Live with it - Lie about it - Lay it down

Rev. Delwyn and Sis. Lenita Campbell
The Gospel According to Paul  •  Sermon  •  Submitted
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Our struggle against sin

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Prayer

Blessed Lord, You have caused all Holy Scriptures to be written for our learning. Grant that we may so hear them, read, mark, learn, and take them to heart that, by the patience and comfort of Your holy Word, we may embrace and ever hold fast the blessed hope of everlasting life. … through Jesus Christ, Your Son, our Lord, who lives and reigns with You and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and forever.

The Plumb Line

A plumb line can only prove that a crooked wall is crooked. No matter how you use it, a plumb line can’t make a crooked wall straight. The law was God’s plumb line, designed to show all people that they are crooked, or sinful. It was never intended to make us straight or righteous—and, indeed, it never could.

Romans 7:14 ESV
For we know that the law is spiritual, but I am of the flesh, sold under sin.
Psalm 119:105 ESV
Your word is a lamp to my feet and a light to my path.
Hebrews 12:3–4 ESV
Consider him who endured from sinners such hostility against himself, so that you may not grow weary or fainthearted. In your struggle against sin you have not yet resisted to the point of shedding your blood.
In our minds, we see the “beauty” of “the good.” Our flesh just can’t practice it.
Romans 7:12 ESV
So the law is holy, and the commandment is holy and righteous and good.
1) ἀγαθός, ή, όν [1] pertaining to meeting a relatively high standard of quality (of things). [2] pertaining to meeting a high standard of worth and merit, good.
Romans 7:15–16 ESV
For I do not understand my own actions. For I do not do what I want, but I do the very thing I hate. Now if I do what I do not want, I agree with the law, that it is good.
1) καλός, ή, όν [1] pertaining to being attractive in outward appearance, beautiful, handsome, fine. [2] pertaining to being in accordance at a high level with something or someone, good, useful.
Hebrews 11:24–25 ESV
By faith Moses, when he was grown up, refused to be called the son of Pharaoh’s daughter, choosing rather to be mistreated with the people of God than to enjoy the fleeting pleasures of sin.
Hebrews 11:24–25 ESV
By faith Moses, when he was grown up, refused to be called the son of Pharaoh’s daughter, choosing rather to be mistreated with the people of God than to enjoy the fleeting pleasures of sin.
Hebrews 11:24–25 UBS4 w/Swanson
Πίστει Μωϋσῆς μέγας γενόμενος ἠρνήσατο λέγεσθαι υἱὸς θυγατρὸς Φαραώ, μᾶλλον ἑλόμενος συγκακουχεῖσθαι τῷ λαῷ τοῦ θεοῦ ἢ πρόσκαιρον ἔχειν ἁμαρτίας ἀπόλαυσιν,

πρόσκαιρον ἔχειν ἁμαρτίας ἀπόλαυσιν

Hebrews 11:24–25 UBS4 w/Swanson
Πίστει Μωϋσῆς μέγας γενόμενος ἠρνήσατο λέγεσθαι υἱὸς θυγατρὸς Φαραώ, μᾶλλον ἑλόμενος συγκακουχεῖσθαι τῷ λαῷ τοῦ θεοῦ ἢ πρόσκαιρον ἔχειν ἁμαρτίας ἀπόλαυσιν,

πρόσκαιρον ἔχειν ἁμαρτίας ἀπόλαυσιν,

It’s the chase, more than the capture…
When I pray the seven petitions of the Lord’s Prayer, what do you think is the part that I pray most fervently?
The Book of Concord The Sixth Petition

[17] The Sixth Petition

And lead us not into temptation.

[18] What is this? Answer:

It is true that God tempts no one, but we ask in this prayer that God would preserve and keep us, so that the devil, the world, and our flesh may not deceive us or mislead us into false belief, despair, and other great shame and vice, and that, although we may be attacked by them, we may finally prevail and gain the victory.

