[0:00] Good morning, everyone. Welcome to SBC. My name is BK. I have the pleasure of serving as one of the pastors here. If you are just passing through, you're checking us out, you want to get to know a little bit more about the ministries here at SBC.
[0:17] I encourage you to connect at the welcome desk or maybe just ask someone who really knows what they're doing. Welcome to all the university students. I see a few of you are back and enjoying Squamish life.
[0:32] I got three quick announcements for you. One, thank you very much. The money that was needed for the Indonesia mission trip has been raised. So praise the Lord for that.
[0:44] Number two, there is a devotional book. It's a 30-day devotional book and it's actually written by one of my friends. It's called The Five Anchors. They're about the five doctrines that bring stability to your life in eternity.
[0:58] We have them at the welcome desk. My friend Brett has arranged it so that all money, it just covers the cost. He wants these books to be as free as possible. So it's basically $5, which costs the printing of this book.
[1:15] So if you're looking for a 30-day devotional, I'd encourage you to get this. And number three, at the welcome desk, there is a Pray for UConn card.
[1:28] So in case you guys don't know, we are involved in a church planning organization called Acts 29 Canada. And most of the time it's me dealing with them.
[1:38] We're actually a hub church to encourage the church plants. Well, this is about their needs that are going on as they continue to plant churches in UConn.
[1:49] So if you want to just grab one from the welcome desk, put it on your fridge. When you think of it, just pray. There's exceptional challenges that are going on up there. But Harrison, who I pray that you'll get to meet soon enough, he's a man for the job.
[2:05] His parents have, he's got a long history in UConn. And he's doing really great work there. Both not only planting churches, but leading other church planters.
[2:17] So turn in your Bibles to Romans chapter 7, please. For those of you who are jumping in and joining us in this series, we are on the Roman road to salvation.
[2:33] One of the most amazing books in the Bible. And we are on one of the most challenging chapters that exists in this book.
[2:44] So last week I had hoped to preach the text in one sermon. But I was soon corrected that, no, it's going to take me two sermons just to cover these verses.
[2:56] What I'm shooting for is clarity. When you look at this passage and how it's been understood through history, clarity isn't always there.
[3:10] So I've essentially just broken it down by phrase. Because by the time we get to the end of chapter 7, and we head into the momentous, wonderful chapters of 8 and 9, everything will make sense.
[3:26] So I'm trying to disperse any confusion that might be there. So my goal is clarity. So let's just read, first of all, from the text.
[3:40] Before I do, let me just pray. Dear Lord, Heavenly Father, I just thank you for this text. I thank you for there is a depth, but at the same time there's a simplicity to it.
[3:53] I'm thankful for some of the voices here. Just one of our members, attenders, just simply said, thanks for explaining the coded code in here, or deciphering it so it's easy for me to understand.
[4:09] That is the primary role of a preacher, but not only just to explain it, but to apply it to our lives. Paul did not write a book through the power of the Holy Spirit 2,000 years ago so that it would be obsolete today.
[4:25] As we all see so clearly through the workings of this book, how relevant this book is to us today. So, Father, I ask you to give me clarity, keep my voice strong, keep our ears clear, and our hearts soft to receive the message that Paul is delivering through the power of the Holy Spirit.
[4:49] Pray for that same power today as it works in me and as it works with all who hear. In your most holy and precious name, amen. So let's just start with verse 7.
[5:01] Chapter 7, verse 7. It says, What then shall we say that the law is sin? And remember, there's a debate. Is the law good? Or because we're saved by grace, does that mean the law has been nullified and no longer of use to us?
[5:21] And what we see here, he says, by no means. Not a chance. Yet, Paul adds, if it had not been for the law, I would not have known sin.
[5:35] For I would not have known what it is to covet if the law had not said, you shall not covet. But sin, seizing an opportunity through the commandment, produced in me all kinds of covetousness.
[5:53] For apart from the law, sin lies dead. I once was alive apart from the law, but when the commandment came, sin came alive and I died.
[6:08] 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.
