To Redemption
To Redemption
The eighth chapter of the Book of Romans tells us how to follow the Lord Jesus in the new way of the Spirit.
Therefore, there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. (Romans 8:1–NIV)
As I stated previously, the two agents of condemnation, our conscience and the Law of Moses, have been taken care of. Our guilt has been forgiven on the cross of Calvary, which satisfies conscience. The accusations of the Law of Moses do not apply to us because we count that we have died with Christ on the cross, thus condemning the lawlessness that dwells in our flesh.
Therefore we are without condemnation in God's sight.
It is not that there is no condemnation for those who are casual in their relationship to Christ. Rather, there is no condemnation for those who are in Christ, that is, growing into a closer relationship to Christ each day.
In the preceding chapter, Paul bemoaned the fact that although he no longer was under the authority of the Law of Moses, he still had sin dwelling in his "body of death."
But because his faith was rooted in the Lord Jesus, and he was following the Spirit of God to victory after victory, Paul was righteous in the sight of God concerning those sins not yet brought to his attention, or those sins over which he had not as yet been able to gain perfect, complete victory although he had confessed them and had turned away from them to the best of his ability.
Sometimes believers get trapped into a hopeless wrestling against some sinful compulsion. Here is how you get out of this trap.
Let us say you are very proud and arrogant. You hate this tendency in yourself.
So you confess your attitude to Jesus and ask Him to remove it from you. You do this as resolutely and determinedly as possible.
The Lord by His Word has promised to forgive you and to cleanse you from all unrighteousness. This He has done on the basis of your confession and determination to change (I John 1:9)
It is finished, as far as God is concerned. His Word cannot fail or be changed in any manner.
It may be that meanwhile God will show you some underlying factor of which you are unaware that is contributing to your pride and arrogance. You then are to confess that contributing compulsion and ask Jesus to remove it from you.
So you continue your Christian discipleship. All of a sudden you are in a situation where the pride and arrogance reveal themselves. Remind Jesus that you have confessed this attitude previously and have asked Him to deliver you.
Now laugh at yourself, and go on your way rejoicing. If you do this, the day will arrive when you discover that you no longer are proud or arrogant.
Maybe the Lord will humble you by some means, or maybe not. It does not matter. Your deliverance is up to Christ. The ball is in His court, as we say. You have done your part. He will do His part.
Go on your way rejoicing, as I said.
There is no provision in the Old Testament or the New for willful, knowledgeable sin, only for those sins of which we have not as yet become aware, or have been confessed and renounced.
It never is acceptable to God that a Christian continue living in known sin. God has made a way for us through Christ to break the most severe bondages in our personality, although, as I have stated, total deliverance may be some time coming.
But it certainly shall come, if that is what you truly desire. More on this in a minute.
As Gentiles, we might view Romans 8:1 (above) as, "of course". We simply cannot understand what an awesome experience the transfer of Paul's faith from Moses to Christ actually was. We probably have not had to make such a momentous transition.
Because through Christ Jesus the law of the Spirit who gives life has set you free from the law of sin and death. (Romans 8:2—NIV)
"The law of the Spirit who gives life"!
The law of sin and death we understand. Paul described it in the preceding chapter. It is the Law of Moses working together with the forces of sin in our flesh.
But exactly what is the law of the Spirit who gives life, and how does it set us free from the law of sin and death? Is it the same as "the new way of the Spirit" we mentioned previously? Probably so.
Does this mean that if we turn from the Law of Moses and follow Christ, the Spirit of God will keep giving us more resurrection life, and therefore the bondages of sin will be broken as we keep serving Christ? Also, we no longer need to be concerned about our inability to obey the Law of Moses?
Yes indeed! We thus are free from the law of sin and death.
I have preached on several occasions that when we choose to turn away from a temptation to sin, the Lord Jesus feeds us with His body and blood. And Christ's body and blood are eternal resurrection life.
He that hath an ear, let him hear what the Spirit saith unto the churches; To him that overcometh will I give to eat of the tree of life, which is in the midst of the paradise of God. (Revelation 2:7)
He that eateth my flesh, and drinketh my blood, dwelleth in me, and I in him. As the living Father hath sent me, and I live by the Father: so he that eateth me, even he shall live by me. (John 6:56,57—NIV)
"Even he shall live by Me." "Live by Me"! We have made eating the flesh of Christ a ceremony we practice in church. It is, rather, the way we are to live!
When we consider the above, it seems to me that if we follow Christ at all times, and ask Him to give us victory over sin, He will provide us with the power of Divine Life that will enable us to overcome the bondages of disobedience to God.
