Scripture Reading: 5:12, 14, 17, Rom. 5:19; 6:3; John 3:15; 1 Cor. 1:30; 5, Rom. 6:6, 8, 11, 13, 19; 7:6, 18-20, 25; 8:4, 6, 11
In this message we shall consider some of the basic points in Romans 5 through 8.
The last part of chapter five deals with the fact that we have been in Adam. It is a fact that we once were in Adam; no one can deny this. Every human being either is in Adam or was in him. Chapter six deals with the fact that we are now in Christ. Thus, we may entitle Romans 5, “In Adam,” and Romans 6, “In Christ.” Remember, these two things are facts, one past and the other present. We were in Adam, but now we are in Christ. How much better is this present fact!
Chapter seven deals with the experience in the flesh. This is not merely a fact, but an experience. Hence, over chapter seven we may write, “In the flesh.”
Chapter eight deals with our experience in the spirit. It is difficult to determine whether this is the Holy Spirit or our human spirit because it refers to the mingled spirit. Therefore, over chapter eight we may write, “In the spirit.”
In chapters five and six we have two facts, the facts of being in Adam and in Christ. In chapters seven and eight we have two kinds of experiences, the experience in the flesh and the experience in the spirit. The experience in the flesh is the experience of the fact of being in Adam. The fact of being in Adam revealed in chapter five is experienced in the flesh as described in chapter seven. If we had only chapter five without chapter seven, we would have the fact that we were so dead, but not the experience. Likewise, the experience in the spirit in chapter eight is the experience of the fact of being in Christ revealed in chapter six. In other words, the fact of being in Christ can be experienced only in the spirit.
In Adam there are three main things: sin, death, and being constituted sinners (5:19). In Adam, we inherited sin, were under the reign of death (5:12, 14), and were constituted sinners. Of course, we were also under God’s condemnation. Whether we were good or evil means nothing. Even if we were the best person, in Adam we were still sinners under God’s condemnation. In Adam we inherited sin, were under the reign of death, and were constituted sinners under God’s condemnation. These are facts. We all were condemned even before we were born. This was our case.
Praise the Lord that we have the second fact, the fact of being in Christ! As a result of being in Christ, we have grace with righteousness (5:17). In Adam we had sin; in Christ we have grace with righteousness. What we have is not righteousness alone or grace alone but grace with righteousness. Grace with righteousness is versus sin. In Adam, we inherited sin. In Christ we have received grace with the gift of righteousness. Grace and righteousness work together because grace works through righteousness. Furthermore, in Christ we have eternal life instead of death. We can even reign in this eternal life (5:17). Although death once reigned over us (5:14), now we can reign in life. Moreover, in Christ we are not under God’s condemnation; we are under His justification. In Christ we all have been justified.
Perhaps you are asking how you can be in Christ. We have no doubt about our being in Adam. But how can we be in Christ? It is by being baptized into Him (6:3), and by believing into Him (John 3:15). Being baptized into Christ includes believing into Him. Hence, we are in Christ by believing and by being baptized. When you believe in Christ, you actually believe yourself into Him. Likewise being baptized into the water is a sign indicating that we are being baptized into Christ. God has put us into Christ (1 Cor. 1:30), and we all must believe this fact and reckon on it. Hallelujah, we are in Christ! We have been transferred out of Adam into Christ. Today I can testify boldly that I am no longer in Adam — I am in Christ. Because I am in Christ, His death, His resurrection, and all that He is have become mine. Whatever He has done is mine because I am in Him.
Consider the example of Noah’s ark. The ark with the eight persons aboard passed through many things. Whatever the ark passed through was also the experience of those eight persons, because they were in the ark. This is a clear type of our being in Christ. Christ is our ark, and we, the resurrected people, are in Him. (The number eight signifies resurrection.) Whatever Christ has obtained and attained and whatever He is now is ours. His death is ours, His resurrection is ours, and His life is ours. Christ’s death has terminated every negative thing in the universe, and His death is ours. Nothing terminates a person like death. If someone asks whether or not you are dead, you should strongly reply, “Yes, I died two thousand years ago (6:6). Christ’s death on the cross cleared up everything for me and terminated me absolutely. I am dead.” Praise the Lord that we all are dead! Having died with Christ on the one hand, on the other hand we are resurrected with Him (6:8, 11). We are resurrected, we are living, and we are growing together with Christ in the likeness of His resurrection (6:5). We all must believe these facts, recognize them, and reckon ourselves according to them.
