My Divided Contradictory Self

Father, we come before you confessing that often our pride beats us up and hostile spirits,

demons beat us up, that we can feel really guilty about things, Father, that are not

sins at all, that we feel no guilt over things that are sins, and Father, that when we do

things sometimes which are just really, really wrong, it makes us almost want to give up,

Father, to despair. And so, Father, we ask that, and Father, you know as well how sometimes

the well-meaning advice of other Christians just serves to beat us up even more. Father,

you know how many of us here this morning are refugees from legalistic and moralistic churches

that claim to preach grace but end up just beating up its members. So, Father, we ask that

you would gently but deeply pour out your Holy Spirit upon us, gently and deeply pour out your

Holy Spirit upon us, so that we might hear these stark words of yours in Romans 7, that they might

enter into who we are, and that we might understand the great glory of the gospel and how great is your

grace and love towards us. And this we ask in Jesus' name, your Son and our Savior. Amen.

Please be seated.

Humanly speaking, the man who was responsible for me becoming an Anglican, not a Christian,

I was already a Christian, but me falling in love with the Anglican way, and humanly speaking,

the man who was responsible for me recognizing that God had called me to be a pastor. And humanly

speaking, the man who was a really important mentor, not only for myself but also for my wife,

I started attending this fellow's church as a single man, and when I left, I was married, had some kids,

and was ordained. And so, humanly speaking, this man was very important to me. And less than a year

after I left the church, he was stripped of his power to minister in the Diocese of Ottawa because

of a long history of affairs, which he had kept secret. And I remember getting the letter in the mail,

and then discovering that not only was he no longer able to function as a pastor in the Diocese of Ottawa,

but that his marriage had broken up. And he had five kids. He had some grandkids at the time as well.

And it was a great shock to Louise and me. And just as I think it was a great shock to many to find out

that this had happened to him. And so, how is it that those types of things can go on? Like, why is it that

in many ways, God used this man in a very, very powerful way in my life, brought a lot of healing

to me in my life as I just watched his example and listened to him pray and heard him teach?

And how is it that something like that could happen in a man like that, and yet at the same time,

there was this other side to him that ended up ruining his relationship with his wife and kids

and ruining his ministry? Romans 7 gets right to the heart of this issue. And so, it would be a great

help to me if you were to open your Bibles to Romans 7. And we're going to look at this text.

It's a text like a lot of Romans, which isn't meant to be read quickly, but it's meant to be sort of read

slowly as we see how Paul shines the light of the gospel and the light of grace into our human

condition, both before we know Jesus and after we know Jesus, as the light of the gospel and the power

of the Holy Spirit shines into who we are as human beings. So, it's Romans chapter 7, and we're beginning

Romans 7 · chapter mention

reading at verse 7. And it's interesting that the Bible is going to actually begin with asking a

question that, and I'm not going to talk about that this, the Bible begins in Romans 7, and then he sort

of asks the similar question, but in different words. It's interesting that Paul asks the question

that many in our culture ask. In fact, like so many people might say that the problem with this

fellow was that Christians are just too anal about moral rules, and that being anal about moral

rules ends up leading to people having moral failings, and that if we just cut people more slack,

they'd get on better. That some people in our culture think that moral rules, especially moral rules

around sexuality, are in fact bad. That they're bad by their very nature, and that if you have a whole

pile of moral rules, especially around sexuality, but also in some other areas, that we shouldn't be

surprised if things happen, if things go south on us. That in fact, there are many people in our culture

who say that moral laws, especially in our culture, moral laws around sexuality, that they actually

cause death. And it might be a real surprise for us to see that the Bible asks those very same

questions that our culture asks. It's not as if we have to go, oh gosh, how on earth do we answer that?

Well, Romans 7, Paul asks those very same questions. Look at Romans 7, 7.

What then shall we say that the law is sin? In other words, that it's evil? By no means. And then

look down at verse 13. Did that which is good, and here he means like moral laws, did that which is good

then bring death? In other words, are moral laws murderers? Do moral laws kill us? And that's,

you just think you were in a postmodern hipster coffee shop, or in a modernist Tim Hortons coffee

shop, listening to these questions being asked, both by people in business suits, and people with

long beards, and people who are working class. It's a very, they're very common questions, and Paul

raises them. Let's go back to verse 7. What then shall we say that the law is sin? By no means.

In other words, he's saying, no way, absolutely not. Yet if it had not been for the law, and here he

means moral commands that come from God, I would not have known sin, for I would not have known what

it is to covet if the law had not said, you shall not covet. Just pause there before we go any further.

