All Roads Lead To Romans: 6 / No Longer Slaves

[Music] our sermon today part six is titled no longer slaves no longer slaves and let's just remind ourselves that the way that Paul has organized and structured the book of Romans it is divided up into four identifiable sections every one of those sections has its own internal and recognizable logic and coherency but they all fit together as part of a larger puzzle we have now completed chapters one to four the last time we were together last Sabbath we got all the way through chapter 4 verse 25 we now find ourselves in section 2 which is chapters 5 6 7 & 8 today we'll be in five and six chapters five and six and then in a couple weeks time and I preached again will be in 7 and 8 so let's start by sort of flying over the top of the whole section 5 6 7 8 and in these chapters the the thing that comes front to the front of the stage comes front and center in Paul's thinking and reasoning and arguing what he's writing to the Church of Rome churches the house churches in Rome is God's incredible incomparable love the love of God is going to show up in incredible ways in fact it would probably be accurate to say that many of your favorite verses if you are an inveterate believer if you are a generational Christian if you've been a follower of Jesus for many years it's probably a safe bet that many of your favorite passages in the New Testament are found in Romans 5 6 7 and 8 you might not even know but when you hear passages when you hear verses you're gonna say oh I love that verse oh I love that idea where we've seen in chapters 1 to 4 Paul at his rhetorical best Paul at his argumentative best what we're gonna see in 5 to 8 is Paul at his poetic best right the love of God is going to come front and center the the beauty of the display the profundity and yes some of those trees and those pathways through the forest are a little dense even complicated but we're gonna fly the helicopter above we're gonna see the big picture and then we're gonna land and so be mindful that what we're gonna be seeing in the course of our time together this week and when I preach next will be on the love of God the love of God the love of God so let me just show you kind of how this works in Paul's organization you might say David who are you to tell us or who is anybody to tell us that Romans has a certain structure you know you just decide that Romans has four parts you just decide no no I don't decide that there are internal cues and clues within the book of Romans that alerts us to how Paul is thinking and how he's structuring his argument here's just one example of that in the opening chapters of Romans chapter 5 we we're gonna get to the actual verses here in a moment but just follow me on this Paul paints this incredible picture of the incomparable almost dare I say illogical love of God and we'll get to that in just a little bit he says man God's love is so incredible so incomprehensible so immeasurable it borders on almost illogical right so he's gonna paint this beautiful poetic picture well incredibly when you come to the end of this section Romans chapter 8 verses 31 to 39 you get to what I think you could make a case is Paul at his absolute poetic best the only passage of Scripture that could possibly compete with Romans 8:31 2:39 is 1st corinthians 13 the love chapter and in these two the opening of this section and the closing of this section paul addresses the very same themes and I've itemized them for you here he talks about how God's love justifies how God's love brings us through trials and suffering how God's love is the big story here Christ's death is a seamless reflection of God's incomparable immeasurable love how God's love saves us from wrath how God's love was manifested in the resurrection of Jesus and how this brings about great rejoicing in God those themes are found in the opening of this section and in the closing of the section Paul is not just writing willy-nilly here serendipitously by the seat of his pants no these are sermons these are thoughts these are ideas that Paul has preached over and over and over again in synagogues all around the Mediterranean world in markets all around the Mediterranean world in people's homes all around the Mediterranean world Paul is very very likely not writing this himself he's dictating it and if you've ever tried to dictate it's not easy right and especially if you have a word processor or a computer you can change words you can go back you can move paragraphs you can delete paragraphs imagine the strength of intellect and of mind to dictate this to somebody who's going to write it on a piece of parchment or on a piece of leather linearly right through I mean it's absolutely incredible and we can begin to get a feel not just for the shape of Paul's argument but for the strength of his incredible mind and his connection with Jesus and so again the love of God is on full display here let's take that helicopter over one more time here in Romans chapters 5 6 7 8 Paul has a very specific story in his mind and that story is the Exodus story now when I say the Exodus story what story am I talking about here here's an easy question where would we find the Exodus story ah very good in the book of say it with me Exodus the word Exodus like the word exit out the word exile out comes from the Latin ech out out right and so the Exodus is to come out to exit is to go out to be in exile is to have been driven out of your land and so Paul has a very specific story as he's flying the helicopter over the top years we were flying the helicopter rather over chapters 5 to 8 of Romans we're gonna see all of these little cues and clues Oh Paul is thinking Exodus Paul is thinking what every one I say it with me Paul is thinking what every one Exodus one more time a little louder Paul is thinking Exodus keep the Exodus story God's promise of deliverance when he said to Moses go tell Pharaoh to let my people go the plagues that fell God bringing Israel out of Egypt passing through the Red Sea crossing over into the Promised Land receiving the law at Mount Sinai that whole story was such a part of Jewish DNA it was inseparable from their basic sense of identity in thinking I was trying to come up with a good analogy it's very difficult because the Jewish people were such an historical people they were so tied up with their history that it was it would be nonsensical to talk about Jewishness without talking about the events that created Jewishness the best I could come up with it's a poor analogy but just bear with me because there is one point where it does touch is think of the sort of the almost electricity that's in the air right now the ambience that's in the air right now