Sunday Morning Seconds

Caution: The Sovereignty of God may be Offensive.

5 ways to get the most out of a sermon.

http://www.spurgeon.org/~phil/wesley.htm

“For the creation waits with eager longing for the revealing of the sons of God.”

The whole of creation waits on its tiptoes in anticipation for the return of Christ, do you?

-think about it-

http://www.biblestudycharts.com/A_Daily_Hymn.html

-think about it-

http://www.loc.gov/exhibits/americancolony/amcolony-family.html

Happy Earth day 2012. Today is a day devoted to the conservation of our lovely planet. Earth Day is a day early each year on which events are held worldwide to increase awareness and appreciation of the Earth’s natural environment. Earth Day is now coordinated globally by the Earth Day Network, and is celebrated in more than 175 countries every year. In 2009, the United Nations designated April 22 International Mother Earth Day  Earth Day is planned for April 22 in all years at least through 2015.

Many have heard of ways to conserve it, but is any thought given to WHY we need to do the conserving in the first place? Is there a reason behind electric low emission cars and recycling? Is there a greater mystery that gets overlooked as to why the earth [and humans] are slowly deteriorating and will soon one day fade away?

In Romans 8:19-22 reads, “For the anxious longing of the creation waits eagerly for the revealing if the sons of God. For the creation was subjected to futility, not willingly, but because of Him who subjected it, in hope that the creation itself also will be set free from its slavery to corruption into the freedom of the glory of the children of God. For we know that the whole creation groans and suffers the pains of childbirth together until now.”  So, from the time of the Fall [Gen. 3], even the earth has suffered because of man’s sin [Gen. 3:17-> “Then He (God) said to Adam…cursed is the ground (earth) because of you…both thorns and thistles it shall grow for you.”] and longs for redemption; a redemption that no earth day or any other environmental project can rival. 

2 Peter 3:10-14 says, “But the day of the Lord will come like a thief, in which the heavens will pass away with a roar and the elements will be destroyed with intense heat, and the earth and its works will be burned up. Since all these things are to be destroyed in this way, what sort of people ought you to be in holy conduct and godliness, looking for and hastening the coming of the day of God, because of which the heavens will be destroyed by burning, and the elements [earth and all it is composed of] will melt with intense heat! But according to His promise we are looking for new heavens and a new earth, in which righteousness dwells. Therefore beloved since you look for these things, be diligent to be found by Him in peace, spotless and blameless,”

This earth day, let us not get refocused on saving the planet as much as we should get refocused and ready to leave the planet and meet our Lord someday.

-think about it; and have a happy earth day-

We are heirs of God with Jesus! We have the promise of royalty with the King of Kings! So why do we suffer?

The end of Romans 8:17 reads, “if indeed we suffer with Him so that we may also be glorified with Him.” These beautiful words remind us that someday we will be glorified with him and released from this life of suffering and pain.

In tough times, we need a friend who will bring us the hope and comfort that we have a good and sovereign God who is working out all things, even suffering, for the good of those who love him (Romans 8:28). Without that, our suffering is simply pointless, hopeless, and cruel, and our God weak, uncaring, or distant…http://theresurgence.com/2011/07/14/why-you-can-have-hope-strength-in-suffering

-think about it-

“For those who live according to the flesh set their minds on the things of the flesh, but those who live according to the Spirit set their minds on the things of the Spirit. 6 For to set the mind on the flesh is death, but to set the mind on the Spirit is life and peace. 7 For the mind that is set on the flesh is hostile to God, for it does not submit to God’s law; indeed, it cannot. 8 Those who are in the flesh cannot please God.”

> According to these verses, those who live according to the flesh cannot please God because they set their minds on fleshly/earthly things only to please themselves. Adversely, those who have the Spirit of Christ, set their minds on the things of the Spirit. Look at the difference though; one mindset is death, the other is life and peace! When you read it here it seems so simple, but sometimes death looks so good and is so easy to think about…convenient.

Don’t let the convenience and glitz of this…

…keep you from the life and peace of this…

-think about it-

How can you explain in your own words the phrase “no condemnation” and what does this mean to you today?

Having explained what the Law is supposed to do, Paul now explains what the Law cannot do.

The Law cannot change you (v. 14). The character of the Law is described in four words: holy, just, good, and spiritual. That the Law is holy and just, nobody can deny, because it came from the holy God who is perfectly just in all that He says and does. The Law is good. It reveals God’s holiness to us and helps us to see our need for a Saviour.

What does it mean that the Law is “spiritual”? It means that the Law deals with the inner man, the spiritual part of man, as well as with the outer actions. In the original giving of the Law in Exodus, the emphasis was on the outward actions. But when Moses restated the Law in Deuteronomy, he emphasized the inner quality of the Law as it relates to man’s heart. This spiritual emphasis is stated clearly in Deuteronomy 10:12–13. The repetition of the word “love” in Deuteronomy also shows that the deeper interpretation of the Law relates to the inner man (Deut. 4:37; 6:4–6; 10:12; 11:1; 30:6, 16, 20).

Our nature is carnal (fleshly); but the Law’s nature is spiritual. This explains why the old nature responds as it does to the Law. It has well been said, “The old nature knows no Law, the new nature needs no Law.” The Law cannot transform the old nature; it can only reveal how sinful that old nature is. The believer who tries to live under Law will only activate the old nature; he will not eradicate it.

The Law cannot enable you to do good (vv. 15–21). Three times in this passage Paul stated that sin dwells in us (Rom. 7:14, 18, 20). He was referring, of course, to the old nature. It is also true that the Holy Spirit dwells in us; and in Romans 8, Paul explained how the Spirit of God enables us to live in victory, something the Law cannot help us do.

