The Bad News in the Good News

The Bad News in the Good News By Rev. Res Spears As most of you know, I spent most of my adult life as a journalist working for community newspapers. Now, one of the things that sets community newspapers apart from the big-city papers is the fact that they take a different approach to telling you about your community. For whatever reason, the primary focus of most big newspapers is on the negative. There's a saying in the business that you've probably heard before: "If it bleeds, it leads." That means you're going to see stories about the worst things mankind has to offer at the top of the big-city newspapers' pages - and, indeed, some days it seems that's all you can find in those papers. Hometown newspapers don't ignore the bad news that happens within their communities. When I was a newspaper editor, we covered courts and crime just like all the other newspapers and television stations. After all, it's important for a community to know about these things. But we believed it was just as important - if not more so - that the community knew about the good things that were happening, as well. We set ourselves apart from the other news outlets by telling the stories of people who were contributing to their community, people who were helping others, people who went out of their way to do good things for their neighbors. What made us different was a commitment to be at least as devoted to telling good news as we were to telling bad news. There will always be plenty of bad news to be told, at least until Jesus Christ returns and makes all things new. But I have always believed the world needs more good news, and that's why I loved community newspapers so much. That's also part of why I left the newspaper business and went into Christian ministry. Today, I get to make a career out of telling the good news, the very best news, that which we know as the gospel. This is the news that God loves you and that He wants a relationship with you, even though you are a sinner and have rebelled against His kingdom. This is the news that He has provided a way for we rebels to be reconciled to Him through the sacrificial death of His Son, Jesus, on a cross at Calvary. This is the news that death could not hold Jesus, that He was raised from the dead. This is the news that He will return from heaven one day to take home with Him all who have placed their faith in Him as the One who bought their salvation, the only one who can deliver them from the condemnation they are due for their sins. This is the news that we who follow Jesus will one day become exactly who we were meant to be, that we will worship Him and the Father through eternity and that Jesus will create a new world that is no longer under the curse of sin, one that is free of suffering and death. This is the gospel. This is the good news. This is the very best news. But today, I need to tell you that there is bad news in the midst of this good news. You see, we live in the space and time between the resurrection and the second coming. We live in a time of already but not yet. We live in the time of "already" that was announced when Jesus said, "The kingdom of God is at hand." But we also live in the time of "not yet," because we have not yet seen the fullness of His kingdom. In His incarnation, the God-man, Jesus, established His kingdom here on earth, and He continues to build it and expand it through the work of the church, through those who believe in Him and function together as His body in His physical absence. But God, in His immeasurable grace, has chosen to delay the fullness of His Kingdom on earth so that more might come to a saving knowledge of His Son. And that's good news, too. That means that your lost son or daughter, your lost neighbors, your lost friends, can still be saved. In fact, it's because God has delayed bringing the fullness of His kingdom here on earth that you who have followed Jesus in faith were saved. But, like I said, there is bad news in the midst of this good news. And the bad news is that sin continues to be a force in the world - and not just in the world but also within even those of us who have been saved by God's grace, through faith in His Son, Jesus Christ. Today, as we step back into Romans, Chapter 7, we're going to take a hard look at this bad news and try to see just how bad things are. And, I think we will have to conclude, along with the Apostle Paul, that things look pretty bad, indeed. You will recall that Paul spent the first half of chapter 6 reminding us that we who have been raised into newness of life in Christ are no longer slaves to sin. And then in the second half of that chapter, he warned us that we submit ourselves to that illegitimate master if we yield to sin in our lives. Chapter 6 is all about the tendency many of us have to turn our freedom into a license to commit sin. In chapter 6, as Warren Wiersbe put it, Paul tells us "how to stop doing bad things" and then in the first part of chapter 7, he tells us "how not to do good things." You may recall that as we studied the first half of chapter 7 last week, we saw how sin used the law to make us more sinful. We saw how it used the law to condemn us and how it uses the law to tempt us to cheapen God's grace by tempting us to believe we can somehow contribute to our salvation through our morality. Salvation is by grace alone, through faith alone, in Christ alone, and when we try to put God into our debt through good works - acts of the law - we essentially tell God that His grace was not sufficient to save us. We turn the good news into very bad news when we do that. But