You, however, are not in the flesh but in the Spirit, if in fact the Spirit of God dwells in you. Anyone who does not have the Spirit of Christ does not belong to him. ¹⁰  But if Christ is in you, although the body is dead because of sin, the Spirit is life because of righteousness. ¹¹  If the Spirit of him who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, he who raised Christ Jesus from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through his Spirit who dwells in you. 

That is as plain as you can make it. Nothing could be plainer than that. If anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ, he does not belong to Christ. You see, you cannot tell if a person is a Christian by what he does at any given moment. He may do exactly the same thing as a non-Christian, and he may be very cruel, vindictive, natural, lustful, and sinful in every way when he does it. At that moment, you cannot tell any difference between the Christian and the non-Christian.

But there is a difference, Paul says. One has the Spirit of Christ in him, the Holy Spirit, and eventually that will make a fantastic difference in his behavior. The other does not, and he will continue in sin and even get worse and worse.

In fact, the apostle suggests by this that the actions of a non-Christian may actually be much better than those of a Christian. There are non-Christians who are kinder, more thoughtful, and more gracious than Christians. People say, “Look at them! If their lives are so nice and pleasant, surely they must be Christians.” But it is not necessarily so. He that does not have the Spirit of Christ is none of his.

The difference will show up in the ultimate tests of life. When the crunch comes, one will collapse and fall and the other will rise and, eventually, conquer. A Christian can live “according to the flesh” even though he is not “in the flesh.” Those distinctions have to be made very clearly.

The evidence of conversion is the presence of the Holy Spirit within, witnessing that you are a child of God: (Romans 8:16)  The Spirit himself testifies with our spirit that we are God’s children.

Your body becomes the very temple of the Holy Spirit:  (1 Corinthians 6:19-20)  Do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit, who is in you, whom you have received from God? You are not your own; {20} you were bought at a price. Therefore honor God with your body.

Even though the body is destined to die because of sin (unless, of course, the Lord returns), the Spirit gives life to that body today so that we may serve God. If we should die, the body will one day be raised from the dead, because the Holy Spirit has sealed each believer:

(Ephesians 1:13-14)  And you also were included in Christ when you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation. Having believed, you were marked in him with a seal, the promised Holy Spirit, {14} who is a deposit guaranteeing our inheritance until the redemption of those who are God’s possession–to the praise of his glory.

What a difference it makes in your body when the Holy Spirit lives within. You experience new life, and even your physical faculties take on a new dimension of experience.

Christians, according to Paul, do not need to receive the Spirit, but to respond to the Spirit, in faith and obedience for assurance, guidance, empowerment, and a host of other ministries.

Paul, and every Christian, faces two problems as dealt with in our text: first, the problem of sin; second, the problem of righteousness. Our problem with sin is that we do it. Our problem with righteousness is that we do not, and cannot, do it.

God solved the first problem by condemning sin in the flesh through the death of our Lord at Calvary. Now, in verses 9-11, Paul tells us how God has provided the solution for the second problem.

God’s Law reveals the standard of righteousness. The Law tells us what righteousness is like. The Christian agrees with the Law of God, that it is “holy, righteous, and good.” The problem is the strength of sin and the weakness of our flesh. As Paul has shown in verses 5-8, the flesh cannot please God. God has provided the means for Christians to live in a way that enables them to fulfill the requirement of the Law and to please God. God’s provision—for Christians only—is the power of His Holy Spirit, who indwells every Christian.

The flesh is dead, because of sin. But the Spirit is alive, living within us, so that righteousness will result. The Spirit, who indwells every true believer, is the same Spirit who raised the dead body of our Lord from the dead (verse 11). Our problem, as Paul says in Romans 7:24, is “the body of this death.” Our bodies, which are dead due to sin, so far as doing that which is righteous, the Spirit will raise to life, as He raised the body of our Lord to life. And so the problem of righteousness has been solved. We cannot, by the flesh, please God and do that which is righteous. We can, by means of the Spirit, fulfill the requirement of the Law and please God.

And so the two problems (1) of sin and (2) of righteousness have been solved, by God, through the work of our Lord Jesus Christ and the ministry of the Holy Spirit. There is no condemnation for sin for all who are in Christ, by faith. Sin, on the other hand, has been condemned in the flesh. The righteousness which we could not do, because of the deadness of our fleshly bodies, God accomplishes through His Spirit, who raises dead bodies to life.

A person is spirited, driven to live according to the spirit that is within him. The Holy Spirit has the power to drive the believer to live as Christ lived. We can look at the spirit of a person and tell if he has the Spirit of Christ. If he does, then he bears the fruit of Christ’s Spirit. The Spirit and His fruit are seen in the life of the believer. The true believer proves that he is “in” Christ, that he is placed and positioned “in” Christ by the life which he lives.

Instances of miraculous activity through the Holy Spirit’s clothing or coming upon these Christians throughout the book of Acts are in contrast to the general promises made to all Christians. Penitent, baptized believers are promised the “gift of the Holy Spirit” (Acts 2:38).

John referred to the Holy Spirit as being given to Christians (1 John 3:24; 4:13), as did Paul in 1 Thessalonians 4:8.

In Galatians 4:6 we read, “And because you are sons, God has sent forth the Spirit of His Sn into our hearts.”

It is important to notice the contrast of the Spirit’s being given or sent “into our hearts” and the Spirit’s “falling upon” Christians. When the Spirit “fell upon” or “came upon” someone, miraculous activity was always involved. However, the presence of the Holy Spirit in the first century did not always involve miraculous activity.

John the Baptist was “filled with the Holy Spirit” from his mother’s womb (Luke 1:15), yet he “performed no sign” (John 10:41). Every Christian is commanded to “be filled with the Spirit” (Ephesians 5:18), but this does not mean that all Christians are to perform signs and wonders.

Today the Holy Spirit’s work is providential (behind the scenes) rather than in the same open, obvious, and miraculous way characteristic of His work in the first-century church. Our present lesson will focus upon His providential work.

 INDWELT BY THE SPIRIT (HIS PROVIDENTIAL WORK)

The relationship of the Holy Spirit to the Christian today is described by the Greek word oikeo. This word is translated in the New American Standard Bible as “dwell,” “indwell,” and “live.” It comes from the Greek word meaning “house” (oikos), and it is used four times to describe the Holy Spirit’s relationship with Christians (Romans 8:9, 11; 1 Corinthians 3:16; 2 Timothy 1:14).

