ROMANS 7:21 TO 8:4

We will start off just before Romans 8.  
I think this is one of the most important sections. 
To me it's the second most exciting section, 
the first being Paul describing how to be saved. 

Let's start with First Timothy 2, verse 4.
Who will have all men to be saved, 
AND to come unto the knowledge of the truth.

So, what I see there, is that, it's not just head knowledge.  
Yes, there is doctrinal information we need to assimilate, 
and to be constantly taking in. 
But, it's not ONLY that. 
It has to do with our life, how we live.  

That Is what this "Godly Living section," (the 2nd of 4 sections of Romans)  
explains and makes possible to us. 
Because, it's not possible, by our own doing. 
We fail every time.  
God does it, OR it's not going to get done.  
God has to do it, not only judicially, and positionally, (by saving us) 
but he also must do it in our daily lives. 
We need to let him do 
what he says he is going to do, in these verses. 

So, let's begin with Romans 8, verse 1, it says, 
"Therefore" 
So, it is referring to what went before. 
So, we need to go back a few verses to Romans 7, verse  21 
and it talks about a law. 
I find then a law, that, 
when I would do good, evil is present with me.

according to Merriam-Webster's Dictionary (online), 
the word "LAW" often does NOT refer to 
		the Law of Moses, 
	but rather to either a civil law, such as the speed limit,
	or a procedure, rule of procedure, or the way things work,
		such as the law of gravity.

That law is NOT the law of Moses. 
It is the way of operating.  
It's the way things work, 
Similar to the law of gravity. 
It's NOT something that... 
IF you don't keep this law 
THEN, you will not be saved or something like that. 
it's NOT a test, or a condition. 
It's just a way of operating.

So, in Romans 7, verse 21, then, we see, 
"I find then a law, that, 
when I would do good, 
evil is present with me."
and THAT'S the crunch point.  
IF evil wasn't present with us, and if everything was easy, 
THEN things would be a lot different. 
But, there is a battle that is going on.  
Just look, for a minute, at Romans 7, verse 5.
" For when we WERE in the flesh, 
the motions of sins, which were by the law, 
did work in our members." 
Now that law is the law of Moses, the law that Israel was under. 
" did work in our members to bring forth fruit unto death " 

Things didn't work the way we thought they would work, 
or the way we wanted them to work. 
So, let's go on.  We believers have good and evil struggling in us.. 

5:13

If you look in the next couple verses, we see a couple of laws. 
Talking about a saved person. 
We see the law of God, that equals the law of MY MIND, 
then you see another law, in my members, 
called the law of sin, in MY MEMBERS. 

look at Romans 7, verse 22, 
"for I delight in the law of God after the inward man" 
So, a saved person doesn't want to sin. 
They are created unto good works.  
They are created in Christ Jesus unto good works.  
They want to do good works. 
They want to be pleasing to God. 
Its his new man, 
It becomes fulfilling to him.

But we also have Romans 7, verse 23,
" But I see another law IN MY MEMBERS, 
warring against the law of my mind, 
and bringing me into captivity to
the law of sin which is in my members." 

6:32

To clarify things, lets look at Galatians 5, verses 16, and 17. 
Here, we will see that although we are in a struggle,
	God fixed it so that they are in two different realms.

" This I say then, walk in the Spirit, 
and ye shall NOT FULFILL the lust of the flesh.
So, we see the beginning of a separation 
between the flesh and the spirit.
17  
For the flesh lusteth against the Spirit, 
and the Spirit against the flesh: 
and these are contrary, the one to the other: 
so that ye cannot do the things that ye would" 

What you want to do, and think would please God, 
you can NOT do, because of THE FLESH. 

So, that's the predicament that Paul is teaching about here, 
and he is going to show how it is resolved.

7:28

In Romans 7, verse 22, he says, 
"for I delight in the law of God after the INWARD MAN." 

Let's look at Second Corinthians.  
We will cover 10 or 15 verses here, that explain the passage we are in. 
Second Corinthians 4, verse 16, it says 
"For which cause we faint not; 
but though our OUTWARD MAN perish, 
yet the INWARD MAN is renewed day by day.." 

There's a definite difference there. 
Different directions too. 

Now he talks about things that 
we often associate with the difficulties in life. 
But, he relates it all to the difference that he just mentioned in verse 16, 
the difference between the OUTWARD AND INWARD MAN. 
In Second Corinthians 4, verse 17, Paul says, 
"For our light affliction, which is but for a moment, 
worketh for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory;"
18.  
While we look not at the things which are seen, 
BUT at the things which are NOT SEEN: 
for the things which are seen are temporal; 
but the things which are not seen are eternal.

