Christ Live In Us Romans 8:3-4 Condemned Sin In the Flesh

Well, good morning. So today we're going to continue on in chapter 8 here. All right. Well, today we're going to talk about the sin nature being condemned. So I thought I would actually, before I launch into that, and that's actually talked about in verse 3 and 4 for today.

But let's just kind of go back and kind of review a little bit and then kind of get our context here. So I just created some questions here. I'm going to ask some questions and answer my own questions, right? If I was in Sunday school, I could ask you guys and you could talk back. We could try that, but that might be a little bit disruptive. So here we go.

So the first question is, What is the sin nature? So, and that's actually why I had Jim read Romans 5, 12, because it talks about the sin nature. Or you might say Adam's nature. Or actually I was looking at some of Miles' stuff and he likes to say, and I think it's right, you know, who's ever seen a nature? Can you see a nature? Can you see man's nature? It's a It's a concept, right?

It's actually better to talk about life, right? So this is Adam's life. Adam's fallen life we're talking about, right? So we know that he fell. So the sin nature came about when Adam fell. This is Adam's life. We call it the sin nature. And we're gonna see it's, as you read through, especially Romans 5, 6, 7, and 8, It's sometimes just called sin singular, many times. It's kind of hidden, unfortunately, in most of the translations. In some translations, they'll translate it, the sin, and you have to supply the nature. And a few, like the weas, they try to bring it out, and they'll put in the sin nature.

So the sin nature is Adam's fallen nature. So that's what the sin nature is about. Okay, so this is maybe redundant. How did mankind receive this nature? Well, if you read Romans 5.12, you'll see, sin entered the world through one man and this And this sin spread to all men, because all men sinned in Adam. And they say, well, that's not fair, because Adam sinned, the whole race, the whole race was affected. Every single man, woman, and child from then on had a fallen nature like Adam's nature. So they received it from there, from Adam. And Adam is held responsible. Okay, next question. Kind of, you know, we're kind of answering these all from 512. what two things entered through Adam was kind of a progression.

His fallen nature entered, right? And when his fallen nature entered, because God basically condemned that, if you will, death entered. So two things entered at the fall of Adam. His sin nature entered, Adam's fallen nature, and death entered. So those two things entered. And death can be thought of as separation. So when death entered the human race, there was a separation between the creation, man, and God. They were separated. So now you come to the question, and I did this kind of intentionally. This is one of these, as Mike likes to say, a trick question. Can a person change his separation from God?

So, you know, your first answer, well, if you've read the Bible, you say, hey, I got the answer, Roger, no problem, I know the answer. You know, if you're teaching Sunday school, as far as the kids are concerned, every answer is Jesus. If they say Jesus to every question in Sunday school, they get it right, right? Well, they're gonna answer Jesus, right?

Well, I'm answering this question is really kind of focused on, Am I able, is man able in his own efforts and will to change his separation from God? Can he do a bunch of good things? Can he, through some human effort, change his separation from God that came in because of his relation to Adam?

And the answer is no. And you might, okay, you're gonna say, well, you're gonna qualify that. And you're right, I'm gonna qualify it. So let's move on from here. So man cannot, of his own efforts, change his separation. But that's not the end of the story, as we know. So what two things did God have to do to change this situation, to change the sin problem, right? He had to address the nature, Adam's nature, and he had to address his separation.

So we're gonna see today, and actually I like to draw this little picture. I didn't draw it, I found it. And we look about the root. The root of the problem is the nature, is Adam's nature, that fallen nature. And the fruit of the problem is the sins that result as a result of that nature. So the little tree with the root circled and the fruit circled, that's man. Man has a dual problem. And Christ addressed both. You know, it's interesting that many, if you gather with many believers, they'll only want to focus on the fruit, right?

They're going to say, well, God, and He did, He paid for every single sin. But think about it, if we only teach about that, we're missing about what teaching in scripture talks about the root of the problem. Don't you wanna, like we always say, let's get to the root of the problem, right? Everybody said, let's get to the root of the problem. Well, let's get to the root of the problem. And the sin nature is condemned is the root of the problem.

And so we're gonna talk about that today. So that's what we're gonna talk about some more. So we're gonna try to answer how and why did God condemn a person's sin nature, or this nature from Adam. So hopefully that sets the stage for today. Okay, so let's go in. We'll review shortly here last week, verses one and two. Okay, so it starts out there. Therefore, there is now no condemnation. Therefore, it's kind of a logical conclusion of what's gone before. It's a transition to a logical conclusion.

