Please turn with me in the Word of God to Romans chapter 7. We'll take up our reading at verse 12 and read down through chapter 8 at verse 23. Someone in the consistory room observed this was a very long section of Scripture, and I responded by saying that I was inspired by Reverend Donovan's preaching three chapters from 2 Kings. Sometimes I fear that we look at Romans in such small pieces that we miss the real force of the argument. And so I'm not going to explain every verse in this reading tonight, but I hope that from reading this larger section, we'll see the great truth that Paul is developing, that we are free in Christ. Beginning our reading at Romans 7, verse 12. So then the law is holy, and the commandment is holy, righteous, and good. Did that which is good then become death to me? By no means. But in order that sin might be recognized as sin, it produced death in me through that which was good, so that through the commandment sin might become utterly sinful. We know that the law is spiritual, but I am unspiritual, sold as a slave to sin. I do not understand what I do. For what I want to do, I do not do. But what I hate, I do. And if I do what I do not want to do, I agree the law is good. As it is, it is no longer myself who do it, but it is sin living in me. I know that nothing good lives in me, that is in my sinful nature. For I have the desire to do what is good, but I cannot carry it out. For what I do is not the good I want to do. know the evil I do not want to do, this I keep on doing. Now if I do what I do not want to do, it is no longer I who do it, but it is sin living in me that does it. So I find this law at work. When I want to do good, evil is right there with me. For in my inner being I delight in God's law, but I see another law at work in the members of my body, waging war against the law of my mind and making me a prisoner of the law of sin at work within my members. What a wretched man I am! Who will rescue me from this body of death? Thanks be to God, through Jesus Christ our Lord. So then I myself in my mind am a slave to God's law, but in the sinful nature a slave to the law of sin. 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 their 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, if 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. Therefore, brothers, we have an obligation. But it is not to the sinful nature to live according to it. For if you live according to the sinful nature, you will die. But if by the Spirit you put to death the misdeeds of the body, you will live. Because those who are led by the Spirit of God are sons of God. For you did not receive a spirit that makes you a slave again to fear, but you received the Spirit of Sonship. By Him we cry, Abba, Father. The Spirit Himself testifies with our spirit that we are God's children. Now, if we are God's children, then we are heirs, heirs of God and co-heirs with Christ, if indeed we share in his sufferings, in order that we may also share in his glory. For I consider that our present sufferings are not worth comparing with the glory that will be revealed in us. The creation waits in eager expectation for the sons of God to be revealed. For the creation was subjected to frustration, not by its own choice, but by the will of the one who subjected it in hope. that the creation itself will be liberated from its bondage to decay and brought into the glorious freedom of the children of God. We know that the whole creation has been groaning, as in the pains of childbirth right up to the present time. Not only so, but we ourselves, who have the firstfruits of the Spirit, groan inwardly as we wait eagerly for our adoption as sons, The redemption of our bodies. So far, the reading of God's word. This morning, Pastor Donovan read a very familiar summary of God's law. You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, soul, mind, and strength. And you shall love your neighbor as yourself. how are you doing with that little project? I suppose if we went out on the street and asked people, do you love God and do you love your neighbor? We'd get a lot of confident answers. Sure, I love God and my neighbor more than most people. Or perhaps we'd get a rather indifferent response. What are you talking about? Such a statement might not even make sense to a lot of people. But Paul in Romans 7 talks about how genuine Christians often react to this summary of the law or indeed to any expression of the law. He talks about the struggle, what he calls actually the warfare that often goes on in the Christian life. the warfare between the sin that is still in us and the devotion that we want to show to Christ and to His law. There's a warfare, Romans 7 verse 23 says, in our lives as Christians. Have you felt that? Have you sometimes looked at your own life and saw a sinfulness there that surprises you and disappoints you and frustrates you because there's something within you that resists that sin and yet also something within you that continues to be bound up in that sin. Paul says that's the warfare in the Christian life. It's the problem of ongoing sin for Christians. And in the great section of his epistle to the Romans, chapters 6 through 8, he's really dealing in a variety of ways with the reality and the problem of continuing sin in the life of those who belong to