The Law and Sin

Well, good morning, and let me say, as always, what a pleasure it is to be here and to have

fellowship with you this morning.

If you have your Bible, it would be great to have it open at Romans chapter 7, which

Romans 7 · chapter mention

was read so well for us there.

Thank you for that.

I wonder if you ever take a detour, if you're making a journey.

We were driving a few weeks ago down to Northumbria, and we drove the A1, and we saw a sign for

St. Ab's.

Now, I've never been to St. Ab's.

I'd never actually heard of St. Ab's until I saw something on the BBC website a few weeks

ago that it's been twinned with New Asgard from the Avengers movie.

There were some scenes from Avengers Endgame, apparently.

I haven't seen it, but filmed in St. Ab's, and the locals have made much of this, and

they've got a sign saying, twinned with New Asgard, and what have you.

So we thought, well, let's go and have a look at this.

And we were delighted, not only to find that there were no evil aliens, but that it was

a beautiful fishing town.

And so we took a detour, and we were greatly blessed by the detour.

And really, what we have in Romans chapter 7, verses 7 to 25, is something of a detour.

Romans 7:7–25

It's something of an excursus the apostle Paul makes in the flow of the book.

He speaks about the old life under the law, and then into chapter 8, he'll talk about the

new life into the spirit.

But we have these verses, chapter 7, 7 down to 25, and they seem to interrupt the flow of

thought from between 7, 6 and 8, 1.

In fact, if you read chapter 7, verse 6, you can go straight on and read chapter 8, verse

1.

But Paul interrupts his argument and introduces this subject here.

So we want to ask the question, why he does that, and then what does he actually say in

these verses?

This is, I have to be honest, one of the most challenging passages in the New Testament.

One of the commentaries I read said this is one of the most disputed passages in the New

Testament.

Martin Lloyd-Jones, if you read his commentary, has an entire chapter just about who the person

in Romans chapter 7 actually is.

Romans 7 · chapter mention

And I have to confess I was a little bit anxious about approaching this.

So a couple of weeks ago I sat down to lunch with a friend who's got a PhD in Pauline theology,

who's taught New Testament all around the world, and I said, I'm speaking in Romans chapter

Romans 7 · chapter mention

7 at Brunsfield in a couple of weeks.

And he went, tricky.

And that was it.

So what we're going to do is we're going to take a sort of long run up, and we're going

to do what you do in school, in maths, when you're not sure of the answer, you show you're

working, and you hope the teacher will give you some credit for the working, even if your

conclusion isn't right.

Firstly, we're in the book of Romans.

Thank you, Ewan, for pointing that out.

You're studying Romans, and particularly Romans chapter 5, I believe through to verse 8 in

Romans 5 · chapter mention

your series, The Christian Life.

Romans chapter 5 to verse 8 is bookended by the subject of suffering and glory.

Romans 5 · chapter mention

Chapter 5, verses 2 and 3.

We rejoice in the hope of the glory of God, and we rejoice in our sufferings.

Romans chapter 8, verse 18.

Romans 8:18

I consider that the sufferings of the present time are not worth comparing with the glory

that is to be revealed in us.

So the Christian life is a life that will be characterized by suffering in the here and

now and glory in the age to come.

We live in this age, but we are people of the age to come, and therefore it's not unusual

if in your Christian life you are facing trials and temptations of many kinds.

We're often taught that as Christians we are to be victorious, we are more than conquerors,

and all that is true, but we will suffer before we enter the glory that is to come.

And in Romans chapter 5 through to verse 8, there are a series of contrasts we'll consider.

Romans 5 · chapter mention

In chapter 6, we have the contrast of life outside of Christ and life in Christ.

In Adam, all die.

In Christ, all shall be made alive.

In Adam, we are under sin.

In Christ, we are under grace.

In Adam, we receive the wages of death.

In Christ, the wages of eternal life.

There are two men, two heads of humanity.

And we do well to ask ourselves, well, which one am I under?

Am I in Adam or am I in Christ?

Christ comes to us offering the forgiveness of sins, offering new life in his Holy Spirit,

offering eternal life.

And he says, make your choice.

Whose footsteps will you follow?