It's very, very interesting. In our culture, often when we see the word sin, we think it's referring to sex.

Now, it does refer to certain sexual things which are wrong, but the word is far, far bigger, and it's

very interesting that Paul here chooses the last command of the Ten Commandments, and it is the, all of the

other commands in the Ten Commandments, you can understand them in an external way, as just referring

to behavior. And it's the Tenth Command that doesn't refer to external behavior. It's going to the heart,

like what's going on in our hearts. So, for instance, if I was to say to you how many people here murdered

somebody this morning, hopefully nobody put their hand up. It would actually cause us a bit of a

quandary if you did put your hand up. Probably somebody should go call the police if you put

your hand up and said that this morning before you came to church you murdered somebody, right?

So, it's very, very easy with a lot of the commandments to say, I didn't tell any lies, I haven't murdered

anybody, I didn't steal anything, you know, I didn't bow down to a, you know, a statue of a cow and call it

my God and go all the way through. But coveting envy, jealousy, coveting these, this very, very internal

competitive, proud comparing of your situation with others and wanting others to have, for you to have

more than other people have, this type of insatiable sense. It's the example he uses. He doesn't use where

we often go in our culture or where non-Christians expect Christians to go to give an example of sin,

but he gives an example of coveting, of greed, of gluttony, of envy, of jealousy, of those internal

types of desires which are out of whack. And that's where Paul goes with it. And just as well, before I go

any further on it as well, Paul isn't saying that, well actually, Andrew, could you put up the first

point? And when the living God speaks, he infringes on my desire for absolute sovereignty. When the living

God speaks, he infringes on my desire for absolute sovereignty. That's what Paul's going to get at here.

He's going to talk about something. I'm going to read the rest of it through, the next few verses

through, and I'll give you an example of what he means to show that he has a profound psychological

insight about what happens to human beings when God speaks to them. And so where was I with verse 8?

But sin, seizing an opportunity through the commandment, produced in me all kinds of covetousness.

For apart from the law, sin lies dead. I was once alive apart from the law, but when the commandment

came, sin came alive and I died. The very commandment that promised life proved to be death to me.

For sin, seizing an opportunity through the commandment, deceived me and through it killed me.

So the law is holy and the commandment is holy and righteous and good. So what's Paul trying to get

at here? Well, I'll use first a funny story and then I'll use a different illustration. A couple of

years ago, I was just right here and part of my sermon, trying to open up the Bible, is I shared with

you, the people who were there at the time, you folks, that I'm an introvert, that I'm actually quite a

strong introvert. I like people, but people tire me and I need to recharge my batteries.

My friend Charlie, he's an extrovert. If he said, if somebody said, if Charlie and I were together and

they said, can you want to go to this church and there's 300 people that you've never met before,

I would go, oh no, 300 people that I've never met before. And Charlie would go, oh wow, 300 people

that I've never met before. We can spend the whole day with them? I would just get him charged up. He'd

be so excited. It would be like Christmas for him. And for me, it would be like I've gotten the coal

in my stocking, not the presents. Anyway, so I was just sharing about my introversion and one of the

things about my introversion, at least for me, is that I'm not very huggy. I don't like hugging people.

I mean, I love hugging my wife and my kids and grandkids, but I'm not like huggy. Most of you who

come to the church have probably noticed that I don't go around hugging everybody when they leave

the church. So I was sharing this as part of the sermon. And then after the service, there was a

woman who was a guest and she came up to me and said, oh pastor, that was so brave of you to share

about your introversion. Can I pray for you? And I'm thinking, why? I can always use more pressure.

Can I pray that the Lord will deliver you from being an introvert?

And I didn't want to correct her because, you know, the fact of the matter is I need as much

prayer as I can get, right? I'm never going to tell somebody, don't pray for me. So then I said,

sure. So I'll have to put the Bible down. So I started to get my hands like this. And the next

thing I know, and she was a very sizable woman, she grabbed me with her right arm, put me in a

headlock, pressed me to her bosom like this, her arms shaking. And I'm stuck there trying to figure

out what on earth to do against her bosom. And then she proceeded with the other hand to raise

it and pray loudly over me. The self-confessed introvert who said he didn't like to hug.

