Resources Available to Combat Sin

A Christian has the internal resources to live a life pleasing to God. He has a new heart, a new spirit, God's spirit and internal motivation to be obedient. The question becomes, will we use the resources we have to live a life that is pleasing to God and that honors and glorifies him?

In Romans 8, we have several keys to help us understand how we are to use what we have been given to live victorious and obedient lives.

First we have the umbrella of protection that I've already discussed and that is that a Christian is under absolutely no condemnation or judgment from God. His sins have been completely forgiven and will never be brought up again. He does not fear the judgment because God has declared him completely righteous. This is not because he has been righteous, but because the very righteousness of God has been imputed to him and placed on his record.

Second, in verses 2 and 3 we are reminded that we have died to the law. The law no longer has jurisdiction because as we saw earlier, a Christian is seen by God to have died with Christ and to be raised with him and therefore there is no further penalty for sin. Sin requires death. I've died. Issue closed.

Romans 8:4 says, “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.” Here we begin to see how this works. The righteous requirement of the law will not be fulfilled because we try to be obedient to some external list of rules. The righteousness of the law will be fulfilled in us as we walk according to the spirit. As I said yesterday, a Christian has had his own spirit made alive plus he has God's spirit in him as well as a God-given motivation to do the right thing and so these factors work together to provide internal obedience to the law of God. But it takes place as we walk according to the Spirit. That is we walk in unison or in step with the Spirit of God who indwells us.

Paul goes on to explain in verse 5 that a person who is according to the Spirit is one who puts his mind on the things of the spirit. The one who is according to the flesh is someone whose mind is on the things of the flesh. What are these things? A list of the things of the Spirit might include these kinds of things: love, joy, peace, longsuffering, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control, tender mercies, humility, meekness, forbearance, forgiveness, thankfulness, truthfulness, selflessness, and compassion. Things of the flesh would include things such as these: hatred, contentions, jealousies, wrath, selfish ambition, dissension, heresy, envy, murder, drunkenness, covetousness, malice, blasphemy, sexual sin, uncleanness, lewdness, idolatry, filthy language, lying, stealing, corrupt speech, bitterness, pride, boasting, strife, and gossip.

So what Paul is saying here is that there are two mind-sets a person can have. He can either have his mind set on the things of the Spirit or the things of the flesh. The question we need to ask ourselves is what is our mind-set? Generally speaking where is our mind. What kinds of things do we think about and what kind of responses come out of us when faced with a sudden obstacle?

Do these two choices of spiritual or fleshly-mindedness represent possible choices for a Christian to pursue or are these distinctions between Christians and non-Christians? That is the question we want to look at next time.

Victory in Christ -- Part 7

So that brings us to a familiar verse, Romans 6:23:

²³ For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.

The interesting thing about where this verse fits in the context is that it's just not a statement about sin and the comparison of being lost and saved, although it is that. It is in the context that we just discussed where there are two different paths a person can take in presenting ones self either to righteousness or to sin and the consequences of those choices. This is a verse written to Roman Christians in the middle of this discussion of which choice we might make as we faced with opportunities to yield to one or another. So this is a warning that to yield to sin leads to death.

Here's where it gets tricky and I want to be careful not to contradict other teachings in the Scripture. It is clear to me that when a person comes to know Christ in a saving way, his behavior cannot undo the justification he has received. In other words, sinful behavior does not cancel the justification we have in Christ. Instead, his behavior will change because if we are in Christ we are a new creation (2 Corinthians 5:17). And because we are under the new covenant, we have the new covenant promise of the removal of our old stoney heart, the giving of a new heart and new spirit, the presence of the Holy Spirit of God in our lives and the motivation to be obedient (Ezekiel 36:26, 27).

But, given these truths, it is also clear that this verse is a warning not to yield to the sin nature. Yielding our members to sin is a path that ultimately leads to death, so why would a Christian want to venture down that path? Warnings are given to help us avoid the dangers along the way and we should heed them.

