There is therefore now no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit.
For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus hath made me free from the law of sin and death.
That the Christian Life is not lived by will-power is a lesson many believers are exceedingly slow to learn. Consciously or unconsciously they depend on their own strength of will in order to maintain the standard which they believe to be the Christian standard.
The man who is presented to us in Romans 7 was one who drew upon his will-power in order to live a triumphant life. His will was set to do the will of God. He was bent on doing good and shunning evil; but he was under a serious misapprehension. He thought that to shun evil and to do good was a matter of determination. He had not seen that doing evil is the natural outworking of the one law and doing good is the natural outworking of another law; therefore human effort to please God is futile.
Many Christians, like the man in Romans 7, are intent on pleasing God and, like him, are amazed that, despite their fixed desire to please Him, they constantly do things they know must grieve Him. They can say as he said: "Not what I would that do I practice; but what I hate, that I do." Oh, if only they could realize that will-power is not the power for Christian living!
Brothers and Sisters, perhaps some of you are unaware that you are trying to live the Christian life by drawing on your own resources. Let me ask you: When you meet a difficulty do you not pull yourself together in order to overcome it? Do you not keep a firm hold on yourself lest you act in any way that is unbecoming to a child of God? Are you not all the time exercising care lest you lower the Christian standard? The trouble is, we are trying to DO certain things in order to BE a certain kind of person. We have reversed the order. A Christian should ACT as a Christian because he IS a Christian. The right kind of Life spontaneously produces the right kind of behavior.
Do you not see where the trouble lies? We are trying all the time to counter the tendencies of our natural life. Little wonder that the strain is too much for us! 