God. And that dealing with that problem, in a sense, arises because of the ringing statement Paul makes towards the end of chapter 5 of Romans, Where having thought about justification, having thought about how fully and freely Christ is satisfied for us that we may be right with God, Paul almost shouts out where sin abounded, grace did much more abound. And then Paul, coming off the sort of high point of that sermon, pauses to reflect that maybe he could be misunderstood there. If it's true that grace much more abounds where sin abounds, then maybe someone might conclude, well, let's sin some more so we can get more grace. And Paul wants to make clear and does make clear by a whole series of questions, five very pointed questions in Romans 6 and 8, how that would be an entirely misunderstood reading of the nature of grace. Grace does not increase sin, but Paul wants to say grace increases service for the Lord. Those who really know the forgiveness of Jesus Christ will be those who really live for Jesus Christ. And those who live for Jesus Christ will experience this warfare in themselves, not just out there, Not just the opposition of the world, but will experience within themselves this warfare of a principle of sin at work within our hearts at the same time that a principle of life in Jesus Christ is at work within our hearts. And so out of that warfare, out of that frustration, out of that conflict that Paul felt and believed that every Christian would feel at least from time to time, in Romans 7, 24, he asked this great question. Who will rescue me from this body of death? Who will rescue me from this body of death in which sin lives and which brings so much frustration into my life? And, of course, the ringing response is, in verse 25 of chapter 7, Thanks be to God, through Jesus Christ our Lord. There is a deliverance promised here to the problem of sin. And that problem is in the rescuing work, the saving work, the liberating work of our Lord Jesus Christ. That's what's being declared here in this text. This is what Paul wants to emphasize for us. Chapter 8, verse 2. Because through Christ Jesus, the law of the Spirit of life set me free from the law of sin and death. There is a liberating work that Jesus Christ has done for me and for you if you are in him. And Paul develops, I think here in Romans, well really 6 through 8, but particularly in the latter part of 7 and on into 8, he develops what we might call the four freedoms that we have in Christ. The four freedoms that we have in Christ. Now, those of you who are a little older, maybe I should say a lot older, may remember that in 1941, Franklin Delano Roosevelt as president gave a very famous speech on the four freedoms. Getting a lot of blank looks. Well, he did. Four freedoms that the United States and the Allies were going to fight to defend in the world. the freedom of speech, the freedom of worship, freedom from want, and freedom from fear. Lofty goals, wonderful freedoms. But here Paul is developing four freedoms that are much greater, much profounder, much more necessary than these good things that Roosevelt talked about. Because Paul is going to talk about how Christ has set us free from destruction, from death, from defeat, and from decay. Those are the four freedoms that Paul talks about that we have in Christ. And first of all, freedom from destruction. In chapters 3 through 5, we know that Paul in Romans has been talking about justification. Justification that makes us right before God. Justification that removes that destroying verdict of condemnation that will come upon all sinners left to themselves. And Paul returns to that great theme to deliver us from any fear of destruction in verse 1 of chapter 8 of Romans, where he says, therefore there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. There will be a last judgment. We'll all stand there. And Paul is saying over and over again in a great variety of ways in the epistle of the Romans, if you stand in that last judgment in Christ, you can stand without fear. You can stand because there will be no condemnation. You can stand there because there will be no destruction. Because Christ has delivered us from the condemning power of sin. See how Paul develops that thought in verse 3 of Romans 8. For what the law was powerless to do, that is, make us right with God, 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. God has promised that you and I are freed from destruction because Jesus came to be a human with us. Because Jesus came to stand in our place as a human being. Although He was the eternal Son of God, He was born of the woman and born under the law to take our place and to take our judgment. And so, He became a sin offering for us. So that there would be no condemnation, no destruction for us. We are liberated from that in Him. And the glorious declaration of Romans 8 verse 3 is that in Jesus Christ it's sin that's condemned. It's sin that's destroyed. It's sin that's overcome. And you and I can have the glorious assurance of the children of God that through Jesus Christ and in Jesus Christ we're reconciled to our Heavenly Father. And there will never, ever, ever be a condemnation for us. And so, the promise, the first freedom here is, in some senses, the most foundational one that we need to grasp so clearly as the people