WEBVTT 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:04.839 Well, today we're continuing our study in Romans. 00:00:04.839 --> 00:00:10.040 On Sunday mornings, we are looking through this great letter that Paul wrote. 00:00:10.040 --> 00:00:14.080 And we've come to the section which Colin read for us from chapter 7. 00:00:14.080 --> 00:00:19.480 And we're going to look at this section broadly, but I'll just read again verses 18 and 19. 00:00:19.480 --> 00:00:24.640 Paul says, For I know that nothing good dwells in me, that is, in my flesh. 00:00:24.640 --> 00:00:29.440 For I have the desire to do what is right, but not the ability to carry it out. 00:00:29.440 --> 00:00:37.320 For I do not do the good I want, but the evil I do not want is what I keep on doing. 00:00:37.320 --> 00:00:44.320 I want to start today with the quotation that's on your service sheet from Francis Schaefer. 00:00:44.320 --> 00:00:49.240 He says, Why is man so wonderful and yet so flawed? 00:00:49.240 --> 00:00:56.640 Why can man do these things that make him so unique and yet why is man so horrible? 00:00:56.640 --> 00:01:00.359 I think that's a really perceptive comment because isn't that true? 00:01:00.359 --> 00:01:08.159 You look at the world around us today and we can see so many precious, wonderful and remarkable aspects of humanity. 00:01:08.159 --> 00:01:15.680 And yet at the very same time, you see hideous brutality and cruel wickedness in the very same humanity. 00:01:15.680 --> 00:01:18.480 And you think about your own life. 00:01:18.480 --> 00:01:25.000 If you were to ask the question, what are the greatest, happiest, most precious moments of your life? 00:01:25.000 --> 00:01:31.640 They have probably come through what others have done for you in a relationship to a fellow human. 00:01:31.640 --> 00:01:35.480 That's where the greatest moments of joy come in our lives. 00:01:35.480 --> 00:01:43.560 But if I also asked you, where did the deepest moments of hurt come from in your life? 00:01:43.560 --> 00:01:48.519 It's probably from what other people have done to you as well. 00:01:48.519 --> 00:01:50.840 Why is humanity like that? 00:01:50.840 --> 00:01:57.040 Why is humanity so beautiful and yet so horrible? 00:01:57.040 --> 00:02:01.840 Well, people have tried to answer that question for a long time and some have proposed a solution which says, 00:02:01.840 --> 00:02:05.359 well, humanity is not really horrible. 00:02:05.359 --> 00:02:12.199 And so that approach would suggest that humanity is really basically good and on the whole we're getting better. 00:02:12.199 --> 00:02:20.599 And if we just keep on looking within ourselves and striving, then the bad stuff will eventually go away. 00:02:20.599 --> 00:02:22.159 And that sounds great. 00:02:22.159 --> 00:02:27.599 And the only problem is that the evidence just doesn't agree. 00:02:27.599 --> 00:02:32.000 You look at the world today, it's not fixed, is it? 00:02:32.000 --> 00:02:34.000 It's not even close. 00:02:34.000 --> 00:02:36.400 So we can't really use that approach. 00:02:36.400 --> 00:02:43.959 Other people have taken the opposite opinion and they've said, well, humanity is not really beautiful. 00:02:43.960 --> 00:02:52.040 And so things like beauty and love and joy that we value, they're not actually really at the core of who we are, 00:02:52.040 --> 00:02:55.719 because really we're just a piece of a machine. 00:02:55.719 --> 00:03:04.960 And on the basis of that closed machine that we're stuck in, brutality is just inevitable. 00:03:04.960 --> 00:03:08.480 And there's nothing to really prove that it's horrible. 00:03:08.480 --> 00:03:09.879 Is that really the truth? 00:03:09.879 --> 00:03:15.879 Well, nobody on planet Earth really lives as though that was the case. 00:03:15.879 --> 00:03:20.439 Every instinct that we have, every study of civilized history that I'm aware of, 00:03:20.439 --> 00:03:30.000 every piece of evidence that we can observe in the world around us today tells us that humanity is beautiful and horrible. 00:03:30.000 --> 00:03:34.240 And only the Bible tells us why. 00:03:34.240 --> 00:03:39.319 And this is one of the key issues that lies behind this section in Romans. 00:03:39.319 --> 00:03:44.519 Paul is talking about humanity and he's talking about why there's something wrong. 00:03:44.519 --> 00:03:49.120 Now, I want us to look at this together today, but I think in order to understand what Paul is saying in this passage, 00:03:49.120 --> 00:03:55.719 we're going to have to take a wee bit of a step back and look at the big picture of what the Bible teaches about humanity. 00:03:55.719 --> 00:04:00.400 Always remember that whenever you read a passage of the Bible, whether it's Romans or Jeremiah or whatever it is, 00:04:00.400 --> 00:04:08.919 that's part of the overall message that runs from the very beginning of Genesis at the start of the Bible to the very end of Revelation. 00:04:08.919 --> 00:04:15.319 The whole thing fits together and I think we need to take that step back and think about the big picture for a wee minute together. 00:04:15.319 --> 00:04:21.000 Because when the Bible talks about humanity, if we observe the whole of the teaching of Scripture, 00:04:21.000 --> 00:04:29.759 we can say that the Bible divides the story of humanity into four stages. 00:04:29.759 --> 00:04:35.159 Older times may be called that a fourfold state of humanity. We can just say four stages. 