if those days were upon us even now! The devil seeks to draw the Christian away by polluting his mind, but it is possible to have a pure mind, even in days like these. To be spiritually minded, man must be controlled by the Spirit. As we reckon ourselves dead to sin and yield our members to God, His Spirit pours into the life "the things of Christ." The Spirit of life is the Spirit of holiness. He is the only One who can give a spiritual mind. And He accom- plishes this by the counteraction of all that is evil. However, if we are ever going to have that kind of mind, we must co- operate with the Spirit. If we continue to read newspapers filled with divorce and magazines filled with evil, if we con- tinue to let Satan direct us in the things we look upon, the Spirit will not operate in our lives to give us spiritual minds. And how do we cooperate? Read Phil. 4:8 for the answer! "Think on these things!" A young man said to me recently: "I am a child of God. but I have a mind that runs away with me, and constantly thinks of evil things. I want a pure mind. Tell me how to get it." I put before him the contents of these verses in the eighth chapter of Romans, and emphasized yielding to God. Then I gave him the illustration of the glass full of corks, that I sometimes use as an object lesson for children. The glass is full of corks, just as one's mind is filled with evil thoughts. But as you pour water into the glass, the corks all come to the top and fall out. This is done by counteraction. Likewise, the Spirit can so fill the Christian's mind that there is no room for Satan and "the things of the flesh." There is such a thing as having a mind controlled by the Spirit. Thus He brings something to the Christian's life, as well as life to the sinner. He brings the daily experience of joy and peace. Bear in mind that the contrast here is not that of the two natures, as in chapter seven: it is, rather, ·a contrast between fPage Ht
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