What a beautiful thought Paul conveyed in teaching how the Holy Spirit takes up His personal residency within the bodies of Christians and dwells in them, for they are God’s New Testament temple.

This leads us to the important question “If the Holy Spirit is present and is working in our lives today, what does He do for us?” Some sincere Christians are asking this question today. Several years ago I was visiting with an elder who confessed that he had believed for a long time that he had been given the gift of the

Holy Spirit at his baptism. “But,” he added, “I really do not know why I received this gift. If the Holy Spirit no longer imparts miraculous gifts, why is He present?” We need to give some serious thought to this question.

 The Spirit as a Seal

The Bible teaches that the Holy Spirit seals us as the children of God. Paul wrote, “You were sealed in Him with the Holy Spirit of promise” (Ephesians 1:13). As we repent and are baptized by water baptism into Christ, we are clothed with Christ (Galatians 3:27).

Through the gift of the Holy Spirit, Jesus comes into our lives, and God places His seal upon us, marking us as His children. In the first century, seals were used to assure protection and security. For example, the

tomb of Jesus was sealed by the Roman government (Matthew 27:66) to ensure that no one could steal the body of our Lord. The 144,000 in Revelation 7 were sealed as a means of identification and protection of God’s saved ones.

The seal of the Holy Spirit is God’s invisible sign to the spirit world that we are His property and that He will personally protect and provide for us until “the day of [our] redemption” (Ephesians 4:30). The Holy Spirit is God’s mark, His living assurance of our sonship and of the Father’s love.

 The Spirit as a Pledge

The Holy Spirit is also “given as a pledge of our inheritance” (Ephesians 1:14). Some translations render the Greek word arrabon as “earnest” or “deposit.” The idea is that the Holy Spirit is God’s down payment toward our eternal inheritance in heaven. He is God’s personal pledge to us that He will faithfully keep His part of the new covenant we have entered into with Jesus. It is interesting that the modern Greek word arrabona is the word for engagement ring.

When a young man gives a young woman his personal pledge to marry her, he gives her an arrabona (engagement ring) to show his commitment to the future marriage. This figure is full of meaning as we remember Paul’s words from 2 Corinthians 11:2:3 “For I am jealous for you with a godly jealousy; for I betrothed you to one husband, that to Christ I might present you as a pure virgin.” The presence of the Holy Spirit in our lives is God’s personal pledge that if we remain faithful to our marital vows to Jesus that one of these days we will be presented to Him as His perfect bride (see Ephesians 5:25–27; Revelation 21:2). In a sense, in this earthly life we are Jesus’ fiancée, while in the heavenly realm we will be His wife.

The Spirit as a Gift

The gift of the Holy Spirit also involves God’s gift of eternal life to His children. In contrast to being dead in sin and indwelt by the spirit of Satan (Ephesians 2:1, 2), God’s children are “alive together with Christ” (Ephesians 2:5). Separation from God is spiritual death. To be joined “together with Christ” through the indwelling Spirit is life. “And the witness is this, that God has given us eternal life, and this life is in His

Son. He who has the Son has the life; he who does not have the Son of God does not have the life” (1 John 5:11, 12).

When our souls were washed by the blood of the Lamb, Jesus Himself began to live in us, imparting eternal life to our spirits! To be “born of water and the Spirit” (John 3:5) is to have the very life of Jesus planted into our spirits through God’s Holy Spirit. Jesus illustrated the life of the Spirit in His parable of the vine and the branches in John 15.

Just as the branch draws its life from the vine, so we draw our life from Jesus, the spiritual Vine. We abide in Christ through faith; and as we draw life from Him, He produces His spiritual fruit of righteousness in us (John 15:4; Galatians 5:22, 23). “And if Christ is in you, . . . the spirit is alive because of righteousness” (Romans 8:10). The indwelling presence of the Holy Spirit becomes in each of us “a well of water springing up to eternal life” (John 4:14) and flowing from our inner beings as “rivers of living water” (John 7:38, 39).

The Spirit as an Inner Strength

The indwelling presence of the Holy Spirit strengthens God’s children in spiritual warfare against Satan. Paul declared that “by the Spirit” we put “to death the deeds of the body” (Romans 8:13). Many Christians trust their own strength and determination to overcome Satan. They need to be reminded of Jesus’ warning: “For apart from Me you can do nothing” (John 15:5). In contrast to having an attitude of self-sufficiency, Paul expressed a confident faith: “I can do all things through Him who strengthens me” (Philippians 4:13). The Christian life is a life of faith in which we fix “our eyes on Jesus, . . . so that [we] may not grow weary and lose heart” (Hebrews 12:2, 3). Our victory is in the Lord Jesus Christ and “in the strength of His might” (Ephesians 6:10).

Have you ever noticed how the Christian armor described in Ephesians 6 is related to the Lord Jesus Himself? We are to gird our loins with truth, and Jesus is “the truth” (John 14:6). We are to “put on the breastplate of r i g h t e o u s n e s s ” (Ephesians 6:14), and Jesus is our righteousness (1 Corinthians 1:30).

We are to “shod [our] feet with the preparation of the gospel of peace” (Ephesians 6:15), and Jesus is the gospel message (cf. 1 Corinthians 2:2; 15:3, 4). We are to take up “the shield”  e “take the helmet of salvation” (Ephesians 6:17) as we trust Jesus for our eternal salvation (cf. Acts 4:12). Jesus, as the Word of God, (John 1:1) is “the sword of the Spirit” (Ephesians 6:17), through whom we can fight the attacks of Satan.

No wonder the Holy Spirit glorifies Jesus, and not Himself (John 16:14). It is through the Holy Spirit that we are “strengthened with power . . . in the inner man” so that “Christ may dwell in [our] hearts through faith” (Ephesians 3:16, 17). “Christ in you, [is] the hope of glory” (Colossians 1:27). The Spirit strengthens us as we focus the eyes of our faith upon Jesus and trust Him for His strength to fight the good fight of faith.