and has been for the last five to ten years about climate change climate change climate change climate change is it just it's become a part of the way that we think about life and and everybody talks about it people have opinions about it and and we talk about reduction of pollution and we talk about you know the melting of the polar ice caps and we talk about the you know extermination and extinction of species and climate change is just out in the etherium it's out in the air all of us are aware of it right and so it's sort of just a part of the ambient white noise of our life in a similar way though for different reasons the exodus was a part of the ambient story of what it meant to be Jewish to be Jewish was to live in the Exodus story right for us we live in a time in Earth's history and not to make too close don't don't hear what I'm not saying just just the idea that there's sort of an idea what the Germans would call the zeitgeist the spirit of the age that there's a kind of a palpability in the air something that sensible something that's discernible while we're living in difficult times troubled times and that's manifested itself in many ways and I'm describing here the idea of climate change it gives us a sense of where we are a sense of where we are in time the Exodus did that thing but for different reasons for the Jewish people it gave them a sense of story a sense of narrative a sense of identity a sense of place and so Paul as a Jewish writer as a Jewish thinker as a Jewish teacher of scripture has the Exodus story in mind at all times and I'm going to show you specifically here in Romans chapters 5 to 8 so let's just go back and remind ourselves of the call of Abraham just quickly here now the Lord said to Abram get out of your country from your family from your father's house to a land that I will show you there's the covenant promised land and descendants verse 18 of the same of the two chapters later three chapters later Genesis 15:18 on the same day the Lord made a covenant with Abram saying to your descendants I give this land now what many don't know is that in that same chapter this is very cool by the way in that same chapter where God makes a promise to Abraham he tells Abraham centuries in advance that Exodus will be a part of his story and his descendant story check this out verses 13 and 14 then God said to Abram know certainly this that your descendants will be strangers in a land that is not theirs and they will serve them and they will afflict them for hundred years and also the nation whom they serve Egypt I've put in brackets here for you I will judge and afterward they will come out and we were gonna take those four words they will come out and put it into a single word what would the word be Exodus they will exit so this is such a cool idea that that intrinsic to the very DNA of the Abrahamic promise God says there will be an exodus there will be a coming out now this is right in the forefront of Paul's mind let's continue to walk through this even the initial Abrahamic call God's first two words to Abraham are get out an exodus out of ur and exodus out of Babylon in fact if time allowed and it doesn't if we just spent five minutes here thinking among ourselves could we think of ten instances of God calling people out into something in Scripture we could do it in this room we could remember oh yeah that God called them out of Babylon and oh yeah God called them out and God called the mountain yeah this is a story it's not the one time Exodus that happened in the book of Exodus Exodus is an idea it's a motif that is inbuilt to the very story of Scripture so now here's gonna be my I'm gonna give you my punchline one of my punchlines right at the outset today which I don't often do I like to hold my ammunition to the end but I want you to have the Exodus so in your mind as we read through this that you don't lose it the Exodus story is everyone's story by the way everyone includes you the Exodus story is everyone's story it's not just a Jewish story it wasn't just an ancient Jewish story everyone's story is an Exodus story David what do you mean by that freedom from what held us captive freedom to be someone new and to be someone better than we were before the Exodus call is an incredible call let me just show you how this actually works in Jewish thinking jeremiah of course one of the Old Testament prophets God speaking to Jeremiah and he says something fascinating that becomes a part of the intellectual furniture of Second Temple Judaism watch this behold the days are coming says God God speaking to Jeremiah that I will raise to David a branch of righteousness a poetic allusion to Jesus a king shall reign and prosper and execute judgment and righteousness in the earth in his days Judah will be saved all of Israel will dwell safely and the name by which he will be called is the Lord our righteousness this is so cool poetic anticipations of Jesus messianic deliverance Messiah is gonna come people are gonna be saved people that Yahweh is gonna reign on the earth now watch where he goes with this incredible therefore behold the days are coming the days are what everyone the days are coming says the Lord that you will no longer say as the Lord lives this was like a sort of an oath as the Lord lives who brought up the children of Israel from the land of Egypt this is cool God says to Jeremiah another Moses is coming another Exodus is coming you're gonna call him a branch you're gonna call him a king you're gonna call him the Lord our righteousness and this Exodus will be so big so transcendent that you will no longer say I serve the God who brought Israel out of Egypt watch what he says this is what you're gonna say you're gonna say as the Lord lives who brought up and led the descendents of the house of Israel from the north country and from all the countries where I had driven them and they will dwell in their own lands now let me just translate that for you here keep it real simple that is God tells Jeremiah tell my people the days are coming when instead of talking about that old Exodus we'll be talking about a new Exodus they won't just be saying God did something for my great great great great great great great great grandfather God did something for me not that God worked in the past only but the God worked today a new Exodus there have already been hints of this in Romans chapter 4 and you might have missed it I didn't make a big deal about this the last week but we could have made a huge deal about it 4:13 Paul here globalizes and universalize --is that seemingly little regional promise that was made to Abraham I'll give you the land Abraham was from Mesopotamia the word Mesopotamia means the land between the