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Scripture Reading: Rom. 5:10, Rom. 7:21-23; 8:1-2, 4-10, Rom. 12:2
It is written in Rom. 5:10: “For if we, being enemies, were reconciled to God through the death of His Son, much more we will be saved in His life, having been reconciled”. As you see, two things about Christ are mentioned in that verse, His death and His life. First, we were God’s enemies and we reconciled with God through the death of Christ, so now, after reconciliation, we will be saved by the life of Christ. Did you notice these two moments before the death of Christ and the life of Christ? The death of Christ was sufficient to reconcile us with God. So now we have the life of Christ, which could help us to be saved, to be saved from very many negative things. Later we will see what kind of negative things these are. But I would like to ask you to not forget, that in the Epistle to Romans, there is a verse, where these two moments are shown to us. First, the death of Christ, thanks to which we, being enemies of God, could reconcile with Him. And the second – is the life of Christ, thanks to which we can be saved from very many negative things.
Now we pass to Rom. 8:1 – “There is now then no condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus”. There is now then no condemnation to those who are in Christ, no condemnation to us, who are in Christ.
Now let us read Rom. 8:2 – “For the law of the Spirit of life has freed me in Christ Jesus from the law of sin and of death”. The law of the Spirit of life has freed us from the law of sin and death.
Now let us read Rom. 8:4 – “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”.. there is no certain article with the word “spirit”, so in the best translations the word “spirit” is written here from the lowercase letter, and not from capital letter. That shows that there is contraposition – the flesh and the spirit. The contraposition to the flesh is not the Holy Spirit, but our spirit. We have a body, which became flesh and we have a soul, our “ego”, that is our being, and there is our human spirit. Either you walk by the flesh, or you walk by the spirit. You may walk in two ways. The one way – is that you may walk by flesh. The other opportunity – you may walk by the spirit. To walk, to live by something, means to live according to something, according to something, in accordance with something, that is to walk not according to the flesh, but according to the spirit.
Now we will read Rom. 8:9 – “But you are not in the flesh, but in the spirit, if indeed the 1Spirit of God dwells in you. Yet if anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ, he is not of Him”. – the “spirit” from the lowercase letter.
And now let us read Rom. 8:10 – “But if Christ is in you, though the body is dead because of sin, the spirit is life because of righteousness”. “But if Christ is in you” – and that is a central point of all this epistle – Christ is in you. Christ is in you! I must point you, that chapters 3 and 4 of this epistle it is said to us, that Christ was on the cross, Christ was crucified, and then He was resurrected from the dead. After that, He was taken to heaven. But now in chapter 8, it is clearly said to us, that is the Christ, who was crucified and resurrected from the dead and was taken to heaven, now He is in us. In us – and that is a central moment of all this epistle. Christ is in you! Christ is in you! In these two verses, 9-10, you see God’s Spirit, the Spirit of Christ, and Christ Himself. It is said in verse 9 that God’s Spirit lives in you, yet if anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ, he is not of Him, and now in verse 10: “if Christ is in you”. We see here: God’s Spirit, the Spirit of Christ, and Christ Himself. What does that mean, if someone does not have the Spirit of Christ? What does that mean, that just means, that the Spirit of God – is the Spirit of Christ. And the Spirit of Christ is Christ Himself.
We already looked through that Christ is the portion of saints in the light, - the portion of saints, our divine destiny. Christ is the destiny that is given us by God. The Epistle to Colossians opens us - which destiny Christ is, and the First Epistle to Corinthians says us, that this destiny was given to us as a portion. It was given to us as a portion, as our wisdom, our righteousness, our sanctification, our redemption.
Righteousness is attached to the revival of the Spirit, sanctification means the transformation of the soul and redemption – is the transformation of the body. You see here three points: righteousness, sanctification, and redemption. We are justified by Him, and thanks to this justification, we are renewed in spirit, that is revival of our spirit took place through the righteousness, which is Christ Himself. Beginning from this moment we were in the process of sanctification, that is now we are in the process of transformation of the soul. Our spirit was revived and now our soul goes through transformation. Then in the future will come the day, when Christ will return and the body will be redeemed. Christ will become the redemption of the body. That meant that body will be transformed not only by Christ but also with the help of Christ. Christ is a revival of spirit, Christ – is a transformation of the soul, and Christ - is the transformation of the body. That means, that Christ is righteousness, sanctification, and redemption. Christ was given to us as a portion by God. Such rich destiny was given us as a portion! In the past He was righteousness, now – He is sanctification and in the future, He will become redemption!
