We continue in our series on repentance. A path to a transformed life. We saw that: Repentance is progressive. It is not a once upon a time event that I admitted that I am a sinner. It is possible to admit that you a sinner and never really change. Repentance is a path that a true Christian follows throughout the entire course of his Christian life.
Now let me ask you this question: How much do you know God? if you know God a little, you will change a little. As you come to know God more, you will change more. If you come to know God much, you will change much. The way we change into the likeness of Christ, is also by beholding God’s glory. The more I see of the glory of God, the more I am going to change. This is a huge principle in Christian growth.
“Fight the good fight of faith. Take hold of the eternal life to which you were called and about which you made the good confession in the presence of many witnesses.” – 1 Timothy 6:12
In this sermon we explore what faith is, how we loose faith, and how we can grow in faith. what is the difference between humanistic faith, Christlike faith, and the gift of faith
Let us start this session by again looking at a definition of repentance. Repentance is turning from as much as you know of your sin, to give as much as much as you know of yourself, to as much as you know of God.If you have ever said, “I just can’t change!” you need to meet the man in the Bible who could not repent. What stood between Esau and repentance? How is real and lasting change possible?
“Then they journeyed from Mount Hor by the Way of the Red Sea, to go around the land of Edom and the soul of the people became very discouraged on the way” (Numbers 21:4)
It says; by the way: “Along the way”. One translation says, “Because of the way God led them”.
“And the people spoke against God and against Moses: ‘Why have you brought us out of Egypt to die in the wilderness? For there is no food, no water, our soul loathes this worthless bread’. So, the Lord sent fiery serpents among them, and they bit the people. And many of the people of Israel died. Therefore the people came to Moses, and said, ‘We have sinned'”, (they got a revelation and they repent), “‘We have sinned, for we have spoken against the Lord and against you. Pray to the Lord that He take away the serpents from us.’ So Moses prayed for the people. Then the Lord said to Moses, ‘Make a fiery serpent, and set it on a pole. And it shall be that everyone who is bitten, when he looks at it, shall live.’ So Moses made a bronze serpent, put it on a pole. Raised it up. And so it was, if a serpent had bitten anyone, when he looked at the bronze serpent, he lived”. (Numbers 21:5-9)
Great danger of Discouragement I want to focus this morning on the theme of the danger, the great, great, great, great danger, of discouragement. May God by His Spirit through His servant gives you the remedy, give you the answer to it right here today.
Ministering on the aspect of discouragement, a well-known preacher refers to a Christmas time movie called: It’s a Wonderful Life. How many of you have ever seen that movie? In that movie the main character is a guy by the name of George Bailey. And George Bailey’s a good guy, but he gets into extremely hard times, feeling discouraged, and even contemplates suicide. But thank God for the power of the friendship of fellow believers. He had some friends who got together and prayed for him. And when they prayed, in the movie, it touches heaven, and there is an angel who is in charge of all the angels in heaven, and he turns to one of the junior angels, and he says, “It’s time for you to earn your wings, and your assignment if you want to earn your wings, you will get your wings if you succeed in this. Your assignment is to go down and help George Bailey”.
And the junior angel said to the senior angel, “Well, before I go, tell me, what’s wrong with George Bailey? Is he sick? Does he have some horrible disease”? And the senior angel’s answer is a classic. He said, “Worse than that, he is discouraged”. Worse than some horrible disease, he is discouraged.
The devil knows that the greatest thing he can use against the believer is discouragement. Because you’re never really defeated until you’re defeated on the inside.
We see here in Numbers that the people of God were discouraged. It is the people of God, not the devil’s crowd. It is possible for the people of God to get low, and to get discouraged. Probably some walked in here today not willing to admit that they feel discouraged. We almost feel ashamed, almost feel embarrassed, almost feel guilty that we are discouraged. We don’t want anybody to know that we’re discouraged. I doubt when you turned to your neighbour, and said, “Hello”, or whatever, they spoke up and said, “I’m really discouraged today. I feel like quitting. I’m thinking about just… I’ll tell you I’ve had it. It’s been tough”. Nobody does that, and yet, it’s almost like we ignore the dangers of prolonged discouragement. It is of utmost importance to understand what really causes discouragement.
The way
Right here in this text in Numbers the Bible says they were discouraged because of the way. They were discouraged because of the way of God. Yes, that is what is said; because of the way of God.
And usually, when people get discouraged, it’s because of the way that God is leading them. Many expect God to lead them on their way and not His way. You thought that God’s way would be an easy way, and it’s a hard, wilderness way.
The why
And on top of that, the why of God. When you don’t have answers for your questions and no explanations as to why it seems everything is going wrong. . They were saying, “Why are we in this desert? Why are we going through this? Why are we in this wilderness? Why”?
The wait
And then on top of that, you’re waiting and waiting and waiting. The ‘way’ of God, the ‘why’ of God, and then the ‘wait’, the waiting on God. It’s been too long and something should’ve happened by now. This breeds discouragement.
Symptoms of Discouragement
Don’t compare
Discouragement is born when we compare ourselves with somebody else. When we begin to compare ourselves with somebody else. But what will cause treat joy to come to your life? If you would stop comparing yourself to other people, and you would just remember where you came from. Yes, remember where you started, and remember how much God has blessed you. You will then be doing more, and you will be seeing more, and you will be achieving more.
If you start comparing yourself with someone else, you can get discouraged, discouraged because they’re doing more than you’re doing. The greatest way for me out of discouragement, is to get up on feet and praise the Lord, thinking about where I came from. Just think about where God started with me and where I am today. It is not encouraging to compare yourself with others. What is encouraging is to remember how far you have come, and where you started. Therefore, give Him the praise for that!
Think about that for just a moment. Let a light goes on in your soul right there! Look at you. Look at the life you got. Look at how God has blessed you. You are here today! god is the One that gives life and gives it in abundance. And you’re discouraged? Is it because you are comparing yourself to somebody else?
Want fruit out of season
Another area that causes discouragement, and this is so important, is trying to force fruit out of season. The Bible says as long as the earth exists, there’s seed, time, and harvest. There is seed, and there is the promise, but in between there is time. Notice; seed, time, promise. You can’t ignore the time.
The Bible says, “And let us not grow weary of doing good, for in due season we will reap, if we do not give up.” (Galatians 6:9)
So, hear the Word of the Lord today, “don’t give up!” There are many people trying to get fruit in the season before it’s due. You cannot force something to happen out of season and therefore you have to learn to wait. But many people get discouraged.
Loss of vision
Another symptom of discouragement is the loss of vision. Discouragement will make your vision become blurry and unclear. When your vision in life becomes blurry and unclear you don’t know where you are going. Discouragement interferes with your vision and when you had some kind of setback your direction becomes blurry and unclear. That’s discouragement. You need to recognize it. It’s a dangerous thing to not recognize when you’re really discouraged.
Loss of enthusiasm
Discouragement will cause a loss of enthusiasm about life, about God, about purpose, about life in general, about everything. A discouraged person is a person who has lost passion and enthusiasm. Without enthusiasm there cannot be growth.
Isolation
Isolation is a glaring symptom of discouragement. The devil wants you to isolate yourself, to pull away from people, to pull away from family, to pull away from church. You then get discouraged and depressed. You cave in emotionally and separate and isolate yourself. So, any time the enemy isolates you, it’s to devastate you. When you feel least like coming to church, that’s the sign you need to get here the most.
Paralysis
Another symptom of discouragement is paralysis. Discouragement will freeze your actions. The paralysis of analysis. You are discouraged and you are afraid to do anything, and too afraid to take any chance or risk.
How long will you hover between two different opinions? “Elijah came near to all the people and said; ‘How long will you go limping between two different opinions? If the Lord is God, follow Him; but if Baal, then follow him’. And the people did not answer him a word.” (1 Kings 18:21)
In other words, you know, if you are not careful, discouragement will get you limping and halt your advancement in your spiritual growth. It will cause you to just not trust your own judgment, and you will not have the courage to make the right decision.
Effected speech
Discouragement, notice this in the Bible, will affect your speech. “And the people spoke against God and against Moses: ‘Why have you brought us out of Egypt to die in the wilderness? For there is no food, no water, our soul loathes this worthless bread.” (Numbers 21:5)
When they got discouraged, they started murmuring and complaining, and discouragement always shows up in your talk. Your words will be slurred with negativism. Your words will be slurred with whining and self-pity.
Loss of inspiration
Another symptom and sign of discouragement is a loss of inspiration. A loss of motivation. A loss of aggression about life, and get up and when your get up and go has got up and went, you’re discouraged. Discouragement is the despair of wounded self-love. Discouragement produces cowards. The very word discouragement means to basically just suck the courage out, drawl and drain the courage out of a person.
Loosing courage
To be discouraged is to lose all courage. You will not step out, you will not risk, you will not try. Discouragement will make of me a coward if I let it stay.
I want to pause right here now in the middle of this message. There are people here this morning that are discouraged. I want you to let it get in your spirit!
In the name of Jesus Christ, I come against negativism, despair, hopelessness, fear, despondency, depression, disgust, frustrations, feelings of failure, thoughts of quitting, thoughts of giving up, thoughts of suicide! I’m here today to tell you that God is greater than your discouragement, much greater than this virus, much greater than this economy! And I call for the power of the name of Jesus to release new faith, new vision, new hope, new confidence, new determination, new zeal, new enthusiasm, new courage, right now in Jesus Almighty name! Baptize us, saturate us, shower and engulf us with courage! Be encouraged in Jesus Name! Know God is greater than gossip! He’s greater than haters! He’s greater than people tearing you up on Facebook! He is greater than anyone coming to discourage you! He is the great I AM! In Christ all things are possible.