of God. Christ has done it all. All to Him we owe. Sin had left a crimson stain. He washed it white as snow. In the struggle against sin that we face day to day throughout life, Paul wants this to ring in our ears. We are free from destruction. We are free from condemnation. Sin will not have the last word because on the cross of Jesus Christ, sin was condemned and destroyed for God's people. And the second freedom that Paul develops here is freedom from death. We who are in Jesus Christ, we who have the spirit of Jesus Christ, have a newness of life that has been planted within us. Whereas apart from Christ we were dead in our trespasses and sins, the Scripture declares, now for every person in Christ we are alive. We are free from death. We are alive now in Him. Romans 6.23 declares the wages of sin is death. But the gift of God is eternal life. And that gift is not just a future gift. We'll come back and talk about that more a little later. But it is a present gift in Christ. If we belong to Him, we are alive now. And so the effect of grace that God increased in the midst of increasing sin is not to promote sin, but is to promote life. Life lived for God. Romans 6 verse 4 says, We are to live in Christ a new life. Or as the English Standard Version puts it, we are to walk in the newness of life. God has made us alive. And Paul then says in a rather remarkable verse, I think, in Romans 6, verse 11, Therefore, count yourselves dead to sin, but alive to God in Christ. And by that, I think he means, remember, Christian, who you really are. Remember that Christ, by His Spirit, has made you alive. And therefore, because you are alive, live as those who are alive. Now, we know that we cannot make ourselves alive. Only by the sovereign work of God's Holy Spirit, applying the work of Christ to us, are we made alive. But this text and all the texts through here remind us that we have a responsibility to be active as the people of God, living as living people. We are not people of death. We are people of life. And we need to know that by the power of the Holy Spirit, by the power of Jesus Christ, we have freedom from death. We are alive. We have freedom from destruction. We have peace with God. And then I think he's making the point throughout these chapters that we are also free from defeat. we began this sermon talking about that conflict we feel within ourselves from time to time. The conflict between our desire for sin and our desire to honor God. And Paul is saying here that although that conflict will go on, although as long as we are in this life that frustration will remain, that frustration cannot defeat us. It cannot overcome us. We are not powerless in the face of it. But precisely because we are alive in Christ, precisely because we have been delivered in Christ, the power of sin cannot overwhelm us. Oh, it can be strong sometimes. It can almost seem overwhelming. We can think of moments in the history of the church. Think of Peter when he had denied Christ three times. He must have felt overwhelmed by sin. Or when Nathan came to David to call him a murderer or an adulterer. He must have felt overwhelmed by sin. But he was never actually overwhelmed. He was never truly separated from the grace of God. Because he was a child of God. Because Christ had paid the penalty of those sins. Because the Spirit was at work to make him alive. Sin could not defeat Peter. And sin could not defeat David. And if you're in Christ, sin cannot defeat you. And that's why Paul says so powerfully, Do not let sin reign in your mortal body. You have been set free from sin. You have become slaves to righteousness. And then, remarkably, a verse that has always intrigued me, Romans 8, verse 4, Paul writes to Christians and says, Christ condemned sin in sinful man in order that the righteous requirements of the law might be fully met in us. We're to live our lives with an eagerness to see the righteous requirements of the law being more and more fully manifested in us. You know, preaching and listening, living a Christian life is always a balancing act. And sometimes we can preach the gospel so strongly that we forget the law. Sometimes we preach the law so strongly we forget the gospel. We don't want to do either one of those things because Paul says only when we really understand the gospel do we really understand the law. Only when we are thrilled by the grace of God revealed in the gospel are we empowered to seek to fulfill the law. But Paul is reminding us here that it is the will of God for us as people that the righteous requirements of the law should be fulfilled in us. And one of the things that struck me when, as an outsider, I first came in to Dutch reform circles was the care with which people gave attention to the law. Now, sometimes that spilled over into a kind of legalism. And maybe we smile when we hear stories of grandfathers who shaved Saturday night so they might not violate the Sabbath day by working on Sunday. And most of us who like good Sunday dinners are not so eager to go back to the old days when Grandma cooked Sunday dinner on Saturday and maybe served it cold or just heated it up on Sunday. But why did they do that? They did it not just to give us curious stories to tell, but they did it because, at least for many of them, there was such a passion that the