Second Corinthians 5, verse 1.  
For we know that if 
our earthly house of this tabernacle were dissolved, 
we have a building of God, an house not made with hands, 
eternal IN THE HEAVENS.
2.  
For in this we groan, 
earnestly desiring to be clothed upon 
with our house which is from heaven:
3.  
If so be that being clothed we shall not be found naked.
4.  
For we that are in this tabernacle do groan, being burdened

That is not just our arthritis and things like that. 
Galatians 5, verse 17, says that,
it is this battle that believers are in, 
"ye cannot do the things that ye would." BECAUSE OF THE FLESH. 
Second Corinthians 5, verse 4.
For we that are in this tabernacle do groan, being burdened: 
NOT for that we would be unclothed, BUT clothed upon, 
that mortality might be swallowed up OF LIFE.
5.  
Now he that hath wrought us for the selfsame thing is God, 
What is "the selfsame thing"?
It is what Paul just mentioned:
	THAT our "MORTALITY might be SWALLOWED UP OF LIFE." 
	That my flesh will be swallowed up by 
the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus

Now, Paul is going to tell us part of the resolution.
who also hath given unto us THE EARNEST OF THE SPIRIT.
Its only by God's deposit in us, 
that we have the new man and 
we then begin to walk after the Spirit.
God did it.
2 Corinthians 5, verse 5,
Now he that hath WROUGHT us for the selfsame thing is God, 
who also hath given unto us the earnest of the Spirit.
That word "WROUGHT" is the past tense of 
the same word in Philippians 2, verse 12, 
translated "WORK OUT your own salvation."
It can mean 
"ACCOMPLISHED, 
FINISHED, 
PERFORMED, 
or WORKED OUT"
6.  
Therefore we are always confident, knowing that, 
whilst we are at home in the body, 
we are absent from the Lord:
And there is another assurance that 
whether or not you understand God's provision that 
your walk WILL END in RIGHTEOUSNESS, 
you can be "ALWAYS CONFIDENT" of the outcome.

7.  
(For we walk by FAITH, not by SIGHT:)
Let me expand that:
	"Our walk is BY FAITH.  
Our walk is NOT by SIGHT."
"Not by SIGHT."  
Our walk is NOT by what we see (OUR SIGHT)
`	in other words, our walk is NOT by OUR FLESH.
	It used to be only by our flesh, before we believed the gospel.
	Your flesh doesn't count toward 
your walking AFTER THE SPIRIT.
			They are different.

Here is part of the remedy for this is predicament of 
wanting to be Godly, 
but having the flesh, like a dead man, dragging behind us. 
Galatians 5:24  
And they that are Christ's 
have crucified the flesh with the affections and lusts.
The flesh is crucified.
Reckon yourselves dead to sin. 
You have to do that by FAITH. 
We walk by faith, NOT by sight. 
Second Corinthians 5, verse 8.
"We are confident, I say, 
AND WILLING rather to be absent from the body, 
and to be present with the Lord.
Paul again assures the believer that those are the only 2 possibilities.
Hell has passed out of the picture for the believer.

Now, Paul switches and says "WHEREFORE", or "for which reason,"
	and he begins to consider the believer's REWARDS.
9.  
Wherefore we labour, that, whether present or absent, 
we may be accepted of him.
10.  
For we (believers) must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ; 
that every one may receive the things done in his body, 
according to that he hath done, whether it be good or bad."

11:45

That is the believer's reward, or lack of reward.

So, we can go back to Romans 7, verse 23. 
" But I see another law in my members, 
WARRING AGAINST the law of my mind " 
The law of my mind, being the law of God, 
as he says, in Romans 7, verses 22, through Romans 8, verse 1.
22,  
For I delight in the law of God after the inward man:
23.  
But I see another law in my members, 
WARRING AGAINST the law of my mind, 
and bringing me into captivity to 
the law of sin which is in my members.

That again is a restatement of that dilemma, of that predicament.
24.
" O wretched man that I am! 
who shall DELIVER me from the body (the flesh) of this death?
25.  
I thank God through Jesus Christ our Lord

You have got to put those together.  Who shall?  Jesus Christ shall. 
And so, Paul thanks God that it is done.  
There is a way. 
25.
"so then with the mind I myself serve the law of God 
but with the flash the law of sin." 