two rivers the Euphrates and the Tigris and when God made the original promise to Abraham Abraham would have thought oh this is a oh that's a nice neighborhood that's a nice little piece of real estate it'll be great that my descendants will inhabit that piece of land and it would have he was thrilled about it don't get me wrong but he began to see in his ongoing and progressive relationship with Yahweh that God wasn't speaking parochially originally or small he was speaking big and Paul knew it and so notice how Paul Universal eise's that seemingly regional promise to Abraham and says oh no no no no God didn't make him a promise to give him a little piece of real estate you know 400 kilometers by 500 kilometers enough when God made a promise to Abraham he promised to give him the world and what did I say everyone look at Paul says it not David for the promise that he would be the heir of what are the next two words the heir of the world was not to Abraham or to his seed his descendants through the law Torah but through the righteousness of faith he made Abraham a promise that Abraham initially understood as a regional promise but then came to understand and Paul makes this very clear this was a global promise a global promise well then check this out let's start to fill in some of the pieces for this helicopter view the land is now the whole world sin and death are the captors the new Pharaoh the Messiah is the new Moses which by the way just a little thought on that Moses actually said another prophets gonna come he's gonna be like me and more than me that's Jesus and baptism this is where we'll end is our Red Sea the land is the earth death and sin are the captors the new Pharaohs the Messiah is the new Moses and baptism is our Red Sea right and tons-- that and many biblical commentators pick up on this very clearly watch this briefly Paul personifies sin and death as the slave masters who have kept the human race captive says right personifies means gives them identity gives them purpose gives them volition gives them attitudes gives them actions tongs dad says the same thing sin and death are among the powers that hold humans captive both posing and scheming as personified entities yeah Pharaoh was a king and Pharaoh was a ruler and there was a deliverance from regional Pharaoh in regional Egypt but this is a bigger global Exodus the days are coming says Yahweh when you will no longer say as the Lord lives that robbed the children of Israel out of Egypt you're gonna say as the Lord lives that brought me away from sin and death yeah that's a great opportunity for amen you missed it we get you'll get more you'll get more opportunities here we go we land the helicopter okay so we're flying over the top two big ideas here God's incomparable immeasurable love be on the lookout for that it's unmissable and look for Exodus you're gonna see signs and indications of it all throughout the passage we're gonna land now Romans chapter five join me if you would in verse one Romans chapter five verse one let's just read through the first five verses they are incredible as we've already said this is Paul at his poetic best therefore having been justified by faith therefore having a status given to us by the faithfulness of God and our responding faith I'll let these words just wash over your soul we have peace with God through Jesus the Messiah through whom also we notice the language from the us and the we and the our at the end of chapter 4 it stays with the plural we us our Paul is speaking in corporate of Li here he is speaking collectively here we verse 2 through also we have access by faith into this grace in which we stand and we rejoice in the hope of the glory of God and not only that but we glory in trials knowing that Trials produce perseverance and perseverance produces character and character brings about hope and hope will not my translation says disappoint us that's not strong enough hope will not make us ashamed because God's love there it is has been poured into our hearts by the Holy Spirit who was given to us woo so much going on here let's just let's just pause and notice these kinds of words now these words might not have the same electricity and the power and the energy to you that they would have had to Paul's audience but words like peace and access and stand and rejoice and hope are big ideas and many of them are temple ideas access is gains a standing and a status has been achieved we have a peace with God and in that peace we rejoice now most translations say rejoice and it's actually unfortunate that they translate this word rejoice because the word and Paul in a stroke of brilliance here actually repurposes a word that he has already used quite negatively in earlier chapters in Romans does anybody have a guess I'm gonna press the slide here I'm gonna press the button in just a moment and that word rejoice is gonna turn into another word anybody have a guess what that word is we've dwelt we've we've dwelt on it at least two times before in this series boast look at this boast we boast we've known let's just remind ourselves Romans chapter 2 verses 17 and 18 indeed Paul says you are called a Jew and you rest on the law and you make your boast in God a misguided and wrongheaded boast in God a boast in Torah a boast in performance he continues to 23 you who make your boast in Torah but you dishonor God by breaking the Torah so Paul's done something fascinating he has undermined the idea of boasting but here when he has introduced not our faithfulness but messiahs faithfulness he says now you have something to boast about now you have something to rejoice about we noted this last week but we have to remind ourselves of the specific situation into which Paul was writing circumcision which was a torah work created grounds for an ethnic boast to take root in the churches of Rome that could then divide those churches so Paul says don't boast in your ethnicity don't boast in your Jewish performance galatians chapter 6 verse 13 we just dipped ever so briefly last week out of romans to remind ourselves that paul says it is okay to boast just make sure you're boasting in the right thing but god forbid that I should boast except in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ can somebody say Amen because the cross is where God showed his incredible faithfulness your faithfulness IU's faithfulness in quotations here is nothing to boast about your faithfulness is actually unfaithfulness your righteousnesses are as filthy rags but messiahs faithfulness is something you can boast about all you want you can boast you can rejoice in it and so Paul says man let's rejoice we have access we stand we have peace there's a hope and ethnic boast a