27th Mar 26 | 16:08
Studies by Book
Luke 20 41-47 Christ, the Son of David 10 Luke 20 42-43 Walk in the Spirit and not in the flesh
📖 Luke 20:41-47
18Apr2021 - *Walk in the Spirit and not in the flesh* - _Luke 20:41-47_ - CHRIST, THE SON OF DAVID (10) – Bible reading: _Romans 8:2-4_
To be kings and priests in the lineage of David, we need to be living our lives, overcoming sin in the flesh. We do not want to be enemies of God.
*Luke 20:42-43 Now David himself said in the Book of Psalms: 'THE LORD SAID TO MY LORD, " SIT AT MY RIGHT HAND, (43) TILL I MAKE YOUR ENEMIES YOUR FOOTSTOOL."*
We have looked at several reasons how we can become enemies of God. We will look at one more reason that will cause us to become enemies of God.
_Hebrews 10:26-31 For *if we sin willfully* after we have received the knowledge of the truth, there no longer remains a sacrifice for sins, (27) but a certain fearful expectation of judgment, and *fiery indignation which will devour the adversaries*. (28) Anyone who has rejected Moses' law dies without mercy on the testimony of two or three witnesses. (29)
Of how much worse punishment, do you suppose, will he be thought worthy who has trampled the Son of God underfoot, counted the blood of the covenant by which he was sanctified a common thing, and insulted the Spirit of grace? (30) For we know Him who said, "VENGEANCE IS MINE, I WILL REPAY," says the Lord. And again, "*THE LORD WILL JUDGE HIS PEOPLE*." (31) It is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God._
If we sin wilfully… this is the issue here. In our flesh, nothing good dwells. By our flesh, we cannot please God.
_Romans 7:18 For I know that in me *(that is, in my flesh) nothing good dwells*; for to will is present with me, but how to perform what is good I do not find._
God gave man free will but now because of the inherited problem of sin in the flesh, the free will in us, though desiring to please God, is hindered *because our flesh does not cooperate with our will*. Our will says one thing and our flesh another. The flesh does not want to be subject to God.
_Romans 8:5-8 For those who live according to the flesh set their minds on the things of the flesh, but those who live according to the Spirit, the things of the Spirit. (6) For to be carnally minded is death, but to be spiritually minded is life and peace. (7) *Because the carnal mind is enmity against God; for it is not subject to the law of God, nor indeed can be. (8) So then, those who are in the flesh cannot please God*._
The carnal mind is a law by itself. It cannot be subject to God. It goes its own way. There is a law of sin and death that operates in our members. This law is the law of sin and death. By our effort, we cannot overcome this law. This law is in place, in our members.
_Romans 8:2-3 *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,_
By the flesh or the carnal mind, we cannot please God. Our will is ruled by our flesh and so we become enemies of God. Sadly, many Christians, with all sincerity, are trying to please God out of their effort or out of the flesh. This is not possible for the flesh is in enmity towards God.
This is the reason, we hear this repeated cry, “I want to love and please God. I’m able to walk in obedience to God for some time and then I fall back into sin. I repent, seek God’s forgiveness and start walking with God, only to fall again. I keep going through this cycle of falling…repenting…getting up…walking with God…falling again”.
Friends, are you able to see this terrible dilemma in which many Christians are struggling?
God had to have a solution to deal with this fundamental core problem, which is the law of sin in the flesh. To overcome the law of sin in the flesh, Jesus came in the flesh and lived without sin. _I John 3:5 And you know that *He was manifested to take away our sins, and in Him, there is no sin*._
Jesus overcame sin and condemned sin in the flesh. This was the reason why He came in the flesh. If He had not come in the flesh, then we would have had no solution to our problem of sin in the flesh.
The Law is good, for it gave the standards of God, but the impasse is that out of my flesh, I am not able to meet the righteous requirement of the Law.
So, the power of the law of sin in the flesh was broken by Jesus and in His sinless flesh, He took our sin, for He was the only one eligible to be our substitute. I cannot be your substitute for your sin and neither can you, for my sin, for we are both sinners in the flesh.
Jesus could be our substitute for He had no sin in the flesh and He took our sin on Himself. _II Corinthians 5:21 For He made Him *who knew no sin to be sin for us*, that we might become the righteousness of God in Him. I Peter 2:24 *who Himself bore our sins in His own body* on the tree, that we, having died to sins, might live for righteousness—by whose stripes you were healed._
Our task is to reckon ourselves dead to _Romans 6:11-14 Likewise you also, *reckon yourselves to be dead indeed to sin*, but alive to God in Christ Jesus our Lord. (12) Therefore do not let sin reign in your mortal body, that you should obey it in its lusts. (13) And do not present your members as instruments of unrighteousness to sin, but present yourselves to God as being alive from the dead, and your members as instruments of righteousness to God. (14) For *sin shall not have dominion over you, for you are not under law but under grace*._
*As we keep reckoning ourselves to be dead to sin, by faith, the grace of God, which is His divine enablement, operates in us and we are able to overcome sin in the flesh*.
It is the work of the risen Christ in us that enables us to live victoriously over sin in the flesh. Whoever abides in Jesus does not sin for the Spirit of God who raised Jesus from the dead lives in us.
_I John 3:6 *Whoever abides in Him does not sin*. Whoever sins has neither seen Him nor known Him. Romans 8:11 But if the Spirit of Him who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, *He who raised Christ from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through His Spirit who dwells in you*._
God’s righteousness is met in us, who do not walk in the flesh but in the Spirit of God. _Romans 8:4 that *the righteous requirement of the law might be fulfilled in us who do not walk according to the flesh but according to the Spirit*._
*Thought to ponder*
```Philippians 2:13 for it is God who works in you both to will and to do for His good pleasure.```