The Law of Sin and Death

By Pauline Foreman

Text: John 8:32, 36 - "And ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free. ... If the Son therefore shall make you free, ye shall be free indeed."

"For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus hath made me free from the law of sin and death. For what the law could not do, in that it was weak through the flesh, God sending His own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh, and for sin, condemned sin in the flesh: that the righteousness of the law might be fulfilled in us, who walk not after the flesh,but after the Spirit." (Romans 8:2-4)

Where did the law of sin and death come from? When Adam and Eve yielded to the voice of the serpent and sinned, that brought death into the world. After their sin, God put them out of the Garden and blocked the way to the tree of life. This was a mercy, for it would have been a dreadful thing for them (and us) to live forever in a sinful state.

We don't think about the law of sin and death. Like gravity - it's a law that's ever with us. Gravity says, what goes up must come down. Gravity rules - it's always in full force. The only way to defeat the law of gravity is to be in a protected zone - a spacecraft, or aircraft. Other laws that rule in our day-to-day lives include thorns and thistles, seasons, sowing and reaping, and the presence of evil urges that affect us all. Our nature is carnal and is sold under sin. What's more,the wages of sin is death. The Spirit of God and the flesh of man war one against the other. Feelings reign in the fleshly nature. When you're under the law of sin and death, you do not operate under the law of the Spirit. The "flesh" owns you.

The will of man cannot conquer the law of sin. Man's will, resolutions, and conscience are powerless. James said we are tempted when we are drawn by our own lusts and enticed. (James 1:14-15) It's a "law" that is at work in us - a cycle of defeat we don't have the power to overcome.

We need the Holy Ghost to overcome sin!

You don't have to be a slave to sin any longer. The Holy Ghost, working in you, gives you the victory - the power to overcome sin and the flesh.

• The voice of the Holy Ghost will alert you, warning you of things that need to be conquered. Listen!
• Be thankful! Your new "Governor," (the New Testament) brings grace to reign in you.
• "Sin shall not have dominion over you." (Romans 8:9)
• In the Holy Ghost you have help - you're dead to sin.
• To defeat the law of sin and death; you must be under His blood, protected in the zone of grace.

Know this! Sin cannot be managed! "But ye are not in the flesh, but in the Spirit, if so be that the Spirit of God dwell in you. Now if any man have not the Spirit of Christ, he is none of His." (Romans 8:9) Without His Spirit, you are under the law of sin and death (the old law) and subject to its consequences.