even when we submit ourselves completely to God's grace, we need to remember there is some bad news mixed into the good news here in the already/not yet. If you have your Bibles, please turn to Romans, Chapter 7, and let's confront the bad news today. We're going to pick up in verse 13. Romans 7:13-25 NASB95 Therefore did that which is good become a cause of death for me? May it never be! Rather it was sin, in order that it might be shown to be sin by effecting my death through that which is good, so that through the commandment sin would become utterly sinful. For we know that the Law is spiritual, but I am of flesh, sold into bondage to sin. For what I am doing, I do not understand; for I am not practicing what I would like to do, but I am doing the very thing I hate. But if I do the very thing I do not want to do, I agree with the Law, confessing that the Law is good. So now, no longer am I the one doing it, but sin which dwells in me. For I know that nothing good dwells in me, that is, in my flesh; for the willing is present in me, but the doing of the good is not. For the good that I want, I do not do, but I practice the very evil that I do not want. But if I am doing the very thing I do not want, I am no longer the one doing it, but sin which dwells in me. I find then the principle that evil is present in me, the one who wants to do good. For I joyfully concur with the law of God in the inner man, but I see a different law in the members of my body, waging war against the law of my mind and making me a prisoner of the law of sin which is in my members. Wretched man that I am! Who will set me free from the body of this death? Thanks be to God through Jesus Christ our Lord! So then, on the one hand I myself with my mind am serving the law of God, but on the other, with my flesh the law of sin. If you have never placed your faith in Jesus Christ as the one who died as your substitute on the cross, the one whose spilt blood covers and atones for your sins, the only one who can reconcile you to the perfect and holy God against whom your sins constitute rebellion - if you have not followed Jesus, then most of this passage does not apply to you. You are still lost in your sins; you are still a slave to your sins; you are still subject to the penalty for your sins - eternal separation from God in Hell. That is the bad news you need to know today. And if this describes you, then my prayer for you today is that you will accept the free gift of salvation in Christ. He died so that you might live. Because of God's grace, the innocent, sinless Christ died for the guilty. But this his terrible injustice can be good news for you if you will admit that you are a sinner, if you will believe that Jesus died to pay the just penalty for your sins, and if you will place your faith in Him as your sole means of salvation. But if you already follow Jesus Christ in faith, then there is bad news for you in this passage. And here is that bad news, in a nutshell: You are still totally depraved - not, perhaps, as bad as you could possibly be, but twisted by sin in every part of your being. You have been washed in the blood of Jesus. You are justified before God. You have been redeemed. You walk in the Spirit - at least I hope that you do - but you walk in the Spirit as flesh, and your flesh is and ever will be drawn to fleshly things until you are raised into glory. Our basic human nature is sinful - we sin because we are sinners - and because that nature is part of us throughout our natural lives, sin still has a strong attraction for us. Even the Apostle Paul suffered from this problem. That's the essence of what he says in this passage. Look at verse 15: I'm not doing what I would like to do, he says - the good things that I should do as one who has been saved by grace. But I'm doing the things I hate, the things that I know are sinful. And then, verse 16: Since I know the wrong things I'm doing are sinful, then I agree with God's good Law, which God gave to point His people to the right path, the way that would keep them in fellowship with Him. There's a tension in Paul's life, and it's a tension that we should all recognize as followers of Christ. We are people who have the Spirit of God within us - God Himself lives within us through the Holy Spirit. But we are still subject to the depravity that is a result of our inherited original sin. We live in the already/not yet of those who already have been made new creatures, but have not yet received the glorified bodies from which original sin and total depravity will have been erased. So, in verse 17, when Paul writes, "no longer am I the one sinning, but sin which dwells in me," what he's acknowledging is this tension within him. Each of us becomes a new man or a new woman when we are saved, but the sinful human nature within each of us remains during this time of already/not yet. You see, Paul isn't trying to avoid responsibility in verse 17 for his the sins he commits. He's simply pointing out that his old sinful nature - "the sin which dwells in me," as he puts it here - still has power in his life. This is so important that he makes almost the same statement again in verse 20. And it's not just a matter of doing what we know is wrong. It's also a matter of NOT doing what we know is right. Look at verses 18 and 19. Romans 7:18-19 NASB95 For I know that nothing good dwells in me, that is, in my flesh; for the willing is present in me, but the doing of the good is not. For the good that I want, I do not do, but I practice the very evil that I do not want. So what does all this lead Paul to conclude? Verse 21: Romans 7:21-23 NASB95 I find then the principle that evil is present in me, the one who wants to do good. For I joyfully concur with the law of God in the inner man, but I see a different law in the members of my body, waging war against the law of my mind and making me a prisoner of the law of sin which is in my members. Fellow believers, do you recognize the principle that evil is present within you? I ask this question, because the church today is in a position that is, perhaps, unprecedented in our time. We live in a time when grace is in short supply. Certainly, the grace of God is abundant, but grace between people is hard to find these days. What's easy to find is sanctimony and judgment and contempt and derision. One person derides another for wearing - or not wearing - a mask. We demonize people just because they hold different political views from us. We justify bigotry and hatred and violence and lawlessness based on preconceived notions that are rooted in a sanctimonious and false assumption that we are without sin. What the world needs now is Jesus. But the world does not see Jesus when the church acts in a piously self-righteous manner. When the church acts in a piously self-righteous manner, the church acts just like the lost world. Think about it: The police officer who uses deadly force against an unarmed and submitted man does so righteously - or so he believes. The rioter who burns down a police station in a protest against police violence does so righteously - or so he believes. The maskless person at Target who berates those wearing masks does so righteously - or so he believes. In each case, the hurt stems from someone who thinks he does only what is right. What Paul is saying here is that even when we know what is right, we are prone not to do it, and even when we know that something is wrong, we are prone to do it anyway. I imagine that most folks who know you're a Christian figure that means you think you're pretty good. But what if they knew that you KNOW you're not good and furthermore that evil is present within you? What if you told them that you wrestle with sin, that you struggle with it? What if they understood that you are not righteous at all, but rather a sinner, totally depraved, who has been saved by grace? We like to put on the righteous face for the world, because we've been changed. And, indeed, if you are a follower of Jesus Christ, you SHOULD have changed; you SHOULD be different; you SHOULD be growing to be more like Christ. But when we corrupt HIS righteous into our own self-righteousness, we cheapen His grace and we damage our witness for Him. Jesus said, "Come to me all you weary and heavy-laden, and I will give you rest." He didn't say, "Come to me once you've dealt with your addictions." He didn't say, "Come to me after you've cleaned yourself up." He said, "Come to me as you are, and I'll take the burden of your sin; I will give you rest." But when we as the church project to the world that we are all good, that we've got everything under control, that we don't struggle against our sinful human nature, we effectively tell lost people that they don't yet have a place among us until they've cleaned themselves up. I'm pretty transparent with people about who I was and who I am, because I want them to see the grace of God in me. I had a professor who said something about this that really hit home for me. "A person who talks a lot about grace is a person who sees himself for who he really is, even if the rest of the world does not." Here's how Paul put it in verse 24: Romans 7:24 NASB95 Wretched man that I am! Who will set me free from the body of this death? You see, I am broken by total depravity. There is no part of my life that has not been twisted and broken by the sin within me. But God in His abundant grace takes broken things and makes them whole. "Thanks be to God through Christ Jesus our Lord!" We live in the already/not yet. In the new man, we serve God, but in our flesh, we still are drawn to sin. Only by the grace of God through faith in Jesus Christ is any one of us any different in God's eyes from the rioter or the murderer. What would happen if people understood that THIS is what we believe? What if we reminded ourselves the bad news about who we really are before engaging in debates about masks or morality or culture? What if we spoke with the humility of those who know that our only righteousness is the righteousness of Christ, rather than with the pride of those who do not recognize the principle that evil is present within them? What, then, would the church look like to this lost world? Well, it would look different than it does. And it would look a lot different than the arrogant, self-confident, self-righteous world around it. I think it would look a lot like Peter must have looked after he cried out, "Lord, save me!" and Jesus reached down and rescued him from the waves where Peter had sank on the Sea of Galilee. Can you imagine how grateful Peter must have looked in that moment? One day, I hope that this church is filled with people struggling with addiction. One day, I hope that this church is filled with idolators and drunkards and thieves. I hope they will be drawn to this place by the testimony of former addicts and idolators and drunkards and thieves whose lives demonstrate that they have never forgotten the bad news about who they really are, nor the good news about the One who reached down and rescued them. Remember who you were. Admit who you are. And praise God for the grace by which He saves you anyway. Page . Exported from Logos Bible Software, 12:53 AM September 20, 2020.