Okay. So you can see I'm a very effective public speaker. I had obviously deeply gotten through to

her, something about a whole range of things. Anyway, so about a year after that, I was invited to be

one of the speakers at Atreus Dias weekend for men. And so if you've ever been to Atreus Dias weekend,

there's lots of great things about it, but they love to hug. Good grief. They love to hug. And so

when I, for one of the talks, and it fit into it, I shared this story thinking naively and foolishly

that I was providing comfort to the other introverts in the room. But all it meant was that every man

wanted to hug me for the rest of the weekend. Without fail, probably no man who was there did not take

the moment to come up and say, you don't want me to hug you, do you? And then they'd hug me.

I was really foolish. Okay. So on a very, very light note, what is it about human beings

that if you say something like that, it creates that desire? Like what is it about human beings?

And what is it if many of you might not even have noticed that there's this fake snow type stuff

right here? What if I was to all of a sudden say that you can't touch that snow, that if you touch

that snow, it's a great sin. It's very, very wrong. It's very offensive. Now, several things will happen.

First of all, most of you hadn't even noticed it was there. For the rest of the service, if you thought

I was serious, you'd keep looking at it, wouldn't you? And some of you, just to show me, would say,

hey, George, and then touch it, right? You know who you are. And if you don't know who you are,

your best friend knows who you are, they're probably thinking that exactly describes you.

You would go up and touch it. And others of you would be sneaky. And you might say, Daniel,

go over there and talk to George and get him looking this way. And then you'd go up and touch it,

right? And then there'd be everything in between. There'd be a couple of you, you know who you are,

who probably wouldn't touch it, right? But eventually, if it was there every week,

probably we would touch it. So what is it, okay, that about human beings, that we all know that

that is pretty true and that none of us are... The thing that maybe surprises many of you is why I was

dumb enough to tell the story about the woman hugging me to a room full of men thinking I would

get a different result. And that's why you need to keep praying for me. I can sometimes be remarkably

clueless. So what is it about human beings? So what Paul is saying here is that

moral laws, the one that come from God, not the ones that come from our culture,

our pride, our ego, but true moral laws that reflect the nature and character of God,

that when God speaks them and we recognize them clearly, there springs up within us

an over-preoccupation with thinking about them, and ultimately it reveals within us that we desire

to break them.

Like, the men at the Tres Dias weekend didn't realize that their response showed that they were

fallen and need a savior, because they were just joking. But that's what their response showed.

It showed that they were fallen and need a savior, and that even though many of them had been

Christians for a very, very long time, there was still something within them that desired to transgress.

That's what it shows. Andrew, could you put up this image? And our screen isn't big enough to really,

you know, capture this in a perfect way, but you can get a sort of an idea, and it's sort of,

probably in an ideal world, we'd have a different screen, so this could all just go straight rather

than an angle, but it's what we have to do to get it onto a screen. This image is an image of the story of the Bible.

This gives you a basic understanding of how the entire Bible is written, the overarching story,

the story which is actually present in it. And Genesis 1 and 2, that's the first thing,

is that the whole world is created by God, and he creates it good.

And then the second thing is Genesis chapter 3,

Genesis 3 · chapter mention

and it describes how,

in Adam,

we desire to be like God,

and rebel against God, because we want to be like God,

and we who are made in the image of God,

and have, in a sense, a role of caring for God's creation,

that we become bent, we become broken.

The image of God isn't taken away from us, but we become bent.

And as Genesis, as the rest of the Bible will show us,

that there's not a single aspect of ourselves

that isn't touched by the fall,

that isn't bent in some small way.

It's not telling us that human beings are evil,

it's telling us that every single aspect of what it means to be human,

and if through poetry and science we discover other things about what it means to be human,

that anything that we discover about what it means to be human

is touched by this fall,

that it's bent slightly.

And then Genesis chapter 4, up until the end of Malachi,

Genesis 4 · chapter mention

is the next section.

And it's a way to understand all of the Old Testament,

is that God sees us, having created us good,

and to have fellowship and communion with Him,

He sees that we're bent and we can't save ourselves.

And for the rest of the Old Testament,

Genesis chapter 4 to Malachi 4,

Genesis 4 · chapter mention

it's a combination of promise and preparation.

Promising that God,

God promising to human beings,

He does it gradually,

He does it through wisdom literature,

He does it through laws,

He does it through poetry,

He does it through mystical visions,

He does it in lots of different literary genres,

God speaks in lots of different literary genres,

over a wide period of time,

but it's all both preparing people for the Messiah

and promising the Messiah.

And then you see up there,

it's Jesus,

and that means God's kept His promise.