00:04:35.160 --> 00:04:41.840 So, we picture there just to give you the idea. Stage one, created and beautiful. 00:04:41.840 --> 00:04:47.320 Stage two, fallen and broken. Stage three, saved and recovering. 00:04:47.320 --> 00:04:51.680 Stage four, restored and beautiful again. 00:04:51.680 --> 00:04:54.640 Now, on the diagram, there's a wee symbol between each box. 00:04:54.640 --> 00:04:59.520 I'm not going to tell you what that symbol is yet. Every engineer in here will know what that symbol is, 00:04:59.520 --> 00:05:03.560 but I will fill the rest of you in later on. 00:05:03.560 --> 00:05:07.480 Paul's addressing the issue of what's wrong with humanity. He's pointing us to these stages. 00:05:07.480 --> 00:05:11.480 He's particularly focused on stage two and stage three. 00:05:11.480 --> 00:05:17.280 Now, in each of these stages, human experience is made up of two factors. 00:05:17.280 --> 00:05:23.560 So, we have a governing principle, we can call it, and then our human nature. 00:05:23.560 --> 00:05:26.160 And hopefully we'll become a little bit clearer what we mean by that. 00:05:26.160 --> 00:05:30.560 The idea of an overarching principle that lies at the core of who we are 00:05:30.560 --> 00:05:35.160 and then a practical outworking of that in our human nature, the way we think, the way we speak, 00:05:35.160 --> 00:05:39.560 the way we act, our desires, our conduct, all of these things. 00:05:39.560 --> 00:05:44.000 Now, that applies. These two things apply at each stage. You can see it there. 00:05:44.000 --> 00:05:50.480 And both of these things, particularly the governing principle, are related to God's law. 00:05:50.480 --> 00:05:55.920 Now, when we read Romans 7, you heard that word again and again and again, law, law, law, law, law. 00:05:55.920 --> 00:06:02.480 And so we need to keep it in our minds as we think because God's law has got a really important role in all of this as well. 00:06:02.480 --> 00:06:08.480 So, stage one, we are created beautiful. I should warn you now, I love stickmen. 00:06:08.480 --> 00:06:12.480 So, we'll see stickmen quite often on these screens. 00:06:12.480 --> 00:06:17.879 Here, we have a harmony in humanity. So, the governing principle is good. 00:06:17.879 --> 00:06:24.080 When we were created, originally in the beginning of the Bible, the beginning of the history of humanity, 00:06:24.079 --> 00:06:28.279 we lived in harmony with God. So, we were governed by God's principles. 00:06:28.279 --> 00:06:32.879 God is our Creator and our human nature as a result was good. 00:06:32.879 --> 00:06:37.279 In other words, we thought and we behaved the way God intended us to. 00:06:37.279 --> 00:06:44.279 We were made in the image of God, made to be like Him, made to live for Him. 00:06:44.279 --> 00:06:48.680 And always remember that humanity has been created by God to live. 00:06:48.680 --> 00:06:53.680 And death is always an unwanted intrusion in the history of humanity. 00:06:53.680 --> 00:06:58.680 Death is an enemy. God's purpose for us was to have life. 00:06:58.680 --> 00:07:03.680 And so, we were created beautiful, ready to live for Him. 00:07:03.680 --> 00:07:07.680 And at this stage, humanity's relationship to God's law is good. 00:07:07.680 --> 00:07:11.680 God's law functions as our guide and our security. 00:07:11.680 --> 00:07:13.680 It's to keep humanity from harm. 00:07:13.680 --> 00:07:17.680 So, when Adam and Eve were created at the beginning of the Bible, God gave them specific instructions, 00:07:17.680 --> 00:07:20.680 not to hurt them, but to keep them safe. 00:07:20.680 --> 00:07:28.680 And of course, that's what all good laws are there for. All good laws are there to keep things good, aren't they? 00:07:28.680 --> 00:07:33.680 Good laws in our nation are there to keep things good, not to make things worse. 00:07:33.680 --> 00:07:37.680 So, when God created us, humanity was beautiful. 00:07:37.680 --> 00:07:44.680 However, sin has brought humanity into stage two, which we could call fallen and broken. 00:07:44.680 --> 00:07:50.680 Our first parents, Adam and Eve, sinned against God. The relationship they had with God was broken. 00:07:50.680 --> 00:07:53.680 And the condition that they enjoyed was ruined. 00:07:53.680 --> 00:07:57.680 Now, in this stage, two crucial things have happened. 00:07:57.680 --> 00:08:04.680 The governing principle, which is symbolized by the wittic on your diagram there, that's changed. 00:08:04.680 --> 00:08:09.680 We're no longer under God's governance. Humanity is now under the grip of sin. 00:08:09.680 --> 00:08:18.680 And as a result of that, human nature has become fully infected with an unwanted condition. 00:08:18.680 --> 00:08:24.680 You may read, if you read a theology book, you might read people call that total depravity. 00:08:24.680 --> 00:08:27.680 It just means fully infected with sin. 00:08:27.680 --> 00:08:32.680 Now, it's important to recognize that that does not mean that we are as evil as we could possibly be. 00:08:32.680 --> 00:08:37.680 We are infected with a disease. We are not the disease itself. 00:08:37.679 --> 00:08:41.679 The key point is that it's affected every part of our being. 00:08:41.679 --> 00:08:45.679 So, sin's effect on us is not partial. It's total. 