But if the First Epistle to Corinthians would say us these things only like the doctrine, we would just see only something great, flying in the air, but we would not know, how to enter into it. We would not know, where is a door, where is a way, where is a ladder, on which we may come in, climb up and get into all these great things. There are lots of books in Christian shops, where all these things are determined and explained. You know that – you know, that Christ is our righteousness, that Christ is righteousness in the past, that He is the sanctification in present time, that in future He will become a transformation of our body. But, my brothers, how that all may become real for us, how you can deal with all these things? The First epistle to Corinthians does not leave us in darkness, there is something else. It is said in the 1 Cor. 15:45, that Christ, who is a destiny given us by God as a portion, became a life-giving Spirit. A life-giving Spirit! And what does it mean - Christ became the life-giving Spirit!? Exactly that is the main point in the whole New Testament.
You know, Christ is not so simple. Though I don’t like to teach people doctrines and knowledge, I must say something about Christ. Let us divide 4 main points about Christ:
First, what He is
Secondly, what He has done – He has done a lot of things
Thirdly, what He has gained
Fourthly, what He achieved.
Can you say what Christ is? He is too much. He is too much and no one can fully say what Christ is. Christ is too much. What has He achieved and what has He gained? Now we won’t go deeply into all these things but just think about these 4 points: what Christ is, what He has done, what He gained, and what He achieved. You must understand, that all this was concentrated in this life-giving Spirit. All that Christ is, what He has done, what He gained, and what He achieved, all of this was concentrated in this life-giving Spirit. I would say, this life-giving Spirit, is the incarnation of these four main aspects of Christ. Christ is an incarnation in this life-giving Spirit. The last Adam, that is Christ, became a life-giving Spirit. And where is this life-giving Spirit today? Right, He is everywhere. He is everywhere!
Exactly because of that, according to Rom. 10, when we preach good news to unbelievers, we don’t have to say that they will get to heaven. Christ did not have to come down or go down to hell. Christ is a living word, the word of faith which is “close to you this word, in your lips and in your heart” and waits, so they would receive It. Christ became available. We always have human understanding, a religious idea that before Christ was on earth and now He is in heaven. That is our idea, but we have to understand, that Christ became a life-giving Spirit and today He is everywhere. That goes beyond the borders of our imagination, we can’t understand that, we just can’t understand that! But that is a reality! If we are going to evangelize about Christ – that is Christ Himself. You know that Good news about Christ – that is Christ Himself. If we are going to preach Christ to unbelievers, than in the moment when we preach, Christ presents there. He is waiting so they would touch Him, so they would receive Him. If they just would open their mouth and say: “Lord I believe in You from with my heart” – Christ would come into this person, and immediately Christ would be inside of Him. We must understand, we must understand, that it is the same Christ in Whom we believe. That is not a religion, that is not a doctrinal Christianity, that is not just a religious system, that just not some set of doctrines – that is a real Person, a real Spirit. He is so real! He is so alive! Praise Him!
Because we received Him and believed in Him, now He is in our spirit. So there is another key verse in Bible, that is 1 Cor. 6:17 – “But he who is joined to the Lord is one spirit”. That great Christ, that comprehensive Christ became a life-giving Spirit. And now this life-giving Spirit lives in our spirit. That is, we are connected with Him in one spirit. That is the key for us, so we could enjoy and live with Christ. Everything that Christ is, everything He has done, everything He has gained, everything He has achieved, all of this was concentrated in this one life-giving Spirit. And this life-giving Spirit has entered into our spirit. He merged with our spirit in a single whole. And now we are attached to Him, we are attached to Him as one Spirit. He is a life-giving Spirit, and we have revived spirit and these two spirits just merged into a single whole.
Today Christianity teaches people to behave themselves well, how to improve their behavior, and how to correct and change their behavior. Christianity today gives people just a lot of different kinds of teachings. Some teachings replace other teachings and all of them are explaining people – how they should improve their behavior, how they should correct it, and change it. But that is 100% wrong. The Bible does not teach us anything like that. Bible teaches us one main thing: before we got saved we were living without Christ, we were living and walking without life-giving Spirit in our spirit, we were spiritually dead (Eph. 2:1, 5).
Now we got saved. What does it mean to get saved? To get saved means to get a new life, to get another life, Christ Himself. To get saved means to get another life! So after we get saved, we don’t have to improve our behavior, we don’t have to correct our behavior, we must reject the life of the soul. We must decline the life of the soul. We must fully apply to the opposite side of the spirit. Your mind must be directed to spiritual and not to soulish.
Let’s read a few verses:
Rom. 8:6 “For the mind set on the flesh is death, but the mind set on the spirit is life and peace”.
