Waiting For Glory

Romans 8:12-30

Introduction

Weren’t we just here at the end of a year and the beginning of a new one? Can you believe that Y2K was already 8 years ago? Each year seems to go faster and faster, yet each year we stop at this point and think about the year that has passed and the year that is coming.

What is it like for you at this point? Was it a good year? What brings a smile as you recall it? Were there unresolved issues? Were there tragedies and disappointments? What was there that you have to give thanks to God for?

How do you think about the year that is coming? How does the past year impact how you think about the new year? Are you filled with hope and looking forward to the blessings which are coming? What are you anticipating with joy? What are you dreading?

As we experience all of these thoughts and emotions, what is there that allows us to rejoice in the past with peace and face the future with hope?

As we continue in our study of Romans, we come to some of the most encouraging sections in the entire book. This morning we will look at Romans 8:12-30. In this wonderful passage, we will be reminded of all that is ours now which allows us to live in peace and we will also see the promises which allow us to face the new year and our whole future with hope.

Suffering 8:17-25

There is a surprising word in the middle of Romans 8. In the middle of a passage which celebrates victory in Christ, verse 17 suddenly says, “…we share in his sufferings...” What a shocker that is and yet what reality! Often as I enter a new year, I wonder, what tragedies will this year bring? The longer we live, the more we know that suffering is not only a possibility, but perhaps even a likelihood.

Jesus Suffered

But why should we be surprised? The text says, “we share in His sufferings.” This reminds us that Jesus Himself suffered. When He came into this world, He knew that His life on earth would involve suffering. In Luke 24:46 Jesus told his disciples, “…The Christ will suffer…” And suffer He did. Jesus Himself acknowledged in Matthew 8:20, “the Son of Man has no place to lay His head.” He suffered at the hands of the religious leaders. He suffered at the hands of the Romans. He suffered rejection and beating and ultimately crucifixion.

All Creation Is Subjected To Frustration

Christ suffered and as we continue to read in Romans 8 we find that in fact all of creation suffers. Romans 8:20 says that “the creation was subjected to frustration.” This means that the creation is not functioning according to the way in which it was designed to function. When God created it, He declared that it was good. But what we see in our world today is not always good. There is a show on TV called “Angry Planet” which talks about the natural disasters which happen. What do we see in the world? We see the destructive forces of hurricanes and tornadoes. We see the devastating results of climate change, volcanoes, winter storms and all the disasters which happen in the physical world.

How did the earth change from “it is good” to “Angry Planet?” This text explains that it was “subjected to frustration, not by its own choice.” It was subjected as a part of God’s curse on the human race because of sin. In Genesis 3 when God cursed Adam for his disobedience, we read, “Cursed is the ground because of you.” This explains a lot, but it doesn’t take away from the fact and difficulty of suffering.

We Groan Inwardly

If Jesus, who was creator and who was perfect, suffered in this world, what does that mean for the rest of us? The Scripture declares throughout that we will also not escape this suffering. Among the numerous places in Scripture which indicate that as Christ suffered we will also suffer is 1 Peter 4:13 which says, “But rejoice that you participate in the sufferings of Christ, so that you may be overjoyed when his glory is revealed.”

If we live in an “Angry Planet” how can we expect that we will not suffer? Romans 8:23-25, gives expression to the reality of our lives when it says, “We ourselves…groan inwardly…” In our lives we experience suffering. That is why we experience illness and disappointment and evil and man’s inhumanity to man and all that sometimes makes this world a miserable place to live and that makes us fear what this year may bring. The sad and scary reality is that there could be and likely will be some element of suffering in our lives in this coming year.

Glory

Suffering is real, but it is not the whole reality of our lives. There are many reasons to have peace and to look with hope into the future because of what God has already done, what He will do and what He is doing at this time. This passage acknowledges the reality of suffering, but is so full of hope that suffering cannot and must not overwhelm us.

The Glory We Have Received

In everything we have already seen in Romans up to this point we know that we have a great deal of good news!

Not Slavery But Sonship

Romans 8 is the climax of all that has been written in this book up to this point. The issues raised in Romans 1:16-18 have each been dealt with. There we read that “the wrath of God is being revealed from heaven against all the godlessness of men who suppress the truth by their wickedness.” We have seen how God’s wrath is against all who deny Him and disobey Him. There we read that “in the gospel a righteousness from God is revealed.” The righteousness of God has been revealed through the faithfulness of Jesus and given to all who respond with trust. We have discussed extensively how sin is a power which we cannot resist, not even with the law, but that Jesus kept the law and has overcome the power of sin and made us righteous. In Romans 1 we also read that the gospel “is the power of God” for salvation for Jew and Gentile. Particularly in Romans 8, we have been rejoicing that through the Holy Spirit we experience God’s power in us helping us to overcome sin and enabling us to live in righteousness.

At the conclusion we took note of Romans 8:14 which says, “those who are led by the Spirit of God are sons of God.” There we were reminded that having been saved from the power of sin, we still have to choose to live in the Spirit and that when we do, God’s power is present with us to help us live in obedience.

All of these verses encourage us as we face potential suffering because it tells us about all that God has already done for us. In this verse and those which follow we discover more of the wonder of what God has already done. There we read that those who have the Spirit, who are in the Spirit, who have the worldview of the Spirit, who walk by the Spirit, who are led by the Spirit, are children of God.

As long as we were under the power of sin we were slaves of sin. Now that we can live by the Spirit, we are no longer slaves, we are children of God. What a huge distance there is between slavery and sonship. A slave has no rights, is accorded no dignity, is property and does not belong. A son, has full rights in the family, has the dignity of association with the parents and belongs.

I know a man, in his early 30’s who has adopted himself into another family. He is a little slow, but a nice fellow. When he was in high school, he used to visit this family. They welcomed him and over the years he spent more and more time with the family. I don’t think they have ever said to him, “you are a part of our family,” but whatever they are doing, he is there. He is there at birthdays, at Christmas and many other occasions. What is really neat is that this family has welcomed him. They include him and accept him, he belongs. The picture of God adopting us into His family is even more wonderful. We did not take the initiative, God did. By calling us His children we get a clear message that we are part of God’s family and that we belong.

We Cry “Abba”

The evidence of the relationship of sonship into which we have entered is that we are able now to cry “Abba.” The word “Abba” appears only three times in the New Testament. The first time it appears is when Jesus said it in Mark 14:36. He called God, “Abba.” By doing so he let people know that He was in a special, intimate relationship with His Father. He knew the Father’s mind, He followed Him and obeyed Him. He knew He was going back to Him. He knew that he could address Him in these most intimate terms.

When that same term is now used to describe the way we can address God, it is a wonderful affirmation that in Christ we have come into an intimate relationship with God.

The Spirit Testifies With Our Spirit

But how do we know that we have the Spirit within us? The promise is found in Romans 8:16 when it says, “The Spirit himself testifies with our spirit that we are God’s children.” There is an inner understanding in which God Himself whispers to our deepest self that we belong. What rest! What peace is found in this promise.

When children are legally adopted into a family, a piece of paper signifies the legality of the new relationship. There is no paper that indicates that we are children of God, however, we have something better. We have the Spirit of sonship. We have God’s presence. It is as if everywhere we go, God is with us confirming that we are His children. What a privilege! What a blessing to help us face every day and every new year.

We Are Heirs

Along with sonship comes inheritance. The concept of inheritance is quite interesting. I have not often thought about it because my parents did not inherit much because they came from poverty. When my father left Russia at age 14, he left with absolutely nothing. Families who have lived in the same area for a long time are often able to build up a strong inheritance which is passed from generation to generation.

Because we are sons, we are also heirs of God. But how different that inheritance is! In earthly terms inheritance is passed on when our parents die. This is a sad time because it means that we won’t see them any more. In kingdom terms, inheritance is passed on when we die, and at that time we actually see our Father for the first time. It is not a sad time, but a joyous time!

Several times before she died, Carla’s mom gave us a portion of her estate as an inheritance. When she died, we received the complete inheritance. In the kingdom, we also already have a portion of the estate of our Father because His Spirit is with us but when we die, we will receive the full inheritance.

As we face a new year, the glory we have already received from the Father through Jesus Christ gives us hope. The destructive forces in this world, the evil in this world, the temptations in this world are not the most powerful things. The power of the gospel of Jesus Christ is the true power in our lives and helps us rejoice every day and face every day with faith in God.

