Sermon Central
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Decision Time
Contributed by Ralf Bergmann on Nov 28, 2017 (message contributor)
Summary: One of the greatest problems that follow conversion, as well as the process of coming to a relationship with Jesus, and even throughout our walk with the Lord is the problem of self-forgiveness. WE have all had those thoughts: Jesus can’t possibly forgi
II. The forgiveness of Jesus is beyond what we can do
God has given us laws and commands so that we can live in peace and prosperity with dignity in a righteous manner. The problem is, there are people who take things to extremes and then there are those who truly realize that they need something beyond what the law could ever provide. Reading verses 3 and 4:
3 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, 4 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.
Can we live in strict adherence to the laws? In some sense we can, but there are some difficulties that accompany that adherence. The ox in the ditch on the Sabbath is one, and the priest and the Levite that passed the man who was beaten and robbed and left for dead in the account of the good Samaritan. If someone is starving on a Sunday, you feed him – even if that means going to the store if you have nothing to offer. The Pharisees and other religious authorities made so many additional requirements that it was impossible to follow. Instead Jesus dies at the cross and pays the penalty for the breaking of the covenant, and allows us to abide in the Spirit of the law.
What is the intent of the heart? Do we follow some sort of legalistic ritual to please God? I hardly think so, it is more than likely akin to the long prayers and pasty faces of the Pharisees in their time of pray and fasting so that they might seem to be so much more special to those who are within eyeshot.
III. If you decide for the flesh, then the flesh you will serve
The cartoon character Popeye had a saying that went something like this, “I ams what I ams”. Read what Paul writes in verses 5 through 7:
5 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. 6 For the mind set on the flesh is death, but the mind set on the Spirit is life and peace, 7 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, 8 and those who are in the flesh cannot please God.
We have a choice, we either serve our fleshly desires or we answer to the will of God. If we serve the wiles of the world, then everything about us focuses on the wiles of the world. Politics are viewed with worldly eyes. Money and possessions are viewed with worldly eyes. Sexual morals and business and relational ethics are all worldly focused. The other side of that is if we are committed to Christ then we will have a Christian outlook on the political system, we will have a Christian response to our money and possessions, and we will have morals that are shaped from Biblical guidelines and our relationships and business dealings will be of a righteous and holy nature.
THERE IS NO MIXING THE TWO. THERE IS NO HAPPY MEDIUM. THERE IS NO AREA OF ACCEPTABLE COMPROMISE.
