Rom 8:1 There is therefore now no condemnation to them which are in Christ
Jesus, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit.
Do we here that? There is no condemnation from God to all those who are in
Christ Jesus......who walk in the spirit and who are not walking in the flesh.
It does not say there is no condemnation for those in Christ Jesus but there is
no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus and who are walking in the
spirit.
To walk in the spirit one has to be obedient to the spirit and obedient to the
word of God. In other words we don't just accept Jesus into our hearts and then
do our own thing. This is to be a lifetime commitment to to Lord.
Chapter 7 describes a carnal Christian who is trying to serve God in the mind
but his flesh is still serving sin. The law is still condemning that kind of
person because he or she has not overcome sin. The flesh is still giving them
problems and is defeating them. Until we get to verse one of chapter 8 and see
liberty coming as the creature becomes a victorious believer who is walking in
the spirit.
This may be what the second blessing people call sanctification. Sanctification
is sometimes a one time experience where a person is delivered from the bondage
of the flesh and God removes all love of the world from their lives in a one
time experience. Some believers receive this at the time they are first saved.
Some of us though are a little more stubborn and our sanctification is gradual
or progressive as we grow in the Lord. When we are completely baptized in the
Holy Ghost we can then learn to walk in the spirit and not give way to the
flesh.
Rom 8:2 For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus hath made me free from
the law of sin and death.
This is what we must all remember. Walking in the spirit cannot be accomplished
by our own will power or going it alone. Jesus Christ made the way for every one
of us to be completely free from the law of sin and death. The reason some of us
have trouble with the flesh is that we forget that we have been saved from sin
and that our sins are under the blood.
Peter describes this situation:
2Peter 1:4 Whereby are given unto us exceeding great and precious promises: that by
these ye might be partakers of the divine nature, having escaped the corruption
that is in the world through lust.
2Pe 1:5 And beside this, giving all diligence, add to your faith virtue; and to
virtue knowledge;
2Pe 1:6 And to knowledge temperance; and to temperance patience; and to patience
godliness;
2Pe 1:7 And to godliness brotherly kindness; and to brotherly kindness charity.
2Pe 1:8 For if these things be in you, and abound, they make you that ye shall
neither be barren nor unfruitful in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ.
2Pe 1:9 But he that lacketh these things is blind, and cannot see afar off,
and
hath forgotten that he was purged from his old sins.
When we forget our first love and forget how Jesus died for our sins and removed
them, we may tend to fall back into the lusts of the flesh. We must keep moving
forward following the Lord on a daily basis.
Rom 8:3 For what the law could not do, in that it was weak through the flesh,
God sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh, and for sin, condemned
sin in the flesh:
Rom 8:4 That the righteousness of the law might be fulfilled in us, who walk not
after the flesh, but after the Spirit.
Before Christ comes into a person's life, they were too weak to obey any law of
God. The law was perfect and holy but the flesh was too weak to keep the law.
Jesus came into the likeness of human flesh. God became flesh. He became one of
us and condemned sin in the flesh. The righteousness of the law is fulfilled in
one who walks in the spirit. To walk in the spirit we must be willing to listen
and be obedient to the spirit of God. First step though is to repent of sin and
trust in Christ for deliverance from sin. We have to make up our minds that we
want Him to completely remove our sins and baptize us with the Holy Spirit. Like water baptism is being completely immersed in
water, the baptism in the spirit completely immerses us in the Spirit of God.
Even then though we must daily walk and yield to the Holy Spirit obeying the
word that God provides to us through the written word, through anointed teachers
and through the working of His spirit in our individual lives.
Rom 8:5 For they that are after the flesh do mind the things of the flesh; but
they that are after the Spirit the things of the Spirit.
Rom 8:6 For to be carnally minded is death; but to be spiritually minded is life
and peace.
Rom 8:7 Because the carnal mind is enmity against God: for it is not subject to
the law of God, neither indeed can be.
Rom 8:8 So then they that are in the flesh cannot please God.
This sadly can be an unbeliever who has never been saved or a believer who has
gone back into sin and is not in fellowship with the spirit or what some call
backslidden. Backslidden just means sliding back closer to the place we were in
before we met Jesus.
It is not a place I care to be in.
Rom 8:9 But ye are not in the flesh, but in the Spirit, if so be that the Spirit
of God dwell in you. Now if any man have not the Spirit of Christ, he is none of
his.
If we reject God's spirit and reject His correction, leading, conviction and all
He has for us, we do not belong to Him even if we were saved once a few years
back. It is not what happened years ago it is how we are walking now that
counts.