And what's cool is this word no, uden, in the Greek, is the first word in the Greek sentence and it means not at all. It means not at all, not even one little bit. It's what they call an emphatic no because of the position. I'm not a Greek scholar, but I read enough to understand at least a little bit.

When it's in a certain position in that sentence, it becomes emphatic. It's an important, this is the way they flag things, if you will. They flagged in order of the sentence or in the verse, so to speak. So you could render it There is there is therefore now not even one bit of condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus You know, that's just a tremendous You know, that's a tremendous statement not even one bit of condemnation Christ's death on the cross One righteous act was so sufficient.

There's not one Single bit of evidence that ever can be laid against those who put their faith and trust in Jesus Christ just a tremendous statement okay and now I love this verse this is kind of a summary if you will that John 5 24 truly truly I say to you he who hears my word and believes him who sent me I like this, has eternal life. It's not, I may get it, I hope I get it, maybe I'll get it. If I do really good things, I'll get it. No, my belief in what Jesus Christ that I have is a permanent possession. I have eternal life and it does not come into judgment or condemnation. Judgment and condemnation are kind of similar concepts, but it's passed out of death into life. Just a tremendous statement. So that's the first part of verse one, but there's more to be said here too. The last part, there's a condition on that. Therefore there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. Those is the idea of, to those ones who are in Christ Jesus. So what does in Christ Jesus mean?

And from last week, we saw this last week, it's this little word, it's interesting, the Greek is not much different than the English. I-an is in the Greek e-an, it denotes a fixed position in place or time or state. I like this little picture about here is the Lord Jesus Christ.

The believer is totally encompassed in our Savior, totally surrounded, totally engulfed in his Savior, he's in Christ. That's where he resides, and that's called a positional truth that's true about us whether we ever have read it, understood it. If you believe in the Lord Jesus Christ, you are in Christ. That defines what a Christian is.

And I like to say, because we have a living Savior, It's a living union. We're in this living union with Jesus Christ. And this is the way, this is the way we're to see ourselves. This is our mindset. This is the mindset of the believer. We're in this living union with Jesus Christ.

Never to be changed. It's impossible to change this relationship because I'm not maintaining it. My part in this was to believe on Him. His part is to hold me in that place. The song, He Will Hold Me Fast, I think actually some of the teachers have all the time, it's a tremendous song. And it's right, he will hold you fast because you can't maintain, you didn't establish this position, you can't maintain this position. You trusted in what he did for you.

And so Macaulay states, which is absolutely true, this is the most defining statement of a Christian, this is what a Christian is. The phrase, in Christ, is the most fundamental expression in the New Testament of what a Christian is. But I think there's a really cool thing. If you look about baptism, and don't think water, don't think water at all, think spiritual. This is not water baptism, this is spiritual baptism. If you think about that, it's a beautiful illustration of this concept about being in Christ.

And it says in Romans 6.3, or do you not know that all of us All believers who have been baptized into Christ Jesus have been baptized into his death. And literally baptism, spiritual baptism, is to be immersed, placed into, to become identified, if you will, you're placed into the very person of Christ. And the cool thing about the verb tense here is that it says you are never taken out.

That's why I like to joke. When I had a chance to do baptisms, I said, well, do you want the real one or the one that just represents it? The real one, you can't come out of the tank. I put you down, you can't come out. If you want to do a real baptism, you've got to stay down there. Nobody took me up on that offer. If they wouldn't, they wouldn't be around, right?

So anyway, so the cool thing is, when we're baptized into Christ, it can never be changed. And that's a wonderful, and that's how we're to live our Christian lives. We're to see ourselves there. But that's not the whole story, as we know. There's more to the story than that. That's a wonderful place to know where we're at. So let's go on. So now we go to verse two.

For the law of the spirit of life in Christ Jesus has set you free from the law of sin and death. Okay, so in this case, you'll notice that in these verses one through four, there are a couple of, we'll use the word four a couple times, and this is like a little flag or a little memory jogger. It says the reason, after that four, the reason is coming for what happened in verse one. So the reason for no condemnation is gonna be discussed here in this verse.

Okay, it says the spirit of life in Christ Jesus. So you gotta say, well, what's that? It sounds, I sort of, and you notice there's a capital there for spirit, so it's sort of, you know, the translator's helped you out a bit. So you're saying, well, I think I got, I know what it's talking about here. That's probably talking about the Holy Spirit. And you're right, the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus, but it says it's a law or principle.