If we stand on these facts, we may present ourselves to God as slaves and present our members as weapons of righteousness unto sanctification (6:13, 19). When we reckon upon the fact that our old man has been crucified and that we are alive to God in Christ Jesus and when we present ourselves with all of our members as weapons of righteousness to God, the way is open for the divine life to work within our being in a free way. This divine life will transfuse all that God is into our being. This is sanctification. This is not the objective redemption on the cross; it is God’s subjective, sanctifying work in our very being.
After we realize that we have died with Christ, we must also see that we no longer have anything to do with the law. Because we are dead, we are freed, discharged, from the law (7:6). Do not go back to the law. To go back to the law means to make up your mind to do good. Whenever you make up your mind to do good, you are returning to the law. If you pray, “O God, help me to be humble from now on,” you are going back to the law. Although you are praying to God, you are not going to God; you are going to the law. Consider a husband who repents for not loving his wife. He makes up his mind to love his wife from now on and asks the Lord to help him love his wife. This prayer indicates that he is going back to the law. I can assure you that he will not be able to love her. The more he tries to love her, the more he will fail to love her. He will find himself in Romans 7, in the situation of not doing what he wills to do, but of doing what he does not will to do (7:19). Although you may will to love your wife, you cannot do it. You may will never to lose your temper, but eventually you lose your temper more than ever. Why? Because by going to the law you are going to the wrong source. You have not yet realized that you are an utterly hopeless and helpless case. We need to reject ourselves and say to the self, “Self, I don’t trust in you. Self, don’t make up your mind to do anything. You are not able to do anything.” Whenever a husband is tempted to make up his mind to love his wife, he should immediately say, “Satan, get away from me. I will never try this. Instead, I shall reject the self. My self must go.”
Do not make up your mind to do good. Paul said, “To will is present with me, but to do the good is not” (7:18). Paul went on to say, “For the good which I will, I do not; but the evil I do not will, this I practice” (7:19). Therefore, in the next verse he concluded, “But if what I do not will, this I do, it is no longer I that do it but sin that dwells in me” (7:20). As we pointed out, this was Paul’s experience before he was saved, but nearly all Christians pass through it after they are saved. If we do not have such an experience, we shall not be exposed to the uttermost and shall not realize how hopeless we are.
Perhaps even today you have made up your mind to do good. It is so natural, so easy, to will. When you were somewhat cold toward the Lord, you did not make up your mind to do good for Him. But after you are revived and come back to the Lord, you immediately make up your mind to do good. Every time you make up your mind to do good, you make a commandment, a self-made law, for yourself. These are not the laws given by Moses; they are the laws enacted by the self. Nevertheless, the principle is the same. Whether it is a law given by Moses or a law made by the self, you will end up being exposed.
Many years ago I used to pray, “O Lord, I don’t want to lose my temper with my wife. I want to be a good husband and love my wife all the time. Lord, help me to love her.” According to my experience, I have never received an answer to such a prayer. In fact, the more I prayed about losing my temper, the more I lost it. If you do not pray in this way, you may not lose your temper for a week or two. But if you pray about it, you will lose your temper very soon afterward. In the past years many sisters have come to me and said that they prayed about having a good attitude towards their husbands and children, but that on the very day they prayed, their attitudes were worse than ever. When people asked me such questions in the early years of my ministry, I was the same as they were. Speaking doctrinally, I told them that this was to help them to know what they are. This is merely doctrine to us until one day we are forced to realize that we are absolutely no good. Once we see this, we shall never again make up our mind to do good. Instead, we shall go to Romans 8.
In Romans 8 we find something very simple. Forget about making up your mind to do good. The mind should be a submissive wife, but it presumes to be the husband. In chapter seven Paul said clearly, “With the mind I myself serve as a slave the law of God” (v. 25). Such a mind is too independent. The mind should be a female, but it presumes to be a male. In chapter eight we see that we should simply walk according to the spirit (8:4). But what about our mind? The mind must be set upon the spirit (8:6). We need to walk according to the spirit and set our mind upon the spirit. This is sufficient. Do not make up your mind to do good or pray that the Lord will help you to do good. Forget all such religious concepts. We need to walk, behave, and have our being according to the spirit and continually set our mind upon the spirit. Then we shall have freedom, and the indwelling Christ will impart life into every part of our being, even into the weak members of our mortal body (8:11). Our whole being will then be infused with the divine life. This is not a matter of doing good, of keeping the law, or of fulfilling the requirements of the law. It is a matter of life lived out of our spirit. This life will do even more than fulfill the righteous requirements of the law. When we behave, walk, and have our being according to the mingled spirit and when we set our mind upon the spirit, not allowing the mind to act on its own to do anything, we enjoy the imparting of life by the indwelling Christ. We enjoy the salvation of God and the sanctification that comes from being saturated with His life.