[6:25] So verse 13, did that which is good then bring death to me?
[6:38] 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.
[6:55] So, the essential question that Paul is answering in this text, is there a problem with the law?
[7:07] Paul says right away, not a chance, absolutely not, God forbid. So the question that derives from that is, okay, if the law is not the problem, what's going on here?
[7:19] So we have this tension that exists in this text. On one hand, we read that the law is good, the law is from God, and on the other hand, we see that law exposes sin, the law stirs up sin, and the law seems to make things worse.
[7:40] So the question that Paul is answering for us, and the question we're actually asking him is, Paul, we need you to explain this to me. Please explain this to me. So this is where we're going this morning.
[7:52] If you were here last week, I identified two key terms that you need to understand, and I'm going to repeat them. One, the question is, what is the law? What law is Paul talking about?
[8:03] And he's talking primarily about the specific commands that God has given us through God's holy word, the Bible. Think 10 commandments. Think when you go into the Old Testament, it talks about the laws.
[8:15] These are all part of that law that God is talking about. And he says that they're good, they're holy, they're a reflection of God's character.
[8:29] Now, the other word I define for you is sin. Now, when I say sin, we understand that primarily as rebellion, not doing what God wants us to do, but we also think of them as actions or mistakes we make or bad decisions.
[8:48] But that's not how Paul is using the word here. Paul is using the word sin as a power. So it is this power that is working against us.
[9:00] It is a force that exists inside of us. It's a controlling influence, and it's something that acts on you. And that the sin that Paul is referencing is not something on the outside of you, but it's something on the inside of you.
[9:17] So you're with me on that? So when you hear that word sin, this is what I want you to hear. Now, I'm adding a third word. What does Paul mean when he says dead or death?
[9:31] When you're going through, you see dead, death, killed. So I'm going to use an example to tell the story. Imagine for a moment, God forbid your spouse isn't doing well.
[9:45] You have to call 911, and they're rushed to Squamish Hospital. You know, you follow in the car, you get there, and of course, you might be blessed with Dr. Gearhart waiting for you, and he simply tells you that your spouse is dead.
[10:03] Right? Of course, you're going to break down, you're going to cry, and all of a sudden, you hear your spouse say, hey, would you keep it down? I'm trying to get some sleep. Right?
[10:13] And you look at Gearhart, and you say, what in the world, man? And he says, well, I meant they're dead tired. You know? They're just exhausted. Right? So there's these different illusions, but we ask our doctors to be very precise.
[10:29] When you use that word dead, you'd better mean they're in the grave. Right? But Paul is kind of like Gearhart in that moment.
[10:40] Right? He doesn't mean buried and gone. He means several things, and this is where it gets tricky. Sometimes when he says you're dead, it means you're legally free.
[10:54] Sometimes he means you're spiritually condemned. Other times, he means it's inactive, and sometimes he means shattered on the inside.
[11:07] So when we read these meanings, it causes confusion and difficulty, especially when we're reading in English. If we were all basically first century Greek readers, we wouldn't struggle with this text.
[11:20] But because it's in English, we struggle this. So this is why we've slowed down this portion of text. So here's the point.
[11:34] Romans 7, when you read dead, death, killed, it's not talking about physical death. It's talking about a death as a transition between realms.
[11:49] And what do I mean by that? When you're dead to the law, it means you're no longer under the law, but you're in Christ. You with me on that? That's what he's meaning. You go from illusion to reality.
[12:03] If you remember last week, Paul says the law demonstrated that he was under the illusion of who he was. He recognized because he hadn't broken the law. And then when Paul said, well, what about do you covet?
[12:16] Oh boy, do I covet. Guess what? You're no longer rightly standing before God. It also means what was hidden is now exposed.
[12:26] And then you move from condemnation to deliverance. All right. If I was to ask you a test, do you think you got it all? All right. All right. Lord willing, by the time you leave here this morning, it's going to make a little bit more sense.