Alexander Campbell wrote, . . . without this gift [of the Holy Spirit] no one could be saved or ultimately triumph over all opposition. . . . He knows but little of the deceitfulness of sin, or of the combating of temptation, who thinks himself competent to wrestle against the allied forces of the world, the flesh, and the devil. . . . [But] by His Holy Spirit, in answer to our prayers, [God] works in us, and by us, and for us, all that is needful to our present, spiritual, and eternal salvation.1

 The Spirit as a Helper

The Holy Spirit also helps God’s children in prayer. Paul commanded Christians to “pray at all times in the Spirit” (Ephesians 6:18). To “pray . . . in the Spirit” involves more than praying from the heart. Any worship offered “in spirit and truth” (John 4:24) is worship that recognizes the role of the Holy Spirit as He helps us in our prayers to God. What a wonderful assurance that the Spirit who abides in heaven is also the Spirit who abides in the church! We read, “The Spirit Himself intercedes for us with groanings too deep for words; and He who searches the hearts knows what the mind of the Spirit is, because He intercedes for the saints  according to the will of God” (Romans 8:26, 27). When we pray, the Spirit Himself prays with us, giving us the great assurance that prayers offered in faith and from our innermost beings arise to the Lord as sweet incense (Revelation 8:3, 4).

CONCLUSION

As we learn of the Spirit’s activity in helping us to live the Christian life to the glory of our God, we can see the need to “be filled with the Spirit” (Ephesians 5:18). A Spirit-filled life is a life focused upon Jesus rather than upon self. It is a life yielded to Jesus as Lord, and our Lord is not just some distant king we serve.  Through His Holy Spirit He is an ever-present Shepherd who promises to restore our souls and to provide for our every need. Each Christian can say with the psalmist, “Surely goodness and lovingkindness will follow me all the days of my life, and I will dwell in the house of the Lord forever” (Psalm 23:6). Amen!

In recent years several polls have shown disturbing beliefs and behaviors among those who profess to be Christians. For example, a Pew Forum poll indicated that 57% of evangelical church attenders believe many religions can lead to eternal life.

Other surveys show that only 9% of teens and 32% of adults who claim to be born again believe in moral absolutes. That means that over 90% of “born again” teens and two-thirds of “born again” adults do not believe in moral absolutes!

These shocking numbers may be explained in part by a lack of solid biblical preaching. But beneath this lack of solid preaching is a basic misunderstanding about the nature of the gospel.

Have we have wrongly assumed that when someone makes a decision to be immersed in water in order to have their sins forgiven but not yield to Him as Lord? Or we mistakenly assume that all who profess Jesus as Lord, especially those who serve Him, will go to heaven. But Jesus made it clear that only those who obey Him can expect to be welcomed into heaven.

Matthew 7:21-27 (ESV) “Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but the one who does the will of my Father who is in heaven. ²²  On that day many will say to me, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name, and cast out demons in your name, and do many mighty works in your name?’ ²³  And then will I declare to them, ‘I never knew you; depart from me, you workers of lawlessness.’ ²⁴  “Everyone then who hears these words of mine and does them will be like a wise man who built his house on the rock. ²⁵  And the rain fell, and the floods came, and the winds blew and beat on that house, but it did not fall, because it had been founded on the rock. ²⁶  And everyone who hears these words of mine and does not do them will be like a foolish man who built his house on the sand. ²⁷  And the rain fell, and the floods came, and the winds blew and beat against that house, and it fell, and great was the fall of it.”

The Bible is clear that salvation is a matter of God’s imparting new life to a person who was dead in his sins. And such new life always manifests itself in changed belief and behavior.

This is not to say that those cannot fall into gross sins. But it is to say that they cannot live complacently in sin. While growth in godliness is a lifelong process, there is such growth in the lives of all who have been born of the Spirit.

Paul paints a picture of these two distinct groups: those according to the flesh; and, those according to the Spirit.

Since there are only two groups of people with two very different destinies, make sure that you are “according to the Spirit,” not the flesh.

1. There are two and only two groups of people in the world: Those who are according to the flesh and those who are according to the Spirit.

Romans 8:5 (ESV) 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 set their minds on the things of the Spirit.

“Those who are according to the flesh” describes the spiritual condition of unbelievers. The nature of each group determines their present behavior and their final destiny.

There is a popular but mistaken view that there are two optional tracks for the Christian life. If you’re prone toward masochism (masochism: the tendency to derive pleasure, from one’s own pain or humiliation) you can sign up for the discipleship track. Under this plan, you give up everything to follow Christ.

• You have to deny yourself and take up your cross daily.
• You will suffer hardship, sacrifice, and perhaps even martyrdom.
• You have to give the control of all of your material assets to Christ.
• You may be required to take the gospel to a foreign culture, where you’ll live in difficult and perhaps dangerous circumstances.
• But, your rewards in heaven will be great. This discipleship track is for the super-committed.

The other track, the “cultural Christian track,” is for the rest of us more “ordinary” believers. Under this plan, be immersed in water in order to have sins forgiven (to make sure that you’ll go to heaven), but also pursue your dreams for success and personal fulfillment in this life.

• You get the best of both worlds without needing to be gung ho, like those on the discipleship track.
• You can enjoy the fellowship of a good church and pursue the American dream at the same time.
• Just drop something in the offering plate once in a while to pay your dues.
• Once in a while you can volunteer to help out at the church, when it fits in with your busy schedule.
• Don’t be too hard on yourself about obedience to the Bible. After all, we’re all human. God is gracious and He understands your weaknesses.
• So accept yourself and don’t think that you have to be all-out for Jesus. That’s just for the fanatics on the discipleship track.

But Jesus made it clear that there is only one track for the Christian life: Mark 8:34-38 (ESV) And calling the crowd to him with his disciples, he said to them, “If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me. ³⁵  For whoever would save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake and the gospel’s will save it. ³⁶  For what does it profit a man to gain the whole world and forfeit his soul? ³⁷  For what can a man give in return for his soul? ³⁸  For whoever is ashamed of me and of my words in this adulterous and sinful generation, of him will the Son of Man also be ashamed when he comes in the glory of his Father with the holy angels.”

It’s pretty clear that Jesus is talking about eternal life or eternal condemnation. If you want eternal life, you must die to self and follow Jesus.

In Paul’s language, that describes a person who is “according to the Spirit.”

The other track describes those who are “according to the flesh.” These are the only two groups in the world when it comes to eternal life or eternal death.

2. These two groups are sharply distinguished by different mindsets. Paul describes the mindset of those who are according to the flesh as “the things of the flesh” (8:5). This mindset is death (Romans 8:6: For to set the mind on the flesh is death, but to set the mind on the Spirit is life and peace.)

It is hostile toward God, not subject to God’s law (8:7), and not pleasing to God (8:8).

On the other hand, the mindset of those who are according to the Spirit is “the things of the Spirit” (8:5). This mindset is life and peace (8:6).

