A KINGDOM HEART – XLVI
Romans 7:15 I do not understand my own actions. For I do
not do what I want, but I do the very thing I hate.
Last
week’s post ended with this question: WHOSE WILL IS IN CONTROL?
Paul’s self-reflection in the verse above demonstrates that
there is a condition within man that works to circumvent a simple obedience to
the will of IAUE. This process is a mystery in the lives of most
believers. Many believers are taught to rebuke
the devil when this happens, blaming their acts of disobedience on him.
“I don’t do the things I want to do; and I do the things I don’t want to
do, in fact, I do the things I hate.” Now, let us understand that this mindset only
occupies the disciple. It is not particularly
frustrating to believers who are content with the belief that they already have
their ticket to Heaven. To them, doing
what they don’t want to do; much less doing the things they hate, seldom even
comes up in their thinking. They do
exactly what they want to do because their will does not seek to be in
conformity with the will of IAUE. There is no fear of IAUE within them. These
are unaware of what Paul calls, “the law of sin” in the flesh.
Romans 7:23 But I see another law in my
members, warring against the law of my mind, and bringing me into
captivity to the law of sin which is in my members.
When Paul speaks of his “members,” he is referring to his physical
body. When he refers to “the law of sin,”
he is not referring to some criminal code, or precept written down like the Ten
Commandments or the various statutes and ordinances contained in Leviticus and
repeated in Deuteronomy referred to collectively as “the Torah.” He is referring to something akin to “the law
of gravity.” It is a fundamental
principle, an inescapable reality of life.
“What goes up must come down.” The
apostle reveals by the Holy Spirit that in our physical body there is a
fundamental inescapable reality, an operating principle. If we are ignorant of this principle, we will
never become successful in our walk of obedience to the will of IAUE.
Paul incorporates both this principle and our physical body in the term, “the
flesh.” To understand the origin of this
principle of sin working within our bodies drawing us ever downward to disobey
the will of IAUE, we must go to the Garden of Eden.
Genesis 2: 16 And IAUE Elohim commanded the
man, saying, Of every tree of the garden thou mayest freely eat:
17 But of the tree of the
knowledge of good and evil, thou shalt not eat of it: for in the day that thou
eatest thereof thou shalt surely die.
In Adam and Eve’s disobedience, they died spiritually in that very
moment; and sin entered into the world, and death by sin. Paul tells us in 1 Corinthians 15:53 that our
bodies are currently defined by mortality and corruption. When IAUE created man’s body, it was not made
mortal and corrupt. It was intended to live forever and to provide man with a
vehicle through which the righteousness of IAUE could be reflected back unto
Him. However, the principle of sin
entering in corrupted man’s body and runs through his veins like a spiritual
virus.
There is a wondrous picture of this reality depicted in the exodus of the
children of Israel from Egypt. While
Moses was away in the mountain receiving the Law of IAUE, the Israelites lost
hope of his return and compelled Aaron to cast an idol for them to worship.
Exodus 32:1 And when the people saw that Moses delayed to
come down out of the mount, the people gathered themselves together unto Aaron,
and said unto him, Up, make us gods, which shall go before us; for as for this
Moses, the man that brought us up out of the land of Egypt, we wot not what is
become of him.
But Moses did return.
Exodus 32:19 And it came to pass, as soon as
he came nigh unto the camp, that he saw the calf, and the dancing: and Moses'
anger waxed hot, and he cast the tables out of his hands, and brake them
beneath the mount.
20 And he took the calf which they
had made, and burnt it in the fire, and ground it to powder, and strawed it
upon the water, and made the children of Israel drink of it.
Do you know what happens when you grind gold into a powder and toss it
into water? It turns the water blood
red. Forcing Israel to drink the blood
red water containing the essence of their false worship, their infidelity to
IAUE, produces for us a picture of the law of sin in the flesh; and serves to
remind us that anything that we do that originates with the flesh is
contaminated with the golden calf of idolatry.
Leviticus 17:11 For the life of the flesh is in the blood: and I have given it to you upon the altar to make an atonement for your souls: for
it is the blood that
maketh an atonement for the soul.
Paul, full of awareness of this principle working within him, cries out
for the solution; and the Holy Spirit answers him with this wisdom:
Romans 7:25 I thank Elohim through Yahushua
Messiah our Master. So then with the mind I myself serve the law of Elohim; but
with the flesh the law of sin.
8:1 There is therefore now no
condemnation to them which are in Messiah Yahushua, who walk not after the flesh,
but after the Spirit.
2 For the law of the Spirit of
life in Messiah Yahushua hath made me free from the law of sin and death.
In this, Paul reveals to us that even as there is a principle working in
our physical members unto sin, there is also a principle working within our
spirit unto life; and that is “the law of the spirit of life in
Messiah Yahushua.”
Romans 8:6 For to be carnally minded is
death; but to be spiritually minded is life and peace.
So, we are presented with a choice. We may set our minds upon the spirit to
attend to the commands, instruction, advice and counsel provided to us by the
Master Yahushua and IAUE our Elohim; or we may turn our mind to heed the
impulses of the flesh. One leads to life
and peace, and the freedom and power to do the will of IAUE. The other leads to a life that, at first,
appears to be a personal choice of doing what “I” want to do despite what the
Master wants me to do. It may be filled
with doing what we “think” is the right thing to do; but the end thereof are
the ways of death; and one does not have to walk long down that path before the
power to choose is lost to the addiction of sin. The choice is ours to make. We are not forced to do one or the other; but
rest assured if we do not do one, we will do the other. There is no neutral position.
Romans
8:7 Because the carnal mind is enmity against Elohim: for it is not
subject to the law of Elohim, neither indeed can be.
8 So then they that are in
the flesh cannot please Elohim.
The law of sin in the flesh is like the law of
gravity, forever pulling us downward into disobedience, into life choices that
are opposed to the will of Elohim. The
law of life in Yahushua Messiah is like the law of lift that enables us to defy
the pull of gravity and fly the skies of obedience to the Master. Make no mistake about this, however, for in
that moment the law of lift is no longer being applied, the law of gravity reveals
it is still there to pull you down to your death.
This brings us back to our conclusion to last week’s
post. Whose will is in control? If it is our will, we will find ourselves
serving the law of sin in the flesh, and thus be the enemy of IAUE. If we have committed ourselves to the will of
IAUE, we will know what it is to fly the winds of the Spirit.
What do you want?
In what do you take delight? What
brings you joy? You are going to
discover that the answer to this basic question is either going to imprison you
in sin, or liberate you unto genuine discipleship.
We will discuss this more thoroughly, next week.
Kingdom heart: a heart that offers no resistance to the performance
of the will of IAUE.
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