MPC
2nd December 2018.December 2 - Romans 8:1-4 - "Fully Man, Fully God - Fully Freed"
MPC
2nd December 2018.
Dan Wilton
What's the best news you've ever received?
Well it probably doesn't compare to the news David Camm received on October 24th, 2013. After being sentenced to life imprisonment for the murder of his wife and two children in 2000. David spent 13 years in jail. Pleading his innocence.
After a third appeal David Camm was found not guilty for the murders of his family. And released from jail. After new evidence was discovered that proved his innocence.
Now, that's definitely good news!
The passage we're looking at this morning has even better news! Good news for each one of us! We too have been declared not guilty.
But not because we're innocent. But because the punishment has been taken for us. By another.
Last week we started our new series. Leading up to Christmas. Thinking through the question. What if God became one of us?
Which is what Christmas is all about! That God would enter his own Creation. Be born as a baby. The Creator turning up in a cradle.
It's what's known as the incarnation. It's a Latin word which literally means 'make into flesh'.
And over the next couple of weeks. We're trying to nut out why the incarnation matters? What difference it makes. If God really did become one of us? What's the point?
Last week we saw that Jesus had to be fully God and fully man in order to be the perfect mediator. Qualified to be the bridge between God and us. To bring us back into relationship with God.
And this morning, we'll see Jesus needed to be fully God and fully man, in order to both completely forgive us. And rescue us. Set us free from the impossible standards that were required to be made right with God.
So let's jump into it.
And Paul starts there in verse 1, with an acquittal. A legal verdict. Of not guilty.
Have a look verse 1:
Therefore, there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus.
It's a massive statement. And probably one of the most famous verses in the whole Bible. But what exactly does it mean? What have we been declared not guilty of?
Is it an acquittal for something small - like getting out of a parking fine? Or is it something far more serious - like a life sentence?
To answer that we need to keep moving forward to verse 3. And so that's where we're going to start.
Have a look with me at Romans 8. Verse 3.
For what the law was powerless to do, because it was weakened by the flesh, God did by sending his own son in the likeness of sinful flesh to be a sin offering.
These verses come at the very end of an argument that Paul's been making back in chapter 7. And it's a discussion about the place of God's law.
The law Paul's talking about here is the law God gave to the people of Israel back in the Old Testament. The Ten Commandments.
And it's what Jesus summarises as: love God with all your heart, and love your neighbour. That's the law Paul's been talking about.
But in the previous chapter, Chapter 7, it's a bit unclear what Paul really thinks about this law from the the Old Testament. Because he describes it a bit like a double agent.
Has anyone seen those spy movies where you don't know who the spy's working for? And it's the same question Paul's asking. The law of God. Is it from God? Or is it against God?
Well on the one hand, the law of God is clearly from God.
Turn back a couple of verses to. Chapter 7, verse 12.
So then the law is holy, and the commandment is holy, righteous and good.
The law is good. It's given by God. It reflects his Holiness. Not only is it from God, Paul says it also shows up the sin in our lives.
Have a look at chapter 7, verse 7. Paul says:
I would not have known what sin was had it not been for the law. For I would not have known what coveting really was if the law had not said "You shall not covet".
Last year Nivea brought out an ad. that showed how skin can be affected by UV sun rays. I don't know if you saw it.
But they invited a whole bunch of people at Bondi beach to stand in front of a UV camera. From all appearances they look healthy and tanned. But then the camera goes on. And you can see how much sun damage they have just beneath the surface.
And it's exactly the same with the law. The law's like the UV camera. That reveals the extent of our sin in all its ugliness.
The Law draws a line in the sand. And says this is what pleases God. And this is what grieves Him.
But the problem with the law is that it's a death sentence.
Sure it tells you how to live the way God wants you to live. But it also reveals how far short we all fall from keeping it. How impossible it is for us to live the way God wants us to live.
Everyone has a law they work by. Everyone's got their quota of oughts and shoulds and musts.
For some they take it from God. For others they make it up for themselves. They take it from their parents or their culture.
Everyone has their own set of rules they live by. Their own Ten Commandments. Whether they're God's ones. Or their own.
Even toddlers have their own. Ten Commandments. I saw this the other day online and thought it described my son pretty well...
We all have laws we try and live up to. But if we're honest with ourselves we struggle to live up to our own standards. To satisfy our own law. Let alone God's law.
And Paul says. That's because we're all enslaved to something.
Enslaved to what he describes in verse 2 as the law of sin and death.
No matter how hard we try. No matter what law we try and keep. It's not going to be enough to make us right with God.
We just can't do it. And no law is going to solve our sin problem for us.
See that's the problem with the law in the Old Testament. It doesn't end sin. It just shows up all our failings. And sin.
And what's worse, Paul says. Is that the law actually made me want to sin more.
See have a look at what he says back in chapter 7, verse 8:
But sin seeing the opportunity afforded by the commandment, produced in me every form of coveting. For apart from the law, sin was dead.
You tell someone to do something. What's their first instinct? They do the exact opposite. You see a sign that says 'Wet Paint - Don't touch'. What do we all want to do? Touch it!
There's something deep inside each one of us that instinctively want to do the thing we're not supposed to do.
A couple of years ago there was a psychological study done in the States. Where a bunch of kids were put in a room with a whole heap of toys.
And the psychology students running the test were observing which toys the kids played with and which ones they had no interest in.
