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THE KING’S BUSINESS
duced into his heart and life by virtue of which he receives deliverance from the law of sin and death; The secret of putting sin to death is by possessing the life of the Holy Spirit. Death comes by life, not life by death. We cannot gain the Holy Spirit by putting to death the deeds of the body, but we put to death the deeds of the body by being filled with the Holy Spirit. The very liberty for which the. soul had cried out (7:25) is here granted (8:3) through the power of the Spirit. ■ . Note the words “in Christ Jesus.” The Holy Spirit is not separated from Christ. Any blessing that comes to us as the result of the fulness of-the Spirit is always con nected with our Lord Jesus Christ. Those who are Spirit-filled will speak of Christ and not so much of the Spirit. Where the Spirit resides there Christ is most promi nent (cfi John 14:26; 15:26, 27; 16:7-14). There is no such thing in real Christian experience as an advancement from Jesus Christ to the Holy Spirit. Every activity of the Holy Spirit concerns Jesus Christ. Were it otherwise, He would bear witness of Himself and not to Christ, and this would be contrary to the expressed pur pose of the Spirit’s advent into the world. If is through the efficacious offering of Christ on the cross that the claims and power of sin have’been neutralized in the life of the believer. The law’s righteous demands have been met and the believer has entered into a life of joyful and vic torious service. Verses 5-11 describe the element in Which the Spirit-filled believer lives—the element of the Spirit and not of the flesh. Note that “the flesh” is mentioned ten times, and “the Spirit” twelve times in eleven verses. The believer no longer walks affer the flesh, but after the Spirit. He is still in the flesh, but is not living according to it. It may reside, but does not reign in him. “Sin should not exist in his" life, surrounding him and rising up like a swarm of flaming serpents, but as worms beneath his feet.” If this is not true of the believer, then he has no right
to the narhe of Christ, for “if any may have not the Spirit of Christ, he is none of his” (8:9). Sins of the mind as well as sins of the flesh are to be overcome. The man who is indwelt by the Holy Spirit receives a spiritual disposition. Sins of thought may not be as apparent, but they are just as dis astrous as sins of the body. -Deliverance in the.realm of thought seems to come last of all in the experience of the believer. How often do we complain of lack of spir itual disposition and purpose. We fail in our relish or desire for the study of the • Scriptures, for prayer, or attendance at the house of God. True liberty in Christ gives liberty of thought and furnishes a spiritual disposition. If a man is truly spirit-filled, he will have a desire and disposition for these spiritual things. It is a kind of law of spiritual gravitation. The end and object, then, of being Christ’s, is that a man should be free, both in the realm of thought and activity, to do the will of God. , The result of such a life will be a life of peace and the hope of a glorious resurrection, an earnest of which has already been given us (cf. 8 : 11 ). In 8 :12-30 the obligations of the justified man are set forth. The challenge is thrown but, “We are debtors.” There is obligation and responsibility arising from sonship (8:12-17). If we are sons of God and indwelt by His spirit, we will live as God would have us live—a holy life. Holiness is a duty, an obligation, not an ambition or a luxury; it ■ is a duty, not ah adornment. If we are really controlled by God’s Holy Spirit, we are actually put ting to death the deeds of the body. The power to accomplish this is the Holy Spirit who resides in the believer (8:13, cf. Philippians 2:12). This power will doom sin. Either' we kill sin or will kill us. The indwelling Spirit will help us tb kill sin. *, 1 .. The obligation of sonship rcarHes: with it the element of reward (8:18-30), The believer is an heir,of God and joint-heir with Jesus Christ. To what is Christ heir?
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