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Romans 5-7 Review; Romans 8:3-4

We have reached the part of Pauls letter to the Roman assemblies which is a culmination of what he has
been saying about sanctification. Paul shows that this is the work of the Holy Spirit in the believer, to
enlighten him to his deliverance from the power of sin in his life.
But before we begin to look at that in chapter 8, Id like to refresh your memories as to what Paul has
already said, concerning sanctification living your righteousness. Well begin this review in chapter 5.
This is where Paul was leaving off from his discussion concerning justification. The one who has believed
into Jesus Christ as Lord has been freed from all charges of sin and guilt he is declared not guilty by
God and God accounts the righteousness of Christ to him. Now he must draw upon that righteousness, in
order to live a sanctified life.
Paul begins chapter 5 with the result of being justified through Christ peace with God youve been
reconciled with the Father. The Father has delivered you from the power of darkness and translated you
into the kingdom of the Son of His love (Col 1:13) the realm of grace. That is where you are currently
standing and where you will forever stand eternally secure, through the work of Christ on your behalf.
Because your standing has been secured by Christ, you cannot be moved from your position of grace. Sin
cannot affect your standing in grace, because Jesus paid for your sin all of it, for all time. Troubles and
trials dont move you, either in fact, they only serve to refine that pure character of Christ within you.
Death cannot touch you, where you stand, either because you have a know-so hope the hope of life
everlasting, in a glorified body.
And we are even provided with assurance that our hope will indeed be realized, as the Holy Spirit from
within communicates the Fathers immeasurable love for us. And He keeps constantly before our eyes the
greatest demonstration of His love: that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us (Rm 5:8).
God never leaves His work unfinished. The good work that He has begun in you, He will complete, until
the day of Jesus Christ (Phil 1:6). Having been justified, you will be saved from wrath Gods final
judgment of sinners, at the Great White Throne. And having been reconciled, you will be saved in Christs
life the life that He brought forth out of death a glorified body, a dwelling in which you will live with
God, forever.
Paul then went on to show that the work that God had accomplished for men in Christ has always been His
plan for them begun, in Gods first man, Adam completed, in His Second Man, the Lord from heaven
Christ.
Paul shows that in the plan of God, there are really only two men Adam, and Christ. And God sees all
men as either in one, or the other. In this sense, Adam and Christ are the heads of the creation that is in
them, and representative of that creation before God.
Through Adams disobedience to the command of God, sin entered the world, and Gods penalty for sin:
death, speaking of death of the body. Death passed through upon all men born of Adam that is, all men
because all men are born into this world of his corruptible seed. So sin and death reigned over the creation
in Adam, bringing with them Gods judgment, and condemnation upon all men!

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The justice of God judging all men based upon the disobedience of Adam is borne out by the fact that all
men commit their own personal sin. Like a prototype, the testing of Adam in the garden simply proved
what was true for all men: that given freedom of choice, men would elect to exercise that freedom to do
their own will, instead of the will of God; that is, to sin. So the testing of Adam demonstrated that the
creation of mankind had self-will in their hearts; lawlessness.
Of course, God knew that men, as created, were lawless. Righteousness could not be created in them,
being an attribute of God alone. Righteousness must instead be shared with men by God Himself, who is
righteous; men must be made the righteousness of God. God accomplished this for men in Christ the
Second Man, in Gods plan.
Through Christs righteous act of obedience His death on the cross all who believe in Him receive the
gift of righteousness it is imputed to their account and they are being made righteous being sanctified.
That is much more than God ever had in His first man, Adam; but there was even much more than that.
When sin entered the world, death passed through upon all men; all men are dying, from birth.
But death was always a part of Gods plan, to provide men with an exodus out of the creation in Adam and
into a new creation into which they are born again, born of the incorruptible Seed, the Word of God Christ - who lives and abides forever (1 Pet 1:23).
In this way, God planned to put away both sin and death from His creation of mankind, through their
justification, and glorification through His Second Man, Christ. By believing into Christ, men enter into
the realm where Grace reigns; and as believers allow Grace to reign in them through righteousness
through their Lord, Jesus Christ Grace ushers them right into glory.
As Paul outlined the plan of God for mankind, his emphasis was on the beginning and end result
justification and glorification; imputed righteousness and everlasting Life.
But there is a big gap between that beginning and that end. What is that big gap in the middle? Life, to be
lived here on earth. Living that righteousness, imputed to us by Christ. The big gap is the will of God for
you your sanctification (1 Th 4:3). And this is what Paul addresses next.
What Paul brings out is that believers have not only been freed from the penalty of sin death; they have
been freed from the power of sin, so that they can live their righteousness. In chapters 5 and 6, Paul
personifies Sin as a despotic ruler over men in Adam, which has absolute dominion over them; the Sin has
the say.
But Paul shows that believers have been freed from the tyrannical rule of the Sin. How have we been
freed? Through death; we have died to the Sin.
Paul uses baptism to illustrate the spiritual reality of believers uniting themselves to Christ by faith.
Through that union, Christs death becomes our death we make our exodus out of the condemned creation
in Adam, and are justified.
Buried with Christ, we are completely separated from the world system our sanctification, seen as the
completed act. And with Christ being raised from the dead, as the glorified Son of God, so we also we
should walk in newness of life as a completed, glorified, son of God.