The Glory That Will Be Revealed

These promises give us a wonderful understanding of all the blessings which are already ours in Christ. However, we also understand that we have not received our complete inheritance yet. We have the Spirit, but there is something more to come. We have victory over the power of sin, but complete victory is still something future. The language of inheritance implies that we do not yet have all of it.

As we go on in this passage we read about what is yet to come. In Romans 8:18, we read about “the glory that will be revealed.” What is it that we are looking forward to? Several phrases in the following verses speak about some elements of the glory that is yet to come.

In verse 19 it says that “the creation waits in eager expectation for the sons of God to be revealed.” The glory that will be revealed is that God will let the whole world know who His children are. Now we, who are God’s children, live among those who are not God’s children and, for various reasons it is sometimes hard to tell the difference. But the day is coming when God will make known those who are His. That will be glory!

In Romans 8:21 we read that “the creation itself will be liberated from its bondage to decay...” The time is coming when all the things that destroy – storms, illness and all evil - will be gone. When Jesus comes back everything in all of creation will be right. Then even the weather will be a pleasure all the time. That will be glory!

Along with creation being liberated from bondage to decay, we will also experience “the glorious freedom of the children of God.” What has been given to a degree and what has been established in Christ will be completed. Sin will not be a problem any more and death will be utterly removed. That will be glory!

Along with freedom, there will be the completion of the adoption process. Romans 8:23 indicates that we wait “for our adoption as sons.” What is now already true will be completed. That will be glory!

The same verse also indicates the completion of the redemption process. Romans 8:23 speaks of “the redemption of our bodies.” Now already our souls have been redeemed, then our bodies will be redeemed and the process will be complete.

We look forward to the glory that will be revealed. There is glory coming that surpasses all that God has already done for us. What a word of encouragement and promise! What is even more encouraging is that the glory that will be revealed will be awesome. In the face of present suffering, Romans 8:18 encourages us that “our present sufferings are not worth comparing with the glory that will be revealed.” Although we don’t know what the new year will bring, we can give thanks that no matter what it is, there is glory coming which will be so great that all present suffering pales in comparison. May the hope of glory encourage us as we move into the new year.

Living In Hope

But there is even more of God’s blessing and glory about which we can rejoice. In the midst of suffering there are things that God is doing right now.

The Spirit Intercedes

Suffering implies weakness. It implies that we cannot overcome. Romans 8:26,27 indicates that part of our present weakness is in prayer. The power of God is available to us and the promises of God in answer to prayer are also available to us, but we don’t know how to ask properly. The Bible tells us that whatever we pray for that is according to the will of God will happen, but we don’t know what the will of God is. How can we pray appropriately so that the power of God will help us in our suffering?

What is more, we don’t even know what is truly happening in our own deepest selves. What is it that we are really seeking? There is our spoken prayer and then there is the prayer that is deep within us and sometimes they are not the same. So in this way there is also a weakness in our ability to pray well. How can we pray appropriately so that the power of God will help us in our suffering?

God’s promise given to us in the midst of our suffering is that the Spirit of God, who knows the mind of God is operating deep within us at a level below our own consciousness discerning what our deepest prayers are and taking those deepest prayers directly to the throne of God. So not only do we have Jesus interceding for us in the presence of God, but we have God’s Spirit interceding for us in a real depth communication.

When we are suffering, in any way whether in minor annoyances or deep tragedy there is stuff that is going on inside us that is our true prayer. The Spirit knows those deep prayers that we don’t even know and forwards them to the Father and reinterprets those prayers according to God’s will.

When we know that God hears and answers prayer and when we understand that something is happening deep within us by the Spirit of God, we have every reason to be greatly encouraged. By the Spirit we have a constant, honest, accurate communication with God that is heard. This is especially important for those times when we are so deeply burdened that we cannot even articulate our prayers. At that point we know that our deepest unspoken and even un-thought prayers are ascending to the Father who hears and answers those prayers according to His will.

God Works For Good

As we look into the new year we know that there are things which will happen which we wish wouldn’t happen. Some of them are annoying, some are hard to bear and some are tragic. We have the wonderful promises of all that God has done for us in Christ. We have the hope of glory which will be so amazing that it will surpass all our present suffering. We have this wonderful promise of God’s Spirit praying deep within us. In spite of all that, we still dread some of the things that will happen. The passage we are looking at today concludes with what may perhaps be the cherry on the whipped cream on the ice cream sundae. It concludes with this wonderful promise that “we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him…”

This promise does not state that only good things happen to those who love God. It does not take away from the strong presentation already made that as long as we are on this earth there will be suffering. However, it does make this amazing promise that God can take even that which is tragic and bring good out of it and that He does this in all things.

With an interesting literary device of repetition and building we have this promise that God calls, makes us right and in the end will glorify all those who are His.

The cliché “it’s all good” is not just a cliché. When God is in the picture, it is also a profound truth.

Conclusion

As we come to the close of 2007, these words encourage us to give a heartfelt thanks to God. Besides all the blessings we can name which we have experienced in this past year – blessings of enjoyable times, family, friends, work and all the ways in which life has been good, we can also give thanks for all that God has done for us. We are His children when we walk by the Spirit. we are in an intimate relationship with Him. We can give thanks for the hope that lies before us, the hope of a glory that will be unmatched by anything we experience now. We can give thanks that the Spirit intercedes for us and that we know that God works for good in all things.

As we face 2008, we don’t know what the year will bring, but we can face it with hope and confidence. After all, we are God’s children. We have an intimate relationship with God. We are heirs of God. We have the hope of glory. God’s Spirit intercedes and God works for good in all things to those who love Him. So go in peace and with joy and love Him.

Living According To The Spirit

Romans 7:7-8:11

Introduction

What is so great about celebrating Christmas? There is something fun about getting into the Christmas spirit. The malls, the songs, the decorations, the food all contribute to that feeling. Sometimes it is just great to enjoy reliving the nostalgia of childhood. I remember the Christmas gatherings at my grandmother’s house. We didn’t have a TV, but at Christmas, my grandmother always rented one. I think it was so we would not make so much noise, but we enjoyed it. Of course if we get into talking about memories, we would be here all morning and never get to the point. The point is that although we enjoy these things and although it is possible to allow these things to become the important things, we know that “Jesus is the reason for the season.” But is that more than a cliché? How great is it that we are celebrating Jesus’ coming?

There are some common texts which are often used to remind us of the Biblical truth of what it means that Jesus came into the world. This morning, however, I would like to point to a text that I have never used as a Christmas message before. It is found in Romans 8:3 and speaks of “God…sending His own Son.”

Of course this little phrase is part of a much larger text which communicates in great depth not only the fact of God sending His Son, but much more the meaning of that fact. As we examine Romans 7:7-8:11, we will discover why it is that God sent His Son and we will discover the good news that Jesus is the one and the only one who is strong enough to deliver us from the power of sin.

Who Will Rescue Me?

Romans 7:7-25 is one of the most difficult passages in the Bible. If you read commentaries on this passage, you will find that it has been interpreted in many different ways. One of the primary questions asked about this passage is “who is this talking about? Is it Paul? Is it a Christian’s pre-conversion experience? Is it a Christians post-conversion experience? Is it Israel?” Each interpretation makes sense in some ways and not in others. I believe that this passage is a description of the way things are. I would not want to say that it is pre-Christian or post-conversion, but rather a realistic description of the power of sin, the place of the law and then leading to a description of the victory of God in Romans 8.

Do!...I Don’t.

The ideas in this passage, as we would expect in Romans, pick up from ideas that have been spoken previously. In Romans 5:20 we read, “the law was added so that the trespass might increase.” Then in Romans 7:4 we read “you died to the law.” The implication of these statements seems to be that because the law caused trespass to increase and because we have died to the law, therefore, the law is a bad thing.

For Jewish people, that implication would have been a serious problem. If the law is sinful, it destroys the basis for the relationship which Israel had with God and it makes God look bad. John E. Toews says, “if the law is sinful, then God is a fraud who tricked Israel by giving her evil in the name of good.”

So, “Is the law sin?” Paul’s immediate answer is the same as it was to the questions which he asked in Romans 6:1,15 - “By no means!” It is not the law which is sin. However, there is a relationship between the law and sin. That relationship is that the law reveals sin. It makes known how strong the power of sin is to bring about disobedience and ultimately destruction. The law is there to show the evil of sin as Romans 7:13 says, “so that sin might become utterly sinful.” How does that work?

