Now, tonight I would have you turn with me to Psalm 119, Psalm 119 as we read together two of the sections of that Psalm, verses 97-104 and 137-144. Once you've found that, please also go to Romans chapter 8. We'll read the first 11 verses, considering in particular verses 3 and 4 of Romans chapter 8. And once you have found Psalm 119 in Romans chapter 8, then I'm going to ask you yet to turn to one other place in the back of the Psalter hymnal to Lord's Day 6, page 13. Page 13 in the back of the Psalter hymnal. And we will confess these answers together before we turn to the Word of God. Page 13, Lord's Day 6. Questions and answers 16 through 19. Question 16 asks, why must he be truly human and truly righteous? God's justice demands it. Man has sinned, man must pay for his sin, but a sinner cannot pay for others. Why must he also be true God? So that by the power of his divinity, he might bear the weight of God's anger in his humanity and earn for us and restore to us righteousness and life. And who is this mediator, true God, at the same time truly human and truly righteous? Our Lord Jesus Christ, who has given us to set us completely free and to make us right with God. How do you come to know this? The Holy Gospel tells me, God Himself began to reveal the Gospel already in paradise. Later he proclaimed it by the holy patriarchs and prophets and portrayed it by the sacrifices and other ceremonies of the law. Finally, he fulfilled it through his own dear son. Psalm 119, beginning at verse 97. A section under the Hebrew letter Mem. Hear now the Word of God. Oh, how I love Your law! I meditate on it all day long. Your commands make me wiser than my enemies, for they are ever with me. I have more insight than all my teachers, for I meditate on Your statutes. I have more understanding than the elders, for I obey Your precepts. I have kept my feet from every evil path, so that I might obey Your Word. I have not departed from Your laws. for you yourself have taught me. How sweet are your words to my taste, sweeter than honey to my mouth. I gain understanding from your precepts, therefore I hate every wrong path. Then to verse 137. Righteous are you, O Lord, and your laws are right. The statutes you have laid down are righteous. They are fully trustworthy. My zeal wears me out, For my enemies ignore your words. Your promises have been thoroughly tested, and your servant loves them. Though I am lowly and despised, I do not forget your precepts. Your righteousness is everlasting, and your law is true. Trouble and distress have come upon me, but your commands are my delight. Your statutes are forever right. Give me understanding that I may live. Romans chapter 8, beginning at verse 1, and we will read through verse 11, not 9 as I had indicated in the bulletin, and again in particular verses 3 and 4. Therefore there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus, because through Christ Jesus the law of the Spirit of life set me free from the law of sin and death. For what the law was powerless to do in that it was weakened by the sinful nature, God did. by sending His own Son in the likeness of sinful man to be a sin offering. And so He condemned sin in sinful man in order that the righteous requirements of the law might be fully met in us who do not live according to the sinful nature, but according to the Spirit. Those who live according to the sinful nature have their minds set on what that nature desires. But those who live in accordance with the Spirit have their minds set on what the Spirit desires. The mind of sinful man is death, but the mind controlled by the Spirit is life and peace. The sinful mind is hostile to God. It does not submit to God's law, nor can it do so. Those controlled by the sinful nature cannot please God. You, however, are controlled not by the sinful nature, but by the Spirit. Yet the Spirit of God lives in you. And if anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ, he does not belong to Christ. But if Christ is in you, your body is dead because of sin, yet your spirit is alive because of righteousness. And if the Spirit of Him who raised Jesus from the dead is living in you, He who raised Christ from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through His Spirit who lives in you. Beloved in the Lord Jesus Christ, Therefore, there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. Now when you hear those words, what is it that you hear in them? I trust you hear freedom. Freedom! Boys and girls, freedom is the greatest news a prisoner could ever receive. but not just any prisoner, but one who is on death row, one against whom the evidence is crystal clear. The evidence is more than beyond a reasonable doubt. It is beyond the shadow of a doubt. The one against whom the verdict is guilty and the judgment is punishment by way of death. And that news of freedom would be the greatest news that one like that could ever hear. You know, beloved, that describes all of mankind, that sinner on death row, eternity's death row. That describes all of mankind lost in sin. That describes you and it describes me apart from Jesus Christ. Paul says all have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God. He says there is none righteous, no, not one. He says because of sin, mankind exchanged the truth of God for the lie and therefore mankind is in slavery to sin. bondage to sin, and captivity to sin. In our Heidelberg Catechism, that faithful summary of the Word of God says that the fall, earlier in the Catechism, says the fall so poisoned our nature that we are born sinners corrupt from conception on. And it also says that God requires that His justice, His justice that has been violated by you and me, that His justice must be satisfied. But we can't. We can't do it. Because we increase our guilt every day. And all that we are able to secure, all that we can earn in and of ourselves is this condemnation. This