Rom 8:10 And if Christ be in you, the body is dead because of sin; but the
Spirit is life because of righteousness.
Remembering this will keep us from desiring to return to sin. We are dead to sin.
It is gone. Jesus washed it away. Studying the word continually washes and
cleanses us as we read and understand. Praying without stopping keeps us in
contact with God so that His Holy Spirit can give us direction.
We are as close to God as we want to be.
Rom 8:11 But if the Spirit of him that raised up Jesus from the dead dwell in
you, he that raised up Christ from the dead shall also quicken your mortal
bodies by his Spirit that dwelleth in you.
We need to be filled with God's spirit and walk in the spirit, not fulfilling
the lust of the flesh. We must be this way when Jesus comes or we will be as the
7 virgins that took no oil in their lamps. I don't necessarily believe the oil
is the Holy Spirit but the parable shows us that they were not ready when that bridegroom
came. They were unprepared as we can be unprepared spiritually if we do
not watch.
Here is another way not to be ready. Turning back and thinking
the Lord delays his coming so we can go about our own business and be careless
in how we treat our neighbors. This evil servant is one who once knew his
lord but forgot his commands.
Matthew 24:48 But and if that evil servant shall say in his heart, My lord delayeth
his coming;
Mat 24:49 And shall begin to smite his fellow servants, and to eat and drink
with the drunken;
Mat 24:50 The lord of that servant shall come in a day when he looketh not for
him, and in an hour that he is not aware of,
Mat 24:51 And shall cut him asunder, and appoint him his portion with the
hypocrites: there shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth.
Rom 8:12 Therefore, brethren, we are debtors, not to the flesh, to live after
the flesh.
Rom 8:13 For if ye live after the flesh, ye shall die: but if ye through the
Spirit do mortify the deeds of the body, ye shall live.
Once we come to Christ we are to maintain our walk and mortify the deeds of the
flesh. This shows us that there is something we must do. We have to trust Christ
for strength always remembering His death and His price He paid for our sins.
That is a must. Yet we must be willing to obey the Holy Spirit and be corrected
by the word and by the spirit as we daily walk in the spirit.
We must be led by the spirit to be sons of God.
Rom 8:14 For as many as are led by the Spirit of God, they are the sons of God.
Rom 8:15 For ye have not received the spirit of bondage again to fear; but ye
have received the Spirit of adoption, whereby we cry, Abba, Father.
If we call ourselves Christians because we have repented of sin and come to
Jesus Christ to be saved from sin, then we must start living like we believe. To
say we trusted in Christ and then turn around and walk back into sin, is no sign
of a believer.
Rom 8:16 The Spirit itself beareth witness with our spirit, that we are the
children of God:
Rom 8:17 And if children, then heirs; heirs of God, and joint-heirs with Christ;
if so be that we suffer with him, that we may be also glorified together.
Some of us suffer persecution for the cause of Christ but the suffering
mentioned here is
mortifying the flesh by denying the love of the world and choosing to follow God
rather than enjoy the pleasures of sin.
Moses is an example of that:
Hebrews 11:24 By faith Moses, when he was come to years, refused to be called the
son of Pharaoh's daughter;
Heb 11:25 Choosing rather to suffer affliction with the people of God, than to
enjoy the pleasures of sin for a season;
Heb 11:26 Esteeming the reproach of Christ greater riches than the treasures in
Egypt: for he had respect unto the recompense of the reward.
Rom 8:18 For I reckon that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to
be compared with the glory which shall be revealed in us.
1Corinthians 2:9 But as it is written, Eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, neither have
entered into the heart of man, the things which God hath prepared for them that
love him.
Rom 8:19 For the earnest expectation of the creature waiteth for the
manifestation of the sons of God.
When we truly walk in the spirit, our desire will be to see the day when Jesus
returns and all who belong to God will be made known or manifested to all to see.
Rom 8:20 For the creature was made subject to vanity, not willingly, but by
reason of him who hath subjected the same in hope,
Rom 8:21 Because the creature itself also shall be delivered from the bondage of
corruption into the glorious liberty of the children of God.
This describes a true conversion from an unbeliever deep in the bondage to sin
to a glorious transformation into a child of God by faith in Jesus Christ. Sin
brought bondage, salvation brings liberty.
Remember to walk in the spirit we must constantly seek to be filled with the
spirit. There is no way we can use our own will power to overcome the flesh.
Rom 8:22 For we know that the whole creation groaneth and travaileth in pain
together until now.