So, what IS the resolution?  Romans 8, verse 1,
"there is therefore now no condemnation to 
them which are in Christ Jesus 
who WALK not after the flesh but AFTER THE SPIRIT" 

We need to remember here, 
what Paul is saying, and what he is not saying. 
He doesn't say, " There is therefore now no condemnation 
to them which are in Christ Jesus, 
IF THEY walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit."

But in God's sight, our walk IS after the spirit.  
It's a description, NOT a conditional statement. 
Who are these people?  
They and the ones that DON'T have condemnation. 
THEY ARE CHRIST'S. 
They WALK not after the flesh, but AFTER THE SPIRIT. 
So, were talking about how God views us again, 
but it's regarding our daily WALK. 
It's done in Christ. 

Are you beginning to see, from the scripture, the 2 REALMS here?

          (((REVIEW)))

There are those that are "IN ADAM."
There are those that are "IN CHRIST."
Everybody starts out "IN ADAM."
We all have descended from Adam, through Seth, 
as in Genesis 5, verse 3.
And Adam lived an hundred and thirty years, 
and begat a son IN HIS OWN LIKENESS, AFTER HIS IMAGE;
and called his name Seth:
Everyone born after Adam has Adam's death working in us, 
instead of God's breath of Life still working in us.
as in Genesis 2, verse 17.
But of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, 
thou shalt not eat of it: 
for in the day that thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die.

          (((REVIEW)))

Being in Adam is being in the old man.
Being in Christ is being in the new man.
All are IN ADAM.
The ONLY ones IN CHRIST too, are those who 
choose to believe Christ's gospel of the grace of God, 
which Christ only told Paul.

So, only those who are now IN CHRIST, 
are in both realms, IN ADAM, and IN CHRIST.
Therein is the battle, OUR WALK.

END OF PART 1 OF 2
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START OF PART 2 OF 2

Think about what a walk is.  
You walk FROM one place TO another place.
You progress along a path.
Merriam Webster's Dictionary defines "WALK" as: 
	to ADVANCE by steps
		or
	to pursue a COURSE of action or WAY of life
		or
	to GO TO first base as a result of a base on balls.

Before you were IN CHRIST, you were under condemnation,
	for not believing the good news of God's provision 
	to remove His condemnation from you.
There is no condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus.
THEY NOW HAVE THAT "walk after the Spirit," 
because they have put on THE NEW MAN. 

During this walk, they are not in just ONE REALM, THE FLESH, 
as everyone is that is born,
		There would be no progress, movement, or WALK in
		staying only "in the flesh."

But, we believers, are in the Spirit too. 
We are in both realms, 
FROM the time we believe the gospel of salvation, 
UNTIL the redemption of the body.
We are IN THIS WALK 
FROM being "after the flesh," 
 TO  being "after the Spirit"
WHAT ARE YOU AFTER?

14:24

Lets go back to the Colossians 2, verse 6. 
"AS ye have therefore received Christ Jesus the Lord, 
SO walk ye in him:"

14:35

We do it by GOD'S DOING. 
It is not by effort that we receive Christ. 
It is not by our works that we can get saved. 
It's BY GOD'S DOING. 

In the same way, we walk in Him. 
It's also by God's doing. 
We have talked about imputed righteousness. 
You could consider this, IMPUTED WALK. 
I don't think that Scripture uses that term, but that is what it is saying.  
GOD DOES IT in the believer, 
in the same way, as he does salvation, in the believer.
Ephesians 2:8  
For by grace are ye saved through faith...
Second Corinthians 5, verse 7
"For we walk by faith, not by sight."

15:16

So, we need to reckon ourselves as being WALKERS IN CHRIST. 
Before we can reckon something, we must KNOW that IT IS A FACT.

According to Merriam-Webster's Dictionary,
	"WALK" means "TO ADVANCE BY STEPS"
Our walk is given us by Jesus Christ. 
The more we reckon ourselves to be walking after the Spirit, 
	the more we move along in our walk 
AWAY FROM walking after the flesh, 
AND ALSO,
		THE CLOSER we become to being 
"CONFORMED to the IMAGE of his Son.

15:34

Being "in Christ" is a mystery that Paul talks to the Romans about. 
It involves several things, a few of which would be: 
the gospel of salvation 
which was the gospel of Christ in Acts, 
which is the gospel of the grace of God to us, now. 
That is clearly shown in Romans 3, verses 21 through 28, 
		which we have gone through before, and 
		we will go through again, at another time, but right now,
		we want to keep in mind these major elements of the
			previously unrevealed mystery of being 
"IN CHRIST" the Head of the body.