When I drove here today, it was a bit of a round trip for various reasons.

And I passed a lot of churches.

A lot of churches open up.

People going into churches, which is wonderful.

You're in church this morning, but are you in Christ?

Have you committed yourself to the Lord Jesus Christ,

turning from sin, turning to him,

and then accepting him as your Lord, your master and friend?

So there is suffering before glory.

There are two humanities.

There is the humanity in Adam, the humanity in Christ.

But now, chapter 6 tells us that we are free from sin.

In Christ, we are forgiven and we are free.

Chapter 6, verse 10, you have died to sin.

Chapter 6, verse 18, you have been set free from sin.

There is a change of employer, a change of master.

No longer are we slaves to sin.

Now we are slaves to God and to righteousness.

And when we get to chapter 7,

and I listened to the very helpful sermon last week by our brother Ian,

Paul moves to speak about the law, the law of Moses.

And this is a major topic in Paul's writings.

It was a major issue in the first century,

because the church consisted of Jews and of Gentiles.

And the debate of that generation was,

what is the relationship of the law of Moses to the gospel of Jesus Christ?

And that provides the backdrop to so much of the New Testament,

so much of the Acts of the Apostles,

so much of Paul's writing, among others.

I think it was Martin Luther who said,

if anybody wants to be a theologian,

they must seek to understand the relationship of the law to the gospel.

And Paul seeks to explain something of that relationship here.

He's already explained, beginning at chapter 2,

that we are not justified by the law.

We are not declared righteous in God's sight by our own observation of the law.

Romans chapter 3, verse 20.

Romans 3:20

For by the works of the law,

no human being will be justified in God's sight,

since through the law comes knowledge of sin.

And in chapter 7, beginning at verse 1,

he says that as Christians, we are no longer under the law.

We have died to the law.

We have been set free from the law.

The same language he was using of sin in chapter 6.

And instead of being under the law,

he will go on to argue in chapter 8 that we are now in the Spirit.

Today is Pentecost,

when the Lord first sent the Holy Spirit from heaven.

And as Christians, we live in the power of the Holy Spirit.

And Paul will next week,

you'll probably see this more clearly,

draw out that contrast between being under the law

and being in the Spirit.

And as we go into chapter 7, therefore,

I want you to have that contrast in your minds.

And it's particularly spelt out at the end of the passage we studied last week.

Chapter 7, verse 5.

When we were controlled by the sinful nature,

literally the flesh,

the sinful passions aroused by the law were at work in our bodies

so that we bore fruit to death.

But now, by dying to what once bound us,

we've been released from the law

so that we serve in the new way of the Spirit

and not in the old way of the written code.

So I just want you to hold those verses in your mind.

This week and into next,

chapter 7, verse 5 is really a summary of our passage today.

Chapter 7, verse 6 is something of a summary

of what you'll study next week in Romans chapter 8.

Romans 8 · chapter mention

It's like two sides of a coin

where Paul describes the experience,

firstly, of life under the law

and then secondly, of life in the Spirit.

Why then do we have this detour?

Why then, from verse 7,

does Paul introduce this parenthesis?

And I think the reason is to reassure people

that actually the law of God,

the law given to Moses,

the moral law,

the Ten Commandments,

are God's good gift to humanity.

He's told them that they've died to sin,

they're set free from sin.

And we think, well, that's wonderful

because sin's a ghastly thing, isn't it?

It's a terrible, toxic, radioactive thing in our life

that wants to destroy us and our relationships

and harm us.

And so we're glad to be dead to sin.

We're glad to be freed from sin.

But people might say, well, Paul,

you're telling us that we've died to the law,

that we've been set free from the law.

Are you saying that the law itself is a ghastly thing?

And Paul says, no.

The law was given to Israel by God.

In chapter 9, verse 4,

where he says of the great privileges

of the Jewish people,

theirs is the adoption to sonship,

theirs the divine glory,

the covenants,

the receiving of the law,

the temple worship,

and the promises.

So the law is good.

It's not able to save us

or sanctify us,

but the law is God's good gift

to his people.

Okay, so that's by means of introduction.

So what I want to do now

is just to look at this passage in two halves.

