Reference: Romans 8:1-2
Many people in the world today have beenled to believe that it's rediculously impossible for an individual to betotally free from the power of sin. They also think that if a person doesconfess that they are free from sin and no longer continue in and commit sinthat they are thinking that they are better than anybody else making themselfequal with God. This is of course not the attitude that a true born again childof God takes, but rather, it's the people that takes this attitude toward thosetruly born of God and free from sin's power. Christ himself was accused of thisvery thing when he told the people that he and his Father were one and thesame. The people were about to stone Jesus when he made the statement that heand the Father were one, and Jesus asked them why they were going to stone himand they told him that it was not because of his works, but rather, because hesaid he and the Father were one. Jesus in his statement saying that he and theFather were one was actually confessing to the fact that he was not better orany holier than the Father, but rather was saying that he and the Father werethe same. People today that say that nobody can live without sin and yetconfess to be a child of God are in reality making themselves superior to theLord Jesus. This would be because of the fact that Christ himself had to beobedient to God's word and obey it. The Bible says in Hebrews 5:8 that though hewas a Son, yet he learned obedience by the things that he suffered. Learningobedience through suffering means that you bring the flesh into subjection byobeying the laws of God's holy and righteous word revealed in the gospel ofChrist.
Since Christ is said to be our example and that we are to follow in hisfootsteps then this tells us that we can and must cease from sin. This can onlybe done by following Christ whithersoever he leads us. God's word tells us thatthe Spirit will lead us into ALL truth that will set usfree. If we are not led of the Spirit then we are certainly not the sons ofGod. The world today has been led to believe that nobody can be totally freefrom the power of sin proven by the fact that the apostle Paul in Romans chapter seven makesthis plain to see. What the world fails to see and believe is that Paul was setfree from the power of sin and that he was describing his condition while hewas in the flesh and prone to sin's power. Our text tells us that there is nocondemnation to them that are in Christ because of the fact that the law of theSpirit has set them free from the law of sin and death. You must know whatthese laws are in order to be free or else you will never be truly free fromsin's power. False teachers today are saying that Paul was never set free fromsin although he was a converted child of God. This is a lie of the devil todeceive you from the knowledge of the truth that positively will set you free.Paul was absolutely set free from the law of sin and death by the law of theSpirit of life that is in Christ Jesus our Lord. We are either led andcontrolled by the law of sin or else by the law of the Spirit. If we walk afterthe flesh will obey the things of the flesh, but if we are led of the Spirit thenwe will obey the things of the Spirit. When we are in sin we are held inbondage to it through and by the power of the law of sin. Paul tells us thatthe law has power over us as long as we live. (Romans7:1) This simply means that the lawof the commandments of God hangs over every individual proving that we cannotescape the power of sin that these laws describes. The law says that we shallnot kill, steal, bear false witness, commit adultery, covet etc. These lawsgives us a knowledge of what sin is, but since we all have sinned and comeshort of the glory of God and have been born into sin, then this means that weare under the condemnation of this law until Christ gives us the power to ceasefrom doing what the law says not to do. We cannot escape the power of sin bytrying to be obedient to what the law says, because the law does not possessthe power to set us free. We can only be set free through and by the faith ofJesus Christ. Faith in Christ means coming to the knowledge of the truthrevealed in the gospel. The law of the Spirit spoken of in our text is theknowledge of truth that is revealed in the gospel and revealed to them thatwill obey God and his word. Coming to the knowledge of the truth is exactlywhat Jesus said would set us free. (John8:30-32) God's TenCommandments are not laws of sin, but rather describes what sin is. The onlyway a person can escape the condemnation of these laws is to repent of sin andcall upon God to save them. Paul in Romanschapter seven describes hishopeless and helpless condition that he was in when he was in the flesh andprone to sin's power. He was revealing the knowledge of how the law haddominion over him as long as he lived. He cried out asking who shall delieverhim from the body of death that he dwelled and lived in. He goes on to say thathe thanked God through Christ Jesus our Lord. Every truly repentant person thatcomes to God asking for saving grace and mercy will experience what Pauldescribes as being the law sin and death. They will come to the knowledge thatthey cannot cease from sin until the Spirit of God comes into their heartgiving them the needed power to cease from doing things that they do not wantto do. A truly repentant believer that comes to God will have the desire to dowhat is right, but they will realize that they cannot do this because of thefact that sin in their flesh overpowers them, bringing them into captivity ofsin. A person that God has granted repentance will experience how sin has theupper hand in their life. This experience is described perfectly by Paul in Romans 7:14-25. All of usinherited sin through Adam and Eve. Sin in the flesh is having the knowledge ofgood and evil. Good and evil dominates the life of every individual born fromthe womb of a woman. The good that Paul said that he did, along with the evilthat was present at the same time during his awakening of his mind, was hisdescription of his carnal state having been born this way. The world todaythinks that Paul was describing his condition after he was born again and thatthis condition forever exists in the life of every converted child of God. Paulwas simply describing the carnal state of man being helpless and unable toescape the power of sin in the flesh by his own efforts and desires. The law ofthe Spirit of life in Christ is what sets a person free from the law of sin anddeath that reigns in the heart of every unregenerated individual. When Christcomes into our heart we are given the power to overcome sin and perfectholiness in our bodies. The religious world today is held in bondage to theirown carnal state partaking of both the good and evil that they inherited fromAdam and Eve in the garden of Eden. A deceived person is only trying tocultivate the good in them thinking they are spiritually at war....