On a tour of the Manitoba Legislature we were shown a chair in one of the rooms. It is called The “Prince of Wales” chair and is reserved for visiting royalty. Prince Edward VII first used it in Saint John, New Brunswick in 1860. Following the death of Queen Victoria, he became King of Great Britain. When we were told that it was reserved for royalty, what do you think my first thought was? I thought, “I wonder if some cleaning personnel have ever sat in it.” Bingo! The rule says don’t, my first thought was, “I wonder if anyone has, I wonder how I could?” Is the rule bad? No! The rule shows my rebellious nature.

That is what the law does. The law says, “This is what you must do” and immediately it is in our heart not to do it. This shows how great the power of sin is in us. It shows the wickedness of our hearts as we are tempted and even willing to disobey that law.

John Toews says, “The good, which is the law, unmasks sin and gives it clearly defined boundaries. The result is that the law works death, because people are pulled across the boundaries by sin.”

I Don’t…I Die!

If that is true, then the next question is: “Did that which is good become death to me?” This question, from Romans 7:13, is once again answered with the, now familiar, “By no means!” In this section Paul demonstrates that it isn’t the good thing, the law, which causes death, but the power of sin and our disobedience. How does it do that?

In Romans 7:16, Paul says, “I agree that the law is good.” Which person does not agree that the law is good? The reference here is primarily to the ten commandments. Most everyone on earth, even in our day, would agree that the law is good. We would all agree that when it says, “don’t steal, don’t commit adultery, don’t lie…” these are good laws. We fully understand that breaking these laws hurts people and thus we agree that the law is good.

Furthermore, Paul declares in Romans 7:18, “I have the desire to do what is good.” Of course there may be exceptions, but I think that most people would want to do those things that are good. In every society, there are principles which are agreed upon because people recognize that they want to do good things because they are good. For example, when it comes to being healthy, there is not a person here who would dispute that it would be a good idea to eat healthy food and exercise. We really want to do these things. Our intentions are good. But what happens?

So we agree that the law is good and we affirm that we want to keep the law, but the power of sin within us is so great and we are so weak that we don’t do it. Toews says, “The knowledge is informed, the will is active and strong, but the practice is mortally wounded.” So we find, as Romans 7:23 says, “the law of sin (is) at work within my members.” Romans 7:18 says that “nothing good lives in me.” Romans 7:20 reminds us that “it is sin living in me.” If you take a careful look at Romans 7:14-25, you will notice that similar patterns are repeated three times and come to the same conclusion three times. In Romans 7:17, 20, 25 it says, “not I working it, but the sin living in me.”

Therefore, in answer to the question asked in 7:13, we find that it is not the law which is the cause of death, but sin. The result is inescapable! Death is upon all of us. We are in a battle and we have been defeated and taken captive.

The season of Advent is a season of longing. It is a season of anticipation and waiting for the coming of God. It is a time when we acknowledge that we need God. Romans 7, brings us to such advent longing. The law says “do” but we don’t. Because we don’t, we die. What a terrible place to be! This strong advent type of longing is expressed in Romans 7:24 when it says, “Who will rescue me from this body of death?”

God Sent His Son!

Up to this point the tone of the writing has been in the nature of an argument. The questions and answers are like a mental debate. However, in Romans 8:1-11, the language changes to an assertion because there is good news to proclaim! Here we discover that Christ’s coming into the world means victory over the power of sin.

God Did!...I Live!

The passage begins with the conclusion in Romans 8:1, and then gives the means by which that conclusion has been reached. However, we will look at the means first. What did God do? How did He do it? What was the result?

What God did, He did by sending His own Son into the world. This is the Christmas story. Jesus came from heaven because He was sent by God. He was, and is the Son of God in a way that is unique and different from how we are sons of God. He was the Son of God as representative of God. In fact we could say that He was God with us or we could even say that in Jesus, God Himself came into this world.

Romans 8:3 says that He came “in the likeness of sinful man.” This is an important part of the plan of God. Theologians have debated the exact nature of Christ’s coming and it is critical to understand that while being fully God, Jesus was also fully human. It is important to know that God came down, but also important to understand that He became fully human. Jesus had to be a human being in order to fully experience human life as we do, to be tempted like we are, to live within the force field of sin and to know its power.

However it was also necessary for him to come in the likeness of sinful man so that, as Romans 8:3 says, he could “condemn sin in sinful man.” It was necessary, because of His holiness, for God to condemn, to punish and to deal with the power of sin. He could not condemn Himself because He was holy. He had to condemn sin in those who were under its power and so Jesus lived as a human under the power of sin and God condemned sin in Jesus. Jesus took our place and the wrath of God was fully poured out on Jesus. The reason that Jesus could take our place and that God’s wrath was fully poured out on Him is because Jesus never sinned. If He had yielded to it, he would have experienced God’s wrath on His own sin, but because He did not yield, when God’s wrath was poured out on Jesus at the cross, it was not for His own sins, but for our sins and because of that, the power of sin was broken. It no longer has the force it had before that.

When Jesus died on the cross, He overcame the power of sin and opened the way for the power of the Spirit of God. Because of that, as John Toews says, “The Spirit now lives where sin once lived. Therefore, the law is fulfilled.” And since the law is fulfilled, death is also overcome. Romans 8:1 says, “there is therefore now no condemnation.” That is good news!! It answers to the advent longing. The question was asked in 7:24, “Who will rescue me?” The answer is that Jesus has rescued us. Because He has, there is therefore now no condemnation. That is, there is no end time judgment for those who are in Christ Jesus. This is the present reality. This is “the already” that God has accomplished in Christ. This is the victory we celebrate when we rejoice over the coming of Christ at Christmas. Because of it, we don’t need to live a paranoid Christianity! We have assurance because the faithfulness and sacrifice of Jesus have assured freedom from God’s wrath to all who are in Christ.

I Live…I Do!

But the victory is not just over death and the end time wrath of God. Theology says –“the power of sin has been neutralized and so there is no condemnation. Life says – “I still submit to the sinful nature.” But, because we live in Christ, we can also live in obedience to God. This is the good news of Romans 8:4-14! How does Christ’s victory over the power of sin make a difference in my life?

Before Christ came into the world there was only one effective power in the world and that was the power of sin. We all yielded to that power. The person who lives under that power is described in Romans 8:5-8. There we read that the mind of the person living under the power of sin is set on what that nature desires. Those who live under the power of sin are under death. They have a mind that is hostile to God and are unable to live in obedience to God.

Now that Christ has come into the world, however, there is another power which takes us in a new direction and gives us a new possibility. Up to this point in the book of Romans, the word “Spirit” has occurred only 5 times. In Romans 8, it appears 21 times. Victory over the power of sin comes by the Spirit. Romans 8:4 says, that “the righteous requirements of the law might be fully met in us, who live…according to the Spirit.” In other words, it is possible for us now to live in obedience to God’s law.

Why is that possible? It is possible because as Romans 8:5 teaches that, if we live by the Spirit, we desire what the Spirit desires and the result is life and peace. The promise in Romans 8:9 is that every Christian has the Holy Spirit living in them. Therefore, we now are filled with a new power. The power of sin has been overcome by Jesus and the power of God, by the Spirit, is now within us. That is why it is possible to overcome sin.

How is it possible? There is a difficult concept in this passage that I admit I don’t fully understand. It is logically difficult, but we understand it because it reflects our experience. It is found first of all in 7:25 which says, “So then, I myself in my mind am a slave to God’s law, but in the sinful nature a slave to the law of sin.” This idea is also found in Romans 8:10 which says “your body is dead because of sin, yet your spirit is alive because of righteousness.” It seems to me that what it is saying is that because of what Christ has done, our spirit is obedient to God even if there is still the flesh within us which sins. This certainly reflects our experience. On the one hand, we know that we are redeemed and forgiven. On the other hand, all of us know that we still sin. Where then is God’s victory?

It is not only in the promise that there is no condemnation when we are in Christ. Romans 8:11 indicates that “if the Spirit of him who raised Jesus from the dead is living in you, he who raised Christ from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through His Spirit, who lives in you.” This tells us that we not only have eternal life, but that our present life is being made righteous as well by the Spirit, with the same power that raised Jesus from the dead. The Spirit of God is in us making us new creatures and teaching us to obey and giving us victory over sin so that there will be no dichotomy between our spirit and our mortal selves. Through His Spirit, Christ is renewing us all the time so that we are constantly learning and growing in our ability to obey Him. His resurrection power is available to us so that we can live in obedience. That is why we don’t need the law any more and it is also why we don’t walk in sin any more. We live in a new way by the Spirit of God. We can and will have victory over sin in our lives now by the Spirit of God.

