Timeless

Here is a link to next week’s series on Romans 8

Seed Basket Devotional is exploring Romans 8.

Today, we will focus on verses 7-13.

For the sinful nature is always hostile to God. 

 It never did obey God’s laws, and it never will.

Romans 8:7 NLT

That first line in the key verse should be a wake up call to every person who professes Christ as their Redeemer.

Why? Because we know that being devoted to our sin nature is being hostile towards God.

Think about it. Flesh is death.

Death is the enemy of God.

Of course it is important to understand the Biblical meaning of flesh. Most believers understand that flesh in this passage refers to our human nature and inclination to sin.

Living as if you are not a sinner is denying the fact that you need the Savior.

Although we will struggle with our sinful nature in this broken world, we don’t have to live in habitual sin.

It’s impossible to follow the Spirit while being dominated by our sin. If we’re living in sin, we should ask, “Am I really born again?”

The second part of that verse answers that question. No, you can’t be born again if you live in habitual and open defiance of God’s law.

God’s children don’t perfectly follow every commandment.

The difference is that true believers are genuinely sorry for their sins and love God’s moral law.

While the law doesn’t save us, it serves as our guide.

That’s why those who are still under the control of their sinful nature can never please God. Romans 8:8

You know verse 8 makes me think of John 15. You know it. “I Am the Vine and you are the branches.” Click the link to read this passage.

If we are grafted into Jesus through His life, then our very lives please Him. It is through that connection that we draw life and joy and peace.

But you can’t have any of that if you are still connected to your sin nature. You can’t have it both ways. If you are not grafted into the Vine, then you are not born again.

Here are two examples. One is an example of a child of God who has stumbled. The other is someone who is lost but refers to herself as a Christian.

Anne has always had a hard time with her temper. She gets angry and impatient easily. Some days, she manages to stay calm through the Holy Spirit, prayer, and God’s Word.

Some days, stress surprises her, and she reacts with angry outbursts. She turns to the Spirit in prayer for repentance and guidance. She feels sorry for losing her temper and the pain it causes others.

Jill is a kind person who loves her family and goes to church often. However, she has a problem. After fifteen years of marriage, she cares for her husband and children but enjoys going out with friends, which sometimes involves substance abuse, sharing personal details to joke about her husband, flirting with other men, and being away from home for days. She tells her friends it’s just a way to relax and have fun.

So which woman would you think is still devoted to her sin nature?

If you said Jill, then you are right. Both women have a sin problem. The difference is, Jill justifies her actions. Anne is mortified by hers. Jill believes that she is a good person.

Anne knows that her only claim to goodness, is Jesus.

This is what verses 9-13 tell us. Read it carefully. Evaluate your life using this important passage.

Does God’s Spirit live in you?

If he does, then you are not living the way the body wants, but you are living the way the Spirit wants.

If anyone does not have Christ’s Spirit, he does not belong to Christ.

But if Christ is in you, your bodies are dead because of the wrong things you have done.

But your spirits live because you have been made right with God.

God raised Christ Jesus from death.

Does God’s Spirit live in you? Then God will also give life to your bodies which die.

He does this through his Spirit who lives in you.

So, my brothers, we must not live the way our bodies want us to live.

We must not be ruled by our wrong ways.

 If you live the way your bodies want to live, you will die.

But if, by the help of the Spirit, you stop doing the wrong things your bodies want to do,

You will live.

Romans 8:9-13

New Living Translation (NLT)

Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Inc., Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.

Worldwide English (New Testament) (WE)

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