Saved from condemnation1How wonderful to be liberated now from all the condemnation this continual failure brought. For those who live in Christ Jesus have been set free from all condemnation.2Through Christ Jesus a different principle now lives in me, a new law: the Spirit of Life. He has set me free from the law of sin and death.3Under the law I could not do what God wanted because of my weak, sinful nature. God dealt with that by sending His own Son to become man, to live among sinners and then to make His life a sinless offering to God on their behalf. Through His action God dealt with the condemnation under which all sinners live.4In Christ, all the demands God expressed in the laws He gave were fulfilled. So we now live in the good of what He accomplished. He succeeded where we had all failed miserably, so that now we can live as if we had succeeded. His success has become our success, so long as we no longer live in the weakness of our old sinful nature but now live led by and filled by God's Spirit.Led by the Spirit5Those who live according to their own natural desires are always intent on getting what they want for themselves. That is their focus. But those who truly want to please God by being led by His Spirit make Him their focus.6Sinful thinking leads to spiritual death; but to allow your life to be under the control of the Holy Spirit will result in sharing in God's life and knowing His peace.7-8Sinful thinking is totally against God's will. Such attitudes show there is no submission to Him and His purposes, for you cannot serve God while your mind is full of sinful, selfish thoughts. That would suggest you were being controlled by your desires, not His!9However, this is not the case with you. You are not under the control of selfish, sinful desires because you have surrendered your life to God to be under the power and influence of His Spirit, who actually lives in you. You would not be a Christian at all if you did not possess the Holy Spirit.10But because His Spirit is in you, Christ is in you. Your body may still crave for self-indulgence, yet your spirit has now been brought to life by His Spirit, so that in your heart you want to do what is right before God.11This Spirit who lives in you is the same Spirit who raised Jesus from the dead. If He could do that, then He is certainly able to give God's life to your natural bodies, because His Spirit lives in you.12This means that you no longer are obliged to obey your sinful desires, my brothers.13To do that would lead to spiritual death. Now you have God's Spirit in you, enabling you to rule over any lingering sinful desires to indulge your fleshly instincts. So the Spirit enables you to enjoy real life, not death.14You see, those who live as God's sons are happy to be led by God's Spirit.We are God's children15When He came to live in you, He did not lead you back to your past life, making you a slave of fear again. No, you received the Spirit that enables you to live as a son of God. You can call Him, 'Father, my Father.'16The Holy Spirit urges us to remember that we are God's children; to know this deep in our hearts.17For if we know we are His children, then we know also that we are His heirs. Yes, we are heirs of God and inherit all His blessings along with Christ. We may have to face cost in being obedient to Him, but this is only so that we will also share eternally in His glory!
Scripture quoted by permission. The passage above is taken from THE TRUTH VERSION. Copyright © 2009 by Colin Urquhart. All rights reserved worldwide. (The Truth New Testament)