Could this be the new way of the Spirit? New, by comparison with the old way of striving to keep the commands of the Law of Moses? This sounds reasonable to me.
So we cannot gain victory over the sin that dwells in us by keeping the commands of Moses, but we can by calling on Christ for help.
For what the law was powerless to do because it was weakened by the flesh, God did by sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh to be a sin offering.
And so he condemned sin in the flesh, 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. (Romans 8:3,4–NIV)
The Law of Moses cannot enable us to keep God's commands because it does not give us the power to overcome the sinful compulsions that dwell in our flesh.
God, seeing that the Law of Moses could not enable us to be a suitable house and resting place for Himself; could not make us in His moral image; could not enable us to observe the eternal moral laws of the Kingdom of God; and could not persuade us to obey Him when He required of us that we follow a certain course; solved this problem by sending His Son as a sin offering, thus condemning the sin that dwells in our flesh.
I believe I would like to pause for a moment and consider the statement: "And so he condemned sin in the flesh."
What does this mean? I believe it means God revealed His attitude toward sin by the unimaginable sufferings of God's Lamb. God never, never overlooks sin. He deals with it until it is resolved in His mind. God is absolutely just and righteous!
Perhaps the reader may view the statement above as unnecessary. All of us Christians understand this, don't we? But do we truly understand that God's attitude toward sin never has changed and never shall change because it proceeds from God's moral nature?
We may realize in the present hour with what seriousness God views sin. But there is an influence coming into the world that may be stronger and more widespread than we realize.
We may picture Antichrist as an evil looking individual with reptilian eyes, holding a bottle of whiskey in one hand and embracing a girl with the other, crying "Be deceived."
Such a person would not deceive many Christians, I believe.
But what if Antichrist appears as a gentle individual who is highly respected and universally admired, who loves everyone and teaches us that God never would condemn an individual. All are welcome at God's table, abortionists, pedophiles, sexual perverts, and the rest. We must be inclusive and not make anyone feel unloved!
"We must cease condemning people and set out to feed the hungry and give shelter to the poor," he or she lovingly suggests.
Would Christians follow such a leader? No doubt the United Nations and the European Union would be in accord with his teachings. Also, some Church leaders.
The world does not enjoy the idea of sin. People wish it would go away. They do not want to be accountable for their actions. This is why the fanciful doctrine of evolution is becoming popular in the United States.
Where would Christian stand in this issue? We do not realize how deeply the philosophy of Humanism has affected the Christian believers. But the god of Humanism is not the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. Humanism knows nothing whatever about our Lord Jesus; about the Fire of Israel!
I would imagine that the only "sin" recognized by a Humanist would be an action that interferes with the comforts or "rights" of an individual. God's attitude toward the action is not even to be considered.
If Antichrist does present this sort of attitude to mankind, I think he will be quite successful—much more so than if he appears only as just another politician with grandiose ideas. Satan is a master of cunning and deception.
So God's attitude toward sin is an important factor in the Divine redemption. If God actually is in love with people and is ready to forget about their bondages and behavior, and embrace them as His family, then the Bible is misleading.
The Bible states that God portrayed His attitude toward sin by the incredible torments administered to the Lord Jesus, the flood of Noah, and the fiery destruction of Sodom.
But I state without reservation that God has a plan of redemption that is infinitely more desirable than the fuzzy blandishments of well-intentioned, kindly ministers of the Gospel or the reasoning of secular philosophers.
After all, if the god of Humanism gathered to his bosom the thieves, murderers, sodomites, and pedophiles, who are abundant in the American society, and whispered "sweet nothings" in their ears because of his "love" for them, they still would be an abomination to decent people who were endeavoring to raise boys and girls in a wholesome society.
Let the young men and young women frolic in the same bathroom and in the same shower, and encourage the grandfathers to involve their grandchildren in sexual activities—all of this might delight the professors and political leaders of our day.
But those of us who are seeking to preserve our sanity in the American culture do not want to live in the same kingdom with such warped individuals, unless they seek Christ and are redeemed from their former lifestyle.
Let me add that the assertion that we hate such people is nothing more than a device to keep us from expressing our disapproval of their conduct. As the old saying goes, "Love the sinner but hate his sin." It is nothing but foolishness to believe that God-fearing people are going to join with the world and admire the morally sick among us.
But that does not mean we hate moral deviants. We assuredly will help them in every way to escape from the bondages of Satan when we are able.
What is sinful and what is not sinful is decided by God alone. No matter how society evolves in its thinking, that fact never has changed and never shall change for eternity. It is an unshakeable rock and we safely can depend on it.
I do not know about you, but what I have expressed seems reasonable to me!
