Let me pray before we look at God's word together.
Father, we thank you for your word.
We thank you for your spirit
who inspired these words for the Apostle Paul so long ago.
We pray that your spirit might take this word tonight,
enabling me to speak your word correctly and powerfully,
that your spirit might work in our hearts,
for we ask it in Jesus' name.
Amen.
Well, it's great that you're doing a sermon series on Romans.
It's a wonderful book in the New Testament
and written by the Apostle Paul to a Christian community.
Actually, there was more than one church in Rome.
You don't actually find the word church
in the opening invitation of the letter,
but to the saints at Rome.
But there are different churches and different house groups
you'll see when you get to the end of the book in chapter 16.
He's never been to Rome before.
He's writing to them to encourage them
in terms of his anticipated arrival.
He's writing to them to explain his gospel,
to expound it,
and to also encourage them
with regard to his ongoing mission work.
Now, you've been doing a series
where you've been jumping from mountaintop to mountaintop, I think.
I think last week was chapter 5, verse 1,
and we've just picked up the end of chapter 7,
and now really looking at 8, verses 1 to 4.
And these mountaintop experiences,
you've got the valleys filled in in 6 and 7,
but chapter 8, verse 1,
starts off with that word, therefore.
And the therefore is a way of saying,
this now follows from what I've said before.
You might think at first glance,
it follows from what's just happened in chapter 7.
But in actual fact,
it flows back to chapter 5.
So you've done very well in your sermon series
to sort of see 6 and 7 has got a,
in a sense,
it's like a digression.
6 and 7 is looking at what,
how the law affects
God's plan of salvation,
and in particular,
how Christ has set us free
from that law.
But the mountaintop of chapter 5,
if you'll recall from last week,
we've been justified through faith
and we have peace with God
through our Lord Jesus Christ.
So in chapter 80 says,
Therefore,
there is now no condemnation
for those who are in Christ Jesus.
There's no condemnation.
You see,
there were Jews and Gentiles in Rome.
And a Jew would know
that the law was an oppressive regime
which was so demanding.
It was impossible
to keep the law sinlessly.
Lots of people tried,
but in actual fact,
it was their promising life,
but was unable to fulfil that
for the Jewish people.
It actually brought condemnation upon it.
It brought condemnation in a way in which
if you break just one aspect of the law,
then you've broken the whole law.
You know,
you can imagine a friend of mine
very close to me.
It was pulled over for speeding.
And I said,
sorry,
the friend said,
and that...
I said to the officer,
look,
I may have been going over the speed limit
a teensy,
weensy little bit,
but you know what?
All day,
I've been driving under the speed limit.
So I reckon you should take
all those kilometres per hour
I was driving under the speed limit
and then you can apply them to this
and you'll find that I haven't actually
broken the law at all.
That went down like a lead balloon,
I might add.
It's sort of one of those things,
if you break the law,
you break the law.
You can't say,
well,
look at all the good things I've done,
because when you break God's law,
judgment comes,
condemnation comes.
So the law brings condemnation.
What happens to Christians
with regard to the law?
You see,
in chapter 7,
you'll see that the person in chapter 7
is bound by the law,
dead to that which held it captive.
The man of Romans 7
can't keep the law.
He's unable to do so.
Some people think the man in chapter 7
is all about the Christian
struggling with sin.
I actually don't think
that's what it's talking about.
I think it's talking about
the unbelieving Jew
who is under God's condemnation,
wants to keep the law,
but can't keep the law
because he's out of relationship with God.
The law is actually good.
In chapter 7,
the law is spiritual.
There's a good thing about law,
but law has to be in relationship.
Unless law is in relationship,
you will always want to break it.
You know those signs
that you've seen on billboards,
you know,
don't look through this peephole here,
and you think,
hmm,
let me think.
Let me think.
Might as well just fix up this thing.
Yes.
And then by a sign like that,
you're automatically enticed
to look through the hole,
aren't you?
Or when it says,
bill posters,
we prosecute it.
