Angelic Conflict part 291: Reigning in life – Rom 5:12-21; 8:1-11; 7:1-6; Heb 12:1-3; 1Co 9:24-27; 1Jo 3:17-24.Title: Angelic Conflict part 291: Reigning in life – Rom 5:12-21; 8:1-11; 7:1-6; Heb 12:1-3; 1Co 9:24-27; 1Jo 3:17-24.
Rom 8:7 because the mind set on the flesh is hostile toward God; for it does not subject itself to the law of God, for it is not even able to do so;
Rom 8:8 and those who are in the flesh cannot please God.
Rom 8:9 However, you are not in the flesh but in the Spirit, if indeed the Spirit of God dwells in you. But if anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ, he does not belong to Him.
Our dual nature is presented here, but one of those natures has been crucified with Christ. We have the flesh in us but we are not of the flesh or in the flesh. And contrary to that God the Holy Spirit indwells every believer and every believer belongs to God and is forever a child of God.
The declaration that God has removed us from the flesh and has made His Spirit to indwell us is the greatest declaration of a loving Father to a son. We are joined to Him forever.
Through the baptism of the Spirit we are joined to Christ forever and therefore to the Father forever. We are no longer joined to the flesh and as we carry it in us every day we should be reminded of that. We have been cut off from the part of us that cannot please God.
We are in the Spirit and the Spirit of God dwell in us.
The very instant a man passes out of death and into life he is no longer legally in the flesh, but in the Spirit. This sets up the partnership that the believer will have with God the Holy Spirit all his born-again life. You are in Him and He in you. You set your mind on Him and He sets His mind on you. Fellowship is partnership. What a tremendous advantage God has given us making a mind set on the flesh and even more colossal waste of time.
We are divorced from the sin nature through death and betrothed to Christ. In Christ as our Husband and in the Spirit as our marriage counselor.
We all know of the divorce that is meant in our time as the ex-spouse is still alive and has to be dealt with, but this is the divorce of the OT through the death of a spouse, which freed to the survivor to marry again. This is the most final and ultimate separation in divorce.
Rom 7:1 Or do you not know, brethren (for I am speaking to those who know the law), that the law has jurisdiction over a person as long as he lives?
Rom 7:2 For the married woman is bound by law to her husband while he is living; but if her husband dies, she is released from the law concerning the husband.
Rom 7:3 So then if, while her husband is living, she is joined to another man, she shall be called an adulteress; but if her husband dies, she is free from the law, so that she is not an adulteress, though she is joined to another man.
Rom 7:4 Therefore, my brethren, you also were made to die to the Law through the body of Christ, that you might be joined to another, to Him who was raised from the dead, that we might bear fruit for God.
Christ as our husband leads us, teaches us, and empowers us to bear the fruit of the spiritual life.
Rom 7:5 For while we were in the flesh, the sinful passions, which were aroused by the Law, were at work in the members of our body to bear fruit for death.
Rom 7:6 But now we have been released from the Law, having died to that by which we were bound, so that we serve [worship, submission to the will of God] in newness of the Spirit and not in oldness of the letter.
Though a bad husband may be dead I can still harbor memories of "the good times" which were not good times at all because his intent was found to be evil. I can still fall back into the defense mechanisms that I needed to employ in order to deal with him. I can still fall back into old habits that I learned in him. In a similar way, our dead flesh can continue to tempt us to be what we were and to think as we did when we were helplessly married to him. Yet we are married to him no longer through his death. Press on in the enjoyment of your new and eternal marriage to the Lord of lords. He has crucified your old husband and forgiven you of all iniquity, even when we have our old langsyne with the old man, so get on in your wonderful, new relationship.
Rom 8:7 because the mind set on the flesh is hostile toward God; for it does not subject itself to the law of God, for it is not even able to do so;
Rom 8:8 and those who are in the flesh cannot please God.
Rom 8:9 However, you are not in the flesh but in the Spirit, if indeed the Spirit of God dwells in you. But if anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ, he does not belong to Him.
This wonderful truth is spoken of all believers and not just some elite class.
The Spirit is in him from that moment on and all of the truths of grace are his. None of these things is said to be gained by prayer, or by Bible study, or by church attendance, or by diligence in the pursuit of any of the commands. All of this perfection of position accrues to each and every believer because of the grace of God through the Lord Jesus Christ and in the Holy Spirit.
The indwelling of the Spirit should give all of us courage and the freedom to look away from self and fix our minds on Christ.
Heb 12:1 Therefore, since we have so great a cloud of witnesses surrounding us [doesn't mean that they are watching us, but have gone before us and without the assets that we possess], let us also lay aside every encumbrance, and the sin [OSN, flesh] which so easily entangles us, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us,
Heb 12:2 fixing our eyes on Jesus, the author [Prince Ruler] and perfecter [completer] of faith, who for [in the place of] the joy set before Him endured the cross, despising the shame, and has sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.
Heb 12:3 For consider Him who has endured such hostility by sinners against Himself, so that you may not grow weary and lose heart.
1Co 9:24 Do you not know that those who run in a race all run, but only one receives the prize? Run in such a way that you may win.
Heb 12:1 Therefore, since we have so great a cloud of witnesses surrounding us, let us also lay aside every encumbrance, and the sin [OSN, flesh] which so easily entangles us, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us,
1Co 9:25 And everyone who competes in the games exercises self-control in all things. They then do it to receive a perishable wreath, but we are imperishable.
1Co 9:26 Therefore I run in such a way, as not without aim; I box in such a way, as not beating the air;
1Co 9:27 but I buffet my body and make it my slave, lest possibly, after I have preached to others, I myself should be disqualified.
Some have related tremendous experiences in coming out of death and into life. Some of these are legit and some are just braga-monies, but in either case, as we discovered with the use of the word "things" one believer's experience is not meant to mimic another's.
It is not necessary for anyone to have a spiritual experience similar to that of any other individual. God does not work in single patterns. Do not listen for a moment to anyone who claims that everyone's experience must be like theirs for that is nothing but self-absorption and arrogance.
For instance, I have a very peculiar salvation experience and as over the years as I have heard from others of their own experience I have never heard two experiences that were identical, and in fact, I have been told by some that they cannot remember the day or date of it. In all cases, the experience is of no matter, you are not unsaved because you can't remember it, a believer knows beyond a doubt that he is saved forever, the experience of the moment of salvation is inconsequential.
Rom 8:10 And if Christ is in you [first class condition - "and He is"], though the body is dead because of sin, yet the spirit is alive because of righteousness.
We are to know that in spite of our inner conflict and imperfection that we are, nevertheless, alive in Christ.
Don't define truth by your experience but only as declared by God. When we desire perfect good and we see that evil is present within us, we must always remember that the Spirit is in us, the very One who raised Christ from the dead, and Christ is in us, the very One who died for us and is now seated at the right hand of God in victory. So we take heart and look to our high position in Christ. The absence of guilt and condemnation allows us to grow faster and more efficiently. We don't look at ourselves to define truth but we look to the facts as declared by God. 1Co 2:4-5 And my message and my preaching were not in persuasive words of wisdom, but in demonstration of the Spirit and of power, that your faith should not rest on the wisdom of men, but on the power of God.
Often, when we look to ourselves for the truth, we find the evil present and self-condemn. Yet after this, when we look to the truth as declared by God, we find that God is greater than our condemnation and our position in Christ restores our peace. |