I Do… By The Spirit

The question is, “How do we live by the Spirit?” The answer to that question is given in Romans 8:12-14.

Recognition

The first thing we notice is that we have an obligation. The obligation is to the recognition there is no condemnation because Christ has overcome the power of sin and death. The obligation is not to live under the power of sin nor to engage in acts of sin, but rather to live under the new power system of the Spirit of God. Therefore, our obligation is to live under the Spirit of God and to gain victory over sin by the Spirit of God.

When we daily recognize that we are Spirit filled people who are free from death, that reminder becomes an encouragement. It is also more than a mental trick because the Spirit of God in us is powerful – more powerful than the power of sin. To think in this way is to think with faith in God that what He has promised in these verses He will also do.

Relationship

The way to make that real in our life is in relationship with the Spirit. Notice the very important phrase in Romans 8:13, “by the Spirit you put to death the misdeeds of the body.” This is the most important knowledge for a Christian disciple. We are able to overcome the power of sin by the presence of God within us. It is not by obligation or discipline or even a mentor that we will win over the power of sin. All of these things have their place, but the victory over sin is won in relationship with the Spirit of God. The promise is, as given in Romans 8:14, that those who are led by the Spirit of God are sons of God. There is the means of victory! There is the way in which we must live our Christian life. It is a life lived by the new power structure, the power structure which is resident in us by the Spirit of God!

Conclusion

The advent longing is expressed in the plea, “Who will rescue me from this body of death?” It is answered in the Christmas message, “God sent His Son who did what the law could not do and by His death made us righteous so that “there is no condemnation for those who live by the Spirit?”

The victory over the power of sin has been accomplished by the sacrifice of the righteous lamb of God. The victory over sin in our daily lives is accomplished as we live by the Spirit.

Dying To Sin

Romans 6:1-7:6

Introduction

Have you ever caught yourself, in a moment of temptation, rationalizing that you will yield to temptation this time and then later you will ask for forgiveness? What logic allows you to think this way? What theological understandings allow you to even consider this possibility?

At such a time, the power of sin is in evidence. The fact of temptation and the desire to yield to it show how powerful the magnetic pull of sin is in our lives. But what makes us think that we can yield and then expect to be forgiven?

One thing about going through a red light where there is a red light camera is that the punishment is immediate and not in doubt. At any other corner, where there is only a chance that a policeman is watching, we might risk driving through a “dark orange” light, but where there is a red light camera, we would be foolish to risk it because we know that we will be punished. In our spiritual life, if we live under law, it is like living in the presence of a red light camera. When we sin, we know that the all seeing God knows our sin and we can expect punishment. Of course, as we saw in the last message, even living under law does not prevent people from sinning.

But because of Jesus, we are not living under the “monitoring of the red light camera.” We are living under grace. The death of Jesus on the cross has purchased our salvation and we are forgiven and freed from the power of sin and live under the grace of God. When we think, “I will sin and then ask for forgiveness,” it shows that we have grasped the power and the wonder of grace. Forgiveness is based on the faithfulness of Jesus and we are the recipients of a grace. If we “drive through the red light,” so to speak, we won’t necessarily be punished immediately and will be forgiven if we ask for forgiveness.

Yet even as we think like that, we have a sense that there is something wrong with that logic. What is it?

One of the first times I studied Romans was in an IVCF Bible study which I attended each week when I was in university. I remember that each time we met we would think about and discuss a passage and as we talked about it we would be left with questions, which we desperately tried to answer. The next week, when we went on to the next passage, we found an answer to the question left over from the previous week. This is how Romans is written. It builds on itself and you have to read and study it carefully and sequentially to really understand it. As you go on, questions which have arisen are answered in subsequent passages.

The question I have raised about how to think about sin, the law and grace is a question that arises out of the previous message. In Romans 5:20 we read, “The law was added so that the trespass might increase. But where sin increased, grace increased all the more…” Two questions, asked in Romans 6:1 and 15, arise out of the words and ideas in this statement.

On one level, the language and writing of Romans seems to be deeply theological and some people get bored with it and dismiss it because of that. But as we read these things and think about questions such as I have mentioned above, we quickly realize that these deep theological truths are intensely practical. So please join me in some theological reflection which must have a powerful impact on how we live. The text we will examine this morning is Romans 6:1 – 7:6.

The Questions

There are two questions which are asked in Romans 6:1,15. Before we look at these questions, however, we need to think about three words which appear in Romans 5:20 and throughout Romans 6 because we need to understand the meaning of and the relationship between these three words.

Law, Sin and Grace.

As we examined Romans 5, we learned that sin not only refers to the sinful acts we do, but also to sin as a power, a magnetic force in the world, which came into the world because of Adam’s disobedience and now draws every person on earth into its grasp. God gave the Law to Moses for two purposes. One was that it would demonstrate the presence of the power of sin. In that purpose it was wildly successful. Because the law reveals what is wrong, we know that we do wrong and the presence of the power of sin is clearly demonstrated. The other purpose was that the law was a means of grace. It was God’s gift to help people avoid the power of sin. In that purpose, it did not succeed. The fault was not that the law was bad, but that it was too weak to prevent us from yielding to the power of sin. The power of sin was too great and we were unable, even with the help of the law, to overcome that power. In order to make us right, God sent Jesus who did not yield to the power of sin, but lived a holy life and died in order to overcome the power of sin and to bring us life. Therefore, we are made right with God by the faithfulness of Jesus when we receive the gift of God’s grace by trusting Him. This is the salvation we have received, the gift from God which is a gift that comes from His grace.

The Questions

Grasping the wonder of the gift of grace raises the first question. That question is found in Romans 6:1 and asks, “Shall we go on sinning so that grace may increase?” If God forgives us by grace, and if, as Romans 5:20 says, “where sin increased, grace increased all the more…” then, it seems logical that there is freedom to sin because we will receive grace. In other words, because we are under grace, we can follow the logic we are tempted to follow, that we can sin and then expect that we will receive forgiveness. The question assumes, and we must understand, that grace is pretty amazing. Some would even state it more strongly and say that what this question suggests is that God’s grace is magnified when we sin and then receive His grace. The seemingly logical conclusion is that we should sin lots and lots and when God forgives us our many sins it shows how amazingly gracious He is.

The second question is found in Romans 6:15 and asks, “Shall we sin because we are not under law but under grace?” Earlier we noticed that the law was given as a boundary to help people avoid sin. We also noticed that it didn’t work. Instead of being made right by obeying the law, we have been made right by the blood of Jesus and, therefore, we are under grace. This question means that if we are not under the boundary of the law, we are free. The implication is that we can do as we please. There is no fence anymore and we can wander at will. If you have cattle in a field, the fence lets them know where the boundary is. If you remove the fence, it is an invitation, in fact almost a permission for them to wander wherever they want. With the fence of the law removed from us, does that not mean that we are free to wander wherever we want and do whatever we want?

In both questions, the underlying understanding is that we live because of the grace of God and that grace is, as the song says, “amazing!” We have been given a gift in spite of our great rebellion. We are forgiven in spite of the fact that we have done nothing to deserve it. We need to understand how great grace is to the point that these questions seem logical.

The Answers

However, the answer to both of these questions is the most emphatic “no” possible. Paul asks, “Shall we go on sinning that grace may increase?” And answers, “By no means!” He asks, “Shall we sin because we are not under law but under grace?” and answers, “By no means!” Please notice that in verse 2a and 15b we have the same phrase, “by no means,” with an exclamation mark after it. Paul uses the most emphatic Greek construction to indicate with as much force as possible that these conclusions are not logical. I even think the NIV translation is a little gentle when it says, “by no means.” A simple “no” will not do. Today we might say, “no way!!” and add as many exclamation marks as possible.

“No way!!!” “We died to sin!!!” 6:1-14

It is not at all logical to think that just because we are under grace we can sin so that grace will increase. It is not logical at all to permit ourselves to sin because we know that we can ask for forgiveness afterwards. The reason it is not logical is that the entire meaning of receiving God’s gift of grace is that we have died to sin(6b). In the verses which follow(3-8), Paul gives three illustrations which demonstrate the meaning of the grace we have received.

Illustrations

The first illustration is found in 6:3,4 and explains the meaning of baptism. Baptism symbolizes our relationship with Jesus and what He has done. Jesus died and rose again. When we identify with Jesus by trusting Him and symbolize that through baptism, we identify with His death and resurrection. Baptism illustrates what has really happened within us. It is a picture of what has happened in our life and that is that we have identified fully with Christ and just as He died, we have died to sin and just as He was raised, so we also have been raised to a new life. Through baptism we are saying that we are no longer living in the kingdom where sin has power, but in the kingdom where Christ reigns. In our community, baptism is sometimes seen as a rite of passage. It is that, but not, as we often think, from childhood to adulthood, but rather, it is a rite of passage from one kingdom to another.