By implication, since it is the opposite of the mindset of the flesh, the mindset of those who are according to the Spirit is friendly toward God, subject to His law, and pleasing to Him.

To be “according to” the flesh means to live under the flesh, to make it your rule, or to obey it. To live “according to” the Spirit means to be “ruled and determined by His awakening, regenerating, illuminating presence; characterized by the fact that He dwells in [us]”

Those who are according to the flesh set their minds on the things of the flesh (8:5a).

These deeds include sins that we might categorize as sensual (immorality, impurity, drunkenness); but they also include worshiping false gods, strife, jealousy, and anger.

So to live according to the flesh is to live independently of God, in dependence on oneself, with self at the center. The fleshly person may be outwardly moral, but his motives and goals are for his own glory or gain or comfort, without regard for the glory of God or the good of others.

To set one’s mind on the things of the flesh is much the same as when John says in 1 John 2:15-16, “Do not love the world nor the things in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him. For all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh and the lust of the eyes and the boastful pride of life, is not from the Father, but is from the world.”

Loving the world or setting one’s mind on the things of the flesh means to live for the temporal things that the world values, in disregard of God and eternity.

B. Those who are according to the Spirit set their minds on the things of the Spirit (8:5b).

To set your mind on the things of the Spirit does not mean that you go around with your head in the clouds, detached from everyday matters.

It does not mean that you must join a monastery and spend hours every day in meditation and prayer. It does not mean that you do not get your hands dirty with mundane things like work, paying bills, cleaning the house, fixing meals, mowing your lawn, or reading the newspaper.

Rather, to set your mind on the things of the Spirit means to relate all of life to God and His Word. God has seen fit in His Word to tell us how to have our sins forgiven and to have eternal life through faith in Christ.

That is the most important thing, because you could die at any moment and stand before God. That is why Paul says in Col. 3:1-4: Therefore, if you have been raised up with Christ, keep seeking the things above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God. Set your mind on the things above, not on the things that are on earth. For you have died and your life is hidden with Christ in God. When Christ, who is our life, is revealed, then you also will be revealed with Him in glory.

So to set your mind on the things of the Spirit means especially to think often about matters of salvation. It means to worship God and commune with Him.

In the context of Colossians 3, Paul goes on to talk about sex, greed, anger, abusive speech, and truthfulness. He gives practical commands regarding relationships, marriage, child-rearing, and work.

These two distinct groups are marked by mindsets that lead to two completely different destinies: death or life and peace. Romans 8:6: For to set the mind on the flesh is death, but to set the mind on the Spirit is life and peace.

The scary part is this: If those who are dead in their sins continue in that state until they die physically, they will continue throughout eternity in the awful condition of separation from God, under the penalty of His just wrath.

The Bible calls this the second death and it is spent in the lake of fire (Rev. 20:14). The next verse (Rev. 20:15) adds, “And if anyone’s name was not found written in the book of life, he was thrown into the lake of fire.”

This state of eternal spiritual death does not mean that those in hell are annihilated or cease to exist. That would be a blessing for them! But the Bible is clear that eternal spiritual death means enduring conscious torment forever (Mark 9:43-48; Luke 16:16-31; Rev. 14:10-11).

These frightening truths come to us from the Lord Jesus Himself and from John, the apostle of love. If we reject this truth, we are not following Jesus.

The good news is, if you have been given new life through the Holy Spirit, although your physical body will die (Rom. 8:10), God will resurrect your body (8:11) and you will enjoy life and peace with Him and with all the saints throughout eternity.

The application of our text is obvious: Make sure that you have new life through God’s Spirit and that you are not living according to the flesh!

Do you remember the “big rocks” illustration? A professor came in with a large jar filled to the brim with big rocks. He asked the class, “Is the jar full?” “Yes,” they responded. He poured in some pea gravel and shook it down through the cracks. “Is it full now?” They weren’t so sure. He poured in some sand. Then he added water. The point of the illustration is, if you don’t put the big rocks in first you won’t be able to fit them in at all. Schedule your priorities or they will get crowded out by the urgent but trivial. Your biggest rock is your relationship with God. Set your mind on the things of the Spirit!

In the context of the larger book of Romans, Paul has worked diligently to get us to this point of this complex chapter:

• Chapter 5: Free from the wrath of God.
• Chapter 6: Free from the dominion of sin.
• Chapter 7: Free from a law keeping system.
• Chapter 8: In Christ, there is no condemnation.

He also revealed his own struggle (and ours): Romans 7:15b–20 (ESV) For I do not do what I want, but I do the very thing I hate. ¹⁶ Now if I do what I do not want, I agree with the law, that it is good. ¹⁷ So now it is no longer I who do it, but sin that dwells within me. ¹⁸ For I know that nothing good dwells in me, that is, in my flesh. For I have the desire to do what is right, but not the ability to carry it out. ¹⁹ For I do not do the good I want, but the evil I do not want is what I keep on doing. ²⁰ Now if I do what I do not want, it is no longer I who do it, but sin that dwells within me.

God Frees Us from Sin’s Penalty and Power (8:1–4)

Paul’s heart-cry in 7:24, “Who will rescue me from this body of death?”, was immediately answered in brief: “Thanks be to God through Jesus Christ our Lord” (7:25a).

While the main concern of this question and its answer is freedom from the power of indwelling sin, we need to be reminded again of the main point already established in 3:21–5:21, that the penalty for our sin has been paid in full by Jesus.

In the midst of our intense spiritual struggle against sin, in which we are sometimes on the losing end, we need not fear that our forgiveness is in jeopardy. Christ has already secured this for us on the cross

The Law cannot claim you (8:2). You have been made free from the law of sin and death. You now have life in the Spirit. You have moved into a whole new sphere of life in Christ. The Law no longer has any jurisdiction over you: you are dead to the Law (Rom. 7:4) and free from the Law (Rom. 8:2).

The Law cannot condemn you (8:3). Christ has already suffered that  condemnation for you on the cross. The Law could not save; it can only condemn. But God sent His Son to save us and do what the Law could not do.

8:3  What the law was powerless to do.  Freedom over sin never can be obtained by obedience to the law. The law cannot help us because it was weakened by the flesh.

But what the law can’t do, God did by sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful man. Jesus Christ was a “likeness” of us. This likeness (homoious) was not merely an appearance; he was completely human (John 1:14), with the same desires that yield to sin, yet he never sinned (see 2 Corinthians 5:21; Hebrews 2:17–18; 4:14–16).