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Thats the eternal perspective justified, sanctified, glorified a completed work. Its our certain future,
which we can actually live, in the here and now, by faith. Faith is what enables us to transcend time, and
live with Gods eternal perspective.
More and more, we are to apprehend this: that our old man that is to say, YOU, in Adam you have been
crucified with Christ. This renders the body that used to serve the Sin, when you were in Adam, now
powerless to do so. Why? Can a dead body respond? Does it have power? Can it serve? No. And the
more we really understand this that this is true for us, in Christ the more we will live it live free from
sin; from its power.
But theres more to know. You are not only dead to the Sin; you are now alive to God in Christ Jesus, our
Lord. In Christ, you have already been raised alive unto God, because He has shared His resurrection life
with you - eternal life for the body. In Christ you have a powerful new Life to live if you will live it.
The beginning of that is reckoning these things to be so; an act of the mind. You count on what God has
done for you, in Christ. When you are counting on something, it becomes the foundation for how you live.
You live, trusting in the fact that you have died to the Sin, with Christ. You live in the recognition that you
are a new creation in Christ and that for you, the old has passed away; your life in Adam is over.
Paul exhorts believers to the one-time act of presenting themselves to God, and their members as
instruments of righteousness to Him. They have had the righteousness of Christ imputed to them; now this
is a decision to live that righteousness, through their bodies as if those bodies were already glorified,
freed from even the presence of sin as being alive from the dead (v. 13). This is the exhortation to let
Grace reign through righteousness.
Paul then introduces a Jewish question on behalf of his listeners: Isnt the Law of Moses or some kind of
law needed to restrain the flesh, in order to live righteously? The Jews commonly associated the keeping
of the Law with both justification, and sanctification. So Paul uses the master-slave relationship to show
that the law is irrelevant, because believers now have a new master.
Who was the old master? The Sin. As a son of Adam, you were born a slave to the Sin; you had no choice
about that. You used to continually present your body to the master Sin, to obey his purposes. You did so
because that served your selfish purposes; thats how you lived out the lawlessness in your heart; how you
carried out your own will; how you practiced your unrighteousness. And you were compelled to do it,
motivated by the love of self, in your heart.
But Sin was a terrible taskmaster. He was more and more demanding; your lawlessness led to more
lawlessness and uncleanness; it was corrupting you.
And every time you served the master Sin, he paid you wages. What were those wages? Death. You were
storing up for yourself wrath in the day of wrath (Rm 2:5), when God would judge you according to your
deeds and His judgment would be retributive, commensurate with your sins.
But God be thanked you heard the gospel, and you obeyed the truth, and were set free from the old master
Sin. Now you have a new master God and have become a slave of righteousness.
Now, we dont particularly like to think of ourselves as slaves. But Paul encourages us to do just that. His
point is that the flesh is weak; it has no will of its own. The flesh body is like a slave; it must be told what
to do. The flesh can have only one of two masters. Either the flesh will serve the Sin, which is serving
self, or it will serve God. But it will always have a master; the flesh cannot master itself.

