After
all that we’ve discussed in this series, some might say;
“Okay,
now I can clearly see from Scripture that I am now “crucified with Christ”
and that with Him …. I’ve died to “the Law” that empowers the Sin nature
resident in my flesh
…
but I still sin even though I don’t want to; what then could still be
the problem causing me to fail?”
First,
all believers need to know that so long as we live in these sinful flesh bodies,
they will sin at times, but no longer habitually (see 1John 1:8). We all need
to learn to walk relying upon and confident in the indwelling “Spirit of
Christ.” It is only as we “walk in the Spirit” we “cannot
sin” (read Gal 5:16, 1John 3:9).
That
aside, it would help us to understand these points below if we are to conduct
our daily walk in the grace of being “in Christ,” having “Old
Man is crucified with Him” and being free from the burden of “the
Law” and thereby we are freed from Sin’s dominion over us.
1.)
We need to really
come to a revelatory knowledge of the truths contained in this series, which are
based upon Paul’s gospel of “…
CHRIST, ACCORDING TO THE REVELATION OF THE MYSTERY, which was kept secret since
the world began” (Rom 16:25). “The mystery”
of Christ indwelling believers as His body members and as being their total
sufficiency, is an entirely new paradigm for our daily living.
Galatians
2:20 I AM CRUCIFIED WITH CHRIST: NEVERTHELESS I LIVE; YET NOT I, BUT
CHRIST LIVETH IN ME: and
the life which I now live in the flesh I LIVE BY THE FAITH OF (from) THE
SON OF GOD, who loved me, and gave himself for me.
In
summary… these great truths make up the liberating secret that “in
Christ” our Old Man is crucified with Him, and thereby we are “dead
to the Law”; now we are spontaneously alive by Christ in us
as our new life…to spontaneously lead, guide, and empower our living.
2.)
The Lord will bring
us to the place of dispositionally “hating” our sinful
acts that occur when we trust our self-abilities and do not live by trusting
Christ alone as our life!
Rom
7:15 …what I
would, that do I not; but what I HATE, THAT DO I.
Rom
7:24 O
WRETCHED MAN THAT I AM! who shall deliver me from THE BODY OF THIS
DEATH?
In
Romans 7 we see Paul’s frustration of trying to live under the law that
empowers the Sin nature. “…the
power of sin is “the Law” (1
Cor. 15:56b).
Yet,
God uses our failures while under “the Law” to turn our heart to
Christ. It prompts us to seek the “Way” to live in rest and
peace. Progress is always preceded by dissatisfaction - hating
what we do. God wants “the Law” to cause us to become painfully aware
of our helplessness under the burden of “the Law.” Religion’s false
teaching of “law-keeping” actually serves the purpose of frustrating
those who would still cling to “the Law” both before and after
salvation.
3.)
Praise God, the
frustration of Romans 7 is followed by the liberation seen in Romans 8 as one
lives “in the Spirit” under the new paradigm of grace through faith
in the indwelling Christ as our new life. But for one to enjoy this they need an
UNVEILING of the truth. Our heart must become
unveiled if we are to walk in the liberty of
the “NEW AND LIVING WAY”
that the Lord has purchased for us.
Hebrews
10:20 By A NEW AND LIVING
WAY, which he (Christ) hath consecrated FOR US, through
THE VEIL, that is to say, his FLESH;
Falsely
religious people live under a “veil” of the flesh, which is
perpetuated by attempts to live under “the Law.” When Christ’s “flesh”
was crucified on the cross, our “flesh” (our Old Man) was
also crucified with Him. When He died we died (Rom 6:3a)… to make the “Old
Man” of our flesh “of no effect.” (See Rom 6:4-7
below). Our co-death with Christ is the basis of our becoming unveiled
and free from the dominion of the Sin nature in our flesh (6:6).
What’s more, when Christ rose from the dead we rose with Him in the “NEWNESS
of (His) life” (Rom 6:3b) to empower us to live righteously
(6:4-5). This is clearly seen in this section of Scripture.
Romans
6:4-7 Therefore we are
buried with him by baptism into death: that like as Christ was raised
up from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so (that) WE ALSO
SHOULD WALK IN NEWNESS OF LIFE.
5
For if we have been planted
together in the likeness of his death, we shall be also in
the likeness of his resurrection:
6
Knowing this, that OUR OLD MAN IS CRUCIFIED WITH HIM,
(SO) THAT THE BODY OF SIN MIGHT BE DESTROYED (kartargeo, MADE
OF NO EFFECT), that henceforth we should not serve sin. 7
For HE THAT IS (WE THAT ARE) DEAD IS (ARE) FREED FROM
SIN (SIN’S DOMINION).
