A Glimmering Jewel

A Glimmering Jewel Rev. Res Spears I wonder how many of you have heard the story of the Klopman Diamond. Well, there was a businessman who boarded a plane in New York years ago, and he sat beside an elegant woman who was wearing the largest and most stunning diamond ring he had ever seen. After they had gotten settled and had heard the standard safety presentation from the flight attendant, the two traded small talk for a few minutes as the flight got underway, and finally the man's curiosity about this beautiful ring got the better of him. "Can you tell me about your ring?" he asked. "Well, this is the Klopman Diamond," the woman replied. "It is beautiful, but, it's like the Hope Diamond. It has a curse that goes with it." "Really?" the businessman said, his eyes growing wide. "What's the curse?" "Mr. Klopman." Today, I want to talk to you about jewelry - rings, in particular, and diamond rings specifically. As I was preparing for today's message, I spent a lot of time googling "rings" and "diamond rings" and the like, so I'm certain that I'll be seeing tons of ads for wedding services and wedding venues and jewelers and honeymoon destinations for the next several weeks. Fortunately, I have no personal need of any of those services, since Annette and I will be celebrating our 19th wedding anniversary in a little more than a month. We've already had the wedding. We've already had the honeymoon. And we already have the rings. In fact, Annette has my mother's wedding and engagement rings. She's probably not wearing them today, because she's afraid of losing them, but they were a very special gift to her from my mother when she learned that we had become engaged. Now this engagement ring is small - it reflects the fact that neither of my parents nor their parents had much money when Dad and Mom were engaged. There is a thin, white-gold band that gathers itself into a delicate setting in which is perched a small diamond solitaire. It was all my father could afford to buy for his fiancé back in 1964, but it is a treasured piece of family history and now a physical representation of the love of two generations of Spears men. But it's the form of this ring that I want to draw your attention to, this form is very much like the form of any ring that bears a stone. There is the band, which in this case is a simply a thin piece of white gold. And the purpose of the band, however ornate it might be in any other piece of jewelry, is to hold the setting. And the purpose of the setting is to display in the very best possible light, the precious jewel that is the true centerpiece. The band might be a beautiful piece of craftsmanship. It might be an artwork on its own. But the jewel is the thing that catches the eye. The jewel is the rightful focus of attention. The jewel is the precious cargo carried by the ring. And with a diamond ring, the jewel carries the fire, the sparkles of light that capture the eye and the imagination. The 17th-century German preacher Philipp Jakob Spener wrote that "if holy Scripture was a ring, and the Epistle to the Romans its precious stone, chapter 8 would be the sparkling point of the jewel." Now, we have covered a lot of important theology in the Book of Romans during the past few weeks as part of our study of grace, and, in the interest of time, we have glazed over or even skipped some other important theology, and I do not want you to get the idea that I'm saying chapter 8 is the whole point of the Book of Romans. But there is a very real sense in which everything we have covered so far in Romans about the grace of God has been leading inexorably to what we will find here. And there is a very real sense in which what takes place in the chapters 9-16 is an unpacking of the significance and the application of chapter 8. So Spener's description of chapter 8 as "the sparkling point of the jewel" of the Book of Romans is an apt one. This chapter is the one that shines out, the one that captures our attention, the one that grabs our imagination. Here, we see the full beauty of the believer's relationship to God sparkling in all its promised glory. Last week, we discussed the bad news about believers from the end of chapter 7, and it's appropriate that we did so, because without a full understanding of that bad news, we can never fully appreciate the wondrous sparkle of good news in chapter 8. You'll recall that the bad news is that we are all broken people. If you have never followed Jesus Christ in faith that He died as your substitute, taking the just penalty you are due for your sins, then you are still lost in your sins. You are still subject to that penalty - eternal separation from the God who made you in His image to love you and have a personal relationship with you. But the specific bad news of chapter 7 for believers is that, even though we have been saved, even though we have been washed in the blood of Jesus, even though we already have been reconciled to God, we live in the not-yet of those who have not yet been glorified. We have not yet received the fullness of our salvation, when we will no longer be subject to temptation. We are still crippled by original sin and total depravity. We may not be as sinful as we possibly could be, but sin still scars every part of us, and it still retains an attraction for us. "Wretched man that I am! Who will set me free fro the body of this death?" That was Paul's cry as he finished recounting just how hard the struggle is against sin. And then this: "Thanks be to God through Jesus Christ our Lord!" We who have followed Jesus Christ in faith will finally be set free from sin completely one day. One day we will no longer be drawn even by temptation. In fact, in Paul's theology, there is an "already" sense to this rescue. Our salvation has already been accomplished for us, because we are no longer condemned to death as sinners. And that's where we find ourselves