Jewish boast would have created division and dissension but boasting together Jew and Gentile in Jesus in the peace excess standing and hope that he brings well this would bring glorious unity now you might have you might have picked up on something there if you were paying careful attention look at 5:2 again just look at 5:2 again through whom also we have access that word access that's temple language that's holy of holy language we have access by faith into this grace in which we stand and we rejoice in the hope of the glory of God the glory of God the glory of God question who here can remember we have already encountered this phrase the glory of God but in probably the most quoted verse in all of Romans but in a negative light anybody know what that verse might be if I started quoting it 95% of you could finish it for all have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God Paul is gonna tell the story of humanity and three versus Romans chapter 3 verse 23 we have fallen short of the glory of God this is a reference to Adam Adams light fell off of him Adams Eve felt Adam Eve's light fell off of her they lost the glory of God we have subsequently lost the glory of God here in chapter 5 verse 2 he says but we hope that we might get the glory back and if you want to just flick ever so quickly ahead to chapter 8 just just very quickly just we want to just look at this just look at 8:18 we'll come back to this later for I consider that the sufferings of this present world are not worthy to be compared with the glory that will be revealed in us oh did you see it 3:23 we've lost the glory 5:2 we're hoping that we will have glory back 8:18 you will get the glory back incredible incredible glorious unity right this is incredible I want you to see this let's read the last little bit here of five six I'm in verse six for when we were still without strength when we were weaklings when we were contemptible when we were powerless in due time Christ died for the ungodly scarcely for a righteous man would one die perhaps for a good man someone might even dare to die for a good human being but God demonstrates his love toward us in that while we were still sinners Christ died for us can somebody say Amen then then verse 9 and here a phrase has introduced that Paul will use five perhaps six times depending on your translation much more much more verse nine than having now been justified by his blood we shall be saved from wrath through him and he goes on we'll pick that up in just a moment notice what Wright says about this point Paul is revealing to his Roman audience it's writing to Rome a different justice a different peace in virtue of a different Lord and a different God this is the God of Abraham the world's creator this is not Caesar the kurios of the Roman Empire this is the true God and he paints this very fascinating sequence he says that when we have this peace and when we have this access and when we stand in God's presence temple language he says that yes trials will come even in the wake of faith even in the wake of peace Trials will come but when we endure those trials holding on to faith into hope this produces endurance or patience when we become better versions of ourselves through the trials that beset us the difficult times this produces character we become better versions of ourselves and when we see that we are growing in character and becoming better versions of ourselves it gives us hope that God has not done with us yet I was having a conversation just this week with a dear friend of mine and a dear friend of many in this church Joshua Cunningham and he was describing to me they've had to be evacuated from their home he lives down in the south coast very serious situation the fires have come within just a few kilometers short kilometers of his home they had to be evacuated we prayed earnestly that the nights would be still and even prop pops possibly some rain would come and as we were discussing his band The Waifs is getting ready to do a big benefit concert for the fire we were talking about the fire and the the he had a good friend for a mutual friend that stayed at his home and fought the fire when the fire came a friend of ours David and he said the fire was like a monster and embers were flying everywhere and the moment he decided to stay in those early moments he thought to himself this was a terrible idea I should have left and it was just so angry just at any moment he thought the whole thing's gonna go and I'm done but they stayed and they were praise God ultimately successful and he was describing this experience to Josh and he was saying if it comes back or if I'm in another I will never do that again and we were having a conversation about the fire and talking about how terrible it isn't all that but then I said you know what's fascinating it is true it's absolutely true that this fire is terrible more than a billion animals they say have been killed dozens of lives have already been taken human lives properties have been taken thousands and thousands and thousands of acres and hectares have been burned and yet and yet these fires have actually created a situation where human beings are self sacrificial E giving their lives for their neighbors that they might not have even known the names of before the fires came this does not mean that the fires are a good thing and it doesn't mean that God sent the fires but what it does mean is that in some times of significant trial and significant tribulation and significant difficulty we become better versions of ourselves because we have to get outside of ourselves there is an Old Testament verse and it's not a very politically correct or popular verse but it says when the judgments of Yahweh are in the land people learn righteousness fires will recalibrate you floods will recalibrate you we learned a few weeks ago here on this very platform as some are told us cancer will recalibrate you we had a woman stand in this church on this stage and tell us that cancer is one of the best things that ever happened to her not the cancer is a good thing cancer was a terrible hideous thing that takes hundreds and thousands and millions of lives but because the trial isn't sent by God because the child that because the trial wasn't what God chooses it doesn't mean that it can't be something that he uses and Paul makes this incredible point yeah even for those that have faith even for those that have peace with God trials will come of all stripes and all kinds and the churches to whom Paul was riding in Rome would have known about trials and he says but trials produce patience or endurance and endurance makes us better versions of who we are increases character and character gives us hope