Romans 6, 7, and 8 give four steps to living without condemnation.
- We must know.
- We must reckon.
- We must present ourselves to God.
- We must walk in the Spirit.
We are on a journey of conquering the flesh and the old sinful nature. The goal set before us is to live and walk without condemnation before God. In Romans 3:23, we were presented with the fact that we have all sinned and fall short of the glory of God. Then in Romans 7, we were shown the weakness of the flesh and the adverse effect that the old sinful nature has on our ability to do what pleases God. We need to know how to live free from the condemnation of the life of the flesh and our history of falling short of God’s glory. The answer to the weaknesses of the flesh is the life of walking in the Spirit. The walk in the Spirit is God’s plan for the normal Christian life. Our new man has been regenerated by the effective work, power and presence of the Holy Spirit Who gives newness of life. In addition, Jesus gave specific and detailed instructions to everyone who witnessed His ascension that they were to remain in Jerusalem until the Holy Spirit came upon them in power. Now His church is to walk in the power of the Holy Spirit.
In John 6:63 NKJV Jesus said, “It is the Spirit who gives life; the flesh profits nothing. The words that I speak to you are spirit, and they are life.”
Romans 8:11 NKJV But if the Spirit of Him who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, He who raised Christ from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through His Spirit who dwells in you.
We just noticed the struggle the Apostle Paul had with the weaknesses of his flesh.
We all can relate to that struggle to do the right things all of the time and avoid doing the wrong things. Jesus said, “The flesh profits nothing,” (John 6:63). Paul amplifies that message in Romans 7. In the flesh, we cannot please God or live in obedience to His law. We are in a great dilemma in life. We want to do what is right in God’s sight, but we are not able to do it because we are too weak and inadequate. Romans 8 reveals the answer for our weaknesses.
The Walk in the Spirit
Romans 8:1-2 NKJV There is therefore now no condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus, who do not walk according to the flesh, but according to the Spirit. For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus has made me free from the law of sin and death.
Take note of the amazing transition that occurs when we have this new life in the Spirit. We were at enmity with God and we were strangers and aliens. We were without God and without hope. We were dead to God’s covenant and promise. We were not able to fulfill the righteous requirements of the Law of God. Then Jesus Christ our Lord delivered us from the body of death.
Romans 8:3-4 NKJV For what the law could not do in that it was weak through the flesh, God did by sending His own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh, on account of sin: He condemned sin in the flesh, that the righteous requirement of the law might be fulfilled in us who do not walk according to the flesh but according to the Spirit.
We live either according to the flesh or the Spirit. The walk in the flesh (the old life) is contrary to God and His Law and leads to death. The walk in the Spirit is living by the power of the Spirit that leads to life and peace.
Romans 8:5-8 NKJV For those who live according to the flesh set their minds on the things of the flesh, but those who live according to the Spirit, the things of the Spirit. For to be carnally minded is death, but to be spiritually minded is life and peace. Because the carnal mind is enmity against God; for it is not subject to the law of God, nor indeed can be. So then, those who are in the flesh cannot please God.
This new life by (of, in) the Holy Spirit is free from condemnation and brings life and peace. The Holy Spirit is works in the redemption of our souls and actively brings us into new life as God’s children. This impacts every aspect of the believer’s walk.
Romans 8:14-16 NKJV For as many as are led by the Spirit of God, these are sons of God. For you did not receive the spirit of bondage again to fear, but you received the Spirit of adoption by whom we cry out, “Abba, Father.” The Spirit Himself bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God,
Notice the Holy Spirit’s active work in revealing who and what we are in Christ Jesus. The only way to enjoy this new life is by the Holy Spirit. In the Spirit we have life, but without the Spirit there is certain death. The entrance of the Holy Spirit into the life of the believer does not bring bondage again to fear, but testifies of the new life and position we have gained as a son of God. Although His character and nature is Holy, the Spirit’s predominate work in the believer is transformative rather than judgmental.
