Romans 13:14 KJV
But put ye on the Lord Jesus Christ, and make not provision for the flesh, to fulfil the lusts thereof.
There is a personal responsibility found in this text that is both hopeful and dreadful.
It is a hopeful thing; an invigorating thing, to see that I may put on Jesus Christ. I do not have to be trapped in the rags of worldliness and human weaknesses. I am able to wear the white robes of the righteousness of Jesus Christ. Yea, I am able to go beyond that and wear the very Person of Jesus Christ Himself.
But it is a dreadful thing because the thing that I would do, as Paul says in Romans seven, "how to perform it, I find not." This is a responsibility, a command of God that I put on Jesus Christ, but it is a responsibility I am utterly incapable of obeying without the gracious empowering of the Holy Spirit.
So I once again fall upon the words of Romans 7:25-8:1 KJV
I thank God through Jesus Christ our Lord. So then with the mind I myself serve the law of God; but with the flesh the law of sin.
There is therefore now no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit.
What I am not able to perform; Christ is able to perform in me.
But put ye on the Lord Jesus Christ, and make not provision for the flesh, to fulfil the lusts thereof.
There is a personal responsibility found in this text that is both hopeful and dreadful.
It is a hopeful thing; an invigorating thing, to see that I may put on Jesus Christ. I do not have to be trapped in the rags of worldliness and human weaknesses. I am able to wear the white robes of the righteousness of Jesus Christ. Yea, I am able to go beyond that and wear the very Person of Jesus Christ Himself.
But it is a dreadful thing because the thing that I would do, as Paul says in Romans seven, "how to perform it, I find not." This is a responsibility, a command of God that I put on Jesus Christ, but it is a responsibility I am utterly incapable of obeying without the gracious empowering of the Holy Spirit.
So I once again fall upon the words of Romans 7:25-8:1 KJV
I thank God through Jesus Christ our Lord. So then with the mind I myself serve the law of God; but with the flesh the law of sin.
There is therefore now no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit.
What I am not able to perform; Christ is able to perform in me.
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