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The flesh is linked with Adam, the spirit

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with Christ.

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Leaving aside now a settled question of whether

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we are in Adam or in Christ, we

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must ask ourselves, am I living in the

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flesh or in the spirit?

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To live in the flesh is to do

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something out from myself as in Adam.

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It is to derive strength from the old

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natural source of life that I inherited from

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him, so that I enjoy and experience all

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Adam's very complete provision for sinning, which all

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of us have found so effective.

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Now the same is true of what is

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in Christ.

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To enjoy and experience what is true of

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me as in him, I must learn what

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it is to walk in the spirit.

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It is a historic fact that in Christ

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my old man was crucified, and it is

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a present fact that I am blessed with

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every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in

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Christ.

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But if I do not live in the

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spirit, then my life may be quite a

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contradiction of the fact that I am in

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Christ.

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For what is true of me in him

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is not expressed in me.

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I may recognise that I am in Christ,

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but I may also have to face the

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fact that my old temper is very much

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in evidence.

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What is the trouble?

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It is that I am holding the truth

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merely objectively, whereas what is true objectively must

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be made true subjectively.

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And that is brought about as I live

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in the spirit.

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Am I in Christ?

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But Christ is in me.

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And just as physically a man cannot live

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and work in water, but only in air,

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so spiritually Christ dwells and manifests himself not

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in flesh, but in spirit.

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Therefore, if I live after the flesh, I

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find that what is mine in Christ is,

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so to say, held in suspense in me.

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Though in fact I am in Christ, yet

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if I live in the flesh, that is

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in my own strength and under my own

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direction, then in experience I find to my

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dismay that it is what is in Adam

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that manifests itself in me.

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If I would know in experience all that

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is in Christ, then I must learn to

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live in the spirit.

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Living in the spirit means that I trust

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the Holy Spirit to do in me what

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I cannot do myself.

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This life is completely different from the life

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that I would naturally live of myself.

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Each time I am faced with a new

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demand from the Lord, I look to him

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to do in me what he requires of

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me.

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It is not a case of trying, but

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of trusting, not of struggling, but of resting

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in him.

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If I have a hasty temper, impure thoughts,

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a quick tongue, or a critical spirit, I

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shall not set out with a determined effort

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to change myself.

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But, reckoning myself dead in Christ to these

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things, I shall look to the Spirit of

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God to produce in me the needed purity

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or humility or meekness.

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This is what it means to stand still

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and see the salvation of the Lord which

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he will work for you.

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The divine way of victory does not permit

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of our doing anything at all, anything that

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is to say outside of Christ.

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This is because as soon as we move

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we run into danger, but our natural inclinations

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take us in the wrong direction.

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Where then are we to look for help?

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Turn now to Matthew 5 verse 17.

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The flesh lusteth against the Spirit, and the

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Spirit against the flesh.

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In other words, the flesh does not fight

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against us, but against the Holy Spirit, for

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these are contrary one to the other.

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And it is he, not we, who meets

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and deals with the flesh.

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What is the result?

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That he may not do the things that

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he would.

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I think we have often understood that last

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clause of this verse in a wrong sense.

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Let us consider what it means.

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What would we do naturally?

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We would move off on some course of

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action dictated by our own instincts, and apart

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from the will of God.

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The effect then of our refusal to act

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out from ourselves is that the Holy Spirit

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is free to meet and deal with the

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flesh in us.

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Would the result that we shall not do

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what we naturally would do, that is, we

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shall not act according to our natural inclinations,

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we shall not go off on a course

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and plan of our own, but shall find

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instead our satisfaction in his perfect plan.

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Hence we have the principle, walk by the

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Spirit, and ye shall not fulfil the lust

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of the flesh.

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If we live in the Spirit, if we

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walk by faith in the risen Christ, we

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can truly stand aside while the Spirit gains

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new victories over the flesh every day.

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He has been given to us to take

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charge of this business.

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Our victory lies in hiding in Christ, and

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in counting in simple trust upon his Holy

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Spirit to overcome in us our freshly lusts

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with his own new desires.

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The cross has been given to procure salvation

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for us.

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The Spirit has been given to produce salvation

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in us.

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Christ risen and ascended is the basis of

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our salvation.

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Christ in our hearts by the Spirit is

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its power.

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I thank God through Jesus Christ.

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That explanation of Paul's is fundamentally the same

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as his other words in Galatians 2.20,

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which were taken as the key to our

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study.