Talk to someone
The danger of discouragement has been minimized, talk to someone. Don’t play with it but rather get help. There’s nothing wrong with telling somebody, “I’m discouraged, I’m depressed, and I can’t get out. I can’t get up”. There’s no shame in it.
There’s nothing wrong with going to your pastor, to your life group leader, or to a qualified counsellor of your church, and saying, “Help. I am in something and I can’t cope, I just feel like giving up”. Reach out for help for there is help right here. We’ve all been there. I may need your help next week, but this week, I feel pretty good and therefore I can help you. Somebody can help you.
Don’t be ashamed to say, “I’m discouraged”. If somebody asks you: “How you feeling”? be honest and say: “I don’t feel nothing. I don’t feel good, and I don’t feel like the favour of God is shining brightly on my spirit. I don’t feel that. I feel like quitting. I feel like giving up”.
You ever felt that way? Did God see you through? Measure your problem against God, not yourself. We see the devastation of discouragement in John chapter one when the Bible talks about John the Baptist when he was first introduced to Jesus. He said, “And John bore witness: I saw the Spirit descend from heaven like a dove, and it remained on Him. … And I have seen and bore witness that this is the Son of God.” (John 1:32,34)
John said that Jesus is the Lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world. And there’s rejoicing, but a few months later, he got arrested. John is in trouble and discouraged, and he sent word by his disciples to ask Jesus if He really is the One.
See the danger of discouragement. Discouragement will cause you to question what you previously affirmed about your faith in God. Discouragement will begin to get you to ask questions about, “did I really see the Spirit descend? Did that really happen? Did I really hear that voice? Did God really confirm to me? Am I really baptized by the Holy Spirit into Christ? Discouragement will cause you to question your salvation, your visitation, and question your personal revelation.
Pastor, leader, believer; there are things that can come in life that will make you wonder about your faith in Christ. Wonder about that experience that you had in an altar, was that voice real? Make you second-guess what you said Jesus was to you. Make you question the will of God. How can a loving God let this happen?
That is when you have to rise in your seasons of discouragement and boldly declare: “There is no God like Jehovah! I may not see the dove anymore, I may not hear the voice anymore, I may not feel the flutter and the joy of the Lord in this particular season that I am walking through, but I declare boldly; “There is no God like Jehovah! He is still God!”
I want you to see the doorway to discouragement! In Psalms 73, David found himself so discouraged, he wanted to quit. He says, “Truly, God is good to Israel, to those who are pure of heart. But as for me, my feet had almost stumbled, my steps had nearly slipped. For I was envious of the arrogant, when I saw the prosperity of the wicked.” (Psalm 73:1-3)
He is saying: Look at Israel, God is good to them but what about me? That’s discouragement talking. He won’t favor me and help me. He won’t bless me. “Look at the wicked, they are always at ease, they increase in riches.” He was envious of wicked people.
In other words, he was saying, “I’m living clean, I’m living right, and this is not working for me. This faith in God is not working. They’re doing better and they worship idols. This is not working for me.” This is a discouraged man. The question is, how did he get there? You have to back up one verse into the previous chapter, “The prayers of David, the son of Jesse, are ended.” (Psalm 72:20)
The danger of prayerlessness
Very important to grasp that the door to discouragement is prayerlessness. When he said; “I am done praying, guess what? That opened the door, and he steps into that next chapter full of sliding and sliding back, and discouragement came. “I am the exception, and God’s not with me, and I’m going under, and I’m not going to make it!”
That is how you get discouraged, when you stop praying, when you stop asking, when you stop praising, when you stop coming to church. And as you isolating yourself, you go deeper and deeper into discouragement. I’m so glad you came to church today and I thank God for it because we don’t have to leave the same as we came!
Start sharing your anointing
Elijah got in a cave of discouragement, and God told him to do something. He said, “All right. I want you to come out of this cave of discouragement. Jezebel ran you in here Elijah, and you’ve been discouraged, and you said, ‘Kill me,’ and, ‘I feel like quitting.'” But He said, “Here’s what I want you to do. If you want you to come out of your cave of discouragement and go anoint three people”. (1 Kings 19:9, 15-16)
In other words, start sharing your anointing if you want be encouraged. If you want to be encouraged, you have to go encourage somebody. As long as you are focused on self, and self-pity, you are not going to get encouraged. But He said, “I want you to start sharing your anointing”.
You know what, I am anointed to preach and I am anointed to teach and share the gospel. And you know what I’ve learned? That when I am discouraged, and if I share my anointing, if I preach and teach in those seasons when I am discouraged, that’s when some of my better sermons and teachings come. There is something when you are in your own cave of discouragement, and you begin to share the anointing, things start changing and things start happening!
He said, “Elijah, go anoint some people”. Too many times we get so centred on our situation. Why don’t you call somebody if you’re discouraged, and encourage them? Why don’t you check up on somebody? Why don’t you hug somebody? Why don’t you take somebody out to lunch? Why don’t you encourage somebody? Why don’t you pray for somebody? When you share your anointing, God will bring you out.
That time, this time, every time
Let us close with this: Pray, praise, lift Him up, look up, keep looking up! The devil does not mind you celebrating and remembering that time in your past that you made it through. And he really doesn’t mind you believing that some time, way out there, God is going to turn your battle into victory.
But the enemy wants to convince you that this time you not going to make it and wants to keep you discouraged. This time, you’re not going get out. This time, there’s no way you’re going to bounce back. That is what he wants you to believe for he knows what God can do for you and that makes him nervous.
But I’ve got a message for the devil. We believe your lies no more! And I am writing right here on the souls of my shoes! That Time, This Time, and Every Time God will not fail me! Everybody say, “That time, this time, and every time, God will not forget me. God will not forsake me. God will not fail me”.
Now, wait a minute. That time, how many of you’ve got a ‘that time’ that you can look back on? This time, and every time. God will not fail you and God will not fail me! God’s healing you. If you need help, get help. But God brought you to this service this morning to heal you, of chronic discouragement!
David encouraged himself in the Lord. And when you get that down in your soul, there is a new thing you tell the devil from now on. If you don’t get nothing else out of this sermon, take home this piece. That time, this time, and every time, God will not fail me. God will not forget me. God will not forsake me!
Say it bold! That time, and I need somebody to shout over that time. You know that time, when the enemy whispered, “Take your life”. The enemy whispered, “There’s no recovery”. The enemy whispered, “You’ll never get through this”. That divorce, that whatever, that disaster, but God said, “I’m going see you through”. That time!
This time! Somebody, shout over your very circumstance right now, “He’s big and He is in control. This time and every time!”
And every time! Here is a big one, somebody shout, “Over every time”. Get up on your feet and give God a great, great praise, because He encourages His people!
You can stay discouraged if you want to, or you can look up and lift Him up, and begin to pray, yes begin to pray, and God will begin to restore encouragement into you.
We come from all kinds of different backgrounds, so it seems that the word repentance is to trigger off all kinds of different thoughts in our minds. And frankly your first reaction to a series on repentance probably reveals a great deal about what your understanding of repentance actually is.
“Just so, I tell you, there will be more joy in heaven over one sinner who repents than over ninety-nine righteous persons who need no repentance” – Luke 15:7
Please open your Bible at 2 Samuel 12. Here we follow the life of David. The life of David is really like a story in three parts—his trials, his triumphs and in here we in his troubles. Troubles dominated the last chapter of David’s life, and as you study David’s life, you will see that he brought these troubles on himself by his own sin and folly. David committed the sins of adultery and murder and what he did “displeased the Lord” (2 Samuel 11:27).
David said to Nathan, “I have sinned against the Lord.” (2 Samuel 12:13)
Here is a man who genuinely loved God. But he had over time carved out an area of his life that was never submitted to the authority of the Lord. He allowed sin to build a position of strength and power in his own heart, and that led him to a place where he did things that, in the earlier years of his life, he would never have imagined himself doing.
Sometimes it is helpful when you are reading the Bible to ask, “What do I expect to happen next?” what will happen next in this life that David lived up to now. Today, I want us to see what David did next, and what God did next.
What will David do?
Surely what comes after David committing these two heinous sins—adultery and murder this man who walked with God will come to the most profound repentance, but that’s not what happens. By the time we get to second Samuel chapter 12, the child is born. That means more than nine months have passed since David committed these sins, and has there been any repentance? None whatsoever. David has simply covered up and moved on.
Here’s the first thing we learn from this story: The natural sequel to sin is not repentance. If you think that sins are just natural leads to repentance, that is not naturally the case. This is a pattern in the Bible. You see this pattern from the very beginning in Genesis. God places Adam and Eve in a beautiful garden. Everything is provided for them. They have loving companionship, meaningful work, and they only have to reach up to the trees and their food is provided for them.
God says there is one tree from which they must not eat: the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. You know the story; Eve ate of the tree. and she gave to Adam, and he ate also. Now what happened next?
Adam and Eve had walked in fellowship with God and you would think that Adam’s immediate response would be to go to God and say, “Lord, I have something to confess. I have sinned against your law. I ate from the tree of which you told me not to eat. I am cut to the heart by what I have done, and I want to ask for your forgiveness.” But that is not what happens,
“They heard the sound of the Lord God walking in the garden in the cool of the day, and the man and his wife hid themselves from the presence of the Lord among the trees of the garden.” (Genesis 3:8)
And if God hadn’t sought them and called them out, that’s where they would have remained. The natural sequel to sin is not repentance, but hiding. It’s to cover up and try to move on. Adam knows he is a sinner, so he stays as far away from God as he can. It’s the most natural reaction in the world.
You see it again in Simon Peter when he catches a glimpse of the glory of Jesus through a miraculous catch of fish. He doesn’t say, “Jesus, I want to be Your follower. Make me a disciple.” He says, “Depart from me, for I am a sinful man” (Luke 5:8). If Jesus did not call him, he would have remained distant from God.