as we delve into the first part of chapter 8. If you have not done so already, please turn to chapter 8 of the Book of Romans. While you're doing so, I want to talk to you about this first word that we'll see: therefore. Paul, the great scholar and the great Pharisee, had a keen legal mind, and the Book of Romans is set out as a legal - or at least a logical - argument. C proceeds from B, and B proceeds from A. That's why we've spent so much of this long study of God's grace working our way through Paul's argument in this letter. Simply dropping into the middle of the logical argument in chapter 8 would have left too many questions; it would have left too much room for misunderstanding. So, when Paul writes in verse 1: "Therefore there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus," we should understand that he's not merely making a conclusion from the previous few paragraphs. In fact, he's making a conclusion from everything he had written previously, and especially from chapter 3 on. In chapter 3, he concluded that we are all condemned by the Law, because by the Law we came to an understanding and a true knowledge of sin. As Warren Wiersbe put it, "Romans 3:20 shows the 'therefore' of condemnation; but Romans 8:1 gives the 'therefore' of no condemnation." [The Wiersbe Bible Commentary: New Testament. N.p.: David C Cook, (n.d.). 429] Now, let's be sure we understand what's meant by "no condemnation." It does NOT mean that we will not be judged for our ill deeds or our sinful thoughts. In fact, Paul wrote to the Corinthian church that we will all appear before the judgment seat of Christ and that He will judge each one of us according to what each of us has done, whether good or bad. That right there should cause every Christian here today to sit up and take notice. As you stand before your Savior in heaven, what secret acts - what hidden thoughts - will be revealed? What things in your life will detract from your inheritance? What will add to it? All who have placed their faith in Jesus Christ as their sole means of salvation have an inheritance in God - this is the "no condemnation" part of this verse. We who have followed Jesus in true faith never have to fear losing our salvation. If we could do anything to lose it, then that would suggest that there is something we can do to gain it, and that would be karma, the opposite of grace. Look at verses 3 and 4: Romans 8:3-4 NASB95 For what the Law could not do, weak as it was through the flesh, God did: sending His own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh and as an offering for sin, He condemned sin in the flesh, so that the requirement of the Law might be fulfilled in us, who do not walk according to the flesh but according to the Spirit. When we were lost, we pointed to our morality as evidence of how good we were. We put our trust in our own righteousness, just like the Pharisees of Jesus' time. And just like them, even the most moral of us were whitewashed tombs, clean on the outside, but inside full of filth and decay and death. Morality - or, as Paul refers to it here for his Jewish readers, the Law - cannot save you. It was never meant to do so. Salvation is by grace alone, through faith alone in Christ alone. And God's Son came "in the likeness of sinful flesh," not in sinful flesh or in the likeness of flesh, but as a real person who was without sin. And, because he died not just as our substitute but as our representative, we who have placed our faith in Him as our Redeemer - we who walk not according to the flesh but according to the Spirit of God within us - are justified before God. By His grace, we were counted as without sin the moment we first believed. But if you are a believer, then you are living in the "already" of one who already has been justified and the "not yet" of one who has not yet been glorified. And that's where the bad news of chapter 7 comes into play. That's where it becomes important to admit who you are - someone who is still drawn to sin by your depraved nature. You can choose whether to walk in the Spirit or to walk in the flesh. You can be committed to yielding to God's Spirit within you, or you can choose to be governed by the values of this world. You can have your mind set on God's Kingdom or you can give yourself up to the sinful pleasures of this world. And that's the choice Paul sets out in the next few verses. Let's pick up in verse 5. Romans 8:5-8 NASB95 For those who are according to the flesh set their minds on the things of the flesh, but those who are according to the Spirit, the things of the Spirit. For the mind set on the flesh is death, but the mind set on the Spirit is life and peace, because the mind set on the flesh is hostile toward God; for it does not subject itself to the law of God, for it is not even able to do so, and those who are in the flesh cannot please God. Now, verses 7-8 suggest to us that Paul has in mind here those who have not been saved, but remember that this letter was written to believers, so I think there is also an implicit warning here that even those who have been regenerated - made into new creatures - can lead their lives as if they have not been made new. They can continue to live as if they have not been changed. You'll see this beginning in verse 9. Romans 8:9-11 NASB95 However, you are not in the flesh but in the Spirit, if indeed the Spirit of God dwells in you. But if anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ, he does not belong to Him. If Christ is in you, though the body is dead because of sin, yet the spirit is alive because of righteousness. But if the Spirit of Him who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, He who raised Christ Jesus from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through His Spirit who dwells in you. The indwelling Holy Spirit is the Christian's seal. He is the mark showing that we belong to God in Christ Jesus. We