This sermon was delivered to the congregation in St Oswald’s in Maybole, Ayrshire, Scotland on the 10th July 2011: by Gordon McCulloch (A Scottish Episcopal Church in the Dioceses of Glasgow and Dumfries).
Summary:
When Jesus comes into our life, everything changes, mostly in the form of a disaster; however we are given the ability to stand, and in doing so we are transformed into the glory God that wants from us. Yes it is painful, but we are fighting for victory.
Genesis 25:19-34 Psalm 119:105-112 Romans 8:1-11 Matthew 13:1-9, 18-23
Prayer: Loving God, open our hearts and our minds, that we may hear with joy your message today, and that we may live in the assurance of your love forever. Amen.
Gospel reading
Our reading this morning is taken from Matthew’s Gospel chapter 13, verses 1 to 9 and 18-23. “Jesus went out of the house and sat beside the sea. Such great crowds gathered around him that he got into a boat and sat there, while the whole crowd stood on the beach. And he told them many things in parables, saying: "Listen! A sower went out to sow. And as he sowed, some seeds fell on the path, and the birds came and ate them up.
Other seeds fell on rocky ground, where they did not have much soil, and they sprang up quickly, since they had no depth of soil. But when the sun rose, they were scorched; and since they had no root, they withered away. Other seeds fell among thorns, and the thorns grew up and choked them. Other seeds fell on good soil and brought forth grain, some a hundredfold, some sixty, some thirty. Let anyone with ears listen!"
"Hear then the parable of the sower. When anyone hears the word of the kingdom and does not understand it, the evil one comes and snatches away what is sown in the heart; this is what was sown on the path. As for what was sown on rocky ground, this is the one who hears the word and immediately receives it with joy; yet such a person has no root, but endures only for a while, and when trouble or persecution arises on account of the word, that person immediately falls away.
As for what was sown among thorns, this is the one who hears the word, but the cares of the world and the lure of wealth choke the word, and it yields nothing. But as for what was sown on good soil, this is the one who hears the word and understands it, who indeed bears fruit and yields, in one case a hundredfold, in another sixty, and in another thirty."
Introduction:
That was a very familiar gospel reading, the story of the sower; so let us pray that we hear this sermon as God wants, let it fall on good fertile soil and enable us to produce fruit from its goodness. The sermon is shorter this week, but it maybe slightly heavier, but it is full of good news.
This morning I would like to focus on the first four verses of Roman chapter 8; which start with a therefore, which means these verses start the conclusion to the first 7 chapters of Romans, and to my mind it is one of the greatest chapters in the whole Bible.
The book of Roman is all about experiencing New Life in the Spirit, and in the first four verses of Chapter 8, Paul tells us about how we have been delivered from three elements of sin, and its consequences in our lives. So let me quickly read them to you again.
Romans 8:1 therefore there is now no condemnation to them who are in Christ Jesus, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit.
Romans 8:2 For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus hath made US free from the law of sin and death.
Romans 8:3 For what the law could not do, in that it was weak through the flesh, God sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh, and for sin, condemned sin in the flesh:
Romans 8:4 That the righteousness of the law might be fulfilled in us, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit.
Up until chapter 8 Paul has been reminding his readers that in our natural self we are sinners and that we are under the wrath of God. The old fashioned preachers would say, you are all miserable sinners and you all deserve to be burned in hell; but these preachers forget to mention that Romans chapter 8 clearly tells us that through Jesus we are free from sin, and that we are saved this punishment because Jesus took our very place. We can therefore commune with God without sin being a barrier.
I explained a few weeks ago that God absolutely hates sin, and there is no way that this gulf could be bridged; and Paul tells us in the preceding 7 chapters of Romans that we cannot save ourselves by our own goodness, or by our religious or righteous works. Paul then goes on to explain the great truth, which salvation is the product of God's grace alone, and there is absolutely nothing we can do to obtain his favour.
So after describing the life of sin, the life of religious works and life lived under the Law, Paul shows us that no matter what we do we cannot save ourselves, and so he turns our attention to the new life in the Spirit of God, and so:
Romans 8:1 therefore there is now no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit.
This is a promise that we have been delivered from the sentence of sin, as it reminds us that when we are saved, we are saved from the wrath of God. We are no longer lost sinners living under God’s condemnation and doomed to an eternity in Hell.
When we come to Jesus by faith, we are delivered from the threat of divine retribution and are delivered from the spectre of hell. Is that not good news, or what, in fact the word Gospel translates as “Good News”.
Note the words "In Christ Jesus". There is therefore now no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus,
Jesus is the One who makes all the difference. You can be in a church and die lost. You can be a good neighbour and die lost. But, when you are in Jesus, you are saved to the uttermost and fully secured from an eternity in Hell; and John 10 verse 28 says
John 10:28 And I give unto them eternal life; and they shall never perish, neither shall any man pluck them out of my hand.
Jesus is the ONLY refuge for the soul of man! He is the only safe harbour where we can find salvation, forgiveness, hope and everlasting life. To know Him is to be a partaker of life eternal.
We face no condemnation for God what-so-ever. Some people would have us belief that this is a condition only so long as we are walking in the Spirit and not the flesh, and that the moment we fail to live a perfect life, we fall from grace and have lost our salvation and return to being failures.