The sinner’s first impulse is to run from God. So what hope is there of reconciliation with God? None whatsoever, if it was left to us.
David’s experience when he covered up
What was it like for David during these long months when he covered up and tried to move on? We know because David tells us in a Psalm that he wrote later in life, where he reflected on these months in which he covered up and tried to move on. Listen to this,
“When I kept silent, my bones wasted away through my groaning all day long. For day and night Your hand was heavy upon me; my strength was dried up as by the heat of summer” (Psalm 32:3-4)
Don’t think for a moment that when David covered up and tried to move on, everything was all well in the palace. It was not. In fact, this was without doubt the most miserable year of David’s life: “My bones wasted away through my groaning all day long” (Psalm 32:3).
This was a man in a palace. He had money, he had privilege, and he had the wife that he wanted. But he lives every day with a nagging groan in his spirit. Even when he savoured great pleasure, the groan is still there. He went to sleep at night with a groan, and when he woke up in the morning, he groaned at the thought of another day.
His “strength was dried up” (Psalm 32:4). He had no energy. He lost his zest for life. His enthusiasm for what he was doing was gone. The blessing of God on his life had departed and all that was left was a groan.
This is what we learn from Scripture here: The natural sequel to sin is not repentance, but hiding from God, and that experience for a believer always proves miserable.
David’s misery here was a sure sign that he really was the Lord’s. A person who has never known or really loved the Lord will not miss Him when He is gone. But if you are the Lord’s, you can never really be happy when you are hiding from Him. That was David’s experience and, if you are the Lord’s, it will be yours, when you cover up and move on, as well.
That was David’s life for a year. So, where do we go from here? David is miserable, but he is not repentant. There is no confession of sin, no seeking the face of God. Months have passed, and in all that time there has not been a flicker of repentance in his soul. “I kept silent” (Psalm 32:3).
It is very easy for us to assume that sin naturally leads to repentance—not at all! Genuine repentance is always a miracle of God’s grace. If it were not for the grace of God, sin would lead us to live at a distance from God forever.
Thank God the story did not end with what David did, covering up and moving on.
What will God do?
What will God do if one of His servants committed these sins? David has committed two heinous sins – adultery and murder. One commentator points out that David had broken at least six of the Ten Commandments!
He had put his desires before God (1st commandment)
He had committed murder (6th commandment)
He had committed adultery (7th commandment)
He had stolen (8th commandment)
He had lied and deceived (9th commandment), and
He had coveted (10th commandment)
The sin of this man who had been so greatly blessed was an insult to the name of God. The prophet Nathan said to David thus say the Lord,
“Why have you despised the word of the Lord, to do what is evil in His sight? You have struck down Uriah the Hittite with the sword and have taken his wife to be your wife and have killed him with the sword of the Ammonites. Now therefore the sword shall never depart from your house, because you have despised Me and have taken the wife of Uriah the Hittite to be your wife. And Nathan said to David, ‘the Lord also has put away your sin, you shall not die. Nevertheless, because by this deed you have utterly scorned the Lord…” (2 Samuel 12:9, 10, 14)
What will God do with a man who has, despite His many privileges, scorned Him, despised Him, and broken one command after another?
God might justly have said to David, “This is the end for you. Your reign is over. That’s how it was for Saul, and that it how it will be for you.” None of us would be surprised if we read that God raised up the Ammonites (or some other enemy), and that their army routed the armies of Israel, and David and all his sons fell by the sword. That is what happened to Saul. Why would the same not be true for David?
Maybe you think this is what God should have done to David. How can God allow David to remain as king after acting like this? But that is not how God dealt with David.
Retribution is not God’s way with his own children. If it was, none of us would be here today.
Or, God might justly have said, “David has despised Me and scorned Me. Therefore, I will wash My hands of him. He can carry on as king, but I will leave him to his own devices. I am withdrawing My presence from his life. I am withdrawing My Spirit. He is on his own now. I will have nothing more to do with him.”
Who would be surprised at that? Who could complain about that? Is this not what we find in Romans 1? When wicked men set their hearts on evil, God gives them up (Romans 1:24, 26, 28). “You are on your own. I leave you to what you have chosen.”
But that is not how God deals with his own children. Thank God that this is not how God deals with us, those who belong to Him!
Or again, God might have said, “If David wants to seek Me, I will forgive him. I’m always open to reconciliation, but the ball is in David’s court. He must make the first move and unless he does, I am done with him.”
Again, who could complain about that? But if this was God’s response to our sin, we would all be lost forever. None of us would ever come back to God because the natural sequel to sin is not repentance, but to cover it up, hiding, and running from God!
Thank God he does not deal with his children through retribution or renunciation. What we have here is a marvellous example of the way that God lovingly deals with His own children and as a Father bringing restoration.
David says, “The Lord is my Shepherd… He restores my soul” (Psalm 23:1, 3). We are going to see how God restores, right here.
Notice that God restores through His own Word
“And the Lord sent Nathan to David…” (2 Samuel 12:1)
God takes the initiative. He is not waiting for David to make the first move. How does He break into David’s life? He sends a prophet, one who speaks the Word of God.
You have the same thing in the Garden of Eden when Adam and Eve are hiding in the trees. God speaks,
“But the Lord God called to the man and said to him, ‘Where are you?’” (Genesis 3:9)
If God had not spoken, they would never have come out of hiding. God sends His word and He restores through His word. Now how does the word of God bring restoration in David’s life when it comes to him through the prophet Nathan?
Let us make three reservations here,
The power of God’s Word that brings change
Nathan tells David a story. Commentators often say that Nathan told a parable, but Nathan did not say to David: “Hey, I’ve got a story to tell you.” Nathan presents this to David as a case that needs judgement.
The significance here is that David is the king and he has the responsibility to act as judge. The king was the chief justice in the land, so it was David’s job to pass judgment on various crimes. Nathan presents his story as a case that needs the king’s verdict, and David is glad to hear the case.
Nathan tells the story of a great injustice. There were two men in a certain city: one rich, the other poor. The rich man had many flocks and herds. The poor man had nothing but one little ewe lamb, which he had bought. This lamb ate the poor man’s food, drank from his cup, and lay in his arms. The poor man loves the little ewe lamb that is his.
A traveller arrived at the house of the rich man. The rich man welcomed the traveller and wanted to put on a feast. But he did not want to use one of his own flock, so he steals the poor man’s lamb and prepares it for his feast.
David hears this case, and he is absolutely furious.
“Then David’s anger was greatly kindled against the man, and he said to Nathan, ‘As the LORD lives, the man who has done this deserves to die, and he shall restore the lamb fourfold, because he did this thing, and because he had no pity”(2 Samuel 12:5-6)
Amazing how angry we can get when we see a reflection of our own ins in other people. David passes a sentence that was more than the law demanded. The law called for a fourfold restoration for theft of an animal (Exodus 22:1), but not the death penalty.
If you are ever tempted to think that God’s judgments are harsh, remember that the judgments of sinners are typically harsher by far.
“Nathan said to David, ‘You are the man! Thus, says the LORD, the God of Israel, ‘I anointed you king over Israel, and I delivered you out of the hand of Saul.’ David said to Nathan, ‘I have sinned against the Lord.” (2 Samuel 12:7,13)
Then Nathan said to David “You are the man.” What a moment! “David, this is a picture of what you’ve done. Don’t you see that?” A few verses later David says, “I have sinned against the Lord.” After more than nine months of silence, David confesses his sin to the Lord.
This confession was the beginning of repentance in David’s life, expressed in Psalm 51. Saul said, “I have sinned,” but he continued to defy the Lord (1 Samuel 15:24). It’s possible to admit that you were wrong, and just carry on. Judas said, “I have sinned,” and he despaired of being forgiven (Matthew 27:4). It’s possible to admit your guilt, and then give in to despair. Neither one of these leads to change. David said, “I have sinned,” and he repented and was restored.
The Word of God broke through in David’s life when nothing else could. Time did not bring him to repentance. Conscience did not get him there either. Misery did not bring repentance either. But the Word of God broke through in his life when nothing else could.
Never underestimate the power of God’s Word to change a person’s life, to change your life.
“So shall my word be that goes out from My mouth; it shall not return to Me empty, but it shall accomplish that which I purpose, it shall succeed in the thing for which I sent it” (Isaiah 55:11)
God’s Word can bring change in your life when nothing else can or will.
The principle of God’s Word that brings discipline
“Do not be deceived: God is not mocked, for whatever one sows, that will he also reap.” (Galatians 6:7)
God spoke to David through Nathan the prophet. When Nathan looked into David’s eyes and spoke the Word of God to him, it is as if David is standing in the presence of God and hearing the voice of God Himself.
What we have here is an anticipation of the Day of Judgment. David’s palace becomes God’s courtroom when Nathan arrives and the charges against David are read. Here are the charges against David:
“Why have you despised the word of the LORD, to do what is evil in His sight? You have struck down Uriah the Hittite with the sword… and have killed him with the sword of the Ammonites. Now therefore the sword shall never depart from your house.” (2 Samuel 12:9,10)
Do you see the significance of that? Notice that God’s discipline is a direct reflection of David’s sin. David sinned with the sword, and now he lives with the sword.
Here we come to an important principle that is stated repeatedly in the Bible: “Your own wickedness will correct you” (Jeremiah 2:19, NASB). Did you know that God said that?
Think about how this worked in the life of Jacob. Jacob’s great sin was deception. He was really good at it, wasn’t he? He could pull the wool over anyone’s eyes, even his own father. The Bible tells us how he pretended to be Esau and stole, by his deception, the blessing that belonged to his brother.
How did God’s discipline operate in Jacob’s life? The discipline was a reflection of his own sin. His own sin corrected him. Jacob found himself on the other side of deception, and he didn’t like it then.
