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LESSON 1 * PART 3 * BOOK 23
ROMANS 8:1-14
Romans 8:3
"For what the law could not do, in that it was weak through the flesh, God sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh, and for sin (in other words to take the place of that old Adam so that we could be crucified with Him), condemned (old Adam) sin in the flesh:"
I'm using the words "old Adam" in place of the singular word `sin' throughout the Book of Romans, because that's what it's really talking about. Romans 8:4
"That the righteousness of the law..."
The law was righteous. Let's follow that up in Galatians Chapter 4. From God's point of view it was absolutely perfect, and always will be.
Galatians 4:8a,9
"Howbeit then, when ye knew not God,... The Law. The Law was weak and beggarly, and yet they thought they wanted to go back under the Law. Back to Romans Chapter 8 again.
Romans 8:4
Turn over to Romans Chapter 13 for a moment, and let's look at verse 8.
Romans 13:8
"Owe no man any thing (or defraud no one), but to love one another: for he that loveth another (in other words the love of God is operating in that believer) hath fulfilled the law." Romans 13:10
"Love worketh no ill to his neighbour: therefore love (the God-given love) is the fulfilling of the law."
Nothing we could do would do it, but when the love of God that is imparted now through the power of the Holy Spirit works in our life then, yes, we fulfill the whole law. Back again to Romans Chapter 8.
Romans 8:4
"That the righteousness of the law might be fulfilled in us, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit."
It's a change in appetite, it's a change in our whole thought process. Because whereas we were once under the control of the world and the flesh, and the Devil, now we're under the control of the Spirit of God. Romans 8:5
It's old Adam) do mind the things of the flesh (or old Adam. When a person is still out in the world, he's in spiritual darkness, he is blinded by the god of this world so that he can't believe. Romans 8:6a
Sometimes Paul will speak of a carnal Christian, a carnal believer, one who is not Spirit-filled, and one who is not Spirit-directed. Now, read on:
Romans 8:6a
"For to be carnally minded is death;..." God has always had to be satisfied with just that small remnant. Romans 8:6
"For to be carnally minded is death (spiritual death, and eternal doom without end); but to be spiritually minded is life and peace."
And what kind of life? By faith!
This next verse throws a curve at most people. Romans 8:7
"Because the carnal mind (anyone who is still under the control of old Adam. Someone who has never had the power of the Gospel operate in their life, he is still the carnal mind, and that mind) is enmity against God;..."
You talk to good people here in Oklahoma or anywhere else you can think of, and they'll say, "Well, no, I don't hate God. I love God, I believe in Him, I'm not His enemy." Now, how can The Book say that when people say the opposite. Because you see their old Adamic nature is still a rebel, and that's what people have to be convinced of. Their old Adamic nature is a natural born rebel against the things of God. Well, it's the same way with God. Now, reading on:
Romans 8:7
"Because the carnal mind is enmity against God (now the next part of that verse is shocking): for it (the Adamic mind) is not subject to the law of God, neither indeed can be."
Because the unsaved person is not subject to the law of God. God doesn't expect the unbeliever to keep His law. God doesn't expect the unbeliever to be a good person, because God sees down in his nature that he's anything but good. Romans 3:10-12
"As it is written, `There is none righteous, no, not one: There is none that understandeth (that is in that old Adamic nature), there is none that seeketh after God. Romans 3:13-18
Romans 8:7
"Because the carnal mind is enmity against God: for it is not subject to the law of God, neither indeed can be."
That mankind is not subject to the law of God, and can't be? We've seen that in the drug war, they can't stop the drugs, and they'll never stop the drugs until people stop wanting to use them. See? When people stop using drugs then the whole business will fall apart. Verse 8, and here's a conclusive thought: if this is the state of mankind which is lost; if this is the way people are when they are outside of the Gospel, outside of being positionally "in Christ," then:
Romans 8:8
"So then they that are in the flesh cannot please God."
One of the absolutes of Scripture is in Hebrews Chapter 11, the great faith chapter:
Hebrews 11:6
(God)
And so the unbeliever who is an enemy of God is an enemy simply because he has does not have faith.

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