December 13th, 2014. UNDER IT OR OVER IT That the righteous requirement of the law might be fulfilled in us who do not walk according to the flesh but according to the Spirit. Romans 8:4 Whenever negative thoughts are rising up in us or bothering us or trying to leech on us, we know that it is just a sign to us saying, You need to get into the law of the Spirit, and you will find another set of feelings. You will find another mind, another evaluation. But some of us would rather talk about our problems. We would rather talk than call upon the Lord and get to God. We are in such a syndrome that it seems we really do not want God. We would rather just talk. But it is wonderful to know that there is another law in us. It is the law of the Spirit that freed us from the law of sin and death. It is a realm where we are freed, literally freed, from that whole scenario that leaves us depressed, discouraged, and anxious. Follow those symptoms back to their source, and you will discover that they come from the good flesh trying to outdo the bad flesh. God sent His Son. His Son came into us. Now we are in union with Him in order that the righteous requirement of the law might be fulfilled in us. Notice that it does not say fulfilled by us, but fulfilled in us. This means that something is happening in us. Who is the us? It is those who do not walk according to the flesh but according to the Spirit. This shows that when we walk according to the Spirit, we are walking in the transcendency of Christs life that is freed from the law of sin and of death. To experience this life is to experience a transcendent life. You can know what realm you are in by whether you are under it or over it. In the Spirit, there are feelings of over it. But when you are in the other realm, you feel under it. When you touch the Spirit, you discover that there is a ready- made life that has already won the victory. That the righteousness of the law might be fulfilled in us, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit [Romans 8:4]. THAT THE JUSTIFICATION OF THE LAW MIGHT BE FULFILLED.a They who understand that the renewed, by the Spirit of Christ, fulfil the law, introduce a gloss wholly alien to the meaning of Paul; for the faithful, while they sojourn in this world, never make such a proficiency, as that the justification of the law becomes in them full or complete. This then must be applied to forgiveness; for when the obedience of Christ is accepted for us, the law is satisfied, so that we are counted just. For the perfection which the law demands was exhibited in our flesh, and for this reason — that its rigor should no longer have the power to condemn us. But as Christ communicates his righteousness to none but to those whom he joins to himself by the bond of his Spirit, the work of renewal is again mentioned, lest Christ should be thought to be the minister of sin:for it is the inclination of many so to apply whatever is taught respecting the paternal kindness of God, as to encourage the lasciviousness of the flesh; and some malignantly slander this doctrine, as though it extinquished the desire to live uprightly.
Posted on: Sat, 13 Dec 2014 09:46:21 +0000