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So is your new master like your old master? Not at all! You didnt elect to become a slave to the Sin; you
were born that way. But you chose your new master, when you trusted Jesus as your Lord; you made a
decision to give yourself to Him. This follows the pattern of the bondservant, who elects to forever join
himself to his masters house, out of love for the master.
With your old master, Sin, you were always compelled to serve a forced servitude because of your love
for self, and your strong desires to do your own will. But you have a new motivation to serve now not
self-love, but love of your new master, God a freely-expressed response of love founded upon the love He
has shown you.
And every command of your new master, God, is designed for your good, as well as all of His other good
purposes. It is your training in righteousness, furthering your sanctification, until the day that you are holy
as He is holy like Father, like son. Your service is benefiting you.
With the old master, Sin, men are paid the wages that they earn, the wages they deserve death. But not
your new master. God gives you a gift something you could never earn, and do not deserve. What does
this gracious Master give you? Eternal life with Him one day, as a glorified son, an heir of His kingdom
through Christ Jesus, our Lord.
This provides the answer to the question of the Jew concerning the Law. Where love of God is the
motivation to serve, no law is needed.
This leads into Pauls discussion of the Jewish believers being freed from the Law of Moses, through their
union with Christ. And as Paul relates his experience as an unregenerate Jew, he shows that the Law
actually causes sin to increase, because the lawlessness of the heart rebels against it. But the Law does
serve Gods purpose to expose and condemn sin.
Paul continues with his initial experience as a believer. Despite his new-found understanding of the will of
God in his life, and his desire to do that will, Paul saw that he was somehow still being mastered by the Sin.
This led to a realization: that although Paul had become a new creation in Christ Jesus, he still lived in a
body of flesh that had always served the Sin in his prior life. And Paul still had his own self-will, which he
could exercise over the will of God something he had done all of his life, in the past.
This was a source of torment for Paul desiring to do the will of God, but powerless in himself to overrule
the lawlessness in his own heart. It is a struggle common to all believers.
Paul came to discover through experience that the solution to this dilemma did not lie within himself, but in
God. The Lord Jesus Christ had already delivered Paul from the power of the Sin completely, entirely through sharing His righteous Life with Paul - eternal life.
And as Paul became enlightened to this Life and its power through the Holy Spirit within him, believing
what the Spirit revealed to him, he found in this the ability to rule over the lawlessness in his heart; the
power to live his righteousness.
The key was being willing to trust the Holy Spirit; to follow His leading. And as Paul continues in chapter
8, he shows us that believers have a choice about that.
Were only going to discuss two new verses in chapter 8 today verses 3 and 4 but I want to back up to
the last two verses of chapter 7 so that we have Pauls complete thought leading into them.

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Now, Paul has been talking about this war that he has found going on inside him, with his desire to do the
will of God, but his continuing to succumb to the Sin.
[Read Romans 7:24-8:4]
In verse 24, you can just hear the anguish in Pauls words. Truly, this is a most wretched situation, and all
believers have experienced it.
Here on earth, under time, were still in this body of flesh a body of death, as Paul calls it; for our bodies
have not yet been redeemed (Eph 1:14). And until we became Christ Ones, we lived by the senses of that
flesh body, responding to whatever we desired for ourselves, avoiding whatever we didnt want for
ourselves based on our love, for ourselves. Thats how we lived, and we were quite used to it as was
Paul.
But now, having become Christ Ones, we have a new master God and we desire to do His will. But we
find that our will for ourselves still exerts itself; we want what we want.
So we try to stop wanting what we want. We try to talk ourselves out of it; we make ourselves accountable
to another believer; we try psychology, mind tricks; a church program; a self-help book. We even reward
ourselves, when we do the right thing.
But were miserable; and time after time, we keep going back to getting what it is that we wanted in the
first place. A pseudo success, followed by a string of failures, is the common pattern. Sin ultimately has
the victory.
Im sure Paul tried all the whats available in his day to deliver himself from sin, just as we have. So by
experience, Paul found that he couldnt deliver himself, and there wasnt any thing on earth which could
deliver him. And that caused Paul to finally look outside of himself, and to look up not for a what, but
for a who.
In verse 25, Paul simply states his thanks to God, and that he now has the victory; he has been delivered
from this body of death; he is now able to do the will of God, even though he is still in a body of flesh. So
we have three questions: Who delivered Paul? How was Paul been enabled to do the will of God? And
how can it be that Paul was delivered from his body of death (the flesh), and yet hes still in it?
As we continue into chapter 8, we find some answers. Lets reread verse 1-2.
v. 1-2 Your translation may have additional words to those I read in verse 1, namely, who do not walk
according to the flesh, but according to the Spirit. We find these same words at the end of verse 4.
The oldest manuscripts do not have these words at the end of verse 1, and it is believed to have been added
by a scribe when the manuscript was copied.
It is highly unlikely that those words belong at the end of verse 1, because that would suggest that we are
not condemned if we walk according to the Spirit. Is our salvation dependent upon our walk? No, thank
heavens! So we can safely assume that these words only belong at the end of verse 4.
Notice the very important word now in verse 1. We have the sense that Paul is speaking of the present
time; in the believers life, right now. We often associate the word condemnation with the idea of
justification; we have been freed from all charges of sin and guilt; we are no longer under condemnation.

