Rom 8:13 (NIV) For if you live according to the sinful nature, you will die; but if BY the Spirit YOU put to death the misdeeds of the body, you will live. Not only does it take faith to fulfill this Scripture, it takes training. You must know what salvation is doing for you; and, you must learn how to apply another process to your body. Salvation opened the door for you apply the principles of sanctification to your body and win over it. Let Jesus explain salvation and sanctification to you.

Eph 2:8-9 (NIV) For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith--and this not from yourselves, it is the gift of God--not by works, so that no one can boast. You got your perfect record with God through grace. Grace is a free gift from God that you can’t deserve, earn, buy, trade for, steal, or demand. When you did what Romans 10:9-10 told you to do, you got saved and justified through the gift of God’s grace. You instantly became a child of God, a member of His family, and a citizen of His eternal kingdom.

Rom 8:13 (NIV) For if you live according to the sinful nature, you will die; but if BY the Spirit YOU put to death the misdeeds of the body, you will live. Those things were sins that you used think, feel, say, and do against the Bible. And, Rom 6:23a (NIV) For the wages of SIN is death.... So, if Jesus forgave you of your sins yesterday and you sinned today, you would be facing death today. If you didn’t do what it took to “get saved” again, you would die in your sins. But, Jesus’ blood was a much more powerful cure than that.

Rom 7:15 (NIV) I do not understand what I do. For what I WANT to do I do not do, but what I HATE I do. Because you have this attitude, the things that you think, feel, say, and do that are against the Bible are misdeeds and not sins. This gives you time to learn how to BY the Spirit YOU put to death the misdeeds of the body. As long as you have this WANT and HATE attitude, you are free from your misdeeds becoming sins that would kill you. And, you are demonstrating that you have them by pursuing the solution to your misdeed problems.

1 Cor 6:19-20 (NIV) Do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit, Who is IN you, Whom you have received from God? You are not your own; you were bought at a price. Therefore honor God with your body. Since you have been trained by the Holy Spirit from the Word of God on how to resist, and since you have the Holy Spirit’s empowerment to resist, and since you have faith in God’s Word and the Spirit’s empowerment, you can do what you could not do before. BUT, you may not be aware of the fact you CAN do it.

Rom 7:24 (NIV) What a wretched man I am! Who will rescue me from this body of death? Jesus wants to take you from “O wretched man”, which is an intense desire to start living a godly life with yourself, other people, and God, to for what the law was powerless to do in that it was weakened by the sinful nature, God did by sending His own Son in the likeness of sinful man to be a sin offering. And so He condemned sin in sinful man, 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 (Rom 8:3-4 ).

“Fully met in us” is talking about salvation AND sanctification (spiritual growth). The first part of “fully met in us” is through salvation: the righteous requirements of the law are FULLY MET in you during your grace period. Now that your sins have been turned into misdeeds, that gives you the time you need to learn how to actually think, feel, say, and do those things the Bible requires you to do. This perfect record keeps you pure WHILE you are learning how to live a pure life. Pray and ask God to help you take total advantage of your grace period.

The second part of “fully met in us” is through sanctification: the righteous requirements of the law might be FULLY MET in you, who do not live according to the sinful nature but according to the Spirit. The two parts to this Scripture are currently being CREDITED to your record, WHILE you are learning how to live the righteous requirements of the law. Let Jesus show you what this means.

• God CONSIDERS you as having the righteous requirements of the law being FULLY MET in you while you are learning how to actually live them.


• God CONSIDERS you as being one who does not live according to the sinful nature but according to the Spirit. while you are learning how to actually live according to the Spirit.

You learning how to actually live according to the Spirit is the PROCESS of transformation. Through sanctification, transformation is taking place where you are actually living more and more of the Christian life. Those things that were “credited” to your record, as if you WERE living them, are now starting to be TRULY lived out in your life. Prior to this, your mind could make all the decisions it wanted to and you would still be controlled by your body. Now with the creation power of the Bible, and the power and training of the Holy Spirit, and by you BELIEVING that God is providing you the power, you are starting to DO what you are wanting to do.

Rom 12:10 (NIV) Be devoted to one another in brotherly love. Honor one another above yourselves. Rom 12:18 (NIV) If it is possible, as far as it depends on you, live at peace with everyone. When your behavior is only credited to your record with God, Biblical requirements and enhancements are missing from your life. The way you actually treat yourself and others is basically the same as it was prior to your salvation. But, as you learn how to appy sanctification to your life, your behavior improves in a beautiful way.

The miraculous results you got from doing what Romans 10:8-10 instructed you to do will happen in your sanctification process. Confessing with you mouth and believing in your heart are the tools that walk you through the various processes of sanctification. The basic meaning of sanctification is spiritual growth. You will be moving away from the influences of your body, the world, and the devil. You will be making yourself available to Jesus, the Holy Spirit, and the Bible.

In your next study and prayer time, Jesus will break down into smaller steps the process of starting to DO or starting to live through sanctification (spiritual growth). Spend some time looking back at the time when you made Jesus your Savior and Lord of your life. See if you can remember telling people that you were a Christian. Do you remember telling people that Jesus is your Lord? Do you remember when you first started realizing that God raised Jesus from the dead? If you can’t, that is okay. Just allow Jesus to teach you what it was all about.