He was deceived by his father-in-law, Laban, who gave him Leah as his bride instead of Rachel. Then, he was deceived by his own sons, who told him that Joseph had been killed by a wild animal. These deceptions brought years of grief and pain to his life.
Jacob lived with deception until the sin he once loved became the sin he hated more than any other. This principle of reaping what you sow should bring restraint in all of our lives. Here’s how our Lord states the principle:
“…With the measure you use it will be measured to you” (Matthew 7:2)
“Whatever you wish that others would do to you, do also to them…” (Matthew 7:12).
Your own sin will correct you. So, ask yourself when you are tempted to harshness, deception, or some act of unkindness, “Would I want to live on the other side of this? It will excess a restraint in your life. Ask yourself: Would I want to be on the receiving end of this?” Thank God that He restores us.
This is not an easy theme, so here is some encouragement from the story of Jonah. R. T. Kendall says, “God’s chastening is not meted out in proportion to our sins but in proportion to the lesson we have to learn. The greater the work ahead, the greater the trial now.”
Why is God exercising discipline in David’s life? Because he is not done with David yet. The Bible tells us that the Lord disciplines the one he loves (Hebrews 12:6). God’s discipline in David’s life is the sure sign that God still has work for him to do! The Lord never leaves his children in their sin. There is work to be done with and for you. God is restoring you.
God is restoring David, and restoring is more than forgiving. Restoring is purging out what led to these great sins from David’s life, so that this man really comes to the place where he hates what he used to love.
This is God changing David to make him into a different and a better man.
“For the moment all discipline seems painful rather than pleasant, but later it yields the peaceful fruit of righteousness to those who have been trained by it” (Hebrews 12:11)
Here we see how God restores. He does it through His word. We looked at the power of His word that actually bring change when nothing else broke through in David’s life God did. Thank God for that! We looked at the principle of God’s word that bring constraints. When we see how God’s discipline operates in the life of a believer, it should hold us back and fight well against temptation. And then there is the promise of God’s word that brings hope.
The promise of God’s Word that brings hope
“David said to Nathan, ‘I have sinned against the LORD.’ And Nathan said to David, ‘The LORD also has put away your sin; you shall not die.” (2 Samuel 12:13)
David said, “The man who did this shall die.” David’s sin deserved death. He had taken a life, and according to God’s law, that deserves death.
You come under discipline so that you can be restored. That is not the end for you. The Lord has put away your sin as you turn to Him in repentance.
Where did God put David’s sin? He put it on Jesus. He bore our sins in his body on the tree.
“The Lord has laid on him the iniquity of us all” (Isaiah 53:6)
“David, your life may be very hard.” The last year of his life was hard. “But you are still a child of God.” Put your name in there. Your life may be very hard. But you are still a child of God.
Thank God for His grace that never let His children go.
Conclusion
It has been very striking to me that when Saul broke the law of God, when he sinned, it was all over for him. “The Lord has rejected you,” Samuel said that Saul never repented, and he was never restored. Take notice that he never repented! When David sinned, God went after him. God disciplined him, and restored him.
Why did God do that for David? Because God made a covenant promise with David:
“I will be to him a Father, and he shall be to Me a son. When he commits iniquity, I will discipline him with the rod of men… but My steadfast love will not depart from him” (2 Samuel 7:14,15)
The reason God went after him and restored him is that God was bound to him in a covenant promise. And if you are in Jesus Christ, you are bound to God too. At your worst and at your best, He is with You. He never leaves or forsake you.
Thank God for His promise. God never abandons His children. The good Shepherd goes after His own just because they are His own.
Thank God for the gift of His Word. If God did not speak, none of us would ever come to Him. We would all languish in our own sins forever and ever.
Thank God for His gift of repentance. Genuine repentance does not come to us naturally. Every experience of repentance is a marvellous gift of God’s grace. It is a joyful act in essence. Even the angels rejoice when we repent. It is a work of His Spirit in us.
Thank God for His discipline. However painful the discipline of God in your life, His discipline means that He loves you and that He has not abandoned you. He still has work for you to do.
Thank God for His Son.He has sealed God’s covenant promise. “My steadfast love I will never take from you.” Why? Because He bore our sins in His body on the tree. The future for all who look to Him is not retribution, and not renunciation, but restoration.
“Be very careful, then, how you live—not as unwise but as wise, making the most of every opportunity, because the days are evil. Therefore do not be foolish, but understand what the Lord’s will is.” – Ephesians 5:15-17
This is the last in the three-week series about the law, about grace, and about the Christian life. Please open your Bible at the book of Romans chapter seven as we have a quick summary of what we have learnt o far from this series.
In the first verse we discovered that by nature we are bound to the law,
“Or do you not know brothers – for I am speaking to those who know the law – that the law is binding on a person only as long as he lives?” (Romans 7:1)
The law is binding on a person as long as he or she lives. In other words; ‘till death do us part’. By nature, we are bound to all the requirements, to all the demands, and by indication all the penalties, of the law of God.
Paul pictures this by way of illustration that this is like a marriage, a not so happy marriage. It is a relationship that creates conflict and the reason for this conflict is not that there is something wrong with the law. We saw last week that God’s law is good, that it is holy, and that it is righteous.
The problem is not that there is something wrong with the law, but the problem in this marriage is that there is something wrong with us. Last week we looked at what is wrong with us and at what the Bible says in regards to sin. Sin is more than doing bad things, and it is more than wrong actions. It is in fact a power that resides by nature in our hearts. It is an impulse that gravitates towards that what God forbids.
If we were righteous in our very nature, then it would have been a happy thing to be married to the law. But because that is not the truth about us because by nature we pull away from the commands of God and this impulse actually resides within us. For that reason, for us as sinners, to be bound to the law is indeed a miserable marriage.
Now try to think what this is like. What is it like for a sinner to be bound to the law of God? It is as two are not moving in the same direction.
“Do two walk together unless they are agreed to do so?” (Amos 3:3)
The marriage to the law is ‘till death do us part’ and the law never dies. Therefore, the good news for all who are in Christ Jesus is that we have died! We have died through a living union in the bond of faith with Christ who died and rose again. And this is the point of verse four,
“Likewise, my brothers, you also have died to the law through the body of Christ, so that you may belong to another, to Him who has been raised from the dead, in order that we may bear fruit.” (Romans 7:4)
We were brought into a new and living union with Jesus Christ, this great truth of union with Christ that the apostle Paul pictures as a kind of second marriage in which we are released by our own union of death and resurrection and brought into a new and living union with Jesus Christ.
Today we are going to focus on verses five and six of the seventh chapter of the book of Romans. They really draw out the contrast between the first and second marriage – the radical difference being bound to the law, and to be bound to Jesus Christ.
“For while we were living in the flesh, our sinful passions, aroused by the law, were at work in our members to bear fruit for death. But now we are released from the law, having died to that which held us captive.” (Romans 7:5-6)
The first marriage
Bound to the Law (life in the flesh)
What does Paul mean when he says, “while we were living in the flesh”? What is this “living in the flesh” which was once true of us, but is true of us no longer?
The word ‘flesh’ is used in different ways in the Bible.
Sometimes ‘flesh’ simply means ‘the body’
When Paul says, “The life I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself for me” (Galatians 2:20), he is referring to the life that we live in the body.
That cannot be the meaning here because Christians still live in the body! When Paul says, “while we were living in the flesh,” he is describing something that once was true of us but is true of us no longer.
Sometimes ‘flesh’ refers to sensual desire
For example, in Galatians 5:17 when Paul says, “the desires of the flesh are against the Spirit, and the desires of the Spirit are against the flesh.”
Again, this cannot be the meaning here because Christians still experience the impulse to sin. We are tempted. The impulse to sin remains in us. But here “living in the flesh,” is something that was once true of us but is true of us no longer!
Here the word ‘flesh’ refers simply to the life we were born with
Our Lord used the word ‘flesh’ in the same way when He spoke to Nicodemus: “That which is born of the flesh is flesh,” and then Jesus drew the same contrast that we have here, “that which is born of the Spirit is spirit”. For this reason, Jesus said, “You must be born again”.
“That which is born of the flesh is flesh, and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit. Do not marvel that I said to you, ‘you must be born again.” (John 3:6-7)
Life “in the flesh” is simply the life we were born with. This is our position by nature. We are born to life in the flesh. As long as we are in the flesh, we are bound to the law. This is not a very happy position for sinners like us to be in.
When we get to Romans 8, Paul continues with the same theme of this great contrast between the first and second marriage. He draws out the radical difference between what we all were by nature and what we are now, if we are in Jesus Christ.
Notice how Paul continues the contrast:
“For the mind that is set on the flesh is hostile to God, for it does not submit to God’s law; indeed, it cannot. Those who are in the flesh cannot please God.” (Romans 8:7-8)
This is what all of us were. We all started there. The natural condition of all men and women born into the world is that we are in the flesh, bound to the law, with sin working in us producing, deceiving, and killing (Romans 7:8-11). We were by nature hostile to God, unwilling to submit to God’s law, and unable to please Him (Romans 8:7-8). This is the human condition. This is what we need saving from.
Notice the outcome of being in this position:
“For while we were living in the flesh, our sinful passions, aroused by the law, were at work in our members to bear fruit for death” (Romans 7:5)
The Apostle later says the same thing:
“To set the mind on the flesh is death, but to set the mind on the Spirit is life and peace.” (Romans 8:6)
To set the mind on the flesh is death. That’s life in the flesh. That is life in this miserable marriage to the law. Clearly, he is not describing a Christian! If you are in Christ, this is no longer your position.
The second marriage
Bound to Christ (Life in the Spirit)
“But now we are released from the law, having died to that which held us captive, so that we serve in the new way of the Spirit and not in the old way of the written code.” (Romans 7:6)
We died to that which held us captive – that is the law. We got out of the miserable marriage. We have been brought into this new and living union in which we are bound to Christ. This union is like a marriage in which we are loved and in which we can flourish.
