Walk Not According to The Flesh

[Sue J Love]

“There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. For the law of the Spirit of life has set you free in Christ Jesus from the law of sin and death. For God has done what the law, weakened by the flesh, could not do. By sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh and for sin, he condemned sin in the flesh, in order that the righteous requirement of the law might be fulfilled in us, who walk not according to the flesh but according to the Spirit. For those who live according to the flesh set their minds on the things of the flesh, but those who live according to the Spirit set their minds on the things of the Spirit. For to set the mind on the flesh is death, but to set the mind on the Spirit is life and peace. For the mind that is set on the flesh is hostile to God, for it does not submit to God's law; indeed, it cannot. Those who are in the flesh cannot please God.” (Romans 8:1-8 ESV)

I hear many people quote just the first verse here, and they assume that if they have made a profession of faith in Jesus Christ that they are now “in Christ Jesus” and, therefore, no longer under condemnation. Many of them then presume upon God that, since all their sins are forgiven, that God will no longer count it against them if they continue living in sin and not in walks of obedience to our Lord and to his commands. For they have this false concept of God’s grace, thinking that they can still live however they want.

But don’t stop reading with verse 1. Keep reading, for you will see a different story from that one. God the Father sent his only begotten Son Jesus Christ to that cross to take upon himself the sins of the entire world. In his death he put our sins to death with him in order that “the righteous requirement of the law might be fulfilled in us who walk not according to the flesh but according to the Spirit.” And this is what is taught all throughout the New Testament, that we must now walk in obedience to our Lord and not in sin.

For, what does it say next? If we live according to the flesh, making sin our practice, and not obedience to our Lord’s commands, our minds are set on the flesh, and to set the mind on the flesh is death (not life). For the mind that is set on (firmly determined to do) the flesh (our sinful flesh which separates us from God) is hostile to God, for it does not submit to God’s law; indeed, it cannot. For those who are “in the flesh” cannot please God. If we are still living according to the desires of the flesh, we are not “in Christ.”

But this is where many people are who profess faith in Jesus Christ who assume that they are “in Christ” by lip service only while they continue giving way to the flesh and to the temptations of the flesh. And “the sin” that appears to be at the top right now is in the area of sexual immorality which so many people are caught up in now with the ease at which they are able to view inappropriate material via their smartphones. They are the immature and the self-indulgent who have not learned to resist fleshly desires, but who are easily persuaded by the temptations of the flesh.

And so many of them are being convinced that their sins no longer matter to God and/or that God can’t even see when they sin anymore, and that their salvation from sin and eternal life with God are secure because they “prayed the prayer to receive Christ.” But receiving Christ is not a thing that we do and where nothing changes, and where we continue on the same path as before, only now convinced that it will not be held against us. Receiving Christ is receiving his gospel which teaches death to sin and obeying God.

Receiving Christ is receiving him and all of who he is and all of what he requires of us who claim that we know him, and that we are in fellowship with him. We must turn away from walking in sin, and we must now walk (in conduct, in practice) in obedience to our Lord and to his commands. This doesn’t mean that we will be absolutely perfect now in every way, and that we will never fail again to be all who God wants us to be. But we should no longer be making sin our practice and not obedience to our Lord.

For the grace of God, which is bringing us salvation, is training us to renounce ungodliness and worldly passions and to live self-controlled, upright, and godly lives while we await our Lord’s return. For Jesus Christ “gave himself for us to redeem us from all lawlessness and to purify for himself a people for his own possession who are zealous for good works.” “For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them.”

[Titus 2:11-14; Ephesians 2:8-10; Matthew 7:13-14,21-23; Luke 9:23-26; John 1:12-13; John 6:44; John 10:27-30; Acts 26:18; Romans 2:6-8; Romans 6:1-23; Romans 8:1-14; Romans 12:1-2; 1 Corinthians 10:1-22; Galatians 5:16-21; Ephesians 4:17-32; Ephesians 5:3-6; Hebrews 3:1-19; Hebrews 4:1-13; 1 Peter 2:24; 1 John 1:5-10; 1 John 2:3-6; 1 John 3:4-10]

Just a Closer Walk with Thee

Hymn lyrics by Anonymous/Unknown
Music by American Melody

“For indeed He was crucified because of weakness, yet He lives because of the power of God. For we also are weak in Him, yet we will live with Him because of the power of God directed toward you” (2 Co. 13:4 NASB).

I am weak, but Thou art strong;
Jesus, keep me from all wrong;
I’ll be satisfied as long
As I walk, let me walk close to Thee.

Through this world of toil and snares,
If I falter, Lord, who cares?
Who with me my burden shares?
None but Thee, dear Lord, none but Thee.

When my feeble life is o’er,
Time for me will be no more;
Guide me gently, safely o’er
To Thy kingdom shore, to Thy shore.

Just a closer walk with Thee,
Grant it, Jesus, is my plea,
Daily walking close to Thee,
Let it be, dear Lord, let it be.

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Walk Not According to The Flesh
An Original Work / February 17, 2025
Christ’s Free Servant, Sue J Love

 

[Garee]

Amen likeness of flesh and blood. Not literal. . . . it returns to dust the field of clay

I would offer. .

Blood and water, the pouring out it represent the Spirit of Christ the unseen eternal Holy Spirit the husband of the bride, the church. pouring out His love.

Blood with water (all forms rain, dew, sweat, spit). are used in parables the signified language. again, to represent the Holy Spirit pouring out His Spirit life as if flesh and blood. . on dying mankind in jeopardy of his own Spirit life.

Flesh signified as sinful was a must. A theophany Melchizedek or vision could not pay the eternal wage of sin. . the letter of the law (death) It the letter could not bring new born again spirit life

Romans 8:3 For what the law could not do, in that it was weak through the flesh, God sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh, and for sin, condemned sin in the flesh:


Psalm 110:3-5The Lord hath sworn, and will not repent, Thou art a priest for ever after the order of Melchizedek.The Lord at thy right hand shall strike through kings in the day of his wrath.


In the parable below one of the drink the blood eat flesh. David imprisoned like John the Baptist in the New Testament.


Christ sent them a famine for hearing the gospel needed to strengthen the believer.

Using three men of renown. . three denoting the end of a matter.

Note. . (metaphors) used in a parable revealing the gospel understanding. . . water or blood same thing . . unseen Holy Spirit

1 Chronicles 11:18-20;And the three brake through the host of the Philistines, and drew water out of the well of Bethlehem, that was by the gate, and took it, and brought it to David: but David would not drink of it, but poured it out to the Lord.;And said, My God forbid it me, that I should do this thing: shall I drink the blood of these men that have put their lives in jeopardy? for with the jeopardy of their lives (used to represent the Holy Spirit) they brought it. Therefore he would not drink it. These things did these three mightiest.

Luke 7:22 hen Jesus answering said unto them, Go your way, and tell John what things ye have seen and heard; how that the blind see, the lame walk, the lepers are cleansed, the deaf hear, the dead are raised, to the poor the gospel is preached

sweat used to represent the powerful Holy Father working in Jesus the Son of man

Luke 22:44 And being in an agony he prayed more earnestly: and his sweat was "as it were" (denoting a parable) great drops of blood falling down to the ground.

Below spit to represent the healing of the Holy Spirit
John 9:6 When he had thus spoken, he spat on the ground, and made clay of the spittle, and he anointed the eyes of the blind man with the clay

Flesh and blood returns to the field of clay.