John 10:10 (Amplified) says, "The thief comes only in order to steal and kill and destroy. I came that they may have and enjoy life, and have it in abundance (to the full, till it overflows)."
The abundant, joyful and overflowing Life, is the very restored and resurrected Life with the Spirit of God through Jesus. We have had a difficult time enjoying this new life because of the condemnation of the dead man we were. We have failed to appropriate the fullness of this new life because we've never learned how to live life to the fullness.
Sometimes, it sounds like we never really got born again. We say we've received Jesus as our Lord and Savior. We declare that our sins have been cleansed and remitted, but then we try holding onto the condemnation of those sins. Everything seems to contradict what we're learning here because we try living in the deadness of the old man. The flesh still wants to rule us by our senses and the Spirit wants to lead us by His truth.
We've been given the very Life of God and we don't know how to live in it. The changes we have to make in order to live this new life, seem to be too many to make. If you were moving from California to Alaska, then you'd have to change the way you live. Surfing will become sledding, coats will replace shorts, and your entire way of life will necessarily need to change. The life you have is the same life, but there needs to be a new way to live it.
Jesus gave us the Life of the Spirit of God Himself when we were born again. We received the life, but continued trying to operate the same way we had before we received it. We didn't learn to change our habits and ways of doing things. We still wanted to dress and live the way that was appropriate for California, but it was difficult to do in Alaska. We tried surfing, but the ice made it impossible. We tried wearing shorts, but the temperature was greatly uncomfortable.
We tried to live in the old death of the spirit and force the flesh to walk in the newness of life. Romans 8:1-2 (Amplified) says, "Therefore (there is) now no condemnation (no adjudging guilty of wrong) for those who are in Christ Jesus, who live (and) walk not after the dictates of the flesh, but after the dictates of the Spirit."
Who walks without condemnation ? Those who are saved? No! Those who do not walk according to the dictates of the flesh, but according to the Spirit, walk without condemnation. Romans 8:1 (Amplified) says, "There is now no condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus, who don't live by the flesh but by the Spirit." Notice that they are both in Christ Jesus? One lives in the condemnation by the flesh and the other lives without condemnation by the Spirit. They were both in Christ Jesus.
Romans 8:2 (Amplified) tells us why we can walk above the condemnation of the flesh saying, "For the Law of the Spirit of Life (which is) in Christ Jesus (the Law of our new being) has freed me from the Law of sin and of death."
These verses tells us that even though both persons were "in Christ Jesus," one walked in the Law of the Spirit of Life and one was walking under the Law of Sin and death. Life had come to both persons "who are in Christ Jesus," but only one of them learned how to Live, while the other didn't make the change. Both were "in Life," but one still walked in death. Notice that death didn't walk in him, but he was walking in death. Although the individual was saved, cleansed, declared righteous and given God's Own life, he still walked in the death and condemnation of the flesh.
In Romans 8:3 (Amplified), we ready why it's possible to walk in this joyful, abundant and overflowing life, without condemnation. Thus, it says, "For God has done what the Law could not do, (its power) being weakened by the flesh (the entire nature of man without the guise of sinful flesh and as an offering for sin, (God) condemned sin in the flesh (subdued, overcame, deprived it of its power over all who accept that sacrifice."
You can see that it's not a matter of whether we have life now, but whether we will learn how to live. If we continue trying to live in the flesh like we did before, the flesh will always fail you and bring you the same condemnation you had before being saved. If we learn to live in the Spirit, then we'll be able to "enjoy this Life to the full, till it overflows, and is now abundant Life to you."
It seems like we've read the entire chapter of Romans 8 and only centered in one one verse to justify our lack of learning how to live. We came up with, "All things work together for the good," and failed to read what that chapter was saying. First of all, that isn't what the true verse says. Secondly, what are "all things" that Romans 8 spoke about?
By reading this chapter by the flesh, we've determined that "all things" meant car accidents, cancer, sickness, death, divorce, drugs, poverty and whatever else we might throw into the mix, work together for our good. That's not what it says !
What it does say, is that this Life we've been given and this new creation that we've become, are clean before God even though the flesh may still try to condemn you. It says that, in Jesus Christ, if we will learn how to live this new life we've been given, then we will walk above the lies of the old, dead man we were and walk in the joy of the Life we now have in Jesus.
The old, dead nature of the lost man, still wants to rule over the new creation. We are to live after the dictates of the Spirit of Life in Christ Jesus and not after the dictates of the flesh. The only way to live and enjoy the life that John 10:10 speaks about, is to live by the Spirit despite of the flesh. We already have this new, abundant, overflowing life, but we don't want to change from the way we've always done things to live it.
It no longer matters what the dead or flesh part of you says. You are not walking and living by and through the flesh, but by and through the Spirit of Life in Christ Jesus. The flesh could never fulfill the demands of God's holiness. Romans 8:3 says that God has done what the Law could not do because of the weakness of the flesh. If you still live in the weakness of the flesh instead of the newness of the Spirit, then you will never learn how to live and enjoy this abundant life we now share with Christ.
When I say that we have to learn how to live, it's because the Word and the Holy Spirit keep telling us to be spiritually minded. Romans 8:14 (Amplified) says, "For all who are led by the Spirit of God are sons (mature) of God."
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