THE GLORY OF GOD ( PART 27 )
Pastor Christopher Choo
Lesson 3325
THE GLORY OF GOD ( PART 27 )
From Glory to Glory ( Study 6 )
Romans 8 is a chapter that needs to be re-taught time and again.
In Romans 7, Paul was struggling in his flesh to overcome sin since he became a believer. But he was failing. Sounds familiar?
In another place, the apostle says with candid honesty, “That Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners of whom I am the chief” (1 Timothy 1:15).
He even called himself a wretched man who is in need of deliverance. This is not the deliverance from the penalty of sin—that was paid for on the Cross—but deliverance from the power of sin - the painful process of Sanctification where we have to rely on the power of the Holy Spirit in us to counter the power of sin that remains in our flesh.
Romans 8 exposes the struggle between the spiritual nature and the flesh ( mind, will, emotion, bodies ) in which it resides, but most importantly presents us with the tremendous hope and confidence in our salvation: “There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus” (Romans 8:1).
One day believers will be completely freed from the body of death in which we live when we are glorified with Christ in heaven, but until that day we rely on the power of the Spirit who indwells us and gives us victory in the ongoing battle with sin.
Abba Father, today's devotion is important in that it teaches us that believers cannot overcome sin on their own - not by their good intentions, mind over matter practices, asceticism, or other vain philosophies of men. We simply need the power of the Holy Spirit to overcome the sin that remains in our flesh and thought life. Paul pointedly says that the Holy Spirit resides in our hearts ( Romans 5:5 ) or spirit as some theologians describe it. We have to allow the Holy Spirit to outflow from our hearts and completely saturate our thought life and bodies in daily acts of Sanctification as a form of discipline. Otherwise, sin remains to ensnare us and rob us of our full potential to be dynamic for Christ.
P.S. I propose to make this clearer in tomorrow's devotion to Romans 8:1 to explain the meaning of "no condemnation ". Please stay tuned! 😀