The word “united” in verses 5-7 gives us another illustration of what has happened to us when we received the gift of grace. The Greek word would have been a word used to speak of setting a bone. When a person breaks a bone, it is separated from itself. With a splint or a cast, the doctor sets or unites the bone so that it becomes one again. In just such a close way we have been united with Christ, we have become one with him. When Jesus was crucified, He died to sin. We are so closely identified with Him that we also have died to sin. It is our common understanding that when a person is dead, sin is overcome. In Christ, we have died so that sin, as a power, no longer has power over us.

The third illustration in verses 8-10 reminds us of the victory which has taken place through the resurrection of Christ. Just as Jesus rose from the dead and lives to God, we also have been transferred from the kingdom of sin and death and become members of a new kingdom in a new community. When Jesus died, he died to sin and was removed in that moment from the power of sin and came eternally into the reign of God to live to God. Our trust in Him means that we also have died to sin and been transferred into the kingdom of God so that we can live in Christ under the reign of Christ.

Therefore:

To put all of this in the simplest terms, the entire meaning of having received grace is utterly contrary to living with acts of sin. Our identification with Christ means that we have been freed from the power of sin and that we can live a totally new life.

Are you living that life? Clearly we still are influenced by sin and still engage in acts of sin. When Jesus freed us from the power of sin, he gave us the possibility and power to choose to live in obedience to Him. John E. Toews says, “It is possible for Christians to be slaves of sin by acts of sin. Paul’s exhortations are aimed at this possibility.” The power of sin has no right in our lives, but we need to choose to live outside of the influence of its power. So in Romans 6:11-14 there are a number of exhortations which call us to live according to who we are.

We have died to sin, so Romans 6:11 calls us to count ourselves dead to sin. It is a theological, spiritual, mental exercise to remember that we belong to those who are alive to God and have died to sin.

Since we are no longer under sin, we should do what 6:12 says and “not let sin reign” in our bodies. We can choose to give authority to Christ in our lives or we can choose to give authority to sin. Because we belong to Christ, we are called to give authority to Christ.

I have seen people on MDS come up to the person in charge and smartly indicate to them, “reporting for duty, sir.” By saying this, the volunteer is indicating, I have made a choice to put myself at your disposal today. I suspect that when Kerry is managing people on the MDS projects, he appreciates people with such an attitude. We should have such an attitude to God according to Romans 6:13 which calls us to first of all offer ourselves to God and then to offer the parts of our body to Him as instruments of righteousness.

There is a way of thinking which emphasizes that God accepts us as we are. That is true if it means that God is gracious to sinners, but it is false if it becomes an excuse to continue to live in sin. John Toews says, “…the modern gospel that ‘God accepts us the way we are’ is nothing less than heresy. God calls Christians to change – to become slaves of Jesus as Lord, to live in God’s kingdom, and to become soldiers of righteousness in the battle with evil.”

In 6:14, Paul states a sort of conclusion, but it is unusual and not what we would expect. We would expect it to say, “For sin shall not be your master, because you have died to sin.” That is the logical conclusion of the argument and certainly worthy of note. Having received God’s grace, it is not logical to live in sin, but rather to recognize that we are now in a new kingdom in which righteousness reigns and therefore we are to live in righteousness.

However, that is not what it says. Instead we read, “For sin shall not be your master, because you are not under law, but under grace.” This seems unusual, but is written to anticipate the second question.

“No way!!!” We belong to a new way! 6:15-7:6

As we have seen, the second question is, “Shall we sin because we are not under law but under grace?” Since the boundary marker of the law has been removed and we are under grace, does that mean we can do as we please?

Again Paul responds with a strong negation. There is no way that this is logical. There is no way that it makes sense to live with sin in our lives just because the fence has been removed.

In the verses which follow, Paul uses two illustrations to reinforce this idea.

Choose your slavery

In a world where there were more slaves than citizens, the imagery of slavery must have been quite meaningful. We do not grasp it as well, but can understand that a slave had no rights, but did exactly what the master wanted.

We understand that when we were under the power of sin we were slaves to sin. We could not do what we wanted, we were subject to its power. The mistake we make is to think that since the fence of the law has been removed we are free from everything. That is not true. Being freed from the law does not mean that we are free, but rather that we now become slaves to righteousness. That may sound like legalism, but as we shall see in a moment, it is not. We are not now slaves to rules and regulations, but to the possibility and obligation to live in a new way. We have a new master, we are now slaves to Christ’s reign.

In Romans 6:15ff, Paul is saying that we have the option to choose our slavery. Before we were freed from the power of sin through Christ, we were slaves to sin. Sin is a terrible task master. Sin may sometimes sound like fun, but the reality is that sin always leads to death. This is not only true in the ultimate sense that God’s punishment is upon us and every sinner will die. It is also true in the daily sense that whatever sin we engage in, it always has negative consequences. The sin of gossip destroys another person. The sin of adultery breaks relationships. Lying builds mistrust.

On the other hand, slavery to righteousness, leads to holiness as it says in 6:19. When we follow God and His way, we walk in a way that brings life and joy and peace. In the end, being slaves to righteousness always leads to life as we read in Romans 6:22, “the result is eternal life.”

Romans 3:23 summarizes and invites us to recognize that we will always be slaves, but we can choose our slavery. If we continue in slavery to sin, “the provision of sin is death.” The Greek word can be translated either wages or provision, but because we are talking about slaves the word provision is better. Slaves do not have wages, they have provisions. The provision of sin is always death. But slavery to righteousness always leads to life.

What a strong motivation to leave the practices of sin. We can do it because we are not under the power of sin any more, but are under the power of Christ’s victory. Let us live in that victory.

A New Relationship

The final section, 7:1-6, gives another illustration which motivates holy living. It is written with Jewish thinking in mind. It was hard for the Jews to leave behind the thinking that the law was the boundary to help them live a righteous life. That is why there were such heated debates about the place of the law in the kingdom of Jesus as we see illustrated in Acts 15 and also in Galatians. The law was good, it was God’s provision to help a person live righteously. They would have thought, “if you leave the law, you might as well say, as 6:15 says, ‘Shall we sin because we are not under law but under grace?’” Many Christians still struggle with this separation. They want to live by rules and would also ask the question in the same way. Of course, Paul has already indicated that this is not logical and should not be followed, but it is important to understand why and, therefore also, how we need to live because we are not under law.

In this last section, Paul uses an illustration from marriage in order to make his point. The illustration points out that a woman is bound to her husband as long as he is alive. During that time, she is obligated to keep covenant with him and if she marries another man, she is called an adulteress(3). If her husband dies, however, she is freed from her covenant with him and is free to marry someone else. The point of the illustration is that because we have been united with Christ, we have died to the power of sin and do not need the law as the means by which sin is bound in our life. Therefore, for those Jews who have trouble releasing the law and to those Christians who want to live in legalism, Paul is saying that we are now free from the power of sin and therefore released from the law. Of course that does not mean we are free to sin. Rather, we read in Romans 7:6, that we are free to live in a new way, which is the “way of the Spirit.” Paul will expand on this some more in Romans 8 and this is the question that is left over from this message, which will be answered at a later time. For now we come to understand that just because we are not under law any more, but under grace, does not mean that we are free to sin, rather it means that we are free to enter into a new relationship, a relationship with Christ and are thus free to live in a new way.

Conclusion

Christians are often pulled in two directions. They are pulled back into legalism, to thinking that the way to live in Christ is to set up boundaries. The other is to live in sin, counting on the grace we have received. This passage gives us the theological foundation to understand that neither of these ways are the “in Christ” way to live.

The passage reminds us of the power and the wonder and the amazement of the grace which we have received in Christ. We have received the gracious gift of being set free from sin and have been given life. This gift is given to us when we trust Christ. May we receive God’s amazing grace! May we rejoice in God’s amazing grace!

It teaches us that we are free from the power of sin and therefore we don’t need the law to help us bound sin any more. Rather, we are free to live in a new way, by the Spirit. May we learn to live in this new way.

It teaches us that if we are allowing our selves to be slaves to sin, we have missed the point of the huge change that has taken place when we trusted Christ. Thus it calls us to repent and to become slaves of Jesus Christ. May we allow Jesus to help us live in victory over sin!

