Romans 8: 6-10 For to set the mind on the
flesh is death, but to set the mind on the Spirit is life and peace. 7 For the mind that is set on the
flesh is hostile to God, for it does not submit to
God's law; indeed, it cannot. 8 Those who are in the flesh cannot
please God. 9 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.
We have heard that such a
breathtaking recovery has taken place for us in Christ. What a salvation! What
redemption! Man is brought to the place that he can be conscious of God all the
time.
The bone of contention is
why are we not experiencing the fullness of God and yet we are in Christ.
Paul sheds some light to
us by telling us that too set the mind on the flesh is death but to set the
mind on the spirit is life and peace.
Why? Many believers are
not aware of their co inclusion in Christ; they are not aware they are new creation
in Christ Jesus. Many believe that they were forgiven only up to the point of
salvation and then it depends n their effort to live a pure and upright life
and if possible make it to heaven one day.
To be carnally minded is
death; to set your mind on the flesh, what you can do with your own strength is
death. The scripture did not say to set the mind on sin is death as many will
like to interpret this verse; It said to set your mind on the flesh is death
and its not a process to death but its death.
O set your mind on the
flesh is to focus on what you can do with your own strength. Its living your
Christianity from what people say or what you say, what you can do to please
God and your efforts to succeed in your spirituality.
The major cause of sin consciousness
is living the life of the flesh instead of living by the spirit. The flesh has
its demands and this is where the law takes full charge.
Rom 7:11 Sin took the advantage of
the law and employed the commandment to seduce and murder me( mirror)
What
empowers sin is the Law, it’s the desire to fulfill any form of requirements
which stimulates the flesh to produce every kind of covetousness.
When
I speak of the law I do not only speak of the laws and commandments but also
many other laws that we have put in place to live our lives.
THE
Law multiplies sin. Rom 5:19-20, Rom 7:11.
What
this simply means that if you set any expectations in whichever level,
expectation to obey God’s commands, expectation to be a better person,
expectations to get the best out out of life, most are times you will discover
you cannot attain the levels you set for your self.
For
the mind that is set on the flesh is hostile to God. What this means is that
any mind that is set on your own effort is hostile towards God, why? Because
God’s ways are higher than our ways. God’s ways are usually what his spirit
does freely to us and in us.
Romans 8:7 Those who are in the flesh
will never please God
If you try to live your
life independent of God, you will never please God and you will find yourself
often failing.
It’s the desire to do
something more that made Adam and eve fall in the garden of Eden, it was not
even the desire to sin but it was if they could just do something then they
would become like God knowing good and evil.
What causes the awareness
of sin, what causes many people not to believe in the righteousness of God and
prevents them from living the redeemed life in Christ is to try to live from
the flesh, living by the requirements of the law and all this serves to prove
the futility man is in.
Paul however has a remedy
to give us
Romans 8:9You, 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.
That
is the glorious conclusion enjoyed by those who are in Christ. We are no longer
in the flesh but in the spirit. If this is so then we are living above the
consciousness of sin.
We have
been purged clean from a evil consciousness.
Heb 9:14 how much more will the blood of Christ,
who through the eternal Spirit offered himself without blemish to God, purify our conscience from dead works to serve the living God.
You are not a sinner saved by grace. No you are a
new creation created in Christ Jesus. The spirit of the sovereign God lives In
you, you are a victorious child of God. Your Body is dead because of sin and
your spirit alive because of righteousness, a mathematics that we cannot
explain but here is what we have to do
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