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I live, and yet no longer I, but

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Christ.

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We saw how prominent is the word I

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throughout his argument in Romans 7, culminating in

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the agonized cry, O wretched man that I

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am.

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Then follows the shout of deliverance, Thank God,

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Jesus Christ.

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It is clear that the discovery Paul has

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made is this, that the life we live

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is the life of Christ alone.

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We think of the Christian life as a

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changed life, but it is not that.

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God offers us an exchanged life, a substituted

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life, and Christ is our substitute within.

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I live, and yet no longer I, but

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Christ liveth in me.

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This life is not something which we ourselves

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have to produce, it is Christ's own life

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reproduced in us.

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How many Christians believe in reproduction in this

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sense, as something more than regeneration?

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Regeneration means that the life of Christ is

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planted in us by the Holy Spirit at

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our new birth.

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Reproduction goes further.

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It means that that new life grows and

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becomes manifest progressively in us until the very

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likeness of Christ begins to be reproduced in

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our lives.

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That is what Paul means when he speaks

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of his travail for the Galatians, until Christ

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be formed in you.

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God will not give me humility or patience

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or holiness or love as separate gifts of

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his grace.

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He is not a retailer, dispensing grace to

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us in doses, measuring out some patience to

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the impatient, some love to the unloving, some

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meekness to the proud, in quantities that we

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take and work on as a kind of

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capital.

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He has given only one gift to meet

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all our need, his son Christ Jesus.

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And as I look to him to live

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out his life in me, he will be

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humble and patient and loving and everything else

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I need in my stead.

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Remember the word in the first epistle of

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John, God gave unto us eternal life and

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this life is in his son.

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He that hath the son hath the life

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and he that hath not the son of

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God hath not the life.

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The life of God is not given us

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as a separate item.

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The life of God is given us in

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the son.

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It is eternal life in Christ Jesus our

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Lord.

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Our relationship to the son is our relationship

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to the life.

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It is a blessed thing to discover the

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difference between Christian graces and Christ.

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To know the difference between meekness and Christ,

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between patience and Christ, between love and Christ.

208
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Remember again what he said in 1 Corinthians

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1.30. Christ Jesus was made unto us

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wisdom from God and righteousness and sanctification and

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redemption.

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The common conception of sanctification is that every

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item of the life should be holy, but

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that is not holiness.

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It is the fruit of holiness.

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Holiness is Christ.

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It is the Lord Jesus being made over

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to us to be that.

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So we can put in anything there, love,

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humility, power, self-control.

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Today there is a call for patience.

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He is our patience.

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Tomorrow the call may be for purity.

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He is our purity.

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He is the answer to every need.

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That is why Paul speaks of the fruit

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of the spirit as one and not of

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fruits as separate items.

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God has given us his Holy Spirit and

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when love is needed the fruit of the

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spirit is love.

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When joy is needed the fruit of the

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spirit is joy.

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It is always true.

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Doesn't matter what your personal deficiency, whether it

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is 101 different things, God has one sufficient

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answer.

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His Son Jesus Christ.

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And he is the answer to every human

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need.

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How can we know more of Christ in

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this way?

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Only by way of an increasing awareness of

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need.

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Some are afraid to discover deficiency in themselves

246
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and so they never grow.

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Growth in grace is the only sense in

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which we can grow.

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And grace, we have said, is God doing

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something for us.

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We all have the same Christ dwelling within.

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But revelation of some new need will lead

253
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us spontaneously to trust him to live out

254
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his life in us, in that particular.

255
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Greater capacity means greater enjoyment of God's supply.

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Another letting go, a fresh trusting in Christ.

257
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And another stretch of land is conquered.

258
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Christ my life is the secret of enlargement.

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We have spoken of trying and trusting and

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the difference between the two.

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Believe me, it is the difference between heaven

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and hell.

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It is not something just to be talked

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over as a good thought.

265
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It is stark reality.

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Lord, I cannot do it, therefore I will

267
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no longer try to do it.

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This is the point where most of us

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fail.

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Lord, I cannot, therefore I will take my

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hands off.

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From now I trust thee for that.

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I refuse to act.

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I depend on him to act.

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And then I enter fully and joyfully into

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the action he initiates.

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It is not passivity.

278
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It is a most active life, trusting the

279
00:13:34,670 --> 00:13:38,830
Lord like that, drawing life from him, taking

280
00:13:38,830 --> 00:13:42,290
him to be my very life, letting him

281
00:13:42,290 --> 00:13:44,830
live out his life in me.