The Gift Of Grace

Romans 5:12-21

Introduction

You are holding your baby and enjoying the wonder of a new life. The child gets restless and seems uncomfortable and begins to cry. A few cries and all of a sudden he launches everything you just fed him. His aim is good and his sleeper and your shirt are dirty and smelly. As you lift him you notice that he has also blown through his diaper and a light brown liquid is seeping through his sleeper onto your pants. What a mess! What happens next? Do you send the child to his room to get cleaned up? Not a chance. He is a baby and incapable of cleaning himself. You get up and after putting a clothes pin on your nose you clean up the mess on the baby and then clean yourself up and hope it doesn’t happen again too soon.

Sin makes a mess. How is it cleaned up? Who does it? In order to find out, we will look at Romans 5:12-21. This is a fascinating passage which deals in comparisons. The most frequently used phrase is “one man.” The passage draws a contrast between the one man Adam and the one man Jesus Christ. We are identified with the one man because we are human and invited to be identified with the other man because we are loved. What we will see is that by His grace in Christ, God has cleaned up the mess we have made.

What A Mess!

A Mess Made

How did this mess we are in get started? In previous messages on Romans we have learned that we are all sinners. Why? Where does sin come from? Romans 5:12 answers that question when it says, “Therefore, just as sin entered the world through one man, and death through sin, and in this way death came to all men, because all sinned…” It all started with Adam through whom, as the text says, “sin entered the world.” How did that happen?

In the concentration camps in Germany during the second world war, there were times when people were herded into a room. Sometimes they didn’t know what kind of a room this was. Some may have thought it was a delousing station or something like that. Although perhaps somewhat fearful, they were all fine and could breathe and were doing OK, until one door was opened which allowed poisonous gas into the room. When that door was opened, the gas permeated the entire room and very soon all the people in that room were dead. The power of the deadly gas was allowed into the room and overcame everyone.

Sin came into the world in a similar way. By his disobedience, Adam opened the door that allowed the power of sin to come into the world. Since that time, this power has been present in the world and has had an impact on everyone in the world. The power of sin is not a genetic thing. We are not under it’s influence because we inherited a sin gene from our parents. Rather, it is an environmental thing. The power of sin is everywhere in the environment of the world. This is an important distinction. If sin is genetic, then the practice of baptizing infants becomes very important, but if it is a force in the world, then children are innocent until they succumb to that force.

Another way of looking at it is that sin is like a magnetic power which attracts everyone. With a magnet, you can attract metal which is within its magnetic field. In the same way, sin is like a magnetic field that attracts everyone in the world.

Just as everyone in that gas chamber died, so the magnetic attraction of sin also results in the death of every person who yields to its.

There is, however, at least one way in which the illustration of the gas chamber fails. Those who are overcome by the power of the deadly gas are overcome innocently. The power of the gas is imposed on them. Although it was Adam who opened the door for the power of sin to enter the world, we are all implicated because, as the text also says, “all sinned.” Every one of us is subject to the power of sin, and everyone of us also yields to the power of sin through our sinful acts. If we had been Adam, every one of us would have opened the door for the power of sin to enter the world, allowing death to also enter. So Adam opened the door to the power of sin and death came in. Everyone of us yields to that power and as a result every one of us is subject to death.

Let’s Clean Up!

How can this mess be cleaned up? As we read on, another man is mentioned who came to this world to establish a relationship between God and people. This man was Moses who gave the law to the people of Israel. Was the law a good thing or a bad thing? The Jewish understanding and Paul’s understanding was that the law was good. It was a gift of God. The law given by Moses did two things.

First of all, we read in Romans 5:13, that “before the law was given, sin was in the world. But sin is not taken into account when there is no law.” One of the purposes of the law was to show sin for what it was. The basic sin in the world is rejection of God. When the law came, the true nature of sin was revealed. The rebelliousness of people was revealed and the evil of every person’s heart was also revealed. There are instruments which measure the presence and strength of magnetic fields. The law was like an instrument to test the presence of the magnetic field of sin. The law demonstrated the presence of the power of sin and, because people could not keep the law, it also showed how powerful sin is.

But the law had another purpose. The law was intended to help people overcome the powerful attraction of sin. That is the meaning of Romans 5:20, which says, “The law was added with the result that sin was multiplied.” It was intended as a barrier so that people would not yield to it’s power. The problem is that the attraction of sin is just too strong and it is impossible for us to escape from it’s power. If you have ever played with a magnet you know that you cannot remove the attraction of it by putting it in water or putting a piece of paper over the magnet. The only way to remove the power of the attraction is to move the magnet far away from that which is attracted to it. There is nothing that can be applied to remove it’s attraction. Just as it is difficult to escape the attraction of a magnetic field, so also it is impossible, even with the law, to escape from the attraction of sin.

What a mess! It seems like a totally hopeless situation. The power of sin is very great! We are not strong enough to overcome it. The law is not strong enough to help us overcome it. As a consequence, we all succumb to the consequences of sin and we will all die.

Getting Cleaned Up

This is the starting point of this passage and the themes I have outlined here are mentioned throughout the passage as the one man Adam is compared to the one man Jesus Christ. But the passage is not about sin and death! It is about grace and life! Through the one man, Adam, sin and death entered the world. But this passage is mostly about the one man, Jesus Christ who brought freedom and life into this world. This passage is written to contrast Adam and what he brought into the world with Jesus and what He brought into the world. John E. Toews says, “the free gift of righteousness…went far beyond what was needed to correct the consequence of Adam’s trespass.”

Those of you who play Rook know how important it is to hold a trump card. I have played games in which one player seemed to be dominating and was boldly playing his final card with confidence that he would win, but did not count cards and was beaten because one person still held a trump card. The trump card wins! What this passage tells us is that God holds the trump card when it comes to the power of sin. John Toews says, “salvation trumps sin in Christ.”

Jesus Didn’t Mess Up

Earlier I said that everyone has fallen to the power of sin and that no one has been able to overcome its influence, but that is not entirely true. There was one man who did not yield to the power of sin. We read in 5:18 about “one act of righteousness” and in 5:19 about “the obedience of the one man.” Jesus became a human being and lived under the power of sin, but He was the only one who was not overcome by it. The consequences of that victory are amazing!

It is easy to make a mess. You wouldn’t believe the mess I can make whenever I do any baking or cooking. However, cleaning up is much more difficult. The easiest way to clean up the kitchen after I have cooked is to ask Carla to do it. Of course that usually doesn’t work either.

Yet Jesus didn’t mess up. Adam began with a clean slate, but made a mess. Jesus, began with a huge mess, but did not add to that mess at all. What’s more, because He didn’t, He is able to clean us up as well. The amazing thing that Jesus did when he didn’t mess up was that He did what the law could not do. By overcoming the power of sin in a human person, Jesus was able to introduce into the world, the way in which all people can overcome the power of sin and also to release them from death and show them how to live apart from sin. John Toews says, “What makes the second person so amazing is that He is able to undo the disastrous outcome of the first person’s disobedience…The faithfulness of Christ reverses the unfaithfulness of Adam and assures righteousness for all who faithfully commit themselves to God.”

Jesus Cleans Us Up

It is important to note that cleaning up sin has happened through Jesus. It is very important for us to see Jesus. We are so quickly tempted to think we can clean up the mess ourselves. Even after we are saved we often think that now that we have a good start, we can live clean. We can now keep the law. However, we need to remember that the work of God in cleaning up the mess has happened entirely through Jesus. This theme is repeated over and again in this passage. Please take note of the pervasiveness and power of this truth.

5:15 – “the gift that came by the grace of the one man, Jesus Christ.”

5:17 – “the gift of righteousness (will)reign in life through the one man, Jesus Christ.”

5:18 – “the one act of righteousness was justification that brings life for all men.”

5:19 – “through the obedience of the one man the many will be made righteous.”

5:21 – “grace might reign through righteousness to bring eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.”

What happened because Jesus did not succumb to the power of sin? The text lists three things.

We Receive God’s Grace

First of all, it speaks about God’s grace. In 5:15 it says, “God’s grace and the gift…overflow to many.” 5:17 speaks about “God’s provision of grace…”, 5:20 says, “grace increased all the more.” and finally, 5:21says, “so that grace might reign.”

When the baby blows it at both ends and makes a terrible mess, why do you clean him up? You love your child and have no expectation that he is able to clean himself up. You clean him up because you love him and he is helpless. Of course, we would say, “but we should know better.” But do we really? Of course we are responsible for our sin and of course we need to repent of it, but that does not change the fact that God cleans us up as an act of grace because He loves us and we are helpless without His help.