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That, of course, is true; but remember that Paul has finished his discussion concerning justification back in
chapter 5. What is Paul currently discussing, in the letter, here? Sanctification; living our righteousness.
Paul has just finished saying in chapter 7 that he has been delivered from this body of death, which is sold
under the master sin, and he is now serving the law of God Paul is now able to do the will of God. This is
what Paul has learned to do and what believers must all learn to do.
What Paul is saying here is that, because we are in Christ Jesus, there is therefore now in the present,
while we are in the process of being sanctified no condemnation.
God is not sitting in judgment over us during this learning process. Why not? Because in Christ, God sees
us as complete. Our sin was completely dealt with on the cross; were not condemned for the past, the
present, or the future. This encouragement gives us the confidence to press on, as we learn to live our
righteousness, in sanctification.
In chapter 7, Paul used an illustration of various laws to reflect the concept of things that have influence or
rule over us, sometimes in conflict with one another.
There was the law of God Gods will which was also the law of Pauls mind. In conflict with this was
the law of sin, which was in Pauls flesh, and that was overruling the law of Pauls mind. The idea was that
simply through his own thinking, Paul was powerless to enforce the will of God over his flesh; his will for
himself was stronger.
In verse 2 of Chapter 8, Paul introduces yet another law: the law of the spirit of Life in Christ Jesus. The
spirit of Life is the eternal life for the body that we received when we believed into Christ Jesus.
We see from what Paul says that this law is a higher law than the law of sin and death, in the believer; it
overrules the law of sin and death, breaking its powerful hold over the believer.
Does Paul say that the law of sin and death goes away? No; he just says that the law of the spirit of Life
frees the believer from it.
We have likened the law of sin and death to the law of gravity, which hold a man to the earth; which keeps
bringing him down. But the law of the spirit of Life in Christ Jesus is like the law of aerodynamics; it
overpowers the law of gravity, enabling a man to rise up in the heavens.
We have the power of flight, through the Life in Christ Jesus we have received - eternal life; we have the
power to overrule sin in our bodies; to do the will of God. But in order to do so, we must put our new
law into effect.
The believer is like a man in a hang glider, standing on the edge of the cliff. As long as he stands there, he
will be subject to the law of gravity. A step of faith is required, in order for him to put the law of
aerodynamics into effect. And the more he practices, the better he becomes at heavenly living.
There is the victory that Paul described, at the end of chapter 7. Paul thanked God the Father; through the
Lord Jesus Christ, Paul had been delivered from this body of death, where the Sin reigns - through the spirit
of Life Christ gave to Paul.
And as Paul became enlightened to that reality by the Holy Spirit within him, he found in it the power to
live free from sin by living that new Life - though he still lived in his mortal body.

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Every believer is given eternal life, the moment he believes. And as the believer learns to live by that new
Life which is now in his body, he lives the Life Christ died to give him Life in Christ Jesus, Himself a
holy Life a heavenly Life free from sin and death.
So we have seen the answer to our first question: the One who delivered Paul from his body of death was
the Lord Jesus Christ and the Spirit is the one who enlightens the believer to that deliverance.
We also found the answer to our last question: the way in which Paul had been delivered from his flesh,
while he was still living in it, was simply that eternal life overruled sin and death, in Pauls flesh; Paul was
free from living by that body as he used to, and free to live the Life Christ had given him.
But what about that middle question? Just exactly how was Paul enabled to do the will of God? How did
he do it? Well, first Paul visits how God made it all possible.
v. 3-4 Paul begins with a statement concerning the law, and here it is most certainly the Law of Moses.
The Law of Moses has been a thread running through Pauls entire discourse concerning justification and
sanctification, and now he picks up that thread of thought, once again.
At first, we might think that what it is that the Law could not do in that it was weak through the flesh must
refer to justification; the Law could not justify a Jew, because Jews in the flesh could not keep it. While
this is certainly true, we must remember is Paul talking about justification? No; this is his discussion on
sanctification. And this statement is in fact referring to that.
The verb could not do in the Greek means without power. The idea is that the Law was powerless to
sanctify a Jew it could not give a Jew the power to not sin, to live righteously because the flesh always
responded to its more powerful master the Sin.
In fact, the Law exacerbated sin. Paul has worked this thought into his discussion before: the Law of
Moses caused the Sin to abound (Rm 5:20); the sinful passions aroused by the Law of Moses worked in the
flesh to bear fruit to death (Rm 7:5); the Sin, taking opportunity by the commandment, produced in Paul all
manner of evil desire (Rm 7:8).
So what the Law could not do sanctify a man God did. How did God accomplish this? By sending His
own Son, Jesus.
When it says that the Son of God was sent in the likeness of sinful flesh, it obviously does not mean that
Jesus was a sinner. Thats why Paul modifies it with the word likeness; the idea is that in coming to
earth, the Son of God took on a body of flesh alike to the bodies of all other men a flesh body, with its
senses; a mortal body, capable of dying. When Jesus came to the earth, He came right within the realm of
our experience, as men; within the realm of sin and death.
Were going to visit the book of Hebrews for a moment to consider some of the things that author said
about Jesus. Turn to Hebrews chapter 2.
[Hebrews 2:14-15] Im not going to comment on this whole statement, as well be revisiting it in a few
lessons, but I just want to direct your attention to the overall thought behind it. Jesus took on a body of
flesh and blood, in order to accomplish His work of redemption; in order to pay the death penalty due to
men. We also have the idea of one who meets the necessary requirements, as a substitute.
Now look down at verse 17.