This is absolutely rubbish as Paul is telling us that those who have trusted Jesus will walk under the leadership of the Holy Spirit. We give in to the flesh sometimes, but we are not controlled by it because we know that Jesus is higher and we are being conditioned by God himself even though at times it does not feel like it.
It does not suggest that we are, or will be perfect; it tells us that the Lord is in the process of perfecting us in this world, in preparation for the next. Again, is this not good news, that we are in Christ and he is in us. Brilliant.
We move on to Roman 8 verse 2.
Romans 8:2 For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus hath made US free from the law of sin and death.
We, (that is us who are in Christ Jesus) have been delivered from the sentence of sin, and therefore delivered from the slavery of sin.
A lost sinner is under the control of three masters. We read in
Ephesians 2:1 And you, hath he quickened, who were dead in trespasses and sins;
Ephesians 2:2 Wherein in time past you walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that now worketh in the children of disobedience
This verse says that there are three masters: the flesh, the world and the devil. Any person who has never trusted Jesus as his or her Saviour is not in control of his own life; but is being controlled by these three evil influences.
Of course, lives are affected in different ways. Some lost sinners are led into lives of unspeakable wickedness and evil; but watch out, others are good, upstanding citizens; yet they too are lost and headed to the same hell!
If you think you are maybe in this category ask yourself this question, why you here this morning. Are you here to worship Jesus, you cannot worship Jesus and not be saved.
There are many who give the impression of being pious and good living Christian, but are actually under the control of Satan, the world and themselves.
When Jesus comes into a life, everything changes. In fact it usually appears in the form of a disaster; however we are given the ability to stand against those three terrible enemies of the soul, and in doing so we are transformed into the glory God wants from us.
Yes it is painful, but as they say, if there is no pain there is no gain, and if God is making life very easy for you then you are not really worth bothering with, aren’t you! If you are going through a difficult time just now, remember God is developing you, by sending a time of trial to you.
This does not mean we are not to have good, even great times, but God needs to develop strong character and faith in you; and to do so, you sometimes need to travel through the valley of despair. God is not punishing you, far from it; God is developing you because he has brought you thus far and he wants you to go further.
It is a glorious truth, but one that few believe, we have indeed been delivered from the slavery, and the sentence of sin. If you are being punished you are going to end up weaker. If you are being developed however, you are ultimately going to end up stronger, wiser and full of life. Do you see the difference?
We will finish with verses 3 and 4.
Romans 8:3 For what the law could not do, in that it was weak through the flesh, God sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh, and for sin, condemned sin in the flesh:
Romans 8:4 That the righteousness of the law might be fulfilled in us, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit.
We are delivered from the sickness of sin.
The Bible makes it clear that every person who has not trusted Jesus as Lord and Saviour is sick. In fact, they are terminally ill, fatally ill! When a person is sick, they will often try any remedy they think to make themselves better, and sometimes, those radical remedies work magic in the lives of the physically ill; however, for those who are afflicted with spiritual illness, only one remedy will affects a cure; and that is Jesus.
Verse 3 makes it clear that where the Law failed, Christ prevailed! The Law could not make men righteous. In fact, all the Law could do was to point out how sinful and useless men (or women) really are.
How many times have you tried to do something because it was the right ting to do, and failed? How did that make you feel?
You feel bad, and lose confidence. Jesus, on the other hand, was born in a human body that He might die for sin, for the sickness of sin.
Now, all those who trust Jesus by faith (and faith alone) are forever delivered from their spiritual sickness and are made whole. But, it gets better than that!
Verse 4 moves on to tell us that when we are in Jesus, that is, when we are saved, the whole righteousness of the Law is fulfilled in us. According to the Word of God, when a lost sinner trusts Jesus Christ as Saviour, that lost sinner is made right with God the father Himself.
It is as if they had never sinned and would never sin again. They are justified. What this says is that people like you and me, who are so far from being perfect, are declared to be perfect in the eyes of God. Not by our works, but by the work of Jesus on the cross and by the work of the Spirit of God in our hearts. All we have to do is confess our sins and believe what Jesus achieved or us. That is it, we simply believe. We do not need to beat ourselves up, nor pay penitence of any kind.
In order to be forgiven, we simply need to believe that Jesus paid the price for our sin. Nothing else!
In Jesus, we are made exactly as we should be. When Jesus sees you here this morning to worship him and worship him alone, He sees you like as being just as righteous as He is! Is that not amazing?
Remember when we started when I said God abhors sin, he absolutely hates it and he hates sinners, yet through Jesus, these four verses say that we are able to look God in the eye and he in ours with love, with perfect love in his eyes. Amen
Let us Pray.
Father, we thank you for Jesus.
We thank you for Jesus taking our sins and failings to that cross; and we thank you that Jesus conquered death itself.
Father we also thank you that someday we will see you face to face, and we can do so with confidence, because we know through your word that you love us and that you will never send us to hell as we deserve.
Father give us today a revelation of your love for us, a revelation of how you are working in our lives by the power of the Holy Spirit; fill us with the joy of your love, a joy knowing that we can conquer whatever it is that life is throwing at us just now, and at the end of it let us be full of life and confidence for the future.
According to these verses this morning, this is not to difficult a request to grant. We ask therefore in Jesus name, Amen.