guilty verdict. This eternity's death row. Yet the believer, as Paul says, enjoys freedom from the curse and the guilt of all of our sin. Every last bit of it. Wow. And there's only one reason. Not because of us, but in spite of us. Freedom on account of what God did. You see, those two words, God did, that Paul uses here, those two little words in connection with this freedom are the most amazing, the most glorious words that you and I could ever hear. Freedom on account of what God did. First of all, because the law was powerless. Therefore, there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus because through Christ Jesus the law of the Spirit of life set me free from the law of sin and death. And then verse 3, for what the law was powerless to do in that it was weakened by the sinful nature God did. Freedom on account of what God did. Because the law was powerless. Well, to do what? Well, it was powerless to free us. To free us from the guilt and the power of sin. The law was powerless to save. The law cannot make one who is sinful just. The law cannot justify one and make them right before God. The law has no strength to accomplish the salvation of sinful man. The law was powerless to earn us God's favor, to earn us an entrance ticket into heaven. But the reason, you see, is not in the law itself. There's no fault in the law itself. God did not give a defective instrument. The law, he did not give faulty directions. The law is perfect in every way, Paul says in chapter 7, verse 12. So then the law is holy, and the commandment is holy, righteous, and good. And again, the psalmist said in Psalm 119, verse 138, the statutes you have laid down are righteous. They are fully trustworthy. The law required nothing more than what was right. God required nothing more in His law than that which was for our good. Through the law, God tells us exactly what it is that pleases Him. How wonderful is that? We like that with each other. We like to know what pleases our loved ones, our spouse, or our boyfriend or girlfriend, don't we? So therefore, we can do what pleases them. But God, in His law, tells us exactly what it is that pleases Him. The law of God is holy. as an expression of the holiness of God. And the truth is, if one really could satisfy the divine law, that one would be just. That one would be righteous before God. Calvin says, Paul does not then deny that the law is sufficient to justify us as to doctrine inasmuch as it contains a perfect rule of righteousness. But as our flesh does not attain that righteousness, the whole power of the law fails and vanishes away. And very simply, beloved, that means that man can't keep it even if we wanted to. Why? Because of sin. That is the reason the law is powerless. Because of man's sinful nature in sin, man no longer is in step with, in agreement with God's holy law, but man in sin is in complete opposition to the law of God. Man hates for God to tell him what to do. And the result is that the sinful nature made the law weak. It made it unable to accomplish the very thing that the law demanded, willing obedience. And instead, the law now condemns us, as Paul makes clear. The law condemns us by aggravating our lusts. Chapter 7, verse 7, What should we say then? Is the law sin? Certainly not. Indeed, I would not have known what sin was except through the law, for I would not have known what coveting really was if the law had said, Do not covet. The law condemns us by aggravating our lusts and by stirring up and making alive the power of sin in us. Paul says in chapter 3, verse 20, Therefore no one will be declared righteous in his sight by observing the law. Rather, through the law we become conscious of sin. And he says in chapter 7, verse 9, Once I was alive apart from law, but when the commandment came, sin sprang to life and I died. And therefore, beloved, in the sinful flesh, the law produces hatred for the law itself and hatred for the lawgiver. And the law now requires more than man can perform. Adam, before the fall, was able to keep the law, but mankind, after the fall, is no longer able. Before the flood, we read in Genesis 6, verse 5, the Lord saw how great man's wickedness on the earth had become, that every inclination of the thoughts of his heart was only evil all the time. And James, in James 3, verse 8, says, even man's tongue is a restless evil full of deadly poison. The corruption of our flesh, beloved, by sin, makes the law useless to us. In a sense, because though the law shows us the way of life, it does not bring back those who are running straight, headlong, toward death. Young people, some, or many of you may remember from the convention this past summer, I can't remember if it was the other main speaker or one of the workshops, but one of them said that, described sinful mankind as a bunch of sewer rats. a whole pack of sewer rats running straight toward the sewer. Because that's what sewer rats love. And mankind is sin, is running straight, headlong, as fast as we can toward hell. Because that's what we love. And the law cannot stop us. The law does not save us. The law shows us our sin. The law condemns us of our guilt. The law charges that penalty, that curse against us. But the law does not and cannot dethrone sin in your heart and mine. It cannot set us free. But God did in the second place through His incarnate Son. For what the law was powerless to do in that it was weakened by the sinful nature, God did by sending His own Son in the likeness of sinful man to be a sin offering. and so He condemned sin in sinful man. Freedom on the count of what God did through His incarnate Son. And He did it for a serious matter. Again, the Catechism, that beautiful summary of Scripture tells us what that serious matter was in answer 17, that He must be true God, the second half of the answer, to earn for us and restore to us righteousness and life. And answer 18, our