and then he makes this great point this hope will not disappoint us this hope is confirmed in our heart by God's love given to us confirmed by the Holy Spirit you can have even in the midst of fire the Shadrach Meshach Abednego like fire you can have assurance that God is with you through the tribulation not salvation from judgment salvation through judgment and we've talked about that in this very church when we study through the book of Romans so this theme of much more Paul is going to use this phrase one two three four five or six times depending on your translation much more more much more much more that was almost the title of the sermon in fact that's what went out in the bullets and much more when Paul describes us as weak and helpless ungodly he is taking a direct shot at the Roman value system that we have discussed already in this series Roman politics and religion revel in symbols of strength and conquest and honor the celebrated elements are the defeat of the enemy rather than reconciliation killing the enemy is the prestigious thing to do while dying for the benefit of the enemy would be unthinkable in a Roman context and culture to be crazy absurdity Paul is aware of the contrast and he presses the point of what Christ did as compared to what someone might be willing to do where Romans present to the world the victor as an object for admiration and reverence Paul's counterpoint is a victim publicly displayed on the cross taunts that says these are ideologically and strategically different visions of right making or righteousness God's right making God's righteousness has nothing in common with Roman religion or Roman Imperial reality and as an American and I do not want to be political here but I will say this I'm one of the most apolitical people you'll ever meet when it comes to global politics I could basically care less but I was a typically for me this last week for a period of a better part of half of a day glued to the television screen waiting to see if this this little kerfuffle that took place between Iran and kerfuffle I think is putting it mildly between Iran and the United States was going to erupt into something greater I am not even going to attempt to take any kind of a side in this because frankly I'm on Jesus side and Jesus said nations will rise against nations and kingdoms against kingdoms but here's what I am going to say Jesus himself said it clearly those that live by the sword will die by the sword a value system of vengeance that says the strongest weapons and the strongest steel and the most chariots and the most horses will prevail is not true Paul takes aim at the whole idea and says Jesus didn't come to kick the butts of the Romans he came and by all appearances got his butt kicked he was nailed to a tree and ironically and paradoxically Paul will say and we've already noted that in that moment of seeming absolute weakness and vulnerability Paul says that is when he was at his most powerful because there's a better kind of power than the power of steel and of guns and of missiles there's the power of love and the power of loyalty and the power of Attraction can somebody say Amen so there's five to eleven there's five one to eleven and he want to read the last verse of that little section verse 11 says and not only that but we also rejoice in God through our Lord Jesus Christ through whom we have now received the reconciliation interestingly every one of these little sections 511 is a summary 521 is a Christological summary 614 is a Christological summary and 623 is a Christological summary it's very cool Paul makes a really cool argument then summarizes it makes a very cool argument summarizes it makes a very cool argument summarizes it and then summarizes it again now the next section 12 to 21 I can be an audacious person I can be an ambitious person but even I am NOT going to attempt to explain Romans 5:12 to 21 in this setting in this congregation it is by far in my opinion Paul's densest writing in all of his writings and it is many would say his most controversial difficult enigmatic passage we're not even going to attempt it we're not even going to attempt it and some might call me a coward it's not that we couldn't but we would spend three sermons on this one section alone and we just don't have that much time but I can tell you this when you read from 12 to 21 we will read verse 21 as a summary you pick up on these words much more much more much more much more I can tell you this is a fair summary of this fairly complicated section we get back on our helicopter we're not walking through this section of the woods it's too dense it's too deep it's too difficult some of you could come with us on that jurnee there's not a doubt in my mind others of you would say it's too dark it's too deep but you lost me it's not worth it but I can tell you this we fly the helicopter over the top and this is the point that Paul is making Jesus grace far exceeds Adams disgrace he paints this incredible in fact I think I've put it up here much more we've noted that Paul provides this incredible comparison this contrast of incredible and immeasurable imbalance he says Adam did something that implicated the whole world but Jesus did something even greater that that saved the whole world reconciled the whole world and so he puts the folly of Adam into the scales and then he puts the righteousness of Jesus into the scales and the scales just tilt radically toward I guess I went the wrong way there's tilt radically toward Jesus domitor so we're not gonna go into it but I guess I'm just asking you at some level to trust me that this is the argument that Paul is making I do want to show you the summary though take a look at verse 21 here's the summary verses 20 and 21 moreover the law entered Torah entered that the offence might abound might increase you probably know this verse but where sin abounded grace abounded much more or you could even translate that grace super abounds where sin grew grace super grew where sin abounded grace super abounds oh that in this verse is key so that is sin reigned in death even so grace might reign through righteousness to eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord notice very key in verse 21 in fact I think I've got it here up on the I do when we get to verse 21 verse 21 becomes essential and I know we didn't go through the argument to get there but we did spend a moment on the argument here's the argument here's the point Paul is saying there are two kingdoms in play here one where sin reigns and one where grace reigns the one where sin and death reigns that's the kingdom of Adam and the one where grace reigns that's the kingdom of Jesus can somebody say Amen there are two