Firstly, verse 7 down to verse 13,

we'll consider the law and sin and death.

And then verse 14 to the end,

we'll think of the law,

our sinful nature,

and our disobedience.

So verse 7, chapter 7.

And what Paul seems to say here

is a principle we see worked out

in different spheres of life.

So I live next to a bowling club.

I have joined the bowling club.

I've not been asked to play

for the firsts in the bowling club,

but who knows, one day.

But recently, the bowling club had a problem

because there's a fox in our street,

and every morning the fox was digging up the green.

And if you bowl,

you'll know how obsessional bowlers are

about the green,

and how difficult it is to bowl

if there's a giant hole in the centre of it,

and your bowls keep dropping into the hole.

And so the bowling club set up an electric fence.

And they did it over a weekend,

and it's just a thin wire,

and it has a sign saying,

electric fence, do not touch,

and a picture of somebody being electrocuted

in a ghastly way.

And on the first day of the bowling season,

we all turned up,

and do you know what everybody was doing?

They were touching the electric fence.

The sign said, do not touch,

and they all wanted to touch it.

And that's what Paul is saying here.

It's sin seizing the opportunity,

produced in me every kind of covetous desire.

Sin seems to come to life

in the face of the law.

He says a number of things.

He says, firstly,

that the law reveals our sin.

It shows us God's character

and his standards.

In a sense,

it shows us his holiness

and our sinfulness.

One of the great reformed confessions of faith

says this,

although believers are not under the law,

it is of great use to them

as well as to others,

in that as a rule of life

informing them of the will of God

and their duty,

it directs and binds them

to walk accordingly,

discovering also the sinful pollutions

of their nature,

hearts,

and lives.

The law tells us

what is wrong.

I parked in Broughton Street

a couple of weeks ago

to buy a steak pie.

I went to the machine.

The machine didn't accept my money.

I thought,

happy days.

I'm outside the parking restrictions.

I bought the pie.

I was delighted.

I sat down in the car.

There was a parking ticket

on the windscreen.

And I got out the car

and there was a chef

from a local restaurant.

He said,

if you'd read the sign,

you wouldn't have got

the parking ticket.

The law reveals our sin.

We might not realize

anything is wrong

until we look at the law of God.

Paul did not realize

coveting,

being jealous of others

was wrong

until God's word

told him so.

And that's often the case,

isn't it?

We can live

outside of Christ

and we just go with the flow.

We just live like everybody else.

We don't think

there's a problem

with drinking to excess.

We don't think

there's a problem

with gossiping

or slandering people

in your workplace

or telling crude jokes.

We don't think

there's a problem

living together with someone

without being married.

And yet when we come

to God's word,

we begin to recognize

that these things fall short

of the glory of God

and the Lord has something

better in mind for us.

The law reveals

where we fall short.

And that was the habit

of John Wesley,

you know,

the 18th century preacher

who traveled around

and preached all through

the United Kingdom.

And he would go

to a town

and begin to preach

in the open air.

And he explained

to somebody

with a marvelous name,

he wrote a letter

to somebody called

Ebenezer Blackwell,

and I had to double take.

I thought it was

Ebenezer Blackadder,

but it's an old letter

and Ebenezer Blackwell.

And he explained

how he uses the law

and the proclamation

of the gospel.

John Wesley said this,

I think the right method

of preaching is this,

after a general declaration

of the love of God

to sinners

and his willingness

that they should be saved,

to preach the law

in the strongest,

the closest,

the most searching

manner possible,

after more and more

persons have convinced

of sin,

we may mix more

and more of the gospel

in order to beget faith,

to raise unto spiritual life

those whom the law

hath reign.

So John Wesley realized

that if people are

to come to Christ,

the friend of sinners,

they need to be shown

their sin.

And he said,

well, the law of God

shows us their sin.

The law that tells us

that stealing is wrong,

deception, lying is wrong,

coveting is wrong.

The law reveals sin.

But secondly,

the law provokes sin,

verses 8 to 12.

The world laughs about sin

and considers it

just a bit of fun.

But Paul says

it's deadly serious.

Sin is aroused by the law,

it springs to life,

and it kills him.