Romans 7:18–20 ESV
For I know that nothing good dwells in me, that is, in my flesh. For I have the desire to do what is right, but not the ability to carry it out. For I do not do the good I want, but the evil I do not want is what I keep on doing. Now if I do what I do not want, it is no longer I who do it, but sin that dwells within me.
You want to do right, but something gets in the way - a law!
1) νόμος, ου, ὁ [1] a procedure or practice that has taken hold, a custom, rule, principle, norm. [2] constitutional or statutory legal system, law. [3] a collection of holy writings precious to God’s people, sacred ordinance.
Romans 7:22–23 ESV
For I delight in the law of God, in my inner being, but I see in my members another law waging war against the law of my mind and making me captive to the law of sin that dwells in my members.
Three choices: Live with it - Lie about it - Lay it down (at Jesus’ feet)
Worldly people - Live with it
1) [Concerning Law and Gospel] [8] 7. In regard to the disclosure of sin: the veil of Moses [*] hangs in front of the eyes of all people as long as they only hear the preaching of the law and nothing of Christ, and thus they never learn to recognize the true nature of their sin from the law. Instead, they either become presumptuous hypocrites, like the Pharisees, or they despair, like Judas. Therefore Christ takes the law in his hands and interprets it spiritually ([:21–48*]; [:14*]). Thus, God’s wrath, in all its enormity [*], is revealed from heaven upon all sinners; through this revelation they are directed to the law, and only then do they learn properly to recognize their sin through the law. Moses would never have been able to wring this acknowledgment out of them.[1]
[1] Kolb, R., Wengert, T. J., & Arand, C. P. (2000). The Book of Concord: the confessions of the Evangelical Lutheran Church (p. 501). Minneapolis, MN: Fortress Press.
[1] Kolb, R., Wengert, T. J., & Arand, C. P. (2000). The Book of Concord: the confessions of the Evangelical Lutheran Church (p. 501). Minneapolis, MN: Fortress Press.
Religious people - Lie about it
1) The Scriptural Definition of Conversion - The term repentance is sometimes used for contrition and faith (conversion) and sometimes for contrition alone.—In Christians, repentance (conversio continuata, poenitentia stantium) continues until death because of the evil which is ever present with them, ; . The believer therefore turns daily with a contrite heart to the Gospel of the forgiveness of sins. Perfectionism denies this continued conversion, .[1]
Romans 7:21 ESV
So I find it to be a law that when I want to do right, evil lies close at hand.
Hebrews 12:1 ESV
Therefore, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us also lay aside every weight, and sin which clings so closely, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us,
Matthew 18:3 ESV
and said, “Truly, I say to you, unless you turn and become like children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven.
Matthew 18:3 ESV
and said, “Truly, I say to you, unless you turn and become like children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven.
[1] Mueller, J. T. (1999). Christian dogmatics (electronic ed., p. 339). St. Louis: Concordia Publishing House.
[1] Mueller, J. T. (1999). Christian dogmatics (electronic ed., p. 339). St. Louis: Concordia Publishing House.
Repentant people - Lay it down (at Jesus’ feet)
1) SD II:34 [Concerning the false penance of the Papists] As St. Paul bears witness in [:23*], he wars with the law in his members, etc.—not by using his own powers but with the gift of the Holy Spirit that follows from the forgiveness of sins. This same gift daily cleanses and expels the sins that remain and works to make people truly pure and holy.”[1]
[1] Kolb, R., Wengert, T. J., & Arand, C. P. (2000). The Book of Concord: the confessions of the Evangelical Lutheran Church (pp. 550–551). Minneapolis, MN: Fortress Press.
Matthew 11:28–30 ESV
Come to me, all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light.”
2 Corinthians 5:20–21 ESV
Therefore, we are ambassadors for Christ, God making his appeal through us. We implore you on behalf of Christ, be reconciled to God. For our sake he made him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.
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