The result of this union is that we “serve in the new way of the Spirit”. Again, Paul takes up this contrast in Romans 8:9-11, where he describes the position of the Christian believer.
Three times in these verses he uses the word ‘if’ to communicate that he is speaking about things that are only true of Christian believers. The sense of these verses is: This is not true of everyone, but assuming that you are a Christian, this is what is true of you.
To be a Christian means that the Spirit of God dwells in you
“You, however, are not in the flesh but in the Spirit, if in fact the Spirit of God dwells in you. Anyone who does not have the Spirit of Christ does not belong to Him.” (Romans 8:9)
To be a Christian means that Christ lives in you
“But if Christ is in you, although the body is dead because of sin, the Spirit is life because of righteousness.” (Romans 8:10)
To be a Christian means that by the Spirit, the Father lives in you
“If the Spirit of him who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, He who raised Christ Jesus from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through His Spirit who dwells in you.” (Romans 8:11)
“Jesus answered him, ‘If anyone loves Me, he will keep My word, and My Father will love Him, and we will come to him and make our home with him.” (John 14:23)
This puts you in an entirely different position from the life you were born with in that old miserable marriage to the law! And notice the outcome! When we were in the flesh and bound to the law, Paul says that we were “bearing fruit for death.” But now he says to believers, “You died to the law through the body of Christ so that you may belong to another—to Him who has been raised from the dead, in order that you may bear fruit for God.”
In Romans 8, he describes the fruit of being in Christ again: “To set the mind on the spirit is life and peace” (Romans 8:6). There is a huge difference between ‘life in the flesh’ and ‘life in the Spirit.’ To the Christian believers, Paul can say, “You…are not in the flesh but in the Spirit” (Romans 8:9).
There’s only one way to move from the miserable marriage to the law into this new and living union, and that is to die and rise in Christ. Death is a journey that takes you forward. It is irreversible. When you have died, you never go back.
That’s important because Paul’s words about living in the flesh and living in the Spirit have sometimes been understood to mean that when Christians are at our worst we are living in the flesh, and when we are at our best we are living in the Spirit. As if somehow, we slipped back and forth between the two: “Today, I really felt that I was in the spirit. But yesterday, I think I was pretty much in the flesh.”
This is a complete misunderstanding of Romans chapter 7 and chapter 8. When Paul speaks here about living in the flesh, he is speaking about something that once was true of us, but is true of us no longer. “While we were living in the flesh” (Romans 7:5). “But now…. having died to that which held us captive” (Romans 7:6).
Romans chapter 7 is not about Christians at our best and Christians at our worst. It is about the contrast between the first and second marriage. It is about the radical difference between being bound to the law and being bound to Jesus Christ in this new and living union.
So, get this contrast settled in your mind. Life in the flesh means that all you have is the life you were born with. Life in the Spirit means that you have a new life in Jesus Christ. You died and rose with Christ, and the Spirit of God lives in you.
There are two kinds of people in the world: People who are living in the flesh and people who are living in the Spirit. All of us are either one of the other. You can’t be both at the same time. We don’t go back and forward between the two. The way in which you move from life in the flesh to life in the Spirit is through union with Jesus Christ. To the Christian believers Paul says, “You… are not in the flesh but [you are] in the Spirit” (Romans 8:9).
This takes us to the heart of what it means to be a Christian. A Christian is a person who is no longer ‘in the flesh’ but ‘in the Spirit.’ A Christian is a person who is no longer bound to the law but bound to Jesus Christ. A Christian is a person who is no longer bearing fruit for death but serving in the new way of the Spirit.
Why we need Romans chapter 7
It is the cure for perfectionism
Some of you live under a crushing burden. Let me try to describe what it is like, and then to show you how what we have been learning here, is the truth that will set you free.
You say to yourself, “I am a new creation in Jesus Christ. I died and I rose with Him. I have a new life in Christ. The Holy Spirit of God lives in me. Therefore, I should be able to live a truly holy life”.
So, you set your mind to that task. You say, “I am going to get it right as a wife and as a mother. I am going to get it right as a husband, father, leader. I am going to live as Christ calls me to live and as the Holy Spirit empowers me to live”.
And yet somehow you never do. What actually happens is that you spend a great deal of time worrying when you should be trusting, and you find that you are constantly frustrated with yourself for not being a better Christian.
All over the congregation, there will be women and men who recognize that description. The problem for the perfectionist is that she takes seriously the power of Christ, but does not adequately consider the ongoing presence of sin.
There’s more to sin than wrong actions that you can put behind you when they have been confessed and forgiven. There’s more to it than that. We have been learning from Romans 7 that sin is a power. It is an impulse that resides in you, and even though you are a Christian, this impulse remains in you.
As long as you are in this life, you will never become the perfect Christian. You will never be able to say, “I did it! I lived the life that God has called me to live!” Thank God for that, because if you did, you would have lost sight of your need for a Saviour!
However far you progress in the Christian life, you will be till your last breath in this life, a sinner who depends wholly on the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ to save you. You need Him as much on your best day as you do on your worst. When you see that, you will be delivered from the crushing burden of perfectionism.
It is the answer to defeatism
Let me describe the opposite problem, and again try to show you how what we have been learning in Romans 7, is the truth that will set you free.
You say to yourself, “I am profoundly aware of the power of sin within me. I know what it is to be drawn back to the same sin that made me miserable before. I know only too well about this impulse of sin that rises up in me. I have lost count of the times I have fallen into temptation, and I live with a constant sense of frustration and defeat”.
Again, all over the congregation, there will be men and women who recognize this description. The problem for the defeatist is that he takes seriously the power of sin, but does not adequately consider the ongoing presence of Christ.
Your battle with the impulse to sin will continue as long as you live. We all fall and fail in many ways, but Jesus Christ lives in you! You are in the second marriage. You have union with Christ. His presence, His power, and His Spirit are in you! Sin will always be your enemy, but it is no longer your master. Your battle will not end in defeat. By the grace of God you can and you will make progress.
However often you have fallen into sin, you have, and you will always have, a Saviour who stands with you, binds Himself to you, and whose Spirit is able to help you. When you see that, you will be delivered from being crushed by your own defeats.
So, don’t go through your Christian life saying, “O wretched man that I am” (Romans 7:24)! You are made one with Christ and because of that union you have a Deliverer! So even in the face of failure, even when you see and feel your own wretchedness, you can say with the apostle Paul, “Thanks be to God through Jesus Christ our Lord” (Romans 7:25)!
Here we have the two opposite errors that stalk the lives of Christian believers: Perfectionism and defeatism. Both come from going back to measuring ourselves by the law and both are addressed by the great truths of Romans 7.
Jerry Bridges captures the truth we have been learning with wonderful clarity: “Your worst days are never so bad that you are beyond the reach of God’s grace. And your best days are never so good that you are beyond the need of God’s grace”.
The truths of Romans chapter 7 are our source of freedom and joy in Jesus Christ
My prayer for this series has been that we will taste and savour more of the freedom and joy of an authentic Christian life.
“But now we are released from the law, having died to that which held us captive, so that we serve in the new way of the Spirit and not in the old way of the written code” (Romans 7:6)
There is a diminished version of Christianity that is often found among people who have not grasped this great truth of union with Christ. It says Jesus forgives you when you mess up in order that you will be a good person who keeps the law.
That produces a wooden, joyless attempt at discipleship that often lacks any real intimacy with God. And all the time, you live with the feeling that God ‘has it in for you’ if you don’t get it right.
Union with Christ moves you from duty to delight. It moves you from that wooden, joyless attempt at discipleship to a new freedom and joy that flows from loving Christ.
Have you experienced someone in the congregation once said to you, “I used to come to church because I thought it is something I needed to do to be a good person.” Then he or she start attending church again. You might say, “So why do you come now?” the answer you get is, “Because I love Jesus.”
There’s all the difference in the world between these two things! Why do you pray? Why do you give and serve, and tell the truth, and stay loyal when being faithful isn’t easy? Is it because you think this is something you should do in order to be a good person, or is it because you love Jesus?
That’s the difference between the first and second marriage. In the second marriage there’s love and life and freedom and peace and joy! Jesus Christ says something better to you than “I forgive you. Now go and do better next time.” He says, “I forgive you and I bind Myself to you. I give you My Spirit and I will dwell with you.”
The law cannot love you and the law cannot give you strength. And the law will never let you rest. You will never find peace by measuring yourself against the law. But in Jesus Christ there is strength, there is joy, there is life, and there is peace.
There’s all the difference in the world between the first and the second marriage!
William Still says, “Christ puts Himself in the place of the law. He smiles at us and says, ‘Look, you will never be good by following that finger pointing of the law, but look at Me smiling at you, loving you, caring for you, forgiving you. I will save you.’”
This Lord Jesus Christ says, “Come to Me all you who are weary, all who are heavy laden, all you who have been beating yourself up trying to be a better person. Come to Me and I will give you rest. Take My yoke upon you. Bind yourself to Me, and I will bind Myself to you, and you will find rest for your souls.”
Last week we began a series on what Christians believe about the law, about grace, and about the Christian life. Therefore, please open your Bible at Romans chapter seven. Looking at this chapter, we need to grasp that this is one of the most important and less understood chapters In the Bible.
We have set out three objectives for this short series. The first, and that was our focus last week, is to better grasp the central doctrine of the union with Jesus Christ that through the bond of faith, a Christian believer is actually made one with Christ, one with Him in His death, and one with Him in His resurrection.
