LIVE IN FAITH
Richard Harris
Today’s Scripture: “But sin, seizing an opportunity through the commandment, produced in me all kinds of covetousness. For apart from the law, sin lies dead.” Romans 7:8, ESV
Theme: Finally seeing wrong for what it is, because of the clear commands from God, all humanity can understand how lost we are without Jesus.
LIVE IN GRACE
Even when we fall, grace is greater. We can’t be separated from the love of Christ. How did we live our lives before the love and sacrifice of Jesus? I imagine the apostle Paul, writer of today’s verse, moving from the darkness into the light. Paul was raised and educated as a Jewish Rabbi. He was taught that studying the law enabled him to overcome sin. Paul later said that the law became, instead, the vehicle of his death. What did he mean by that? Once dead, someone is dead to everything, including the law. So, Paul, through Christ, died to the law. That freed him to truly "live to God." As he says in the following verse, he died with Christ and now lives by faith in Christ. Apart from the law, sin lies dead. If the law is not applied to your life, then there can be no sin. So, Paul, through Christ, found that he died to the law, and that freed him to truly "live to God." As he said in Galatians 2:19, he died with Christ and now lives by faith in Christ. Our covenant with Christ rescues us from the power of sin; not just the penalty of sin.
A NEW RELATIONSHIP
Paul said that we have, and always will have, a relationship to the law. In Romans 6, Paul referenced those who were enslaved by sin. Prior to the salvation of Jesus, we were all slaves to the law. We are now set free from obligation and slavery to sin. In the movie Gladiator, one of the slaves said, “A slave doesn’t fear death, because that’s his only path to freedom.” When we enter Jesus’ redemptive death, we live out our Christian life in freedom. This is a new relationship to sin, as we learn what not to do. Was the law sin? No! We would not know sin without the law. The law has great value in exposing our sin. The law is holy, but living by its principle is now upon us.
So, how’s that going? We are redeemed Christians, saved for sin through Jesus’ sacrifice and resurrection, but we seem to stray from our perceived perfection, don’t we? Paul said when he sins, it’s not him - but the sin within him. Our lives were dominated by sin, then Jesus brought it to the forefront within us. The law helped us get to the core of the problem, though the law itself was not the problem. Sin still exists within our newly-redeemed selves, but now we have the power through Christ to overcome it.
Make it Personal: We, as humans, mess up quite regularly. It comes from our Adam and Eve DNA. They had only one command from God – not to eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. Without that command, they couldn’t sin, yet they sinned. Sin is an act of disobeying God (James 4:17). That serpent (Satan) is always looking for ways to deceive. He knows which roads I take. Lord Jesus… We commit to do better.
Pray: Almighty Father, our desires to please You through Your commands are paramount in this earthly life... yet we have sin within us from our incipient violations of the laws before us. Who will rescue us from our body of flesh? We thank You, Lord, for sending us Your son Jesus Christ, who has secured our freedom from the law's covetousness. May Your Holy Spirit guide our ways through our daily encounters with our self-deceptions. Thank You, Jesus, for giving us this freedom through your own sacrifice upon the cross. May our love and understanding of Your sacrifice take us from our self-created darkness into the light. All this we ask, thank, praise and pray in Your Holy name. Amen.
Read: Romans 7:1-12
Weekly Memory Verse: “For you did not receive the spirit of slavery to fall back into fear, but you have received the Spirit of adoption as sons, by whom we cry, ‘Abba! Father!’” Romans 8:15, ESV