00:08:45.679 --> 00:08:50.679 In mind, in body, in desire, in every area, sin has mucked us up. 00:08:50.679 --> 00:08:56.679 Something horrible has come into us. 00:08:56.679 --> 00:09:02.679 But yet, at the same time, humanity is still beautiful, because we still bear the image of God, 00:09:02.679 --> 00:09:05.679 but it's in a way that's been undermined by sin. 00:09:05.679 --> 00:09:12.679 C.S. Lewis described it brilliantly. He said that humanity is a glorious ruin. 00:09:12.679 --> 00:09:15.679 And I think that sums it up really well. 00:09:15.679 --> 00:09:19.679 Every part of our life has been affected by sin. 00:09:19.679 --> 00:09:24.679 Humanity has fallen and broken. And we can show that on our diagram. 00:09:24.679 --> 00:09:29.679 So, the principle at the core of our being changes. 00:09:29.679 --> 00:09:32.679 So instead of being in harmony with God, we're in rebellion against God. 00:09:32.679 --> 00:09:35.679 So that governing principle has changed. 00:09:35.679 --> 00:09:38.679 The Red Cross means bad. 00:09:38.679 --> 00:09:42.679 Yeah, just so I'm sure you guessed that. 00:09:42.679 --> 00:09:46.679 That then has an effect on our human nature. 00:09:46.679 --> 00:09:51.679 Our nature becomes fully infected with sin. 00:09:51.679 --> 00:09:55.679 So our thoughts, our senses, our outward conduct, our actions, 00:09:55.679 --> 00:10:01.679 the beautiful is being overtaken by the horrible. 00:10:01.679 --> 00:10:05.679 Now, the Bible recognizes that beauty is still there. 00:10:05.679 --> 00:10:08.679 If you go back to Romans chapter 2, Paul talks about that. 00:10:08.679 --> 00:10:11.679 He'll say that even people who don't know God's law, 00:10:11.679 --> 00:10:14.679 so the people who weren't part of the Jewish nation and didn't have the Ten Commandments, 00:10:14.679 --> 00:10:17.679 they still have God's law written on their hearts, 00:10:17.679 --> 00:10:21.679 and they can still by nature do things that God's law requires. 00:10:21.679 --> 00:10:24.679 There's still that element of beauty there. 00:10:24.679 --> 00:10:29.679 The imprint of God's law is still within us to an extent people still have a sense of morality 00:10:29.679 --> 00:10:34.679 and a quality of character that corresponds to what the Bible asks of us. 00:10:34.679 --> 00:10:38.679 The beautiful aspect of humanity is still visible, 00:10:38.679 --> 00:10:44.679 but it's now tangled up with a horrible disease called sin, 00:10:44.679 --> 00:10:48.679 which is in rebellion against God and His ways. 00:10:48.679 --> 00:10:51.679 And that rebellion against God follows a pattern. 00:10:51.679 --> 00:10:56.679 Sin manifests itself, first of all, in the core of our being, 00:10:56.679 --> 00:11:01.679 and then it works its way out to our outward actions. 00:11:01.679 --> 00:11:06.679 And Paul speaks about this in chapter 1 of Romans. 00:11:06.679 --> 00:11:10.679 He says that people claiming to be wise, they became fools. 00:11:10.679 --> 00:11:14.679 They exchanged the glory of the immortal God for images resembling mortal man 00:11:14.679 --> 00:11:16.679 and birds and animals and creeping things. 00:11:16.679 --> 00:11:19.679 That's just summarizing the rejection of God that has taken place. 00:11:19.679 --> 00:11:23.679 And he says, therefore, God gave them up to the lusts of their hearts, 00:11:23.679 --> 00:11:29.679 in the lusts of their hearts to impurity, to the dishonouring of their bodies amongst themselves. 00:11:29.679 --> 00:11:33.679 And there's a pattern emerging in that last sentence, lusts of their hearts. 00:11:33.679 --> 00:11:38.679 What we think, what we want, then shapes our bodies. 00:11:38.679 --> 00:11:41.679 What we do are outward actions. 00:11:41.679 --> 00:11:44.679 All of this arises from abandoning God. 00:11:44.679 --> 00:11:50.679 As Paul says there, we've rejected the Creator and we worship the creature instead. 00:11:50.679 --> 00:11:54.679 So we're rebelling against God, we're turning away from him. 00:11:54.679 --> 00:11:58.679 Sin has had a total effect. 00:11:58.679 --> 00:12:02.679 And that means that there's a sense in which there's a harmony among those who rebel against God. 00:12:02.679 --> 00:12:06.679 Because the governing principle within us is against God. 00:12:06.679 --> 00:12:09.679 That leads to desires that are contrary to God's law. 00:12:09.679 --> 00:12:13.679 That corresponds to actions that are against God's commands. 00:12:13.679 --> 00:12:16.679 The whole of humanity is in rebellion against God. 00:12:16.679 --> 00:12:21.679 And this explains an important phenomenon that we observe around us. 00:12:21.679 --> 00:12:27.679 It explains why people think that sin is the right thing to do. 00:12:27.679 --> 00:12:30.679 Now isn't that interesting? 00:12:30.679 --> 00:12:35.679 The beautiful is being hijacked by the horrible. 00:12:35.679 --> 00:12:38.679 And yet people think it's right? 00:12:38.679 --> 00:12:42.679 There's not many people in the world, I don't think, who wake up every morning and think, 00:12:42.679 --> 00:12:46.679 I want to be bad. 00:12:46.679 --> 00:12:51.679 But instead, I think the majority of people with no thought of God in their lives, 00:12:51.679 --> 00:12:54.679 and there are a lot of them around us in Scotland today, 00:12:54.679 --> 00:13:00.679 they oppose God's ways and yet they think they're doing the right thing. 00:13:00.679 --> 00:13:04.679 Because what they feel deep down shapes the way they think and the way they act, 00:13:04.679 --> 00:13:07.679 and it's all against what God wants. 