Lord Jesus Christ was given us to set us completely free and to make us right with God. God did for a serious matter in order to undo sin's destruction. Sin had stripped mankind of our original righteousness and life. Sin made us to be enemies of God. Sin condemned us to the eternal punishment of God in hell. Captivity. Condemnation. Jesus Christ was sent for a serious matter to undo sin's destruction, to bring God's elect back to peace with Him. And He alone was able to because He came with the perfect identity. Going back to Lord's Day 5, question and answer 15. What kind of mediator and deliverer should we look for then? He must be truly human and truly righteous, yet more powerful than all creatures. That is, He must also be true God. And in this text, Paul points to the truth that Jesus Christ is true God. God did by sending His own Son. Sending His own Son, who obviously was with Him before He came. This points to the deity of Jesus Christ. But also these words, by sending His own Son, also points to the seriousness of and God's hatred for sin. He despises it. It abhors Him. He hates it. As one commentator said, the greatness of the work to be accomplished and the greatness of the love of God impelling Him to our redemption are strongly exhibited in those words, the same words, by sending His own Son he goes on it is not a creature even the most exalted whom God sent on this mission but his own son one with him in essence and glory and again he had to be true God in order as answer 17 says to bear the weight of God's anger in his humanity since he was also truly human and truly righteous Paul says that God did by sending his own son in the likeness of sinful man. Now it's interesting what Paul says here. Notice he doesn't simply say he sent him in the likeness of man. Which could be taken to mean then that he only looked human. He only seemed human. As one heresy has always taught. But that he was not really human. But Paul didn't say that. Paul says he came in the likeness of sinful man. A particular kind of man happens to be all of mankind. Isaiah 53 verse 9 says, He had done no violence, nor was any deceit in his mouth. Hebrews 4 verse 14 says, For we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but we have one who has been tempted in every way just as we are yet was without sin. Boys and girls, Jesus Christ was really and truly human. as he walked this earth, with flesh and blood. But flesh and blood that had the same effects of sin. The fallen flesh and blood. The same effects of sin on the body. That means he aged, he got older, he grew. He no doubt had aches and pains. Suffered physical weakness, at times maybe even spurts of strength. He was hungry, he was thirsty, he got tired. probably caught a cold at some point in his life. He bled. And he died. And therefore he looked sinful because he was in the likeness of sinful flesh. But he was not sinful. He alone kept God's law perfectly. He alone never sinned. You know, that blows our mind. We can't even begin to comprehend that, can we? Someone who is perfectly sinless. But Jesus Christ was perfectly sinless. He never sinned, and that qualified him as a truly human and truly righteous man. That qualified him then to be our perfect high priest. He came for a necessary purpose, to be a sin offering, Paul says. And Paul now points his readers to the Old Testament sacrificial system, to the offering for sin, that offering that was intended to make atonement, to pay for sin, to remove God's wrath. Of course, as the book of Hebrews makes clear, the blood of bulls and goats and calves and sheep was not sufficient. That's why those sacrifices had to continually be offered over and over and over again. But those served a purpose, as answer 19 says, the animal sacrifices for sin pointed forward to the Gospel. Pointed forward to the good news of Jesus Christ offering Himself as the one's final sacrifice for sin. And as a sin offering, Paul says in 2 Corinthians 5.21, God made Him who had no sin to be sin for us. All of our sin, its curse, its punishment, was taken away from us and put on Him. Laid on Him. The condemnation taken away from us and placed on Him. With a powerful purpose. As Paul says, and so he, that is God, condemned sin in sinful man. Now the word condemned there has a comprehensive meaning. It means more than simply to pronounce the judgment, but along with it, to carry out the sentence. That's what God did in the likeness of sinful flesh in our Lord Jesus Christ. He pronounced the judgment. He carried out the sentence. Through His Son, God condemned the sin power itself in the very place where it used its full power, in the very place where it made its home, the flesh. And in Christ, God the Father punished sin by visiting it with the penalty of the law. Answer 11 of the Catechism describes that penalty as the supreme penalty, eternal punishment of body and soul, that which was reserved for you and me. was given to Him. You see, people of God, the cross left no doubt about God's attitude towards sin. How sin violates His holiness. How He hates it. He cannot stand it. Through the cross, sin's power has been dethroned. The chains of sin have fallen off of God's people. Those who are in Christ Jesus and they are no longer held captive by sin but we are free because of what god did through jesus christ therefore there is now no condemnation for those who are in christ jesus there was condemnation before but now there is no condemnation for those who believe on the lord jesus christ because god condemned sin in christ for our full reconciliation in the third place. Verse 4 says, In order that the righteous requirements of the law might be fully met in us who do not live according to the sinful nature, but according to the Spirit. Freedom on account of what God did for our full reconciliation through justification. Justification is God's declaration of our state, our standing