The
Lord works in our lives situationally through the situations and circumstances
of our lives to unveil our fleshly heart; He exposes our utter helplessness
under “the Law.” The Lord works to “turn” us
from “Moses” (from “the Law”)… to
“the Lord” in order for the veil of “THE FLESH”
to be “BE TAKEN AWAY”! These are not my words
but those of “the Apostle to the Gentile” (Rom 11:13), Paul.
2
Cor. 3:15-17 But
even unto this day, when MOSES (“THE LAW”) is read, THE VEIL
(FLESH) (See Heb 10:20) IS UPON THEIR HEART. 16Nevertheless
when IT (THE HEART) SHALL TURN (from “the Law”) to
the Lord (Himself), the VAIL (FLESH) SHALL BE
TAKEN AWAY (periareo, taken from all around). 17Now
the Lord is that Spirit: and where the Spirit of the Lord
is, there is liberty (liberation is freedom found within the
Spirit of Christ).
Heb
10:20 By A NEW
AND LIVING WAY, which he hath consecrated for us, THROUGH
THE VEIL, THAT IS TO SAY, HIS FLESH;
Sadly,
the majority of the church at large today opposes the Lord’s “new
and living way” of Christ living within and through the believer as the
believer’s trust Him as their total sufficiency. Most of the organized and
independent Christians (so called Bible believing) churches still promote “the
Law” to one degree or another. They bind the believers to
legalistic “law-keeping.” Any degree of external “Law” negates
grace (See Rom 11:6).
This
kind of is opposition to the sufficiency Christ’s cross-work is not new.
Early on Paul wrote that “James” (Gal 2:12) sent men from the
Jerusalem Messianic Church to subvert the faith and “SPY
OUT (the) LIBERTY”
of the Pauline grace believers at Galatia, that they might be brought
back INTO BONDAGE.
“And that because of FALSE
BRETHREN UNAWARES BROUGHT IN (from James, see Gal 2:12), WHO CAME
IN PRIVILY (secretly) TO SPY OUT OUR
Ever
since Paul began to preach “the unsearchable riches of Christ” (Eph 3:8) “according
to the REVELATION of THE MYSTERY (Rom 16:25, of “Christ in you,
Let
us be vigilant to recognize and reject religion’s false gospel of legalism
with its demand for external law-keeping. Paul commended the Galatian and
“STAND
FAST THEREFORE IN THE
“Therefore LET NO ONE SIT IN JUDGMENT ON YOU in matters of food and drink, or with regard to a feast day or a New Moon or a Sabbath. 17 Such [things] are only the shadow of things that are to come, and they have only a symbolic value. But the reality (the substance, the solid fact of what is foreshadowed, the body of it) belongs to Christ. 18 LET NO ONE DEFRAUD YOU BY ACTING AS AN UMPIRE AND DECLARING YOU UNWORTHY AND DISQUALIFYING YOU for the prize, insisting on self-abasement and worship of angels, taking his stand on visions [he claims] he has seen, vainly puffed up by his sensuous notions and inflated by his unspiritual thoughts and fleshly conceit, 19 And not holding fast to the Head (Christ the head of the body), from Whom the entire body, supplied and knit together by means of its joints and ligaments, grows with a growth that is from God. 20 If then you have died with Christ to material ways of looking at things and have escaped from the world’s crude and elemental notions and TEACHINGS OF EXTERNALISM, why do you live as if you still belong to the world? [WHY DO YOU SUBMIT TO RULES AND REGULATIONS?—SUCH AS] 21 DO NOT HANDLE [THIS], DO NOT TASTE [THAT], Do not even touch [them], 22 Referring to things all of which perish with being used. To do this is to follow HUMAN PRECEPTS AND DOCTRINES. 23 Such [practices] HAVE INDEED THE OUTWARD APPEARANCE [that popularly passes] for wisdom, in promoting self-imposed rigor of devotion and delight in self-humiliation and severity of discipline of the body, but THEY ARE OF NO VALUE IN CHECKING THE INDULGENCE OF THE FLESH (the lower nature). [INSTEAD, THEY DO NOT HONOR GOD BUT SERVE ONLY TO INDULGE THE FLESH.]” (Colossians 2:16-23 (AMP)
My prayer that all believers, having been delivered from “the Law,” would come to enjoy “THE NEW AND LIVING WAY” of living, by the life of the resurrected Christ within (Gal 2:20) as their new, all-sufficient, life.