God demonstrated His attitude toward sin by the sufferings of the flesh of His beloved Son. In this manner sin was utterly condemned, never to be whitewashed by soulish "love."
Let us continue with Romans 8:4:
Now, when we turn from Moses to Christ, the righteousness that would have been ours if we were able to keep all the requirements of the Law of Moses, is attributed to us. Who is it who will accuse us of unrighteousness when we are obeying Christ? Christ Himself is at the right hand of the Father, interceding for us.
It may be true that the preachers of today understand about the attributing of righteousness to us; but they may neglect a necessary condition: that we do not live by the dictates of our sinful flesh but by the dictates of the Spirit of God.
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)
I will move you to follow my decrees. How utterly marvelous! How liberating for those who love righteousness and want to please God! It solves the problem of disobedience, doesn't it?
Can this possibly be the new way of the Spirit that is not well understood by us? We turn from following Moses to following Christ, meanwhile taking heed to the written commands of Christ and His Apostles as well as Christ's personal guidances to us, until Christ is formed in us and we obey God by nature—Christ's Nature formed in us? Is this what the Spirit of God is accomplishing in us?
It would be a wonderful blessing to live as Jesus does, with His Life in us. This is my desire. Notice how Jesus showed very little concern about money, and yet God always provided what He needed. This would be a release from slavery to the world (and from Antichrist) wouldn't it?
Let's all pray that this will be true of us.
We now are in the part of our essay that deals with "deliverance from sin."
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)
Living "in accordance with the Spirit" means we continually are seeking to think along with Jesus; speak along with Jesus; act along with Jesus—behaving in concert with Him as He behaves in concert with the Father.
This I say then, Walk in the Spirit, and ye shall not fulfil the lust of the flesh. (Galatians 5:16)
This may seem impossible to a new Christian. But we must pray continually, whenever we think of it, asking Jesus to enter our personality. He then dines on our obedience and worship. We dine on His body and blood. Little by little our life and His Life become one Life. This is necessary if we are to gain full victory over sin.
Let us look more closely at the redemption of the body, that for which Paul was eagerly waiting.
So will it be with the resurrection of the dead. The body that is sown is perishable, it is raised imperishable; it is sown in dishonor, it is raised in glory; it is sown in weakness, it is raised in power; it is sown a natural body, it is raised a spiritual body. If there is a natural body, there is also a spiritual body. So it is written: "The first man Adam became a living being"; the last Adam, a life-giving spirit. (I Corinthians 15:42-45—NIV)
If we are abiding in Christ, our resurrection body will be imperishable, glorious, powerful, and spiritual. In fact, those who attain to the resurrection that is unto life will be life-giving spirits, just as our Lord Jesus is.
When we understand how marvelous it will be to have an imperishable body of endless strength, and free from sin, we then will perceive how central the hope of the resurrection is to the Divine redemption.
It is of interest that today the emphasis is on getting us to Heaven. There is a little but not much of this hope in the New Testament.
The emphasis of the New Testament is not eternal residence in Heaven but the resurrection from the dead and the absence of a perishable, sinful body.
If we of today thought at all about our resurrection body it would be that it would be more pleasurable to live in than is true of our present flesh and blood. But Paul saw the resurrection body as redemption, as release from the bondages of disobedience to God.
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)
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–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)
The release of our physical body from the bondages of sin is central to the Divine redemption. I am not aware that much is said today about this redemption and release from sin. How do you feel about this? Had we better start emphasizing attaining to the redemption of our body? This was the goal of the Apostle Paul.
I declare to you, brothers and sisters, that flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God, nor does the perishable inherit the imperishable. Listen, I tell you a mystery: We will not all sleep, but we will all be changed—in a flash, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet. For the trumpet will sound, the dead will be raised imperishable, and we will be changed. (I Corinthians 15:50-52—NIV)
The above is an interesting thought that is not always presented. Flesh and blood human beings cannot inherit the Kingdom of God. Our perishable body must be changed from a living soul to a life-giving spirit if we are to enter the Kingdom of God.
This transformation will occur at the sounding of the last trumpet for those who have prepared themselves.
The last trumpet will sound at the end of the rule of Antichrist, at the conclusion of Daniel's seventieth week.
The seventh angel sounded his trumpet, and there were loud voices n heaven, which said: "The kingdom of the world has become the kingdom of our Lord and of his Messiah, and he will reign for ever and ever." (Revelation 11:15–NIV)
And as for our preparing ourselves:
"Let us rejoice and be glad and give him glory! For the wedding of the Lamb has come, and his bride has made herself ready. Fine linen, bright and clean, was given her to wear." (Fine linen stands for the righteous acts of God's holy people.) (Revelation 19:7,8–NIV)
"His Bride has made herself ready"!