Christ took on humanity in order to be our sin offering. Because Christ was sinless, his death passed the “death sentence” on sin for all of us, setting us free from sin’s power over us: he condemned sin in the flesh.  Jesus gave himself as a sacrifice (“sin offering”) for our sins.

In Old Testament times, animal sacrifices were continually offered at the temple. These animals brought to the altar had two important characteristics: they were alive, and they were “without flaw.” The sacrifices showed the Israelites the seriousness of sin: innocent blood had to be shed before sins could be pardoned (see Leviticus 17:11). But animal blood could not really remove sin (Hebrews 10:4); and the forgiveness provided by those sacrifices, in legal terms, was more like a stay of execution than a pardon.

Those animal sacrifices could only point to Jesus’ sacrifice that paid the penalty for all sin. Jesus’ life was identical with ours, yet unstained by sin. So he could serve as the flawless sacrifice for our sins.

In him, our pardon is complete. The tables are turned so that not only is there “no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus,” but also the very sin that guaranteed our condemnation is itself condemned by Christ’s sacrifice.

Grace was given that the law might be fulfilled. —Augustine

The Law cannot control you (8:4). The believer lives a righteous life, not in the power of the Law, but in the power of the Holy Spirit. The Law does not have the power to produce holiness; it can only reveal and condemn sin.

The law of Moses did exactly what it was designed to do, but it did a lousy job doing what it was never designed to do.

• It was designed to show man his sin and it did a tremendous job of it.
• The law of Moses condemned every person who ever tried to keep it in its entire 1500+ year history! (Excluding Jesus, of course.
• The law wasn’t designed to set us free. For that purpose it was impotent, weak, sick. Paul spent the first half of his life living under the law of Moses and we just read in chapter 7 how ineffective it was for him. It only showed him how bad he really was!

The sacrifice of Jesus takes away the sin that frustrates us so much in the struggle and would certainly condemn us in the end!

Look again at verse 4: “in order that the requirement of the Law might be fulfilled…” In the original language, that word “fulfilled” was used to describe the leveling up of a hole in the ground.

The law of Moses showed us that it was impossible. But God has come and filled up the hole! We can walk again on level ground! Praise God!

The indwelling Holy Spirit enables us to walk in obedience to God’s will. The righteousness that God demands in His Law is fulfilled in you through the Spirit’s power.

In the Holy Spirit, you have life and liberty (Rom. 8:2) and “the pursuit of happiness” (Rom. 8:4).

     8:4 The righteous requirements of the law might be fully met in us. The requirement of the law is holiness (see Leviticus 11:44–45; 19:2; 20:7); but the law is powerless to make us holy because of our innate sinfulness.

Only through Christ’s death and the resulting freedom from sin can we no longer live according to the flesh but according to the Spirit and thus fulfill the righteous requirements of the law.

The Holy Spirit is the one who helps us become holy. The Holy Spirit provides the power internally to help us do what the law required of us externally.

It is the Spirit who produces “fruit” in us; only in this way can we fulfill the requirements of the law. But Paul has already made it clear that the law is powerless to save. So why do its requirements still need to be met?

The law is God’s law and was never meant to be cast aside. Paul makes a distinction between two kinds of obedience to the law. He speaks against the obedience to the law that stays merely at the level of the flesh (such as being circumcised because the law required it) and the obedience that depends on God’s Holy Spirit.

Only the latter fulfills the law. When we live according to the Spirit, we actually do meet the requirements of the law. Or, as Paul puts it, the requirements of the law are met in us.

The Spirit-led Christian, as he yields to the Lord, experiences the sanctifying work of the Spirit in his life. “For it is God that worketh in you, both to will and to do of His good pleasure” (Phil. 2:13).

When an opportunity to do something that might be momentarily enjoyable presents itself, but you know it would be wrong to do it, is there any kind of struggle that goes on in your life? You know there is. A part of you wants to do it and a part of you doesn’t. An inner struggle ensues.

Question: Are you the only Christian who struggles that way? Answer: Every Christian struggles that way. Even the great Apostle Paul struggled that way!

If we had lived in the first century, we would have looked at Paul and said, “Wow! What a spiritual man! What an overcomer!” But I suspect Paul would have corrected us in that. He would have said, “What a wretched man! You don’t know the half of it.”

Within the universe there is a law so important that it has become the law of the Holy Spirit. It is called “the law of the Spirit of life.” What is meant by this law? Very simply, life is in Jesus Christ and in Him alone.

Whatever life is—energy, being, spirit, love, joy, peace—it is all in Jesus Christ and nowhere else.

Within Christ, within His very being is the Spirit of life, the very energy and being of life. This fact is important, so important that God has written it into the laws of the universe.

The “law of sin and death” simply means the rule and reign of death. Every man dies: death rules and reigns over every man. But the Spirit of God frees a man from the rule and reign of death.

The Spirit of life frees the believer from both sin and death. The Holy Spirit frees the believer to live as Christ lived, to actually live out the life which Christ lived. The active energy of life, the dynamic force and being of life—all that is in Christ Jesus—is given to the believer.

He lives now and shall live forever. He senses this and knows this. Life to him is a spirit, a breath, a consciousness of being set free through Christ. Even when he sins and guilt sets in, there is a tug, a power (Holy Spirit) that draws him back to God.

He asks forgiveness and removal of the guilt (1 John 1:9), and immediately upon asking, the same power (the Holy Spirit) instills an instantaneous assurance of cleansing.

The spirit of life, the consciousness of living instantaneously takes up its abode within him once again. He feels free again, and he feels full of life in all its liberating power and freedom.

He bubbles over with all the depth of the richness and fulness of life itself. He is full of the “Spirit of life.” Life itself becomes once again a spirit, a consciousness of living. He lives now and forever.

The Spirit gives life by doing what the law could not do. The law could not make man righteous because man’s flesh is too weak to keep the law. No man has ever been able to keep the law of God, not to perfection or even close to perfection.

All flesh has miserably failed—come far short of God’s glory and law. Consequently, all flesh dies physically and spiritually.

Therefore, righteousness and life just cannot come by the law. But what the law could not do, the Spirit is able to do. He can provide righteousness and life.

The Spirit gives life by Christ condemning sin in the flesh.

Whatever the man sows in Christ, he reaps: God matches it. Whatever a man measures out to Christ, the same is measured back to the man: God matches it. In fact, Scripture says that God will even go beyond and do much more than we ask or think (cp. Ephes. 3:20).

