Romans 8:3-4 For what the law was powerless to do because it was weakened by the flesh, God did by sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh to be a sin offering. And so he condemned sin in the flesh, in order that the righteous requirement of the law might be fully met in us, who do not live according to the flesh but according to the Spirit.
The Law could not bring freedom from sin or freedom from Satan because the flesh diminished it. There was a weakness in the Law in that it could never justify humans before God. It could never do what God could only accomplish through Christ Jesus. In the state of our sin capacity, we could never keep all the requirements of the Law, and our justification before a Holy God demands sinlessness. The Law is powerless and incapable of justifying or sanctifying us. The Law could never incapacitate or disable the sinful desires of the human heart, and this way could never deliver humanity from its lost state. All of this made it critical and essential for God to intercede on our behalf since we could never live a life worthy enough to spend eternity with Him.
There are many things that the Law can do; it can guide us, it can lead us into a knowledge of God, but it can never justify our flesh. It can tell us what God requires of us, but it will never produce in us the power and ability to live a life pleasing in God’s sight. Leon Morris, a Christian commentator, and author said: “The Mosaic Law has the right but not the might. The Spirit or the Law of Christ has both the right and the might.” The grapevine does not produce fruit because of an Act of Congress; it is the life of the fruit. So likewise, the obedience that measures up to the standards of God is not the result of any law. The Fruit of the Spirit in us directly results from what Christ Jesus did on the Cross of Calvary.
Paul states here that Christ Jesus came in the “likeness of sinful flesh,” however, He was not human flesh, in the earthly sense of sinful flesh. To pay the penalty of sin in all of us, Jesus had to live a life without sin and then give Himself as a sacrifice for our sins. Thus, Christ Jesus came in the likeness of sinful flesh, not in sinful flesh itself. Our Lord and Savior was treated as a sinner so that God might view us as righteous.
With all of that said, why is there any hesitation in giving ourselves as a living sacrifice for God? To surrender our lives totally and entirely to the mission of spreading God’s Word to a Lost and dying world (Romans 12:1).
When some read this first verse in Romans 12, they wonder just what that means, give of ourselves as a Living Sacrifice. Christ Jesus laid down His life through the pain, suffering, and cruelty of the crucifixion; we should be ready to give our lives, day by day, for Him. One only has to look at the next verse in the 12th chapter of Romans to explain (Romans 12:2).
Let us pray daily from the words of the old gospel song: “Lord keep me in your will so that I won’t get in your way.”
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