I put the word principle in there, and a principle is a way a thing operates. If I drop this remote, oh, it doesn't, Good, it didn't do anything. What principle was involved here? That was the principle of gravity, right? Every time I drop, it's gonna bang on my book here, right? It's gonna do that day in, day out. It will never change.

So this is a principle. The principle of the Holy Spirit in Christ Jesus is being talked about here. Okay? So it's the indwelling Holy Spirit who gives life and sustains life in those who are in Christ Jesus. It says He's done something. So the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus has done something. Has set you free. And that's basically an event. It's in what's called the Aorist tense. It's permanent. It's an event that happened. when you put your faith and trust in Jesus Christ and we're born again.

So the spirit of life in Christ Jesus has set you free from two things. And we're gonna see these are the two things that you came into the world with from Adam. You had two problems coming into the world, right? It's gonna take care of both those problems. Has set you free from, first of all, the law or principle of again, sin. Adam's sin nature, right? It's gonna set you free from that nature. Boy, things are getting good, right? I had two problems. My two problems are gonna be taken care of in verse two. Wow, what a deal. Number two, the law or principle of death or separation.

So God through Paul is declaring that the Holy Spirit in Christ Jesus has set you free from the principle of sin, the sin nature, and the principle of death. Incredible news. It has liberated you from sin nature's power and spiritual separation from God. So that's why, since Christ is a, and that's why this has happened by the Holy Spirit, that you can, there's no condemnation, because the two strikes that were against you have been dealt with.

Incredible. It doesn't stop here, it only gets better, right? Okay, this is review. So now, we're gonna go on, the last part, that's the first, first of two reasons for no condemnation for the believer. So that's from last week. Okay, so now today's verses. So I kinda divided verse three into two parts, I'll tell you shortly here why. So let's just read three and four today, eight, three, and four.

For what the law could not do, weak as it was through the flesh, God did, sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh, and as an offering for sin, he condemned sin in the flesh, so that the requirements of the law might be fulfilled in us, who do not walk according to the flesh, but according to the Spirit. Notice there's another four in there, so we're gonna have some more reasons, and so that, so we're gonna have lots of explanation about this believer not being condemned. But what's interesting is, God did condemn something. He condemned that Adamic nature, right?

We're gonna see that in verse 3b here. Okay, so let's go on. So now we're gonna start with 3A, and the reason I'm doing that is because it breaks naturally. 3B actually starts, I would say that the translators didn't do that, but I would say it starts a sentence that ends at the end of four. but they didn't have the, they didn't exactly do it that way, so who am I to, anyway. So I'm gonna use, you know, you're gonna get, I like to use other translations to help out understandings. I'm gonna use the Weiss translation here. It says, for that which is impossible for the law because it was weak through the sinful flesh, okay? So for indeed, so this is the second reason for no condemnation. Remember the first reason is that you're free from sin and death.

So God did that which was an impossibility. That's kind of the first thought there for the law. God did what's impossible for the law to do. So in this case, he's talking about the law of Moses, but he's saying that the law of Moses could not do something. And it's kind of, you think, wow, God's holy and righteous law couldn't do something. And basically it's an impossibility.

And what he's going to point out here, he's going to answer it actually in the last part of the verse here. But he's going to say that remember the law, and this is from Constable, he kind of says, remember the law, if you read through Romans 3 you'll see it was never given to justify or impart life. Paul never said it would do that. He made several statements about the law, and here they are.

From Romans 3.28 he said, For we maintain that a man is justified by the law, no, by faith apart from the works of the law. Then in Galatians 6.21b it says, For if a law had been given which was able to impart life, then righteousness would indeed have been based on the law. For the law was not given to give us life. That was not his intent. It was to spotlight something. It was to spotlight that we have a fallen nature from Adam. That's what it was to spotlight, not to give us life. It was faith that was to give us life. Okay, let's carry on here.

In the last part of the verse, because, so now he gets more details about the law, this holy and righteous law, because if the law was weak through the sinful nature, So it's not that the law is weak. It's that our sinful nature is a problem. It's what's weak. It's what's sinful, not the law.

So in chapter seven, we spent weeks and weeks and weeks on chapter seven in Romans here. We saw that there were several battles between the sin nature and the law. They always were battling. Paul was always in a struggle between his fallen nature and the law. And he said in Romans 7, 5, So I just want to kind of point something out.