282
00:13:46,890 --> 00:13:50,790
There is therefore now no condemnation to them

283
00:13:50,790 --> 00:13:53,450
that are in Christ Jesus, who work not

284
00:13:53,450 --> 00:13:55,610
after the flesh, but after the spirit.

285
00:13:56,390 --> 00:13:58,430
For the law of the spirit of life

286
00:13:58,430 --> 00:14:02,790
in Christ Jesus hath made free from the

287
00:14:02,790 --> 00:14:05,110
law of sin and death.

288
00:14:06,030 --> 00:14:09,510
It is in chapter 8 that Paul presents

289
00:14:09,510 --> 00:14:12,410
to us in detail the positive side of

290
00:14:12,410 --> 00:14:13,570
life in the spirit.

291
00:14:14,090 --> 00:14:18,130
There is therefore now no condemnation, he begins.

292
00:14:19,430 --> 00:14:22,050
And this statement may at first seem out

293
00:14:22,050 --> 00:14:22,950
of place here.

294
00:14:24,010 --> 00:14:27,290
Surely condemnation was met by the blood, through

295
00:14:27,290 --> 00:14:30,210
which we found peace with God and salvation

296
00:14:30,210 --> 00:14:30,930
from wrath.

297
00:14:31,750 --> 00:14:36,050
But there are two kinds of condemnation, namely

298
00:14:36,050 --> 00:14:40,230
that before God and that before myself.

299
00:14:41,350 --> 00:14:44,090
And the second may at times seem to

300
00:14:44,090 --> 00:14:46,450
us even more awful than the first.

301
00:14:47,390 --> 00:14:49,630
When I see that the blood of Christ

302
00:14:49,630 --> 00:14:52,830
has satisfied God, then I know my sins

303
00:14:52,830 --> 00:14:55,090
are forgiven, and there is for me no

304
00:14:55,090 --> 00:14:57,070
more condemnation before God.

305
00:14:57,610 --> 00:15:00,450
Yet I may still be knowing defeat.

306
00:15:01,410 --> 00:15:04,030
And the sense of inward condemnation on this

307
00:15:04,030 --> 00:15:07,070
account may be very real, as Romans 7

308
00:15:07,070 --> 00:15:07,770
shows.

309
00:15:08,570 --> 00:15:10,750
But if I have learned to live by

310
00:15:10,750 --> 00:15:14,830
Christ as my life, then I have learned

311
00:15:14,830 --> 00:15:17,910
the secret of victory, and praise God, there

312
00:15:17,910 --> 00:15:21,210
is therefore now no condemnation.

313
00:15:22,030 --> 00:15:25,110
The mind of the spirit is life and

314
00:15:25,110 --> 00:15:25,610
peace.

315
00:15:26,590 --> 00:15:30,390
And this becomes my experience as I learn

316
00:15:30,390 --> 00:15:32,150
to walk in spirit.

317
00:15:32,990 --> 00:15:34,930
With peace in my heart I have no

318
00:15:34,930 --> 00:15:38,090
time to feel condemned, but only to praise

319
00:15:38,090 --> 00:15:40,330
him who leads me on from victory to

320
00:15:40,330 --> 00:15:40,790
victory.

321
00:15:43,110 --> 00:15:46,410
But what lay behind my sense of condemnation?

322
00:15:47,270 --> 00:15:50,070
Was it not the experience of defeat, and

323
00:15:50,070 --> 00:15:52,370
the sense of helplessness to do anything about

324
00:15:52,370 --> 00:15:52,630
it?

325
00:15:53,610 --> 00:15:56,930
Before I saw that Christ is my life,

326
00:15:57,610 --> 00:16:00,430
I labored under a constant sense of handicap.

327
00:16:01,130 --> 00:16:04,430
Limitation drogged my steps, I felt disabled at

328
00:16:04,430 --> 00:16:05,170
every turn.

329
00:16:05,550 --> 00:16:07,410
I was always crying out, I cannot do

330
00:16:07,410 --> 00:16:09,130
this, I cannot do that.

331
00:16:09,930 --> 00:16:11,890
Try as I would, I found that I

332
00:16:11,890 --> 00:16:13,870
cannot please God.

333
00:16:14,710 --> 00:16:18,030
But there is no I cannot in Christ.