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[Hebrews 2:17-18] In order to be qualified to mediate as High Priest on behalf of the people with God; in
order to offer the sacrifice of Himself, to make propitiation for their sins, so that Gods justice would be
satisfied, concerning sin Jesus had to be made like His brethren in all things, and had to be tested in every
respect to prove that He was a perfect substitute.
Now turn to Chapter 4, verse 15.
[Hebrews 4:15] Jesus can sympathize with our weaknesses, because He came in a flesh and blood body.
But He Himself was proven to be without sin, throughout His earthly course; He passed the test, to become
the perfect Sin-bearer.
[Return to Romans 8]
So God accomplished His redemptive work through His own Son coming in the likeness of sinful flesh - a
mortal body. Paul says that God did this on account of sin. Interestingly, this term is used in the
Septuagint (the Greek translation of the OT) to mean sin offering. And truly, God sent His own Son to be
the sin offering for mankind.
On the cross, the life of Jesus was made an offering for sin (Is 53:10); He took the sins of the whole world
upon Himself, there. Then Jesus poured out His life unto death (Is 53:12), paying the penalty for those
sins.
The sacrifice of the perfectly righteous life of Jesus was perfectly acceptable to God. And the fire of Gods
holiness consumed the Sin on Jesus; the judgment on the Sin. In this way, Sin in the flesh was dealt with
and condemned, destroyed; its power over men was broken at the cross.
God made Jesus, who knew no sin, to be sin for us; that we might be made become the righteousness of
God, in Him (2 Cor 5:21). We who believe have been sanctified through the offering of the body of Jesus
Christ once for all (Heb 10:10). We have been delivered from the power of sin.
From the eternal perspective, the redemptive work of God in Christ has delivered us from the penalty, the
power, and even the presence of sin we are justified, sanctified, glorified. However, from our perspective
under time, that complete deliverance is in the process of being accomplished; we are currently being
sanctified.
Thankfully, our Lord Jesus has given us a Helper to enlighten us to this deliverance from the power of sin;
the Holy Spirit. And through His leading, the righteousness of the Law is being fulfilled in us in all
believers.
Fulfilled here does not mean completed or finished, but simply accomplished; its an ongoing process.
The idea is that the righteousness that the Law expresses the will of God is being accomplished in the
lives of believers, when they walk, not according to the flesh, but according to the spirit - the spirit of Life eternal life which they received, from Christ.
You can see in the way that Paul lays this out that this is a choice for the believer, whether they will walk
according to the flesh or according to the spirit of Life. The point is that although the believer is no longer
part of that old creation in Adam, he can still walk as if he is by walking according to the flesh.