Therefore, the man who walks after the “Spirit of life” which is in Christ Jesus is given the Spirit of life. The Holy Spirit fulfills and credits him with the righteousness of the law, with the right to live eternally.

The Christian who is dedicated to his or her heavenly Father through Christ, will someday hear those words, “Well done, good and faithful servant, enter into the joy of your Master.” And he/she will do this in spite of the weaknesses of the flesh. Halleluia! Thanks be to God through Jesus Christ our Lord! That is good news! That is a real benefit!

For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus has set you free from the law of sin and of death. (8:2)

Because of the way Paul spoke these words, we often miss some of the subtle points he is making. He gives us what I call “a word salad,” a lot of things mixed together that needs to be “chewed.”

Verse 2 says that we have been “set free” from something, and it’s important for us to understand it.

People spend a big part of their lives trying to qualify.

• On the job, an employee hopes that his performance qualifies him for a raise or promotion.
• In a dating relationship, the boy and the girl will each try hard to impress the other to “qualify” as someone special in that one’s eyes.
• A major hurdle in a university doctoral program is cleared when the student passes the qualifying exams.

On the other hand, in certain situations trying to “qualify” is inappropriate.

• Take, for instance, a child’s relationship with his or her parents. A child should feel unconditional love and acceptance from his parents. The child should not have to feel as though he must “qualify” for his parents’ love by his achievements. He should be able to receive their love simply by being their child.
• The problem comes, however, when parents set unrealistically high standards and expectations for their child. They expect the child to behave perfectly, to achieve above all others both in the classroom and in athletics, and to use adult reasoning in every situation. (We sometimes try to live out our dreams [or correct our failures] through our children?)
• In that kind of situation, the child never feels as though he “qualifies” for the parents’ love and acceptance. At some point, the child may simply quit trying to win his parents‘ approval and just give up. If he is trying his hardest and never gets anywhere, why try at all?

Which way is it with God? Do we have to qualify with Him, or is striving to earn His acceptance  inappropriate?

Many believe that we have to “qualify” in order to please God and have a relationship with Him. The idea is that, to be a Christian, you either have to be a “good person” (usually defined as “a nearly perfect person”) or you have to do all the “right things.”

The other side of the coin is that, if you fail to qualify, you cannot please God.

An author wrote of a recollection from childhood of hearing a lesson based on the story of Moses’ disobedience when he struck a rock to make water come out of it instead of speaking to the rock as God had commanded. Because of his disobedience, Moses was not allowed to enter the promised land (Numbers 20:2-12).

The application of this story was made in this way: “Moses was a good man, but he made one mistake and did not enter the promised land. So, you had better not make one mistake because you see what will happen to you if you do!”

The use of that story fails to take into account that God still accepted Moses as His servant, that Moses apparently died in the grace of God (Deuteronomy 34:5, 6), that Satan had to argue with God’s angel about Moses’ body (Jude 9), and that Moses appeared with Jesus with God’s endorsement at the Transfiguration (Mark 9:4).

God meted out that particular discipline to Moses for that particular act, but that does not say anything about God’s punishment for “one mistake” that you or I might make.

“If I’ve messed up once,” you might think, “I’m no better off than the prostitute or the drunk! So why try? I’ll never qualify with God anyway.” I wonder how many who have dropped out of the church have done so for this very reason.

Something is not right with this perspective. Something is wrong with the notion that we must go through life unsure about whether we are Christians and whether we will go to heaven when we die. One attempted fix is the hope that you pray for forgiveness right before you die, you will be all right. No, something is not right with this approach to God.

Jesus has good news for us. He frees us from the hopeless treadmill of earning salvation (which is impossible anyway) and saves us on the basis of faith (or trust) in His grace.

Jesus saves us not on the basis of our goodness, but on the basis of His goodness, as God’s perfect Son who gave Himself as the sacrifice for our sins. That is good news. That means that we can be saved and know it. That means we can have hope.

“Your Works Have Saved You”? When Jesus was on earth, dealing with people face to face and showing mankind what God is like, how many times did He tell someone, “You have earned salvation”? Never!

He told the woman with the long-term hemorrhage (Mark 5:34), and He also told the sinful woman who anointed His feet (Luke 7:50) that their faith had saved them (or “made them whole”).

The paralytic on the mat (Mark 2:5) and the thief on the cross (Luke 23:43) performed no act that merited forgiveness, but they each received forgiveness from Jesus.

All of these incidents are pictures of faith, illustrations of what it means to come to Jesus in simple trust of who He is, regardless of the merit of one’s actions.

Jesus has plenty to say about works. The judgment scene portrayed in Matthew 25:31-46 shows that one’s eternal destiny is determined by what one does.

In Matthew 12:37, Jesus said, “By your words you shall be justified, and by your words you shall be condemned.”

What a person does, even in terms of his speech, has direct impact on his eternal status before God.

But the main theme of Jesus’ teaching is that a person’s heart has to be right (Mark 7:20-23). From that correct center the correct actions will come. Correct actions that do not flow from a heart of trust mean nothing.

Jesus shocked the religious leaders of His day by eating with tax-gatherers and with people whom the religious leaders termed “sinners” (Luke 5:30-32). “Why do you eat and drink with the tax-gatherers and sinners?”

They asked Jesus’ disciples. Jesus told them, “Because they need Me.”

He did not just associate with people who “qualified,” that is, people who justified themselves in their own eyes.

He did not operate from the perspective that there are good people and there are bad people and that is the way it is.

He came to call “bad” people to a new life, a life in which “goodness” would be given to them by God on the basis of their faith in Christ.

The very reason Jesus associated with “sinners” was that they did not “qualify” on the basis of their works, and they knew it. Jesus wanted to bring about a deeper goodness within the person, on the basis of faith in Him.

Is There Salvation Apart From Works of Law?

What is this “faith” or “trust” on which salvation depends? Paul, who did more “works” for the Lord than perhaps anyone else but who also called himself the foremost sinner (1 Timothy 1:15), provides an insight into this basis of our salvation in Romans 3.

In Romans 3:19-28, there appear to be two similar but distinct ideas about “law” at work. Paul makes reference to (1) “the Law,” meaning the law of Moses, and also to (2) “law” (no “the”), referring to the general idea of works and law-keeping.

Paul says in Romans 3:9 that “both Jews and Greeks [i. e., all people] are all under sin.”

The law (of Moses) speaks to this, he says, and he quotes several Old Testament passages to prove his point. Then in verse 20 he says, “By the works of the Law [the general principle of doing works of merit] no flesh will be justified in [God’s] sight; for through the Law [general principle] comes the knowledge of sin.

