02.09.2020 SER draft 3
Sermon • Submitted • Presented • 13:42
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What would it be like to live in a world without laws?
if you're a car or motorcycle enthusiast you might dream of world without laws, specifically, speed limits!
video clip (5-10 seconds) motorcycles speeding
A highway without some “order” or laws may not be safe for you or for others
If you are a teacher in a classroom it might look like this
video clip kindergarten cop (5-10 second scene)
No child can thrive in that environment like that.
A world without laws is a world without government, which may sound good at first, especially as April 15 is approaching. No government would mean no taxes. Which, again, may sound momentarily idea. But think for a moment about the consequences of living in a world without laws.
In a world where there are no laws, there is no government to create order, no one to organize for the common good… There would be…no
no sewer systems
no fresh water systems
no highways
no court system
no jails
a world without laws is a world where might makes right and the strong, and the powerful decide.
A world without laws is a world of Anarchy.
It is a world of chaos and confusion.
Can we live in a world without order, rules, and laws?
When you think about it, Laws have been around as long as man has been around.
In the beginning, there was just ONE law, one commandment. Do you remember what it was? It was this one:
And the Lord God commanded the man, saying, “You may surely eat of every tree of the garden, but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat of it you shall surely die.”
God gave Adam and Eve ONE law, one commandment, one rule. Don't Eat from "THE Tree" of the knowledge of good and evil. It was pretty simple. Do this and everything is good. Don't do this and everything falls apart.
Of course, we know Adam and Eve didn't do very well with the ONE commandment.
Because they didn’t’ keep that one, Adam passed this to everyone.
For as in Adam all die, so also in Christ shall all be made alive.
Therefore, just as sin came into the world through one man, and death through sin, and so death spread to all men because all sinned—
When ONE commandment wasn’t enough, God gave Moses and the children of Israel 10 commandments or laws.
Moses thought it was the greatest thing since sliced matzos.
For what great nation is there that has a god so near to it as the Lord our God is to us, whenever we call upon him? And what great nation is there, that has statutes and rules so righteous as all this law that I set before you today?
Moses saw these new "laws" as a sign of God's nearness, and of His grace over their nation.
Unfortunately, we know now well they did with those. They did so well that God sent them all off into captivity.
By the time Jesus steps onto the timeline of human history, the Jews had 613 laws, which Jesus reduced to two.
And he said to him, “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.
And a second is like it: You shall love your neighbor as yourself.
Love God. Love your neighbor.
Paul reduced them to a single commandment.
Love does no wrong to a neighbor; therefore love is the fulfilling of the law.
LOVE. Just love.
It raises the question. Do we still need laws? Or maybe the question is: Can we live in a world without laws?
WE can as long as there are no imperfect, self-centered, self-serving people in the world.
You could, I could, if but we can’t live in a world without laws, because
as it is written:
“None is righteous, no, not one;
There are no perfect people in the world. No one is 100% unselfish, no one is always others serving, no one is perfect.
Only the sinless Son of God, came without flaw.
For we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but one who in every respect has been tempted as we are, yet without sin.
Jesus never sinned. And the one who never sinned said this about the LAW, in today’s gospel:
“Do not think that I have come to abolish the Law or the Prophets; I have not come to abolish them but to fulfill them. For truly, I say to you, until heaven and earth pass away, not an iota, not a dot, will pass from the Law until all is accomplished.
According to Jesus, “The Law” is here to stay. AS long as there are broken, sinful, imperfect people alive on the planet, there will be a need for laws.
Maybe the better question is: What roles do laws play in our world?
According to Paul,
We also know that the law is made not for the righteous but for lawbreakers and rebels, the ungodly and sinful, the unholy and irreligious, for those who kill their fathers or mothers, for murderers,
The law’s purpose is to keep the sinner in check, reigned in.
Here is what the LAW can’t do.
(for the law made nothing perfect); but on the other hand, a better hope is introduced, through which we draw near to God.
The LAW doesn’t change the heart of the sinner. Here is the purpose for the LAW?
Galatians 3:24 (NIV) 24 So the law was put in charge to lead us to Christ that we might be justified by faith.
That’s huge. The law’s purpose is to lead us, point us, drive us to the Savior. Does it work? It did for the jailer in Philippi. When confronted by the hopelessness of his life, He asked Paul and Silas, his prisoners,
He then brought them out and asked, “Sirs, what must I do to be saved?”
Remember their reply?
And they said, “Believe in the Lord Jesus, and you will be saved, you and your household.”
It worked for the thief hanging on the cross next to Jesus.
But the other rebuked him, saying, “Do you not fear God, since you are under the same sentence of condemnation? And we indeed justly, for we are receiving the due reward of our deeds; but this man has done nothing wrong.” And he said, “Jesus, remember me when you come into your kingdom.”
Never forget Jesus’ reply,
And he said to him, “Truly, I say to you, today you will be with me in paradise.”
And the Law does the same for us.
The Law leads, points, directs us in our sin to our Savior.
The Law crushes any thinking on our part that we can do this life without God, without a Savior, without forgiveness. So I say,
Thanks be to God for HIS Law.
Romans 7:7 (NIV) 7 Indeed I would not have known what sin was except through the law. For I would not have known what coveting really was if the law had not said, "Do not covet."
Romans 7:10-12 (NIV) 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.
Today, we still need God’s Laws in our lives to keep us in check. We still need God’s Law to prevent us from self-centered living and to draw us back when we sin.
When we sin, the Law drives us back to the cross, where we find a Savior, who saves, who forgives.
Galatians 3:13 (NIV) 13 Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law by becoming a curse for us, for it is written: "Cursed is everyone who is hung on a tree."
Today, we don't rely on our keeping of the law. WE rely on the ONE who kept the Law, the whole Law perfectly, for us, Jesus the Son of God. Today We rely (we believe) in the One who kept God's Laws perfectly.
yet we know that a person is not justified by works of the law but through faith in Jesus Christ, so we also have believed in Christ Jesus, in order to be justified by faith in Christ and not by works of the law, because by works of the law no one will be justified.
Today we have the blessed assurance in the grace and mercy of our baptism,
Galatians 2:20 (NIV) 20 I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me. The life I live in the body, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me.
In our Baptism Christ now lives in us and we now live by faith. Therefore, for us who believe in Jesus...
We are freed from the curse of the Law, but God’s laws still play a critical role in our life in Christ.
First, The Law Exposes our flawed thinking, speaking and doing. When we sin we run to our Savior with a believing heart, to find His arms are open wide to receive us when we come to Him contrite, sorry for our sin, looking to Him for mercy and grace.
Secondly, The Law now gives us direction on living a great life in a sinful, broken world.
Lead by God’s Spirit we strive to keep God’s Laws not because we have to, now because we trust the ONE who gave us His Laws and we want to obey the ONE, Jesus, who laid His life for us, and let His laws bring order and blessings to our lives.