Paul declares True Believers Free from Indwelling
Sin Part 1
Romans
8:1-4 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. NKJV
God the Holy Spirit immediately leads Paul into the most
calming and securing truth for him and every true son and daughter of God the
Father by new birth and that is in Christ we can never ever be condemned. Paul
when we last left him was filled with words that disclosed how distraught he
was over the sin that would often beset him and hinder the good he desired to
do to the Glory of God. As Paul stated in the previous study, Romans 7:22 “For I delight in the law of
God according to the inward man.” NKJV Although Paul wanted to please God
at all times by being obedient to His Word, he found a separate law in his
members that waged war against his mind creating in him this fierce battle that
would result in times when he would do or say things that dishonored God and
grieved the Holy Spirit. Paul longed to discover strength and power that would
enable him to overcome the indwelling sin that would rise up and show it in his
members. As we go through the other epistles written by Paul, I believe we can
hear of many of his very own struggles by what he wrote to encourage, edify,
and exalt other believers to make haste or be vigilant and diligent to exercise
or practice.
For example, I stated that I believed that one of
Paul’s struggles with indwelling sin was from the fact of him being an angry
(insolent) and mean man prior to his conversion, we must not forget that he was
a murderer (not just in hatred, but an actual taker of human life). Therefore,
we find Paul writing these words, Ephesians
4:26-27 “‘Be angry, and do not sin’:
do not let the sun go down on your wrath, nor give place to the devil” and
he would continue on in this very same passage to say, Ephesians 4:29-32 “Let no corrupt word proceed out of your mouth, but
what is good for necessary edification, that it may impart grace to the
hearers. And do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God, by whom you were sealed for
the day of redemption. Let all bitterness, wrath, anger, clamor, and evil
speaking be put away from you, with all malice. And be kind to one another,
tenderhearted, forgiving one another, even as God in Christ forgave you.” NKJV
All of these words, as inspired by God the Holy Spirit as they are, were words
I believe that came from the heart of a man that struggled with these indwelling
sins, but found victory in the Law of the Spirit of Life in Christ Jesus our
Lord.
The Law of Sin and Death is what Paul expounded in
the previous chapter 7 of Romans. It is the reality that God’s Law is holy,
just, and good and it is spiritual and perfect because it comes from God. God’s
Law shows all sinful flesh the nature of its sinfulness and demands the sinful
flesh to obey or conform, but because all sinful flesh is weak, corrupt, and
incapable of conforming, then the Law of God which is good, just, perfect, and
holy became the procurer of death to all sinful flesh. Example, many states in
this country still have the death penalty for certain crimes of murder against
others, but has the threat of physical death deterred any person from killing
others, the answer of course is no for we see acts of violence happening every
day in our country with no regard to the threatening or commands from the law.
The problem we know is in man and therefore, no consequence from man’s laws or
even God’s Law (which is where man’s laws come from, even the reality of
eternal hell) will deter the sinful flesh of man.
Aaron Hernandez seemed to have it all (as the world
system describes it) a 40 million dollar contract with one of the best NFL
teams, all the sex with women his nature desired, a beautiful home in the
suburbs of Boston, expensive cars, he was young only 23 years old, but he like
all men is a sinner and none of those things could get rid of the corruption he
was born with and so he allegedly kills a man out of revenge over a petty
argument. This is but one example of the Law of Sin and Death doing just what
it does and that is holding a soul in continuous bondage to sin, darkness, and
the devil (Romans 1:28-32). Because all
human beings are carnal or born spiritually dead, and even those of us who have
been born again still are not able to overcome the sin that indwells us without
a new principle or life in us that enables us, nurtures us, and supplies us
with grace (divine influence upon the heart that affects the life) to overcome
our desire to act out the sin that still remains in our inner man, this is why
Christ death to sin and Resurrection from the dead to Life is so crucial for
the sinner and also for the saint.