334
00:16:18,790 --> 00:16:22,490
Now it is, I can do all things

335
00:16:22,490 --> 00:16:25,350
in him that strengtheneth me.

336
00:16:27,470 --> 00:16:29,130
How can Paul be so daring?

337
00:16:30,050 --> 00:16:32,110
On what ground does he declare that he

338
00:16:32,110 --> 00:16:35,410
is now free from limitation, and can do

339
00:16:35,410 --> 00:16:36,650
all things?

340
00:16:37,890 --> 00:16:39,590
Here is his answer.

341
00:16:41,130 --> 00:16:43,390
For the law of the spirit of life

342
00:16:43,390 --> 00:16:47,930
in Christ Jesus made me free from the

343
00:16:47,930 --> 00:16:51,450
law of sin and death, Romans 8.2.

344
00:16:52,450 --> 00:16:55,550
Why is there now no more condemnation?

345
00:16:56,470 --> 00:16:59,230
For there is a reason for it.

346
00:16:59,970 --> 00:17:03,630
There is something definite to account for it.

347
00:17:04,569 --> 00:17:06,970
The reason is that there is a law

348
00:17:06,970 --> 00:17:10,450
called the law of the spirit of life,

349
00:17:10,829 --> 00:17:14,310
and it has proved stronger than another law

350
00:17:14,310 --> 00:17:16,490
called the law of sin and death.

351
00:17:17,810 --> 00:17:22,030
God delivers us from one law by introducing

352
00:17:22,030 --> 00:17:23,450
another law.

353
00:17:24,050 --> 00:17:26,010
The law of sin and death is there

354
00:17:26,010 --> 00:17:28,570
all the time, but God has put another

355
00:17:28,570 --> 00:17:29,810
law into operation.

356
00:17:30,430 --> 00:17:32,890
The law of the spirit of life in

357
00:17:32,890 --> 00:17:37,910
Christ Jesus, and that law is strong enough

358
00:17:37,910 --> 00:17:39,990
to deliver us from the law of sin

359
00:17:39,990 --> 00:17:40,630
and death.

360
00:17:41,550 --> 00:17:44,250
You see, it is the law of life

361
00:17:44,250 --> 00:17:49,450
in Christ Jesus, the resurrection life, that in

362
00:17:49,450 --> 00:17:52,210
him has met death in all its forms,

363
00:17:52,630 --> 00:17:54,050
and triumphed over it.

364
00:17:54,790 --> 00:17:57,670
The law of Jesus dwells in our hearts,

365
00:17:58,130 --> 00:18:01,810
in the person of his Holy Spirit, and

366
00:18:01,810 --> 00:18:03,730
if we let him have a clear way,

367
00:18:04,090 --> 00:18:07,390
and commit ourselves to him, we shall find

368
00:18:07,390 --> 00:18:09,730
that he will keep us from the old

369
00:18:09,730 --> 00:18:10,070
law.

370
00:18:10,830 --> 00:18:12,590
We shall learn what it is to be

371
00:18:12,590 --> 00:18:16,090
kept, not by our own power, but by

372
00:18:16,090 --> 00:18:17,570
the power of God.

373
00:18:18,870 --> 00:18:21,810
So Romans 8.2 speaks not of a

374
00:18:21,810 --> 00:18:25,050
new gift, but of the life already referred

375
00:18:25,050 --> 00:18:28,870
to in Romans 6.23. It is a

376
00:18:28,870 --> 00:18:32,830
new revelation of what we already have.

377
00:18:33,710 --> 00:18:36,350
I feel I cannot emphasise this too much.

378
00:18:36,870 --> 00:18:39,850
It is not something fresh from God's hand,

379
00:18:40,350 --> 00:18:42,830
but a new unveiling of what is already

380
00:18:42,830 --> 00:18:43,170
given.

381
00:18:44,040 --> 00:18:46,550
It is a new discovery of a work

382
00:18:46,550 --> 00:18:49,730
already done in Christ, for the words made

383
00:18:49,730 --> 00:18:53,470
me free are in the past tense.

384
00:18:54,390 --> 00:18:57,250
If I really see this, and put my

385
00:18:57,250 --> 00:19:00,810
faith in him, there is no absolute necessity

386
00:19:00,810 --> 00:19:03,210
for Romans 7 to be repeated in me,

387
00:19:03,830 --> 00:19:06,670
either the experience or the conduct, and certainly

388
00:19:06,670 --> 00:19:08,950
not the tremendous display of willpower.

