Our Eternal Salvation - ROMANS 7:23 – 8:6

Romans 8:1; There is therefore now no condemnation to those that are in Christ Jesus

Rom-7:23. Waring against the law of the mind; burden and grief to the soul as the worst drudgery and captivity could be. I give my life to the Lord Jesus and it brings me into captivity. (Rom-7:25), with the flesh I serve the law of sin; that is, the corrupt nature, the unregenerate part, is continually working towards sin. Rom-7:24, O wretched man that I am! Who shall deliver me from the body of this death? This is the body of death; either the body of flesh, which is a mortal dying body (while we carry this body about with us, we shall be troubled with corruption; when we are dead, we shall be freed from sin, and not before), or the body of sin, the old man, the corrupt nature, which tends to death, that is, to the ruin of the soul. (Heb-9:14), original corruption is a dead body. It was as troublesome to Paul as if he had had a dead body tied to him, which he must have carried about with him. This made him cry out, O wretched man that I am! A man that had learned in every state to be content yet complains of his corrupt nature. Yet Paul, would have said, “O blessed man that thou art, an ambassador of Christ, a favourite of heaven, a spiritual father of thousands!” But in his own account he was a wretched man, because of the corruption of nature. Yet he complains who shall deliver me? He speaks like one that was sick of it; that would give anything to be rid of it, looks to the right hand and to the left for some friend that would part between him and his corruptions. The remainders of indwelling sin are a very grievous burden to a gracious soul. What he comforts himself with: The case was sad, but there were some allays. Three things comforted him: - (1.) His conscience witnessed for him that he had righteousness in him. The rule of this righteousness which he had was the law of God, to which he here speaks of having a threefold regard, which is certainly to be found in all that are sanctified. [1.] I consent unto the law that it is good, Rom-7:16, I give my vote to the law: Wherever there is grace there is not only a dread of the severity of the law, but consent to the goodness of the law. “It is a good in itself, it is good for me.” This is a sign that the law is written in the heart, that the soul is delivered into the mould of it. To consent to the law is so far to approve of it. It is the greatest honour and happiness we are capable of. [2.] I delight in the law of God in my inward man, Rom-7:22. His conscience bears witness to complacency in the law. He did herein concur in affection with all the saints. All those are born again delight in the law of God - delight to know it, to do it - cheerfully submit to the authority of it, and take a comfort in that submission, never better pleased than when heart and life are in the strictest conformity to the law and will of God. The soul is the inward man; it is the renewing of the inward man, 2Co-4:16. (3.) His great comfort lay in Jesus Christ (Rom-7:25): I thank God, through Jesus Christ our Lord. In the midst of his complaints Paul breaks out into praises. It is a special remedy against fears and sorrows to be much in praise: many a poor soul has found it so. And, in all our praises, this should be the burden of the son, “Blessed be God for Jesus Christ.” Who shall deliver me? (Rom-7:24), (for, as Jesus is the mediator of all our prayers, so he is of all our praises) - to bless God for Christ; it is he who stands between us and the wrath due to us for this sin. If it were not for Christ, this iniquity that dwells in us would certainly be our ruin. He is our advocate with the Father, and through him God pardons us. It is Christ that has purchased deliverance for us in due time. Through Christ death will put an end to all these complaints, and take us to an eternity which we shall spend without sin. Blessed be God that gives us this victory through our Lord Jesus Christ! If Christ be in you, the Spirit is in you, Christ is in you. He dwells in the heart by faith, Eph-3:17. “And I pray that Christ will make his home in your hearts through faith. I pray that you may have your roots and foundation in love” Now we are here tells what becomes of the bodies and souls of those in whom Christ is. The body is frail, mortal and is dying; it is a house of clay, whose foundation is in the dust. The spirit, the precious soul, that is life; it is now spiritually alive When you are born again you do not receive the spirit of bondage again to fear “There is therefore now no condemnation to those that are in Christ Jesus” How we come by these privileges - the privilege of justification, that there is no condemnation to us - the privilege of sanctification, that we walk after the Spirit, and not after the flesh, which is no less our privilege than it is our duty. The law could not do it, Rom-8:3. It could neither justify nor sanctify, neither free us from the guilt nor from the power of sin, having not the promises either of pardon or grace. The law made nothing perfect: It was weak. Yet that weakness was not through any defect in the law, but through the flesh, through the corruption of human nature, by which we became incapable either of being justified or sanctified by the law. We had become unable to keep the law, and it left us as it found us. Heb-10:4. The law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus does it, Rom-8:2. The covenant of grace made with us in Christ is a treasury of merit and grace, and thence we receive pardon and a new nature, are freed from the law of sin and death, that is, both from the guilt and power of sin - from the course of the law, and the dominion of the flesh. Observe how we may answer to this character, Rom-8:5. By looking to our minds. How may we know whether we are after the flesh or after the Spirit? By examining what we think about, the things of the flesh or the things of the spirit. Carnal pleasure, worldly profit and honour, the things of sense and time, are the things of the flesh, which cannot be regenerated. The favour of God the welfare of the soul, the concerns of eternity; are the things of the Spirit, those that are after the Spirit. The man is as the mind is. The mind is the forge of thoughts. “As he thinks in his heart, so is he,” Pro-23:7. Which way do the thoughts move with most pleasure? On what do they dwell with the most satisfaction? The mind is the seat of wisdom.