That's in some ways the whole heart of Advent,

because the heart of Advent is that God has kept His promises

in sending His Son to be born in Bethlehem

and to die upon the cross,

and that Jesus will come again a second time.

God keeps His promise in the person of Jesus.

And we all live in 2015,

we live in the already not yet.

We live in the time between God keeping His promise

to call to a people Himself again

and to redeem them through Jesus

and what He did on the cross,

the gift of the Holy Spirit,

the guarantee that we have a standing before God

which is right,

which is given to us as a gift by Jesus

that nothing can take away,

yet at the same time,

obviously the world is still full of evil and rebellion.

There's still evil and rebellion within us,

within you and me,

and we wait for the end when Jesus comes.

And that's basically most of the New Testament.

And the end is what's described a little bit today

in the Gospel reading,

in the book of Revelation at the end.

It's when Jesus comes again,

the living and the dead are judged,

and the new heaven and the new earth is created.

And that's also the end is also the beginning.

And this is not only the overarching story of the Bible.

The Bible claims that this is real,

that God really is there.

He really does speak.

Jesus really did come.

He really did die upon the cross.

There's historical evidence of His existence

and of His death,

and even historical evidence of His resurrection.

And that this is not only the story of the Bible,

it's the story of the human race.

That's the claim of the Bible.

It's the story of the human race.

It's within this story

that we can understand who we are as human beings.

We can understand our longings and our yearnings,

our dreams and our hopes,

and we can understand those things about us

that terrify us.

So, Andrew, could you put up A,

in good Canadian fashion?

I'm going to keep on saying A throughout the service.

This is what the book of Romans

is trying to communicate with us.

that until we see Him face to face,

every follower of Jesus lives in the already,

not yet,

with a divided and contradictory self.

Every follower,

until we see Jesus face to face,

that's 1 John 2,

every follower of Jesus lives in the already,

not yet,

with a divided and contradictory self.

We don't live at the end

or the beginning.

We aren't perfect.

Read 2 Corinthians 4 and 5,

the treasure of the gospel,

the fact that the Holy Spirit

indwells the believer,

that we have entered into Jesus

and that Jesus has entered into us,

that's in a sense the already,

something that we'll just get more of in heaven.

But at the same time,

we live in the not yet.

And as part of that not yet,

we aren't perfect.

We're not,

there's still parts within us

that just still are in rebellion against God.

And that's what Paul,

that's what the Bible is trying

to help us to understand.

And it's really,

really,

really important

because,

you know,

I've talked

and I've heard so many Christians

and maybe,

I don't know,

Lord have mercy,

when I,

maybe I've been guilty

of some of this stuff as well,

but often I would just have this sense

of not knowing what to speak about it

as I would hear somebody speak up

and say

that the problem that you have with your life

is a lack of willpower.

Well, I mean,

on one hand,

every human being has some problems

with willpower.

I don't,

you know,

if I could go back in time,

I wouldn't have eaten those potato chips

last night while I watched the movie,

you know?

We all have problems with willpower.

But, you know,

we might say to a Christian,

and it's a really terrible thing

for Christians who struggle with depression,

Christians who struggle with mental illness,

Christians who struggle

with some deep type of brokenness within them,

and just to be told,

all you need is more willpower.

You're just not trying hard enough.

If you were trying hard enough,

you wouldn't be doing this.

It's all about trying.

It's all about willpower.

And then there's others who say,

oh,

if you just thought better,

if you just thought better thoughts,

if you just memorized these attitudes

from John Maxwell

about how to have a positive life,

if you just read more Zig Ziglar

and had little positive sayings

on your fridge,

you would have a better life.

And then there's others who say

that there's nothing at all

to do with any of that stuff.

You need a special anointing.

And you need to have a special anointing

that goes along with an experience

of emotional breakdown and turmoil.

And if you just have this moment of brokenness

with a great emotion,

then you will live a life of victory.

If you have the willpower,

you will live a life of victory.

If you have these positive thoughts in your head,

you will live a life of victory.

If you just know the right rituals,

if you just know the right rules,

you will have a life of victory.

But that's the normal Christian life.

The normal Christian life

is a life of victory.

How many of us have heard speakers

and Christians who tell us

these types of things?

Or they say the problem is

that you have demons in you.

The reason you can't stop smoking

is not because tobacco

is more addictive than crack cocaine.

It's because you have a demon.

Let us cast that demon out.

And then lo and behold,

the poor beat up Christian

who says to himself,

I've tried my willpower.