Verse 11,

sin seized the opportunity,

deceived me,

and through the commandment

put me to death.

There is something in us,

in our sinful nature,

that wants to break God's law.

Because sin is a rebellion

against God

when we come up against God's law

and his claims in our life,

we want to push against it,

we want to rebel against it.

If you've ever been to hospital

for an MRI scan,

you'll know that they're

very particular

that you don't have

any metal work on your body.

You take out your earrings

or whatever it is,

your watch.

And the reason is

the magnetic scan,

the MRI scan,

is a gigantic magnet

and it creates

an enormous magnetic field.

And if there's anything

internally made of metal,

it'll pull it out

and cause all sorts of damage.

Apologies there,

I should have given you a warning.

But Paul is saying

it's a bit like that

with sin and the law.

We have this sinful nature

and when it comes

into the presence

of God's law,

it's sort of aroused

and activated

and it begins to act

and move within us

and to cause terrible harm

in our lives.

The law provokes sin

but is itself holy

and the commandment good.

I suppose an analogy of that

would be adolescence,

teenager,

difficult time.

I recall being a teenager

a long time ago now,

but it was a difficult time

and there was always

that pressure, wasn't there,

to break the law.

You're told that you're not

allowed to drink

till you're 18

or smoke till you're 16

or drive a car

till you're 17

and even then

under the speed limit.

And yet people always wanted

to do these things,

to break the law,

to do things

they weren't to do.

So it is with sin

and God's law.

The law comes,

the magnet is switched on

and our sin is awoken

and seeks to be provoked

into life.

So the law reveals our sin.

The law provokes our sin

and finally,

verse 13,

the law condemns our sin

in order that sin

might be recognized

as sin it produced death in me

through hope was good

so that through the commandment

sin might become utterly sinful.

God declares his verdict

on sin through his law.

And so it's not a pretty picture.

Chapter 7, verse 11

really summarizes

this relationship of the law

to sin and death.

Sin, seizing the opportunity

afforded by the law,

deceived me

and through the commandment

put me to death.

We think of the Garden of Eden,

Adam and Eve

in their innocence,

sin entering the world,

deception,

the serpent deceiving them

into sin

and through his deception

death came to all.

Sin seizes the opportunity

to deceive us

and to put us to death.

We need to remember that,

don't we,

if we're tempted,

particularly if we're tempted

into falling to

very serious or public sin.

Sin promises

very great things

and yet it doesn't deliver.

Sin promises joy

and brings us sorrow.

It plays us for a fool.

The evil one wants to deceive us

and then to see us die.

The law reveals sin.

The law provokes sin

and the law condemns sin,

showing it to be utterly sinful.

And so that seems to be

what Paul is getting at

in verses 7

down to verse 13.

And as we enter

verse 14,

we come to the second part,

this much disputed part

of the letter.

And what happens here

is Paul seems to move

to speaking about himself

in the first person

instead of talking

about past tense,

he starts to speak

of himself

in the present tense.

And the great dispute

therefore is,

is Paul talking about

his life

before he was a Christian,

as a Jewish believer

seeking to keep the law,

or is Paul speaking

of his present experience

as a Christian,

somebody seeking

to glorify God

and yet battling

with sin?

There is a story told

of Alexander White

who was the minister

in what is now

Charlotte Chapel,

it was St Andrew's West

in Shandwick Place there.

And he was a very famous

preacher in Edinburgh

back in the day

and he was friendly

with a Christian publisher.

And whenever a commentary

on Romans was published,

they would inform

Alexander White,

he would come

and have a look

and he would turn

to Romans chapter 7

Romans 7:14

verse 14

and he said

if the person

describes Paul

before he is converted,

I close the book

and I put it back

on the shelf.

And he was very decided

in his own mind

what the right answer was.

I would say

we have to be

a little bit more humble

than that.

There are lots of people

who would argue

this is Paul's experience

when he was unregenerate,

before he was a Christian,

as he sought to live

by the law.

There are others

who would say

this is Paul

the regenerate man,

Paul the Christian

struggling as we all

struggle in the Christian life.

There are great

and godly people

on both sides

of that debate.

