Over the past few weeks, I’ve written about the struggle we still have with sin–even after we become new people in Christ (see When You Struggle with sin Part 1, Part 2, Part 3, and Part 4).
Each of these posts highlighted important lessons about “the flesh” from Romans 7. The “bad news” is that even after we become new people in Christ, we still retain leftovers from our old life. Paul calls these leftovers “the flesh” or the “sinful nature.” The flesh sabotages our efforts to obey the Lord and walk in His ways.
In the final post in the series, I wrote of the hope and help for our struggle that we discover in Romans 8. In Romans 8, our attention is focused on the ministry of the Holy Spirit. (The Holy Spirit is only mentioned once in chapter 7 but over 20 times in chapter 8!). The Holy Spirit empowers us to live a holy life–not a sinless life, but one that increasingly pleases God.
Recently, I preached a message at James North Baptist Church on Romans 7-8 that explains our struggle with sin (Romans 7) and points to the solution (Romans 8). You can listen to the sermon below:
Rick and Linda Reed 