[12:42] And I think you're going to see why. So Paul has this flow of the argument. It's got four things. We talked about the two things. Last week, we learned that how does the law reveal sin?
[12:54] We also learned how does sin use the law? We learned three things. That sin uses the law to produce rebellion. Sin uses the law to intensify desire.
[13:07] Right? You start to think about something when you're told not to do it. We also see that sin uses the law to introduce you to more sin.
[13:18] So this week, I want to see how does the law expose our true condition and why the law itself is good.
[13:29] So that's where we are. Let's see point one. It'll all flow together. Lord willing. All right. Verse 10. Paul says, the very commandment that promised life proved to be death to me.
[13:45] Now, this is a shocking statement when you think about this because Paul is talking about there's this commandment that God gave me, right, that promised life, but now it proves to be death to me.
[14:00] We just learned that the commandment was ordained to life. It was given for good. It reflects the character of God and yet, it proved to be death to me.
[14:13] That word prove, Paul is saying, in my life experience, the law that God had for me, which God said was good, proved to be death to me.
[14:25] What does he mean? Is the law broken? Is God's standard flawed? That's not what it means.
[14:35] Like I said before, when he uses the word death, it's talking about being cut off from God.
[14:46] So, this is the contradiction. And this is, like I said, where people get confused. Because it sounds like Paul is saying, God gave me something good and it killed me.
[14:58] How can that be? And what does the mean by promised life? This is exactly what it means. What Paul is saying, if someone, and this is the law, if someone could perfectly keep the law, you would live.
[15:18] You get it? If you could keep that promised law perfectly and have no sin, no rebellion, it would bring life.
[15:31] The law describes the right life, the holy life, a life that pleases God. But here's what we know. No one can keep it. That was the point of the Mosaic law.
[15:43] It was a covenant. Man could not keep that law. So, what was meant to lead to life, that if the people were able to obey that law, they'd have this wonderful relationship with Jesus Christ, with God the Father.
[15:59] But what it did is it exposed them to show really how rotten they were. It exposed them. So the law, which promises life, but it only does that for the perfect.
[16:14] And that's exactly why it brings death to the center. All right? That's my first point. You with me on that one? Number two, the law does not produce death.
[16:29] The law reveals death. See, Paul is not saying the law made him sinful. Paul is not saying the law ruined his life.
[16:39] death. When he's not saying the law created death, what he's saying is the law showed me who I really am. Right?
[16:50] Think of a courtroom. You've got a judge. The judge isn't the one that makes you guilty, is it? No.
[17:00] The law, the judge, declares what is already true. And this is what the law does. The law does not create your condition.
[17:14] It exposes your condition. The question is, how does this happen? And that's when we look at verse 11. It says, for sin, seizing an opportunity through the commandment, the laws, deceived me and through it killed me.
[17:33] Now remember that word opportunity. we talked about last week. It's almost that sin is using the law almost like a military base of operations.
[17:45] Sin has come into that law and it's going to launch an attack. And what Paul wants you to know is the problem is not the law, the problem is sin. Sin, use the law as its starting point to launch the attack.
[18:02] And now Paul adds something new. notice it says, deceived me and through it killed me. So here, Paul is stating clearly and I think we get this.
[18:19] Sin is pretty deceptive, right? Like, when we think of our actions, our actions aren't deceptives and this is why we see this sin as a power, right? Sin is deceptive.
[18:31] it is active and this active use of sin uses the law against us. And now we see that sin just doesn't oppose you.
[18:41] It lies. It deceives. It misleads. It convinces you of things that are not true. If you doubt my words, Genesis 3, the serpent said, you will surely not die.
[18:57] That's deception. The Paul here is saying that same deception that deceived Eve deceives you today.
[19:09] Because sin doesn't show up at your door. Hey man, I've got something that's going to destroy you. It's going to kill you. It's going to wreak havoc on every single person you love and the life you know.
[19:22] That's not how sin works. Sin does four different things in how it works. One, sin deceives you about yourself.
[19:35] Sin tells you you're fine. You don't need to change. You're okay. Hey, hey, hey, you're not that bad. Look at that neighbor over there.