Some have tried to argue that chapter seven's about Paul's pre-conversion state, because it kind of seems like that while we were in the flesh, well, does that mean before I was saved? No, he's talking about a believer can be in one of two places, right? And we know from Galatians, he can be in the flesh or in the spirit. So Paul's talking about when he was abiding, if you will, in his fleshful sinful natures, his sinful passions were around, not that he was unbeliever.

So they had another verse along that line. 7.7 says, What shall we say then? Is the law a sin? May it never be. On the contrary, I would not have come to know the sin. Here's the case where I added in, I put the the in there and put it in red. It's the sin nature except through the law. So we have this battle between the sin nature and the law. So that's why it was an impossibility for the law. This was an impossibility for the law. It was because of this weakness of the sinful nature.

So now, starting in 3B, starting in 3B through the end of four, we actually have one complete thought. And I'll read it in the English here. I'll read 3 in English and then I'll show you something here. It says, God having sent his own son, in the likeness of sinful flesh, and concerning flesh condemned sin in the flesh.

So if you look carefully through here, it does help if you have, you can look at some things and kind of determine, you know, what's, back to kind of basic grammar, what's the subject, what's the verb, what's the direct object? not to be grammar-ish or anything, but just, you know, if you can identify the subject of a topic, what's the subject, what's the verb, what's the direct object? So let's just do that. So the subject of this sentence is God. God did something. God condemned, so the subject, I mean, the verb shows up later in this verse, and that's the main verb. God condemned the sin, in the flesh, the sin nature in the flesh.

And in the flesh is a modifier, it modifies sin. So here we have, so this statement's gonna permeate the rest of my discussion. This is a main part of 3b through 4. So everything else is gonna modify this verb and tell us something about how God condemns sin in the flesh.

But the basic idea, God condemned the sin, the sin nature, Adam's fallen nature, in the flesh, in man's flesh. Okay, so let's start out. Let's just make some observations here first. As I said, this is the main statement, the main subject, verb, direct object in 3b through four. Everything else amplifies this statement, tells us more details, how it happened, how did God do that.

And this is Adam's nature that resides in the flesh. And so first of all, just from a kind of a mechanical point of view, God's word declares that in our flesh, we have a sin nature, right? It says he condemned the sin in the flesh. So we must have, the believer must have a sin nature in his flesh, because Paul just said that, right? He's condemning it, so it must be there. So you can't argue it's not there, because Paul says it's there, the sin in the flesh. Okay, that's one observation.

The sin nature, the other factor is, just by the number of times, especially in Romans 6, 7, and 8, the number of times Paul talks about that, it dominates his discussion. The sin nature dominates Paul's discussion, and how God has overcome that, or neutralized that, if you will. And in chapter 7, we're told that Paul, right, he said, wretched man that I am, who would deliver me from this body of sin? He saw his human will couldn't control his Adamic nature. He said, I can't do it. He threw his hands up. God has to do it. The Holy Spirit has to do it.

Then in chapter 6 we saw this beautiful, and this is kind of a peek into this verse 8-3 here. In chapter 6 we are told, actually it's 6-6, we are told that the body of sin, the sin nature, was taken offline so that we would no longer be slaves of sin since we are crucified with Christ. So being crucified with Christ has taken the sin nature offline, but we're gonna see it's not done away with, it's still there. And that's why I use the word taken offline, because unfortunately the King James, which is the one that many people remember, has the word destroyed, and that's not a good translation. inaccurate translation. It's taken offline, put in idle, made inoperative is a better translation.

Okay, let's carry on here. So now, let's get down to the details here. So let's look at how do the rest of the 3b and 4 fit into God condemned thee sin in the flesh. First of all, it says, having sent his own son in the likeness of sinful flesh, and concerning or for sin. So this kind of gives a little tree, if you will. These are all modifiers, kind of compound modifier with a couple of prepositions. He sent his son. His son was in the likeness of sinful flesh. He looked like sinful flesh, but he had no sin. We're going to talk about that quite a bit. And concerning or for sin. So you can say a couple things about this.

This is how God accomplished this. This is how he accomplished the no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. It took God, it took the God-man with no sin. This shows us that God had to deal with the source, the root of the problem. He dealt with the root of the tree. We're talking about that root, as I mentioned before. God condemned him, but he didn't remove it. It's still there. And that's the struggle men have in the Christian life with their fallen nature from Adam.

