Appendix
Appendix
I have stated that under the new covenant we can be set free from the bondages of sin and self-will. The deliverance God has provided is set forth in the eighth chapter of the Book of Romans.
Chapters Two through Five tell us we can be righteous apart from the Law of Moses.
Chapter Six informs us that if we Christians continue to sin we will die spiritually, that is, not be resurrected unto life in the Day of Resurrection.
Chapter Seven has two messages for us: first, that because we have counted ourselves dead with Christ on the cross, we no longer are under the authority of the Law of Moses.
Second, there are intense desires to sin dwelling in our flesh. The Law of Moses points them out but makes no provision for removing them from us.
Chapter Eight begins by telling us there is no condemnation to those who are in Christ. There are two bases for our freedom from condemnation. First, our sins are forgiven through the blood atonement made on the cross of Calvary.
Second, because we are dead with Christ, the Law of Moses no longer has authority over us.
However, to this point we have no solution to the intense desires to sin that dwell in our flesh.
The following verses tell us what to do about the desires to sin that dwell in our flesh:
Verse Two of Chapter Eight informs us that through Christ Jesus the law of the Spirit who gives life has set us free from the law of sin and death.
The Law of Sin and Death is our sinful nature interacting with the Law of Moses.
Here is the way God delivers us from the desire to sin. The Law of the Spirit of life sets us free from the Law of Sin and Death by dwelling in us and moving us to follow God's decrees and to be careful to keep God's laws.
I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit in you; I will remove from you your heart of stone and give you a heart of flesh. And I will put my Spirit in you and move you to follow my decrees and be careful to keep my laws. (Ezekiel 36:26,27–NIV)
Under the new covenant, the Holy Spirit takes the place of the Law of Moses. It governs us from within our personality. The Spirit of God forms Christ in us, who then arises as the Day Star. The desires to sin, as we confess and turn away from them, are replaced by the Divine Nature. The Spirit of God accomplishes this in us. This is how the new covenant operates.
Verse Three goes on to tell us that the law was powerless to enable us to keep the commands of the Law because it was weakened by our flesh. God responded by sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh to be a sin offering. And so he condemned sin in the flesh.
God showed us by the sufferings of Christ, God's attitude toward sin. God condemned sin on the cross. This is extremely important for us to understand because in our day there is a willingness on the part of many political and religious leaders to accept sinful behavior as being normal.
For example, sodomy (homosexual behavior). God revealed His attitude toward sodomy by the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah, including Lot's wife.
The philosophy of Humanism, which is influencing Christian thinking at this time, will not tolerate anything that appears to conflict with the pleasures, comforts, and "rights" of people. Thus we are seeing an erosion of the fear of God, the fear of the consequences of acting against His will.
God condemned sin by the sufferings of Christ in Gethsemane and on the cross of Calvary. The individual who wishes to please God will regard sin with God's attitude.
Verse Four tells us that Christ was willing to suffer for our sake the consequences of sin, although He Himself had no sin, in order that the righteous requirement of the law might be fully met in us, who do not live according to the flesh but according to the Spirit.
I have put the words above in bold because today's preachers, while they insist that God attributes the righteousness of Christ to us, do not always add the condition that such attribution is effective only as long as we live in obedience to the Spirit of God.
And in Verse Five: Those who live according to the flesh have their minds set on what the flesh desires; but those who live in accordance with the Spirit have their minds set on what the Spirit desires. (Romans 8:5–NIV)
Verse Six: The mind governed by the flesh is death, but the mind governed by the Spirit is life and peace. Continual deliverance from the desires of sin depend on our keeping our mind on Christ.
This is so important as the antics of Satan and the demons are becoming increasingly prevalent. We are tempted continually to curse the darkness. We are not to fret but to remember that God is working all things for our good.
Verse Seven: One reason we have such trouble with the bondages of sin and self-will is that we think, plan, imagine, scheme, instead of looking to the Lord Jesus constantly. We do not invite him into our daily problems as often as we should. We absolutely must learn to live by Him as He lives by the Father if we in America are to continue to stand before Christ and do His will throughout the coming days of chaos.
Verse Eight: We simply cannot grow in the ability to embrace what is good and renounce what is evil as long as we are controlled by our fleshly mind. We must pray sincerely for the mind of Christ!
Those who are in the realm of the flesh cannot please God.
Notice carefully the following:
So I say, walk by the Spirit, and you will not gratify the desires of the flesh. (Galatians 5:16)
All true Christian have the Spirit of God living in them. I am not that certain that all church attenders in America who profess to be Christian are really Christians.
How can I say that? A Christian by definition is a disciple of Jesus Christ. In order to be a Christian we have to carry our cross of deferred desires for many years. We have to obey the Master every moment of every day. Unless we do that we are not a Christian and do not have the Spirit of God dwelling in us.