“G. Campbell Morgan was once approached by a man who said he would give anything to believe that God would forgive sins, "but I cannot believe He will forgive me if I just turn to Him. It is too cheap." Dr. Morgan said to him: "You were working in the mine today. How did you get out of the pit?"

“He answered, "The way I usually do; I got into the cage and was pulled to the top." "How much did you pay to come out of the pit?" "I didn't pay anything." "Weren't you afraid to trust yourself to that cage? Was it not too cheap?" The man replied, "Oh, no! It was cheap for me, but it cost the company a lot of money to sink that shaft." The man saw the light, that it was the infinite price paid by the Son of God for our salvation, which comes to us by faith and not by anything that we can do.”

We Are Made Right

The other thing that Christ’s act accomplished is that we have been made right. Not just declared right, but made right. The words “justified” and “made righteous” appear in 5:16,17, 18,19, 21. They are all the same Greek word, which means "being made right.” While under the power of sin, we were all wrong, but God, in Christ has made us all right.

John E. Toews says, “Salvation effects more than a change of status – the gift of ‘right standing’ before God – but in fact makes people righteous.” When I have studied this in the past, I have sometimes been taught that being justified means that we have gotten a piece of paper which says that we have a right standing with God, but we are still sinners and when we get to heaven we will turn in our piece of paper for true righteousness. But, this has never completely made sense to me because it seems to put too much distance between our lives and what God has done. Yet to believe that I am now righteous is also hard to understand because I know myself and how much sin still exists in me.

A few weeks ago my son and I made a trailer to pull behind a bicycle. We made it out of aluminum conduit. We used a conduit bender, but had never used one before. We tried to do it right, but realized that some of the bends were in the wrong place. I tried to straighten out one piece that we bent wrong so we could use it again, but it was impossible to do so, we had to start over with a new piece. What was impossible for us, that is, to straighten ourselves out, was done by Jesus. We were bent and crooked, but God, in Christ has straightened us out.

It is true that we are made straight, but it is important to remember that it is in Christ that we are straight. He never sinned and when we belong to Him, God does not see our crookedness, but the purity and holiness of Jesus. So we are made right in Christ and invited to continue to live in that righteousness.

We Are Given Life

Having been made right, the result is life. We find this theme in Romans 5:17, 18 and 21. Because the power of sin is overcome, its consequence is also overcome. One year, there was one place in our yard where I was always afraid to walk by. It all started one day when I was mowing the lawn and all of a sudden there was a terrible pain in the back of my leg. I realized that I had been stung by a wasp. It took a while to figure out what to do about it and so for a few weeks I walked by that place very carefully. Eventually, I found out how to get rid of the nest. Once the nest was gone, the fear of getting stung was gone and I did not fear to go there any more.

I Corinthians 15:56 says “The sting of death is sin…But thanks be to God! He gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.” Because of what Jesus has done, the cause of death has been removed. Therefore we are no longer subject to death, we are now released to life, which is eternal.

Conclusion

In many circles today, people talk about improving ourselves through therapy or the practice of some ritual, but it does not work. Sin is too powerful and there is nothing we can do to overcome it’s attraction.

The emphasis in this passage is on what Christ has done. He, by His faithfulness in not yielding to its power, has conquered sin for us so that we can live free from it’s power. Having been freed from it’s power, we are also placed into life.

Who is this for? If you read through these verses, you will notice the word “all” appears several times. Particularly we notice that Romans 5:12 says, “death came to all men, because all sinned.” However, it is also important to notice that 5:18 says, “the result of one act of righteousness was justification that brings life for all men.” In other words, all of us have the same problem of being under the power of sin and death and what God has done He has done for all men. There is no racial or cultural limitation. God’s grace in making right and giving life is for all men.

However, we also notice another word and that is the word “many.” Notice particularly 5:19 which says, “For just as through the disobedience of the one man the many were made sinners, so also through the obedience of the one man the many will be made righteous.” This seems to limit what God has done. Here it does not say that “all” will be made right, but “many.” What are we to understand by this? Who is freed from the power of sin? Who is given life?

From these verses it seems clear that God’s grace is available to all, but given, as Romans 5:17 says, to “those who receive God’s abundant provision of grace…”

Have you received it? If not, I invite you to accept God’s gift. If you have, I encourage you to live in Christ.

That You May Know Him Better

Ephesians 1:15-23

Introduction

When Rosenort Fellowship began to talk about planting a church in Oak Bluff, I listened with interest and thought it was a great thing and so I have always wanted to come and visit and see what God is doing here. So I am glad to come and talk with you today.

Ephesians 1:15a seems an appropriate verse which expresses my feelings. It begins “ever since I heard about your faith in the Lord Jesus and your love for all the saints, I have not stopped giving thanks for you, remembering you in my prayers.” There are certain aspects of this verse that are true about me and how I think about you. I have heard about you and the faith you have. When the church was being planted and ever since then, I have prayed for you. It isn’t only the beginning of the prayer that strikes a chord with me, but also the content of the prayer Paul prays for the Ephesians. Paul had planted the church in Ephesus and knew the people there. He knew their faith and love and had heard that their faith and love were still active. Yet he continued to pray for them and desired that on the foundation of faith and love, they should continue to grow in their walk with God. That is also my desire for you. This morning, I would like to look at Ephesians 1:15-23 because it expresses my wish, my prayer for you.

God May Open Your Heart Eyes

Twice in this chapter, Paul mentions that he prays for the Ephesians. In verse 17 he says, “I keep asking…” and in verses 18 he says, “I pray…” I like the way he phrases his prayer in 1:18, “I pray also that the eyes of your heart may be enlightened in order that you may know…”

There is a story in John 9 about a blind man who met Jesus. Jesus spit on the ground, made some mud and put it on his eyes. He told him to go to the pool of Siloam and wash the mud off his eyes. When he did, he could suddenly see. The rest of the story tells of the encounters he had after he was able to see again, particularly with the Pharisees who were upset that Jesus had done this and did not want to believe what this implied about Jesus. The story is as much about the physical healing of a man born blind as it is about the blindness of those who could see physically and claimed to be able to see spiritually, but were really blind spiritually. In Ephesians, Paul prays not that they will have 20-20 vision with their physical eyes, but 20-20 vision with the eyes of their heart. He prays that the eyes of their heart will be open so that they will know God. What does it mean to know God?

How many of you know Milt Stegall? Of course most of us have heard of him, but how many of us really know him? For most of us the knowledge is pretty superficial. Some people know God only in this way - they have heard of him but they do not really know him. This prayer is a prayer to go beyond the superficial.

There is an excitement when a young man and woman first get to know each other. It is the joy of first acquaintance. When believers first come to the faith, they come to know God with the knowledge of first acquaintance. This prayer is a prayer to go beyond the knowledge of first acquaintance.

When a couple has been together for many years and have worked so that their relationship is a growing, loving relationship, we can say that they know each other well. Sometimes such couples say the same thing at the same time because their minds are so in tune with each other. It is this kind of knowledge of God which the writer desires for his readers and which we need. It is the knowledge of personal relationship. It is a real, deep and full knowledge. It is a dynamic and experiential knowledge. It is the knowledge of close friendship.

Do we know God in this way? Do we desire to know God in this way?

Paul’s prayer assumes that there is a gap in our lives. We have a desire to see God face to face – a desire which God himself has put within us, but as long as we are on this earth, we will not see God face to face. However, in Christ we have seen God and this prayer asks that we will see Him in our hearts and know Him more and more. How is this prayer answered?

My brothers brother-in-law is deaf and one day when we were visiting my brother, he was there. I would be totally unable to communicate with him because he can’t hear and I can’t sign. But my sister-in-law and my niece are very proficient at signing. Through them, I as a hearing person and he as a deaf person were able to communicate. What Paul prays for in Ephesians 1:17 is that God will give them the “Spirit of…revelation.” It is a prayer that the Holy Spirit will be the interpreter who will allow our hearts which are deaf to God to hear and know Him. The only way we will come to know God is if the Spirit of God does a work of illumination in our hearts.

The prayer also asks that God will give a “Spirit of wisdom.” Wisdom comes as we expose ourselves to the Word of God and as we experience God in relationship. As we walk with God, and apply his Word to our lives, He will make Himself known to us.