Okay, so let's go on. I'm going to go through each of those. I'm going to go through having sent his own son in the likeness of sinful flesh and concerning sin. I'm going to go through each one of those in a little more detail here. Okay. First, God having sent his own son. This is the idea as a messenger, as an ager, an ambassador. It's an event, it happened, and here's a verse that really talks about that, right? When the fullness of time came, God sent forth his son, born of a woman, born under the law. So that was absolutely the right time for God to send his son, according to scripture.

So God, this is from Weiss, God condemned, God's condemnation of sin is expressed by his sending his son in our nature, in our fallen nature, in connection with sin, and he died for it, sin. He took its condemnation upon himself. He was condemned, if you will. He was judged on our behalf. Christ's death exhibited God's condemnation of sin in the flesh. So there's some thoughts about the first point, God sending his son.

So now let's think about this thing in the likeness of sinful flesh. And this is pretty important because you notice, Paul, by the Holy Spirit is really careful, very careful about how he says this. He doesn't say, let's see, he doesn't say in the flesh of sin. He used that word likeness, which is a key word, in the likeness of sinful flesh. And it's this word that means that which is like something or resemblance. So Jesus Christ resembled flesh and blood like we had. He resembled the fallen Adam nature. He looked like us. He looked like a person.

And he wasn't, you know, he wasn't a particular, you know, it says in the Old Testament, he wasn't a particularly attractive person. He was like, he wasn't, you know, I'm afraid sometimes they have Christ as being this super handsome guy, this dude. I don't, I think he looked like a Jewish man of that time period. He wasn't particularly attractive, but he was in human, he was in human flesh.

So in Timothy it says here, And confessedly, this is Weiss translate, and confessedly, great is the mystery of godliness, who was made visible in the sphere of flesh. I like that. And the Hebrews passage that Jim read for us, for we do not have a high priest who cannot sympathize with our weakness, but one who has been tempted in all things as we are, yet without sin.

Then John 1.14, and the word became flesh, just like we had, and dwelt among us, and we saw His glory, and so on.

So Christ, by His sinless life, in our nature of flesh, condemned the sinful lies. Now the third point, and concerning, or as an offering for sin, is the third point here. Concerning is the idea in place of, or on behalf of, It expresses the whole relationship of the mission of Christ to sin, for sin or concerning sin, literally to atone for, to save, to sanctify it, sin's victim. In doing this, Christ condemned sin in the flesh. But also, as we saw before, He condemned sin in the flesh, but He also paid for the sins, right? The fruit and the tree. He also was a substitute for sins, plural, acts of sin.

You see that in 1 Peter 3.18, for Christ also died for sins, plural, once for all, the just for the unjust, so that He might bring us to God. So God had to do complete work on the source of the sin and the sins themselves. Okay, so verse four, finally.

So now we're going to move into the requirements of the law. This is a pretty amazing statement because many times you'll hear people say, well, how does a Christian keep the law? And this kind of answers that question. How does a Christian keep the law?

They'll say, well, how does he do that? And they'll go back and they'll try to use a Jewish idea from Jeremiah, have the law written on their hearts. And that's not for today. That's another time period. So this is how the Christian is able to keep the law. Okay.

So now we take our core part, right? Core part from 3B is God condemned sin in the flesh. That's the core part. Now we've got the modifiers for this part of it. So that the requirement of the law might be fulfilled in us. Real important, might be fulfilled in us. So this is how We're gonna see how it was done, alrighty? So, now we have the outcome in God condemning sin in the flesh. Okay, so the outcome of that, so that the requirement of the law can be fulfilled, notice it's in us, not by us. This kind of fits in really well with our discussion this morning in Galatians.

The Holy Spirit is working in us. It's not us working, it's the Holy Spirit working in us. So critical here. So next, here's the condition for that, which is going to follow. It will be the Holy Spirit in us that can fulfill the requirements of the law. Not us, the Holy Spirit living His life in us. Christ in us is the picture of the Holy Spirit in us. So requirements of the law, let's think about this for a second.

I totally missed this maybe about a day ago. All of a sudden I kind of came across it. I said, wait a minute, the requirement of the law. Anything look kind of strange about that? The requirement, a singular. I thought it was my requirements. I totally misread it.

The requirement of the law, well, hey, what does that mean? Actually, it helps us here. The requirement of the law. So it's a singular requirement. How can that be? Okay, what is this singular requirement telling us? I think it's gonna tell us something really important here.