Poor old bill posters,
he's always going to get prosecuted.
Anyhow,
so people put up posters there.
Now,
you look through,
when you get a law like that,
you actually want to break it.
But if you're in relationship
with a lawgiver,
it's very different.
We had a house we lived in,
had a very broken kind of concrete pathway
coming up the driveway.
And my wife has been saying to me,
look,
you know,
why can't you just fix this?
You know,
can't you fix it?
And,
you know,
I say,
well,
I'm not really,
I didn't do concreting 101
at Theological College,
so I'm not really,
I'm not really good at that.
And,
but then one day,
while she was out,
I hired a concrete man
to come and lay the path for me.
And,
because it would be all wet cement,
I put up a sign saying,
don't step in the wet cement.
Okay?
My wife comes home,
and she says,
goodness,
he's finally listened.
He's got the pathway.
And he's warned me by saying,
don't step in the cement.
Because I could easily have stepped in there,
not thinking it was actually newly laid.
The warning,
the law,
don't step on the cement,
wet cement,
is actually for her good.
Because she's in relationship with me,
she wants to abide by that law.
She wants to keep that law.
We've got an 11-year-old boy
who lives next door.
He's not really in relationship with me
like my wife is.
When he sees the sign,
don't step in the wet cement,
whoa,
let's go.
Let's do those little doggy marks.
Anyhow.
Or, you know,
so-and-so loves so-and-so,
or something like that.
Because he sees that law
as an invitation to break it,
because he's not in relationship
with a lawgiver.
That's how the law works for Christians,
you see.
We're in relationship with God,
therefore the law is not oppressive
for us as Christians,
we actually want to keep it.
I actually asked the candidates tonight
about the Ten Commandments.
And you passed.
Lucky Sam.
And then I asked,
how many of you actually keep
the commandments perfectly?
And of course,
no one can.
Except one man,
Jesus.
You know,
because Jesus has kept
the commandments perfectly,
prevents us
from being condemned
by the law.
I don't know if you've heard
in your classical education,
probably the older people
would have heard the phrase
Damocles sword.
For younger ones,
probably don't know it,
but it's a,
it goes back to a story,
the Mediterranean king.
And this king
had a courtier,
a courtier
by the name of Damocles.
And Damocles would have,
you know,
meals with the king
and he's one of those
sort of chatterboxes
that just talks,
talks, talks.
You have people like that
in your church?
Anyhow,
so people you might invite
for dinner
and they just chat,
chat, chat.
And he was just sick
of Damocles.
So he actually said to Damocles,
give me your sword
and I'm going to hang
your sword
over your head
and I'm going to hold it up,
I'm going to tie it up
by a horse's hair.
And then I want you
to come and have dinner
with me
sitting under your own sword.
Well,
Damocles of course
had to do what the king said.
So,
he came in fear
and trembling.
He could hardly
eat his dinner.
He had no appetite
and what's more,
he couldn't even start
a conversation up.
So the king was delighted.
It worked.
And so the phrase being,
having,
sitting under Damocles' sword,
Damocles' sword
hanging over your head
means the threat
of judgment.
When Jesus says,
people will come
from the east and west
and sit down
and feast with Abraham
in the kingdom of God.
Jesus is saying
that the feasting table
for the people of God
includes Old Testament saints
like Abraham
as well as New Covenant saints
like us.
Under the Old Covenant,
the law
was hanging
as a judgment
over the people of God.
It's like Abraham
and Moses
and the rest of the
Old Testament saints
were sitting at the
banquet table of God
but the sword
of God's law
was hanging over them.
Not by a horse's hair
but something
much more secure,
the thread
of God's promise.
They could feast
at God's table
because they trusted
that God
would not bring
the judgment on them.
When Jesus arrives,
he comes and sits
at the same
banqueting table
but the sword
of God's judgment
falls upon Jesus.
He actually satisfies
all that the law
requires and demands.
He keeps the
Ten Commandments.