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But all that the Father has done through sending His own Son, all that Christ has done through dying in our
stead, was done for the express purpose of producing sons of righteousness and for that, believers must
learn to live their righteousness, by walking according to the spirit of Life. So for the remainder of our time
today, we will focus on just that.
Now, we know that in Scripture, walking speaks of how you conduct yourself. So righteousness is being
accomplished in believers when they conduct themselves according to the spirit of Life.
But lets think about walking a little more. Speaking in a general sense, walking is motion in a forward
direction. It is not a single step, but repeated, step by step progression along a determined course. And
although your body is designed to walk, you have to make a decision to do so.
Walking enables you to get to a place to which youve decided to go. If you stop, you are no longer
walking, are you? And as long as youve stopped, you dont get to your destination, do you?
So walking requires deliberate and continual action, in order for you to keep going; so that you proceed; so
that you arrive at your destination. Thats how we walk according to the spirit of Life. We take a step of
faith; then another step; and we keep on taking steps, following the Spirits leading, until we arrive at our
heavenly destination.
I want to use an illustration with you that should help shed light on the idea of walking according to the
spirit of Life a toddler. Now, in using this illustration for believers, I dont want you to think of the
immaturity of a toddler, because believers arent immature; they are born-again as full-grown sons of God.
There is no such thing as a baby Christian! The illustration of the toddler is simply intended to reflect upon
the idea of someone who is learning to walk.
Now, you can appreciate a lot about walking by watching a toddler try to do it. At first, the toddler doesnt
have the strength to even push himself up on his legs; his legs are powerless. But when the toddler is of
age to walk, he develops new sources of strength inside him: muscles, nerves, tendons, and ligaments.
And his new resources give him the power to walk.
As believers, we begin our life in Christ Jesus like that toddler. We understand that we are to live our
righteousness, but we try to draw on our own reserves at first, and we find ourselves powerless to live that
way. But God has given us a new Life - the spirit of Life - eternal life for the body a new source of
strength. And as we learn to follow the Holy Spirit, we learn about that Life, and discover in it the power to
do the will of God.
Now, the toddlers body develops to meet his need to walk; but he must learn to draw on those new
reserves; those new-found abilities. You can tell that, at first, his mind is not in sync with his body. Hes
uncoordinated, because new mind-body connections must be made.
Does the toddler deliberately make those connections inside himself? No; its amazing new wiring that
develops inside him, since hes come of age to walk. But the toddlers attempts to walk do contribute to
what develops inside him; as the toddler searches for the ability inside himself, the ability develops to meet
his need. So there is a cooperative effort between whats happening on the inside and the outside.
Thats similar to the experience of the new believer. Having eternal life for his body, the believer has
everything he needs to live his righteousness; but he must desire to live that way, and he must practice
living that way. The believer does so by learning to live by the Holy Spirit; to be sensitive to His leading,
and willing to follow Him.

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10

Have you ever noticed that babies have fat feet? They have a fat pad, on the sole of their foot. Can you
imagine how difficult that makes it to walk? It must be like walking on balls. It certainly would contribute
to how tipsy they are, at first; how they stagger.
So a toddler must learn balance; another ability he does not have at first, but which develops inside him, to
meet his need to walk. And eventually, as he keeps practicing, his feet flatten out, giving him balance and
support.
We also have a fat pad our flesh and it can get in the way of our walk. We will be in these bodies of
death until the Lord takes us home, but if we will live our eternal life by the Spirits leading, we will have a
balanced walk.
We dont try to whip the flesh into submission, through legalism; nor do we give our flesh license to sin.
Instead, through the spirit of Life, we discipline our bodies, and bring them into subjection (1 Cor 9:27)
we develop new feet designed for balance and support so that we have a walk of Grace.
Once the toddler experiences his first few steps of success, it can go to his head, so to speak. He tries to
move faster than his capabilities, and down he goes. Watching a toddler walk, you see a series of short
spurts, and a lot of falling. But every time he falls, what does he do? He gets himself up, and he keeps on
going. The toddler is most determined; and eventually, he is successful, and walking becomes completely
natural to him.
There are times when the believer gets ahead of the Holy Spirit, and tries to do things in his own strength.
At other times, the Spirit is giving direction, and the believer lags behind, in his obedience. In other words,
the believer can have a will in the matter!
At these times, the believer is not drawing on his powerful reserve of eternal life, which enables him to live
his righteousness and he sins. But what must he do? Confess his sin, and go on.
Does the toddler beat himself up, when he falls? Does he just sit there? No; he gets up and keeps going.
And with that determination, we also will have the victory; and living our righteousness will become the
most natural thing in the world to us.
It is in this way that Paul was enabled to do the will of God. Simply put, we have a God-given Helper right
inside of us the Holy Spirit who enlightens us to our new Life - eternal life - which gives us the power
to not sin. And like the toddler, we are practicing and learning to walk in the newness of that Life.
Next week: read Romans 8.

Spirit of Life in Christ Jesus = eternal life for the body. the power of flight, to overrule sin and death
Spirit of God = the Holy Spirit . the power of light, enlightening us to walk in that Life