If we are born again of the Spirit, we have entered into the race of faith...whether we are willing participants or not. We are not to change God's ways to feel secure at whatever stage we are at.
The error that so many make is to pit righteousness against holiness, instead of seeing these as complimentary....as in..."From righteousness unto holiness." Instead, these will claim to be something they are not. Losing both holiness AND righteousness in the process.
We see the progression of a faithful believer "from righteousness unto holiness," or at least God expects us to discover, through faith and humility, what the race of faith is all about. Nobody goes into Romans 8 without the humiliation of realizing we are unable to advance just by wanting to. That is by fully taking in the Romans 7 experience of futility. For many, Romans 7 is a dead end…like the Israelites coming up against the Red Sea. It will take a miracle to proceed.
So we are to progress from Romans 6 to Romans 8...or we should be honest and try to do so.
Romans 6 is about a change of lifestyle, from sin to righteousness, that we can assume everyone here has experienced at least .... through redemption and regeneration of the Spirit. But the flesh is yet to be fully dealt with by the cross.
Romans 6:19 "I speak after the manner of men because of the infirmity of your flesh: for as ye have yielded your members servants to uncleanness and to iniquity unto iniquity; even so now yield your members servants to righteousness unto holiness."
Moving forward, Romans 7 is about being honest about a lack of power to fully overcome sin. Paul is honest about it. He lays out the scandal of desiring to do what is right but falling short...missing the power to fulfill what he so ardently desires to do. Most people in our time are not honest about this. Instead they will claim that Romans 6 is sufficient, since there is no such thing as the higher walk. When these encounter the same difficulties as Paul did...they will elevate the Romans 6 walk by pushing out all the righteous, to have it for themselves...rather than admit their own weakness and move forward BY FAITH.
Romans 8 is about the walk in the victory of Christ...above sin. So few have experienced that level of walk so as to make it that a kingdom man is as rare as the gold of Ophir...as was prophesied. Where is the faith?
So many are as the servant who buried his talent. Instead of moving forward into the deeper walk...most will remain smug and begin to judge others unrighteously...holding the truth but in unrighteousness....naming and claiming to have all they need in a state of destitution and poverty. Claiming to be rich, they are made blind and poor. They end up serving themselves and defending their status instead of humbling themselves and being instructed in righteousness. The regeneration for these, rather than helping them forward becomes a stumbling-block because of a reliance on the flesh and the unrenewed mind. They don't enter into the kingdom realm of the Spirit because of unbelief. And they will not tolerate correction of any kind. They will use the bible as an excuse to be smug and to not walk out what they have begun with by the grace of God. They remain unchanged in their stubborn reliance on vain religion rather than on the Lord.
The error that so many make is to pit righteousness against holiness, instead of seeing these as complimentary....as in..."From righteousness unto holiness." Instead, these will claim to be something they are not. Losing both holiness AND righteousness in the process.
We see the progression of a faithful believer "from righteousness unto holiness," or at least God expects us to discover, through faith and humility, what the race of faith is all about. Nobody goes into Romans 8 without the humiliation of realizing we are unable to advance just by wanting to. That is by fully taking in the Romans 7 experience of futility. For many, Romans 7 is a dead end…like the Israelites coming up against the Red Sea. It will take a miracle to proceed.
So we are to progress from Romans 6 to Romans 8...or we should be honest and try to do so.
Romans 6 is about a change of lifestyle, from sin to righteousness, that we can assume everyone here has experienced at least .... through redemption and regeneration of the Spirit. But the flesh is yet to be fully dealt with by the cross.
Romans 6:19 "I speak after the manner of men because of the infirmity of your flesh: for as ye have yielded your members servants to uncleanness and to iniquity unto iniquity; even so now yield your members servants to righteousness unto holiness."
Moving forward, Romans 7 is about being honest about a lack of power to fully overcome sin. Paul is honest about it. He lays out the scandal of desiring to do what is right but falling short...missing the power to fulfill what he so ardently desires to do. Most people in our time are not honest about this. Instead they will claim that Romans 6 is sufficient, since there is no such thing as the higher walk. When these encounter the same difficulties as Paul did...they will elevate the Romans 6 walk by pushing out all the righteous, to have it for themselves...rather than admit their own weakness and move forward BY FAITH.
Romans 8 is about the walk in the victory of Christ...above sin. So few have experienced that level of walk so as to make it that a kingdom man is as rare as the gold of Ophir...as was prophesied. Where is the faith?
So many are as the servant who buried his talent. Instead of moving forward into the deeper walk...most will remain smug and begin to judge others unrighteously...holding the truth but in unrighteousness....naming and claiming to have all they need in a state of destitution and poverty. Claiming to be rich, they are made blind and poor. They end up serving themselves and defending their status instead of humbling themselves and being instructed in righteousness. The regeneration for these, rather than helping them forward becomes a stumbling-block because of a reliance on the flesh and the unrenewed mind. They don't enter into the kingdom realm of the Spirit because of unbelief. And they will not tolerate correction of any kind. They will use the bible as an excuse to be smug and to not walk out what they have begun with by the grace of God. They remain unchanged in their stubborn reliance on vain religion rather than on the Lord.