Rom 8:23 And not only they, but ourselves also, which have the firstfruits of
the Spirit, even we ourselves groan within ourselves, waiting for the adoption,
to wit, the redemption of our body.
This describes our deep desire to be clothed with our new body that is promised
to us by our Lord. We grown and travail to be with the Lord and overcome this
life.
Rom 8:24 For we are saved by hope: but hope that is seen is not hope: for what a
man seeth, why doth he yet hope for?
Rom 8:25 But if we hope for that we see not, then do we with patience wait for
it.
Rom 8:26 Likewise the Spirit also helpeth our infirmities: for we know not what
we should pray for as we ought: but the Spirit itself maketh intercession for us
with groanings which cannot be uttered.
This is one reason for praying in the spirit or speaking in tongues. The spirit
prays for things our natural mind cannot think of.
Rom 8:27 And he that searcheth the hearts knoweth what is the mind of the
Spirit, because he maketh intercession for the saints according to the will of
God.
The Holy Spirit makes intercession for us by using our own voice to pray. This
is really a mystery that I do not fully understand yet but it is exciting to
read and begin to seek God for more knowledge on praying in the spirit.
Rom 8:28 And we know that all things work together for good to them that love
God, to them who are the called according to his purpose.
If we pray in the spirit we know for sure that all things we pray for are going
to work out for those who are called of God and who love God. If we willingly
get out of God's will or start walking in the flesh in disobedience, we are not
promised that all things will work for our good.
Rom 8:29 For whom he did foreknow, he also did predestinate to be conformed to
the image of his Son, that he might be the firstborn among many brethren.
God planned for all who obey the calling of His spirit to be conformed to the
image of His Son, Jesus Christ. This promise is for all who believe. It is not
His will for any one of us to be lost and we all have a free will or a choice to
receive all God has for us, to receive only part of what He has for us or to
refuse anything He has for us.
God made the way for our salvation but our part is to yield or say yes to His
Holy Spirit when that conviction comes and tugs at the heart of someone in need
of God in their lives. This conviction can come also to one that does know God but has
strayed away from that first love.
Rom 8:30 Moreover whom he did predestinate, them he also called: and whom he
called, them he also justified: and whom he justified, them he also glorified.
Let us be careful not to believe God predestinates some to be saved and some to
be lost.
God predestinates all who believe to be saved and all who obey His calling to be
saved. It is not His will that any should perish.
2Peter 3:9 The Lord is not slack concerning his promise, as some men count
slackness; but is longsuffering to us-ward, not willing that any should perish,
but that all should come to repentance.
Those who obey His calling are justified or made just as if they never sinned.
Rom 8:31 What shall we then say to these things? If God be for us, who can be
against us?
Rom 8:32 He that spared not his own Son, but delivered him up for us all, how
shall he not with him also freely give us all things?
We are never to stop seeking God. He freely gives us all good spiritual things
and supplies all we need to share His gospel and to live in holiness until His
return.
Rom 8:33 Who shall lay any thing to the charge of God's elect? It is God that
justifieth.
Rom 8:34 Who is he that condemneth? It is Christ that died, yea rather, that is
risen again, who is even at the right hand of God, who also maketh intercession
for us.
All God promises come by way of Jesus Christ. His death and resurrection
and faith in the same is why all these promises are given to us who believe. We
must not be moved away from the simplicity of the gospel. We are saved by what
He did. Our part is to receive it into our lives. Not just mentally believe but
believe to the point that we turn from sin and trust in Him for salvation from
sin.
Rom 8:35 Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? shall tribulation, or
distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword?
Once we have trusted in Christ no one can separate us from His love. The only
thing that could do that is our own unbelief if we stop believing in Him and
allow sin back in our lives. Unbelief allows us to return to sin quicker than
anything. We forget that we have been purged from sin.
Rom 8:36 As it is written, For thy sake we are killed all the day long; we are
accounted as sheep for the slaughter.
Rom 8:37 Nay, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him that
loved us.
Rom 8:38 For I am persuaded, that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor
principalities, nor powers, nor things present, nor things to come,
Rom 8:39 Nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature, shall be able to
separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.
This is our hope until He returns again. We are more than conquerors through
faith in Him who loves us. Nothing can separate us from the love of God. We
conquer through walking in the spirit and forsaking the life in the flesh. We
turn from our miserable existence in chapter 7 where sin is still giving us
problems to a life in the spirit in chapter 8 that Jesus' death and resurrection
provided for us to have.
