The Apostle Paul asked the question: "What a wretched man I am! Who will rescue me from the body of death? Who will deliver me from the sinful nature that dwells in my flesh?"

Well, once we die and leave our flesh in the ground, won't we be free from the sinful nature? No. Our sinful nature, although it dwells in our flesh, is spiritual in substance. Rage, drunkenness, jealousy, pride, lying, treachery, deviousness, self-will, the seeking of preeminence, slothfulness, indifference to God, abound among the rebellious angels and the demons. This is why unclean spirits try to inhabit people. It is so they can fulfill the lusts that burn in them. Dying does not deliver us from sin. What we are we are, and this is how we enter the spirit realm.

But won't Jesus deliver us when He comes? Only if we have been really serving Him, taking up our cross and following Him. We see in the parable of the talents and that of the ten virgins that the foolish were not changed by His coming. Rather at His return they were judged and punished.

The Bible says it is appointed to people once to die and after this the judgment, not after this the deliverance.

And so the Apostle Paul, after crying out for deliverance from his sinful nature, proceeds, in Chapter Eight, to tell us how deliverance comes through the Gospel.

First of all, Paul assures us that even though we are not observing the Law of Moses, we are without condemnation, without guilt. But this assignment of righteousness comes only as we obey the Spirit of God rather than our sinful nature. The mammoth error of today's Evangelical preaching is that Christ assigns righteousness to us merely because we believe in Him. This is not so. Paul taught us that imputed righteousness is based on our obedience to the Holy Spirit rather than our sinful nature.

In order that the righteous requirements of the law might be fully met in us, who do not live according to the sinful nature but according to the Spirit. (Romans 8:4—NIV)

The righteous requirements of the Law of Moses are fully met in us only on the condition that we are not living according to our sinful nature but according to the Spirit of God.

So the first step in being rescued from the body of death is that of receiving forgiveness based on living according to the Spirit of God.

After stating this fundamental truth, Paul proceeds to discuss the idea of living in accordance with the Spirit of God rather than according to the sinful nature.

Those who live according to the sinful nature have their minds set on what that nature desires; but those who live in accordance with the Spirit have their minds set on what the Spirit desires. (Romans 8:5—NIV)

Entering the Kingdom of God is very difficult for those of us who are Americans. Our culture is too rich in material wealth and objects and situations of interest. Particularly damaging is the array of media with which we are barraged daily.

To be continued.