Almighty God is ‘the true and living God’.
He is not only the “Living God,” He is the God of the living. Any true relationship with God is marked with life. It is not marked with the life of the flesh, but the life of the Spirit. The Holy Spirit is the Living Agent that brings us out of the kingdom of darkness and death into the kingdom of the Son. This new life is marked by the same resurrection life and power that brought Christ Jesus from the dead. The life of the Spirit in us is able to transform us into new creatures in Christ.
Romans 8:11 NKJV But if the Spirit of Him who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, He who raised Christ from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through His Spirit who dwells in you.
To understand Who and What is working in us, we must evaluate some of the attributes, characteristics and works of the Holy Spirit.
The Holy Spirit is known as the Spirit of Truth.
1 Corinthians 2:11 NIV For who among men knows the thoughts of a man except the man’s spirit within him? In the same way no one knows the thoughts of God except the Spirit of God.
The Holy Spirit knows the thoughts and intents of God. Our mind was debased and corrupt, and enticed us to do things which are not proper or decent, (Romans 1:28). Jesus said, “When He the Spirit of Truth has come, He will guide you into all truth,” (John 16:13; 15:26). The Holy Spirit constantly works to transform and renew our mind so that we know the mind of Christ.
The Holy Spirit works the work of God.
Job 26:13 NKJV By His Spirit He adorned the heavens.
Psalm 104:30 NKJV You send forth Your Spirit, they are created; And You renew the face of the earth.
When all things were created, the Holy Spirit was not only present but active in doing the work of God. Genesis 1:1-2 tells us the Spirit of God was moving over the waters. By His breath the skies became fair, (Job 26:13). God sent His Spirit and the animal life was created, (Psalms 104:24-30). The Holy Spirit enables us to do the work and will of the Father. The gifts and fruit of the Spirit are an indication of the myriad kinds of things He is doing in us.
The Holy Spirit was active in the creation of man.
Job 33:4 NKJV The Spirit of God has made me, And the breath of the Almighty gives me life.
Genesis 2:7 NKJV And the Lord God formed man of the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living being.
After Adam and Eve were formed, God breathed the breath of life into their nostrils. The Breath of life is the Spirit of life. The same Breath of Life gives life to believers. The church was born under the influence and work of the Holy Spirit in them.
The Holy Spirit possesses divine attributes.
- He is Omnipotent. The Holy Spirit is “all powerful.”
- He is Omnipresent. The Holy Spirit is “everywhere present.” Psalm 139:7 “Where can I go from Your Spirit? Or where can I flee from Your presence?”
- He is Omniscient. The Holy Spirit is “all knowing.” Even when we are unaware, the Holy Spirit is present and working.
The Holy Spirit quickened and gave life to Christ’s dead body.
1 Peter 3:18 NKJVFor Christ also suffered once for sins, the just for the unjust, that He might bring us to God, being put to death in the flesh but made alive by the Spirit.
The same Holy Spirit that raised and gave life to Christ is the quickening force in believers.
Romans 8:11 NKJVBut if the Spirit of Him who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, He who raised Christ from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through His Spirit who dwells in you.
When the Holy Spirit dwells within you, He will give life to (quicken) your body. The word for “give life” means to quicken, stimulate, to make alive, to make to live. This has the implication of spiritual power to arouse, invigorate, increase, and make alive. This new life is somewhat similar to the Breath of Life that caused man in the form of dust to become a living soul. You shall receive “power” when the Holy Spirit has come upon and quickens you.
This “NEW LIFE” is a result of the “power of the Holy Spirit” working within us.
The Holy Spiritis the Source and Giver of this NEW LIFE. The Living Spirit of God is the Life-Imparting Spirit. He is the Lord and Giver of Life. This NEW LIFE is of Him. The Old Testament prophets foresaw the time when the Spirit would be poured out.