righteous requirement of the law might be fulfilled in them that they wanted to be scrupulous and careful in walking before the Lord. And I hope no one goes out tonight saying, Dr. Godfrey says we have to shave on Saturday. That's not what I'm saying. But I'm saying, are we as concerned that the Spirit might work in us, that the righteous requirement of the law might be displayed in our living as we ought to be? As a minister, I'm particularly concerned about what's happening to the Sabbath day among us. I believe the Sabbath stands at the core of reformed piety and spirituality. And I don't think we should go about making a long list of what you can and can't do on the Sabbath. But if we lose the profound sense that this day belongs to God uniquely, and that He calls us uniquely to serve Him on this day, we are in great trouble spiritually as the people of God. And Paul says, we ought not to be, we will not be defeated by the power of sin. Oh, there's a conflict. It's not easy to keep the Sabbath day holy, especially in the world in which we live. There'll be temptations and failures. But Paul says, remember, you will not be defeated. Christ has set you free from the power of sin to defeat you. We will bear fruit for God, as he says in Romans 7, verse 4. We will be able to serve in the new way of the Spirit, by the power of the Spirit. And the struggle will remain. Paul in these chapters talks about how in every Christian there's a struggle between the Spirit and the flesh, between the new man and the old man, between the inner man and the outer man, between the mind and the members. But he says to us, however great the struggle, don't be a defeatist. God is at work in you. He who destroyed sin that you might never be destroyed. He who defeated death that you might live. Will not allow the continuing sin within you to defeat you. But will rather make you fruitful as you seek him. and seek to serve Him. And finally, Paul speaks about a freedom from decay. All of the freedoms we've talked to to this point, freedom from destruction, freedom from death, freedom from defeat, are freedoms that we possess now. But he says there's another great freedom coming, the freedom from decay. I don't know at what age one begins to face the reality of decay. I know you face it by the time you're 61. But the truth is, we all are going to have to face, if we live long enough, the fact that this body is letting us down. You notice how Paul put that wrenching question, Who will deliver me from this body of death? Who will deliver me from this mortal body? Who will deliver me from this body that testifies more clearly than anything else in this world that we have here no continuing city? This body is all the evidence we need that life in this body does not go on forever. but Paul here promises that there's a great day coming when we will be free also from the decay of this body for Paul this body represents that ongoing conflict between the spirit and the flesh between the inner man and the outer man the new man and the old man this body is the living symbol or maybe the dying symbol. That sin remains a problem within us and within this world where the whole creation groans waiting to be liberated from the bondage to decay that surrounds us. And Paul says, Christ has liberated us from destruction. He's liberated us from death. He's liberated us from defeat, and he promises, promises one day to liberate us from decay. And one day, the fullness of our adoption as the children of God will be revealed when he raises our bodies from the dead and glorifies them. We sang from Psalm 16, didn't we? I know that I will not be left forgotten in the grave. For Jesus has liberated us from decay. The day is coming. The day is coming. And so when we feel that frustration, when we feel that war within us, when we feel that tempting voice of sin and sometimes feel the weakness of the spirit within us. Don't be defeated. Don't be cast down. There's a great day coming. And when that day comes, the passing sufferings of this age, the passing sufferings of this life are not to be compared to the glory that will be revealed. Jesus Christ has made us free from destruction so we have peace with God. Jesus Christ has delivered us from death so we are alive in the spirit. Jesus Christ has promised us we will not be defeated and so we have confidence in service. And Jesus Christ has promised that the decay of the body will not have the last word. That we can live in hope. That we can die in hope. And we will see him when he raises us as he raised Christ from the dead. May God fill us with joy in believing. Because Christ has delivered us. Thanks be to God. Amen. Let us pray. Oh, Lord, our God, the truths of your word sometimes are almost too good to be true, too wonderful to understand, too glorious to contemplate. But how thankful, oh, Lord, we are to know that they are true and reliable. that you have displayed your love for us in Jesus Christ that you have taken away our condemnation that you have sent the spirit of life that you are bearing fruit in your church around the world and you have promised that one day Christ will return in glory and we will be glorified with him oh come quickly Lord Jesus and until you come strengthen us in hope knowing that in Christ we are free for it is in his name that we pray Amen