Kingsman play here Adams and Jesus notice how right comments on this in terms of the underlining underlying new Exodus theme or story sin and death play the role of Pharaoh Paul imagines them as alien powers given access to God's world through the action of Adam okay Adam did something and it's implicated all of us linked together as cause-and-effect sin and death they now stride through their usurped domain wreaking misery decay and corruption wherever they go and no one is exempt from their commanding authority ah sin and death are cruel taskmasters they are hateful Pharaoh's and so at the end of five the end of chapter five there are two kingdoms in direct opposition there is the kingdom of Adam that has ushered in sin and death our new Pharaohs but there's this other kingdom the kingdom of Jesus that is ushering in grace now this gets so cool and this might be a little tricky for some of you particularly those of you that are of the seventh-day Adventist persuasion which as many of you this might be a hard thing for you to hear but I want you to hear what the text says and don't come to the defense right just let the text say what it says and say whatever scripture says that's what I believe okay cuz the text the text can be trusted right churches might let us down and preachers might let us down and denominations might let us down but God will never let us down and the text will not let us down amen don't be afraid of what the text actually says so he says we just read this moments ago moreover the law entered Torah entered and where Torah came sin got bigger where Torah arrived sin got bigger it was like a speed limit sign that let everybody know that they were speeding it was like a rule that everybody that they didn't know they were breaking and now they knew when Torah came in it magnified sin it increased sin by the way there's a reason for that but where sin abounded we just said this grace super abounds oh that is as we just noted sin reigned in death grace might reign through righteousness to eternal life okay Paul is going to walk and I'm not pretending like this won't be a little tricky for some of you particularly you that are diehard generational Adventists Paul is gonna walk a line and we won't really get the full resolve on this until we get to chapter 7 he's gonna walk a line where he's going to affirm Torah he's going to uphold Torah but he has a arm's length relationship with Torah because he knows that Torah serves the law serves a certain purpose and if you try to use Torah or the law for a purpose that it was not intended you end up falling into the wrong camp and into the wrong situation and I'm gonna say this I'll say it with sadness in my heart but truth many of you were raised and sit in fact I had a conversation dear sister was in my house yesterday she's not here today so it doesn matter he was asking me a question and I don't want to I don't want to get into the details of the question but at one point she says well there's these two people and they knew the Sabbath truth this is what she said to me they knew their Sabbath truth and I said they knew their Sabbath truth yeah she said yeah yeah I said how do you know that she said well they were raised Adventist I said that does not mean that they knew the Sabbath truth it might mean that they knew that Saturday was the Sabbath but knowing that Saturday is the Sabbath is not the same as knowing the Sabbath truth the Sabbath truth truth of resting in God's righteousness resting in his completed work resting in what Jesus has accomplished knowing the right day of the week is not knowing the Sabbath truth it's knowing a fraction of the Sabbath truth it's a little bit like saying Oh so-and-so are married they know the truth about marriage there are lots of people that are unhappily married being married does not mean you know the truth about marriage marriage can be an incredible blessing for the up building and strengthening of society and individuals but marriage can be a curse are we together and so the idea that just having familiarity with Torah having awareness of Torah being aware for example of the Sabbath is somehow access to the truth about the Sabbath I'm sad to report to you that there are a great many people who know the right day and even have an inkling of what it means to truly keep Sabbath as God intended true story true story and I see heads nodding this is particularly difficult for those that are generational Christians it's been one of the great challenges that Violetta and I have faced as parents with our two sons land and Ange able to grow them into Sabbath as a day of delight as a day of devotion as a day for opportunity more than obligation and that's not an easy lesson parents can you testify this is tricky it's and I'm happy to report there's my son my 18 year old son sitting right there and the second row should be the first buddy leaning over with his Bible in his hand he's getting ready to go to a rise and I give all the glory to God my point is it's not easy to teach your children obligation balanced with freedom the temptation for parents is to err on the side of obligation and of control and to ratchet down on what you need to do what you should do and what you can't do and one of the hardest things to do is to give our children freedom to grow into their own devotion to Christ Paul knows this so Paul keeps an arm's length relationship here with Torah he says yes Torah is great but when Torah came into the equation into the world of Adam it didn't make things better it actually turned up the volume on transgression okay here we go Paul is now gonna make this incredible point that the reign of sin is outmatched by the reign of grace can somebody say Amen come on now we're in 6-1 6-1 Paul says okay now that we live in the how do I know where I live somebody might say somebody in this congregation might say well do I live in the world of Adam or do I live in the world of Christ do I live in the kingdom of sin and death or do I live in the kingdom of life and righteousness and Paul would say I'm so glad you asked verse one what then shall we continue what should we say then shall we continue in sin that grace may abound notice he doesn't say shall we continue to sin because he's not here primarily talking about behavior and I know that'll be a little hard for some of you to hear he's talking about location in which duuude well this is so cool should we remain in the kingdom of sin should we remain in the kingdom of Adam now after what Jesus has accomplished are we in Adam or are we in Christ and I tell you beloved this is too cool watch this certainly not how shall we who died to sin the verb tenses past always here how shall we who died past