389
00:19:10,410 --> 00:19:13,770
If we will let go our own wills,

390
00:19:13,870 --> 00:19:17,330
and trust him, we shall not fall to

391
00:19:17,330 --> 00:19:20,690
the ground and break, but we shall fall

392
00:19:20,690 --> 00:19:24,170
into a different law, the law of the

393
00:19:24,170 --> 00:19:25,250
spirit of life.

394
00:19:26,050 --> 00:19:28,370
For God has given us not only life,

395
00:19:28,630 --> 00:19:30,090
but a law of life.

396
00:19:31,050 --> 00:19:33,030
And just as the law of gravity is

397
00:19:33,030 --> 00:19:35,610
a natural law, and not the result of

398
00:19:35,610 --> 00:19:39,470
human legislation, so the law of life is

399
00:19:39,470 --> 00:19:43,150
a natural law, similar in principle to the

400
00:19:43,150 --> 00:19:45,650
law that keeps our hearts beating, or that

401
00:19:45,650 --> 00:19:47,670
controls the movement of our eyelids.

402
00:19:48,950 --> 00:19:51,410
I used to suffer from sleeplessness.

403
00:19:52,250 --> 00:19:55,530
Once, after several sleepless nights, when I had

404
00:19:55,530 --> 00:19:57,970
prayed much about it and exhausted all my

405
00:19:57,970 --> 00:20:01,510
resources, I confessed at length to God that

406
00:20:01,510 --> 00:20:04,050
the fault must lie with me, and asked

407
00:20:04,050 --> 00:20:05,030
to be shown where.

408
00:20:05,530 --> 00:20:07,770
I said to God that I demand an

409
00:20:07,770 --> 00:20:08,450
explanation.

410
00:20:09,510 --> 00:20:13,090
His answer was, believe in nature's laws.

411
00:20:14,370 --> 00:20:16,530
Sleep is as much a law as hunger

412
00:20:16,530 --> 00:20:19,130
is, and I realised that though I had

413
00:20:19,130 --> 00:20:21,110
never thought of worrying whether I would get

414
00:20:21,110 --> 00:20:24,210
hungry or not, I had been worrying about

415
00:20:24,210 --> 00:20:24,670
sleeping.

416
00:20:25,610 --> 00:20:29,450
I had been trying to help nature, but

417
00:20:29,450 --> 00:20:31,710
that is the chief trouble with most sufferers

418
00:20:31,710 --> 00:20:32,770
from sleeplessness.

419
00:20:33,390 --> 00:20:36,670
But now I trusted not only God, but

420
00:20:36,670 --> 00:20:39,630
God's law of nature, and slept well.

421
00:20:41,070 --> 00:20:43,590
If we will let ourselves live in a

422
00:20:43,590 --> 00:20:46,350
new law, we shall be less conscious of

423
00:20:46,350 --> 00:20:47,090
the old law.

424
00:20:47,850 --> 00:20:50,810
It is still there, but it is no

425
00:20:50,810 --> 00:20:53,310
longer governing, and we are no longer in

426
00:20:53,310 --> 00:20:53,950
its grip.

427
00:20:54,650 --> 00:20:57,010
That is why the Lord says in Matthew

428
00:20:57,010 --> 00:21:00,850
6, Behold the birds, consider them lilies.

429
00:21:01,730 --> 00:21:03,230
If we could ask the birds whether they

430
00:21:03,230 --> 00:21:05,290
were afraid of the law of gravity, how

431
00:21:05,290 --> 00:21:06,090
would they reply?

432
00:21:06,690 --> 00:21:08,750
They would say, we never heard the name

433
00:21:08,750 --> 00:21:11,750
of Newton, we know nothing about his law.

434
00:21:12,510 --> 00:21:14,670
We fly because it is the law of

435
00:21:14,670 --> 00:21:15,810
our life to fly.

436
00:21:18,220 --> 00:21:20,460
Not only is there in them a life

437
00:21:20,460 --> 00:21:23,260
with the power of flight, but that life

438
00:21:23,260 --> 00:21:26,420
has a law which enables these living creatures

439
00:21:26,420 --> 00:21:30,580
quite spontaneously and consistently to overcome the law

440
00:21:30,580 --> 00:21:33,040
of gravity, yet gravity remains.