[19:45] What a horrible person that person is. Hey, hey, look at you. You're good. You're not that bad. Relax. In fact, you're better than most. You're better than most.
[19:55] These are the lies sin tells us because it's using us as the standard rather than God as the standard. You with me on that? So sin lies. Now, sin also deceives you about God.
[20:10] And we've all experienced this. Sin will tell you that God is too strict. God really doesn't understand me. Hey, you know, that law is really good for the left side over here, but you, right side, you're more holy because I look at you more often.
[20:28] I see your heads nodding more, right? So you guys have got it going on. These guys don't. No, no, no. That's a lie that sin says. See, it also tells you that the law is unreasonable.
[20:44] Hey, I struggled with that. I didn't get married to 46. You didn't think I had to deal with sexual temptation throughout all that time. You're in a relationship. All those things start to play into your head to give you excuses.
[20:58] I know this is wrong, but maybe you deserve it. You've been good. You've been long. You've been, all those things start coming into your head. Then you start asking, well, why would God restrict this?
[21:10] Then all of a sudden, the problem feels like God instead of the sin, right? I'm at work. I work hard. I'm not getting what I deserve.
[21:21] Maybe I can add a few more hours to my time card, right? However it's done. There's always ways to justify. Three, this is the big one, sin deceives you about consequences.
[21:38] It says this won't matter. If you do this, nothing will happen. Or the worst one is you can handle it. You know what? You're going to get some blowback, but it's okay.
[21:50] You can handle it. You're not even going to want those friends anymore. There's another. You can find friends at work, right? You can switch jobs. Don't worry. You'll be all right. See, the fact is sin always promises freedom, but it always delivers bondage.
[22:09] And then fourthly, sin deceives you about the law itself. You see, it twists the law into a tool for self-righteousness.
[22:23] If I do all these laws, I'm going to feel better about myself. Or on the flip side, it's a reason for despair. And that despair comes, you know what?
[22:35] I can't keep it. I'm just, I might as well go live the way I can because I can't live up to it. So what it does is it says, I'm either good enough or I'm too far gone.
[22:48] Most people that I encounter today say they're too far gone. They believe the lie that Jesus' death on the cross isn't strong enough to deal with their sin.
[23:02] It's great that they're being honest about their sin, but they're being deceived by a lie that Satan says that the blood of Christ is not red enough for you.
[23:16] And I'll tell you right now, it is. All right? So the result of this sin, if you notice in verse 11, it says, and through it killed me.
[23:29] What Paul means, not physical death, that he's talking about his self-confidence in himself died, his self-righteousness died, his illusion of control died.
[23:41] I was a good person. I know who I am. I'm confident of this. By God exposing this sin, that sin deceives, Paul saw his sin clearly.
[23:54] And here's the tough one. He also saw that he was unable to make it right. And I think that's a natural disposition of man.
[24:05] We want to make it right. And I know some of you, you've hurt someone and you go back and you try to make it right and they don't want to listen to you.
[24:17] That's hard. Listen, I'll pay for the damage that I've done for you. I'll run 40 laps. I'll take your dog out for a walk. I'll do whatever.
[24:28] And yet, they still say, not a chance. That hurts. Even when you're sincere. So with God, we learn that there's this, we're unable to fix it and then we feel guilty about it.
[24:49] So Paul is simply saying here, the law didn't destroy Paul. the law exposed that Paul was already destroyed. Why does this matter?
[25:07] And this is where people stop sometimes. You feel guilty, you feel exposed, you feel convicted and you know that there's something wrong.
[25:18] now. But what Paul is showing you, this is exactly what needs to happen to you. You've been on, you guys know the stories.
[25:29] You might share with the co-worker, maybe you've committed a sin and you're talking to a non-Christian. Well, that's okay, I do it all the time. Right?
[25:40] Big deal, man. Hey, life isn't long enough. Be happy now. Anybody hear those kind of terms? Right? We go outside that source.