And there's a very helpful

summary of both sides

of it.

In fact,

the Gospel Coalition

website,

they invited John Piper

and Tom Schreiner

to godly New Testament

scholar and preacher

to give their side

of the debate.

And if you're interested,

perhaps you could read

that after lunch.

But suffice to say,

what I'm going to do

today is to try

and explore that

a little bit

and then present

my own conclusion,

which thankfully

is the same as John Stott's.

And I'm going to hide

a little bit,

therefore,

behind John Stott.

But what we want to see

is as Paul describes

his experience

in these verses,

there's a lot of repetition.

He really says

the same thing twice,

14 to 18,

and then 19 to 24.

The nub of it

is that Paul wants

to do what is right,

but he has not the ability

to carry it out.

He delights in the law of God

and yet is captive

to the law of sin

that dwells among

his members.

Verse 15,

I do not do

what I want to do,

but the very thing I hate.

Verse 20,

now if I do

what I do not want,

it is no longer

I who do it,

but sin that dwells

in me.

There is this tension,

this conflict

in his writing.

Those who say

this is a regenerate person,

that this is Paul

as a Christian,

have to reckon

with the language

he uses of himself.

Could someone

who's a Christian

say,

well,

I'm of the flesh,

I'm sold under sin,

I'm captive to the law of sin,

I'm a wretched man,

and they say,

well,

that's not true

of the believer,

and so this must be

Paul's experience

before he was a Christian.

But others would say,

well,

could the unregenerate person,

could the person

still living in sin

say,

I delight in my mind

and the law of God?

Do we not rebel instead

against the law of God?

So there are long

and interesting debates

on either side.

But what I want to do

is just read to you

what John Stott says,

and I want to try

and persuade you

that I think

that's where he's coming from.

I'm not going to be

dogmatic about this.

You know,

if you want to talk over lunch,

we can talk over lunch,

but I think

what we'll find

is whatever our interpretation,

the application

is in the main

the same,

and that's important

to us.

But John Stott

says this,

the three salient features

of the person

portrayed in these verses

are that he or she

loves the law

and therefore

is regenerate,

is still a slave

of sin

and therefore

is not a liberated

Christian

and knows nothing

of the Holy Spirit

and therefore

is not a New Testament

believer.

who then

is this

extraordinary person?

It seems accurate

to describe

pre-Pentecost believers

in terms of

love for the law

but lack of the Spirit

and he goes on

to explain

what that might mean.

So,

let me explain

a little bit.

When Paul

went to Ephesus,

he found believers,

didn't he,

who knew the baptism

of John

and he said,

have you received

the Holy Spirit?

And they said,

we didn't even know

there was a Holy Spirit.

They'd been taught

by Apollos

who knew

only the name

of Jesus.

And there seems

to be in the

first century church

therefore

these earnest,

these God-fearing

Jewish people

who knew the law

and desired

to serve the Lord

and yet were unable

to do so

because of their sin.

They had not yet

been born again,

liberated,

cleansed

by the Holy Spirit.

And it's perhaps

that kind of person

that Paul

has in mind,

somebody who delights

like the psalmist,

who delights

in the law of God

but is impotent

to keep that law

because of their sin.

And I think

the argument

for that

is that

in Romans chapter 7

Romans 7 · chapter mention

there is no mention

of the work

of the Holy Spirit

in this person's life

whether it's Paul

or whether he's dramatizing

somebody else's speech.

There is no mention

of the Spirit.

That has to wait

until chapter 8.

So does this therefore

represent an earlier period

in somebody's life

where while they're

struggling with sin,

they're convicted of sin

but they haven't yet

come to newness of life

in Christ.

And chapter 8

as you'll go on to see

talks about the contrast

between these two ways

of living.

Through Christ Jesus

the law of the Spirit

of life

has set you free

from the law

of sin

and death.

Those who live

according to the sinful nature

have their minds set

on what the flesh

or the sinful nature

desires

but those who live

in accordance

with their spirit

have their minds set

on what the Spirit

desires.

So Romans chapter 7

Romans 7 · chapter mention

talks as we've considered

of the law

of sin

and death.