1 Cor. 2:14 “But a soulish man does not receive the things of the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness to him and he is not able to know them because they are discerned spiritually”.
James 3:15 - “This wisdom is not that which descends from above, but is earthly, soulish, demonic”.
Before we get saved we were living by soul. But we got saved and now we have to live by spirit. Forget about correction, forget about improvement. No, you must apply to spirit. Apply to spirit! The issue here is not about hatred or love, the issue is not about – to do good or to do evil, the issue is – are you living by soul, or are you living by spirit?
The central point in Epistle to Romans is chapter 8, it is written in 8:1 “There is now then no condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus”.
Let me ask you - are you in Christ? How do you know that?
Your answer may be: “Because His Spirit is witnessing along with my spirit, that is why I am in Christ”. No, that just confirms your birth above, and that you are a child of God (Rom. 8:16) and sounds like a doctrine.
How do you know that you are in Christ? Your answer may be: “I feel that”.
Read the whole chapter 8 and compare it with 1st chapter of the First Epistle to Corinthians (Rom. 8; 1 Cor. 1) and you will understand, that expression “in Christ” in one chapter does not have the same meaning as the expression “in Christ” in another chapter.
In 1 Cor. 1:30, the expression “in Christ” – is something doctrinal. But in Rom. 8:1, “in Christ” – means to walk according to the spirit (Rom. 8:2-4). To walk in spirit means to have no condemnation in Christ. Let me ask you: do you have any condemnation inside of you or not? Very many brothers-Christians say that they are in Christ, but at the same time they do not just have some condemnation, they have very much condemnation inside of them. On the one hand, they say they are in Christ, but on the other hand, they have condemnation. Why is it so? Why do they say that they understand, that they are in Christ, but on the other hand, anyway, they have a condemnation inside? Right – that happens because they continue to walk not according to Spirit, but according to the flesh –they exist according to the flesh. (Rom. 8:5).
When we walk by the spirit, that is we exist according to a spirit, we think, then our mind is directed from Spirit to the spirit and then there is no condemnation. 1st verse of the 8th chapter says, that there is no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus – Hallelujah! It is similar to Rom. 8:4 – to walk according to spirit. If you just walk in spirit –there is no condemnation, but as soon as you are out of spirit, the condemnation presents all the time. When you are in spirit – there is no condemnation. But as soon as you are out of spirit – the condemnation is there immediately.
Christ is the victory. Christ is the life, by which we are saved from many very negative things. But to what extent do we live by Christ day by day? To what extent do we enjoy with so living salvation already today, the salvation which may be real for us today, salvation from so many negative things? Brothers, we have the doctrine, we have the teaching, and we have teaching about chapters 5,6, 7, and 8 in Epistle to Romans, but I am afraid that we don’t have a practical life in Christ. We have a teaching, but we don’t have a living enjoyment with things about which are told in these four chapters about Christ. The issue is not about knowledge, determinations, and doctrines.
When I was young, I was taught, that is necessary to overcome sins. I was learning from books and sermons, which were talking about chapters 5,6 7, and 8 in the book of Romans; and in these sermons, people were talking very much about the victory over sin and liberation from sin. After listening to that, and getting familiar with that, I began to pray a lot. I was praying a lot, with similar words: “O, Lord, I want to overcome all sins, I so much want to be free from all sinful things”. I was praying like that, but saying the truth, the more I was praying, the less I got.
Tell me –what was the hitch? The more I was praying, to be relieved from sinful things, the more I was confused about these things. The more I was praying about getting the victory over sin, the more sin was getting a victory over me. What was the reason? For many years I could not understand, what was the hitch, I could not find the answer. And finally, I came to a real understanding, of what was my mistake – I was trying to ask God to do something for me, but at the same time I was still not living in the spirit. And then I knew, that I don’t have to pray the way I did and don’t have to get a victory over sin, we don’t have to try to set ourselves free from sin. The only thing we should do – is to walk in spirit and to apply to spirit. Forget about the victory over sin, forget about liberation from sin - you just have to apply to the spirit and stay there, stay in the spirit, touching Lord. Do not think about sin, do not think about victory over sin, but think about Christ in spirit! I just apply with all my being to spirit and stay there and touch God. In my new world, such a thing as a victory over sin does not exist. Now I am in a completely new world! I am in spirit and I am learning the only thing – not to overcome sin, but just walk in spirit. Just walk in the spirit, walk in the spirit and that is all!
