“A Beautiful Find”
There is expectation and joyful discovery in a beautiful find. It can lift you from the depths of depression and fill your life with hope and joy. It can take your heart from rags to riches and elevate you from a meaningless existence to a life of purpose and meaning. A beautiful find can end your lifelong search and answer the question of “Why am I here?” Mankind’s very soul longs for a beautiful find and you and I are about to hear from a man who found it. Listen to these words of truth and revelation from Romans 8: 9-14:
“However, you are not in the flesh but in the Spirit, if indeed the Spirit of God dwells in you. But if anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ, he does not belong to Him. 10. If Christ is in you, though the body is dead because of sin, yet the spirit is alive because of righteousness. 11. But if the Spirit of Him who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, He who raised Christ Jesus from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through His Spirit who dwells in you. 12. So then, brethren, we are under obligation, not to the flesh, to live according to the flesh. 13. For if you are living according to the flesh, you must die, but if by the Spirit you are putting to death the deeds of the body, you will live. 14. For all who are being led by the Spirit of God, these are sons of God. 15. For you have not received a spirit of slavery leading to fear again, but you have received a spirit of adoption as sons by which we cry out, Abba! Father!”
The Apostle Paul has unearthed a beautiful find that he wants formed in our own hearts as well. Knowing this truth is extremely precious, he warns us not to squander it or water it down with the weeds of doubt and fear. He proclaims the truth must become reality in our mind and actions if the imperishable seed is to grow. He is straightforward in his approach and doesn’t waste words. With a heart of love but firm determination he affirms: You and I are not in the flesh but the spirit and a beautiful find will be lost unless we act upon it. Paul has seen followers of Christ operating on lies and deceptions when there is no need. Thus, with a passionate heart he proclaims for our ears today: “…if indeed the Spirit of God dwells in you” you are not in the flesh.”
Dear Christian, we must underscore this truth. Do you hear the truth speaking? Does the Spirit of God dwell in you? If you are a born again blood bought believer He does -- for if anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ, he does not belong to Him. So do you belong or not? If you do belong to Christ, you must operate upon the truth of His Word and act accordingly. Don’t live below your standard and ignore a beautiful find! “But be ye doers of the word and not hearers only, deceiving your own selves (James 1:22).” Don’t let the truth go in one ear and out the other is what both Paul and James would say. Such things should not be! Listen to this promise from the Book of Truth: “But whoso looketh into the perfect law of liberty and continueth therein, he being not a forgetful hearer, but a doer of the word, this man shall be blessed in his deed” (James 1:23). Notice it says, this man will be “blessed in his deed.” What a wonderful promise! What a beautiful find!
The law of liberty should remind us of The Spirit in all its fullness -- for where the Spirit of the Lord is there is liberty. But where the spirit of the flesh exists there is bondage and oppression. Either the Son sets you free or He does not. Either the Son speaks truth or He does not for the issue is not truth but faith. The question is never “Is the Word of God True?” but “Do I trust The Truth and live by it?” The Bible speaks truth and it says the Spirit of God dwells in you whether you feel it or not. Therefore, your whole life should be changed for if any man is in Christ, he is a new creation (2 Cor. 5:17). This is the Lord’s message to us as He speaks through his servant.
Paul defines the outcome of this truth in verse 10: “If Christ is in you though the body is dead because of sin, yet the spirit is alive because of righteousness.” Therefore, when I physically pass from this earth at the Lord’s appointed time, my body will be dead because of sin. Flesh and blood cannot enter the Kingdom of God. But do not fear. When you see the shell of my body left behind, remember I am alive. I am not dead. So REJOICE! My spirit is alive because of the righteousness Christ place in my account at salvation. The reason: because the veil was lifted and by grace I saw the issue wasn’t TRUTH but FAITH. Galatians 2:16 makes this clear: “Knowing that a man is not justified by the works of the law, but by faith of Jesus Christ, the we might be justified by the faith of Christ and not by the works of the law: for by the works of the law shall no flesh be justified.”
When this tent of mine passes through the doors of physical death, I will be freed from the harbor that has tied me to this body of sin. A new redeemed and glorified body awaits you and I. It is a body that is suitable for heaven and will mirror the Spirit in that it will mount up with wings like eagles, it will be able to run and not get tired and walk and not become weary. But verse 11 assures me I need not wait for physical death to experience this liberty: “But if the Spirit of Him who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, He who raised Christ Jesus from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through His Spirit who dwells in you.” Praise the Lord, we can experience the resurrection life, the exchanged life, the abundant life (John 10:10) now in these “mortal” bodies. God wants us to have a taste of heaven here on earth. “Now He who prepared us for this very purpose is God, who gave to us the Spirit as a pledge. (2 Cor. 5:5).
Where before only thorns and thistles grew in soil of your heart, now fruit can be produced by “faith working through love” (Galatians 5:6). When the first Adam sinned, all creation became cursed and it pictures the curse that took place in the heart of every person. The Lord God told Adam, “Curse is the ground because of you; in toil you shall eat of it all the days of your life. Both thorns and thistles it shall grow for you; and you shall eat the plants of the field; by the sweat of your face you shall eat bread, till you return to the ground, because from it you were taken, for you are dust, and to dust you shall return.” (Genesis 3:17b-19). Because of the curse, man would have to toil and by the sweat of his brow produce food from the soil. But the second Adam, Jesus Christ intervened and became our curse.