Romans chapter 8

Romans 8 · chapter mention

talks about the law

of the Spirit

of life.

And there is the contrast

therefore

between living

in the flesh

and living

according to the Holy Spirit.

And I think

the reason

these passages

in chapter 7

resonate so much

with us

and people say

well Paul's obviously

talking as a Christian

is because that is

so often our experience

isn't it?

As Christians

we want to know

the Lord

we want to love

the Lord

and grow in our faith

we want to obey Him

because of our love

for Him

and yet so often

we find ourselves

falling back

into sinful ways

and patterns

of behaviour.

The Christian life

is

as Romans 8

will go on

to tell you

next week

a struggle

between the flesh

and the spirit.

The Christian life

is a battle.

Paul speaks

of the Christian life

the good fight

of faith.

We battle

against the world

with its competing

ideologies

that deny

the Lord.

We battle

against the devil

with his supernatural

opposition

to the kingdom

of God

and we battle

against the flesh

seeking to draw us

back into the ways

of sin.

Elsewhere

Paul says

in Galatians

the flesh desires

what is contrary

to the spirit

and the spirit

what is contrary

to the flesh.

So we see that

don't we?

In different ways

in our lives

we see it

perhaps most clearly

in those believers

who are battling

addiction

trying to give up

smoking

trying to give up

drinking

trying to give up

drugs

eagerly desiring

to be free

to be dry

to be clean

and yet repeatedly

falling back

into the old ways.