He's perfectly
obedient to his
Heavenly Father
and what's more
than that,
he dies the death
that you and I
deserve.
So that as New
Covenant saints,
when we come to
the feasting,
banqueting table
of God,
we no longer
have the threat
of God's law
over us
with its condemnation.
That's what Paul
means when he says
we are not under
law but under
grace.
In Romans 8.1,
there is now
no condemnation
for those who
are in Christ
Jesus.
Why?
Because through
Christ Jesus,
the law of the
spirit of life
has set me free
from the law
of sin and death.
You see,
sin and death
hang over us.
Paul says
elsewhere in
1 Corinthians,
he says,
the sting of
death is sin
but the power
of sin is the
law.
It's a fascinating
thought,
isn't it?
The sting of
death is sin
but the power
of sin is the
law.
It's the law
that condemns.
It's the law
that judges us.
It's the law
that sends us
to our death.
And what Jesus
has done
has taken
that penalty
away,
has taken
the condemnation
that belongs
to us
as people
who sin.
You see,
our God
is a righteous
God.
He's a perfect
God.
He loathes sin
even in his
people.
And he can't
just turn a blind
eye to sin.
In order to
save us,
he has to deal
with our sins.
And the
only way
he could do
it was to
sin Jesus.
If there was
another way,
he'd have done
so.
Such as the
depths of
God's love
is that the
most excruciating
way,
the only way
in which we
could be freed
from the
condemnation of
the law,
is if Jesus
stands in
our place.
Imagine you
four
confidants
at the
day of
judgment.
Scary
thought.
Here is
God's
throne.
And God
has a line
of people
coming up.
And as each
person stands
before the
throne of
God,
Gabriel goes
off and gets
their DVD
of their
life.
You've just
seen Pol Pot.
Idi Amin,
a few other
awful chaps,
and you see
a video of
their life,
you don't
have to play
for very long,
and God
says,
judgment,
death.
Then
James,
you're next.
You're
alphabetically
ahead of your
sister,
you see.
And you
stand before
the throne
of God.
And Gabriel
goes off to
get James's
DVD.
You're
shaking in
your boots.
Every thought
that you've
ever had
is captured
in this
DVD.
Every
wrongdoing,
every act,
every
transgression
of the Ten
Commandments
is there,
even the
ones your
parents didn't
know about,
nor your
minister,
father.
But you
know about
it,
and God
knows about
it.
And then
up on the
screen,
the DVD,
sorry,
it's over
there,
isn't it?
Wow,
it's hot,
isn't it?
Up on the
screen,
comes the
Jesus video,
a DVD of
Jesus'
life,
and his
death.
faith.
And God
says to
James,
enter into
my kingdom.
Jesus has
done it
for you.
He's lived
the life you
could not
live,
and died
the death
that you
deserve.
That's
fabulous,
isn't it?
If you've
put your
faith in
Jesus,
then you
can stand
where James
stands.
You can
stand where
Jesus
stands.
and Jesus
has done
it all.
The law
that was
powerless
to do,
in that it
was weakened
by the
sinful
nature,
what the
law was
powerless
to do,
God did
by sending
his own
son in
the likeness
of sinful
flesh to
be a sin
offering.
That's what
Jesus did.
That's why
the law
is spiritual,
you see.
In actual
fact,
the law
does save
us,
because Jesus
has kept
the law
for us.
I was
talking to
the
Confirmese
beforehand,
I was
talking about
the Lord's
Supper,
when you
take Holy
Communion.
You
experienced
saints who've
taken the
Lord's
Supper for
many years
would know
why you've
got two
elements in
Holy
Communion,
the bread
and the
wine.
But why
do we
take the
wine?
Jesus said
I'm the
bread of
life,
he didn't
say I'm
the wine
of life.
So why
is there
bread and
wine?
And we
don't have
soap and
water in
baptism,
as you'll
see when I
baptise Ali
tonight,
it's just
water.
So why
bread and
wine?
Well the
bread is
Jesus'
life.
