This prepares the way for the fourth lesson. Flesh has gained the victory — has its foot, if we may speak figuratively, upon the neck of the struggling and helpless soul; but its victory ends in defeat, and in the emancipation of its victim. Until this moment, the soul has been battling in its own strength; but now, in the sorrow of its defeat and helpless bondage, it looks, not within, but without, and cries in its agony, “O wretched man that I am! who shall deliver me from the body of this death?” And the deliverance is reached. The moment the eye is upward, and not within upon itself, the victory is assured; for the answer comes immediately, “I thank God,” I am delivered “through Jesus Christ our Lord.” Deliverance is found, just as salvation is found, not through self, and the labors of self, but through Christ. It will consequently be noticed, that whereas we have nothing but “I” in the preceding verses, “I” now disappears, and it is all “Christ” instead. Blessed deliverance! Self is now done with and refused, Christ is accepted in its place; and, as we shall yet see, we find that we have in Him the answer to our every need: for of God are we, “in Christ Jesus, who of God is made unto us wisdom, and righteousness, and sanctification, and redemption” (1 Cor. 1:3030But of him are ye in Christ Jesus, who of God is made unto us wisdom, and righteousness, and sanctification, and redemption: (1 Corinthians 1:30)).
But before the Spirit of God proceeds to unfold the blessed portion of the delivered soul, one word is added: “So then with the mind I myself serve the law of God, but with the flesh the law of sin.” This is added both as instruction and warning. It teaches us that we shall always possess, whatever our attainments, these two natures, and, giving their character, admonishes us that they will never alter — that the flesh, though we are now delivered from its mastery, will always remain flesh, and can never be changed or improved. The enemy cannot be dislodged, or be converted to a friend; but we now know his character, and the sources of our strength, and we keep watch accordingly.
We proceed now to point out the wondrous results in grace which may be the enjoyed portion of the emancipated soul. We may at once name them; they are REST, POWER, and CONSECRATION. Let us look at these separately.