Romans 4, also covers another mystery, 
the imputed righteousness of God. 
Before Paul, it was unrevealed that 
God would impute His righteousness to 
all believers in the gospel He gives them,
only through Paul.
Righteousness is imputed only to all those who 
receive the gospel, 
believing the gospel of Christ, 
that Christ gave to Paul. 

Other mysteries, only mentioned in Paul's writings, are: 
being baptized into Jesus Christ.
	being baptized into the body of Christ.
being baptized into Christ's death, 
in which WE ARE dead with Christ, and also,
 WE ARE risen with Christ. 

16:39

What we are dealing with today is another part of the mystery, 
unheard of before Christ's revelations TO PAUL. 
the law of my mind, 
the law of God, 
the inward man, 
the law of the spirit of life in Christ Jesus. 

Remember that, according to Merriam-Webster's Dictionary (online), 
the word "LAW" often does NOT refer to 
		the Law of Moses, 
	but rather to either a civil law, such as the speed limit,
	or a procedure, or rule of procedure, or the way things work,
		such as the law of gravity.

Here, the law of my mind, 
the law of God, 
the law of the spirit of life in Christ Jesus,
	refers to a procedure, 
a way of operating, 
the way God is doing things IN US,

So, remembering again Colossians 2, verse 6,
As ye have therefore received Christ Jesus the Lord, 
so walk ye in him:
since it's all of God's doing, for our salvation, 
and its all of God's doing, for daily living ,
then, God is both in the business of equipping us for heaven, 
as well as, equipping us for the daily Christian WALK, 
for what we do. 

17:25

So, with that in mind, let's review some of the related scriptures:

Romans 7:22  
For I DELIGHT in the law of God after the inward man:
Romans 7:25  
I thank God through Jesus Christ our Lord. 
So then with the mind I myself SERVE the law of God; 
but with the flesh the law of sin.
Romans 8:2  
For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus 
hath made me FREE FROM the law of sin and death.
Romans 8:7  
Because the carnal mind is enmity against God: 
for it is not subject to the law of God, 
neither indeed can be.

2 Corinthians 4:16  
For which cause we faint not; 
but though our outward man perish, 
yet the inward man is renewed day by day.

2 Corinthians 5:16  
Wherefore henceforth know we no man after the flesh: 
yea, though we have known Christ after the flesh, 
yet now henceforth know we him no more.
2 Corinthians 5:17  
Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: 
old things are passed away; 
behold, all things are become new.

Galatians 5:16  
This I say then, Walk in the Spirit, 
and ye shall not fulfil the lust of the flesh.
17  
For the flesh lusteth against the Spirit, 
and the Spirit against the flesh: 
and these are contrary the one to the other: 
so that ye cannot do the things that ye would.
18  
But if ye be led of the Spirit, ye are not under the law.
Galatians 5:24  
And they that are Christ's HAVE CRUCIFIED 
THE FLESH with the affections and lusts.
25  
If we live in the Spirit, 
LET US also walk in the Spirit.

Colossians 3:9  
Lie not one to another, seeing that 
ye have put off the old man with his deeds;
Colossians 3:10  
And have put on the new man, 
which is renewed in knowledge after 
the image of him that created him:

Ephesians 4:20  
But ye have not so learned Christ;
21  
If so be that ye have heard him, 
and have been taught by him, 
as the truth is in Jesus:
22  
That ye put off 
concerning the former conversation 
the old man, 
which is corrupt according to the deceitful lusts;
23  
And be renewed in the spirit of your mind;
24  
And that ye put on the new man, 
which after God is 
CREATED in righteousness and true holiness.

17:25

So, in Romans 8, verse 2, 
going on to the next verse, as we WALK through this section,
"For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus 
hath made me free from the law of sin and death."

Did you hear it?  
That's a key there. 
That's a pivotal statement: MADE ME FREE, 
free from the law, from the way of operating, 
not the Mosaic Law (we're not under Israel's law anyway).  
It has made us free from the "sin and death" way of operating.  