[25:51] The world is telling us that this must be good. Because we're feeling guilty. No one wants to feel guilty. We don't want to feel exposed.
[26:02] We don't want to feel convicted. But Paul wants us to feel this way. And the reason is because until you see your sin clearly and your inability to please God completely you will never look to Jesus.
[26:20] You're not even going to look for Jesus. Right? Because let's be honest, often many people are pursuing religion because they want to make up for something.
[26:33] We've been created in God's image. We know what is right. We know what is wrong. Apart from religion. But you still want freedom.
[26:44] And you might be a Mormon. Don't drink caffeine and you'll be better with God. I won't drink caffeine. Because you want that burden lifted so badly. So this is where Paul has us.
[27:03] But Paul also knows there's a question that's on your mind. Because some people are going to say well then the law must be the problem. Paul simply says let me make this absolutely clear.
[27:18] And this is what we have in verse 12 and my third point. The law is good. Verse 12 so the law is holy and the commandment is holy and righteous and good.
[27:33] And this is part of Paul's conclusion. After everything he just said the law exposes sin. The law stirs up sin. The law leads to death. And then he stops and says let me make this absolutely clear.
[27:48] One, law is not the problem. The law is holy because it reflects the law's divine origin. It came from God.
[27:59] All things that come from God are good. Two, it is righteous. Perfect in all its demands. The fact is the law is never unfair.
[28:12] I'm going to tell you something right now. If you're, and this is the problem with our sin. When we start thinking externally that someone else, and you start complaining, someone hurt me.
[28:25] Someone hurt me. We cry justice. We cry justice, but when someone hurts us, we cry justice, but when we hurt someone else, we cry mercy.
[28:38] Right? Some people say, I just want God to be just. No, you don't. No, you don't because you get exactly what you deserve. Because the law is perfect.
[28:52] He also says that the law is good. It's beneficial. It's right. It's pure. Why? Because the law itself comes from God. It's a reflection of God's character.
[29:05] God's character. So now that we understand the law is good, let's go on to our fourth point, which demonstrates the problem is sin.
[29:17] And I'm going to go through this text with you in a certain way because everything starts to fall into place here. Because Paul's anticipating the question. He says, the question is, did that which is good then bring death to me?
[29:35] In other words, okay, Paul, if the law is good, then why does it seem to produce death again? Or produce death? And his answer again is by no means, absolutely not.
[29:48] Now watch this carefully. He says, it was sin producing death in me through what is good. Boom, the truth.
[29:59] The law didn't do it, sin did. All right? The law was the instrument, but sin was the cause. The cause. Think of it as a, let's just say you're in surgery, something goes wrong.
[30:19] It's obviously not Dr. Gerhart doing the surgery, but someone else. And you have a complaint after.
[30:30] You don't put the complaint in about the scalpel, do you? Right? You don't put in a complaint about that. You know that the scalpel is good, it's precise, it's necessary.
[30:44] The law is the same thing. The law is good, it's precise, it exposes. But sin takes that good thing and turns it into something deadly.
[30:56] And the question you're asking yourself is why would God allow this? Why would God allow sin to twist and pervert his law?
[31:09] Look what it says. In order that sin might be shown to be sin. What it means is so that we would truly see sin for what it is.
[31:26] Because here's the lie we don't want to admit. We don't see sin naturally. We don't. We minimize it.
[31:38] We justify it. We redefine it. We excuse it. We even deny what it is. Call me a liar.
[31:50] You guys all know you've been there. So what we do is we ask, well, can sin really be that bad?
[32:03] What Paul's doing is he's saying, if sin can take something that is so good, the law, which is holy, righteous, and good, and he can turn that into death, imagine what he's doing inside of you.
[32:30] That sin takes something good and turns it into death. When you start to understand that, you start to see sin for what it is. now look at the end of verse 13.
[32:44] It says, sinful beyond measure. That sin is so bad you can't even measure how bad it is. You see, this is Paul's goal.
[32:58] Not that you see sin, but that you see how bad it really is. that it's not small. It's not insignificant.
