Some Needed Clarification Pt. 2
Romans • Sermon • Submitted • Presented
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Tonight we dive back into the intentional pause that Paul included in His letter to the Romans.
He has been talking a lot about God’s law and grace… how we are saved by grace, not through the law. Then, under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, Paul gives some important details regarding the law he did not want the readers to forget or overlook.
7 What shall we say, then? Is the law sinful? Certainly not! Nevertheless, I would not have known what sin was had it not been for the law. For I would not have known what coveting really was if the law had not said, “You shall not covet.” 8 But sin, seizing the opportunity afforded by the commandment, produced in me every kind of coveting. For apart from the law, sin was dead. 9 Once I was alive apart from the law; but when the commandment came, sin sprang to life and I died. 10 I found that the very commandment that was intended to bring life actually brought death. 11 For sin, seizing the opportunity afforded by the commandment, deceived me, and through the commandment put me to death. 12 So then, the law is holy, and the commandment is holy, righteous and good.
13 Did that which is good, then, become death to me? By no means! Nevertheless, in order that sin might be recognized as sin, it used what is good to bring about my death, so that through the commandment sin might become utterly sinful.
The two points I want us to see in this text is:
First, The law defines sin
First, The law defines sin
We established last week that the law of God helps us to know what sin is… and what sin isn’t.
We break the law by doing what it says not to do… or by not doing what the law requires us to do.
The law provides for us boundaries or guardrails to keep us from diving into sin or falling into sin. God’s intention is to steer us as far away from sin as possible. Why? Because sin separates humankind from God the Father.
Moving on in our study tonight, our passage shows us…
Second, The Enemy Tempts to Break the God’s Law
Second, The Enemy Tempts to Break the God’s Law
Look at Romans 7:8 again...
8 But sin, seizing the opportunity afforded by the commandment, produced in me every kind of coveting. For apart from the law, sin was dead.
The enemy has been tempting God’s people to sin since the dawn of creation. Satan wants nothing more than for people to go in the opposite direction of God’s Word.
In the beginning… there was ONE command. That command is found in Genesis 2:15-17
15 The Lord God took the man and put him in the Garden of Eden to work it and take care of it. 16 And the Lord God commanded the man, “You are free to eat from any tree in the garden; 17 but you must not eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, for when you eat from it you will certainly die.”
Adam was given the freedom to eat from ANY tree in the garden but one. Adam was truly living in the goodness of God.
All that had been created was declared by God to be GOOD. All Adam had known at this point was… GOOD!
When the serpent, who was the enemy, came on the scene… He didn’t tempt Eve to eat just from just any tree… he tempted her to eat from the tree God said they were not to eat from.
This might sound like a captain obvious statement here… but hear me out. Satan will not tempt you to follow God’s commands… he tempts you to break God’s commands. Why? Because as Jesus made clear in John 10:10
10 The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy; I have come that they may have life, and have it to the full.
Satan wants nothing but destruction for God’s people.
Where the law was meant to lead to life, sin was the path that lead to death. The enemy tempted Eve into believing that God was withholding something good from them. He twisted God’s word and both Adam and Eve took the bait.
And church… we still have a tendency to lean this way even to this day… to take the bait.
Satan will use your thoughts, your emotions, and your desires to try to lure you to sin. James 1:13-15 gives us this warning:
13 When tempted, no one should say, “God is tempting me.” For God cannot be tempted by evil, nor does he tempt anyone; 14 but each person is tempted when they are dragged away by their own evil desire and enticed. 15 Then, after desire has conceived, it gives birth to sin; and sin, when it is full-grown, gives birth to death.
The serpent played on the desire of Adam and Eve as he will play on the desires you hold within. The key is not to take the bait.
Listen, when it comes to any law… there is no fudging the law or bending the law… it is either followed… or broken.
The enemy will tempt you to break God’s law all day long. He will try to lead you from the Lord.
The enemy even tried to do this with Jesus Himself. After His water baptism, the Holy Spirit led Jesus to the wilderness to be tempted.
I see this as a direct reflection of what took place in the Garden of Eden. But where Adam and Eve failed… Jesus would not fail.
Satan tried three times to tempt Jesus and all three times he tried to play on natural desires Jesus might have had. We see this play out in Matthew 4
Desire one - to please His personal needs.
Jesus had fasted for forty days. After the fast, the Bible says He was hungry. The enemy tempts Jesus to misuse the power God had given Him for personal gain. But Jesus had not come to serve His personal interests… He came to do and complete the Father’s will. Jesus didn’t take the bait.
Desire two - to please a sense of entitlement
Satan took Jesus to the top of the temple and told Him to throw Himself down. God would not allow harm to come to His Son so Jesus would be okay. But Jesus had not come with an entitled Spirit, He was full of God’s Holy Spirit. Jesus didn’t take the bait.
Desire three - to please a sense of power and authority.
Satan told Jesus he would give him all the kingdoms of the world if He bowed and worshipped Him. But Jesus knew all the power and authority in heaven and earth would be given to Him by the Father. (Matthew 28:18) Jesus would serve only God and God alone. Jesus didn’t take the bait.
These three desires can be seen throughout the tempting of Jesus… but there is one desire that arches over all three that the enemy hit Jesus with every time: The desire to prove Himself as Jesus.
With each temptation came the line, “If you are the Son of God...” The enemy wanted Jesus to step into sin to prove His identity as Jesus. But if Jesus had taken the bait, He would no longer have been worthy to save us from our sins. Jesus knew His identity wouldn’t be proven through silly acts of selfishness… but through the cross His Father had destined for Him. Jesus didn’t take the bait.
Satan works to bait us and lead us from God… BUT Jesus has come to lead us back to the Father. He died the death meant for us… He paid the price we could not pay. He took the wages of our sin and nailed it to the cross. In return, He offers us life to the full… we take on HIS righteousness in place of our spiritual brokenness.
AND… Jesus will never lead us to do something that breaks the heart of God. Jesus will never lead us to sin!
The law is no longer our focus as our way to righteousness… Jesus is. And as we follow Him, we can be assured that Jesus will lead us in the ways of God… not the ways of sin.
The Bottom Line...
The Bottom Line...
12 So then, the law is holy, and the commandment is holy, righteous and good.
The law was NEVER a bad thing… it was a necessary thing God gave us. It brought clarity to what sin is and is not.
The hard reality regarding the law was… it also made clear what the penalty was for breaking it. Why would sin come with such a steep penalty?
Because sin is rebelling against God.
When Adam and Eve sinned in the Garden… they trusted the lie of the serpent over the truth of God’s word. God warned them of the consequence for this type of rebellion. From that day on… the world has been wrestling with the sin problem.
But, thanks be to God… He sent His Son to take on the penalty for our sin.
Jesus fulfilled the demands of the law through His death on the cross for all who call on His name for salvation.
The law remains the law… but it’s price has been paid. Sin remains sin and it’s consequence is still a very real thing.
But for those who are in Christ… for those who follow Jesus… their sins are now under the blood. Forgiveness has come to those who know Jesus.