The wedding announced in the passage above is the first of two weddings. The second is the wedding that will take place when the new Jerusalem descend through the new sky to be installed for eternity upon the new earth.
In the second of the two weddings the Bride of the Lamb is prepared by others, probably by those who attained to the resurrection when Christ next appears.
In the first of the two weddings, the Bride of the Lamb prepares herself by performing the "righteous acts of God's holy people." Let us carefully take note that if we hope to be redeemed when Christ next appears, we have to practice the righteous works in which Christ leads us. In short, we will be clothed in the "fine linen" of our own righteous conduct.
But what of the future of those have pursued the fullness of the Divine redemption?
The Lord Jesus shall divide the spoils with the strong.
Therefore I will give him a portion among the great, and he will divide the spoils with the strong, because he poured out his life unto death, and was numbered with the transgressors. For he bore the sin of many, and made intercession for the transgressors. (Isaiah 53:12)
"He will divide the spoils with the strong."
We are co-heirs with Jesus. What is His and our inheritance?
Ask of me, and I shall give thee the heathen [nations] for thine inheritance, and the uttermost parts of the earth for thy possession. (Psalms 2:8)
Have you ever thought about inheriting the nations of people and the farthest reaches of the earth as your inheritance?
Just as Joshua divided the land of promise among the Israelite people, so Jesus will assign to each victorious saint his or her people and land.
We may have thought that the spirit Heaven is our inheritance. It is not. People are our inheritance as well as the earth. A much better inheritance indeed!
You may believe that a mansion in Heaven is a better inheritance than is true of people. This is because God has not revealed to you the value of people as an inheritance. The truth is, one person is a more valuable inheritance than a thousand heavens. I guess the truth of this has to come as a Divine revelation.
However, our greatest inheritance will be to be with the Lord Jesus where He is, in the Bosom of the Father—and this for eternity. There is no other inheritance that can compare with this!
Many years ago I had a dream. In my dream I was on a ship that was foundering. The sailors had taken the lifeboats. The passengers were jumping overboard and drowning.
I could see in the distance the sailors on the shore of an island. They were holding hands and playing ring-around-the-rosy.
I jumped overboard intending to swim to the island. Suddenly I noticed that the water was only waist deep, and so I began to walk back to the other passengers who were drowning in their panic, to tell them to stand up straight.
Please listen to me. The water is only waist deep. Through Christ we can gain total victory over every sinful bondage. Through Christ we can do the will of God completely and joyfully. Satan has flooded the churches with a lie.
THE WATER IS ONLY WAIST DEEP. THROUGH CHRIST YOU CAN OVERCOME SIN AND OBEY GOD PERFECTLY.
Notice further:
Therefore, brothers and sisters, we have an obligation—but it is not to the flesh, to live according to it. (Romans 8:12–NIV)
You do not owe your flesh anything that you must live according to its disobedience. You instead can choose to follow Christ. He will see to it that you have the strength to overcome temptation. But you must live a good Christian life, praying and reading your Bible each day.
When the Spirit of God makes you aware of a sin, confess it to Christ and denounce and turn away from it with all your might. Christ will forgive you and cleanse you from all unrighteousness (I John 1:9). This promise is just as sure as John 3:16. Same author!
You are not obligated to sin here or in Heaven. Don't forget, Heaven is where sin began and dying and going to Heaven will not solve the problem of sin in your life. Only Jesus Christ can do that. He is our Savior. Deliverance from sin does not proceed from physical death.
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. (Romans 8:13)
If we choose to live by eating the flesh of Christ and drinking His blood we will have the strength of the Spirit of God to kill the sinful actions of our flesh. Then we will increase in eternal resurrection life, the Life of the Lord Jesus Christ.
The expression "ye shall live" refers back two verses:
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 [make alive] your mortal bodies by his Spirit that dwelleth in you. (Romans 8:11)
If we are to be made alive and caught up to meet Jesus in the air when He appears we will have to have His body and blood in us. The eagles will be gathered to the slain Lamb in the air.
His body and blood are our resurrection Life. We will slay our own resurrection if we choose to live according to the desires of our flesh.
Whoso eateth my flesh, and drinketh my blood, hath eternal life; and I will raise him up at the last day. (John 6:54)
From conscience to the Law of Moses, to Divine grace, to redemption. Such is the program of the Divine salvation. Make certain that you press forward to the fullness the Lord Jesus Christ has for you. I will do the same.
Let all of us now turn from the Law of Moses, and from sinful behavior, and live in the new way of the Spirit.
"Till every foe is vanquished, and Christ is Lord indeed."--George Duffield, Jr.