tense to sin live any longer in it or do you not know he's not asking sarcastically here he's asking genuinely aren't you aware that those of us us we were baptized and he just drops baptism right into the middle of the conversation here we were baptized in to Christ Jesus were baptized in to his death verse four we were buried with him through baptism in to death verse five we were united together with him in the likeness of his death verse six with him verse eight with Christ verse eight with Christ verse eleven in Christ Jesus Oh Paul's gonna make an incredible point here he's going to say he's going to say when you were baptized we talked a little bit about this last week and I think this is the point Russ acres is in here somewhere back there I think this is the point rush that you loved about last Sabbath sermon you've talked me about it twice now is that when we are incorporated into Christ we not only get a new present in a new future God gives us a new past we are incorporated what's true of Jesus is true of those that he represents and so he uses this incredible language don't you know that you're in Christ you're in Christ you're in Christ you're in Christ you're in Christ you're with Christ and somebody might protest and say you didn't give it not me I'm not in Christ and Paul would say wait a minute were you baptized well yeah I was baptized did you believe it yeah yeah I did believe it you're in Christ you're with Christ you are not in the kingdom of Adam you are in the kingdom of Jesus Pharaoh is not your master you have been set free are we in Christ or Adam look at this we are baptized in to Christ we are baptized in to his death we are buried him we are united together in his death we died with Christ we are alive in Jesus can somebody say Amen and here's where Paul makes an incredible point that I dare say is gonna be new to a high percentage of people in this room even those of you that are biblically literate and conversant we just dip ever so briefly outside of Romans just very briefly to first Corinthians chapter 10 where Paul says moreover brethren brothers and sisters I do not want you to be unaware that all of our fathers were under the cloud all passed through the sea this is exodus language remember exodus is never far from a Jewish mind and were baptized into Moses in the cloud and in the sea whoa Paul just did something incredible there he just said when you are baptized you pass through the Red Sea when you were baptise Ickx June 6 1996 I was baptized June 6 1996 now did I understand the depth and the poetry and even the profundity of that experience I did not but did I know that Jesus was my only hope did I in some at least early way understand that I was leaning into and trusting Jesus yes I did but what I now know looking back retroactively ly retrospectively I see that what was happening there this has been a progressive understanding as it is for all of us whether you're baptized at 12 or 20 or 30 or like our dear Natalie at 29 where's Natalie out looking for Natalie even she's around here somewhere okay I know you're in here don't hide from me I won't make you come up I promise there she is baptized at 29 or close to there maybe 28 it doesn't matter what age you're baptized that you grow in your understanding of what happened in that event and beloved I want to tell you when you were baptized you left the kingdom of Pharaoh and you came into the promised land you came into the promised land baptism reenacts the central event of the Old Testament passing through the waters in fact it's possible I'm not saying this is the case it's actually possible because when John the Baptist the baptizing people nobody said hey what are you doing mate what is that what is that what do you your dunking be less weird the New Testament never says this but it is possible that baptism was always understood within a Jewish context in a Jewish mindset exactly as Paul's describing in here in other words this might not be Paul's idea Paul might be describing what every Christian knew and understood at least every Jewish Christian that you just passed through the Red Sea and now you're in the kingdom now you're in the promised land and Pharaoh and his armies are drowned and they're in your past can somebody say man I mean I need the Pharaohs of my past to be drowned can he say Amen you get a new history all this gets so cool what baptism does says Paul watch this hang on for this we got like 10 minutes left and you're gonna pull it off baptism creates a new station and a new status ah a new station what do you mean by that it creates a new where you are and it creates a new who you are a status Paul is not here primarily writing about behavior behavior is secondary or incidental to the thing that Paul is talking about and Paul is talking about this not just who are you but watch this there's a game changer what I'm gonna put up on the slide right now is a game changer when you're baptized you get a new station a new status a new where you are a new who you are and watch this on new who's you are Pharaoh is dead Pharaoh is gone Egypt is in the rearview mirror you are no longer slaves that's not a cue yet for the musicians get ready but you're not there yet we got a few more minutes ah look at this right in his commentary says the whole point of this argument in Romans six to 14 is that Christians no longer belong to the world of death can somebody say Amen I know it feels like when cancer infects your body and fires rage and threaten your life for the lives of your friends and when seemingly World War 3 is jetting on the on the verge of happening in terrorism strikes it does feel like we live in the world of death but Paul is making an incredible argument here he's saying because of the resurrection Christians no longer belong to the world of death Paul does not here suppose that one should wait until the finally bought the final bodily resurrection which he will talk about before beginning to walk in newness of life you don't have to wait this walk is based on a present status can somebody say Amen who you are and who's you are because one is already alive to God in Jesus Christ and now you get to live accordingly in Baptism the old Oh demux Allah Dara T is decisively broken in other words I'll just say it really simple here cuz I know some people like it as simple as possible you were born into the world of Adam you are born again into the world of Jesus Christ and baptism symbolizes that more than any other event not that they if not that the event itself is magical it's not magical but it reenacts the very Exodus experience Pharaoh is dead he's washed up on the shore and you have a new life new identity new hope by the way I should