00:13:07.679 --> 00:13:21.679 That's why we have people who are quite careless and reckless in their relations with other people, 00:13:21.679 --> 00:13:24.679 and yet they do it in the name of love. 00:13:24.679 --> 00:13:31.679 That's why you see a society that is merciless in humiliating people, 00:13:31.679 --> 00:13:36.679 and yet it's all in the name of public interest. 00:13:36.679 --> 00:13:40.679 That's why you see ruthless exploitation of the poor, 00:13:40.679 --> 00:13:44.679 and yet it's all in the name of fair competition. 00:13:44.679 --> 00:13:48.679 And so awful things are actually seen as the right things. 00:13:48.679 --> 00:13:52.679 And that's because there's a harmony between the governing principle within them 00:13:52.679 --> 00:13:54.679 and the words and actions they express in their body. 00:13:54.679 --> 00:14:00.679 Inwardly, they're not in agreement with God, outwardly, they're not in agreement with God. 00:14:00.679 --> 00:14:04.679 Humanity is in a state of rebellion against God. 00:14:04.679 --> 00:14:06.679 And so God all touches on this. 00:14:06.679 --> 00:14:08.679 He says, though they know God's righteous decree, 00:14:08.679 --> 00:14:10.679 that those who practice such things deserve to die. 00:14:10.679 --> 00:14:14.679 They not only do them, but they give approval to those who practice them. 00:14:14.679 --> 00:14:20.679 So not only do we do awful things, we say that awful things are right. 00:14:20.679 --> 00:14:28.679 All of this manifests itself in a humanity that believes that what we want determines what we believe is right. 00:14:28.679 --> 00:14:32.679 Now that's the great sociological force that's shaping the world today. 00:14:32.679 --> 00:14:36.679 If you really want something, then it's the right thing to do. 00:14:36.679 --> 00:14:41.679 That's why longstanding laws are being changed, because people want things. 00:14:41.679 --> 00:14:43.679 We're seeing it all around us. 00:14:43.679 --> 00:14:51.679 The fascinating thing is that the sociological forces of 2018 were predicted 2,000 years ago in the letter to the Romans. 00:14:51.679 --> 00:14:56.679 Paul's making it very clear that if we rebel against God, 00:14:56.679 --> 00:15:02.679 he will leave us to follow our own desires, and these desires will shape our actions. 00:15:02.679 --> 00:15:07.679 And the point I want to emphasize in all of this is the fact that the person who is in stage 2 00:15:07.679 --> 00:15:11.679 is in what we could call a harmonious rebellion against God. 00:15:11.679 --> 00:15:16.679 That's why you've got the red core and the red nature, if you like. 00:15:16.679 --> 00:15:20.679 They want to disobey God, therefore what they actually do is disobey God. 00:15:20.679 --> 00:15:25.679 The whole governing principle of their lives is drawn to sin, and the rest of their nature follows accordingly. 00:15:25.679 --> 00:15:30.679 Now, we have to stop and ask the question, how did this happen? 00:15:30.679 --> 00:15:33.679 What went wrong? 00:15:33.679 --> 00:15:37.679 Well, at the heart of the whole thing is God's law. 00:15:37.679 --> 00:15:46.679 That's why if you look at verse 7, Paul says, is God's law the problem? 00:15:46.679 --> 00:15:49.679 Because God's law is at the heart of all of this taking place. 00:15:49.679 --> 00:15:53.679 Paul says, is this the law's fault? 00:15:53.679 --> 00:15:57.679 Now, Paul's answer to that is no way, and he explains why. 00:15:57.679 --> 00:16:02.679 But you can see why he's saying that, because our first parents had a good relationship with the law. 00:16:02.679 --> 00:16:05.679 God had given them these wonderful privileges. 00:16:05.679 --> 00:16:14.679 The law was there to keep everything good, but Adam and Eve disobeyed God by eating the fruit that they were told not to. 00:16:14.679 --> 00:16:24.679 And he said, how did that happen? Well, the reason that happened was because the devil came and twisted God's law. 00:16:24.679 --> 00:16:28.679 So God had given a life-giving commandment to Adam and Eve. 00:16:28.679 --> 00:16:34.679 The devil came and twisted that commandment and brought humanity into the realm of sin. 00:16:34.679 --> 00:16:36.679 And that's what the realm of sin does. 00:16:36.679 --> 00:16:42.679 It abuses God's law in order to hurt us, in fact, in order to kill us. 00:16:42.679 --> 00:16:44.679 That's what the devil did to Eve. 00:16:44.679 --> 00:16:50.679 He twisted the law of God, and he abused it as a means of killing Eve. 00:16:50.679 --> 00:16:54.679 And now we are all under that same governing principle, and the same thing has affected us. 00:16:54.679 --> 00:17:02.679 Instead of God's law being brilliant for us, it's now a massive problem. 00:17:02.679 --> 00:17:05.679 It's now a massive problem. 00:17:05.679 --> 00:17:09.679 And Paul talks about that in the passage that we read in Romans 7. 00:17:09.680 --> 00:17:14.680 He says, is the law the problem? He says, no. But he says, the law does do certain things. 00:17:14.680 --> 00:17:16.680 And he highlights three things that it does. 00:17:16.680 --> 00:17:21.680 I won't read that through, but just so it's there so you can pick out why I'm seeing what I'm seeing. 00:17:21.680 --> 00:17:26.680 He says, first of all, the law diagnoses our condition. 