I have found, that whenever I am not in spirit, I immediately get into another world. I get into another world, in which I have to overcome sin. There are two worlds; there are two kingdoms and two areas. In the kingdom of spirit, you don’t have to overcome sin, there is no need for that. Tell me, when you will be in New Jerusalem, would we need to overcome sin? No. No! in this new world, in this new kingdom, there is no such need. In spirit, there is the expectancy of New Jerusalem. There is expectancy! You may expect everything that would be in New Jerusalem. Today you may expect that in spirit! If you continue to live by the flesh, to live in this second kingdom, you need to overcome sin. And that is the useless thing – to overcome sin in the kingdom of flesh.
The issue is, that there are special laws in every kingdom. For example, now there is main law in every country – a constitution. Mainly, this law is passed by people, by citizens of this country, or by representatives whom they have chosen to take such decisions. And everything works and is submitted to this law. Also, we could give as an example physical laws, for example, a law of centrifugal force: if you spin something, then it is directed to the edge which is opposite to the center, the principle of wringing in the washing machine, throwing the hammer in sport. This law is working always on the borders of our earth. We can take as an example other laws also, but the principle is the same – that works automatically, according to the law.
The same way in a situation with us – in the kingdom of flesh there is “a law of sin and death” and in the kingdom of spirit there is “a law of life-giving Spirit”. If you are in flesh, the law of sin and death has authority over you, it makes you a captive of the sin of law (Rom. 7:23), then you are in captivity, you are a slave of sin. The captives always become slaves of those who captured them. Does not matter how strong you try to overcome – you will lose, because you are in the flesh, in captivity of sin. Even if you have good intentions: you take a decision not to sin, you are trying hard and you have a desire to live righteously in your heart, but you are doomed – you are in captivity. All these intentions, decisions, attempts, and desires become for you a bedspread, you are in deception, you don’t see a real situation – that you are in another kingdom.
And when you are in the kingdom of spirit, you don’t have to overcome sin. There is the other law, the law of life-giving Spirit. This law sets us free from the law of death and sin (Rom. 8:2). When you are in spirit – you are in Christ. Christ has already overcome, and if you are in Him, you are in His victory. Surely, that works only for those who have the Spirit: “But you are not in the flesh, but in the spirit, if indeed the Spirit of God dwells in you. Yet if anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ, he is not of Him”. (Rom. 8:9).
I underline this point about having the Spirit because there are so many nominal “believers”, those who count themselves, believers. Maybe they have passed through some ceremonies in some religious systems, but they do not have the Spirit in their spirit. They live only in the kingdom of flesh.
Let us carefully look through what Paul writes about in Rom. 7 and Rom. 8.
He writes about a few laws:
God’s law (meant the law of Moses) – “For I delight in the law of God according to the inner man” (Rom. 7:22).
The law in the mind of man – “warring against the law of my mind” (Rom. 7:23), “I find then the law with me who wills to do the good, that is, the evil is present with me”. (Rom. 7:21).
The law of sin and death in the flesh of man – “But I see a different law in my members, warring against the law of my mind and making me a captive to the law of sin which is in my members.” (Rom. 7:23), “from the law of sin and death” (Rom. 8:2).
The law of the Spirit of life – “For the law of the Spirit of life set me free” (Rom. 8:2).
There is a law in our mind, which agrees with the law of God – “I find then the law with me who wills to do the good… For I delight in the law of God…” (Rom. 7:21-22). Further Paul writes that there is a law in our flesh, which overcomes the law of my mind. – “But I see a different law in my members, warring against the law of my mind and making me a captive to the law of sin which is in my members”. (Rom. 7:23). As this law is “the law of sin and death” – as a result we get a death. But then Paul continues, that there is a law which sets us free from “the law of sin and death” – “For the law of the Spirit of life has freed me in Christ Jesus from the law of sin and of death” (Rom. 8:2). And we, those who are in Christ, are no more under the condemnation of God’s law – “There is now then no condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus” (Rom. 8:1).
There is a special law in every kingdom, in flesh – the law of sin and death, and in spirit – the law of Spirit of life. Doctrinally – we are in Christ, but practically – where we are? Are we really in Christ? Are we really in the kingdom of spirit? To which law do we submit ourselves – the law of life or the law of death? I do not speak about doctrines but about the reality of our practical life. In practice, we are either in one kingdom or in another. Sometimes our mind is directed to flesh, sometimes to spirit (Rom. 8:6).
That may be seen by looking at the things which come out of us:
- the fruits of Spirit are “love, joy, peace, long-suffering, kindness, goodness, faithfulness,
meekness, self-control” (Gal. 5:22-23).
- the works of the flesh are “manifest, which are such things as fornication, uncleanness, lasciviousness, idolatry, sorcery, enmities, strife, jealousy, outbursts of anger, factions,
divisions, sects, envyings, bouts of drunkenness, carousings, and things like these” (Gal. 5:19-21).