But now,” he goes on to say in verses 21 and 22, “apart from the Law [that general principle of works] the righteousness of God has been manifested, being witnessed by the Law [of Moses] and the Prophets, even the righteousness of God through faith in Jesus Christ for all those who believe.” (Emphasis mine.)

In verse 28 he concludes, “We maintain that a man is justified by faith apart from works of the Law [works of merit to gain favor],” since “by the works of the Law no flesh will be justified” (v. 20).

Paul is saying this: Law-keeping, the good works that we might do, will not save us. Works religion does not earn salvation. You will never qualify for salvation by trying to earn it through your own works.

Something else, something different, is needed. That “something else” was provided by God, who offers salvation on the basis of faith or trust in Christ. Salvation by faith is not the same kind of approach to God that trying to be saved by “law” is. It is “witnessed to” by the Old Testament law, but it is a different, and superior, approach to God. This faith is an absolute dependence on Jesus’ death on the cross as your salvation. You do not “earn” or merit anything. You trust that Jesus has accomplished salvation for you by His merit.

This contrast between the works we do and the faith by which we approach God is vividly portrayed in Paul’s      description of himself in Romans 7. He says, “The good that I wish, I do not do; but I practice the very evil that I do not wish” (v. 19). He wants to do right, but sin in him does wrong. “Wretched man that I am!” he cries (v. 24). “Who will set me free from the body of this death?”

The answer? “Thanks be to God through Jesus Christ our Lord!” (v. 25). Paul’s works did not stack up high enough to reach salvation, and they never would. He knew he could not earn God’s acceptance by his actions because his actions were so often wrong.

Rather than living a life of always trying to “qualify” and always failing, Paul says, “There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus has set you free from the law of sin and of death” (Romans 8:1, 2).

The “law of sin and of death” says that if you sin, you die. However, the “law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus” says that if you are in Christ, you will live because of the presence of faith in your life.

“But I’m Not Good Enough To Be A Christian”

How many times have you heard the statement “But I’m not good enough to be a Christian”? Have you said it yourself? An idea many hold is that a person has to be good enough to become a Christian.

This person believes that only when he quits a particular sin or brings his general level of morality to a higher plane will he be able to approach God and qualify to be a Christian. This idea may reflect the works/salvation misunderstanding we have been talking about.

Actually, however, that standard line may be little more than a cop-out, unconscious though it may be. The problem is not that you are not good enough to be a Christian.

The problem is that you do not admit that you are bad enough to need to become a Christian. The statement is not always made out of a heart seeking to change and to come closer to God. The statement sometimes is made as an excuse for why that person is making no movement or change at all.

He says, “I’m not good enough to be a Christian—but I’m doing pretty well, and a lot better than some who call themselves Christians,” or “I’m not good enough to become a Christian. There’s nothing I can do about it because God has set too high a standard for me to meet.”

This person plods through life in this sort-of good, sort-of bad never-never land, never making a commitment to anyone beyond himself and never looking for God’s real definition of “qualifying.

”What would Jesus say to the person who laments, “I’m not good enough. . . .”?

• He would say, “You’re the very person I came for!
• If you will admit your sinfulness, I can work in your life.
• I didn’t come for people who think they are good enough. There’s not much I can do for them.”
• No one is “good enough” to be a Christian.

The question is, What are you going to do about it?

Romans 8:1: “Therefore, there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus…”

We come to a chapter that has often been called either the greatest or one of the greatest chapters in the Bible.

It begins with “no condemnation” and ends with “no separation.” In between there is “no defeat”.

Personally, I’ve come to Romans 8 again and again when I’ve been disappointed or depressed. I don’t see how you can read Romans 8 and remain down.

If you struggle with guilt…or sin…or go through difficult trials, read Romans 8.

If you don’t know how to pray, read Romans 8. If you’re struggling with assurance of your salvation, read Romans 8.

Interestingly, while the flavor of Romans 8 is exhortation, there is not a single command in the chapter.

There is a noticeable shift from Romans 7 to Romans 8. In chapter 7, “I” is frequent, the law is prominent, and sin is dominant.

In chapter 8, the Holy Spirit is frequent (18x, more than any other NT chapter), God’s grace and persevering love are prominent, and victory over sin is dominant.

Paul’s heart-cry in 7:24, “Who will rescue me from this body of death?”, was immediately answered in brief: “Thanks be to God [because he has rescued me] through Jesus Christ our Lord” (7:25a).

Because we have been rescued by Christ, and are thus in Christ Jesus, we are not condemned. To be in Christ Jesus means to have put our faith in him, becoming a member of his body of believers through obedient faith and an immersion in water in order to have sins forgiven.

There can be no condemnation, for “we have been justified through faith” and “have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ” (5:2).

In John 3:17 Jesus said, “God did not send the Son into the world to judge the world, but that the world should be saved through Him.” Then he added, “He that believes on the Son is not condemned, but he that believes not is condemned already.”

Mankind is on death row when sins have not been dealt with as determined by God. Man is condemned because he is a sinner. He does not need to wait until judgment or eternity for condemnation. Jesus said, “He is condemned already.”

What is the answer? The answer is Christ. He who believes on the Son and is baptized in order to have sins forgiven is not condemned.

While the main concern of this question and its answer is freedom from the power of indwelling sin, we need to be reminded again of the main point already established in 3:21–5:21, that the penalty for our sin has been paid in full by Jesus.

In the midst of our intense spiritual struggle against sin, in which we are sometimes on the losing end, we need not fear that our forgiveness is in jeopardy. Christ has already secured this for us on the cross.

Paul deals with two very practical issues: guilt and sin. As we saw in chapter 7, believers fight an inner war. With the new man in Christ, they joyfully concur with the holy commandments of God’s law. But, with the old man (the flesh, or indwelling sin), they are prone to be held captive by the law of sin.

Even though mature believers experience consistent victory over sin, they still struggle daily against the flesh and occasionally lose the battle. So they must understand how to deal with guilt and how to overcome temptation.

When we do sin as Christians, the enemy comes in to stir up doubts about our salvation: “How do you know that your sins are all forgiven? True Christians don’t do what you just did! You’re hopeless! You might as well admit your hypocrisy in claiming to be a Christian and quit trying to be holy.” It is to those practical issues that Paul directs these opening verses:

God has graciously set free from sin’s penalty and power all who are in Christ Jesus.

