LAW
OF THE SPIRIT
THE OPPOSITE of the law of sin and death is the law of the Spirit. This law overrides sin and death. The law of gravity says what goes up must come down. However, when you get in an airplane, there is another law at work—the law of aerodynamics. This law says that if an object moves at a certain speed, and with a certain thrust, it will be able to climb out of gravity’s pull. When an airplane flies, gravity hasn’t stop being “gravitational”; it has simply stopped being in control. The law of aerodynamics sets you free from the law of the pull of gravity.
The law of sin and death is always at work. But when you combine the combustion of the Holy Spirit with the speed of obedience, a new law lifts you higher and into a new plane of spiritual life and victory. We ought to be rising higher, saints! You ought not to be living under the circumstances. You ought to be flying above the circumstances because you have an aerodynamic Holy Spirit. You have a law that transcends sin and death.
When Christians learn to operate by the law of the Spirit, the reality of the law of sin and death doesn’t disappear. The pull of sin and death is still operational but is no longer in control.555
[Grace, Power of; Justification; Law of Sin and Death]
Rom. 8:2; Heb. 7:18–19
HAVE you ever seen a sidewalk turned inside out all because a little acorn fell in between a crack? As an acorn sprouts, it sends its roots deep down into the ground and over time that tiny acorn becomes a little oak tree. Now, a little acorn can’t move sidewalks, but if it is set free to be what it was created to be, you no longer have a little acorn, you’ve got an oak on your hands. When that oak begins to grow between the crevices of the sidewalk, it moves concrete because the law of the oak transcends the law of the concrete. The concrete must now move over to give room for the law of the growth of the oak represented in the acorn.
When you accepted Jesus Christ, you received the acorn of the Spirit who wants to become the oak of your life, so that He can move aside the concrete of the problems that you face and the circumstances that you are involved in.556
[Holy Spirit, Power of; New Life in Christ]
Rom. 7:24–25; Titus 3:3–7; Heb. 7:28
THERE’S a law that we have in our legal world. It’s called the law of double jeopardy. The law of double jeopardy simply says that you can’t be tried twice for the same crime. Jesus has already been tried for your crimes, so you are under no obligation to the flesh because God has already pronounced the sentence on it. It’s already been judged. Don’t enter into the law of double jeopardy. Don’t let the flesh try you again when it’s already been pronounced guilty! You have no obligation to it.557
[Christ, Freedom in; Justification; Sin, Victory over]
Rom. 5:1; 8:13; 2 Cor. 5:15; 1 Peter 2:24
IF I AM holding a pen and let the pen have its way, the law of gravity will take over. If my pen could speak, it might have said, “Leave me alone. Let me have my own way.” The reality is that if the pen in my hand has its own way and is independent of me, it won’t be independent of gravity. It will fall.
The law of the flesh says, “Yes. You can please yourself.” But the law of the flesh will also then determine the direction you are headed.
When I reach down and pick up that pen, there is another law at work. I will not have canceled the law of gravity. It will still be in effect, but I will be overriding it with the power that I have to pick it up off the floor. Gravity will still be in effect but it just won’t be ruling. Why? Because it does not have life. I do. The life of the Spirit, which gives life, can overrule the law of the flesh, which pulls you down.558
[Grace, Power of; Justification; Law of Sin and Death]
Rom. 8:2; Heb. 7:18–19