Paul was explaining to Galatians and was charging them: ”Walk by the Spirit and you shall by no means fulfill the lust of the flesh”. (Gal. 5:16). That shows, that walking by Spirit, you are in the kingdom of Spirit, where works a law of Spirit of life over you, and there come fruits of Spirit, and you by no means could fulfill the lust of the flesh, you won’t be in the kingdom of flesh – and there will be no works of flesh.
“For those who are according to the flesh mind the 1things of the flesh; but those who are according to the spirit, the things of the Spirit. For the mind set on the flesh is death, but the mind set on the spirit is life and peace”. (Rom. 8:5-6). What does it mean “according to the flesh”? The word “according” shows to life, according to certain principles, concepts, worldviews, that is an understanding of things and situation according certain point of view. We were gathering these principles and concepts in the process of life experience, while living in this world, in different systems of society, having fellowship with people: kindergartens, schools, work, service. Also our parents to a greater extent were teaching us some principles, and their behavior in the family was putting in us some print in our thinking. Many principles and concepts are based on: human culture, psychology, the world’s principles of conducting business, principles of different ideologies; a democracy, communism, socialism, and other “-isms”, nationalism and patriotism, etc, one word – “be fashioned according to this age” (Rom. 12:2). And in our life, we were living according to these principles before we got Holy Spirit, then the transformation in our mind began according to the will of God: “And do not be fashioned according to this age, but be transformed by the renewing of the mind that you may prove what the will of God is, that which is good and well pleasing and perfect”. (Rom. 12:2). The principles and concepts are shaping our thinking: either we think about things from the flesh, or from Spirit. We got rid of many things when we believed, that repentance happened inside of us (the change of thinking), and many of our concepts changed. But there are lot of things left, so Lord through Paul shows us the way of transformation – through the transformation of the mind. I speak exactly about transformation, that is a specific issue, and the way of building the Body of Christ up – the love. Love is the fruit of the Spirit (Gal. 5:22), and it is shown when you walk by Spirit; that is the love which is described in 1 Cor. 13 – do not mix it with your concepts and principles. All of this is interconnected, you need love – it is in spirit, you need a victory – it is in spirit, you need peace – it is in spirit.
In your life you often, we can say always, use principles and concepts. You do everything according to some principle, to some concepts. In conversations or arguments, you often use the phrase “in principle”. Ask Lord, so He would lighten with His light, which principles you follow. The enemy camouflages everything as good, and right, through the principles of psychology, culture, in some cases even science (pseudo-sciences). We need light from the Lord. Check your principles, which you follow in daily life: in family, at work, and with friends. Look - have you fruits of Spirit, or there are just works of flesh?
Some situations are not very simple, you analyze what is happening and everything looks fine, but the conclusion, a result shows that these are works of flesh and not the fruits of Spirit. And you are confused, what is it? Ask God, so the enemy would be disclosed, so the light would light brighter. You may not understand it immediately, the situations may change but do not stop, do not lose heart; ask God to help you to see in His light, ask to help to direct your mind into the spirit, so you could deny the principle and concept in flesh, an evil thought of enemy in your mind. Ask and even demand.
Whenever we apply to spirit, we immediately meet Christ. When you are outside of Christ you have one type of understanding, one type of imagination, one conscience. But when you apply to spirit, immediately you get another understanding – that is the mind of Christ, the mind in Christ. Because you meet Christ exactly in spirit. The principles and concepts, which are not from Spirit are hindering you to be in Christ. Some of them you got before salvation, and some later, from false teachings.
What principles are?
The principles are – the main, basic state of any conviction, a viewpoint on some things and situations. Principles of life – are inner rules, which you follow in your life. They determine borders for you and the people who surround you – for example, what is not acceptable for you and others, and what is important.
Where do principles come from?
When you got to know something new, while you learn something, you (your mind) accept or reject, value the things you learned – then there is a label, a mark in your mind. Also, when you got into some situations, you also put labels, on how to act in such situations. And if a situation is connected with a certain person, you put a label on this person, and in the future, when you meet this person, the label works, you behave with this person according to a label in your mind.
If you have bad feelings: enmity, rivalry, jealousy, attacks of anger – these are works of the flesh. But there is a question – why does it happen? You analyze a source of the origin, ask God to show the source, to disclose the enemy. We must be watchful in these issues, that is an important issue to walk by Spirit (1 Cor. 16:13; 1 Pet. 5:8, Rev. 16:15).
When you walk by the spirit, you fulfill the will of God!
When you walk by Spirit, you are in the will of God!
When you walk by Spirit, you are in His kingdom!
