LIVING WATERS
For the proclamation of the Gospel and the edification of the Body of Christ
Life in the Spirit
"But you do not live according to the flesh, but according to the Spirit..." (Romans 8:9).
There are many things in God's Word that for us Christians seem to be utopia. One of them is deliverance from sin, for a life of holiness; a living in the Spirit. One thing we need to keep firmly in our minds is that God began to build and he will finish. His purpose is to make us conformed to the image of His Son; a man made to the measure of the stature of Christ.
Jesus will obtain for himself a glorious church, without spot or wrinkle or any such thing, but holy and blameless. Faithful is he that calleth us, who also will do it. God began to do the good work, and will complete it until the day of Christ. All the promises of God are in him Yea, and in him Amen, to the glory of God through us (2 Cor. 1:20). It is through us that God's promises are fulfilled, and God is glorified.
One day, in our Christian career, we will be confronted with this need. We can no longer be deceived by the revelation of Romans 6 and remain in our transgressions, nor can we remain comfortable in Romans 7, justifying our weakness. "Let us pass over to the other side", Jesus said. Neither settled on this side, nor in the midst of the stormy sea. This is a command from him: "Immediately Jesus made his disciples get into the boat and go before him to the other side" (Matt. 14:22).
Just as Jesus walked on the sea, he also in his flesh, like our flesh, did not sin. Perhaps at first we have the same impetus as Peter, saying, "Lord, command me to come to you", and walking, we go to meet him. We momentarily enjoy this grace, but looking at the circumstances, we begin to sink, and we cry out: "Lord, save us". Immediately, the Lord will grasp our hand, but he will also reproach our unbelief. But it is here that we have the revelation that he is truly the Son of God. It is necessary to continue. What is impossible for us is possible for God. Deliverance from sin is a matter of revelation, of knowledge of the truth (Jn. 8:32, 36).
Our deliverance, like Peter's, is a work of the Lord and not ours. Why then do many not enjoy it? Like Peter, because of unbelief, because of doubt. He who is born of the Spirit no longer walks in the flesh, but in the Spirit, as the Lord teaches us. All that is born of the flesh is flesh, but that which is born of the Spirit is spirit (Jn. 3:6). The Lord tells us in His Word, "Walk in the Spirit, and ye shall not fulfill the lust of the flesh". Do we believe this?
"Let us pass over to the other side", the Lord commands us. And during the troubled sea he will come to us saying, "Come!". Let us enter Romans 8, for we do not receive the spirit of slavery so that we may again be in fear, but we receive the spirit of adoption (of coming of age, of maturity), by which we cry, Abba, Father!