Romans 8:2-3 (NKJV) 2 For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus has made me free from the law of sin and death. 3 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,
This week has been about the power and necessity of making choices. If we want to walk in God’s blessing, not to mention his favor, we must make the right choices. Yesterday we looked at the need to decide what we want. Jesus tells us in Mark 11:24 that it is what we desire that we will receive when we pray. What is it that you want from life? If we do not answer this question, we can make no choices and we will not walk consistently in God’s favor.
One aspect of the answer to this question is what things we want. We must decide what specific things we are trusting God for in order to have faith to receive them. For instance, if we are praying for a better job we should decide what job we want and believe for that. This implies that we consider what God wants us to do, but what we want is also important. If we are praying for a car or house, we should be as specific as possible while understanding that the will of God is the final determiner. Many times in the area of things, the will of God is general. God wants to give you what you desire.
The more important aspect of this question goes deeper than things. What do we want from life is important to determine. We also need to decide what kind of Christian we want to be. I find that there is a general malaise in the church today. Many believers are content with a “normal” life that fulfills their religious obligations but is not too radical in belief or practice. I do not believe that is what God wants for his people. God wants us to choose to be radical in our faith, our love and our obedience. The rest will take care of itself.
Today I want to talk about a very human tendency. That is the tendency to make no choice at all. It is usually easier to go with the flow. Whatever life hands us is what we will do. Whatever is convenient or simple is the course of action we choose. This tendency is dangerous for the believer because no choice is the wrong choice.
Today’s scripture is full of revelation on many levels. I believe Romans 7 and 8 are two of the most important chapters in the bible. I want to focus on one aspect and that is the law of the spirit of life and law of sin and death.
The word law appears in these verses numerous times. Although it is the same word, it has two different meanings. When Paul speaks of the Law being weak through the flesh, he is talking about the Law of Moses. When he speaks of the two laws mentioned above, he is talking about the kind of law that describes a force or principle.
Let me explain. We have laws in this country that govern many aspects of life. One area with which we are all familiar is traffic laws. We have speed limits posted that tell us how fast we can go. If we go faster than the posted speed limit and a police officer catches us, we get a ticket. This usually results in a fine and sometimes more severe consequences.
There are also physical principles involved when we go too fast. Things like friction and the stability of the car. All of those things have laws that describe how they work. The police do not enforce these laws. There are no tickets or fines for violating them. However, if you do violate them you will crash the car and may even die.
The law of the sin and death and the law of the spirit of life in Christ Jesus are like those laws. The Mosaic law set forth in books like Leviticus is similar to traffic laws. They are of a more spiritual nature than traffic laws, but they are rules set forth by God that have legal consequences. If you break them, you must offer sacrifices or suffer a legal penalty. The two laws in Romans 8:3 are more like the laws of physics. There are no written penalties or sacrifices. There are cause and effect consequences that will either be a great blessing or cause great destruction.
There are certain laws in nature that function by default in our world. One such law is gravity. We do not have to do anything for gravity to work. We do not wonder if we will get out of bed and float away. Gravity is always working. If we try to fly by jumping off a building gravity will pull us back to earth. It does not matter how much we believe it will not we will still fall.
There are other laws of physics that are available but they only work if we apply them. Two such laws are lift and thrust. If we push and airplane wing through the air at a sufficient speed, thrust on the wing will create lift and we will overcome gravity. Gravity is the default force but it can be defeated.
What does this have to do with favor or making choices? The law of sin and death is the default force in the earth since the fall. That will not change until all those who will come into the kingdom of God have come in. Romans 8:23 speaks of a time when our bodies will be redeemed. This cannot happen until the end of the age because we need our cursed bodies to peach to a cursed world.
We can overcome the law of sin and death. We have access to the law of the spirit of life in Christ Jesus. We do not have to be limited by the law of sin and death. However, the law of the spirit of life in Christ Jesus must be applied. One of the more important ways we apply this law is by making choices. When we choose life, we apply the law of the spirit of life in Christ Jesus. When we chose to obey, we apply this law. When we choose to walk according God’s ways and standards, we apply this law.
When we choose to do none of these things, the default law goes into effect and we are dominated by sin and death. When we make no quality decision, we are deciding to be subject to the default law. It is not because we are evil or because God is mad at us. It is because that is the way it works. We can say that it is unfair that it takes an airplane for us to fly but that would be foolish. It just does.
In Deuteronomy, we read that God has given us the choice between life and death. Then God says, “Please, choose life.” In Christ Jesus, he has given us access to the power of God that can overcome the default law of sin and death. We can soar above sin and death. All we have to do is apply the law of the spirit of life in Christ Jesus. How do we do that? We choose the Word of God, the will of God and the voice of God in every situation. We meditate in the Word until faith arises. We apply that faith with the words of our mouths. We keep doing these things until the day we leave this world for the one where the law of the spirit of life in Christ Jesus is the default.
This may sound hard and it can be. When we choose to make the application of the law of the spirit of life in Christ Jesus our lifestyle it will get much easier. We must “study to show ourselves approved unto God.” (2 Tim. 2:15) We must diligently seek the Lord so he may reward us with the fruits of the law of the spirit of life. (Heb. 11:6) We must choose to put on the new man and put off the old man according to the writings of Paul. This must become a main focus of our lives.
If we cultivate that focus, we will soar above the law of sin and death. If we make the wrong choice or no choice, we will be held to the low life of sin even though much more is available to us because we are children of God.
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