Well, what did that? What freed us?
In the verse it says, 
" the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus"

So, it's not accomplished by my trying to be good. 
It's not my trying to keep some law that 
was given to Moses, or given to Israel. 
It's the law of the spirit of life in Christ Jesus. 
We have that Spirit, 
Second Corinthians 1, verses 21, and 22, assures us that 
we have the earnest of the spirit. 
2 Corinthians 1:21  
Now he which stablisheth us with you in Christ, 
and hath anointed us, is God;
22  
Who hath also sealed us, 
and given the EARNEST of the SPIRIT in OUR HEARTS.

Paul speaks specifically to those Romans about Israel's law and 
says in Romans 8, verse 3, 

" For what the law could NOT do, 
in that it was weak through THE FLESH" 

That is talking about the law of Moses again.  
Paul talking specifically to those Romans in chapter 8, 
and he says 
"...what the law could NOT do, 
in that it was weak through the flesh " 
in other words, weak through our flesh. 
The law is holy, and just, and good,  but our flesh is weak. 
" what the law could not do, 
in that it was weak through the flesh, 
God sending his own Son
in the likeness of sinful flesh, and FOR SIN, 
condemned SIN IN THE FLESH:." 
So the law was good, but our flesh was weak
Remember Romans 7, verse 14,
For we know that the law is spiritual: 
but I AM CARNAL, sold under sin.

So, we must go back to Colossians 2, verse 6, again, 
"As ye have therefore received Christ Jesus the Lord, 
so walk ye in him:

21:06

That flesh, and sin in the flesh, is condemned already.  
Its already dead.  
Now, reckon it to be so. 

And also remember, Romans 6, verse 6, that we studied,
Knowing this, that our old man (from Adam) is crucified with him, 
that the body of sin might be destroyed, 
that henceforth we should not serve sin.

So then, let's look at Romans 8, verse 4, 
"That the righteousness of the law might be fulfilled in us, 
who walk not after the flesh, 
but after the Spirit." 
Our WALK, our progress, is after the Spirit.

Now here again, don't misread that by saying, 
"That the righteousness of the law might be fulfilled in us, 
IF WE walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit."

21:38

No, this is a description of all those that believe in Christ. 
In Christ's sight, and by Christ doing, as it was just explained, 
we walk NOT after the flesh, in God's sight, 
but after the spirit. 

Also, about the righteousness of the law, 
Paul doesn't say that the law will be fulfilled in us. 
That's not the point. 
The point of the law was to show that 
we can't be as righteous as God wants us to be. 
but it says that THE RIGHTEOUSNESS OF the law, 
the perfect righteousness of the law, 
that RIGHTEOUSNESS will be fulfilled in us. 

22:22

Do you see why it's vital for us, and for God, 
that God imputes his own righteousness to us? 
That righteousness is what he looks at, and it's fulfilled in us. 
The righteousness is fulfilled in us, NOT the Law, 
but the righteousness that the law showed us that 
we can NOT attain, 
that RIGHTEOUSNESS is fulfilled in us. 
PRAISE GOD 

So, let me just close with four verses that 
echo this, 
and give us a look back at it.
We will close with these four verses 
from Ephesians 1, verses 4, through 7, 
" According as he hath chosen us in him 
before the foundation of the world, 
that we should be holy and without blame before him in love:  
5.
having predestinated us unto 
the adoption of children by Jesus Christ to himself" 

God has adopted us to himself.  
He has NOT adopted us to Israel, 
or into some other entity, 
but He has adopted us to himself.  
We are His body. 

" according to the good pleasure of his will, 
6.
to the praise of the glory of his grace, 
wherein he HATH MADE US accepted in the beloved. " 

We didn't work our way into being acceptable. 
God made us accepted in the beloved. 
7.
" In whom we have redemption through his blood, 
the forgiveness of sins" 

Don't misread that to say 
"the forgiveness of some sins," 
or 
"the forgiveness of past sins." 
It says the forgiveness of sins. 

"according to the riches of his grace" 

NOT according to our works, 
but according to the riches of his grace. 
PRAISE BE TO GOD

lllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllll

So, we need to reckon ourselves as being WALKERS IN CHRIST. 
Before we can reckon something, we must KNOW that IT IS A FACT.
We need to realize that the outcome of our walk is predestined.
Romans 8, verse 29,  
For whom he did foreknow, he also did 
PREDESTINATE to be CONFORMED to the IMAGE OF HIS SON, 
that he might be the firstborn among many brethren.
God takes the responsibility of making sure we end up,
	CONFORMED to the IMAGE OF HIS SON
So, our outcome is guaranteed, in writing.
Each believer will end up
	CONFORMED to the IMAGE OF HIS SON