You, however, are not in the realm of the flesh but are in the realm of the Spirit, if indeed the Spirit of God lives in you. And if anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ, they do not belong to Christ. (Romans 8:9–NIV)
But if Christ is in you, then even though your body is subject to death because of sin, the Spirit gives life because of righteousness. (Romans 8:10)
The passage above tells us why we are without condemnation. We are righteous when Christ is being formed in us. The righteousness of Him who kept the Law of Moses perfectly is attributed to us.
However, the presence of the desires to sin welling in our flesh are spiritual death, and God regards them as such. But we are accepted because of the efficacy of the atoning blood of God's Lamb. We have been sealed unto the Day of Redemption, at which time we will receive a body having no tendencies toward sin in it.
Meanwhile God deals with the self-will in our soul by subjecting us to various imprisonments, in which we must remain faithful if we are to be set free from the greatest problem of all—disobedience to God's will concerning us!
And if the Spirit of him who raised Jesus from the dead is living in you, he who raised Christ from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies because of his Spirit who lives in you. (Romans 8:11–NIV)
Please consider carefully the above passage. This is what redemption (salvation) is all about. The release of our mortal body from the power of death is the goal of redemption. The last enemy that shall be destroyed is physical death.
In the following two passages we notice that the Apostle Paul was looking forward to the redemption of his body in the Day of Resurrection as the means of releasing him from the power of the sin in his flesh.
But I see another law at work in me, waging war against the law of my mind and making me a prisoner of the law of sin at work within me. What a wretched man I am! Who will rescue me from this body that is subject to death? (Romans 7:23,24–NIV)
Not only so, but we ourselves, who have the firstfruits of the Spirit, groan inwardly as we wait eagerly for our adoption to sonship, the redemption of our bodies. (Romans 8:23–NIV)
This redemption will take place when the Lord appears, but only for those who have attained to the resurrection in their inward nature. God will not clothe an infantile, self-centered believer, who never has chosen to follow Christ with a whole heart, with a incorruptible, resurrection body like that of the Lord Jesus.
God will not put new wine in old bottles!
I would imagine all of us can see the sense of this. But today's overemphasis on grace and "faith" (actually belief) has left God's people with the impression that once they "accept Christ" (an unscriptural expression) they can continue to lead a careless, worldly life and when they die they will hear "good and faithful servant."
As wild as this sounds, it is what is believed by millions of American Christians.
Therefore, brothers and sisters, we have an obligation—but it is not to the flesh, to live according to it. (Romans 8:12–NIV)
The twelfth verse certainly exposes the lie that as long as we are in the world we have to sin. Paul informs us that we owe our flesh nothing. "We have an obligation—but it is not to the flesh, to live according to it." If people would read their Bibles they would see we cannot be compelled to commit sin! Christ has a better plan of redemption for us than that!
And now to the means of following the Spirit as He sets us from the bondages of sin that we might be prepared for the redemption of our mortal body in the Day of Christ:
For if you live according to the flesh, you will die; but if by the Spirit you put to death the misdeeds of the body, you will live. (Romans 8:13–NIV)
How do we do this? Simple as pie. We look to Christ at all times. The Spirit will reveal to us our bondages. We confess clearly what has been shown to us (not what we imagine!) and renounce it with all our might. Then God will forgive us and cleanse us from all unrighteousness. Just as simple as that.
If we keep that up long enough, the time will come when we have total victory. And why not? Our sinful bondages are not infinite, they are finite in number. Of course, we must live as a true disciple, obeying Christ, praying and reading our Bible every day, gathering with fervent disciples on a regular basis if possible..
For those who are led by the Spirit of God are the children of God. (Romans 8:14–NIV)
We are led by the Spirit of God in the war against sin. If we follow and obey Him faithfully, we will live in victory.
I actually can see today the rise of the False Prophet. The False Prophet, I believe, consists of self-willed "Christians" who are filled with a spirit of triumphalism and are being taught that any day now they will be filled with great glory and power to perform mighty acts of power—by means of which they will be greatly exalted.
They will give life to Antichrist while thinking they are following Christ. The relationship of the False Prophet can be studied in the thirteenth chapter of the Book of Revelation.
God has not called us to do great self-glorifying works of power. Rather, if we are to be part of the two witnesses of the last days, we will have to be clothed with the sackcloth of repentance and humility—free from the ugly monster of self-will!
It never is God's will for a Christian to continue in known sin. As long as he has confessed and renounced his sin, and does what he can to avoid temptation, God, according to His Word, will clothe him or her with a body of incorruptible life in the Day of Resurrection.
If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness. (I John 1:9–NIV)