00:17:26.680 --> 00:17:28.680 He says, if it wasn't for the law, I wouldn't have known sin. 00:17:28.680 --> 00:17:31.680 That makes perfect sense. The law shows us what sin is. 00:17:31.680 --> 00:17:35.680 But the law does more than that. It arouses sin within us. 00:17:35.680 --> 00:17:40.680 You see that in verse 8? Sin, seizing an opportunity produced in me all kinds of covetousness. 00:17:40.680 --> 00:17:46.680 Isn't that true? You're told you can't have something straight away you wanted. 00:17:46.680 --> 00:17:48.680 Isn't that true? 00:17:48.680 --> 00:17:51.680 And that's what a bad relationship with the law does. 00:17:51.680 --> 00:17:54.680 We're attracted to what we aren't allowed to. 00:17:54.680 --> 00:17:59.680 But the result of that is that the law ultimately condemns us. 00:17:59.680 --> 00:18:04.680 It shows that we are sinners. If we could obey it, we would have life, but we can't. 00:18:04.680 --> 00:18:14.680 So Paul says, the very commandment that promised life proved to be death for me. 00:18:14.680 --> 00:18:18.680 Now, all of these things are negative, aren't they? That's why Paul says, is the law bad? 00:18:18.680 --> 00:18:21.680 He says, no, it's not the law that's bad. 00:18:21.680 --> 00:18:29.680 It is a relationship to the law that's bad because we are sinners. 00:18:29.680 --> 00:18:36.680 Imagine we were in here right now and somebody came in and started trying to steal from us. 00:18:36.680 --> 00:18:39.680 And we were all terrified. 00:18:39.680 --> 00:18:45.680 If you heard a siren, we would think brilliant. 00:18:45.680 --> 00:18:49.680 He would think, I've got a goal. He would want to run. 00:18:49.680 --> 00:18:56.680 So the same law, siren, would be wonderful for us because we've not done anything wrong, 00:18:56.680 --> 00:18:59.680 but terrible for him because it highlights his sin. 00:18:59.680 --> 00:19:04.680 I'm absolutely useless when it comes to films. 00:19:04.680 --> 00:19:07.680 I think Corey and Derek are great at giving illustrations from films. 00:19:07.680 --> 00:19:10.680 I'm not a very big film watcher unless it's a child's film. 00:19:10.680 --> 00:19:16.680 So these guys watch Lord of the Rings and all that. Captain Underpants is more kind of my kind of thing. 00:19:16.680 --> 00:19:22.680 But I have seen the Shawshank Redemption many years ago, which is a fascinating film, a good adult film. 00:19:22.680 --> 00:19:26.680 Not for children, but good for adults. 00:19:26.680 --> 00:19:32.680 It's all about a prison. I won't tell you the whole story, but the prison warden is corrupt. 00:19:32.680 --> 00:19:35.680 He's done all sorts of awful things. 00:19:35.680 --> 00:19:39.680 Towards the end of the film, he gets found out and he hears the sirens. 00:19:39.680 --> 00:19:43.680 Those sirens are coming because they stand for truth and uprightness. 00:19:43.680 --> 00:19:49.680 They're coming to enforce the law, but he knows he's got a bad relationship to that law. 00:19:49.680 --> 00:19:52.680 So that siren is a horrible noise for him. 00:19:52.680 --> 00:19:56.680 Those of you who have seen the film know what happens, but that conveys the idea. 00:19:56.680 --> 00:19:59.680 A relationship to the law is bad. 00:19:59.680 --> 00:20:02.680 The law exposes our sin. 00:20:02.680 --> 00:20:08.680 It arouses even more sin and it proves that we're deserving of condemnation and we are stuck like that. 00:20:08.680 --> 00:20:14.680 That's why Paul says the law is holy. The commandment is holy. It's righteous and good. 00:20:14.680 --> 00:20:19.680 Does that mean that it was a good thing that's brought death to me? No, it was sin. 00:20:19.680 --> 00:20:25.680 Sin is the problem. God's law is wonderful, but the realm of sin is pointing us to God's law. 00:20:25.680 --> 00:20:31.680 That governing principle that's broken is pointing to us all and saying, see that law. That's your problem. 00:20:31.680 --> 00:20:35.680 It's restricting you. It's hurting you. It's stifling you. You need to rebel. 00:20:35.680 --> 00:20:38.680 And of course, it's a lethal trap. 00:20:38.680 --> 00:20:43.680 The very commandment that should be life for us proves to be death. 00:20:43.680 --> 00:20:49.680 That raises a really important point that we must never forget and it's a point that we always get wrong. 00:20:49.680 --> 00:20:56.680 Often, we can think that sin is a bit of fun. Yeah, it's bad, but it's a bit of fun. 00:20:56.680 --> 00:21:02.680 Often, we can think that sin is going to give us a wee bit of freedom because it would be great to just do what you want to do for a wee while. 00:21:02.680 --> 00:21:06.680 And often, we think that sin is going to give us pleasure because it looks very tempting. 00:21:06.680 --> 00:21:09.680 That's what the devil wants us to think. 00:21:09.680 --> 00:21:13.680 To think that God is really trying to spoil our lives with his law and he's trying to restrict us. 00:21:13.680 --> 00:21:17.680 And that by sinning, we'd actually be freer and happier. That's what he said to Eve. 00:21:17.680 --> 00:21:20.680 He said, God's trying to restrict you. He's trying to limit you. 00:21:20.680 --> 00:21:24.680 So often, he'll say the same to you. He'll come to you and he'll say, live a little. 00:21:24.680 --> 00:21:27.680 Enjoy life. Come into my realm. Have a bit of fun. 00:21:27.680 --> 00:21:33.680 And you must never forget that it's a toxic lie. 00:21:33.680 --> 00:21:38.680 Because the devil does not want to give you an ounce of fun or pleasure or freedom. 