As we looked at the opening verses of this chapter, we used Paul’s illustration of the relationship with the law as if it is a marriage. We gave the law a name because it is here personalized as if a person, and we called it Nomos. To be married to Nomos would be to be married to a very demanding person that is never pleased or satisfied. Paul says that this is actually the position we all are in by nature. We are born into this miserable marriage and bound by law. The only way out of it is death to self. Because the law never dies, it leaves us in a very sorry state.
We then saw the good news, for those that who are in Christ Jesus, the truth is that you actually did die. You died and rose in Jesus Christ and in this way, you are released from the miserable marriage to the law. And more than that, you are brought into a new and marvelous union with Christ. By God’s grace you are brought into a new second marriage; a great union with Jesus Christ and made one with Him – a union wherein you are able to flourish.
“Likewise, my brothers, you also have died to the law through the body of Christ, so that you may belong to another, to Him who has been raised from the dead, in order that we may bear fruit for God” (Romans 7:4)
Today we are going to focus on the second objective whereby we better understand the human condition, and therefor see why a sustained human attempt at a moral life, cannot be the answer. We pick it up in Romans chapter seven,
“What then shall we say? That the law is sin? By no means!” (Romans 7:7)
This is the question that naturally arises from all that we said last week in Romans 7:1-6. “If being bound to ‘Nomos’ is a miserable marriage, if the law beats up on you, it sounds like you are saying that the law is bad.” That is what any thinking person would say after grasping verses 1-6, and some of you might have asked this question last week.
It’s a pattern in the letters of Paul, and especially in Romans, that he makes a case and then answers questions. You know that you have correctly understood what Paul is saying if you are left with the question that he raises and answers next. Notice the question here in verse seven, “What shall we say then? That the law is sin? By no means! …” So, what is a proper Christian view of the law?
“So, the law is holy, and the commandment is holy and righteous and good” (Romans 7:12)
The commandments were given by God Himself. They reflect His character. They lay out for us a way of life that is holy and righteous and good. When God gave the law, He gave a good gift to His people. Think of what a marvelous world this would be if everyone kept the law of God! What a marvelous city or country we would have if everyone obeyed the law. How marvelous it would be to do business in this city if everyone you did business with spoke the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth!
The law is good
Paul identifies two particular ways in which the law is good:
The law is good because it reveals sin
“What then shall we say? That the law is sin? By no means! Yet if it had not been for the law, I would not have known sin …” (Romans 7:7)
Driving on the road, you see signs that tell you what maximum speed is allowed for you! If no one told you what is the required speed when you are driving, you would be in trouble. We are thankful that the law of God has been written on tablets of stone, and that it does not change. What if the speed limit gets changed daily! I would be in trouble constantly. Thank God His law never changes and He has told us what it is.
The law is good because it tells us what a righteous life looks like. Nobody wants to go through life thinking you are getting it right, and then on the last day to stand before God and find out that you got it completely wrong.
The law is good because it promises life
“The very commandment that promised life …” (Romans 7:10)
The lawyer stood up asking Jesus what he had to do to inherit eternal life. Jesus asked him about the commandments. Jesus then asked him how he read the commandments.
“And behold, a lawyer stood up to put Him to the test, saying, ‘Teacher, what shall I do to inherit eternal life?’ He said to him, ‘What is written in the Law? How do you read it?” (Luke 10:25-26)
The man then recited the Law to Jesus, and Jesus says to him,
“And He said to him, ‘You have answered correctly; do this and you will live.” (Luke 10:28)
Fullness of life lies ahead for those who live according to all the commandments of God. The law is good. It reveals sin and it promises life. It tells us what God requires of us. It comes with a marvelous promise for those who keep it.
The law is not the problem – sin is! Martyn Lloyd-Jones says of this, “It is beyond any doubt the profoundest analysis of sin, and of its ways and its results, which is to be found anywhere in the whole of Scripture.”
What sin is
If you were to do some ‘man in the street’ interviews and ask people what sin is, one answer you would get would be that sin is doing bad things – like lying and stealing. But sin is much more than doing bad things. If you think of sin only in terms of actions, you have not yet understood its nature.
Sin is a power or impulse that, by nature, resides in our hearts. This is the big truth that was missed by the Pharisees and is missed by many people in church today. The Pharisees were committed to a moral life. They were very serious about avoiding sin. The problem was that their definition of sin was limited to evil actions.
Jesus told a story about a Pharisee and a tax collector who went to the temple to pray. The Pharisee prays honestly saying to God, “I don’t steal and I give myself to prayer. I fast twice a week. I practice generosity. I give my tithe, not only of my salary, but of everything that I get.” (Luke 18:10-12)
We see that the rich young ruler was working with the same definition of sin. He thought of sin simply in terms of actions.
“And a ruler asked Him, ‘Good Teacher, what must I do to inherit eternal life?’ And Jesus said to him, ‘Why do you call Me good? … You know the commandments: Do not commit adultery, Do not murder, Do not steal, Do not bear false witness, Honour your father and mother.’ And he said, ‘All these I have kept since my youth!” (Luke 18:18-21)
He was saying to Jesus, “I am committed to living a good moral life.” Exactly the same as the Pharisee in the temple.
When Paul looked look back at his earlier life, before his conversion, he saw the same pattern.
“For we are the circumcision, who worship by the Spirit of God and glory in Christ Jesus and put no confidence in the flesh – though I myself have reason for confidence in the flesh also. If anyone else thinks he has reason foe confidence in the flesh, I have more: circumcised on the eight day, of the people of Israel, of the tribe of Benjamin, a Hebrew of Hebrews; as to the law, a Pharisee; as to zeal, a persecutor of the church; as to righteousness under the law, blameless. But whatever gain I had, I counted as loss for the sake of Christ.” (Philippians 3:3-7)
Paul says, “As to righteousness under the law, blameless”. He says, “Was I the kind of person who lied, cheated and stole? The answer is ‘no!’ I lived a moral life.” But the next thing he says is very significant. “Whatever gain I had, I counted as loss for the sake of Christ”. Being a moral person kept him from seeing his need of Jesus Christ. His morality blinded him to his need!
Believers, this is really important because, in large measure, we are people who are committed to a moral life. We raise our children to live moral lives. And it is very hard for a moral person to grasp that he or she is a sinner. If you are a moral person, it will take a miracle of grace for you to see the extent of your need before God.
I’m praying that this miracle will happen right here for some of us today. It begins with settling in your mind this truth from Romans 7 – that sin is more than wrong actions.
This was crucial in the experience of the apostle Paul: “If it had not been for the law, I would not have known sin. For I would not have known what it is to covet if the law had not said, ‘You shall not covet’. The thing that got me was the tenth commandment” (that’s the one that says, “You shall not covet”). The tenth commandment was the one that changed my whole view of myself, which was: “I’m a moral person.”
Why this command? Because the tenth commandment is the one that speaks not to the actions, but to the desires. Coveting is a desire. The tenth commandment anticipates the teaching of Jesus that all the commandments go to the heart. The sixth commandment says, “Do not murder,” but Jesus traces that back to the roots of being angry with your brother in your heart. The seventh commandment says, “Do not commit adultery,” but Jesus traces this back to the roots of looking with lust in your heart.
God is not simply looking at actions, he is looking at the heart. So, Paul says, “The tenth commandment was the one that got me because it showed me that I was working with the wrong definition of sin. I had limited it to certain actions that I did not do. There I was with my moral checklist, thinking I was doing quite well – I don’t steal; I’ve never robbed a bank.” Paul says, “Then one day I came face-to-face with the tenth commandment. And when I saw that sin includes the impulses of the heart, I could no longer regard myself as the moral person I had imagined myself to be.”
Sin is a power. It is an impulse of the heart that gravitates toward what God forbids. This impulse is in all of us by nature. That is what we need saving from.
Here’s why Romans 7 is one of the most important chapters in the Bible: If you’re working with a limited definition of sin, you are not likely to come to Jesus. If you buy into the Pharisees’ definition of sin, you will feel, as they did, that you do not need what Jesus offers. But when you see that sin is an impulse that resides in your heart, you will begin to see why you need a Savior.
What sin does
Paul identifies three activities of sin: Sin produces. Sin deceives. And sin kills.
Sin produces
“But sin, seizing an opportunity through the commandment, produced in me all kinds of covetousness…” (Romans 7:8)
The word ‘produced’ is important here. Think about a fire throwing up flames or water bubbling up in a spring. Think about a fountain producing water. That’s what sin is like. It produces all kinds of desires. It is always throwing up new impulses and inclinations towards sin. We call this temptation, and it comes from within.
“Each person is tempted when he is lured and enticed by his own evil desire” (James 1:14)
This is the teaching of Jesus:
“For from within, out of the heart of man, come evil thoughts, sexual immorality, theft, murder, adultery, coveting, wickedness, deceit, sensuality, envy, slander, pride, foolishness. All these evil things come from within, and they defile a person.” (Mark 7:21-23)
As parents, we rightly want to protect our children from the many evils that are out there in the world. But if you grasp what our Lord is saying here, you will see that the bigger problem is the impulse toward sin that resides in your children’s hearts, as it resides in yours! Those moods, those tempers, and those hurtful things that you say – where do they come from? They came from within. The impulse to sin is produced from your own heart.
Sin deceives
“For sin, seizing an opportunity through the commandment, deceived me and through it killed me.” (Romans 7:11
This goes back to the Garden of Eden when Eve said, ‘The serpent deceived me” (Genesis 3:13). Sin has an allure. Every temptation holds out a promise of happiness. But sin deceives. It makes promises that it cannot keep.
Sin deceives in the prospect that it offers, and in the outcome that it conceals. The prospect offered to Eve was: Satan said: “You shall be as God. Why would you not want that – to be the lord of your own life? Why would you want God running your life, when you can run it yourself? It’s your life, so you should be your own god. Taste the evil as well as the good and then you can make up your own mind and pursue what you choose.”