I love this prayer. I love the possibility of knowing God. I love the language which speaks of the eyes of our heart being opened. My prayer for you is that you will know Him better, that the eyes of your heart will be opened.

Knowing Him Better

But what are the specifics of that knowing? The next few verses mention three things. The prayer asks that they will know:

1. “the hope to which God has called them.”

2. “the glorious riches of his inheritance in his people.”

and

3. “his incomparably great power for those who believe.”

Hope 1:18

A while ago, I saw a special on TV about the actions of people who get lost in the bush. When they realize they are lost, they lose hope and they panic. As a result, their vision and focus is obscured. Some have been known to cross roads which would have gotten them out but they didn’t even see them. The loss of hope prevented them from healthy thinking and planning. People need hope. We sometimes lose sight of the hope we have. Knowing God is knowing that we have hope.

This is particularly important when difficulties and troubles strike. Sometimes, we have to go through life sustained by nothing but hope. For example, Abraham saw the fulfillment of hardly any of the promises which God had made to him. Hebrews 11:13 says that he and Isaac and Jacob all died without seeing the things they were promised. Yet they died in faith because they had a hope in God.

When we use the term "hope" we often use it in the sense of wish or possible expectation. Like, I hope the Bombers are going to win this afternoon. The Biblical use of the term "hope" is much stronger, especially when presented as it is in this text.

Biblical hope has three elements. There is the element of expectation by which we anticipate and expect that certain things will happen. There is the element of trust by which we believe, through faith, that these things will happen and there is the element of patient waiting by which we are aware that we may not receive the fulfillment of our expectations immediately, but only eventually.

This hope is rooted in the call of God, which in itself indicates that it is much more sure than merely a wish. God is the one who has called us to this hope as Ephesians 1:4 says, "For he chose us in him before the creation of the world to be holy and blameless in his sight."

It comes to birth in us when we receive Christ by faith as it says in Ephesians 1:12-13, "And you also were included in Christ when you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation. Having believed, you were marked in him with a seal, the promised Holy Spirit."

This hope will climax on the day when we receive our inheritance which is assured in Ephesians 1:14, which says, "who is a deposit guaranteeing our inheritance until the redemption of those who are God's possession--to the praise of his glory."

To know God is to know that we have hope. It is a tremendous encouragement to have hope in a world which is full of fear and despair. When we wonder if our world will be destroyed by a natural disaster or if terrorists will strike or if we will get sick, we know that the future is not in the hands of random forces. As the song says, "I know who holds the future and I know who holds my hand."

Inheritance

The second thing the prayer asks is that we will know what is “the riches of His glorious inheritance in the saints…”At first view, it seems that this simply repeats what was just said, namely that we would know what it is that we will inherit. But when we look at the wording of the text, it says something different. It does not say to know OUR inheritance, but HIS inheritance. Paul prays that the believers will understand what it is that God is going to inherit, and that is us. We, the people of God, the church, are God's inheritance.

I have sometimes thought about what I might inherit, but not very often thought that I, that we, are someone's inheritance, and not just anyone's, but God's!

Is God going to create for himself a shoddy and poor inheritance? The Bible talks about that inheritance as a beautiful bride, a glorious city. What kind of an inheritance is worthy of God? The text calls it a rich and glorious inheritance. Knowing something of what God is like, we know that it is a holy and pure inheritance. God is preparing such an inheritance for himself and we are that inheritance.

Do we really grasp the fact that we are God's holy and glorious inheritance?

What a wonder to know that this is how God thinks of us! What an exalted position this places us into! It helps us understand that God is much more involved in our life, much more concerned about us than we sometimes think. It encourages us to rest in Him, to obey Him, to love Him.

Having our eyes opened means that we understand that we are His inheritance. What kind of a difference will it make in the way we live every day when we come to have a clear knowledge that we are God's holy and glorious inheritance.

Power

Finally, Paul also prays that they will know the power of God available to them. "To know...his incomparably great power for us who believe."

At one time, I put some crushed rock on my driveway. I began by shoveling along the edges with a spade in order to remove the old shale from the driveway. That was better than trying to do it with my bare hands; my power was increased by what the spade could do. Then my neighbor came along with his front end loader and scrapped the rest of the driveway to clear off the old shale. This was much better than trying to do it all with a shovel. Again I increased my power by using the tractor. Later that afternoon, a tractor came with a large bucket. The whole four yard load of gravel, which I wanted put on the driveway, was in one bucket and with three sweeps along the driveway he had spread the crushed rock so that I had to do very little spreading with rake and shovel. Once again I increased my power by using an even more powerful tool. Each time I dwarfed the power I had with something more powerful.

The power of God dwarfs the greatest displays of energy among humans and angels. It speaks of “all rule and authority, power and dominion and every title that can be given, not only in the present age but also in the one to come.” There is a sense of fear in regards to the powers of the earth, but God's power is much greater.

The power of God has already been demonstrated. It is demonstrated in: Jesus’ resurrection (1:20); His enthronement (1:20); His absolute Lordship (1:21), His eternal lordship (1:21b), and His present sovereignty for the churches benefit (1:22,23).

When a prisoner faces his executioners, when a hold up victim looks into the barrel of a robber’s gun and when we hear of the attacks of terrorists, we realize that people have the power to kill. However, they do not have the power to make alive. Only God has the power to make alive. And he has demonstrated that power by raising Jesus from the dead. God's power is life giving power and that resurrection power is for us. God is the God of resurrection. He is the one who, as Ezekiel says, can make dry bones live again. He is the one who did make Christ rise from the dead.

God also has the power to set as ultimate authority the one He wants to rule. Having raised Him from the dead, God has placed Jesus Christ as sovereign Lord over all things. Christ's enthronement means that the world citizens have a new Lord.

Verse 21 goes on to describe that the risen and exulted Christ has authority far above everything. The totality of Christ’s power over everything else is emphasized by listing all other possibilities - rule, authority, power, dominion and every title that can be given. The authority and power of Jesus extends to all powers on earth - monetary power, political power and military power. His authority also extends to all powers in heaven - angels, demons and all possible powers. But as we read on, we also learn that His power is not only over this age, but also the age to come. All things are under His feet. He has absolute dominion and authority.

That is wonderful! Christ, the one who came to earth, who knows us and has lived with us, is Lord above all. But the truly interesting part of this passage is that, as verse 22 says, “God placed all things under his feet and appointed him to be head over everything for the church.” Did you catch that? Christ’s authority over all things is “for the church!” What are the implications of that amazing statement?

When we see the world in its present or in its past, what do we see as important? The world in which we live gives important place to nations. The running of nations, the interplay of one country with another, the G-8 summit, the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq, the Olympics in China - these are the things of consequence. These are the things that newspapers will record, that historians will write about.

But that is not God’s point of view. From God’s point of view, the thing that will be recorded for all eternity, the story that will be told in heaven is not the story of nations; it is the story of the church. John Piper said in a sermon, “The church of Jesus Christ is…more significant in world history than any other group, organization or nation. The United States of America compares to the church of Jesus Christ like a speck of dust compares to the sun. The drama of international relations compares to the mission of the church like a kindergarten riddle compares to Hamlet or King Lear. And all the pomp of May Day in Red Square and the pageantry of New Year's in Pasadena fade into a formless grey against the splendor of the bride of Christ.”

If we would only know His great power at work among us! What is possible since the Lord of all is at the head of our church? What power do we have since the power of the one who gives life is there for us? His power transforms us and enables us to live as agents of dynamic renewal in the context of unredeemed political, economic, social and cultural power. Instead of being anemic, we have energy. Instead of being weak we have power. Instead of being fearful, we have boldness.

To know God is to know the power of God available to us.

Conclusion

I was once on a canoe trip in northern Manitoba. We camped on an island near the north shore of Simonhouse Lake. There was no civilization for several miles and so when it got dark at night, it was dark. One evening, we lost something in the campfire area after dark and even though we used our flashlights to try to find it, we couldn't see very well and we couldn’t find it. The next morning, when the sun was shining, it was very easy to find because we could see everything well.

Spiritually, the same thing is true. The Bible speaks about those without Christ as being in darkness, unable to see the way things really are. As Christians, we have become children of the light. Despite that, we as believers are sometimes not fully aware of what is real. Living in the land of darkness, our eyes are not always fully opened to see the way things really are. We are influenced by the darkness. With shadows in front of our eyes, we sometimes live according to the darkness instead of according to the light.

My prayer for you is that God will open the eyes of your heart to know Him more. May you know the hope that is yours in Him, the glory of the fact that you are His inheritance and the power which is yours in Him!