The many pronouns in this section indicate that the writer is having a problem with self. This is not to say that the Christian is a split personality, because he is not. Salvation makes a man whole. But it does indicate that the believer’s mind, will, and body can be controlled either by the old nature or the new nature, either by the flesh or the Spirit. The statements here indicate that the believer has two serious problems: (1) he cannot do the good he wants to do, and (2) he does the evil that he does not want to do.

Does this mean that Paul could not stop himself from breaking God’s Law, that he was a liar and thief and murderer? Of course not! Paul was saying that of himself he could not obey God’s Law; and that even when he did, evil was still present with him. No matter what he did, his deeds were tainted by sin. Even after he had done his best, he had to admit that he was “an unprofitable servant” (Luke 17:10). “So I find this law at work: when I want to do good, evil is right there with me” (Rom. 7:21, NIV). This, of course, is a different problem from that in Romans 6. The problem there was, “How can I stop doing bad things?” while the problem here is, “How can I ever do anything good?”

The legalist says, “Obey the Law and you will do good and live a good life.” But the Law only reveals and arouses sin, showing how sinful it is! It is impossible for me to obey the Law because I have a sinful nature that rebels against the Law. Even if I think I have done good, I know that evil is present. The Law is good, but by nature, I am bad! So, the legalist is wrong: the Law cannot enable us to do good.

The Law cannot set you free (vv. 21–25). The believer has an old nature that wants to keep him in bondage; “I will get free from these old sins!” the Christian says to himself. “I determine here and now that I will not do this any longer.” What happens? He exerts all his willpower and energy, and for a time succeeds; but then when he least expects it, he falls again. Why? Because he tried to overcome his old nature with Law, and the Law cannot deliver us from the old nature. When you move under the Law, you are only making the old nature stronger; because “the strength of sin is the Law” (1 Cor. 15:56). Instead of being a dynamo that gives us power to overcome, the Law is a magnet that draws out of us all kinds of sin and corruption. The inward man may delight in the Law of God (Ps. 119:35), but the old nature delights in breaking the Law of God. No wonder the believer under Law becomes tired and discouraged, and eventually gives up! He is a captive, and his condition is “wretched.” (The Greek word indicates a person who is exhausted after a battle.) What could be more wretched than exerting all your energy to try to live a good life, only to discover that the best you do is still not good enough!

Is there any deliverance? Of course! “I thank God that there is Someone who shall deliver me—Jesus Christ our Lord!” Because the believer is united to Christ, he is dead to the Law and no longer under its authority. But he is alive to God and able to draw on the power of the Holy Spirit. The explanation of this victory is given in Romans 8.

The final sentence in the chapter does not teach that the believer lives a divided life: sinning with his flesh but serving God with his mind. This would mean that his body was being used in two different ways at the same time, and this is impossible. The believer realizes that there is a struggle within him between the flesh and the Spirit (Gal. 5:16–18), but he knows that one or the other must be in control.

By “the mind” Paul meant “the inward man” (Rom. 7:22) as opposed to “the flesh” (Rom. 7:18). He amplified this thought in Romans 8:5–8. The old nature cannot do anything good. Everything the Bible says about the old nature is negative: “no good thing” (Rom. 7:18); “the flesh profiteth nothing” (John 6:63); “no confidence in the flesh” (Phil. 3:3). If we depend on the energy of the flesh, we cannot serve God, please God, or do any good thing. But if we yield to the Holy Spirit, then we have the power needed to obey His will. The flesh will never serve the Law of God because the flesh is at war with God. But the Spirit can only obey the Law of God! Therefore, the secret of doing good is to yield to the Holy Spirit.

Paul hinted at this in the early verses of this chapter when he wrote, “That we should bring forth fruit unto God” (Rom. 7:4). Just as we are dead to the old nature, so we are dead to the Law. But we are united to Christ and alive in Christ, and therefore can bring forth fruit unto God. It is our union with Christ that enables us to serve God acceptably. “For it is God which worketh in you, both to will and to do of His good pleasure” (Phil. 2:13). That solved Paul’s problem in Romans 7:18: “For to will is present with me; but how to perform that which is good I find not.”

The old nature knows no law and the new nature needs no law. Legalism makes a believer wretched because it grieves the new nature and aggravates the old nature! The legalist becomes a Pharisee whose outward actions are acceptable, but whose inward attitudes are despicable. No wonder Jesus called them “whited sepulchres, which indeed appear beautiful outward, but are within full of dead men’s bones, and of all uncleanness” (Matt. 23:27). How wretched can you get!

The best is yet to come! Romans 8 explains the work of the Holy Spirit in overcoming the bad and producing the good.

Paul asks an astounding question to begin his next argument. “What then? Are we to sin because we are not under law but under grace?”. This sounds like a no brainer question. We would never dream of continuing to sin just because the grace of God is abundant. He just finished answering the Jew’s question of their habitual yieldedness to their evil nature and they seem to be confused concerning this grace. If grace abounds (5:20) why not sin all the more (6:1) and keep on sinning that grace might increase? (6:15).

*Paul seemingly shakes his head and responds*

“By no means! Do you not know that if you present (yield) yourselves to anyone as obedient slaves, you are slaves of the one whom you obey, either of sin, which leads to death, or of obedience, which leads to righteousness? But thanks be to God, that you who were once slaves of sin have become obedient from the heart to the standard of teaching to which you were committed, and, having been set free from sin, have become slaves of righteousness. I am speaking in human terms, because of your natural limitations. For just as you once presented (yielded) your members as slaves to impurity and to lawlessness leading to more lawlessness, so now present (yield) your members as slaves to righteousness leading to sanctification.” 

We must yield ourselves to someone or something, either to sin or to God.

Thanks be to God for His extraordinary gift of freedom! 

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