A Call To The Remnant

There is therefore now no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit.(Rom 8:1)

The flesh presents the greatest danger, not when it is acting according to its nature, but when it rises up and defends us when we are wrongfully accused, or when we are sinned against. We know that the flesh wars against the spirit within us. The battle lies within. There are very obvious sins of the flesh that need no description, they are usually tied up in our appetites and our desires. And there is danger in this of course. Yet the greatest danger comes when we have been wronged and your flesh rushes forward to defend you. We need to stop right there, in the moment, and realize the flesh will take you down. It is no ally of yours. It rushes to defend you only because it knows that this is your weakest point, your desire to defend yourself. It will have its way in this less obvious action and take you down.

In Romans eight we are told that there is therefore now no condemnation to those who do not walk according to the flesh, but according to the Spirit. What is this “walking in the Spirit?” What does it mean to “not walk according to the flesh?” In Romans 7:17 and 20, Paul says something quite remarkable “It is no longer I who do it but sin that dwells in me.” A cursory reading of this would give the impression that Paul is making an excuse for his sin, a defense of it. Yet it is quite the opposite.He is mounting an attack on it. He identifies a “law in his members,’ which wars against the law in his mind. And so it shall be until this corrupt flesh of ours is raised in in-corruption. The willingness of our spirits, empowered by the Holy Spirit is the law of our minds. The Royal law which is written upon our hearts. There is no condemnation for those who walk according to the Spirit and the Lord has provided pardon for the weakness of the flesh.

Sin, although it remains is us through the flesh, is not triumphant, rather it is overcome and defeated, time and again by the willingness and desire of our spirit. This willingness and desire is a very real reflection of what God has given us by the Holy Spirit and those who are baptized in Him. The flesh yet wars but it well knows the war is lost. We see its power degraded as we continue to walk in obedience to the royal law written upon our hearts. It is slowly but surely starved and rendered weaker and weaker. And its final humiliation is death itself, yet the spirit lives on. The outer man is perishing, and it knows it, yet the inward man is being renewed daily. Glory to God. Remember this saints. The sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory that shall be revealed in us.(Rom 8:18) We often groan within ourselves as we await the full redemption of these weak vessels within which we journey. Yet don’t forget that in all these things we are more than conquerors. It is a given here in the scriptures that you are conquerors, yet we are told we are even more than that through Him who loves us. And nothing that exists, in this world or the next, can separate us from this great love.