Okay, let's compare this. with a statement, and we covered this recently in Galatians, Galatians 5.14.

For the whole law is fulfilled in one word, in the statement, you shall love your neighbor as yourself. Okay? It says the whole law. So it's gonna sum up the whole law in just one statement, loving your neighbor as yourself. So, so love then is the embodiment of the law, right? Because Christ, that's what Christ said. You shall love your neighbor. That's the ebony of the law.

So let's kind of carry this forward. Let's look at the fruit of the spirit. So we know from 522, but the fruit of the spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, and so on. Remember, it's the fruit singular. I always want to make it plural, but it's fruit singular.

So we get the whole package, right? We get all those together. That's the fruit of the spirit, all those. So love here. So you could say, you can make a summary statement here. It's the fruit of the Spirit in me that loves your neighbor as yourself. It's the fruit of the Spirit who fulfills the requirement of the law within me. So that's how it's done. Okay, hopefully that's satisfying.

If not, talk to me later. Alright, so last part. And here's the condition. There's a condition on this. So here's where we get into, we talk about our position. Last time I had this chart about position and condition. So we've been talking about our position in Christ. Now we're gonna talk about, well, how is that carried out? There's some options here, right? It says the ones, and it kind of flips it around.

It says the ones who do not, do not walk according to the flesh, but according to the Spirit. It says, so the requirements of the law might be fulfilled in us by the Holy Spirit, but it can't be those who are walking according to the flesh. They have to be walking according to the Spirit. The Spirit of God has to be in control of their lives. This is how it's possible for the requirements of the law to be fulfilled in us. So the believer is to conduct his life, like the metaphor of walking, conducting his life according to the Spirit.

This is a faith operation. I like to say, whenever you look at the big picture, read the Bible and you say, well, what is my part in all of this? I look at the Bible, all the 66 chapters, what is my part in all this? You know, it comes down to believing what God has said. Faith, that's my primary responsibility. Believing what He has said. So faith is the operation according to the Word. We have faith according to the Holy Spirit.

But we can conduct our lives in the flesh. Because He warns us here, He says it must be, it can't be according to the flesh, it must be according to the Spirit. So here we have to kind of close out this little section. Paul says in Galatians 5.16, but I say, walk by the Spirit and you will not carry out the desire of the flesh. So that's how the Christian is to live is walking by the Spirit, walking by the Spirit as he shows us the things of Christ.

That's our approach to this. Okay, so I have a couple of final thoughts, two pages of final thoughts. I wasn't happy with one page. I had to have two pages. Okay, bear with me. This is supposed to be good. It's getting late, I know. Okay, this is good. It's all good. This comes from Chaffer, Louis Ferry Chaffer. And he's going to summarize what we've been talking about today. A little bit different words, but basically the same idea. So this is a summary of what we talked about today.

He's gonna use word judgment judgment or condemnation the judgment or condemnation the flesh With his lust was achieved perfectly by Christ in his death unto sin under the sin nature This judgment or condemnation is referred to in Romans 8 3 where the Apostle says that Christ condemned or judged sin in the flesh and Paul does not imply that the flesh and its lusts were rendered inactive or destroyed as the KGV translation in Romans 6-6 suggests. A judgment rather is gained against the flesh and its lusts by Christ so that the old man's power by the Spirit may be disannulled and made void for such time as victory is claimed by means of the Spirit." That's a mouthful. You need to read that a few ten times, maybe you'll... I'm sorry. He's a little bit verbose, a different time period, but really good stuff. So, anyway, carry on.

The objective is that the sin nature should not be served. We're not to be serving the sin nature. This particular judgment makes it righteously possible for the indwelling spirit to hold the sin nature in check. If it were not for this judgment of the cross, the spirit could not dwell with the nature. It is equally evident that he could not dwell where an unjudged sin nature reigns. And finally, deliverance from the flesh, Adam's nature, and his lust, then, is by the spirit possible on the grounds of Christ's death.

Okay, dear Heavenly Father, we thank you so much, Lord. We thank you for these marvelous verses. We thank you that you've taken care of sin and death. You've conquered those, Lord. You made it possible for us to live a life that pleases you, not by our efforts. Our efforts are only to trust you, to believe you, to count upon, to rest, to trust. We pray that you would help us to do exactly that day by day as we understand your word and walk in the light of it. In Christ's name, amen.