say this who the great struggle for the Israelites this is gonna be heavy the great struggle for the Israelites was to learn how to live as Free People that's your struggle that's your struggle that's your struggle you think your struggle is how can I live so that I can be free that's not your struggle if you've been baptized your struggle is how do I live now that I'm free we did this in our Sabbath school class this morning how did the Ten Commandments begin well a lot of people you ask that question and they say you shall have no other gods before me Oh contraire Mon frère that is not how the Ten Commandments begin the Ten Commandments begin like this I am the Lord your God who brought you out of the land of Egypt out of the house of slavery you don't need to have any other gods because I'm the I'm the big dog I'm the real God I'm the I'm the God not made of wood or stone or metal I'm the God that lives and breathes I'm the God that delivers the commandments were not given to a people if you keep these and you keep your act together we'll see some of you might make it the commandments were promises given to a people that were already free your struggle is to learn how to live because you're already free cam you're already free and my struggle and your struggle is to learn how to live like men and husbands and fathers being free not in order to be free you with me rule these are big ideas too many people allow their past to determine their present but Paul says that Christ's past his death and resurrection creates our present and assures us of future glory future glory how man this is too good to be a Christian is to live from within a specific story all of us are telling ourselves some story and to be a Christian is to live inside of a very specific story which brings us to 615 223 what is that story it's the Exodus story let me just read part of it for you in the final bit here what then what now shall we sin because we are not under the law but under grace absolutely not do you not know that to whom you present yourselves slaves to obey here's the language you are that ones slaves whom you obey whether of sin leading to death or of obedience leading to righteousness but God be thanked that though you were slaves of sin yet you obeyed from your heart that form of doctrine which was delivered and having been set free that's Exodus language you became slaves of righteousness Paul here says in verse 19 a little weird he says I speak in human terms because of the weakness of your flesh let me translate that for you what Paul is saying here is this is an imperfect analogy it's a little bit of a weird analogy saying but I'm trying to reduce it down because I know for some of you I need to make it as simple as possible and so he says I know that when you're a slave to God you're not really a slave you're actually free but his point is this there's the slavery to sin there's this flavor that to death there's the slavery to Pharaoh but then there's the slavery to God the one true God Jesus who when he sets us free were free indeed and that's not really slavery that's true freedom he says I know that might be hard for some of you to comprehend but I'm just making an illustration so beloved here it is the Exodus story is the slaves brought to freedom story can somebody say Amen he continues verse 19 just as you presented your members slaves to uncleanness and lawlessness leading to more lawlessness back when you lived in Egypt now that you don't live in Egypt anymore present your members as slaves of righteousness for holiness again it's an awkward analogy it's a clumsy parallel but Paul knows it's clumsy he tells us it's a little clumsy verse 20 for you were when you were the slaves of sin you were free in regards to righteousness you didn't do the right things what fruit did you have then and those things that you used to be ashamed of the end of all that garbage is death but now having been set free from sin having become slaves of God you have your fruit to holiness and the end is everlasting life and then a well-known verse the summary in our final verse for today the wages of sin is death but the gift of God is eternal life which is found in the Messiah Jesus Christ the Exodus story we started with this and we're gonna close with this the Exodus story you guys can come on up the Exodus story is everyone's story freedom from what held us captive freedom to be someone new and better let me make that even clearer let me make that even clearer so you can embrace this you you you you so you can embrace this whether you're 16 or 60 17 or 70 I want you whether you're in the balcony or right down here on the front row great to see you Clare I want you to embrace this truth this Exodus truth the Exodus story the cry for a new king that's what God said I've heard the cry of my people the cry for a new king the cry for a new place the cry for a new security the cry for a new identity the cry for a new life and the cry for a new future that's the human story that's everybody's story this is why so many people love the new year because the new here's a chance to reinvent yourself to try the people like moving to a new place with a new house and a new group of people because we need to be reinvented and yes there's nothing wrong with these sort of chapter is a shion's of an individual's life but what Paul says is when you are baptized you were reinvented already you transferred from the Pharoah like kingdom of sin and death the modern Egypt and you are now no longer living in that old Adamic world you are living in the world of Messiah you are free and then he says now learn to live like that learn to live and and that's what we're gonna study in Chapter seven eight how do we learn to live like a people who are free and I love the way that right can cause this the Christian gospel I couldn't leave this out it reminded me of a beautiful and eaglehorn song I couldn't leave it out the Christian gospel is at this level the level of freedom simply telling the story that all human beings know in their bones is the story they want to hear a story of new opportunity new life new location new place Pharaoh is dead the the past is gone it's behind you and you have the chance in Christ to become the best possible version of yourself by the way there's a learning curve there there's a learning curve there you're gonna learn to live like a free person but you never lose your status in Messiah when you are learning to live like a person who is free friends you are no longer slaves hey man [Music] [Music] you [Music]

Channel: Kingscliff Church

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Id: C42X_4fneVw

Length: 58min 30sec (3510 seconds)

Published: Thu Feb 13 2020