That was the first temptation. But when Eve tasted the evil, she found that she had been deceived. She did not become God. She became a sinner. Sin deceives in the prospect that it offers.
Then sin also deceives in the outcome that it conceals. The woman said to the serpent, “God said, ‘You shall not eat of the fruit of the tree that is in the midst of the garden… lest you die’” (Genesis 3:3). But the serpent said, “You will not surely die” (Genesis 3:4). Sin conceals its own outcome. It closes your eyes to where it will lead you.
The impulse or inclination of sin in you will produce these two deceptions: If I do this, I will be happy (the prospect). If I do this, it will be ok. Nothing bad will happen to me (the outcome).
Sin is a powerful impulse. Its power is so great that it can draw you to things that made you miserable the last time you did them. How can you explain that? Why are we drawn to the same sins again and again? Because sin deceives you over the prospect and over the outcome.
Sin kills
“For sin, seizing an opportunity through the commandment, deceived me and through it killed me.” (Romans 7:11)
Sin produces, it deceives, and it kills. Sin sucks the life out of you. It kills the ability to love and it deadens responsiveness toward God. Sin puts you in a position where your heart becomes dull (Matthew 13:15). You go to church and are always hearing but never understanding (Matthew 13:14). You honor God with your lips (that is, you say the right things about Him), but your heart is far from Him (Matthew 15:8).
Jesus said these things about the people who were the custodians of the law of God! They were committed to living a moral life. Sin is an impulse of rebellion against God that lies within you. It sucks the life out of you. It produces, it deceives, and it kills.
Where sin leads
Confusion
“I do not understand my own actions. For I do not do what I want, but I do the very thing I hate” (Romans 7:15)
If all you have is the law, you will always be a mystery to yourself. You won’t be able to make sense of what you do or why you do it.
Frustration
“Wretched man that I am! Who will deliver me from this body of death?” (Romans 7:24)
If all you have is the law, if all you have is a sustained attempt at living a moral life, the best you can hope for is a life of confusion and frustration. A sustained attempt at living a moral life cannot change who you are. Becoming religious won’t do it either – praying, fasting, solitude, serving, giving back to the community – none of these things has the power to deal with this impulse of sin in you that produces, deceives, and kills.
Morality cannot be the answer. If we call people to morality but do not lead them to Christ, we lead them into confusion and frustration. So, the message of the church to the world must be more than a call to morality. Calling lost people to a moral life is like telling a man who is dying of lung cancer to stop smoking. The damage is already done!
A call to morality, on its own, will only lead people to the place of saying, “Wretched man that I am, who will deliver me from this body of death?” If the message of parents to our children is simply a call to morality, we set them up for frustration and water the seeds of rebellion. We have to explain this doctrine of indwelling sin, how it produces, deceives and kills – how it is in them, as it is in us.
There’s only one way to deal with this impulse to sin! You have to become a new creation. You have to die and rise. That happens in this second marriage, when having died to the law, you are brought into a new and living union with Jesus Christ. You become a new creation in Jesus Christ.
“Wretched man that I am! Who will deliver me from this body of death? Thanks be to God through Jesus Christ our Lord!” (Romans 7:24-25)
This gives an answer to that problem. If I just had the law, that’s where I be left, but I have more than the law, thanks be to God, Jesus Christ our Lord!
Thank God that being a Christian is more than a sustained attempt to living a moral life. Thank God that being a Christian is much more than vaguely believing in Jesus and then going out to try harder. Thank God that being a Christian is a living union in which the presence and the power of Jesus Christ comes to indwell you by the Holy Spirit to enable you to stand in this battle that you have with sin that resides within you.
A final appeal
I want to end today with this appeal. I am increasingly burdened, increasingly burdened, as the years go on, for the many people, also for people in our congregation, whose best understanding of Christianity is that it is a sustained effort to live a moral life.
You have seen that Jesus can forgive what you have done, but you have not yet seen that Jesus Christ can change what you are! You come to church faithfully, and each week you go out, with a white knuckled attempt, attempting this good moral life for another week. But actually what you experience on the inside is a great deal of confusion and a great deal of frustration.
I’m praying that this series will be the place where God will shine the light into your heart and you’ll begin to say, “Ah! I see in a way that I never saw before! I need a Savior! Not just a Savior who I vaguely believe in from afar, a Savior that is actually with me, a Savior who by the power of His Holy Spirit will work within me.”
I want to say to you today, Jesus Christ is able to do for you, what you cannot do for yourself. Come and confess to Christ today that your best attempts to change on the outside can’t change what you are on the inside. Cast yourself on the mercy of Jesus Christ. Ask Him to bind you to Himself, to make you a new creation, and hope will begin for you, in Him, today.
One of the responsibilities given to a pastor is to make sure that the people of God have a balanced diet. There are five basic food groups: Fruits, vegetables, grains, protein, and dairy. Each of these contributes in a distinctive way to the overall health of the body. A balanced diet is one in which you absorb, take in proper proportion of the unique value of each food group. And it contributes accordingly to the health of your body.
What is true of the body is also true in relation to the soul. Jesus said,
“ .. Man shall not live by bread alone but by every word that proceeds from the mouth of God” (Matthew 4:4)
Whatever we doing, we always come from the word of God. Our diet is the Word of God, but the word of God has different parts, just as there are different food groups. Our spiritual health depends on us taking in the unique value of God’s Word in all of its different parts.
During last year we did a series on contentment. That series was on Christian character and its focus was on what Christians experience. Today we begin a new series on Christian doctrine – A Believer’s Life. Its focus is on what a Christians believes, and especially, what a Christians believes about law, grace, and the Christian life.
For this reason, please turn to the book of Romans and chapter seven. We will read the whole of this marvellous chapter in the three weeks that we have together, but our focus will be, not exclusively, but especially on the first six verses.
Three aims
Now a good place to begin in a new series is always to set out some objectives of where we hope to go, and we have three aims in mind for this series over the next three weeks.
To better grasp the doctrine of our union with Christ, which is central to the whole of the Christian life
This is our particular focus today and we will look at Romans 7:4, where we have this wonderful statement from Paul,
“Likewise, my brothers, that you also have died to the law through the body of Christ, so that you may belong to another, to Him who has been raised from the dead, in order that we may bear fruit for God.” (Romans 7:4)
Question: How can I bear fruit for God? Answer: Through union with Jesus Christ by belonging to Him. That is what the apostle Paul said. Not only union with Christ, but the central theme with regards to living the Christian life that are so often misunderstood, or less understood truth for us, to better grasp it. That is the first objective.
To better understand why Christianity is more than a sustained effort at living a moral life
Secondly, it is of great importance to understand that there is a vast difference between true Christianity as we find it in the Bible, and a simply sustained effort to live a moral life.
Could you clearly explain what the difference is? It is really important for many people don’t know that there is a difference at all. They have the idea that to be a Christian is that you commit yourself to pursue a good and moral life.
But an atheist can also make a sustained effort to live a moral life. You don’t need Jesus Christ to do that. Christians are committed to a moral life for sure, but there is nothing uniquely Christian about that. If all you have is a sustained effort to live a moral life, then you have not yet discovered the joy, the life, the love, the power, and the peace that Jesus Christ is able to bring into your life, to those who belong to Him! This is our second objective, and the third one flows from it.
To taste and savour the freedom and joy of an authentic Christian life
Romans 7 is one of the most important but also one of the least understood chapters in the Bible. You must have heard some say that, “As a Christian, you have to get out of Romans 7 and get into Romans 8,” And if you have, you may be thinking, “What in the world are we doing in Romans7?”
Her is the answer: We are going to taste and savour the freedom and joy of an authentic Christian life right here in Romans chapter 7. This is the chapter in which Paul says,
“Wretched man that I am! Who will deliver me from this body of death? Thanks be to God through Jesus Christ our Lord! ….” (Romans 7:24-25)
Jesus Christ our Lord is all over this chapter and deals with this issue the law, grace, and the Christian life. If you feel discouraged or depressed after reading Romans 7, it is because you simply have not understood it. But if you find in Romans 7 a fresh joy in Jesus Christ, and a new energy for serving Him and for pursuing the Christian life, you have grasped what this chapter is all about.
With that introduction I hope we have our hearts, and our minds, and our Bible open to receive from the word of God as we find it in this chapter of the book of Romans in the first six verses.
Paul’s illustration from marriage
In the first two verses Paul is using an illustration of marriage. Every illustration has its limitations and if an illustration is pressed too far it becomes confusing. But a good illustration is a like a window that brings light to our understanding.
“Or do you not know, brothers—for I am speaking to those who know the law—that the law is binding on a person only as long as he lives?For a married woman is bound by law to her husband while he lives, but if her husband dies, she is released from the law of marriage.” (Romans 7:1-2)
The point that Paul is seeking to illustrate with this marriage analogy is in verse one: “The law is binding on a person only as long as he lives.” Think of your relationship to the law as being like a marriage. So, for the purpose of illustration, Paul is speaking of the law as if the law is a person. Let us give this person a name. We are going to call him or her ‘Nomos’ which is the Greek word for ‘law.’
What is it like for you to be married to Nomos (or as Paul says, “bound by law”)? The law makes endless demands. Nomos is never satisfied. However hard you try you can never live up to the expectations of the law. So, if you are married to Nomos, you do not have a happy marriage at all.
Think about what this is like. You can never get to the place where Nomos; the law, is pleased with you. Even when you have done your best, Nomos will always find something more for you to do. To be bound to the law is worse than an unhappy marriage. To be bound to the law is actually like being stuck in an abusive relationship.
The Law in Pilgrim’s Progress
John Bunyan gets at this in his marvellous book Pilgrim’s Progress, an allegory of the Christian life. It is a story in which a man called Christian leaves his home in the city of destruction and makes his way to a new home in the celestial city. The whole thing here is actually the picture of a Christian life.