441
00:21:34,180 --> 00:21:35,880
If you get up early one morning when

442
00:21:35,880 --> 00:21:38,540
the cold is intense, and the snow is

443
00:21:38,540 --> 00:21:40,740
thick on the ground, and there is a

444
00:21:40,740 --> 00:21:43,360
dead sparrow in the courtyard, you are reminded

445
00:21:43,360 --> 00:21:45,780
at once of the persistence of that law.

446
00:21:46,420 --> 00:21:50,760
But while birds live, they overcome it, and

447
00:21:50,760 --> 00:21:53,900
the life within them is what dominates their

448
00:21:53,900 --> 00:21:54,480
consciousness.

449
00:21:56,080 --> 00:21:58,620
God has been truly gracious to us.

450
00:21:59,300 --> 00:22:01,140
He has given us this new law of

451
00:22:01,140 --> 00:22:04,500
the spirit, and for us to fly is

452
00:22:04,500 --> 00:22:06,840
no longer a question of our will, but

453
00:22:06,840 --> 00:22:07,900
of his life.

454
00:22:09,120 --> 00:22:12,440
Do not be anxious, are his words, consider

455
00:22:12,440 --> 00:22:14,420
the lilies, they grow.

456
00:22:15,540 --> 00:22:17,620
He is directing our attention to the new

457
00:22:17,620 --> 00:22:19,640
law of life in us.

458
00:22:20,400 --> 00:22:22,880
Oh for a new appreciation of the life

459
00:22:22,880 --> 00:22:23,880
that is ours.

460
00:22:25,220 --> 00:22:28,420
It is this spontaneous life that is the

461
00:22:28,420 --> 00:22:29,380
Christian life.

462
00:22:30,340 --> 00:22:33,400
It manifests itself in love for the unlovely,

463
00:22:34,040 --> 00:22:36,680
for the brother whom on natural ground we

464
00:22:36,680 --> 00:22:39,680
would not like, and certainly could not love.

465
00:22:40,680 --> 00:22:43,000
It works on the basis of what the

466
00:22:43,000 --> 00:22:46,700
Lord sees, of the possibility in that brother.

467
00:22:47,820 --> 00:22:51,260
Lord, you see he is lovable, and you

468
00:22:51,260 --> 00:22:51,940
love him.

469
00:22:53,120 --> 00:22:55,520
Love him now, through me.

470
00:22:56,480 --> 00:22:59,020
And it manifests itself in reality of life,

471
00:22:59,620 --> 00:23:02,440
in a true genuineness of moral character.

472
00:23:03,600 --> 00:23:05,880
There is too much hypocrisy in the life

473
00:23:05,880 --> 00:23:07,840
of Christians, too much play-acting.

474
00:23:08,760 --> 00:23:11,260
Nothing takes away from the effectiveness of Christian

475
00:23:11,260 --> 00:23:14,560
witness as but a pretense of something that

476
00:23:14,560 --> 00:23:15,740
isn't really there.

477
00:23:16,880 --> 00:23:19,700
For the man in the street unfailingly penetrates

478
00:23:19,700 --> 00:23:22,140
such a disguise in the end, and finds

479
00:23:22,140 --> 00:23:23,480
us out for what we are.

480
00:23:24,240 --> 00:23:28,520
Yes, pretense gives way to reality, when we

481
00:23:28,520 --> 00:23:30,620
trust the law of life.

482
00:23:33,080 --> 00:23:35,520
What does it mean to walk after the

483
00:23:35,520 --> 00:23:36,060
spirit?

484
00:23:36,900 --> 00:23:38,380
It means two things.

485
00:23:38,820 --> 00:23:42,120
Firstly, it is not a work, it is

486
00:23:42,120 --> 00:23:42,800
a walk.

487
00:23:43,700 --> 00:23:47,120
Praise God, the burdensome and fruitless effort I

488
00:23:47,120 --> 00:23:49,400
involve myself in when I sought in the

489
00:23:49,400 --> 00:23:53,100
flesh to please God, gives place to a

490
00:23:53,100 --> 00:23:58,060
blessed and restful dependence on his working, which

491
00:23:58,060 --> 00:24:00,280
worketh in me mightily.

492
00:24:02,120 --> 00:24:05,040
That is why Paul contrasts the works of

493
00:24:05,040 --> 00:24:08,260
the flesh with the fruit of the spirit.

494
00:24:09,620 --> 00:24:15,240
Then, secondly, to walk after implies subjection.