It doesn't work.

And I, gosh, I've had

the demon of cigarettes

cast out of me 18 times.

I still smoke.

Maybe I'm not a Christian at all.

Maybe I'm just going to hell.

And it's for those of us

who labor under this

that Paul continues on

in verse 13.

And one of the things about this,

when I,

one of the academic commentaries

that I consulted prior to this,

there's 10 different ways

of understanding Romans 7.

I'm not going to bore,

I can't even remember them.

I'm not going to bore you with them.

I'm going to read it

in the most simple,

straightforward way

because the shocking thing is,

is that in these verses 7 through 12,

Paul uses the past tense,

the form of the past tense.

In verses 14 on,

he uses the present tense.

This is Paul.

He has been a Christian

for 25 years,

20 to 25 years.

God has used him.

The Holy Spirit has used him

in a way which is far more powerful,

not put any of you down,

than any of you who are here

because God actually uses him

to write scripture.

And God uses him

to plant churches

as an evangelist.

God uses him

that even when he gets

beaten up and thrown in jail,

still he shares the gospel.

And listen to how Paul speaks.

Verse 13 and then following.

Did that which is good,

which is moral laws,

then bring death to me

by no means.

It was sin producing death in me

through what is good,

in order that sin

might be shown to be sin,

and through the commandment

might become sinful

beyond measure.

For we know that the law

is spiritual,

but I am of the flesh

sold under sin.

Now just pause here

before we go any farther.

Those of you who maybe

have been reading ahead

or remember what Ken just read

a few moments ago,

the language seems way too stark.

Andrew, could you put up

this next point for me, please?

Here's the problem.

I'm not smart enough

to say this,

and if you disagree with this,

it's Psalm 36, verse 2.

Psalms 36:2

Take it up with God.

I flatter myself too much

to detect or hate my own sin.

That is profoundly wise.

Even if you don't believe

that the Bible

is God's word written,

like I do,

you have to say,

this is profoundly wise.

I flatter myself too much

to detect or hate my own sin.

And if you say,

well, actually,

you know, I'm pretty good.

I don't sin.

Wow!

All you've done

is proved how much

you flatter yourself.

Because your friends,

your boss,

your neighbors,

will not agree

with your self-assessment,

your kids,

or your parents.

And so the problem is,

is that all of us

flatter ourselves

too much to detect

or hate our own sin.

And so that when we read

these next things

in Romans 7,

we recoil.

We want to say,

it's too extreme,

it's too hard.

We want to recoil from it.

And the reason

we want to recoil from it

is because you and I

flatter ourselves too much

to detect or hate

our own sin.

Including myself in this.

It's jarring.

Andrew, could you put up

A again?

Just remember,

until we see him

face to face,

every follower of Jesus

lives in the already-not-yet

with a divided

and contradictory self.

That's what Paul

is teaching us.

And when you have

a divided

and contradictory self,

Paul isn't saying

that you never use

willpower.

He's never saying

that we don't have

breakthroughs.

He's not saying

that we shouldn't ask

for more of the Holy Spirit.

In fact,

Romans 8 is the profound

after-Christmas break

of Romans.

We're going to talk

Romans 8,

three weeks in Romans 8.

It's the profound text

about the power

of the Holy Spirit

in the Christian's life.

And Paul's not going to say

that there's not things

you should know.

He's not going to say

any of those things,

but he's going to say

that if Christians

use these things

as sticks

to beat up other Christians,

trying to get us

to believe

that the normal Christian life

is a life of victory

where we do not sin,

you have not understood

the Scriptures,

you have not understood

Romans chapter 7,

Romans 7 · chapter mention

because a divided

and contradictory self

is exactly what it means.

Until we see him

face to face,

there is always going

to be a struggle

with sin.

And sin will continue

to shock us

and surprise us.

And we will,

as we see in a moment,

we'll ask ourselves,

why on earth

did I do that?

How could I do that

given what I know

about Jesus?

Struggle with sin

is the normal

Christian life.

To not struggle

with sin

means that you've

surrendered to it.

not everyone.

I mean,

some of us

are just tempted

for some things

and not the others.

I've never been

tempted

to same-sex attraction,

and that's not something

I can be proud about.

Anybody who's proud about it,

that doesn't mean anything.

It just means

you don't have

that temptation.

Some in our midst

have that temptation.

It's a real temptation

that they live with.