00:21:38.680 --> 00:21:43.680 The devil wants to kill you and destroy you. 00:21:43.680 --> 00:21:47.680 That's the objective of the realm of sin. 00:21:47.680 --> 00:21:53.680 That's why Paul says in the end of chapter 6, the wages of sin is death. 00:21:53.680 --> 00:22:01.680 Now, that word wages is a really good choice of word because wages describes what you actually get. 00:22:01.680 --> 00:22:05.680 The kingdom of sin promises us all sorts of things. 00:22:05.680 --> 00:22:09.680 But it's got no intention of ever giving them to us. 00:22:09.680 --> 00:22:16.680 But one thing it will pay out is its wages. Death. 00:22:16.680 --> 00:22:21.680 And all of that affects every one of us because we're all born at stage 2. 00:22:21.680 --> 00:22:24.680 And stage 1's gone. We're born at stage 2. 00:22:24.680 --> 00:22:29.680 And a lot of people will say, that's so unfair. Too right, it's unfair. 00:22:29.680 --> 00:22:32.680 But sin has got no interest in being fair. 00:22:32.680 --> 00:22:39.680 Sin just wants to destroy you. And if we remain in stage 2, that's exactly what will happen to us. 00:22:39.680 --> 00:22:48.680 All the beautiful will be swallowed up. And only the horrible will remain. 00:22:48.680 --> 00:22:58.680 But the amazing message of Jesus Christ is that if we put our trust in Him, we move into stage 3. 00:22:58.680 --> 00:23:02.680 There's a dotted line there because it's not automatic. 00:23:02.680 --> 00:23:08.680 You must put your trust in Jesus. It's very simple, not complicated, simple. 00:23:08.680 --> 00:23:15.680 Just trusting in Jesus takes you from stage 2 into stage 3 where we are saved and recovering. 00:23:15.680 --> 00:23:19.680 And a key, key change takes place. 00:23:19.680 --> 00:23:25.680 The core of our being is restored. 00:23:25.680 --> 00:23:29.680 Without Christ, the core of our being is broken. It's spiritually dead. 00:23:29.680 --> 00:23:34.680 But when we put our faith in Christ, the core of our being is changed. 00:23:34.680 --> 00:23:39.680 It becomes alive again. The technical term we use for that is regenerated. 00:23:39.680 --> 00:23:45.680 Jesus uses a great, simpler expression. He just says, we're born again. 00:23:45.680 --> 00:23:48.680 So instead of being spiritually dead, we're spiritually alive. 00:23:48.680 --> 00:23:51.680 Instead of being governed by sin, we're governed by the Holy Spirit. 00:23:51.680 --> 00:23:55.680 Instead of being under the dominion of sin, we're under the lordship of Jesus Christ. 00:23:55.680 --> 00:24:00.680 Instead of being slaves of sin, we are slaves of God, slaves to righteousness. 00:24:00.680 --> 00:24:03.680 And the passage we read at the very start describes what happens. 00:24:03.680 --> 00:24:11.680 Ezekiel tells us that God promises to give us a new heart and a new spirit. 00:24:11.680 --> 00:24:17.680 He'll remove that old, broken governing principle, that heart of stone, and give us a heart of flesh. 00:24:17.680 --> 00:24:20.680 He'll put His Spirit within us. 00:24:20.680 --> 00:24:23.680 When we come to faith in Jesus, God gives us a new heart. 00:24:23.680 --> 00:24:25.680 The core of our being is changed. 00:24:25.680 --> 00:24:29.680 Spiritually, we're no longer dead. We're no longer under the dominion of sin. 00:24:29.680 --> 00:24:31.680 We're no longer God's evidence. 00:24:31.680 --> 00:24:39.680 And the immediate result of this is tension. 00:24:39.680 --> 00:24:41.680 Look at our diagram again. 00:24:41.680 --> 00:24:44.680 You see, stage two, our whole body is infected. 00:24:44.680 --> 00:24:52.680 Stage three, the core is healed, but the infection, the effect of the infection is still there. 00:24:52.680 --> 00:24:57.680 And so we're going from being spiritually and physically broken to being spiritually restored, 00:24:57.680 --> 00:25:00.680 and yet physically we're not quite fixed. 00:25:00.680 --> 00:25:11.680 It's only at the final stage, stage four, at the resurrection when Jesus returns, when we are fully fixed. 00:25:11.680 --> 00:25:22.680 At the moment, we have a regenerated core, a fixed governing principle, living in an old nature that's still sold under sin. 00:25:22.680 --> 00:25:27.680 That's why Paul in chapter eight says, I eagerly await the redemption. 00:25:27.680 --> 00:25:29.680 Now listen really carefully to this. 00:25:29.680 --> 00:25:32.680 He says, he's looking forward to the future. 00:25:32.680 --> 00:25:36.680 He says, I eagerly await the redemption, not of his soul. 00:25:36.680 --> 00:25:40.680 He says, the redemption of my body. 00:25:40.680 --> 00:25:47.680 Because he's looking forward to his body being fixed, his nature being fixed at the resurrection. 00:25:47.680 --> 00:25:52.680 And so we are looking forward to that right now, within the midst of tension. 00:25:52.680 --> 00:26:01.680 There's an internal battle between our new governing principle and their human nature. 00:26:01.680 --> 00:26:03.680 And bit by bit, it has an effect. 00:26:03.680 --> 00:26:04.680 Did you see that? 00:26:04.680 --> 00:26:05.680 We changed there. 00:26:05.680 --> 00:26:06.680 It's not so blue. 00:26:06.680 --> 00:26:07.680 It's not so red. 00:26:07.680 --> 00:26:08.680 It's a bit more blue. 00:26:08.680 --> 00:26:13.680 There's a healing work going on, a restoring work, a sanctifying work, we call it. 00:26:13.680 --> 00:26:15.680 But it doesn't happen instantly. 