We see it

in our speech

I would love

to say

kind

encouraging

wise things

to everyone

I meet

that so often

we fall back

don't we

into cynicism

sarcasm

slander

gossip

it would be great

to be able

to exercise

self-control

eating

or drinking

but

you know

we go to

somebody's house

and the cakes

just look so delicious

and we keep going

back for more

and more

or when we drive

past the fast food

outlet

and the tummy

begins to rumble

we just

oh

I just don't want to

do it

and yet I do it

maybe you want to

cut down

how long you spend

on the internet

what you look at

on the internet

the hours perhaps

playing addictive

video games

and yet when you're

a bit tired

or feeling a bit low

after a hard hit

college or the office

you find yourself

being drawn back

to the screen

I want to stop

being so angry

and yet time and again

I just find myself

losing my rag

I want to stop

being so ungrateful

and coveting

what other people

have

their homes

their lifestyle

their relationships

their possessions

I just want to be

content as a Christian

and yet again

and again

I find myself

being bitter

and jealous

and disappointed

every day

in the Christian life

is a conflict

between the flesh

and the spirit

and I think

that's why people

see that conflict

in Romans chapter 7

Romans 7 · chapter mention

and they say

well that's Paul's

experience

and I don't doubt

that it was Paul's

experience

but I think what

we understand

as the spiritual

struggle

is the struggle

of Romans chapter 8

Romans 8 · chapter mention

and not necessarily

the struggle

of Romans 7

a sort of

God-fearing Jew

eagerly desiring

to keep the law

and yet finding

that he cannot

and therefore instead

needing to call out

for Christ

who will deliver him

from his body

of death

but it's good

to be aware

of that struggle

as Paul was aware

of that struggle

maybe you're here

as a new Christian

maybe a student

or a young adult

maybe you've come up

through the dime club

and you've been told

that it's a wonderful

thing to be a Christian

and it is

and you've come to faith

and you've come to

appreciate the love

of God in your life

to know a newfound peace

to know a joy

in your circumstances

and yet very quickly

you run into trouble

and difficulty

and there's trial

and there's temptation

and there's testing

and you think

well I didn't recognize

this was going to happen

and yet the New Testament

is very honest

that as we seek

to live by the Spirit

of God

we also have to put

to death

the deeds

of the flesh

and we will battle

temptations

and sins

and harmful

patterns of behavior

until Christ comes

to take us home

maybe you're a mature Christian

I'm sure many of you

have been walking

with the Lord

for many many decades

perhaps longer than

I've even been alive

and you know

as a mature Christian

you've been fighting sin

and there's been victories

in your life

and there are some things

you've laid to rest

and yet there are other things

other patterns of behavior

thought or speech

or deeds

that just seem to linger

that seem to be

besetting sins

thorns driven

into your flesh

and maybe you feel

like the Apostle Paul

who will rescue me

from this body of death

and the good news

of the Gospel

is that Christ

will come

to rescue us

we live between

his first

and his second

appearing

one day the old order

will be done away

with sin

and the law

and death

and we will enter

into life

which is truly life

we sang that hymn

at the start

come o fount

of every blessing

one of my favorite hymns

and one of the versions

has those words

on that day

when freed from sinning

we will see

his glorious face

and we often think

of heaven don't we

as an end to suffering

you know

and be able to

do away with

all the sort of

medical things we need

and the pain

and the disease

and the discomfort

and yet it's also

a day when

we will do away

with sinning

and we will be able

to stand before

the Lord

and gaze on his face

and worship him

without hindrance

with complete obedience

giving to him

all of our worship

and our praise

what a wonderful thing

that will be

wonderful worship

this morning

wasn't it

but we get distracted

and you know

I think

have I put money

in the parking meter

or our minds wander

and yet on that day

when freed from sinning

we will see

his glorious face

what a wonderful

thing to look forward to

and in the meantime

of course

we have his promise

that he will continue

to renovate us

to make us

holy

to cleanse us

and to bear patiently

with us

as we battle sin

as we seek

to sow to the spirit

not to sow

to the flesh

the Lord wants

to transform us

doesn't he

he wants to conform us

to his image

we don't just sit here

waiting for heaven

he is doing a work

in us

to make us

a people of pure speech

to make us

his holy

and treasured possession

in all

the earth

but it's not easy

and it can be painful

and there can be

growing pains

in the Christian life

as we face that battle

and endure that struggle

but if you've been

in the fight

for a long time

keep going

and be encouraged

by Paul's words

there is no condemnation

because the spirit

of life

has set us free

from the law

of sin

and death

well Paul wants us

to understand that

and I think that's

the reason for

this detour

these verses

deep

rich

wonderful

verses

Paul wants to

remind us

that God

graciously gave

the law to Israel

to show them

their sin

and to show them

their need

of salvation

and yet because

of their sin

they chose to

disobey

against his law

as we disobey

his law

and his commands

and he wanted to

show us

our own impotence

in keeping

the law

even if we

delight in the law

and desire in our

own strength

to serve God

we cannot do it

because of this sin

in our hearts

and therefore

we are taken

to Christ

to call out

for Christ

to look to him

on his cross

at Calvary

and having been

slain by the law

to be lifted up

and exalted

by the gospel

to be forgiven

of our sin

to be filled

as the believers

were filled

that first Pentecost

with his Holy Spirit

and to begin

that new life

to run that race

to fight that fight

Paul teaches us

about the law

and sin

and death

so that we might

come to Christ

and understand

his love

and receive his spirit

and look forward

to that great deliverance

that will one day

be ours

deliverance from

this body of death

this body of sin

deliverance from

the old order

and the way

things were

he wants us

to see the seriousness

of sin

but the salvation

of our God

well we thank the Lord

for his word

and for the Apostle Paul

who just communicated

these things

to us

let's just

pray together

Father we thank you

that you have

such great ambition

for us

you want to purify

our hearts

that we might be holy

oh that your son

has gone to prepare

a place for us

that we might dwell

with you forever

to gaze upon your face

on that day

when free from sinning

we shall see your

glorious face

and to serve you

wholeheartedly

throughout all eternity

Lord we thank you

for your great honesty

in your word

that the Christian life

is a battle

but that you have

given to us

your very great

and precious promises

you strengthen us

by your Holy Spirit

and you encourage us

Lord

through your word

and through our times

of fellowship

so Lord

would you continue

that good work

in us

that good work

begun in us

that you will

carry on to completion

until the day

of Christ Jesus

help us to be holy

Lord

to put to death

the deeds of the flesh

and to keep in step

with your spirit

not bearing fruit

for death

but bearing the fruit

of your Holy Spirit

love and joy

and peace

and all the other fruit

in our daily conduct

and in our daily conversation

so we thank you

for our time

this morning

we thank you

for the opportunity

to worship you

and to encourage

one another

in Christ's name

Amen