REMEMBER THE SOLDIERS MOCKING OF JESUS? “And they dressed Him up in purple, and after weaving a crown of thorns, they put it on him; and began to acclaim Him, “Hail, King of the Jews!” And they kept beating His head with a reed, and spitting at Him, and kneeling and bowing before Him.” (Mark 15:17-19) The “thorns” and “reeds” are significant because they represent the curse of the first Adam on all creation. But in the second Adam, Jesus Christ, God provided a remedy: “He made Him who knew no sin to be sin on our behalf, that we might become the righteousness of God in Him (2 Cor. 5:21).” Jesus suffered the crown of thorns and the brutal beatings with a reed so the soil of our own hearts might produce more that thorns and thistles. The Apostle Paul said, “For I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory that is to be revealed to us. For the anxious longing of the creation waits eagerly for the revealing of the sons of God. For the creation was subjected to futility, not of its own will, but because of him who subjected it, in hope that the creation itself also will be set free from its slavery to corruption into the freedom of the glory of the children of God. For we know that the whole creation groans and suffers the pains of childbirth together until now. And not only this, but also we ourselves, having the first fruits of the Spirit, even we ourselves groan within ourselves, waiting eagerly for our adoption as sons, the redemption of our body. (Romans 8:18-23)
The beautiful find is that such produce only comes by “the sweat of our brow” which for the soil of our heart is discipline and obedience to the truth or as Paul says, “faith working through love” (Galatians 5:6). However, one-day creation will be redeemed and no longer live under the threat of thorns and thistles choking out the seed of produce. In like manner, you and I will one day be redeemed and freed forever from the temptation of the flesh, the world and Satan. We too groan for that day. But until then, life is given to our mortal bodies through His Spirit that dwells in us. Thus, Paul’s conclusion is easily understood in verses 12-13: “So then, brethren, we are under obligation, not to the flesh, to live according to the flesh. For if you are living according to the flesh, you must die; but if by the Spirit you are putting to death the deeds of the body, you will live.
Paul warns us not to give attention to the flesh. You are not under obligation to it! “For the death that He [Jesus] died, He died to sin, once for all; but the life that He lives, He lives to God. Even so consider yourselves to be dead to sin, but alive to God in Christ Jesus. Therefore do not let sin reign in your mortal body that you should obey its lusts, and do not go on presenting the members of your body to sin as instruments of unrighteousness; but present yourselves to God as those alive from the dead, and your members as instruments of righteousness to God. FOR SIN SHALL NOT BE MASTER OVER YOU, for you are not under law, but under grace (Romans 6:10-14). You are in Christ. So, flee from youthful lusts. Crucify the flesh with its passions and desires (Galatians 5:24). It profits you nothing and you owe it nothing. YOU ARE IN CHRIST! Either you put to death the deeds of the body or the deeds of the body put you to death.
The Bible says, if you are living according to the flesh you must die. There is no power, no light and no life in living according to the flesh. Everything that defines death will be present in your life. You will be feeding the “thorns” and “thistles” from which you have been set free. The potential to produce fruit from the soil of your heart is there because God placed it there. That is the beautiful find. Does not the Scripture say, “Again, the kingdom of heaven is like unto treasure hid in a field: the which when a man hath found, he hideth, and for joy thereof goeth and selleth all that he hath, and buyeth that field”? (Matthew 13:44}. If you plant and water, The Lord will cause the growth (1 Cor. 3:7) for He gave all he had to purchase the field of your heart. So, don’t allow your heart to become a barren wasteland lacking life of any kind. The truth upon which we must trust asks: “…for what partnership have righteousness and lawlessness, or what fellowship has light with darkness? Or what harmony has Christ with Belial, or what has a believer in common with an unbeliever? Or what agreement has the temple of God with idols? (2 Cor. 6:14b-16a) Please don’t ignore this beautiful find.
The death that must occur and we are obligated to commit is: putting to death the deeds of the body which are evident and clearly identified in Galatians 5:17-21. This putting to death the deeds of the body comes by living according to the Spirit. Therefore, the truth must become reality in our mind and actions. Paul verifies this in verse 14: “For all who are being led by the Spirit of God, these are the sons of God.” If you are a son, you are under obligation to act like one. Your home is not here it is in heaven. Your citizenship is not here in this world. YOU ARE AN AMBASSADOR REPRESENTING THE GREATEST AND MOST MAJESTIC CAUSE KNOWN TO MANKIND. We have this treasure in earthen vessels (2 Cor. 4:7). We have been granted the ministry of reconciliation (2 Cor. 5:18) but we must operate according to our identity and not fall prey to lies and deceptions. Don’t make void the grace of God within you!
Paul assures us in the great crescendo of verse 15: “For you have not received a spirit of slavery leading to fear again, but you have received a spirit of adoption as sons by which we cry out Abba Father! Christ has delivered us from a spirit of slavery. His work for us on the cross was adequate. He completed the work for you and I when he said, “It is finished.” Our deliverance is now to be lived out in faith working through love until the redemption of our bodies is complete. Then, faith and hope will no longer be needed and the greater of faith and hope will reign -- the unceasing and unchanging love of the Father causing us to cry “Abba Father”! His perfect love casts out all fear. He has replaced the spirit of fear with a spirit of love, power and sound judgment. Isn’t that a beautiful find? No more slavery, no more bondage, only freedom, love, and deliverance as we die to the old life and live daily by faith in the truth of the new life. Remember, Jesus paid it all, all to Him we owe,
Give Him the Glory!
