Being a Christian is more than
saying you agree with certain Christian teachings
about sin and salvation. One is a Christian because
he has been “born again.” Those who have received
this spiritual birth by the Holy Spirit have their
minds set on what God desires. Being a Christian is
not having arrived at a certain standard of conduct
for Christians. Again, it is to have a change in
one’s thinking that affected the way we live.
The born again believer in
Christ has an internal transformation by the Spirit
of God. This dynamic change has affected his way of
thinking. The born again Christian has his mind
habitually set on the things of God and is pleasing
Him. The unbeliever is set on the things of this
sinful, selfish flesh.
The “law of the Spirit of life”
(Romans 8:2) regulates and controls the Christian
(v. 4). The Christian lives under a new controlling
principle of his life. The Holy Spirit applies the
finished work of Christ to our lives. We are not
under the law because Paul tells us, “we have been
put to death to the law through the body of Christ”
and “have been discharged from the law” (7:7, 6).
The power of sin and the flesh
ruling the believer has been once and for all
decisively judged. The authority in the believer is
now God the Holy Spirit. Jesus Christ has set us
free from the enslaving power of sin.
The apostle Paul does not say
we fulfilled the law's righteous requirement. That
is impossible. "The righteous requirement of the law
is fulfilled in us." That is the work of the Holy
Spirit in the believer.
When we came to saving faith in
Him we received the indwelling Holy Spirit, and He
makes it possible for us to live in a manner we
could never attain in our own strength. In the full
sense only Christ has fulfilled all the law’s
requirements, but when we are in Him we in our
measure begin to live the kind of life that God
would have us live. "Christ lives in me; and the
life which I now live in the flesh, I live by faith
in the Son of God. . ." Before we came to know
Christ we were continually defeated by sin. Now we
have a choice.
The fulfillment is “in us” who
walk according to the Spirit.
Thank God that the believers are not left to live
the sanctified life in their own strength. "Christ
lives in me."
The contrast Paul brings out in
Romans 8:5 is those whose minds are preoccupied with
the flesh, who concentrate on the flesh to the
exclusion of all else. The things of God do not
dominate a mind set on the flesh.
When we look at life are we
concentrating on the world’s perspective, or do we
see it from God’s point of view? Are we bound by the
standards of this life? Is the flesh the focus of
your whole life? We get a whole different view when
we bring God into the picture. Is what the Holy
Spirit does your absorbing interest?
When we are "walking in the
Spirit" we delight to do what the Spirit chooses to
do whenever He chooses to do it. It is the very
opposite of a concentration on oneself, even on the
service one renders to God.
Are you preoccupied with the
things of the flesh? Such a mindset produces death.
When the mind is set on, intent on, occupied with
the Spirit there is life and peace. What am I
concentrating on? When our concentration is on the
kingdom of God we respond to the leading of the Holy
Spirit.
Actions reveal the heart. "As a
man thinks in his heart, so is he."
What you think on reveals itself in your
behavior.
The flesh brings death. The
Spirit brings life. This fresh peace pervades the
whole of life (5:1). Since we have the peace of God,
reconciliation with Him, there is now no
condemnation. The Holy Spirit produces a holy hush
over the soul.
When the mind is set on the
flesh it produces death because it is hostile to God
and cannot please Him. The mind set on the Spirit
produces life and peace.
Are you hostile to God, or do
you seek to please Him with all of your heart and
mind? The unbeliever “cannot please God” (v. 8).
“Death” describes the non-Christian. The unbeliever
is “dead in trespasses and sins.” The Christian has
been made alive in Christ, the Holy Spirit. The
Christian “hungers and thirsts for righteousness."
Have you been made alive in Christ?
Selah!
Message by Wil Pounds (c) 2006
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Unless otherwise noted "Scripture quotations taken from the NASB."
"Scripture taken from the NEW AMERICAN STANDARD BIBLE" © Copyright 1960, 1962, 1963, 1968, 1971, 1972, 1973, 1975, 1977, 1995 by The Lockman Foundation Used by permission." (www.Lockman.org)Scripture quoted by permission. Quotations designated (NET) are from the NET Bible copyright ©1996-2006 by Biblical Studies Press, L.L.C. http://www.bible.org/. All rights reserved.
Wil is a graduate of William Carey University, B. A.; New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary, Th. M.; and Azusa Pacific University, M. A. He has pastored in Panama, Ecuador and the U. S, and served for over 20 years as missionary in Ecuador and Honduras. He had a daily expository Bible teaching ministry head in over 100 countries from 1972-2005. He continues to seek opportunities to be personally involved in world missions. Wil and his wife Ann have three grown daughters. He currently serves as a Baptist pastor and teaches seminary extension courses in Ecuador.
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