And that person

who has maybe

the same-sex attraction,

they don't have

maybe your problem

with pride

or with debt

because you spend money

to fill voids

in your lives

and they don't,

or maybe they don't

have your problem

with telling the truth

or we could go on

and on and on and on.

Just because,

I mean,

it just really is the case

that there are just

some temptations

that no human,

that a particular human being

doesn't have.

They're just not there.

I've stayed in hotels

beside casinos.

I've never gone in.

I have no temptation

to gamble whatsoever.

Absolutely none.

But I'm not saying that

because it shows

there's something

excellent about me.

I'm not going to start

telling you all the things

I am tempted to,

by the way.

And it's one of the reasons

I,

but it's just not there.

And I shouldn't,

it's nothing to be proud about.

It's just not there

for some reason.

I have others.

I have a long,

long, long list.

I mean,

here's the thing.

The fact is,

if God showed up

in our midst,

an angel showed up

in our midst

and all of a sudden

froze all of us

to our seat

and all of a sudden

the finger of God

would touch a part

in our forehead

and there'd be

a pop-up screen

that comes from our soul,

who we are,

and it pops up

and it lists

the things

that we're most tempted to

and the things

that we succumb to

in terms of sin

the most

and it just gives

the top 100.

There'd be nobody here

who would only

goes up to five

or down to five.

Everybody would have

a list that goes up

to 100

and our list

would be different.

It would just be different.

When I used to speak

in settings before

when we were dealing

with a lot of issues

around same-sex issues,

I would say

that one of the

great problems

that Christians

have around that

is Christians talk

as if same-sex attraction

is number one.

Where's that in the Bible?

Not in the Bible.

That's our culture.

In fact,

it might even be

for a same-sex attracted person

that when they do

that thing in their forehead,

their same-sex attraction

isn't number one.

It might be number nine.

That the greater sin

that they struggle with

is maybe to do with pride

or who knows what it is.

I don't know what it is.

But that...

It's what the Bible

is trying to teach us here, friends.

Let's read verse 14 again.

For we know that the law

is spiritual

and what it means is

that means here

is that it comes from God.

But I am of the flesh

sold under sin

for I do not understand

my own actions.

For I do not do what I want

but I do the very thing I hate.

Just pause there.

Isn't that a profoundly wise statement?

Even if you don't believe

the Bible is God's word written,

this is profoundly true.

I was sharing on Parliament Hill

when I was speaking there

to the Parliament Hill

Christian Fellowship on Friday.

Here's a thing to understand.

And virtually no man

wakes up and says,

I think I'm going to be a jerk

to my wife today.

Yep.

I think I'm going to take

every opportunity imaginable

to be a jerk to my wife.

Like nobody wakes up...

Virtually no man

wakes up thinking that.

Like I said, virtually.

Okay?

Sometimes we wake up

really grumpy and ornery

and that is what we say.

Okay?

Or some people say.

And no wife wakes up and says,

I'm going to spend my whole day

frustrating my husband.

I think that's what I'll do.

I'm going to contradict him,

make his life miserable.

I'm going to nag him,

bug him.

That's what I think

I'll do today.

That's number 1, 2, 3, 4, 5,

6, 7, 8, 9, 10

on my to-do list.

No wife wakes up

thinking that.

Virtually none.

The experience of people

is verse 15.

I do not understand

my own actions

for I do not do

what I want

but I do the very thing

I hate.

Now if I do

what I do not want

I agree with the law

that it is good.

Andrew, could you put up

the next point for us please?

Here's a really, really

important thing

about what Paul's saying

and you'll notice it

in his language

but it's really, really, really,

really, really important.

One of the problems with

like in our laws

there's problems

that if you're drunk

you're not as responsible.

There's increasingly

this idea

that if you

have certain types

of other things

that are drives

or wounds in your past

you're not as responsible.

There are people

who've gone through therapy

and the result

of the therapy

is that they can have

a big smile on their face

because they now know

that everything that's wrong

in their life

is somebody else's fault.

But the Bible here

is very, very clear.

My divided

and contradictory nature

does not let me

off the hook

for the wrong that I do

and the good

that I fail to do.

My divided

and contradictory nature

does not let me

off the hook

for the wrong that I do

and the good

that I fail to do.

It doesn't let me

off the hook.

But just remember

throughout all of this

if you could put up

A again, Andrew

until we see him

face to face

every follower

of Jesus

lives in the already

not yet

with the divided

and contradictory self.

Let's just

continue reading

and let's do

verse 16 again.