And then they divided the group in two. They found the toy that no one wanted to play with. And they told one group they must never play with that toy!
It's the toy they didn't want to play with, right. And then the psychologists watched. And that was toy that was the most popular. Three times more popular than the other toys.
We're hard wired to do the opposite to what we're told. That's our sinful nature.
The law of God has many roles. But saving us ain't one of them.
You can't obey your way into heaven.
The law was always there to tell the Israelites what God wanted them to do. And what he didn't want them to do.
And to show them clearly that they could never live up to God's standard if left to their own devices.
But the problem was never the law itself. It's us! Me. And you. The problem has always been our sinful nature. Have a look a Romans 8, verse 3 again.
For what the law was powerless to do because it was weakened by the flesh ...
Now the word there 'flesh' isn't talking about this physical skin. Or this excess flesh around my waist! It's not talking about that type of flesh. It simply means our sinful nature. Our rebellious nature. It's just saying that we were all born with a defect.
Earlier this week I went to Coles to do some shopping. And I made a terrible trolley choice - I'm sure we've all done it before. One of the wheels was bent. And so it kept wanting to go in the opposite direction to where I wanted it to go.
The Bible says. That's like us. We're all born with a bent wheel. Wanting to go the wrong way. Doing the things we weren't designed for. It's what the Bible calls sin!
Sin is turning our back on the one who created us. Sin is the starting point of the human heart. We don't want God to rule over us - we want to live our own way.
And every aspect of this world has been stained by sin. Every one of us, regardless of race, gender, religion, sexual orientation and politics are bogged down; we're trapped and thoroughly implicated in this broken and corrupt system.
Paul says: no matter how you want to dress it up, no matter how much you want to ignore it... We've all sinned.
And there's no amount of works. No amount of trying. That can make you right before God. Because we're all stuck in sin. It's like the gravity that keeps pulling you down. You can't escape it. We're hopelessly caught up in it's web.
The only way to set you free from the law of sin and death is to be set free. To be rescued. Rescued by someone who was able to keep the whole law. And follow it on our behalf.
And Jesus' death is that rescue! It's the good news Paul's talking about. Have a look at verse 3 again:
For what the law was powerless to do because it was weakened by the flesh. God sent his son. To become a man. Giving himself up to be a sin offering.
Jesus substituted himself on our behalf.
See, what the law was powerless to do. God says I'll do it for you.
God gets his hands dirty. The child in the manger. The man who hung on a cross. Was God sent. God's son.
Jesus - the God of the universe - enters into his Creation. Taking on all the marks of a human. But without sin. And rescues us.
He comes into this world. Behind enemy lines. To set us prisoners of sin free.
See the law said the wages of your sin is death. But Jesus comes along and he says the wages of your sin is my death. He completely turns it around. So I can say - you can say - I sin. He dies.
Jesus dies. And we get to live. That's the the good news of the Gospel! On offer to all people.
God takes our place at the cross. Takes the punishment we deserve. And pays for it in his death. And in doing so, he - end of verse 3 - condemns sin in the flesh.
At the cross sin is punished. Not you. You're declared not guilty! Innocent!
That's why Paul can say in verse 1, "There is therefore no condemnation for those in Christ Jesus!"
We're no longer prisoners of sin. We're no longer under the penalty of sin - which is death. You've been forgiven! That's the gospel. And it's fantastic news! Not only are we completely forgiven in Jesus. We're also completely free.
The controlling power of sin is now broken! Jesus has made you free.
Freedom from fear of God's judgement - because Jesus has taken it on himself.
Freedom from having to do anything - because Jesus has done it all.
You don't have to be more impressive; you don't have to sound more religious; you don't even have to turn up to more Christmas events. It's pure and simply God's generosity. All we need to do is accept the rescue with open arms.
Freedom to do what God wants you to do. Which is to love Him and to love others.
Have a look at verse 4. The reason God gave his son as a sin offering. Was - verse 4 - in order that the righteous requirement of the law might be fully met in us. Who don't live according to the flesh. But according to the Spirit.
God had to come himself in his Son to bring us freedom. Freedom from trying to live under a set of laws that we can never live up to. You've been set free!
If you're a follower of Jesus, are you living in that freedom? Or are you tying to add to it? Enslaving yourself to another bunch of man made rules?
You know, many of us grew up in homes where there was lots of criticism. Throw away lines. Comparison with siblings. Always made to feel like you never came up to scratch.
And those words - I know those words - scar you. They scar our souls. They never stop leading.
You can be 80 and you're still proving your mum and dad wrong. Or your proving your boss wrong. Or your proving your ex-boyfriend or girlfriend wrong.
But God is saying to you today. 'it doesn't work like that with me.'
In me you've been declared 'not guilty'. In me, there is no condemnation in Christ Jesus. There's nothing left to prove. That's great news!
And once we embrace that verdict. Embrace the freedom that comes from trusting in Jesus who gave himself for our sins, to rescue us.
When you do that, God's going to do some major renovations in your life. But it's going to be by his Spirit.
Not by laws and rules and rituals. Not by getting all religious. Or measuring up to people around you.
The incarnation was a rescue mission. God himself became a man. To rescue us from slavery. And set us free. Only God could do that in the form of a man.
There's nothing left to prove; there's nothing left to be done.
There's no condemnation for those in Christ Jesus!
How's that news affecting you? Has it pierced your soul? Can you feel the approval? God's acceptance?