00:26:15.680 --> 00:26:17.680 It happens bit by bit. 00:26:17.680 --> 00:26:24.680 To remind you that throughout the whole of the New Testament, we see a balance between our salvation being something that's already happened 00:26:24.680 --> 00:26:29.680 and something that's not yet complete, that already not yet balance is always there. 00:26:29.680 --> 00:26:30.680 We have been saved. 00:26:30.680 --> 00:26:31.680 We have been justified. 00:26:31.680 --> 00:26:32.680 We have been regenerated. 00:26:32.680 --> 00:26:41.680 But we're still looking forward to being saved when we're brought into the new creation where everything is fixed. 00:26:41.680 --> 00:26:45.680 And so a reminder that the cross has dealt with the penalty of sin. 00:26:45.680 --> 00:26:50.680 The cross has destroyed the power of sin. 00:26:50.680 --> 00:26:56.680 But the presence of sin will not be dealt with until Christ returns. 00:26:56.680 --> 00:27:04.680 So in stage three, our renewed hearts are battling against members that are corrupted by the effects of sin. 00:27:04.680 --> 00:27:10.680 The beautiful is battling against the horrible. 00:27:10.680 --> 00:27:13.680 Now, all of that is theology. 00:27:13.680 --> 00:27:16.680 But it's all confirmed by experience. 00:27:16.680 --> 00:27:20.680 And that's what Paul is talking about in this chapter. 00:27:20.680 --> 00:27:24.680 There's different views on what Paul is referring to in Romans chapter seven. 00:27:24.680 --> 00:27:31.680 But I think he's just talking about himself, talking about what he was before he was converted, what he is now as a Christian. 00:27:31.680 --> 00:27:37.680 If you read it carefully, you'll notice that there's a switch from past tense to present tense in verse 14. 00:27:37.680 --> 00:27:41.680 And he says, this is exactly what it's like for me as a Christian. 00:27:41.680 --> 00:27:46.680 He says, I do not do the good I want. 00:27:46.680 --> 00:27:48.680 But the evil I do not want is what I keep doing. 00:27:48.680 --> 00:27:54.680 So the right fixed governing principle is saying, I want to do this, but the nature can't quite manage it. 00:27:54.680 --> 00:27:58.680 And Paul is highlighting the fact that we live in tension. 00:27:58.680 --> 00:28:08.680 But the wonderful truth is that the part of you that does evil, that does things that are wrong as a Christian, is not the real you. 00:28:08.680 --> 00:28:14.680 Because the real you has been restored at the core of your being. 00:28:14.680 --> 00:28:18.680 But it manifests itself in tension, which is what Paul summarizes. 00:28:18.680 --> 00:28:25.680 He says there you can read at the very end, I've got the desire to do what it's right, but not the ability to carry it out. 00:28:25.680 --> 00:28:30.680 And if you're a Christian, you know how that feels. 00:28:30.680 --> 00:28:36.680 And in fact, that's a really good question to ask yourself if you're not sure if you're a Christian or not. 00:28:36.680 --> 00:28:41.680 Do you know how that feels to think, I wish I was different. 00:28:41.680 --> 00:28:45.680 I wish I didn't do these stupid things that I do. 00:28:45.680 --> 00:28:52.680 Because at the core of your being, you want to be like Jesus and not like the world around us. 00:28:52.680 --> 00:28:56.680 Our relationship to ourselves is one of tension. 00:28:56.680 --> 00:29:00.680 We want to obey God, but we find our bodies don't quite have the ability. 00:29:00.680 --> 00:29:04.680 We desire to keep God's law, but at the same time we want to ignore it. 00:29:04.680 --> 00:29:09.680 We hate sin, and yet we're attracted to it. 00:29:09.680 --> 00:29:14.680 And the result is that we often end up doing things we don't want to do. 00:29:14.680 --> 00:29:24.680 So we're in a battle. Stage three is a battle between a renewed core and a relation and a nature that is still broken. 00:29:24.680 --> 00:29:29.680 God's law is written on our hearts, and more and more and more through the indwelling of the Holy Spirit, 00:29:29.680 --> 00:29:34.680 we're going to become drawn more towards what God wants and less to what we want. 00:29:34.680 --> 00:29:41.680 And ultimately, we're looking forward to stage four. 00:29:41.680 --> 00:29:46.680 Because that's when God's saving work is complete. 00:29:46.680 --> 00:29:56.680 That's where there's nothing horrible and will be restored and beautiful again. 00:29:56.680 --> 00:30:03.680 That's why when the Bible talks about the new creation, it talks about it as a place where righteousness dwells. 00:30:03.680 --> 00:30:08.680 So all the red stuff on that diagram is unrighteousness, sin. 00:30:08.680 --> 00:30:16.680 There was none of it at stage one, and there'll be none of it in stage four. 00:30:16.680 --> 00:30:21.680 Now, two key points to conclude in all of this. 00:30:21.680 --> 00:30:29.680 All of this means that as Christians, we need to always guard our hearts. 00:30:29.680 --> 00:30:38.680 We're in stage three. Yes, our hearts have been renewed, but we're constantly battling against this horrible sin that's still mucking us up, 00:30:38.680 --> 00:30:41.680 and we're still capable of doing horrible things. 00:30:41.680 --> 00:30:51.680 And that's one of the most tragic things is that people who have a new heart still end up deceived by the attractiveness of sin. 00:30:51.680 --> 00:30:54.680 And even Christians still do horrible, horrible things. 