Now if I do

what I want

sorry

now if

I need better glasses

for if I do

what I want

do not want

I agree

that the law

is good

so now

it is no longer

I who do it

but sin

that dwells

in me.

So now

it is no longer

I who do it

but sin

that dwells

within me.

Is this just

contradicting

what you just said

George

or is this

I'm a bit

confused.

Here's

I'm not going

to be able

to prove it

to you

I'm just going

to have to make

a bit of a statement

about this

but it's

one of the problems

that we have

when we bring

our cultural

assumptions

and we just

read one part

of the Bible

but let me tell you

if you study

the Bible

especially the Old Testament

but if you study

Genesis to Malachi

and then if you study

the New Testament

you'll see that

the Bible knows

that there's obviously

things that come

in pairs

and that the number

two exists

but the Bible

rejects all

dualism.

Andrew if you could

put up this next

point.

It's really important

for us to understand

and listen to this

language here.

The Bible is not

saying that I am

not divided

between the divine

and the earthly

the higher and the lower

the good and evil

spiritual and physical

mind and matter

I could add

yin and yang

I am not a soul

trapped in a body

I am not an angel

trapped on this

human plane

I am not a God

self trapped

in physicality.

The Bible

completely and utterly

rejects all of that

any type of dualism

that mind is good

and matter is bad

that the spirit

is good

and the body

is evil

that the higher

is good

and that the lower

it rejects all of that

all the way through it

in fact

he's here trying

to make this claim

that I am redeemed

fallen

in the already

not yet.

You see the fact

of the matter is

is that God

claims

every square

inch

of reality

every

molecule

is maintained

in existence

by him

everything

was created

by him

except evil

which is a type

of unmaking

or breaking

it's all

sustained

by him

it will all

be redeemed

by him

and I have

a spirit

and a soul

and I have

a body

but I am

an indivisible

unity

of spirit

or soul

and body

an indivisible

unity

to divide

that

is what

Christians

understand

death

to be

and so

the Bible

here is not

so it's easy

for us to slip in

what Paul is doing

is he's using

stark imagery

he's using a

multiplication

of different

types of images

to capture

so that you know

maybe if you're

coming from one

a certain type

of pagan

perspective

or a Jewish

perspective

that you can

get the point

because he's

using lots

of different

analogies

to try to

capture this

fact of a

divided and

contradictory

self

but I have

one self

not two

I have one

body

not two

and the fall

affects my

mind

it isn't as if

somehow or

another

it's just my

body

that's

you know

don't be

mad at me

for stealing

that thing

in the store

it was just

my hand

my mind

is thinking

pure thoughts

no it's

nothing ridiculous

like that

our body

is God's

our mind

is God's

our sexuality

is God's

our money

is God's

God claims

all our

memories

our past

our dreams

our longings

our yearnings

everything that

makes me

me

he claims

and it is

redeemed

in Jesus

but there

is a

power

and force

still within

me

because

I live

in the

already

not yet

and I

will not

be whole

and free

until I

see Jesus

face to

face

Andrew

could you

put up

A again

please

last time

I'll put

it up

until we

see him

face to

face

every

follower

of Jesus

lives

in the

already

not yet

with a

divided

and contradictory

self

let's

continue

reading

from

verse

17

we

see

where

Paul's

going

with

all

of

this

I

have

to

sort of

go

quicker

because

of

the

time

sin

that

dwells

within

me

I

am

divided

and

contradictory

in

my

mind

my

body

my

sexuality

my

attachment

to

money

my

ambition

every

single

part

of

me

is

divided

and

contradictory

so I

find it

to be

a law

that when

I want

to do

right

verse 21

evil

lies

close

at

hand

for I

delight

in

the law

of God

in my

inner

being

at the

very

center

of who

I

am

where

Jesus

sits

on the

throne

but I

see

in

my

members

another

law

waging

war

against

the

law

of

my

mind

and

making

me

captive

to

the

law

of

sin

that

dwells

in

my

members

where's

Paul

going

with

this

profound

verse

wretched

man

that I

am

who

will

deliver

me

from

this

body

of

death

thanks

be

to

God

through

Jesus

Christ

our

Lord

so

then I

myself

serve

the

law

of

God

with

my

mind

but

with

my

flesh

I

serve

the

law

of

sin

Andrew

could

you

put

up

the

almost

final

point

wretched

person

that I

am

who

can

deliver

me

from

this

body

of

death

thanks

be

to

God

through

Jesus

Christ

our

Lord

Hoboken

God

God

God

God's

grace

will

work

on

my

sexuality

and

it

will

work

on

my

will

power

and

it

will

work

on

my

memories

and

it

will

work

on

the

images

in

my

head

and

it

will

work

on

my thinking and it will work on the furniture of my brain and it will work on my habits and the

grace of God through the power of the Holy Spirit and God's Word written will work on how I

understand my relationship to the state and how I understand my relationship to male or female and

