God did a wonderful thing for us all when He called Saul of Tarsus to become Paul the apostle. Paul had a mighty intellect but was gifted with a humble, honest heart that enables him to connect with us everywhere who are deeply tempted, some one way, others, another. In Galatians 5, he details many of the ways in which "the works of the flesh are evident," but he cites sexual temptations at the top of the list: "adultery, fornication, uncleanness [dirty language, lurid imaginings?], licentiousness [the word means unrestrained sin], ... revelries." "Our beloved brother Paul" frankly tells us "that those who practice such things will not inherit the kingdom of God" (vss. 19-21; cf. 2 Peter 3:15). We need that honesty!
Paul confesses that he has wanted deep in his soul to "delight in the law of God" but some evil force is "bringing me into captivity to the law of sin which is in my members. O wretched man that I am! Who will deliver me from this body of death?" (Rom. 7:22-24). That's the cry of millions of human hearts worldwide.
Now Paul tells us the most precious truth of Romans 8:1-4: The Father knows our problem. Our "flesh" is "weak," and the law is powerless to help us. So, "sending His own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh, on account of sin, He condemned sin in the flesh," sent His own Son right into the cesspool of human sin in order to save the world. Christ "was made to be sin for us, who knew no sin" that we might "become the righteousness of God in Him" (2 Cor. 5:21). He took upon Himself the same sinful flesh that we all have, and conquered sin right there where it feeds on our souls.
Receive that faith of Jesus and "the righteous requirements of the law [are] fulfilled" in you as you "do not walk according to the flesh but according to the [Holy] Spirit." He is stronger than all the allurements!
From the "Dial Daily Bread" Archive: September 13, 2005.
Copyright © 2010 by Robert J. Wieland.
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