00:30:54.680 --> 00:30:59.680 And we're just as capable of that, so we need to pray, Lord, keep me. 00:30:59.680 --> 00:31:03.680 That's a brilliant prayer to pray every day. Lord, keep me. 00:31:03.680 --> 00:31:15.680 We need to guard our hearts, but at the same time as Christians, we must never, ever, ever lose heart. 00:31:15.680 --> 00:31:30.680 Paul seems frustrated and disappointed by the way he is, but he's also reminding us that we should never, ever, ever lose heart, 00:31:30.680 --> 00:31:34.680 and never, ever, ever lose hope. 00:31:34.680 --> 00:31:38.680 And that brings us to the wee symbols in between the stages. 00:31:38.680 --> 00:31:42.680 And as I said, all engineers will know what these symbols mean. 00:31:42.680 --> 00:31:51.680 That's the symbol for a non-return valve, which basically is a valve that you can go through one way, but you can't come back through. 00:31:51.680 --> 00:31:55.680 You get it on fuel lines and in all sorts of different things. 00:31:55.680 --> 00:32:01.680 And the reason I've put non-return valves on that diagram is not just because I used to be an engineer. 00:32:01.680 --> 00:32:08.680 It's because in each of these stages, there's no going back. 00:32:08.680 --> 00:32:15.680 And we've got to remember that from stage one to stage two. 00:32:15.680 --> 00:32:18.680 We can't work our way back to stage one. 00:32:18.680 --> 00:32:21.680 We can't try and fix ourselves and get back to that. 00:32:21.680 --> 00:32:25.680 There's no going back. We cannot get through that. 00:32:25.680 --> 00:32:30.680 But the amazing thing is that when you get into stage three, there's no going back. 00:32:30.680 --> 00:32:33.680 No going back at all. 00:32:33.680 --> 00:32:41.680 And in fact, there's a guarantee that you're just going to go forward and then at stage four, there's no going back either. 00:32:41.680 --> 00:32:46.680 Never, ever, ever is there ever going to be any going back. 00:32:46.680 --> 00:32:52.680 And so even though you're in a battle with your own failings, you must never lose heart because you're never going back. 00:32:52.680 --> 00:32:56.680 Never. If you're trusting in Jesus. 00:32:56.680 --> 00:33:01.680 And Paul makes that beautifully clear because at the end of the chapter, it's like he's despairing with himself. 00:33:01.680 --> 00:33:05.680 He says, wretched man that I am, who will deliver me from this body of death? 00:33:05.680 --> 00:33:07.680 He's so frustrated with himself. 00:33:07.680 --> 00:33:10.680 And I think every one of us as Christians here knows how that feels. 00:33:10.680 --> 00:33:17.680 But Paul's statement there is not just a cry of despair because he asks the question, but he also gives the answer. 00:33:17.680 --> 00:33:26.680 Who's going to deliver us from these stupid, foolish, wretched, sinful, broken bodies who keep on going back to do the same stupid things again and again, 00:33:26.680 --> 00:33:29.680 who keep falling into mistakes that wreck our lives? 00:33:29.680 --> 00:33:33.680 Who's going to deliver you and me from these mucked up bodies? 00:33:33.680 --> 00:33:37.680 Jesus will. 00:33:37.680 --> 00:33:41.680 Thanks be to God through Jesus Christ, our Lord. 00:33:41.680 --> 00:33:47.680 And that's what makes the gospel so, so good because the world is broken. 00:33:47.680 --> 00:33:51.680 We are broken, but Jesus has come to fix us. 00:33:51.680 --> 00:33:57.680 And his great goal is to make humanity beautiful again. 00:33:57.680 --> 00:34:05.680 To bring us into that new creation where we will never sin again and humanity will never be horrible again. 00:34:05.680 --> 00:34:09.680 One day we will be like Jesus. 00:34:09.680 --> 00:34:14.680 We'll be conformed to the image of God, the Son. 00:34:14.680 --> 00:34:18.680 And that's the amazing thing. 00:34:18.680 --> 00:34:21.680 That if you put your trust in Jesus, 00:34:21.679 --> 00:34:27.679 nothing can take you back from stage three to stage two, 00:34:27.679 --> 00:34:35.679 and nothing can ever prevent you from Jesus taking you home into stage four. 00:34:35.679 --> 00:34:40.679 And that's why the very next thing that Paul says in Romans is, 00:34:40.679 --> 00:34:45.679 there's therefore no condemnation for those who are in Christ. 00:34:45.679 --> 00:34:52.679 And he's going to spend the rest of chapter eight telling you how amazing stage three and stage four are. 00:34:52.679 --> 00:34:59.679 Thanks be to God. Let's pray. 00:34:59.679 --> 00:35:09.679 Our Father, we acknowledge that we are tangled up in all the horribleness of sin. 00:35:09.679 --> 00:35:17.679 We just thank you with all our hearts that you sent us, Savior Jesus Christ, to heal us and to rescue us. 00:35:17.679 --> 00:35:25.679 And we just rejoice in all that you are and in all that you've done for us. 00:35:25.679 --> 00:35:29.679 And we pray, oh God, that every one of us would put our trust in you, 00:35:29.679 --> 00:35:34.679 that you'd bring us into your family, 00:35:34.679 --> 00:35:36.679 that you would make us your own, 00:35:36.679 --> 00:35:39.679 because we need you more than anything else. 00:35:39.679 --> 00:35:42.679 Thank you, Father, so much. Thank you, Lord Jesus, for everything you've done. 00:35:42.679 --> 00:35:46.679 Thank you, Holy Spirit, that you're the new governing principle in our hearts. 00:35:46.679 --> 00:35:51.679 Make it true of every one of us and of our family and of our friends and of the people we work with 00:35:51.679 --> 00:35:54.679 and of the people around us in this city. 00:35:54.679 --> 00:36:07.679 Lord have mercy. Amen.