Are you living a life that is powerful, free, and deeply satisfying? Or do you feel weighed down, blind, guilty, lost, depressed, and distressed by the cares of this world? There are a couple reason you may NOT be living in the powerful freedom and deep satisfaction that God offers all of humanity:
1. You are not born again; or,
2. You are born again but—you have chosen to live after the flesh and to return to the slavery of sin.
You see, the Bible is clear that the MORE we live ensnared by our enemies, the LESS we live in the true freedom of Christ. One of our three greatest enemies is our flesh. Learning how to find freedom from this enemy is the focus of the next two devotionals. But to better understand freedom, we must understand slavery. Thus, this devotional focuses on the futility and frustration of keeping the law. So let’s begin.
In Romans Chapter 8, the Apostle Paul contrasts “life after the Spirit” and “life after the flesh.” He begins:
“For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus has made me FREE from the law of sin and death. For what the law could not do in that it was weak through the flesh, God did by sending His own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh, on account of sin: He condemned sin in the flesh, 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 8:2-4
Keeping the rules will never make anyone free from the guilt of the law.
“Living after the flesh” simply means that our life-options are limited to the physical realm—this includes the false belief we can earn our own salvation. Living after the flesh is the purest prelude to hell. We are controlled by our physical and emotional needs and desires instead of being able to choose to allow our life to be controlled by God’s Spirit and His will. Before our spiritual man is born into the spiritual family of God—living after the flesh is inescapable. Our body is the only part of us that is alive because our soul and spirit have not been made alive in Christ.
We are subject to and controlled by the physical realm. We are living on death row, having been condemned by the spiritual law of sin and death. This spiritual law is as unwavering as the law of gravity. (If you jump off a 60 story building—the law of gravity guarantees you will die or be mangled, right?) The Bible says when we sin—our soul and spirit die. We are living in a body—like the walking dead. It’s no wonder that human anxiety is through the roof!!
But, after we are born again, we have a CHOICE and are enabled to live according to the law of the Spirit of life! Jesus gives us wings and sets us free to live without fear of spiritual or physical death.
Christ’s resurrection proved He was stronger than both physical and spiritual death.
So how do you know if you have this freedom to live according to the Spirit of life? Well, most people who come to me and say “I want this peace you have,” tell me that they are already Christians. And so when they tell me they are living in crazy high levels of anxiety or abject despair, one of the first questions I ask them is: “Have you been born again?” Their responses tell me that most of the time they have not. Some of the most common answers are:
“I’ve always tried to be a good person.”
“I’ve always been a Christian.”
“My parents are good people and took me to church.”
”I am a member of a church.”
”I’ve been baptized.”
”I’ve done more good things than bad and so I’m going to heaven.”
ALL of these answers center on EARNING reconciliation to God. And so, I always ask them—where in the Bible does it say your good works will get you to heaven? I’ve never had anyone show me such a verse. You see, our chief enemy is wicked smart. He has used “religion” to sell us a false gospel—one that says we must work for our salvation—and HIDE the beautiful gospel of grace. Our enemy NEVER wants us to know the truth—that Jesus said: “I am the way, the truth and the life and no man comes to the Father but by me!” (John 14:6) Jesus is the only One who was qualified to purchase our glorious salvation!
Keeping the rules NEVER makes anyone free from the guilt of the law.
The law is limited—it can guide us, teach us, and tell us about God’s character. It can give us a STANDARD, but it can’t EVER give us the POWER to live in God’s presence. Why not? Because God is righteous and the Bible makes it clear that not even one human is righteous. (Romans 3:10) The poison of our own sin has already condemned us to death. (Romans 3:23) For example, if I have a client who has been found guilty of murder and condemned to death—it doesn’t matter how much money he gives to charity or how much of the law he chooses to obey after he is sentenced. If justice is to be served—he will still die. His only hope is a pardon by someone who has the power to give him his life back. He can’t do it himself and neither can I.
That’s what Jesus did for all of humanity!!!
The good news is that what the law could NOT do for us through the flesh, Jesus did by becoming flesh. The law did not provide a way for humanity to DEFEAT sin; it only DETECTS sin. JESUS defeated sin. Jesus became human and identified with us entirely yet—did what we could not—He defeated the consequences of sin—death. When we are born again, we are “in Christ” and because the hell we deserve was borne by Him—we are no longer condemned to death. We are NEVER able to fulfill the requirements of the law. It is not fulfilled BY us—but rather IN us—when we accept Jesus as our substitute.
Jesus was treated like a sinner so we can be treated as righteous.
The gift of salvation is a free gift—given to us when we surrender our life completely to Christ. After we accept the gift of salvation we are—FREE from condemnation, FREE from the guilt of sin, and FREE from the power of sin. (Romans 8:1)
If you have never been born again, then according to God’s Word, you are under the specter of a death sentence and—it doesn’t matter how many good works you do—you will never shake the shadow of guilt and condemnation. But when you choose to accept Jesus Christ as your Lord and Savior, and you surrender your entire life to Him, you have a CHOICE—to “walk according to the Spirit!” Your life can be absolutely glorious!!!
Are you born again???
After we’re born again, we are enabled to live in glorious freedom! This is called “living after the Spirit.” Tomorrow, we will explore this amazing gift of “Living after the Spirit” which is given to born again believers!