before Him. And no longer are we guilty before Him, but He has declared His people in Christ Jesus to be not guilty. You see, beloved, we have kept the law perfectly. Now that I have your attention, let me say that we haven't kept it ourselves. But through Jesus Christ, Through Jesus Christ, His perfect righteousness, His sinless life has been imputed, credited, freely given to us as our very own. As Answers 60 of the Catechism says, as if we had never sinned nor been a sinner, as if we had been as perfectly obedient as Christ was obedient for us. that's what God says about you and me as those who are in Christ Jesus, so that when God looks at those with true faith, boys and girls, with true faith in Jesus Christ, he finds us, as Paul says in Philippians 3, verse 9, not having a righteousness of our own that comes from the law, but that which is through faith in Christ, the righteousness that comes from God and is by faith. That's what God did for us through Jesus Christ. Taking all of His work and making it our very own, forgiving us of all of our sins as far as the east is from the west, and He made us righteous. He made us righteous in His sight so that He could stand to look at us. He made us acceptable and pleasing to Himself. He brought us to be at peace with Him for sanctification in us who do not live according to the sinful nature, but according to the Spirit. You see, those whom God declares to be righteous, in them the Holy Spirit is busy and active making and cleansing and transforming us to actually be as God has declared us to be, as God already sees us, and that is righteous. Restoring us to the image of Jesus Christ. A task, we know, which won't be complete until we are translated from this life to glory. In Jeremiah 31, verse 33, the Lord says, I will put my law in their minds and write it on their hearts. In Ephesians 2, verses 8 and 9, Paul says, For it is by grace you have been saved through faith, and this not from yourselves, it is the gift of God, not by works that no one can boast. For we are God's workmanship created in Christ Jesus to do good works which God prepared in advance for us to do. You see, beloved, while the law of God reminds us of our sin and also drives us to Jesus Christ in whom we have the assurance of forgiveness and in whom we have perfect righteousness, then we also see the law in a new light. We no longer view the law with fear because of what we cannot do. Not that we do not take the law seriously, but we take it more seriously. But we no longer view it with fear because of our inability, but we see in the law, we see the holiness of God, we see what pleases Him, and we see how He deserves that we show Him our thankfulness for what He did. We see the law by the grace of God as the psalmist saw it. So the law is now the believer's delight. Why? Because it delights our God. And the believer is then able to say by the power of the Spirit, Oh, how I love your law. Why? Because I love you, O Lord. I love what you have done for me. You see, out of gratitude, in response to God's love poured out, and empowered, enabled by the Holy Spirit, those who are no longer condemned because they are in Christ Jesus, empowered and enabled by the Holy Spirit, they strive to live according to God's law. To live their lives governed by that which pleases God. Again, knowing that we fail day by day, but comforted because of what Jesus Christ has done. And knowing that it's only possible even to delight in God's law because of the freedom that we enjoy, because of what God did for us. by sending His Son, Jesus Christ. Beloved, is this your comfort tonight? This freedom from the law, from its curse, from its power? You see, apart from Jesus Christ, one can and will never please God. And instead, that one will always be condemned. For there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus, but there is and remains condemnation for those who are not. But for those who believe in the Lord Jesus Christ, who look to Him alone in faith, who trust in Him and claim His saving work alone as sufficient. With them, God is well pleased because of what Jesus Christ did. Again, going back to what we considered this morning, that's why the Gospel message is so very important. And that's why we must delight in and desire in getting that gospel word out. Beloved, these greatest words God did go hand in hand with that greatest gift that we considered this morning, salvation full and complete and free, because that is what God did. And therefore, may the joy and the delight of the freedom that we have in Christ Jesus move us to dedicate our lives in service for Him and desire that very same freedom for others. That they might sing with us in confidence, not what my hands have done can save my guilty soul, but instead I bless the Christ of God. I rest on love divine. Amen. Let's pray together. our great god and heavenly father again we praise you for your most holy word and the truth of your word a truth which the world despises because the world desires to be on its own and do its own thing the world thinks it can take care of itself and do what it needs for this life and even for the next if it believes in a life to come but you have taught us so clearly so faithfully so truthfully that we could not we cannot earn our way with you but you did for us that which we needed most through jesus christ our lord and savior and father we praise your most holy name and we pray that you would continue to work as you have promised in our hearts and lives powerfully preparing us for that great day of Christ Jesus when we shall see him face to face and until that day Father give us a delight in your holy law because it reflects your holiness and it is that which pleases you and may that be our every desire to please you because of what you have done for us in Jesus Christ hear our prayer O Lord, for Jesus' sake and in His name alone, Amen.