I can go on and on and on and on and on the Holy Spirit that's why we have hope in this it's the

already not yet for a Christian right but it's always going to keep bringing us back to saying

that's why I need a Savior in a sense as the Holy Spirit moves and works more deeply in our lives

not only do we do start to see some victory over sin and we really do and we really do see healing

but we often discover new areas of our lives that were broken by sin that we didn't even know existed

and one almost final point Andrew could you put up point number six a follower of Jesus's eternal

standing with God cannot be shaken but our walk with Jesus needs daily attention and daily grace

a follower of Jesus's eternal standing with God cannot be shaken but our walk with Jesus needs

daily attention and daily grace when we call out to Jesus to be our Savior and our Lord we he really

takes our hands he really redeems us he really makes us born again the final word about God we can

from God about us we can now know but in the already not yet until we see Jesus face to face I have a

divided and contradictory self and knowing the gospel the more I'm gripped by the gospel the more I'm able

to be have before me a model of how it is that I should live as I'm grounded and gripped by the gospel

gripped by the gospel and grounded in the gospel there begins to be a process to see yes the Bible knows this

about me and maybe by myself and maybe with the help of a brother or a sister or a congregation I can start to

look at how it is that I have such a problem with selfishness there's such a problem with anger in my

relationships or such a problem with twisted ambition and as the gospel grips us and as we're ground in

the get in the gospel as we understand how our standing before God that is dependent not upon our

accomplishments but upon his right standing with God given to the lowest and worst believer and the best

as a free gift of grace his right standing with God is now mine when I put my faith and trust in Jesus

and nothing will take that away and as this gift of righteousness grips us as it becomes the ground of

our being we have a model for how to live we get nudged into new ways of living we get drawn with the

problem of seeing the promise of seeing Jesus face to face to new ways of living and we can look at

those roots of our behavior and our contradictory and divided self as we give up the whole process of

self-righteousness and self-justification even as people criticize us we can say yes I am a man who

needs prayer and I don't think I need to be healed of introversion but introversion doesn't excuse all of us the

way I live and there are things in my introversion that needs healing just as extroverts need some

healing in their extroversion and you see it's within this context you're gonna understand everything

in the Anglican liturgy the heart of the Anglican liturgy is to get you to give your life to Jesus but

day by day there's going to be new things that come to our attention that we need to say Jesus I'm sorry

for that and give me grace that's what the confession is all about not that you say confession

53 100 times you go to heaven nothing to do with that it's your daily walk

and we'll skip the other images let's just go to Romans 1 could you all stand please

could you say this with me Romans 1 16 and 17 for I am not ashamed of the gospel for it is the power

of God for salvation to everyone who believes to the Jew first and also to the Greek for in the right

the righteousness of God is revealed from faith for faith as it is written the righteous shall live by

faith a power of God for salvation that ordinary people like you and me can receive and then we begin

to live in the already not yet until we've given our lives to Jesus God is just patiently hoping that

we respond to his call his call on our lives to give our lives to Jesus but when we put our hands in

Jesus's hands we receive a righteousness that comes from God and now we live by faith let's bow our heads in

prayer father if there are any here who have not yet given their lives to Jesus may this be the day

may this be the moment where they call out to you not with fancy words or that they have to repeat

after me but may they just say father Lord Jesus Christ what George was talking about today I need I am

that wretched man I need you as my Lord and Savior and father may those who have not yet made such a call

may they say that today and father for those of us who are here we still have contradictory and

divided selves you know father how things like anger resentment or unforgiveness or wounds from our

past and you know father the power they still have in our lives we call out to you father that you might

make us disciples of Jesus gripped by the gospel who are being freed by your holy spirit and by your word

there are only people who are being admired by the gospel our Father if there is any other means

should have been did we make us better as if we are subject to God and in our lives we ask kamera

we speak to you that we offer you who are seeing Jesus

in their lives in their lives look at all of usIT offices when they stop�� we just said

pour it out father we might be disciples of Jesus gripped by the gospel pour out your holy spirit

in this we ask in Jesus name and all the people said amen

Amen.