The verse does not say “no mistakes” or “no failures,” or even “no sins.” Christians do fail and make mistakes, and they do sin.

I like Kenneth Wuest’s translation of this. He said, “Therefore, now, there is not even one bit of condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus.”

I think that means a couple of things very important to you and me. First, there is no condemnation in the struggle.

This raises the practical question, “As a believer should I feel guilty when I sin?” If there is no condemnation, should we refuse to feel guilty when we disobey God?

I would argue that properly understood, believers should feel guilty when they sin. The guilt stems from the fact that I have violated God’s holy Word. I have disobeyed my loving heavenly Father.

Rather than loving my Savior, who went to the cross on my behalf, I have loved the sin that put Him there. Feelings of guilt that lead to genuine sorrow and repentance when I disobey God are appropriate.

On the other hand, I should not feel the guilt of condemnation that stems from the accuser’s false charge: “True Christians don’t do what you did. You’re not even a Christian!”

If I mourn over my sin and am repentant before God over it, then I must accept His forgiveness and answer the accuser with the blood of the Lamb and the word of my testimony that I trust in Jesus (Rev. 12:10-11; Zech. 3:1-5).

To put it another way, the guilt that I feel when I sin is relational, as a child to my Father. It is not forensic, as a criminal before the judge.

I know that some Christians are unwilling to admit that there is a struggle with the flesh at all. They have a false idea of Christianity. They think Christianity means that God takes this struggle away and removes the temptation so they never have to struggle again.

That certainly would be nice. Unfortunately, it’s not true; and many people have been hurt and have become angry with themselves and God because it doesn’t work that way.

I have seen young Christians become very upset at times because they thought they should no longer have to struggle – and when they did, they thought there was something wrong with them.

I’ve seen others, unwilling to admit their own weakness, look down with disdain on the struggle of others. But my Bible says in I John 1:8, written to Christians, 1 John 1:8, 10 (ESV) If we say we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us. ¹⁰  If we say we have not sinned, we make him a liar, and his word is not in us. We all have the struggle.

Picture two 10 year old boys in track and field, trying to learn the long jump. One has a father who screams and hollers and threatens and condemns every time his boy messes up. “You good-for-nothing! You’re worthless! You ought to be disowned!” (it’s called conditional love).

I know you’ve all seen the type. The poor kid gets so exasperated, he seldom succeeds. Any desire he might have had to please his dad is sooner or later drowned out in the waves of condemnation. He often just gives up. As an older teenager, he may rebel.

The other boy, though, has a dad who, though he doesn’t rejoice when his boy messes up, helps him up when he falls and is constantly encouraging him to do better.

The boy knows his dad is on his side (it’s called unconditional love). “Come on, son, you can do it. I know it. Just a little higher this time. You can do it.” That boy will probably reach his full potential.

Which kind of Father is God? If you say He’s like the first, you need to go back to kindergarten….you’ve missed something very important in your training.

You don’t know what God is like at all! My point is, there is no condemnation in the struggle! The heavenly father knows we have to learn and grow. He is for us, not against us, even in the struggle.

MAN’S SIN: THE ULTIMATE PROBLEM

Modern man has largely lost the reality and consequences of sin. The word “sin” has been banished from our vocabulary; as result, “forgiveness” has been drained of its meaning and attraction.

The gospel can never be “joyous tidings” to a humanistic culture which recognizes no need for salvation.

The core of the message of Jesus Christ concerns the forgiveness of sins.

Jesus said the thing that would be preached to all nations in His name was this: “repentance and remission of sins” Luke 24:46-47: “This is what is written: The Christ will suffer and rise from the dead on the third day, {47} and repentance and forgiveness of sins will be preached in his name to all nations, beginning at Jerusalem.”

When those who heard the gospel preached on Pentecost (in Acts 2) asked, “Men and brethren, what shall we do?” they were told by Peter, “Repent, and let every one of you be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins” (Acts 2:37-38).

Paul said while preaching in Antioch in Pisidia, “Therefore, let it be known to you, brethren, that through this Man is preached to you the forgiveness of sins” (Acts 13:38).

Yet, even among Christians, there is a need for renewed emphasis on salvation. Too rarely do we speak of our conversion in terms of being “saved.” Too rarely is the candidate for baptism observed mourning for his past sins, from which, by God’s grace, he is being rescued.

What’s needed? The attitude of David: Psalms 25:16-18: “Turn to me and be gracious to me, for I am lonely and afflicted. {17} The troubles of my heart have multiplied; free me from my anguish. {18} Look upon my affliction and my distress and take away all my sins.”

Those who expressed the deepest love for the Lord were those who had the most honest attitude about their own sin. Luke 7:47: Therefore, I tell you, her many sins have been forgiven–for she loved much. But he who has been forgiven little loves little.” {48} Then Jesus said to her, “Your sins are forgiven.” {49} The other guests began to say among themselves, “Who is this who even forgives sins?” {50} Jesus said to the woman, “Your faith has saved you; go in peace.””

Luke 18:9-14: “To some who were confident of their own righteousness and looked down on everybody else, Jesus told this parable: {10} “Two men went up to the temple to pray, one a Pharisee and the other a tax collector. {11} The Pharisee stood up and prayed about himself: ‘God, I thank you that I am not like other men–robbers, evildoers, adulterers–or even like this tax collector. {12} I fast twice a week and give a tenth of all I get.’ {13} “But the tax collector stood at a distance. He would not even look up to heaven, but beat his breast and said, ‘God, have mercy on me, a sinner.’ {14} “I tell you that this man, rather than the other, went home justified before God. For everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, and he who humbles himself will be exalted.””

1 John 1:7-10 (ESV) But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus his Son cleanses us from all sin. ⁸  If we say we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us. ⁹  If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. ¹⁰  If we say we have not sinned, we make him a liar, and his word is not in us.

We believers must never forget the reality of our rescue and our indebtedness to God’s grace in Christ. We can persevere in our daily struggles knowing that “if we are faithless, he will remain faithful, for he cannot disown himself” (2 Tim. 2:13).

Conclusion. There are no more valued promises of God than those of His forgiveness. “For as the heavens are high above the earth, so great is His mercy toward those who fear Him; as far as the east is from the west, so far has He removed our transgressions from us” (Psa. 103:11,12).

“‘Come now, and let us reason together,’ says the Lord, ‘though your sins are like scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they are red like crimson, they shall be as wool’” (Isa. 1:18).