[33:11] It's not manageable. It's not fixable. It is sinful beyond measure. In layman's terms, it means that sin is worse than you think, sin is deeper than you think, and sin is more dangerous than you think.
[33:36] How corrupt is sin? It can take God's perfect law and twist it into something that literally destroys you.
[33:53] So if sin can turn God's law into a weapon, what is it doing to us when we do not confess our sin?
[34:04] here's the application. There's essentially two lies that this text destroys.
[34:16] The first lie is I can fix myself. I can try harder. I can be better. I can follow the rules. But the law doesn't fix you.
[34:28] It exposes you. The second lie is the problem is outside of me. It's my environment, my upbringing, my circumstances.
[34:45] Paul is simply saying, nah, it's inside of you. You see, the law doesn't create your problem. The law proves that you are the problem.
[34:57] And I'm going to tell you a way that I notice that how some people do this. And I see myself in this too.
[35:10] How many of us complain about politics or we complain about the injustices of this world, of which there are numerous ones.
[35:23] It doesn't matter if you're on the right or on the left on that political spectrum in between. There's always stuff to complain about. See, what happens is it's usually an indication of wanting to maximizing sin and corruption outside of yourself because you don't want to deal with the stuff that's inside of you.
[35:46] And sometimes we don't even do that willingly. It's not like, you know what, I'm going to point out how badly mowed my labor's lawn is so my wife doesn't notice how badly mowed my lawn is.
[35:57] Right? Like, we don't even think that way, but that's kind of how we operate. You know what, I wouldn't have to work so hard if it wasn't for this stupid economy, the state of the world. And here's the thing, we get on social media, and in case you do not know, social media knows what you think.
[36:13] And then what it does is it keeps giving you articles, videos, statements, to maximize your feelings on that particular issue.
[36:25] And if it gets, say it's politics, right? And then it's going to give you the opposite view, and that other view is a characterization of the opposite view, and you sit there and you say, man, they're so stupid, it's no wonder.
[36:39] And you know, it's all meant to make you feel good. You get what I'm saying? It's meant to do that to you. I'm telling you, you need to be wise.
[36:55] Because the world is working against you because sin is a power. It's made to make you feel a certain way so you can justify how you feel something.
[37:08] It's interesting, and I don't mean to pick on Gear Hard today because, in case you did not know, it's pick on Dr. Gear Hard today. But the reality is he actually sent me to this website that was pretty interesting that tells you the left and the right stories, and it tells you which ones are ignoring.
[37:25] So it's convicting. I don't know if he's convicted. Sometimes I've had this point of view and I read it and go, man, I really messed that up. Right? See, here's the thing.
[37:38] When we're at this point of the text, Paul wants you to fail the weight on your shoulders. That the law brings you to the end of yourself.
[37:52] And this just isn't a theological point. It's a diagnosis of the human heart. And the question that Paul wants you to be asking yourself right now is, what hope is there?
[38:06] What hope is there? Paul's answer, which we're going to get into, it's not in more law, not in more effort, but in something entirely different.
[38:24] So this morning, if you are feeling even a little bit hopeless, then the law has done its job. We say, more discipline, more rules, more effort, read my Bible in a year, going to not miss church, always going to give, that's going to make me feel better.
[38:43] And the law says, ah, you can't fix yourself. You can't obey your way out of this, and you can't silence your sin.
[38:56] And here's the turn. If the law could fix you, it already would have. If the law could fix you, it already would have worked. So why did Paul give it?
[39:08] Why would God give something that exposes you like this to see sin for what it is, so that you would stop minimizing it, excusing it, managing it, and finally admit, this is deeper than I thought.
[39:27] And remember what the question we're trying to answer in Romans 7. Why is it so hard to change? Right? This is the question he's getting at.
[39:38] Remember the first part of Romans is, why is this world so messed up? Second question is, how do I get things right with God? Now that I know how to get right things with God, why is it so hard for me to change?