At one point in his journey, Christian meets another believer whose name is Faithful and the two of them began to talk, as Christians do, about their battles with temptation and trails and how they got through.
Faithful tells Christian about how he came to the home of an old man called ‘Adam the first,’ who lived in a town that was called ‘Deceit.’ He lived in a luxurious home and he had three very beautiful daughters.
He said that if Faithful would come and work for him, he could marry any of the daughters, or he could marry all three if he wanted to! More than that, if you would stay and work for him, he would inherit the house and everything else that belonged to Adam the first.
Faithful says, “At first I was inclined to accept his offer. But then the thought came to me that this old man wanted me for his slave.” So faithful, coming to his senses said ‘no’ to what at first had attracted him. Then the old man became angry and turned on him. He said that he would send someone after Faithful who would “make his life miserable.”
When Faithful left the town of Deceit, sure enough someone came running after him. And when this man caught up with Faithful, he took a swipe at him – right in the stomach, doubling him up. When Faithful caught his breath, he looked up at the man and said, “Why did you do that?”
The man said, “Your first inclination was to go with Adam the first.” Then he hit Faithful again, and knocked him to the ground. Faithful realized that he was in trouble and begged for mercy. But the man said, “The law knows no mercy,” and he kicked him while he was still down on the ground.
At this point, Faithful knew that he was in serious trouble. So, he told Christian that he felt sure this man would kill him. But then a second man appeared, ordered the first man to stop, and he did.
Christian said to Faithful, “Do you know who that second man was? The one who saved you by commanding the first man to stop?”
“No” said Faithful, “But when He passed by, I saw that He had scars in His hands and His feet.”
Then Christian said, “Do you know who the first man was – the man who was beating you up? His name is Moses. The law spares no one and the law shows no mercy.”
If you reflect on this, it is a story that every Christian can personally relate to. The inclination to sin is within us all, so that even if by God’s grace we say ‘no’ to temptation, the law sneaks up on you and condemns you. It beats up on you because, even if you resisted a particular temptation, in your heart you were drawn to it, and your first inclination was towards it.
The law is always beating up on us, and if it was not for the Man with the scars in His hands and His side, on His feet, the law would surely leave us for dead.
So, to come back to Romans chapter seven, the person who is bound to the law, or to use Paul’s illustration as married to Nomos, is in a really bad and dangerous place. To be married to Nomos, would mean living with someone who makes constant demands, is impossible to please, and often beats up on you. So, as long as you are married to Nomos, you can never be at peace and you can never rest.
Till death do us part
Now for how long will you be bound to Nomos? How long will this miserable marriage last? “The law is binding on a person only as long as he lives” (Romans 7:1)! This marriage is ‘till death do us part.’ Your whole life, no relieve. There is no getting out of your obligation to the law of God. For as long as you live, you are bound to all the requirements, and all the demands, and all the penalties of the law of God.
There is no way that you can divorce Nomos. The only way Paul says that this marriage ever ends is through death, and Nomos never dies. Nomos was there long before you were born, and Nomos will last long after you are gone. The law will never pass away.
No longer bound to the law
So, there is only one way out of this miserable marriage, and that is that you should die, and that is where we come to the marvellous words of Romans chapter seven,
‘Likewise, my brothers, you also have died to the law through the body of Christ, …” Romans 7:4)
“Likewise, my brothers…” So here the apostle Paul is talking to Christian believers, and he is telling us what we need to know about ourselves. “…you also have died to the law.” What a marvellous statement. You are no longer bound to the law. You are no longer locked into this abusive relationship. You are no longer married to Nomos.
The reason is not that the law has died. Jesus said: The commandments of God stand forever,
“For truly, I say to you, until heaven and earth pass away, not an iota, not a dot, will pass from the law until all is accomplished.” (Matthew 5:18)
The reason you are not bound to the law is not that the law has died, it is that you have died.
Union with Christ
Now how can that be?
“Likewise, my brothers, you also have died to the law through the body of Christ, …” (Romans 7:4)
Here we come to this marvellous truth of the believer’s union with Jesus Christ – that we are made one with Him in His death and in His resurrection. Paul says,
“I have been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me. And the life I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself for me.” (Galatians 2:20)
When Jesus died, all who are made one with Him through the bond of faith died with Him: We died with Him in regards to sin (Romans 6) and we died with Him in relation to the law (Romans 7). When Jesus rose, all who are made one with Him through the bond of faith, by being born again, rose with Him! We rose to new life in the power of the Holy Spirit.
Jesus died, so that through His death we might also die, and so be released from this miserable marriage to Nomos, from which our death was the only way out. If it had not been for the Man with scars on His hands and His feet, Nomos would have been the end of us.
But God’s purpose for you is more than saving you from getting beaten up by Nomos; by the law. It is that you should enter into a second very wonderful marriage:
“Likewise, my brothers, you also have died to the law through the body of Christ, so that you may belong to another, to Him who has been raised from the dead, …” (Romans 7:4)
The further purpose of God in delivering you from that miserable marriage to Nomos, is that you should enter a second marriage – a new and wonderful union with His Son Jesus Christ: “That you may belong to another, to Him who has been raised from the dead”
A sustained effort to live a moral life
I hope it is now absolutely clear to everyone. Do you see the difference between being a Christian and simply a sustained effort to live a moral life? A sustained effort to live a moral life is by definition a sustained attempt to please Nomos. And however hard you try you’re never going to succeed. Nomos is never satisfied!
To be a Christian is to be delivered from that miserable marriage and to be brought into a new and entirely different relationship with a Saviour who loves you. It is to be brought into a new relationship in which you are able to flourish!
Many of us are close to someone who made a bad choice and found herself in an abusive relationship. It was a miserable marriage and it lasted for some years. Then finally the marriage ended, and when it did, you were relieved.
But then something else might happen. Some years later, she met and married a man who really loved her, and since then her whole life has been different. There is a light and a joy and a peace and a contentment about her. She is a different person, and she is living a completely different life. That’s the illustration that Paul is using here, and it gets to the heart of what it means to be a Christian and the transformation that this involves.
Because of what happened to Jesus
Here is what is at the heart of being a Christian and here is why it all revolves around Jesus Christ and why He is the centre of all our love, and joy, and praise, and all our hope; it is all about Him. All that has happened to us – being forgiven, dying to sin, getting free from that miserable marriage to Nomos – how did these things happen to us? They happened to us because of what happened to Him. This is at the core of Christian faith. Christ died so that we may die with Him: “You also have died to the law through the body of Christ.”
What else has happened to us? We have new life in Christ. We have the presence and power of the Holy Spirit with us always. We have new hope, we have a future of unclouded joy in the presence of God – how did these things happen to us? They happened to us because of what happened to Him. Christ rose and we have been raised to new life with Him.
Martyn Lloyd-Jones says it well, “We are not saved by teaching, we are not saved by ideas, or by theory: We are saved by the fact that the eternal Son of God came into this world… was born of the Virgin Mary, died upon a cross, was buried in a grave, conquered death… and ascended unto God, and is seated now at the right hand of God.”
All that has happened to us is because of all that happened to Him. That is why we will come to the Lord’s table this morning with a full heart of thankfulness, saying, Jesus paid it all! If it was not for the Man with His scars in His feet and in His hands, we all would have been dead and lost forever. It all becomes ours through this marvellous union with Christ. Paul says it is like a new, wonderful second marriage.
The fruit of this union with Christ
“Likewise, my brothers, you also have died to the law through the body of Christ, so that you may belong to another, to Him who has been raised from the dead, in order that we may bear fruit for God” (Romans 7:4)
Here is a very strange thought for those who are parents. If you had chosen a different spouse, you would have had different children. That is a very strange thought but it is true. Remember, Paul is using an illustration and we must not press this too far, but the general point is clear: Being married to the law brings out the worst fruit in us. We will look at this more fully next week, marriage to Nomos never produces good fruit.
If you’re married to Nomos, you might comply for the sake of peace, but you will not love Nomos, and Nomos cannot love you. But Paul says, “You have died to the law, so that you may belong to Christ who has been raised from the dead, in order that we may bear fruit for God” (Romans 7:4)
The good fruit of a life that is pleasing to God does not come from a sustained attempt at living a moral life. It comes from union with Jesus Christ who died and rose. It comes from the life of Jesus Christ in you. Jesus says that He is the vine and we are the branches, it is the very presence of Christ in you that gives the hope of good fruit coming out of a life like yours and mine.
What do you know about this in your life?
What do you know about all these things in your own life? Today we are all invited to the Lord’s Table. There may be some of us who feel that we should not take the bread and the juice because we are not really fit to come. You know your own sin and you feel condemned.
But remember this today: The voice that condemns you is the ugly voice of Nomos. Here’s what you need to know: When you are in Christ you are no longer bound to Nomos. The Man with the scars in His hands and His feet tells Nomos to stop!
“There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus” (Romans 8:1)
We don’t come to the table because we feel that we’ve lived a good enough life to merit coming, feeling that we are worthy of it.
This Jesus, the Son of God, offers Himself, and is ready to give Himself to all of us who will receive Him today. Over two-thousand years ago, on the cross, Jesus was asked the question, “Will You take sinners and be their Saviour.” And in the agony of His death, He said, “I will!”
I have today the great privilege of saying to each and every one of us, “Will you take Jesus Christ? Will you forsake all others and keep only to Him? Will you bind yourself to Him in the bond of a living union through faith in the Son of God who loved you and gave Himself for you?”
If you will have Christ, then your sins, though they may be many, will be forgiven. If you will have Christ, you are released from the oppression and condemnation of that miserable marriage to Nomos. If you will have Christ, you are brought into the freedom and joy of this new and second marriage in which, by the Holy Spirit, Jesus Christ lives in you!
The Christian Campus 