I'm the
bread of
life,
his life,
his perfect
obedience in
place of
my frail,
flawed,
sinful life.
But it's
not just
that, it's
also his
death.
The death
that I
deserve is
what Jesus
has undergone
for me.
So when
you take
Holy
Communion or
the Lord's
Supper,
think of
Jesus'
life and
Jesus'
death.
it will
help you
focus on
the truths
that Paul
is preaching
when he
says there
is no
condemnation
for those
who are
in Christ
Jesus.
For he
condemned
sin in
sinful man
in order
to the
righteous
requirement
of the
law.
I don't
know why
the NIV
has
requirements,
it shouldn't
be plural,
it's actually
a singular
in the
original.
The
righteous
requirement
of the
law is
the death
penalty.
He uses
that same
phrase
elsewhere
in chapter
2,
where he's
talking about
the death
penalty.
So here
Jesus has
taken the
death penalty
for us,
that's the
righteous
requirement of
the law,
in order
that we
then might
live,
not according
to the
sinful nature,
but according
to the
spirit.
So the
spirit of
Christ Jesus
has now
set us
free,
not only
from the
guilt of
sin,
but from
the power
of sin,
so that
we might
live as
Christ wants
us to
do.
Tonight is
not so much
a graduation
for these
four young
people,
but rather a
step along
the path.
They've been
nurtured in
Christian families
and we thank
God for that.
What a powerful
promise it is
for Christian
parents to
know that
their children
are covered
by God's
grace and
to bring
them up and
raise them
up in
covenant love
so that now
they can
profess before
you all,
not that you
had any doubt
beforehand,
but profess
before you
that they
have turned
to Christ.
And we're
going to do
that symbolically
tonight and
I'm going to
lay hands on
them as an
indication,
an ancient
sign of God's
blessing and of
prayer for these
people,
that they might
continue strong
in Christ because
God has
taken away
their sins,
as far as
the east is
from the west
so far as
God removed
our sins
from us.
The joy of
the Spirit
gives us a
desire to
follow him,
a desire to
be obedient,
a desire to
bring forth the
fruit of the
Spirit and the
obedience which
springs from
faith.
That's what
Paul is
concerned about
and elsewhere in
this book as
beforehand,
he talks of
the way in
which the
fruit of the
Spirit comes
forth by the
obedience of
faith and
that's the
work of the
Spirit in
us.
We'll never
be sinless in
this life.
We'll always
need to keep
repenting of
our sins but
there is growth
in grace and
so Paul elsewhere
prays for the
saints at
Corinth that
they might be
changed from
one degree of
glory to
another and
this comes by
the Spirit of
God's grace,
grace by the
Lord who is
the Spirit.
So tonight's a
great night,
great night for
you four guys
and for your
families,
parents and
godparents that
as you profess
Christ tonight
that you're
saying you are
no longer
condemned,
Christ has
taken that
penalty for
you and set
you free,
free to live a
life which
honors him and
which brings
others to a
knowledge of
the Lord Jesus
and if you're
here tonight,
perhaps you're a
friend of the
family,
don't normally
come to church
and you think
what is that
man talking
about at the
front?
Well you know
the best person
to ask is one
of these.
Ask them,
they've been
well prepared for
tonight,
ask them why
they're going to
stand up and
say to you,
I turn to
Christ and
ask them why
it's important
that you too
turn to Christ
because if you
don't,
God's
condemnation
will rest
upon you
and it
won't be the
Jesus video
but the video
of your own
life which
will not
stand the
test of
God's
righteous
judgment.
Only in
Christ are
we free
of condemnation.
Let's pray.
heavenly
father we
thank you
for the
inestimable
gift of
salvation in
Christ.
We thank you
for his life
and his death
on our behalf
and we pray
for these four
young people
that you would
as you have
brought them
safe thus far
that you would
continue to
strengthen them
as your
disciples to
the glory of
your name
for we ask
it for
Jesus'
sake.
Amen.