495
00:24:16,360 --> 00:24:19,780
Walking after the flesh means that I yield

496
00:24:19,780 --> 00:24:21,840
to the dictates of the flesh.

497
00:24:23,300 --> 00:24:26,080
And the following verses in Romans 8, 5

498
00:24:26,080 --> 00:24:29,000
-8, make clear where that leads me.

499
00:24:29,780 --> 00:24:32,460
It only brings me into conflict with God.

500
00:24:33,480 --> 00:24:36,340
To walk after the spirit is to be

501
00:24:36,340 --> 00:24:38,100
subject to the spirit.

502
00:24:38,540 --> 00:24:40,800
There is one thing that the man who

503
00:24:40,800 --> 00:24:44,160
walks after the spirit cannot do, and that

504
00:24:44,160 --> 00:24:46,340
is be independent of him.

505
00:24:47,380 --> 00:24:50,440
I must be subject to the Holy Spirit.

506
00:24:51,220 --> 00:24:53,860
The initiative of my life must be with

507
00:24:53,860 --> 00:24:54,180
him.

508
00:24:55,440 --> 00:24:58,780
Only as I yield myself to obey him,

509
00:24:58,780 --> 00:25:01,460
shall I find the law of the spirit

510
00:25:01,460 --> 00:25:05,420
of life in full operation, and the ordinance

511
00:25:05,420 --> 00:25:07,720
of the law, all that I have been

512
00:25:07,720 --> 00:25:11,440
trying to do to please God being fulfilled,

513
00:25:12,020 --> 00:25:15,780
no longer by me, but in me.

514
00:25:16,940 --> 00:25:19,580
As many as are led by the spirit

515
00:25:19,580 --> 00:25:23,180
of God, these are sons of God.

516
00:25:25,480 --> 00:25:27,540
You are all familiar with the words of

517
00:25:27,540 --> 00:25:31,400
the benediction in 2 Corinthians 13, 14.

518
00:25:32,080 --> 00:25:35,120
The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ and

519
00:25:35,120 --> 00:25:37,640
the love of God and the communion of

520
00:25:37,640 --> 00:25:39,980
the Holy Ghost be with you all.

521
00:25:41,360 --> 00:25:44,560
The love of God is the source of

522
00:25:44,560 --> 00:25:46,300
all spiritual blessing.

523
00:25:47,760 --> 00:25:51,400
The grace of the Lord Jesus has made

524
00:25:51,400 --> 00:25:54,900
it possible for that spiritual wealth to become

525
00:25:54,900 --> 00:25:58,600
ours, and the communion of the Holy Ghost

526
00:25:58,600 --> 00:26:02,700
is the means whereby it is imparted to

527
00:26:02,700 --> 00:26:03,140
us.

528
00:26:04,100 --> 00:26:07,000
Love is something hidden in the heart of

529
00:26:07,000 --> 00:26:07,460
God.

530
00:26:08,520 --> 00:26:13,160
Grace is that love expressed and made available

531
00:26:13,160 --> 00:26:14,160
in the Son.

532
00:26:15,460 --> 00:26:20,280
Communion is the impartation of that grace by

533
00:26:20,280 --> 00:26:21,100
the Spirit.

534
00:26:22,580 --> 00:26:27,080
What the Father has devised concerning us, the

535
00:26:27,080 --> 00:26:30,940
Son has accomplished for us, and now the

536
00:26:30,940 --> 00:26:34,040
Holy Spirit communicates it to us.

537
00:26:35,340 --> 00:26:38,620
When therefore we discover something fresh that the

538
00:26:38,620 --> 00:26:40,880
Lord Jesus has procured for us in his

539
00:26:40,880 --> 00:26:45,800
cross, let us for its realisation look in

540
00:26:45,800 --> 00:26:49,760
the direction that God has indicated, and by

541
00:26:49,760 --> 00:26:54,380
our steadfast attitude of subjection and obedience to

542
00:26:54,380 --> 00:26:57,600
the Holy Spirit, keep wide open the way

543
00:26:57,600 --> 00:27:00,400
for him to impart it to us.

544
00:27:01,180 --> 00:27:02,620
That is his ministry.

545
00:27:03,580 --> 00:27:07,140
He has come for that very purpose, that

546
00:27:07,140 --> 00:27:10,260
he may make real in us all that

547
00:27:10,260 --> 00:27:12,620
is ours in Christ.