Joel 2:28-32 prophesied that a day would come when God would “pour His Spirit on all flesh…”
Acts 2:17-18 NLT quotes Joel’s prophecy. ‘In the last days,’ God says, ‘I will pour out my Spirit upon all people… In those days I will pour out my Spirit even on my servants—men and women alike…
Isaiah said a great change would happen when the Spirit is poured out upon us.
Isaiah 32:15 NKJVUntil the Spirit is poured upon us from on high, And the wilderness becomes a fruitful field, And the fruitful field is counted as a forest.
The entrance of the Holy Spirit is the entrance of life. God thinks the Holy Spirit is essential for believers. Without the Holy Spirit, we cannot live free from condemnation.
The Holy Spirit is essential in every believer every day.
By the time we finish Romans 7, the weakness and failure of our flesh is clearly identified. We become impressed with our spiritual death, trespasses, sin, and lack of spiritual life. The old life that was dominated by and sold under sin, was wretched and without God. We did not know how to do what God required of us, for nothing good dwelled within us. Our natural tendency was to fall short of the glory of God. Each of us naturally inherited that inability to sustain righteousness and live pleasing to God.
Ezekiel’s vision of a valley of dry bones revealed this spiritual death and great need for spiritual life, (Ezekiel 37:1-14).
The hand of God brought Ezekiel out in the Spirit and set him down in a valley full of dry bones. When Ezekiel passed by them all around, they were extremely dry and possessed no life at all. Then the Lord asked him, “Can these bones live?” Ezekiel answered, “O, Lord God, You know.”
In Romans 7, the sentence of death was in us all.
Then God told Ezekiel to prophesy to the dry bones so they may live and to prophesy for breath to come and breathe upon them. Ezekiel 37:14 “I will put My Spirit in you, and you shall live.” It is God Who gives life to the dead and calls those things which do not exist as though they did, (Romans 4:17). Contrary to hope, when the breath of God breathed on them they lived. When we were dead in trespasses, He quickened and made us alive together with Christ, (Ephesians 2:5).
Romans 8:16-17 NKJV The Spirit Himself bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God, and if children, then heirs—heirs of God and joint heirs with Christ…
Romans 8:29-30 NKJVFor whom He foreknew, He also predestined to be conformed to the image of His Son, that He might be the firstborn among many brethren.Moreover whom He predestined, these He also called; whom He called, these He also justified; and whom He justified, these He also glorified.
The Holy Spirit of Life is working to quicken, awaken, empower, and sustain.
Everyone who is made a child of God is predestined to be conformed into the image of Christ by the Spirit of Life.
What does it mean to be “conformed” to the image of His Son?
The word “conformed” shows the spiritual process of changing and forming the believer into Christ’s image. This process makes everything that is in Christ available to the believer.
We are being shown two ways of living.
Galatians 5:16-17 NKJVI say then: Walk in the Spirit, and you shall not fulfill the lust of the flesh. For the flesh lusts against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh; and these are contrary to one another, so that you do not do the things that you wish.
We will either walk in the Spirit or according to the flesh. There are more than 17 works of the flesh that are listed. These are set against the fruit of the Spirit.
Galatians 5:22-23 NKJV But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control. Against such there is no law.
Romans 8:13 NKJVFor if you live according to the flesh you will die; but if by the Spirit you put to death the deeds of the body, you will live.
The works of the flesh manifest the great loss experienced when we do not live according to the Spirit. That lifestyle does not know true peace, joy, or love. The life of the flesh is full of sorrow, suffering and death.
God has purposed and prepared a new and better life for us.
Galatians 5:25 NKJVIf we live in the Spirit, let us also walk in the Spirit.
When we live in the Spirit, the fruit of the Spirit naturally comes to life. You can trust in the Holy Spirit to lead, protect, and keep. He is the Spirit of life, glory, grace and mercy. He is the Spirit of wisdom and knowledge. He is the Spirit of holiness and righteousness. There is therefore now no condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus, who do not walk according to the flesh, but according to the Spirit.
