Not Condemned!

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Let’s talk about them. Can I say them?

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Are you condemned?

Romans 8 There is therefore NO condemnation to them…

Wait, look carefully here. To them there is no condemnation. Who is them?

Romans 8:1 There is therefore now no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit.

Click HERE to read Romans 8:1-17

Flesh vs Spirit

The contrast of the flesh and the spirit. My body-builder husband used to be a missionary to teens. One of the object lessons he would often do highlighted this battle. His strong, muscular build wore a fitted white shirt with the red letters across his chest: SPIRIT. An opponent (sometimes more willing than not) wore a starkly different shirt. It was black with white letters: FLESH.

Walk in the Spirit

Gal 5: 16This I say then, Walk in the Spirit, and ye shall not fulfil the lust of the flesh. 17For 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. 

The battle is real

Dramatic lights and music helped them portray the very real battle that goes on in our lives as we make the choice to walk in the flesh or the spirit. The spirit always was victorious and the flesh got beaten up and bloody on more than one occasion. The battle is that real, isn’t it?

Romas 8:7-8 Because the carnal mind is enmity against God; for it is not subject to the law of God, and neither indeed can be. So then, they that are in the flesh can not please God.

The Ugly Truth

Friends, when we walk in the flesh we oppose the Spirit of God. Galations 5 describes our behavior when we are controlled by the flesh:

Gal 5:19Now the works of the flesh are manifest, which are these;

• Adultery
• fornication
• uncleanness (impurities physically or morally)
• lasciviousness.  ( outrageous conduct shocking to public decency, a wanton violence, lewdness)
• Idolatry
• witchcraft (magic, sorcery)
• hatred ( properly, enemy -hatred, hostility; enmity)
• variance (contention, strife, literally a readiness to quarrel)
• emulations (jealousy, rivalry)
• wrath
• strife (division, disunion)
• seditions (standing apart, dissension)
• heresies  (personal aspect of choice – and hence how being a Sadducee (Ac 5:17) was sharply distinguished from being a Pharisee (Ac 15:5; 26:5)
• Envyings. (envy, grudge, spite)
• murders
• drunkenness
• revelings. (a riotous party, drunken feast, which hosted unbridled sexual immorality

…and such like: of the which I tell you before, as I have also told you in time past, that they which do such things shall not inherit the kingdom of God. 

How do you DO?

They which DO: 4238 prássō – properly, the active process in performing (accomplishing) a deed, and implying what is done as a regular practice – i.e. a routine or habit

Heart Check

If you’re like me, some in that list are easy pfffts, as in, not guilty here. YET, there are others (envy, quarrelsome come to mind) that put me in a quick check before the Lord. Lord forgive me. I don’t want to DO such things in any kind of way and especially I don’t want to make these fleshly sins an unconscious habit in my life. To stand against in enmity with the Lord is not one of my goals as a woman of God, and I bet it isn’t one of yours either.

The good news!

Gal 5:9But ye are not in the flesh, but in the Spirit, if so be that the Spirit of God dwell in you. Now if any man have not the Spirit of Christ, he is none of his. 10And if Christ be in you, the body is dead because of sin; but the Spirit is life because of righteousness. 

The fruit of the Spirit

Here, Sisters in Christ, is the manifestation of walking with the Lord. The FRUIT (singular) of God’s Spirit in our lives:

Gal 5: 22But the fruit of the Spirit is

• love (agape’)
• joy (gladness, delight, a source of joy)
• peace (quietness, rest)
• longsuffering (patience)
• gentleness (kindness, goodness, excellence, uprightness)
• goodness (virtue, to do good)
• faith  (faith, belief, trust, confidence; fidelity, faithfulness)
• Meekness ( mildness, gentleness)
• temperance (self-mastery, self-restraint, self-control, continence)

…against such there is no law. 24And they that are Christ’s have crucified (to extinguish selfishness!) the flesh with the affections and lusts.25If we live in the Spirit, let us also walk in the Spirit. 26Let us not be desirous of vain glory (empty pride or conceit, mere pretentiousness), provoking one another, envying one another.

Choose Better

There are more important things to do, as seen in a life lived in the Spirit of God. Better to love than to envy, better to be gentle rather than provoking. Better, for the family of God and for ourselves. Better for the glory of God that others may see Him in our lives.

Which way to go?

The recap here could be the contrast of the flesh and the Spirit-and it is, but there’s another contrast and it’s important to take note. There is therefore now no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus who walk NOT after the flesh BUT who walk after the Spirit.

No Condemnation for them…

1. Who belong to Him.
2. Who choose to walk with Him.

Our lives tell the tale of whose we are and which direction we are walking. We can fool a lot of people. I dare say we can fool ourselves. We can’t fool those we live with.

Free from the law of sin and death

There’s no middle ground here; God gives a distinct contrast of life’s two choices. We either walk after the flesh, as enemies of the Lord, or we walk after the Spirit of God, free from the law of sin and death.

Jesus is the answer

Gal 5: 2For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus hath made me free from the law of sin and death. 3For 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: 4That the righteousness of the law might be fulfilled in us, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit.

Will you decide to love Him more?

Let us draw near to God. He loves us so much. Can we decide to love Him more? What changes do you need to make to allow His Spirit guide your heart, thoughts, words and…. footsteps?

Living faithfully, imperfectly

Be encouraged. We can life faithfully, though imperfectly. God’s grace is sufficient. He is able to do this work in us as we follow Him.

Eph 5:8For ye were sometimes darkness, but now are ye light in the Lord: walk as children of light: 9(For the fruit of the Spirit is in all goodness and righteousness and truth;) 10Proving what is acceptable unto the Lord. 11And have no fellowship with the unfruitful works of darkness, but rather reprove them. 

Friends, pray for me to walk after the Spirit of the Lord, my salvation, and I’ll pray the same for you.