receive the Spirit in the moment we first believe as a gift of God's grace and not as a response to some commitment to holiness on our part. Again, salvation is ALL God's work. And part of the work of salvation is to give us life in the Spirit. He is the source of our spiritual life. It is the Spirit Himself who enables us to live godly lives. Without Him, you would still be lost and unable to please God. And furthermore, it is through the Spirit that the mortal bodies of believers will one day be raised from physical death and into eternal glory with the Father and the Son. That's the great and sparkling promise of verse 11. So, having reminded us of all that, now Paul points out that we incur an obligation because of God's grace. Remember, grace demands a response. Look at verse 12. Romans 8:12-14 NASB95 So then, brethren, we are under obligation, not to the flesh, to live according to the flesh- for if you are living according to the flesh, you must die; but if by the Spirit you are putting to death the deeds of the body, you will live. For all who are being led by the Spirit of God, these are sons of God. We who have followed Christ in faith are no longer under obligation to sin - we are no longer its slaves, and we should no longer be living according to the flesh. We should no longer live as if we have not been redeemed unto a new master. When we live according to the flesh - when we who have been saved submit ourselves to sin - we bring back its consequences, and you will recall that Paul has written in this letter that the wages of sin is death. Now you need to recall here that death in Scripture speaks of separation and not annihilation. So what Paul has in view here as he writes to believers can mean premature physical death - the separation of body and soul in some extreme cases of sin; it can mean the death of personal relationships broken by sin; and it can even mean psychological problems that amount to "separation of the person from himself" through psychological disorders brought on by sin. [Tom Constable, Tom Constable's Expository Notes on the Bible (Galaxie Software, 2003), Ro 8:13.] Sin is a dangerous thing in the life of a believer, and Paul's point here is that God commands us to walk in the Spirit rather than in the flesh. We are commanded to seek holiness as a grateful response to our salvation. This is called progressive sanctification. It is a process that is often painful; it is a process that sometimes even takes two steps forward and three steps back; but it is a process we are called to engage in completely as believers. This is what Paul meant when he wrote "work out your salvation with fear and trembling." But it is also not a process we are left to do on our own. Indeed the very next verse in that passage from Philippians says that "it is God who is at work in you, both to will and to work for His good pleasure." The Spirit is given to us as a seal to mark us as belonging to God. He is given to us as a guarantee of our bodily resurrection. And He is given to us as the Helper who empowers us to live lives dedicated to God and in pursuit of His holiness. We were once enslaved to our sins. As Paul puts it in the next verse, we had a spirit of slavery. Look at verse 15. Romans 8:15 NASB95 For you have not received a spirit of slavery leading to fear again, but you have received a spirit of adoption as sons by which we cry out, "Abba! Father!" We have been given the Spirit of adoption. If you have placed your faith in Jesus Christ, God's unique and eternal Son, then you have been adopted into the family of God as sons and daughters. You can cry out, "Abba! Father!" My Father, my own dear Father! Do you see how beautifully this jewel sparkles? God chose you out of your enslavement to sin to make you His child, and verse 16 says that the Spirit He gave you testifies, both to God and to you, that you are a child of God. This jewel of Scripture that is the Book of Romans is showing all the brilliance of God's grace now, but there's still more. Look at verse 17. Romans 8:17 NASB95 and if children, heirs also, heirs of God and fellow heirs with Christ, if indeed we suffer with Him so that we may also be glorified with Him. You see, adoption is a legal term. In the context of the Romans and the Greeks of Paul's time, the adoptee had full standing as an heir. Having been adopted into the family of God, by God's grace alone, you are heirs of God. By God's grace, you inherit the righteousness of Christ and eternal life - life in eternal communion with the triune God. And just as surely as you suffer here, you will share God's glory with Jesus Christ in God's eternal Kingdom. Look how this jewel shines! Look how it sparkles! Look at the wonderful promise you have here in Christ, by God's grace. What we'll see next week is that nothing we face here today - not sickness or loneliness, not even the apparent fall of western civilization - compares to the brilliance that shines from the light of this passage. The God of all grace and mercy stooped down to bless us with the free gift of eternal life in Christ, but in His unfathomable grace, He determined that simply saving us from condemnation and giving us true life was not enough. He also adopts us as His very sons and daughters. Compared to the shimmering brilliance of such grace, the world's most beautiful diamond casts a paltry glow indeed. What will you do with such grace? Grace demands a response. How will you respond to it? Commit today to respond by walking in the Spirit, rather than walking according to the flesh. Commit today to being who you were made to be. And lift your praise to the God who gave you His Spirit as a deposit to guarantee your salvation. Blessed assurance, Jesus is mine! Oh what a foretaste of glory divine. Heir of salvation, purchase of God, born of His Spirit, washed in His blood! Page . Exported from Logos Bible Software, 2:17 AM September 27, 2020.