We should not look at promises and warnings as contradictions. In the story of the shipwreck on one of Paul's journeys, Paul was told by God that no one would be lost in the wreck. Later on however, some of the frightened sailors started to lower some lifeboats to escape the doomed ship. Paul warned them that if they took a lifeboat, they would not survive. Was that a true warning given the fact that Paul had already promised no one would be lost? Of course it was. The result was that the sailors did not take the lifeboats, their lives were saved and God's promise to Paul was fulfilled. Promises and warnings can both be true and valid. I believe the same thing is true in the passage we are studying.

Principle 9: Remember yielding to sin leads to ever increasing lawlessness and ultimately to death.

Curses and Blessings Part 3

We’re continuing our study on God’s blessings and curses and our relationship to them. It will work best for you if you have your Bible open in order to follow the logical discussion that the Apostle Paul is presenting in Galatians 3. According to verse 10, what is the standard for avoiding the curse? The standard given there is that we must continue in all of the things written in the book of the Law. We’re not allowed to deviate from it to either side. We must hit the nail on the head every time. That leaves us in a precarious situation, doesn’t it?
Basically there are two ways to live life. Paul explains this in verses 11 and 12. In verse 11 he tells us that one way is to live by faith. The just shall live by faith. The other way, given in verse 12, is to live by the law. He says very clearly that the law is not of faith because those who does them shall live by them. The “them” I take to mean all of the commandments in the law. So you can live “by faith” or “by them, the commandments”.
What’s interesting to me here is that Paul seems to be saying that these are two mutually exclusive ways of living. We’re not going to get into a long discussion here about whether we should be obedient to the law of God because I think Scripture obviously says we should, but there appears to be a way of living which is law based and it not right for the Christian. I think this will come out as we go along, but you read in verse 10 that those who are of the works of the law are under a curse. So that can’t be where God wants us to be.
Verses 13 and 14 summarize the upcoming argument. This argument is the Christ became the curse so that the blessing of Abraham, which includes the promise of the spirit would be ours through faith.
We’ll pick up here next time.

Victory Through the Holy Spirit

Many of us spend a lot of time struggling like Paul describes in Romans 7. The key to victory, I believe, is what he describes in Romans 8. He had described the struggle that comes by trying to apply the law to the Christian life and it doesn’t work. The way it is actually accomplished is through the power of the Holy Spirit.

There are several things I think are important to realize in applying this truth. First is the fact that for those who are in Christ, there is no condemnation. We sometimes state this so lightly and yet when we realize the depth of our sin, disobedience and rebellion, we realize what a tremendous truth this is. No Condemnation! (Romans 8:1)

The second thing to realize is that we are free from the law of sin and death. This is a vicious cycle. We sin and the law condemns us to death because of it. We often feel like there is no escape. But the great news in the gospel is that we have been released from this cycle of sin and death. There is no condemnation and therefore the law of sin and death does not apply to us. (Romans 8:2)

As we studied last time, the law is weak because of the reaction of the flesh to it. When the law comes in, sin is strengthened and produces death. But Romans 8:3 tells us that what the law could not do God did. He sent His son in the likeness of sinful flesh. He was a man like we are. He was tempted in all points like we are except that He did not sin. In living a perfect life He condemned sin in the flesh. He judged sin and overcame its power by living sinlessly. My way of thinking of it is that He proved it could be done. I don’t know how theologically correct that is, but it is what I see Paul saying here. In the very place where sin seems to exert its power using the law as its strength, Christ overruled it and defeated it.

This leads to verse 4 which tells us that all of this happened so 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. The way of victory is the way of walking in Spirit. Doing so fulfills the law in us. Rather than being imposed on us from the outside, which does not work, we have the law fulfilled in us by the working of the Spirit of God which does work. After all, this was the promise of the new covenant in Jeremiah 31:33, “But this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, says the Lord: I will put My law in their minds, and write it on their hearts.”

The New Covenant promise in Ezekiel 36:27 says it this way, I will put My Spirit within you and cause you to walk in My statutes, and you will keep My judgments and do them.”

The promise is that God through His Spirit gives us a new nature which has the motivation and desire to work out God’s law from within because it has been written on the heart.