FLESH OR SPIRIT, YOUR CHOICE

There is therefore now no condemnation to 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. (Romans 8: 1-4 NKJV)

The apostle here is dealing with the conditions of a holy life; and the condemnation to which he refers is that caused by the constant failure so graphically described in the previous chapter. From my own experience, I think that the introspection which is often induced by ill-health and weakness makes us very sensitive to the failure and shortcoming of the inner life. We know that we are accepted in Christ and that our sins are forgiven us for His sake; but we are deeply conscious that in us (i.e. in our flesh) dwells no good thing.  For I know that in me (that is, in my flesh) nothing good dwells; for to will is present with me, but how to perform what is good I do not find.  (Romans 7:18 NKJV)

We perceive what physical life is when a child comes bounding into our room in a very ecstasy of health and joy. We know what intellectual life is as we see the mind developing under the process of education. We know what the moral life of a stoic is, repelling by force of will the appeal of the senses. But above all these, there is life which is resident in Jesus Christ, stored in Him, abounding in Him, which He longs to communicate to every soul that trusts in Him. This was the witness of those who knew Jesus most intimately in His brief human life, And this is the testimony: that God has given us eternal life, and this life is in His Son.  He who has the Son has life; he who does not have the Son of God does not have life. (1 John 5: 11, 12 NJKV) This more than outweighs the down-pull of the self-life. The law of that life makes us free from the law of sin and death, for it has mastered death and the grave.

This life is communicated and sustained by the Holy Spirit. We must be one with Christ; we must be in Him, as the sponge is in the ocean. We must be in Him, not only in our standing, but also in our daily walk. We must be in Him as the branch is in the vine, and the vine-sap in the branch. And this must not only be a theory, but an hourly experience. We must abide in Him and He in us.

But how can this become our daily experience? There is but one way, through the co-operation of the Holy Spirit, as we walk in Him.  I say then: Walk in the Spirit, and you shall not fulfill the lust of the flesh. (Galatians 5:16 NKJV).  He is the essence of the life which is in Christ Jesus.  For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus has made me free from the law of sin and death.  (Romans 8: 2 NKJV)

PRAYER

Almighty God, I beseech You to raise me from the death of sin to the life of righteousness by that same power that brought the Lord Jesus from the dead, that I may walk in newness of life through the aid of the Holy Spirit.  In Christ’s Name I ask it, AMEN.

God's Daily Promise

Promise #17:
I will discipline you in love as a father who loves his children.

Proverbs 3:11-12 (WEB)
11 My son, don’t despise Yahweh’s discipline, neither be weary of his reproof: 12 for whom Yahweh loves, he reproves; even as a father reproves the son in whom he delights.