[39:52] Now that I'm a child of God, why is it such a struggle to live like a child of God? This is what Paul is explaining to you this morning. And he's not trying to leave you in despair.
[40:08] He's trying to bring you to a place where you finally say, I can't fix this. Lord, I need to change, and I need help. See, the gospel is not more law, more effort, more self improvement.
[40:25] fulfillment. The gospel is found in Jesus Christ. You see, what the law could not do, God did. Where the law exposes sin, Christ deals with it.
[40:38] Amen? Where the law condemns, Jesus Christ forgives. Where the law leaves you helpless, Christ says, give me your life.
[40:49] Cast all your burdens on me. Because here's the truth, the law can show you your need, but only Christ can meet your need.
[41:04] Starting next week, Paul's going to show you just how that problem really goes. And it's not out there, it's in here. Now, for those that are believers, for those of you who are in Christ, don't miss this.
[41:20] You don't go back to the law to grow. You don't go back to rules to change, because the same truth applies. The law cannot sanctify you either.
[41:33] Why would you think if the law could not save you, how could it sanctify you? Since you didn't get saved by the law, why would you think that going back to the law will grow you?
[41:49] So here's where Paul leaves us today. One, the law is good, praise the Lord. Two, sin is deadly, praise the Lord.
[42:03] We know we've been exposed. Three, we can't fix ourselves. Lord, I need help. And this tension, this weight, this frustration is what's meant to drive us to Jesus Christ.
[42:19] to say, Jesus, I need help inward, not outward. Because we believe that Jesus Christ is the final truth.
[42:31] So the law, which brings you to the end of yourself, so that you will finally run to the one who can actually save you. Amen?
[42:42] Dear Lord, Heavenly Father, we pray I've been able to unpack this text almost phrase by phrase so there'd be no confusion, no misunderstanding.
[42:58] The law is good. Sin is our enemy. It is a power. It works against us. And it works so hard to make us feel like we're okay.
[43:11] It almost lulls us to sleep. Sometimes even that sin is so wicked we begin to think that God is the problem.
[43:27] Oh, Father, forgive us for that. God, if there's anyone here who's feeling that weight of sin, pray that they'd be honest before you and know and believe that you are available right here, right now to remove that burden.
[43:54] That they simply need to call on the name of Jesus Christ with the understanding that Jesus Christ is the only one who can make them right with God.
[44:07] Father, for those of us who are saved and have struggled with being a Pharisee, struggled by wanting to be right all the time, not understanding that ultimately it's the power of the Spirit that sanctifies us, not our own efforts.
[44:33] May you unblock us, may you give us freedom, may we have a growing dependence upon you and what you did on the cross and how your Spirit works in us, rather than the works that I do.
[44:49] Father, we've read earlier that we've been created for good works, works that testify to you, works that demonstrate your love, not just to us, but to others.
[45:03] Father, I pray that you make us strong in your words with an understanding of this text. I pray even just through the difficulty of this text, it would drive us to our knees and even drive us to a desire to do our own study to truly understand what Paul is talking about.
[45:27] Father, I pray that we'd be strong men strong women in you. I pray that you'd build into us a heart that walks with one another.
[45:42] This struggle isn't something we're to do on our own. We're supposed to bring others in. That is the power of the church. So, Father, I thank you for your tender mercies.
[45:55] I pray it was cleared and I did not misrepresent your text today or the intention of your spirit. Father, I pray for great favor upon this church.
[46:10] I pray for favor as they draw closer to you, that they seek the face of their Savior. I pray that they would dispel the lies of Satan in their lives.
[46:27] And I pray in their everyday interactions with friends and family and coworkers that this gospel of Jesus Christ so clearly surrounds them and not only what they do and what they say, that allows them to have a testimony that testifies, that says, hey, I was once like you.
[46:48] Let me tell you what changed me. Let me introduce you to Jesus Christ. Come to church with me. Understand God's word because he's got a word for us. So, Father, I ask you these many things.
[47:03] In your most holy and precious name, we love you, Jesus. Amen. Thank you.