The Law of the Spirit of Life in Christ Jesus is
simply as Paul stated in these words, Colossians
1:27 “To them God willed to make known what are the riches of the glory of this
mystery among the Gentiles: which is ‘Christ in you’, the hope of glory.” NKJV Our
Lord Jesus Christ is the Resurrection and the Life (John 11:25-26) and it is only by yielding to His Life (in the
person of the Holy Spirit by obeying the gospel) in the inner man or woman that
the new creation in Christ can overcome indwelling sin. Man’s sin was incurable
by observing and trying to keep the Moral Law (Ten Commandments) or the Mosaic
Law with all of its sin offerings, burnt offerings, trespass offerings, peace
offerings, etc. God the Father knew this before He ever founded the world, so
this is why a Body was prepared for God the Son to put on and live a sinless
life satisfying the Ten Commandments and the Mosaic Law in the Body of His
Flesh. Christ overcame sin in the flesh and condemned it and destroyed it all
at the same time and therefore, His Resurrection Life carries with it a Law
that overcomes sin, condemns sin, and destroys sin in the flesh of the believer
who trust our Lord and stands on this promise without waver.
The Apostle Peter said the same thing this way, 1 Peter 4:1-6 Therefore, since Christ
suffered for us in the flesh, arm yourselves also with the same mind, for he
who has suffered in the flesh has ceased from sin, that he no longer should live
the rest of his time in the flesh for the lusts of men, but for the will
of God. For we have spent enough of our past lifetime in doing the will
of the Gentiles --- when we walked in lewdness, lusts, drunkenness, revelries,
drinking parties, and abominable idolatries. In regard to these, they think it
strange that you do not run with them in the same flood of dissipation,
speaking evil of you. They will give an account to Him who is ready to
judge the living and the dead. For this reason the gospel was preached also to
those who are dead, that they might be judged according to men in the flesh,
but live according to God in the spirit. NKJV
Galatians
5:16 I say then: Walk in the Spirit, and you shall not fulfill the lust of the
flesh. NKJV
Colossians
3:16 Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly in all wisdom, teaching and
admonishing one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing with
grace in your hearts to the Lord. NKJV
“We are too apt to look and see how others walk,
which is not faith, and to allow our own steps to be more or less affected by
the walk of others around us. But in so doing, my soul is not carrying out the spirit of life in my walk.” G. V. Wigram
1805-1879
“The Gospel of the grace of Christ, which is not
only a law or rule of life, but affords that sovereign energy by which guilt is
removed from the conscience, the power of sin broken, and its polluting
influence removed from the heart. The law was a spirit of death, by which those
who were under it were bound down, because of their sin, to condemnation and
death. The Gospel proclaims Jesus the Savior; and what the law bound unto
death, it looses unto life eternal.” Adam Clarke
“The covenant of grace made with us in Christ is a
treasury of merit and grace, and thence we receive pardon and a new nature, are
freed from the law of sin and death, that is, both from the guilt and power
of sin - from the course of the law, and the dominion of the flesh. We are
under another covenant, another master, another husband, under the law of
the Spirit, the law that gives the Spirit, spiritual life to qualify us for
eternal.” Matthew Henry
“Our Lord Jesus Christ did not come to put a band aid
on a deep gash in the flesh, but rather He came to pour salt in the deep gash
to heal it and then to stich up the wound to conceal it forever. The scar may
remain (just as our Lord’s wound in His Side and the holes in His Hands and
Feet remain forever) but the sin is destroyed in Him and washed away by His
Blood and so is the promise to every true believing heart.” Clifford D. Tate,
Sr.
If you do not
know the Lord Jesus Christ and His amazing healing power, pray this from your
heart to the Lord Jesus Christ (you speaking directly to Him), Dear Lord Jesus,
I confess to You that I am a sinner and I need Your forgiveness. I believe You
shed Your Blood and died for my sins. I believe that You rose from the dead
proving that You alone are God. I repent of my sins. I want to turn from my
sins. I ask You Dear Lord Jesus to come into my heart and take control of my
life. I want You to be my Lord, Savior, and my God. Amen...
Sincerely
in Christ,
Author
of “Silent Assassins of the Soul - Are you Broken by Pornography and
Masturbation? You can be Restored by the Lord Jesus Christ and brought into
Deliverance, Freedom, and Victory! A Guide for Men and Women in the Enemy’s
Crosshairs” e-book available now @ Amazon Kindle, @ Apple I Bookstore for IPod,
Barnes and Noble for Nook, Reader Store for Sony Reade, Kobo, Copia, Gardners,
Baker and Taylor, and eBookPie…
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